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.