Wednesday 25 January 2012

Crossfit session 22 (Thursday)

Warm-up was just mobility, so stretching etc.

This was a big workout, it was kind of fun though because there were so many different things to do.

WOD


800m run

20 x kettle-bell swings (12kg)
10 x burpees (to two ab mats)

Repeat the KB swings and burpees 3 times

600m run

15 x floor to overhead (basically sumo lifting dumbells and then push-pressing them overhead, I used 7kg dumbells so 14kg total)
15 x sit-ups

Repeat the floor to overhead and sit-ups 3 times

400m run

10 x knee raises
10 x push-ups (to two ab mats)

Repeat the knee raises and push-ups 3 times.

My time was 34mins 6 seconds.

Then we worked on hollow holds (abs), hand-stand holds (hate these) and some other weird hollow roll things where you roll from your back to your stomach and back again with your arms and legs off the ground, also ab related.

Good session, my arms are like noodles now and I have more callouses.


Crossfit session 21 (Wednesday)

Warm-up


250m row
20 x sit-up

Repeat 3 times

Then we worked on our power snatches (yes I giggled) for a bit. They're weird and don't feel natural or like I really understand what I have to do with my arms, but the trainer said that when we start using heavier weights it would make more sense, here's a video (my power snatches looked nothing like this!) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obSsn6JVnkk.

I did 2  sets of 5 reps at 5kg (training bar) and then 4 sets of 5 reps at 10kg, with 7 dips in between each set (red and yellow band).

WOD


10 x overhead squats (10kg)
20 x chin-ups (blue and red bands)
75 skips (as opposed to 30 double unders, my max is 6 so that wasn't going to happen!)

repeat 3 times

So in total 30 OHS, 60 chin-ups and 225 skips

Hrm, I can't remember my time, I think it was 12mins or something, but that could be a total guess, it wasn't a long workout either way.

Monday 23 January 2012

Whole30, yes or no?

Just after new years I came across something called The Whole30, which is a program where you eat super-strictly paleo for 30 days and also don't drink alcohol. It is supposed to change your life and your relationship with food, which is something I definitely think I need some help improving. 

I've been dieting in one way or another since high school and have lost around 30kg overall, my relationship with food, however, has not really improved all that much. I still have days where I binge eat crap for no reason, or mindless eat food while I'm waiting for dinner to cook, or crave things for no real reason and I think the Whole30 could help with all of those things. 

Alcohol is something else that I probably have an unhealthy relationship with. I'm 31 and I would say that the longest I've ever gone without alcohol would be a week or so here or there, probably mostly due to being on antibiotics or ill.. which is not so good. With that in mind, doing the Whole30 would probably be exceptionally good for me and might change my relationship with alcohol, however it does make me apprehensive about doing the whole program because I really do love drinking!

The other aspects of the Whole30 I don't think I would struggle too much with, unless I had to go out to dinner or try and resist the snack table at a party. I've already given up dairy, except cheese, and I only eat grains on the weekends or if I'm out (which is rare during the week). 

I've been thinking about doing it during February, however that decision was made when February was an open expanse where there were no social engagements to unhinge my progress. Now when I look at February in my calendar there are 2 gigs, 2 birthday parties, 2 other random hanging out occasions and valentines day, all of which I would normally drink at.  It would be a super achievement if I got through all that without drinking at all.. but the question is, can I actually give up alcohol for 30 days.. and do I want to? 

Session 20 (Monday)

I had hoped there'd be no running because of the heat but I was wrong, at least it was only 3 400m runs and not for time.

Warm-up


10 x push-ups
10 x dead-hang chin-ups

repeat 4 times

WOD 1 


400m run
max push-ups
15 x straight leg sit-ups (sit-ups keeping legs straight on the floor, touch the floor behind your head and then your toes when you sit up)

repeat 3 times, not for time

For the push-ups I got 16, 13, 14

I think this work-out was added because there were not enough rowers for everyone, so the group was split in half and some people did WOD 1 first and the others did 2 first and then we swapped.

So my totals were 1.2km run, 43 push-ups, plus another 40 in the warm-up so 83 total and 45 sit-ups.

