Same, Same

I went back yesterday to have another shot at 14.2.  Michelle, our Pilates coach, took me aside to give me some coaching with regard to my overhead squat.  I am so grateful that she took the time to help me out and yet again I was so close but not quite there.  There was once where I hit depth and she grabbed a registered judge and I tried again.  Unfortunately it wasn't to be as I didn't get it again last night.

Today's WOD was a strength day and I chose to just work on my squats again.  Nick gave me some great tips and the movement felt a little better than yesterday but again I couldn't hit depth.  Surprisingly I feel okay with it all.  I am proud of the fact that I kept trying despite failing over and over again.  The weight just got the better of me and there is no shame in that.  The positive is that I can set this at a goal and work towards it.

The disappointing thing for me is that I can't post a score of 0 so essentially the Open is over for me.  It will be unfortunate if the next workout is something I can do but I guess there's not an awful lot I can do about it.  I will still be attempting to RXD the workouts if I can and get judged as I still want the feeling of the Open.  I do believe that they have to make changes to the ranking system if they wish to continue sounding like the Open is inclusive because at the moment it isn't.  I am not complaining about the WOD itself; it's not about the movements or the weights, I personally don't have an issue with the fact that I couldn't lift it but I think that they should allow a score of 0.  Honestly, if someone gets a 0 in any workout they won't be going to Regionals as it is likely they will be toward the bottom of the pile.  If a person goes to the lengths of showing up, getting judged and is wanting to put it out into the world that they scored nothing then why not let them.

A Big, Fat Zero

That was my score in 14.2.  Apparently I was so close to getting depth in my squat but didn't quite make it.  I'm not going to pretend, I'm disappointed .... really disappointed.  Since the announcement of the WOD on Friday I have been battling those little voices that constantly tell me that I 'suck', why should I even bother doing this, why even Crossfit at all, blah, blah, blah.

All I needed was 1 rep of hitting hip crease below knee crease while holding 30 kg overhead.  It was 5 kg over my 1 RM but I was hoping to pull something out of the hat.  I had one of the guys giving me some advice and he also helped me with my mobility.  I'm grateful that he spent the time to give me the best chance of getting the rep but despite all my efforts I was unable to squat the weight in the 3 mins.

Since then I have had a whole range of emotions.  I got cranky and swore like a wharfie, I've cried and wallowed in self-pity, I thought about cancelling my membership and going back to training in my little home gym before finally deciding to work on my mobility and put 30 kg OHS on my list of goals.

The thought went through my head of why did I sign up for the Open when I knew that I was going to fail at some point.  I knew that there was going to be a weight that I wouldn't be able to lift.  Basically I was wasting my $20.  I signed up because I didn't want to say, "what if?"

If I hadn't registered I wouldn't have even attempted to squat 30 kg.  I would have scaled and I would have been left wondering if I could do it.  Woulda, shoulda, coulda ... didn't!  At least I know now that I am so close to 30 kg and I know what I have to do to get there.  I know I was only an inch or so from getting a good rep and flexibility is something that I can continue to work on and get better at.

Will I register next year?  I think I will.  Although it is disappointing to be booted out this early, I love the vibe of the Open and I love trying RXD even if it means failing.

Saturday Fun

CFG has decided to start a ladies only class on a Saturday morning at the time I normally train.  I was a little conflicted as it wasn't going to be the WOD that was posted on the website and more geared for beginners as an introduction to this type of training ... not that I'm superfit by any stretch of the imagination but I do like to work hard.  I also like training in mixed classes as blokes can be fun and very encouraging.  I decided to go as I thought it might be a better class for Missy T and also to support the coaches for trying a new class.  Not that I needed to as 55 women showed up ... our biggest class yet.

The WOD looked like this:

100 skips
20 front squats
30 jumping pullups
40 box jumps
50 burps
60 k2c
70 walking lunges
80 m wheelbarrow walk
90 sit ups
600 m farmers carry

We were split up into teams of 5 and Missy T and I were put with 3 other lovely ladies, 1 being a regular, 1 who had done crossfit once but fairly fit and a newbie.

