Back in the Gym!

Sunday afternoon the Empower coaching team gathered at the West Point Grey track where PomPom and Shades put us through a fantastic crushing workout! As a special bonus, birthday boy The Truth joined us along with Hufflepuff and baby BamBam!

Db Snatches 50-40-30-20-10
Stand Ups 10-20-30-40-50
200m Run between rounds

To warm up Heehee and I did an unbroken dumbbell carry from the gym to West Point Grey (thankfully Dangers provided a dumbbell return shuttle service because we were wrecked after the workout – and beer).

I love dumbbell snatches and stand ups but this workout had me looking forward to the running interlude each round. That is the crazy thing about a good CrossFit WOD, it turns your reality and your preferences on their head. The time cap was 40 minutes. I was the last to complete at 48:04 physically shattered. I’m pretty sure I’m going to feel this one tomorrow morning when I get up at 4am to go open up the gym doors for our first in-gym group class in over two months!

Back in the Gym!
Excited! Nervous! That’s how I was feeling. Time to test out our new training stations. This one’s an easy one, all we need is a spot for double unders and sumo deadlift high pulls. I chose a green kettlebell, not just because of the space savings but also because at roughly 50lbs it was similar in weight to Tear Drop, the rock that has been my staple in workouts these past 2 months. And guess what? It was heavy enough. My strength has certainly diminished.

That’s fine, I love lifting heavy things, my strength will return. What worried me was the double under timing. Would two months of jumping with double claps translate into good double under timing or would my skills degrade?

The double unders went smoothly enough. I was relieved to find my timing was good. But I was so tense about it the first two rounds that I held my breath a bit and was really winded in round three seeing a big drop off in reps as I gasped for breath. In the break I coached myself to calm down, slow down my double unders and remember to breathe through it and my scores in the final two rounds improved. My conditioning isn’t where it was before but that will come back too.

The best thing about being in the gym again is the digital timer on the wall! I’ve got seriously bad vision so squinting at my watch or phone during WODs the past 2-months has been a real drag and I’ve lost reps aplenty trying to check my time. Also I couldn’t have the camera running and see the time at the same time. Never expected the gym clock would be the thing I missed the most!

Monday many of you will be back in the gym testing your skills and conditioning. Go lighter than you usually would. Remember to breathe. Pay attention to good form on your sumo deadlift high pull, fatigue and sloppy reps could result in some seriously sore low backs if you do not self-manage. Don’t worry about score today, just enjoy being back in the gym recovering your skills.

Equipment:
Skipping Rope
Barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell or weighted backpack

Warm Up:
4 rounds:
1 min Skipping
1 min KB deadlifts
1 min KB Swings