workin' with some ripped hands!

Deadlifts - 3/3/3/3/3 
With my newly ripped, but not all the way callous, I wasn't sure what my grip would do.  I wrapped my hand to be safe though.  I started light, because the deadlifts were feeling heavy, but I did have  the intention of going up quick.  I started at 225, which was heavy, but fine.  Then 245, ok...still heavy, but ok.  265 - this one hurt the paws, and felt heavy.  Next round I went with 275.  I got in 1.  Partly because of my hands, but another part of me has a bit of a block on the 275 number.  275 is the number I was going for (I think) when I pulled my back muscle. Last round, I strapped on a weight belt, for that mental crutch, and sure enough - pulled the 275 three times. 

Saturday - Fight Gone Bad.  This was the real one, the charity event,  the full monty!  FGB is  5 stations, 3 rounds, 1 minute each, and 1 minute between rounds.  Stations are wall ball(14#), SDLHP (55#), Box Jump (20"), Push Press (55#), row.  We went to Foothills Crossfit, across town.  It was relatively early in the morning, but not bad.  There were about 25 people or so who showed up.  It was going to be a good day.    Off the bat, we had a quick training on the rower, none of us had really used one.  Then off to the warmup from hell - it was alot of running and weird running type things.  Just before the warmup, I did something to my right calf, not sure if it was a charlie horse, or a big knot - but it wasn't quite happy.  I wasn't going to let that get in the way.  We paired up, and Patty went first.  She did awesome, but let the box jump get to her.  I so wanted to help her get up the there, but I just didn't know how.  After that first attempt, my main job was to get her mind off of it.  When she had completed all three rounds, it was my turn.   I was going to start at wallball, so I could just progress down the line, but that station had already been taken.  Next option - I decided to start with the row, since that takes longest to get into - I could be prepared as time started.  That was the plan.
I started with rowing -took off like a banshee, and it felt good, I felt strong, and holy moly, I was rowing away the calories.  Of course, I was good for a minute MAX! When time was called, I was done. I had hit 20 on the row! YAY!   Next came wallball, I thought I would have no issue with these, since I'm used to using the 16 lb ball, and I think I usually get in about 15-20 per round.  I was wrong.   The main issue was 1. getting out of the rowing machine!! It was a contraption that locks you in...and it's not the easiest to get out of   2. To get to the wall ball position, you had to run to the other side of the gym.  By the time you got to the wallball station a good 20-30 seconds had passed.  So, I didn't get much time in to work the wall balls - I did manage to get 12 in.  Next stop, SDLHP - I got in 20, I did them in two sets of 10.  By this time, I was out of breath....sucking wind.  Then onto box jumps.   It takes alot of energy to jump on a 20" box....I got in 8. Not great.  Push press, again, I did in two sets of 10, for a score of 20.   Rest - 1 minute is a very, very short time. 
Round 2 - Rowing only lasted about 45 seconds, so I got in 15, a sad 8 on the wallball, 17 on the high pull, 6 for the box jump, and 20 on the push press.  The scores were going on a downhill slide! 
round 3 - Rowing lasted about 30 seconds, I got in 10, SDLHP - 18, Box jump  7, Push press - 17.  My final tally was 210, which is not bad. I'll take it.

Gunning for greatness!

Oh what a week so far!  After the Celiac confirmation, I went to the nutritionist, and while the whole background, and info on Celiac was interesting, I just didn't really agree with the plan that she wanted me to take.  Don't you think common sense would say, if you have what basically amounts to a food allergy, and in many cases if you have one food allergy you have others....that you would need to change how you eat in order to figure out how different things affect you?  I was kind of taken aback that she didn't really want me to do anything but add in more dairy and "pseudo" grains (that's my term for the "gluten free" bread, pasta, etc...)  Just strange.  So, because what she initially said and what she told me to do, just didn't really jive in my mind, I'm going with my own plan, basically going paleo for a while, then I'll test the waters with dairy, legumes, etc.  Monday, really marked the beginning of my "take it all out" plan.  I gotta say, I have yet to be hungry...I feel like I'm constantly eating all day...but I did throw in an extra berry snack at about 11am, so that is probably why.  Ironically, I feel like I've been eating a ton, and the scale seems to have become unglued...in a positive way - I'm not hedging any bets yet though!

