Back on the GHD

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Allison Bojarski

Wednesday 120125

A: Push press 5 x 4 @ 82%

B: 21-15-9 reps for time of:
135#/95# Clean
GHD sit-ups

NOTE: This morning’s NYC Endurance running class is at 6:30am at 25 W. 26th St.

Handstand practice is fun on a beach (thanks, Joe and Katie for the pic):

30-DAY PALEO CHALLENGE — Day 19
Bengali fish curry: health benefits, recipe
Flourless paleo coconut lime muffins / Paleo onion sesame crackers
What causes and influences PCOS?
Do you have a grain brain?

Diet and weight loss more likely with a good night’s sleep
CFNYCer Linnea on mental toughness
All muscle, no iron


* * * * *
Here’s what’s on tap for Thursday’s WOD classes:

“Chelsea” (compare to 080122)
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Squats
Each minute on the minute for 30 minutes.

  • Ray Levitt

    Great handstands. Cheers. 

  • Ray Levitt

    Great handstands. Cheers. 

  • Anonymous

    In the introductions today, I think I was one of the few (maybe 2 or 3) people who’ve been CrossFitting for more than a year.  I did my Level 1 Certification, and a few others, and everyone knows I love this stuff.  So, what I’m about to say is the for the newer generation…

    Today’s WOD reminded me of a great article Sister Jenny shared with me a few months back (http://robbwolf.com/2011/11/09/the-case-for-the-short-metcon/) making the case for “the short met-con.”  I’m currently nursing a shoulder injury, but even if I was feeling in tip-top shape, I think there’s something to be said for going lighter than you think you can and really blazing through a workout.  To wit, I can’t do 45 cleans at 135lbs.  I would have been able to slog through weight somewhere between 95lbs and 115lbs.  But when Sara and Will said they wanted us done in under 10 minutes, I threw 2 10lb plates on the men’s bar and went for it, still clocking in at 8:34 (the GHDs slowed me down).

    I know we have a lot of ego and energy at 6AM, and part of what makes CrossFit awesome is the competitive nature of it, but I encourage everyone, at some point, when met-cons come up (as they frequently do in our programming), to scale below what they think they can probably do and really, really go for speed — that’s the stimulus they’re designed to provide (“Built for speed, not for comfort.”).  The strength programming will make you stronger — and I agree with Rob in his article: the most important thing new CrossFit athletes can do is build a base level of solid strength with which to attack the WODs.

    Anyway, that’s my two-cents.  #IJGFM.

    -Dickie 

  • Anonymous

    In the introductions today, I think I was one of the few (maybe 2 or 3) people who’ve been CrossFitting for more than a year.  I did my Level 1 Certification, and a few others, and everyone knows I love this stuff.  So, what I’m about to say is the for the newer generation…

    Today’s WOD reminded me of a great article Sister Jenny shared with me a few months back (http://robbwolf.com/2011/11/09/the-case-for-the-short-metcon/) making the case for “the short met-con.”  I’m currently nursing a shoulder injury, but even if I was feeling in tip-top shape, I think there’s something to be said for going lighter than you think you can and really blazing through a workout.  To wit, I can’t do 45 cleans at 135lbs.  I would have been able to slog through weight somewhere between 95lbs and 115lbs.  But when Sara and Will said they wanted us done in under 10 minutes, I threw 2 10lb plates on the men’s bar and went for it, still clocking in at 8:34 (the GHDs slowed me down).

    I know we have a lot of ego and energy at 6AM, and part of what makes CrossFit awesome is the competitive nature of it, but I encourage everyone, at some point, when met-cons come up (as they frequently do in our programming), to scale below what they think they can probably do and really, really go for speed — that’s the stimulus they’re designed to provide (“Built for speed, not for comfort.”).  The strength programming will make you stronger — and I agree with Rob in his article: the most important thing new CrossFit athletes can do is build a base level of solid strength with which to attack the WODs.

    Anyway, that’s my two-cents.  #IJGFM.

    -Dickie 

  • Anonymous

    According to Google maps, the east side of Madison Square Park from the northern edge of the fence to the public toilet is 180m.

    NYC Endurance WOD: 180m x 8, two minute rests between, 44s average split.

