Recently in CrossFit workouts Category

Never until recently thought this would happen, as much as we loved the gym, that we'd have our own! Life is full of thrills and this is a big one!

I'm doing a deadlifting program based on one of Pavel's simple progressions in Power to the People. This program was recommended to me by RKC/Facebook friend Cara Egeland. There are so many programs that it's hard to just pick one and stick to it. Especially in a CF setting where we are hooked on variety. So, I do some warm-up sets and then my heaviest set of 5 deadlifts goes up by 5 pounds per workout. One heavy five is followed by five at 10 percent lighter. Today the two work sets were at 193 and 173. (Odd numbers are necessary because I'm mixing pounds and kilos in bumper plates and fractional plates.)

My deadlift goal is 265 lbs (120 kg), which is slightly more than twice my weight. My former 1-rep max several months ago was 254 (115 kg, which was twice my weight on that particular day!).

After the deadlifts, I did today's CrossFit 206 workout: 8 KB snatch/side, 8 hspu's (for me, negatives most of the time, or a few 8-sec holds instead), 8 goblet squats, 8 rounds for time, with a 16kg kettlebell. My time: 14: 48.

On Monday and Wednesday I did some barbell pressing. Wednesday I had a 1RM of 83 pounds. I was very happy with this. I had some nagging shoulder problems this year, mostly an impingement on the left side. A couple of years ago my 1RM press was 92 so now I feel I'm on my way back to that.

On or about this day in 2004, Dave ran the first Twelve Days workout at CrossFit North. I went at six PM, I remember, because I got out of work late. It was the longest workout I'd done, by far, and I was only three months into CrossFit, having started as a total beginner to strength training and so on.

During the workout, I felt like I was on an adventure race! It was all so new. Focus on one move at a time and the goal of finishing gets closer and closer. Some of the exercises were easy for me, like the 3-second handstand against the wall. Others loomed like a 15-foot wall each time they came around in the cycle. It was the first time I'd tried ring dips. My modification was to jump to support. What a sense of accomplishment in being able to do it! Each time, of course, I was shakier.

I know the phrase "beginner's mind" and don't know exactly what is meant by it in its spiritual context, but I often think of that phrase when I'm nervous about a workout that I know is going to be hard. These days, as a trainer, I want to provide a good example and set a somewhat ambitious standard for other women. Those are good intentions, but it's a source of pressure I'm putting on myself. Healthy in some ways, yet what is fun is when I can recover that sort of innocence when approaching a workout: "I don't know how this is going to go, but I'm gonna do one thing at a time until I get through it!" I need to hang onto a balance of those two feelings forever. Setting a good example seems valuable, but enjoying the process is the fun part.

The 12 Days workout is good for enjoying the process because of its length. Even being used to hard workouts, this one still feels like an adventure race. And I love the ritual of doing it every year.

Last year I accidentally did twice as much bear-crawl as I was supposed to. This year (today) I'm going to get a more representative time result.

Very late update: My time for 12 Days was 41:20.

Last night at CrossFit Seattle: 5 x 5 deadlifts. I didn't end up doing five sets at the same working weight, but did 2 sets of 5 at 90 kg and one single lift at 100. I'm having trouble getting used to the alternating grip, but I think it will be worthwhile to do so.

Then we did a WOD involving alternating with a partner for 30 seconds of jumprope alt. with squats, push-ups, push-presses, box jumps, pull-ups, burpees, maybe something else I can't remember. So you would jump rope, do one of the other things, then both people would rest for 30 seconds. Partner workouts are always fun. This was a week of hard workouts so this one was a nice light one.

Afterward I worked on pistols and ended up doing four or more (?) with a 24-kg kettlebell held in the rack position. These are so intense and really make my legs and rear tired for days. Unfortunately I completely forgot to remove my Nike Free's, so I guess I would not get full kettlebell cred for these pistols.

Today at home:

I've fallen down on recording my workouts and benchmarks. Have had a lot of little projects going on.

Last Sunday: 15 single back squats at 90 kg, alternating with ankles-to-bar holds on the pull-up bar. Some of the squats were doubles. A coach would have told me to do them in threes or fives, but I was alone in the basement and being a bit of a chicken. Still I was very happy with that workout. And I was tired from it until Thursday.

Tuesday and Wednesday I worked on some technique exercises like pistols, stretches, and shoulder rehab. I have an impingement and got an excellent adjustment from Lonnie, a physical therapist at IMT in Shoreline and wanted to maintain what he had achieved with the shoulder. Naturally I overdid it and it became achy.

Thursday I avoided the military press workout in the gym and did more (gentler) shoulder rehab and then did the met con workout with the class. It involved V-ups, medicine ball cleans, and box jumps. A good fast one with some rest built in so you had fast intervals.

Today: deadlifts, working up to two heavy sets of three. I did a set of three and then a set of two at 100 kg. Something in the left adductor twinged on the last rep so I stopped--I definitely don't want a hip problem to go with the shoulder problem. Then the met con involved sets of 7 hang power cleans (two 30-lb dumbbells), 14 hanging leg raises or knees to elbows (which I sucked at, but I think everyone felt that way), and 21 air squats. I'm tired! I love it when I just want to rest and I know that I'm not shirking or procrastinating but doing what I need.

