Benchmarks From this Past Week or Two

In a recent post, I wrote about how progress motivates me and the importance of benchmarks.  I made a goal to do a "benchmark" Crossfit workout each week.  It's been good to do a couple of Crossfit workouts mixed with the other things that we've been doing in the gym.

It's been a lot of fun to do and track the benchmark workouts.  I've also done a few variations on the workouts as well and they've been great.  Here is a list of the workouts I've done and my results for each of them.

"Cindy"
As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
5 pull-ups
10 push-ups
15 squats
I was able to complete 19 rounds and 6 squats.

"Annie"
Double-Unders and Sit-Ups
50-40-30-20-10 reps; for time
Neither are strengths of mine.  I completed the workout in 13:25

"Jeremy" - This isn't a benchmark workout, but definitely one that I'm going to come back to and compare times in the future.
21-15-9 reps of:
Overhead squats at 95lbs
Burpees
I do not heart burpees.  I completed the workout in 6:51

Variation on "Annie"
Double-Unders, Squats and Push-Ups
50-40-30-20-10 reps; for time
I completed the workout in 12:57.  Much better time than my traditional "Annie".  It's probably due to a good rhythm with the rope, and that I'm much better at squats and push ups than sit ups.

Saturday's Metcon
There's no name for this one, but I did this metcon this morning.  It was brutal and I did not perform well.  Here's what the workout called for -
Four rounds for time of:
15 burpees
10 wide push-ups
10 narrow push-ups
14 lunge jumps (7 both leg)
15 V-ups
10 pull-ups
10 halos
I completed the workout in 28:07.  Not a very good time at all.  I don't heart burpees, v-ups or tackling this type of a metcon alone.

Exhausted after a Metcon

These benchmark workouts have been great.  They don't take long, but man do I get a burn and work up a sweat.  They are great workouts for my type of schedule.  I look forward to tackling a few more benchmark workouts over the next few weeks.  I especially look forward to coming back to these in a couple of months and seeing how I perform.  Ideally, I should do better, right? :-)

It must be the business person in me, but I anticipate an amazing feeling of accomplishment when/if I crush these times/performances.  Because these are all firsts for me, these times serve as baselines to crush in the future!  Wish me luck.

Check out more of my benchmarks.

200 unbroken double-unders in 2 minutes. Are you kidding me?

Don't feel like you have to watch all 2 minutes of this, however, the fact that there's video proof of it is pretty impressive.  200 unbroken double-unders in 2 minutes.  That's impressive.

A few weeks ago we did a CrossFit workout that involved double-unders.  It was an AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) and what limited my ability to do more rounds wasn't necessarily my stamina (however that did end up taking affect later int he workout), but more my inability to do double-unders efficiently.  I could fire of a couple in a row, but my technique was not such that would allow me to be efficient with my time (which in an AMRAP, efficiency is important).  So this past weekend, I bought a jump rope and I'm working on it.

I'm not necessarily wanting to get to a point where I can do 200 unbroken in 2 minutes, but I will get to a point where I'm efficient.  Pursuit of efficiency is what motivates me today.