Warm up: 400m sprint, 50 air squats, 400m sprint, 50 sit ups
WOD : push a truck, 10 burpees, push a truck, 15 star jumps, push a truck, 20 box jumps, push a truck, 25 air squats
Good grief! This was a crazy WOD, and it happened to be on my 33rd birthday. The warm up was significant enough for me -- I had been working on box jumps yesterday evening and my good ol' left knee was already hurting. I was able to jump on the tallest box + two 45 lb bumpers, but I was paying for it.
My boyfriend got to work out with us today, which was fun but didn't end up helping me out because he was paired with someone else. He's a big dude -- the kind you want on your team when brute speed is called for! At any rate, I got to work with one of the new girls in the class. She and another girl got to do this as their first CF WOD. How's that for jumping into it?! They did great. They're both already really strong and fast, so they'll be at the top of the group in no time.
Overall, this was a fun workout. Lots of functional movement covered by this WOD, and we really had to power through the quads. As I mentioned, mine were already burning from the warm up, so I felt pretty smoked afterwards but recovered quickly.
No posted time -- just good clean fun!
-- Mobilelly Yours, GGG
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
FRAN FRIDAY!!!
Warm up: 500m row, 10 push ups, 30 air squats, high knees, butt kicks, grapevines, 30 jumping jacks
WOD: "Fran" -- For time, 21-15-9 thrusters and pull ups
I have had butterflies in my stomach for a week over this one. "Fran" is a benchmark WOD for all CrossFitters, and CrossFit Centex is even having an event tonight to get a whole bunch of people together to do "Fran". I was more than a little intimidated by the thought of doing this at such a beginner's level around lots of people, mainly guys, who are virtual power houses. So, I met with my regular group this morning and we knocked it out.
It was 45 degrees when I woke up today, so I dressed for colder weather, put my hair in funky braids and a beanie, and set off. When I got to the box, we were all a little jittery but excited to be doing "Fran." I got to have two coaches talking and motivating me through this that I normally don't get to work out with, so that was lots of fun. One of them really snapped my focus where it needed to be. He asked me what my plan was for rest, and then said that he would be holding me accountable to it. If I started to go past that time, he was gonna be on me to get moving. That one thought right there really kept me moving.
Dare I say it -- I've done harder WODs. Not that this wasn't hard, incredibly hypoxic, and exhilarating all at once. For me, with the weight I used and the fact that I've been babying my knees for the last couple of days, the thrusters were manageable, and pull ups are not near as scary as they used to be, even though I'm still doing them assisted. But the thruster movement itself was not the hardest movement to perform. I think the hardest thing I've done so far was the hang squat cleans from Monday. They were completely brutal. Given, I didn't do "Fran" as prescribed -- I did it scaled -- but for my first WOD, it was appropriate weight, I think.
I think that the combination of good coaching and mental focus is what really helped me plug through today. The male coaches have a different way of pushing than my female coach, and every now and then it's nice to switch them up just to hear how they motivate in different ways. And the "zone" I've been able to get into mentally with some of the other WODs proved to be helpful today. All I know is that I felt electrified at the end of it and insanely surprised at my time.
I DID IT!
Posted time: 5:56 with 45# and assisted pull ups
WOD: "Fran" -- For time, 21-15-9 thrusters and pull ups
I have had butterflies in my stomach for a week over this one. "Fran" is a benchmark WOD for all CrossFitters, and CrossFit Centex is even having an event tonight to get a whole bunch of people together to do "Fran". I was more than a little intimidated by the thought of doing this at such a beginner's level around lots of people, mainly guys, who are virtual power houses. So, I met with my regular group this morning and we knocked it out.
It was 45 degrees when I woke up today, so I dressed for colder weather, put my hair in funky braids and a beanie, and set off. When I got to the box, we were all a little jittery but excited to be doing "Fran." I got to have two coaches talking and motivating me through this that I normally don't get to work out with, so that was lots of fun. One of them really snapped my focus where it needed to be. He asked me what my plan was for rest, and then said that he would be holding me accountable to it. If I started to go past that time, he was gonna be on me to get moving. That one thought right there really kept me moving.
Dare I say it -- I've done harder WODs. Not that this wasn't hard, incredibly hypoxic, and exhilarating all at once. For me, with the weight I used and the fact that I've been babying my knees for the last couple of days, the thrusters were manageable, and pull ups are not near as scary as they used to be, even though I'm still doing them assisted. But the thruster movement itself was not the hardest movement to perform. I think the hardest thing I've done so far was the hang squat cleans from Monday. They were completely brutal. Given, I didn't do "Fran" as prescribed -- I did it scaled -- but for my first WOD, it was appropriate weight, I think.
I think that the combination of good coaching and mental focus is what really helped me plug through today. The male coaches have a different way of pushing than my female coach, and every now and then it's nice to switch them up just to hear how they motivate in different ways. And the "zone" I've been able to get into mentally with some of the other WODs proved to be helpful today. All I know is that I felt electrified at the end of it and insanely surprised at my time.
I DID IT!
Posted time: 5:56 with 45# and assisted pull ups
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
5K Day
WOD: 5K followed by 30 KTE, 30 GH extensions, 30 sit ups
Today was another mind check for me, albeit a much easier task to complete. If you read the posts on Friday and Monday, you have a clue as to how important your mental game is when coming up to your own personal wall. I have a real fear of long distance running -- does 3.2 miles count as long distance? -- so my stomach was in knots by the time I arrived at the gym this morning. I've never even desired to attempt a long run after getting out of ROTC, and I'm definitely not one of these people whose bucket list has any sort of running feat anywhere on it. Alas, someone else programmed this to be the WOD, so I had to do it.
It had been pouring down rain and dark as I drive the kids to school. On the one hand, I thought, "Great! We'll just have to do something else -- GEE DARN." Then I had a terrible realization: if we weren't able to run the 5K, we would most likely have to row it on the rowing machine. "NOOOO!!!" screamed my knees. "We took all we could, Captain -- we cannot take any more!" Luckily the weather broke just long enough to get the run out of the way, and then the bottom dropped out when we came back to the gym to finish up.
The weather was ideal for running this morning: 65 degrees, a light drizzle, and a light breeze. That made a huge difference for me. Running in hot weather really kills me, so I felt lucky to be doing this in the fall. Traffic had subsided, I had a great playlist on the iPod, and all the external factors were checked off.
I wish I had made it further than I did before I stopped jogging to walk. I probably made it at least a mile before I stopped. Had I been running next to someone, this would still have happened but perhaps just a little later. My coach talked about several different strategies for approaching a longer run, as in goals to set for yourself before you start. For some, the goal was to improve their time; for others, it was simply to complete the run at all, and still others had goals somewhere between these two extremes. For me, I was rather intimidated by the term "5K" and the concept of how far that was. My walking/jogging is normally done on a treadmill, so I really didn't know what to expect, and I wanted to be realistic. My goal was to run as much as possible, walk only when necessary, and walk fast with active arms when I did have to walk. And also to finish without puking. :)
One of the things you learn to utilize early on in CrossFit is planned rest. This is a situation where you have to stop what you're doing and recover a little bit before you can get moving again. However, rather than just waiting around to feel better, your muscles to quit aching, your pulse to slow down too much, etc., you tell yourself how long you will rest, count down in your head, and then get moving. Basically, you have a contingency plan that keeps you from hurting yourself or allows you to rest but doesn't allow you to quit or lose momentum. I utilized planned rest on this run. The last mile I really took in intervals. I tried to run longer than I was allowing myself to rest, and before the last "home stretch," I made a point to walk, breathe deeply and slowly to really oxygenate my muscles, put the iPod on a Nickleback song, and bring it on home. This strategy worked really well! Lastly, my coach ran the last 200m with me, challenging me to keep on her heels and then really lengthen my stride and increase my speed at the end. It was such a great feeling to finally be done!
