AMRAP Jerks

WOD:

AMRAP 15 minutes

5 Reps Locked Overhead (anyway possibile) 185 lbs (scaled to 81#)
10 Push Ups
15 GHD Back Extensions (subbed supermans)

8 rounds

The push-ups really slowed me down today. They were brutal after the push jerks and towards the end I was relegated to singles (but they were all strict.) Plus, you can pretty much only do supermans at one speed. If I would have had another bar I might have done good-mornings and got more rounds, but hey, I’m happy to just get a WOD in at this point.

I was out of fish oil for a while, and finally got some more today. I must admit, it really kills my appetite. When I was off it I ravenously craved sugar and ate pretty much constantly. After one mega dose this afternoon (about 3 grams) I’m not even hungry. Now, if I can just stay focused and drop some weight and get back in shape I’ll be a much happier girl.

Slammin’

Warmup: Double under practice. Still unsuccessful in achieving an actual double under. Wised up a little and actually wore shoes today.

WOD:
2 rounds of:

15 Thrusters (53#)
15 Ball Slams (12#)
15 Burpees
15 Box Jumps (19#)

Round 1: 5:05
Round 2: 5:10

RX’d was three rounds with no rest period. I wasn’t feeling so hot so I took a little break between rounds, and it still kicked my butt. The thrusters were unbroken the first round, and I had mucho trouble with the ball slams the first round. I was using a big Dynamax ball and because of the weird shape it bounced all over the place when I slammed it. I probably wasted quite a bit if time chasing the darn ball around. The second round I had trouble with the thrusters, but I stormed through the ball slams unbroken.

Cool down: Pull-up practice. Worked on my kip a little with the small red band. I did sets of 5 throughout the day also, just for fun. I think I probably ended up doing about 75 pull-ups total all day.

DL’s and DU’s

Deadlift 3 x 5

183# on all sets.

Still easing back into the workout routine. I was sore today, but not too so much I had to wonder how I was going to get dressed in the morning. Note to self: buy more shirts with buttons.

183# is a far cry from what I was doing a few months ago, but just enough today.

After the lifts I practiced my double unders for a while. I have the rope spin down, no problem, the spanner in the works is the timing of my jump. I’m just hitting the top of my feet with the rope on the second spin. Or worse, hitting the tips of my toes with the rope on the second spin – hoochie mama that hurts!

Respect

WOD:

AMRAP 10 minutes:

3 push-ups
5 pull-ups
7 weighted sit-ups

8 rounds + 3 push-ups

I probably could have easily gotten 10 rounds, but I had some starts and stops as I adjusted the WOD mid-stream. RX’d was 20 minutes, with 3 handstand push-ups and knees to elbows instead of sit-ups. However, I am definitely older and possibly a little bit wiser (debatable, I know) so I scaled this back. This is my first WOD in a while, and the memory of my disastrous 90 pull-up/90 dip workout is still fresh in my psyche. Actually, it’s seared into my psyche, and also seared into my lats and biceps. I subbed strict push-ups for the HSPU and 10# weighted sit-ups for the K2E. I started out intending to do K2E, but after three or four in the first round I could tell it was going to shred my hands.

I would rather be able to work out tomorrow than not be able to raise my arms above my head for five days. Being macho will only get you so far.

Here is a link to a great article by Tommy Kono titled “If I Had My Way.”

http://www.oldtimestrongman.com/kono_article.html

It’s about treating the gym with the respect a martial artist would treat a dojo (training hall.) As a martial artist I know the most important rule of the dojo: never, ever, ever step on the mats with your shoes. EVER! I remember seeing a parent step onto the mat to take a picture during a belt test once. He didn’t have to be told he made a mistake. Every single martial artist in the room – from the five year old white belts to the 9th Degree Grand Master – turned to stare in shock at his feet and gasp. You could hear the collective breath being sucked in in the room. NEVER step on the mat with your shoes! EVER!

When I started doing CrossFit with my friend Steve he had some nice Swain mats in his garage that we would do sit-ups and push-ups on. The first time I saw him walk across those with his shoes on I almost fainted. I’m not being overly dramatic when I say that either, it really and truly blew me away. He still has them at the box and even now I can’t bring myself to step on them. I’ll go around, thank you very much, even if it adds a few seconds to my WOD time. I also cringe when I see dusty shoe prints on them. Oh, the humanity!

Respect people! Respect the mat, respect the bar, respect the bumper plates, respect the training, respect yourself.

Cody Black Belt Test and Tournament

The Crusher and I before the black belt test in Cody, Wyoming.

Crusher throwing me during the kata.

On Thursday we made the migration west to Cody, Wyoming, for the black belt test and tournament. The Crusher, Joey and Neils from our school tested for black belt in judo, and I was Crusher’s “uke” (a.k.a. the person she beat up.) It went really well and all three of them are now 1st Dan Black Belts in Judo.

I think Crusher and I got a standing ovation when we did kata guruma during Nage No Kata. I say “I think” because I was upside down at the time, but the cheering directly coincided with my body slamming into the ground. Pretty sure that was it. Kata guruma is pretty dramatic looking and is a crowd favorite, kind of a WWE-ish technique.

After the test the 9th Degree Grand Master Kim told Crusher he’d been watching her at the tournaments and said he greatly admired her, and that she was “a tough and mean lady. You a mean, MEAN lady.” She took it as a compliment, as she should. And, despite that comment and her nickname, Crusher really is a sweetheart.

One of the ladies that tested for second degree in Kyuki-Do at the test told me later I did a great job during the test. I was ready to reply that I really didn’t do that much when she said “The whole time I was watching you I was thinking, ‘Boy, that girl can sure take a beating.’” Uh, thanks… I think.

