Crossfit Armoury - May 12, 2018: Junkyard dog; Partner wod: Burpees, snatches, Wall Balls

Saturday; May 12, 2018 @ Crossfit Armoury - West

Crossfit Coach:  Mike Kan

Thoughts:
I'm probably throwing some of the regulars off with my attendance on Saturday morning.  Came in today for the 9 am class.  Was expecting it to be a small group, and instead there was more than a full class.  At least the WOD was a partner WOD.  There was 21 people in attendance, where as the 11 am class which only had 5 people.  It's usually the reverse.  I guess with the nicer weather; everyone is trying to get their workout in and then go out and enjoy!

Warm-up:

Junk yard dog, I just hate you! Only because I can't jump worth a shit.  And it was probably better that I didn't partner up with my normal gym person, as some of the movements would be questionable.   I end up partnering up with Shawn, who was about my height and size.  We are two people of similar fitness, although he's stronger than I am (which I found out later), but also confess to me that he can't jump either!  Bingo; great partner for sure!  Coach demoed what the Junk Yard Dog was and again our jumping skills would be lacking.  I fear I would either trip over his arm or step on him.  And same with him, on thoughts.  Just google Junk Yard Dog to see what it's all about!   After some laughs by everyone with this workout.  We moved to the next fun filled conditioning.

Conditioning:

Coach had one of the members show us his maximum calories per hour number on the rower.  He was peaking around 3500+ calories/hour.  The goal was to take your highest value and subtract 300 calorie off that number.  That would be the number that you were to maintain for 20 seconds.  We would be doing this for 3 rounds.   
We including Alan who was the only one who wasn't partner up, odd man out with us on this fun conditioning.  
I was half jokingly saying to everyone else that it was better to row at a slower pace so the calories would be less.   But I didn't, and went all out to get my initial value.  My peak was about 2500+ calories/hour.   So, the number I'm trying to aim for is about 2200 calories/hour.   
It's pretty hard to maintain that 2200 calories / hour as once you hit the pace and/or go over it.  You tend to slow the pace, but then it drops so quickly that within that 20 seconds; it's was hard to maintain.  The rest for 90 seconds went by pretty quick.   Talking with the others, this conditioning was taxing!

WOD Warm-up:

Coach demoed the Burgener warm-up.  Something all of us in Olympic lifting class is familar with.   Partially listen to the coach, partially tuned him out.  Probably not a good idea, but whatever..  He had the class do 5 reps of each movements.   He also demoed the movement to the rest of the class, those who are not familiar with it.   We are to build up to our starting weight for our snatch.

WOD:

Talking to Shawn, we would be okay with the starting weight of 95 lb and then up to 135 lb.  But anything above that would be hard for him. We opted to move to 115 lb for the second set and then see how it goes.   That was the plan.  And as for the the rest of the movements; we would just alternating the reps as needed.  Essentially trying to split the reps or do as many as we can to allow our partner to rest.

One more thing that would throw our workout into a loop would be the skipping.  We had to do 60 single skips (both partners) every 3 minutes during the workout.  Coach would be yelling this out and we would have to drop what we were doing and then do the skipping.  And the resume afterwards.  I used this time to rest a bit more and moderate my skipping.

Communication is key in this partner wod.  We started with breaking the Burpees in 10s. The 20 snatches were broken down into 5's and/or 10's.  Shawn likes to do them in 10's.  I did mine in 5s.  So 5 in the beginning and in the end.

The 100 pull-up was scaled to ring rows, again, as many as possible before swapping out.  It varied for this movement.   When it came time to buy the weight for the snatch.  I was so tired from the conditioning and the ring rows; that I wasn't effective with the 115 lb Power snatch.   We opted to keep the weight at 95 lb for the rest of the workout.  Still doing 20.. Again, breaking this down to 5 reps each. 

100 Wall balls, again; broke it down to management numbers.  Sometimes the numbers were less than 5, other times they were 15 or more.  

And for snatches, Shawn did the bulk of the work on this.  He left 5 for me to finish with.  

Thanks Shawn!   Team work!

We finished it in 29:01; with 59 seconds left before the time cap!

MISC:  n/a

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.

Behind the Neck Snatch Grip Sotts Press
5 sets of 3
If you start to lean forward while pressing, lower the weight or don't squat down as far.
This is meant to be light weight

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

Hashtags for the day:  #rebuild #tobefitby50