We’ve been talking a lot lately about the benefits of “crashing the car” in a workout. That is flying into the teeth of the thing, hard and fast, with no plan. Crashing and burning can help drive adaptation as we learn to push, hurt, and then push through the hurt. The flipside of this would be gaming a workout, or having a plan of attack in order to maximize our score. Remember, we’re looking for maximal power ((force*distance)/time) output. A slower time on an identical workout is less powerful.
A few weeks ago I took on the Hero workout JT, in honor of Petty Officer 1st Class Jeff Taylor, 30, of Little Creek, VA, who was killed in Afghanistan June 2005. The workout is 21-15-9 of handstand push-ups, ring dips, and push-ups. I did this workout almost exactly a year ago to the date of this recent attempt, and gamed the hell out of it. The reps and rest during my 2011 effort were carefully partitioned and timed, for a score of 13:32, that I was pretty happy with. This time I decided I’d just go for it. I did my first set of handstand push-ups unbroken, and that was it. The rest of the workout was a slog, with each rep being a slow grind to complete the range of motion, resulting in a final time of 19:02.
Am I 5 and a half minutes less fit in this particular domain than I was a year ago? I don’t think so. My max sets of handstand push-ups and ring dips have gone up, my jerk is 10kg higher than this time last year, I recently PR’d my 3RM press, and I weigh roughly the same. So what’s up? Simple, I crashed the car. The set of 21 handstand push-ups to begin the workout set me back to a point from which I could not recover.
My power output from a year ago is much higher, I did the same amount of work significantly faster. Although I’m disappointed with my recent score, it’s only training, not a competition, so it’s a learning opportunity. Sometimes the best plan is to just go as fast as possible, but there’s certainly also a time to pick your spots and strategize to maximize a workout.
July 24, 2012
Strength:
Push Press 5-5-5
WOD:
5-4-3-2-1
Rope Ascents (begin flat footed, no jumping starts)
Box Jumps (30″/24″)
Clean & Jerks (90% best set of push presses)
Announcements
Beantown Throwdown Mark your calendars for Sunday, August 12th, because we’re hosting our first competition here at CrossFit Fenway. If you’re interested in competing or judging/volunteering please e-mail Eric. Stay tuned for further details as the event gets closer.
Fenway Park Spartan Sprint on November 17th, 2012 the creators of the Spartan Race series are turning Fenway Park into a 1 mile Spartan Sprint obstacle course. It’s in our backyard, and rumor has it another local box is putting a team together, so let’s represent! Kevin Kittredge has agreed to lead the CrossFit Fenway team, so please contact him in the next week if you’re interested. More race details are available here.
Hyannis Hyball Invitational is a charity softball game being put together by CrossFit Fenway’s own Sean O’Connell to benefit the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization. The event is July 28th at 10 AM in Hyannis, MA, and all of CFF is invited. Please check out HyannisHyball.com for more information.
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Push Press: 67kg (PRx5). Feel like I could have gone 70kg, but ran out of time.
WOD: 8:33 @60kg
Humidity made it a bit tough to grab the rope, but I still enjoyed the rope climbs. Great job everyone in the 6am!
Push Press – 90kg – had more left in me but ran out of time.
WOD – 13:17 Rx @ 81kg – this was a tough one!
Nice work 5:30
Push Press: 47kg – feel that pp and sp need some remedial work. Feeling a bit stuck in my progress on these lifts.
WOD: 7:38 @ 45kg – rope climbs and box jumps are a great way to start a Tuesday!
Push Press: 45 kg, failed 50 kg on the 5th one…twice, very frustrating.
WOD: 13:55, got through two rounds of rope climbs, before I decided to scale, also very frustrating. 24″ box and 40 kg clean & jerk.
I have a love/hate relationship with rope climbs. This WOD would have taken me much longer to complete, so thanks SCALE. I hate you too.
honey I’m hooooooooome
Push Press: 46kg…failed 50kg after 2 reps.
WOD 11:00 rx @41.5kg
Thank Gawd. And now I’m the one off the Cali, be back late Friday night. Invasion is TBD. If I have time in between meetings, I’m going to check out a CF.
PP: 70kg – Disappointed with this number. I should be getting heavier.
WOD: 10:21 Rx @ 63kg – Burnt hands on the rope climbs. Fun stuff.
P.Press – 90kg
WOD – 11:51 Rx @ 81kg (Erica put 10:51 but I think she was mistaken, although I would like to claim it). My rope climbs were strong today, pretty damn pleased with myself.
PP: 47kg – failed on the 5th rep at 48.
WOD: 17:58 – 1 rope climb each of the 1st two rounds failed twice the 3rd round and went to full scaling thereafter, 24″ box, 42kg c&j. I wanted to quit, but the husband wouldn’t allow it. Thanks to the 6pm class for the support and staying late bc of my epic time. Very frustrating and mental workout for me.
Push Press: 29kg
WOD: 8:29 Scaled rope climbs, 25kg clean and jerk.
Thank you, thank you, thank you Erica. FINALLY got over my box jump mental block, thanks to you. I really thought I just was weak and couldn’t jump and it bugged me so much. YAY!
Push Press: 35 kg, but I jumped up to 45 kg because we were having trouble finding enough plates. I failed after 3 reps twice.
WOD: 15:21, the first round was rope climbs then scaled after that and a 20 inch box. I decided to challenge myself with 40 kg clean and jerks. The rope climbs are what was keeping me back though!
PP: 75kg, 80×1
WOD: 8:26rx (@67kg). really enjoyed this one, and was glad to finally have a rematch with the 30″ box