1/19 - ASG Saturday Session

Had plans to train with a few of my favorite peeps on Saturday afternoon – met up with the girls (and Nick and Cam) for coffee beforehand.  Reverse order this week because Brenda had to be off just after four.  It was good to get the gossip going and to see the broken man (hi Nick) and just enjoy one of our (our only?) favorite coffee shops in Leederville.

Then it was a mad dash to Albert Street to see what Coach Shonelle had in store for us – turns out Coach Vini was there though we didn’t realize he would be (sneaky!).

Strength

3-3-3-3

Strict Press

3-3-3-3

Push Press

30kg strict press (ASG PR)

37.5kg push press (ASG PR)

This was a good one as I haven’t done much strict pressing lately.  Angie and I alternated sets and this worked really well.  I think we started at 22.5 and went up by 2.5kg each round ending with 30kg.  Coach Shonelle gave me some good feedback in really exploding out on the strict press similar to the movement on a bench press – I was going slow and steady which was actually making it harder on me (focused on keeping my core tight instead) and the ‘explosion’ made it feel a lot lighter and definitely easier.

The push press was good.  Again, nothing too heavy as Angie had a big swim on Sunday and I was really tight in my traps and shoulders from all the HSPU’s the night before.

WOD #1

7 minute AMRAP

5 OHS (30/45kg)

10 HR push-ups (I subbed ring rows)

60m run

5+4

Rest 3 minutes then:

WOD #2

2-4-6-8-10-8-6-4-2

Squat clean (30/45kg)

Burpees

(7 minute cut-off)

10+12

Wow, these guys don’t mess around with programming.  The first WOD hurt because there was no real place to hide out.  I hang snatched all the rounds for the OHS and managed (barely in some cases) to do the OHS unbroken but definitely with some struggle.  Coach Shonelle kept telling me to focus on keeping my knees out which in my head I translated into squeezing my butt cheeks as this tends to be a better cue for me.  It was tough.

I did ring rows because of my tight shoulders/ biceps and even they were hard.  A few rounds I had to break them up into two sets of 5.  The sprint was good – it was just to the end of the driveway and back and a nice chance to shake everything out before going again.

The picture is a lie – we were late starting the first WOD so Coach Vini so kindly told us we’d only get 3 minutes rest – that part killed going into the second WOD. Our legs were already slightly hurting from the OHS’s and our heart rate was already elevated and off we went for round 2.  Cam’s calf acted up on him (again) early on and he (smartly) dropped out and I’m not sure what happened to Angie except I saw her in a heap on the ground somewhere most of the way through.  It was tough.  At one point, I think starting the round of 8’s (going up) I had about half the time left and thought that I could probably get it done under the cut-off.  Wrong.  The time disappeared fast.  The burpees were agonizing, I kept moving but there were times where I just closed my eyes and bore down on them trying to will the dripping sweat and hurt away (note, it didn’t work).  The squat cleans hurt, the 30kg felt really heavy – likely also because of the heavy hang cleans the night before.  I’m going to have to figure out a way for my body to recover better in order to up my training through the week.

It was another tough session at the ASG but also a fun way to spend time with the cool kids.  Shonelle and Vini made up a PR board now and I’m happy to be on it.  Thanks for all the effort guys, things are really shaping up and your coaching is fantastic!

We had a mini-photo shoot post wod… yup, I’m that sweaty and red (no that’s not a sunburn). Cam is either flying, airing out or dripping sweat - you choose.

 

Our awesome (and smiley) coaches!

 

Photos - Affiliate Cup (Part 2)

Thanks to Sarah for some awesome (belated) photos from the Affiliate Cup...

Teammates

I did do thrusters (once)

Mostly though I was just carried (truth)

Unsure of the tire flips

Making it happen

All done so quick

Egg on spoon? Crossfit?

Just hang on...

Running

Photos - ASG WODfest "The Workouts" (aka Part 3)

Thanks to Sarah for some awesome photos from yesterday's WODfest...

'Flight Simulator'

Click for more photos

12/28 - So (expletive) hot...

I felt nauseous before this WOD ever began... the box was sauna like and the noon WOD was definitely not the brightest idea I've ever had.  I was in full on sweat mode before the warm-up even started.  Not cool.

