Popular Posts

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Round 33 - 12/28/10

So I’m extremely delayed in this posting, I know. I had a crazy day at work yesterday and I just couldn’t find the energy to write anything. Hopefully today won’t be as much insanity (though I’m thinking it will be). Is it Christmas again yet?

On Tuesday I did Monday’s WOD because I just really didn’t feel like doing Tuesday's (it had a lot of abs and double unders and after the hellish workout from Sunday I was still sore). The workout was kind of a 5 minutes on, 5 minutes off thing. I had to do 3 power cleans, 6 burpees and 9 jumping squats as many times as I could in 5 minutes. After that, I rested for 5 minutes before doing it again.


I ended up doing just over 6 rounds in the ten minutes of exertion. My legs were dying during the first set of power cleans. I was way more exhausted from the day before than I had realized and I’m extremely glad I didn’t opt to do a workout with a lot of skipping in it. I was doing 65lbs for my power cleans and boy, was I feeling that. Hopefully I’m better rested for today’s workout, because I have to clean again.


I’ll be going by after work so I’ll let you guys know how that goes!


- N

Monday, December 27, 2010

Round 32 - 12/27/10

I’m back! Hello everyone! I hope your holidays were excellent and you’re well rested now. I go back to work on Wednesday and the very thought is making me sick. I’m ready to be back in school and having to work for another 8 months at a job I really hate is just...ugh.

But anyway, as promised I’m updating you on my workout routine for the last few days. On Friday I did the Christmas Eve workout which consisted of 20 pushups, 30 sit ups and 40 squats repeated 4 times. I did that in 16:37, so not too shabby! I’m amazed at how much faster my pushups have gotten since I started CrossFit. I used to be able to do 15 pushups, but I would do them slowly (and not by choice). Now I can pound out 20 no problem. Mixing up your tempo is a great way to challenge your muscles, but I’m stronger now so I have more control over how my pushups turn out.


On Sunday (Boxing Day) I ran 4.5 miles. My knee was bugging me again and I really need to get some new shoes. It was extremely cold and though I was bundled up nicely I wasn’t moving fast enough to really work up a sweat. I’ve run for years and I’ve never had knee problems. I think my IT band is really tight when I do a lot of one leg exercise (like squats or lunges), so I’ve been trying to use the foam rollers on that every time I go to the gym. Hopefully this won’t plague me for too much longer. I love running and it’s frustrating to have to keep stopping.


Today was my first day back at the gym. I ended up doing Sundays workout because it just...looked completely insane. I had to try it. I wanted to leave the gym totally exhausted and this was a surefire way to do it.


This was the workout:


30 Thrusters
30 Jumping pull ups
30 Box Jumps
30 Squats
30 Walking Lunge Steps
30 Ground-to-Overhead
30 Pushups
30 Kettlebell Swings
30 Push Press
30 Burpees


As the trainer described it...it was just gross. My legs were stiff from the run and I was feeling my quads from the first few thrusters. I only had the bar at 42lbs so instead of cleaning to go from ground-to-overhead I snatched it (cleans would have been too light for me at that weight). Most of the exercises were exercises I don’t mind doing in a workout usually...but when they were all combined together it seemed to take forever. By the time I got to the burpees it felt like I was moving in super slow motion. My arms and my legs just had absolutely nothing left. I even felt my legs during the pushups.

I finished the workout in 25:54. Everyone was right around 25-30 minutes so I think I was pretty consistent. It was an awesome workout. We all just dropped to the ground after and didn’t move for a few minutes. Hahah. I kind of love workouts like that.

I’ll go back tomorrow and possibly do today’s workout because I really want to work on my power cleans with some real weight. We’ll see how I feel in the morning (blegh, I hate going in the morning).

Talk to you soon guys!

- N

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Round 31 - 12/23/10

I can’t believe this was my last day of CrossFit before Christmas. I loooove Christmas, it’s my favourite holiday, hands down. I always look forward to the break from my daily routine, but for some reason I’m going to miss going to the gym. Yeah, I know it’s only for a few days but it’s a social environment as much as it is a workout environment. I enjoy being there, even when it kicks my ass (which is pretty much always, haha).

Annnyyway, the gym was busier than I expected today. I guess everyone wanted to get one round in before all the holiday indulgences. We started with our choice of a Frog Stand or an L-sit. I chose the L-sit because I wanted to see if I had improved from the last time. I had...drastically. I don’t know if it’s because I’m stronger or because I’ve got better balance, but it was a massive improvement. My longest “run” was 20 seconds last time and today that was my shortest run (and only because I was getting tired). The trainer said the difference was night and day.


