Life Changes

Wednesday, May 28;

In honor of my big life change.. I decided to take today off from Crossfit. No WOD for the body, but the mind has another thing coming. I start Grad school tonight at Johns Hopkins. I'm going for my Masters in Government with a Communications concentration. Basically, I'm going back to school, so I can be a better C-SPAN employee. Yay Democracy!.. I'm just as geeky about C-SPAN as I am about Crossfit, but I'm getting off of track.

Sometimes in our lives we have to change paths. It's something we should do to continue our growth as a person. Some people make changes because they are unhappy about the way their lives are going. Others change because they want to make life better than it already is. I've been wanting to go back to school for about 2 years now. I looked into graduate programs when I was living in Connecticut, but the thought of staying there for more than 2 years made me want to tear my eyeballs out.

I moved down to DC to start work at C-SPAN with the intention of going back to school. I started studying for the GRE's more than a year ago. I hit a little study wall block last July and August, but climbed back on the saddle and buckled down for some serious math and vocab memorization in September. I took the test last November and did pretty well. I had all my school applications done by the middle of January. Johns Hopkins said they wanted me.. I said I wanted them and now here I am. Ready to take the leap.

I have thought about how this new added stress may affect my workout routine as well as my social life. Honestly, I'm not quite sure. I know I'll make it work with a little bit of sacrifice. It's been great to see Melanie, Elyse, Craig and a whole lot of other Crossfitters who have been able to find the balance between working, working out and schooling. I hope I'll be able to see a good amount of the blue room over the next few years. I can't imagine not making time for something that has been so awesome.

Just say "NO"

Tuesday, May 27;

Sometimes it's just better to say "no." This blog post will also include a story about D.A.R.E., but let me first get through my point about today's WOD. I knew today would be a beast workout, but I didn't know what it was going to be. After eating loads of potato salad, chips, burgers and strawberry shortcake (all of which I enjoyed very, very much) I waddled myself into the blue room to discover Jerry's prescription for pain.

There it was.. hundreds of pullups.. maybe not hundreds.. but a freakin' ton of pullups. I knew immediately, that I wouldn't be doing that.. I also knew I wouldn't be doing the same number of ring rows. My shoulder has been feeling really strange over the past few days.. not so much painful, but more like it's going to pop out of socket at any moment.

We started with overhead bar work (another one of my no-goes). I remembered I can always work up from PVC pipe to very light weights overhead. That's just what I did. I won't be scaring small children with the amount of weight I'm lifting, but I feel like I'm rehabilitating more than I'm damaging. Bring on the fractional plates.. ARGH.

Then I made my own workout which involved a lot of running and strengthening with some low reps of bodyweight movements.

Warmup:
3xPress - 3xPush Press - 3xPress Jerk
PVC pipe, 2lbs, 5lbs, 7lbs, 10lbs (does this look silly to anyone else??)

Workout:
4 Rounds for time:
6 ring rows
9 knee pushups
12 squats
800 Meter run
Total: 27:57

Okay, the D.A.R.E. story as promised. When I was in fifth grade our school held a D.A.R.E. essay contest. We had to write what we learned from the program, or something like that. I wrote a beautiful piece about drugs and how I'd never do them and how much DARE had changed my life (I was 9).. We waited for weeks while our schools DARE rep, read diligently through our 5th grade essays. I was sure he'd pick mine, but when the moment of truth came he announced Jacklyn Creasy's name and not mine. I was devastated.. not nearly as devastated as I was when I lost the race for 5th grade Vice President to my best friend. Fifth grade was a tough year for me. I did a lot of "Survival of the Fitting."

I digress.. anyway. Jacklyn got to get up in front of the whole school and read her essay out loud. What a load of sappy crap. Mine was better. I guess you win some and you lose some. Jerk!

I know this has nothing to do with Crossfit, but I thought I should do something drug-prevention related due to this postings title.

I start Crossfit at 6am tomorrow.. that's because I'm also starting Grad school tomorrow at Johns Hopkins. What.. I like to lift big things and I'm smart??!! That's crazy!

Deadlifts and Cottage Cheese Gone Bad

Thursday, May 22;

We worked on deadlift form today. The setup of the workout was great, because it gave us the opportunity to start light, work on form and then go heavier. I came in to work with the 6 am on form. I don't think there was much coaching needed, but I love giving minor tweaks that could make a huge difference. I got some really good information from the cert, and I was more than happy to pass it around.

One thing I've been working on is bringing my hips up higher, so my scapula is directly over the center of my foot. This has helped with the extra extension in my lower back. I can also focus on pulling my shoulder blades back in, which is good for my shoulder. Check it out in the picture above. Compare that to the starting position from a picture taken of an old squat.