WOD 2


"Christine"

500m row
12 x dead-lifts (body-weight)
21 box jumps

repeat 3 times

I didn't have to do body-weight dead-lifts (fucking good reason to lose weight right there!), so I did 42.6kg.  For the box jumps I used the smallest one and still managed to miss one of the jumps and smack my knee into the box and my hands hard on the top of the box, I have some stripes on my hands now and a bruise on my shin, awesome work.

My time was 14mins 30 seconds.

In total, 1.5km row, 36 dead-lifts @ 40kg and 63 box jumps.




Friday 20 January 2012

Crossfit session 19 (Friday)

This is the first time I've done Crossfit before going out clubbing, it'll be interesting to see if I can stay awake, usually after Crossfit I spent the evening on the couch not moving!

Warm-up


20 x lunges
10 x push-ups

repeat 3 times

The work-out looked really hard on the board but wasn't actually so bad once we were into it, even the running was okay.

WOD


1.6km run
20 x dips (orange and red bands, next time would do red and yellow)
42 x box jumps (smallest box, might try bigger next time)
15 x dips
30 x box jumps
9 x dips
18 x box jumps
1.6km run

In total - 3.2km run, 53 dips, 90 box jumps

I did it in 32mins 38 seconds.

Then we had to push a sled up and back across the gym a couple of times each, I did 10kg plus whatever the sled weighs, I could probably have gone slightly heavier but the way ours work is that you have to go up in 10kg lots so there was no way I could have done 20kg. It's fucking harder than it looks and doesn't help that the floor isn't exactly slippery!! Here's an example of someone doing it, with a lot of weight! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-YGzVC1rW8&feature=related



Wednesday 18 January 2012

Crossfit Session 18 (Wednesday)

This was a fun session, it wasn't a complete killer one and it was an AMRAP workout, which I prefer to the x number of rounds workouts because everyone has to finish at the same time, whereas with the x number of rounds workouts I always feel like I'm going to end up finishing miles after everyone else, which is fine but I hate coming last! 

Warm-up

5 x inch-worms
10 x pushups
15 x back extensions (I hate these!)

Repeat 4 times.

Then we worked on our 3x5 rep max for dead-lifts, which I really enjoyed, because for some reason dead-lifts are my favourite lifts of all, and there were 3 of us girls sharing a bar and we were having a great time pretending we were super strong and generally being kind of silly. 

We got to 50kg, WOO! That's a whole tiny person that I can lift! I probably could have gone slightly heavier  but I can work up to that next time. So we did 4x5 reps so 20 dead lifts at 50kg all up.

WOD

7 x push-jerks
7 x knees to chest (or 1 rope climb if you're that good), so knees to chest is hanging from a bar and then raising your knees up to your chest.
200m row

20min AMRAP

We were only using the training bar and 5kg for the push-jerks and next time I'll definitely go heavier cuz it was very very easy and I think to get proper technique for the push-jerks you need to be lifting something a bit heavy so that you need to do it properly to get the bar up. This is a push-jerk - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_VoeGJB4dE

I got through 8 full rounds and then up to the row of the 9th round.

So in total - 63 push-jerks, 63KTC and 1.6k row.

Monday 16 January 2012

Crossfit Session 17 (Monday)

Warm-up


1km row
Shoulder mobility exercises

I struggled with the row a bit, maybe because of the heat, but I felt out of breath the whole time (more than usual!)

Push-press


Then we worked on our push-press, I got up to 22.5kg I think and that was definitely my 8 rep max, the last few were a challenge to get my arms straight. I did about 3 or 4 rounds at 22.5kg (so 24-32 in total). Here's a push-press http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6oQLMcTGTo, I think I totally made that face as well.

WOD


This workout was a complete bitch! Halfway through the 20 rep round I didn't think I would make it. I hate front-squats, they are even worse than burpees, which is saying something!  They really hurt my wrists a lot and keeping my elbows up is definitely the biggest challenge, not the actual squat itself. Here's a front squat - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVNblYv02z0.


25, 20, 15, 10, 5

Burpees
Chin-ups
Front squats

So 25 x burpees, 25 x chin-ups, 25 x front squats and then 20 x burpees, 20 x chin-ups, 20 x front squats etc. etc.

