Recently in CrossFit workouts Category

After an extensive warm-up, including lightweight squats, we took turns doing back squats for two minutes to see how many we could do. We cycled through twice more for a minute each. We rested while others were using the same bar. I shared a bar with two other women so I had a good amount of rest. My reps at 40 kg: 2 minutes: 36 1 minute: 22 1 minute: 22 It was difficult. Whenever I do squats now, since reading the second edition of Starting Strength, I think of the author Mark Rippetoe's description of his late teacher, who had cancer: "You have not witnessed determination until you have seen a man wearing an oxygen bottle do deep squats for sets of five across." I love hearing about people who use their own desires and intentions to find out that something is possible that most people might not believe. Tom and I, both having done that workout, went to bed very tired. Today we went to Scott's Olympic weightlifting class. Luckily my program for today didn't call for any type of squat until the last thing on my list. My O-lifting workout today involved cleans, military press, snatch pulls from blocks, and overhead squats (to 33 kg). Afterward, Tom stopped at the library and the bike shop on the way home, and I sat in the car. I felt too tired to stand up. Now I've had two naps this afternoon and am ready to go do something. Also this morning I worked with a brand-new personal training client. She is young, flexible enough to squat well, has good movement patterns, and knows how to keep her back straight when exercising and lifting. But she was frustrated by being out of shape and seemed really down about it. I tried to convey to her how impressed I was with her completing the workout in spite of her frustration and with her potential for fast gains, given her innate advantages. From my perspective (at almost twice her age and having gone through an un-fit period myself) it would be a waste to stay unfit when getting strong would come so naturally. I hope she'll decide to use her frustration to propel herself past this sticking point.

Using two dumbbells: 5 front squats 5 push-presses 5 thrusters Do as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes. I did 7 rounds with two 30-lb dumbbells and 3 rounds with two 25-lb dumbbells.

In Scott's class today I worked on the full snatch from the floor to a low catch position. I finally started making progress on getting all parts of the move down a bit better in the past couple of sessions after feeling way behind for a while. It's fun to start to feel the sensation of rotating myself into position under the bar instead of trying to throw the bar overhead. You elevate the bar during the pulls and then take advantage of its height to drop under it for the overhead catch. How high it gets depends on the power of the pull and the weight of the bar. The heavier it gets the, less high it flies. By the time you're dropping under it, you're no longer lifting/throwing/elevating it--your hands are rotating around the bar to get you under it in that instant. The heavier it is, the lower you have to catch it. The weight I've been working with is still light enough for me to not have to drop very far. Catching it in a relatively high position is a power snatch. Rather than continuing to power snatch the weight today, Scott told me to catch it low. This challenged my stability in the catch but happily I started to improve on that part of the skill enough to work up to 31 kilos. I did lots and lots of sets of three at each weight. When that started to fall apart a little, I worked on barbell presses, and worked up to two singles at 38 kilos. I think I could have done more but I didn't want to risk failing. There is something nasty-feeling about failing at a press. So I'm going slowly. My goal, hopefully in the next two weeks, is a 40-kg single. I never stop appreciating how good it feels to be able to do this stuff! To make progress on explosive overhead lifts, as someone who was never exposed to weight training or even rigorous workouts until my late 30s, feels fantastic. Working up very slowly is fine because so far I've avoided injuries. My cautiousness makes me not a competitor but a safe and healthy athletic person. My goal is to last a long, long time at this.

I arrived at 5:00 and we did a few sets of five front squats to grease the groove for the clean. We practiced shrugs and cleans. The workout then was to pair up and take turns doing one clean, until both people had done 30, for time, naturally. I stuck around afterward and did some stretching and barbell presses, then when the 6:00 group started I did the workout again with them. I love cleans. Partnered with Andy, 35 kg, time: 6:10. Partnered with Allison and Erin, 35 kg, 10:27. Both of these groups were so much fun because they were so small. It was like old times, before the gym got big, with five or six people in each class.

We did sets of five heavy front squats, to find approximately a five-rep max. I used 50 kg for two sets and probably could have gone at least 5 kg heavier, but we stopped in order to do the "real" workout, which was: 50 kettlebell swings (I used 18 kg) Run 400 m 40 swings Run 400 20 swings Time: 6:51

I try to go to Scott's Olympic lifting class every Saturday but I don't always make it. Today, though, I started to make some progress on the snatch from the floor. I was using about 20 kg (the women's bar with the two 10-pound plates). When pulling from the floor I had a tendency to leave out the shrug. Finally I started to get it, after practicing the pull and shrug from the hang and then lower and lower. Then we worked on overhead squats. The heaviest I got up to was 30 kg for four reps. I need to keep track of the weights I use in these training sessions in order to have some sense of how and when to progress.

Tonight in Scott's class, once through for time: 100 squats 80 kettlebell swings (24 kg) 60 V-ups 40 push-ups 40 pull-ups My time: 16:53 It is hard doing all those pull-ups after all the other stuff--it's hard because of the stabilization/torso muscles being tired, the shoulders being tired, even the legs being tired affects the kipping pull-up. All of these tired parts make the pull-ups also feel especially hard on the grip.

As a warm-up, we ran around the neighborhood, stopping for push-ups and squats and to carry each other a short distance uphill on our backs, and then did just a few track drills (high-step skipping and broad jumping). The workout was single-kettlebell snatches and single-kettlebell front squats. Organize yourselves in pairs. Men use a 24-kg kettlebell for the squats and a 16-kg for the snatches. Women use a 16 for the squats and a 12 for the snatches--I think. It was either that or women use a 12 for both. I used a 16 for both. Partner 1 does 20 snatches while partner 2 does 20 front squats. Change hands on both whenever you want. When you're both finished, switch. Partner 1 does 20 front squats and partner 2 does 20 snatches. Go through this five times. There were a lot of pairs in the 5:00 class but Bruce and I finished well ahead of the rest in 10:42. We both pushed really hard and I felt fantastic--when we stopped! Even while doing 10 snatches per hand, I felt a sense of having the capacity to keep going even though I was gasping for breath and my legs were tired. Twice recently I've challenged myself specifically to not stop during a workout. Maybe the capable feeling I had tonight was an early result of that. Not that I didn't stop at all, but the stops were few and came near the end. I was glad to feel so strong during the workout and so exhilarated afterward. During the day today I felt sluggish and not very tough.

Home workout today in the basement: 12 push-presses with 2 x 12 kg kettlebells 12 deadlifts with 1 24 kg kettlebell x 6 rounds, then 1 set of 40 push-ups. But no stopping to rest. If I stop to rest, I have to add two rounds. I stopped to rest once per round of PPs starting in round 4. So I did eight rounds and the 40 push-ups. Time: 17:02. The eight rounds took about 12:40 and the push-ups took the remaining four and a half minutes. (I did the first five, then did the rest in twos and singles!)

100 kettlebell swings (16 kg) 40 dumbbell push-press (20 lbs X 2) 20 pull-ups 40 V-ups 40 push-ups 20 pull-ups Row 1000 meters Time: 19:50 After the workout I cleaned up, had a snack and then met a new kettlebell training client. He's my third personal training client. It's really fun to teach this stuff, especially to someone who is so enthusiastic about wanting to learn it. He owns three kettlebells that he just bought last week and wants to use them safely on his own.