After the L-sit we moved onto the 21-15-9 workout that involved overhead squats and pull ups. I switched up the pull up bands this time to the thick green band and the thin purple (which is even thinner than the black band I was using before. I’d never seen it before). It was just enough of a change that they were difficult, but that I was still able to complete them, so I’m glad for that. The trainer said I was doing good pull ups, but he could tell I was working for them.


My overhead squat technique wasn’t too great to start out with, so they made me use the torture device before I could start the workout. Just for fun, here’s a picture I discovered on the webpage under last Saturday’s workout. That’s me, in pain, using the torture device. Enjoy ;)


I ended up using 25lbs on the overhead squats and completed the workout in 6:02. All-in-all this was one of our easier days. The exercises individually were challenging, but we got a lot of rest on the L-sits and the second half of the workout was over very quickly. I’m sure I’ll be feeling the pull ups tomorrow.


I also was feeling brave and decided to see how far away I am from a real pull up. As I mentioned before, that’s one of my biggest goals and I wanted to see how much I’d improved…


I know I have improved significantly in my pull ups, but I’m still nowhere close to doing a real one. Oh well! I might have to make that my 6 month goal instead of my 3 month. It’ll happen eventually, I just need to get some patience.


I went on the website after the gym tonight and they helpfully included an at-home workout in case you’re missing the gym. I probably won’t post about doing that, but I’ll definitely give it a go tomorrow before we do family stuff.


Thanks so much for reading everyone. I really appreciate any comments you take the time to leave me. They make my day :) I hope everyone has a great holidays with their families and I’ll see you guys in a few days!


- N

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Round 30 - 12/21/10: Wahoo! 30 days of CrossFit!

Phew. Finally found time to post this. I had to do all of my Christmas shopping today (my sister and I were on a roll though). Sorry for the delay! I hope everyone’s getting ready for the holidays (or the time off if you don’t celebrate the holidays!)...

Today’s WOD started with bench press. We were going for 5 sets of 3 or a 5 rep max. For a change I decided to do 5 sets of 3. I ended up doing the sets at 85lbs (when my 5 rep max was 82.5lbs two weeks ago). The improvement was definitely significant, but it felt less exciting than benching 100lbs last week. Next time I’ll probably try 5 sets of 3 at 90 or 95.


The next part of WOD was four rounds of 10 pull ups, 30 sit ups and 10 burpees. I’m getting really frustrated with my pull ups. I’m using the green (thickest) and black (thinnest) band to assist me and the pull ups are easy. However, just the green band is too hard. It’s annoying because I feel like I won’t progress if the pull ups aren’t hard, but the next level is too hard. It’s just annoying.


I finished the four rounds in 11:19. My time was solid, but I really felt the burpees draining me. Even after conquering 100 of them...I just hate burpees.


I’m going back tomorrow (my last chance before Christmas!). Hopefully we get to do something awesome as a final send off…


Have a great night guys!



- N

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Round 29 - 12/20/10

I really enjoyed the WOD today. It was way more relaxed than the one on Friday. I finally got to do some heavy weight back squats again (I’ve been missing out on them for the last few weeks). I wasn’t sure what my weight was going to be (we were looking for a 3 rep max). Since my front squats were 105 on Friday I just knew I was going for more than that. I ended up doing 125, but I think next time I’ll be able to break 130.

The second half of the workout was AMRAP for 7 minutes. We had to do 7 front squats and 7 push presses. My bar was (don’t laugh at me) either 53 or 65lbs. I have no idea what the weight of the bar was. Normally I can tell as soon as I lift it, but today I wasn’t sure. I was either sore in the shoulders from Friday still so 53lbs felt like a lot more...or I was lifting 65lbs.


Either way, the push presses got heavy fast. The front squats were okay, but the hardest part of the workout was transitioning from a front squat bar hold (where the bar’s on 2 fingers, your elbows are up high and the bar’s pretty much against your chest/neck/shoulders), and a push press hold (where you need to wrap your hands around the bar completely). The guy I did the AMRAP with said the same thing, so we kind of laughed about it. Of all the things to cause problems it was shifting our grips, haha.


And that was it for today. I’m going back tomorrow so I’ll be sure to update then!


- N

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Update (a.k.a. How much pain I'm in today)

I'm sitting here finishing my coffee about to get ready to go to work, but I thought I'd give everyone a little update on my...err..."condition".

