Tuesday 4 December 2012

Crossfit Monday and American food

Crossfit

I'm finally back at Crossfit properly this week. I was freaking out before the session yesterday because someone (I'm looking at you Amanda!) gave away bits of the WOD on Facebook which made it sound super scary. Luckily though, I'd built it up in my head so much that when I got there and found what the WOD actually was, it wasn't so bad!

WOD 1

18 x front rack lunge (9 per leg) - 15kg
18 x chin ups (2 x orange bands)
18 x box jumps (small baby box)

18min AMRAP

I got through 3 full rounds and was up to the 9th chin-up in the 4th. So that was 72 lunges, 62 chin-ups and 54 box jumps.

I SUCK at the lunges and it is very clear when I'm doing them that I have a dodgy right leg because I just have no strength at all in some of the muscles needed to do that exercise. My left leg is pretty good and stable, but on my right it just feels like half the muscles aren't even firing at all and it's an immense struggle to get back up again! I guess I know what I need to work on, ugh.

For chins I should have just used a red band but the numbers scared me, so I wussed out.

WOD 2

10 x push-jerk (25kg)
25 KB swings (16kg)
400m run (rowing for me)
2mins rest

x 3

I can't remember what my time was.. over 20mins I think. I like it when we get built in rest!

American food

Since this is also a food/diet blog, I figured I'd share some photos of the dreadful diet I had while I was in America! This really is how NOT to eat :)

My first meal in the USA at the Cheesecake Factory in San Fran, this is apparently a salad!
Tacos in Vegas
A burger with sweet potato fries, the fries were gross, my homemade ones are so much better!
Blue drink in Vegas
Another drink in Vegas, delicious sugary margarita! 
 
Another "salad", from our hotel in Vegas. This was seriously delicious, it had fried chicken, cheese, corn, and salad stuff.

Probably the healthiest thing I ate all holiday, breakfast from the buffet at our hotel in Vegas

Omelette at Venice Beach in LA 

Mmm beer, at Santa Barbara pier

Breakfast at a diner in San Fran, pancakes seem to come with everything

Cioppino (seafood stew) in San Fran

Mmm bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon in NYC

The most amazing sandwich ever, the Reuben at Carnegie Deli in NYC

Inside the Reuben! Pastrami, Sauerkraut and Cheese. Don't worry, we shared it!

Cheesecake at Carnegie Deli, amazing also!

Scary ingredients in a Starbucks yogurt, High Fructose Corn Syrup is mentioned about 4 times!

Well deserved margarita ($8!!) after walking back to midtown from Brooklyn!

Last drinks - cider at the airport in San Fran :( 

These photos don't show the 3 or so pancake related meals at IHOP, a couple of pizzas, pastas, copious beer in the hotel room and frozen microwave dinners we also consumed!

It seemed to be very hard to get healthy food there, sure you can get salads, but most of them include fried chicken, tons of cheese and masses of dressing. Sides were generally some kind of white carbs and all the food at the supermarkets seems to have twice as many ingredients as here.

Now that I'm home, I'm back being pretty strict paleo (some weekend nights not included!), but more on that in a later post.




Wednesday 10 October 2012

Crossfit (Thurs, Fri, Tues, Thurs), random food addiction and the trip

Crossfit

I went to 4 Crossfit sessions last week, first time ever I think! I wasn't that sore either, so maybe I'll have to aim to do that more often.

Thursday

WOD

25 x double unders
10 x full clean (25kg)
500m row

x 3

Doesn't sound long but it was a struggle. I suck at double-unders, so that took up most of my time and squats make me want to cry, so I'm very glad it was only 3 rounds!

Finished in 22mins 8 secs.

Finisher

1 x 40kg sled pull the length of the gym and back
20 x lunges
1min plank

This was supposed to be x 4 but I only had time to do 2 rounds before I had to rush off to get ready for work.

