THRUSTERS and BURPEES.......

Well, first up I realise I have some awesome news regarding thrusters!  If you aren't affiliated with Crossfit and don't know what a thruster is, google 'Crossfit Thrusters' and watch a video.  Anyways, a few, (maybe 3ish months ago) we did a WOD with running, ringrows and thrusters, in the sequence of 9. 15. 21.  I remember feeling so weak then, I hated thrusters, I used the 9kg bar for my thrusters and I had to break the sets of thrusters down, particularly that last set!  I really struggled to get into and push up from the squat position then.  I took the scaled option for the running too then.

Today, the same WOD was thrown at us again, except in my preferred sequence of 21. 15. 9.....(to get the long sets outta the way first).  And we had the option of unassisted, band assisted or jumping pullups.  We got to try to have a weight where we didn't need to break any sets of our thrusters.
* Today I decided to attempt 17.5kg for my thrusters and the blue band for pullups.  My initial thought was I'd do the scaled run option incase the thrusters took too long.  Well, I got through the first 21 thrusters unbroken! Then managed 15 pullups with chin above bar before needing to take a few seconds rest before the final 6.  As the biggest sets were outta the way I decided to do the RX runs!  And I managed to complete all sets of thrusters unbroken, just a small break in the second set of pullups and did the 3rd set of pullups unbroken.  13:52 was my time, think the WOD had a 22 min time cap.  I now wonder if I could have managed the next jump to 20kg thrusters!  But it's great to have almost doubled my thruster weight in 3ish months!  Our skill component was the box jump, I'm working on my speed and power with the 16 inch box, plus a 20kg plate and am happy with progress.

On Wednesday we had a 'Southland Chipper WOD'.  That involved * a 300m row, 30 box jumps, (could be scaled to 20), 30 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls, (could be scaled as low as 12), 30 walking lunges, (with 12kg KBs for males, 8kg for females or scaled to on their own), 30 knee or full pushups, 30 Wall Balls (with 9 or 6kg), 30 Burpees, 50 single under skips, 30 Back Extensions

I scaled my box jumps to 20 on 16" box.
The Sumo Deadlift high pulls were scaled to 12, using a 16kg KB
I decided to attempt the two 8kg KBs for the 30 walking lunges and managed.
I knew 30 Wall Balls were going to be complete murder after all the other stuff so scaled them to 4kg.
I started with a few full pushups Crossfit style before relegating to knees when it got too 'ouch'.

We could do the activities in any order we pleased and the WOD had a 25 min time cap.  I started with the Box Jumps and tried to go lower/upper/lower body as much as I could.  The back extensions, single unders and 300m row were the easier ones for me, even with using power.  By the time I got to the wallballs I did them in 3 sets I think, ouch!  But the worst was the 30 Burpees which I left till last!  Infact I was making good time till I got them them suckers.  The 30 burpees took me well over 4 mins and I was fatigued as, anyway I finished the WOD in 21:55 so made it under the 25 min time cap. 

So every second day I've added at least 10 burpees done at home to Crossfit 'homework'!
Today I managed one full pullup when practising with the green band, and 3 full chin ups unbroken....so getting better.  And they are strict ones as I still can't kip!  Up to 13 pushups on toes, (not quite the Crossfit pushups but the easier toe ones with a wider grip) and can do about 4 Crossfit ones on toes....so it's on  the 'up'. 

Till next time,
Pip :-)