This WOD was one that I considered doing a second time, but when Sunday rolled around I just didn't have the motivation to try to do that many burpees faster, so I would have more time for OHS.
As many reps and rounds as possible in 10 minutes:
60 bar-facing burpees
30 OHS (120/90)
10 muscle-ups
Results: 60 + 13 OHS
Did OHS in sets of 6 + 6 + 1. *Very* ugly snatches to get the bar up, including some press-out. Yuck! The only thing that hurt on the OHS was my wrists.
Showing posts with label muscle up. Show all posts
Showing posts with label muscle up. Show all posts
Friday, April 15, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Band Assisted Muscle Up
For your viewing pleasure, in case you were wondering what the heck I meant when I said "band assisted muscle up" earlier. :)
Garage workout
Warm-up
3 rounds:
3 pullups
6 pushups
9 squats
WOD
5 rounds:
10 KB deadlifts (40#)
10 DB front squat (12# dbs)
10 DB push press (12# dbs)
5 band-assisted muscle ups
20 Abmat situps
Results: 21:43
3 rounds:
3 pullups
6 pushups
9 squats
WOD
5 rounds:
10 KB deadlifts (40#)
10 DB front squat (12# dbs)
10 DB push press (12# dbs)
5 band-assisted muscle ups
20 Abmat situps
Results: 21:43
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Double AMRAP
Thursday's WOD I programmed as two short AMRAPs just because I love those types of WODs. :)
My intent was to practice some difficult upper body exercises in small doses, interspersed with some elements that would keep your heart going. And after trying it, I think the WOD definitely fulfilled it's intended purpose.
HSPU I did to two AbMats. A few times I got "stuck" in the bottom instead of popping back out. It's like doing front squats or cleans -- if you stop in the bottom, many times you ain't getting back out. :-D
This was a good opportunity to practice -- I can't say I've really been practicing handstands or HSPU much lately. Need to do 10 after each WOD, just like with my pullups.
The second AMRAP didn't go as well as I had hoped. I still fatigue SOOOO quickly on ring dips, and with only 8 minutes, I wasn't going to take the time to recover enough to do them unassisted. So after 3 in a row at the start, I threw on the skinny band. By the time I reached my attempted 7th round, I was just failing on the ring dips. I wasn't getting any more without a nice long rest -- or maybe not even after that.
Broad jumps aren't something we do a lot at our box -- maybe we've never done them before? So it was fun to introduce something completely new to everybody.
The skill for this day was muscle ups. So we taught everybody about using the false grip, and had each of them practice the transition movement from their feet. Fun! We did have one guy do his first 3 muscle ups, which was even more fun. :-D
My intent was to practice some difficult upper body exercises in small doses, interspersed with some elements that would keep your heart going. And after trying it, I think the WOD definitely fulfilled it's intended purpose.
AMRAP in 6 min:Results: I think I got 5 and 6 rounds? Forgot to write this one down
5 HSPU
10 jump squats
rest 5 minutes
AMRAP in 8 min:
5 ring dips
Broad jump, 25ft (length of mats)
HSPU I did to two AbMats. A few times I got "stuck" in the bottom instead of popping back out. It's like doing front squats or cleans -- if you stop in the bottom, many times you ain't getting back out. :-D
This was a good opportunity to practice -- I can't say I've really been practicing handstands or HSPU much lately. Need to do 10 after each WOD, just like with my pullups.
The second AMRAP didn't go as well as I had hoped. I still fatigue SOOOO quickly on ring dips, and with only 8 minutes, I wasn't going to take the time to recover enough to do them unassisted. So after 3 in a row at the start, I threw on the skinny band. By the time I reached my attempted 7th round, I was just failing on the ring dips. I wasn't getting any more without a nice long rest -- or maybe not even after that.
Broad jumps aren't something we do a lot at our box -- maybe we've never done them before? So it was fun to introduce something completely new to everybody.
The skill for this day was muscle ups. So we taught everybody about using the false grip, and had each of them practice the transition movement from their feet. Fun! We did have one guy do his first 3 muscle ups, which was even more fun. :-D
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Death by C&J, Amanda, new gear
Thursday July 29
I've been reading about the "death by" WODs for a while, but haven't tried one, so I was curious to see how the experience would turn out.
