Monday

Brandon K says:

This will be the longest post ever: sorry.

For me it is hard to be too confident going into any CrossFit workout or competition just because of the constantly varied and unknown/unknowable essence of the sport. Even though I knew I could deadlift 275 a few times and climb a rope, my imagination would get the best of me because I have never done them in combination and couldn’t really know what my personal outcome would be for that unique combination (and that rope was very high, you guys have no idea). And that goes for all the workouts, since the only thing I’d ever done exactly was a 1RM clean and jerk. Individually all the workouts were certainly tough, physically and mentally with someone you don’t know standing on each side of you.

Sandbag run/ squat – this event certainly challenged an already acknowledged weakness of mine and it showed (doing quick squat repetitions). The times were very close so every second really did count on this even much more than some of the others. 30 seconds cost you 30 or more spots. Running with a sandbag is also quite different and certainly worth starting to incorporate, and I have a feeling we will be. Moral #1: practice the things you stink at before or after the WOD, a lousy 30 seconds could make or break you.

Deadlift/Over box jump/ Rope climb – It would appear a lot of people stink at climbing rope and haven’t practiced moral number one. Lucky for me that happened to be one of my strengths and I managed to place my highest in this event. I think the combo heavy DL and then climb really got peoples grips, this was a nerve racking event to watch. Many, many people would be within inches of the top and couldn’t get there. Again, it was different than what most people are used to, 20′ means a lot more hand over hand climbing instead of a good jump and 2 pulls. Moral #2: practice what you stink at and try not to miss programmed WODs you know will kick your butt.

1RM Clean and Jerk – What can you say, put the weight on, grip it and rip it. But, you only have 10 minutes. I am glad to start seeing some of the heavy lift days have a time element thrown in. I know we all stand around and rest trying to get a new PR (which definitely is fun) but I think we will get stronger in the long run if some of the lift days are just getting the work done with time constraints. The other thing would be make sure you work on your technique (the videos should really shed light on this) and……things you stink at. The reason I say that is because my front squat is not very good, so I could not get more weight simply because I had to power clean it and could not get it up out of a full squat clean. Even if you never plan to compete or if PR lbs instead of PR times are not your thing, the lift days are so important and translate so much to all of the other metcon workouts that are for time, and not only that, but to your functional fitness outside of the gym. If you want to do more work faster, you have to get stronger. Moral #3: Work on your technique (efficiency), come to the lift days. Right Spigner?

Chipper – ouch, this hurt. This one tested just as much mental fortitude as anything. The weight is manageable throughout and you know you have 30 of each movment (aside from double unders and the row) to do and then you’re done, your time is a direct representation of how much you have to rest. It certainly helped to have practiced double-unders so much (used to be something I stunk at). I don’t think my row was very solid, I really let my technique go and used this more as a rest. It seems to me that this type of workout really is the ultimate test of how much you can push yourself. Moral #4: push yourself in the WODs to increase your capacity. I think that this is like anything in life, changes are hard at first, but once they become routine, they don’t get any less hard but they seem completely normal.

Aside from all of that, it was fun and I am glad I did it and also glad it is over. I think the real story here is that Megan and I have been at CCF for about 9 months now and 6 or 7 months ago I was clean and jerking 210 or so and it was ugly, yesterday I did 255. My max deadlift wasn’t much over the 275 we did in the triplet and a long chipper time (ie: Filthy 50) was 10 minutes slower than it is now. How did this happen? We came to CCF and did the workouts to the best of our abilities. I worked on things I stunk at (though not enough probably) and I tried to keep the intensity level as high as I could. It was hard at first (and still is) but now all the things that used to seem crazy are very normal, and that is a good thing. I have heard Paul say that this stuff isn’t magic. That if you put in the right work and programming in one side of the equation the gains come out the other side. And he’s right, just come to the gym as much as you can and try hard. I doubt this is news to anyone, most of you guys have been at this longer than we have. I think this is all to say thanks to Paul, B&B, and all the trainers, and veteran members who have helped us so much. And to encourage any new members that may read this. Get yourself in Carolina CrossFit and you will come out stronger, faster, and better at life.

I’m not usually so mushy.