A total of 75 reps of everything. I did it in 34 mins 12 seconds, with a lot of grunting!

Sunday 15 January 2012

Crossfit session 16 (Friday)

I've pretty much forgotten all the details about this workout, I need to make sure I post them straight after.

Warm-up


I think it was 25 x double-unders and then something else.. hrmm squats maybe?

I think it was 3 rounds of whatever that was!

My double-unders were pretty good on Friday, I still can't do them in a row but I was managing to keep up the rhythm of doing one every 3 or 5 skips for a while.

WOD


20 x pushups
20 x chin-ups
30 x wall balls

x 3

I thiiink my time was 20mins 10 seconds but I'm not sure, hopefully I wrote it in my book.

I started the chin-ups using the blue and orange bands, but after about 12 of them I was buggered and couldn't lift myself up at all, so for the 2nd round I went back to good old blue and red.

Then we had to run around the block twice, I think each circuit is 700m, so it was about 1.4km total.

I managed to injure myself by scraping my elbow on a brick wall, go me, clearly I run with my arms flailing around!

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Crossfit session 15 (Wednesday)

A much better class size today, back to around 10 people instead of the crazy 21 person class on Monday!

I've been getting depressed at my weight on the scales for the last couple of weeks so I decided to go back and find all the measurements I did before I started crossfit and was super pleased to see that although I've put on over 2kg since I started, I've lost 4-6cms from my waist! (6cms at my belly button an 4cms at 5cm above it) So all this pain is getting me somewhere!

Warm-up

Inch worms and overhead squats - inch worms are stretching exercises for your hamstrings and glutes, basically you stand with your feet flat on the floor and your legs straight and walk your hands out in front of you on the ground and back in without bending your knees. I seem to be having a lot of trouble with the outside of my legs  (which I discovered last night is called the iliotibial band - IB) from all the squats, so instead of doing too many inch-worms and squats I tried to stretch those out instead and roll them with a foam roller, they're still crazy tight though.  


WOD 1


15 x overhead squats (I used a training bar)
21 x burpees onto a plate (we had to jump up on a weight plate at the end)


x 3


My squats were dreadful, one of the trainers tried to get my ass to touch one of the wall balls but that wasn't going to happen so I had to get my ass to touch one of the box-jump boxes instead. I really need to sort out my  IB otherwise my squats are always going to be rubbish.


So 45 squats and 63 burpees total, my time was 14mins 43 seconds.

Then we had a bit of a break and a stretch and then it was onto work out 2.

WOD 2

15 x kettlebell swings (I used the smallest kettle bell but I will go up to the next weight up next time)

10 x toes to bar (basically hang from the chin-up bars and raise your toes til you touch the bar.. or in my case knees to chest cuz there's zero way I can get my toes to touch the bar, my abs aren't that strong!)

10min AMRAP

I got 5 full reps and some kettle bell swings in. So 75 KB swings plus some and 50 TTB.

Then we did some ab stuff, V-rocks (? I think) and 1min planks. I wasn't bad at the V-rocks but I couldn't last the full minute for the planks.

Monday 9 January 2012

Crossfit Session 14 (Monday)

The gym was packed today, I guess everyone has the same new years resolution!

Warm-up


25 x double unders
20 x lunges
15 x sit-ups

x 3

The bloody lunges were hard work after the work-out Wednesday and the lunges on Friday.


WOD


10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1

Deadlifts (35kg)
Hand-release push-ups (to 1 plate and 1 ab-mat)

And then 200m row in between each round.

So, 10 deadlifts, 10 HR push-ups, 200m row, 9 deadlifts, 9 HR push-ups, 200m row.. etc. etc.

In total 55 deadlifts, 55 HR push-ups and 2km rowing. It doesn't sound like much written down, but it was hard work, especially the push-ups. It gave me a really bad headache, that's for sure!

My time was 26mins 8seconds.

Then we got taught the Turkish Get-up - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WYs9O0UT6g
They're kind of fun, but we were only using baby weights!







Crossfit Session 13 (Friday)

I dunno how people do Crossfit on a Friday night and then go out anywhere, all I want to do is lie the fuck down and move as little as possible after a workout!

The warm-up was just mobility stuff (squats, stick rolls etc.)

