"Back to the 'Burg" #9

The last couple of challenges had me thinking about what we could come up with next.
Well Brian never ceases to amaze me.

The #9 was right on the money. The weights were light enough to keep pushing. The reps were perfect for seeing how well we could do just that. The snow here made the sprints interesting. (I personally enjoyed the sprints the most because of the rest ;-D) Anyways, it just boiled down to how much you can take the "Suck".

We really felt tired after this one!
Thanks to CrossFit Blacksburg and Brian again for this one!

Our times: (we did this on saturday)
bou.13:52
reid.14:34
rob (slow pokie). 15:20

The Butterfly pull ups are coming along strong!

Good Job Brian!!!

"Back to the 'Burg"

Kari, my Mom, and I were fortunate enough to have worked out twice at CrossFit Blacksburg over the Thanksgiving holiday. Several weeks ago, I used their WOD for one our challenge workouts. I love Amy and Neil's programming so much that I decided to use one of their WODs again (thanks you two!).

Here it is:

15-12-9 reps* for time of:
Pull-ups
Hang power snatch, 95lbs (40kg)
Wall-ball shots, 20lbs (10kg)
Ring push-ups
Push press, 95lbs (40kg)

*Start first round with a 400m run, start second round with a 300m run, and start third round with a 200m run.

My time: 12:34

Brian's Mom killin' the kettlebell

This workout went really well for me--it played to a lot of my strengths, bar only two: running and wall-ball shots. I always feel (know) that I can push myself harder on the running portion of a WOD. However, for a WOD like this, I always fear that if I push myself too hard, I won't have much left in the tank to crank out the reps fast enough.

Hope you had "fun" with this one Rob!

"Radical Assumptions" Challenge #8

Radical assumptions is right. One would assume that after more than four years of following CrossFit methodology, one would understand that just reading what the WOD is and actually doing the WOD are two completely different animals.

Take a quick look at Rob's post below and check out the challenge. The first AMRAP went fairly well for me; however, after looking at Rob's score, I should have known better (way to kill it Rob!). Five rounds, even...okay. Now, the second AMRAP totally messed with my head. I did not even complete two rounds. It was my first experience incorporating heaving snatch balances into a WOD--to be honest, I have never really even gone heavier than the 20kg bar with the heaving snatch balance. It was just one nasty, nasty AMRAP...it challenged me not only mentally, but physically as well.

My scores:
1st AMRAP: 5 rounds
2nd AMRAP: 1 round + 3 overhead squats
Double-unders: 61 seconds

Check out the short video below of me during the first AMRAP. My video camera's battery died on me about halfway through, so (and I'm okay with this) I was unable to video tape the second AMRAP.

#8 Radical Assumptions

Today's challenge was interesting to say the least. I thought that it being our 8th one, it would be cool to play around with the number 8.

Isn't it the number of reps we used to do in our routines while following M&F or other magazines? Whatever may be said, it was indeed a hard one again. I almost hated myself for this one. Almost;-P!

The first amrap really got us warmed up. The second part proved to be a real punishment if it wasn't clear about what we were trying to do.

The Heaving Snatches Balances demanded to be done properly. After all the cleans, push presses, power snatches and overhead squats this was not an easy task. No spitting out reps here!

The double unders proved to be the one thing that really left my hip flexers with nothing left to bank on.

Thank's to Bou(Stefan), Reid and Jean for doing this one with me.

Our scores:
Jean.rx'd 3rds+8 clns/ 1rd +8 pwr snatch and 6ohs. DUs:1:33min
Reid.rx'd 3rds+7 clns/1rd . DUs: 38 seconds
Bou. rx'd 6rds/2rds + 6 pwr snatches. DUs: 48seconds.
rob. rx'd 5rds + 4clns/ 2 rounds. DUs:48seconds.

Brian have fun with this one!

#8
8 min AMRAP of:
Power Cleans x 8
Push Press x 8
Back Squats x 8
3min Rest
8min AMRAP of:
Power Snatches x 8
OHS x 8
Heaving Snatch Balance x 8
Followed without rest by:

64 double unders for time

The Carlsberg, Challenge #7

I can only agree with Brian. Man was it hard. It was really nothing short of evil.

