Tabata Something Else

Last night I was originally planning to go WOD at MICF, but then Jared asked if I would mind spending the evening with him instead, since we've got a pretty busy week coming up.

How could I refuse a date night with my best buddy?!

I decided to sneak in my own WOD before he picked me up at work - I'm lucky since my office actually has a tiny gym in the basement with some equipment.  Extra lucky was the fact that I could steal Monday's programming for myself!

Great post-WOD shake:
Tropical Vanilla Progenex with milk!

I started with a 5 minute warmup that included pass-throughs, walking lunges, and some light strength work with weights.

I couldn't do push press for the skill/strength portion since the gym at the office doesn't really have much in the way of barbells and weight plates.  I decided instead to spend 10 minutes working on my handstand pushups.  (Got less than 1 month to nail me some goals!)

I did 10 full range of motion "box" handstand pushups (I used a bench and figure it counts).  And burst a bunch of little blood vessels in my face - today I look kinda like I have red freckles.  I next grabbed a big dumbbell (30 pounds) and did 8 reps from handstand to the big part of the dumbbell.  It was roughly the equivalent of doing the pushups to a roller.  Next I grabbed a 10 pound dumbbell (about half the height of the #30) and managed 3 reps.  I tried one to a single plate and made it down, but not back up.  I decided not to worry and just felt good about putting in the time on these.  Eventually I'll get my full range of motion handstand pushup!

Next I was onto the WOD!  I had done this back in July and was stoked to crush my previous score.  I love using WODHub to track my workouts because I can see my progress and know what goals are reasonable when I repeat workouts!

WOD

“Tabata Something Else”

20 seconds on 10 seconds off for 4 minutes at each station (8 rounds) then move to the next movement

Pullups
Pushups
Situps
Squats

The only equipment I needed was a mat for situps and a bar for pullups.  Technically there is no pullup bar in the peewee gym.  But there is a very stable weight machine with a bar-like thing at the top.  Unfortunately it is huge - at least 4 inches in diameter, which as you will see impacted my score.  I have tiny hands and couldn't get my thumbs around at all so I was gripping with only fingers.

This time the scoring was supposed to be "lowest amount of reps completed in 4 mins" but last time we used our second-lowest score, so for consistency I kept with the July scoring. 

In July I got 31 total reps:
Pullups - 2
Pushups - 6
Situps - 9
Squats - 14

I was hoping to beat each my score by at least 1 rep, except for pullups, which I hope to tie.  In July I had used a red band and then switched up to an even bigger band for the workout.  If I could get only 2 reps but with no band, it would be a huge improvement!

The pullups were tough - it was hard to kip without thumbs to grip!  I got 2 pullups each round for several rounds, but then was down to 1 and even had a few rounds where I couldn't get my chin over the bar and so had a score of 0. My overall score (second worst round) was 1, though, and I still felt like it was a huge improvement from using bands in July!

I was really strong on the pushups and got a score of 8 - two better than previously! 

Situps were good since I've really been working on them lately to improve my Annie time.  I pulled through with a score of 12.

Finally I was on the squats.  I felt pretty good going into them and decided to really go all out.  I tried to keep my heels on the ground after watching a video that mentioned the phsysics of CrossFit and how more surface = more force or something like that (I never took physics).  Basically in dummy terms, more of your foot on the ground makes it easier for you to press up out of a squat quickly.  Total score?  16!

My new total was 5 points higher than my score in July, plus this time I RX'ed! 

 

Sometimes I do really well when I get to WOD all alone.  Not sure why...introvert power maybe?

And today I was planning to hit the box after work...but I am so sore I can barely walk.  So I'm gonna take a rest day and work on my mobility!


You tell me: Do you prefer to work out alone or with a group?  How do you squeeze in a workout on an altered schedule?