Well, I'm not gonna lie. I'm definitely sore. It's mostly in my quads (when I use the stairs) and my upper back.

What I will also say though, is I still have not felt pain or stiffness like I did those first few days after I started. Those workouts were shorter and less gruelling than what I did yesterday, but I'm functioning way better today than I was then.

I know some people attempt weight training for a day and then use their soreness as a reason to skip it a day or 2 later. But the truth is, once you start moving and working out again the blood starts flowing and the pain goes away. And after a few weeks you will start to recover faster. I'm recovering so much faster after harder workouts because I'm training my body to do so. You just have to push a little bit and be prepared to be uncomfortable and the rest will come. It's not supposed to feel good...if it does you're not pushing hard enough.

Kay, that's my advice for the morning. Everybody go feel some pain! LOL.

- N

Friday, December 17, 2010

Round 28 - 12/17/10: ‘G.I. Jane’

Today was insanity. Literally. For the first time since my first day of CrossFit I thought I might puke. It was one of those days where you’re constantly playing mental games with yourself to make it through the workout because you know how amazing it’ll feel when you’re done (yes, feeling sore counts as feeling amazing in my book. Feeling “good pain” means you worked your ass off...and isn’t that the point?).

I came in and looked at the board and saw WOD only had 2 exercises: 2-2-2-2-2 front squat reps and 50 burpee pull ups. Uhhh...whaaat? My reaction was “I can’t do one unassisted pull up, what the hell’s a burpee pull up and how am I gonna do that?”


One of the interns demonstrated for me what exactly it was and assured me it was more of a jumping pull up than a regular pull up. This video shows people doing them at all different levels. I didn’t use a box (like the girls in the back on the video), but the bar was a little tall for me so I stood on a 45lb weight to give me room to squat.


But let’s come back to burpee pull ups. For starters we did front squats. I haven’t done front squats on their own (as an isolated heavy weight exercise) in weeks, so I had no idea what my max would be. I kind of just kept adding weight to see what would happen. My sets went like this: 1) 65lbs, 2)75lbs, 3) 85lbs, 4)95lbs, 5)105lbs.


Hitting 105lbs on front squat for me was huge. They’re tough to execute so I wasn’t able to really max out my legs in the squat until now. Hitting 105 just showed me how far my technique has come since those first few weeks.


After, I went to do my 50 burpee pull ups...or so I thought. I was then informed I had the option of doing 50 or doing “G.I. Jane”...which is 100 burpee pull ups.


I thought about it for a second and decided I was going to do 100. I figured it was only going to take 20 minutes (25 max) and I would just pace myself and try and finish.


Well... it was brutal. The first 50 were bad and they asked me if I wanted to stop (as I was doubled over panting)...but I really, really didn’t. I had said I was going to attempt 100 and I felt like I could continue...just slower. Once I hit 70 I actually thought I might throw up. I wanted to quit at 70...but who quits when you’ve done 70 and only have 30 left? I would’ve kicked myself all night for stopping there...I was almost 3/4 of the way done!


For the last 20 I had three people watching me and a) counting for me (thankfully, I didn’t want to have to think, lol), b) timing how long I rested for and encouraging me to keep going. I felt like I was barely moving by the end of it. Everyone was really supportive though and I actually finished 100 burpee pullups in 17:24.


Not bad for a semi-newbie still!


Everything hurts right now (especially my back), but I can’t complain (much). I’m still kind of on a high from accomplishing that. It was worth every torturous second.


And now I rest, haha. I’m working tomorrow (my last time before Christmas, yay!) and probably running on Sunday. Today was awesome, but recovering will be just as awesome.


Thanks for reading! Have a great weekend guys!


- N

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Round 27 - 12/16/10: ‘Karen’

Today...we did Karen. Karen’s one of the baseline workouts that is named something that you can curse at while you’re doing it. One of the other girls I’ve worked out with before (who’s been doing this a while and is kind of a CrossFit machine) came up with one of the interns while I was warming up and said she was waiting for me. In these types of workouts it’s nice to have someone going through it with you. They keep you motivated and there’s a little friendly competition going on (even though I knew she’d cream me, haha). It’s just the idea that if you’re resting and the other person’s not you feel the need to keep going. When you see what this workout is you’ll understand…

So Karen. Karen is a really simple workout. 150 wall balls for time. That’s it. No olympic lifting, no power lifting nothing but wall balls.


150 of them.


For time.


