RX THE WOD

There is no CF affiliate in Taiwan. To be fair, none in greater China either except in Hong Kong. So I did best with the local globo gym called World Gym Elite, which took on a theme of a night club to attract patrons. The gear was quite good with barbells, TRX trainers, pullup bars and plenty of open space for double unders or handstands…
After the workout we went into town for a fun Saturday evening stroll.
Warmup
– 100 double unders
– 100 pullups
Strength
– power clean
– power snatch
MetCon (borrowed from my home box)
10-9-8-7…2-1 of
– BW back squats
– burpees
[10:11]

It is official. The best CrossFit drop-in ever goes to CrossFit SSC Sapporo and coach Logan’s fun group of CrossFit athletes and friends. The head coach at SSC is a former pro rugby player from New Zealand which became relevant after the WOD as we went out to a fun local restaurant owned by the rugby league. The food was incredible, as only Hokkaido beef can be, and the rowdy dinner party quickly grew to a dozen from the CrossFitters and rugby players hanging out on a Friday night. Sort of a Kiwi-Hokkaido sports outing unique to this part of the world.
So technically the WOD never ended until after midnight…
SWOD (Strength)
5-3-2-1-1-1-1 Thrusters  [176lbs]
MetCon
3 rounds – each for time
– 5 sandbag hang cleans 25kg
– 5 sandbag front squats 25kg
– 5 sandbag push presses 25kg
– 15m sandbag lunges 25kg
– 340m sprint
[2:25, 2:24, 2:20]

On a good day (like in January), Sapporo would be an awesome ski town with ice sculptures, tourists and a general athletic and fun buzz. Unfortunately the ski season ended and the town is transitioning to its version of spring, which turned out to be cold, gloomy and wet so far.
To best blend in, I went for a run along the river and was accompanied by runners of all ages. The local CF box has WODs only in the evenings so I will have to wait for tomorrow night for a throwdown…
To augment the poor line-up of hotel gyms here, I’m collaborating with my CFDV coach in supplemental work above the local WODs or hotel MetCons.
Strength
– work up to heavy front squat
– EMOTM in 8 minutes
— 3 front squats @85%
[225  / 175]
MetCon “Sapporo Descente”
EMOTM for 12 minutes
– 10 KB swings 15kg
– 10 push-ups
– 10 sit-ups
– 10 squats
If you cannot complete in 1 minute drop to 9 or 8 for each set
Score is the lowest number sets. Eg if in one round you could only compete 8 of each that becomes your score
[lowest sustained set: 8 per round]

Chikara Crossfit in Tokyo has power in its name and they live up to it. Today’s creative WOD was hard even though there was no time or score to keep. The workout took us back to the basics of Crossfit which is actually not about just times but maximizing intensity while having fun. With 3 visitors from the US we did our part in adding variety for the local athletes. It was surprisingly tough and we didn’t even keep score..

WOD
Non-stop and unbroken:
2 rounds of the following sequence with 2 minutes break after each station and 5 minutes break at the end of the round:

1) 2 minutes non stop repeats:
– 10 wall balls 20#
– 5 toes to bar
2) 2 minutes row
3) 2 minutes non stop repeats:
– 5 burpees
– 5 box jumps
4) 2 minutes max distance unbroken farmers carry 72lbs

I won’t get to Chikara CrossFit in Tokyo until tomorrow morning but that did not stop me from doing their programmed WOD today while I was still in Korea.
Crossing the Sea of Japan so to speak… There is nothing like getting up at 4am before your flight to get you WOD on. Even if jet lag is still on your side.

Warmup
– Burgener Snatch Warmup
Strength
– 3×5 deadlifts with 1 min break in-between @ 225
MetCon
For time:
– 400m run then
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 of
– pushups
– KB swings 36lbs
– situps
then
– 400m run
[10:10]