Warmup:

Deadlift technique

65lbx5, 85lbx5, 105lbx5, 125lbx5, 145lbx5

Workout:

AMRAP in 20 minutes or 10 rounds
6 ring rows

9 pushups

12 Right arm Dumbell snatches
Total: 17:50

Also, I had to do some thinking on my feet today. I brought in breakfast like always. Last week I started doing the oatmeal/cottage cheese mix last week. This week I decided to take Andrea's suggestion and use ricotta cheese, which tastes so much yummier! I grabbed my little ziplock container out of the fridge and put it in my bag and headed off to work.

The day was going well. "Coaching" and early morning workout were great. Drive to work was easy. Shower and shave.. check.. check.. Got into work on time, and filled up my coffee mug for my second dose of the morning. Finally, it was time to feed my ravaged stomach. So I got out my 1 cup of strawberries and my oatmeal. I sunk my spoon in and opened wide. I noticed a slightly sour smell, but shoved it in anyways. Then the oatmeal hit my tongue and I swallowed. The smell was nothing compared to the taste. I sniffed the container again and realized.. this was not ricotta cheese mixed in with my oatmeal.. it was the COTTAGE CHEESE from last week's breakfast batch!! Oh goodness! I quickly took a swig, and then another of my coffee. Shut the container and ate my strawberries.

One thing Crossfitters do very well is think on their feet (I don't really know if that's a true statement, but it sounded good.) After my morning meeting I went downstairs to our convenience store and bougth an apple and three boiled eggs. I used the eggs and a little bit of packet mayo to make egg salad for what I'm thinking is sufficiently close to a 3 block meal.

In case you were wondering.. I did not get sick!

Taking a Moment

Wednesday, May 21;

Today had the makings of being a great workout. I had a little pentup frustration about something that had happened earlier in the week, and usually Crossfit is the safest and most effective way for me to release some stress.

You can see Steven in the back ground. He's kicking my butt.

We were doing a running workout today. It was one we had done last fall, and I remembered liking it. I was totally focused and ready to cook off some steam. I went through round 1 like a blaze of fury, round 2 was similar.. until I hit the middle of the run. My whole body started cramping up. It went from my lower back straight through to my abs.. then headed down to my legs. By the time I got back to the Wall Ball/Jumping Weighted squat station I was dying. I did something that I rarely do. I stopped!!! It must have been a 30 second pause.. just dead still, waiting for my cramping to calm down. Once I felt like I could work through the pain, I banged out 20 jumping squats then moved on to KB swings. Then, the same thing. I couldn't move. After another 30 seconds or so I started working again. Until I finished my swings and went for my final round of running. It was brutal.

Warmup:
Slow 400 meter run

Workout:
50 Weighted Jumping Squats
50 KB swings (American) 35lb
800 meter run

35 Weighted Jumping Squats
35 KB swings (American) 35lb
800 meter run

20 Weighted Jumping Squats
20 KB swings (American) 35lb
800 meter run

Total: 21:51

You Can Cry, but You Can't Quit

Tuesday, May 20;

Some of you may recognize this slogan from Crossfit Pentagon. I tend to love it! I had a moment yesterday that reminded me of it. Yesterday was my final stint with my physical therapist. Now you may think that I would have been thrilled about this. Unfortunately, I'm not at all. Going to my physical therapist was a good way for me to force myself to slow down, and it was a really good check on my progress. I treated my physical therapy kind of as a security blanket, but now I'm not going and its a little scary being on my own.

I'm sitting there at the physical therapist. I had done my like bike workout that warms my shoulders up and I was waiting for the next thing. I had already told my therapist that my shoulder has been bothering me the past few days. I've been waking up from the pain.. yada yada. Anyway, she looks at me and asks me if there was something wrong. Before I know it I have big tears welling up in my eyes. Now, many of you who know me know that I'm not a big crier. Like I've said before.. whatever happened to survival of the fittest? You may be asking yourself why were you crying?? Funny, because I was asking myself the same exact question.

Recipe for crying:

A pinch of Lack of sleep

1 Cup of frustration

1 TBS of pain

1 TBS of other stuff going on

1.5 Cups of being a girl

Directions: Mix together for one 3 block meal of tears.

My therapist sees that I'm a wreck, so she says, "We don't have to finish this. You can go if you need." Of course, this pisses me off, which doesn't help and makes me want to stay and finish even more. She realizes finally that I'm stubborn, and I'm not going anywhere. She gives me my 3lb weights and we continue.

This reminds me of my old dancing days.. I danced for 8 years when I was a teenager (ballet, tap, jazz... yada yada). I also did competitive dancing with our dance school's jazz company and competition teams. One year we did a Batman theme for one of our jazz dances. We had to audition to dance in the number. Once we had been selected, we then had to audition for specific characters... the role of Batman was for the strong technical dancers, the role of Vicki Vale was for the leggy sex pots (yes we were in high school) who were also technically strong and flexible, and then the role of the joker was for the strong hip hop dancers a.k.a the larger girls in the group. I'm sure you all know that I was hoping for the Vicky Vale part.

