by Strong Figure Ambassador, Tasha Parks
Jeremy and I sat huddled around my laptop for the announcement of 15.2. We had just received another new round of snow, so driving to the box to watch it live with friends wasn’t an option.
Dave said it was going to be a repeat. Immediately I hoped for 14.3 (box jumps and deadlifts) because I recently repeated that one and improved my score. Nope, it’ll be 14.2 (overhead squats and chest-to-bar pull-ups).
Workout 15.2
For as long as possible:
From 0:00-3:00
2 rounds of:
10 overhead squats (95 / 65 lb.)
10 chest-to-bar pull-ups
From 3:00-6:00
2 rounds of:
12 overhead squats (95 / 65 lb.)
12 chest-to-bar pull-ups
From 6:00-9:00
2 rounds of:
14 overhead squats (95 / 65 lb.)
14 chest-to-bar pull-ups
Etc., following same pattern
This time last year, overhead squats were miserable for me. The weight was OK, but my shoulder stability wasn’t. Last year I scored a 6 for that WOD. Basically, it was three minutes of my favorite cuss words.
This time, I knew I had the overhead squats in the bag. Sixty-five pounds would be nothing for me. But what about those chest-to-bar pull-ups? I can’t stare up at the bar for the remainder of the three minutes, I’ll have to try.
Friday evening I went to the gym to help judge. Everyone did great and beat their scores from last year. I was happy to be a small part of their celebration! In between judging their workout I’d jump up on the rig and try to get my chest close to it.
Nope. No. Almost. Nope. No. Nice try. Nuh-uh. Nope. Everyone said I was about two inches from my chest touching the bar. I need a stronger upper body or a bigger chest.
That’s it! I have it! I’ll stuff my sweatshirt in my sports bra! My chest will be bigger, there will be less room for me to pull to and I’ll get C2Bs all.day.long.
No, that won’t work either.
Saturday rolls and I’m ready. I’m not nervous at all. I’ve decided that even if I don’t get one chest-to-bar, I’ve already gotten better because I’ll knock out 10 overhead squats, easy.
3…2…1… Go!
As soon as I got my footing right, I got right into the squats. As I was pushing up and down, it dawned on me that I’ll never be fast with these. I have a bad habit of pausing at the bottom before I come up. Many coaches have told me to spring up out of the squat quickly, but I haven’t gotten the hang of that yet. So there I sit at the bottom for about two seconds, and then I push up. But hey, my ass is almost to the ground each time. I will never leave any room for doubt on depth. 
It also hit me that I only got six of these last year, at the same weight. I spent three whole minutes on one movement and only scored a six. I’ve complained a lot over the last year and wondered if I’m getting better at all. 15.2 was proving to me that I am getting better. Can I go heavy on OHS? No, not yet. But I’ll get there. Right now my personal record on the overhead squat is 95# (back in the fall). That weight was in one of my wildest dreams this time last year.
10 overhead squats, done.
Now let’s get to the pull-ups. All I wanted was one. Just one. I tried and tried and tried. Still I came up one to two inches short each time. I tried a wider grip, leaning back more, regular grip, arching my back more, all of that together, all the things people tried to tell me to do the day before and while I was warming up. I was still trying as the clock went off. It never happened.
Final score: 10.
Am I sad? Nah, I’ll get there, I’m close. This workout proved that I am getting better. I knocked out 10 overhead squats at 65# like there was nothing to it! 
But I’m not finished yet. I have Monday to try again. I know my score won’t get worse because the OHS are easy for me. I’ll try it again and push to get my first chest-to-bar pull-up. Hopefully there’s an update to this post with a score of 11!
Tasha, I remember when you did 14.2 and your whole article was about the overhead squat. And then I saw recently on social media that you PR’d your OHS at 95# and I thought to myself, “OMG, not very long ago her shoulder stability wouldn’t let her hold 65!” I have truly loved following your progress. You are proof that if everyone just sticks it out, keeps coming back, keeps pushing through day by day, success is a reality. Who cares about the pull-ups? You’ll have them by next year. In fact, if Dave does a three-peat next year, I guess you’ll be writing about how many rounds you get?? 😉 So glad you write these up for us.