Wait..How many did you say?

A few weeks back I picking up my first sets of bumpers down in Dallas and happen to see that the company was importing Ader Kettlebells..

I'm not a huge kettlebell user but they are pretty cool and I always love when a WOD with one pops up on the Crossfit Main page. In fact, I had picked one up from Rogue Fitness a while back and had gotten good use out of it.

So, while I'm at the place I figure what the heck I'll pick up a 2 pood bell. I had no idea what workouts I could do with it but picked it up none the less.

Anyway, it's been sitting in my office taunting me for a few weeks so I decide to find some WODs with a 2 pood bell..I start googling and sure enough there are a few cool ones out there..There is one on the Crossfit Football website that was as many rounds as possible in 12 minutes of 1) 2 pood Kettle Bell Swings x 10 reps and 2) 40 yard sprint..Pretty sweet.. I marked it down for future effort..

Then I ran across one that struck me.. 2 Pood Kettle Bells Swing x 100 reps..Yup, that's right.. 100 reps.. Damn.. Nothing more, nothing less.. As fast as you can just knock out 100 reps.. No big deal, RIGHT?

Well, it was not the worst suck but I can tell you my hands are missing even more skin that they already were. The grip was the killer for me on this WOD..Hard to hold on to 70# flying up 100 times! lol

My time was 14:29.. Other times were below 10 minutes.. So I still suck a little.. But less than before :)

Who ever thought an ass kicking could feel so good!

So, last weekend I attempted to pull off the benchmark CrossFit Hero WOD- MURPH.. Where to start with that one.. Lets just say 1) I'm a puss 2) I'm a puss..

The deal is its a 1 mile run, 100 pull ups, 200 push ups, 300 bw squats, and another 1 mile run. Any normal person would be like, "Damn, that sounds like it would suck..I think I'll pass".. But no one ever accused me of being normal I guess..

I showed up amped to put out..And stayed that way through the first mile..Taking a nice reserved pace I knocked out the first mile in just over 7 minutes.. I wasn't shootin' for a speed record and I knew what energy I had would soon be zapped as I hit the meat of the WOD; the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats..

I had myself really psyched out about the pull-ups but I walked up to the bar and CRUSHED THEM! (all 5) :) I had decided to break the workout into 20 rounds of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 squats. My mind was easied when I figured out the pull-ups were no problem but after a few rounds I realized I was going to get crushed by the push ups..

All I can say is that I keep grinding through the workout feeling generally like ass until I looked at my counter and asked the questions I WILL NEVER ASK AGAIN.. "Where am I at? How many do I have left?"

Let me just say that when I asked that question I was already physically cached on the push-ups.. I mean I could crank out the pull ups and the squats were no problem but those evil bastard push ups..Well, my counter looked at me and said "Man, your doing great.. Your HALF WAY through."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!! I think that was my exact quote.. Mentally that was a terrible to hear..So, what can I do but keep grinding them out as fast as I could and that was really slow..

At some point they had told me that they were going to cut folks off at 40 minutes (wherever they were at in the push up/pull up/squat scheme) and make them run the last mile cause there were other heats that needed to get started.

With 3 rounds left I hit the timer and they made me move on to my run. My first thought was oh my gosh, finally its over..It was a great relief, but only for a moment as I then realized I couldn't really run..My body had been beat to crap and couldn't take any more.

But, CrossFitters suck it up so I would finish the last mile in 11 minutes.

It was finally over.. Man, that is a good feeling (once feeling came back to the body)..

I ended up realizing that I was super close to completing the whole WOD as RX'd.. I was 15 pull ups, 30 push ups and 45 squats from being complete.. I started to regret that they didn't let me finish when I was so close (and could have). But I was mentally beat and when they said move on I didn't argue..

The 51:28 second ordeal ended with me running 2 miles and doing 85 pull ups, 170 push ups, and 255 squats.

I've thought about that workout for the last few days..Its the hardest one I've ever done and some would say its cliche but it WAS the most rewarding.. That I can push myself through and just keep grinding it out..It really is an accomplishment for me on a personal level and one I could never have imagined before I started crossfiting 11 months ago.

On a seperate note.. My fam has never seen me crossfit at that level so I invited the wife and boy. It was awesome to have them there cheering me on..Way cool..