Last Wednesday, August 5:

Deadlift your body weight, or thereabouts, for as many nonstop reps as possible. (Less experienced lifters would not go that heavy; it takes several tries and a lot of deadlifting sessions to know what is a good challenge for this workout.) I used 70 kg and got 22 reps. I didn't go to failure but only to shaky legs. I've seen shaky legs lead to failure too quickly for people because it is so hard not to let go of the bar and stand... just for a second... whoops, the set is over. I need to try to do that to literal failure. But can failure be defined as a bad back position, even if the lift succeeds? Should a trainer stop a trainee's set if the back rounds and the lift is completed? In my opinion, yes, and that's how I'd define it for myself. If the next rep leads to injury, it wasn't worth continuing.

Next we divided into teams of four and each person did 150 wallball. We took turns doing 30. I used the blue ball. Our team was not fast compared to others throughout the day that were on the board - we took 22:12. Love it! I broke up only my last two sets and only for a breath here and there, not for long.

Friday, August 7: "Elizabeth" (21-15-9 full cleans and ring dips) I used 30 kg (Rx is 40) and used dip bars; no jumps on the dips. My time was 8:44.

I think Matt came up with this one.

Run 200 meters (to the corner and back), then immediately do 10 kettlebell swings.

The run starts every two minutes. Finish the whole thing in about 1:30 for almost-adequate rest before next round starts; if you get less than 25 seconds rest, shorten the run.

15 rounds (so the workout took 30 minutes).

This was grueling! I used a 20 kg kettlebell. At round 9 or 10 I thought I was going to have to shorten the run to avoid nausea. But I laid on the floor for 20 seconds before the next round and stuck with the whole run for the rest of the workout without much problem (other than severe discomfort, of course!).

My run strategy, starting around round 5: sprint almost all-out to the fire hydrant - about 40-50 meters - then slow down for the rest of the run. I figured that would save me a few seconds while I was relatively fresh each round. It did that, but it also caused me to surprise people by tearing out ahead of them at full speed, so a few of us ended up loosely competing to keep up with each other. When Alex and Jason got out ahead of me, I was happy to trail them closely rather than trying to pass, but did NOT want to let them get back to the kettlebells more than a couple of steps ahead of me. I think the feeling was mutual when I ran out ahead of them. I liked this pressure cooker, which was caused by everybody starting the run together every time.

As usual with "a lot" of "fast" running (quotes used ironically since I'm not a great runner), I ended up with a little soreness and swelling laterally inside my right knee. This evening it will  be 48 hours and it's getting better. I think our running totalled about 1.8 miles, 200 fast meters at a time. Ouch!

CrossFit Seattle's workout today is as many reps as possible deadlifting your body weight (depending on the person and experience); then run 1 mile.

My workout at home:

60 kg deadlifts, 21 reps. I stopped because my legs were shaking, my lower back was tightening up, and my reset time between reps was slowing. I could have squeezed out more but honestly it was freaking me out a bit, knowing I had to run a mile!

Then I ran four times around the track at Garfield High School two blocks from home: 8:16. Slow! Heavy legs.

Stunts are my favorite part of CrossFit. I ought to work harder (somehow - ?) to get a higher Fight Gone Bad score, but what really excites me is new one-off tricks like my recent "acquisition" of bar muscle-ups and hip-overs. Last Friday I added two more, a weighted pull-up with a 24-kg kettlebell attached to me, as well as a pistol on each leg with that same weight. We did the rest of the workout (a cool dumbbell complex) and then did a max push-ups test and I got 30. That was pretty good for being tired.

I am hoping to get a video this month on my 45th birthday doing consecutive alternating bar muscle-ups and hip-overs. Not 45 of 'em, though.

Today we did a max pull-ups test and I got 33 kipping, beating my old max of (I think) 27. I've lost nine pounds recently by eliminating all grains and almost all starches. I eat apples - is that a starch? Anyway, no bread, no rice, corn, etc., nothing with added sugar, none of my old staple of peanut butter and honey on toast, no ice cream... I eat a lot of meat, nuts, and fruit, and should eat more vegetables. But they require more planning and cooking and are not as fun in the summer as fruit!

I'm going to San Diego at the end of August as an assistant RKC staffer at the RKC Level 1 certification there. I'm totally psyched and if I don't hurt myself on my stunts I should be in great shape for that. Fingers crossed (and I will be careful!).

I'm working on full cleans, from the ground, catching in a squat. Yesterday I did sets of three or four or five and worked up two or three kilos at a time to 57 kg - my body weight. By then I was tired. I did some good ones at 52, jumped greedily to 57, did one good one, and then failed repeatedly, even at lighter weights. I was done!

Today I worked up a lot faster to 50 kg, then spent 15 minutes doing broken sets of 3, and sitting down between sets. This went great. I feel like I should keep doing 50 a couple more times until it is boring, then do 52, 54, 56, 57, each on their own separate day. There is something about jumping up with your own weight on a bar and diving underneath it. Something prohibitive, it seems!

Today after that I did yesterday's CrossFit Seattle workout: for 12 minutes, do as many rounds as possible of 5 broad jumps and 10 heavy kettlebell swings (24 kg). I did 14 rounds of this.