The next day was the tournament, and I competed in Judo. I won one match and lost one, ending up with second place. The match I lost was a down and dirty, vicious fight to the end, and I even left a little bit of skin on her gi (uniform.) I just ran out of gas in the end, probably due in part to the elevation (over 5,000 feet) and partly due to the fact that I’ve been living on cake and ice cream and not sleeping well for two weeks. Oh, and I’ve only done randori (practice sparring) about four times in the last six months. So second is more than I expected.

One For The Road

One last judo practice before the tournament in Cody, WY. Crusher and I ran through Nage No Kata one time, and it went so well we left it at that. Then we went through all the takedowns, standing takedowns, pins, chokes, and arm bars.

Crusher was really upbeat tonight and told me she’s just going to have fun and not stress out about the test, which I think is a fantastic attitude. Joy is a big part of martial arts, and in my opinion some people completely overlook that aspect of it.

Cody, here we come!

WOD:

18-15-12-9-6

24 Walking Lunges
Pull-ups (blue band)
Abmat Sit-ups

10:43 

24 walking lunges, then 18 reps pull-ups and situps; 24 walking lunges, 15 reps pull-ups and sit-ups, etc.

Rhymes With Yada, Yada, Yada

Do you know what rhymes with “Yada, yada, yada?” Answer: “Kata, kata, kata.” Which is what I’ve been doing for the last three days. Over and over and over. Which is completely necessary, of course, to do it correctly. But I’m getting kind of overdosed on Nage No Kata.

On a lovely change of pace, today I actually got to go to CrossFit.

WOD:

AMRAP in 15 minutes

12 Hang Power Cleans (62#)
9 Ring Dips (red band)
21 Abmat Sit-ups

7 rounds + 12 cleans + 3 dips

This one was right in my wheelhouse. I love cleans and dips, and I’m used to lots of sit-ups from martial arts. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was easy, but I wasn’t crumpled in a blubbering, drooling heap like I usually am after a CrossFit WOD.

Shoulders’ daughter has started coming to judo and I was partnered with her tonight. We’ve been searching for a nickname for her, because all the ladies have to have one. I finally settled on The Natural because she is just that – a natural. She’s doing great, and tonight she cemented her nickname by throwing an awesome tomoe nage on me in randori. Then, unfortunately for her, I threw the best deashi harai I’ve ever done on her. I really rang her bell and kind of fell on top of her, because as surprised as she was, I was even more shocked that it actually worked.

Sorry Natural! Do I still get a hug?

One Step Forward, One Step Back

This morning:

“Lynne”
5 rounds
Max# BW Bench Press
Max# Pullups
Rest 5 minutes between rounds

I was stinky poo on this one this morning:

7/9, 8/9, 7/9, 7/9, 8/5  Total: 37/41

Bench was 78# and Pull-ups were with a blue band.

I’ve done this WOD quite a few times and this is probably the worst I’ve ever done. But I’m cool with that, because now I know what I need to work on. Well, hang on, back up a minute – I need to work on a lot of things, but the thing I need to work on the most is consistency. That is the key to my problems. However, my life is very inconsistent, I never know from one day to the next what I’m going to be doing. Constantly varied, high intensity – hmmm, sounds familiar. Maybe I can work with that.

On one of the sets of nine pull-ups I lost count and then wasn’t sure if the last rep was legit. Steve was watching so I asked him and he said “Oh, sorry. I was mesmerized by the bruises on your leg. Look, there’s a smiley face!” The calf of my right leg has some spectacular bruising patterns from the extra judo I’ve been doing. So I don’t know if I did 11 or 10 or 9 pull-ups on that round, but I do know that if you squint your eyes just right I do indeed have a smiley face on the back of my leg. Fantastic.

A while ago I stumbled on a blog of a young lady judoka and she had a photo gallery of all the bruises she sustained doing judo. Maybe I should do that. Then I would probably lose all 18 people that actually read this thing. Probably the same 18 people that listen to CrossFit Radio.

Maybe I should post a poll: “Would you like to see photos of my boo-boos?” But then people might think boo-boos are a very different thing than I think they are. That might bring more readers. Or less? OK, I’m confused now. Nevermind.

Four hours of martial arts tonight. Kata practice with Crusher, and we had Shoulders come in and critique us. She gave us some good pointers. Not surprisingly, the thing we need the most work on is kata guruma. Most specifically, the way Crusher picks me up on kata guruma, so she must have hoisted me up on her shoulders at least 25 times. “Hey Crusher, how much can you squat.” “Oh, I can squat Tami for reps.”

Fantastic.

Practice Makes Progress

Tonight Crusher and I did an hour of judo practice for the black belt test. We did Nage No Kata two or three times, then ran through all of the take-downs, pins, arm bars, chokes, standing take-downs and throws. Then we did kata one more time. 

We improve a little bit every time. My breakfalls are feeling better and I managed not to fall on top of my head on kata guruma. Whoo-hoo! Though I do panic a little bit everytime I get up there, trying to remember which way I have to fall before she drops me.

I think my body is getting conditioned to the breakfalling. When I first started doing kata it felt like I’d been run over by a truck afterwards. Now, I don’t know if I’m just used to the beatings, or if my body has actually toughened up a little.

Although I did learn tonight that Crusher has lined up Shoulders as a back-up uke for tomorrow night, so I’m not sure what she has planned for me…

Cue dramatic music.

Pull-up update: still absent. Though 80 pound presses have stuck around.

Diet update: On day three of the anabolic diet induction phase. Feelin’ good.