  • Anonymous

    A: 95#
    B: 10:33, 135# cleans with V-ups

  • Anonymous

    unplanned rest day. curious about people’s thoughts on crossfitting (or exercise in general) when nursing a head cold….

    • Anonymous

      Get adequate rest and listen to your body.  I failed to do this last winter getting over a cold, came in for Fran, and took 12+ minutes WITH jumping pullups…an absolute mess.  Start slow and see how you feel with a simple run or easy home WOD like pushups & squats. But please if you’re going to come into the gym take note of the bars you use, and wipe them down thoroughly with Purell.  

  • Anonymous

    9:48 RX’d (Power Cleans)

    My debut on the GHD for a WOD…felt damn fantastic!

    Talking about squat cleans vs. power cleans for this WOD, Michael N. hipped me to a discussion on the main site when this WOD came up.  Here is the WOD demo, with Greg Amundsen doing power cleans: http://bit.ly/zoJEbk

    Here is the discussion: http://bit.ly/wbHK3C

    I think the quote below from that discussion sums up my feeling on WODs that prescribe “cleans” without specification:

    “…if the goal is to be as efficient as possible to take the bar from the ground to the rack with hips fully extended, you do what you need to do to get it there. If you need to squat clean, do it. If you can power clean, do that.”

    • Mike K

      While some will disagree, I personally agree with that.  Unless squat or power cleans/snatches are specifically called for in a WOD, do what you need/want to to get the weight up.

      Just specify what you did since it will elicit a different stimulus and be different for comparison purposes.

      • Jamie F.

        I’m a little upset I did Squat Cleans now…

        • Jeff

          If you do (full squat) cleans, then you’re doing more work.  CrossFit is all about doing more work.

          However, if you’re constantly doing (full squat) cleans, I can imagine that you might develop the habit of receiving the bar in soft position from becoming too used to catching it while still descending.  This could be a hindrance if you’re going for a max effort lift and you need to maintain more aggression or solid positioning. 

    • Jeff

      This is something that constantly comes up.  

      If a WOD calls for a “clean” (unqualified), assume that you need to pass through the bottom of the squat.  Therefore, at least regarding CF, the terms “full/squat/full squat clean” is redundant.

      However, if the workout calls for a  ”clean and jerk”, you can consider it a “ground-to-overhead, anyhow”.  The “and jerk” part would be operative.  I don’t know the explanation why, it just is in the CF world

      So if you want to be technically RX’ed, “Elizabeth” requires squats while “Grace” does not.  (If you’re doing “Elizabeth in less than, say, 8 minutes, then either you are pretty good or you’re doing it with power cleans and thus are NOT RX’ed no matter how much weight is on the bar.)

      That said, do whatever you want since both power cleans and cleans have their benefits.  Just know what you’re talking about when you say you did something RX’ed.

      • Anonymous

        Understood…the one variable that I think sent people into a tizzy was that the WOD demo on main site featured power cleans, so while the above seems to be standard CF convention, the example of this WOD contradicts that.  Unless we are to assume that Greg Amundsen scaled the WOD…

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Nick-Walters/1219777499 Nick Walters

    12:36 Rx’d

    Wendler Press:
    95×3
    105×3
    120×5

  • http://www.facebook.com/leienming Andrew Louie

    This one was rough, 15-9-6 135#, V ups. 

  • Anonymous

    V-Up time!! lol They will be the death of me

  • Erika Ramos

    A. 65-85-85-95-85
    B. 75# and v-ups in 7:44

  • Kameron

    12:14 Rx – This one was rough. I should have gone lighter.

    On another note, I received this link from a friend of a friend who is a trainer at a globo gym saying he dislikes crossfit because it inspires “wreckless creativity”. I watched it and cringed. Could not believe what I was watching. So I responded with, “Crossfit did not push people to do this, some idiot did.”

    I hope there was not a single experienced crossfitter (or oly lifter) in the room when this was going on (but the caption says otherwise). I would like to think that no one with even the slightest experience with olympic lifting would allow something like this to go on. It’s how people get hurt seriously injured. I am proud to say I do crossfit, and really, really dislike when people post stuff like this.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDDyxXyf6UU&feature=youtube_gdata_player
     

    • Mike K

      This video started making its rounds on the internet a month or 2 ago.  Its a continental clean & jerk, which is a strongman movement, not a clean & jerk.  It’s done that way because the fat bar doesn’t spin, is impossible to hook grip, and is significantly harder to hold on to with significant weights using an overhand grip.
      http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=continental+clean&gbv=2&oq=continental+clean&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=0l0l0l1359l0l0l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0

      Granted some of the overhead lifts look scary to me in that video, and personally I wouldn’t add in continental cleans until someone has a good strength base already, but that is a discussion for another time.  I think most of the reaction was from people who thought they were oly lifting and didn’t know what they were watching

      • Sean M.