Monday we did Bench Press - 5/5/5/5/5
The really good news, is that these were not nearly as wonky as they were last time.   I did 125, 135, set 3 was supposed to be the "eye popping" round....so I went 145 - got in 4, then 1.  At that point I went down to 140, then 135 for the last set.  The good thing, is that I actually did 5 of all the weights that I set out to do, rather than getting stuck at 3.  YAY!

Tuesday - The Ass-Kicker - AKA -The Chief - 3 Power Cleans 95lbs/6 push ups/9 squats - as many rounds as possible for 3 minutes - 1 minute rest.  Do this for 5 times.
I know The Chief is hard, but I do not remember like this......
Going into it, I knew to beat the16 rounds that I did last time, I would have to kick butt.  I went in with the goal of doing 1 round every 45 seconds.  If I did that, it would be 4 rounds each time for a total of 20. I knew it would be difficult...in fact, I know Jimmie, Z and Jonathan didn't get in that many, so it was gonna be a feat if I did it! 
round 1 -I did it - I kept an eye on the clock and got in 4 rounds in the 3 minutes....but jumpin' jehosephat, this is going to be one heck of a pace to keep up!
round 2 - Not quite......3 rounds plus cleans and push ups.  I think this round, I may have been able to finish the whole 4th round, but the collar popped off the bar, and I took the time to put it back on.  That accounts for this round only - despite the collar popping off in other rounds, I think that excuse may only be valid this round.
round 3 - 3 rounds, plus the squats from the last round.  It was about this round that the squats were painful.  Very painful.
round 4 -3 rounds plus 1 clean.  Zowie - my thighs!! ...actually I think it was about this round that Jonathan started telling me to go lower in the pushups too - I swear my belly was touching on each of them!! (Now that being said, I think I also stick my belly out when I'm doing pushups.....go figure!)
round 4 - 3 rounds plus 1 clean.  I forgot I only had to do 2 cleans...and just started anew.
My total - 17  plus 2 power cleans - that is 1 full round and 1 power clean better than last time.  Not quite the 20 I was gunning for, but 17 is still a butt-load!  I was complete and total toast.  This kicked my butt harder and further than it's been kicked in a long time!   Thinking about it -this one is a creeper - other workouts, you are doing alot of reps, but you know it.  This one, it's one 3, 6, or 9 - and really you are striving for 4 rounds in 3 minutes.  But you are doing this 5 times - that's where the sneakiness comes into play.  Until well after the fact you don't realize that you just cleaned 95 lbs 53 times...you just did 102 pushups, and 153 squats.  Looking at it that way - I see the pain!

Tonight - Death by Pullups  - 1 pullup the first minute, 2 the next, and so on.
I did it with two red bands, kipping.  The first round I got through either 12 or 13, then 10.  Round two, I got to round 9, then did 5 in the 10 round.  My callouses ripped, and I'm just not tough enough to keep going, when I'm ripped and bleeding.  I may be a crossfit girl, but I'm still a girl - so I'm ok with that part!  Overall though, a pretty good week.

I also found out that I am apparently iron deficient, so, I'm now taking iron pills, which are pretty nasty - kind of like swallowing little metal pieces.  BUT, if I'm low on iron, maybe that is why I've been stuck for so long in my lifts...perhaps this will be the boost to bring me to where I should be - much stronger!!  Who knows what's on the horizon.....

Buffing that Kettlebell!

