Brob's #18

Our Challenge as Brian posted below was very clever and well put together this week! As Brian mentioned, with a lot of the AMRAPs there is always some kind of pacing or hesitancy of going all out.

What does hesitate actually mean?
In my "Oxford American Dictionary" it says: to be slow to speak or act or move because one feels uncertain or reluctant, to pause in doubt....

With a 5 Min amrap that means go all out! There is no time to hesitate. For an experienced CrossFitter, transition and reaction time is what makes you or break you here. How fast can you get through the 3 exercise with only 16 reps per a round?(1st. amrap)
How fast can you move before the suck comes in?

It would have been easy to answer. But, with 1200 meters and one more 5 min amrap, Hhhmmm?

So my thoughts? Just GIT-R-DONE!!

The snow and ice made the 1200m difficult. However, that's just the way it is.
Everyone that competed got through safely and had fun doing this Challenge!
Thanks Brian!!!

Our times/rounds (total time with a continous running clock):

Butcher: 17:13 6/2
Jean: 16:15 4/3
Reid: 15:40 6/5 moving really fast here. Paleo Rocks for him!!!
rob (old man) 16:20 5/4

After the 1200m meter run I thought the 2nd 5 min amrap would be a piece of cake. I was mistaken. The Goblets got me!

Brob's #18

A 5-minute AMRAP--not the norm. Usually, AMRAPs are in the 20-minute range...at the very least, maybe 10. For me, going into an AMRAP means that there will probably be some kind of pacing going on. Long ago, I learned the painful lesson of "shooting out of the gates" like a possessed race horse, hopped up on multiple doses of pharmaceutical-grade speed. My face was beet red, sweat was dripping, and I desperately wanted the WOD to be over with. Much to my dismay, I realized that there was still 17 minutes left in the workout.

However, a 5-minute AMRAP is a different story. There is no excuse not to go all out...no excuse to not go completely ballistic for the entire five minutes. But...throw a 1200 meter run in between two 5-minute AMRAPs, and the end result may turn out to be completely different than how you originally perceived the workout to unfold. I suppose one can say that about any CrossFit workout though, huh? Always seems different "on paper"--that is, of course, until we are in the middle of the WOD, cursing ourselves for thinking something so foolish.

This week's challenge was:

Complete AMRAP in five minutes of:
3 Overhead squats, 50kg
6 Chest-to-bar Pull-ups
9 Chest-to-deck Push-ups

Run 1200 meters, then, immediately:

Complete AMRAP in five minutes of:
3 Power snatches, 50kg
6 Ring dips
9 Goblet squats, 1.5 pood kettlebell

My results: 6 rounds + 13 reps / 5:11 / 5 rounds
Total time: 15:11
Total rounds/reps: 11 rounds + 13 reps

Brob's #17

Rob made an excellent point in his post below when he said, "...what exactly is a challenge...it is something difficult that you usually wouldn't do." Because we've been doing this challenge for quite some time now, I did not want to get caught in the trap of "bogus programming". This week's workout was far from bogus ; it was legitimate and most worthy of Brob's Challenge.

I knew it was going to be a grind; pacing myself was a very important factor in completing this challenge satisfactorily. It was one of those workouts where, somewhere in the middle of it, you seriously start considering just loafing your way through the remaining rounds. However, I tried my best not to listen to that little voice...I tried to keep a steady and even pace. The only rest that was taken was short breaths in between the burpees and muscle-ups. The double-unders, for the most part, went pretty well. I got tripped up a few times and my shorts almost fell down to my ankles (forgot to tie the drawstring), but overall I was happy with them.

Luckily, I had Kari alongside of me to keep the energy up! This workout would definitely have been much tougher to complete without someone there to keep me going. To put in perspective the amount of repetitions that we completed, check out the following numbers:

Double-unders: 300
Burpees: 200 (ugh!)
Muscle-ups: 50

Kari's time: 39:06 (assisted muscle-ups)
My time: 28:32 as Rx'd

Brob's #17

After Brian asked me what the next challenge would be, I was already prepared! Taking advantage of the situation, I wanted to come up with something that would instigate or antagonize us just a little. When you think about it, what exactly is a challenge? As far as I am concerned it something that is difficult and that you usually wouldn't do. At least not everyday.

What would be difficult? What test could we come up with to test our physical preparedness? That is the reason why we CrossFit. To be functional in life. To train for the unknown and unknowable. Anyways, I just thought it would be nice to get our rear ends handed to us again.
;-D

Our Challenge for this week:
10 rounds of:

30 x Double Unders
20 x Burpees
5 x Muscle Ups

After finishing 8 weeks of strength work yesterday (bench and back squat), I knew this would seriously kick my butt. I have never done that many mu's before. If you noticed with Brob's #13, they aren't actually easy for me either. Therefore, not having done that many metcons lately, I knew this would be tough.

However, I wasn't alone.
David and Reid were there to go through the suck too.
Thanks guys!

David was able to get his first MU! That's what happens when you get tired of doing 15 pull ups and 15 dips as a substitute for 5 mu's. Great work!
Reid was able to show perfect technique with all of his muscle ups. Each round was 5 in a row! My hat goes off to you buddy!!!

As for me, the hip flexors were really tired out from the burpees and the double unders. It took a concentrated effort to get the mu's done.
Btw, I hate burpees! :-D

Our times:
Reid.rx'd 31:44
Rob. rx'd 43:31 I'll be doing this in 8 weeks again. I believe it can be done in under 20 minutes.

Thanks to Jürgen (Mändi) for the support as well! Can't quit when you got a witness. Btw, a great barkeeper!