The choreographer called us all in for the first class and handed out our roles.. devastation.. I was a Batman! That also meant that I had to wear a batman full plastic face mask and a cape. Sweet! (note very heavy sarcasm here!)

After the big announcement, our teacher took us through the warmup and then began teaching us the dance. I cried silently through the whole warmup.. while cursing my parents for being so short. Then I wiped up my stupid, girl tears and started learning my dance which consisted of tons of turns, leaps and other pretty cool "trick" moves. All in all it worked out well. Let's hope I can say the same thing for my shoulder.

The Crossfit Shake

Monday, May 19;

You've heard of the protein shake, the shimmy shake, the harlem shake, but have you heard of the Crossfit shake? It's that "I can't feel my arm" feeling you get after an intense workout. You've worked a part of your body out to a point where it's so afraid of you it's shaking. Okay, maybe you call it muscle fatigue, but I call it the Crossfit shake. If you're a die hard Crossfitter you know it well. It keeps you at your Crossfit gym a little bit longer. You wait there until you regain the feeling in your hands so you can safely drive home. Or maybe you collapse on the floor or in a chair after a workout until you think your legs can once again support the weight of your body. It makes it difficult to soap up your hair in the shower, to hold the hair dryer and forget putting on eyeliner!!

Well, that's what I felt after yesterday's class. It was setup like a Fight Gone Bad with only 3 stations and going 5 rounds for time. There was enough rest time built in that you could literally go crazy with the put out for three minutes and then rest. A perfect mixture for the Crossfit shake! Saturday's bike ride and last week's work have brought back some old pain in the shoulder, so I'm staying off of it for now. That means my right arm suffered the brunt of yesterday's abusive workout.

Workout:

Front Squat work:
workup to front squat for 5 reps: 75lb x 5
(I'm working on technique and keeping the butt down on the way up, so I stopped at 75lbs)

Max effort of 65lb front squat: 65lb x 30

FGB style - AMRAP for 5 rounds:
1 min. R arm Push Press
1 min. Box Jumps
1 min. R arm KB High Pull
1 min. Rest

Total reps: 424

I've also been working on my KB High Pull technique. At the Cert I kept getting corrected for swinging the KB instead of pulling it straight up and dropping it straight down. You can see it in this video. Notice the arch the bell takes in a lot of the swings. Jack has a really nice high pull. He uses his strong hip power to drive the KB straight up and then comes all the way back down to the ground. My technique is kind of funky. It's different doing the High pull with just one arm on the Kettlebell, or maybe I'm just going too fast. Notice the position of my elbow. It's a little low for my liking. Ideally it should be higher than the bell. Oh Crossfit.. you always give me things to work on! If we were in high school, you'd be be my 11th grade Science teacher.

Biking with Cars (aka Survival of the Fittest)

Saturday, May 17;

Headed down to Williamsburg, VA to visit family and celebrate Mother's Day with my mom and grandmother. I brought my bike because I knew it would be beautiful and there are some really nice areas to bike down there. My mom had mapped out the whole ride. She used to do road biking, (she did the AIDS ride from North Carolina to DC a few years ago. How awesome!) so I trusted her ability to set out a safe and road bike friendly trek. (mistake #1)

I arrived early Saturday morning, and got the directions from my grandfather. He promised that it would be a nice easy ride. I'd be driving with cars, but the speed limit was fairly low. He also promised that the entire trek would be paved. (mistake #2.. listening to grandfather). I figure now may be a good time to explain why I am the way I am. I was not babied as a child. I had to take care of myself. Feed and cook for myself. Wake myself up in time to get to elementary school. Walk myself to elementary school. Let myself into the house after school.. yada yada. My uncle's favorite saying is, "what ever happened to survival of the fittest?" I truly live by that. I have a tendency to think that if I can't kick someone else's ass, then they'll kick mine. It's a survival mechanism that I've developed over the years. This being said.. sometimes I feel like my family is testing me to make sure my survival skills are still sharp as a tac. Bastards!

Back to my bike ride... I headed out around noon. I was supposed to meet my mom in Yorktown a little before 2pm. It's about a 20 mile ride (my longest to date.. I just got the bike about a month ago). Clipping in and out has become second nature now, and I haven't fallen in a few weeks. I'm gaining balance and getting faster. The ride was going well until I got out on the main road. It was my first foray into riding the bike with cars speeding by me at speeds that would kill me instantly. I felt safe because there was a nice shoulder to ride on, but that warm, safe feeling didn't last too long. In fact it vanished the second I realized I would have to bike past highway entrances and exits. See, I was riding on a major route that run's through Williamsburg and is the main way to get onto Intersate 64 as well as other heavily traveled highways in central Virginia. My mom and grandfather's words echoed in my head, "oh, you'll be safe.. this is an easy ride." Thanks guys. I made it past the ramps and felt safe until I saw the big orange signs ahead.. "No Right Shoulder Ahead." The thought echoed in my head, "Who thought this was a good idea? Let's send the biking novice out on the highway and then make sure she's riding next to cars going 75mph. That'll be fun for her."

