Crossfit Armoury - December 9, 2016: Partner HERO WOD: Kutschbach

Friday; December 9, 2016 @ Crossfit Armoury - West

0-15
Warm-Up:

Walkthrough L-Sit and L-Hang
EMOM for 10 minutes:
Minute 1:  L-Sit on Rings
Minute 2:  L-Hang from Rigs


:20-25
WOD Warm-Up:  

Bomb Squats
Empty Bar Back Squats
Load Back Squat weight
Press, Push Press, Push Jerk
Load Shoulder to Overhead Weight


:25-55
Partner HERO WOD:   KUTSCHBACH

 Alternating Rounds: 

14 Rounds for Time
11 Back Squats @ 185/135
10 Jerks @135/95

Complete with a partner

Back Squat from the Rack
Jerks from the Floor


Today's Coach:  Jason R.

My Thoughts:
Was looking so forward to today's class.   Why?  Well, it's hasn't been the four of us (Jon, Clem, Ray and I) since we all did the Open back in February of this year.    That's how long it's been since Jon who abandon us.  But it was great to see Jon, and it felt like the old #7amstrong crew was back.  We also had Arri in attendance and still trying to find the others who are part of this crew.   Had hope for more, but I'll take it with five of us in attendance.    
Lots of laughs, friendly bantering, and pushing each other to finish.  This is one of the many things that I had missed from our past.   

As you can tell from the class, the layout is slightly different.  There is no dedicated strength portion.  That's made up in the HERO WOD today, it's called Kutschbach.   We did this WOD as a partner wod.  

More information about this Hero WOD can be found at the following link: 

http://wodwell.com/wod/kutschbach/

Warm-Up;
Coach Jason walked the class thru the L-sit and L-Hang.   For those who can't hold themselves up in the L-Sit position on the Rings for more than 10 second; we could scale it to, holding our knees up.  This applied to both the Rings and the Rig.   This revealed another area of weakness.    Rings work; shoulders/arms wobbling while trying to keep my body in place.   Yup, I'm making a list of things to work on.  Seems like, it's starting to point to more Gymnastic movements.   Thank goodness, there is gymnastic classes at the Crossfit Armoury; and it's part of the membership package I pay for.

WOD Warm-up;
We started by gathering in a semi-circle around our coach, Jason.  We were all to go to the bottom of a squat position and hold it.  One by one, each person were to do 5 squats, before the next person in line were to do theirs.  Everyone had to be at the bottom of the squat position.   We did two rounds of this.   I felt fairly refreshed, thus no issues with the movement.
Next, we broke into our partners for the WOD.  Ray and I had chatted the day before and settled on each other for the WOD.   Clem and Jon (for the sake of Asian PeaRs; their former name when they did a competition together [shirt and all]).   Ray setup the barbell on the rig for the back squats.  I set up the bar and weight for the push jerk.  I did reconfirm with Coach Jason if the movement was limited to Push Jerk and Split Jerk.  He said, confirmed it was and there is no Push Press.

Benchmark WOD;

It was decided that Ray would be the first of the partners to go first.  I would follow-up right afterwards, his completion of the Jerks section.    

We did scale the weight and went with 135 lb for back squats, and 95 lb for the jerk section.

Initially, on the warm up; I had found the 135 lb was heavy.  Yah, it's been a while since I did any back squats.  Everything feels heavy; however as each round finished, the back squat felt easier.  I went at a faster than normal pace, but kept watching my knees (not letting it go over the toe, and tracking to see if not pushing my knees in).  No knee issues afterwards.

No issues with the push jerks, which was the one thing i was concerned about regards to the knee.  

Tried to keep a steady pace with this wod.  I felt a bit bad for my team partner Ray as I think he was expecting a bit more time between sets, with me than usually.   Oddly, I was able to push thru each round unbroken with the back squats, and Push Jerks.   Average time was about 75 to 100 seconds each round.  

I only say this as I overheard Ray muttering something when I wasn't stopping on my first 4 rounds, especially the Push Jerks without putting down the weight.    And we did talk about it afterwards.  Ray was buying all of us breakfast.

Last three rounds, i had to paused on the jerks.  I didn't put the weight down, just left it resting on my shoulders a bit before continuing.

Was it challenging?  Yes.   Should we had gone with heavier weight?    No.   There was a time cap on this WOD; it was 30 minutes.    I think if we had increased the weight, letting our ego talk; we wouldn't had finished it within the 30 minutes time cap.


Misc:

Some post WOD pictures of everyone rolling out, chilling afterwards with some of the Regional athletes...

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.

1 Squat Clean every :30 for 5 minutes @ 85%

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

Hashtags for the day:   #herowod #partnerwod #backsquats #jerks #tribute #Kutschbach