Image: mrtopp (Flickr)
I’m on holiday this week, so going anywhere in the evening was going to be a challenge. Still, after missing Monday’s session I was determined not to miss tonight.
There were just 4 of us doing the induction course. Dan and Paula were new faces for me, and Elisa joined in as a refresher after having been away for some time.
The warmup was to run 200m, and 3 sets each of 10x air squats and 10x pushups. I’m still doing knee-pushups, but I’m able to do more of them as time progresses. Looking forward to being able to do proper ones, as the others are a little embarrassing.
Weightlifting training was the Snatch, starting with the PVC pipe at the sternum, then just above the knees, and finally from the floor. And then onto the training bar. It’s another move I’m going to have to spend time practising, as it’s more complicated than it looks: to lift the bar past your knees you need to slightly straighten your legs and sit up (must not lift around the knees, and need to keep the bar moving vertically while maintaining form), then when it reaches above your knees you use your legs and hips to power the bar up (not your arms), and when it reaches your sternum you squat down quickly while moving your arms under the bar so the elbows lock the bar above your head, then you stand up. Trying to get all of those things happening in the right order and at the right time is a challenge.
Then it was time for the WOD (name unknown). It consisted of 3 activities, to take 9 minutes each:
- 3x Row 500m within 3 mins (the sooner you finish each, the longer you get to rest)
- 50x Wall Balls (I used a 7kg ball)
- 9 sets of 5x Burpees and 5x Pullups
I was happy with the rowing, averaging 2:30 per set (that 30 seconds between each was vital). The wall balls were very tough: I could only manage 5-7 reps at a time before I reached the starting edge of tunnel vision (had to sit down a few times), but managed 35 overall. And the trainer (Thong) scaled the final activity down to just 9 sets 3x Burpees, which was close to my limit at that point.
So I nearly managed to complete another WOD and gives me another workout to use to measure myself in the future.
And I believe I’ve finally earned the right to say: BUCK FURPEES!
