Wednesday 30 November 2011

Crossfit session 3

Warm up


Anything you like! I did skipping, squats and shoulder rolls, then we had to do some dead-lifts to warm up for the WOD.

WOD


800metre run
21 Dead-lifts (15kg in plates and then whatever the bar weighs, could have gone heavier though)
21 Chin-ups (Using a blue and a red band - which are these giant rubber bands to help counter-balance your body weight if you can't do unassisted chin-ups)
21 Sit-ups (I was just using an ab-mat but everyone else was doing GHD situps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufaa41nkIP8)
15 Dead-lifts
15 Chin-ups
15 Sit-ups
9 Dead-lifts
9 Chin-ups
9 Sit-ups

x2

So in total 1.6km run, 90 Dead-lifts, 90 Chin-ups and 90 Sit-ups!!

Then the trainer made me practice my double-unders cuz I can't even do one.. and still can't! I think I'll have to buy a skipping rope and practice, although that's not really going to work in the flat so I'm going to have to look dumb in the local park or something!

I didn't have a issue with the run, the dead-lifts or the sit-ups (although I had to take breaks) but the chin-ups weren't good. My form was dreadful, but to be fair the most chin-ups I've ever done in my life is probably 10!!

Today I can't lift my left arm above shoulder height and my right bicep and forearm are sore, tomorrow is going to be hell I reckon!! Luckily I'm not going again til Monday so I'll have time to recover.

This chick is one of the trainers: http://games.crossfit.com/features/videos/im-really-happy-amy-dracup, if I can end up looking even half like that I'll be happy!



Monday 28 November 2011

Crossfit 2nd session

Warm-up


Handstand hold 30 seconds - I fucking hate handstands!!! The trainer was laughing at me cuz I was freaking out and whimpering when I was in the hold cuz I thought I was going to diiieee, I never liked them as a kid and as a 75kg adult.. they suck hardcore! Hopefully they'll get easier though and I won't feel like I'm going to fall on my head every time.
15 front squats with stick
10 shoulder rolls with stick

Repeat 5 times

I only did the handstand hold twice before my wrists gave out so I wussed out of those and did planks instead.

WOD

5 x handstand pushups (for me - normal push-ups on toes but not all the way down to the floor, just to two ab mats stacked on top of one another)
5 x squat cleans (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czg1KKte-9o&feature=related not sure how much weight I was using, the plates were 5kg each and the bar weighs something but not sure how much.. so maybe only 15kg, it was enough after 25mins of it though!)
25 double unders (for me - 5 double unders or 5 attempts at double unders with 5 skips in between.. I can't even do 1 double under yet.. feel like a tard)

AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) in 25mins

I think I did 9 or 10 rounds (so if it was 9 that's 45 pushups, 45 squat cleans and a random number of skips!),  but I totally lost count, next time I'm grabbing a chalk board cuz it's hard enough trying to remember how many of each exercise you've done let alone the actual round number.

Then we did ab exercises for 10mins (?? I have no idea how long it was), the non-crap people were doing hollow rocks (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzxiORnGYAE) but I was doing just a hollow rock hold, so just holding the position, no rocking. We had to do that for 2mins (?) then plank for 2 mins (?) then rest for 2 mins.. repeat 3 or 4 times, I forget!

It was a good workout, everyone was buggered by the end and lying on the floor! I've never sweated so much in my life. I am enjoying it though, the other people are nice and the trainers are really helpful, especially seeing as my technique sucks ass.



Wednesday 23 November 2011

First Crossfit session

I've been debating for ages what to do exercise-wise because I've been at a fitness and weight-loss plateau for months, my options were just be more strict on myself and pushing myself to run further and lift more weights, join a gym or get a PT.. then somehow I was talked into trying out Crossfit (Rob and Ken I'm looking at you!).

Initially I discounted it because of the price and because it sounded way too hardcore for me (and the videos online are scary), but then I figured that it was cheaper than a PT and really seemed to get results - just look at Ken! So I thought what the hell, I'll give it a try!

The way it works is that first you have to complete 3 personal training sessions with one of the trainers who goes through all the basic moves with you, then you can join the classes. It was quite intimidating because everyone is doing crazy stuff like chin ups and climbing up ropes and lifting massive weights, but luckily for me Rob was nice enough to come at the same time as my first PT session so that I would at least know someone when I walked in (THANK YOU!)

I finished the 3rd of my PT sessions yesterday and got the sign-off to go into the classes, so my first class was tonight.  This is what I had to do:

Warm-up

10 air squats (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IewlDXTfbjU)
20 double-unders (I had to do 40 regular skips instead because I can't even do 1 double-under yet)
10 roll-overs (they're basically shoulder exercises with a stick)

Repeat 5 times (so in total 50 air squats, 200 skips, 50 rollovers)

I was kind of fucked just after the warm-up! Then it was onto the actual workout, there were only about 7 in my group, one of the other girls had only been one time before, so I didn't feel so out of place and spazzy!

Workout

400m run
10 front squats (for non-spazzes it was 15, I also only used the training bar without any plates) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chKogKVJB8M)
10 push-ups using a bench (non-spazzes did 15 handstand pushups or handstand holds if they couldn't do a handstand pushup)

Repeat 5 times (so 2k run, 50 front squats and 50 push-ups total)

I finished that in 27mins, I was absolutely dripping sweat and grunting when I was doing the push-ups.. it was weird! Then we stretched for a bit and did 60 sit-ups.  The non-spaz people did some kind of gymnastic ring hold and some other ab exercises instead of the sit-ups .

My front squats are pretty bad, I was really struggling with the push-ups by the end and it was quite clear just how unfit I really was, but I completed it! I've heard that it never really gets easier cuz you just keep scaling up and every time is a different workout, so you'll get fitter but it'll never be easy.. I guess that's the point!

The trainers were really nice and completely scaled everything to people's abilities so it wasn't really that intimidating because you're just working against yourself, not the other people. The other people in the class were really nice too and gave encouragement along the way which was good. My arms and legs have already started stiffening up, so I think tomorrow and Friday I'll be hobbling around and unable to lift things!

I doubt I'll have time to go on Friday, so I think my next class will be Monday. I'm going to record my workouts on here so that I can track my progress and see how I'm doing. Thanks Rob for pushing me to do it and being there for my first session :)