• ttb:
  • stretch out your hamstrings very well. One of the reasons I can do them so easily is that i’m so flexible. If you are inflexible, you will need to use a lot more strength to try to get your legs up, because you will be fighting against your own muscles.
  • use the kip. Practice hanging from the bar and swinging your hips back and forth like in a kip, then give it a big swing and bring your toes up. Try to do it without the box.
    
  • When i string ttb, i try to think of it as pulling the bar in front of me and down to my feet, rather than my feet up to the bar, they meet in the middle. Kinda like a hurdler stretch where you touch your toes.
  • this person is doing a lot more work than he needs to, he is bringing his feet all the way to the bar, and not using the rest of his body. As you can see, he is a bit inflexible. If he were more flexible, his feet would already be touching the bar. The more inflexible you are, the farther you have to rotate your body to get your feet to the bar.
    
  • This person is pulling the bar down towards their feet, notice how their shoulders are behind the bar and their arms are at an angle. This is a bit easier.
    
• ring dips:

13.5 was deceivingly short and simple looking. “It’s only 4 minutes” was a very common phrase around the gym this week, 4 minutes of hell. Most people agreed that these were some of the worst 4 minutes they had ever done in the gym. I saw a lot of people really push themselves this week. Many people didn’t think they could get chest to bar, and ended up getting multiple reps!

My strategy was simple, go unbroken the first round, then do an 8-7 rep scheme. During the 8-7 rep sets on the thrusters my plan was to rest in the overhead position if possible, and if not then the rack position. Unfortunately I was still getting over my cold/flu, and my lungs were still wheazy and filled with crap. I got gassed very quickly, and was unable to keep any sort of decent pace through the second round. I dropped the bar on the thrusters twice, and took too much rest. I ended up with 50 reps. I considered doing the wod a second time, but I decided that I was too sore and probably would not do much better the second time around. I’m happy with my score.

I don’t get sick too often anymore, but when I do, I get REAL sick. I spent tuesday through friday of this week so sick that I couldn’t do much of anything. I stayed home from work twice. I didn’t crossfit. I couldn’t drive. At some points I couldn’t even watch TV. I was just hoping that I could get well enough to make an attempt at 13.4 saturday afternoon.

I was ill prepared for my workout saturday afternoon. My workout gear was in another city, with my car, so I borrowed a pair of shoes, and hopped on the train to Rowfit. When I arrived at Rowfit I was still woozy from the Nyquil. I began my usual warmup routine and stretching. I decided to take a lot of care warming up for the clean and jerks. I wanted them to feel light and smooth. I did sets of 3 cleans, 3 jerks, 3 clean and jerks at 45#, 95#, 115#, and 135#.

Fast forward to WOD time. Janet showed up just in time to be my judge. I knew it was going to be a rough WOD because I was still very sick, but I was hoping to make it through the round of 12. I decided not to touch and go the clean and jerks, because it did not feel right on my shoulders on the way down. I kept a decent but slow pace on the clean and jerks, and did not rest at all on the toes to bar. I strung each set of toes to bar together without breaking. The cleans did not phase me but the jerks were a bit messy. I ended up with 51 reps, which is not too bad for being ill. I feel that when I do this WOD again in a healthy state, I should be able to get into the 70s. Thanks for being a great judge Janet!

Attempt #1:
Going into this workout I knew my wall balls were solid, my dus were clean, and I had never done a muscle up before. Thanks to a few muscle up progression videos on youtube, and a muscleup demonstration video by Chris Spealler, I was able to get my first ever muscle up in practice before the WOD!

I expected the bulk of the strategy to be with the wall balls. The double unders would take me about the same amount of time fresh or tired so I had to get the wall balls right. I decided that I wanted to break my wall balls up into 30, 15,15,15…. I knew that I could save some energy by resting like Kristan Clever holding the ball against the wall. My strategy went very smoothly until about 90 reps in. I had to cut back to sets of 10. I finally finished the wall balls at about 8’30”. I walked over to the jump rope and started my double unders. My quads were on FIRE! It was difficult just to get off the ground. I managed to finish all 90 double unders in about 3 minutes, leaving me around half a minute to attempt a muscle up. I would have loved to have gotten 241 reps. I made two solid attempts at a muscle up but just didn’t have the strength to hold it together.