It’s kind of intimidating to imagine. I checked the time’s on the board and the best one of the day so far was 9:50. For some reason that seemed insanely fast. I pictured myself doing it in 30.


For the workout I used the 12lb ball while the other girl used the 16lber (which was the actual weight for the workout). I’m looking forward to the days when there won’t be that little star beside some of my workout times that means “modified”. I’m still a newbie and I’m okay with being modified, but it gives me some goals to work towards that are a little more tangible than others.


I always start wall balls rockily. I spin the ball with my wrists or something and it bounces off the wall at a weird angle and disrupts my rhythm. I took one bounce to the face a couple of seconds in, but after the first 30 I found my rhythm. Like the intern said, that’s another thing to kind of strive for so I could make sure I was hitting the target every time. She suggested practicing with a light ball a few times before some workouts to get the hang of it.


My lungs were generally on fire from the get-go. I now know I actually am fighting a cold or something (which would explain the crazy carb/sugar binge I went on last night). I kept going, but I felt like my recovery was taking me too long and really had to force myself to keep going.


The other girl killed the original time. She did 150 wall balls in 8:55 (told you, machiiiine). I actually wasn’t far behind her. I managed to do my wall balls in 9:22.


After wall balls I decided I wanted to do a few light back squats. I’ve missed back squat days 3 weeks in a row and I just wanted to practice my technique a little. I did 3 sets at 75lbs after a few warm up rounds. My legs felt okay during that but now they feel like jelly and allllll thanks to Karen.


Hopefully I can stand during work tomorrow. LOL.


- N

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Foods and Vitamins Extravaganza - Day 1: Almond Milk

So, when reviewing my blog statistics I noticed I seemed to be getting a lot of hits on all of my nutrition posts. Therefore I have decided I will talk a little bit more about my nutrition. Every time I locate a good “find” (or in this case, something I have been using for a while), I’ll tell you all about it and why I love it so much. I’ll try and pick more obscure foods people may not have tried themselves or haven’t even heard of. Hopefully you find these little nutrition tidbits interesting.

The topic of today is almond milk. It’s kind of unusual if you aren’t vegetarian/vegan and have no problem with regular milk. I first heard about it when I was listening to one of Jillian Michael’s podcasts from when she had a radio show (I was kind of on the fence about Jillian until I started listening to her podcasts a few years ago. They’re really fantastic and you get a lot of good information. I highly recommend them to anyone interested in nutrition and fitness. They were available on iTunes last time I checked, but I can probably find the link if anyone’s interested).


Anyway, almond milk. Jillian talked about using it on the Biggest Loser for the contestants as a way to decrease the amount of lactose (sugar) in their diets and save on some calories (because their diets are obviously very strict). Intrigued, I decided to try it. I wasn’t sure what exactly it would look like or taste like, but I am not a fan of soy milk or of consuming soy in general so I figured I’d give it a try. It was a little weird at first because it’s fairly watery. It smells vaguely like almonds. I picked up a carton of Almond Breeze by Blue Diamond at my local grocery store. It comes in several flavors and you have the option of both sweetened and unsweetened in vanilla, chocolate and original. I always opt for unsweetened in vanilla or original (between 40 and 60 calories per cup!).


I don’t usually (but I have) drink almond milk straight. It doesn’t taste bad, it just doesn’t taste like milk. I love it in my coffee though. It’s creamy and has a sweetness too it. I also like it in cereal and I use it in my breakfast smoothies to cut down on calories and sugars. Here’s a rundown on the nutritional info.


Serving size 1 cup (240mL)


Calories 40

Fat 3g

Saturated 0.3g

Trans 0g

Cholesterol 0mg

Sodium 180mg

Potassium 190mg

Carbohydrates 2g

Fibre 1g

Sugars 0g

Protein 1g


It also contains 20% your daily recommended intake of calcium (based on a 2000 calorie diet), 2% your iron, 15% vitamin E, 4% phosphorus and 8% magnesium.


And just for fun, let’s compare to regular 2% milk…


Calories 122

Fat 4.8g

Saturated 3.1g

Trans 0g

Cholesterol 20mg

Sodium 100mg

Potassium Not stated.

Carbohydrates 11.4g

Fibre 0g

Sugars 12.3

Protein 8g


It also contains 29% of your daily recommended intake of calcium, 0% of your iron, 9% vitamin A and 1% of vitamin C.


