Do Work

Click to Embiggen

(Photo unrelated, except that when I dig down deep and look for extra effort I think of Reese and how strong she was, and I can go a little bit further. Toughness comes in all shapes and sizes, and sometimes it is 48 lbs of sweet, sweet sugar. Also it's a lovely picture, cropped from a larger version I posted last month.)

Crossfit has a huge, devoted following. I'm not sure all the devotion is warranted - people are crazy about it - but I enjoy the structure and variety of workouts.  Last week we did the crossfit qual workout (13.5?). I don't give a shit about qualifying for "The Open"; maybe I'd get more excited if they held it every four years. The workout was 15 thrusters followed by 15 pull ups, repeat as many times as possible, in 4 minutes.

Anyway, we did the workout, and this is what happened:

For Friday's crossfit qual workout we had to do it in stages with partners. My partner Irv was a guy I had only seen once or twice and never formally met. Irv was relatively new to crossfit, close to me in age but not in very good shape. The partner's job is to judge your workout and 'no rep' you if you don't meet standards. I can be kind of intense; Irv didn't really know what he was in for. He figured it out once we got under way.

Did my workout and it was fine. I try to put the bar down instead of waste the energy on a no rep thruster. So we went over standards for him and Irv can't do chest-to-bar or kipping pull ups so we planned for max pull ups and then jump ups. He could do the thrusters at lower weight so that was fine. I told him before we started that those were the standards and I would no rep him. He thought maybe I was joking. Mistake.

We get started and he does awesome for the first 12 thrusters (we're going to 15), and then he decides to take a rep off. NO REP. The look on his face says, damn, this guy is for real. So he gets under the bar and does two more, and of course he decides to flail on rep 15. NO REP. Oh you're tired? Tough shit. Do it right or don't do it. So he resets and hits 15 (it's amazing what you can do if you focus) and we move to the pull up bar. I gave him the benefit of the doubt. He cranked out 15 but he's starting to look a little wobbly. I am encouraging him every step of the way. Talking him through his breathing, telling him to get on the bar. I don't think he's worked that hard in a long time.

Back to the thrusters. Now it sucks. He can only do a couple at a time and I am in his ear. Same thing as last time: he gets to the end and flails. NO REP. It is possible I am the only person in the gym hitting my partner with no reps. I am intense like that. But he is really pushing himself and even he can't believe how well he is doing.

Back to the pull up bar for round two. He is suffering. His grip isn't very good. We have about 45 seconds to do the pull ups. I tell him: "we are going to finish this set and do one thruster for a 61 rep total. No problem, but you need to get moving." Can Irv get to rep 61? Unknown. We are going to find out. We're on a voyage of discovery together, except only one of us is paddling and it's not me.

He is doing triples on the pull up bar, barely. Now I'm talking him through it, step by step. On the bar, one two, breathe. "Get on the bar, Irv. The extra rest isn't helping - we are past that now." ("We"? I'm not doing dick.) The clock is ticking. "GET ON THE BAR." He is down to singles. On rep 15 he blows it. NO REP. He can't believe it. I am screaming: YOU ARE GOING TO FINISH THIS REP AND GET ON THAT GODDAMN BAR AND GIVE ME ONE THRUSTER. YOU GOT THIS LET'S GO LET'S GO LET'S GO. The professional crossfitters that dropped in at the gym that day are like, holy shit.

Irv finishes his last pull up and moves to the bar for the final thruster. I have one eye on him and one eye on the timer. We have 3 seconds. I am screaming: GET ON THAT BAR LET'S GO HIPS DOWN CLEAN SQUAT BURST FROM THE HIPS GET YOUR HEAD THROUGH GAHHHHHHHHHHHH and bam he crushes it: cleans the weight up to his chest, squats down, hips explode, arms extend, head through, 4:00 on the timer. 61 reps. I lost my shit. Epic triumph. He shakes his head, can't believe he did it. Fist pumps and handshakes.

I've seem some amazing athletes at crossfit but I'm most impressed by the people that work the hardest, push themselves beyond what they think they can do. Way to crush it, Irv. Respect. You earned it.