Fitness Tuesday

Thursday

We ran 400 m for a warm up.  I had a plan.  I was going to stay with one older lady in my group.  It worked but she was going at a pretty good pace.  I found out later in the class that she goes running after class and that she used to win a lot of races but she’s getting slower.  Maybe not such a good plan after all…

We did snatches which is taking the bar from the ground to straight overhead.  We did 5 sets of 3.  I did 55 lbs.

Then we did a stone deadlift ladder.  We had stones laid out on the floor in ascending order – 45, 75, 95, 115, 145.  You started at 45 and lifted them to waist height and then moved to the next one.  I could do 95 but I couldn’t get a grip on the 115 lb one.  We did that 5 times.

The workout was 5 rounds of:

• 10 wall balls – I did 14 lbs and I took off my glasses so I didn’t break them again this week.
• 2 rope climbs or 8 pull to stands – You lay on the ground and pull yourself to standing using the rope.
• 200 m run

I did it in 14:55.

Tuesday

It is snowing so we didn’t have to run. Yeah!

We warmed up with a 500 m row and then stretching. Our strength work was 5 sets of 3 front squats. I did 105 lbs which our computer program tells me is a record. I’m not so sure that’s true. I think it might tie my record though.

Then we did bench press. I did 5 sets of 3 at 60 lbs.

The workout was 21 reps then 15 reps then 9 reps of:

• Burpee box jumps – Lay down on the ground, get up, jump up onto a box
• Overhead squats – Hold the bar over your head and squat.  I did 45 lbs.

I did it in 10:10.

Fitness Tuesday

Thursday

We started with back squats. That is where you put the bar on your shoulders behind your head and squat. We did 4 sets of 8. I did 105 lbs.

Bench press was next. We did 4 sets of 6. I did 55 lbs.

The workout was 12 minutes long. Every minute on the minute we did:

• 3 hang snatches – bar from mid thigh to over head.  I did 55 lbs.
• 5 burpees

Friday

I went to the track again.  I walked 1/4 mile, ran 1/4, walked 1/4, ran 1/4, walked 1/4, ran 1/2, walked 1/4, and then walked at least another mile and maybe more.  I lost count as I am so prone to do so I went to the end of my playlist.  That was an hour and at the pace I was going should have been close to 4 miles.

I planned to do it again on Sunday but came down with something that made holding very still in bed the best idea for the day.

Tuesday

We did deadlifts.  It was 5 sets of 5.  I did 105 lbs.

Then I worked on ring rows.  I did 3 sets of 10.

The workout was just plain mean.  It was another every minute on the minute for 12 minutes workout.  We had to do:

• 5 power cleans – bar from floor to under chin.  I did 55 lbs.
• 4 push jerks – bar from chin to overhead

But then instead of resting if we finished before the minute was up, we had to do sit ups.  Our score for the day was the number of sit ups we did.  I did 27.  I didn’t always get through all the lifts.  I think I did 10 sit ups on the first minute and then got 2 or 3 each time at most after that.

There was a new person there.  He went up to the trainer afterwards and mentioned that he was transitioning to vegetarianism.  I swear my ears must be attuned to the words because I’m not sure how I heard him from where I was.  I swooped in with advice.  CrossFit coaches tend to be very Paleo diet focused.  They are flummoxed by vegetarians.  The guy was very happy to know there were other vegetarians who haven’t died doing CrossFit.

Fitness Tuesday

I see articles all the time about how Crossfit is going to kill you or at the very least maim you. I have an injury that I’ve never seen mentioned in all the articles.

On Tuesday the workout contained 200 sit ups. I was wearing a new pair of workout pants. Apparently there is a seam across the butt. It rubbed me raw. I look like I’ve been branded across the butt. Ow. Not fun. Note to self – don’t wear those if there are situps on the schedule.

Thursday

We warmed up with a 600 m row and then we did the whole workout with a PVC pipe instead of weight to finish warming up.

For strength work we did 5 back squats (I did 85 lbs) on every even minute and 10 box jumps on every odd minute for 10 minutes.

