August 2023 Friendly WODs

Welcome to the second month of Friendly WODs. This is a running blog style article documenting (most) of the workouts I do. I will be on the road a lot this month, and I’m making an effort to fit fitness in despite not having a fixed daily or weekly schedule. 

August 30

Location: RPE (Northbrook, IL)

Training Program: BFriendly Original

Workouts:

10 minute EMOM

1 clean pull + 1 power clean + 1 hang squat clean

*I did all sets at 155 or 165 today, which was appropriate for how my body was feeling.

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At 0:00 Partner A does 10 cal ski + 250 meter row while Partner B does 10 cal assault bike + 250 meter assault air runner.

At 3:00 Partner A does the bike and the runner while Partner B does the ski and the row. That concludes 1 full round. Repeat for 6 rounds (36:00 minutes)

I built into this through the first half. By the back half I was going for:

• 1200 cals/hr on the ski
• 1:45 pace per 500 meters or less on the rower
• 80 RPMs on the bike
• 16 speed on the runner

Perfect for what was needed after two high skill, high volume, primarily upper body days. 

August 29

Location: RPE (Northbrook, IL)

Training Program: Modified SMTP

Workouts:

5 sets of 3 low ring transitions plus strict dip plus :05 hold at top of dip

10 sets of 1 ring muscle up on the minute

42-30-18 DB Bench (30s/40s/50s)

7-5-3 Rope Climb

4 sets of:

10 parallette pass throughs

:30 hollow hold 

Rest as needed b/t sets to ensure quality execution (goal was to complete within 10:00)

High volume of upper body work the last two days. Definitely will be sore from it. However, I did not overdo the volume which I’m happy about. Very much a muscular fatiguing type of day- tomorrow I’ll have to get out of breath. 

August 28

Location: RPE (Northbrook, IL)

Training Program: Modified SMTP

Workouts:

6 set on the 2:00

1 pause OHS + 3 OHS (take from floor)

2 x 115 / 2 x 125 / 2 x 135

10:00 EMOM 

Odds: 2 touch and go squat snatch

Evens: 2 touch and go power snatch

First 6:00- 135 lbs

Last 4:00- 145 lbs

Every 3:00 for 5 sets

10 handstand pushups

5 chest to bar pull-ups + 5 pull-ups (kipping, no butterfly)

10 thrusters (95 lbs)

Nice to be in a gym this week with full access to all the barbell and gymnastic stuff that’s been harder to come by. Focusing on trying to get touches on things I’ve been missing. Kept it relatively light on the OHS and Snatch work prioritizing moving well since I haven’t been doing a lot of that. 

For the metcon I choose things I’m bad at and although it might not look like much to some, this ended up being challenging for me. I was pretty solid through four rounds, but the wheels came off in round 5. Still finished, but fell way off in terms of split times that round. All in all, solid day. 

August 25

Location: Diamond Z Arena, Cedar City Utah

Training Program: Adrian Conway (for the Iron Games)

Workouts:

KISS:

4 Rounds for Time

20 Hand Release Push Ups

20 Kettlebell Sumo Deadlift High Pulls (70 lbs)

This was the last workout individual athletes did for day two of the Iron Games, so a full heat of ten staff and media did it on the floor after the athletes cleared out for the day. Quick workout (sub 7:00 for everyone) and a legit pump. That last round got spicy. Focused on my breathing from the beginning in a deliberate attempt to make sure blood and oxygen were getting to the necessary muscles. Happy with execution and for getting in a workout three days in a row with the crew while on the road at a competition- that doesn’t happen too often for me. 

August 24

Location: Diamond Z Arena, Cedar City Utah

Training Program: Adrian Conway (for the Iron Games)

Workouts:

½ Iron Cup:

1 kilometer run

300’ sandbag bearhug carry (60 lbs)

1 kilometer run

200’ sandbag front rack lunge 

1 kilometer run

100’ burpee broad jump

Had an opportunity to jump in on the Iron Cup course and took it. Wanted to experience the stimulus of the course as the 1 km run track had hills, hard packed dirt, gravel, and cement. Was able to move a decent pace consider the duration of the workout and the nearly 6000 feet of elevation. Happy to get a workout in during a long day of competition and broadcasting. 

August 23

Location: High Mountain CrossFit (Cedar City, Utah)

Training Program: E3 Original (Jared Graybeal)

Workouts:

4:00 on / 2:00 off x 3 intervals

15 cal bike

20 db snatch

Max burpee box jump overs in remaining time

After what I think amounts to three consecutive travel days (thought time is a strange thing), it felt good to get a workout accomplished in a new location. Jared Graybeal whipped this one up for the group out here and it was just what I needed.

Forced myself to be somewhat competitive on the bike. Tried to be unbroken on the db snatch (12/8 split on the last round). But I just didn’t have it for consistency across all three rounds. Accepting that for what it is given all the travel, time zone changes, and overall inconsistent training. Still pushed and won the mental battle. The reps tapered off each round (25-20-15 for me), but 60 was my goal and I got there.

August 21

Location: CrossFit 10K (Helsinki, Finland)

Training Program: Hannu Original

Workouts:

10:00 EMOM

1 Snatch Pull + 1 Hang Squat Snatch + 1 Snatch Balance

*I did 1 Snatch Pull + 1 Power Snatch + 1 snatch grip behind the neck push press because my knee wasn’t feeling great squatting.

Accumulate 100 clean and jerks with a partner in a you go / I go format with a 2:00 time cap each time. Buy in is 10 cal ski + 10 GHD sit-ups.

Intent here was to get some work in with the barbell. Hannu was previously on the Level 1 Seminar Staff and thus has a great understanding of the CrossFit methodology, movement quality, and coaching eye. I told him I wanted to both snatch and clean and jerk, once in an EMOM format for “strength” and one as part of a metcon. This is what he wrote and it was brilliant for us today. 