The workout was a good, fun WOD that we could split up quite easily and we tried to keep it fairly even and if needed one person may have had to have done a little more.  I found it hard to skip and did my 20 skips as double unders as it gave me a chance to practice.  Who would have thought that I would prefer double unders to skipping?!

It was an awesome class and it was fantastic to see so many women willing to give something new a try.

12 Days of Christmas

This was our Saturday WOD:

The 12 Days of Christmas

CFG n CFCQ Team Style!”"

 -

Riding solo or Teams of 2 or 3

For Time:

120 Double Unders (Each)

110 Walking Lung Steps

100 AB Mat sit ups

90 Dead-Lifts 42.5kg/30kg

80 Box Jumps 24″”/20″”

70 KB Swings 24kg/16kg

600m Run (together)

50 Clusters 42.5kg/30kg

40 Pistols / Goblet Squat (with KB)

30 Pull Ups

20 Overhead Squats / Front Squat 42.5kg/30kg

10 Muscle Ups / Ring Dips

* If in Team of 2 or 3, Reps for total team (unless speficied) only 1 person moving at a time (unless speficied). Clock stops when both team members cross the line.”

The girls got home from visiting their grandparents on Friday night and I asked them both if they wished to join me.  Moo was keen but Missy T didn't feel up to it.  We had to go to the 6 am session as we had to drop my stepdad off to the train station on Saturday morning so I wasn't concerned that the little one didn't want to come and workout with me but I was pleased as punch that Moo wanted to tag along for this tough WOD.

I felt like I wanted to push myself to finish off a fantastic week in the gym but I also tried to be smart with my scaling.  As I find OHS hard at the best of times I chose to only go with a 15 kg bar for any barbell work as we could only have 1 weight for all 3 movements.  The deadlifts were super easy but as expected I found it hard to get depth in my overhead squats which meant it was the perfect decision.  Moo and I divvied up the work as evenly as we could but it was evident early on that I would be doing the majority of the work as she simply doesn't have the fitness for a big chipper workout like this one, more often than not I was doing 20 reps to her 10.  In saying that, she gave the workout everything she had and for that I am incredibly proud.

As I was doing lighter deadlifts, scaled the number of double unders and used a 12" box instead of a 16" I chose to push myself in other areas and decided to use a 16 kg kettlebell for the swings and goblet squats and do unassisted pull ups and ring dips. In hindsight, I should have attempted to do all double unders as I managed to string them together quite well yesterday.

We got the workout done in 35:50 which wasn't too bad as my girls tend to fluff around a little in transitions which can sometimes be a little frustrating.  They are often not ready when I have finished my set and dilly dally around a little but I try to take a breath and not be too concerned about the time clock when we are training together as I do really love spending this time with both of them.

I shouted Moo a Canego that the gym sell and she left the workout on a high, saying how great she felt from doing the WOD.  There were times when she complained and scaled mid workout (something the coaches don't like us doing but I don't have an issue with it if it means she gets the WOD done in a reasonable timeframe) but she kept going and found that inner-warrior.  So proud of my girl.

Grrrr!

Today's workout was a strength day working on our cleans.  I had one of those mornings as I was getting ready where I was cruising along and was going to be early and then all of a sudden I was running late.  I also changed up my preworkout meal and I'm not sure if it agreed with me too much.  Whatever it was (I think PMT is a factor as well), I just wasn't feeling 'it' today.

I was cranky and I struggled even with a light weight.  I just wasn't in the mood for lifting.  I noticed I was overthinking the lifts too much and as a result was off balance as I went into the squat.  I'm getting frustrated with this lift in particular as I haven't been able to get past 35 kg.  I hit that weight way back when I did the open workout in March.  That's a long time to be stuck on a weight.  The frustrating bit for me is that I nail 35 kg and then I stack the weights to make 37.5 kg and my mind just goes, "nah, it ain't gonna happen!"

I would like to try and figure out how to get past this plateau.  Maybe it's just a case of I need to get really comfortable at 35 kg like being able to do it at that weight for multiple reps to build up my confidence.  I spoke to Nick this morning about it as I was wondering if I need to mix things up a little with my diet etc.  He basically said that I need to win the battle with my mind because that is what is holding me back.  I wonder if I make some changes (eg nutrition, nice new workout gear, a powerband :P), it would have a placebo effect and trick my brain into thinking it can do something.

