So it was with the choice that greeted class on Sunday: to perform either the second Open Qualifier workout (11.2), or one of two benchmark girl WOD’s – Fran or Karen. Most chose the 11.2 workout, with only 3 opting for Karen (poor Fran, left out again); while class seemed to fly past, I have a feeling that the actual minutes spent performing the workouts were, well, lousy…
Great work everyone, especially regarding form on the workouts. Talk about being proud of your athletes.
Hopefully everyone can get outside today to enjoy another taste of Spring, even if for just a little while. Additionally, after a nothing-but-metcon-Sunday, the word is out that Tuesday is a heavy day, so come prepared!
If not, be sure to, and the flip to page 141 (“Doing It Better”) to read up on the “top personal trainers, yoga teachers, golf pros, running coaches, and other workout experts” in Washington, DC. HINT: someone you know and love can be found amongst the rabble.
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One of my old coaches used to say that it’s rare for game plans to survive real-life contact. But in this case, Tom’s strategy not only survived 11.2; I am 100% certain that I couldn’t have done the workout any other way.
What worked, for me, was that Tom’s plan made use of the clock – turned it into an asset, a means of staying on track – rather than treating it as the enemy. The sendoffs and breaks also had the feel of a swim set or track workout, and I found that familiarity reassuring.
This isn’t to say that the 15′ hurt any less. Having a strategy doesn’t make a workout any easier; what it does is make it possible to go harder. And with this one, I think I went pretty deep into the pain cave. There is no way that I would have finished without Tom keeping me calm and coaching me through every rep. And all the encouragement from the CFDC crew – audible even through my gasping and wheezing – kept me moving to the very end. Thank you all for pushing me and making me better.
Julia – That was an awesome performance you gave. Same to Mark and Dan. Wish I had Tom’s strategy on thursday. 🙂
Everyone in class pushed hard on that workout. I had the pleasure of counting for Max and Mark. Max took on the WOD with 135lbs on the bar. I believe this might have been his first high rep deadlift metcon. Even when the weight got really heavy for him he kept great form. Nice work Max.
Mark was a machine. with the exception of the rest time perscribed by Tom he did not stop or break reps at all. We could all take a lesson or 2 from Mark on the box jumps. in the last 25 seconds he finished 15 with 6 or 7 seconds left to get back on the bar and bang out 4 deadlifts.
As for me, I was one of the few who opted to do Karen. I used the 16lb ball cause we don’t have a 14lb (womens Rx weight) wall ball. I think we were 3 mintues in and Chris was already over 100 WB shots. I hadn’t even made it to 50. It took me so long to finish that I think I was getting bored. I had a hard time strining more than 2 or 3 shots toghether at once cause I had to jump in order to hit the target. As a result I did not stay in a stationary spot and could not get a rhythm going. What should have been a fairly quick workout turned into a very long 14 minutes.
Sunday looked like a “fun” class. Im sorry to have missed it. Doron and I will be out of town all week so I won’t be back until next Tuesday.
Why is it that “competition push-ups” are engineered to enforce the strictest possible form, while “competition burpees” allow any kind of dead-fish flop that gets you from the ground to more or less vertical, with no push-up of any kind?
Great job Julia! That was an amazing performance and effort. It was awesome seeing everyone give the CF open event a try, Sunday or earlier in the week. Definitely a hard friggin’ WOD. I really liked Tom’s strategy for it. Once again, the box jumps were the limiting factor for me, I felt like I could consistently move through everything else, but just got gassed on those (definitely MUCH better than I have been).
@John the burpee standards vary based on the event. I’ve been to competitions where there were standards that required you click your heels together to ensure you were getting up off the ground, or you had to jump over a barrier (typically a bar w/ plates), or you had to bring your hands up off the ground (similar to the games standard on the push-ups). In my opinion, no matter what variation they’re super tough. The “flop” is just way to move quicker, I think one could argue either way on whether this is good or not (e.g. stricter form would result in more rapid muscle failure, but the slower turnover would not tax conditioning as much).
Anyway, excited about the next wod (TBA tonight). Hope everyone gives this one a try as well!
I haven’t been really into the CF Games scene since 2009 so I missed out on how game competitors did the push-ups last year. From what I’ve seen and experienced outside the Games, the hands-off pushups encourages minor flopping & saggy cores and its only benefit is making it easier for judges to tell whether the person’s chest is to the deck. I don’t think I’ve seen your standard strict push-ups come from this hands-off method. I try not to get hung up over game standards b/c they’re just that, standards for this one event. Its just engineered to benefit the judges (while giving the competitors a tough time & fans something new to try of course). I guess the slop is more efficient too.
I don’t like them b/c I just felt like I was flopping around. Getting myself off the ground repeatedly is going to hurt regardless and my back may love me more if I stuck with traditional push-ups.
Julia, that was truly an awesome effort – awe-inspiring to say the least!
Same to Dan and Mark – great jobs on a tough WOD.
@John: the “hands-off-the-floor” standard, for both push-ups and burpees, is less about rigidity in form and rather more about completing a standard shared by both = chest to the floor. Raising the hands simply forces the body lay completely on the ground, ensuring that the competitors chest is touching. This makes it much easier on a judge; last years Sectionals drove this point home when more than a few competitors were clearly “ground humping” their push-ups (i.e., hips were touching the floor while chests were visibly not touching). More to the point, the raising of hands doesn’t actually enforce strict form, as evidenced by the “snaking” of many competitors during the last competition WOD (despite HQ’s express prohibition against such movement); however, it is a step in the right direction.
Weren’t you and Tom B. talking about some dude doing head-banging push-ups or something? I WANNA SEE!!!
The headbanging was on the deadlift.
although, Dan did say his chin was sore after that workout…
I’ll take the head-banging DLs!!! I guess it’s a vid on the Game site?
… I was trying to kip on the push-ups off of my chin… didn’t turn out so great
I’ve amended my prediction for this week’s event. I had previously suggested that it would include some combination of pull-ups and running/rowing. I now predict, however, that it will be a one-rep max overhead squat. The standard will be quite simple: hip goes below knees at the bottom, and full extension at the top.
Since I don’t follow the .com workouts, I’ve done the hands-off push-ups only a few times. One was at CFDC and the others were when I was traveling and wanted a way to scale up the difficulty a little without extra equipment. (My usual scale-up is a plate on my back or a weight vest.)
My experience with those is that it really changes the movement. You sag because it’s harder to maintain a rigid body while resting on your chest, and the pecs are taxed harder because you don’t get as much lat engagement.