It's the seventh day of December so there wouldn't have been a more perfect day for hero workout Seven. Very nasty workout indeed, this was the first time I got through it rx'd. I've done it once before with Toni with a 40min time cap, which at that time was not enough for us to complete all 7 rounds. Today I went all the way and finished with glory.
Seven. Time 36.48. Compare to 27.4.2013
- 7 rounds of:
- 7 handstand push-ups
- 7 thrusters, 60kg
- 7 knees-to-elbows
- 7 deadlifts, 120kg
- 7 burpees
- 7 kettlebell swings, 32kg
- 7 pull-ups
Seven rounds of 7 different movements - half barbell, half bodyweight - 7 reps at a time. There's no doubt what the most challenging movement of them is: thrusters @ 60kg. Then comes the burpees, that's a surprise but they make the heart pound so much harder at that stage. The easiest? Definitely the pull-ups and k2e's.
I taped the first round of the workout so you guys can get a hint what it looked like today. The round times got longer towards the end, no surprise there. The first one was 3min+ but from then on it was around 5-6min till the end. I got through the workout unbroken, which was a huge thing for me! Especially those thrusters made me think how I would be able to do them most efficiently. Decided to give a little rest before attacking them after the hspu's so I could do them unbroken. That's because I knew it would be more time-saving to do them in one set instead of dropping the bar and then getting myself together again before grabbing the barbell again.
The handstand push-ups went nicely. It was tough on the shoulders from mid-workout on but I got them through anyway. On the opening set I dropped from the wall due to balance issues but bounced back on the wall right away. I had in mind going unbroken because I've developed so much in this movement. the last 2 sets were quite tough already, still had no doubts about completing them ub.
The thrusters were the bad ass movement of this wod. Completing 60kg thrusters is no easy job, at least for me. I remember doing an emom training, 7 reps per every other minute, for 30min and it was with the same weight on the bar. Today having it part of the metcon was a tough one. From the third round on it was a battle which I won this time.
Knees-to-elbows was a rest period for me if you can call it so. At least it didn't demand that much effort and strength because the number of reps was so low. I tried to jump right on to them after thrusters not to waste too much time. My longer rest times were between hspu and thrusters plus burpees and kb swings. It was a clear strategy where to have rest and where to just keep on going. Wasn't rushing at anytime because I knew it would have backfired right in my face later on. This was a long workout.
I remembered the weight on the bar with the deadlifts should be 120kg rx'd. At home I checked and it showed 111kg would have been enough. So I accidentally did the deads at heavier weight than they should have been done =) Luckily it was not the other way around! The weight anyway is not that heavy but considering the amount lifted during the workout and all the combination of different movements, it wasn't a tempting idea to grab the barbell and start pulling. It turned out to be heavier than it actually is. The movements in this workout are baffling. They look easy on paper and they are easy when you do them as such but once you mix them up in one huge workout, they become ten times nastier
For example 49 burpees, not bad right? Yeah right… After doing all those movements before entering the burpees, your heart rate is high already. Then finish 7 more burpees and I had to put my elbows on my knees to catch my breath. Just 7 burpees but the effect on doing them feels like you've done 20. This was the place where I needed more rest before taking a hold on the bell.
The kettlebell was okay, it just took me some time to grab it. I got pretty swings overhead, american style. Don't even know what the standard is here but I never do russian swings a.k.a eye-level swings. Prefer a lot more the overhead swing because of full range of motion. It's also way more effective as a movement and develops the body better as an entity.
Finish the round with the pull-ups. 7 reps, check. Tap the timer for a mark that you've finished the round and prepare for the next round. I felt the burden already after the first round. It's hard to describe the feelings when you realized there's a ton of movements ahead of you and you're already smashed. You guys know it yourself too if you've been crossfitting. That's pretty common feeling in a longer workout. It starts to get inside your head and you just try to ignore the pain and just keep on moving. Today I was able to put the pain aside quite well in my opinion.
I was happy once the workout was over and realized I got it unbroken. That was important to me, especially on those thrusters. That + hspu's were the ones where I could have made a split in the sets. That was tremendous victory for me to got it through as planned. Take a look at the video below to get a glimpse of the hero workout Seven.
