My stomach has literally been in knots all week long in preparation for this WOD. In fact, as I was standing in line waiting for my group to start, I felt like I was going to have spontaneous diahrrea. TMI, you say? Deal with it! This was an intimidating WOD, by far one of the top two hardest I've ever done. Add to that the fact that I am struggling to have the time to attend regularly over the last week due to holiday fracas and mayhem, so I probably was not at my leanest and strongest. Nonetheless, I gave 110% and can say that it is finally behind me.
So here is the breakdown of "Filthy Fifty":
For time:
50 24" box jumps
50 jumping pull ups
50 1 pood kettlebell swings
50 walking lunges
50 knees to elbows
50 push press (45#)
50 GHD back extensions
50 wall ball (20# for men, 14# for women)
50 burpees
50 double unders
We ran these in heats, each one three minutes apart. It was nice that everyone was able to work at their own speed so that you didn't have a million people just sitting around watching you suffer for God-knows-how-long. However, I would not have been able to make it through Filthy Fifty had it not been for my teammate "S" who was helping me to count and stay on task. She was a great cheerleader and motivator. I truly could not have done it without her -- my will would've given up and I would've been sorely disappointed in myself.
Hands down, the hardest exercise for me mentally was wall balls. I don't do these often, and when I do I really hate them. I started off with the 14# ball, but my forearms were so crapped out from everything else I had done up to that point that that I just couldn't get my grip on that weight, and it was throwing me around. I couldn't even toss it up remotely high enough to get one good one, so when the girl next to me finished hers, I grabbed the 10# ball and nugged them out.
Box jumps are OK for me, but it seems like I'm slow coming off the box. The surface was wet, which kinda spooked me a little bit, but I never slipped and got past them.
The jumping pull ups went well. Those are coming along nicely for me, and I might be able to get my kip thrown in there soon. I was proud of these.
Kettlebell swings went pretty well. I had to break these down into sets of ten for two reasons. One, my forearms were starting to fatigue, and two, I was starting to feel dizzy. Otherwise, these went really well, and I was able to maintain form with no problem.
KTE is when my forearms really started being unhappy with me. I almost balked and did the modified ones, but I am very glad that I didn't. I did the true KTE for the full 50 reps. I was doing 3-2-3-2 to get my sets of 10. It was a slow, painful process, but they got done.
Push press was difficult. Good, but difficult. Again, I almost grabbed the 35# bar, but had I done that, I would not have been pushing myself and would've been feeling guilty afterwards. My regular coach was there to help, and she kept me moving 5 reps at a time. It always seems like the hardest ones to do are reps 20-35, but after that you are downhill.
GHD back extensions are easy for me. I had really wanted to make up time here, but my hamstrings kept threatening to cramp up hard, so I was doing 5 at a time and 3 towards the end. Unexpectedly harder than I had planned.
Burpees whipped my butt. Yet another sweet friend came over there to cheer me on, along with S and my coach. She even offered to knock out 10 for me, but I told her that I had to do all of them. Wouldn't have been able to live with myself had I not done each and every one. But I tell you, it was so motivational to have her right there next to me working on those God-forsaken burpees! I felt myself on the verge of passing out with the burpees, so I rested between sets of 10. These suckers felt like they took a long time to do, almost as bad as wall balls.
Lastly, I knocked out my double unders like no one's business. I've really improved in these over the last month or so. The only problem was the bladder factor. The times I stopped and started again was in order to prevent a very unsightly problem thanks to the fact that I have "mommy bladder" after having had kids. Those of you with this medical condition know exactly what I'm talking about -- I won't gross out the men with the gory details. You're welcome!
After we had all finished, we schlepped out to my coach's house for a paleo meal of steak kabobs and grilled veggies. They treated everyone to carriage rides through town as well, so it was a true holiday event. We had such a blast! And it was really neat to get to visit with the folks in all the other classes. We truly have a dedicated group of athletes and coaches at this gym, and we all come from various walks of life. It's been a lot of fun getting to know everyone and to see the camraderie that is emerging through pushing ourselves and each other.
As for tomorrow, we've got another "biggie" coming up. No rest for the weary, right? That's OK, because at CrossFit Centex we are all truly FORGING ELITE FITNESS!
Posted time: 47:30
Showing posts with label KTE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label KTE. Show all posts
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
"What Did We Do Wednesday?", "Thank God for Rest" Thursday, and Feet-A-Flyin' Friday
Holy cats -- where has this week gone?!? Amidst all of the things I have (or haven't) had going on, I've completely forgotten to check in here on the blog! Let's get down to it...