Maybe I should just stop overthinking things.

Back In The Game!

My Stomping Ground

Finally I'm back in the land of the living and felt up to a workout.  Unfortunately I picked a huuuuge night to go back.  This was last night's WOD:

Bench Press

5 X 15

-

*In between each set (no rest) you must complete as fast as possible:

10 Pistols

20 Burpees

30 Sit Ups

400m Run

-

then rest 2min and repeat

-

Have a running clock. Athletes time themselves but starting on a minute. Add your total time to the athletes bench press weight. so time would read:

Jo Bloggs. 100kg – 26:30

 

It was a massive class last night and the girls were split up into 2 teams of 5 with a person starting every couple of minutes.  Most of the girls had chosen to do 20 kg but there were a couple that were wanted to go a little heavier at 25 kg.  I put my hand up to go in the latter group to even up the teams (maybe not the best decision given I had pretty much a week off exercise).

 

This was a really tough workout and my head just wanted me to give up.  It intrigues me how my brain was telling me to give up, that I still wasn't well enough to exercise but my body just kept on chipping away.  I was by no means killing it but just getting it done.

 

The girls that went first overlapped me which I had predicted as they were both comp squad girls.  I got the workout completed in 43:23.  My last set of bench press was to failure.  Failure is something that I have reached twice this week in the 2 WODs I've done.  I find it amazing that my body gets to the point where it just can't do something ... it doesn't hurt, I just can't do what I want to do.  Such a weird feeling. I'm grateful to Cam, one of the coaches, for spotting me and both encouraging and correcting my form to ensure that it didn't go out the window even though I was tired and my body wanted to find an easier way.

 

My last round of burpees where burps.  I was aware of the time at this point and I knew that I was going to run late for the ballet pickup (luckily Miss Amber has dance classes after the girl's class) so I scaled back to try and speed things up.

 

I had Karla (one of my teammates) helping me through at this point and when I went on the last run both she and another girl, Timmy, came on the run with me.  Both girls talked me through the run leg and encouraged me to speed up at the end.  That is CrossFit.  It's people encouraging people, it doesn't matter your standard because we are all doing it together.  

I Love Crossfit!

Moo and I post workout

Yesterday's workout was low key with most of the time dedicated to stretching and mobility.  As I train 6 days a week I'm grateful for these types of days where I can work on the areas of my body that are tight.  We finished the workout with a maximum vertical jump, maximum effort 1 km run and maximum handstand walk.  I established that I can't jump very high with a vertical jump of 34 cm, I can't run very fast with a 1 km run of 5:30 and I can't even get into a handstand let alone walk.  Did I feel discouraged and down about it? No, I didn't!  Because I want to see if next time I attempt these (and I hope we do it again in the future) I improve.  I always feel like people will laugh at me because I can't do this stuff but the coaches never do.  They give me tips and they encourage.  They want me to be able to do it and because of that I feel like I can do it.  This is why I love Crossfit!

Today Missy T didn't feel like going to the Saturday morning workout (she's like that when she's hooked on a new book) so it was just Moo and I.  It was a doozy:

The CrossFit Games Regionals Qualifiers

Event #4

we are doing In Partners

(although all comp Squad ride solo)

-

 For Time:

50 Back Squats (62.5/42.5)

40 Pull Ups

30 Shoulder to Over-Head (62.5/42.5)

-

50 Front Squats (40kg/30kg

40 Pull Ups

30 Shoulder to Over-Head (40kg/30kg)

-

50 Overhead Squats (30kg/20kg)

40 Pull Ups

30 Shoulder to Over-Head

-

(25min Cut Off)

My weights were: 25 kg back squat, 20 kg front squat and 15 kg OH squat.  Moo used dumbbells for her back squat, a kettlebell as her front squat/goblet squat and the broomstick for her OH squat.  I used the orange band for pull ups and she did jumping.

I'm so proud of her and how she went in this workout ... she did so well and gave it everything she had.  She discovered what the CrossFit community is all about as we were the last to finish and she got cheered on as she did her push jerks.  Everyone was calling out her name in encouragement and she pushed through to the end.  Yet another reason why I love CrossFit.