Friday

WOD 1

10 - 1

Push-Jerk (30kg!)
Burpees
Back squat (30kg)

So 10 of each, 9 of each, 8 of each etc. until you're down to 1 of each. 55 reps of each total

I went up in weight for push-jerks, not sure if that was a good idea or not, it was hard but I got through it, so I guess maybe it was!

WOD 2

A partner workout, 1 person rows 300m while the other does sit-ups until they finish and then you swap, each person rows 3 times and you score the sit-ups as a team. I was with a guy and we got 193 sit-ups, woo!

Tuesday (this week)

Thankfully this was a pretty easy session. I was considering not going but I'm glad I did.

WOD 1 

5 x deadlift (50kg)
10 x burpee

x 5 rounds

My time was 6mins 55seconds, apparently the record is 2mins 56 seconds.. NFI how the hell you'd get out 50 burpees in that time!

WOD 2

15 x pushups (chest to ground, using bands)
1 x rope climb

12min AMRAP

I got through 5 full rounds, still can't do rope climbs.

Thursday (this week)

WOD 1

This was supposed to be a partner version of the "Kelly" workout, but there were only 3 of us, so we just did it individually.

400m row (run for the others)
30 x wall ball (6 pound ball)
30 x box jump (baby box)

30min AMRAP.

Actual "Kelly" is 5 rounds in however long it takes you. I had a look in my book and I last did it in April and it took me 37mins something to do the 5 rounds. For this AMRAP I did 4 full rounds and had done 27 wall-balls in the 5th round when the 30mins was up, so I would have definitely smashed my time if it had been normal "Kelly".

To finish

1 min max kettlebell swings (16kg)
1 min rest

x 5

I was tired so I never got through the full minute, I think I could have toughed it our really but my mental energy just wasn't there to fight the urge to stop, so for each round I got roughly 19 swings out.

Everything else

Next week is my last week of Crossfit before 4 weeks off, I'm a bit worried about how much condition I'll lose, but I am aiming to do hotel WODs at least, if not trying to get to an actual Crossfit box while I'm away. I have downloaded a few WOD apps to help me out and I will also write a list of some WODs I can do with minimal or no equipment. I will take a skipping rope too so that I can do double-unders too for some quick cardio.

I am also really worried about how I'm going to go with my eating, I definitely want to try a bunch of food places and food we can't get over here.. but at the same time I don't want to go crazy and put on 5kg, which is highly possible for me! There was a great post on Robb Wolf's blog today with this great quote -  "If you can't turn it off, don't turn it on!", basically, if you have a trigger food, don't even go there at all cuz you won't be able to stop once you start. I have written it on a post-it and stuck it to my desk, but I might need to tattoo it to my hand while I'm away.

Bread is definitely one of my triggers and something that I need to learn to steer well clear of, because once I start, I really cannot stop. Bread is also something that we get here, so there's no need for me to eat it while I'm away and from what I've heard, it's a lot easier to get things like burgers etc. wrapped in lettuce or on salad in the USA, so I won't need to eat it. Free bread baskets at restaurants and also toast at hotel breakfasts might be a challenge, but hopefully they'll have eggs in the hotel and we can say no to the free bread.

There is one food that I am currently completely addicted to that I won't be giving up any time soon.. Aldi tinned mackerel. Yes.. I am addicted to tinned mackerel.  I eat it as a snack in the afternoons and it's pretty much the highlight of my day, I look forward to it even more than lunch. I know it's in "vegetable" oil, which is bad, but I really don't care, it is so delicious and does actually stop me from needing to eat anything until dinner at 8:30 or 9pm, so it's one addiction I'm not breaking!

I love you Aldi mackerel


The other thing we'll probably be doing a lot of while we're away is drinking, hopefully not quite to the excess that happened last Saturday, but I'm certainly not going to be shying away from cocktails in Vegas or champagne in NYC!

Messy night in the making

For part of our accommodation we'll have a little kitchenette thing, I think it only has a microwave and a fridge, but you can plenty of food in the microwave, including bacon and eggs, so hopefully we won't need to eat every meal out.