It was interesting.
This WOD turned out exactly as I was expecting, honestly. My goal was to make it to 7, which I did. And if you do the math, that is 28 reps. Just 2 less than "Grace". In total I did 32 reps before I was too wrecked to do more.
I think this proves the concept that our body gets conditioned to the stimuli that we expose it to. I've exposed my body to 30 reps of 95# clean & jerks, and that's what I was able to do. I think it would be a struggle to get 8 rounds in this WOD -- it would probably take one of two things. Training C&J with a heavier load, or training C&J at a lighter load with a crap-ton of intensity. I think I shall do both as much as I can. :)
--
Saturday, July 31
It was an open gym Saturday, so I decided I needed to make up for skipping "Amanda" on Monday morning.
I wasn't really ready for the 3-2-1-go on this, so some of my time was spent screwing around with barbells and plates. But I didn't want to be difficult and have a separate timer from the rest of the group. Plus this WOD was more experimental for me. I wasn't doing it for time, I was just doing it to experience it and try to learn something about how to approach it in the future.
Muscle ups were performed by sitting in the green band. This provides a heck of a lot of assistance, and it also impedes the movement of the shoulders to a position over the rings for the dip. Also, I learned that if you do muscle up this way while wearing a tank top, you will get weird skin abrasions on the front of your shoulders where they contact the band during the dip. In a word, EWWW.
I really wanted to do my muscle ups by sitting in a band that was pulled across a squat rack, but I couldn't figure out a setup that gave me enough assistance to get through transition. Boo. I need to work on this while I'm in the gym coaching this week, because I do *not* want to re-open these weird shoulder gouges that I got yesterday. Ew. Maybe if I look at the differences between my home setup (which works) and the gym setup (which I can't get to work) I can figure out what's going wrong.
Yes, video and/or pics of this stuff to come so you guys actually know what the hell I'm describing when I talk about these progressions. :)
I did some warmup squat snatches at 35#, then 45#. I had planned on doing the WOD at 45#, but started rethinking that during my fist set of muscle ups. So I grabbed a regular bar and loaded it with 2 5# training plates to make 55# and got started on my first 9 reps. After completing about 6 reps, I started thinking to myself, "Why am I scaling this to 55# when I can do 15 continuous 65# OHS?". So I stopped and reloaded with 2 10# plates and used 65# for the rest of the workout. I did have a few ugly reps, and one attempt where I went over onto my ass, but I think that's a good thing.
I would like to take the load up to 70# or 75# next time I attempt this WOD, since it is meant to be heavy, and I'll only succeed on reps with near perfect form at that load. Snatch is something I should work on more often -- when I do it, I realize I love it almost as much as cleans, though cleans are my first Oly love. :)
--
My birthday present from my husband arrived on Friday -- it's a 24-inch plyo box! Woohoo! It's painted an awesome shade of blue, and has a great "grippy" surface on top so I'll still be able to use it if it's wet outside. Squeee!
I'm a bit afraid for myself because it's square on the sides, and not tapered, but oh well! A little shin gash never hurt anybody -- hopefully I'll just re-injure myself on the same spot where I have a scar on my left shin. :-p
I have so many plans for vacation WODs now, OMG. And they definitely involve tabata box jumps and kettle bell swings.
Yep, he's a keeper. :)
--
I leave you with a fun picture from the end of the summer party we had at the pool on Friday. That's me with my pullup buddy M. He has tolerated some constructive input from me on his pullup form, and he's rocking like 10-15 in a row these days, and looking hot. I've also got him doing L-pullups, which I think accounts for the 6 pack he's now sporting. He wants to be a Navy Seal, and I hope to see him achieve that goal one day. Maybe I'll even talk him into coming and training with me at our gym. :)
I've been reading about the "death by" WODs for a while, but haven't tried one, so I was curious to see how the experience would turn out.
It was interesting.
"Death by Clean & Jerk"Results: 7 full rounds, plus 4 C&J's in minute 8 -- @ 95#.
