The Audacity of Dope

Alright, I’ve been slacking on my crossfit posts, but I swear I’ve been killing the workouts lately.  One of the best parts about crossfit is that it’s really easy to see your improvement and I’ve been increasing damn near all my scores lately.  Saturday’s “Rainstorm” over at Foundation CrossFit started with 200m walking lunges to get our legs nice and jelly-like before we got into “Tabata This.”  From the CrossFit FAQ:

“Tabata Intervals ( 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest repeated 8 times) is applied in turn to the Squat, Rower, Pullups, Sit-ups, and Push-ups with a one minute rotation break between exercises. Each exercise is scored by the weakest number of reps (calories on the rower) in each of the eight intervals. During the one minute rotation time allowed the clock is not stopped but kept running. The score is the total of the scores from the five stations.”

Relatively simple, right?  20 seconds on, 10 seconds off…for 8 times…at each of those 5 exercises…and count only your lowest round.  I got my PR of 47 with 6 pull ups, 12 sit ups, 6 calories on the row, 12 squats, and 11 push ups.  Seeing as how I was able to knock out 8 calories on my last round of row and 15 push ups on the final round there, I’m guessing I didn’t quite push myself as hard as possible.  Next time I’m shooting for (at least) 7, 13, 7, 14, and 13.  Let’s get it.

Even though it was a holiday, this was one of the busiest weekends I’ve had in a minute.  Thanks to the fine folks over at Foundation Crossfit, I was able to squeeze in two bad ass workouts.  First up, from Saturday:

Tabata bottom to bottom squats (8 rounds of 20 secs on, 10 off, hold for the ‘rest’)

then as far as you can go in 20 minutes, in order:
100m sprint
25 burpees
30 pull ups
40 sit ups
50 kettlebell swings
60 second L-sit
70 push ups
800m run
90 second active hang
100 box jumps

I got through 700m of the 800m run before time expired.  I love these kind of “checklist” workouts because you get a real sense of accomplishment as you’re flying through the exercises.  Next up, tonight’s workout was “Tabata Fight Gone Bad” (see the video above):

8 rounds of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off, with 1 minute rest in between exercises.  Take your lowest score in each round and that’s your score for the exercise:

Sumo Deadlift High Pull (75lbs)
Box Jumps
Push Press (75lbs)
Wall Ball
Row (count calories burned)

I finished with 38 (in order: 10, 8, 6, 9, 5).  Probably could have bumped that up by one or two, but this is a hard workout.  Very fun though.  Try it, or if you need some help getting started, hit up the Foundation fam!

As many rounds as possible in 25 minutes:

400m run
30 kettlebell swings
15 dive bomber pushups

I got 5 rounds even.  That was my first time doing dive bomber pushups, they’re no joke.  If you don’t have kettlebells handy at your gym, you can use dumbbells.  This is a good workout, it’ll drop you.  Shout to Dru and the Foundation Crossfit fam!

Seattle people remember, you can join us for these free workouts every Saturday at noon.  The details are on their site and it’s a great way to break into crossfit.

(yeah, that’s me in the way back…lookin’ like the Kanye bear blasting off)

I’ve been slacking on the CrossFit posts, but the Jedi Gym reminded me.  This weekend we did:

Tabata Squats for a warm up
5 rounds for time:
200m run
15 kettlebell swings
15 burpees

Using 25 lbs, it took me 18:39.  Kinda disappointing, I’ll have to work on my burpee game.  For someone who enjoys doing hella push ups, it’s strange that those slowed me down so much.  Eh well, next time.

Speaking of which, I’ma keep posting crossfit related goodness until at least one of you random Seattle readers comes out to the free workouts on Saturdays @ 11 AM at Foundation Fitness with me.  It’s on Lake City WY and 100th, so it’s pretty easy to find for North Seattle folk.  You don’t even have to be in shape, you just have to enjoy getting some exercise.  Plus, it’s fun and healthy.  What could be better? Hit me up for details, or you can check it out for yourself at the Foundation site.