Delicious breakfast and totally microwaveable!



Wednesday 3 October 2012

Friday, Monday, Tuesday Crossfit, long socks and nut heaven

I'm so behind on posting all these, sorry for everyone who hates my boring Crossfit posts, there's some food stuff down the bottom if that's more your thing!

Friday

Warm-up

5 x push-up
10 x air squat

WOD

800m row (run)

Then 8 rounds of:

10 x wall ball
10 x dips

Then another 800m row.

I finished in 20mins something. I thought it'd be a struggle because I haven't done wall balls in ages, but it wasn't too bad actually. I was also worried that the dips would aggravate my elbow, which has been sore, but it was alright, so good all around!

Strength

3 x 8 floor press (25kg, coulda gone to 30 I thiiiink.. not sure though because the last two of each set were a struggle and if you fail doing those then you pretty much squash your self under the bar, unless your spotter does a good job!).

5 x 12 barbell row (only got time to do 4 rounds, 1 @ 30kg and the rest at 25kg)


Monday

Oooh yeah, hero workout for a Monday! Good way to ruin yourself for the rest of the week!

"Whittman"

15 x kettle-bell swings (16kg)
15 x power clean (30kg)
15 x box jump (small box)

x 7

So, 105 of each!  I RXed it (weights as prescribed by crossfit.com), except for the box jumps cuz I'm back on the baby box.  Pretty pleased that I've finally gone up in weight on the power cleans, it's taken a while.

My time was 29mins 37 seconds.

Then we had to do some torturous achilles tendon "massage" using kettle bells.

This is the result of doing those 105 power cleans:

Bruises are sexy right?

I think I'm going to have to buy into that whole long socks thing that all the good Crossfitters do. Then maybe I'll look more this:

Annie Thorisdottir -  the most badass chick in the world and  2 x Crossfit games champ (source)

Tuesday

WOD 1

10 - 1 Handstand push-ups
15 x double-unders between each set (30 for ppl who don't suck at them)

So 10 HSPU, 15 D/U, 9 HSPU, 15 D/U etc. etc. until you get to 1 HSPU.

I did all my handstand push-up sets unbroken, so I will have to try and go down an ab mat next time.

Took just over 17mins I think, most of that was spent failing the double-unders. I think I'll buy a speed rope, that seems to help everyone else.

WOD 2 

There was a choice of some push-press workout or a rowing workout. I went with rowing, which was completely contrary to my usual choice, because my shoulders were completely dead from Monday still.

The rowing workout was:

500m row
1min rest

x 4

FUN! My hamstrings and ass were really tight from Monday as well, so this was a struggle. Not sure how long it took, but it takes me about 2:07-2:10 to row 500m if I'm doing multiple rounds, so it would have been just under 15mins including the rest breaks.

Diet

The diet is going well, other than some serious ice-cream eating on the weekend, luckily the tub wasn't very big. Geez that ice-cream is amazing though. Will have to steer clear of the freezer section for the next few weeks. Glenn asked me when I was eating it why I never smiled like that for him! Hah!

Sooooo gooood, better than sex.. I'm kind of not joking (source)

On Tuesday I went to the dentist, which just happens to be conveniently located near The Royal Nut Company, which is seriously nut and dried fruit heaven, so I stocked up. There is also a factory store in Brunswick, which is also great. They have these giant tubs of almond butter, which I've always managed to resist buying, but one day, they will be mine!  I did buy a small jar though, but that is getting seriously rationed, usually I consume it within a week.

I'm kind of regretting buying 1kg of dates though ($5!!!), I haven't had them in the house for aaages cuz dates are like candy, 5 of them has 20g carbs, which is almost half my daily carb intake, but for $5 I couldn't resist. I think they'll be going to the dark recesses of the cupboard and I'll have to ration them out for myself.





