Today was a nice heavy Crossfit exercise day: 7 rounds of 3 reps each of front squats, working up to max. My 3 rep blocks:
50kg – 60kg – 65kg – 70kg (PB) – 75kg (PB) – 80kg (PB) – 70kg
I was pleased to bump up my Personal Best (PB) at front squats from 65kg to 80kg. The limiter really is the flexibility of my wrists and fingers, they hurt like hell after a few reps trying to bend to keep the bar on my shoulders. Here is a (poor quality) video, note the bendy wrists, that’s what hurts.
I’ve actually been stretching my wrists and fingers whilst stuck in traffic, as I think the weight isn’t the problem. When I’m lifting, it’s my fingers and wrist that hurt which makes me stop. Once I get more flexibility, I’ll hopefully be able to lift more.
Rowing Tabata
As it was a heavy day, there was energy to spare so I did a Rowing Tabata with one of the other guys: Paul, who is a superb rower. If you don’t know, a Tabata (of any exercise) is this: 8 rounds of – 20 secs work, 10 secs rest, and you “score” it by counting the worst round you did.
So a rowing Tabata is 20 secs of rowing and the machine measures the distance in metres. Rest for 10 secs, then repeat… for 8 rounds total. My results in metres: 103 – 103 – 105 – 101 – 99 – 97 – 96 – 97. It sounds easy, but I can tell you it’s incredibly hard work and we were both sweating, puffing, panting and groaning at the end of just 4 minutes work!