The workout was:

• 10 strict presses – push the bar overhead from under the chin
• 15 overhead squats – hold the bar overhead and squat
• 20 push presses – bend your knees a little and stand up quickly to give yourself a little momentum to push the bar overhead
• 25 front squats – squat with the bar under your chin
• 30 push jerks – push the bar overhead and squat a little to catch it.
• 35 back squats – squat with the bar on your shoulders behind your head.

I used 35 lbs.  That was a little light but I got nervous because the Rx weight for women was 45 lbs.  I usually do a little less than Rx.  I could have probably done 45.  I did it in 7:50.

Sunday

We went to the gym where we swim and exercised on the track. I was getting anxious about it getting warm because we’ll start running in CrossFit again. I hate running. I’m bad at running. Even thinking about running stresses me.

So I did 1/4 mile walk, 1/4 mile run, 1/4 mile walk, 1/4 mile run, 1/4 mile walk, 1/2 mile run, and 1/4 mile walk. It was surprisingly easy. I even rechecked the track distance and my math several times because even the 1/2 mile was easy. I’m still convinced I did the math wrong.

Tuesday

It is bring a friend week so the workouts are a little easier. I don’t have any friends who want to get up before dawn with me in order to beat up their bodies.

We started with snatches. That is taking the bar from the floor to overhead. We did 5 sets of 3. I did 55 lbs, working on form.

We did reverse hypers.

This is a hamstring move.  You bring your legs up to level with your hips.  We did 4 sets of 10.

The workout was 2 minutes of:

• 12 Deadlifts – bar from floor to hips
• 9 Power Cleans – bar from floor to under chin
• 6 Push Jerks – bar from chin to overhead

Then we rested 2 minutes.  We did it for a total of 3 times.  You used the same weight for each lift so the deadlifts were simple and the push jerks were hard.  I did 65 lbs.  I did 3 full rounds and did 3 more deadlifts.

Fitness Tuesday

Thursday

Sooooo sooooore! We did lots of leg work on Tuesday and there was more today.

We did front squats. That means holding the weight under your chin and squatting. I did 4 sets of 6 at 85 lbs.

Then we worked on bench press. I am crazy weak on this. It is totally out of proportion to the rest of my lifts. I was only doing 55 lbs.

The workout was:

• 8 thrusters – bar under your chin and squat then stand up while pushing the bar overhead.  I did 45 lbs.
• 18 pull ups or ring rows.  I did ring rows.
• 6 thrusters
• 14 ring rows
• 4 thrusters
• 10 ring rows

This was a quick one.  I did it in 3:40.

Tuesday

We had a long workout today so we didn’t do any strength work.  The workout was 5 rounds of:

• 20 pull ups or ring rows – I did ring rows
• 30 push ups
• 40 sit ups
• 50 squats
• 3 minute rest

That was rough.  I was getting lightheaded on the ring rows for some reason.  Then I got a headache.  The sit ups rubbed by lower back.  That is going to be sore!  I did the whole thing though in about 41 minutes including the rests.

Fitness Tuesday

Tuesday

We warmed up with a 800 m row and then lots of stretching because we were all pretty stiff from earlier in the week.

We spent some time working on handstands. There are two handstand moves in Crossfit – handstand push ups and walking on your hands. I can’t do either. I can’t even get into a handstand and I’ve pretty successfully avoided it so far. I’ve been thinking though that I should practice it at home. I haven’t been able to make myself do it though. But I decided to try today. I can’t kick up. I kick and get about halfway up and then flail around. I’m fine if someone grabs my legs and then puts them up against the wall. I can hold the handstand then so I guess that’s progress.

The workout was as many rounds as possible in 12 minutes of:

• 4 wall balls – Squat with a 20 lb medicine ball and then stand up and throw it 9 feet up against the wall.
• 5 stone to shoulder – Take a concrete stone and take it from the floor to your shoulder.  The recommended weight for women was 95 lbs.  I started with that but it got too heavy.  I moved down to 75 lbs for the rest of the workout.
• 120 foot farmer’s carry – This means you carry something heavy in each hand and walk with it.  I used 45 lb kettle bells.  I spent most of my formative years doing this while carrying water buckets to horses so it was no problem.