After we'd done some shoulder mobilisation - actually while most were still doing this and I had given up on it I grabbed a bar and set up right in front of the fan.  Yup, I was that jerk.  I'm also Canadian and it was freaking hot - yup, I'll use that excuse too.  The WOD looked mean just written on the board... I knew it would be.  And so I present it to you (mostly) in photos...

My reaction to the WOD...






















WOD
AMRAP 15
Min 1-5 Power Snatch (30/45kg)
Min 5-10 Clean & Press
Min 10-15 Thrusters Front Squats
Every min 4 Burpee bar hops
99 reps Rx.5

After the cleans my shoulder wasn't exactly happy so I did front squats instead of thrusters. Probably shouldn't have done the presses either but... ego.

Nick and I before the WOD even started... and then somewhere in the middle Andy and Sarah (I think)... or at least at some point but there is photo evidence of that below...

 




















It was awesome having Nick beside me... after the first 5 minutes and 40 power snatches (love!) we were both struggling... a few times I heard him telling me to just pick up the bar - it was motivation for us both and when I moved to the bar from his comments he did the same... it was definitely team work.  There was even a high five in there at some point as we both tried to catch our breath from the burpees before getting back to the bar.  Mid WOD motivation at it's finest...

The burpees sucked, and I like burpees (mostly) these days.

Not a single person uttered these words today...


















Or these ones (too hot)...

But these... oh yes, definitely a defining statement of the day...

Mostly because of Bec and her awesome forward thinking... and an inflatable pool...

The Cooee Spa open for sweating post-WOD treatments...

Just missing Bec in this shot.  Big thanks to Bec for bringing the pool by and her (apparent) blowing up skills and Tim for um, supervising? Also to Andy for keeping us all entertained, there was definitely some ab work through all that laughter - back, crack and sac wax anyone?  Oh, and to the rest who decided to comment, yes the water was truly disgusting after we'd all sat in it for over an hour - our hands were all de-calloused and yes, there were bits of skin floating around.  Was it worth it though given the temperature, sauna like workout and burning concrete, definitely.

Affiliate Cup Photos (WOD 4)

Thanks Sandy for all these photos... some awesome expressions were captured.

I really was about to cry!

Airborne Angie!

11/27 – 11/29 - Sunrise Dam WODs

Quick update (with photos) from my trip to site last week… 

Tuesday 

Flew to site extremely early Tuesday morning and upon arrival/searching for the details on their gym/ getting coffee I spotted this:

  

Click 'Read More' for more photos and words...

11/17 - Affiliate Cup 2012

Saturday was the Affiliate Cup 2012 hosted by Raw Edge Crossfit.  It was an awesome day filled with amazing teammates, a wicked Cooee crew (5 teams!) and an enthusiastic cheering section.  The workouts were challenging, new and exhausting and we’ll get to them all but first, let’s start with body parts.  More specifically body parts that are not exactly the happiest today.  A rundown – the sore muscles (glutes, quads, biceps), the bruises (shoulder blades, neck and forehead – yes, I’m that coordinated), and the shoulder – the poor little shoulder – surprisingly no worse than going into it (win!)

Amazing Team - After the last WOD of the day, still looking good!

Much more below the cut...

11/10 - Affiliate Cup Team Training (part 2)

Last day of team training before the Affiliate Cup was on Sunday morning…  we met up again at the Albert Street Garage to do the WOD that the boys programmed (slightly modified on the day to make it work with equipment, etc.)

Fridge WOD

WOD

21  back squats (45/60kg)

21 toes to bar

15 pistols

15 KB thrusters (16kg)

9 med ball squat cleans

9 pull-ups

21 pull-ups

21 med ball squat cleans

15 KB thrusters

15 pistols

9 toes to bar

9 back squats

11:44

The idea was that we’d work in male/female pairs to do the work – with each subset (21-15-9) movements being done at the same time and switching out with the partner as required.  The girls couldn’t start until the boys were done with the 21’s (they moved right into the 15’s) and then on the way back up the boys had to wait for the girls to finish the set of 9’s.  In theory it was a good idea however with Angie nursing a knee injury and not squatting and me resting my shoulder/ bicep we pretty much each did all the work in one half of each subset (Angie – t2b, kb thrusters cleans, pull-ups and Me – back squats, pistols, med ball squat cleans).