The crazy cool thing is that I didn't even feel tired at the end of the run. I had some of those cramps in my abdomen that come when you haven't run in a long time, but other than that, the rest of my body felt like it could've kept going. My leg muscles were warm and revved up, not cramping, and I wasn't so winded or nauseated that I couldn't speak. Dare I say -- I actually enjoyed this run today?!? Had I been in a little bit better situation with my breathing/cardio, I really think I could've run the whole thing and not needed to walk. Perhaps that will be my goal for the next time we do this WOD.
Once we got back to the box, we cranked out the additional exercises, not keeping track of time or anything. They were easy enough, but after 15 reps on the GHD, I could tell my hamstrings were really tight and needed to be stretched. All in all, a great day. And I even rewarded myself with a protein smoothie from Smoothie Ds.
Posted time: 34:33
-- Mobilelly Yours, GGG
Today was another mind check for me, albeit a much easier task to complete. If you read the posts on Friday and Monday, you have a clue as to how important your mental game is when coming up to your own personal wall. I have a real fear of long distance running -- does 3.2 miles count as long distance? -- so my stomach was in knots by the time I arrived at the gym this morning. I've never even desired to attempt a long run after getting out of ROTC, and I'm definitely not one of these people whose bucket list has any sort of running feat anywhere on it. Alas, someone else programmed this to be the WOD, so I had to do it.
It had been pouring down rain and dark as I drive the kids to school. On the one hand, I thought, "Great! We'll just have to do something else -- GEE DARN." Then I had a terrible realization: if we weren't able to run the 5K, we would most likely have to row it on the rowing machine. "NOOOO!!!" screamed my knees. "We took all we could, Captain -- we cannot take any more!" Luckily the weather broke just long enough to get the run out of the way, and then the bottom dropped out when we came back to the gym to finish up.
The weather was ideal for running this morning: 65 degrees, a light drizzle, and a light breeze. That made a huge difference for me. Running in hot weather really kills me, so I felt lucky to be doing this in the fall. Traffic had subsided, I had a great playlist on the iPod, and all the external factors were checked off.
I wish I had made it further than I did before I stopped jogging to walk. I probably made it at least a mile before I stopped. Had I been running next to someone, this would still have happened but perhaps just a little later. My coach talked about several different strategies for approaching a longer run, as in goals to set for yourself before you start. For some, the goal was to improve their time; for others, it was simply to complete the run at all, and still others had goals somewhere between these two extremes. For me, I was rather intimidated by the term "5K" and the concept of how far that was. My walking/jogging is normally done on a treadmill, so I really didn't know what to expect, and I wanted to be realistic. My goal was to run as much as possible, walk only when necessary, and walk fast with active arms when I did have to walk. And also to finish without puking. :)
One of the things you learn to utilize early on in CrossFit is planned rest. This is a situation where you have to stop what you're doing and recover a little bit before you can get moving again. However, rather than just waiting around to feel better, your muscles to quit aching, your pulse to slow down too much, etc., you tell yourself how long you will rest, count down in your head, and then get moving. Basically, you have a contingency plan that keeps you from hurting yourself or allows you to rest but doesn't allow you to quit or lose momentum. I utilized planned rest on this run. The last mile I really took in intervals. I tried to run longer than I was allowing myself to rest, and before the last "home stretch," I made a point to walk, breathe deeply and slowly to really oxygenate my muscles, put the iPod on a Nickleback song, and bring it on home. This strategy worked really well! Lastly, my coach ran the last 200m with me, challenging me to keep on her heels and then really lengthen my stride and increase my speed at the end. It was such a great feeling to finally be done!
The crazy cool thing is that I didn't even feel tired at the end of the run. I had some of those cramps in my abdomen that come when you haven't run in a long time, but other than that, the rest of my body felt like it could've kept going. My leg muscles were warm and revved up, not cramping, and I wasn't so winded or nauseated that I couldn't speak. Dare I say -- I actually enjoyed this run today?!? Had I been in a little bit better situation with my breathing/cardio, I really think I could've run the whole thing and not needed to walk. Perhaps that will be my goal for the next time we do this WOD.
Once we got back to the box, we cranked out the additional exercises, not keeping track of time or anything. They were easy enough, but after 15 reps on the GHD, I could tell my hamstrings were really tight and needed to be stretched. All in all, a great day. And I even rewarded myself with a protein smoothie from Smoothie Ds.
Posted time: 34:33
-- Mobilelly Yours, GGG
Monday, October 19, 2009
House of Pain
Warm up: 400m run, various calisthenics, dumbbell snatches, practice hanging squat cleans with PVC
WOD: 5 rounds for time of 15 hanging squat cleans, 30 push ups
Did I mention that I'm a big, whiny baby? Did I also mention how badly my knees and shoulders have been hurting lately? I was in the house of pain today like I've never been before, and I promise I'm not telling you about it to complain. It just is what it is.
I've been really sucking it up lately with knee pain, and mentally I've really been fighting to complete the last two WODs. Tomorrow's WOD will likely be one of the hardest I've ever done, and then on Wednesday I "get to" run a 5K and then come back to the box for a few more exercises. We're supposed to be having a "Fran Friday" this week, and I'm planning on attending, but even as I sit here typing this, I can feel the swelling starting in my knees. It is just not looking good.
My coach started me off with 65# for the hanging squat cleans. This weight should not have been a problem for me -- I've worked with this much weight many times before. I simply could not get it up high enough to get underneath it, and even when I did attempt to get underneath it, I just couldn't get there fast enough. I tried and failed five or six times, then she moved me down to 55#, which is how I completed the WOD.
I was so frustrated. I really had to fight even to complete this with 55#. At one point I was so fired up and frustrated that I was willing myself not to cry. (Think Tom Hanks yelling, "There's no crying! There's no crying in baseball!") There is no crying in CrossFit, so get your butt moving, woman.
With each time I went down, my left knee felt like it had a needle hanging out of it that dug in a little deeper with each movement. Once I had stood the weight up and was dropping it down to get another rep, the movement of bringing the bar down made my shoulders feel like they were being ripped off, or at least stretched in opposite directions by some sadistic machine you think of in castle basements.
Most days, when I'm feeling stiff and in a little pain, it wears off after the first two rounds and I find my rhythm and can stick with it. I did finally find a rhythm, but each beat was marked with the staccato of shooting pain in my knees and shoulders. It just never gave way. This was the second WOD that I felt sure, during the first round, I would not be finishing.
The push ups were easy, and I tried to crank those out and make up time there. I wanted to finish under 30:00 again today, but honestly, I was surprised that I actually made it through this one. There was no wave of proud relief. Only frustration at what had happened with my body and how far I had allowed my mind to go in attempting to derail my workout. I've been beating myself up about it all day, and I just don't know what to do with it.
I can tell you this much -- if it hadn't been for my coach, today would've been short and painless for me. I would've packed up and walked out the door. She really put up with a butt load of my bellyaching and kept me moving, kept me up to get one more rep. Watching the other girls made me wonder how they were doing this without near as much anguish as me, but I was the second one to finish out of four, so I guess my results weren't that bad.
