I’m starting to notice a trend at CrossFit Love. It appears our S&C coach, Joe, is slightly obsessed with the number 100. We just seem to do ONE HUNDRED of, oh I don’t know, everything. In fact, 100 of (insert exercise here) is our cool down, our “extra credit,” our lil’ somethin’ somethin’ to remember CrossFit Love by.
In the past 2 weeks, I have easily done atleast 100-200 situps, not to be confused with “ab crunches,” on 6 different occasions. I’m talking full on “Allll the way up, Jess. I want your chest to touch your knees. What number are you on?” (75.) “You’re talking too much and not working hard enough.” (The thing is: We do so many situps, it’s hard for me to keep count. So, sometimes I talk outloud about forgetting what rep I’m on.)
I can guarantee you, though, that I certainly DID NOT lose count when Joe had us do “100 Pushups for Time” last week. Because, you know, we’re all expected to eventually be able to do 100 full regulation “I want to f***’n HEAR your chest hit the ground” pushups in sub 5 minutes. And if you’ve seen my chest (or lack thereof) you will understand how big of a deal this is. I’m suddenly regretting getting rid of that water bra. By the way, my time on those 100 pushups ended up being 10:01. I’m looking forward to cutting that time by half (I do mean that…. mostly.)
Last night? Oh, yeah, I was busy doing an “accessory exercise” of 100 standing single-arm band rows… on each arm. No biggie. (Actually, it was a biggie. My biceps and lats were burning something fierce.)
My unsolicited opinion on the matter? I think this “100 of everything” thing is working. I won’t deny that I do feel stronger. So, it appears that good things really do come in sets of 100. But GREAT things come in sets of 300:
(Don’t tell Joe I said that; the last thing I want is to be greeted with a “300 Burpees for Time” WOD when I walk into class next week.)
Ha Ha these feeds coming into my reader are always a pleasant surprise..keep up the good work! (Don’t think I missed the bar sign in the last post!)
There are two things that I might recommend for better pushup times. First is benching, which traditional crossfit doesn’t do a ton of. A friend of mine is a real fire breather but gets gassed on pushups in cindy. He’s been benching either before or after class, going up 5 pounds a week, benching once a week, 3×5 across, simple linear progression model.
The other thing to look at is “greasing the groove” which I believe is by a guy named Pavlek. I did it for pullups, it works for pushups too, check that out, very interesting, and has worked for some folks on pushups.
Sounds like Crossfit Love is a pretty cool spot. As I recall it hasn’t been opened forever, so exciting to see a new place do well. I’ll probably stop in there some day when I get down there and throw some plates around.
Good luck and keep up the great work!
Heyyy, McGrok! It’s always a pleasure reading your response. Benchpress – yes, yes, yes! Joe has us bench once a week minimum at CrossFIt Love with a 5×5, 5×3, 5×1, deload, then increase weight and back up to 5×5 progression. His progression model is nice because when I was following the trad CF mainsite WODs, I almost never bench pressed. Now my pushups do indeed feel stronger.
I’ve never heard of Pavlek’s “greasing the groove” – I’m on it! I have no idea what it is (yet) but if it makes my pullups better/faster/stronger then I’m all over it. Pullups are kind of my favorite.
Yeah, CF Love is pretty new but doing phenomenal. I’m REALLY enjoying working with Joe and the rest of the gang there. Yes, drop by sometime when you’re back in Philadelphia!
Speaking of 100.
http://aimeesfitnessblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/wod-22411.html (Today’s WOD)
I didn’t catch this but I imagine it’ll come up again when I formally get started next week!
That WOD looks wicked! Just checked out KOP’s site – looks like a good time in a fun place. Aimee seems hardcore and super strong in her pics.
Nice post. But quite frankly, I believe your reference to 300 was a BIG MISTAKE. You know it’ll come soon to a gym near you …. And your friends know who os to blame…
You’re probably right, Thor. You’re probably right.