So, obviously with more calories you’re going to be expecting more carbs, protein and fat. There’s a good amount of protein in milk, but you’re talking about triple the calories in this case. I still drink regular milk and I will continue to drink regular milk, but this is a pretty appealing alternative if you’re talking a splash in your coffee or to help keep the calories lower in a smoothie (especially if you’re watching your carbs at all). You’re definitely getting some vitamins from almond milk you can’t get from regular milk and vice versa, so it’s a nice way of getting some variety in your diet.


And that’s my food tip for the day! Have a good night guys!


- N

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Round 26 - 12/14/10: “Your shoulders love you!”

Today my shoulders were in for a beating. A serious beating...but it was totally worth it. I hit a pretty serious goal of mine and I’m still kind of reeling. The trainer described my efforts as “badass” so that made me feel even better about it. Every woman should feel like a bit of a badass once in a while ;).


WOD consisted of bench presses or presses (I opted for bench presses) in 2-2-2-2-2 sets like yesterday. I warmed up with the bar for a few sets of five and did my first real set at 65lbs. That felt pretty easy. The rest of the sets went: 2) 75lbs, 3) 85lbs, 4) 95lbs (82.5 was my 5 rep max so hitting 95 was big) and 5) 100lbs(!!!). I only did one rep at 100lbs, but I seriously couldn’t have cared less at that point. I hit triple digits in bench press less than 2 months into my training. The trainer was even impressed. She was impressed when I told her I hit 82.5lbs for my 5 rep max and then pushed me to hit 100. Triple digits in anything just seems like a whole other level and it’s what I’ve been striving for in a lot of the exercises, but to achieve it in an upper body one was kind of surreal. Yeah, I didn’t manage to do 2 reps of it, but I still feel accomplished. It’s kind of amazing what your body can do when you set your mind to something.


The second part of the WOD was an AMRAP workout for 12 minutes. It consisted of 15 hang power snatches (I used my torture devices beforehand to warm up), 10 overhead squats and 10 dips. For the dips we used these plastic hurdle-type bars that were about a foot off the ground. I had to keep my legs straight and dip my butt to the ground. It would be this exercise that did me in.


I felt like I was going so slowly. My shoulders were feeling it after my first set of snatches, so by the end they were on fire. The dips were the absolute worst part. The most I could do was five in a row before I had to shake out my arms. At one point I kind of groaned my shoulders hurt and the trainer yelled “your shoulders love you!” which made me laugh. They better love me for how they’re going to look after a few more months of this!


I ended up doing 3 rounds, plus an extra round of hang squat snatches and one overhead squat. When I looked at the other scores everyone did between 2-3 rounds (except for one crazy person that somehow managed 5!). Overall I was happy, I’m just really committed to getting better at those dips. I can’t get over how hard they were.


I’m taking tomorrow off, but I’ll be heading back Thursday after work. My sister and brother came home from school today for the holidays and my sister hadn’t seen me since our half marathon in October. She commented that my legs looked skinny (the rest of me was covered up), so that was a nice little extra bit of motivation.


I hope everyone had a good night and is gearing up for the holidays. I have to go to the mall tomorrow (yuck!) and by my secret santa person at work a present. To say I’m dreading it is an understatement…


- N

Monday, December 13, 2010

Round 25 - 12/13/10

It was absolutely bitter here today (-25C with the wind), plus we got snow last night and it was the icy kind because of the temperature drop. Needless to say, I wasn’t looking forward to trekking out to the gym, nor am I looking forward to going tomorrow morning...but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. ;)


An upside was that the gym was empty, so I had the total run of the equipment and the total attention of the trainer. That’s always nice. We got some time to talk in between parts of the workout about a few things. I told her my knee was hurting and we both agreed I’d probably just strained my IT-band from a combination of my run on Sunday and squats on Friday. She also asked if I felt that since I started doing CrossFit my running had improved. That’s a little trickier to judge. I was running 20-25 miles a week a few weeks before CrossFit and it was really easy for me to get in the zone because I had an end goal in mind. I could run for 40-60 minutes without stopping at a comfortable 9:15 minute mile pace. A few factors have changed now (including weather) and you just can’t expect the same from yourself during winter running that you can during fall. I breathe fairly well in cold weather (I grew up figure skating competitively), but the wind and the road conditions just aren’t the same.


That being said, I took my dad for a 5 mile run with me a couple of weeks ago and I did notice some improvement. My dad runs a little faster than me (but not as long) and I let him set the pace during the run. By the end of it he was dripping and I wasn’t even out of breath. It was just easy. I didn’t feel it at all. I think CrossFit must be partially responsible for this.