Perform 1 C&J the 1st minute.
Perform 2 C&J the 2nd minute.
Continue until you can no longer complete the require reps within 1 minute.
Load: 135/95
This WOD turned out exactly as I was expecting, honestly. My goal was to make it to 7, which I did. And if you do the math, that is 28 reps. Just 2 less than "Grace". In total I did 32 reps before I was too wrecked to do more.
I think this proves the concept that our body gets conditioned to the stimuli that we expose it to. I've exposed my body to 30 reps of 95# clean & jerks, and that's what I was able to do. I think it would be a struggle to get 8 rounds in this WOD -- it would probably take one of two things. Training C&J with a heavier load, or training C&J at a lighter load with a crap-ton of intensity. I think I shall do both as much as I can. :)
--
Saturday, July 31
It was an open gym Saturday, so I decided I needed to make up for skipping "Amanda" on Monday morning.
"Amanda"Result: around 15 minutes
9-7-5
muscle ups
squat snatch (135/95)
I wasn't really ready for the 3-2-1-go on this, so some of my time was spent screwing around with barbells and plates. But I didn't want to be difficult and have a separate timer from the rest of the group. Plus this WOD was more experimental for me. I wasn't doing it for time, I was just doing it to experience it and try to learn something about how to approach it in the future.
Muscle ups were performed by sitting in the green band. This provides a heck of a lot of assistance, and it also impedes the movement of the shoulders to a position over the rings for the dip. Also, I learned that if you do muscle up this way while wearing a tank top, you will get weird skin abrasions on the front of your shoulders where they contact the band during the dip. In a word, EWWW.
I really wanted to do my muscle ups by sitting in a band that was pulled across a squat rack, but I couldn't figure out a setup that gave me enough assistance to get through transition. Boo. I need to work on this while I'm in the gym coaching this week, because I do *not* want to re-open these weird shoulder gouges that I got yesterday. Ew. Maybe if I look at the differences between my home setup (which works) and the gym setup (which I can't get to work) I can figure out what's going wrong.
Yes, video and/or pics of this stuff to come so you guys actually know what the hell I'm describing when I talk about these progressions. :)
I did some warmup squat snatches at 35#, then 45#. I had planned on doing the WOD at 45#, but started rethinking that during my fist set of muscle ups. So I grabbed a regular bar and loaded it with 2 5# training plates to make 55# and got started on my first 9 reps. After completing about 6 reps, I started thinking to myself, "Why am I scaling this to 55# when I can do 15 continuous 65# OHS?". So I stopped and reloaded with 2 10# plates and used 65# for the rest of the workout. I did have a few ugly reps, and one attempt where I went over onto my ass, but I think that's a good thing.
I would like to take the load up to 70# or 75# next time I attempt this WOD, since it is meant to be heavy, and I'll only succeed on reps with near perfect form at that load. Snatch is something I should work on more often -- when I do it, I realize I love it almost as much as cleans, though cleans are my first Oly love. :)
--
My birthday present from my husband arrived on Friday -- it's a 24-inch plyo box! Woohoo! It's painted an awesome shade of blue, and has a great "grippy" surface on top so I'll still be able to use it if it's wet outside. Squeee!
I'm a bit afraid for myself because it's square on the sides, and not tapered, but oh well! A little shin gash never hurt anybody -- hopefully I'll just re-injure myself on the same spot where I have a scar on my left shin. :-p
I have so many plans for vacation WODs now, OMG. And they definitely involve tabata box jumps and kettle bell swings.
Yep, he's a keeper. :)
--
I leave you with a fun picture from the end of the summer party we had at the pool on Friday. That's me with my pullup buddy M. He has tolerated some constructive input from me on his pullup form, and he's rocking like 10-15 in a row these days, and looking hot. I've also got him doing L-pullups, which I think accounts for the 6 pack he's now sporting. He wants to be a Navy Seal, and I hope to see him achieve that goal one day. Maybe I'll even talk him into coming and training with me at our gym. :)
Friday, July 16, 2010
Loving all these comments!