This week is going to be one of the toughest ever for me in CF. I've really got to take care of those knees and tell my inner demon to kiss off. I've got Fran at the end of the week, and I've got to git 'er dun.
Posted time: 28:40 with 55#
WOD: 5 rounds for time of 15 hanging squat cleans, 30 push ups
Did I mention that I'm a big, whiny baby? Did I also mention how badly my knees and shoulders have been hurting lately? I was in the house of pain today like I've never been before, and I promise I'm not telling you about it to complain. It just is what it is.
I've been really sucking it up lately with knee pain, and mentally I've really been fighting to complete the last two WODs. Tomorrow's WOD will likely be one of the hardest I've ever done, and then on Wednesday I "get to" run a 5K and then come back to the box for a few more exercises. We're supposed to be having a "Fran Friday" this week, and I'm planning on attending, but even as I sit here typing this, I can feel the swelling starting in my knees. It is just not looking good.
My coach started me off with 65# for the hanging squat cleans. This weight should not have been a problem for me -- I've worked with this much weight many times before. I simply could not get it up high enough to get underneath it, and even when I did attempt to get underneath it, I just couldn't get there fast enough. I tried and failed five or six times, then she moved me down to 55#, which is how I completed the WOD.
I was so frustrated. I really had to fight even to complete this with 55#. At one point I was so fired up and frustrated that I was willing myself not to cry. (Think Tom Hanks yelling, "There's no crying! There's no crying in baseball!") There is no crying in CrossFit, so get your butt moving, woman.
With each time I went down, my left knee felt like it had a needle hanging out of it that dug in a little deeper with each movement. Once I had stood the weight up and was dropping it down to get another rep, the movement of bringing the bar down made my shoulders feel like they were being ripped off, or at least stretched in opposite directions by some sadistic machine you think of in castle basements.
Most days, when I'm feeling stiff and in a little pain, it wears off after the first two rounds and I find my rhythm and can stick with it. I did finally find a rhythm, but each beat was marked with the staccato of shooting pain in my knees and shoulders. It just never gave way. This was the second WOD that I felt sure, during the first round, I would not be finishing.
The push ups were easy, and I tried to crank those out and make up time there. I wanted to finish under 30:00 again today, but honestly, I was surprised that I actually made it through this one. There was no wave of proud relief. Only frustration at what had happened with my body and how far I had allowed my mind to go in attempting to derail my workout. I've been beating myself up about it all day, and I just don't know what to do with it.
I can tell you this much -- if it hadn't been for my coach, today would've been short and painless for me. I would've packed up and walked out the door. She really put up with a butt load of my bellyaching and kept me moving, kept me up to get one more rep. Watching the other girls made me wonder how they were doing this without near as much anguish as me, but I was the second one to finish out of four, so I guess my results weren't that bad.
This week is going to be one of the toughest ever for me in CF. I've really got to take care of those knees and tell my inner demon to kiss off. I've got Fran at the end of the week, and I've got to git 'er dun.
Posted time: 28:40 with 55#
Friday, October 16, 2009
Hamburger Buns (Again)
Warm up: 400m jog, various calisthenics
WOD: 5 rounds for time of sprints, prowler pushes, walking weighted lunges, 25 squats, 10 box jumps
First of all, I just want to vent. I had a great post written and tried to post it from my iPhone app, and it kept posting to my other blog, One More Thing. After deleting and retrying several times, it became my latest victim to the hungry internet monster. Damn you, Cyberspace!!!
I'll do my best to try and remember all the points I made in the original post. The BLUF (bottom line up front) was that it was hard and mentally had me hurting. It is amazing how much the mind can play tricks on us, and I can definitely see how overcoming mind blocks in the gym can help us to overcoming them in the rest of our daily lives.
Warm up was pretty uneventful. I only wish I could say that for the rest of the morning! The sprints, back and forth the length of the building, weren't the worst, but pushing the prowler was definitely no fun. Pushing this big metal monster across the pavement was about like trying to push a car across the parking lot that has no wheels, just metal grating on cement. I felt like Samson after Delilah had cut his hair -- powerless to move this heavy thing in front of me.
The walking weighted lunges were by far the most painful part. Lunges hurt my knees worse than almost anything I've ever done. I had to walk the length of the building like this, holding a 25# bumper weight over my head, stop at the end of the 18-step stretchg (not that I was counting, right?!?), do 25 squats holding the weight, and then come back to the starting point. Pure torture, plain and simple.
The last part was the box jumps. This was easy work for me, so I tried desperately to make up time here. I was using the tallest box this time, and I really want to add a bumper to the box next time for a bit of a challenge.
I mentioned earlier about how this WOD blew my mind. The physical pain brought on by today's WOD was nothing compared to the defeat my psyche was cooking up in my little blonde head. I've been having quite a few issues with joints as of late, and nothing puts me into self-defeat mode faster than joint pain. Halfway through the first round, I was already telling myself there was no way I'd make it through this one. My quads were already burning, and my knees were screaming, too. Somehow, about halfway through round three, I could see the end of the tunnel and knew I would finish. By the end of the last round, I was trying to go as fast as I safely could in order to finish under 30:00, which I did by a hair.
After working strength and doing heavy lifts so much recently, we really did need to work on some other things, things at which I really do suck and need to challenge myself. My coach is great to keep us moving and motivated. She's always reminding us that WOD like this one will yield growth, strength, and change for us. I know she's right. I look over at the other girls, fighting for it, too, and they keep me going.
Posted time: 28:44
WOD: 5 rounds for time of sprints, prowler pushes, walking weighted lunges, 25 squats, 10 box jumps
First of all, I just want to vent. I had a great post written and tried to post it from my iPhone app, and it kept posting to my other blog, One More Thing. After deleting and retrying several times, it became my latest victim to the hungry internet monster. Damn you, Cyberspace!!!
I'll do my best to try and remember all the points I made in the original post. The BLUF (bottom line up front) was that it was hard and mentally had me hurting. It is amazing how much the mind can play tricks on us, and I can definitely see how overcoming mind blocks in the gym can help us to overcoming them in the rest of our daily lives.
Warm up was pretty uneventful. I only wish I could say that for the rest of the morning! The sprints, back and forth the length of the building, weren't the worst, but pushing the prowler was definitely no fun. Pushing this big metal monster across the pavement was about like trying to push a car across the parking lot that has no wheels, just metal grating on cement. I felt like Samson after Delilah had cut his hair -- powerless to move this heavy thing in front of me.
The walking weighted lunges were by far the most painful part. Lunges hurt my knees worse than almost anything I've ever done. I had to walk the length of the building like this, holding a 25# bumper weight over my head, stop at the end of the 18-step stretchg (not that I was counting, right?!?), do 25 squats holding the weight, and then come back to the starting point. Pure torture, plain and simple.
The last part was the box jumps. This was easy work for me, so I tried desperately to make up time here. I was using the tallest box this time, and I really want to add a bumper to the box next time for a bit of a challenge.
I mentioned earlier about how this WOD blew my mind. The physical pain brought on by today's WOD was nothing compared to the defeat my psyche was cooking up in my little blonde head. I've been having quite a few issues with joints as of late, and nothing puts me into self-defeat mode faster than joint pain. Halfway through the first round, I was already telling myself there was no way I'd make it through this one. My quads were already burning, and my knees were screaming, too. Somehow, about halfway through round three, I could see the end of the tunnel and knew I would finish. By the end of the last round, I was trying to go as fast as I safely could in order to finish under 30:00, which I did by a hair.
