06.03.11 - 30-On, 30-Off

30 Seconds ON, 30 Seconds OFF
Then, 1 min. rest between exercises.

5 Rounds each Exercise

Wall Balls
Box Jumps
Dumbbell Push Press
Kettlebell Sumo Deadlift High Pulls

Record lowest number of reps for each set: 13/12/12/14
Comments: Went into this one pretty sore. Most of my body is hurting me today (Saturday). Used 10# ball, 12" box, 15# DBs, and 30# KB. We were supposed to keep our reps pretty consistent, which I did. This was challenging, but not too hard. I've been loving the interval training WODs we've been getting a lot of lately. I greatly benefit from quick rest in between efforts.

05.02.11 - New Location

Skills Week

Monday: Mobility/Shoulder Girdle

Comments: Not happy with "skills week" so far. We basically stood around for an hour. One side of the space is finished, the other, the CrossFit side, unfinished. It's going to make for a week of lame, super cramped "WODs" I'm afraid. Crossing my fingers I at least break a sweat doing squats with Tim tomorrow. When I read "mobility" I was at least hoping for some of that sweating due to pain rolling/bending/stretching. Not tonight. I don't think I've ever been more disappointed at a night in the "box". No bueno.

07.11.10 - Handstands

I've been out about two+ weeks due (in part) to this pulled spot in my abdomen that makes it impossible to do just about everything (especially burpees and push-ups) without reigniting discomfort. I don't know if I'm being lazy or smart in holding back, but even doing a bunch of silly handstands in the pool made it faintly reappear, so I guess you could say perhaps I am erring on the side of caution?

Katy and I were kind of cracking up at how ridiculous it is to pretend doing handstands in the pool compares to the handstand shots on the beach and such that people tend to send in to the gym. We got a good laugh about how it might be funny to submit this photo to the box, but this really is meant to be a joke. I will say, that while I have done a zillion handstands in the pool in my life time, I had never done them while thinking about my body positioning, and trying to do them in good form before. It's harder than it looks, and I might even say, maybe it's a good way to practice? Best of all it's fun.

So far over the past two weeks I've regretted missing most WODs. I did not, however lament over having to skip today's: completing 100 Thrusters while breaking them up by doing 4 burpees on every minute. That would have been brutal to say the least and I applaud all who accomplished it! I seriously wonder if I would have showed up to this one.

05.07.10 - TGI Almost Saturday

Handstands
Double Unders

Comments: Last day of active rest week. We worked on handstand progressions. I can do a solid head stand and learned how to "approach" the handstand (arms overhead) that made the movement a little better. Hand stands are funny to me in that sometimes I can totally do them and sometimes I totally suck. No real rhyme or reason. Maybe I should clarify that some DAYS I can, some I can't.

Liked the jump rope progression. Likewise with the jump rope, I have on and off days. I can usually kinda do a 1-single, 1-double rhythm, but not doubles consecutively. Well tonight I did 3 double unders in a row. My form totally sucked, but I got 3. In Jr. High we had a dedicated rope jumping unit in PE. I was pretty good at it in like, 7th grade. Our "final" was to make up a routine. Double unders, cross-overs front and backwards, slalom. We also did it during dry land swim practice back in the day as a way to improve our reaction off the block (or something...). So I have it in me, but I definitely need to practice. That's a couple years ago after all – :).

05.05.10 - Progress (Happy Cinco de Mayo)

We worked on the pulls and form of the Olympic Lifts:

Deadlift
Clean
Snatch

Comments: Can't get enough of the lifting, practice or otherwise. Practicing is great. Learned some new moves with the kettlebell (windmill) and did some stretching. I used to click with the clean, but now I sorta like the snatch. I don't know, half the time I feel like I do them right and half not. I tend to get really messed up when we slow the movement down. Kinda bummed we didn't get to learn the kipping progression.

In other news: I learned about Dynamic Apnea today. To see this in action, check out this video. Talk about a subculture – some of these people have learned to hold their breath for nearly 8 minutes. Can't wait to get back in the pool.

05.03.10 - Active Rest/Skills Week

Self-Myofascial Release (Rollers)
Corrective Static Stretching
Rowing Fundamentals

Comments: So it's active/forced rest week. Today we focused on these things. Liked doing the rollers but it tests my patience. I was eternally grateful we didn't use them on our arms, because the backs of mine from the elbow up are still sensitive to the touch from Friday. After I was done with everything I went back in the studio and considered trying it out for a little while on my own for about 2.2 seconds. I think I need another day or two before I subject myself to that degree of torture. Stretching with the band felt good.

Our last focus was the Row. We were to do a 2000m at 70%. So I set out, kept it slow and steady. I was pulling about 18-22 per minute, about 2:00-2:15/500 pace. Ah, I beat my PR by one second? I broke a sweat but wasn't even winded. It's been about 3 months since my last recorded 2000. My time today was 8:50.