CrossFit One World W.O.T.D.

This is the uber-CrossFit couple, Chong and his wife Mel. Currently CrossFit One World is profiling the athletes that performed at the CrossFit Games this past weekend. Yesterday was Jolie's day and today is Chong's. As everyone has said on the site, Chong is an extremely strong competitor with impeccable form. Further, he's a great instructor. I always see him in the mornings during his one-on-one sessions and I'm always envious because I can tell his students learn a lot from him. Today, I had the chance to get a little coaching from him and it was great. Kudos to Chong on his performance this weekend. Of course, kudos to Mel because she's just so awesome!

Warm-up
one hour of heated yoga
"Grace and then some" warm-up

WOD: "Grace" (and then some)
Complete 30 squat clean and jerks for time.

You must perform a a squat clean, or a power clean with a front squat (Hip below the knee). The bar may go overhead to a full lockout position by any means (i.e.- jerk, push press, thruster, shoulder press)

To get a better idea of what the movement should look like, here's CrossFit Unlimited's Jason Khalipa doing this WOD. In an upset, Jason won the men's title at the CrossFit games this past weekend. A BIG congrats to you and the folks at CrossFit Unlimited.



Joanne's Final Time - 14:07, using a 65# weight.

Notes (to myself) about this workout:
This WOD is much harder than the usual "Grace" WOD because this includes a squat in the middle. Also, the prescribed weight is a lot higher. I think "Grace" is usually somewhere around 95# for women and 135# for men. This one required 100# for women and 155# for men. The movement is much bigger and it's a total body workout. I thought for sure it would be doable because it's just 30 movements. Yeah. I was wrong.

I took a while during the warm-up to nail down the movement and decide the weight I was going to use. I was hoping I could get by on 45#. Naturally, Eric pushed it to 65#. He and Chong actually thought I could push it to 75#, but opted not to just because we're trying to get down my form. Eric didn't want me to get weak at the last part of the WOD.

After doing the WOD, I will say that I'd like to try upping the weight to maybe 75#. For today, 65# was plenty. In fact, it was a huge jump from the 35# I did last week when we did "Grindy," which required the same movement. I was floored at how hard this WOD was and how much it took out of me. I was spent after the first 10. Working with Eric and at times with Chong, their focus was really doing the movement as clean as possible. I really had to focus on form. The heavier weight doesn't allow you to slack because you can feel the mistakes you're making.

I can see why someone would pay for a personal trainer or train with a partner who's going to push you. Eric cuts no slack at all. He knows enough about fitness and such to understand what I can and can't push. Sometimes you need that. I've decided to change up my CrossFIt schedule to get in more training with him. As mentioned before, I'm trying to commit to CrossFit Mon-Thurs. Starting next week, I'll do Mon-Wed evenings to train with Eric and the crew. I'll go on Thursday mornings for my fourth WOD. As Eric suggested, I'm not going to weigh myself for three months. Actually, my next major doctor appointment happens in September, so I'll get weighed in then. I'm hoping to see some results. Cross fingers please!

As mentioned before, I'm not big on the Oly lifts. However, I've had to do them these past few days and all I can say is that as much as I can't stand them, I see why they're important. I find that just one WOD significantly changes the way I carry and can feel my back muscles. A lot of women are concerned about lifting too much because they fear bulking up. My answer to that is to look at people like Stef and Jolie. They're not bulky at all, but can really lift some heavy weight. This tells me that weight lifting is great to become leaner. How bulky you get is, I presume, a diet thing. But what do I know, right?

That's it for now. Kudos to Eric for doing a 570# deadlift today for the CrossFit Total. 570#? That's just so sick!