Wow, I am really loving all of these comments on the last 2 posts. It would be awesome to have more discussion here, so keep it coming ladies!
I was giggling so much reading Andrea's comment about wanting "scary arms". I have been flexing as a party trick since I was in high school -- I love blowing people's minds with my bi's and tri's. :-p And I am with you on the big legs. When my "side quad" first started popping out from squats, I was sooooo excited!
Angie got her stats up in her sidebar already, and OMG -- her 1RM on OHS is 110! That must be getting close to body weight, am I right? That kicks so much ass. :-D
Can't wait to see your stats too Kelsalynn!
Oh, and KD and Sara, you ladies need to join in the fun as well, since you were my original CrossFit mentors. :)
--
I'm still freaking sick. What a pain. Especially since I'll be in and out of the pool tomorrow for my Water Safety Instructor class, plus I'll be teaching 4 10 minute swim lessons. KILL ME NOW. At least I might have a tiny bit of a voice by then -- I'm actually able to force out some real sounds and not just whispers today.
--
When I hit the urgent care clinic on Monday I wore this shirt to help myself feel super tough. Bad ass, eh? :-D
If you watch the Games live web cast, watch out for Kate!
--
And finally, my real reason for today's post.
Last night I was hacking up a lung, so I gave up on trying to lay in bed and got up and watched some TV and also looked at some stuff on the computer. Since it was late, that meant lots of new WODs had been posted that I could look at! Yay! Yes, I am such a CrossFit geek that I am subscribed to the blogs of several affiliates so I can check out lots of different WODs. :)
Anyway, CF KoP included a link within today's WOD post. And it got me so freaking excited, because it is *exactly* what I need right now.
Among all of my WOD "catchup" posts, I posted about a very bad day that I had with a WOD that involved muscle ups. At the end I said I'd like to do strict muscle up progressions moving forward -- the only problem with that plan was my not actually knowing how to go about doing that. All the MU progressions I knew about involve assisting a kipping-based transition.
This is the same spot I've been in before with gymnastics (body weight) movements. I want to practice, I'm dying to improve -- but everything I try to practice, I can't actually do yet. It is a totally frustrating place to be in, and in all honesty I don't handle it well. AT ALL.
I can remember when I couldn't do a dead hang pullup with the green band. Not being able to get my chin over that bar made me feel like an utter failure. Lately when I've failed at attempts to do pullups on the rings while maintaining a false grip, I feel that same way. Or when I've had to resort back to a band on ring dips when my strength gives out. It's like I bottom out.
What I have to remind myself is that I didn't get better at pullups until I started working on them every time I was in the gym. If a WOD didn't include pullups, then I was on the bar doing some afterwards. Even if it was just 5 or 10.
But also, there was an incremental nature to my pullups, once I did manage to get going on the green band. There's a next step -- blue. Then white. Then mental floss. Then you're ready to kip and deadhang unassisted. That ability to progress incrementally is what's lacking in my muscle up practice.
So, back to what I watched last night. An incredible video with several options for progressions that work toward a strict muscle up. Hallelujah! And they are brilliant progressions in that you can easily measure your success and incrementally increase difficulty in each one -- foot placement, bands, used, etc. (If you don't subscribe to the CF Journal, do it now, it's worth $25/year)
This is where gymnastics is so frustrating, and so rewarding. You get in these "sticking points" where you can't do the movement yet, and you're not even sure how to go about getting there. But once you get on the path of the proper progressions and start practicing, next thing you know you've amazed yourself!
It's in these "sticking points" that you realize how little you know. I feel fortunate that I'm experiencing these moments as an athlete, because I think it's making me a much better coach. If I had the brute strength and "balls to wall" attitude to just fling myself up into a muscle up, I would not be looking at progressions like this. And I would less educated and less prepared to help others who need a much more incremental approach to practice.
And this highlights something fundamental that makes CrossFit special to me. With all the skills that are incorporated, CrossFit puts me into these incredibly uncomfortable positions, where I'm consumed with "I can'ts" and my outlook gets to bleak. But when I persevere, next thing I know, I'm doing things I never thought would be possible.