I made it through okay... obviously, since I'm writing this. The next portion of the trip was the road that runs along the James River and runs into Yorktown. This is where the, "all the roads are paved, right?" comes into play. I took the turn to head to Yorktown and saw it.. the road that I would be 14 miles on was paved indeed.. paved with ROCKS!!! I hit it .. swore at my family.. and then thanked G-d that my bike is the sweetest bike ever. I have a Zertz system that obsorbs shock.. lots of shock. If not, today I would have been making an appointment with the lady doctor to make sure I still have the ability to bear children. I also was happy that I had my heavily padded biking shorts on. My who-ha is writing thank you cards tonight after work.

Despite the rocky terrain.. the ride was beautiful. It was about 80 degrees out and sunny. I was riding along the river. People were happy. I was happy. Up ahead of me, I noticed a nice little pull off point that I could walk down to the water. I had enough time to stop, so I pulled over and decided to walk down through the marsh, with my bike and my biking shoes.

Now, I said I was tough.. but I never claimed to be smart! Walking through the marsh I was reminded of a scene from The Never Ending Story (I think this is my second reference to the movie since I've been blogging). It's the scene where Atreyou is trying to encourage his horse Artax to keep pushing through the mud.. and Artax is sinking in.. and Atreyou is begging him to hurry up. Despite all the prodding the horse ends up dying a sad, slow death in the swamp. Well, I guess my little run in with the mud wasn't as depressing. I did learn that the next time I want to go gallavanting through mud I should shoulder my bike and take my freaking shoes off! I made it out of the sludge safely, and figured I should get going.

I ended up meeting my mom in Yorktown. I was a little sunburnt, but I felt good. My ride was all in all a success.

Lessons Learned:
Don't take your bike into the mud. If you do.. put it on your shoulder and take your biking shoes off.

Wear sunscreen (I obviously didn't learn last time)

Map out the bike ride for yourself.. your family may be trying to kill you.

Driving with cars is scary. Driving with motorcyclists is MUCH scarier.

Driving with 50 motorcyclists is the scariest thing ever.

Porto-potties being hauled on a flatbed are also pretty scary.. but they don't smell.

Overhead is Overhead

Friday, May 16;

Today was the first time I've worked push presses and push jerks with a weighted barbell. It's been scary for me to put weight overhead, because I am still not sure how my shoulder will take to that movement. I thought today would be a good day to try my hand at some moderately light weight (especially after my Technique tree post). I don't say I follow my own advice. I just acknowledge it, and hope when the time comes I do what is right/healthy for me.

We started with some solid technique work. I actually love working with the PVC pipe. It's easy to get bored with it if you think of it as just a PVC pipe. Someone much smarter than me once said, "respect the pipe." That's what I try to do. Envision that little white, hollow sucker as a 200lb barbell. I clean it with respect and press that thing to the sky like no one's business. I do that EVERY time I work a movement. The whole point is for muscle memory. The idea is if you do it enough times correctly with no weight, the skill should translate to weighted movements.


Another thing I've been working on is keeping the bar/pipe directly overhead. Before the injury, I was literally pushing my head and body through the bar, which put stress on my shoulders. I try to envision the bar being directly over my ears. If you were to run a line from the bar/pipe, it should run straight down the ears, split the body in half and end up in the center of your foot. Thus the title of this entry "Overhead is overhead!!!" (Another quote from someone who is much smarter than I.)

*a fun little note about the picture.. I went searching online (googleimage) for a good looking overhead position. I saw this guy.. clicked on the picture.. and realized it was from CrossfitEastside (http://www.crossfiteastside.com/). Way to get some!!!

Workup:

PVC Pipe work (strict press, push press & press jerk)

Same cycle for sets of 3 - 15, 15, 35, 35, 45, 45, 45

Workout:

5 rounds for time:

5 Burpees

10 jumping squats (15lbs ball)

15 KB swings (35lb)

Total time: 6:14

Cooldown:

100 situps for time: 2:58

The Technique Tree

Thursday, May 15;


I had mentioned in an earlier entry something about the "technique tree." Sounds pretty lame, huh? Pat had mentioned this during a lecture at the Certification last weekend. It really struck a cord with me, and I think many other Crossfitters may have the same experience that I have had.

What is the "technique tree" you ask? Well take a look at the tree above. You see the good solid, sturdy trunk? Okay, consider that that is your technique. It's the base of everything that happens to you as a tree or as a weightlifter/crossfitter. How well you perform is based solely on how strong your trunk is. Like all trees.. the technique tree has plenty of branches. I forget what Pat called them, but I'm just going to describe them as your skills or your tricks (for example.. pullups, cleans, snatches, jerks, pushups.. yada yada). I think you may be able to see where I'm going with this. If you don't have a good solid technique foundation, that means you'll have weak "tricks".

