Pfft. If you want to test how strong – or how weak – your shoulders are, do a shoulder press. The power can’t come from your legs or your hips. It’s all shoulders.

Predictably, I could only lift 35 lbs. RJ said it was too easy for me but I really couldn’t lift the 45-lb. barbell without dipping. So I just did more sets using the 35-lb. bar.

For the cash-out, I used the 25-lb. bar. Damned thrusters. Did you see how many squats we had to do yesterday? Try doing a thruster when your legs have turned to lead. I asked them to turn the music up so that I could scream a little.

I must say though that my band-assisted pull-ups have vastly improved. It actually looks like I’m doing real pull-ups (albeit with a giant green rubber band attached to my foot). If I keep doing this for a year, maybe I’ll finally move up to the purple band. Har har.

I completed four rounds and finished the 100 m. row of the fifth round.

By the way, this is my last month at the box. It sucks because I’ll be traveling a lot this month too, so I won’t be going to CrossFit as often as I would like. There are a few new things I have lined up for the New Year that I’d like to try out and write about, but mostly I’d like to commit to six months of Krav Maga (and kettlebell training). So I hope to be going to the box everyday this December, at least while I’m here in Manila.