Blog Update-4/20

I've been on a little hiatus from blog land due solely to my own laziness. My apologies. Here's an update of the last couple weeks.

The Level 1 Cert down at Rainier CrossFit was excellent! I learned more than I thought I would and had a great time with Loren and his pals from Kirkland CrossFit. Loren and I went after "Fran" at the cert in an epic head to head battle that left me grounded for upwards of a half hour. We were also taught how to lift atlas stones in what I'd call the realization of a boyhood dream (maybe a bit dramatic, but I've seriously wanted to try my hand at atlas stones since I was a lad watching world's strongest man on espn). Kurtis, owner of Rainier CrossFit, schooled us well in the stones and left me wanting more. By the time it was done, I was able to easily hoist a 230# stone! I'll be looking to add stones to JoGo's repetoire at some point in the future, seriously, stay tuned. Overall, the weekend was great and one I'd describe as an excellent "community" experience.

As for my training, here's a quick look at some notable performances from the Level 1 until now, "Fran" included:


Saturday, 4/10-"Fran"

3 rounds, 21-15-9, AFAP of:
-thrusters, 95#
-pull-ups

time=4:22

I missed my pr by almost a minute (3:27). But the standards with the HQ trainers in your grill were STRICT and I had a number of reps not counted. It was a good eye opener for me to realize I need to be more stringent in attaining full range of motion.


Tuesday, 4/12-"Bionic"

"Bionic" is a JoGo benchmark and a gnarly wod. I first went after it February of 2009 at the first annual JoGo Throwdown competition. I finished in 10:49 that day and the winning time was 7:13 by who else, Jer Ingersoll, the metabolic machine from Kirkland CrossFit. I hoped to challenge that time this go-around.

5 rounds AFAP of:

6 x sdhp, 95#
6 x burpees
6 x front squat, 95#
6 x kb swing, 24kg
6 x hang power snatch, 95#

time=7:29

I went after this one with Jonathan and only clipped him by about 5 seconds. It was a good battle and we pushed each other hard towards Jer's time. Didn't get it but were close and certainly pleased with the result. And, btw, Jon's time at the competition was upwards of 13 minutes. That's a hell of an improvement.

Also on this day in the gym, I realized I'm capable of handstands in space as well as walking on my hands which was exciting. Unfortunately, all the excitement cost me a severely bruised hip...but it was worth it.


Friday, 4/16-heavy snatch balances

I've heard much about, and strongly believe in, the benefit of heavy snatch balances. Their ability to get you confident with putting big weight overhead and develop not only speed strength, but confidence in the snatch (my favorite lift), is second to none. So why haven't I been doing them? Great question, was time to start:

3 x 135
3 x 155
3 x 185
3 x 205
1 x 225
1 x 235
1 x 255
1 x 275, failed 3 attempts

Man, again, talk about building confidence. I started light and patterned my way up and pretty soon was putting weight overhead I didn't realize I was capable of. I was SO CLOSE to getting the first attempt at 275, lost shoulder stability coming out of the bottom. I wish I had a video of that first attempt to see what all went wrong. I got the bright idea to record my efforts after that attempt. Here's a video of the second go at 275 attached below. The camera was flipped and I'm not sure how to rotate the video here (I'm technically inept) so you'll have to turn your head, apologies. I wasn't that close on this one but much can be learned from it. Namely, notice how I inclinate forward on my dip and my elbows are way behind the bar instead of beneath it. Where does the bar go and where do I lose the lift? Forward. I'm convinced if I keep a vertical trunk during the dip and suck my elbows under, I make this lift. That's exciting.




Here's another video of Chris Spealler and Eric o'Connor going at snatch balances: Chris vs Eric

There are some fantastic lifts in this video, especially from Chris.