June 29: Fran

Today we had a full schedule, complete with a quick run out of town for a family gathering. So, very out of character, we decided to get in a workout before we left for the day.

The good parts: it was MUCH cooler in the morning than our late evening WODs and it felt good to know we had gotten it all out of the way before heading out of town.

The bad parts: this WOD tore my hands up royally! UG! and even though it was cooler than our last few workouts, it was very sticky and humid. *sigh* I guess you can't expect much different in June in Texas.

"Fran"

21 - Thrusters (85#)
21 - Pull Ups
15 - Thrusters (85#)
15 - Pull Ups
9 - Thrusters (85#)
9 - Pull Ups

I managed to finish in 10:32. Which is not bad. For me anyway. And I managed 85# on the thrusters, which is slightly higher than the last time I did thrusters. So I am starting to sneak up on the actual prescribed weight (95# for women).

Not a bad way to kick off the weekend (imho).

June 26 - Fight Gone Bad

Today we braved some serious heat to knock out the following WOD.

It's called "Fight Gone Bad." It's the same length (pretty close) as an MMA match - 3 five minute rounds with 1 minute of rest in between. I think you get a full 2 minutes between rounds in a pro-MMA fight, but I guess it's not worth whining about. Not now anyway (since we've already completed it).

In this WOD, you change "stations" each minute during the 5 minute long round. There are 5 exercises (stations) and you do as many reps as possible during that minute. Then your score is the total of all reps during the 15 minutes.

Round 1:
Wall Ball - 12; Sumo Dead Lift High Pulls (75#) - 13; Box Jumps - 17; Push Press (75#) - 14; Jump Rope - 42
Round 2:
Wall Ball - 11; Sumo Dead Lift High Pulls (75#) - 15; Box Jumps - 12; Push Press (75#) - 18; Jump Rope - 54
Round 3:
Wall Ball - 10; Sumo Dead Lift High Pulls (75#) - 15; Box Jumps - 11; Push Press (75#) - 14; Jump Rope - 50
Total Reps: 292

We had a few hiccups getting started. The timer (& our assistant - Wonder Boy) weren't functioning QUITE like we had hoped. But by the end of the workout, we had things going pretty smoothly. Of course, I promptly collapsed afterward. But we did it. We completed the workout.

I don't have any desire to try this particular workout again any time soon (maybe in the fall after a few cool fronts come through). But like all of these, I am proud for giving it a try. I'll take that "moral victory" for now.

June 24 - WOD

Boy was I right about getting more sore after Friday's WOD! The weight may not have been very heavy, but when you add it up, we did 84 front squats! EIGHTY FOUR!

Then we got in a run yesterday hoping it would help to loosen us up a bit. But it did NOT. UG! In fact, I just felt MORE SORE afterward.

So we ditched the WOD we had planned for today and chose some exercises that would kill the OTHER parts of our bodies. Today we did this:

21 - Pull Ups
21 - Dips
15 - Pull Ups
15 - Dips
9 - Pull Ups
9 - Dips

I used the Rogue Monster Bands on both my pull ups and my dips. And I'm, again - as much as ever, impressed with how they are helping my workouts. I'm getting stronger on the pull ups. I can feel it with every pull. I'm not depending on the band to snap me back up. And I'm starting to get to the point where I can get a rhythm going on them. Feels good!

I added the band to the dips today too. I've been doing the regular dips (not the ring dips) without the bands. So yes, it's a bit of a blow to my pride to use them. But I realized I was not going through the full range of the exercise (which, I believe is why I am also struggling with the ring dips). So I set aside my pride and used the band. And, as I had hoped, it greatly improved my technique throughout the whole exercise. I'm going to keep using it for now and hopefully I can start weaning myself off of it soon.

Even with the bands, my muscles went to complete failure by the time I got to the last 2 repetitions. That's a good fail (imho).

This WOD took me just over 7 minutes to complete (7:06). I would have gotten under the 7 minute mark if I hadn't failed on those last 2 dips, but that's just the way it goes. Now I have a hard measure to shoot for the next time we try this one.

We also did 30 knees to elbows to finish things up.

This was a good, hard workout. My chest is already feeling the soreness setting in. Now my body is balanced - I hurt almost as much on the top as through my legs!

June 21 - WOD

Today's WOD was pretty straight forward:

21 - Front Squats (75#)
21 - Sit Ups
18 - Front Squats (75#)
18 - Sit Ups
15 - Front Squats (75#)
15 - Sit Ups
12 - Front Squats (75#)
12 - Sit Ups
9 - Front Squats (75#)
9 - Sit Ups
6 - Front Squats (75#)
6 - Sit Ups
3 - Front Squats (75#)
3 - Sit Ups

I managed to finish all of this in just under 9 minutes (8:53, to be exact).

