Fitness: 3×5 Across
Add 2.5-5 lbs to last exposure
Performance: 2×5 Across Followed by a Reo Out at 10
Certainly should get 5+ but may not make 10. Leave a rep in the tank.
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LBBSQ Wednesday e4/6
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4 Rounds NFT of:
6 Front Rack Reverse Lunges, Left
6 Front Rack Reverse Lunges, Right
12ea Dumbbell 1-Arm Rows
12 V-Ups or 20 Straddle Sit Ups
Finish in under 20 minutes. Go as heavy as you can organize on the reverse barbell lunges.
Congrats to Thom H and his wife on the birth of their first daughter, Matilda Brice Hook
“Born last Thursday, November 1, 2012 and weighed a whopping 8 pounds 13 ounces. I have attached a photo of this beautiful little girl!”
Thoughts on Scaling Pull-Ups in “Barbara” (And in general)
by David Osorio
Originally posted on 2.26.11
“Barbara”
5 Rounds for time of:
20 Pull-Ups
30 Push-Ups
40 Sit-Ups
50 Squats
Rest precisely 3 minutes between each round.
This benchmark girl is a high-volume interval workout comprised of body weight movements. Completed as prescribed, it calls for 100 Pull-Ups, 150 Push-Ups, 200 Sit-Ups and 250 Squats. To preserve the intended stimulus of “Barbara”, scale the movements such that you can complete each round in about 3-5 minutes. For many people this will mean drastically scaling the pull-ups.
Scaling Pull-Ups, Strict versions versus Kipping Pull-Ups
If you don’t have well developed kipping pull-ups then you’ll need to drop upwards of 1/2 to 3/4’s of the volume on this movement. Kipping pull-ups and strict pull-ups are very different exercises with different training outcomes. The kipping pull-up is a dynamic movement used for conditioning purposes while the strict pull-up is a slower movement used to develop pulling strength & stamina. If you’re doing a strict variant (For example: Strict pull-ups, Banded Strict Pull-Ups, Leg Assisted Pull-Ups or even Ring Rows) choose either 5 or 10 reps per round. If you choose 10 reps then you should be able to accomplish every set in 2-3 micro sets. For example, if your reps look something like this: 3-2-1-1-1-1-1 then the scale is too difficult!
What you don’t want to happen is for the these to slow you down so much that you spend most of your time at the pull-up station staring at the bar and shaking your arms out. The small danger is that it could ruin the intention and balance of the workout while the larger danger is that this kind of training will leave you unreasonably sore and could ruin the rest of your training week. Because strict variants have a controlled lowering phase (unlike kipping pull-ups) they have the potential to do a lot of structural damage on your muscles. While we want enough of this “damage” to make your body a little sore for a few days we certainly don’t want so much damage the putting your shirt on two days later because a workout in itself. Trust me on this, sometimes less is more. Scale to make these challenging but doable.
If you’ve got kipping pull-ups then it becomes more a matter of how many reps you can do unbroken. If 20 reps is something you can bite off in 1-3 sets then go for it Rx’d. If you work mostly in 2’s and 3’s then scale to 10 reps per round.
Here is a programming summary with scaling options for you to choose from:
Strict Variant: A: 10 reps, B: 5 reps
Kipping Pull-Ups: A 20 reps, B: 15 reps, C:10 reps
As always, you can scale on the fly whenever you feel like you’ve bit off too much or perhaps not a big enough chunk. If you start with 10 reps but by round three have “lost your pull-up”, swallow your ego and drop the reps. Remember you want to keep the workout moving and not hit a wall on any particular movement.
Closing Thoughts
Even if you drop to 5 pull-ups per round, the rest of the workout (even scaled) can pack a pretty serious punch. If it’s your first time with “Barbara” we highly recommend doing a 3 round version of the WOD. Interval workouts like this, especially THIS one, have been known to make people “not right” afterwards.
As Rx’d, Barbara gives you 700 opportunities to choose to do a movement correctly or rush through something with questionable form. Our goal is to increase your work capacity while strengthening your muscles, connective tissue and discomfort tolerance. Scale wisely, move well and enjoy your date with Barbara today!
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Cheri Chan Teaches The Kipping Pull-Up Free CrossFit Journal Video
