Becca Borawski’s Blog

7:15am – CrossFit, Instructor Training Program

This week Omid was the Kahuna and came up with a kettlebell workout for us, which he dubbed, “Kettle-Hell.”

8-12-16
Overhead Squats
Swings
Squat Snatches
Sumo Deadlift High Pull
Kettle-Sit
15:40

I did everything with the 16kg kettlebell.  I typically would do 20kg on a workout like this, but the squat snatches threw me off.  I can rock the power snatches all day long, but am not used to doing squat snatches with the kettlebell.  So, down to 16kg it was.

I did the overhead squats straight through each time, same with the swings.  The snatches were slow and I can’t remember if I did the SDLHP straight through each time.  I’m pretty sure I did.

Kettle-sits were just awkward!  They actually go easier each round as I found my balance better.  I did more of a chair sit than an L-sit on these.

Tomorrow is going to be a rest day.  My back feels tight and my legs don’t work.

12:00pm – CrossFit, Advanced

Another Fight Gone Bad Friday, as we head toward our big event day on September 25th!  This week was “Fight Gone Wild” where we all moved DOWN a weight class.  I also started in a different position.  I’ve been starting at Wall Ball all this “season” so far and today I started on Sumo Deadlift High Pull.

“Fight Gone WILD”

With a continuously running clock, complete three 5 minute rounds, switching between movements every minute during each round. Take 1 minute of rest between rounds. Your score is the total number of reps/calories completed during the entire 17-minute workout.

Sumo Deadlift High Pull – 35# – Scores: 30, 28, 27
Box Jumps – 20” – Scores: 16, 16, 17
Push Press – 35# – Scores: 27, 24, 25
Rowing (calories) – Scores: 11, 12, 13
Wall Ball – 8# – Scores: 18, 16, 16

Total Score: 296

My legs felt really stiff today.  I think the residual effects of “Roy” on Tuesday—lots of deadlifts and box jumps that day.  It was really difficult to be able to bend my legs today and really put much hip into things.  Which really isn’t helpful on a workout that’s all about hip.  It was definitely good cardio to go at the lighter weight, though!

Some new CrossFit photos — from the Goes to 11 workout, just the other day:

12:00pm – CrossFit, Advanced

Today looked like a good combos of things to work on, but after all the pull ups yesterday and the fact that I haven’t done all that many in the last month, I decided it wouldn’t be smart to do 125 today!  I swapped out glute-ham developed situps instead.  So, this workout became some serious hip flexor fun!

5 rounds, for time:
15 deadlifts (135#)
20 box jumps (24”)
25 ghd sit ups
25:13

I also did a little lighter weight than prescribed on the deadlifts.  I did 135#, instead of 155#.  So, I went higher on the box jumps and did 24”, instead of the prescribed 20” for women.  As you can see, there was a lot of mental bargaining going on today.

I did the deadlifts in sets of 6-5-4 almost every round.  The box jumps I did in sets of 10-5-5.  And the sit ups were something like 8-6-6-5, or there abouts.  EXCEPT for the last round, where Burch yelled out to me as I got on the machine, “Straight through!”  I said, “Yeah, right!”….and then proceeded to do them straight through.  Thanks, Burch!

1:00pm – CrossFit, Advanced

I think this is the first time I’ve been in one of our 1pm advanced classes.  It was quite a little crew today, too—me, Leslie, Doc G., and Welch.  And for some reason we were all very wound up and silly.  It made for a pretty entertaining hour.

I was excited for the workout.  This is totally the kind of workout that I traditionally love, plus, today I planned my triumphant return to push ups! Yay!

For time:
11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
L Pull Ups (subbed – dead hang pull ups w/ mini band)
Handstand Push Ups (subbed – regular push ups)
21:59

In the past I’ve been able to do L-pull ups, I just have to build my strength back up after the last month of little to no pull ups.  Same with hand stand push ups.  But no complaining here!  It was good practice/training to do all the dead hangs today.  I did the first round almost totally with no help, and even did most of them as chair situps, but quickly realized that was not going to last.

Push ups I did all on my toes!  Yay!  It was a little painful at first in one spot on my sternum, but I think it was just some adhesions or something, because it went away quickly and everything felt. great.  They actually felt better and better as I went through the workout.

I think I’m ready to start kipping again soon, too – range of motion is feeling pretty darn good in general.  I’m excited!

…Oh and I’ve been testing the classes all day today, dropping the line, “This one goes to 11” just to test the sense of humor out there!

12:00pm – CrossFit, Advanced

This week was another Fight Gone Bad variation, leading us up to the real event on September 25th.  This week we partnered up in teams!

“Fight Gone Double-Team”
In this version of “Fight Gone Bad”, work with a partner and complete the traditional FGB workout with the following exceptions:
- 90 seconds per movement / station (rounds will be 7:30, with a 1 minute rest between each round )
- Only 1 person may be working at a time
- Accumulate as many reps/calories as possible together with your partner

Wall Ball – 14# – Scores: 39, 24, 22
Sumo Deadlift High Pull – 55# – Scores: 47, 23, 23
Box Jumps – 20” – Scores: 40, 19, 20
Push Press – 55# – Scores: 46, 21, 15
Rowing (calories) – Scores: 25, 14, 22

Total Score: 400

Since we had an odd number in class, I volunteered to go on my own so none of the students would have to be partner-less.  We tried on the first round to have me shadow one of the other partnerships, but it didn’t really work out very well, so on the second and third round I did my own thing.  So, basically I worked in spurts on round one and then worked throughout for 90 second intervals on rounds two and three.  90 seconds gets to be a long time! lol!  But that’s why my score looks so wacky, too.

