2008-08-07 : PR time !!!

Xfit Langley WOD

Back Squats :
3 x 135#, 3 x 165#, 3 x 185#, 3 x 195#

--- felt I had more in bank for these, should've tried a PR or at least go 3x old PR of 215#

Deadlifts :
3 x 225#, 3 x 255#, 3 x 275#, 3 x 297# (depicted above with the 1000-mile stare, the beach chest et al.)

--- yanked the 1st rep on that set, my elbows and wrists are whiny bitches right now !

Then 3 sets of Evil Wheel

Went all out on these... standing evil wHELL (no it's not a typo... Evil Wheel of Hell is an appropriate substitution !)

5 - 5 - 5

---using a 'safety bumper' (2.5# plate on the ground to stop the wheel and prevent my face to be introduced to the floor by the ever annoying bitch called Gravity)

Goal was to put the bumper farther and farther away...

Then for some reason I felt like I could accomplish something that evening... and I looked at the bar that the REAL MEN left behind. After counting the plates, I came to the conclusion that by removing the extra 25# on each side, I would end up with 313# which is 18 lbs heavier than my last PR... was it a sign ? I'm still not sure, but I decided to join the 300# club that day.

I was so confident in my ability to break through my last PR that I grabbed the bar using a straight grip. Knees got out of the way, hips extended, back was straight as a nun, the bar passed my knees (great I thought, my lift is done here, a few more centimetres and that bar is gonna go back down HARD, coupled with a victorious battle cry...)

--- Not quite ---

Given the fact I had a straight grip, both hands started opening, and it was only with the bar hanging on the last digit of every single one of my fingers, that I was able to complete the lift.

For more pain I decided to go extra strict on that one... holding at the top for 1 thousand and 1, 1 thousand and 2, 1 thousand and SLAM... no battle cry (I was still amazed my fingers held for that long, and was starring at my awesome 'kung fu' grip).

Then I decided to train intelligently... (you guys must think that I called it a day at that point, but I'm not THAT intelligent !!) I returned to the bar after a regulation-length rest period (just long enough to feel the tip of my fingers again) with an ALTERNATE GRIP !

313# felt very good, very confident : 1000-miles stare, chest up, neck straight, back even straighter, knees extended perfectly then the hips kicked into diesel low gear, with the arms locked straight and the steel grip merely the chain squeezing that fat bitch off the floor. I stayed in the top position for long enough to laugh in the face of gravity, then dropped the bar down...

---INSERT BATTLE CRY HERE--- (for some reason I kept the beach chest even if the rest of the 'technical points' of the lift disappeared as I walked away from the bar)

All in all I crushed past my last PR, which was a few months ago after doing lots and lots of DLing. Between my last PR and this one, I did not train specifically for the DL, that is what amaze me with Crossfit : let's train light high reps DLs, now squats, now cleans, now snatches... then you try 1 Rep Max DL... and you blast right through !

On a final note : 313# is 1.93x my bodyweight (162#) DAMN YOU MICHELLE !!! I am at this point 11 lbs short of my fitness goal !

'I'll be baK' like Arnie would say...

Tomorrow I'll try to kick the WOD Coach Clarke posts, by myself, if it is technically possible (I'm missing some crucial Crossfit gear at our work gym)... otherwise I'm gonna kick GRACE's ass or maybe HELEN's

Chimo !