Go Team

Today was a partner workout but as we had an odd number of people today I was put into a team of 3.  I know I have said this numerous amounts of times but I love partner or team WODs, I guess it's comforting that someone else is in just as much pain as you are.

We had a great trio and we communicated and worked in well together.  A couple of exercises called for us to be in unison, for example, goblet squats and kettlebell swings.  It would have been easy for 3 people to get out of synch with each other but we quickly worked out that if 1 person called out when we should hit bottom depth and full extension while another counted our timing would be perfect.

I was happy that I jumped the 12" box today and am gaining confidence every time I jump.  I"m only resting my hand on a pole now and a couple of times I wasn't even touching.  I think when I have my practice time on Friday arv I might attempt the 16" box doing the same thing, holding onto a post to give me confidence, and then when I get into a WOD the 12" will be a breeze.

The thing that I struggled with today was my grip strength.  While a partner was working, the others had to hold 2 kettlebells (ours was 12 kg today) and we finished with a farmer's carry.  My hands didn't like this at all.  My partners had to do the brunt of the work in the farmer's carry and I finished feeling a little guilty and cranky at myself.

It was a great workout though and these are the types of WODs that make me love CrossFit.  I most probably would have worked harder if I were in a team of 2 but our team of 3 worked so well together and I still got a great workout.  Yep, another great day at the box :-D

Killed It!

I said this to my girls this morning and wasn't surprised when I got an eye roll and shake of the head in return.  Those girls have no sense of humour!

Today's workout was the type that I love.  Short, sharp and movements I like.

 

4 Rounds For Time:

-

7 Dead-Lifts 125kg / 95kg

12 HSPU

30 Air Squats

 

My scaling was:

• Deadlifts: 50 kg
• Handstand Push Ups - box pike

 

The weight was challenging as were the box pikes.  It reminded me to continue on practicing my handstands at home because I want to be able to do handstand push ups in a WOD.

 

I did the workout in 7:10 and was wishing they had something like this in the weekend's throwdown.  I guess, though, Crossfit is about being good at everything and not specialising in any one type of workout.  The weekend proved that I have certain things that I need to work on.

A Pair Of Unicorns and New Shoes

Matching Singlets

It was only Missy T and I on Saturday as Moo had gotten home from her school camp at 4 am on Saturday morning.  The workout was a bit of a doozy:

In Partners

-

30 min AMRAP

-

10 Deadlifts (125kg / 92.5kg)

20 Chest to Bar Pull ups

30 Power Cleans (82.5kg / 62.5kg)

40 Pull ups

50 Snatches (62.5kg / 42.5kg)

60 Toes to bar

(Courtesy of CrossFit Mayhem)

 

Missy T and I discussed tactics and she decided she wanted to try a band option for her pull ups as she normally does jumping pull ups on the rings.  She also decided to try knee to chest as her toes to bar option.  The last time she did a workout with toes to bar she did sit ups as she couldn't reach the bar.  We increased her weights to 2 kg dumbbells.

 

She has made such amazing progress in the last few weeks and did so well with her pull ups.  She was struggling with the chest to bar portion so I may have helped her a little to get that extra height.  The funniest part was when I was struggling to get 5 reps out and she told me she could do 10 reps easily.  I said to her that it was fine if she felt like she could do 10 and she replied, "challenge accepted!"  She managed to get the 10 out but I had to no-rep her a couple of times (I'm mean like that!)

 

She was so encouraging when I was starting to struggle and talked me through when I started to break my reps down even further.  She left the workout saying how much she enjoyed it ... but I think that was because there was no running.

Olys!!

A friend posted on FB that there was a sale at one of the sports stores on the weekend so I saw it as an opportunity to grab myself some Olympic lifting shoes.  I have been tossing up whether to get some as I have heard they can help with stability during lifts.

It must have been fate as I got the last ones in store and they were my size.  It was like it was meant to be.  I tried them out this morning and got a PB on my front squat!  So I won't be sending them back.  LOL!

