Hopper Challenge: WOD III - Part II

Saturday, October 17;

The Chipper WOD:

321... Go!

30 Double unders
I start off with the double unders. I get three done and then hit the rope. I get back on it.. bang out 25 or more. Smooth and easy. Once I get in a rythmn I just tell myself to relax and keep my hands close to my hips. I trip one more time. and bang out the last two.

7 Backsquats - 85lbs
On to back squats. I had practiced getting the bar on my back before the WOD. I knew I could do it, but I'd have to be gentle. I got the bar on my backed and banged out 7 quick back squats. Dropped the bar from my back and went to the next station.

30 GHD
I flew on these. I have a strong core, and I can just go forever. Squeeze the glutes and hammies and come up.. then back down. I may have rested once for a second or so.

7 Snatches - 85lbs (fail) , 35lbs
This would be the breaking point for me.. like it was for so many other women. A 75lb pound snatch would have been manageable, but 85lbs after the morning WOD was seriously tough. Compound that with my mindset and my fear of hurting myself. I had defeated myself before I had even started. I tried once.. pulled to my chest.. failed. I tried twice.. pulled to my chest.. failed. Told the guy to scale my weight. I hated myself for doing it, but in retrospect it was a smart call.

What's funny is that I thought I could scale to 65lbs. That way I wouldn't look like such a pansy out there with a naked bar. I asked my judge where the 15lb plates were. He looked at me like I was crazy! He said, "this is it." There I was.. pissed that I had to pick up and snatch a 35lb bar. For real? I said, "fine." Like I was going to show him. Who knows what crazy thoughts I was thinking. I banged through those mini-snatches with no problem.

30 wallball
Really, wallball? Really? I won't go through the painful details, but we'll just say that I probably did about 80 wallballs here. None of them counted because I couldn't get that ball to clear the black line. You read right. In order for it to count it has to clear the line, not just touch the line. CLEAR IT! Adrienne "5 foot all up in your face" Hoar, was wishing she was about 6 foot all up in your face. This was super humbling. I didn't stop. I just kept throwing the ball up there and jumping as high as I could get. Not happening. I think I got to about 24 official wall balls that actually cleared the line. I think my poor judge took pity on me and told me to go on.

7 Jerks - 35lb
The plan was to clean the bar once and just throw that bar up there. No problem. I caught up on time here.

30 toes to bar
Same story here as the GHE. The solid core helped, and the "5 foot all up in your face" finally helped! It's easy for us short people to fly through these things. The limiting factor is your grip. I banged out 10 in a row. I was sharing my bar with this huge dude and he had been fighting through the move for a while. I told myself I was going to beat him. We were back and forth 15, 16, 17 reps. I was getting about 2 or 3 at a time. Then my thumb started freaking out. It was seriously bizarre. I actually lost control of my thumb because I had burned through my forearms so seriously. My thumb wouldn't move away from my pointer finger. Bizarre, but it wasn't going to stop me. I had three more to go, but I was afraid that I'd kick myself off the bar. I did the last few one at a time. Finally, I finished.. the big dude next to me finished one second before me.

We both collapsed next to each other. After about a minute, we helped each other up and walked out of the workout area.

My takeaway from the Hopper.. Everyone should try something like this. The point of the Hopper for most athletes is not to win. It's to push yourself to try something you don't know if you can do. The mystery of what the WOD will be adds to the anxiety. It's a test of both mental and physical strength. The key is improving your weaknesses while your in the gym and believing that you will at least try to do anything that comes your way.

In the end, the entire CFOT crew proved to be the winners. We didn't walk away with metals, but we all walked away with big smiles on our faces and people who are incredibly supportive of each other. What was so apparant was the strength of the CFOT community. From the coaches, to the athletes to the cheerleaders, we all just want the best for each other. That's exactly the kind of gym I want to be a part of. (and.. we're freaking strong!)

Can't wait for a bigger crew next time!!