        This: “I wouldn’t add in continental cleans until someone has a good strength base already”

        • Adam

          Whatever the final dimension of fitness is, that video is the dimension after that.

          • Sean M.

            FTW

      • http://www.facebook.com/leienming Andrew Louie

        Thanks for the additional Info Mike. It appears that continental cleans require a belt to rest the bar on (not your abs) and it also appears that many of the people in the video are sumo-deadlifting to that first position, then awkwardly rotating their hand around, which seems dangerous. Are there any advantages to doing a continental clean? 

        • Mike K

          It doesn’t rest on a belt, actually in competitions if you wear a belt, you are not allowed to have the buckle facing forward or use anything that can act as a “shelf” to rest the bar on.  It is held on the stomach as the hand is switched.  Look on youtube for actual strongman examples.

          That is why you never see strongman competitors with concave, underwear model-like abs.  They always either have a thick torso with very strong, protruding abs or a bit of a gut, which actually helps for a lot of the lifts.

          As far as advantages, sure, but it depends on where you are at and what your goals are before you should start doing them just because. 

          That said, I see nothing wrong with trying it with light weight as change of pace and for fun on occasion… but you really won’t get much benefit training-wise until you are strong enough to benefit from it.  And we don’t have any fat bars anyway…. (hint hint for the new space :) )

        • http://www.joshuanewman.com Joshua Newman

          The Continental is easier with a belt, but still works without one.  Either way, it’s a lift out of necessity: without a rotating bar axle, the torque created by popping your elbows up into a front rack would be enough to knock you over.  So the Continental is done to manage the fixed axle bar.

        • Naveen

          I went to Hybrid’s strongman cert.  In addition to helping you past the grip issues in the first two pulls, learning to use the additional position allows you to get more weight to the rack position.  I believe Rob told us that an achievable performance benchmark for this lift was 110% of your standard clean.

    • Anonymous

      This move is commonly referred to as an “axel clean and jerk”. It is not meant to be an oly lift, but more of a strongman technique to lift really heavy, awkward objects. I seemed from the video that there were strongman coaches present. Here is a link to Rob Orlando axel cleaning.
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMaa34WMNoo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

      • http://www.joshuanewman.com Joshua Newman

        What a pansy!  He can’t even lock it out!  ;)

        • Anonymous

          I would re-watch the last 15 seconds if I were you.

    • Jeff

      This is not an example of Oly.  As the title says, it’s strongman.  What these guys are practicing is the continental clean.  It is an awkward lift because they are using an axle, which is thicker than our usual barbell.  You can tell this from the clips they are using.

      People who hate on this, for the most part, don’t know what they’re talking about.

      • Jeff

        Relatively speaking, I doubt these people were going that heavy.  
        Things to consider:-I think we can all assume that, as CrossFitters, they have some Oly experience.  CFers may have a reputation for being unqualified or reckless, but you’re still going to be hard-pressed to find a coach that is going to introduce HEAVY strongman stuff prematurely to a group that doesn’t already have at least several months of regular Oly.This is from Albany CF.  They’re one of the oldest CF gyms and they consistently put out one of the best teams at regional competitions.———–They’re not going to be attempting to continental C&J’ing more than they would with a regular bar.  They aren’t children so why would we think that there’s a major risk of them completely misjudging their weights?———–Whatever they attempt to put overhead is already limited by what they can get on their shoulders.  I’d imagine that the difference between jerking a fat bar versus a regular bar is less than cleaning a fat bar versus a regular bar.  Once the bar is racked on the shoulders, most of the unwieldy-ness of using an axle has pretty much passed.———-That said, yes they could work on their jerks (among other things).  So should our athletes at the Black Box.  And, by extension, I’m going to say that this is also true of the internet experts out there.

        • Mike K

          Jeff, you know keyboard samurai prowess directly correlates to weight that can be put overhead, right?