I also kind of expressed my frustration with the fact that I hadn’t lost more than a pound since May (before my serious half marathon training started). The trainer gave me a couple of encouraging pieces of advice. For starters she said it takes at least a month to notice some real change because of CrossFit (which I have to a degree, I’m definitely more toned), but for me it may take longer. I was already pretty well conditioned and fairly strong to start with so I was able to build up to the level I’m at quicker than most people. I’m not really taxing my body enough to see serious change yet. She predicts during month 3 and 4 I’ll start to see inches just fall off.


She also said it was a good sign that I’m hungry a lot more often these days. It means my metabolism is increasing because of my new routine. Hopefully this serves to encourage somebody else. I know how frustrating it can be when the scale’s not budging, but as long as you’re making positive changes and have a little patience you’ll get results; if you’re doing everything right something’s gotta give eventually.


Okay, I’m done rambling. Onto the WOD!


We started with 2-2-2-2-2 deadlifts. This means you have to do five sets of 2 at different weights. I warmed up at 65lbs before starting my sets. My sets looked like this: 1) 85lbs, 2) 100lbs, 3)110lbs, 4) 115lbs, 5) 125lbs.


I set a new personal record with my 125lbs! I was really excited and the trainer thought I did really well. I was going to attempt 120 for my last set and she said she thought I could handle 125. That seems like so much weight now! Haha.


The second part of WOD was called “Fran”. Fran consisted of 15-12-9 squat thrusters and pull ups. Last time I attempted a lot of squat thrusters in succession they set me up at 53lbs to start and ended up switching me to 42. This time I was determined to stick to 53lbs.


I did all 3 sets at 53lbs. Yay! My shoulders and my upper back have gotten a lot stronger since I started CrossFit (and the trainer really noticed this, she said). I’ve seen subtle changes everywhere, but it’s my upper body more than my lower. I’m really hoping she’s right about the inches falling off in a few more months. Ultimately I’d be happy to drop 10lbs (when originally I wanted to drop 20) and lose inches everywhere. I just want to see what happens at this point.


- N

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Round 24 - 12/10/10

Sorry for the delay in this update. I just haven’t felt motivated to write for some reason. I worked Friday and Saturday and I’ve pretty much bummed around all day today (except for my run and some laundry I did). I’ll try not to get so behind next time. :)


So Friday was the last time I went to the gym. I had a lot of fun actually. WOD started with hang squat snatches followed by 2 overhead squats for a 1 rep max. I started warming up with just the bar and looked over to see the two trainers talking...about me. I was then handed this weird, peanut shaped thing that was apparently 2 lacrosse balls taped together. I had to lie on the floor with this thing under different parts of my spine and try and stretch while holding onto a bar. We did the same thing with a foam roller. It was painful. Everyone in the gym watched me and kind of groaned when they saw my new favorite torture device (as it will be referred to from hereon in). It’s supposed to stretch out your shoulders and stuff. It was 30 seconds of hell each time I did it, let me tell you.


But apparently the results were worth it. After working on the power snatches earlier in the week I felt really good about them. After I used the torture devices to loosen up my shoulders my form drastically improved when I was in the overhead position. It was kind of amazing. I got up to 40lbs (which was way better than my last attempt at overhead squats). I was also working with one of the other newer gym members so we kind of took turns watching each other while the trainer corrected our form. It was fun. They made him use the torture device too.


The second part of WOD was 4 rounds of the following: 20 pushups, 60 squats and 10 push presses. My bar for the push press was only 35lbs because my shoulders were already sore and I was going to have to do a lot of pull ups. The 60 squats seemed the most daunting of anything, but they were unweighted and I’m pretty good with squats. I did this part of the workout with the guy from the first half and one other guy.


For the first set they creamed me on the pull ups. I was easily the last to finish and they were almost half done their squats by the time I was starting. I was well behind and figured I’d just get more behind as the workout went on...


But those squats? Man, I rocked those squats. Haha. Seriously I flew through those things. Sure I got tired and my legs felt like jelly by the end, but I just didn’t stop. I ended up finishing the squats before them and stayed in the lead for the rest of the workout. I finished 1:28 before the first guy finished...and I won’t lie, that felt kind of awesome. I know if it was anything but squats they probably would’ve beat me, but I’ll take the little victories when I can get them. It wasn’t about throwing it anyone’s face (as it never is at CrossFit), it’s just really nice to feel a little competitive. We all busted our asses and told each other good job afterwards… that’s the kind of environment it is here. It’s about your personal best, but you’re working out with others and that gives you that little push to give it your all. It’s healthy competition and I really enjoy that.