Tuesday 25 September 2012

Crossfit Monday and Wednesday, Spinning and the health challenge

Monday

Warm-up

max handstand pushups (7, 5, 5, 6, 7)
20 x straight leg situps

x 5

WOD

75 x skips (24 double unders for the others)
12 x push-ups
6 x front squat (25kg)
3 x rope climb attempts
7 x chin-ups (red band - this was to make up for not doing rope climbs properly, if you could do rope climbs you didn't have to do the chins!)

26mins 58 secs

My rope climbs were sucking, I think it's the shoes I'm currently using, because I used to get several metres up the rope with my old shoes, but now I can't even get grip right at the bottom. I might try with my old shoes next time we have rope climbs.

I think 2 orange bands isn't far off 1 red band because it didn't seem that different. Maybe next time I'll try an orange and a yellow.

Finisher

1 min row
1 min plank
1 min rest

x 4


Wednesday

Warm-up

100 x skips

Then 3 rounds of:

10 x sit-ups
20 x walking lunges

Then another 100 skips

WOD 1 

5 x power clean (30kg)
10 x hand stand push-ups

10min AMRAP

I got through 6 full rounds and had done 5 HSPUs in the 7th round when the buzzer went off. So that's a total of 65 HSPUs! WOO!

I was also the only one in the class that could actually do HSPUs!! Amazing! Only down to 3 ab-mats, but at least I can do them, I also did the first set unbroken :D  Next time I might try dropping an ab mat and see how I go.

Like this, only with 2 more ab mats as the target for my head (source)


WOD 2 

10 x push-jerk (25kg)
400m row (running for the others)

20min AMRAP

I got through 6 rounds exactly. So 60 push-jerks and 2.4km row.

Spinning 

I was finding the rowing a bit of a challenge this morning because we did a spin class last night and my legs were a bit fatigued from all the hill climbs. I'd forgotten how horrible the bike seats were at spinning, they completely squash your lady-bits AND hurt your ass. Nasty. The hill climbs were a bit of a relief in one way, because you get to stand up out of the seat!

I used to do spinning with my brother, but I hadn't done it in over a year.. I'd probably go back, I don't love it and it's quite boring compared to Crossfit, but it is a good cardio workout.. if you can deal with the seat!

Source

Health Challenge

So far so good. I weighed myself yesterday morning and I was 73.9! Lowest I think I've ever been! I'll wait and see if it sticks, cuz yesterday I was 74.7kg. My official weigh in day is Friday for the challenge, so I'll see what it is then.

One thing I've been thinking about is that I need to remember is that Glenn and I have different body types, he can get away with eating crap food a lot of the time. I just can't. So I should not model my eating behaviour on him and get too upset when he's eating junk and I can't.. I should remember that I'm more like a Ferrari, I only run on quality fuel!

Me (source)
Glenn (source)


Sunday 23 September 2012

Crossfit Thurs and Friday and Holiday Health Challenge

Thurs

Strength 1

Dead lift to 3 x 5 rep max.

5 x 30kg
5 x 40kg
5 x 50kg
5 x 60kg
5 x 60kg
5 x 65kg
5 x 65kg
5 x 65kg

With 20 x ab mat sit-ups inbetween, hello ass crack rash!

Woo, went up 5kg in my 5 rep max! I wonder what my 1 rep max would be now.

Strength 2

5 x 8 box step-up each leg with a bar (20kg)
15 x v-situps in between

WOD

In pairs do:

250m row
max double unders in between

x 5

So one person rows 250m whilst the other person does max double-unders.

I got 33 or 36 double unders total (yeah shutup), my partner got over 200!!!


Friday

WOD

20min AMRAP

5 x cleans (full squat) - 25kg
10 x push-ups
10 x box jumps
1 x rope climb

Got 5 rounds. This was my first time squatting on the cleans in a WOD, it wasn't pretty.. but I did it!

Can't say the same for the damn rope-climbs, I completely suck at those.