After working strength and doing heavy lifts so much recently, we really did need to work on some other things, things at which I really do suck and need to challenge myself. My coach is great to keep us moving and motivated. She's always reminding us that WOD like this one will yield growth, strength, and change for us. I know she's right. I look over at the other girls, fighting for it, too, and they keep me going.
Posted time: 28:44
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Not Just A Game
Warm up: "5-4-3-2-1"
WOD: CrossFit Games -- 30 squat cleans to full press, for time
After having not worked out on Tuesday, today's WOD seemed like it would be pretty easy. My coach had been sick and cancelled class on Tuesday, which turned out to be a blessing for me. After finding my max deadlift, my back muscles needed another recovery day, so I felt good and strong going into the "game." However, I should've learned by now that the ones that look easy usually aren't.
The warm up went quickly. I mused to myself how funny it was that this was a mini-WOD in Elements that I actually found to be hard, and today it seemed to be a breeze. Given, I wasn't going for time today, but none of the moves really took it out of me. I felt like I had gotten stronger over the last couple of weeks, and I was proud of that.
Today's WOD was one of the workouts used one year in the CrossFit Games. Apparently, these are like the CF Olympics over a course of three days or so. WODs are chosen at random, and the athletes perform several of them every day. This was only one of the WODs performed on one of the days, and I can't recall which year's games from which this was taken. Either way, it looked easy enough, but it takes real stamina and focus to just keep going, something I'm working on each time I step foot in the box.
I thought I was using 55#, but my coach recorded my weight as 65#. Either way, the weight didn't feel heavy at all. I was powering through my hips nicely, getting under the bar and into a good deep squat, coming up, and then dip-driving the bar up overhead. Not difficult in and of itself, but put 30 of them together and it gets challenging.
I know I could've gone a lot faster, especially since the weight was more than manageable. Part of what made this a difficult WOD for me was the cardio capacity you need to be in constant motion and bearing weight. That, plus the unseasonal heat and humidity added to the environmental stressors and really made me breathe hard.
Something I'm noticing a lot these days is joints. How much they crackle, how sore they can be after workouts, how long it takes them to really get moving smoothly once I'm working through a WOD, etc. I think overall they will be strengthening, and I'm making efforts to be stretching and working on my flexibility through my joints, but in the back of my head, I wonder what kind of shape I'll be in by the time I'm, say, 50 years old. I live in gross fear of what my body will look like if/when something happens and I can no longer work out at the same level of intensity. All I can do now is eat well, rest enough, and stay active. I think that's as much as I can ask out of my body.
Overall, fun workout. Wish I had pushed harder to go faster, but the coach we had today did a great job yelling at us to keep moving and keep motivated. I really love this stuff. :)
Posted time: 11:30 with 65#
P.S. -- To see someone really pushing it at the CrossFit Games doing this very WOD, check out this video. It's simply amazing. Video courtesy of CrossFit and CrossFit Centex.
http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFitGames08_KallistaCJFinals.wmv
WOD: CrossFit Games -- 30 squat cleans to full press, for time
After having not worked out on Tuesday, today's WOD seemed like it would be pretty easy. My coach had been sick and cancelled class on Tuesday, which turned out to be a blessing for me. After finding my max deadlift, my back muscles needed another recovery day, so I felt good and strong going into the "game." However, I should've learned by now that the ones that look easy usually aren't.
The warm up went quickly. I mused to myself how funny it was that this was a mini-WOD in Elements that I actually found to be hard, and today it seemed to be a breeze. Given, I wasn't going for time today, but none of the moves really took it out of me. I felt like I had gotten stronger over the last couple of weeks, and I was proud of that.
Today's WOD was one of the workouts used one year in the CrossFit Games. Apparently, these are like the CF Olympics over a course of three days or so. WODs are chosen at random, and the athletes perform several of them every day. This was only one of the WODs performed on one of the days, and I can't recall which year's games from which this was taken. Either way, it looked easy enough, but it takes real stamina and focus to just keep going, something I'm working on each time I step foot in the box.
I thought I was using 55#, but my coach recorded my weight as 65#. Either way, the weight didn't feel heavy at all. I was powering through my hips nicely, getting under the bar and into a good deep squat, coming up, and then dip-driving the bar up overhead. Not difficult in and of itself, but put 30 of them together and it gets challenging.
I know I could've gone a lot faster, especially since the weight was more than manageable. Part of what made this a difficult WOD for me was the cardio capacity you need to be in constant motion and bearing weight. That, plus the unseasonal heat and humidity added to the environmental stressors and really made me breathe hard.
Something I'm noticing a lot these days is joints. How much they crackle, how sore they can be after workouts, how long it takes them to really get moving smoothly once I'm working through a WOD, etc. I think overall they will be strengthening, and I'm making efforts to be stretching and working on my flexibility through my joints, but in the back of my head, I wonder what kind of shape I'll be in by the time I'm, say, 50 years old. I live in gross fear of what my body will look like if/when something happens and I can no longer work out at the same level of intensity. All I can do now is eat well, rest enough, and stay active. I think that's as much as I can ask out of my body.
Overall, fun workout. Wish I had pushed harder to go faster, but the coach we had today did a great job yelling at us to keep moving and keep motivated. I really love this stuff. :)
Posted time: 11:30 with 65#
P.S. -- To see someone really pushing it at the CrossFit Games doing this very WOD, check out this video. It's simply amazing. Video courtesy of CrossFit and CrossFit Centex.
http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFitGames08_KallistaCJFinals.wmv
Monday, October 12, 2009
Belated Recap of Wednesday and Friday
As mentioned in the post for Monday, 12 OCT, I got a little behind in posting for Wednesday and Friday of last week. Due to circuit overload in my brain these days, I had to dig back on the CrossFit Centex blog to see what we had done and what my results were...
Wednesday
WOD: For time, 10 squat cleans, 50 KTE, 8 squat cleans, 40 KTE, 6 squat cleans, 30 KTE, 4 squat cleans, 20 KTE, 2 squat cleans, 10 KTE
I can't remember what weight I used for squat cleans -- perhaps 65#? Most likely. I FINALLY got the hang of KTE, or knees to elbows. I knew I had the core strength to do them. What it took was figuring out the kipping-style motion to rock back and get them up there. During the first round, I did 45 of them on the bar when Jodi told me to move down to the mat to finish doing the modified ones. From that point on, for the sake of time and efficiency, I did half on the bar, half modified. My wrists and shoulders were really sucking badly between doing the lifting and the hanging, and I'm hoping to avoid any kind of joint injury while still pushing through stiffness to increase strength and flexibility.
Posted time: Well, there was a small problem here. The timer wasn't working properly, and we didn't catch this until I'd completed my entire first round; coincidentally, it was the longest round, too. I did the rest of them in 12:48, but this WOD was probably closer to about 18:00 or so for me.
