Ahhh....It's week two of five of the CrossFit Open. This week's WOD is a repeat from last year. To quote Dave Castro (the evil villain who eats, sleeps, and breathes the fire that ignites the Open), "15.2 is 14.2."
Every 3 minutes for as long as possible complete:
From 0:00-3:00
2 rounds of:
10 overhead squats (95 lb men / 65 lb women.)
10 chest-to-bar pull-ups
From 3:00-6:00
2 rounds of:
12 overhead squats (95 / 65 lb.)
12 chest-to-bar pull-ups
From 6:00-9:00
2 rounds of:
14 overhead squats (95 / 65 lb.)
14 chest-to-bar pull-ups
Etc., following same pattern until you fail to complete both rounds
Well I ran into this problem last year: The stupid OHS! At that time I had never performed one that heavy. Somehow I managed 3 reps. Yeah, that's all I got. It was frustrating because I CAN DO CHEST-TO-BAR PULL-UPS!!! So here I am a year later facing the same dilemma. I can do 65 lb OHS somewhat more easily now but I didn't think I could even get one round in the first three minutes, let alone two. 65 lbs is still quite heavy for me for an OHS (my 1 rep max is 75 lb). There's another factor: I've got a semi-messed up shoulder. I will leave out the details for now, but it's caused some grief over the last few months. Stuff that's slightly heavy for me really aggravates it. Thankfully, our Evil Villain has softened for 2015 and created a scaled version which I was beyond excited about:
Every 3 minutes for as long as possible complete:
From 0:00-3:00
2 rounds of:
6 overhead squats (65 lb men/ 45 women lb.)
6 chin-over-bar pull-ups
From 3:00-6:00
2 rounds of:
8 overhead squats (65 / 45 lb.)
8 chin-over-bar pull-ups
From 6:00-9:00
2 rounds of:
10 overhead squats (65 / 45 lb.)
10 chin-over-bar pull-ups
Etc., following same pattern until you fail to complete both rounds
45 lbs is manageable yet still challenging and regular pull-ups....my favorite! And I'm good at them (or I like to think I'm good at them)! The first sets starts at 6 reps rather than 10 in the Rx version so that's helpful, too. My goal was to reach the fourth set with 12 reps in it.
The first set of rounds was fairly easy. I went slower cause it's essentially a "death by" workout of OHS and pull-ups so I didn't want to gas myself too quickly. I kept the slower pace for the second set, too. I also started noticing that the other competitors who already finished began gathering to watch. (Oh goodie....now there's multiple sets of lively eyeballs upon me.) About halfway through the third set I started to get really tired. I wanted it to be over. I remembered my goal to get to the fourth set. I made the last pull-up with a few seconds left. Whew!....Ok, now my lungs are burning. Hello! Oxygen what the hell is taking you so long?! Life, please return back to my airways, like, pronto! I vaguely heard my good buddy, Katie, who was keeping score, tell me to keep going as I was at my desired set. I gritted my teeth, gripped the barbell and snatched it overhead. 45 lbs is now feeling like twice that. Twelve more times I went down and up stabilizing the barbell with whatever fibers remaining that still worked. Such relief to put down that thing! With tiny beads of sweat dotting my skin, I kipped my chin over the monkey bar above my head eleven more times. Then the timer went off. I splatted to the floor in euphoric release awaiting the arrival of oxygen in regular smooth intervals; you know, normal humanoid breathing. The floor felt cool on my hot skin. Katie plopped my tumbler of lime-infused water on my belly. "Here's your water," she said. Just what I needed after surviving death-by OHS and pull-ups!
I was ecstatic to accomplish 119 reps in twelve minutes.
I was ecstatic to accomplish 119 reps in twelve minutes.
But I'm not gonna lie: the following day I was sore. My muscles ached and my shoulder is feeling it. I hope it recovers over the weekend as I'm looking forward to next week's Open WOD. I'll get done what I can get done with what my body will allow. However, I would like a break from pull-ups.
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