Last year at this time I was 20 pounds heavier, and hiding inside all day because I hated the heat and hated living in Georgia and hated myself. I had just purchased summer clothes in bigger sizes because I didn't think I was going to take the weight off. It would be another month of misery before I even considered getting back to the gym.
11 month later, and I've just completed Murph as Rx. Yeah, it took me 90 minutes, but who cares? I got that shit done! Freaking amazing.
And can I just take a moment to be snarky? There's no way in hell these changes would've happened via elliptical machines, Zumba classes and Jillian videos. :-D
--
One final thought on muscle ups. If you're a chick, and you have a kipping pullup and you can do a couple rings dips, have you considered adding this skill to your goals? Has your coach encouraged you in that direction?
As a coach, I think I want to bring this skill down from "holy grail" category and help my athletes perceive it as just another skill that is scalable and achievable for them, with time and practice.
And by "scalable" I sure as hell don't mean doing gazillions of pullups and dips on any day where MU's are programmed. I personally think that's total fucking crap. Let's start subbing movements with progressions of that movement people. (This is a pet peeve of mine, along with substitutions for rope climbs)
I'm making it my mission to make sure the ladies at my gym are setting their sights on going for a muscle up from the very moment after they get their kipping or deadhang pullups.
I think when you're just exiting the process of achieving unassisted pullups, you're used to being in that "sticky" zone, you're used to being uncomfortable. And the key is to keep one step ahead, and introduce a new "sticky" skill, so the athlete never has the chance to adjust back to being very comfortable. It's hard to get yourself back into the uncomfortable place once you're feeling a little cocky that you can do pullups Rx. At least that's how things have played out for me. It has been hell trying to push myself back to that place, but I'm working on it.
Also, more chicks on the rings for dips, please. Off the bars and onto the rings!
PS - I'm gonna be making some more videos of my work on gymnastics stuff. Be prepared to laugh because I'm sure to make an ass of myself doing HSPUs. :-D
I was giggling so much reading Andrea's comment about wanting "scary arms". I have been flexing as a party trick since I was in high school -- I love blowing people's minds with my bi's and tri's. :-p And I am with you on the big legs. When my "side quad" first started popping out from squats, I was sooooo excited!
Angie got her stats up in her sidebar already, and OMG -- her 1RM on OHS is 110! That must be getting close to body weight, am I right? That kicks so much ass. :-D
Can't wait to see your stats too Kelsalynn!
Oh, and KD and Sara, you ladies need to join in the fun as well, since you were my original CrossFit mentors. :)
--
I'm still freaking sick. What a pain. Especially since I'll be in and out of the pool tomorrow for my Water Safety Instructor class, plus I'll be teaching 4 10 minute swim lessons. KILL ME NOW. At least I might have a tiny bit of a voice by then -- I'm actually able to force out some real sounds and not just whispers today.
--
When I hit the urgent care clinic on Monday I wore this shirt to help myself feel super tough. Bad ass, eh? :-D
If you watch the Games live web cast, watch out for Kate!
--
And finally, my real reason for today's post.
Last night I was hacking up a lung, so I gave up on trying to lay in bed and got up and watched some TV and also looked at some stuff on the computer. Since it was late, that meant lots of new WODs had been posted that I could look at! Yay! Yes, I am such a CrossFit geek that I am subscribed to the blogs of several affiliates so I can check out lots of different WODs. :)
Anyway, CF KoP included a link within today's WOD post. And it got me so freaking excited, because it is *exactly* what I need right now.
Among all of my WOD "catchup" posts, I posted about a very bad day that I had with a WOD that involved muscle ups. At the end I said I'd like to do strict muscle up progressions moving forward -- the only problem with that plan was my not actually knowing how to go about doing that. All the MU progressions I knew about involve assisting a kipping-based transition.
This is the same spot I've been in before with gymnastics (body weight) movements. I want to practice, I'm dying to improve -- but everything I try to practice, I can't actually do yet. It is a totally frustrating place to be in, and in all honesty I don't handle it well. AT ALL.
