HCP #90 - HYROX Washington DC review, CrossFit Open 2026

**Anthony Peressini** (0:10)
This is episode 90 of the Hybrid Coaching Podcast. On this podcast, JK and I are at the Hyrox, Washington, DC. We go over the singles races, the double races, what it was like to be there, and what it was like to watch it on the YouTube channel. Additionally, we offer a little bit of coaching perspective, and then we talk about the CrossFit Open 26.2 and 26.3. We recorded this before 26.3 was released, so we didn't have all the information on it. We did save our VO2 max discussion for next week though. Let's make Hybrid Fitness work for you. How's it going today, JK?

**JK** (0:53)
Very good, thank you, Anthony Peressini. How are you doing?

**Anthony Peressini** (0:58)
I am okay, I'd say. Really fun weekend this past weekend. It was pretty terrific for a lot of reasons.
Great community out there and I'm also pretty sore and would really like to get my neck arm issue resolved.

**JK** (1:22)
Yeah, how did you go at the DC event with your neck issue?

**Anthony Peressini** (1:30)
Well, I didn't race.

**JK** (1:32)
Yeah, you didn't race.

**Anthony Peressini** (1:35)
So I did not race, but I was walking around, you know, just I think over the weekend outside of like coaching and racing, I think I did like four hours of ellipticaling.

**JK** (1:47)
That's yeah, OK.

**Anthony Peressini** (1:50)
Like in total and then like some arm strengthening things. I went to go do some upper body work just to like get some upper body work in. And so I was in the hotel gym and I was like using the cable machine. I was like, man, this feels weak, but I think it's good to like fire the muscles and activate it because I've lost like three quarters of an inch around my bicep and tricep. Like it's atrophying. My arm is atrophying. My lat is too. But I think it's mostly not around like the bicep. The bicep might be atrophy, but the tricep is. I don't know if I said this last time, I went to go do a pull up the other day and I only pull up to the left.

**JK** (2:32)
Yeah. You sent me a video of you doing that, mate.

**Anthony Peressini** (2:37)
Yeah. It was so-

**JK** (2:38)
As if you were purposely doing like a pull up that was like, the purpose of it is to touch your right fingers, you know?

**Anthony Peressini** (2:51)
Oh yeah, and like kiss your left hand. It was not on purpose. I was trying to do a regular pull up, but I can't pull with my right arm. So anyway, I was in the hotel gym and I do a bicep curl and I can curl about 60 to 70 pound dumbbells with my like isolated one arm. No you can't.

**JK** (3:07)
That's like-

**Anthony Peressini** (3:08)
Yeah, I can.

**JK** (3:08)
That's like- You can curl-

**Anthony Peressini** (3:11)
Like 30 kilos.

**JK** (3:13)
No you can't.

**Anthony Peressini** (3:14)
Yeah, I can.

**JK** (3:15)
Well, if you can, you're like swinging it up.

**Anthony Peressini** (3:19)
No, I can do it on my left arm. I'll send you a video.

**JK** (3:23)
Yeah. Well, okay. Prove it, number one, and then two. I don't think I could do 20

**Anthony Peressini** (3:32)
So I went to my right arm, and I had 15 pounds of my right arm, and I was like, I'm just going to like muscle activation. So like, what is that? Like seven kilos.
I curled it up, and it was extremely difficult. So I did like 10 reps of it. I was like, holy crap. I went to 25th pound dumbbell, and I started to curl it, and 25 pounds is like 10 kilos. I started from the bottom, and I start curling it, and it gets to 90, and my arm is like getting extremely vascular and shaking, and like I can't get it past 90 without hipping it into it to curl the rest of the way. Absolutely ridiculous. But something's obviously wrong, right? I went to a doctor today, actually, now that we're back from DC. I went to a doctor today, and I told you I got an MRI last week, and he showed me the results of the MRI and told me what's going on, and got a little treatment plan going forward. But basically, I herniated my disc between my C5 and C6 cervical spine. So it's not big, but it's pushing right on that nerve root. So I herniated, I forget what he said, like three to five millimeters, which to me doesn't sound like very much, because when I herniated a disc in my low back, it was 13 millimeters. But he said like, there's a lot more space in the low back to like have that type of big one versus your cervical spine, which was much smaller. But I guess it's like a mild, moderate one. But yeah, three to five millimeter herniation, C5 to C6, in that right nerve root. Right.