I got all the wall through 4 rounds and did the wall balls and 3 stone to shoulders again.

Sunday

I went swimming.  I couldn’t get warm in the water so I swam for about 20 minutes only.

Tuesday

We worked on deadlifts.

from The Art of Manliness

We did 5 sets of 5.  I did 125 lbs.

The workout was as many rounds as possible in 12 minutes of:

• 9 box jumps
• 20 lunge steps with a 25 lb plate held overhead
• 11 pull ups or ring rows.  I did rows.

I did 4 rounds.

Fitness Tuesday

Thursday

Our warmup was with partners.  One person rowed 200 m while the other was in a low squat and then we switched.  The next round was 200 m row/plank hold and then 200 m row/sit ups.

We did 4 sets of 8 cleans at a light weight working on technique.  A clean is taking the bar from the floor to your chin.

We worked on pistols, which are one legged squats.

image Sweatlikeapig.com

I don’t look like that doing it.  I certainly don’t smile like that.  We started with drills working on getting up with one leg.  I can do that but I don’t have the strength to lower myself down deep.  I was getting better though.

The workout was with kettlebells.  It was 3 rounds on each arm of:

• 5 high pulls – Kettlebell in one hand in front of you at thigh height and pull it up until your hand is at your cheek.
• 5 snatches – Take the kettlebell in one hand at your thigh and then push it overhead
• 5 presses – Kettlebell from shoulder to overhead
• 5 squats
• 5 swings – Kettlebell in one hand in front of you.  Keep your arm straight and swing it up to eye level.

I used a 25 lb kettlebell (the presses were too hard for me to do 35 lbs) and finished in 6:30.

Friday

I went swimming for the first time in forever.  Actually it was 2 weeks but it felt like forever.  I was the only person there so the lifeguard was staring at me to keep from falling asleep.  Felt slightly awkward after a while.  I started to feel like maybe I should fake drowning just to be polite and give her something to do.

I did a 250 m warm up of breaststroke and then alternated breast and back strokes for 500 m.  Usually I use backstroke as a rest stroke but instead I worked on really reaching back and rotating my torso to get more power.  That made it more of a workout.

Tuesday

We warmed up with stretches and 3 rounds of 10 squats, 10 pushups, and 10 situps.

We spent 10 minutes working on kipping.  The idea is that you get momentum to make yourself momentarily weightless to make pullups easier.  I can’t do it so again I don’t look anything like this picture.

I flail about like a sickly fish on the end of a line and think about how much my hands hurt.

The workout was 3 rounds of:

• 30 squat cleans – bar from floor to chin while squatting.  I did 55 lbs.
• 30 pull ups – I used 3(!) bands and sort of kind of did some pull ups.
• 30 double unders – Double unders are when you are jumping rope and you twirl the rope under you twice every time you jump.  I can only do this if I am very tired.  Don’t ask me why.  I did several double unders today.  We were supposed to do 60 regular jumps if we didn’t do double unders.

We had a 20 minute limit and I did 2 full rounds and about 20 more squat cleans.  My legs were shaking so much from the squats that when I had my foot in the bands for the pull ups I could see the bands vibrating.  That was a hard one!

Fitness Tuesday

Tuesday

We worked on back squats. We did 6 sets of 6 so we didn’t go super heavy. Even at a lighter weight I was feeling sort of weak. I only went up to 125.

Then we did bench press. We did 3 sets of 10. I did 55 lbs and that got heavy. Bench press is my weakest lift.

The workout was an easy one. We did 5 rounds of:

• 2 rope climbs or 4 pull-to-stands
• 180 m sprint

I did it in 5:37.

Friday and Sunday

These were swimming days.  I worked on getting more streamlined on Sunday.  I cut about 15 seconds off my length time.