Ah, Kettlebell Hell, how I hate to say, I love ya so!   This workout is magnificent in it's pure torture. When it comes around you are filled with anticipation, yet with a sinking dread in your heart.   
 "Kettlebell Hell"
Innocent sounding Tabata Intervals of:
- Front squat
- Double clean-and-jerk
- Alternating floor press
- Bent-over rows
All with a 16 kg Kettlebell.   20 seconds on, 10 seconds off for 8 rounds.   Doesn't sound so bad.....that is the evil, insidious nature of this one.  This time I wasn't sure if I was going to stay with the 16kg or go up to the 20kg.  I went to the "Gettin' Stronger" class,....which normally takes you out of your weight comfort zone, so I just didn't know.  My mental struggle?  The 16kg, I know I did ALOT the last time I did this, so I would have to kick it into major gear to beat those numbers....However...the 20kg - is freakin' heavy! No, I wouldn't have to get high numbers if I went with the 20kg, that's ok, but can I really maintain for all 8 rounds?  End decision - I used the 16kg, and I even managed to beat the last numbers I got in all categories.  I'm not certain of the exact numbers, but here is how  I believe they played out.  Total for 8 rounds:

Front Squats - last time -47  this time - 50

Clean and Jerks -last time -25 this time 27 or 28

Upright Rows -last time 49 - this time - 52 (?)

Floor Presses - last time 60 this time 64

Overall, I may not know  the exact numbers, but my grand total went up by 12, I believe it was....something like that.

Yesterday - 30 muscleups for time.  This sounds totally awful - but if you are unable to do a pullup, I guarantee there's no muscleup!  We tried all the different variations - to no avail.  All girls ended up doing the knee assisted practice.  Ironically we all kind of did them together...helping each other as needed.  Timewise I finished in 9:57 or so.  I'm not holding my breath that these are going to come to fruition anytime in my imminent future....





Today was "unilateral leg work"  AKA - standing on one leg and doing stuff.  We started with good mornings, then went to one legged deadlifts (funkiness!!) then onto pistols, aka one legged squats.   I have come to the conclusion that although my balance is better than it once was, I am still not exactly poetry in motion.....  It gets kind of interesting when you try to do a pistol, and you have that ol' "relax at the bottom of the squat" habit that I seem to have.  End result - not so good.  All in all so far it's been a good, tough week.  I feel like my extremities are tight and muscular (that would be arms and legs).  They may be, they may not be, but they are giving me the impression of buffhood.   However, my middle still qualifies as soft and mushy!!  

Barbells, barbells everywhere!!

Turkish Getups on Thursday. YAY!!! Much to Patty's chagrin, this is one of my favs. There's nothing cooler than a heavy barbell TGU!  All day, I visualized it - I was gonna do a 75 lb barbell TGU! It was gonna happen and it was gonna be pretty!  Before started, we embarked on a conversation weighing the difficulty levels of the TGU - kettlebell versus barbell.  I went with my beloved barbell.  I started light, at 45, then 55.  The at 65, the unthinkable happened,  I could not do the get up part of the TGU with the 65 lb barbell. What evil, dastardly plot is this???  I tried again -it just wasn't going to happen.  Off to Plan B - I threw the barbell aside and decided to try the 24kg kettlebell (aka 53 lbs).  It is completely different. Easier? perhaps. Harder? maybe.  Just different, amazingly different for basically the same move using just a different utensil.   For the last round, I stayed with the KB - obviously the barbell wasn't giving me the love that I had envisioned earlier in the day!  This time I did the 28kg, or 62 lb - it went ok - not fantastic, I failed at the very end of my last one. I am not sure which is harder, but, I must say - the KB is a heck of a lot scarier than the barbell TGU.  When you get to kettlebells that heavy - you're looking at a monster cannonball that can come down and smash into your face.  The good thing though, is that gives you a bit more incentive to hold that puppy high in the air! Overall, not quite what I had hoped, but I threw in some unexpected variety to mix it up, and was fairly successful at it.



