F*** The Scales

Last week I weighed myself and was shocked.  I am over 10 kg heavier than my competition weight (not that that concerns me as I was terribly underweight then) but I'm also 5 kg heavier than my 12wbt weight.  My clothes no longer fit me well and I am wearing more dresses and skirts as I have room to move in them ... my shorts feel too tight.

I feel fat and frumpy.  And then I took some photos of some shorts that I wear to the gym as we were discussing what we like to wear in a FB group.

Okay, so my belly isn't as flat as it used to be but, you know what, I look pretty darn good!  I can deadlift 100 kg, I can throw 40 kg over my head, I can do strict pull ups and ring dips.  I'm not the strongest nor the fittest but the changes I've made in the last few years both physically and mentally have been amazing.

My decision has been to say, "f*ck the scales!"

"And f*ck my old shorts and pants, I'm going to buy some that fit my squatters arse."

I love my crossfitters body.  I love my strong legs, my bubble butt and my chunky traps.  I love that I eat all the food.  That's worth a whole lot more than stressing about 5 kg.

Victoria and 13.1

Saturday's WOD was a doozy.  It was the hero WOD Victoria which is:

“Victoria”

-

5 Rounds For Time:

10 Thrusters 42.5kg/30kg

14 Box Jumps 24″/20″

12 SDHP 42.5kg/30kg

12 Burpees

27 KB Swings 24kg/16kg

-

Post Score to Comments:

Victoria was a teacher for 5 years.
The tragedy happened in room 10.
She was killed on 14-12-2012.
She was 27 years old.
She was a CrossFitter and a true Hero.

 

Victoria isn't an official hero WOD.  She was a teacher who was sadly killed in the Sandy Hook tragedy last year while trying to save the children she taught.  It always brings a tear to my eye.  Often we do hero WODs for soldiers, policemen/women or firies but this was a teacher, it brings home just how fragile life is.

 

We did this workout last year not long after the shooting.  The box she trained at came up with the above WOD and it is a really tough one but as hard as it gets throughout the workout I try to remind myself that what the teachers and children went through that day was so much worse.

 

The last time I did this WOD I completed it in 28:50.  I decided on Saturday to stick to the same weights and try to improve my time.  My only difference was using a 16" box compared to small stack of weights I jumped last year and full burpees instead of knees.  I finished the WOD in 24:07!  An improvement of almost 5 minutes!

Happy to have survived a tough WOD

Today we did a repeat of the Crossfit Open WOD 13.1.  I really think our head coach, Sean, is trying to kill us leading up to Christmas!  The WOD is:

 

CrossFit Games Open 13.1

Proceed through the sequence below completing as many reps as possible in 17 minutes of:

40 Burpees

30 Snatch (35kg/20kg)

30 Burpees

30 Snatch (60kg/35kg)

20 Burpees

30 Snatch (75kg/45kg)

10 Burpees

Max rep Snatch (95kg/55kg)

 

The burpees had to be done touching a target 6" above your fingertips at full extension.  My previous attempt at this was 135 reps doing 20 kg snatch and holding that weight.  I decided today to do 15 kg and progress through the weight from there.  I improved by 10 reps but I did lower weight so I'm not sure if I could class that as an improvement.  In saying that, it was the burpees that killed me.

 

I swear by Christmas I'll be yearning for a nice break from the gym but at the same time I do love it!
 :-)



Some more pics from the throwdown.

Created with PhotoShake for Android

Pics

Here are some pics from the weekend:

Do you like my "Game on, moll!" face?

Defying Gravity

Some days are a real struggle.  I have been doing CrossFit for over a year and I watch people go past me, lifting heavier or getting movements down pat while I slowly chip away.  I have to remind myself that most of these people are 10 - 20 (or more) years younger than me ... surely their ability to grow muscle and increase in strength means that they can do more than me.  I hate using age as an excuse but it's reality.  I wonder if I'm kidding myself when I dream about doing a muscle up or handstand push up.  Can I teach this old dog new tricks?  Or should I just accept and move on.

And then I have days like this week when I get a couple of PB's ... nothing major, just a 25 kg snatch and 52.5 kg back squat.  Again, it's nowhere near where other girls are but a PB just the same.  My double unders have just 'clicked' and I got a couple of strict pull ups with a 5 kg weight strapped to me.  Those are the days when I feel like I'm defying gravity.  When nothing can pull me down.

More Pics

Here are some more pics from the comp ...

I was a bit worried when I saw a photographer at this event but, phew, I don't have a scary training face ;-)

I have really enjoyed the last few days of training.  My girls came along with me on Saturday and I was so incredibly proud of them.  The workout was a long, chipper WOD (one where you have to chip away at it until it's done) and both girls completed it well under the time cap.  I scaled the girls workout to suit them by shortening the run from 800m to 400m, bodyweight lunges, push ups instead of handstand push ups and Missy T did sit ups instead of toes to bar while Moo did knee raise.

