Tuesday 27.1: Hero wod Gator

Tuesday. Hero workout Gator, 8rds of: 5 front squat (85kg), 26 ring push-ups. Time, 19.28.

I knew beforehand that this training day is gonna be a shorter one so I planned for one metcon and one metcon only. So it was supposed to be rather quick session. After checking out couple of hero workouts, I ended up choosing this one: Gator. Squats sounded good and ring push-ups was a great counter element.

Gator. Time, 19.28

• 8 rounds of:
• 5 front squat, 85kg (from ground)
• 26 ring push-ups

Had no idea how long this might take. I googled "crossfit Gator" and ended up at mainsite's workout, dating back to August 2011. After browsing those comments I reckoned it's gonna be finished somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes. I also thought those round times would start to get longer and longer because there was insane amount of ring push-ups. So needless to say it was a pleasant surprise I got this one sub 20min and that those rounds didn't collapse towards the end.

This is 185lbs rx'd which equals to 84kg, and I thought the barbell is supposed to be taken from the floor as it usually is unless otherwise told. That weight is okay for me, no problem. My traps are sore from yesterday's cleans, much more sore than normally. That's naturally because of the volume. Still, it felt good to get the bar from the floor. Those front squats felt good, and I got them unbroken. Had to push through somewhat but there was no doubt I would do them unbroken every round.

Mat Fraser

The amount of push-ups on the rings was intimidating at first. It was a reason why I hesitated to take this workout at all. I'm happy I did it. Went as deep as it's possible on the rings and managed to get a total os 208 reps in the books. Decided to go by feeling from the first round on. First round was maybe 16-10, next 2 rounds were completed in 3 sets, something like 10-8-8 or 10-9-7. Next 2-3 rounds were over in 4 sets, I remember them being 8-7-6-5.

For 4 rounds my times got slower each round as probably my rest periods took an extra second here and there, which totaled a little longer round. Then I realized I'm already mid-workout and started to speed it up a notch. From then on my rounds got faster every time. I'm very happy of being able to pace it up. Got some sort of mental boost of confidence and knocked the push-ups in 3 sets for the last rounds, about 11-9-6.

This was a good workout for sure! Mostly it put a lot of burden on upper body for me. Squats definitely felt but those were not the thing. It was absolutely the chest and shoulder work. Breathing was well under control all the time because I had to break down the sets on the rings.