A Guest Challenger (and a great CrossFit buddy)

Rob and I have been doing this challenge for 15 weeks now. Thus far, we have targeted many of our weakness; we even threw some of our strengths in there...just enough for a well-needed ego-boost every now and then. The challenges have becoming more difficult to program--we do not just want to arbitrarily throw a bunch of movements together, put a time/task stamp on it, and GO!

This week's challenge was offered up by a guest challenger: JB. He adopted the WOD from CrossFit New England programming and let us have it! But, of course, being the true-to-heart CrossFitter that he is, JB also participated in the challenge (and KILLED it btw!). Here is what we did:

Power Drill
Five rounds for time, with three minutes rest between each round of:
5 Handstand push-ups
10 Power Cleans, 135lbs (60kg)
20 Wall-ball shots, 20lb ball / 10-foot target
25 Kettlebell swings, 1.5 pood

JB's splits: 2:41; 2:58; 3:10; 3:32; 3:50...Total time: 16:11
My splits: 3:13; 3:28; 3:46; 4:00; 3:38...Total time:  18:05

Here is a short video of me getting through JBRob's Challenge:

Brob's #15

Today was a wonderful day to do the challenge. The weather was just perfect with sunshine and a mild cool temperature.

To keep up with goals, we worked on capacity today. It has been a while since all of the CF Ansbach founder's could get a WOD in together. We were able to discuss the future of CF Ansbach, set goals and get in a really kick a$$ workout together.

I want to thank JB, one of our extended family members and friend from "CF Ramstein". He thought this WOD from CF New England would be the hit for our challenge. He was right. This was a serious can of whip a§§.

Our Challenge:

To do 5 rounds of:
5 hspu
10 power cleans with 135#
15 burpees
20 wallballs w/20#
25 kbs
With 3 min rest between rounds.

The video made shows only 3 rounds. But I am sure it will suffice. I have been trying out different kb techniques lately to improve my swing. I am not really happy with how it went today. I thought each rep was good. However, I see that my arms weren't really locked out. I was trying to keep the kb close to my body instead of a getting a wide arch going. My thought was to save energy this way. I'll have to work on locking my arms out.

Thoughts about the different versions of the kb swing are welcome. What do you find to be the best way and why?

ps. I know the video says Brob's #16. Just a little mistake. ;-P


Our results after substracting the rest phase:
melli: time 27:15! Fantastic Monster in the making.;-P
ralph: time 26:33 after 4 rounds. What was your time after 5 rounds?
simon: talented athlete. 24:55min Great work buddy!
rolf: his job has been keeping him busy. Still gave it all and embraced the suck! 35:30
rob: I wrote down the times for the individual heats. 3:07 /3:55/4:45/6:50/ 5:42 = 24:17

Jean and Reid did this Friday. Reid with a time of 20:30. Jean with 28:00. Good work guys!

Here is our Video!

Good Luck Brian and Kari!

Brob's #14

Soapbox. I am glad you were on yours Rob; it motivated me to develop a list of goals for 2011. And not just in my head, but written down and visible goals. Of course, I already have certain goals that have been branded into my brain and I am just itching to get after them. However, I must be patient. But nobody ever said that one cannot pre-plan a successful route to the accomplishment of said goals. How would we ever arrive at meeting them if we did not plan? But enough about that for right now--let's get on to the January 2011 Painstorm.

When one is at a loss (and in a hurry) to program a challenging WOD, one should always choose the Painstorm. The January 2011 Painstorm was cordially brought to us by Kempie of CrossFit Northeast England. I liked this WOD and I hated this WOD. I liked it because the first part of it incorporated some movements that I excel at: ground-to-overhead (at 70kg), push-ups, and squats. I hated this WOD because the second part (immediately following the 12-min AMRAP), was a max effort mile run. I do not particularly enjoy running; besides, my calves have been feeling really spicy lately with all of the additional running I have been doing (in preparation for a half marathon in Feb). After everything was said and done, here is how Kari and I fared:

Brian: 9 rounds (70kg GTO) / 7:14 mile run
Kari: 8 rounds (43kg GTO) / 7:10 mile run (yes, she beat me!)

What a way to ring in the New Year!

Brob's 14

So where do we start?

I have asked myself this question every week. But before you can ask a question like that, you have to know where you want to go. That's the damned truth. Any fool can put a workout together. However, does it or will it make sense? When I use a WOD from someone else, is it something I can use to stay on track with my goals?

Do you really have your goals set? Goals are important in life. Without them you're just floating around like the marshmellow man. That is the reason why people will not see results, although they go to the gym day after day. They just go through the motions and do not ask if what they are doing is effective. Usually, they are just following "the experts" and trying to find a fast fix.

Keeping yourself fit in life, your job, or with your family is hard work. It's the same way with getting fit and being strong. There is just no going through the motions and faking it.

Make a commitment, get your goals set and just start f++king do it. Not tomorrow. Now. That is life. Being here now.

So without further jabbering, this is our challenge:

The Jan 2011 Painstorm (courtesy of CrossFit Northeast England):

AMRAP 12 min of:

3 unbroken Ground To OverHead *
7 push-ups
7 burpees
7 squats

Then (after 12 minutes is finished) immediately run 1 mile / 1.6Km for time.

This challenge is for me a "get back to it" WOD.
Last week surprised me. I got hit with a virus that just messed me up. I seriously spent my New Year's Eve celebrating with my pillow. Seeing that my strength was back up to par friday, made me want to push myself into the new week. It has been the first metcon since our last challenge. Today, Uli was kind enough to push through with me! Thanks!

Good job Brian for suggesting it!

My Score: 6rds with 70kg. 7:38min for the mile.