300 - Day 60 - Hello Glute Ham Developer Sit-ups

Glute Ham Developer (GHD) Sit-ups or "Romain Chair" sit-ups as they are more commonly known have kind of fell out of use in most gyms, because a lot of people suggested that (like the regular sit-up) it puts a lot of unnecessary tension on the spine. However, like most exercises in Crossfit - if done properly, this is not true. So the Crossfit community still uses this.

So basically the GHD sit-up consists of using a back extension or GHD station to do even more full range sit-ups than regular sit-ups. Almost kind of like the ab-lounge, except unsupported and much, much harder and more effective.

So the WOD for Day 60 as per the main site was:
For time:
135 lb Squat clean, 10 reps
50 GHD Sit-ups
135 lb Squat clean, 8 reps
40 GHD Sit-ups
135 lb Squat clean, 6 reps
30 GHD Sit-ups
135 lb Squat clean, 4 reps
20 GHD Sit-ups
135 lb Squat clean, 2 reps
10 GHD Sit-ups

Of course, my gym doesn't have a GHD station but I wanted to try these, so I made a make-shift station. I took the bench that I was moving away from the Bench Press rack anyway (so I could do my squat cleans) and placed it perpendicular in front of the leg extension station. I then took the leg extension and put the foot pads in the upright-most position. I was able to place my legs over this with my feat tucked under the seat to do GHD sit-ups. I worked 10 of these into my warm-up to make sure the concept worked.

I warmed up as follows:
1000m row (nice and easy - 4:59.9)
20 push-ups
10 GHD sit-ups
10 pull-ups (strict)
20 squats

The improvised GHD station worked. However, I had been cautioned via the comments section on the main site to avoid doing too many GHD sit-ups your first time - so I heeded the advice and made a mat available in my usual sit-up spot for when the GHD sit-ups starting getting hard. It didn't take long.

The squat cleans (first 10) didn't take me too long, but I did have to rest for a second after 8 reps before I could get the last two in. This ended up being basically a theme for the rest of these.

I moved into my 50 GHD sit-ups and got 20 in before the burn kicked in and I had to rest. I realized these were tough. Real tough. I rested a few seconds and started off again getting 10 more in.. then 5 more... 5 more etc. until I finished. Those are tough - and I can see why people caution against them. These are the only 50 GHDs that I did. I did the last 100 as regular sit-ups.

My final posted time was 22:09. The only set I did in completion without rest were the two in the last round - 2 squat cleans and 10 regular sit-ups. Even before leaving the gym, my abs were already as sore as any day-after before now.