Getting Fithy

It was Friday Fun-day at The Garage today as I had to consolidate all my baseball guys into one session so I could get to the airport in time for my flight to St. Louis.  I'm headed out to my old college roomie's wedding!

But before I hit the air, I had a little fun.  5/3/1 strict press to start.  Felt very strong and was able to get 135 for 7.  Still not making very good progress with this stuff, but making small gains as I go, and I will take those any day!  Then, inspired by Lindsey and her workouts up at Albany CrossFit, I decided it was about time to hit the "Filthy Fifty".  The first, and if I recall correctly, only time I have ever done this, must have been about 3 years ago with Blair Morrison.  We both got in the mid-20's for time, and neither of us could handle the double unders, had to do singles, we were so done after that.  We have both made some pretty decent gains since then for sure.  So, I came into this with the goal of sub-20.

The Filthy Fifty is a staple CrossFit WOD that is generally a perfect example of a chipper.  It is 10 exercises at 50 reps of each; done for time.

Box jumps (24")
Jumping pull ups
KB swings (1 pood)(I used 44#, not sure about poods still...)
Walking lunges (50 steps)
Knees to elbows
Push press (45)
Back extensions
Wall ball (20)
Burpees
Double unders

Here's why I like this WOD: it is sneaky hard.  At first glance, it seems a bit "easy", with the jumping pull ups and light push presses and such.  But if you take a very close look at it, or, just do it, you'll find that it taxes the body perfectly.  Each exercise makes the next one just a little bit harder because of the muscles that get worked.  The most noticeable is moving from back extensions to wall ball, just tough.  Burpees and double unders at the tail end is all around rude, but makes this the wonderful workout that it is.  I was able to pull out 19:55, and know exactly what got me.  Knees to elbows and burpees.  They were…um, fun.

Once I got my head about me after finishing that up, I wrote out a partner workout for the big group coming in.  Here's what they did:

Each group picked a weight, between 20-50lbs, just a single weight.  They had to perform the total reps in total as a team.

800 meter run (with weight)
1500 meter row
100 squat to presses (with weight)
100 sit up
100 push ups
100 lunges (with weight)
100 russian twists (with weight)
100 pull ups
50 swings (with weight)
50 weighted jumps (obviously with weight)
50 unweighted jumps

They all started with the run, passing the weight back and forth when they felt they wanted to.  Then, they had to perform the exercises, in any order.  That means, one of them could do all the sit ups while the other does all the lunges, or, they could trade off when they felt like it.  I did this for two reasons: one, to beat them up a little before they lounged around for the 4th of July.  And two, to make them communicate and use their heads while under a high amount of stress and fatigue.  This proved very interesting.  A couple of them mis-communicated their transitions and found themselves waiting at the end for the other to finish one thing so they could jump in.  The groups that planned it out together, and kept talking throughout, they got great times and finished at the top.

Had a fun time with that one and would love to incorporate that more, even into my own programming is at all possible.  I think it's a great idea to work the mental side of fitness whenever you can.  And I don;t mean just the "fight through the pain" mental aspect.  But the planning, the pacing and the communication with training partners.

I'll be getting some exciting outdoor workouts with Lindsey and whomever feels like joining over the weekend, so keep an eye out for those!

Happy 4th of July weekend!!

Never Stop, GET FIT.

Josh Courage