Our Goal:

30-25-20-15-10-5

KB Snatches per each arm.

push ups

ghd sit ups

burpees

Man was that wicked!

I did the kb snatch reps consecutively for each arm before continuing to the next one. i.e - 30 left , 30 right etc. Unfortunately I had a 1.5 pood KB and a ghd..... Man was this hard!

My time was 43:54min.

One thought that I had at the beginning of this challenge was:

Although my contacts have been brief with a lot of special people, they still have an impact on my life and way of thinking. Regardless of age, creed, religion or race it it is vital to look towards anyone that can teach you something.

Thanks to Brian and the Cf Ramstein crew!

"The Carlsberg" - Challenge #7

Challenge #7 was a special WOD. It was Emily's going-away WOD; it was called "The Carlsberg" and it was programmed by Lauren. Let me tell you...this was an evil, evil workout. And check this out: I couldn't even do it as Rx'd because of equipment limitations; however, it STILL kicked my butt! It was definitely a proper "Brob's Challenge" kind of a workout.

The kettlebell snatches quickly became a "grind" type of exercise--there were so many of them to do that it seemed like it would never end. And, of course, the burpees were...well, burpees! I thought my hands were going to survive the wreckage...but, the palm of my left hand ripped on the last round. Nothing too significant, but the post-WOD shower was no picnic (soap in an open wound hurts!).

Check out the video below to see some highlights of the "fun" that I had:

"A Time Crunch" - Challenge #6

Brian's new playground

The programming for this challenge was inspired by my buddy, Karl Steadman of CrossFit 3D, who had devised a diabolical plan for a few CrossFit Ramstein athletes about a year and a half ago. It involved running a short distance, followed by a particular exercise. The idea behind it was to pump out as many repetitions as possible after the short run; however, the catch was this: the athlete had a time limit to complete the reps. It was physically as well as psychologically challenging. But here is how the WOD was scored: only the repetitions counted towards your final score. So, each athlete had to give a strong effort on the run so they would be able to get back quickly and start cracking off reps. However, if they pushed themselves too hard, then they wouldn't have much left in the tank to complete that many reps! Hmm...tough stuff.

Challenge #6 consisted of two rounds of two couplets, with one minute rest between couplets. After the two rounds were complete, a three minute rest was awarded, then two more rounds of two different couplets, with one minute rest between couplets. The exercises that counted toward the total score were: 30kg thrusters, pull-ups, push-ups, and 35kg sumo deadlift high-pulls.

My total score: 243

Rob's thoughts:

This wod was a burner! Talking about being in a time crunch!

How one apply's himself to this one is not an easy task. If you are a good sprinter, do you have the strength to get a lot of reps in? What if you're not a good sprinter? Will you be able to get enough multiple reps in with just having enough strength?

There was just one train of thought when my training buddy Bou and I started off, Brian is going to be fast and strong. So what do you do? We ran and gave everything we had.

The suck fest was open.

Two rounds of:
Three minutes to complete the following, with ONE minute rest between couplets:

Run 400 meters
Max reps thrusters, 30kg

Run 400 meters
Max reps pull-ups

After the two rounds are complete, rest THREE minutes, then:

Two rounds of:
Three minutes to complete the following, with ONE minute rest between couplets:
Run 400 meters
Max reps push-ups

Run 400 meters
Max reps SDHP, 35kg

Your score will be the total number of reps of the thrusters, pull-ups, push-ups and SDHPs.

After the second 400m run and the first round of pull ups we knew the 1min rest was not going to be long.

The thrusters and the pull ups by themselves were draining enough, but managable.

Were things really started to burn was while doing the push ups and sdlhp. The push ups drained everything that was left in upper body strength. The sdhp, thats were it got interesting! 35kg is a light enough weight. But after push ups and the 400m runs, your body is demanding perfection while doing this one. If not, the wrists and shoulders will pay for sloppy form.

Thanks for putting this one out there Brian!

my score:

My score thrusters 23/21; Pull ups:24/22; push ups: 43/40; sdhp:23/21 = 217

Btw, don't do this after doing OHS and Dls the night before. ;-P