Then we worked on back-squats, my legs were so tight from Wednesday that my squats were dreadful and the trainers kept yelling at me to get lower and that just wasn't going to happen! I only did 30kg, but the tiny gymnastic chick I was sharing a bar with went up to about 40-50kg I think.

WOD


25 x double unders (50 normal skips for me cuz my double unders suck)
20 x lunges
1 x rope climb - I've never done rope climb before so I had to do this practice thing where you sit on the ground and then have to pull yourself up to vertical with the rope and lower yourself again without using your legs to stand up/sit down, it was alright, other than getting rope burn and bits of the rope fibres in my eye!

AMRAP

I got to 7 complete rounds and 1 round of skipping only.

So that's 400 skips, 140 lunges and 7 of those rope climb practice things.




Thursday 5 January 2012

New Years Resolutions and Motivation

It's Friday afternoon of the first week back at work and I can safely say I have zero motivation.. however it has led me to think (in between facebooking and yawning) about my New Years resolutions and what I intend to try and achieve this year and what will motivate me to actually do it.

Obviously the main resolution that I make every year is to lose weight and I think I share that resolution with a good proportion of the population, this year however, I'm going to focus more on being healthy and less on a specific number on the scale.

My intention is to try and stick to a more paleo/primal style of diet (http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-101/http://whole9life.com/2011/10/whole-30-v5/http://www.fitbomb.com/p/why-i-eat-paleo.html etc. etc.) at least 80 percent of the time, so fewer weekend pizza binges (unless it's a paleo pizza!) and trips to the fish and chip shop for fried everything. Hopefully I can get this up to 90 percent by the end of the year.

 I'm also going to try to get to Crossfit at least 3 times a week, put in a good effort every time and make sure I do some kind of exercise on the days when I'm not going, such as walking or swimming (or hobbling).

So my main resolution is that I want to be healthy, get fit and build some kick ass muscle.. but not end up looking like this:




Now onto the motivation side, the first Saints and Sinners is on 24th March (10 weeks), so I have a realistic short-term goal to aim towards and I have someone else (Glenn) with a similar goal to help motivate me. Last time I used S&S as a goal I completely failed, but now I have a different view on food and exercise and I think it will be a lot easier.  If I go to Crossfit 3 times a week for the next 10 weeks then I think there's no way I can't see results, unless I'm eating crap the rest of the time, which I am not going to do!

My other New Years resolutions are:

- To not muck around so much on the internet at work (already failed this one but it's only the first week back!)

-To kick ass at uni this year (hasn't started yet so I have some time)

- To be organised (an on-going battle)

- To get control of my finances, pay off my credit cards and save some money by the end of the year

- To be a good friend/girlfriend/daughter/sister to the important people in my life

I reckon I can achieve them, to some degree at least.

Wednesday 4 January 2012

Crossfit Session 12

First session for 2012 and man did I pick a crap day to come back! The very day we a hero workout. For those who are unfamiliar with Crossfit, a hero workout is a workout named after a soldier or airforce/navy person who lost their life in battle, they are fucking tough workouts! A list of all of them can be found here:  http://www.crossfitsteelecreek.com/about/the-workouts/the-hero-workouts/

I've done "Jerry" before, which is a cardio based one, today's workout was "Whitten" and it has fucked my legs up!:

22 Kettlebell swings
22 Box jumps
400m run
22 burpees
22 wall balls

Repeat 5 times, max time allowed 60mins (although I think that was just cuz they were closing at 8pm last night).

This was my first workout since spending 12 or so days eating crap and not exercising, and fuck did I struggle! I only got through 4 rounds and that was with stopping every few reps to try not to pass out, vomit or cry. It was probably the worst workout I've done so far.

So in the end it took me 60mins (although I reckon cut that to 45mins if you take out all my breaks) to do 88 kettlebell swings, 88 box jumps, a 1.6km run, 88 burpees and 88 wall balls.  I had a headache for most of it and was really shaky for the last round so my wall balls sucked cuz I just could not throw the ball.

I was using the smallest kettlebell, the smallest box and the number 6 ball.

I hope we get this one again cuz I want to have another shot at it when I haven't lost all my fitness!

The moral of the story is, do not take 2 weeks off Crossfit!