For some people (myself totally included), we have decent technique, but it's not perfect. Another problem that compounds this issue is that we're pretty freaking strong. Put those two traits together, add a good solid competitive nature, and you've got the makings of a future injury on your hands.

I think this may have accounted for my shoulder issue. Imagine yourself in class. Coach puts a PVC pipe in front of you and says, "we're going to learn how to do a snatch." You go through the snatch learning progressions, and you feel sufficiently skilled at the skill. So you pick up a 45lb barbell. You snatch that one a few times and then you ramp it up even more. The next thing you know you're snatching 85lbs (I'm a woman, so I'm talking women's weights here) and everyone is checking out your skills and you think you're pretty hot shit (at least I would). Unfortunately, the few minutes you spent on the PVC pipe isn't quite enough to create perfect form. In my opinion, this could lead to some serious deficiencies down the line. You'll hit a point where you can't go any heavier or worse you'll hurt yourself.

My take away.. learn the tricks light, do 'em hundreds of times at a light weight, and then move up.

I should also mention that I am still very guilty of hanging out on the limbs. Today we worked on cleans and front squats, and I worked up to a 95lb clean. I certainly don't need to do that! I know I can clean, but my technique could be fixed. I don't need to do that at 95lbs!

Thursday, May 15;
AMRAP in 20 minutes
7 Front squats
7 ring dips (green band)
3 pullups
Total: 5 rounds, I stopped at 5. I don't need to kill myself.

5 rounds of 15 second hollow rock holds.

pullups felt totally fine.. the pain comes from dips. Actually the ring dips feel much better than the chair dips. I like using the band, and I get to work on my shoulder stability and strength. Big Fan!

Crossfit Could Be Killing You!!

Wednesday, May 14;

Oh, the joys of the internet.. and co-workers who don't have much to do at work. After the cert this weekend, I couldn't stop talking about Crossfit, Coach Glassman, Crossfit.. Everyone got a dose of the juice. My boss, C-SPAN's CEO, my more than sedentary roomate, my co-workers, my mom, my friends, my date of the week.. everyone. In return I got this wonderful little article about how arobic exercise could kill you. Please, please, please click and read.

http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s1i19479

I know that not everyone will copy and paste the link into their browser, so I just copy and pasted the article below:

New evidence revealed today indicates that aerobic exercise can drastically shorten your life span. It claims that making your heart beat faster means that use you use up your life's quota of heartbeats quicker.Top cardiologist, Robert Idle, explained, "It's obvious when you think about it. Take an average person with a pulse of 72 beats per minute and assume that person will live for 70 years. In total, that person's heart will beat approximately 2.6 billion times."If you indulge in an aerobic exercise that increases your pulse rate, you're using up valuable heart beats and shortening your life. For example, if you exercise for 40 minutes with your pulse rate increased by 50%, you're actually using up one hour of your life in 40 minutes."Health clubs, no doubt fearing the loss of many members, claim that the statistics are absurd. "Next thing, they'll be saying that eating fatty food is good for you," said one club manager.According to Mr Idle, it is. "Again, it's obvious," he said. "Fatty food clogs your arteries, which means that less blood can pass through them. Since the heart has to push less blood round it doesn't have to work as hard and can afford to slow down. So you actually live longer on a diet of greasy burgers and chips."Mothers of obese, lazy teenagers will no doubt be delighted by the findings, as will the nation's many couch potatoes.

If this is indeed the case then Crossfit most certainly must be sending us into our graves faster than a McDonalds employee can say, "Please drive up to the next window."

Tuesday Workout:

Sick Interval Training (I don't remember any of these times... waiting for Jerry post)

300 Meter Row

30 KB Swings (36lb)

30 Box Jumps

30 Jumping pullups

30 Wallballs

250 Meter Row

25 KB Swings

25 Box Jumps

25 Jumping Pullups

25 Wallballs

200 Meter Row

20 KB Swings

20 Box Jumps

20 Jumping Pullups

20 Wallballs

Wednesday Workout:

3 rounds for time

400 meter run

20 R arm push presses (25lb)

20 R arm KB High pulls (36lb)

Rest

3 rounds for time

400 meter run

10 R arm push presses (25lb)

10 R arm KB High pulls (36lb)

Something must have gotten into Jerry at the cert. He's been loving the interval training this week. He said something today that I thought was interesting. When practicing intervals, you know what it takes to get there. You just have to stay there.

Walking Among Mere Mortals (Crossfit Cert - Day 2)

Monday, May 12;

I'm so sore that I can barely move. I woke up at my usual time this morning (5:30 am) to head off to Crossfit. Unfortunately, my muscles weren't agreeing with my mind. After a weekend with two solid workouts, some bottom-to-bottom tabata squats and some serious technique work with a PVC pipe I am seriously smoked! I love it.