Friday
WOD: 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 power cleans
I just really like these lifts. I'm getting better at the mechanics; although, I will say that once I get up to the challenging heavier weights, I hit a sort of mental block about getting underneath the weight fast enough. But these are some of the most gratifying days when we're just lifting, adding more weight, seeing if we can keep on increasing in weight and pushing our limits. I love the mental focusing that is required on these lifts. Hit a personal record, too! Last time I maxed out at 80#, and I blew past that today. Hot damn! :)
Posted weight: 65-75-85-95(F)-95(F)-95-95(F)
Wednesday
WOD: For time, 10 squat cleans, 50 KTE, 8 squat cleans, 40 KTE, 6 squat cleans, 30 KTE, 4 squat cleans, 20 KTE, 2 squat cleans, 10 KTE
I can't remember what weight I used for squat cleans -- perhaps 65#? Most likely. I FINALLY got the hang of KTE, or knees to elbows. I knew I had the core strength to do them. What it took was figuring out the kipping-style motion to rock back and get them up there. During the first round, I did 45 of them on the bar when Jodi told me to move down to the mat to finish doing the modified ones. From that point on, for the sake of time and efficiency, I did half on the bar, half modified. My wrists and shoulders were really sucking badly between doing the lifting and the hanging, and I'm hoping to avoid any kind of joint injury while still pushing through stiffness to increase strength and flexibility.
Posted time: Well, there was a small problem here. The timer wasn't working properly, and we didn't catch this until I'd completed my entire first round; coincidentally, it was the longest round, too. I did the rest of them in 12:48, but this WOD was probably closer to about 18:00 or so for me.
Friday
WOD: 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 power cleans
I just really like these lifts. I'm getting better at the mechanics; although, I will say that once I get up to the challenging heavier weights, I hit a sort of mental block about getting underneath the weight fast enough. But these are some of the most gratifying days when we're just lifting, adding more weight, seeing if we can keep on increasing in weight and pushing our limits. I love the mental focusing that is required on these lifts. Hit a personal record, too! Last time I maxed out at 80#, and I blew past that today. Hot damn! :)
Posted weight: 65-75-85-95(F)-95(F)-95-95(F)
A Little Bit O' Everything
Warm up: 1000m team row, 2x5 deadlift
WOD: AMRAP in 15 minutes of: farmer walk, 21 SDHPs, 12 pull ups
Holy smokes, where did Wednesday and Friday go from last week?!? Things were outta-control-crazy last week, and I did well to get to the gym those days. To be real honest, I can't even think back that far to remember what we worked on. I do know that we worked on some power cleans on Friday in lieu of what had been programmed due to inclement weather, but I'm at a loss for Wednesday's WOD. I'll go back and blog separately about Friday -- hit a personal best, so it's worth recording!
Today I was tired and had the kids with me since the local school district was having a holiday today. But I got up and got moving, and I brought the kiddos along! We got them on the rowing machine, and my son eventually found the boxing gloves, so it was all good. I'm also trying to get my younger brother to "drink the Kool-Aid," and he came up there to check out the facility. His timing rocked, too -- he showed up near the end of the WOD, and it perked me up a little bit to see he had actually come out.
Team row was a smoker but a good warm up. I need to build up speed on this for sure for the short distances, but swapping out every 250m did afford you a little recovery time. We had a new face in class today, and it was her first WOD after Elements -- what a way to get broken in! She worked hard and kept moving and did a great job.
We also had another new face drop in today -- a brave soul, indeed. My class is prodominantly women, so when a guy shows up, I always feel a little badly for him. We may be working our butts off, but so many of these guys move a lot of weight around and work a level of intensity that would drop me dead. I feel as if they don't have anyone else working on their level to challenge or push them. On the other hand, my competetive nature comes out, and I find that I don't want to fall too far behind these guys and give them a decent run for their money. It's just fun to have new people every once in a while.
Working with the deadlift was a new one for me. For the warm up, we only did a few, but I came back to it after recovering from the WOD. I found my max at 165#! That's actually more than I weigh! I was really astonished that I was able to work that far. I'm definitely feeling the muscle soreness in my paraspinal muscles, but nothing that screams injury, just good old fashioned hard work.
The farmer walk (with 30#) was an area where I was able to make up time today. My grip didn't start to go until my third round, so I did a super fast walk with it to get through it quickly. I probably could've gone up to 35#, so next time I'll go up in weight for sure.
You all know how "fond" I am of sumo deadlight high pulls (SDHPs). Just not my favorite lift. However, I was able to perform that one as prescribed at 65#! Another milestone for me! As for the pull ups, I did them assisted with the red rubber band, but looking back I think I should've pushed myself to do this just jumping sans band.
Overall, this wasn't a bad little WOD, but I think I could've challenged myself more on the farmer walk and pull ups. The SDHPs were easy enough to do, but I need to build up consistency of speed, and 65# will be a good place to work on that.
Posted rounds: 3 rounds completed, farmer walk and 5 SDHPs into round four when time was called.
WOD: AMRAP in 15 minutes of: farmer walk, 21 SDHPs, 12 pull ups
Holy smokes, where did Wednesday and Friday go from last week?!? Things were outta-control-crazy last week, and I did well to get to the gym those days. To be real honest, I can't even think back that far to remember what we worked on. I do know that we worked on some power cleans on Friday in lieu of what had been programmed due to inclement weather, but I'm at a loss for Wednesday's WOD. I'll go back and blog separately about Friday -- hit a personal best, so it's worth recording!
Today I was tired and had the kids with me since the local school district was having a holiday today. But I got up and got moving, and I brought the kiddos along! We got them on the rowing machine, and my son eventually found the boxing gloves, so it was all good. I'm also trying to get my younger brother to "drink the Kool-Aid," and he came up there to check out the facility. His timing rocked, too -- he showed up near the end of the WOD, and it perked me up a little bit to see he had actually come out.
Team row was a smoker but a good warm up. I need to build up speed on this for sure for the short distances, but swapping out every 250m did afford you a little recovery time. We had a new face in class today, and it was her first WOD after Elements -- what a way to get broken in! She worked hard and kept moving and did a great job.
We also had another new face drop in today -- a brave soul, indeed. My class is prodominantly women, so when a guy shows up, I always feel a little badly for him. We may be working our butts off, but so many of these guys move a lot of weight around and work a level of intensity that would drop me dead. I feel as if they don't have anyone else working on their level to challenge or push them. On the other hand, my competetive nature comes out, and I find that I don't want to fall too far behind these guys and give them a decent run for their money. It's just fun to have new people every once in a while.
Working with the deadlift was a new one for me. For the warm up, we only did a few, but I came back to it after recovering from the WOD. I found my max at 165#! That's actually more than I weigh! I was really astonished that I was able to work that far. I'm definitely feeling the muscle soreness in my paraspinal muscles, but nothing that screams injury, just good old fashioned hard work.
The farmer walk (with 30#) was an area where I was able to make up time today. My grip didn't start to go until my third round, so I did a super fast walk with it to get through it quickly. I probably could've gone up to 35#, so next time I'll go up in weight for sure.
You all know how "fond" I am of sumo deadlight high pulls (SDHPs). Just not my favorite lift. However, I was able to perform that one as prescribed at 65#! Another milestone for me! As for the pull ups, I did them assisted with the red rubber band, but looking back I think I should've pushed myself to do this just jumping sans band.
Overall, this wasn't a bad little WOD, but I think I could've challenged myself more on the farmer walk and pull ups. The SDHPs were easy enough to do, but I need to build up consistency of speed, and 65# will be a good place to work on that.
Posted rounds: 3 rounds completed, farmer walk and 5 SDHPs into round four when time was called.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
"Get Some" Tuesdays
Warm up: practice movement with PVCs
WOD: Overhead cleans, 1-1-1-1-1-1-1
I am really loving Tuesdays at the gym lately. I don't know if they intend things to fall into this pattern, but for the last two weeks we've been working on strength with some of the lifts and working on moving heavier weight. Before starting CrossFit, this was the stuff about which I was most nervous because I was downright afraid of the heavy weight. Now I look forward to these days the most because I love the mental nature of the exercise, and it's incredible to see just how far you can push yourself.
