"L" is for Love

The L-sit component to movements is a difficult and painful lesson that we all have to learn at some point and as it happens CrossFit HQ was kind enough to include a truly obscene amount of movements that stipulate this body alignment.  I'm pretty sure this was Coach's way of nicely scooping up all the stragglers who happened to miss the last "Day 3 WOD", which should have your organs feeling like a swollen mass of dung by this point.

After seeing the L-sit WOD's insane difficulty I began to brainstorm on how to execute various forms of it based on the current skill levels our athletes represent. Even our best performers are not at a point where they could rip through this WOD as RXd without spending half a day in the garage and maybe sewing on some extra cadaver forearms to help with the required grip stamina.

I tend to get pretty euphoric when WODs like these come up because it means another realm has opened up for us to explore and advance through. I know a lot of our athletes arrive for this kind of training with nothing but dread in their hearts, but once they take a deep breath and read beyond the simplicity of a WODs verbage it certain characteristics in play become apparent.  Once we start applying some creative ideas (based on the flash-points we recognize as the characteristics and structure of the WOD) there is an opportunity to have the best of both worlds. We can still get a sick met-con in at the same time that overall capacity in the related skill sets (some of which have not even been attempted yet) is increasing.

Further into the post I listed the original WOD as prescribed and then followed it with the variations our athletes used to slaughter themselves, but I wanted to explain why we changed certain things.  This should help everyone see how all the WODs below are designed by pattern and method, not just insanity... Ok, maybe a little insanity.

There were three brutal aspects of this WOD that really helped me gauge where our priorities should be when changing out components.  Emphasis number one was easy to pick out, it axe kicked to the front of my brain as I started to remember what my life resembled after my first L-sit Pull-ups suck-fest.  The L-sit can be trained on the paralettes, rings, pull-up bar, rope, or whatever else you feel like dangling from, by using timed "holds" (aka shorthand way of saying "isometric contractions")  Unfortunately for our athletes there isn't a lot of compatibility between static timed holds and a time-priority WOD (aka another way of saying "complete for time").  

Don't go and throw the combination of timed holds and working as fast as possible out yet, there are some interesting things we can do with that, but for today we really wanted to elicit some intensity.  I will go into intensity and power output down the road as well, it's fascinating as hell and I love the science behind it but the post would probably rival an encyclopedia in length due to my enthusiasm for the topic.  

Now that we have pointed out the L-sit as "Today's shitty experience number 1" we can try and feel out the WOD some more in search of a second find fecal standout.  Both the Rope Climb and Pull-ups suck for a lot of people and because they are both pulls I am considering it a single priority: Pulling the body up.  Once I started thinking about pull-ups and rope climbs at the same time I experienced several flashbacks and an immediate sense of complete panic... I'm thinking that my forearms will either explode or quit and walk out of the Garage.  Emphasis number three: Grip stamina.

Ok, we need midline stamina and strength to keep the L-position.

We also want to accurately distinguish between the two different forms of pulling.

Lastly we need to work on being able to actually hang on long enough to perform the prescribed movements.

The solutions we devised are listed below with the scores.  

Added Explanation if you want to use this for yourself or others: Jumping Rope Pull-ups ended up being better than singles for those who couldn't do single rope pull-ups yet, both being subordinate to a rope pull-up...so on and so on up to L-sit Rope Climb.  This is how we break stuff down into workable movements that can be used individually with intensity while still  developing a new level of proficiency (ie. new skill ability) at the same time.

Photography Note: I am so glad the pictures came out well and we need to thank Joe again for that, his photography skills are truly impressive.  (my sister is so mad right now, she wants a fight to the death for official photographer spot)

CrossFit HQ WOD (04.02.2009)
Three rounds for time of:
21 x L-Pull-ups
15 x ft. L-rope climb

Mutation I (04.02.2009)

Complete 3 Rounds for time of

12 x Rope Pull-ups

9 x Pull-ups

7 x Knees-2-Elbows

Scores

Chalupa 14:04*

Mutation II (04.02.2009)

Complete 7 Rounds for time of

3 x Rope Pull-ups

5 x Jumping Pull-ups

9 x Leg Raises

Scores

Jess 7:08

Jill 6:50

Katie 5:40*

Kristie (still need score)

Mutation III (04.02.2009)

Complete 5 Rounds for time of

5 x Sitting Rope Pull-ups

6 x Pull-ups

7 x Leg Raises

Scores

Joe 7:01*

K$ 9:20

Mutation IV (04.02.2009)

Complete 6 Rounds for time of

6 x L-sit Rope Pull-ups (switch top hand after 3 reps)

10 x Double-unders

6 x L-sit Pull-ups

Scores

Jefe 5:57*

CrossFit HQ Named WOD "Nancy" (04.03.2009)

5 Rounds for time of:

400m Run

15 x Overhead Squats (95lbs)

Scores

Jared 14:43 (55lbs)

Mike L. 14:23 (55lbs)

Frank 17:42 (95lbs)*

Today's WOD was a memorable experience to say the least (aren't they all) and if you skipped it or traded it for something else then you are sorely missing out.  I truly recommend visiting this wonderful lady named Nancy so she can bake you up some warm batches of OH Squats.  The athletes in our Stable have drilled this Fundamental Movement mercilessly with the PVC pipe and it's about time we see some of our them go overhead with some weight and crush this 5 round suck-fest.  

Everyone exceeded performance expectations, as usual, but I would like to note that Frank RX'd this named WOD with 95lbs AND completed all 5 sets of 15 reps unbroken.  

That means more to the eyes of a Samy than a single digit time...

Oh, and if you really want to hear me sing your praises you could also ask Frank to help you lay out some matching, mono-chromatic outfits.  He is fashion, and human, friendly.

Coach Sailor's Cabin: Treachery is inevitable...

"Here's last night's recap for the Girl's Soccer Team:

After conspiring with Sam, the girls were treated to intervals of lunges and box jump burpees.
We broke them up into two teams so as one team was working, the other was recovering in a 1:1 ratio.
For 3 minutes do as many rounds as you can of 7 Lunges per leg and 7 Burpee Box Jumps. Rest for 3 minutes while the other team does theirs, 3 rounds total.
They all got a minimum of 3 rounds in per each 3 minute session but then started to push themselves harder on the second and third rounds with many finishing with 3 + and 4 + rounds.
They all commented on the "Jelly Legs" syndrome again.

They then did another one of their coveted 'core' workouts. First, they had to broadjump across the gym to determine the number or reps of the workout (they absolutely didn't know that our intent would be to use that number, though... no strategizing allowed). They averaged 8 leaps to cross they gym so they did a descending ladder from 8 of: 

med ball sit up tosses to their partner and then immediately spin around, grab the partner's ankles and do leg lifts. They tore through this quickly, as usual."  

-Coach David