A Day of Soccer.........and More!

Spring has arrived in the DC area with 70 degrees and awesome weather today. It was just in time for Scrimmage Fest; an entire day on the soccer fields with the kids. They are getting their first touches on the ball for the season and fortunately, the day was perfect to be outside.

As luck would have it, my buddy Ed and I had duty together today. His introduction to CrossFit was about a year ago now and like so many of us, he's hooked. As much as we enjoy watching the boys, at about mid-day we were both getting the itch to get some work done. Ed travels allot (by car) and keeps a small arsenal of equipment in the trunk. So, in between matches, we schemed up a short WOD (with pull ups of course), and when the time was right, we snuck away to enjoy the outdoors and to give it a try.

5 Rounds for Time:
* 10 Thick Bar (Goal Post) Pull ups
* 10 Russian Power Swings (50lb Kettle bell)
* 15 Push ups
* 20 Goblet Squats (20lb Kettle bell)
* Bear Crawl (100 feet)

Pull ups were really fun. The goal post had some swing to it, which made it interesting and the super thick bar was an awesome test for the grip. The Russian Power Swings were new for me; kettlebell swing to about chest high and then with force, thrust it back down between your legs. Bear Crawl is always fun, but after the third round(coupled with the squats), they were starting to take their toll.

Overall, a challenging but quick work out. I finished at 12:07 and Ed at just over 15 minutes, before our quick dash to the side lines for the next game.

Today yielded a couple of reminders for me.First, it doesn't take much to get some work in and wherever there is a bar or "something" to hang on, pull ups are fair game. Second, the "Pursuit of the Perfect Pull up" will always be an individual quest. In my friend Ed's case, he set a target this year to conquer the "muscle up". After weeks of working on chest to bar pull ups, his first attempt above the bar was met with success and then some. His perfect pull up at the time was the chest to bar variety that helped in marking the muscle up off his list by February. Lastly, we all find ourselves juggling multiple priorities, and finding balance is and will always be the key to keeping it all together.

So, today was a Day of Soccer..............and more; never mind those soccer mom glares as Ed and I hauled our Kettle bells across the field.