What A Difference A WOD Makes

My hands gripped the rings and I pulled myself up for a try at skin the cat. Starting in the hang position and keeping my arms straight, I lifted my toes up and back overhead, to an inverted hang. Then, slowly lowering my toes towards the floor behind me as far as I could go.  Then lifting my hips I pulled out back through the hang and lowered to my feet. Once down, I could hardly believe I was able to do it so well. I have to extend some credit to the Grace workout for increasing my shoulder strength. My profile picture you see on the right was actually taken during the Grace workout. I've felt notable improvement in all my shoulder movements since doing that. I wouldn't want to date her exclusively but I will see that beotch now and then.

The next ring exercise captures my imagination too - the Archer ring pushup (variation 3). This is an amazing exercise and my chest is hurting now from it while I write this. I've been challenging myself to go much lower in my ring pushups and dips. As my strength and flexibility improves, so has my form. However, the last couple reps were shaky as I tired from the rounds and my final pushups were ugly. My chest hit the deck on the last one as I collapsed. God, that rubber matt can feel good sometimes. It's like a vacation. Just lie there, not moving - maybe the eyes just a little - but nothing else.

And what WOD would be complete without at least one total gong show. Thy name is double-unders. I took Coach's advice - practice, practice, practice! I realize the only way to get good at something is to keep pushing it, so I started cranking out double-unders - as many as I could do before stumbling. That was two. <grimace> Push. Push. Push. I did nine rounds as double-under's, starting and stopping, resetting and accidentally whipping my shins about a hundred times. For the tenth round I decided to get some quality skipping in and did fifty singles. What is it? Jumping? Coordination? I dunno.

Later in the day, I arrived for a class dedicated to Olympic Lifting. When I heard we were going to do this, I nearly jumped out of my shoes for joy. Readers of this blog know that Oly lifting is my religion. I'm not even that good at it but I will squat clean a thousand times to gain this skill. It's like honing a golf swing. There is a lot to practice at each point of the lift. How to grip the bar. Starting the clean from the hang. Foot position. Jumping under the bar. Mental attitude. I'm practicing this, so I backed the weight way down to 135lb and kept in that groove. I tend to pull the bar too high before jumping underneath it. I couldn't figure out why until I realized that I had fear of jumping under a heavy weight that is crashing back down to earth. Since I pull it too high, getting in the squat position underneath would have the bar traveling at a good speed when it makes contact with me. Ouch. I have visions of falling over backwards with this thing on me. I think I know what to do. I was watching a video of clean drops on Crossfit.com. Using a light weight, like an empty bar, just drop into the squat over and over. I figure if I do that, gradually increasing the weight and getting confident, I'll overcome my tendency to pull too high. It's going to take much work, but I want it real bad.