        • Jeff

          I might be taking back a little of what I said.  Just watched the video again.  There are a lot of missed jerks.  Maybe the continental clean is allowing them to rack more than they would otherwise Oly clean?

          Then again, most of the missed overheads were from the women, who one would expect to have disproportionately less upper body vs lower body strength and lower jerks vs cleans than the men.

          • Mike K

            Some people do find it harder to get the bar in a good rack position with a fat bar, as it does displace the center of gravity of the bar forward a bit.  This of course becomes more pronounced if you have a smaller frame and/or smaller shoulders.

            At the competition I did, I found it surprising how many people really struggled with the clean part of the axle/log event, but very easily put it overhead.  Even the few guys who were pros and had very good technique looked like the overhead part was easier than the clean… though I found the opposite to be true for me, especially with the log.

      • Jeff

        Also, I believe the axles are 20#.

  • Jamie F.

    Wendler: Press

    5 Reps @ 90 LBS
    3 Reps @ 100 LBS
    Max Reps @ 110 LBS – 7 Reps

    WOD: 11:56 as RX’d (Squat-Cleans)

  • Liz D

    A. Push Press: 5×4 @ 83#
    B. 9:58 Rx’d (power cleans/gdh) nursing a sore knee

  • Kelly

    12:18 rx’d – power cleans

    If Sara weren’t there, I wouldn’t have done 95#

    Not that I am saying anything original or that everyone doesn’t already know- but Sara is an f’n fantastic coach. She not only pushes me, gives constructive and effective criticism, but is genuinely interested in my progress. I always get better after Sara gets done with me. It’s so appreciated- thank you.

  • BenS

    14:15 with 105# and V-ups.  Ouch.

  • Jenny A

    9:38 with 73#.  I would have put more weight on if I’d known power cleaning was allowed, but it was actually great to practice my squat cleans.  Thanks for reminding me to get under the bar Sara!

  • Cassie

    8:23 with 65# squat cleans and GHDs
    brutal..
    7am needs to get louder! and if i’m yelling at you it’s because i care!

    • Erika Ramos

      tyrabanksyellingattiffanybecauseshecares.gif  (couldn’t find the right gif so this’ll do..)

      • Erika Ramos

        but in all seriousness.. yeah, what’s up 7am? community is a big part of crossfit and whether you like to admit it or not, it feels really good to hear someone encouraging you even if means they’re yelling at you to pick up the damn bar and to stop resting so much.

  • Paul Booth

    Finished this with 135# full squat cleans. I have no idea what my time was as I felt like I had been hit by a bus at the end. Could not have made it through without Will’s encouragement… thank you Will!

  • Anonymous

    For some reason, I think 6:15 will like this one…
    -Red Fingers Jenkins….

    • Anonymous

      This is great!  I will promptly steal this for FB. Love, Skinny Baby McGee

    • Erika Ramos

      texas lemon jefferson

    • Cassie

      Sticky Liver Blue..sick

    • http://www.facebook.com/wm.lanier Wm Lanier

      its 6am now – if you’re coming in at 615…ur Blues name is Burpee McFly

      • http://www.facebook.com/wm.lanier Wm Lanier

        -signed “Screaming Boy Parker”

        oddly appropriate.

  • Jim S

    Made up yesterday’s snatch’s and clean pulls before today’s WOD
    A: 4×2@65, 70, 75, 75
    B: 4×5@135, 145, 145, 155
    C: 21, 15, 9 75# clean and v-up 8:00

  • http://www.facebook.com/wm.lanier Wm Lanier

    Can we use some last initials or some avatar photos? Which Jeff is talking? LOL.

  • http://www.facebook.com/wm.lanier Wm Lanier

    8:21 RX’d (full squat clean style)

  • Anonymous

    Chasing Will and Ryan. 10:43 Rx’d.
    Thanks Ryan for the images of dolphins half way through the WOD.

    • Anonymous

      it was an orca, and 8 feet is freaking huge!

  • Anonymous

    9:44 full squat.

