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Gene Crawford is a designer/artist with over 2 decades of experience in the industry (Ugh!?!) with a degree in Graphic Design.
He has overseen the design and architecture of hundreds of web sites and applications through his business at Period Three.
An active member in the design community, he co-founded SOCO, he has created and produced; UnmatchedStyle, RefreshColumbia and the Converge conference as well as BD Conf, President of AIGA South Carolina for almost 10 years and was the longest running monthly columnist for Net Magazine.
During the month of July and into August last year, the coaches at Workhorse Fitness took on the challenge of doing a month of Hero WODs. Hero WODs are notorious for being some of the longest, most difficult and most mentally grueling workouts in CrossFit.
Why do it? To test ourselves; physically, mentally, emotionally, intuitionally, spiritually to build our Kokoro (or warrior spirit.) We knew going in that it was going to be tough and that recovery and preparation between workouts would be key. We recorded the experience with short videos and put them all together here in this post so we could remember the journey and relive the experience a year later.
Planning it all out
What we did was each coach picked a number of Hero WODs that were their favorite, for whatever various reasons, and then we wrote them all down on the white board. We then took them and planned out the sequence and the days that we would be attacking these workouts.
Week 1
The first few workouts were quite tough. It was getting hot and settling into the work after 5-7 days proved to be something we all had to overcome. I think each of us, at least I know I was, were starting to realize the effort that we would have to put into this to see it through and finish.
We were all starting to learn more about what we were capable of this week.
Week 2
Week 2 consisted of some even tougher workouts. Don’t get me wrong, week 1 was memorable, in that it was the first shot at digging into these things. Week 2 was just more terrible. The heavier weight in these workouts proved challenging and some of the WODs that looked like they would be completed in 45:00 to an hour wound up taking well over that.
The most memorable workout from week 2 and probably from the entire experience would be “CLOVER”. Which consists of a 10 mile run and 150 burpee pull-ups. This one took me well over 3 hours to finish and personally made me question my own sanity…
I can’t speak for everyone here, but I know that after week 2 I truly felt like I could do anything and that the rest of the workouts, while still intimidating, were going to get done no matter what.
Week 3
I think we were all settling in pretty well by the third week. I know I was and was already starting to think about how much I would miss this training once it was done. The workouts were still very tough and challenging but I feel like we bonded together through all the suffering.
Week 4
I think everyone would agree that the final week was the most technically challenging. Maybe it was the exhaustion of doing these things for 3 weeks prior or just the fact that we were close to the end of it and were feeling more relaxed mentally but we really hit our stride in the last week.
As much as I got out of this experience, I can’t really say that I would recommend it for anyone. You really need to make sure you’re prepared and know how to get yourself ready and recover as you go. We took precautions and planned the workouts out in terms of timing but we each still have some remnants of an issue or two of this month even today a year later. All in all, we did it, and I’m proud to have done this with my teammates.
The Workouts in Order
Severin For Time 50 Strict Pull-Ups 100 Hand-Release Push-Ups 5k Run Wear a weight vest (20/14 lb)
Weston 5 Rounds For Time 1000 meter Row 200 meter Farmer Carry (45 lb dumbbells) 50 meter Waiter Walk, Right Arm (45 lb dumbbell) 50 meter Waiter Walk, Left Arm (45 lb dumbbell)
Marston AMRAP in 20 minutes 1 Deadlift (405/285 lb) 10 Toes-to-Bar 15 Bar Facing Burpees
Tom AMRAP in 25 minutes 7 Muscle-Ups 11 Thrusters (155/105 lb) 14 Toes-to-Bar
Bull 2 Rounds For Time 200 Double-Unders 50 Overhead Squats (135/95 lb) 50 Pull-Ups 1 mile Run
Griff For Time 800 meter Run 400 meter Run (backwards) 800 meter Run 400 meter Run (backwards)
Clovis For Time 10 mile Run 150 Burpee Pull-Ups
The Don For Time 66 Deadlifts (110/75 lb) 66 Box Jump (24/20 in) 66 Kettlebell swings (1.5/1 pood) 66 Knees-to-Elbows 66 Sit-Ups 66 Pull-Ups 66 Thrusters (55/35 lb) 66 Wall Ball Shots (20/14 lb) 66 Burpees 66 Double-Unders
Johnson AMRAP in 20 minutes 9 Deadlifts (245/165 lb) 8 Muscle-Ups 9 Squat Clean (155/105 lb)
Pheezy 3 Rounds For Time 5 Front Squats (165/105 lb) 18 Pull-Ups 5 Deadlifts (225/155 lb) 18 Toes-to-Bar 5 Push Jerks (165/105 lb) 18 Hand-Release Push-Ups
Randy For Time 75 Power Snatches (75/55 lb)
Daniel For Time 50 Pull-Ups 400 meter Run 21 Thrusters (95/65 lb) 800 meter Run 21 Thrusters (95/65 lb) 400 meter Run 50 Pull-Ups
Collin 6 Rounds For TIme 400 meter Sandbag Carry (50/40 lb) 12 Push Press (115/75 lbs) 12 Box Jumps (24/20 in) 12 Sumo Deadlift High-Pull (95/65 lbs)
