Has it really been 3 weeks since our last front squat session? Why, yes it has. And, why, lookie here, it’s time for some more front squats. This time around, the front squats were mixed with some upper-back/core work in the form of L Pull-Ups; however, both were really a stalling tactic for the met-con to follow.
Tuesday’s program called for 2 to 3 warm-up sets mixed with two different mobility exercises, followed by 5 working sets of 5 reps which were mixed with the aforementioned L Pull-Ups. If L Pull-Ups were a no go, scaling included strict pull-ups or negatives (but only 2-3 negatives at a time).
Seems confusing, but it’s actually quite straight forward: row 500m, then move immediately to the push press. Perform as many unbroken push press as possible, resting only in the front rack position (not on the ground, and not in the squat racks) for no more than 2 seconds. Once you put the bar down, subtract the number of push press completed from 100, and that’s the number of burpees you need to complete in whatever time remains in the 8 minutes.
Weights for the push press were set at 95 and 75 for guys, 75 and 55 for the ladies. Of course, you didn’t really have to do any math in the middle of the workout – simply start your burpee count where you left off in the push press, and don’t stop till you get to 100. Congrats to Dan and Julia on finishing before time was up, and a shout out to Robin for coming within a scant 2 reps of finishing. Anyone else come within 5 reps of finishing? 10 reps?
Great work across the board in a class with two very intense work portions. Just a reminder: the Smackdown is taking place this upcoming Saturday, February 4th. The event will kick-off at 11AM, with the first workout most likely starting at 11:30. There will be 3 workouts per team, with a 4th workout for the top 5. If you’re signed up, start getting psyched. If you’re not signed up, but will be around, please stop by to cheer on your fellow crossfitters and classmates!
.
0 Comments
Oh boy. Hope W? N? -pullups counted.
Nice work, all. Thanks to everyone who cheered us on – excited to pay it forward at Sat’s throwdown!
Well let’s see, I did some pre class work knowing it would interfere with performance in the metcon. I was going for a 1RM on strict press. I got 110lbs which is a 5 lb PR. I tried 115lbs but it just wouldn’t go anywhere.
For the front squats I stayed pretty light. I only got 4 sets in and went up to 110lbs. I held a 1-2 second pause on each rep in the bottom position and while I have no problems with the rack position I could still feel myself rising from the bottom hips first causing me to pitch forward slightly. This is my biggest limiter in the front squat and what I have been trying to work on.
I surprised myself with being able to get a l-hang chinup. In the first set I got 1, then 2 on set 2 & 3 plus one with knees tucked. Last set I accidently used a pullup grip and got 1 then did a chinup from the tucked position.
On the metcon I got 11 PP and finished with 62 reps. I have a question about the weights. Why were 95 & 75 chosen for top weights as opposed to 95 & 65 that we might normally see?
Awesome job to Julia and Dan for smoking the metcon!
This one left a bitter taste in my mouth. I ended up with 81 (23 push presses + 58 burpees). Looking back on it, it’s easy to see the seconds wasted over the course of 8 minutes that could have been used to pump out additional burpees. Wasted time between dismounting the rowing machine and picking up the barbell. Wasted time walking from the platform over to the other side of the gym for burpees. Wasted time looking at the clock between burpees. Wasted time “pacing” myself between each burpee.
Anyways, this workout was very competition-like from the standpoint that it tested your willingness to work past your comfort zone. Those who made it (Dan and Julia) were willing to sacrifice temporary discomfort. I, for some reason, was unwilling to make the same sacrifice.
Great job by everyone Tuesday night! People were giving some serious effort.
Ha, SBV, if only you could have seen the “time wasting” I did during the metcon. I actually stoppped and asked Chris “is this really possible”. MAJORLY wasting time! Whoops. And I was way off. I think I only got up to 66, but actually completed the additional 34 burpees afterwards because I was pretty disappointed about not making it to 100. Although now I know it wasn’t possible for humans, only Danimals and giggling hyenas (both terms I swear, I use with the ut-most endearment).