I can remember when I couldn't do a dead hang pullup with the green band. Not being able to get my chin over that bar made me feel like an utter failure. Lately when I've failed at attempts to do pullups on the rings while maintaining a false grip, I feel that same way. Or when I've had to resort back to a band on ring dips when my strength gives out. It's like I bottom out.
What I have to remind myself is that I didn't get better at pullups until I started working on them every time I was in the gym. If a WOD didn't include pullups, then I was on the bar doing some afterwards. Even if it was just 5 or 10.
But also, there was an incremental nature to my pullups, once I did manage to get going on the green band. There's a next step -- blue. Then white. Then mental floss. Then you're ready to kip and deadhang unassisted. That ability to progress incrementally is what's lacking in my muscle up practice.
So, back to what I watched last night. An incredible video with several options for progressions that work toward a strict muscle up. Hallelujah! And they are brilliant progressions in that you can easily measure your success and incrementally increase difficulty in each one -- foot placement, bands, used, etc. (If you don't subscribe to the CF Journal, do it now, it's worth $25/year)
This is where gymnastics is so frustrating, and so rewarding. You get in these "sticking points" where you can't do the movement yet, and you're not even sure how to go about getting there. But once you get on the path of the proper progressions and start practicing, next thing you know you've amazed yourself!
It's in these "sticking points" that you realize how little you know. I feel fortunate that I'm experiencing these moments as an athlete, because I think it's making me a much better coach. If I had the brute strength and "balls to wall" attitude to just fling myself up into a muscle up, I would not be looking at progressions like this. And I would less educated and less prepared to help others who need a much more incremental approach to practice.
And this highlights something fundamental that makes CrossFit special to me. With all the skills that are incorporated, CrossFit puts me into these incredibly uncomfortable positions, where I'm consumed with "I can'ts" and my outlook gets to bleak. But when I persevere, next thing I know, I'm doing things I never thought would be possible.
Last year at this time I was 20 pounds heavier, and hiding inside all day because I hated the heat and hated living in Georgia and hated myself. I had just purchased summer clothes in bigger sizes because I didn't think I was going to take the weight off. It would be another month of misery before I even considered getting back to the gym.
11 month later, and I've just completed Murph as Rx. Yeah, it took me 90 minutes, but who cares? I got that shit done! Freaking amazing.
And can I just take a moment to be snarky? There's no way in hell these changes would've happened via elliptical machines, Zumba classes and Jillian videos. :-D
--
One final thought on muscle ups. If you're a chick, and you have a kipping pullup and you can do a couple rings dips, have you considered adding this skill to your goals? Has your coach encouraged you in that direction?
As a coach, I think I want to bring this skill down from "holy grail" category and help my athletes perceive it as just another skill that is scalable and achievable for them, with time and practice.
And by "scalable" I sure as hell don't mean doing gazillions of pullups and dips on any day where MU's are programmed. I personally think that's total fucking crap. Let's start subbing movements with progressions of that movement people. (This is a pet peeve of mine, along with substitutions for rope climbs)
I'm making it my mission to make sure the ladies at my gym are setting their sights on going for a muscle up from the very moment after they get their kipping or deadhang pullups.
I think when you're just exiting the process of achieving unassisted pullups, you're used to being in that "sticky" zone, you're used to being uncomfortable. And the key is to keep one step ahead, and introduce a new "sticky" skill, so the athlete never has the chance to adjust back to being very comfortable. It's hard to get yourself back into the uncomfortable place once you're feeling a little cocky that you can do pullups Rx. At least that's how things have played out for me. It has been hell trying to push myself back to that place, but I'm working on it.
Also, more chicks on the rings for dips, please. Off the bars and onto the rings!
PS - I'm gonna be making some more videos of my work on gymnastics stuff. Be prepared to laugh because I'm sure to make an ass of myself doing HSPUs. :-D
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
DJ
Showed up for this WOD at 6:30am in an attempt to get myself on a new schedule. It ended up being a bit of a clusterfuck.
When I compare the past write up for this WOD (from February 2, 2010) to my hugely frustrating experience on this day, it really highlights how my mental focus is not there right now...
