The Oracle of Apollo Snippets from the life of Apollo Lee

CrossFit Day 32

Today’s workout was out of my reach once again since I don’t have an Olympic weight set. It was to do five sets of five reps of the front squat, for max load. The best I have are a pair of thirty pound dumbbells. So, I put together a variation that included ten rounds of the front squat with my heaviest dumbbells and losing one rep per set. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 = 55 reps of 60 pounds. That didn’t take very long.

My results: 6:24, 4:21 zone (hard); HR: 151 avg, 167 max; 78 cal

In order to get a workout, instead of an embarrassing warm up, I devised a supplemental workout to add to tonight’s workout. Until I acquire an Olympic weight set and the instruction to perform lifts correctly, this is a good supplement.

Wimpy Front Back Go

“Front Back Go” was an exercise we got in Army Basic Training. We hated it. We usually got Front Back Go when we as a unit or someone among us screwed up and pissed the drill sergeant off. When the sergeant called “Front”, we’d assume pushup position and do pushups. “Back” meant to roll over and do situps. “Go” meant to run in place. The drill sergeant would invariably rapid fire it as “front front front back back back GO!”

My “Wimpy” version is the following:

10 rounds for time:

1. 5 pushups (Front)
2. 10 situps (Back)
3. 15 squats (Go)

All told, the Wimpy Front Back Go as prescribed above is 50 pushups, 100 situps, and 150 squats. Attacking this at a significant pace kept my heart rate high. I may double this for the “Soft” version and quadruple it for “Hard.” Time will tell.

My results: 17:11, 12:12 zone (hard); HR: 152 avg, 168 max; 216 cal

[…] Today’s workout was another edition of the Front Squat festival, five rounds of five progressive reps of the front squat. For me, without access to an Olympic weight set, that meant the descending sets I did last time. The difference between last time and this time is that I bought a new pair of 35 pound dumbbells the other day. So, this time I’m working at 70 pounds instead of only 60. So, 55 reps of that front squat. Let’s dance. […]