Deth

There’s more than one way to make a WOD more challenging. Lately I’ve been going for intensity but staying pretty much within my comfort zone for the WODs. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that approach either.

Today’s WOD was one with movements that are just always going to be at least somewhat slower for me due to my poor vision for one and the tight space we have to work with in our garage gym. The WOD was lateral burpees over the sandbag and sandbag step ups. Both are movements I am not terribly fast at given that the eyesight issues. I knew the goal time was unlikely at best so I did something different.

Today I thought about the reps for the sandbag step ups going down as the WOD went on so I decided it would be the one where I attempt to use the 24 inch side of the plyo box for my step ups. For years I struggled with even unweighted step ups but lately I have become at least what I would consider acceptable at the movement with or without weight.

I thought that would never happen at all but I think the sandbag as an option is what has really allowed me to work at the weighted version of step ups. I feel that offers me a relatively safe means to fail or bail on a rep if I miss a step. I still don’t like the front rack step ups but that’s because it blocks my view as I am always looking directly down to be sure my feet or firmly planted. I have no fucking idea why I bother to do that considering I can’t see it anyways and I more less feel each step. That’s what slows me down more than anything.

Well today I decided it was a good day to attempt a WOD using the 24 inch box for step ups and while slower I’d call it a success. I learned that it’s just my hair that touches the ceiling so maybe I can use the RX height more often if I am feeling good about it on that day and the rep scheme isn’t anything insane. I’m not really tall so the box is a pretty tall height for me too but I managed them just fine. The worst part was the cautiously stepping backwards back off the box when the 24 inch height really isn’t muscle memory and I don’t have a good mental feel for it. The important thing to me is I did it with no mishaps.

The other thing in the WOD which I am slow at is the lateral burpees over the sandbag. I don’t have the space in our garage gym to fall if I miss it so there’s always some hesitation. Having the leave the box there exasperated the situation even more. Normally I’ll move the box elsewhere but I couldn’t do that today. If it weren’t for that I’d probably be quick at the lateral burpees just like I was at the gym with the bar once I developed the mental map of the sandbag. I might even be faster at them that I was with the bar since the red sandbag is much more visible with it’s higher contrast against the black floor.

All in all I was thrilled with the WOD’s results. I was a good seven minutes above their goal time but I met my personal goal for this day and learned that I can push the box height when I choose to. All that for chasing the RX. I feel like I have to do that at least once in a while so I don’t just stagnate in doing just what I am used to. There’s all sorts of ways to push it whether it be with speed, weight or in this case higher.

The music I chose for the WOD was Cryptopsy.