Partner WOD

Late afternoon
WU: Dynamic warmup-squats, stretches, shuffling, PVC shoulder flexibility

Workout: Crossfit Inspire WOD

Partner WOD
1000m Run (250m per)
100 KB Swings (53#)
100 Meter Wall Ball Shuffle Pass (20#)
100 Partner Med Ball Situps (20#)
100 Partner Med Ball Cleans (20#)
1000m Row (250m per)

One partner rests while the other partner works.

18:29

Workout comments: I decided I would give the crossfit affiliate thing a try. There are several options I have to choose from, and all seem to have pros and cons. Platoon Crossfit is near my house in Conshohocken, but they don't seem to have too much information on their website. I should defintely look into them more, but it seems like you have to provide them with too much personal information in order to get anything out of them. Crossfit KOP seemed like my best bet, it's close to home, roughly on my way to work in Malvern, and seems like they are very competivie in the Crossfit Games, which could speak well for the sort of clientel they attract. Their membership fee is pretty steap though, the most expensive of all the groups in area. Crossfit Inspire is closest in proximity to work, which means I could go for a morning workout, afternoon workout, and maybe slip away for a lunch workout here and there. The owner seemed very nice on the phone and mentioned they have a one week trial period, which definitely hooked me in. I decided to try them out first.

The WOD was pretty simple, as outlined above. I was partnered with a guy named Rob who seemed pretty even with my in terms of fitness, at least at face value. After the warmup and the introductions, we got started and right away I could feel it was going to be tougher than I expected. We broke most of the movements into sets of 10, not too difficult until you realize that you are only getting 15-30 seconds of rest. We seemed like we were working hard and flying, but there was another team that just kept edging us out on every station. Somehow we started together during the med ball cleans, and they managed to beat us by 40. A little suspect, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. They actually only finished 100 meters ahead of us, and I was hauling ass trying to catch them. It just wasn't in the cards.

I hate partner workouts, but I think this workout was actually pretty decent. I was working pretty hard and my partner was emptying the tank as well. The owner (I think his name was Matt or Darin) was really nice, and offered me some good motiviation during the workout. The group itself was made up of a very diverse mix of ages and genders, from high school athletes to 40+ parents. I was looking for something a bit more condense, but in the end I was surprised by how close the competition was. First workout: 6 out of 10.