Day 262: CF Armoury: Snatch Balance; WOD: 100's and 10's - DU, MU, Situps

FRIDAY; September 25, 2015 @ Crossfit Armoury

#7amstrong #happycouch #crossfitarmoury
<left to right: Arri, Clem, Gino, Tony; and Eddie Winslow [dog]>

:0-10
Warm-Up:

Behind the neck Press
Sotts Press
Bottom to Bottom Overhead Squats
Snatch Balance

:10-25
STRENGTH:

work up to a max Snatch Balance

:30-35
WOD Warm-Up:  

50 Double Unders
Walk through Muscle Up Scaling
25 Butterfly Situps

:35-55
WOD:  

100 Double Unders
10 Muscle Ups (Sub Chest to Bar /Pullups/Elevated Ring Rows)
100 Sit-ups
10 Muscle Ups (Sub Chest to Bar /Pullups/Elevated Ring Rows)

100 Double Unders

 Time Cap: 17 Minutes 


Today's Coach:   Jason 'Level 3' crossfit coach - 1st one in Alberta 

My Thoughts:
Well, first of all; a big shout out to Coach Jason for completing and passing his Level 3 Crossfit certification.  He's the first one in Alberta.  There are only a few others in Canada.   Kudos!

Warm-Up;
Used a wooden dowel and worked thru the warm-up as described.  We performed ten reps on each of the movements.

STRENGTH;
Moved to using an empty barbell and the rack.   I tempered my desired to start off with weight on the barbell.  Just using the empty bar to make sure the shoulders feels comfortable.   The other day's WOD with Overhead Squat was comfortable at 45 lbs (the barbell itself).
I added weight and brought it to 55, 65, 85 lb; respectively for the Snatch Balance..  All was good until Coach Jason came around and pointed out my issues with my knee.   Well, it's not my knee, but where it is proportion to my toe.  It's was way over.  Even though, I can get down low (breaking 90) and ass almost touching the ground; it's at the expense of my knee going over the toe.   As explained, this puts a large amount of strain on my knee cap, and uses mostly my quads.   I'm not loading up my hamstrings.   This seems to be a re-occurring theme.    I dropped the weight from 85 to 65 lb to work on my technique.  Still not satisfy; coach Jason brought a wooden dowel and put it in front of my knee while I was trying the Snatch Balance.
Nope, still to far over, and then I would abort the snatch balance.    Coach Jason suggested I try a air squat and push my hips back more so that I keep my heels on the ground.   Oddly, it was harder than said and my muscles (including my hamstrings was panicking as it's never been used this way),  which resulted in me tipping over backwards.   He then suggested that I pick up a 10 lb plate, extend it out in front of me and perform an air squat.   I tried this and it made it easier.
He took me over to box and asked me again to do an air squat with my toes a few centimeter away from the edge of the box.   He wanted me to perform 5 quick air squats to see how I was doing.   He later asked, Clem to do them as well just so it's drilled into my mine.
All this time, my squats are not perfect...  it's been mentioned by a few people that my knee is way over my toes when I go below 90.   Time for change on this, otherwise, it'll lead to some serious issues  with my knee cap (it will pull up and up more; along with other muscle imbalances).  It's like re-learning how to squat again.
The rest of the time was used to work on my technique.  Thus the results for my max squat balance is recorded as  TECHNIQUE.   Fair enough!

WOD Warm-up;
Worked thru some demos and each one of us in class tried a muscle up transition.  Coach Jason wanted to see how effective we were.  He then grouped us off into our abilities and how to do the movements.   I had to modify my WOD for the Muscle Up transition from everyone else.
We changed it to do 10 Muscle Up Transitions, 10 Bench Dips and 10 Bent over Row with a barbell.

My modification for 10 Muscle Ups due to Shoulder Injury
(10 Muscle Up Transition, 10 Bench Dips, 10 Barbell bent over Rows)

Since I still can't do a double under; it was suggested that I do 200 singles instead of the 100 Double Unders.  /sigh

My RxRope

WOD;

So, one of the biggest issues I had in the past with a high rep sit-ups is the friction it causes on your butt when you perform them.  I mean, to the point where you butt gets blisters or worst, skins gets rubbed off.   This time, I went with a cushion mat and the abmat pointing in the correct direction.  All this time, my abmat was being used incorrectly.   Gawd!!!   With the cushion mats; no friction burn on my ass.  

AbMat plus cushion mats for the 100 Sit-ups
(avoiding friction burn on my ass from the sit-ups)

My WOD ended up looking like this:

200 Singles
10 Muscle Ups Transitions, 10 Bench Dips, 10 Bent over Barbell row w/65 lb
100 Sit-ups
10 Muscle Ups Transitions, 10 Bench Dips, 10 Bent over Barbell row w/65 lb
200 Singles

All completed in a time of 15 minutes and 25 seconds.   Done within the 17 minute time cap.
The hardest part of this was the sit-ups; around the 80 rep mark.   I had to dig down and push through as I heard Coach Jason say "Half way!" referring to the 17 minute mark time cap.
I was actually a bit worried at the end when doing the 200 singles..  I started to falter a bit around the 150 mark.  I was getting in two or three before I was able to resume a string of them.

Misc:

The silliness that follows after our 7 am class
Clem - in the back, Gino - having his recovery drink

I'm also on Instragram

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Extra credit; also known as extra programming for the likes.   In case you find that the WOD was not enough, or you are looking on increasing your skills, strength for an upcoming competition.  This little nugget is the thing for you!   Coaches are on-site and can be asked for assistance if there is a movement you don't understand.  They will also provide some guidance if you are doing it wrong.
Usually, the extra credit is performed after the class.   And more than likely, there will be others from the class who will want to do it.   This is definitely another way to get to know the other members at your box.

Death by 15 Foot Rope Climb

Remember to stay consistent in your training and tackle one WOD at a time!!