I don't have a muscle up, so I attempted to sub ring pullups and ring dips at first. I can't remember the number of reps I was subbing... 10 and 10 maybe? I had so much trouble with that substitution -- in other words, ring pullups in false grip were *not* happening -- that I ended up switching to subbing assisted muscle ups transitions and ring dips with the skinny band.
I tried to send all my signals of "I need to be left alone please" while doing this WOD, but I could not get a respite from that day's coach giving me lots and lots of feedback. No, I do not want to discuss MU progressions that will work best for me mid-WOD. No, I do not need you in my face the entire time I'm struggling with wall balls... Ugh. :( So I ended up just quasi melting down the entire WOD because I could not get my focus back. *sigh*
Needless to say I was practically spitting with anger and frustration by the time the last set of wall balls were being thrown. And just like in February, I was still thinking to myself, "why haven't I practiced and perfected these???". Gotta work these in as goat work after WODs, for sure...
Ugh, just a bad day overall...
--
I have since decided I would like to do progressions for a strict muscle up, rather than continuing trying to get a kipping muscle up. I think this will prevent injury, improve strength, promote my continued work on strict pullups and dips, and will also be less frustrating in the end because I'll expect the process to take a while. This is another reason I got my own set of rings for at home, since I'll start these progressions from the knees -- plenty of room for that under an 8 foot bar.
H/T to CrossFit Proper for the inspiration to go this route. I'd also like to invest in the book Building the Gymnastic Body (recommended by Robb Wolf) to further my knowledge of gymnastics progressions.
Strict Muscle up Progressions from charisse skye on Vimeo.
"DJ"Results: I think I vaguely remember that this one was just shy of 30 minutes?
5 rounds:
5 muscle ups
25 wall ball shots (20lb/14)
When I compare the past write up for this WOD (from February 2, 2010) to my hugely frustrating experience on this day, it really highlights how my mental focus is not there right now...
I don't have a muscle up, so I attempted to sub ring pullups and ring dips at first. I can't remember the number of reps I was subbing... 10 and 10 maybe? I had so much trouble with that substitution -- in other words, ring pullups in false grip were *not* happening -- that I ended up switching to subbing assisted muscle ups transitions and ring dips with the skinny band.
I tried to send all my signals of "I need to be left alone please" while doing this WOD, but I could not get a respite from that day's coach giving me lots and lots of feedback. No, I do not want to discuss MU progressions that will work best for me mid-WOD. No, I do not need you in my face the entire time I'm struggling with wall balls... Ugh. :( So I ended up just quasi melting down the entire WOD because I could not get my focus back. *sigh*
Needless to say I was practically spitting with anger and frustration by the time the last set of wall balls were being thrown. And just like in February, I was still thinking to myself, "why haven't I practiced and perfected these???". Gotta work these in as goat work after WODs, for sure...
Ugh, just a bad day overall...
--
I have since decided I would like to do progressions for a strict muscle up, rather than continuing trying to get a kipping muscle up. I think this will prevent injury, improve strength, promote my continued work on strict pullups and dips, and will also be less frustrating in the end because I'll expect the process to take a while. This is another reason I got my own set of rings for at home, since I'll start these progressions from the knees -- plenty of room for that under an 8 foot bar.
H/T to CrossFit Proper for the inspiration to go this route. I'd also like to invest in the book Building the Gymnastic Body (recommended by Robb Wolf) to further my knowledge of gymnastics progressions.
Strict Muscle up Progressions from charisse skye on Vimeo.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Pressing and cleaning and swinging from the rings
Today I physically felt BLAH. Instead of working out between coaching 0630 and 0830 like I usually do, instead I read a book and took a nap.
Then I proceeded to take 2 more naps over the course of the day. Geez.
Thank goodness I forced my butt out of the house for the 5pm class at CFC.
Strength:
Metcon:
Doing this WOD made me anxious to try Grace at 95# soon.
--
After all that, it was on to the rings to work my muscle up. I am making progress with my false grip, and just improving my overall comfort level with playing on the rings. I almost got myself through the transition at one point, but then I just didn't have enough juice left in the tank to re-try.
