"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)