    Did this on December 31st but just power in 5:35; weird, I suck at squatting.  Tried breaking it up (8-7-6)(6-5-4)(4-3-2)…that didn’t work out. Stupid squat cleans

    • http://www.facebook.com/wm.lanier Wm Lanier

      RyanCWoods: “world’s worst air squatter” #bestfriend

      • Anonymous

        Wm Lanier: “world’s worst long metconner” #homies4lyfe

  • Dex

    The “all muscle, no iron” article is eye opening

  • Asegal04

    Wod:

    12:03 @ 115# full squat

    Today was not my day, this was a pretty big mess. How I wanted to break this up and the way it went down were totally different. Lot of mental mistakes, but I did complete the workout so that is a positive.

    • http://www.facebook.com/wm.lanier Wm Lanier

      i’m ok with this. great job amigo. squat cleans are half mental.

      • Asegal04

        Thanks for the advice, helpful as always

    • http://www.facebook.com/wm.lanier Wm Lanier

      i’m ok with this. great job amigo. squat cleans are half mental.

  • Michael North

    11:24 at 95# (squat cleans)
    First time doing GHD’s in a WOD
    Overall a brutal workout

    Speaking of confusion as to how a WOD is to be done, any idea on how to do Chelsea tomorrow after you don’t get through a round in a minute? I’ve seen it done as converting to Cindy from that point forward and also done as resting the reminder of the minute you finish in.

    Thoughts?

    • Hari

      I’ll post something shortly.

  • Anonymous

    A: 53-73-83-93-93
    B: 8:56 at 53# and sub v-ups (last round did power cleans b/c I was afraid I was going to run out of time-we had a 10 min limit).  On balance, much harder than I expected.

  • mike n.

    10:25 95# V-ups.  full squat.

  • Anonymous

    did cindy w/ strict pull-ups. still have lower back pain and external weight seems to make it worse.

    10 rounds + 8 pushups

    • Anonymous

      I take it tomorrow’s a rest day then?

  • John Landers

    115-115-115-125-135

    9:19 95#

  • Hari

    Here’s How To Scale “Chelsea”
    If you have 23 RX’d rounds of “Cindy” stop reading.
    If you don’t have 22 RX’d rounds of “Cindy” you probably aren’t going to complete this RX’d
    If you don’t have 20 RX’d rounds of “Cindy” you definitely aren’t doing this RX’d.

    Done RX’d, this WOD is 150 pull-ups, 300 push-ups, and 450 squats (900 reps)

    90% of RX’d = 15 round’s RX’d, then switch to 4-8-12 (810 reps)
    80% of RX’d = 30 rounds of 4-8-12  (720 reps)
    70% of RX’d = 15 rounds of 4-8-12, then switch to 3-6-9 (630 reps)
    60% of RX’d = 30 rounds or 3-6-9 (540 reps)
    50% of RX’d = 15 rounds or 3-6-9, then switch to 2-4-6 (450 reps)

    Of course, there is no reason to cut down the reps sooner than you have to. If you have 20 rounds of “Cindy” then do them before switching to 4-8-12. If you can go 25 rounds at 4-8-12, then do so, before cutting to 3-6-9.

    You are going to slow down. If you do the first round in 31 seconds and slow down by just 1 second per round, you will just make it. You don’t want to fall apart when you miss a round. Just cut the reps on the next round. This is a bit like Tabata work. You start with a high number of reps per minute, hold as long as you can before you drop and then try not to drop further. And like Tabata, going out too fast will kill your score. If you don’t have at least 15 rounds of Cindy, you probably should start with 4-8-12, otherwise it’s going to be very ugly as time goes on. 

    (And don’t kid yourself by using a band that makes the pull-ups about as challenging as jumping up and down on a bed.)

    To the extent that you are able to rest, don’t rest at the end of the round. Rest in the middle of the push-ups. 

    You need to note how much time you have left at the end of each round. If after the first round, you have, say, 15 seconds left, then you can afford to take a 10 second break in the middle of the push-ups on the next round. (Measure rest in breaths)  If you have 5 seconds left, you obviously have very little time to spare. Ideally, you want to do about 40 to 50 seconds of work per round with a 10 to 15 second break in the middle of the push-ups. 

    The easiest way to measure your score is in total reps. 900 is perfect. I predict no more than three perfect scores and no more than 10 scores over 810.

    • Anonymous

      been curious about this all day, thanks hari!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kayam-Rajaram/312920 Kayam Rajaram

    A. 95 x 5 

    B. 11:04 65#, v-ups