Crossfit Open starts today

[Rignold]

So, today is the first round of the Crossfit Open - the annual worldwide competition to rui knees and crush souls.

The exercise for round one is 25 feet of walking lunges with a barbell held overhead, 95lb for men, 65lb for women, followed by 8 jumping-over-the-bar burpees, followed by another 25 ft overhead lunges, followed by 8 chest-to-bar pullups. As many reps as possible in 20 minutes.

Happily I took all the skin of the inside of my thumbs yesterday on the bar and my knees are creaking hatred from Wednesday still, so am particularly looking forward to this, but hey, have industrial quantities of KT tape (Pink!) and ibuprofen, and weapons -grade coffee, so ready to embrace the suck.

Not sure if this is going to improve tomorrow's long run though.

youtube.com/watch?v=4m9odux...(Not working as expected?)

[Irishprincess Graduate]

OMG! That's amazing. Go girls! I love to see women working their bods (oops that didn't come out right but you know what I mean!)

So, just to clarify Rig, you are going to do this today?

We may not see you for some time.

[Slowstart Graduate]

I can't believe people actually put themselves through this, are they mad?

I need to lie down having just watched it. That's scary.

[JaySeeSkinny Graduate]

I am in awe👍

P.S. How do you get rid of creaky knees?

[islandrunner Graduate]

Wow ! Are those burpees they are doing, having jumped over the bar ? Their pelvis hits the ground first ? Is that right ?

[Rignold in reply to islandrunner]

The quickest way of doing burpees for speed is to just drop oto the floor. Which bit of you hits the floor first depends on which bit of you protrudes furthest. I actually borrowed the technique from Emily Abbott in this video of jumping back up with one foot forward and that was quite an energy saver.

[Rignold]

Fish oil is the remedy for creaky knees, JaySee. But you need a proper quality brand in high dosage - the 300mg ones you get in the supermarket will not do anything at all. You need to be taking about 2000mg three times a day. It is also vital to keep it stored away from light (a good brand will be in a dark coloured bottle, and probably dark coloured caplsules as well) and in a cool place or fridge or it will go off super quick and be of no value. I use Pure Pharma and it has improved my knee aches by a good 80%.

amazon.co.uk/PURE-PHARMA-Om...

I did do this this morning, yes, although was rather disappointed with my result. After only a couple of rounds my lower back was killing me from yesterday's deadlift/hang clean/push jerk marathon and I was fighting a losing battle from then on. only managed 7 and a bit rounds. 229 total reps. The last round took me nearly 4 minutes. Hopping over the bar between each burpee was like doing a 7ft Fosbury flop wearing a rucksack full of lead ingots.

I still have the option of trying again this evening or tomorrow morning or Monday morning to try and improve on that score. Think Monday is the better bet. May have to have a rest day tomorrow. By remarkably happy coicidence all of my children are off at sleepovers tonight so I can actually have an utterly unheard of lie in tomorrow morning. (which almost inevitably means I will be woken up at 5.30AM by the dog or a wrong number, or a dog phoning a wrong number, and be unable to get back to sleep.)

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[poppypug Graduate in reply to Rignold]

Ha ha ! I have this problem with my Pugs .Ive confiscated their phones now

Monster hardcore Rig , more power to you , you Beast ! xxx

[AncientMum Graduate]

Oh my Lord, Rig, this is proper hardcore stuff!! You, and only you, are the one person I can imaging being crazy enough to take on this challenge. Look after those knees, and everywhere else for that matter. Good luck

[misswobble Graduate]

How marvellous! Well done girls! Awesome

Well done to Rig as well of course. Take care! It must be so easy to tweak sommat, or worse. Still, what don't kill you .........

I hope you get your much-needed lie in!

[Rignold]

It is not as terribly hardcore as it first appears. The beauty of Crossfit is it can be scaled to the athlete's ability. There are loads of people in their 60s, 70s, 80s who do Crossfit, just with the weights etc scaled down appropriately. There are loads of videos on You Tube of more senior Crossfitters. there was one a couple of weeks ago of a gentleman who was 95 or 100 I think. Although this particular workout might be a little much for a centenarian.

If you notice in the video though, the third lady is doing the scaled version, doing front rack lunges with a 15kg bar rather than overhead with 30, and she is doing a jumping pullup rather than kipping. The burpees are burpees. There is no way of scaling a burpee.

It is great fun, in a gasping-for-breath-trying-not-to-puke-thinking-you-are-about-to-die sort of way, and does wonders for your all-round fitness, mobility, health etc. I thorughly recommend giving it a try if there is a Crossfit affiliate near you. It has had a dramatic effect on my running too: I run a lot less than I used to now - no more than 3 times a week, but my speed, stamina, hillwork etc have allowed improved no end.

[goonkeepgoing Graduate]

Blimey - I'm in awe of you and the girls! There needs to be a lot of mental strength as well as physical strength for that many reps and exercises!

As an aside - I ached for about 2 days after my "baby Rig" run. I did my second today. There was less mud so I ran a bit further and did 3 extra lots of 15 burpees. I did think I was going to vomit at around 6 k but then found some hidden reserves and finished feeling strong. No aches yet but I'm assuming I might get some DOMS.

Good luck for the lie in and training ☺

[Anniemurph Graduate]

Okay. I did my workout just watching them. They are incredible. I couldn't even do what the lady who was doing the scaled-down version did.

Yeah, yeah, I know - if I started and tried, I'd get there. Or they'd carry me away in one of those chic little zip-up black bags