I don't mind front squats. They're not my favorite, but I don't hate them (like burpees, for example). And I picked a weight that I thought would be OK. And it was.

But like the broken record that I always seem to me, this was one TOUGH workout! I'm already feeling sore and know it will only get worse. At least I felt good about my form today. And we finished in time to get Wonder Boy to his piano lessons.

June 17 - WOD

Today's WOD seemed simple enough. 3 rounds for time of the following:

1000M Run
20 - Pull Ups
30 - Box Jumps

One of these days I'm not going to underestimate these dang WODs. At least that way I can prepare mentally for the Herculean effort needed to complete them.

This fairly straight forward looking WOD took me almost 30 minutes to complete (29:54, to be exact). Thirty minutes of effort in this sweltering, oppressive June heat! Is it October yet?

It was really the run that hit me the hardest. Being out in the full sun where the heat index was above 100F just sapped all my energy for everything else. Since I'm still using my Rogue power bands to assist with the pull ups, they were not the killer part of the WOD (like they have been in the past). And the box jumps ... well ... I felt pretty good about them, even though my legs were tired before even the first jump (thanks to that sweat soaked run that came first).

I guess there is some pride in staying that active for 30 minutes in this heat and humidity. But I swear my body radiated for HOURS after this. Even after a cold shower. It's WODs like this that make me wish we had a pool.

June 15 - Hanging Power Snatch

Today's WOD featured the "hanging power snatch." If you've never seen this move, check out this short video. The snatch in general is not one of my strongest moves. I think that is because it is built upon the overhead squat. And I struggle SO MUCH with the overhead squat. With that said, I feel like I'm getting stronger and am working toward getting this move (and the OH squat) down right. I just need to keep working on it. And I need to put my pride aside & stick to low weights until I get the form down pat.

So today called for 5 sets of 3 reps each of the hanging power squat. I managed to do the following weights:

45#, 55#, 65#, 75#, 75# + 1 set of 3 reps @ 45# just to work on my form a bit more.

At the low weights, I can get the bar all the way overhead in one move, without pausing and having to press the weight the rest of the way up. But I am not getting underneath the weight like I should be. So I have a lot of work left to do on this move.

As usual, we finished up with 30 knees to elbows and 5 pistols (L & R).

I'm really glad this WOD didn't have a strong cardio component. It's really hot and humid out and all I really want to do is get back inside and get under the ceiling fans. Oh summer, you don't make it easy to work out.

June 13 - WOD

Today was our first WOD after returning from our little vacation. We knew this one would be tough just because we've been on a bit of a break. And we were right.

Today we did:

21 - Kettle Bell Snatch (L - 25#)
21 - Kettle Bell Snatch (R - 25#)
21 - Pull Ups
15 - Kettle Bell Snatch (L - 25#)
15 - Kettle Bell Snatch (R - 25#)
15 - Pull Ups
9 - Kettle Bell Snatch (L - 25#)
9 - Kettle Bell Snatch (R - 25#)
9 - Pull Ups

This took me 8 minutes and 51 seconds to complete. And I'll be honest, in this heat, I wanted to quit at the end of this. But we pushed on through and did 30 knees to elbows and 5 pistols (L & R) to finish out the effort.

I'm glad to be back working out, but I'm also really looking forward to our first cold front of the fall (late October, maybe?). This summer is going to be brutal. *sigh*

June 8 - Elizabeth

Today's WOD was "Elizabeth" and it looks like this:

21 - Cleans (95#)
21 - Ring Dips
15 - Cleans (95#)
15 - Ring Dips
9 - Cleans (95#)
9 - Ring Dips

We last did this WOD back in early May. Now that I have my Rogue Power Bands I don't have to do negatives on my ring dips. I really feel the difference now that I have these bands to help out. When doing the negatives, I felt it most in my triceps. But now with the bands helping me to do the full range of motion, I am able to feel the exercise in my chest as well. I know that this is key to building up the strength to do this exercise unassisted. I'm impatient and wish I could already do them properly, but I am trying to be happy with even small improvements.