Yesterday portion was made up of a few sessions and then mostly technique. The morning started out with a Q&A session with the man himself, Greg Glassman. He talked about the origins of Crossfit and his evolution as a trainer into the creator of this program. Some things you may not know.. "Fran" is actually older than I am. She was created back in the 1970's when Coach was trying to figure out a way to kick his own ass. Another thing that I thought was so cool, was the lack of a business plan for Crossfit. It just kind of happened.. the magic was in the passion for something and a whole lot of luck. Coach says much of what makes up Crossfit were ideas from others. The idea for Certifications came from a Government guy who had heard about Crossfit, thought it was a cool program, wanted his guys to do it, and decided he needed to get certified. He called coach up and said he wanted to come to a certification. Up until then there was no such thing. The guy says he's coming out to California, and Coach puts he and a buddy through a few days of serious Crossfit ass whoopings! There you have it.. a Crossfit certification was born. There are similar stories to the creation of the Crossfit Journal and Affiliation process. People expressed a need for service and Coach Glassman was just smart enough, or crazy enough to say "yes."

That's a little bit about how Crossfit was born, but I really felt the impact of this weekend's certification when I got into work this morning. I had a few conversations with non-crossfitters about the cert and Crossfit and the lesson really hit home. I'm walking among mere mortals. It's just about everyone.. their idea of working out is an hour on the treadmill or a 30 trek on the elliptical machine. Even worse, are the guys who think they're in shape after doing back on Monday, shoulders on Tuesday, legs on Wednesday, chest on Thursday, abs on Friday and then throwing back two 12 packs of beer Saturday and Sunday. They don't see the beauty of Crossfit. Imagine working all of your body Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (Saturday and Sunday if you're truly nutso!) and it takes you a max of 45 minutes to do. Most often it only takes you 20 minutes. The serious ass kickers take less than 5 minutes. Why wouldn't everyone want to do this? Coach had a beautiful answer for this. Everyone wouldn't want to do this, because it's hard. It takes a certain kind of person to love to push themselves to the limit. To feel unbelievable pain and not stop. To gas out, but keep going because they don't want the person next to them to finish before they do. These are all of the truly beautiful things about Crossfit and the people who do it.

It was so incredible to spend the entire weekend surrounded by people who love the ideas and the payoffs of Crossfit as much as I do. They speak my same language, they love getting banged up and they really love hitting a personal record. Everyone was inspiring this weekend and I that inspirations comes back with me to CFOT (not the CFOT isn't jammed packed with inspiration everyday!!). I hope you all do it, because it was well worth the money.

Workout:

7 Rounds for time

10 hang power squat cleans w/ dynamax ball

10 burpees (done on knees, check out the sweet bruises!)

Total: 8:53

I'd also like to give a huge high five to Andrea, who was a freaking rockstar coach this weekend. I was so proud to say that we workout together. Of course, we all know Jerry was a super star! It's an honor to hit the gym with both of you every morning. It's my favorite part of the day!!!

Crossfit Cert - Day 1

Saturday, May 10;



I've been waiting for months for today. My first Crossfit certification. I've been doing Crossfit for a year and a few months. I've learned so much about health, fitness, body movement and myself since then. My time at CFOT has been a huge contributor to that. I wanted to do the cert in the area back in early fall of '07. I was sad I missed it then, but now I'm glad I waited. I came in this morning with a solid base knowledge of the Crossfit philosophy, but enough to know that I need to learn so much more.


I'm sure I'll write about some poignant moments down the road, but right now my freaking arms hurt too much for me to write the latest chapeter in Adrienne's Crossfit saga... I'll just do some take aways. Also, I should mention that I started off this morning at about 4am with a visit from Pukie! The chinese food I ate last night forced me out of bed. Ran to the toilet and vomited... big time. Ahhh, there's no better way to start a Crossfit cert than with a little bit of throw up. I knew it was a good sign.

Cert Takeaways from Day 1:

-Coach Glassman is fucking hilarious! (Yes, Coach was there. How sweet is that?!
-If your fit, you have to get healthy before you get sick. I love this! Imagine a curve... it begins at "sick" then moves to the right and upward until it reaches its peak at "healthy" (where most healthy people sit). The curve from there continues to the right but begins to decline (in a good way). This is the movement to "fit".. where elite athletes fall. -I squat too low in my deadlifts. My shoulders have not been over my scapula. This may have been a sticking point for me and the strength of my deadlift. -Despite months of squat practice.. it's still not perfect.. and it probably never will be. -It's okay that my squat will never be perfect. -Crossfit's definition of "fit" would not be applied to the strongest man in the world, nor the fastest man in the world. The idea of Crossfit's programming is to create elite athletes who have the ability to excell at various different sports.
-Not only is Coach hilarious, but just about all of the Crossfit coaches had an especially colorful sense of humor... bring on the F-bombs! -Don't stray from the technique tree (There a posting in the making here. I promise.)

That's all I have for now.

