This Saturday, Nick and I loaded into the Expedition to head over to Crossfit Route 1 for the Fight Gone Bad V “competition”/workout. Here is a litttttle snippet!
Instead of throwing a major fit like I may have in the past before a scary workout, I got in the car, wearing my new high socks (to make sure I didn’t wreck my shins during Sumo Deadlift Highpulls), and immediately went to meditative mode. I definitely was wearing some worry lines with gusto…but I didn’t let me head toward grump town this time
First time rx’d Fight Gone Bad score: 188. I’ll take it! ESPECIALLY since the adrenaline had me gunning it at full throttle right off the bat, and the fact that I have been in the gym about 5 times in the last month! (Running doesn’t exactly prep you for Fight Gone Bad…) It’s a baseline, and I’m so happy I did it Definitely blacked out a bit during the first round, but tunnel vision is not always a bad thing when you’re in that sort of situation
Yes, I know FGB is brutal. Yes, I am aware that those of you reading it who have DONE FGB may be thinking..you probably didn’t WORK hard enough it you think it wasn’t that bad. Well, I did. I grunted and made more noise than I usually do in a workout. I lifted more in the push press than I ever do in a workout. I did prescribed weight for ALMOST everything, except the wall balls, and I went up to 12# instead of my usual 8# (and just ONCE upon a time I did 10#). In essence, I worked my TAIL off!
Why then did I find it to be NOT THAT BAD? It’s alllll mental guys. FGB is not heavy weight…its medium weight (or light for some of you I’m sure), with a heavy work load. It’s not heavy on weight, its heavy on met con (metabolic conditioning). So I’m DEFINITELY not saying it’s EASY..no no no no…it’s hard..its HARD work! However, if you think of it as just a minute at a time, it’s done before you know it.
Now it was my first time ever doing FGB, so in the car on the way to the gym I was telling Nick that I wasn’t so sure I wanted to do this workout anymore. I have heard of people puking from this workout…often.
To refresh your memory of what the workout was:
Fight Gone Bad
3 Rounds. 1 minute at each station. Your score is the amount of total reps you do (you count the calories on the rower)
Row
Wall balls (prescribed is 14#, I did 12#)
Sumo Dead-Lift High Pull (Prescribed is 55#, CHECK!)
Box Jumps (20″ prescribed!)
Push Press (55# prescribed!)
1 minute rest
So, back to what I was saying…I was nervous. So, being the kind, encouraging, calming man that he is ( hehe :)) Nicholas told me, “Jen, just get a number on the board. Don’t go all out and kill yourself this time…just get a number on the board”. So! That is exactly what I did! I paced myself starting from the first of the three rounds, and stayed pretty consistent all three rounds.
My score
1st round: 70 reps
2nd round: 66 reps
3rd round: 64 reps
Total: 200
I feel pretttttty darn good about this. ESPECIALLY since this was my first time doing FGB :) Next time pushing it just a little bit harder will come naturally, and at that point I will have a little more experience using the amounts of weight that I did this time (I’m still VERY new to a lot of those weights. The last time I tested my press, my one rep MAX was 55#. The last time I did Sumo Deadlift High Pulls I used 45 as opposed to 55 pounds. I have never used a 12# ball before for the wall balls, and I am still very new to using the “big girl box” for box jumps.).
Overall? Fight Gone Bad, even in humidity, wasn’t quite as scary as I thought it would be. If you conquer the mental aspect of it, KNOWING that you only have to work for 1 minute at a time on each station; but still work your bum off…it’s done before you know it, and WHAM, you just had an INCREDIBLE, ass whooping of a workout Needless to say, I’m taking tonight off
Have a GREAT day guys It’s WEDNESDAY!!! We’re half way through
Split jerks! Sweet, I LOVE split jerks!! Yada yada yada…
That lasted all of 10 minutes…
A split jerk:
We were to do as much weight as we could safely (and with good form) do 3 times, 3 times, 2 times, 2 times, then 1 time, 1 time, 1 time (to find our ONE REP MAX). Boom! I put up 65# three times in a row, easy. Then 75# three times in a row, easy. I ask Nick whether he thinks I can do ten more on each side twice…he thought it would be fine since 75# three times was so easy. Well, this is where I started to fall apart. 95# is locked and loaded on the rack, I get that nervous butterfly feeling I get before a heavy lift. Let us remember that this means I’m putting 95# OVER my HEAD! Yeah…so I think its normal to be a little nervous (eek!). Danny comes walking over to watch me, and BOOM, I get it up once. I go for a second time, and boom! up but then lose my balance and drop the weight. This was my first time ever “bailing” the weight, and it scared me…a lot. It was unnecessarily loud, and I think I just panicked a little that I could have seriously hurt myself. Then to add to it…I HAD CLOSED MY EYES! What the HECK did I do THAT for? So, I take the extra 10 pounds off, and decide (with Nick’s advice) that I work on my form at 85# (since I COULD get the 95# up twice, but my form was all off). Supposedly I wasn’t “splitting” enough, and I was actually PRESSING the weight at the top, according to Nick. When we were home last night talking about this I was EXTREMELY defiant on this theory. “Nick, I can’t even press 60#!! There is no WAY I was PRESSING 95#!” I supposedly, however, WAS! He thinks that if I was getting underneath it enough, I could put upward of 130# over my head (that’ll be NUTS!).
After taking the 10 pounds off, I tried to pick the weight up to “clean” it and get it back up to shoulder height, and couldn’t do it. I got really discouraged at this point…looked at Danny with this pitiful ”help me” face, and apologized. At this point, I literally felt a lip quiver…I was NOT loving split jerks as much I was when I walked through the door. Now, let me preface this by saying, I don’t CRY at the gym…and I came DAMN close last night. Because I was tired or in pain? No…because I was FRUSTRATED! I have this “I should be good at stuff” attitude the first time I do it…so silly…and DEFINITELY leaves plenty of room for disappointment.
Then, after practicing a few more split jerks, and bailing a few more times (sooooo unnecessarily loud…) Nick looks at me and says, “I KNOW you can “clean” that weight up” So with all my built up frustration, I walked over to that bar and cleaned it like it was my JOB! Honestly, I remember thinking afterward that it wasn’t even SLIGHTLY heavy…biggggg difference from when I did it before and couldnt’ get it past my knees. I turned around and there was this look of pride coming from Nick’s face that I have never seen before…beaming! I was SURE though that when I had tried it before it was A LOT more weight…but he was POSITIVE it was the same…and that it was all mental. I had committed to it…
After all that, we did a workout of 21, 15, 9 front rack loaded lunges (I used 45#) and burpees. Let me tell you something, my butt is going to hurt like nothing I have ever felt later today…I just know it. Those lunges were BRUTAL! :-p
As for tonight’s workout…this may be the first official night I throw up at Crossfit, we shall see. Tonights workout is Fight Gone Bad. This is the workout I hear most often gets people’s name up on the pukey board…
Fight Gone Bad
3 Rounds
1 Minute each station, 1 Minute rest between rounds
- Row
- Wall Ball (20#/14#)
- Sumo Deadlift High Pull (75#/55#)
- Box Jump
- Push Press (75#/55#)
Add Total Reps for score, count calories on rower.
Can’t wait to tell you about that workout tomorrow!!
