“Nasty Girls”
Performance
3 Rounds, For Time:
50 Air Squats
7 Muscle Ups
10 Hang Power Cleans, 135/95
Compare to 2.19.14
Fitness
3 Rounds, For Time:
40 Squats
30 Kettlebell Swings 72/53
20 Push-Ups
10 Pull-Ups
Post time and Rx to comments.
Our fearless Spartans before and after on Saturday at their race. Based on years past, it looks like they stayed fairly clean! Thanks to Coach MeLo for getting everyone organized and leading the troops yet again. AROO!
More Work? Or a Sip of Water?
By Chris Fox
Originally posted on 8.16.2010
You’re mid-“Helen.” You’re finishing your second round of kettlebell swings and the pull-up bar is waiting for you. So what do you do? Place your bell down, grab a sip of water, wipe the sweat from your face, chalk up your hands, and then size up the pull-up bar? Or do you ditch the bell and get on the pull-up bar knowing that you’ve only got one round left and the big rest is coming. Last sprint, last swings, last pull-ups. Forget the chalky feeling on your tongue—you’re getting on the leaderboard this time.
In many WODs, a sip of water here and there is totally appropriate. Think “Murph,” “Angie,” “Barbara” (during the rest), or some other 20-plus-minute chipper-style WOD. These are designed to be done at a medium to medium-high intensity and take significant time to complete; hence they need to be paced out and can allow for a sip or a break. WODs like “Fran,” “Annie,” and the like are meant to be executed at a high intensity throughout, and take a short time to complete. I feel pretty confident saying that you will not dehydrate during five to 10 minutes it takes to complete either of these couplets. Often though, we see athletes stopping mid-WOD to grab a sip or just to put their hands on their hips and rest. Sometimes, sure, this is appropriate. Are you sick, pregnant, injured, or the like? Then yes, you may need to pace even short WODs. But if not, then be honest with yourself about why you’re reaching for your water bottle again or chalking up for the fourth time in 12 pull-ups. It probably isn’t thirst. It’s being uncomfortable with being uncomfortable.
Let me be clear—I’m not saying not to stay hydrated and on the south sideline of Pukieville, but if this sounds like you, then try this trick. BEFORE the clock starts, drink a cup of water. Then put your water bottle away from you and out of reach. Mid-WOD when you start to think how nice a little H20 would feel on your tongue, use that to motivate you to finish faster. The water is the reward. Finish and it’s yours.
Train smart, but train hard. Remember that intensity is what brings results. Increase your pain tolerance. Try getting more comfortable with being uncomfortable.
_____________________
Kale of Duty Slate
Nasty Girls CrossFit
Crush Week—during which we bias longer, higher volume or benchmark workouts and overlap elements that were programmed on particular days—begins today. How would you describe your tolerance for discomfort in the gym? Are there types of workouts or specific exercises you find yourself taking lots of breaks from?
6am with McDowell and Nick. I did the fitness WOD with a 28kg kettlebell and finished in 14:37. Everything on this was slower than I anticipated, but the kb swings were by far the roughest slog in every round. I did manage to do the final set of 10 pull-ups in one unbroken set, which is a PR and a goal to check off the list.
QOD: I don't naturally have a very high tolerance for discomfort and if left totally to my own devices, I'd probably take many long breaks during the average workout. Having people around encouraging me to keep moving helps. And over time, my tolerance for discomfort has increased by a kind of surprising amount. I guess that's the point, right?
6am
Attempted Nasty Girls for the first time Rxd.
This was ugly.
Squats were easy enough. Fast and unbroken.
Cleans were 5/3/2, 3/3/3/1, 4/2/2/2. Kept the hook grip in to avoid wasting time regripping.
Muscle Ups felt really good at first. First set was 3/2/2/1, Second set was 2/2/1/1/1, Third set fell apart on me hard. 3/1/1 then I failed three, hit one and then failed about 11 in a row. By this point my wrists were torn, my hands were sweaty and I was fatigued as hell. Moved on to the power cleans to end the misery.
Then as we were packing up to leave I hit my final MU because I didn't want to go through my day knowing I didn't hit it.
QOD:
I feel like I am way more comfortable in the long drawn out slogs like Angie and Murph than I am with Fran or Helen. Maybe it is my history with long distance running. I also try not to take any breaks for water, even doing Murph. But I do tend to go to the chalk bucket quite a bit. I convince myself it is because I need it, but subconsciously I think I just need a few more seconds of break.
6am. Nasty Girls: 12:08. First time meeting these girls, so that's a PR. Only one MU failure which occurred at the end of the second round. Squats went from quick and light in the first round to slow and sluggish in the second and third. Power cleans were done as 10, 5-5, 5-5.
QOD: I generally like the longer workouts were I can stay in the aerobic zone, or short interval workouts with builtin rest. I take too many breaks on the mid-range workouts which are not quite sprints, but are not a steady pace either. And I take too many breaks on double-unders.
