So our Fall Brawl finally came and went.. And it went pretty well! Of coarse, I might be a little biased, so I suppose this, here, review can be taken with a grain of salt.. But I like to think I'm a pretty honest gal. So, anyway.. JoCo started hosting a competition called 'Fall Brawl' last year, where I had the opportunity to pair up with my now buddy, Kacie, for the first time.. Obviously, this year we would have to return and see what we're made of! We both follow Mike's competition training, so have made a lot of improvements over the year..so let's just get in to it, shall we?
The fun started early with one workout to do on Friday night.. This was a 2 part workout..the first being a 100 cal row, which counted as a separate event, but was the first part of the rest of the workout.. So the row kind of counted twice.. Perfect for this non-rowing champ! But, actually..we were able to do pretty darn well.. Almost won the row?! Kacie is a little better on the rower than myself, so that certainly helped.. Plus, I think we broke it up well between us to maximize what both of us could offer.. We started off with me doing 30 cal, quick switch and Kacie took us up to 70 cal.. We hadn't really discussed it, other than to say 'go hard and switch when you feel yourself slowing down'.. I wasn't quite sure, but didn't think I had 30 good calories left in me without totally blowing the rest of the workout..so I gave Kacie the last 10 cal and I think that was a good move. It came down to less than a second..but we wound up in second..just barely..off that rower and into the rest of the work. I'll take it! As frustrating as it was to learn how close we were to first, I still can't be mad at second on a row and I know we went as hard as we could..so moving on! The rest was a chipper.. 75 GTO w 30#, 50 walking lunges (30#), 25 thrusters (you guessed it.. 30# Dumbbells) and we quickly worked our way through that and came out in first for that part. Not a bad start to the weekend!
Day 2 kicked off with hang cleans and toes to bar.. It was 21/15/9 with a 200m shuttle run after each round and each partner did a whole round, passed it to the next partner, then started the next round, etc.. That one went well, too, and we took first there. Next was kind of a 'just keep moving/stay warm' EMOTM with even minutes being 12 wallballs each and odds being 60 double unders split however you wanted.. Kacie and I split each round 30/30 on the du and it was not a problem to make it through all 20 rounds.. The fun part, though, was the last minute, where we did max effort du and the winner not only got the winning points, but also $100! We managed to squeak a couple more du out in the minute and made some extra cash! Our last planned workout (before the final) was a 2 rep max front squat right into a short, quick little burner workout. We both quickly made our way up to our maxes of 205# on that front squat.. Kacie gave 215# a valiant effort, but otherwise, we just called it good there and got ready for 3 minutes of burpees and box jumps. Of all the workouts, this one probably had me the most nervous because sprints are not my thing and I knew this would be quick! We each would have 15 burpees (jumping up on a plate after each one), alternating each rep, and 15 box jumps each.. Again, alternating back and forth.. And do as many rounds of that as you can in the short 3 minutes of work time. I just kept my head down and kept moving..so much, so, I even hit Kacie in the face at one point in the box jumps! (Oops..) But we worked well together, kept moving, and wound up on top in that one! I hadn't looked at the standings, or anything, all day, but in looking afterwards, we wound up tying for first in the front squat workout, which, kind of like the row, we weren't sure how that one would go for us, so a tie is ok with us.
And finally..the final.. I liked it! I always enjoy workouts with a variety of movements and some of the more technical stuff, so this one had it all! It was:
12 min time cap
30 snatch (95#)
30 pistols (26#)
30 cleans (115#)
20 strict handstand push-ups
30 shoulder to overhead (125#)
10 muscle ups
We split everything up fairly evenly.. I may have done a couple more snatches, but I think Kacie did a couple more of the STO.. All in all, we got it done.. I think around 9 min, someone told me? I honestly wasn't really looking at the time.. But it was a fun one and I felt good through all of it. In fact, I felt pretty darn good through all of the events of the weekend, so we will call it a success, for sure. Overall, the weekend was fun. The competition ran smoothly and I didn't see any major issues with judging, which is always a tough thing with any competition. Judging is a really tough position to be in and it can truly make or break an event. I thought our judges were clear in their speaking with the athletes and were able to communicate any no-reps or issues that needed to be discussed. The competition floor was clearly marked with plenty of space for each team to move and do what they needed to do. There was even a separate space for warming up or just relaxing, which is a huge bonus for an event like this. Some times you can feel very cramped during a competition at a gym, so having a separate space to spread out is quite the luxury! All said, of coarse I will participate again! My only 'down side' for the event was that our division (female/female partner) didn't get as many entrants as the others (male/male partner and male/female partner). I don't know why this was, but it's always fun to compete against lots of other gals.. But you can only compete against those that show up! And we certainly had a good push from our fellow competitors out there. I hope they had fun, too!
We did end up first, overall, which meant we got some prizes.. Cash, which is always nice.. Wrist wraps and head bands from the Pink Dino.. Some Cliff Bars, which I actually love and have in my rotation of bars that I eat all the time.. Before/after workouts and, during comps, it's pretty much all I eat.. But we also got some supplements and a pre-workout mix from Proanox, which I had not tried before.. I'm testing out the products now and will let ya know what I think when the stuff is all gone. Normally I just take whey protein with some creatine (both Dymatize products) during/after my workouts, so this stuff is all new to me. The Biogenesis are capsule supplements that contain 'performance and health enhancing plant compounds', mostly claiming to aid in recovery..which this old gal can certainly use some help in that area from time to time! The other is the Biocomplete, which can be used as a pre-workout supplement, and that is how I am using it. It contains no stimulants, but does have BCAAs, which we all know can't hurt.. Anyway, we will see if I feel any positive effects and feel the need to purchase more when these are gone.. So far, I must warn.. Do NOT mix that Biocomplete with water!!?! It gives this as an option for suggested uses, but in my opinion, this is only suitable for consumption when mixed with juice. So far orange juice has been working alright for me, though I still wouldn't call it delicious. Again.. I will give it a chance before I really say whether or not I like it.
So far this week is going pretty well. Nothing too exciting, but I've felt pretty good during the workouts, so that's always good. I did manage to match my push press max this week, hitting 165. Then yesterday we did sets of 10 on bench press and I managed to get all 10 at 135#. Today I eeked out a tiny split jerk PR, up 5# to 195.. Max out week is coming soon, so I'm just trying to get myself ready! And I think that about covers it! Next up for me, as far as competitions go, is a solo comp out in Murfreesboro in a couple of weeks! I'm excited for that one.. It should be fun. A couple of the workouts have been released, and they look good. I plan to start practicing next week and hopefully tune up a bit to be ready for the main event!
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