I *am* pleased to say that I did the prescribed weight (for women) on the cleans though! WHOOP! It's taken me a while to work up to this. I mean, I could do a FEW at this weight, but not the full set. My time was not as good as the last time we did this WOD (10 minutes and 19.9 seconds today), but since I made 2 pretty big changes (doing the full weight for the cleans and using the bands to do the full range of motion on the dips) I am OK with that. I do hope that by the time we do this again that I can start to see some improvement in my times as well as the overall effort.

We followed all of this up with 30 knees to elbows and then 5 pistols (L & R).

This is our last full WOD before leaving for a little vacation tomorrow. The resort is supposed to have a small gym, so hopefully we can get in a little bit of jogging on the treadmill at least.

June 5 - Grace

I've been frazzled all day. My mind can't seem to stay focused.

That's not the best way to start a WOD.

Today's WOD is "Grace." Grace is a single round of 30 clean and jerks, as fast as you can knock them out.

The clean & jerk is one of my favorite exercises. I know. I have issues. But despite being one of my favorites, I've struggled to get this one up to the prescribed level. When we did this WOD back in February, I was 10 lbs below the prescribed weight. So today I decided to just go for it. I knew my time would suffer, but I was determined to do at least ONE WOD as prescribed.

So I loaded up my bar to 95# (this is the women's prescribed weight - guys have to suffer with an additional 40 lbs) and had Wonder Dad start the timer.

I got ONE REP done, ONE, when I realized I my flighty brain had made a HUGE mistake. I was wearing the wrong shoes. I had put on a pair of running shoes to pick up Wonder Boy shortly before we started this evening and I never even thought about changing them while getting ready.

Wonder Dad, being the incredible workout buddy that he is, ran to the closet to get my super shoes (my Innov-8 F-Lite 185s). And there's another advantage to working out in the garage! If we had been at the gym I would have just had to bite the bullet and finish as-is.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm sure (so get used to it), but these shoes have made such a HUGE difference in my workouts. In the running shoes, I had trouble pushing the weight through my heels. In fact, I kept rocking forward onto my toes, especially during the Jerk portion of the exercise. And in the the 4 or 5 reps I did while Wonder Dad ran to get my shoes, my feet already started to ache. I had kicked off the shoes and was just in my bare feet after the 2nd rep, but even that doesn't feel quite like wearing the shoes. They offer just the right amount of support without throwing my balance off.

So ... with all of that said, I managed to do the full 30 reps at the prescribed weight of 95# in just over 7 minutes (7:06.9, to be exact). And once I got the right shoes, I felt fairly good doing it. It was hot (Texas in June, what more can I say?). And I was totally spent at the end, as usual. But at least I had enough gas left in my tank to finish out with 30 Knees to Elbows and 5 pistols on each leg (band assisted again, but felt better than the last time).

So I guess I am going to call this WOD a success. :+)

June 3 - Badger (modified)

Today we braved the Texas summer for 3 timed rounds of the following:

15 - Squat Cleans (65#, 95#)
15 - Pull Ups
800M Run

Rx calls for 30 Squat Cleans and 30 Pull Ups each round, but there was no way we were going to be able to keep up that. We DID do the prescribed weight, so it feels like we're making progress.

This WOD took me 30 minutes and 9 seconds. And the heat was a factor from the very first rep on the squat cleans. To be honest, the squat cleans were by far the easiest part of the WOD. I happen to like cleans anyway and with the weight so light, it felt pretty easy - at first. By the time I hit the last set, the heat had me dizzy. That makes it hard to concentrate on what I am doing. I lost count a couple of times, so it's possible I did a few extra reps. That's just how it goes.

We've decided to cut all hero workouts in half from here on out - including the run. We cut the number of reps on the squat cleans and the pull ups, but ran the full distance (a little longer actually since our loop is about 1100M). Next time, we'll cut the run as well. Maybe then we can finish in a better time.

June 1 - WOD

Today's workout called for 3 rounds for time of the following:

400M Run
15 sec - Right Arm Hang
5 - Turkish Get UP - Left (10#)
15 sec - Left Arm Hang
5 - Turkish Get UP - Right (10#)
30 sec - L-sit

This was so much freakin' harder than it looks. My arms gave out the first time I even tried the arm hangs, so I had to do those modified w/ my feet on a stool. Rx for the Turkish get up was 45#, but there was just no way that was happening. Wonder Dad managed to use the 25# kettle bell, but I was only able to do the 10# dumbbell.

This took me 24 minutes and 8 seconds. And I felt every one of them. Summer is in full swing and it's making everything harder (if you ask me). But we'll come out stronger for it at the end of the summer, right? Those fall/winter workouts are going to feel as easy as pie (right?).