Crossfit progress - Feb/Mar
Going to Crossfit this year has so far been very productive and enjoyable. I have stuck to four nights a week, which is a nice number to make progress. Recently, my biggest achievements have been entering the 2019 Open and learning to do muscle ups on both the bar and rings. With the muscle ups, I was lucky to have a Dad who could share some tips from when he was learning to do them. The trick is to get a good swing in; in a way, it is more technique than strength.
As for the Crossfit Open, so far there have been three workouts, which athletes from all around the world do and submit scores for. The great thing is that you get to see your ranking in the world/age group/country/gym. The WoDs are named after the year - ’19, and there are five in total.
19.1:
As the first workout of the Open, I was quite nervous to do this one. There were only two movements, a 19 cal row and 19 wall balls, which got repeated for as many rounds as possible. In the end, I got 197 reps, which was just over 5 rounds. In the world, the top score was 411 reps! After a couple of rounds, the WBs got quite tiring, so I had to break up the reps, and take a few breaths in between blocks. In our gym, Luc and Mo got the top spots with 357 and 334 reps respectively. I didn’t get to see anyone else complete the workout, as I did it on a Saturday morning, but lots of people got good scores.
19.2:
I had two attempts at this workout, as I felt like I could have pushed a bit harder. Also, there were a lot of people clustered around the 100 rep mark who I wanted to get above! The movements consisted of 25 toes to bar, 15 squat cleans at 135 pounds, 50 double-unders, repeat (20 min time cap). The first time I got one round and 6 DUs, the second time 14 DUs. The biggest time killer for me was the squat cleans, which felt really heavy - I had to take a rest in between each one. For my second attempt, I went into the gym on Monday, which is when most people do the workout. It was easier in a way doing it at the same time as other people; there was a good atmosphere, and you feel motivated to go further.
19.3 (pictured):
This was another short workout, with only four movements, 50lb overhead dumbell lunges (200ft), 50 box step-ups, 50 strict handstand push-ups, and a 200ft handstand walk. The hardest part for me was the overhead lunges, which were hard on both the legs and arms. The gym is only 20 ft long, so everyone completed it in eight sets. Being tall definitely helped make things easier; both the lunges and the step-ups were perhaps not as hard as they would be for some of the other athletes. Height is a disadvantage however when it comes to handstand push-ups. I have never done them before, so it was quite an achievement, and I managed to do six before the clock ran out.