Saturday Fun

The girls still come along with me for our Saturday WOD.  I don't think that I'm getting the best workout because they slow me down a little but that's okay because I really love training with my 2 favourite people.  Saturdays workout was a triplet of power cleans, wall balls over the pull up bar instead of against the wall and lateral burpees.  I was so impressed that Moo decided to try the 10 kg bar for her cleans although she needs to work on her deadlift form (she must get sick of me in her ear all the time) and she also wanted to use the 4 kg med ball but after a couple of failed attempts I talked her into going down in weight.  She wants to lift heavy (and I think she will be strong once she gets her form right) but I keep explaining to her that by going lighter she can work on technique and also get more reps out.  I love the fact that she wants to push herself ... but I want her to get through the workout. I know that I have to get talked down occasionally and have been grateful for it as I could waste a lot of time just trying to get the reps out which defeats the purpose of a metcon workout - we want that heart pumping.

Miss T, on the other hand, will tend to go fairly light when she could lift a bit heavier ... her excuse is that she has muppet arms.  However, she smashes the bodyweight stuff and has a lovely squat.  I think her dancing is coming in handy with her flexibility and turnout.  I do think that what she loves most about Crossfit is the fact that she gets to wear rainbow socks and she has just gotten some nice rainbow shoes to complete the ensemble.

I'm so proud of how they are attacking the workout and smiled to myself when we got to the last minute of Saturday's AMRAP and Moo just started smashing out as many burpees as she could in those final seconds.  She is normally so blase about it all ... it's nice to see she has a little bit of mongrel in her (in a good way, of course!)

Non-Benchmark Wednesday

Just to throw a wobbly in, our Wednesday WOD was not a benchmark or hero workout but instead it was:

For Time:

-

3 Rounds of:

-

50 Double Unders

25 Front Squats 42kg (30kg)

20 Toes to bar

15 Push Press 42.5kg (30kg)

10 Burpees

Run 200m

 

I was unsure how to scale this one because it was pretty high volume so I went with:

• 25 double unders - I didn't want to waste time struggling to get 50 double unders.
• 15 kg front squat and push press.
• Knee to chest.  While I can do toes to bar, it is a different story trying to do 3 rounds of 20.

My double unders are either on or off and today was a good day.  I managed to string together quite a few and my first round I did 22 in a row.  Yay for progress!!

 

The whole workout took me 22:54 to complete it which was well under the 30 minute cut off.  With that in mind, I think I scaled perfectly. 



I Did It!!

I had to get a photo of my new Nanos in there too :-)

Well, I decided to give the CF comp a crack and am so glad I did.  I had a great day and was so pleased that I made it into the top 10 beginners women!  I have made it to finals in touch footy and tennis (as part of a team) but never for something individual.  I'm sort of proud of myself right about now :-)

We had to do 2 WODs.  The first WOD was:

10 min AMRAP

9 Deadlifts (20kg)

12 Hand release push ups

15 Box jumps (16")

 

The deadlift weight was so light which meant it felt like a bit of a break.  I struggled to do only 9 as my body just wanted to keep cranking them out.  The push ups were tough.  Hand release push ups are as they say, you raise your hands off the ground when your chest touches.  As beginners we were allowed to lower as a full push up and go up on our knees.  The box jumps I did as step ups.  This was my kind of workout and I felt like I had pretty good rhythm, only stopping to shake out my push ups.  I think my final score was 235 which put me in 4th place!!!

 

 

The second WOD was:

10 min AMRAP

80 skips

20 Thrusters (15 kg)

10 Sit ups

 

I really struggled with this workout.  As much as I love thrusters they also fatigue me and I don't think I scored that well on this one.  I think I may have gotten 3 rounds out but I'm not sure.  Whatever it was it must have been not great as I dropped from 4th to 9th.

 

The top 10 then went into the finals.  The first part was a max push up hold (basically a plank).  I was fatigued and my abs were sore from Friday's workout ... I don't think I lasted a minute and had the 'speed wobbles' as soon as we started.  I was so disappointed in myself because I think I could have done so much better and I really wanted to get to the next level.  I admit there were a few tears.  The positive was I could grab something a bit more substantial to eat.

