CrossFit

Started CrossFit recently and am loving it.

It has been over 15 years since I exercised consistently and that was always driven by coaches prescribing work outs for me.

I wrapped up the 101 sessions last week (4 required intro classes to onboard new people to CrossFit) and moved right into my first regular class last Friday morning.

I recently acquired the Supple Leopard book. It is a tremendous wealth of information for diagnosing and performing your own physical therapy. Already I have applied some of the things in this book and like magic knots, kinks, and other pains disappear.

I have been working out now for a little more than two months at CrossFit Hermitage.

It's been amazing to see and feel results so quickly and to be exercising in something that is not drudgery but is full of constant challenge and opportunities for growth.

Just in two months I have seen my belt go up an extra notch (almost two), clothes fit better, I have more energy, I feel strong, and I look forward to the next workout even though I know it is going to kill me.

Much like Paleo isn't so much a diet but a lifestyle, I find that CrossFit isn't so much an approach to fitness but rather a lifestyle.

I have had a few kinks in my armor, so to speak, cropping up as I challenged my body these past two months.

My shoulder having an impingement (not severe) and knees getting crunchy (no pain).

I take these things to be like warning lights going off on my car dashboard. So I went to a physiotherapist that some of my fellow crossfitters have seen. It's amazing what was found in the work up. I'll spare everyone details but suffice it to say, there are areas that need improvement that not only will help my shoulder and knees but also correct some other dysfunctions that will likely cause problems later.

He gave me a series of stretches to do each day that should help and am looking forward to seeing some progress.

6/18/14 - 5th Class

Warm Up: 1000m row Coaches choice - we did agility exercises on the soccer field.

Strength: 4 x 6 Bulgarian Split Squats (no weight - I was focusing on form and balance)

WOD: 5 rounds for time: 20 sumo deadlift high pulls (45 lbs) 5 handstand push ups (Definitely modified this one)

Time: 16:09

Core WOD: 3 x 30 flutter kicks *1 kick count of 1, 2, 3, 4

Did the 5 am class this morning for logistical reasons. I was not a fan. Getting up at 4 am, just to get some calories in was not ideal. I felt very sluggish the entire workout. Not sure if I would've done better with 6 am class, but I'm sure I would've felt like I was doing better!

6/17/14 - 4th Class

Warm Up: 800 m run 10 Ground to OH w/ plate (10 lbs) 10 Plate squats (10 lbs) 5 minutes double under practice (Haven't successfully completed a double under yet.... so 5 minutes of jump rope)

Strength: 5 x 5 Good Morning (35 lbs)

WOD: 3 rounds: 1 min max effort deadlift (65 lbs) 1 min max effort row (full sprint for calories) 2 min rest **Score is rep + calories

I got a score of 75 for the WOD. This was my fourth class so we are still modifying significantly weight-wise. Rx for deadlift was 60% of 1RM. I have not found my 1RM yet so my coach estimated an appropriate weight for me. He's been great so far with his estimates!

6/19/14

Was up until 1 am babysitting a friend's 2 year old, so I was not motivated to make it to the 6 am CrossFit class. I am not a fan of the afternoon classes so I chose to go for a run today instead of crossfitting. I figure this is an ok thing to do considering I would like to run a half-marathon in November.

My run stats: Distance: 2.0 miles Duration: 19:40 Average Pace: 9:49 1st mile: 9:12 2nd mile: 10:19

This 2-miler was 60 seconds faster than my 2-miler on Monday. I find that I get frustrated with this pace because when I was a runner back in the day my pace was sub-8:00. But, I'm well aware that I have to work my way up to that for sure. As long as I'm below a 10:00 pace, I consider it a good run.

I'm also moving a bunch of furniture around the house today - I figure this is equivalent to the strength portion of CrossFit! :)

6/20/14 - 6th Class

Warm Up:

500m row

2 rounds of goblet squat holds (26 lbs) and 5 inch worms

10 front squats (empty women's barbell - 35 lbs)

10 back squats (empty women's barbell - 35 lbs)

10 overhead squats (no weight - PVC bar)

Strength:

Find 1RM for front squat:

10 reps (35 lbs)

5 reps (55 lbs)

5 reps (65 lbs)

1 rep (85 lbs)

1 rep (95 lbs) - Ended on this one, coach and I both agree I could've gone up one more step. But for now, we'll say my squat 1RM is 95 lbs.

WOD:

AMRAP in 10:00

Up ladder: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15.... reps of

Squat Cleans (Rx was 95 lbs, I did M2 - 65 lbs)

Burpees

Results: I got 9 + 21 reps

Core Challenge: AMRAP Sit-ups in 2:00. I got 40

Today was fun. I miss the lifting I used to do with my teammates in college - this gives me a taste of that! I was excited to have a chance to find my 1RM for squats. I can't remember what I used to be able to squat in college - I have a vague recollection that it was about 135 lbs. So I'm good with 95 lbs after 10 years of not lifting. I'm bummed I couldn't complete the set of 12 burpees before the time was up... I just needed like 5 more seconds to bust out 3 more. Coach chatted with B and I after class - he said we both move really well and that'll help us progress quickly. He's a good motivator! :)

6/21/14

Not a crossfit post but a fitness post.