It all went really well I think other than having to focus more on the number of reps we need to complete as I think the boys ended up doing more work than was actually required though on the day we will have judges so it’ll be a bit different.  I am really glad that the 21 back squats were up front and that there were only 9 to finish it off as my legs are pretty tired still at though they were only 45kg back squats they were tiring (60% of my 1RM).  I broke the 21 into 11-10 and had a bit of time to rest because I was pacing off of Angie’s toes to bar.  I finished the 9 unbroken with just a pause after 5 reps at the top though I had Nick cheering me on as the  boys were done.

The pistols I scaled by using a 5kg plate for counter balance and they went fairly steadily though I was the slower one on those but I still went unbroken.  The med ball squat cleans were once again killer on the legs even with it only being 7kg.  The set of 9 wasn’t so bad but the set of 21 I broke into 6-5-5-5 and again paced myself on Angie’s pull-ups (so much harder).  Going back up was quicker and it was just about pushing through – that being said the last 9 back squats almost made me cry.

I’m excited for the Affiliate Cup.  We have a solid well rounded team and we seem to work well together.  I’m excited to see what we can achieve as a team – I think it’ll be awesome.  5 days to go…

We're tight!

And occasionally respectable... ha!

11/4 - Affiliate Cup Training

Sunday was another morning at the Albert Street Gym.  This week rather than focus on strength we figured it’d be good to get a few team practices in before the Affiliate Cup which is in two weeks.  We have a solid team – Vini, Nick, Angie and myself – in the intermediate division.

We all train a lot and this workout wasn’t as much about going heavy as it was about learning how to communicate and transition between movements in a team of four – harder than you might expect when your heart is racing and you’re lacking oxygen to the brain (at least it feels like it).

I got to program todays WOD.  I tried to keep in light but with high reps so that we would have to switch on the fly and at times throw the game plan out the window.

Fridge WOD

Team WOD

200 DU’s

150 Russian Swings (16/16kg)*

100 over/unders with 10/20kg plates overhead*

100 chest to overhead (10/20kg) while two people plank*

150 100 deadlifts (30/50kg)*

200 DU’s

*if any of the equipment (for each movement) touches the ground while working 10 air squat penalty on the spot for entire team

22:19

I just realized now that we didn’t do 150 deadlifts we did 100 which was probably because we were no longer paying attention and the two movements before had both been 100 reps.  Hmmm.  Interesting to note.

This turned out to be a good one.  We were solid on the DU’s and just rotated through once someone tripped up.  The hardest part really was counting though we’ll have judges at affiliate cup to do that for us anyway.

The KB swings (Russian) were good – we only had 16kg KB’s and they had the fat grip on them which was a little taxing but Vini started off with 30 reps and Angie followed with 20, Nick with 30 then myself with 20.  Vini and Ang finished us off.  Our communication was good – we kept the equipment off the ground (which is easy to forget when you’re in the middle of it) and also let each other know how many reps we were going for so that the transitions were fairly seemless.

We easily split into pairs for the next two movements – the over and unders were very taxing (mostly the holding the plates overhead) and definitely took a lot of time to get through.  In the second half of the 100 we were probably only doing 7-8 reps maximum before switching off.  It still worked though – even though we had more transitions we were quick in doing them and everyone was ready for them as we counted down the reps remaining before the switch. It was at this point that Tim came back to watch us and we all clearly noted how he was standing in the doorway eating donuts while we worked hard.  Heh. 

I figured we’d die on the chest to overhead as all of our arms were aching from holding the plates but these actually went quite well.  We were solid in holding the plank so it was a function of the two pressing that determined when we switched.  Angie and Nick did 4 sets of 10 between them then Vini and I did sets of 5 but still completed 40 reps.  Angie and Nick finished us off and then we were on to the deadlifts.  Again, communication was solid and we switched between us seamlessly and communicated on keeping the bar off the ground.

As we neared the end of the deadlifts those not lifting/ holding the other bar were ready to start the DU’s.  It worked really well.

Our time was solid – it felt much longer than 22 minutes mainly due to the over/unders but for our first workout as a team it was solid.  We will have (at least) one more practice round next weekend (with Nick and Vini programming) and then Affiliate Cup.  I’m really looking forward to competing with these three.

Some photos from the morning…

Angie brought the Albert St. gang a present

Team photo - outtake

Team Photo

Well earned post-WOD coffee at Foam in Leederville

Stealing Tim's warmth...