Our day 5 on-ramp class warm-up started fairly reasonably. Three sets of a bear-crawl across the gym, 10 kettle bell swings (18 kg), 10 of something I can’t remember, and long-jumps back across the gym. The warm-up was pretty reasonable again this time. I was just starting to feel sore, heart rate was up, it wasn’t easy at all by round 3, but I still had something left in the tank.
Then we went on to skills. We started by working on jump rope. I did fine with my initial singles (thanks to my junior high wrestling coach), but struggled a bit doing doubles — well, struggled a lot. But I’m sure that I can improve on. The issue wasn’t fitness here, but skill. Chris said that jump rope frustrates many folks as one of the hardest things in cross fit. Hard to imagine, jump rope doesn’t worry me at all. Those toes-to-bar and handstand push-ups make me nervous. Anyhow, we spent about five minutes then moved on.
Next up was pull-ups. Chris seemed surprised that I could do strict pull-ups, but after a few to prove it, we moved on to kipping pull-ups (which he said should make pull-ups easier). This began with a progression of v-ups / super mans on the ground, then practicing on the bar for several sets. I found these harder to do than the actual pull-ups, but it sounds like that’s probably a technique / core-conditioning issue. Regardless, that had my shoulders pretty tired by the time we got to our work out.
Today’s workout: Fight Gone Bad. In short, it’s a 17-minute workout, broken into three sets of five minutes each, with a one-minute rest at the end of each five-minute block. Each five-minute block consisted of:
- 60s wall-ball (14-lb ball this time)
- 60s sumo deadlift high-pull @55 lbs
- 60s box-jumps
- 60s push-press with 45 lbs
- 60s rows
Initially we had the box at the prescribed 20″ at my request, but after finishing the first minute of wall-balls, I could tell that was going to leave me cracking my shins on the box, so I called an audible and moved to the lower box. Each of these exercises by themselves would be pretty reasonable, but I neglected to recall how spent my legs were following the wall-ball exercise. By the time I got to the deadlifts, it was a struggle to keep good form, and my lower back was starting to ache. The box jumps really pushed my legs again, but I kept moving by transitioning to step-ups. The first round of push-press I made through with some challenges, and the 60s row was almost a break in itself on my aching shoulders and back. Round 1 complete, and that 60s break was mighty short.
Round 2 and the wall ball really started to push me. I had to take a 5-6 second break toward the end of the set, and the deadlifts just piled on to sore legs. The box-jumps started with one or two legit jumps, then transitioned to step-ups again, but I kept moving. The push-press, well, that’s where things started to come apart. In this round after hammering out 6 or 7, I had to catch a quick break with the bar on my chest a few times, and that 45-pound bar was mighty heavy by the time the minute was up. Got to the rows again and focused on form. One round left and by now I was really starting to hurt, was a touch dizzy, and just walking to the next station had me pretty jelly-legged.
Round 3 and the wall ball required another break or two, and I even dropped the ball once. Oops. Transitioning to the deadlift and I was really struggling with my form. Put the bar down once for a few seconds, but managed to get through it. The box-jumps were just an ongoing step-up exercise as I sang in my head “just keep swimming…” and the push-press, well, it wasn’t pretty at all, but I survived. When the buzzer sounded to move to the rows I was thrilled, as the row machine does push from a cardio standpoint, but there was no one single muscle group that screamed at me. I was panting and dripping all over by the time that last minute ended, and even getting out of the rowing machine was a little trickier than one might imagine when you’re that exhausted, but overall, another good workout.