Looking back on 13.3 I am very happy with a score of 240, and I know that by next year I will definitely be able to push to 241 and beyond.

Attempt #2: …wait are you kidding? Ain’t nobody got time for that.

13.2 is finally over, and I have some interesting thoughts looking back on it.

Step-ups vs Box Jumps: There was a lot of talk going around about step-ups vs box jumps and which movement was legit. Many people at first felt that it was somehow cheating to do step-ups and that “real” athletes do box jumps. The truth is that rx is rx. And if the rules say step-ups are allowed, then by all means use them if it helps you. If you expect to compete in future wods with box jumps, you are going to have to learn how to do box jumps, but 13.2 is not necessarily the time to practice that. From what I gather, there were many achilles injuries in previous years where box jumps were involved, and Crossfit HQ probably wanted to reduce the possibility of injury this early in the competition. I did step-ups, and so did most other people. I do not feel bad about it. I can still rep out box jumps when needed, and thanks to the step-ups, my ankles live to fight another day.

Cheating: 420 reps? Really? Show me the video. When I judge someone I am strict, and I give good feedback to the athlete so that they can correct their form mid wod to avoid no-reps. If an athlete is on the border of being no-repped on a box jump, I will yell “lock out” or “full-extension”. Nine times out of ten the athlete will correct their form to avoid the no-rep but also because they want to have good form. Some boxes/coaches/judges that I’ve seen online give crossfit a bad name by not enforcing the standards. They promote speed over form, which in turn promotes injury. I like the idea I heard online, that anyone who places in the top 10 for an open workout, should have to submit a mandatory video for the next workout.

13.2
AMRAP in 10 Minutes of:

5 Shoulder to Overhead (115#)
10 Deadlift (115#)
15 Box Jump/Step Ups

Attempt #1: 193 reps

10 minutes sounds easy , but it really wasn’t. For my first attempt, I was unaware that step ups were allowed. I found that my muscles were still fatigued from the previous week, and I hadn’t fully recovered. The box jumps were rough on my ankles and I was not jumping high enough. Each box jump was becoming more and more of a squat at the top. I decided to push jerk instead of press, and it proved to be a good decision. The 5 push jerks were very quick and did not fatigue me at all. Surprisingly the deadlifts were burning my hamstrings, but as Janet pointed out, that means I was doing them right. If I had been doing them wrong my back would have been hurting.

About two or three rounds in my stomach began cramping severely. It was very distracting and really slowed me down. It hurt enough for me to consider quitting, however Ari kept me going. I finished with 193 reps, short of my 200 goal. I knew I was going to try a second time, and I was going to be well prepared.

Attempt #2: 240 reps

I took two days off of crossfit to heal and recover before my second attempt. I made sure to eat and drink (water) plenty the night before. I made sure not to drink any alcohol either. I arrived at the gym feeling very fresh sunday afternoon. This time I had a new strategy: no rest, just a constant pace, and I would use step ups/downs. I tested the step ups/downs vs. box jumps and found them to be a little faster and less tiring. With Janet as my judge, I set out at a decent pace. Like my previous attempt, the push jerks did not tire me. This time the deadlifts also did not tire me. I didn’t even feel them until about 7 minutes in. I kept a steady but not blazing pace on the step ups. I think I rested less than 10 seconds total during the ten minutes. When the bell rang I had hit my goal of 8 rounds (240 reps). And I’m happy with that.

