Tag Archives: WOD

Backsliding

5 Mar

Sometimes I feel I’m backsliding. How is it I did 45 decent unassisted kipping pull-ups in a workout several weeks ago, and today I struggled like hell to get 50 sloppy ones? I was battling to get one, two, and rarely three in a row, barely getting my chin above the bar, probably questionably several times. Maybe it was the adrenaline and excitement in the first wod that I completed with no assistance that carried me through, because every pull-up wod since then has been a fight. I’ve even felt like my coordination and form is getting worse!

I’ve been wondering, as my form goes to crap, if I should jump on the band to finish properly? I did that for 3 reps today, and it sure felt easier and back to normal. Maybe next time I should grab the band for the wod to build my confidence and form back up? But then I feel like I’m loosing progress, rather than continuing to soldier through where I’m at now. If I keep struggling, eventually I’ll get better, right? I just get so demoralized when my body stops cooperating, sometimes it becomes more of a mental battle than anything.

Other than the 3 reps in the middle of the wod with the little pink band, I stuck it out and finished my pull-ups slowly, but sloppily. I hoped no one was watching me flail my body around. I’m sure I looked like a monkey with a seizure.

Not every wod can be awesome, and I gotta get the bad days out of my system. Hopefully that was it for this week. Bleh.

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Sometimes…I get a good feeling, yeah

27 Feb

I love this song by Flo Rida. No matter what mood I’m in, if it comes on, I can find a way to get happy. And then the beat kicks in and I just want to get movin’! And though I didn’t hear that song at the gym tonight, those words sometimes I get a good feeling might as well have been my theme song.

It began with push press five rep max. I haven’t done much of these for strength in awhile, and anything pressing overhead is definitely not my strength. But since it had been awhile, I went in with a “whatever I can get” attitude. I would focus on form and using my hips and core for power. I was hoping for 75 pounds at least. Several months ago that was my thruster three rep max, so being able to do five of that for push press would be a nice improvement. Other than push jerk (recently three reps at 90 lbs), it had really been that long since I’d done much press work overhead.

I hit 75 with semi-ease, so I knew I had to go up. But with presses, I can hit a wall fast. I almost went up only five, until one of my bar buddies said she wanted to add ten, so I thought “why not? What’s the worst that will happen – I can’t do it I’ll just go back down if that happens.” But I did it. The fifth rep at 85 lbs caught at a sticking point but I pushed it through and got it. It’s entirely possible that I could’ve pulled off five more at 90 lbs, but we ran out of time, and I was more than happy with 85. These kinds of numbers seemed impossible to me a few months ago when it came to pressing overhead, so it’s a great feeling to know I’m making progress there.

Then the WOD, which turned out to be one of my favorites we’ve ever done. 15 minute AMRAP of 3 heavy dead lifts, 6 hand stand push-ups, and 12 box jumps. I chose 135 lbs for my dead lifts, which I felt confident was doable so I could focus on my form. I need to build confidence on this lift, so while I could’ve gone heavier, I wanted to concentrate on my hamstring/glute activation, and too much heavier may have stressed me out into bad form. Of course my HSPU’s were modified by standing on a tire, but I’ll be here for a long time on these. Probably one of the last skills I’ll ever learn since it requires overhead press strength. And I stuck with the 20 inch box. I’m so scared of anything higher; I still have to gather my wits before every single jump on the twenty so I don’t catch my foot and crash. But I was setup for a WOD I could do, hopefully with very little break time or stops for water.

I got going, and after a couple rounds, when I would usually stop for a quick swig of water, thought neh, I can make another round before that. My throat isn’t that dry. A few more rounds later, the thought occurred again. I also hadn’t taken more than 5 seconds of catch-my-breath time between reps, other than the time it took to walk a few feet to each station. With only a couple minutes left, I had accomplished nearly eight rounds with no breaks. No reason to stop now! I was rolling, I was cruising, I had a good feeling. I finished with 9 rounds plus 3 dead lifts and 6 HSPU’s when the clock had run out. It wasn’t easy, but I didn’t feel like I got beat up, and I felt strong but challenged on each movement up until the end. It was like the perfect WOD. I wish I could get more of those! I’m sure tomorrow I’ll get my booty handed to me and feel like death, but it’s good to savor this feeling of accomplishment without total annihilation for as long as I can.