Wednesday, 11 NOV 09
WOD: "Tabata This" -- exercises include ring dips, windshield wipers, handstand push ups, burpees
Challenge: Five rounds of 20 ab mat sit ups and 15 KTE
Tabatas as a general rule don't bother me at all. Twenty seconds of movement followed by ten seconds of rest for eight rounds per exercise really isn't the end of the world. Except for when your arms are so sore that you had trouble getting dressed that day and almost had to come to the gym without a bra on. You know, little things.
None of us are able to do ring dips, so we substituted this with doing dips off the side of the tractor tire with our feet up on boxes. We also had to modify the HSPUs by doing them off the side of the tire. Both of these were excruciating and terrible. Normally I can crank out dips with no problem, but those kettlebell swings from Monday were still wreaking havoc on my deltoids. The modified HSPUs weren't really bad until the last three rounds, which sucked at an unreasonable level. Burpees pretty much suck no matter what. You suffer through them like a yearly physical -- you know you have to do them, and sooner or later they'll be over with and you can go back to the rest of your day.
I will say, however, that I enjoyed the windshield wipers. OK, envision holding a 45# bar by one end, and the other end is resting at an angle on the center opening of a 45# bumper weight. The bar doesn't actually go into the center; it just pivots there. The goal here was to bring the bar down on one side of your body to approximately hip height, then twist your body to the other side as you bring the bar back up and over to the other hip. Repeat this a kajillion times, and you've got a windshield wiper.
Next, true to form, just because we had done a WOD didn't necessarily mean that we were done. As if a tabata for core wasn't enough, we did five more rounds of core, not keeping our time. Ab mat sit ups aren't that big a deal, and thankfully neither are KTE anymore. I was able to rep several out at a time but still need to work on that.
Tabata scores: (keep in mind that the score you have to keep is the lowest number you did)
Modified ring dips: 8
Windshield wipers: 19
Modified HSPUs: 5
Burpees: 8
Thursday, 12 NOV 09
REST DAY!!! HALLELUJAH!!!
On a serious note, I really wanted to get up to the gym to do the CF Football "Grace" and had something come up for my daughter that needed to take priority over my gym time. That being said, I was really glad on Friday morning that I had taken another rest day to let my arms recover. I can always do this WOD at another time or on my own. In fact, I need to figure out something to do Saturday morning, and this might be a fun option.
A side note about rest: there is a time when you push through a little stiffness or soreness, and there is also a time when you listen to your body and rest. It's different for each person, but there are times when I know that every cell in my body is crying out to simply be still. There is a such thing as overtraining, and when you reach that point, you are really running yourself down. Personally I would rather take another day to rest and be able to come out of the gate hard the following day than be sucking it up during the warm up, much less the WOD. You just have to listen to your body and discern when it really does need rest and when it's just being whiny.
Friday, 13 NOV 09
"I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights." -- Habbakuk 3:18-19
WOD: Seven rounds of: 200m sprint, 10 air squats, 10 burpees
Speaking of feet like a deer...
It was damp and chilly out when we started, but by the time we finished I was ready to strip down and roll in the cold, wet grass. We headed over to the middle school football practice field (so the stripping down would be HIGHLY discouraged here, haha!) and did our WOD over there. I don't think I have had to run on wet grass early in the morning since I was in co-ed P.E. in middle school, come to think of it. I forgot how messy it can be but how good the grass smells, too.
I think I have figured out the point at which running for me stops being a sprint and transitions into a longer distance. I was out of the gate fast on the first 100m of the run for at least the first five rounds, but there was just something different about coming back across the field. I felt heavier and slower, and even the breeze I created by running seemed to be resistance I was working against on that last 100m.
I am SOOOO proud to report that I was able to do all 70 air squats without a SINGLE BIT of knee pain! It was amazing. I couldn't believe it as I was flying through those suckers at how good my knees felt and how fast I was able to move. THIS is how air squats should always be. Awesome!
Burpees... well, that's a different story. Remember how I compared them to a yearly physical on Wednesday? Yeah, well, my sentiments about these has not changed. Still don't like 'em, still have to do 'em. Oh well. What are you gonna do?!?
In closing, I'm not sure why, but we didn't time this WOD. And when it was all said and done, none of us could really venture an accurate guess on how long it took. All I know is that we left that wet, grassy field exhausted but proud of our efforts, which is worth all the burpees in the world to me.