During practice, it seemed hard to get down low enough and get my arms out where they needed to be. Then I added a little weight by doing a couple of reps with the 35# bar -- that's when all the mechanics started making more sense to me.
I'll be real honest: I came into today's WOD with zero expectation. During Elements I really had to work to do thrusters with 15# of weight and I did those yesterday with 55#, so I was going to be pleased if I could be successful today with just the 45# bar. I was so pleasantly surprised!
My coach mentioned that, by adding more weight, you really have to engage your core, focus, and fight to keep your form from start to finish. I couldn't imagine at first why heavier would be easier, so to speak, but she really was right. At 55#, I started to get really serious about my feet, arms, engage core, check my back, and get moving into that squat. By 65# I was utilizing a dip-drive to get the weight up so I could set up for the next rep, and that was pretty fun. By using the power in my legs -- which I have noticed have gotten a lot stronger even over the last two or three weeks -- that weight just popped right up there. By the time I got to 80# I had to really fight to keep it up, so that will definitely be a point I work on next time.
I have to pause to say a word about the other girls in the class. One girl was working along with me at the same weight. Dip-driving the weight up was harder for her that it was for me, but she was able to squat a little lower than me and really moved the weight well. She progressed in weight farther than me and did an awesome job. The other girl was not using near as much weight, but she showed more overall improvement during the WOD than my "partner" and I combined. In our own ways, we were all really working hard and encouraging each other, which is part of the reason why I love CF.
Posted weight: 45-55-65-75-80-80(F)-80(F)
WOD: Overhead cleans, 1-1-1-1-1-1-1
I am really loving Tuesdays at the gym lately. I don't know if they intend things to fall into this pattern, but for the last two weeks we've been working on strength with some of the lifts and working on moving heavier weight. Before starting CrossFit, this was the stuff about which I was most nervous because I was downright afraid of the heavy weight. Now I look forward to these days the most because I love the mental nature of the exercise, and it's incredible to see just how far you can push yourself.
During practice, it seemed hard to get down low enough and get my arms out where they needed to be. Then I added a little weight by doing a couple of reps with the 35# bar -- that's when all the mechanics started making more sense to me.
I'll be real honest: I came into today's WOD with zero expectation. During Elements I really had to work to do thrusters with 15# of weight and I did those yesterday with 55#, so I was going to be pleased if I could be successful today with just the 45# bar. I was so pleasantly surprised!
My coach mentioned that, by adding more weight, you really have to engage your core, focus, and fight to keep your form from start to finish. I couldn't imagine at first why heavier would be easier, so to speak, but she really was right. At 55#, I started to get really serious about my feet, arms, engage core, check my back, and get moving into that squat. By 65# I was utilizing a dip-drive to get the weight up so I could set up for the next rep, and that was pretty fun. By using the power in my legs -- which I have noticed have gotten a lot stronger even over the last two or three weeks -- that weight just popped right up there. By the time I got to 80# I had to really fight to keep it up, so that will definitely be a point I work on next time.
I have to pause to say a word about the other girls in the class. One girl was working along with me at the same weight. Dip-driving the weight up was harder for her that it was for me, but she was able to squat a little lower than me and really moved the weight well. She progressed in weight farther than me and did an awesome job. The other girl was not using near as much weight, but she showed more overall improvement during the WOD than my "partner" and I combined. In our own ways, we were all really working hard and encouraging each other, which is part of the reason why I love CF.
Posted weight: 45-55-65-75-80-80(F)-80(F)
Monday, October 5, 2009
F.O.R.M.
Warm up: practice proper form for today's WOD
WOD: AMRAP in 20 min. of -- 5 thrusters, 7 hang power cleans, 9 sumo deadlift high pulls (SDHPs)
I was happy to be doing some weights today. I'm tired of being sore and tired all the time, and not just simply "sore" and "tired," I mean muscles afire and completely exhausted like being newly pregnant. Plus I really like learning all the proper form for the weightlifting because it's a good feeling to know that I can move around weight that I never thought possible.
Which leads me to the title of my blog today. I was trying to come up with some catchy title in the form of a mnemonic device or acrostic that would help me to remember to focus on proper form today. I came up with this:
Focus On coRrect Movement, or "FORM."
During warm ups today, we practiced the basic movements for each lift with a PVC. We would find out firsthand during the WOD how utilizing proper form really helps to move the weight. The times I was needing a quick rest, I could feel it if I wasn't in proper alignment.
This WOD seemed to go by so quickly. The hardest part for me was the thrusters, but not for the reasons I thought before starting. I figured it would be hard going down into the squat, but it was actually my wrists supporting the weight that really hurt. I've always had pretty wimpy, weak wrists, but that was really keeping me from cranking out reps today... until I figured out that I needed to be using more power from my hips. Once I powered up through my hips more, it was a lot easier to propel the weight up. The last two sets of thrusters I did were by far my best.
I heart power cleans. Now that I understand how important it is to throw my elbows under the bar, it's a whole different ballgame. They are actually lots of fun, at least, compared to thrusters. :)
SDHPs are OK just not my favorite. I always feel like I'm trying to find the right place to put my hands so that the bar is balanced when I bring it up. This is one of those moves you just cannot do if you're trying to pull the bar up the wrong way. (This one and the cleans, for that matter.)
Something I tried to experiment with today was wearing flatter shoes. I'll admit: I've got a LOT of shoes. Ridiculous amounts of them. But many of them were chosen for a certain function. I was finding that, when I wore my cushiony running shoes when we were lifting weight and doing lots of squats, I felt like I was floating and noticed that I rocked around a lot. By finding some training shoes that offered good arch support but were pretty flat on the bottom, I felt solidly grounded today and I think that helped a lot.
I really made a mental note today to focus on my form. Yes, I wanted to move weight quickly today, and I definitely made up time when I got to the power cleans and SDHPs, but I made a point to get that lumbar curve back at the end of each exercise. I tried to lift the weight safely to get up to a hang position for the cleans, and really had to fight for that curve when going down on my thrusters. I also waited at the top of my thrusters to be sure that I had the weight in the right position over my head if it didn't feel right, and racking it out near my collarbone was really uncomfortable but I need to develop the wrist flexibility to get there so my elbows can come out far enough. As a result, my back feels fine, and my shoulders and hip flexors are warm but not tightening up or sore. I'm sure I'll have a little residual soreness, but nothing like the neck injury I had a month ago!
I told my coach I'd rather go a little slower and get the right form down that rep 'em out and hurt myself. I see so much of that at the regular gyms I've gone to in the past. I hate to say it, but it's usually guys moving around a lot of weight. They're hyperextending their backs, swinging or rocking the weight so much that they don't have a lot of control over where the weight is going, and I'm just waiting for the look on their face that says, "Oh crap! I just pulled something and now I've got 135# swinging through the air and it's gonna land on my foot -- watch out!" Yeah, no thanks. I'd rather remember "F.O.R.M. -- Focus On coRrect Movement" and get stronger and faster, thank you very much.
Posted Results: 5 rounds at 55# and had finished 5 thrusters in round 6 when time was called. (Rx for women is 65#, so that will be my goal for next time!)
WOD: AMRAP in 20 min. of -- 5 thrusters, 7 hang power cleans, 9 sumo deadlift high pulls (SDHPs)
I was happy to be doing some weights today. I'm tired of being sore and tired all the time, and not just simply "sore" and "tired," I mean muscles afire and completely exhausted like being newly pregnant. Plus I really like learning all the proper form for the weightlifting because it's a good feeling to know that I can move around weight that I never thought possible.