Watch video
Replace "Sherwood" with "CRUSH WEEK"
6am with the crew
Nasty Girls at 10:45. Second time doing this and it was a minute faster than my old time, so PR (sweet). Only one MU failure during the 3rd round. I did 4/3, 3/2/2, 2/F/2/2/1 for the MU's, squats were quick and I did 5/5 on the power cleans for all three rounds.
QOD: I like longer WODs were I can stay aerobic for most of it and then hit the gas during the last round. I've played soccer my whole life and feel like it maps more closely to those types of workouts. I generally have a high pain tolerance but I go to the chalk bucket too much during workouts. At the end of the workout today my station looked like Pacino's desk in Scarface.
QOD: This is why I could never do CrossFit in a garage gym on my own. I don't like the pain cave and my natural inclination is not to go terribly fast. I'll Rx the weights (well, except for high rep Oly lifts, since my ability with those is well below the potential of my strength), but then I think, "if I take another 30 seconds to finish this, who cares?" or "it's an AMRAP…I'm going to be working the same amount of time no matter what I do, so I might as well not destroy myself."
The exception is when I'm working out in the same class as someone who's at or near the real extent of my abilities. All of a sudden I start working a lot faster when I have someone to chase. It can't be someone who's so much faster than I am that I have no chance of catching them (Dan L, I'm looking at you).
I suppose this is a character flaw 😛 But given a choice between the pain cave of conditioning and the pain cave of "omg, am I going to be able to stand up with this absurdly heavy bar on my back?" I will pick the latter every time.
I've had some uncomfortable moments and ones I'm starting to learn how to just keep moving (high vol burpees for instance) BUT NOTHING COMPARES TO THE UNCOMFORTABLENESS/DARK PLACE THAN 15.5!!! I had to use the caps because it's so true forever. Also working that one pretty much alone made it even worse.
I am trying to learn what appropriate rest and not take too long for most workouts though and trying to focus on my heart rate as well!
I have a very hard time pushing on: Rowing, double unders and wall ball. If those are in a workout I will blow up if I crank them. Everything else I can maintain a reasonable-ish pace on, but that being said, Im not turning too many heads with my work capacity relative to the other beasts and beastettes in the gym. Is that a word?
6am. Nasty Girls Rx @ 12:31. I took the air squats a little slower due to a slight pain in my right knee. Broke up the MUs: 4/3, 2/2/1/1/1, 7 singles and cleans 5/5, 4/3/3, 3/3/2/2. I need to stop shifting to singles so fast on the MUs and I should have held onto the bar for the cleans a bit longer.
QOD: Related to today's question of the day, Michael A and I both mentioned that we probably didn't hit that workout hard enough, especially since the weight is not heavy. I find myself treating the 10min or so metcons as longer chippers — hence too much pacing and not enough uncomfort.
Squat
290x5x3
Felt heavy today. I blame my weekend of excess.
Bench
247.5 x3x2 (PR Triple)
207.5 x6x2
I have ZERO pain tolerance today…maybe tomorrow. I generally tend to do better in short, fast, heavy workouts where I can go at near 100%. Everything else I try to hit 80-90% usually so I can keep moving well without too much rest.
QOD:
CrossFit & CFSBK absolutely have had a positive effect on my pain management. Although duration and specific movements definitely have an impact as to where my threshold lies, just the familiarity of “entering the pain cave" allows me to manage my pain/anxiety and even push myself further into it.
However, having said that, I usually (sub)consciously plan my vacations so that I miss Crush Weeks…
Overall not a very sharp training day. Too much drinking over the last 10 days has really added up, including in terms of recovery, sleep, and nutrition choices. Ready to clean it up again.
3 position snatch (2 reps each at high/power, hang, floor – 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 65%)
63, 68, 73, 78, 78
BSQ: heavy 5
45×5, 95×5, 135×5, 155×5, 165×5, 175×5
Blech. Put a belt on for the last two. This was medium heavy but I just didn't have any real drive in me today. Did 3×5 @ 165 on wed with no issue, but today it all felt twice as heavy as usual.
3 sets: 5 strict TTB, 4 strict pull up. The last 2 inches of my pull-ups are horrendous. This needs to be addressed.
For time:
40 ground to overhead @ 95#
800m run
1200m row
Time without row (had to leave to get to work on time):12:56
BB work took 8:26.
One set of 4, then sets of 3 throughout. All C&J, kept hook grip in. Tried one snatch in the middle and failed.
Tomorrow is a new day.
YAY Spartans! Looking GOOD! I love the before and after, barely a hair out of place!
The 1/2 Marathon Row still has four ergs available. So that's room for four–eight more people, depending on how many new folks sign up for the full 1/2 marathon or the partner version. If you're interested, sign up! Or ask me about it at nick -at- crossfitsouthbrooklyn -dot- com.