Warmup:

Bottom Tabata: Total 14 (lame)

Workout:
"Beltway Gone Bad"

3 Rounds for Total Number of Reps
1 minute at each station, 1 minute break between rounds
Box Jumps
Right Arm Push Press (25lb)
Row (for calories)

Dynamax Ball Thruster (12lb)

KB High Pull (36lb)
Total: 310
Sorry, this post is such a mess. I've been working on fixing it for 15 minutes now.. and I'm done.

Bottomed Out

Thursday, March 8;

The SOTS press is a wrecker! It highlights strengths as well as technical weaknesses. Jerry pulled this nasty little movement out today. In some respects I've come so far, but in others I'm still so weak!

Before my shoulder injury, I loved the SOTS press. I was able to press the 45lb barbell while in squatting position, but it always felt a little creepy on my shoulder. I never tried a max effort. This movement is extremely difficult for men, because it requires flexibility in the shoulders as well as through the legs. The idea is to keep a perfectly upright torso, while in a squatting position.. not easy to do. I'm lucky because I've always been flexible in both my shoulders and squat. Since the shoulder injury, I've realized that I'm actually too flexible in my shoulders. That means when I put weight in an overhead position my shoulders have a tendency to dislocate. Sounds nice, huh!? I used to be able to manage a decent sized load overhead, but these days I'm much weaker. The shoulder felt fine with a simple PVC pipe, but the second I tried to press the 15lb barbell my shoulder gets that "I'm going to pop out feeling." Nasty.. let me tell you. So, I guess I can work within this position, but I'll have to start with REALLY light weights and move up in 1lb increments.

On a much more positive note, I've been working on squat depth and efficiency for the past several months. The SOTS press gave me a chance to see how much this has paid off. Jerry asked what I think about to get to the position. After thinking a little more about it, I've realized that I've changed several things about my squat position. First, when I'm receiving the bar in the squat position I feel the opposition of a push and pull. The push is in my rear. I'm thinking of bringing my butt in line with the rest of my spine... literally pushing it to my knees. At the same time, the opposing force is on the knees. Visualize someone putting their hands on the inside of your knees and pulling OUT and BACK.

The third change I've made with my squat is very small, but I think it's really helped with how I position my weight on my feet. I noticed a while ago that Jerry actually lifts his toes off the ground when he squats. I do that for every squat now. It's gotten to the point that I don't even realize that I'm doing it. Check out where my weight is in the picture above. Look at my feet. You should notice that the weight is on the outer part of my foot. It has to be because I've eliminated the support on the inside, which would be offered by my toes.. especially my big toe.

That's enough discussion about that!

Workout:

AMRAP in 20 minutes

10 SOTS presses w/ PVC

10 chair dips

10 ring rows

Total: 10 rounds

Had time for maybe one more set, but decided to stop for the shoulders sake.

Getting revved up for my first Crossfit Certification tomorrow! Wish me luck and many bruises!!!

What the *&^%?!

Wednesday, May 7;

My favorite workout spot is on the Crossfit affiliate site.. but that's not my car or my license plate! Is it strange that I feel possessive over a workout location??! By the way, the version of "The Exorcist" that I've done in the past (I didn't create it, so I won't take credit for it), is a little more difficult than this one listed.

http://www.crossfit.com/cf-affiliates/

You Gotta Walk Before You Run

Tuesday, April 6;



I had an interesting life lesson the other day. It's good when you can learn something about yourself from a one year old. I was baby sitting my niece, who is about 13 months old this weekend. She's adorable! She's at the stage in life where she's doing something new everyday. She's been standing up on her own and getting more solid on her feet. Everytime I call my brother he says, "she'll be walking any day now."

I was babysitting Saturday night, so they could have a date night. We went for a walk in her pink plastic cart.. It's pretty hip. I push her from behind, and she has a little wheel she can hold on to. Anyway.. I digress. After her walk we had about an hour for playtime. We were downstairs in the basement, and she was standing up holding on to one of her play houses. I suggested she walk over to me, and SHE DID IT! I couldn't believe it. I asked myself if I had just witnessed my nieces "first steps". So I encouraged her to walk to me again. She did it again! So I grabbed my cell phone to record this momentous moment. She looked right into my phone and walked right to me. It's one of those moments where you realize how incredible little babies are.

I also noticed something interesting that I can apply to myself. Very much like me, my niece was so excited with her newly found skill she'd get ahead of herself. She stands up, puts her hands in front of her, and then takes off running. She'll only get about four or five steps in before she leans too far forward and then tumbles over. I felt like a Crossfit coach, encouraging her to try it again and telling her what a great job she was doing.

I realized this is exactly what I am doing with my workouts. I am so excited that I can do pushups again, and I can pick weight up in my left arm again. It's hard to go slow with it. I have to slow down. I have to take my time and remember not to get ahead of myself. My muscles will catch up eventually, but I don't have the strength to throw up lots of weight right now. If I take it slow to train and strengthen my muscles, it'll pay off in the log run.