Wednesday, 11 NOV 09
WOD: "Tabata This" -- exercises include ring dips, windshield wipers, handstand push ups, burpees
Challenge: Five rounds of 20 ab mat sit ups and 15 KTE
Tabatas as a general rule don't bother me at all. Twenty seconds of movement followed by ten seconds of rest for eight rounds per exercise really isn't the end of the world. Except for when your arms are so sore that you had trouble getting dressed that day and almost had to come to the gym without a bra on. You know, little things.
None of us are able to do ring dips, so we substituted this with doing dips off the side of the tractor tire with our feet up on boxes. We also had to modify the HSPUs by doing them off the side of the tire. Both of these were excruciating and terrible. Normally I can crank out dips with no problem, but those kettlebell swings from Monday were still wreaking havoc on my deltoids. The modified HSPUs weren't really bad until the last three rounds, which sucked at an unreasonable level. Burpees pretty much suck no matter what. You suffer through them like a yearly physical -- you know you have to do them, and sooner or later they'll be over with and you can go back to the rest of your day.
I will say, however, that I enjoyed the windshield wipers. OK, envision holding a 45# bar by one end, and the other end is resting at an angle on the center opening of a 45# bumper weight. The bar doesn't actually go into the center; it just pivots there. The goal here was to bring the bar down on one side of your body to approximately hip height, then twist your body to the other side as you bring the bar back up and over to the other hip. Repeat this a kajillion times, and you've got a windshield wiper.
Next, true to form, just because we had done a WOD didn't necessarily mean that we were done. As if a tabata for core wasn't enough, we did five more rounds of core, not keeping our time. Ab mat sit ups aren't that big a deal, and thankfully neither are KTE anymore. I was able to rep several out at a time but still need to work on that.
Tabata scores: (keep in mind that the score you have to keep is the lowest number you did)
Modified ring dips: 8
Windshield wipers: 19
Modified HSPUs: 5
Burpees: 8
Thursday, 12 NOV 09
REST DAY!!! HALLELUJAH!!!
On a serious note, I really wanted to get up to the gym to do the CF Football "Grace" and had something come up for my daughter that needed to take priority over my gym time. That being said, I was really glad on Friday morning that I had taken another rest day to let my arms recover. I can always do this WOD at another time or on my own. In fact, I need to figure out something to do Saturday morning, and this might be a fun option.
A side note about rest: there is a time when you push through a little stiffness or soreness, and there is also a time when you listen to your body and rest. It's different for each person, but there are times when I know that every cell in my body is crying out to simply be still. There is a such thing as overtraining, and when you reach that point, you are really running yourself down. Personally I would rather take another day to rest and be able to come out of the gate hard the following day than be sucking it up during the warm up, much less the WOD. You just have to listen to your body and discern when it really does need rest and when it's just being whiny.
Friday, 13 NOV 09
"I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights." -- Habbakuk 3:18-19
WOD: Seven rounds of: 200m sprint, 10 air squats, 10 burpees
Speaking of feet like a deer...
It was damp and chilly out when we started, but by the time we finished I was ready to strip down and roll in the cold, wet grass. We headed over to the middle school football practice field (so the stripping down would be HIGHLY discouraged here, haha!) and did our WOD over there. I don't think I have had to run on wet grass early in the morning since I was in co-ed P.E. in middle school, come to think of it. I forgot how messy it can be but how good the grass smells, too.
I think I have figured out the point at which running for me stops being a sprint and transitions into a longer distance. I was out of the gate fast on the first 100m of the run for at least the first five rounds, but there was just something different about coming back across the field. I felt heavier and slower, and even the breeze I created by running seemed to be resistance I was working against on that last 100m.
I am SOOOO proud to report that I was able to do all 70 air squats without a SINGLE BIT of knee pain! It was amazing. I couldn't believe it as I was flying through those suckers at how good my knees felt and how fast I was able to move. THIS is how air squats should always be. Awesome!
Burpees... well, that's a different story. Remember how I compared them to a yearly physical on Wednesday? Yeah, well, my sentiments about these has not changed. Still don't like 'em, still have to do 'em. Oh well. What are you gonna do?!?
In closing, I'm not sure why, but we didn't time this WOD. And when it was all said and done, none of us could really venture an accurate guess on how long it took. All I know is that we left that wet, grassy field exhausted but proud of our efforts, which is worth all the burpees in the world to me.
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 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)
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!
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