Strength

4 x 8 reps floor press

Did 25kg but could have gone to 30kg I think, it was the first time we'd done them, so it was hard to know what a good weight would be!


Holiday Health Challenge

So, in 4 weeks time, Glenn and I are going to the USA for 3 weeks and Cairns for a few days on the way back. I've decided that it's high time I actually got off my ass and tried to clean up my diet properly, instead of complaining that I haven't lost any weight but still eating complete shit on the weekend and too much food generally during the week.




So I've set myself a challenge as follows:


Goal
To lose 2kg or 3cms from waist by 20th October - when we leave for the USA. This is 4 weeks away (less now, I wrote this post on Friday!).

Reason
So that I feel good about myself and also because I may end up putting on weight while I'm away, so it would be better to start out lighter! It might also give me motivation to not go completely off the rails on the trip.

Rules

Exercise
  • 5 workouts a week, can be anything, but must include 3 Crossfit/strength workouts a week.
  • Walk 30 mins at lunchtime every day, if possible.
  • Bike to work at least once during the next 4 weeks
Food
  • Minimum 90% paleo or primal compliance (aim for 100% though) and stick to the 10% rules listed below
  • Starchy Carbs (sweet potatoes etc.) only after a workout and only if deserved!
  • No drinking during the week and no alcohol other than clear spirits and sugar free mixers (soda, tonic etc.) on the weekend
  • 1 serve of fruit per day, max
  • Watch portion sizes, palm of your hand for protein, fist for carbs
  • 50g or less carbs per day and aim for at least 100g protein per day
  • Snacks should be mainly protein or veggies, only snack if actually hungry or pre-Crossfit
  • Watch fat intake, although it is not evil, it has lots of calories, so don’t overdo the bacon!
  • Nothing with added sugar
10% meals and exceptions
  •  If eating 3 meals a day and 1 snack = 2.8 non-paleo/primal meals per week (2 meals, 1 snack), however aim for just 1 cheat meal per week, none if possible!
  • Make sensible choices, if you MUST have chocolate and it fits the 10% rule, then it has to be    70% cocoa solids minimum
  • If not eating paleo carbs, then aim for gluten free or if that’s not possible then really small portions
  • The following events are exceptions to the above rules, however they should not be a free-for-all either! : 
                - Dinner out with friends (wine etc. okay, try to make sensible food choices)
                - Jarod's birthday event and S&S
                - Phil's coming back drinks/party
                - My going away drinks (if I organise something)
Other
  • Sleep at least 7hrs a night, preferably 8
  • Do at least 1hr of homework every day
  • Finish essay 1 week prior to leaving so that I can review it before I leave

Pre-challenge stats

Weight: 74.6kg (although I weighed 76.2kg the day before, so who the fuck knows the right answer!)
5cm above BB: 79cm
BB: 87cm
5cm below BB: 94cm
Right bicep (at base of tatt): 34cm (?? I can't actually read my writing, will check this)
Right thigh (20cm below hip scar): 57.5cm


So far, so good. It's been fairly easy to stick below 50g carbs a day too. Saturday dinner was my cheat meal and we went to the pub and had parma and beer, so it was a complete cheat meal.. but totally worth it!







Wednesday 19 September 2012

Aqua Zumba and Crossfit Wednesday

Aqua Zumba

On Tuesday night, the girls and I went to Glen Eira Sports and Aquatic Centre to try Aqua Zumba! Unfortunately we somehow ended up in different classes and I did Aqua Zumba, whilst the others were doing Aqua Pilates.

Aqua Zumba is what it sounds like, Zumba in a pool. I'm not sure if you've ever tried to dance whilst in water, but it's bloody difficult! It was a lot of fun, mostly because it was so silly and it was really hard to do what the instructor was trying to get you to do with any grace or rhythm. I think they want it to look like this:


But really, it's more like this:




A bunch of people, lots of them old, flailing around in the water completely out of time! It was still fun, but not really a good enough workout for me.