Saturday we did Lynne - 5 rounds for max reps of bodyweight bench press, and pullups.  I wasn't sure how well I would do on these. 1. It was 7am.  2. I took a walk with the Captain the night before.....the walk was a bit long.  
For the bench, I did the same weight I've been doing with Lynne, 135.  Pullups, one red, one mini, kipping.  I cannot remember exactly what I did - I think the Bench averaged to 6 or 7 per round, and the pullups about 10.  I am doing some strange moves when it comes to my bench - my left shoulder is not staying on the bench and it's making me go all wonky.    I'm not certain what is causing that, but it's wrong, I know it - I can feel it.  However, I did end up doing better on this than I did last time, which shocked the heck outta me.



Today -High-intensity Stations
5 rounds of 1 minute each of:
Thrusters (95/65#)
Power cleans (95/65#)
Pull-to-Inverted Hang
YAY!! Only 65 lbs!!!  I can't tell you the last time I only did 65 lbs on something.  I was actually kind of looking forward to this one.  Although, in the pit of my stomach, I kind of had a sinking feeling that I would have to do this at 95 lbs.  I was hoping 65, but had a tiny inkling that 95 was going to be my fate.  Well, when it came down to it - it was a "95 is the Getting Stronger weight, but if you need to work on your metcon...."  CRAP! It was up to me.  Most people would think that would be a good thing...I'm not most people.  In general, I like knowing there's just no choice in the matter.  In reality, my options were to do the 65#'s - but I better do a heck of alot of them - or do the 95#, and see what that brings.  I went with the 95#'s.  Not sure if it was the easy way to go or not.  Here's kind of how it went.
Round 1 - Pull to inverted hang - I jumped and got 5 of them, then the power cleans, probably 7 or 8, and the remainder were Thrusters - to get to a final score of 17.
Round 2 - Michael wanted to switch rings - ok sure. I did one.......then tried about 3 more that ended up being knees to elbows. OK, one it is.  Powercleans, I wailed through - I believe I got in 9 or 10.  Then struggled through 5 or 6 thrusters for a total of 16.
Round 3 - Again -1 jump to inverted hang.  Yep,  one.  The rest I did about the same as round 2.  I scored this one at 15, but I forgot to add in my single JTIH...so in reality it was 16.  Not that it really matters.
Round 4 - I changed the box under the high rings.  This helped. I actually got in 3 of the pull-to-inverted-hangs.  The cleans brought me up to 11, so 8 of 'em.....and then 5 thrusters for a total of 16.
Round 5 - I got in 4 pull to inverted hang, 8 cleans (brought me to 12), and 5 thrusters.  Overall score - 81 or 82. Not spectacular - I should have been able to hit 90.  I agree with Patty - I gotta figure out how to dig a little deeper. 
However, today was definitely a sweat inducing doozy!!  It actually felt good to sweat that much...I think I'm nuts!!   

Wow...apparently I've been sandbaggin'!

Yesterday was a very interesting day.  It started bright and early with a 730am workout. OY!  The workout was a new one. 
3 rounds for time of:
- 12 pullups
- 12 jump squats (35#)
- 12 ring dips
- 16 kb swings (24 kg)
 Pullups were kipping in a red band and a mini band, Ring dips were using a blue band.  In retrospect, I probably should have gone with a lighter band on the dips...in fact, Jonathan pretty much said as much.  I went with the blue because I had recollections of doing multiple dips with a red band and getting through it - barely and half assed.  So I went with the blue, thinking full range of motion - but it was modified too much - I'll admit it.  I finished in 12:10 I believe.