Then I had a major freak out on the poor husband about how weak I am especially in the upper body.  He made points but I didn’t listen to them because he wasn’t being properly sympathetic.  Then he told me that I was just “going to have to put some work in” and I would like to have a medal for not having strangled him – which probably would have counted as upper body work, I’d like to point out.  He may have a point that I think I’m weak and fat and out of shape because I’m comparing myself to my Crossfit classmates and not to the average person.

Tuesday

We warmed up with 7 minutes of rowing – easy for 30 seconds and fast for 30 seconds.

Our first strength work was 6 sets of 3 cleans.  That’s ground to shoulder.  I have a mental hurdle at 95 lbs.  I’ve been able to get it sometimes but not most of the time.  I’ve been thinking about this because we haven’t done this in a while and I felt like I could get it now.  I did do two sets of three at 95 lbs.  I tricked myself.  I used only 10 and 5 lb weights on the bar so it didn’t look so heavy.  In fact my trainer came over and asked why I was looking at the bar like it was heavy.  I replied that it was heavy and she had to add up the little plates I had on to see that I was at 95 lbs then.  I did manage to get 100 lbs once.  It wasn’t pretty and I missed it a bunch of times but I did it!

Then we did stone to shoulder.  We were supposed to do 15 with a heavier stone than we normally use.  I stepped up to 95 lbs.  Lifting these are all about technique and momentum.  (Most of weight lifting is and I hate it when they say that about things I’m uncoordinated at.)  But, I’m pretty good at these.  The 95 lb stone was no problem.

The workout was 45 seconds on and then 15 second rest of:

• Air squats – repeat that 5 times
• Then go to 20 inch box step ups – repeat 5 times
• Then burpees – repeat 5 times

All together I did 217 reps.  Keeping count of the reps was the hardest part.

Yeah, so I got PRs on all the upper body work today.  Maybe I need to freak out more often.

Fitness Tuesday

Thursday

We worked on snatches – bar from hips to overhead. The weight was fairly light to work on form. I did 65 lbs.

After that we did two sets of 500 m rows with a 3 minute rest in between. My times were 2:30 and 2:21.

The workout was 2 rounds of:

• 25 wall balls
• 25 sit ups with the ball
• 25 walking lunges with the ball overhead

I was using a 20 lb ball and it whooped me.  It was especially hard for me to do the lunges and keep the ball overhead.

I was out of town all weekend so I didn’t work out.

Tuesday

We did a 300 m row to start the warm up and then grabbed a sandbag.  I don’t know how much they weigh.  We did 3 rounds of:

• lunges the length of the gym
• 10 squats
• 10 pushups with our hands on the bag

Then we did 30 squat cleans with the bag.

Our strength work today was farmer’s carry.  I ended up doing 100 m with 90 lbs in each hand.  I could probably carry more but I don’t have the grip strength.

The workout was as many rounds as possible of:

• 6 stones to shoulder lifts.  I used a 75 lb stone.
• 10 GHD sit ups

I did 2 full rounds and the stones again plus 3 sit ups.

Fitness Tuesday

Thursday and Sunday

Swimming before leaving for Thanksgiving and then more swimming on Sunday. I’m doing better at swimming forwards. I can do a breaststroke for a full length now without drowning. I haven’t been brave enough to try a full lap yet. I still do mostly backstroke.

Tuesday

Holy freaking squat day! The warm up was 2 rounds of 10 wall balls, 20 situps, and 40 squats. That’s 100 squat moves in the warm up.

Then we did 50 kettle bell complexes which is a kettle bell swing which you catch at the top, squat, and then stand and press it overhead. I was doing 35 lbs.

After that we did 5 sets of 3 hang cleans – bar from knees to shoulders. I did 80 lbs.

The workout was as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of:

• 10 back squats – I started at 105 and then dropped to 85.
• 20 pike pushups
•  66 jump ropes

I did 6 full rounds and all but 6 of the jump ropes in the seventh.  That adds up to 220 squats this morning.  I have a lot of driving and sitting to do today so I fully expect to not to be to move soon.