Crossfit Armoury - March 23, 2107: Heavy Front Squats; WOD: 300 m Row

Thursday; March 23, 2017 @ Crossfit Armoury - West

:0-8
Warm-Up:

Walkthrough EMOM:

EMOM for 6 Minutes:
Minute 1:  30 seconds FLR on Rings
Minute 2:  30 seconds Dragon Flag Hold on Rig

:15-20

STRENGTH:

Work up to Heavy Working Set of Front Squats

:20-33
Every 2:30 for 5 Rounds:

4 Front Squats

*Increase weight each round

:30-35
WOD Warm-Up:  

Row 150 meter Arms
Row 150 meter Legs
Row 150 meter Full Body


:35-55
WOD:  

 Every 4 Minutes for 3 Rounds: 

Row 300 meter

*SCORE is slowest round

Today's Coach:  Kyle L.

My Thoughts:
Rowing, it's my jam...  one of the few advantages of being tall.  Longer, and stronger pulls.   But I still need to work on being a bit more efficient.  Let's see how today goes..

Warm-Up;
So, I had no idea what FLR on Ring meant when I read it. I actually had to google it and it stands for Floor Raising Rest on Ring.  Coach Kyle demoed it for Ray and I.  It was a small 7am class, with only the two of us.  The 6 am is always full of early get goers.

Here's a YouTube Video of what FLR on Ring looks like:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_obD4GBJj4

One lower the rings, to about 10 cm from the ground.    You position yourself just like your doing a push-up, when full extended at the top; but instead of planting your hands on the floor, you're gripping the rings.   The goal is not to let your core sag and/or drop and hold it for 30 seconds.   You get 30 seconds of rest before attempting the second core busting, building hold movement.   

Dragon Flag Hold - Picture from
http://www.fitnessandpower.com/training/bodybuilding-exercises/ab-exercises/dragon-flag

That involves lying on the floor, with arms straight and then bring yourself into a hollow hold shape.   The attempt is to lift your butt off the ground, while gripping the rig.   Easier said than done.   I had trouble holding myself in the hollow hold position for more than 18 seconds and that's with my butt still on the ground.   I did attempt to lift my butt off the ground..   Let's just say I need a lot of work on this.
Well; this two weeks of programming has shown what I already know.  I need to work on my core [adding this to my growing list of things to improve on] and I'm glad that we do have these warm-up exercises to work on them.  

STRENGTH;
Started with an empty barbell on the rig/rack and perform TEN front squats.   Next, we were to build up to a HEAVY 4 rep Front Squat weight.   
This is where my mind starts to play with me.   Being full aware of my knee, I had to really focus on keeping my knee align so it would track correctly, at the same time when the weight got heavy; I had to make sure I push my knees outward.    All this should come naturally, but... I had to keep it in check as that's what probably happen which lead to my current issues with the knees.  And since there is no way around this, I have to keep doing the movements to make my knees stronger.    
Using the weight established above as base,  the second part of the strength involved increasing the weight each round, with 2 minutes and 30 seconds for each round; lifting 4 reps of Front squat.
Today's weight, was 135 lb for 4 reps.  A far cry from what it was when I was solid (1 rm - 255 lb).  It's going to be a long climb, but... it'll come back.

WOD Warm-Up:
Brought out the Concept2 rowers and perform 150 meter of rowing with just the arms, then just the legs, and eventually 150 meter with full body.   A total of 450 meter of rowing for the warm-up.

WOD;

An slight gain from last weight in distance rowed, and chopping off two rounds.  Today WOD involved rowing flat out for 300 meters.   We had 4 minutes to accomplish this, which also included our rest time.   We are to do this for 3 rounds, and record our slowest time.
I was expecting that the first round would be the slowest, based on last week's similar WOD.  However, it wasn't the slowest; and my slowest time would be my third round.  It went like this for time.   59.5 seconds; 58.5 seconds; 59.8 seconds to row 300 meters.  Thanks for the cheers Coach Kyle, and Julio (one of the 6 am crew who was working on some accessory work after class).

Misc:
Nada, I got nothing....  

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.

5 Minute EMOM:
 1 Legless Rope Climb

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

Hashtags for the day:  #rebuild #tobefitby50 #rowing #frontsquats #corebusting