Front squats were rough. I worked with the “ladies” and I think Amelia and I did all of our 5 working sets at 95lbs, which was was impressive. I had to do negatives, which are leaving me very sore this morning.
I got pretty cozy with the foam roller last night. It was hot.
Rough night for me…I had gotten a 40# front squat at the end of December (missed the mid-January session), but struggled with that as my max weight for my last set, and I only did 3 reps and they weren’t good. I did something like 30-30-35-35-40. I’m not quite there on controlling myself for negative chin-ups, so I did negative push-ups instead. I’m trying to push my elbows up, but that’s much easier said than done…
Tough met-con! Thanks to Chris for holding down my foot and for the coaching on the erg…I need to keep my legs straight until my hands have passed my knees when releasing. I think that helped my efficiency a lot. I had to pause for a good 30+ seconds after thr rowing to catch my breath for the PP. Used 30# for the PP and did 20, then completed 30 burpees. Nowhere near finished, but it was a good workout and I pushed hard, so I was content. Julia and Dan were awesome to watch completing the burpees, it’s amazing they can just keep going!!
I’m outing myself as a Biggest Loser fan here, but did anyone see it last night??? (Erica perhaps?) Bob’s team did Fran! And they actually called it Fran and mentioned “WOD.” It was pretty cool.
Chris your punny blog titles are sooo awesome. (But I have a terrible sense of humor, so not sure if that actually should be taken as a compliment).
This workout was very humbling for me. I got up to 65# on the front squats, but I’m not sure I was really squatting deep enough there at the end. I did negatives as a scaled back version of the pull ups in sets of 3. I’m so impressed by everyone’s ability to do those! My negatives were basically slowing down the drop by a fraction of second.
The Metcon was good. I love how rowing really engages every part of your body. I only got in 8 push press at 45# before going into burpee land, but totally lost count… I was just trying my best to keep moving!
OMG Katie, Ben was going NUTS when he saw them do Fran and was critiquing them all over the place. He was so excited, but then so disappointed in their form. Particularly when Chris finished in 4 minutes something. But hey, everyone’s got to start somewhere. It was really exciting
I’m very disappointed that I missed this. I no doubt would have clutched my chest and spat out a few swear words along the way. Congratulations to Julia and Dan for finishing. Sounds like everyone made an amazing effort.
I find it really inspiring to watch people like Julia and Dan finish workouts like this. I have a really hard time pushing for very long into my discomfort zone. Where do you find the will to just keep pushing? When it gets really rough during workouts like this I can give a class on “time wasting.” I take a sip of water, look at my shoes, pull on my pants, wipe my face, make sure my earrings are still in place, etc. I need to work on my endurance.
I’m having a rough week so I probably will miss tomorrow as well. I’m looking forward to Saturday and I hope I will be able to bring my niece. I think she will get a kick out of it.
As Erica said, we worked at 95# for the front squats which I was happy with since I think the last time we did front squats I was doing sets of 3 at 100.
Metcon was tough. Only got 15 on the push press at 55 and then totally lost count in burpee land. I tried to mostly keep moving but admit that I probably could have pushed myself harder.
Kenna, I’m so glad to hear that there are such appreciative connoisseurs of witty/punny blog titles out there.
I’d just like to put things in perspective with regards to last nights workout – and I freely admit that I am totally stealing this thought from Tom: none of your efforts are in any way diminished by the fact that you were “X” amount of burpees away from finishing. This is not to take away from Dan and Julia – their performances were awesome, and they both set awesome benchmarks. But remember where you are; you’re not at Silver’s or Washington Sporty Crowd, you’re at a CrossFit gym. Imagine what 95% of the people at either of those fine establishments would say if you asked them to row 500m, then do 10, 15, maybe 20 unbroken push press before diving right into 30, 40, maybe 50 burpees? oh, wait, you need to tell them they have to do it all in just 8 minutes.
Again, it’s all about perspective. Don’t ever lose sight of that.
I managed to do 20 reps at 75lbs and then 45 burpees. My front squat was 110lbs but I can probably go heavier next time. I was surprised that I could do the L hang chin up at all. I managed to do 5 on the first rep.