Especially when it comes to delivering birthday beat-downs. Seeing as how Mr. Cameron King (pictured above) has one short year left before he departs his twenty’s, it was requested that we make sure he start it off right (many thanks to Bethany for the heads up and request for the birthday WOD!) Of course, we didn’t let on right away, so we class got going with a thorough warm-up, followed by some upper body strength.
* A new take on two warm-up classics, the combo Alt-T Push-Up and Spider Lunge consisted of a push-up, a twist to the side with arm reaching for the ceiling (the “T”), a spider lunge done on the same side once the hand had been replaced on the floor, followed by the same three steps on the other side for one complete rep.
Everyone started off with one set of 10 presses using the bar only as weight. After that, it was two sets of 8 followed by three sets of 5 strict press, working up in weight as able (which is tricky when our temporary weights only include 10lb bumpers to use, meaning the smallest jump is 20lbs).
The lack of dip and drive can really help to focus attention on needing to drive the weight overhead in as straight a path as possible. Any deviation away from the body, often times seen as out-and-around the head, makes the movement infinitely heavier and harder. It’s only natural, of course, to want to keep something away from the face, which is why it’s all the more important to actively think about aiming for the nose when pressing overhead so that the bar path is as close to straight up as possible.
After everyone had completed their last 5 reps of strict press, the bars were stripped down to a weight which was roughly 2/3rds of an athlete’s heaviest successful 5-rep press for the day. This would be the weight they would use for the burn-out. The burn-out included a max effort set of strict press, followed immediately – no putting the bar down – by a max effort set of push press, which was then immediately followed by a max effort set of push jerk.
In honor of Cameron’s 29th birthday, mentioned above, 29 was the theme of the met-con. Class split off into pairs, with each pair laying claim to a bumper plate, a KB, and a pair of jump ropes. On 3-2-1-Go, both partners began working on the couplet of burpees and OH Plate Lunges, with each partner working at the same time. After both had completed two rounds of both exercises, the pair moved on to the next three exercises (Sit-Ups, Swings, and DUs), but now with only one of them working at a time. Once each had completed their respective 29 reps, it was time to start the whole process over again, continuing in the same fashion for 20 minutes. A nice little surprise grinder for Saturday, wouldn’t you agree?
Thanks to everyone for bearing with us as we got going under some unusual circumstances Saturday morning (honestly, walking into a room full of camping gear is not exactly what we had in mind for the day). See you all tomorrow.
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Fun class! Happy birthday, Cameron!
I partnered with Andraea! It was awesome to have her in class on a Saturday! The swings were the worst in the metcon, but I guess better those than kb thrusters!
I really tried to focus on squeezing my glutes during the presses, but on the last set of 5, I only got 4 and the 4th one I was arching all over the place to get that bar up. Work in progress…
Today kicked my ass. Happy Birthday Cameron, and thank you for only being 29!
I worked with Kathy and Bethany on the presses, and we did 5 sets of 8 at 33#. My focuses were not flaring out the elbows, no “ski jump” body, and breathing at the top as Tom suggested. The breathing really did help, but made it harder for me to count. For the AMRAP strict presses, I did 8-ish strict presses and then went right into jerks because that’s how I roll. I did maybe 8 jerks?
I worked with Kathy on the metcon. We used a 15# plate, I went OH with 8 kg KB swings and she went eye level with 16 kg. I think we both struggled through this one, but we made it! We only had the single skips (the easiest, quickest part) to go to make it to 2 rounds. The OH lunges were really rough, a little hip and knee discomfort prevented me from getting my usual depth. The burpee-lunge combo was just brutal, nicely done.
See you all tomorrow for some more ass-kicking.
Definitely fun class. Happy Birthday Cameron!
I worked on a bar with Adri and Julia for the strength portion. My sets were:
10x33lbs
8x53lbs
8x63lbs
5x73lbs
5x83lbs
5x93lbs
I took an extra set to attempt 103 but I didn’t have it in me. It seems I have lost som pressing strength.
I went with 63lbs for the burnout set. Got 15 strict – 5 Push press and 2 jerks. I thinks the weight was too light for jerks cause on the 3rd attempt something weird happened. after I locked out my arm immediately unlocked almost as if I had hyper extended and it was bouncing back the other way.
@Katie – I like the way you roll. I totally should have skipped the push presses. I always have such a hard time with those.
I paired up with Erica and Julia for the metcon. I did OHS with the plate instead of the lunges. It took me 2 sets before I got the hang of them. but what a tough exercise for someone who has a hard time remaining upright on a squat.
Erica and Julia as always are great partners. Erica is so motivational even as she is doing her own work.
Happy Birthday Cameron, I got you some smoked Hamstrings as a gift.
Indeed you did sir. I was still pretty stiff in the hammy hams for yesterday’s (Tuesdays) workout. I slept pretty well last night after them bears got me.
Just wanted to have my first post and say THANKS to all who wished me a happy birthday. It was fun.
Thanks for being awesome CFDCers.
Cameron