Which leads me to the title of my blog today. I was trying to come up with some catchy title in the form of a mnemonic device or acrostic that would help me to remember to focus on proper form today. I came up with this:
Focus On coRrect Movement, or "FORM."
During warm ups today, we practiced the basic movements for each lift with a PVC. We would find out firsthand during the WOD how utilizing proper form really helps to move the weight. The times I was needing a quick rest, I could feel it if I wasn't in proper alignment.
This WOD seemed to go by so quickly. The hardest part for me was the thrusters, but not for the reasons I thought before starting. I figured it would be hard going down into the squat, but it was actually my wrists supporting the weight that really hurt. I've always had pretty wimpy, weak wrists, but that was really keeping me from cranking out reps today... until I figured out that I needed to be using more power from my hips. Once I powered up through my hips more, it was a lot easier to propel the weight up. The last two sets of thrusters I did were by far my best.
I heart power cleans. Now that I understand how important it is to throw my elbows under the bar, it's a whole different ballgame. They are actually lots of fun, at least, compared to thrusters. :)
SDHPs are OK just not my favorite. I always feel like I'm trying to find the right place to put my hands so that the bar is balanced when I bring it up. This is one of those moves you just cannot do if you're trying to pull the bar up the wrong way. (This one and the cleans, for that matter.)
Something I tried to experiment with today was wearing flatter shoes. I'll admit: I've got a LOT of shoes. Ridiculous amounts of them. But many of them were chosen for a certain function. I was finding that, when I wore my cushiony running shoes when we were lifting weight and doing lots of squats, I felt like I was floating and noticed that I rocked around a lot. By finding some training shoes that offered good arch support but were pretty flat on the bottom, I felt solidly grounded today and I think that helped a lot.
I really made a mental note today to focus on my form. Yes, I wanted to move weight quickly today, and I definitely made up time when I got to the power cleans and SDHPs, but I made a point to get that lumbar curve back at the end of each exercise. I tried to lift the weight safely to get up to a hang position for the cleans, and really had to fight for that curve when going down on my thrusters. I also waited at the top of my thrusters to be sure that I had the weight in the right position over my head if it didn't feel right, and racking it out near my collarbone was really uncomfortable but I need to develop the wrist flexibility to get there so my elbows can come out far enough. As a result, my back feels fine, and my shoulders and hip flexors are warm but not tightening up or sore. I'm sure I'll have a little residual soreness, but nothing like the neck injury I had a month ago!
I told my coach I'd rather go a little slower and get the right form down that rep 'em out and hurt myself. I see so much of that at the regular gyms I've gone to in the past. I hate to say it, but it's usually guys moving around a lot of weight. They're hyperextending their backs, swinging or rocking the weight so much that they don't have a lot of control over where the weight is going, and I'm just waiting for the look on their face that says, "Oh crap! I just pulled something and now I've got 135# swinging through the air and it's gonna land on my foot -- watch out!" Yeah, no thanks. I'd rather remember "F.O.R.M. -- Focus On coRrect Movement" and get stronger and faster, thank you very much.
Posted Results: 5 rounds at 55# and had finished 5 thrusters in round 6 when time was called. (Rx for women is 65#, so that will be my goal for next time!)
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Gluten-Free Wheat-Free Triple Chippers
I have blogged today over at my other site, One More Thing, about a really great recipe for GF cookies. If you are interested in fall baking that you can send to school, take to family functions, or pack in your kids' lunches, this will be one that you love. Go check it out!
Friday, October 2, 2009
You Say "Ta-bay-ta", I Say "Ta-bah-ta"...
Warm up: muscle-up progressions, playtime on the rings
WOD: Tabata sit-ups, superman lifts, flutter kicks, planks
Challenge: KTE (knees to elbows)
First of all, let me just say that my quads were thankful that there was no mention of squats on the board for today's WOD. My quads were unhappy enough about the flutter kicks toward the end, but I'll get to that.
Muscle-ups are one of three CrossFit exercises that I could just live without. (Subsequently, the other two are burpees and thrusters, but I'll blog about those as they come along.) Even doing these assisted with my legs on the ground was hard and proof-positive that I'm nowhere near bad-ass level quite yet. The rings in general are quite challenging because of all the muscle groups that come into play. There is balance, core strength, shoulders, traps, and arms, not to mention the mental focus you need to pull this off. It's a butt-kicker to be sure.
We also spent a few minutes "playing," by which I mean doing things that feel like playground fun. We did "skin the cat" but in stead of flipping all the way through, you come back over. The biggest problem I have is getting my legs up there, but once they're up, this one is fun. I can also get my legs up over my head to invert straight up and down, but I think I scared my coach because it looked to him like my grip was slipping, so I won't do that until I can tighten my grip better.
We actually had a couple of guys show up to our class today. It just kills me to watch men do CF because they can just crank this stuff out like it's nothing, especially anything involving the pull-up bar. But one of these days, boys and girls, I vow to be one of those women who can get out there and crank out a bunch of kipping pull-ups that make the guys stop in their tracks. :) One day...
Tabata (actually pronounced "ta-bah-tuh") WODs go for 8 rounds, 20 seconds each, with 10 seconds of planned rest between each round. Depending on which exercises you're doing, this may sound deceivingly easy, like today. Although nothing I've done so far was as hard as "Murph," I still thought to myself later the same day that I love doing CF but as I'm doing it, I'm really hating life! But hating it in such a good way.
I love doing ab mat sit-ups. The mat supports my lower back, and I feel like I could just crank those suckers out forever. I stayed consistent around 10 or 11 per round. My goal through each exercise was to remain consistent or improve in my reps and never to start falling off. That was true for each one. As I said, sit-ups stayed around 10 or 11, superman lifts averaged 16, flutter kicks averaged 10 (based on a military-style four-count), and for plank, the requirement was to stay elevated on the elbows and toes. (For those in pilates or yoga, this move is frequently called sphinx.)
The challenge was akin to the muscle-ups. KTE, or knees-to-elbows, is a "goat" for me. I know I have the core strength to do this one, but there is something going on with mechanics that I can't quite figure out, so I'm getting my knees up but not elevating them up to my elbows and bowing my body. Very confusing. Going to take a lot of practice, unfortunately. Tall, skinny Army boy got up there and cranked out 24 of them. Yeah, thanks. I needed that. :)
I left there thinking, Wow, today was the easiest day I've had so far. Later in the day my entire core was feeling it but not really sore, so I know I did some good. That's what I love about CF. Some days make you feel like you're gonna collapse; other days seem easy but your body lets you know you really were doing work and engaging muscles properly.
I'm looking forward to overhead squats next week!
WOD: Tabata sit-ups, superman lifts, flutter kicks, planks
Challenge: KTE (knees to elbows)
First of all, let me just say that my quads were thankful that there was no mention of squats on the board for today's WOD. My quads were unhappy enough about the flutter kicks toward the end, but I'll get to that.
Muscle-ups are one of three CrossFit exercises that I could just live without. (Subsequently, the other two are burpees and thrusters, but I'll blog about those as they come along.) Even doing these assisted with my legs on the ground was hard and proof-positive that I'm nowhere near bad-ass level quite yet. The rings in general are quite challenging because of all the muscle groups that come into play. There is balance, core strength, shoulders, traps, and arms, not to mention the mental focus you need to pull this off. It's a butt-kicker to be sure.