Yup- short, fast, heavy workouts are my thing too. I am good at pain as long as it doesn't last long, haha! Probably why I like powerlifting so much. I do like chippers too though; if I can manage to pace myself. I am not the type to stop for a drink of water, usually, though I did have to chalk my hands a few times during Saturday's WOD.
CRASH -B's training taught me a lot about pain and what I am capable of, if I am willing to go there. Usually, I am not.
Strength Cycle.
Competition Squat
45 x 10
135 x 4
165 x 4
185 x 4
207 x 4 (7RPE)
215 x 4 (8RPE)
222 x 4 (9RPE)
210 x 4
Competition Bench (pause)
45 x 4
75 x 4
95 x 4
110 x 4 (7RPE)
115 x 4 (8RPE)
120 x 4 (9.5RPE)
112.5 x 4
Heavy today!! Didn't help that I started giggling on my last rep of my top set. Need to watch where the bar is landing on my chest- it seems to travel upwards as I get fatigued which is no bueno as I lose tension.
Banded Deadlift
135 x 5
185 x 5
205 x 5 (8RPE)
210 x 5 (9RPE)
195 x 5
This was much harder today. Lats are still sore and tired from close-grip bench press and T2B on Saturday…Had to switch grip earlier than last week and my planned 7 was actually an 8, but I was able to call it a day one set early and still feel like I did well- and that is the beauty of this type of programming. On another day without eyes on me, I might have gone for that heavier set, but I am learning to read and listen to my body, which is pretty cool.
QOD – Just about everything makes me uncomfortable but especially kettle bells. Although I used to think of myself as someone who could work through pain, work through uncomfortableness, I'm getting older and realizing it's not as true as it used to be.
Having said that, I did try to make my (fitness) WOD today worth the early morning wake up: so I did the first two KB's unbroken and third at 20/10. And I used a 24kg which is a step up from the 20 that I normally use.
My pullups were chinups and the first set was only 4 and 8 ring rows. But I pushed through the other rounds with 12 chins each, working in fours, then threes, then twos.
Pushups and squats were slow in the second and third rounds. Finished all that discomfort in 15 mins flat.
Bummed to miss Nasty Girls today! I've never done it before. Did a nice little yoga class this morning before a day from hell at the airport.
QOD: For better and for worse, I think I have a pretty high tolerance for discomfort (in workouts); my technique on more advanced movements tends to limit me more than anything. Of course, my pain tolerance is directly correlated with the amount of confidence I have on a given movement. All I can think about when I row is how much it hurts and how much I want to stop. It's the one movement where I really feel like I can't push myself.
Warm up x 3
12 cal row
12 burpees
12 v-ups
Fitness version of Nasty Girls in 16:38
3 rounds:
40 squats
30 KB swings – OH 24kg (this was rough and made everything else hard)
20 push ups
10 pull ups
First time trying this — even the fitness version. Also first time with 24kg Am Swings. I would have had a better pace at 20kg. Took too much rest for my arms. But I'm glad I tried the heavier bell. Great work out.
Planks
1:30 x 2
1:00 x 1
Fitness WOD done in 16:53
Subbed Russian swings for American swings @53#
i think you're selling your head turning capability short, DO.
QOD: I think I'm much better at short intense bursts of stuff when I know there's rest coming after. Not great at medium-longer pain cave slogs, particularly ones that include rowing or thrusters. I do think I've improved a whole bunch in this realm in the last 5+ years of doing CrossFit… I remember in my first few months (years?), I used to actually think my heart was exploding, and I would always think of a reason to stop.
I'm also much better at pushing through discomfort when there are external motivators, for better or worse. For example… doing Murph in front of a giant crowd of people, hitting the Open WODs at the same time as other fierce females that are pushing the pace, or thinking I have a chance at the leaderboard on a given workout. I realize that outwardly competitive spirit can go from healthy to shitty very quickly, but for what it's worth… it has lead me to achieve some things I never thought possible.
After reading Lauren's post, wish I would have gone for the white KB instead of yellow…
Fitness WOD: 15:37
Super fun workout! Air squats were fast, KBs were not bad, but it was the necessary stopping to break up push-ups and kipping pull ups that made me take so long.
The mental anguish caused by jumping rope and attempting DUs is far worse than any physical discomfort. To be completely honest, I really enjoy the sensation of physical discomfort. It reminds me of the amazing capabilities of the human body but also how delicate the body (life?) is.
The workouts that I tend to not push too hard on are ones I fear getting injured to the point of not being able to work out: stuff with cleans, OHS, touch & go deadliflts, etc. for time. And then, there's the push-up/pull-up workouts where I'm limited by strength and forced to take a lot of breaks.
Ariel,
I bet you say that to all the coaches! 😀