Monday's workout:
"Beowolf" modified
1000 meter row
800 meter run
50 dips (on a chair)
100 ring rows
150 weighted jumping squats 15lbs
1000 meter row
800 meter run

exercises are partioned into:
2 sets of 5-10-15
Total time: 37:51

Tuesday's workout:
clean and jerk practice with PVC pipe

5 Rounds for time:
9 KB R arm Cleans & Jerks 35lb
15 KB R arm High pulls 35lb
21 jumping squats
Total:11:26

Lessons on a Bike

Friday, May 2;

I had the day off today, so I took advantage of my free time by heading out on my bike. I haven't been out for a few days, so I was a little rusty. It didn't take too long to get back into the swing of things.
I was out for about an hour and a half. I went about 14 miles. I am totally estimating, because I didn't have a machine to track distance. I say I "didn't" because now I have one. Each time I ride I learn something new. Last time it was how to fall and walk away with just a few bruises that last a few weeks.

This time, I learned a few more things:

1) It's good to wear sunglasses.

2) Sunglasses don't protect your eyes from pollen.

3) I need to get some Clariten (and take it). Because half way into the ride my eyes caught on fire! They were itchy and crazy scratchy.

4) It's good to wear bike shorts.

5) Bike shorts are ugly. It's worth it though, because when you don't wear bike shorts it feels like someone has kicked you repeatedly in the hoo-haa. Ouch! Trust me. Ouch!

That's all I have this time, but like I said I learn more everytime I hop on the bike. I may go out again tomorrow if my eyes are feeling alright.

You think Crossfit is hard???

Friday, May 2;

Here it is folks.. it's a blog entry that's been months in the making! The other day Georgia mentioned that my arms looked pretty symmetrical. Now, I know from looking in the mirror that my arms are not symmetrical. I've been thinking about measuring the difference, so today (because I have the day off from work) I figured I'd get out the tape measure.

If you're not a regular reader of the blog.. I haven't really been able to work out my left arm due to injury. I've been doing some work lately, so I wanted to measure the arms before the left arm catches up to the right.

If you thinking Crossfit workouts are hard, you should try measuring your own arms. It's harder than you'd think. I actually had to ask my roommate to help me out.

Here goes the tally...
Right arm bicep: 12 1/16 inches
Right arm forarm: 9 13/16 inches

Left arm bicep: 11 11/16 inches
Left arm forarm: 9 10/16 inches

*measurements were taken from the largest part of each section of the arm. Pictures may come shortly.

Warmup:
overhead strict press: 45lb x3
This was supposed to be a max test. This isn't really my max, but I wanted to see how heavy I can go without having pain. I could have gone heavier, but I could feel my shoulder getting tired. Better to be smart I guess.

Workout:
5 Rounds of..
9 burpees
15 R arm KB swings
21 jumping pullups
Total time: 9:01

I haven't done burpees in ages. The first round I did true, blue burpees very slowly. The following rounds were done on my knees.

Pushups & Pullups

Thursday, May 1:

Happy May Day! Some small steps forward.. I was at my physical therapist yesterday for my weekly checkup. It gives me a chance to ask about proper form and how I should be doing things. I have been wondering about a safe "overhead position" for myself. We worked on that a bit. She has told me to keep the bar more in front of me instead of over my ears. The bar is slightly behind my nose. I know this isn't exactly Crossfit prescribed, but I think I can make that sacrifice if it means that I'll get to feel stronger.

Pullups is another problem. I'm not quite sure how to work around this one. The issue is with the loading position. I've been throwing my shoulders back before I swing my hips up. The PT says it's a horrible position for my shoulders, which is weird because pullups never hurt me. She says it may have been part of the initial problem. She says she'd prefer for me to do dead hang pullups if I'm doing them. Now, realistically we all know it's impossible to do our workouts doing only dead hang pullups. I was watching some of the ladies doing pullups during today's workout. I noticed neither Stacy nor Georgia actually use their shoulders, but they have their hands just a little past their heads. I guess it's yet another thing I'll have to retrain myself to do.

To end on a positive note.. I've been working on my perfect pushups for a few weeks now, and it's paid off. My physical therapist made me do trueblue pushups. That means no knees, no modifications. I did 5 going all the way down (chest touching the ground, tight core, shoulder blades pinched together). Then I rested for a minute and did 5 more! It wouldn't have been a problem at all if I hadn't done 75 pushups the day before. My chest is still crazy tight.. tight in a good way!!!

Wednesday's Workout:
3 rounds for time
400 meter run
20 right arm KB High pull (35lb)
20 right arm PP (20lb)
Total 8:14

Extra round for fun.

Thursday's Workout:
AMRAP in 30 minutes
7 Hang power cleans 35lbs
7 ring rows
7 chair dips
I called it at 15 rounds. My shoulder felt a little tired, so I made my goal and called it quits. No real reason to push it.