I absolutely hate getting back into the swing of things after having an interruption in my usual schedule. It's hard to wake up in the morning, your eating habits suffer, and it's just hard to get your "edge" back. Nonetheless, it's times like these when you need to seriously monitor what holiday goodies you're gorging on and also make a point not to let your fitness routine suffer too much. That being said, let's do a little recap...
Tuesday, 24 NOV 09
WOD: Four rounds for time of 50 walking lunges, 50 squats, 400m run
Any WOD that has me doing walking lunges is automatically going to be a painful one in the long run. I don't know if it is lack of strength in my knees, weak heads on my quads, both, or none of those reasons, but these really lay me out for days later. Combining those with squats is pretty much torture for me. I had extreme difficulty walking, going up and down stairs or inclines, and bending my legs for the next three days. And honestly, when I did the math, the work I had done was significant: a total of 200 lunges, 200 squats, and a mile run when it was all said and done -- almost the equivalent of half a "Murph". No wonder it was so hard! To top it off, I finished didn't just finish last -- it seemed to take forever to complete it. Really, it took me half as long to do this WOD as it did for me to complete "Murph", so perhaps mathematically I was right where I needed to be...? Who knows? The bottom line was I pushed through it and didn't fudge on any of the reps, and I lived to fight another day. And eat turkey two days later.
Posted time: 28:43
Monday, 30 NOV 09
Warm Up: "Centex Warm-Up"
Skill Work: Speed drills
WOD: AMRAP in 15 minutes of 5 dumbbell snatches/arm, 10 ring dips, 100m sprint
So the coaches have designed a new warm up for us to do upon arrival at the box to allow us to warm up on our own. They want us to do 2-3 rounds (as time allows) of the following, 15-20 reps/each:
20-30 sec Samson stretch (think Warrior III)
Overhead squats w/ PVC
Ab mat sit ups
Pull ups
Back extensions
Dips
20m inch worms
20m forward/backward bear crawls
This warm up isn't extremely difficult, but it is time consuming. I feel like it takes me as long to do the warm up as it does to do the WOD. I'd rather take a little less time on the warm up and see some time programmed in for stretching at the end of a WOD. I also don't like feeling ragged out by the time I'm starting a WOD, which after this warm up and skill work, some times I feel like I don't have my full amount of strength left for the WOD. I'm sure it just feels this way since it's new, but it just seems like the time at the gym is taking longer and longer some days. Not always a bad thing, though.
The speed drills were not my favorite. It was hopping around back and forth for 20-30 seconds on some dots going side to side, front to back, and diagonally. I'm just not a speedy girl. I can do these, but I'm no speed demon. Just seemed like time I'd rather spend working on my lifts or the WOD. Again, I know I need to do these things and work on these skills. Aren't the ones that annoy us the most the areas of weakness on which we need to focus, after all?
I used the 25# dumbbell for my one armed snatches. It seemed like a lot of weight to me, but I used 20# last time (although I can't believe I didn't blog about that one! Grrr!!) and was able to move the weight just fine. I will say that my shoulders were popping some and seemed weak, but I chalked that up to having too much time off for the holidays. The WOD to which I am referring when I used 20# was about a month ago, so I felt it was reasonable to increase my weight.
The ring dips were not working for me, so I decided up front to modify that and do regular dips off the boxes. I will say here that, next time I'm doing dips, I want to do them off the side of the tractor tire because I needed a wider base for my hands.
Overall, I surprised myself on how many rounds I was able to do. I know I need to build up to doing the dips from the rings, but this was an appropriate challenge for me today.
Posted rounds: 8 rounds completed, 8 of 10 dumbbell snatches completed in round 9
Tuesday, 01 DEC 09
Warm up: "Centex Warm Up"
Skill work: Turkish get-up, pistols, floor press
WOD: Five rounds of five 80% max squat cleans, 20 double-unders
One of our coaches at the gym is getting his kettlebell certification this weekend, and he was there to conduct our skill work today. He's a college kid, sports science major, who is an amazing athlete and always kind and positive. He walked us through the steps of the turkish get-ups, which was much easier than I thought. Given, when I tried it, I was only using a 15# dumbbell, but after a couple of reps my motions were fairly smooth for a beginner. I can see how this could be a real punisher for core as well as arms. You start off lying flat on your back with one arm holding the weight straight up in the air, elbow locked out. The other arm is extended straight out at the shoulder. First, you bend your leg that is on the same side of your body as the arm holding the weight, placing your foot to the floor. You start to lift your torso up on the extended arm, leaning over at an angle. Once you are secure, you slip your foot underneath you so that you can get up on that knee, with the other foot supporting you that was already on the floor. Carefully, you stand up, keeping that arm fully extended and locked out up above your head the entire time. To complete the turkish get-up, you go back down to the floor, just reversing the steps you used to get up. One trip up and one trip down is one rep. I know it may sound really complex, but it's really pretty simple. To watch video clips, you can go to the main CrossFit website.
I need to work on my pistols (one-legged squats) to strengthen my quads and knees, but good grief -- these were hard! And to top it off, isolating the movement on one leg at a time made me realize just how weak those weak spots are for me. Needless to say, I was ready to move on. :)
The floor press really was harder than it looked. Basically, you are keeping your elbows pinned in as much as possible as you raise your dumbbell or kettlebell diagonally in the air above your body. Imagine yourself lying flat on your back, holding weight in both hands with your elbows bent at your sides. You would raise your right arm and shoulder until your arm is fully extended and your shoulder is completely up off the floor, reaching across your body. Bring it back down, repeat on the other side. It's one thing lifting the weight up -- it's another to bring it down! It takes a lot of control to keep good form here.
Now that we're all nice and tired, let's do our WOD! Haha... just kidding...
I have not done a WOD using any kind of lift in quite a while and only recently found my power clean max when I was just working on this and that at the gym. I started off doing the squat cleans with 75# and was really having to work to get it up. I think I would've been fine had I been able to simply power clean it, but adding the squat was what added difficulty for me. Also, as per usual, coming off the rack with the weight torqued my shoulders something fierce. I completely the first round with 75#, but when I came back for round two, I only rep'ed out two when I made the decision to back off the weight. I was just too much for me today, and I was getting emotional and frustrated. So I completed this WOD with 65#.
I will say, however, that my double-unders have improved a lot. I can now get up to 10 at a time. And even when it would've been easy to fudge these if I messed up before the last rep, I made a point to go back and get each individual double-under until I had done 20 true double-unders.
We didn't keep time on this; or at least, I was so frustrated with myself that I didn't want to know how long it took. I don't know if I finished last or not. That didn't really matter to me. I'm just proud of myself for maintaining form, getting good depth in my squats, getting every single double-under, and not quitting or crying when I really, reeeaallly wanted to. There's no crying in CrossFit!!!
Showing posts with label sprints. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sprints. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 1, 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.
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
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