I was a bit scared

of today's workout. It was leg day, and I chose to do the Crossfit WOD instead of my originally planned squats, deadlifts and walking lunges. I'd never done this one, and really didn't know what to expect. The WOD is:

Five rounds for time of:
135 pound Deadlift, 15 reps
135 pound Hang power clean, 12 reps
135 pound Front Squat, 9 reps
135 pound Push Jerk, 6 reps

Which I scaled down to:

Five rounds for time of:
135 pound Deadlift, 15 reps
95 pound Hang power clean, 12 reps
95 pound Front Squat, 9 reps
95 pound Push Jerk, 6 reps

I haven't spent a lot of time doing the latter three exercises, so I figured I'd better use a lighter weight and try to maintain form. I did that pretty well.

I started a stopwatch and let it run, noting the time at the end of each round.

The ending and elapsed times were:

Round 1 4:00
Round 2 9:59, 5:59
Round 3 16:05, 6:06
Round 4 22:18, 6:12
Round 5 29:01, 6:43

I don't expect my legs to be as sore tomorrow as they usually are after a leg day, but it was an intense workout. I was gasping for breath about 3 minutes in, and that pretty much is how it went the rest of the way. One thing that really amazed me is how my grip was giving in. I've never used straps and don't believe in them. My opinion is that you need to build grip strength so you can handle the weight you'd like to lift. By the end of round three, my grip was going. I had to break my hang power cleans into two sets because the bar was trying to slip from my grasp. I couldn't believe it. I've got a pretty good grip, and I was shocked that I was losing it. I can only imagine how much it will improve if I start doing these olympic lifts more often.