Woof, it’s been a wild couple of weeks. Lots of travelling and stuff going on. Last Tuesday I woke up sick (not COVID thank god), and it’s taken me a lot of days to get to feeling better again. Nasty cough has kept me from sleeping well and going to the gym. But I could NOT let that deter me from getting this workout in. I’m a Cheer Dad, and we are travelling to Dallas early in the morning for a competition and won’t be back until Monday. So I had to find a way to get this workout done before Friday. Luckily the folks that own the gym I go to, CrossFit OT, said I could come in and get it done Thursday evening. This is the first Open workout I’ve done since 2019. Even if I look at 2017 and 2018 I didn’t even put in scores for all 5 workouts. There were 5 back then. Now we only have 3.

Anyway, I want to talk a little bit about going to this gym that I am going to now. Since 2009 I have either been a gym owner or been part of the staff in a way where I felt like I was supposed to be there. If that makes any sense. This is my first CrossFit experience at a gym that I either didn’t own or was part of the staff in some way. CrossFit can be intimidating. Especially if you walk in fat and out of shape. There are a lot of athletes and super fit people just crushing workouts. What I know though from my experience is that people are just people. Even if they are total badasses. There’s no reason to be intimidated. We are all just trying to better ourselves. When I got to the gym to do this workout there was one of those badass athletes there. She wound up judging me and I was really proud. I guess the moral of the story is, don’t be intimidated. A good coach or a good person just wants you to be better and reach your goals. Nobody is looking down on you.

On to the workout. This was tough. I went with 35#. I think that I’m just going to ride out the scaled division this year. I know muscle ups will come, and I don’t think I even need to attempt those. On top of that I’m a scaled athlete at this point. I’m good with that. Just being in the room and showing up makes me feel great. Going into the workout I figured I’d probably not make it through the round of 15’s. Burpees are just terrible for me right now. It’s harder when you weigh a lot more than you should. 🙂 Since I had a couple coaches there pushing me I just kept moving. I got through 171 reps. I think that’s through the round of 15’s and maybe one burpee. I was definitely in the pain cave, but I felt like I didn’t stop too much. I never reached for my water bottle which is a crutch I’ve leaned on a lot lately. It’s a tough one, so don’t underestimate it. Keep moving and get it done.

Strength

EMOM10

• 5 x Power Clean + Push Jerk (85#)

Work

For Time (14 Minute Cap)

• 75 Air Squats
• 25 Push Ups
• 50 Wall Balls (20#)
• 25 Push Ups
• 75 Air Squats

A year ago we did this same workout, and I capped out at 14 minutes. I wish I’d made a note of how far I got. Today I finished in 11:34 so I’d say that’s pretty good progress! I’m guessing that last year the push ups killed me. I was able to get through them a lot easier than I have been in recent years. Wall Balls are just killer.

I woke up with a sense of urgency this morning that I have not felt before. I feel like I’m waking up to the reality of how far I let myself slip into…unfitness. 🙂 I need to start pushing a little harder.

Strength

• Back Squat 5 x 3 at 80% of 1RM in January

I started with a true 80% of that weight, 180#. That was too light. I pushed it up to 200 at the end. 180, 180, 180, 185, 200.

Work

4 Rounds

• 12 Calorie Bike
• 15 Knee Raises
• 100 Ft. Farmer Carry with 50# DB’s
• 5 Burpee Pull Ups

Finished in 13:38. I’m approaching workouts now with the idea that I’ll be scaling the open. So if the workout calls for T2B, like this one, I’m doing knee raises.

Strength

5 x 3 Deadlift @ 80% of 1RM in early January

1Rm back in January was 335#. So 268. I went with 270# across all 5 sets. It was heavy, but felt very good.

Work

“Leaning Tower of Pisa”

(Independence)

7:00 AMRAP

• 7 Hang Power Snatch (75#)
• 7 Box Jump Overs (24″)

Got in 5 full rounds plus 9 more reps.

Open Prep

• 1:00 Max Burpee Chest to Bar
• 2:00 AMRAP – 7 C2B, 2 Shuttle Runs
• 1:00 Max Burpee Chest to Bar

Nothing wrong with a little open prep. I was happy to hit the Chest to Bars. Reps were low, about 5 reps on the burpees and only about 1.5 rounds on the 2:00 AMRAP. Still having decent C2B is very nice though.