As I walked from the parking lot to the gym I could already hear a lot of yelling and motivation then as I walked in it was a smaller class since it was later in the morning but Mike Bissaillon, the owner, was just as excited with the small class as he is with larger classes. Watching and talking with Mike you could tell he was very keyed up about what he did and CrossFit.
Before the WOD for my class started I talked with Mike for a little and it’s always fun hearing how people were exposed to CrossFit, some get exposed through friends, sports, just luck etc... I asked Mike how he was exposed to CrossFit and he attended a KettleBell Competition……I had no idea there were KettleBell Competitions, so Mike noticed that a lot of people doing the best at these competitions were CrossFit athletes. Since Mike was a personal trainer before CrossFit, he was always looking for the latest and greatest methods to get himself and his clients in the best shape. So when he looked up CrossFit after being exposed to them at the KettleBell Competitions he was hooked and it was a natural progression for him to move from personal training to CrossFit. Funny how so many people that come from so many different backgrounds come to the same conclusion about CrossFit after their first exposure to it.
This week I caught their gym on CrossFit Games Week. They were doing the WODs from the 2010 CrossFit Games and today’s WOD was:
Seven rounds for time of:
205 pound Clean, 3 reps
4 Ring handstand push-ups
Now when I watched this WOD during the games I thought the power cleans looked easiest but the ring hand stand pushups looked ridiculous and where everyone lost time. I am advanced but wasn’t ready to do this WOD with ring handstand push-ups so I scaled this wod to regular Handstand Push-ups on 45 pound plates and 1 ab mat for my head to hit for each rep. Since I scaled the ring handstand pushups I thought I’d destroy this WOD and go faster than the top games athletes like Graham Holmberg who completed it in 4:26 or Chris Spealler (who weighs 140ish) that did it in 4:27. Sure I’m not a top ranked world class CrossFit athlete competitor like those guys but I am an advanced CrossFit practitioner and since I scaled the WOD I should blow through it like a champ.
Now I’m strong and still this weight was humbling. I originally figured this would be an easier quick wod but what happened was I went through the first 2 rounds pretty fast but by round 3 the weight got EXTREMELY heavy. I was missing reps and had to take breaks in between power cleans. I had no idea this would be my slow area. When I watched the games, the athletes made the 205 pound power cleans seem like a nuisance time kill exercise that was easy and in their way as they went to the difficult part of the WOD. This was the complete opposite for me. The handstand push-ups I was able to blow through but had to break up and rest the 205 pound power cleans. They were heavyyyyyy, so another humbling, yet fun, WOD that kicked my butt which I completed in a much much MUCH slower time than the games athletes who did it with ring handstand push-ups.
Mike and crew were a lot of fun and have a great place, I felt bad I was going to miss their going away WOD/BBQ they were having later that night for one of their college kids heading to school. If I’m in the area again I’ll definitely stop by. I had a Great time. http://www.crossfitgreatbarrington.com/