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Over the hump

8 Aug

Last week was a rough week for my “fitness self esteem.” I had moved up in difficulty level on nearly everything, which is obviously the desired progress, but that just meant all the workouts were an extra kick in the pants harder. I struggled through most of them last week and fell behind on the order of finishers, coming in at the bottom of the list. Not a place I’m used to being. Those lessons in humility are necessary, not just for the mental side of it, but for the physical. If it’s not getting harder and I’m not pushing myself to do things I haven’t done, then I’m not getting better, as in, stronger.

I had a healthy and restful weekend, and was ready to go in class tonight. There would be squatting, my favorite! The strength portion of the workout was front squats, which I have not done much with yet. I’ve done some in a conditioning workout once or twice, but not with much weight. Today was supposed to be as heavy as we could complete in two sets of unbroken 15 reps. And, we had to clean the bar into position, rather than take it off the rack. Another thing I haven’t tested my strength on: cleans. I’ve actually only very recently began feeling remotely comfortable with cleans, so I was interested to add some weight here.

I tried out cleaning 80 pounds (I had previously tried 70, but form was terrible and I barely did it), and had no issues. However, I did a few front squats with that, and decided against lifting that much for the number of reps we had to do. I dropped it down to 70 pounds, which was a simple clean, and a nice challenging front squat weight for the strength workout. I finished, with heart racing, no weight dropped, and shaking muscles.

Onto the WOD: 12 minutes AMRAP of 6 Sumo Dead Lift High Pull (SDHP), 9 Overhead squats, 200 meter run. Last time I did overhead squats I shakily completed it with the 45 pound bar. This time I would be attempting 49 pounds overhead (29 lb bar with two 10 lb plates). I was skeptical; I could definitely do a few, but could I do multiple rounds of that many reps, especially after a few SDHP’s? Well, turns out I CAN! It took all the focus, strength, and balance I had, but I completed 5 rounds of all three. After each round of overhead squats I thought for SURE I’d have to drop some weight to finish the next, but I kept focused and counting each rep, and they just kept coming.

I finished very proud of myself. I started three months ago overhead squatting a PVC pipe in the workout, then 30 lbs, then 45 lbs, now 49 lbs. Even after doubting myself. And the icing on the cake? Two of the other girls in my class did the same weight as me for the first time ever as well. We are all getting stronger together. It is such a great feeling!

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Movin’ on up

18 Jul

Tonight was my first workout back up at Ronnie’s gym, which felt good. I wasn’t able to workout up there last week due to various inconveniences, so I was all by my lonesome at my work gym. In some cases it was better; I was grumpy last week so it was good to not be around people and just be sweating my anger out in peace and quiet. But I missed the group dynamic, and was longing to get back up there with my classmates.

The WOD tonight involved overhead squats, pull-ups, and box jumps, two of those being favorites of mine (I only tolerate box jumps). Last time I did overhead squats was in combination with barbell snatches, so my shoulders were pretty well shot. I used 45 pound bar for the snatch but couldn’t maintain it immediately afterward on the squats, so I had to move to a lighter weight. I actually don’t know what I was using – Ronnie slid a couple 10 pound plates on some PVC pipe since all the 29 pound barbells were taken. It may have only been twenty on that day, but I know I’ve done 29 before.

Anyway, they had me practice with the 29 pound bar and apparently it looked too easy, and we didn’t have enough of those for all us girls, so they moved me to the 45 pound bar. Practiced a few and thought – let’s give it a go, I’ll probably fall over and make an a$$ of myself, but at least I’m trying to improve. Then onto the pull-ups – I’ve been using the green rubber band for assistance, but with tonight’s class there weren’t enough, so I had to try the lighter blue band. I can do those, but have only done a few in a non-workout setting. Completing the higher reps on that would be a challenge, but how will I ever reach my goal of doing unassisted pull-ups this year if I don’t try with less assistance? Finally, the box jumps. I’ve been jumping on one of the tires, which is around 16 – 18 inches. I got put on the 20 inch box tonight. I’ve done that in one workout, and it was really tough. Two inches makes all the difference.

So each movement on the WOD I would be performing at a higher level than I had previously. It would be rough. But I soldiered through, only easing up some of the pull-up reps with the green band when the girl next to me would finish faster with that set and I was struggling through with the blue band. I stayed with the box jump height and 45 pound overhead squat, only losing the bar and falling forward one time. I picked it back up and finished. My time for the workout was competitive with most, and I actually beat Ronnie by a few seconds, which has never, ever happened. Even if he was doing 115 pound overhead squats, 30 inch box jumps, and real pull-ups. It’s all relative, right?

The WOD, for the record:

5 rounds of 15, 12, 9, 6, 3 reps of each of the following, for time:
Overhead squats
Pull-ups
Box jumps

Followed by one set of 50 sit-ups

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