And that was my workout. My knee’s bugging me today and my legs were really tired on my run which is weird because I hadn’t felt the aftereffects of my squats until I hit mile 4. I was afraid I’d still be in pain when we do back squats tomorrow, but it looks like we’re doing deadlifts instead so good news for me.


I hope everyone had a great weekend and stayed warm!


More tomorrow.


- N

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Round 23 - 12/8/10

I think I have a bit of head cold. I’ve been congested the last couple of days and feeling a little under the weather in general. Let’s hope it doesn’t get any worse than this...unless that means getting off work on Saturday and getting to the gym instead. See? I have my priorities straight. ;)

Today’s WOD was the kind I like...none of the moves were intimidating, even though I knew the workout itself was going to be hard. I was comfortable with all the exercises, so I knew I could just blast through everything and hopefully get some really good numbers.


We started with deadlifts. The gym was empty again today so I got some completely one-on-one training (which was awesome). We were working up to a 3 rep max so the trainer asked me what I was going to aim for. I suggested 110. She said 115 because she wasn’t going easy on me anymore, haha.


So that was the goal, 115lbs. I warmed up a few light reps and then gradually built up to the 115...and it was achieved! I texted my sister afterwards to tell her I deadlifted her body weight, haha. It was a pretty cool thing to be able to say. I deadlifted my sister ;).


The next part of the workout was an AMRAP for 12 minutes. The circuit was simple, 6 pull ups, 12 pushups, 24 walking lunges. I set up with my usual bands for the pull ups (since I didn’t want a repeat of last time,) and a plate on the ground for pushups. I probably could’ve taken a longer rest after deadlifts, but I was ready to go.


What surprised me the most about the AMRAP was the first 2 sets were actually easy. There weren’t many pull ups so I kind of expected that, but the pushups! I fleeeew through those pushups. It was kind of remarkable compared to where I was a month ago. 12 pushups and I didn’t even feel it! Before CrossFit that would have been where I started to tire around 10...but noooope. The lunges were good for the first few sets too.


I started to tire noticeably around set 4 and ended up completing 6 rounds, plus an extra round of pull ups. I sprawled on the floor afterwards, haha. That’s the best feeling ever - sprawling on the floor covered in sweat after busting your ass.


All in all, it was a really good workout. I have to work tomorrow so I’m taking it as my day off and then I’ll be going back on Friday after work.


Also, I have a massive bruise on my right upper thigh from a combination of cleans and snatches. I also have bruises (though smaller) on both shins for the same reason. Maybe I should try wearing some pants...hmm…or I could just accept the bruises…;)


Have a good night, everyone!


- N

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Round 22 - 12/7/10: The Power Snatch

I ended up having a kind of long/crappy day at work yesterday and by the time I got out traffic was brutal and it was snowing like crazy...so I passed on the gym. I felt bad after, thinking I should have just sucked it up and gone, but in the moment I had to decide I just wasn’t feeling it.

And I have two days off in a row now, so it just made sense to save it for those days.


Today’s WOD was intimidating because of one thing...the power snatch. The last time I did one of those I felt like I failed miserably. Some looked better than others but I just couldn’t get into the rhythm so they never felt good. To top it all off, today the power snatch was incorporated into our conditioning circuit. I wasn’t looking forward to it to say the least.


To start we did the bench press to a 5 rep max. I maxed out at 75lbs last time so my goal today was 80. I worked through a few sets, gradually building up to 75, and then went for it. I managed 80 and then managed 82.5! I was really excited. The guy trainer was spotting me and he said next time I’ll definitely be able to do 85, but I was too tired from pressing 82.5 to try anything further. I was satisfied stopping there anyway.


And then, the circuit. 21-18-15-12-9 reps of power snatches, wall balls and sit ups. The male trainer and one of the interns were the ones helping us on the circuit and I flat out told them I suuuck at power snatches. So we took it slow. We practiced a lot (first with this one bar that weighs literally nothing and they use for stretching, then with this other real bar that weighed 33lbs). We just kept practicing a bunch of times and they both kept helping me and giving me tips on it and I ended up using only 35lbs.


By the time I got a few reps into the circuit...I was actually doing them. Real power snatches and they felt good! I swore I was never going to get these, they’re so complicated (especially from the ground). They look so easy and they’re really hard to master...but I think I did a pretty good job of it. I was doing my happy dance (internally, I was too tired to do it literally, haha). It was just really exciting.


