Today was insanity. Literally. For the first time since my first day of CrossFit I thought I might puke. It was one of those days where you’re constantly playing mental games with yourself to make it through the workout because you know how amazing it’ll feel when you’re done (yes, feeling sore counts as feeling amazing in my book. Feeling “good pain” means you worked your ass off...and isn’t that the point?).
I came in and looked at the board and saw WOD only had 2 exercises: 2-2-2-2-2 front squat reps and 50 burpee pull ups. Uhhh...whaaat? My reaction was “I can’t do one unassisted pull up, what the hell’s a burpee pull up and how am I gonna do that?”
One of the interns demonstrated for me what exactly it was and assured me it was more of a jumping pull up than a regular pull up. This video shows people doing them at all different levels. I didn’t use a box (like the girls in the back on the video), but the bar was a little tall for me so I stood on a 45lb weight to give me room to squat.
But let’s come back to burpee pull ups. For starters we did front squats. I haven’t done front squats on their own (as an isolated heavy weight exercise) in weeks, so I had no idea what my max would be. I kind of just kept adding weight to see what would happen. My sets went like this: 1) 65lbs, 2)75lbs, 3) 85lbs, 4)95lbs, 5)105lbs.
Hitting 105lbs on front squat for me was huge. They’re tough to execute so I wasn’t able to really max out my legs in the squat until now. Hitting 105 just showed me how far my technique has come since those first few weeks.
After, I went to do my 50 burpee pull ups...or so I thought. I was then informed I had the option of doing 50 or doing “G.I. Jane”...which is 100 burpee pull ups.
I thought about it for a second and decided I was going to do 100. I figured it was only going to take 20 minutes (25 max) and I would just pace myself and try and finish.
Well... it was brutal. The first 50 were bad and they asked me if I wanted to stop (as I was doubled over panting)...but I really, really didn’t. I had said I was going to attempt 100 and I felt like I could continue...just slower. Once I hit 70 I actually thought I might throw up. I wanted to quit at 70...but who quits when you’ve done 70 and only have 30 left? I would’ve kicked myself all night for stopping there...I was almost 3/4 of the way done!
For the last 20 I had three people watching me and a) counting for me (thankfully, I didn’t want to have to think, lol), b) timing how long I rested for and encouraging me to keep going. I felt like I was barely moving by the end of it. Everyone was really supportive though and I actually finished 100 burpee pullups in 17:24.
Not bad for a semi-newbie still!
Everything hurts right now (especially my back), but I can’t complain (much). I’m still kind of on a high from accomplishing that. It was worth every torturous second.
And now I rest, haha. I’m working tomorrow (my last time before Christmas, yay!) and probably running on Sunday. Today was awesome, but recovering will be just as awesome.
Thanks for reading! Have a great weekend guys!
- N
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