Wednesday Workout

Warm up started with 400 meter run. we then did 3 rounds:

• 10 pull-ups
• 10 air squats
• 10 ab-mat sit-ups

From there the workout was prescribed as 8 rounds of the following for time:

• 10 kettlebell swings (53/35)
• 10 weighted lunges (53/35)
• 10 clapping push-ups

It was explained to me at the start to simply use the kettlebell for the weighted lunges and hold it up high under the chin with both hands. The kettlebell swing is one of the exercises where I think they prescribe way too much weight every time I see it. Perhaps I am just a wuss but it seems to me there are very few people out there that should really be doing kettlebell swings with 53#. I started off with the 35# kettlebell and after the first round dropped to 30# which is plenty for an 8 round cycle. This is a move that seems to me it would be real easy to do wrong and the consequences of that could be really bad. If you do not know what this move is you can have a look here. I think I probably go down too far on this one and get the legs a little more involved than this guy does and I also go up a good bit higher on the front end as well. I do try very hard to concentrate on getting the hips moving and having that be the core of the movement but I will admit that as you get tired it is easy for this exercise to fall apart which is why I think the weight needs to be right for you. I did the lunges with the 30# kettlebell as well rather than a 53# as prescribed. Again, that is a lot of weight for a lunge at least for me. I might have been able to do the 35# but I had the 30# kettlebell there for the swings so I used that. I also modified the push-ups. I did not come all the way up for a clap but I did go plyometric with them and made sure to push my hands up off the ground on every one of them. They did not get real high but I did what I could do on those and all 80 were plyometric. I completed the workout in 13:01 with the modifications mentioned above.

This is a good example of what I was talking about in my last post that the workouts are no more dangerous than others if you use your head. I could have gone out and tried to do this workout as prescribed so I could show off for the ladies but I would have run a much higher risk of hurting myself. The bottom line is my days of needing to show off for anyone are long over and that to me is a good place to be if you are going to walk into a crossfit gym. If you are young and stupid and trying to show off some of these workouts will likely bite you in the ass and the consequences could be a serious injury. Be smart and scale the workouts as needed and you should be fine. That is not to say you should be a slack ass out there. I was working my ass off on this one but I was doing it with weights that I was able to control through this somewhat complex moves in a manner that I felt was safe. Make no mistake though, I was wiped by the end of that 13:01.

I cooled down with a 200 meter run and a bunch of stretching as I normally do.