Friday 12/05/2008

WOD
From CrossFit Main Site (Thursday 081204):

Five rounds for time of:
50 pound dumbbell, walking lunge, 10 alternating steps
50 pound dumbbell, swing, 15 reps

The instructions for this workout were pretty ambiguous, so I performed the lunges with two 50# DBs (yes, in case you were wondering, they were pretty f%&*ing heavy) at the low carry position. Swings were performed with one 50# DB to full overhead lockout. Perhaps I hadn't noticed the need for torso stabilization as much with lighter weights, but I definitely felt it today. I think weighted lunges are a great exercise for developing core stability! Oh, and heavy weighted lunges beat weighted stepups any day in terms of Ass-Kicking Potential (AKP)*.

*A term created by Keith Wittenstein of CrossFit Virtuosity, and frequently used in the CrossFit circle to objectively quantify the Suck Factor of a particular movement.

Time: 10:42

WOD
From NavySEALS.com:

"Ladder of Death"

Thrusters (Rx'd: 65#)
Pull-ups

Ladder is for thrusters only. Starting with 25, then 20, then 15, 10, 5, then 10, 15, 20 and ending at 25. Do 10 pull-ups between each set of thrusters. Try to do unbroken sets of both thrusters and pull-ups. That is very challenging though, so if you can't then do as many as you can in the first set, then finish them off. Get into the habit of only resting for 3 breath cycles between broken sets.

Time: 17:20

This workout wasn't as daunting as I originally imagined it to be. It's kind of like a Mega-Fran, which was, well, a real treat since I'd done Fran only two days ago. I must say, 65# thrusters definitely feel really light, after using 95# for all my workouts. I was glad that the prescribed weight (for males) on the Navy SEALs site was 65# for this workout, since it allowed me to gauge the progress I'd made via consistent overloading.

Breakdown of Thrusters/Pullups:
25T/10P
10T/10T/10P
8T/7T/6P/4P
10T/8P/2P
5T/10P
10T/6P/4P
8T/7T/8P/2P
10T/10T/9P/1P
10T/8T/7T

If this workout ever reappears in the cycle, I'll try to minimize the number of breaks within sets of thrusters and pullups. I realized that I didn't exactly follow the instructions of performing as many reps as possible in the first set. My strategy instead was to break the entire set down into more manageable sets, which explains sets like 10T/8T/7T. It's probably wholly psychological, but it makes it seem far more doable.

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"It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper."
- R. Serling