Sword!

I had an unusual opportunity to handle a rather ornate two-handed sword of sorts.  I'm willing to bet it's actually a bastard sword, or hand-and-a-half sword, but I'm so little that it may as well be a greatsword or two-handed sword.

Phoenix Games 2/n: Deep in the Bowels...

It was hot and humid!

Fifty reps of front rack lunges at 65 lbs were bloody murder, especially when the weather conditions are about par with Satan's bowels after a pound of ghost chilies.

Burpees are usually not my friend, but on that final WOD, burpees onto the plate were merciful after the front rack lunges.  The easiest part of the WOD were the 100 yard overhead walk with the said 65 lb barbell.

Thought bubble: !$%!@#$ - This was during the WOD known as Suicide Squat, which was a mixture of short shuttle runs and high rep air squats.

You know it's a brutal day when the easiest activities were full squat snatches, hand-release push-ups, burpees, and 65 lb overhead walks!

Farrrrrrt!!! Air squats got a little brutal and the first WOD did give me some intestinal cramping, so I did the best thing, which was releasing gas!

Phoenix Games 2017 1/n: Double Trouble!

This was from WOD 2, known as Double Trouble, which consisted of an 8 minute time cap of jump rope and snatches.  This also provided me with some excellent troubleshooting opportunities on my snatch form.  Pictures courtesy of 904 Fitness.

Right before the action begins... I just have to flex! I got this!

Jump ropes and I don't always get along. I'm still working on handling single unders, much less double unders.

And then there's the snatches.  I enjoy snatches much more than jump ropes. I struggled quite a bit with my form, as I have a tendency to catch really high and not dropping under fast enough to do trur squat snatches.

And then there's my upper body asymmetry.  I had a coach work with me today, and we were able to deduce that my asymmetry is due to my tendency to shrug my right shoulder up as a habit from archery.  What I'm supposed to do is engage my lats, pulling both shoulders down. It's natural on my left side.  My right side, not so much...

Ok for Crossfit, but a HUGE no-no in Olympic weight lifting.  I pressed the weight up a bit and didn't quite catch with my elbows locked out.  Part of the problem is also me not dropping down under the bar fast or far enough.  I definitely get a pretty decent high pull when I don't do too much of the hitching "giddy-up" motion.

My form looks all right up to here - explosive triple extension and a nice, high pull.

Unfortunately I don't drop under the bar fast enough, forcing me to press it up. Again, in CrossFit, this is usually ok. Weightlifting, this would have gotten me the red flag.

Triple extension is there, but I think I broke my elbows a little too early, typically something that happens when I go "giddy-up" on the second pull instead of exploding with a pure upward vector.

I didn't get under the bar fast enough to salvage this lift... and I went splat!

Snatch Checkup and More

Working on eliminating my tendency to hitch on my snatch as I transition from the first pull (below the knee) to the second pull (above the knee when I'm supposed to explode into triple extension)... as well as working on catching lower. This was only 45 lbs.

And then some bonus footage from Member's Mayhem... snatch, think it was 55 lbs.

Then there was the Regional Qualifier to see who's going on to the CrossFit Nationals... one of our Masters' 35-39 athletes in action with 21-15-9 of 95 lb push presses and chest to bar pull-ups

Killer Parakeet also makes a little showing. He actually got a break from dungeon crawling and destroying things.  Beethoven is over his head, but he's pretty competent with the camera!

Capricciosso and Dwarves

There's still a lot of cleanup for both pieces, but I have Mendelssohn's "Rondo Capricciosso" and Grieg's "Zug der Zwerge" recorded... at least what survived my camera.

Random Iron Legion Bits

Courtesy of Valkyrie Photography from the same day...

Did I mention that I really don't like the rope, and that I really don't like it when my feet leave the ground?

Double kettlebell push presses are much, much more to my liking! I think that one was about half a pood (18-20 lbs), but I am now up to reliably doing 26 lbs on a single arm push press.

Members' Mayhem Weightlifting- Valkyrie Edition

We also had a guest photographer, R. Reynolds, who took many of the photographs while I. Ramirez was busy actually running the event.

Of course, there's always pictures of our fearless Alpha Wolves showing just how it's done...

And then there's me... not much weight and lots of form issues to work on. I feel like a beached bloated whale!

First clean and jerk: 75 lbs. I was a little forward, but was able to save it. I didn't quite hit proper triple extension, so dropping down to catch the bar got a little messy.

My rack is a lot better than my initial pulls.  I do need to work on getting a much more aggressive dip and drive to get into my jerk.

 Clean and jerk was a success, although my footwork needs to be much more aggressive. My elbows were properly locked out prior to my feet re-establishing contact with the ground. I can use a much broader stance, which will allow me to catch the bar lower and jerk heavier weights more safely.

"What's going on here?" Judge J. Geering and I are trying to get her to convert from pounds to kilograms a little faster...

My third and final clean & jerk of 95 lbs.  I didn't get as good of a triple extension as I would have liked, but it was acceptable.  

A 95 lb power clean is NOT the most fun, but I couldn't quite drop down far enough for a full squat clean.

I'm still surprised the judge gave me this lift considering my left elbow still wasn't 100% locked out.  My footwork needs a lot of work, as my stance is relatively narrow and therefore much less stable.  I need much more distance between my feet to create a stronger stance. I do have a vertical front leg and loaded my front quads.