Upon arriving home, my phone rang - it was the Doctor's office, wanting to know if I could come in early...HELL YES!  Less time to think about this whole procedure thingy and let my nerves take hold.  I took a quick shower and we headed to Louisville, for my, now 10am appointment.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I don't think it was quite the surgical looking room that I got.  Then as I sat there, I was hooked up to blood pressure moniters, heart rate moniter, EKG, an IV, and oxygen (which actually kind of smells bad!).  It was very surreal.  As they injected the drugs - the "conscious sedation" drugs (which apparently means that I was awake and helpful during the whole procedure, but have zero recollectioin of the whole thing.), the said I should start feeling dizzy in about 30 seconds.  I laughed, and remember stating "30 seconds??  I'm feelin' that now"  End of memory.  Next thing I knew I was in the recovery room, Sean was there, and I was hiccuping like mad.  We got home and I slept....ALOT.  Other than a sleepy afternoon - no repercussions.  End result - nothing conclusive- not enough damage to make a call without the biopsy results.  So, another 7-10 days before we know the truth. The good thing is that at least I can take the gluten and crap out of my diet -  I no longer have the excuse that kicks the door open.  Gluten was my gateway drug to pizza and ice cream - now it's gone....whether for good or not, we'll just have to see.

Today we did Diane - 21/15/ 9 reps of Deadlifts - 155#, and Handstand pushups.
Deadlifts were no problem - I did the 21 in a set of 15, and 6, the 15 set I did in 10 and 5, and the 9 set was unbroken.  The handstand pushups were bar assisted. Not sure how I broke these up.  But, again, I was told we need to make 'em harder.  oh yay.... Not sure what that means other than trying to really do them...ZOIKS!  I finished in 9:19? ish....something like that.  Overall not bad, just not sure what Diane will bring next time she comes around in the handstand pushup department!!

So, 2 thing in two days that I went too light on - guess I have some sandbagger in me too!

My new buddy.

Apparently the 95 lb barbell is my new best friend.....I seem not to be able to actually do a workout with anything lighter these days.   Yesterday, we did push press, Sumo Deadllift High pull, and clean practice.  Then did one round of "Heavy" Fight gone bad, which means: Double unders, wall ball(16#), SDLHP (95#), box jumps (20"), and Push press (95#).  Heavy FBG is heavy!!   The thrusters were horribly heavy.  The pushpresses, not so bad.  Actually, I think I got in more push presses than anything, that was the last thing I did, but the one I didn't rest on.  For the one round I got in 65 reps.  Not stellar, but I guess it wasn't awful.

Today was "Franiel" or for me at least, heavy Franiel.  What pray tell is this silly thing called Franiel?  Basically Fran with more reps and running. Regular Franiel was 3 rounds of 400m run, 15 Thrusters (65#), 15 pullups.   Heavy Franiel is 3 rounds of 200m run, 12 Thrusters (95#), 12 pullups (weighted, or for me, dead hang- no kip allowed.).  Naturally, I like heavy things better than running, so I opted for the heavy version.  The running actually wasn't terrible - but that was because it was only 1 lap.  The thrusters, were a bit wretched, but still not horribly horrible.  I managed to break them up by doing 8 then 4 for all three rounds.  Then we get to the part that took 982 years, or a good 2/3 of my time.  The pullups.
The freaking pullups.  Don't you think those bastards would be a tiny bit easier????? Nope.  I did them in a big blue and a red.  They were slow as molasses.  3 here, 2 there, 1 most of the time.  They were definitely dead hang, because I made sure I lifted my feet each time before I set up, and I have to jump a bit to reach the bar anyway.  Seriously, a year and a half later, wouldn't you think I would be a tad bit better at these??  Today they are my number one frustration...but I'm not going to let them get the best of me.  However, just a forewarning - history will show, when people come in, new to the gym and kick booty on their pullups, as in, they are FAR superior to me, I tend to get really pissy about them.
So forewarned is forearmed..........