Moo was a little bit slower than Missy T who had finished well in front of us so I hung around to do the final run with her.  It meant that my time was not that great but I loved finishing the WOD with my daughter.  Missy T took some joy in getting hi-5'd by one of the coaches when she was done and someone turned around in disbelief that she completed a tough workout like that.  They are both really taking to CrossFit and are always keen to hear what the Saturday WOD will be.  Moo is always hoping for kettlebell swings and Missy T loves it when box jumps come up.  I love seeing them so excited about exercise.

I'm Listening

Some pics from WOD 2

I looked at Monday's WOD and it was a pretty light day of mobility and box squats or push press.  I was awake and decided to go.  I spent the rest of the day dragging my feet, I was craving sugar and caffeine ... anything to give me that instant energy boost. If one of my friends did the workouts on the weekend plus the training from last week I would have suggested that they take Monday off as a rest day, why didn't I take my own advice?

I pushed myself to train because I had taken time off while I was sick and feel like I'm going backwards while everyone else is making such great progress. (Yes, I still battle with that old comparison monster!)

Here's the thing ... we all know recovery is important.  My body was telling me that I need to rest and I wasn't listening to it (AGAIN!)  With that in mind I decided to take today off and my body is thanking me for it.  I slept in until 6 am and woke feeling refreshed and ultimately that's a lot better for me in the long run.

I'm Awesome

I recently read the amazing post by Go Kaleo called I'm Awesome and So Are You.  If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favour and go over and have a look.  I decided to create my own meme.  It's easy to focus on our faults and weaknesses but they don't matter because we are all awesome and have so many strengths which is what we should be concentrating on.

I think my sucky workouts have made me realise that I have mental strength.  I'm not the fastest nor am the strongest, I have to modify my workouts according to my abilities but I don't quit and that's a great quality to have.


I need to get a photo of me doing something 'bad ass'

Ugly Pull Ups and A Jardan Special

Last night's WOD was a quick one. 

3 Rounds For Time:

-

5 Power Snatchs 35kg/20kg

10 OverHead Squat 35kg/20kg

15 Pull Ups

 

It had a 10 minute cut-off but the goal with these is to get it done around the 5 minute mark.  As I have said before I find the OHS tough but I'm working on them and as a result getting stronger but still only use the 10 kg bar.  As tough as it is to swallow my pride, it is important for me to keep the weight low and get good depth in my squat.

 

I decided, again, to use the orange band for my pull ups.  I was strong in my warm up and felt fairly confident I could get through it okay.  How I was wrong!  The snatch and squats were okay but they fried my back and arms and while my first set of pull ups were pretty strong, my following sets weren't 1 set of 15 but rather 15 sets of 1.  By the end I was performing the ugliest pull ups of all time, doing the running man mid air in an attempt to get my chin over that bar.  It is amazing how far you can stretch your neck when you need to!  I completed the workout in 9:31 so at least I finished it under the cut off but it wasn't ideal and proof that correct scaling is so important.  I find it so hard as I am strong in my warm up and the start of the workout but when I fatigue it happens quick and hard ... I go from being strong to barely getting the movement within a couple of reps.  The positive for me is that I put my game face on and pushed through despite having several failed attempts and no reps.  To be honest, if it wasn't for my workout buddies and coaches I'm not sure if I would have kept going.  My back and forearms felt like they were going to explode after I was done ... of course that meant I had to take a back photo when I got home ;-)

 

 

Today I had a PT session with Jardan.  She often asks me if there is anything specific I want to work on but I'm usually happy with a Jardan Specials.  I always get a bit nervous when she says she has a fun one for me although I'm not sure if I would use the word fun.  Today's "fun" was 10 rounds of sled pulls and 10 dumbbell snatches.

 

It doesn't look like much but it really got me.  I have a mental thing with 10 rounds and will panic at round 3 as I don't think I can get through it but once I get to round 6 I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and try to finish as strong as my body allows (again with my multiple of 3's).  It was a fun session even though I had to go to work afterwards and proceeded to sit and stare into space for about 10 minutes in my office before I could communicate with anyone (or move for that matter!)  Love it!

And ....

A friend of mine works at a LJ shop in Brissy which I just had to go check out and it would have been rude to not buy anything ;-)

Latest Pic

Last week I did the hero workout "Bradshaw" at home.  After 10 rounds of 12 pull ups (amongst other things) I felt like getting my pose on.  It's nice to see all these darn pull ups I have been doing (as well as the Olympic lifting) has been paying off.