 

The top 7 then went into the next workout after a minute break.  The workout was:

 

15,12,9

DB Snatch (10 kg)

Plate burpees

 

I so wanted to do this workout ... I love dumbbell snatches.  The top 5 from here had a break while the beginner boys did their workout and then went onto:

 

600 m row

60 m Sled pulls (60 kg)

 

The top 3 then ran inside to do the final WOD:

 

30 Wall balls (4 kg)

20 Clean and jerks (15 kg)

10 Burpee bar touch

 

Burpee bar touch is when you do a burpee under the pull up bar and then jump up to touch the bar.

 

I was a little glad I didn't get further into the finals as the idea of doing the row and sled pulls really put me off.

 

Overall, it was a great day and the CFG crew should be proud of themselves for putting together a well run event.  It was fantastic to have the opportunity to be able to participate in a competition which was a goal of mine.  It was also great to be able to compete amongst friends and the atmosphere was amazing.  We all cheered each other on and I was a bit hoarse by the end of the day.  To have the opportunity to watch our athletes was truly inspirational.  I was also a bit chuffed when a lady who is looking at signing up because she watched me in my first WOD and I'm her inspiration ... how cool is that?  Sometimes I hate being pushed out of my comfort zone, but it's true ... that's where the magic happens :-)

Hungry, Hungry Hippo

I'm going through one of 'those' phases this week where I can't seem to get enough food in.  I am continuing to play around with my nutrition, particularly around my training, because I don't believe I am supporting my exercise particularly well (which is why I have gotten run down).  I have added a pre-workout bowl of oats instead of the normal quick piece of fruit or glass of milk plus I am having a post-workout recovery shake that is a mix of carbs, BCAAs and creatine as well as a second breakfast to try and keep me satisfied until smoko break at work.  I'll be interested to see if it helps improve my strength.

I know this morning, my tummy was grumbling through my workout and I had a moment where I thought, "What the ...? I have actually eaten more than normal!  Why is this happening?"  And I have been famished ever since.

Today we our workout consisted of box squats.  It has been a long time since I did these and I think I could have lifted a lot more than what I actually did but I know for next time.  We finished off with this:

10 Rounds For Time:

-

20 Push Ups

10m OH KB Walking Lunge (left)

20 Sit Ups

10m OH KB Walking Lunge (right)

 

It was a tough workout and I decided to try and push myself by picking an 8 kg kettlebell and using the bench for my pushups.  I looked at the times of the previous class and felt like I could get 7 rounds out before the cut off of 25 minutes.  I finished at 24:24.  I had to really focus on keeping my core tight because as soon as I let it go I would lose balance.  It was a fun WOD and was pretty pleased with the result ... it's always nice to push oneself.

Super Saturday

I'm actually working really hard in this pic

Have I mentioned it before how much I love Saturdays?  It is my most favourite day of the week.  Today the girls and I did a team WOD at CrossFit.  They have been doing one-on-ones with Jardan but J took a much deserved day off.  The workout was a good one with a lot of bodyweight moves so I didn't have a drama with them joining me.

The girls did really well and Missy T was delighted in the fact that she nailed the up and over box jumps.  Moo kept on going despite being knackered and also overcame her fear of the box by trying the 12" box after she did her round of up and overs.  I love sharing this time with them and I think they enjoy coming along.  We were last to finish today but I'm proud that we didn't scale numbers and did all the required reps.

Our box has started up Pilates after the final workout and I have been going along when I can.  After my back issues I think it is important for me to strengthen my core plus we get in a bit of stretching at the end.  It's great to do something that isn't so full on but is equally as tough and considering that I'm back to lifting what I was prior to my injury I think it is helping in that regard too.

I am, however, getting a little frustrated with the olympic lifting side of CF as I have hit a plateau and I know a large part of it is in my head.  Last night I failed my clean at 37.5 kg (I have been stuck at 35 kg for awhile now).  I went back to 35 kg and muscle cleaned the weight up (a muscle clean is when you don't jump as you clean it up and therefore don't get the power and weightlessness from the jump).  If I can do that at 35 kg then 37.5 kg should be a breeze if I do it properly.  I get incredibly cranky with my brain at times because I tend to overthink things too much.  I reckon if someone had stacked the weight for me and I had no idea that I was lifting 37.5 kg I would have been able to do it.  Nevermind, I'll keep on plodding away and I'll crack it eventually.  I know I was like that at 30 kg as well and then I had a period of smashing it PBs left, right and centre ... maybe my body just needs to get used to lifting this weight correctly before I move up to the next level.

