Monday Workout

I was still sore this morning going into the gym, that Friday workout was a bitch. Adding Saturday on top of it probably didn't help. I was the only one there this morning and knocked the warm up out real quick. It was 200 single jump ropes followed by 3 rounds:

• 10 abmat sit-ups
• 10 hip extensions
• 10 air squats

We then were to do a bit of skill work. This was prescribed as 15 minutes of work on wall climbs. I had looked them up last night and found this video. Just ignore the douche with his shirt off, this is the kind of shit that gives crossfit a bad name. We all get that you are a bad ass, now put your shirt back on at the gym please. These turned out to be a bit easier than I was thinking they would be and I did a number of them. There were 2 parts that were maybe a bit tricky. First your feet tend to slip on the wall a bit but that will depend on your wall and shoes so maybe not a problem for you. The other thing is I did not go all the way to having my chest against the wall. I was a few inches probably from the wall at the top of the move. I really felt like if I went any further I would fall over backwards and I did not want to risk that. This seems to be a real good core exercise as well as the obvious shoulders and arms work going on. I think they will be working this in to a WOD somewhere soon, should be fun.

The workout was prescribed as a ladder:

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

• hang power cleans (135/95)
• pull-ups

Sounds simple right. Well I put the prescribed 135# on and there was no way I was going to hang clean that. I worked down and settled on the 95# weight for this workout and was ready to go. I think I could have done a lot more if we were just to do power cleans rather than hang cleans. You can get a bit of momentum going into the move on those. For the difference see this power clean video and this one on the hang clean. The second on the hang clean is really showing a squat clean and you don't need to get that low in the squat to do a hang clean but my point is the starting position being the floor on a standard clean gives more momentum up through the move and lets me pull more weight. I did the pull-ups almost all as jumping pull-ups, I really need to work on pull-ups. I completed the workout in 13:59. By the end I was doing both the exercises 2 at a time with a real quick, maybe second or less, break in between.

On other news, my wife has been thinking of getting into some lifting and so I have been considering switching back to working out at home. I figure we can buy an old used set of weights and a couple bars for maybe $100-$200. I could make some medicine balls out of old basketballs. I might need to get a couple kettlebells and a bench. But I could probably do most of the workouts at home maybe with a bit of modification. I also would be able to more easily work in some traditional strength training which is something I have been thinking of doing lately. I would have to give up the working out with those at the gym which does push me some but if I do the workout the day after they do I can see their times and still have something to shoot for. It would save a crapload of money that is for sure and I could workout at different times of the day. At the current gym the 6:00 am is about the only one I can do. It is a bit easier to sit your ass on the couch and skip a day when there is no one to keep account too which could be an issue but I could always go back. Still thinking about it, we will see.