A little over a year ago, I attended my first crossfit class thanks to Janet’s invitation. I was sweating buckets and surely did not feel fit enough to even be in the room. I gracefully passed on the next few invitations. Then one day, Janet surprised me with a youswoop. “I dunno…I’m not fit enough for that…” were among some of my responses, however the tickets were already purchased, and I didn’t have to go alone, Janet would be joining me.

When I started elements, I was in bad shape. My cholesterol was high. My blood pressure was VERY high. I was overweight and just generally out of shape. I had a big reality check when I realized that I could no longer do a pullup or more than a few pushups. Back in high schools those used to be so easy. Instead I had to use the bands for assistance. I could not wait to get off of them. When I finished elements I started using the barbells for pretty much the first time in my life. I had never really used the barbell or free weights before, so I felt uncomfortable and awkward. I started off using only the bar. Any weight at all on the bar seemed excessive. I remember box jumps being my enemy.They were one of the most tiring movements I had to do. What the hell is a double under???

Fast forward a little over a year. I’m down about 30 lbs total, including a little more muscle and a little less fat. My cholesterol is normal, my blood pressure is normal, my kidney functions are normal. I feel great, sleep better, and seem to be a better worker. I now consider box jumps to be fun. Burpees aren’t so bad. I can do several strict pullups and many pushups. I also am really enjoying bar movements (minus thrusters and strict press of course, those still suck). Soon I hope to start working more on my oly skills. After many hours of practice and thousands of double unders later, I can finally say “I have them”.

Little by little I’m becoming the person I want to be. Happier and healthier. I can’t wait to see where I’ll be in a year.

Thanks Rowfit.

Well 13.1 is finally over and here are some of my thoughts as I look back on it.

I still KNOW that I could have done better, but I need to realize that it is an accomplishment just to be here. A year ago I was lifting the bar and nothing more for some WODs, now I’m here. Looking back, it is also an an accomplishment know that I’ve done more snatches at 135lb in 13.1 than I have ever done TOTAL at 135lb before this.

After any athletic competition one can always say “i could have tried harder..”. Of course you could have. Unless you die the moment you cross the finish line, you still had an ounce of energy left in you that you could have used. You have to be proud of what you have already accomplished. Don’t forget to stop and smell the roses.

13.1:
AMRAP in 17 minutes of:
40 Burpees
75 pound Snatch, 30 reps
30 Burpees
135 pound Snatch, 30 reps
20 Burpees
165 pound Snatch, 30 reps
10 burpees
210 pound Snatch, as many reps as possible

Attempt #1: 121 reps with first set of snatches finished in 6:17.
Before this workout I had only snatched 135lbs maybe 5 other times. To my surprise, I was able to snatch 135lbs 21 times in my first try! At the end of the workout, I did have a significant amount of energy left, and I just knew I could do better. I could visualize making it to 130 reps, and I knew if I could do that, I could surely pound out 20 extra burpees, time permitting. My goal was 150.

I spent the next two days visualizing 13.1, and even dreaming of getting 1 rep at 165lbs. I went to an olympic weightlifting gym to get some extra practice on my snatch and it was really valuable. I was snatching 140lbs and it was feeling light. The problem was that I was fresh, and my form was good, but in 13.1 I would be 70 burpees in plus 30 snatches before I attempted my first 135lb snatch.

Attempt #2: 124 reps with first set of snatches finished in 4:40.
I showed up saturday morning for my second attempt at 13.1. I had my game plan all set. I wanted to give myself as much time as possible at 135lbs, and also to improve my tie breaker time of 6:17 in the event that I did not finish all 30 135lb snatches. I knew I wanted to go unbroken on my burpees, and I wanted to string 15 and 15 75lb snatches. I made good time on the wod, was able to stick to my gameplan, and finished my first 30 snatches in 4:40! After 30 more burpees I had about 9 minutes to knock out 30 snatches. I thought to myself “no problem”, however I was tired, and I had not completely recovered from the past two workouts. My form suffered, my motivation suffered, and it proved more difficult than I would have expected. I was able to get through 24 snatches at 135lbs, and I’m happy with that.

B-