Legs and CrossFit Open 12.5

Hell, I ride a bike - why don't my quads look like
Chris Hoy's?

My last workout for a few days as I'm heading off to England this evening. Jet-lag will probably knock me off track for a while, so I haven't decided if it's worthwhile signing up with a local gym for a week a I may only get three days use of it (£30.00 for a week!). It might be better if I go for a few runs instead, especially as the New Hamburg 5K Classic is only a couple of months away.

Front squats:
135 x 3
145 x 3
150 x 3
155 x 3
160 x 3
165 x 3
170 x 2
170 x 3
175 x 2

I used the correct grip throughout this routine, which I'm going to stick with now. 2 reps at 175lb equals my PR, which was using a crossover grip, so I'm very pleased that I seem to have got the hang of it now. Still, it frigging killed my wrists. I concentrated on keeping my had and chest up, which made it much easier to balance the bar correctly, Still, you can see my elbows dip slightly on a few reps. Overall, I'm pleased with today's front squats as my technique seems to be improving, including keeping my weight in my heels.

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I only had enough time for a short metcon today, so why not do this week's CrossFit Open routine? I wanted to make this a quick-moving workout, so I used the women's weight for thrusters. Hell, that's what Kristan Clever used - are you going to argue with her? Also, I opted for chin-ups rather than pull-ups, which is acceptable, according to the demo. I didn't kip too much as I was using the unsecured pull-up rack.

Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes following the rep scheme below:
65lb thruster, 3 reps
3 chest to bar chin-ups
65lb thruster, 6 reps
6 chest to bar chin-ups
65lb thruster, 9 reps
9 chest to bar chin-ups
65lb thruster, 12 reps
12 chest to bar chin-ups...

Score = 12 thrusters and 7 chin-ups (55 reps)

Kristan Clever got 137 reps at this weight - bloody hell! Thrusters aren't a strong move for me, so I think I made the right choice for what is only a 7 minute workout. The men's RX weight is 100lb, which would have been a serious struggle for me. A fast, fun routine that took my breath away really quickly.

Here's my latest flexin' photo. 

CrossFit Open Workouts

The World's Fittest Woman

I checked out the CrossFit Games Open workout this morning and liked the look of it, so I thought I'd give it a go today. This is the third one, and I'd been meaning to do the previous two, but kept putting it off for one reason or another. Like an idiot, I decided to do all three in one training session. Which wasn't my best-ever idea.

Workout 12.1
Amrap 7: Burpees
Score = 74

That's 54 reps fewer than Kristan Clever. Bloody hell. Still, it's only 17 behind Katie Hogan who, quite frankly, scares me. 

I thought I'd do better with burpees, but I felt pretty crappy when I woke up this morning, lacking energy. I've had two consecutive nights of crappy sleep because I've so much on my mind regarding our new house. There's nothing to worry about, just a lot of decisions to make. Anyway, that left me a bit zonked today and I felt like I was in slow motion for the first few minutes. I did my regular burpees, which weren't necessarily to the Games' standards.

Workout 12.2 (Masters: 45+)

Amrap 10: Snatches
Proceed through the sequence below completing as many reps as possible in 10 minutes of:
45 pound Snatch, 30 reps
75 pound Snatch, 30 reps

Oops - I just realised I did the 55+ routine; 45+ Masters are supposed to follow the standard workout. 

I completed my last 75lb snatch with 12 seconds to go, which was barely enough time to change up the weights to 100lb. I didn't even bother to remove the collars because my 1RM for hang power snatches is 95lb, so 100lb wasn't going to happen! For this routine - and the next - I followed the Masters Men's workout, which is ages 45+.

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Workout 12.3 (Masters: 45+)
Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 18 minutes of:
15 Box jumps, 20" box
95 pound Push press, 12 reps
9 Toes-to-bar

Score =  4 rounds + 7 box jumps

Again, I misread the instructions and did the 55+ workout. Muppet.

As I expected, the box jumps were pretty easy and almost totally unbroken (a couple of very quick breathing breaks) as they were only to 20", whereas I typically use at least 24". The push presses were challenging only because I wanted to ensure perfect form and not have the bar out in front of me when I started to get fatigued. I'm pretty sure I managed to push the bar completely overhead with my shoulders slightly behind my head. I wasn't able to complete any unbroken rounds of presses, so whenever I rested the weight on the ground I had to clean it when I was ready to start again. Toes to bar were tough but actually a little easier than I expected, following my last experience with them. None of those were unbroken, but I was able to string together 3 or 4 reps most of the time.

The standard (non-Masters) version of this routine specifies 24" box jumps and 115lb push presses. I could probably handle that, but the latter would have been a struggle. That being said, I think this was an excellent conditioning session.

As friggin' knackered as I felt at the end of today's workout, I actually feel better now than when I woke up.

Cher offered me some words of encouragement during the ride home. When I explained that I'd just done three weeks' worth of CrossFit Open routines in the space of an hour, she looked at me and said: "You idiot." I wouldn't argue with that assessment.

Here's the Open Leaderboard: http://games.crossfit.com/leaderboard

12.3 Demo

Video: Barbells for Boobs

A breast cancer fundraiser from the Crossfit community.