I missed the announcement on Thursday. I was instead doing my taxes when I realized what time it was. I pulled up the open home page to read it and thought I’d misread the rep numbers. 55 of each thing?!? Wait, 15? Maybe my contact prescription needs to be checked out. The gnarliest professional CF chicks were doing 1 full round and almost all of the 2nd rounds deadlifts. Which left me like, will I even make it through the row?

Here’s the workout:

In 13 minutes accomplish as many rounds as possible of:

55 Deadlifts (155 lbs for ladies or 225 lbs for men)

All I do all week is squat, dead lift, and bench press. So, to say my ego wasn’t attached to this first movement would be a lie. 155 lbs is now light but I knew it wouldn’t feel THAT light with that much volume. Dead lifting for speed versus for strength is a different beast all together. However, my mindset entering was pace for volume but don’t be too slow and underestimate my strength either.  During sets of 15 and then 10 it certainly brought out the tightness that already existed in my low back.

55 wall balls  (14 lb hitting a 9 ft target for ladies or 20 lb medicine ball hitting a 10 ft target for men)

For those unfamiliar with the movement: You stand underneath a target, drive out of the bottom of your squat hitting the weighted ball to the target. It springs back at you with acceleration in which case you catch while dropping into the bottom of your squat. String together in sets you can maintain with as short-ish rest as possible and repeat 55 times. Note: Try not to get hit in the face.

There are only a few movements that still get me really worked up inside. Meaning, I view them as punishment. I try to make them my friends but every time I slog through and hope for the best. Wall balls is one of them. My mental fortitude on this activity is truly lacking. I whine inside and typically fall apart from the original rep scheme plan I went in with. Luckily, I did this workout with Cathleen who is a wall ball magician. She tosses it up like it’s nothing and rebounds out of the squat like she’s throwing a tennis ball. We went side by side meaning I knew she would not waver from her decided upon sets.  Therefore, I could not waver. This is where the workout buddy really helps me kick into a higher gear. No matter how badly my lungs burned I kept at it. I am proud to report that out of sheer competitive nature I stuck to my sets of 10 here with short breaks.

55 calorie row 

Translation: Rowing for calories means you don’t smoothly see the number on the tiny screen go up for your efforts like when you’re rowing for meters. I do 5-6 pulls and scream in my head at the number on the screen still stuck on a number Sesame Street would teach. This can really unravel a person struggling for oxygen. One must remember, lose your mind= lose your breath= run out of gas.

I wouldn’t describe rowing as a strength of mine, however, I know how to find my 80% output and stay there. Mentally, when I got to the rower I was so damn thankful to be off the wall balls I decided rowing was my friend. I found my breathing on the rower and thought long and hard. Will I make it to handstand push ups? And if I do, what’s my plan?

 

55 hand stand push ups

Translation: You’ll kick up against a wall and lower your legs into what feels like an inverted crouching tiger position. You’ll kick your legs up hard opening your hips. This takes some of your body weight out of your shoulders relieving the amount of strength it takes to press your weight up.

Certain movements reps have the value of the gold bullion in Hatchet. Hand Stand Push Ups is one of them. Each rep requires so much energy, you can’t waste them. I think about Larry. He never eats a treat like candy or a cookie all at once. It pains me watch him and to not gobble up his treats as he portions out 5 pieces of candy over weeks. I can’t gobble the candy here. I have to portion and get my legs together over the line. I kicked up with extra forcefulness and thought sets of 5 with short breaks would be do-able. Two sets of 5 later, I could not sustain this rep scheme. I broke to a set of 3 and a set of 2 and just like that, 13 minutes was over.

This week is the last of the 5 week fitness test. My body feels thankful. It needs rest, a massage, some extra sleep. Everyone keeps saying this week is thrusters. I hope so. I think I’m the only person in my gym who likes thrusters.  🙂