A Good Week

I had a great week last week at the box.  I didn't really do anything spectacular ... in fact I kept my weights fairly low (okay, maybe not too low as I realised when I got home to log my workout that I equalled my 1RM for strict press) but I really enjoyed my training last week.  It was bizarre as each day I felt like I was dragging my feet to the gym but once I got in there I really got a lot out of it.

I am trying to focus on improving my muscle endurance as I know I fatigue easily in metabolic conditioning workouts and at the moment it is better for me to lower the weights and get more reps.  Often this means I need to leave the ego at the door and not to compare with the other girls at the gym.  It is often easy for me to look around the room and think, 'if she is lifting that weight, then I should be too.'  Sometimes this has pushed me in the right direction and at times I achieve weights that I wouldn't have otherwised tried but I also need to look at the bigger picture and there are times that I need to step back to move forward and maybe by working on endurance the strength will follow in time. 

Mind you, I get it wrong every now and then and I under-scaled in one of the workouts last week.  I tend to do that in team WODs as I don't want to let my partner down.  We used bands to assist us in our pushups (we had to 3 sets of 40) but in hindsight I maybe should be tried full pushups as it was way too easy.  I also chose to do 20 full double unders rather than the 80 required reps.  Normally I do attempts so I still count failed double unders but I think I need to focus on getting it right rather than accepting failure.  In hindsight, I should have perhaps done 40 full ones as I got the 20 relatively easily.  Double unders are tricky for me because I either get them or I am really, really bad at them and can barely get 1 rep out and, if I lose them, it's always in the middle of a WOD.

I'm also working on consistency in my workouts.  Yesterday's WOD was our box's version of Fight Gone Bad.  It involved:

3 Rounds, AMRAP

1 min KB swings
1 min up and over box jumps
1 min pull ups
1 min overhead squats
1 min plate burpees
1 min rest

I was happy that my scores for each round were 89, 87 and 87.  It is easy to go all out in the first round and die in subsequent rounds, for me these types of workouts are about pacing myself and try to maintain the same level throughout each round.  Granted I selected the 8 kg KB which my back thanked me for, I did step ups for my box jumps as there was no room to set up my plates, and I did front squats instead of OHS which, again, my back thanks me for ... but I'm not saying "yeah, but I scaled anymore" because I still worked bloody hard.  For me, this workout highlighted the fact that I really need to work on my kipping pull ups because this is what slowed me down.  I can't keep doing strict if I want to get high numbers.

Wow, I really rambled on today ... should go do some work I guess :)

Saturday Morning Fun

The girls had their first CrossFit session today and absolutely loved it.  I booked them in with Nick, one of the coaches, for a one-on-one session (I guess because there are 2 of them it should be two-on-one, shouldn't it?)  I was a little worried how Moo was going to go but I was so proud of how she didn't give up.

I had my workout first but because it was a long one today the girls had started before I had finished.  They worked on some technique before getting into the workout.  It was a simple workout of running, skipping, sit ups and lunges.  Neither of my girls are fans of running (much like their mother) so I went with them just to show them the turnaround point and talk them through it.  Moo had to walk a few times but she would always start back running after catching her breath and I am so proud of her for doing that.  Missy T was on a mission which surprised me a little because she's the kid who walks the 100 m sprint at the school sports carnival.  Both girls had a blast and are keen to go again next week.  I think once netball is done they will want to join the Kids Crossfit classes for the social aspect.

I know I really enjoyed spending my Saturday morning with them doing something that we can do together for years to come.

The Next Generation

We went away with friends on the weekend.  Often when we go camping there are no kids Moo's age so she was excited that we were going with another 12 year old girl who is only 2 days older than her.  They got on fabulously and our friends had another daughter around the same age as Missy T so there was no third wheel.  The 12 yo was tall and lean and was able to wear clothes that are very fashionable and I wasn't surprised when I got hit with talk of going on a diet from Moo when we got home.  We have had this discussion on and off over the last few years and this conversation was no different; I don't want her to 'go on a diet' but have a balanced approach to food.