August 19

Location: “The Upper Field”, Turku, Finland

Training Program: BFriendly Original

Workouts:

6 Rounds “for time”

5 strict pull ups 

10 push ups

20 meter yoke carry

40 meter sled push

20 meter yoke carry

It was the final morning of the Turun Tuomiopaiva and I hadn’t gotten a workout in yet. The competition was taking place at a pool nearby, so the field was open other than the equipment team- the broadcast didn’t start for two hours. 

I found the Team Lead and asked if I could use lane 1, which was already set up for the next event the athletes would take on upon returning from the pool. After he gave me the go ahead I looked at the field and came up with this workout on the fly. The only goal was to keep moving and get out of breath. 

My body was feeling beat up form travel, lack of sleep, and lack of exercise, but I settled into a mostly sustainable rhythm. I tried to pick gymnastics sets that would be unbroken throughout, but had to break 3–2 and 6-4 on the final two sets of pull-ups and push-ups respectively. Forced myself to pick the yoke up and get my hands on the sled right away every time. The sled was empty on the turf field so I made myself “run” with it too. 

The workout definitely did the trick, and my nervous system was pretty shot for about 30 minutes afterwards. More than anything, I was proud of myself for choosing to get it in when I saw the chance. No one made me do it, no one did it with me (though apparently Jonne Koski heard I was working out and tried to race over to join- I was done by the time he there though lol). 

August 14

Location: CrossFit Charlotte

Training Program: BFriendly Original

Workouts:

Honestly, someone has probably done this exact workout before; but I wanted to snatch and it popped into my mind:

30-24-18-12-6 Echo Bike Calories

15-12-9-6-3 Power Snatch (115#)*

*I mandated that all snatches had to be in sets of 3; just for a fun variant.

Goal was to maintain a consistent pace on the bike throughout and minimize rest between sets of three on the barbell. Today that was between 60 and 62 RPMs for most of the metcon, kicked it up a little for the last round. 

Didn’t have a lot of time in general today, but 13:00 did the trick- intensity wins and “tired is enough”. 

August 13

Location: CrossFit Charlotte

Training Program: BFriendly Lifting Day

Workouts:

10 sets of 5 back squats (135-145-155-165-175-185-195-205-185-185) 

Didn’t have the strength and stamina to continue going up, so I went back down to a weight that gave me what I needed today for the final two sets. 

5 sets of 10 db bench press

*Yesterday, although I didn’t do much, got me with a does of intensity I’d been missing. Showed up today, got a good lift, and needed it. No metcon, but that’s ok. Tomorrow.

August 12

Location: CrossFit Charlotte

Training Program: Desert City Classic Testing

Workouts:

Won’t say much about what we did, but will say why we do it. There are two main factors we’re seeking out when testing most workouts- stimulus and time domain. Sometimes one dictates the other, sometimes it’s the other way around; and once in a while, it’s a perfect harmony. 

Anyway, the cyborg, Taylor Self, did more testing than me, but the testing I did took me to, then left me, right where I want everyone who does it in November to be.

August 11

Location: CrossFit Charlotte

Training Program: BFriendly Original

Workouts:

15 power clean and split jerks- 3 each at 135,155,165,175,185

These were for quality, I haven’t been doing much Olympic lifting recently. They weren’t the prettiest I’ve ever done, but it was good to move a little weight.

Every 2:30 for 6 rounds

6 pull ups (regular kip)

6 clean and jerks 135

6 toes to bar

Normally I would have increased the volume on the gymnastics, but the capacity just isn’t there right now. So I stuck to sets I could consistently do and got a great workout out of it. 

August 9

Location: Waukesha, Wisconsin

Training Program: Running with Friends

Workouts:

4 Mile Run with my dad and my friend Will.

This was more to do it than at a high intensity pace. I haven’t ran with my dad in a long time and it was nice to do it again. Still kicked it into high gear for the last straight away, but mostly just focused on technique going up and down hills well. Given the hilly nature of it and my lack of running recently, the 8:30 per mile pace was good enough for me today.

August 8 

Location: Waukesha, Wisconsin

Training Program: Modified .com Workout of the Day

Workouts:

“Bert” (modified)

40 burpees

400 m run

60 push ups

400 m run

80 walking lunges

400 m run

100 air squats

400 m run

80 walking lunges

400 m run

60 push ups

400 m run

40 burpees

This was hard after missing workouts for a week. The running in the heat really got me. So I dug into the mindset that is always needed when taking on a workout and specifically a Hero workout. All things considered, not bad for the first workout back in a week.

August 1 

Location: CrossFit Connex

Training Program: Arielle Loewen Pre-Games Aerobic Workout

Workouts:

Every 10:00 start on a different machine (we used Assault Air Rower, then Assault Air Runner, then Assault Bike):

0:00-2:30 accumulate 32 calories (rest remainder of time)

2:30-4:30 accumulate 27 calories (rest remainder of time)

4:30-6:00 accumulate 22 calories (rest remainder of time)

6:00-7:00 accumulate 17 calories (rest remainder of time)

7:00-7:30 accumulate 12 calories 

Rest until 10:00 mark and move to the next machine. 

Pretty cool workout with a forced increased intensity, especially in the last two intervals on each machine, followed by a 2:30 reset before the next one. Rowing felt great. Running felt good but got uncomfortable towards the end. The Assault Bike was brutal, I skipped intervals there and five on it. 

That might sound bad, but believe me, I got a great workout in at the end of a long day. Very grateful for it, and to Arielle and Dillon for inviting me to join them when I didn’t necessarily have a plan to workout today otherwise.