Some of the things I talked to Paul and Dave about, just for my own future reference:
- Practice short ROM pullups on the rings holding false grip, from elbows at 90 degrees up to chest to the rings
- Practice "bottomed out" dips -- dip down, hold for a count of 1-2-3, then push back up (being able to do this is gonna take me a little while, I'm barely able to do 1 unassisted ring dip)
- Practice kipping on the pullup bar with hands facing in; this will help develop the "feeling" of a different hand placement when kipping (I already tried this, and I think it will be a big help)
Dave suggested that I not get my hips so far out in front when I'm trying to kip up into transition. I was trying to emulate some videos I had watched from BeastSkills (Flickr), and I just got the wrong idea. I was trying to push my whole trunk into something approaching a horizontal position. But that puts the hips too far forward. After hearing Dave's feedback at the gym, I came home and watched the BeastSkills videos again, and now I can see that the hips stay in line below the rings, and it's the legs only that come up to horizontal. Looks like L-sits also go on my skills/goals list for next quarter. :)
I'll try to take some video next time I play around with MU's so I can watch myself and see what I'm doing.
I had one really good kip where I almost made it through transition, I just wasn't aggressive enough with pushing my head/shoulders through. Probably due to hips being too far forward. The good news is that my elbows/arms were in a good place, so I'm solid there.
Enough rambling, time to clean up and have dinner. :)
Then I proceeded to take 2 more naps over the course of the day. Geez.
Thank goodness I forced my butt out of the house for the 5pm class at CFC.
Strength:
Press 3 - 10 - 2 - 10 - 1 - 10While I'm not sure I picked the right loads for the last 4 sets, I know I was perfect on my 3 rep attempt and my first 10 rep attempt. My old 1RM for press was 85, so I'm totally pumped about putting 85 up 3 times in a row tonight. Though I think I should've attempted 85 isntead of 80 on the 1 rep set.
Results: 85 - 65 -85(1) 75 - 60 - 80 - 60
Metcon:
As many reps at possible in 6 minutes of body weight power clean.I'm glad I tested my power clean 1RM the other day (sadly, still @ 125#), because that gave me the confidence to choose the load for this WOD. I toyed with the idea of doing 125, but decided to stick with 115. There were some pretty ugly catches in terms of foot positions and low elbows on the reps past 20, so I think I made the right decision. Only failed 2 or 3 times -- basically aborted after the first pull when I didn't feel right. I think I maybe could've gotten 2 more, but really was operating right at the edge of my capacity.
Results: 26 reps at 115#
Doing this WOD made me anxious to try Grace at 95# soon.
--
After all that, it was on to the rings to work my muscle up. I am making progress with my false grip, and just improving my overall comfort level with playing on the rings. I almost got myself through the transition at one point, but then I just didn't have enough juice left in the tank to re-try.
Some of the things I talked to Paul and Dave about, just for my own future reference:
- Practice short ROM pullups on the rings holding false grip, from elbows at 90 degrees up to chest to the rings
- Practice "bottomed out" dips -- dip down, hold for a count of 1-2-3, then push back up (being able to do this is gonna take me a little while, I'm barely able to do 1 unassisted ring dip)
- Practice kipping on the pullup bar with hands facing in; this will help develop the "feeling" of a different hand placement when kipping (I already tried this, and I think it will be a big help)
Dave suggested that I not get my hips so far out in front when I'm trying to kip up into transition. I was trying to emulate some videos I had watched from BeastSkills (Flickr), and I just got the wrong idea. I was trying to push my whole trunk into something approaching a horizontal position. But that puts the hips too far forward. After hearing Dave's feedback at the gym, I came home and watched the BeastSkills videos again, and now I can see that the hips stay in line below the rings, and it's the legs only that come up to horizontal. Looks like L-sits also go on my skills/goals list for next quarter. :)
I'll try to take some video next time I play around with MU's so I can watch myself and see what I'm doing.
I had one really good kip where I almost made it through transition, I just wasn't aggressive enough with pushing my head/shoulders through. Probably due to hips being too far forward. The good news is that my elbows/arms were in a good place, so I'm solid there.
Enough rambling, time to clean up and have dinner. :)
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