It made me think again how much I have changed my focus toward physical goals rather than being x kg or a certain body type and I wish that for both my daughters.  Crossfit has helped me so much with regard to body image and I thought it may help Moo so I had a chat with the coaches regarding both girls joining me in some CF classes.  Lo and behold this was already in the pipeline:

It's perfect as it will give them the basics as well as work on their technique.  The coaches will be awesome as they are positive and encouraging which would be fantastic for my girls as Moo, in particular, is much like me with regards to her lack of self confidence when it comes to physical activity.  I also think it would help both girls with their dancing and Moo with her netball.  Unfortunately, the times are at the same time as netball and dancing :-(

Instead I hope they will be able to do some sessions with Jardan and maybe take up the kids program once netball season is finished.  The girls are really keen and are looking forward to doing what I do.  I hope they enjoy it as much as I do.

The Chief

This was today's workout:

“The Chief”

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Max rounds in 3 minutes of:

3 Power cleans, 60kg/40kg

6 Push-ups

9 Squats

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Rest 1 minute. Repeat for a total of 5 cycles. Score equals total rounds. Partial rounds count, start each round where you left off on the previous round.

 

 

I really enjoyed this workout.  I know it may sounds bizarre but my back doesn't feel too bad with the clean movement, it's more the overhead stuff that causes me grief, so I was a bit excited about the fact this workout didn't have any overhead work in it.

 

I finished with a score of 22 rounds which I was pretty happy with.  My scaling was 25 kg power cleans and I used a bench for my push ups.   It was one of those deceiving workouts that crept up on you.  My initial scaling when I read the WOD yesterday was to do 30 kg cleans and try full push ups.  I'm glad that I didn't as my score would have been much lower.

 

Overall, I felt really good about this one.  Of course I finished and thought that maybe I could have popped a little bit more on the bar but I often feel like that when I reflect back on a workout ... next time :-)

One of Those Workouts

Today was one of 'those' workouts.  You know the one that you let out a little sob partway through because you hurt and you want to stop but you pick the bar up and try to keep going.  It looked like this:

CrossFit Games Regional WorkOut

12.4

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For Time:

50 Back Squats 62.5kg/45kg

40 Pull Ups

30 Shoulder to OverHead 62.5kg/45kg

50 Front Squats 40kg / 30kg

40 Pull Ups

30 Shoulder to OverHead 40kg / 30kg

50 OverHead Squats 30kg / 20kg

40 Pull Ups

30 Shoulder to OverHead 30kg/20kg

 

It gave us a taste of what it feels like to do a Regional workout (if you get into the top (I think) 48 in the Open for your region you get to go to the Regionals and from there you can go to the Crossfit Games).  When I saw this workout, the first thing that went through my head was scaling, if I were to survive it in the 22 minute time cap I needed to go light.  I needed to swallow my ego and really scale back my pull ups and I was worried about the shoulder presses.

 

I wanted to use a 10 kg bar and start with 15 kg and descend down to 10 kg but, unfortunately, there was only 1 10 kg bar available and I offered it to another lady who had just started.  I then decided to do 17.5 kg for the first round and then 15 kg for the others and substitute OH squats for bodyweight squats.

 

I was unable to complete all the rounds in the 22 minutes and finished with 17 air squats (I got through the back squat and front squat rounds).  My hips and back didn't this one at all and I regret spending time chatting to one of the ladies instead of working my mobility more.  I had to break way too often in all the exercises and I know that I need to work on my muscle endurance.  I get frustrated at times with Crossfit because I know I have some strength there but it goes out the window in these workouts and I have to scale right back to beginner weights.  I mean, this week I did weighted pull ups but when it comes to a workout I have to use a band because I struggle to get the required reps out.  I also got cranky because I scaled and still didn't complete the workout.  You know what though, I don't mind getting cranky at myself after a workout because that means I know I can do better and the next time I'll work even harder to prove to myself that I can do it.