Saturday, May 29, 2010

Whew! What a workout today! All I can say is that I'm thankful it was before mall opening hours...you'll know why when you see what our last "task" was!

Warm up

Buy in: a bit of stretching with PVC pipe and practiced the Bergner (a type of lift)

Work out (as prescribed):

“Nutts”

For time:
10 Handstand push-ups
250 pound Deadlift, 15 reps
25 Box jumps, 30 inch box
50 Pull-ups
100 Wallball shots, 20 pounds, 10’
200 Double-unders
Run 400 meters with a 45lb plate

How my trainer modified:

10 handstand push ups - no I cannot do handstand push ups...we did them modified. Put my feet up on a 30" box (or is it 24"?) put my hands down in front of the box and then did push ups. Boy were those weird. I really couldn't do them very well...but with practice...

dead lift - yeah, I can't dead lift 250lbs, haha! I can only do 106! But he had us do 53 lb kettlebells today and we just did 25 reps instead

box jumps - again, not quite there yet. We did box step ups instead. Still quite difficult! I'm pretty sure his boxes are 30"

pull ups - reps as prescribed (I used the blue band)

wall balls - reps as prescribed (I used a 10lb ball shooting at a 10ft target on the wall) Have I ever mentioned that Wall Balls and I don't get along? One time, the workout was to do 150 for time...about halfway through, I just broke down. I was sobbing! I felt like I was on Biggest Loser, haha! But Justin talked me through it and I finished. The fact that I did 100 today was a huge feat for me...I almost felt like crying, but I didn't.

double unders - I can do double unders, but only one at a time. So Justin has us do singles instead (which are x4!!) So yes, we did 800 singles!

run - OK, so I've always told people one of the reasons I love working out with Justin is that he doesn't make me run. I'm not a fan of running...never have been. But alas, today he broke that tradition. We had to carry 15lb plates and run around the mall. Yes, the mall. Through the food court, everything. Delightful. The funny thing was that we both (I was working out with another girl) were wearing our Cross Fit shirts...so we were running advertisements for him ;) I did not run the whole way. I just couldn't. Remember...I'm not a runner? Plus, hello...look at all we had just done??? I was a bit exhausted.

All of that in a time of 32 minutes even. I don't think that is horrible. He didn't say what some of the other people were getting...I'll have to check with him on Tuesday when I work out again.

Thursday May 27, 2010

I almost cancelled my workout today...my lower back is bothering me a bit and I know it is because of my deadlifts. I do them right 3 out of the 5 rounds but those last two I know I am always curving my back just a bit...I need to get better about that!

But I went anyhow. Justin is good about listening to me when I say that something is bothering me and he keeps it in mind the next time we do whatever it might be that probably caused it...will keep an even sharper eye on me (not that he isn't standing right next to me staring at me every time anyhow!)

Today was a "kinda sorta" easy day...why? Because our workout was not timed. We (I worked out with another girl today) were given the workout and then we went at it. Justin wanted us to focus more on our technique and just getting it done...he is noticing that when things are timed, people are losing focus and not doing things right and he doesn't want injuries. We still will do timed workouts...but he wanted us all to have a break of sorts today.

On to the workout...

"Buy in" (a Cross fit term...basically means what you do before your workout...this could be learning a new technique or whatever...sometimes it will be just the warmup, though we ALWAYS do the warmup before working out)

Standard warm up - though I did "good mornings" instead of the back extensions to save my lower back from a bit of pain

Work out:

10 rounds of:

10 kettle bell swings (I used a 35lb kettle bell today)

10 kte (knees to elbows); these are done by hanging on a bar and then pulling your knees up to your elbows. I'm not quite there yet, I just raise my knees as far as I can

10 closed-hand push ups (making your thumbs and pointer fingers into a diamond...works a different muscle than regular push ups)

"Cash Out" (this is done at the end of a workout...sometimes we do one at our sessions, sometimes not...)

Today Justin had us do 2 rounds of 25 walking lunges (holding a 10lb plate straight over our heads) and then 25 sit ups. Fun stuff!

Tuesday May 25, 2010

Another work out today!

It was just me today so we worked on my deadlift for a while. On May 1st, I deadlifted 100lbs (5 rounds, 5 reps each). He wants to inch me up each time, so today I tried 106 lbs and did it! Really the hardest part for me is my grip. My hands get so achy holding onto that darn thing!

Then on to the workout! We did "Fran" today...

21-15-9

Dumbbell thrusters

pull ups

That means I did 21 thrusters and then 21 pull ups; 15 thrusters and 15 pull ups; finally 9 thrusters and 9 pull ups for time.

I lifted 12 lb dumbbells (so 24 lbs total) and used the blue band for pull ups...finished in 6 minutes and 29 seconds. Whoot!

Then we chatted for a while. That is all :)

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Wooo baby it is a hot one out today! Supposedly it "feels" like 95 degrees according to weather.com. Nice.

So I worked out today (and that is probably mostly when I'll be posting...after a work out).

We did our warmup which I'll type out once just for you ;)

5 squats

5 push ups

5 sit ups

5 back extensions

5 ring rows (I currently use a band to help me out on that)

5 ring pull ups (can't think of what they are really called)

5 pull ups (I use a band on these too, but I'm only one band away from doing them on my own!)

warrior stretch (I think that is what it is called)

And I do that for three rounds. The very first time I worked out with Justin (my trainer), I did the warm up and I was done. That is very sad, haha!

Sometimes we do a skill set where Justin will show us a new technique and/or we will practice ones we already know.

Today our skill set was kettle bell cleans. http://journal.crossfit.com/2007/03/kettlebell-clean-by-jeff-marto.tpl

They were a little tough to master as far as technique goes...but I think I "got it" towards the end. Definitely works your upper arm muscles!

Then on to our workout! Today we did Tabata This (most Crossfit workouts have a name...most are named after girls for whatever reason).

What is a Tabata?

For twenty seconds do as many reps of the assigned exercise as you can - then rest 10 seconds.
Repeat this seven more times for a total of 8 intervals, 4 minutes total exercise.
The score is the least number of reps for any of the eight intervals.

Tabata's are an AWESOME way to work out...it seems easy at first but man you are sweating big time by the end!

So the Tabata This we did today was (and my lowest number of reps in parentheses):

Squats (14)

Sit Ups (9)

Push Ups (12)

Tuck Jumps (9)

Burpee lateral jumps (4)

So when you multiply all those numbers by the 8 rounds...that adds up to a pretty big amount of work! Phew!

Until next time!

Let me know you are here!

Oh - and please leave a comment to let me know you are reading this so I don't feel like I'm writing it all down for just me ;)

I'm back!

Not even sure that anyone checks this any longer, but I'll send out an email blast soon!

So I've been a very good girl and have been working out and eating better since December. I started doing Crossfit in early December and along with that, started trying to stick as close as possible to the Zone diet. I don't know my exact "stats" but I can tell you this:

Last April at my yearly doctor appt., I weighed 150 lbs. This April, at the same doctor I weighed 135 lbs.

In late December, I went to a store and bought a whole new work wardrobe to prepare for my new job. Since then, I am now down two sizes in my pants at that store.

Pretty good...yeah? I know I've definitely knocked out a lot of body fat as well and built some lean muscle...I can actually feel muscles in my arms, stomach and legs now...I've been known to rub my arms when I'm wearing tank tops because I'm so darn proud of them! haha!

I'm not sure how I'm going to use this blog yet...I do know that I'll post my workouts so that I can keep track of what I'm doing and how I'm improving. Maybe I'll post what I eat too...we shall see! Stay tuned!