Fitness - Pull Ups - Tabata Tuesday - 9/22

I was excited for today's WOD because a good friend of mine has just joined our CrossFit family at Level 4. I've been talking with him about it for a couple weeks and he's extremely excited about taking his fitness to the next level. Welcome Cameron!

Today's focus was weighted dead hang pull ups and as you could have guessed today's fitness title, the WOD was all about Tabata's. Tabata's is where you do 8 rounds of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds rest of any exercise (rowing, thrusters, KB swings, etc), amounting to 4 minutes total. Recording the lowest amount of reps in any one round per exercise to get the score for that exercise.

Focus: 5x3, weighted strict pull ups
2x3 - 16Kg (35.3#)
3x3 - 24Kg (53#)

I felt strong with my pull ups today. After my sets I hopped on the rings and banged out 4 unbroken muscle ups.

WOD: Tabata Mash Up
Tabata push ups
Score: 8

Tabata air squats
Score: 18

Tabata kettle bell swings - 32Kg (70.5#)
Score: 13

Tabata sit ups
Score: 12

Calories burned (warm up, focus & WOD): 712

Man, It had been a while since we did a Tabata Tuesday WOD and I forgot how much they hurt. A big part of success with Tabata's is winning the mental battle. It's all about digging in for each 20 second interval and ignoring the burn, which is hard.

Well, push ups can't really be helped because that really is a strength thing. But with the air squats, KB swings and sit ups, you gotta push through the pain and take it rep by rep.

I was surprised at today's calorie burn. I know Tabata's are designed burn calories and keep your heart rate up for longer post workout. But I tracked mine and even 12-15 minutes after I left the gym, my heart rate was still fluttering around 95, crazy.