Day 76: Hero WOD 9-11

Tribute to 9-11; Hero WOD

Wednesday; September 11, 2013 - the wall @ ROCK JUNGLE CROSSFIT

  

Two of the Three coaches tonight  - (Edward and Graham)

Warm-Up:

3 Rounds

-  100 Skips
     or  30 Double Unders
-  25 meter Backward Bear
-  25 meter Gorilla
-  10 Push-ups
-  10 Sit-ups
-  10 Squats


SKILL:

DIPS    4 x 4

IN BETWEEN SETS
-  30 seconds Hollow Holds


HERO WOD:  Sept. 11

9 rounds -   11  Burpees
                    11  Overhead Squats  (Men 95 lbs / Women 65 lbs)

Today Coaches:   Graham, Edward, and Kylie



My Thoughts:
Hero WODs are always harder than your typical Benchmark WOD.   Today was one of the first time that I was left out of breath, totally wiped, and wanting to throw up, provided I could catch my breath.   My legs were trembling while standing, this after our  stretch/cool down.  The last time I felt this way was after doing a WOD in my first week of Crossfit. 
It was definitely a hard one and the best thing about all this, I finished it!!   Kudos to all those who finished it!!
Once again, the community [fellow crossfitters and coaches] pulled thru; cheering on all those who were struggling at the end (I'll admit, I was one of those). 
Tonight was special as we had THREE coaches (Graham, Edward, and Kylie) teaching, ensuring that we didn't break form, and providing advice.

Warm-Up; 3 rounds to get us warmed up.  We had 15 minutes to complete this.  I only managed to get to the start of the third round before being called in.  

SKILL; DIPS, the focus on gymnastic movements.  I'll explain this in more detail in the MISC section.  I use the assisted machine to do the dip; and with it being the first time.  I had to do a few dips to figure out what was challenging, and what was too easy.    I ended up using 90 lb assistance.
In between the DIPS, we were to perform Hollow Holds.   What are Hollow Holds you say?   Well, think of it as doing a Yoga posed called the Marjariasana (Cat Pose); but on your back. 

Marjariasana - Cat Pose

You sit and crouch over, and slowly lie back until the lower back is completely flat on the floor; keeping that crouch (curved back), keep your feet on the ground.    If you find that not challenging enough; straighten out your legs and lift about the ground while doing the above.  And for an additional challenge, you can raised both of your arms over your head (like the picture below).   Now, hold this for 30 seconds.  You will definitely feel this in your core.

Hollow Hold

HERO WOD;  special as it's September 11.   Tribute to 9/11.   Extremely hard.  I just used the bar which was just 45 lbs.   Focus again on proper form while doing the Overhead Squat.   The most I could ever do was 65 lbs at 4 Rounds.  This being 9 rounds, I decided to stay with the the naked bar.   Burpees was the other set of exercise.  Who really like's Burpees?  

When all said and done, you will have completed 99 burpees, and 99 Overhead Squats.

My time for this Hero WOD was 25 minutes and 34 seconds.  Another one for the books, so when this HERO wod comes up again, I can try to beat this time.

HERO WOD Results @ 8PM; Name, Rounds, Weight, Time

Misc:  Gymnastic Movement, this is the month that we are focusing on this type of programming.  I had asked Dan, another coach and owner of Rock Jungle about it.   Let's see if I remembered it correctly.  Dan please correct me if I'm wrong.    Dan drew this fancy dancy diagram (see below).

Why the focus on Gymnastics?

In order to improve ourselves as we move upward on the triangle.  You must first have your Nutrition down.  Then the next thing is Met Con; which is a combination of our SKILLS and WOD.   We improve our stamina and some strength over time.  The next level is Gymnastics.  The foundation of all of our movements.  This is usually weak as shown by the last two weeks of training.  I know I'm weak at DIPS, and Pull-ups.  As we continue to move upward on the triangle, you will notice that the next level is Weigh Lifting.  As we all know, weight lifting focuses on form and technique.   Those forms comes from some gymnastic movement.  If we cannot master our gymnastic movement, any level above is limited.  Thus, the focus on gymnastics (the basic movements).
The next level would be OLY (Olympic Lifts), which is a subset of Sports.  That is at the top of the pyramid.

Like all things, as we practice more, and work on our weakness.  We will be improving on ourselves.  Remember the saying, you are only as strong as your weakest link.  So why not work on strengthen that?

Looking forward to this change in programming, and seeing what gains I'll see in the next 3 to 6 months as we switch back to the weigh lifting for our SKILLS.  I think Dan mention we will be alternating between GYMNASTIC and Weightlifting.


So until the next time, tackling one WOD at a time!!!