Crossfit

So, to get a proper workout, last night I went back to my one true love, Crossfit!  It was a good one too, lots of power clean and jerks, which is my most favourite of lifts!

Warm-up

750m row

Then 3 rounds of:

10 x back lunges
10 x good mornings (never done these before, basically you hold a stick behind your neck and bend over to stretch your hamstrings)

WOD

30 double unders (90 normal skips for me)
10 chins (2 x orange bands)
3 x power clean and jerk (25kg)

x 10

So in total 900 skips, 100 chins and 30 power clean and jerks.

I finished in 23mins 18 seconds, and finished FIRST! I rarely finished first but I powered through this one and beat everyone by quite a lot. I think it was mainly because I'm pretty much ready to go down a band in chin-ups and up the weight in the power clean and jerks, so for me it was quite easy.

Strength 

We did back squats and I had a go at them, after months and months of not doing them. I started out light and then worked my way up.

8 x 7kg
8 x 12kg
8 x 12kg
8 x 22kg
8 x 22kg

It felt good to be squatting again, my feet have to be in a whacky turned out position for me to get the depth, but I could do it. I had some knee pain in both knees last night after class when I was standing up from a sitting position, but everything feels fine today, so hopefully I can keep doing them and get back to doing the same workout as everyone else, except for the running.

I am really sad about not being able to run for more than 10mins at a time though, I love the freedom of just going for a run and I can't do it anymore.  When I get back from the USA I'll get it properly assessed, but in the meantime, I'm considering trying a knee brace to see if that helps hold my kneecap in place when I'm running, but they're expensive so I'm not sold on the idea yet cuz it might not do anything at all.

Food

I went to the farm on the weekend and scored some home grown parsnips. I've never really cooked with parsnips before, but I googled around and found a Donna Hay recipe for pork chops with parsnips and pears and a Jamie Oliver recipe, which my dad's GF had recommended, for tagliatelle with parsnips, pancetta and rosemary.

The second one is 100% not paleo, I could have had it with zucchini noodles, but I was bad and decided to go with the pasta option.  Both were amazingly delicious and super easy, so I'll try and paleofy the pasta recipe next time.

Giant parsnip!

Cooking down the parsnips for the pasta recipe

Pork chops with parsnips and pears


Thursday 13 September 2012

Catch-up post

I have been so slack at updating this blog, sorry. I have been to Crossfit 3 times this week though!


Monday

Monday's workout was lots of rowing and power cleans.

1km row
21 x power cleans (25kg)
30 x back extensions (everyone else was squatting I think)

750m row
15 x power cleans
20 x back extensions

500m row
9 x power cleans
10 x back extensions

No idea what my time was.

I'm sure we did something else as well but I can't remember what. Ooh I know, we practised handstands in groups, I managed to hold myself up without wall assistance for a few seconds. WOO! Love handstands.



Thursday

WOD 1

400m row
40kg farmers carry (basically carrying a KB in each hand)
12 air squats (backsquats for others)

x 5

I think it was something like 19mins.

I did squats for the first time in ages and my knee hasn't fallen off! That's a good start, although squatting was never really the issue, it probably just exacerbates the issue I have when I run though. That's definitely not any better, it still 'goes' at around 10mins when I run. So over it. When I get back from the USA I'll get it scanned and properly sorted out.

WOD 2 

It was supposed to be barbell lunges and v-sits ups, but I was doing sled pulls and then sled walks and only did 1 round of V-situps.

Not sure that I deserved any sweet potato last night!  I ate it anyway though.. along with some strawberries, which I'm quite addicted to at the moment, I looove strawberry season!

Strawberries with faux chocolate sauce and coconut cream




Today

Today's beauty was a hero workout, which I did this morning.