The Bear and a bit of Push/Pull

The Bear:


The big question is - is there a more miserable, heinous workout than the Bear??  I think not.  The bear brings you to your knees and makes you want to weep like a baby.  What exactly is the bear, you may ask??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WOP9J7QPwI

It's a power clean, front squat to overhead press or Thruster, down to your back, then a back squat to overhead press.  Doesn't really sound too bad.  Here's the kicker...you do 7 reps of that whole series and at no point, can you set the weight on the ground.  Then do this for 5 rounds.    The first 3-4 reps of each round were actually not bad.  However, once you hit that rep...the last 3-4 are the most painful things ever.  You really do want to quit, but you quash that thought, and keep going....pushing through the pain and misery.  When done with the last rep, you toss the bar on the ground and want to curl up like a bug and just weep.....
Instead...what do you do?? Get up and do it again...relive the pain and misery.... over and over..
But as horrible as it was, I did survive, with a mere bear claw bruise on my chest, a lump on the back of my neck from resting the bar, and a big bruise on my thigh.  No permanent damage.  YAY!
I did this at 95/95/95/85/85.  

Today was Push/Pull  - 3/3/3 Bench and Deadlift.   I was not going to go heavy on the deadlift, it hasn't been a week yet since my bizarro back muscle pull, and I didn't want to aggravate it before it had healed.  So, bench press, I did 135/145/150x2.   Deadlift I did 205/225/245, working on maintaining form.  Not bad - I want my bench to come up....I really want 175 by the end of the year....350 on the DL....and we'll say 275 squat.  Those are my 3 month goals...a bit lofty? Perhaps.  I know I'm not gonna get it unless I clean up the diet, which starts Tuesday.  Oddly enough, Tuesday can't come quick enough. I'm ready to get back on that horse and stay there.  I've learned and experienced the difference.  Have I mentioned how much I hate the fact that food has that much power over your well-being??

ouch, ouch, fun, fun!!

Renegade Rows - 7 sets of 10, 3 count.    Sometimes, its a bit of a curse being a bit on the stronger side.  I looked at what I did previously on this, and basically muttered several not so nice words under my breath.  I had to do at least as well.  I did 20 lb, 25 lb, 12 kg kettlebell, 30 lb, I tried the 16kg kettlebell - failed miserably, it was actually rather humorous, then went and finished off with the 25 lb dumbbells.  After that, I did the remaining sets at 35 lbs.  In the end, it was the exact same weights as last time, just different order.

Deadlift - 15 sets of 3.  The main point of this was go as high as you can while still maintaining good form.  I started at 215, 225, 235, 245, 265 - did this one for 2 rounds, then went to 270, did that for 1 round, 2nd round...I did 2.  Why did I only do 2??  Well, I can't remember clearly exactly what happened, if it occurred on the up part or the down part of the lift. I think, I felt myself rounding over, and tried to fix it by pulling back....and that's when it happened.  One of the funkiest sensations ever.  I felt my back muscle pull......it wasn't painful, but it was bizarre.  That was it, I wasn't going to finish the last one of that set.  I needed to move around and make sure I didn't do anything really bad.  Nope, wiggling and moving was fine..I could foresee some back pain in my future though.    I dropped the weight and did the remainder at 235.  Afterwards we went to play in the park, messing around on the playground- the playgrounds are much better than the ones I grew up with!!  It was a fun, fun time!

I took Monday off - turns out, I probably did pull or strain my back muscles - Melissa said the mid back section was a bit of a knotted mess (not exactly her term...).    She worked miracles and today all is good - a tiny bit of stiffness, but about 95% back to feeling normal.
Today we did Functional focus - tire flippin' Yoke walkin, car pushin'.
What pray tell is Yoke walking?  Check out the pic of Patty up above. Yep, it's carrying around a bunch of hanging weight on your back.  The final "timed event" was Yoke walking, tire flipping (3 up, 3 back), and pushing Patty's jeep up and back.  I used the 24 kg kettlebells (53 lbs each), the 60 lb bar, and the chains which I think were around 15 lbs each.  So, I think my total weight was somewhere around 200 lbs. The hard part was the weights on the chains making you walk around like a drunken sailor.  After that, came 6 tire flips with the girl tire, then pushing Patty's car.  Pushing her car on the slight uphill grade made your thighs burn.  The downhill, was not so bad.  I finished with a time of 3:02...and some major oogly legs.