We also spent a few minutes "playing," by which I mean doing things that feel like playground fun. We did "skin the cat" but in stead of flipping all the way through, you come back over. The biggest problem I have is getting my legs up there, but once they're up, this one is fun. I can also get my legs up over my head to invert straight up and down, but I think I scared my coach because it looked to him like my grip was slipping, so I won't do that until I can tighten my grip better.
We actually had a couple of guys show up to our class today. It just kills me to watch men do CF because they can just crank this stuff out like it's nothing, especially anything involving the pull-up bar. But one of these days, boys and girls, I vow to be one of those women who can get out there and crank out a bunch of kipping pull-ups that make the guys stop in their tracks. :) One day...
Tabata (actually pronounced "ta-bah-tuh") WODs go for 8 rounds, 20 seconds each, with 10 seconds of planned rest between each round. Depending on which exercises you're doing, this may sound deceivingly easy, like today. Although nothing I've done so far was as hard as "Murph," I still thought to myself later the same day that I love doing CF but as I'm doing it, I'm really hating life! But hating it in such a good way.
I love doing ab mat sit-ups. The mat supports my lower back, and I feel like I could just crank those suckers out forever. I stayed consistent around 10 or 11 per round. My goal through each exercise was to remain consistent or improve in my reps and never to start falling off. That was true for each one. As I said, sit-ups stayed around 10 or 11, superman lifts averaged 16, flutter kicks averaged 10 (based on a military-style four-count), and for plank, the requirement was to stay elevated on the elbows and toes. (For those in pilates or yoga, this move is frequently called sphinx.)
The challenge was akin to the muscle-ups. KTE, or knees-to-elbows, is a "goat" for me. I know I have the core strength to do this one, but there is something going on with mechanics that I can't quite figure out, so I'm getting my knees up but not elevating them up to my elbows and bowing my body. Very confusing. Going to take a lot of practice, unfortunately. Tall, skinny Army boy got up there and cranked out 24 of them. Yeah, thanks. I needed that. :)
I left there thinking, Wow, today was the easiest day I've had so far. Later in the day my entire core was feeling it but not really sore, so I know I did some good. That's what I love about CF. Some days make you feel like you're gonna collapse; other days seem easy but your body lets you know you really were doing work and engaging muscles properly.
I'm looking forward to overhead squats next week!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Rest Day -- Food For Thought
Hallelujah! And boy did I need the rest. That is one component of CrossFit that I admit I am neglecting, and it is really starting to show. Our bodies need the right fuel and rest to make our workouts effective. Now that I'm used to being up and moving early in the day, I couldn't make myself take a nap this morning, but just taking it easy, drinking lots of water, and not exercising was just what the doctor ordered for me. And thankfully, tomorrow's WOD doesn't involve squats. I think.
Food for thought: Patsy Clairmont is a Christian motivational speaker for Women of Faith. She is a tiny lady but big on personality and has a hilarious sense of humor. She may seem wimpy at times, but she has a gift for insight and how to put even mundane, everyday events into a spiritual perspective that I can appreciate. A friend of mine shared a letter that Patsy wrote recently on her website that I found interesting. What she discusses has a lot to do with why I decided to get back into the gym and take control of my fitness and well-being two years ago.
Enjoy! I'll report in again tomorrow after my WOD...
September 29, 2009
Dear Friends,
One month ago I joined a gym―again. I think I have joined about seven or eight gyms in my time. I am very good at joining them; I've just never really got the part of actually going to them down. I'm not quite sure what the ‘disconnect’ is.
Here’s how it goes: When I finally steel myself to walk through those doors and sign up, I am very excited. I take the tour, admire the machines and return the hopeful smiles of those who are actually engaged in sweating off the pounds. My usual next step is to drive to the sporting goods store to buy my little workout outfit, as one has to look the part.
The only trouble with exercise clothes is that they tend to cling. My whole reason for going to the gym is that I have reached a cling-free zone in life where clinging is not an attractive option. So I settle for workout pants and a non-clingy t-shirt, as I cannot imagine surviving for an hour in a gym holding my stomach in.
So far, so good; but then the next morning comes. I wake up and look at the outfit waiting for me on the chair by my bed. I think to myself, “Why did I pick that color of t-shirt? I wonder if I’m getting sick? It’s probably better to work out later in the day.” Then, a miracle happens. Belle, one of our two Bichon’s, picks up one of my Nike shoes and runs off with it. It’s a sign! God does not want me to work out and I, as a humble servant, must obey. Pretty pathetic, huh? So why did I start the process off all over again a month ago?
I think the answer lies in a greater understanding that what I do in every area of my life today will affect all my tomorrows. If I want to have a fit, healthy body to serve God tomorrow then I need to take care of it today. If I want to have an ongoing great relationship with my son, Christian, tomorrow, then I invest myself in his life today no matter how tired I am. If I want to experience the peace that comes from a deep awareness of the presence of Christ today and tomorrow, then I need to spend time with him, leaning in, listening and resting.
Small intentional changes gather momentum as the days pass―so my prayer for you and for me is that by God’s grace we will take the kind of baby steps that lead us all the way home.
Much love,
Patsy
Food for thought: Patsy Clairmont is a Christian motivational speaker for Women of Faith. She is a tiny lady but big on personality and has a hilarious sense of humor. She may seem wimpy at times, but she has a gift for insight and how to put even mundane, everyday events into a spiritual perspective that I can appreciate. A friend of mine shared a letter that Patsy wrote recently on her website that I found interesting. What she discusses has a lot to do with why I decided to get back into the gym and take control of my fitness and well-being two years ago.
Enjoy! I'll report in again tomorrow after my WOD...
September 29, 2009
Dear Friends,
One month ago I joined a gym―again. I think I have joined about seven or eight gyms in my time. I am very good at joining them; I've just never really got the part of actually going to them down. I'm not quite sure what the ‘disconnect’ is.
Here’s how it goes: When I finally steel myself to walk through those doors and sign up, I am very excited. I take the tour, admire the machines and return the hopeful smiles of those who are actually engaged in sweating off the pounds. My usual next step is to drive to the sporting goods store to buy my little workout outfit, as one has to look the part.
The only trouble with exercise clothes is that they tend to cling. My whole reason for going to the gym is that I have reached a cling-free zone in life where clinging is not an attractive option. So I settle for workout pants and a non-clingy t-shirt, as I cannot imagine surviving for an hour in a gym holding my stomach in.
So far, so good; but then the next morning comes. I wake up and look at the outfit waiting for me on the chair by my bed. I think to myself, “Why did I pick that color of t-shirt? I wonder if I’m getting sick? It’s probably better to work out later in the day.” Then, a miracle happens. Belle, one of our two Bichon’s, picks up one of my Nike shoes and runs off with it. It’s a sign! God does not want me to work out and I, as a humble servant, must obey. Pretty pathetic, huh? So why did I start the process off all over again a month ago?
I think the answer lies in a greater understanding that what I do in every area of my life today will affect all my tomorrows. If I want to have a fit, healthy body to serve God tomorrow then I need to take care of it today. If I want to have an ongoing great relationship with my son, Christian, tomorrow, then I invest myself in his life today no matter how tired I am. If I want to experience the peace that comes from a deep awareness of the presence of Christ today and tomorrow, then I need to spend time with him, leaning in, listening and resting.
Small intentional changes gather momentum as the days pass―so my prayer for you and for me is that by God’s grace we will take the kind of baby steps that lead us all the way home.
Much love,
Patsy
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