"Roy"

15 x deadlift (40kg)
20 x ball slams (box jumps for everyone else, I started at 15kg and went down to 12kg)
25 x chin-ups (2 x orange bands)

x 5

75 deadlifts, 100 slams and 125 chin-ups all up! The chin-ups killed me, I was doing them in sets of 3, which is lame and made them take forever. The guy next to me was totally cheating, he said he was only doing 20 each round, oh well, his loss! I'll have super awesome muscles and he will have less super awesome muscles!

It took me 28mins 32 secs I think.

I was almost in tears for most of it, not sure why.. just one of those days I guess! Haven't had a workout like that for a while where I felt so crap, I really should have remembered to focus on the reason why these hero workouts exist, because someone died in the line of duty, maybe that'd stop me being lame and help me to just suck it up and get on with it!


I only had 11hrs between workouts because I went this morning, maybe that was the issue, usually I have at least 24hrs, if not a whole day off in between.



Other stuff

On Tuesday, Jen, Sarah, Andrew and I went to salsa class. I used to do salsa several times a week and was getting okay at it, but then I went overseas and never really got back into it when I got back. I had forgotten a lot of stuff, but it didn't take too long to remember some of it by the end of the beginner's class. Not sure if we're going to make this a regular thing or not, but it's pretty fun... other than all the gross, sweaty man-hands you have to hold!

I've also been in training for work for most of the week and we were in an awesome art deco building in Queen street, check out the elevator numbering below. What I failed to get a photo of was the awesome pattern on the floor inside the elevator. I kept trying, but the doors kept closing too fast or someone else was in the elevator and I didn't want to look like a weirdo. I really love art deco buildings, there were so many things in that building I would have loved to take photos of, if I'd had the chance.




Thursday 6 September 2012

Crossfit x 3 and getting a sweat on at Bikram Yoga

I haven't posted in forever!! Work has been crazy and I've had no time in the evenings either this week, so you get 3 Crossfit posts in one.  This is the first week back to my normal routine after 2 weeks of only going once and it's been good and we've been doing fun workouts too.

Firstly though, I'll start out with my Bikram Yoga experience. I'm not really a yoga person.. or a super hot temperature person, but somehow I was convinced to try Bikram yoga last night.

Bikram yoga is a 90 minute yoga class which is done in a room heated to 39 degrees.. yes, 39 degrees. In the 90minutes you go through a series of 26 poses (asanas) and do each of them twice. It's a weird kind of yoga in that the teacher doesn't show you what to do, she just gives you verbal instructions the whole time, so I have no idea how this would work if no one in the class had done it before, because the only way to know what to do is to copy the people in front!

They were a lot harder than they look!

The main aim when you first go is just to try and stay in the room for the entire class and not faint/throw up/die. I managed to do all of these things and had a fair crack at most of the asanas as well. The room was super packed and it was HOT, I was drenched in sweat by the end of the first weird breathing pose and a lot of the poses required you to hold your leg/foot in a certain way with your hands, but you're so sweaty that it's hard to get a grip! The teacher opened the door a few times during the class, which was like heaven, but not for very long.

The first hour I actually didn't mind and would be happy to do again, the last 30mins dragged though and I'm glad I could see the clock, because I knew I only had to get through that half an hour and I was done, if I had no idea how long we had to go I'm not sure how I would have felt.

The last 30 minutes were poses done on the floor and for some reason it felt a lot hotter doing those ones than when we were standing up, I guess because we had less available surface area to lose heat from as we were lying down flat (??).   There were a few poses towards the end that I didn't bother trying because they looked too hard for starters and it was just too hot by that point, I never felt dizzy or sick though, just super overheated.  Other people were really struggling though and one girl next to Jen had pretty much given up after the first pose.

As it is so hot, you have to be really well hydrated and also ensure that replace electrolytes afterwards. Their website said to drink 3-4 litres of water, so I drank about 3.5 yesterday at work (and had to pee a million times). I also bought some coconut water to replenish electrolytes during and after class, it's way better for you than Gatorade etc. and actually has more electrolytes in it from what I could read on the labels. I was so thankful for the coconut water in that last 30mins, at that point water really wasn't cutting it!

