Today, after finally getting a set of squat cleans in that felt like some kind of fluid motion instead of a mechanical series of moves, we moved onto the WOD that I’m sure was designed just to make me angry:
- 3 power cleans (95 lb)
- 6 knees to elbows
- 12 wall balls (20 lb ball)
- 24 double unders
15 minute [abbr title=”As Many Rounds As Possible”]AMRAP[/abbr].
This is the kind of workout that I’m sure I’m going to look at in a month or two and laugh at, because let’s face it, the first 3 pieces are pretty simple. I actually treated the first two as rest phases today.
But that’s because I’m still learning double unders:
This is only the second WOD we’ve ever put them in (usually we just triple the number and do singles) and I’m steadily improving but at this point I’m at the “single, single, double, single, single, double” rhythm stage, and I can get 5 in a row on a good run. The trouble is that that goes away as soon as I get tired, and the more tired I get, the more I miss. Which makes me more tired.
In the second round my coach called an audible and dropped me to 12 double unders, and made it a 15 minute cap with a four round target, so somehow I managed to finish in 14 minutes. The cleans and leg raises stayed easy, the wall ball got a little tougher, but we might as well have just made today be 60 double unders and be done with it.
Here’s the thing about jumping rope: it’s all about the wrist motion. Everything else stays as still as possible. Here’s the other thing about jumping rope: the second I try to think about any of that, it all falls apart. Oh, and the bonus thing is that it gets my heart pumping like nothing else. Plus the “rope = whip” thing.
And the top comment for that video says it all:
Best way to learn DUs: Buy that rope and fuck up a lot. It hurts like shit until you get it right.