October 15, Hi Helen

Once a month it is test day: time to work on our skills levels. I finished the beginner's level a couple of months ago, so many of the exercises of the intermediate level are still far-fetched (muscle ups, ring dips, hand stand hold, 7 skin the cats...). However, some are within reach.

Today I added theses skills:

- 65 sit-ups in 2 minutes (Last month I did 63 in 2 minutes....)
- 40 knee push ups

I tried:

- 200 singles. I had to stop after 60 because my knee started to hurt.
- backward roll. Somehow I forgot how to do them.

Afterwards we did HELEN.

I scaled to ring rows

The running went really bad although I used my inhaler beforehand.
The second time round of running I even had to walk because my knee was so painful.

I finished the workout in 12:45.

October 13, Luckily it is not Friday and we aren't doing box jumps

It was 1RM time! We did a 1RM sumo deadlift today. The last time I did a 1RM sumo deadlift was on June, 22 and I lifted 155 lbs. Time to lift some more.

I easily lifted 155 - 175 and finally 185. I tried lifting 195 and I could actually lift it from the ground but I could feel that my technique was about to fail. Instead of risking back pain I stayed with 185. 

30 pounds more in 4 months isn't bad so I was really happy with my new PR :)

Yeah for progress!

After our 1RM we did 100 banded KBS: AUCH!

The WOD was:

AMRAP in 3 min of:

60 kbs (53/35)

max rep deadlift (255/185)

- 2 min rest -

AMRAP in 3 min of:

30 pull-ups

max rep sumo deadlift (255/185)

After the 100 banded KBS the 60 KBS were seriously heavy! I scaled the lifts to 130 lbs and did ring rows instead of pull-ups. The first round I didn't even do a deadlift the second round I could do 11. My final score was 101 (60 + 41).

September 12, Body weight challenge

If you would ask me about the exercises I like the least, I would definitely say the majority of body weight exercises. I am still working on my one pull-up, I failed doing 65 sit-ups in 2 minutes (63, aargh) and for some reason I can't do burpees or V-ups very fast (yet!)

So when today's workout was announced, I felt a shudder.

AMRAP in 3 min of:
20 Burpees
? Pull-ups
-1 min rest-
AMRAP in 3 min of:
30 Wallball shots (20/14)
? Pull-up
-1 min rest-
AMRAP in 3 min of:
40 V-ups
? Pull-ups

Score = number of pull-ups

Worst nightmare and definitely a body weight challenge! I scaled the pull-ups to ring rows

The first round I did 13 ring rows, the second 11 and the third 17. A total score of 41 ring rows. Next time I will try to do 45 ring rows!

September 3, 3 rounds for time

Today's warm-up and strength part were intense! Every time we do skull crushers at the box I seem to be missing those particular muscles needed to do this exercise. I definitely have to work more actively and more frequently with those muscles! I did the military presses with 45 lbs. I've done them with more weight but apparently I lock my shoulder joint, so I tried to do them without locking and that limited my press weight.

The workout went ok but not great. I did the push presses with 55 lbs and did ring rows instead of pull-ups. The V-ups went way slower than I expected them to go and I finished in 13:49.

August 11, Fran, the sequel (new PR)

Today we did Fran again (last time was in the beginning of June, here).

The strength part of the class consisted out of figuring out our 1 RM jerk/split jerk. We have practiced the jerk movement before (with a pvc pipe or an empty bar) but never did we do a 1 RM.

My last successful attempt was 85 lbs, jeej! I tried 95 lbs once but the difference was too big and I failed. Next time, I guess! Compared to my 1 RM push press (75 lbs) and 1 RM shoulder press (70 lbs) that's a good result!

The WOD:

















FRAN:

21-15-9 (for time)
thrusters
pull-ups

I did the thrusters with 45 lbs and scaled the pull-ups to ring rows. I finished in 6:53 and although I thought it didn't go as well as it did in June I was actually half a minute faster!

So 45 lbs instead of 35 lbs thrusters and 6:53 (compared to 7:24) equals a new PR on Fran! Jihaa !!

3 rounds for time

Yesterday's WOD was no joke, that's for sure. It looked okay on the whiteboard but during the wod you could definitely feel the exhaustion caused by the 6 rounds of 6 reps of good mornings and 5 reps of bent over rows.

The WOD was:

40 kettlebell swings (35 lbs)
30 pull-ups (scaled to ring rows)
20 burpees

I managed to finish in 25:34. I had to take a lot of breaks to catch my breath and to calm down my stomach (had some spaghetti one hour before the WOD).