And while we’re at it, if you can donate even a couple dollars to the Fight Gone Bad event, it WILL make a difference!

12:00pm – Run On My Own + CrossFit, All Levels (Cookie Only)

Today was one of the heavy back squat days for Wendler and since I’m totally off schedule on that, I decided to use it as a chance to get one of my weekly runs in.  I ran for 30 minutes and felt REALLY good.  I felt fast and worked on some Pose elements.  I wasn’t any faster on my route, which was a little frustrating, but I also picked the hottest part of the day to run.  So I think it probably evens out.

After my 30 minute run I joined the CrossFit class for the “cookie” at the end of the workout.

15-12-9
Burpees
Dead Hang Pull Ups (mini band)
Pistols
10:20

This was my first time doing burpees again and they were fine.  Pull ups were supposed to be weighted, but I’m not totally back up to speed on these so I did dead hang with the mini band.  Pistols I always love, so that part was awesome.

9:00am – CrossFit, All Levels

This workout today was a good mix of exercises and a short but hefty dose of intensity.  This was my first workout doing the full weights again AND I did a push up from my toes during warm up.  Wahoo.

As many rounds as possible in 7 minutes:
5 Squat Snatch (65#)
10 Wall Ball (14#)
45 Double Unders
Score: 2 rounds + 5 snatches + 3 wall ball (128 reps)

We spent a long time warming up on the snatches, so I was able to get real comfortable with the weight and the movement again.  It’s probably my favorite of the olympic lifts, so it was nice to have some time to practice.

On wall ball, I wasn’t too excited about catching the ball yet, so I threw it and let it drop each time. Definitely slower, but more prudent right now!

Double unders just hurt my mind.  It’s like I have nothing else to think about but how unpleasant they are.  I did the first set of 45 straight through.  The second round I stopped at 25 for no good reason and then did 20 more.  Not a win on the mental toughness front today.

Tried to hustle between stations and keep moving on this one!

7:15am – CrossFit, Instructor Training Program

Magner was the Kahuna today and for some strange reason decided to inflict a version of Fight Gone Bad on us! So not cool!

Actually, it did end up being a pretty cool workout, but we don’t need to tell him that. It was the same time structure and scoring structure as Fight Gone Bad, but with entirely different exercises. He did a good job of picking exercises and with how he ordered them, too.

“Fight Gone Strong”

With a continuously running clock, complete three 5 minute rounds, switching between movements every minute during each round. Take 1 minute of rest between rounds. Your score is the total number of reps/calories completed during the entire 17-minute workout.

Double Unders (beaded rope) – 41, 40, 40
Deadlift (95#) – 15, 13, 12
Jumping Slam Ball (10#) – 17, 17, 17
Bench Press (45#) – 22, 22, 18
Front Squats (65#) – 14, 12, 12

Total Score: 312

During the warmup for class, I decided to try a push up on my knees. When I tried this last week I was pretty sure my sternum almost exploded, but today I just went right down and did it. What a nice surprise! So then I tried bench press and that was fine, too! Yay! Will probably do push ups on my knees for another week and then I’ll be back to my toes. I’ve never been so excited about push ups before. LOL

This workout today highlighted my lack of cardio still. Argh. Double Unders were killing me. I did the lightest weight class since I haven’t deadlifted or squatted heavy lately and even though I COULD do the higher weight class, I decided it wouldn’t be smart and it was better to ease in and avoid injury. I am getting smarter in my old age…a little bit.

Jumping slam ball, however, are just silly. I vote from now on that we do slam ball, with an optional jump, not a mandatory jump. There is no reason for me to jump off the ground in order to move 10# around. It’s a good thing Shirley, who was my scorekeeper,  has a sense of humor and tolerated my grumblings each round on these.

10:00am – CrossFit, All Levels

Today was supposed to be a version of Fight Gone Bad where you went for one max set on each movement, each minute, but since I did a lower weight class last week, I decided to to regular FGB today at my normal weight class, class B.

“Fight Gone Bad”

With a continuously running clock, complete three 5 minute rounds, switching between movements every minute during each round. Take 1 minute of rest between rounds. Your score is the total number of reps/calories completed during the entire 17-minute workout.

Wall Ball – 14# – Scores: 15, 15, 16
Sumo Deadlift High Pull – 55# – Scores: 14, 15, 16
Box Jumps – 20” – Scores: 15, 16, 17
Push Press – 55# – Scores: 12, 13, 15
Rowing (calories) – Scores: 11, 12, 15

Total Score: 217

Not the greatest but also not bad for my first time at full weights and pacing it a little bit.  I am also committing myself to making more of a general effort at this workout this year.  It’s really not one of my favorites and I let it get to my head and generally just don’t try very hard on it.  So, the goal this year is to practice some mental toughness and go at it like other things I used to hate and now love, like rowing and running, and see if I can have an FGB breakthrough.