02/01 Thrusters & Pullups

02/01 Thrusters & Pullups

135 pound Thruster, 15 reps
35 pound weighted Pull-up, 15 reps
95 pound Thruster, 21 reps
20 pound weighted Pull-up, 21 reps
65 pound Thruster, 36 reps
36 Pull-ups


source: a crossfit workout
time: 13:21
works: legs, shoulders, back, core, endurance
difficulty: 9
my effort: 8

Today was the first day in my new AM workout routine. We moved last weekend, and my home is no longer 1/4 mile from the gym. Working out in the evening thus means that I do not get to see my son. Since exercise is about 4th or 5th on my list of life priorities (coming behind family, work, intellectual and spiritual pursuits, not in that order), it got moved to the morning. I've never been a big fan of morning workouts; it takes me a while to get loose and limber. Today was a rough day to start in the AM, but I pushed through.

The 135-lb thruster is a pretty heavy weight for me to rep 15, so I setted it into chunks. Maybe it was the fact that it was the first set of the day, but I felt a little creaky. The other two sets went much more smoothly, though I admit I was feeling the deadlifts from yesterday a little bit.

The pullups were not a problem. I've always liked weighted pullups, and did the first two sets as strict dead-hang. The last set (unweighted) I did as kipping pullups, so as to integrate the power movement (the hip-snap) into the exercise. I've started to adopt the philosophy that weighted pullups are for strength and should be dead-hang, and non-weighted are for power, and should be kipping. Try it out.

One thing I did note: I was a lot more hungry throughout the day.This proves the point that for those wanting to lose weight (of which I am not one), intense or prolonged exercise is often the wrong way to go. Non-conventional thinking, I know. But research has shown that exercise can actually be a contributing factor in weight gain for the average person...and it's not muscle. More on this in a future post.