Crossfit Inspire, Fran

Early morning

WU: Dynamic warmup-stretches, squats, PVC shoulder flexibility, shuffline, plyometrics

Workout: Fran

21-15-9

Thrusters (95#)
Pullups

4:54

Workout comments: A new PR on Fran and a 2010 goal accomplished! This was the second workout I tried at Crossfit Inspire and of course Fran had to be on the menu. After a good warmup, everyone got their weights and stations set up and waited nervously for the clock to start. There were some familiar faces there from yesterday, but a much larger turnout in general. As with yesterday, there was a pretty diverse mix of people in attendence. The workout would be completed in heats, with each person having a spotter/rep counter for the workout. There was an odd number of people, so unfortunately I was counter-less. I placed myself next to a guy who looked like he could run over a truck. From his gear, he was obviously a football player: most likely a lineman, but maybe a linebacker. He looked like he would kill me on the thrusters, but I was hoping to make up the time on the pullups. I really didn't know what to expect...

The first round of thrusters was not my best. Although I didn't put the bar down and maintained a pretty quick consistent pace, I was thrown off a few times by the corrections of Matt/Darin. He said I was not extending my shoulders at the top of the thruster. I was defintely locking out my arms, but I learned later that he almost wanted me to move my elbos behind my head in order to achieve a pure vertical stance. I tried my best to compensate, and did as best as I could considering I was having a hard time understanding anything.

Pullups next. I never had the luxury of a sturdy pullup bar that could within stand a decent kip, and chalk on top of that. I had tried Barbara the other day and only got close to 15 kipping pullups, so that was I was shooting for. I was elated when I flew past my 15th rep with energy left to finish out the set unbroken. First time ever. I attacked the thrusters riding that high, but it quickly waned as I had to drop the bar after 10 reps. I was now noticeably behind the football stud and was desperately trying to catch him. I couldn't see how he was doing on the pullups, if he had good form, but I had to assume he was killing them. I banged out the remain thrusters and hit the next set of pullups with a similar break at #10. The final set of thrusters and pullups were unbroken, but I just couldn't catch the guy next to me who finished about 1 minute faster.

I was pretty bummed that I couldn't catch him, so it took almost a minute or two for it to register that I had just surpassed my Fran goal for 2010. I couldn't believe it. Crossfit Inspire is looking better by the day.

Bench Press, Fran, Squat Cleans

Late Afternoon

WU: Shoulder dislocates, quad stretch, Bosu ball ankle stability, calve stretch, 10 squats, 10 pushups, 10 situps, 10 back extensions.

Workout: Bench Press: 5, 5, 5, 3, 3, 3

Loads: 195#, 215#, 220# (only 2 reps), 195#, 215#, 220#

Fran: 6:59
2:49, 2:53, 1:17

Squat Cleans: 3 X 5 (137#)

Workout comments: New PR on Fran by almost 2 minutes. This can most defintely be attributed to the thrusters. I completed all the thrusters as straight sets. The pullups had to be strict, because I was doing them on the bar from the Smith machine which is too low to swing my legs, not to mention that it's not locked in place and I've already suffered one spill while doing pullups.

The bench presses were also done using the Smith machine. I'm confused by my performance on the bench presses. The other day I could finish 5 X 5 reps of 195# and today I can't even perform more than 3 reps of 220# on the 6th set. Chest is defintely the area I need to work on the most over the next few months.

Squat cleans were peformed strictly, catching the bar at the absolute bottom of the squat. My calves/ankles are still very inflexible, which makes keeping a straight back at the bottom of the squat a near impossibility, but holding weight seems to help strectch them out a bit. I'll keep working on that over the next few months as well.