No, not THAT kind of break up. Gotcha!
Breaking up REPS. It’s inevitable that in CrossFit we will come up against a WOD in which we can’t go unbroken during the whole thing. For example, 150 wall balls may not be doable for you. Or me. Or anyone. So what now?
Make a plan. Just like in Eric’s post about “crashing the car,” going whole hog in the first round is going to do you no good when it comes to later in the workout. If you know that you are not going to do everything unbroken during the entire WOD consider breaking it up from the beginning or doing a couple rounds unbroken and strategizing from there. How do you know how many reps to do? Think about your monthly goals, they should be realistic and attainable, just like your rep scheme for the WOD.
When I write down my WODs, I try to remember how about many reps I did at a time and how I felt during the rest of the workout. Rather than just having a score to compare to, I have the actual performance of a given movement. I try to strategize my rest too. If I take my hands off the bar I count to a certain number knowing that as soon as that time is up I am right back on that bar. Maybe it’s too little or too much but that’s something I can use to gauge how I’m feeling and how to move forward.
FUN STORY: I was coaching at CrossFit Somerville one morning and Marcos Sperandio (WOD extraordinaire and one the nicest human beings on the planet) was in the class. The workout had ring push ups at a high volume and if I remember correctly, it was pretty terrible. At the end of class he came over to me and said,
“Those push ups…those were awful. I had to stop.”
Surprised as I had never seen Marcos not finish a workout, I responded, “It’s okay! How many rounds did you end up doing?”
“No, I finished. But I had to break them up…I usually never have to do that.”
Should we all be so lucky.
August 6, 2012
Skill/Strength:
Power Clean 3-3-3-3-3
WOD:
AMRAP 7:
8 Thrusters (35kg/25kg)
10 Ring Dips
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I’ve worked out with Marcos before and I have to say, it’s impressive. I’ve definitely been rounded by him more than once.
PC: 65kg (70kg x2). Been stuck here for a while. Very frustrating.
WOD: 3+12 Rx
Ring dips really slowed me down on this one. Volume training should help these.
Great job 6am!
PC: 115#, which went pretty well for 3, then i couldn’t get 120# at all. hmm.
wod: 3 Rx. BLERGH RING DIPS.
PC: 41 kg- new 3 rep PR….psyched about this…
WOD: 4 + 7 @20kg and red banded ring dips – (rt. shoulder tight)
(wod advice- don’t lose count of your rounds because you are trying to look cool while passerbys w/hard hats gawk in the window)
Amanda Rochelle Brown, if you ever break up with me, I will find you.
PC: 52kg…awkward form at its finest this morning
WOD: 4+5 (25kg/1 red band) thrusters all day friends and how about hostess ring dings instead?
Great work 6:30am, come finish our flooring with us!
PC: 65kg
WOD: 3 + 10 @ 29kg & a blue band.
PC – 100kg – these felt good today, probably could have gone heavier
WOD – 4+12 Rx – as good as the PC’s felt that is how bad the ring dips felt!
Nice work 7
PC: 82kg – Feet started to separate a little at this weight. Concentrated on my head positioning and tried to get explosive hips. I still have a long ways to go, but this is the best these have felt in a while.
WOD: 4 + 15 Rx
Thrusters were really easy at this weight, but those ring dips were killer. Last 15 were singles.
PC: 75kg – 3 rep PR
WOD: 3 + 3 with purple band. I’m really terrible at ring dips, but working on it.
Quote of the morning:
Me (looking at the 75kg bar): “I don’t know if I can get this up.”
Shane: “Sounds like a personal problem.”
PC: 52kg — all the snatch practice seems to have helped my cleans
WOD: 2+12rx…still a dip newbie.
PC: 45kg – 3 rep PR. Felt great. Could have gone heavier.
WOD: 3+17 @ 25kg and blue band. Thrusters all unbroken. Ring dips completely broken. Driving home with dead arms was interesting to say the least.
Clean – 110kg. Attempted 120kg but those were as Joe said, ‘squat clean territory’.
WOD – 3+16 Thrusters were ridiculously light, which meant lots of time spent wishing I was better at ring dips (red band).
PC: 72kg
WOD: 4+8 (35kg and red band) – all thrusters unbroken.
PC: 61kg. Becca laid down the gauntlet at 70, and I was nowhere near catching her today. Got 63 for 1.
WOD: 3+17. Had a hard time figuring out how many bands and what combo to use. Started the workout with blue (1st round), then switched to blue + red (2nd round – too much bounce!), then moved to 2 red bands. My thrusters were unbroken in round 1, then piecemeal from there. We moved this weekend, Mike was a slave driver, and I was definitely feeling gassed today. I’m glad to be back at the gym moving barbells for an hour over moving boxes for hours on end.
PC: 70 KG – dialing it back to work on form.
WOD: 6 + 8 RX
Mandy,
Thank you very much for the words. Very kind of you, but I am sure that you deserve these adjectives more than me.
The day you mentioned I remembered one advice an old man gave me: “if you quit once, you will always quit”. So, I decided not to take the risk…
See you at Somerville
PC: 45 kg
WOD: 3 +13, RX weight, red band dips. I’m glad to be back to just a red band!
Great job 5:30!!