Adventures in CrossFitting

This past Saturday I encountered a new spin on an old favorite: Red Rover. When I was a kid, I used to love playing Red Rover. As a result, you can image my excitement (or fear) when I saw the following posted on the board:

In teams of 3, AMRAP in 20:00:

Person A does 10 burpees

Person B does 10 kettle bell swings

Person C sprints 50 meters

One point is awarded for every successful sprint. The sprinter cannot run until both the burpees and the KB swings have been completed. Person C can only switch tasks with A or B when standing next to them. (KB swings and Burpees were set up at either end of the parking lot.)

Bill divided up the teams. I was placed with Brian and Matt (L.). As Matt went to set up some kettlebells, Brian and I were discussing strategy. I suggested that we come up with a code word for when we were either done with our reps or when we wanted to switch movements. Brian immediately came back with a scene from Family Guy and suggested the word "banana." Although I do not watch Family Guy, I figured I could work with that. It was much more original than holding up your arm to indicate that you were done with your reps, which is actually what we ended up doing... Which is fine, really it is... Boring... But it worked... Anyway....

The WOD went relatively quick. I started out at the kettlebells and stayed there for nine rounds before sprinting to the other end to start burpees. After that my poor counting skills came back to haunt me, so I simply focused on finishing my ten burpees as soon as possible until the boys wanted me to sprint back to complete more kettlebell swings. I would tell you how many burpees and how many kettlebell swings I did but I wasn't paying that close attention (remember the lack of counting skills?). I did, however, only complete four sprints in those twenty minutes.

In the end, Team Safe Word "Banana" completed 27 rounds. Unfortunately, two other teams also completed 27 rounds. As a result, Bill called for sudden death. One, ten kettlebell/burpee/sprint to the end of the driveway.

Once again, I was sent to complete kettlebell swings, while Matt did burpees (he is a burpee machine) and Brian ran (hello Señor Lightening). I did the kettlebell swings fairly quickly and then Brian and I waited for Matt to complete the burpees. We looked on as Tommy Mo cranked out his burpees just a little ahead of Matt and waited for the signal (the raised hand... ugh). Regardless, Matt's hand shot up within due time and Brian darted to the other end of the driveway, leaving everyone else trailing behind him.

As soon as he reached the other end of the drive, I threw up my hands, victorious, and yelled: "Banana!" I'm not sure if either of my teammates heard me, but it just felt right.