My finishing time for that circuit was 21:08.


I’ll be going back tomorrow so hopefully we’ll get some good pullups in or something. I’m kind of enjoying the Olympic lifting now. The more I do it the more comfortable I get with it so I want to keep practicing.


We’ll see what happens tomorrow I guess!


- N

Friday, December 3, 2010

Round 21 - 12/3/10

The gym was pretty empty again today too. There were two other girls there with me and one guy was finishing up his own workout (not WOD). I actually ended up having a pretty awesome time. Both the girls there were experienced Crossfitters, so they were really helpful and encouraging through the whole workout (plus I had the trainer). I went over to change some of the weights for my hang squat cleans and one just randomly gave me a tip on my form. It was just cool. We ended up laughing and joking around in between sets of the workout and everyone was cheering me on as I tried to finish mine. I really loved that.


The WOD was all the things I hate (except HSPU, haha). There was lots of Olympic lifting and my form’s still not great on that so it intimidates me. I was hoping today might help me improve.


Well, it did. First up were hang squat cleans. They weren’t going well at all at first. I was curling. I wasn’t exploding into the move or keeping my arms straight and I was squatting before I had even finished the clean. The trainer said sometimes you need to add weight to force the technique (as in I wont be able to curl it, so I’ll have no choice but to clean it). That actually seemed to work this time! I did so many reps and I ended up cleaning 78lbs! It was so heavy to hold and I thought there was no way I could have lifted it...but I did because I jumped and exploded and got under the bar. It actually started to feel pretty good after a while!


Next we did a 15-12-9 circuit (so three exercises at 15, then 12, then 9). The first exercise in the circuit was power cleans (meaning it’s exactly like the beginning exercise except you don’t squat and you start at the ground instead of holding the bar at your hips). I like the hang power cleans and the hang squat cleans much better. The movement for power cleans just isn’t fluid to me. I think I started to get the hang of it in the end, but I was getting tired too so it’s hard to say. Starting from the ground and then going into the clean is really tricky.


The second exercise was front squats. One of the girls said to me “just make sure once you start squatting you don’t stop because otherwise you just have to clean again”. I laughed, because that’s exactly what I had been doing and it was exhausting. I kicked myself every time I put the bar down because I just had to clean again.


I ended up using 50lbs for both these exercises.


The last exercise in the circuit was ring dips (or regular dips). I’m not strong enough to do either yet, so I just did some pushups. You had to do double the amount of dips (or pushups in my case) that you did cleans and squats. I don’t know how or why but my legs even hurt during the pushups. It was totally random.


And then I had to do two more sets at 12 and 9. I was soaked by the end of it, haha.


Some good things to notice though, my wrists hurt way less during all the exercises. I only started to feel them bugging me during the pushups.


And that was my WOD! I’m off until Monday (when I’ll have to go after work), but all-in-all I think I did much better than I anticipated in this workout.


Have a great weekend!


- N

Round 20 - 12/2/10


The gym was empty today! I was amazed! One guy was finishing up and I was just getting in. I thought for a second I got the schedule wrong and they were closing early or something...It was crazy!


In the end it meant I got 2-on-1 training from the trainers, which was pretty sweet. The guy trainer did the gymnastics move with me and the girl trainer did the strength/conditioning workout. She told me the gym will just get less and less busy around Christmastime. I’m totally okay with that, I love getting that kind of attention, hahah.


Today’s WOD only had 2 exercises: The L-sit (see Videos post from last night) and squat thrusters. For the L-sit we were supposed to accumulate 5 minutes in the actual position in as few sets as possible. It’s kind of a weird exercise. It’s hard to find your balance at first and you’re shaking and even though the trainer told me it was easier to keep my arms straight all they wanted to do was bend. Haha.


In the end I only finished 3 minutes of practice because I did one really great one that I held for almost 20 seconds. We concluded that I was probably tired and not going to do that again so it was best to end on a high note. I liked that, haha. I think I might actually much prefer this exercise (or any exercise) to HSPU Progression.


For the strength/conditioning exercise we did a squat thruster progression. It’s exactly like the pull up progression from a few weeks ago. At minute one you do one squat thruster and then rest the remainder of the minute; at minute two you do two squat thrusters and rest the remainder of the minute...and so on, and so on.


I made it 10 rounds at 42lbs, plus 8 reps in the 11th round. That adds up to 63 squat thrusters.


I’m going back tomorrow. Hopefully the gym will be relatively empty (if not completely empty again). I’ll update then!


- N