fran

tonight we did another of the crossfit "girls" called fran, which is a notoriously brutal workout. it's a great "temperature check" to gauge someone's progress, and it goes like this:

21 thrusters (a front squat into an overhead push press)

21 pull-ups

15 thrusters

15 pullups

9 thrusters

9 pullups

prescribed weight - 95lbs for men, 65lbs for women

see this demo for an insanely fast version of this workout....under 2 minutes!!!!

http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFitMontclair_Rhabdo153Fran.mov

the best time at the gym tonight was about 5:45 (and he did 95lbs). i've done this workout 4 times with the following results:

july - 12:30 at 60-ish lbs

august - did not finish....capped out at 10 mins at 70lbs (was 2 pullups short)

october - 7:32 at 75lbs

tonight - 6:51 at 85lbs

bottom line - two things really help you with this one. a) anaerobic capability. this is a super-intense workout. b) flexibility - doing 45 front squats and 45 pull-ups is a bear on the hips and back, respectively. developing a) can be a little unpleasant at times, but we can all do b), and the benefits from b) will be obvious over time. you'll be able to pick up grandkids more easily, shovel more snow, and lift more boxes. this stuff really works.