So, the big question.. would I do it again? Yes, actually! As a way to suck you in, you get a free 9 day pass with your first class, so I have 9 days in which to go back. The only issue for me is that this one is way out in Glen Waverley, which isn't very convenient, so I'm not sure if I will make it back out there but I am thinking about it. I definitely wouldn't recommend it to anyone who absolutely hates the heat though.

For the record, Cocobella tastes way nicer!
So now onto my favourite type of exercise, CROSSFIT! :)

Crossfit

Last Friday

WOD 1 

5 x hang snatch (25kg)
250m row (everyone else was running.. I'm sure far less than 250m!)

x 8

I only did a half squat on the snatch because of my knee... and yes I still giggle every time they say snatch.

WOD 2 

20 x weighted box step up (14kg)
10 x hip extension with kettlebell rows (16kg)

x 6

Everyone else was doing back squats I think, so I got this fun little workout!  I was only supposed to do 5 rounds but I had extra time.


Monday

WOD 1 

90 x normal skips
5 x handstand push-up
10 x chinups
20 x straight leg sit-ups  (no using your arms for momentum, we had to keep them on our thighs when sitting up, these were fucking hard!)

x 5

17mins 19seconds

This was actually fun, I quite like getting to practice handstand push-ups and I like chin-ups (how things change!) so it was good.

WOD 2 

Every 3 mins do:

10 x hang power clean (25kg)
10 x burpees

x 7

This was less fun, doing 70 burpees sucks. The way it worked was that you did the power cleans and the burpees and then could rest until the end of the 3 mins when you had to go again, so the faster you did them, the more rest you got!

Wednesday

WOD 1

10 x Power clean and Jerk (25kg)  (no split though as in that video)
21 x KB swings (16kg)

We did this exact same workout a few weeks back, so they wanted to see how much faster/heavier we could go. Last time I did it in 8mins, this time I did it in 7mins 26seconds, so I knocked 34secs off my time, WOO!

Next time I might go slightly heavier with the power clean and jerks, although I don't think I could go up to 30kg, so it'd have to be a random weight like 27.5kg (we only have 1.25kg or 2.5kg plates for small increments).

WOD 2 

Push-press to 3 x 8 rep max (20 kg then 25kg, which was definitely my max after the first WOD!)
3 x 20 band pull aparts
3 x 12 barbell row

None of this was for time.






Thursday 30 August 2012

Winery weekend

Because I've been a lazy slack-ass busy with uni work this week and haven't actually managed to go to Crossfit (although I did do my own version of "Angie" on Tuesday, which I'm still sore from), I thought I'd post some photos from last weekend's trip to Beechworth and Rutherglen.

Never fear, boring Crossfit posts will return soon because I'm going to Crossfit tonight and will be back to my regular schedule next week.

So, last weekend a few of us stayed in Beechworth and did a winery tour of the Rutherglen area on the Saturday. We hired Grapevine Getaways to drive us around, which worked out really well. Basically they give you a mini-bus and a driver and you get to pick which wineries to go to and he drives you around all day.

We went to Rutherglen Estates, Campbell's, Cofield (Pickled Sisters restaurant for lunch) and All Saints. Which doesn't sound like much but it was a lot of wine!

Here are some pictures from the weekend, please excuse them being dreadful, the iphone 3 camera sucks ass.


Breakfast! Totally anti-paleo but delicious and free!

Manda tasting something (most likely pink and sweet) at Rutherglen Estates

Campbell's, the picture really doesn't do it justice, it was beautiful.


Nom nom nom, barrels of muscat

Glenn looking suspicious

GIANT wine at Cofields I think

Tasting platter at Pickled Sisters

Dreadful photo of All Saints

Andrew at All Saints


Glenn is happy


Bush goth

Me looking far too happy on our walk to try and see NSW at All Saints (this was the last stop)

My haul! I spent waaaaaay too much money but it was worth it!