Girl Eats Bear: News at 11:00

The Bear Complex is (mostly) made of movements that I dislike immensely. In fact, those very movements are included in my master roster of arch nemeses: cleans, thrusters, front squats, back squats. Eeeww. But stick ’em all together, light a fire under my ego, and voila!… Bear Complex, one of my favorite CrossFit workouts.

Go figure.
The last time we did Bear Complex was Memorial Day. We did only four rounds at a consistent weight, alternated with a 400m run. I used 55 lbs., and I remember it was Hard.

In case you haven’t yet had the pleasure, the Bear Complex is:

• 5 rounds, add weight each round
• rest as long as needed between rounds
• 7 reps of the following, without dropping the bar in between moves

power clean –> front squat –> thruster –> back squat –> thruster
Sometimes the thruster is replaced with a push press, but I took full advantage of that momentum from the bottom of the squat to the full overhead extension.

I started at 55 and hoped I could make it all the way through… 60, 65, 70… (“Woot! Seventy. Surely I can do 75.”)

I got through two and a half reps of the sequence at 75 lbs. before I dropped the bar. I lost focus on my power clean for a millisecond, but that was all it took. Clank! Right outta my hands. The power clean is definitely my weak spot, but… I rested for a few seconds, then did 2 full reps… drop… 2 full reps… drop… final rep.

I might have strutted around the house while I made my breakfast (sweet potato, 2 eggs + 2 whites), and I might have been in an inordinately cheerful mood when I got to the corporate overlords’ lair.