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