We did not go to crossfit today - ran a 5k instead. Today was the longest I have run since my 1/2 marathon in Nashville 2 years ago. It's also only the 7th day I've run in those two years - 4 days last month, 2 days this week, and then my 5k race today. My goal was not for a certain time but was just to run the whole thing. Which I did!!

My time was 32:09 - nowhere near my best time of 20:45 but it's a start. :)

6/23/14 - 7th Class

Missed the 6 am class because we had a busy, exhausting weekend and I did not want to get out of bed. So we went to a 5:30 pm class. I am not good at afternoon/evening workouts after sitting at a computer all day working on my dissertation. But, we went and we did it.

Warm-Up:

800m run

2 rounds: 10 supermans and 5 inchworms

Strength:

5 x 3 Power snatch (55 lbs) Rx was 75 - 80% of 1RM but I have not found my 1RM so I started with bar and for my first set of 3. Then added 20 lbs for my last 4 sets of 3. This was the first time I've done power snatch so I wanted to concentrate on form so I did not increase my weight.

WOD:

21 - 15 - 9

Power Snatch (Rx: 95 M1: 80 lbs M2: 65 lbs - I did 55lbs)

400 m run between sets.

My time: 15:07

This workout was tough but I liked it's simplicity. I probably won't do another afternoon class. The coach for this class was not as "coachful" as our morning coaches have been. Thankfully, my morning coach showed up to work out and gave me some form tips for the power clean - I think I would've hurt myself or started to develop bad habits. The people in the class were also not as friendly. I get the impression that those at the evening classes have worked all day and they just want to get their workout in and go home to relax. No one chatted with us and no one even really smiled. It's a lot different with the morning crew - we always chat with multiple people and we get a lot of encouragement (which is super helpful). Next time I want to sleep in, I'll make it a running day.

6/24/14 - 8th class

Made it to the 6 am class - woohoo!

Warm-Up:

800m run

2 rounds:

20 PVC pass throughs

10 Lunge and Twist

10 Good Mornings w/ plate

Strength:

5 x 5 Bent over row increasing weight each set. (Never done these before so I started with empty bar and worked up by 5 lbs at a time: 35 lbs - 40 lbs - 45 lbs - 50 lbs - 55 lbs)

WOD:

3 rounds for time:

15 bent over rows (rx: 55 lbs)

30 sit-ups

20 KB swings (rx: 33 lbs)

My Time: 10:30

I was one of the last ones done but I'm good with that because today was the first day I did Rx for the whole workout! Plus, whenever there is situps I will always be slow - I'm horrible at situps! :)

6/26/14 - 9th Class

Warm-Up:

2 Rounds: 40 Single Unders 20 Jumping Jacks

Then…

2 Rounds: 10 Lunge & Twist 10 Superman(s)

We were all still sleepy looking, so we also did some sprints on the indoor soccer field.

Skill : 10 Min EMOM RX & M1 Odd: 2 Wall Walks + :30 Hand Stand Hold Even: 1 rope climb

WOD:

Parking Lot Sprint

50 Walking Lunges w/ Wall Ball, Rx: 14 lbs (10 lbs)

40 Push Ups (I did them on my knees so I could get full range)

30 Toes to Bar (I can only get knees to parallel for now)

20 Wall Balls Rx: 14 lbs (10 lbs)

30 Toes to Bar (knees to parallel)

40 Push Ups (on knees)

50 Walking Lunges w/ Wall Ball Rx: 14 lbs (10 lbs)

Parking Lot Sprint

Time: 22:15

This workout was long and tough! The Push Ups and knees to parallel killed me. I was definitely the slowest but I finished! Did not do CrossFit yesterday but I woke up and ran a little over 2 miles. I tried something different yesterday, I didn't time or pace myself. I wanted to just go for a run - no pressure to achieve anything. I felt like I was running faster than normal. I tend to do that when I'm not keeping track. I think I'll do that a couple more times for my 2 mile runs then I'll time one and see if I've improved. Working out is the best thing for me when I have a heavy heart - so this morning was a bit therapeutic even though it kicked my ass.

About time for some new shoes. I have loved my CrossFit Nano 3.0 shoes from Reebok and so am looking forward to the 4.0 version.

Played around with the custom designer tool on the Reebok site last night and love this personalization ability.

Back to CrossFit for the first time this week since my shoulder surgery for what ended up being an old dislocated shoulder that tore a pretty good chunk from my labrum (from 2 o'clock to 6 o'clock, is how the doc termed it) requiring 4 anchors. Turns out the weakness in my shoulder from the torn labrum was causing my rotator cuff to take up the slack and a bone spur had developed that was working its way to tearing my rotator cuff. Thankfully, we caught it in time.

That was back on December 1st.

Man, I am out of shape.

But glad to be back at it, even if a lot of my lifts are still modified–zero overhead stuff.

Excited about hitting two new PRs this week after only being back at working out after being off for 3-4 months due to shoulder surgery.

On Monday, I pulled 505 pounds for a new deadlift 1 rep max.

Last night, I cleaned 275 pounds for a new 1 rep max.