Squats, Squats and More Squats

Today's WOD:

[Part A]

Back Squat
6 reps @ 60%
4 reps @ 70%
2 reps @ 80%
6 reps @ 70%
4 reps @ 80%
2 reps @ 90%
6 reps @ 80%
4 reps @ 80%

[Part B]

For time:

30-20-10 reps of:
Back Squats (60kg/40kg)
Pull Ups

 

I really enjoyed today's workout which is a little surprising because I wasn't feeling up to it as I was getting ready.  Today was my 3rd 5 am class and I'm shattered.  I'm not sure if I could maintain it next year which is a shame because today was a nice small class, just the way I like it.

 

I had calculated all my weights for today.  My 1RM for back squat is 57.5 kg but I decided to calculate from 60 kg as I want to get a little stronger and with that in mind my weight were:

 

60% - 35 kg

70% - 42.5 kg

80% - 48 kg

90% - 55 kg

 

I'm used to incrementing my weights by 2.5 kg so was amused when I did my first 70% and was surprised at how heavy it felt, likewise for the 80% but when I went back to those weights after doing the heavier sets they didn't feel too bad.

 

We had Nick coaching today and he noticed on my first set at 80% that I tend to favour my right side (which is understandable since I'm right handed) and am using the strength in that leg to push the weight up.  I need to focus on keeping the weight even and driving with both legs.  And, as usual, I need to focus on my depth as I get to just under parallel.  I find it intriguing because I think I'm getting depth but I'm just a little short of hitting it.

 

The finisher was a tough little WOD (all the short ones are).  The squat had to be taken from the ground so cleaned and then lifted over my head to be placed on my shoulders and this was the limiting factor.  With that in mind, I chose to lift 27.5 kg.  There were a lot of pullups but at the same time I want to get off the orange band.  After speaking to Nick I chose the newer red band which is really thin but still gives a little bit of assistance.  I need to work on driving my hips up because I tend to use my legs and I wonder if that's from using the bands because I would lift my legs and kick against the band to bounce me up over the bar.  Something to work on and it's great to get these little tips.



Tired

I have been tired this week and actually thought about giving the gym a miss but split jerks were on the menu and I really need to work on these.  I was actually happy with how I went today.  Often when I'm this tired my coordination goes out the window.  We had to perform 1 push press and 1 strict press every 2 minutes and I failed my push press at 40 kg.  I'm not unhappy with that.  As per normal, my split distance in the jerk reduced so it was pretty much a push jerk but it wasn't nearly as bad as it normally is and I felt more stable.

We then had a finisher of:

3 rounds for time

100 double unders
21 v ups
15 burpees
9 push press

I scaled this to:

50 double unders
21 v tucks
and 25 kg push press

I wanted to give up in the WOD, I think I'm just that tired that I didn't have any energy.  My double unders were a struggle as were the push press although the tucks and burpees were okay.  Unfortunately my lack of energy and focus resulted in me not tucking my chin in the push presses and I whacked myself while pushing the barbell up.  It's been awhile since I've done that and it rattled my teeth a little.  Silly rabbit!  Although it didn't hurt that much it was enough to put me into a bad place mentally (I wasn't in the best place to start off with) but I just kept plugging away despite every fibre in me was telling me to quit. 

A Good Couple of Days

The last couple of days at the gym have been lots of fun.  Yesterday was a good team workout which was incredibly tough but in a good way.  Our warm up was loads of fun.  We split up into even teams (4 a side) and played soccer for 2 minutes, then played soccer in bear crawl for a further 2 minutes, using our hands to hit the ball and then played soccer in crab walk and using our feet to kick the ball.  I honestly haven't laughed so much in ages.

Today's workout was a strength day with heavy squats and in between the sets we did sled drags.  My squat weight ended up at 50 kg (could possibly have gone higher) and I started my sled drag at 60 kg but was too lazy to take the 20 kg plate for the subsequent sets so pulled 80 kg for the rest of the sets.

We then had a finisher of: 4 rounds of: 30 broad jumps, 50 walking lunges and 400 m run.  My legs were like jelly but I was ecstatic that I plugged away without taking breaks (apart from a quick sip of water) and got the 4 rounds done in 20:55.  I seem to have found my groove again after losing it a few weeks ago.

So Very Tired

I'm absolutely exhausted today.  As much as I wanted to do the normal CrossFit class this morning I chose to do mobility instead as my body is aching.  It was nice to take it back a notch and spend an hour stretching, rolling and flossing.

I'm finding it hard to switch my brain off when I get home from weightlifting in the evening therefore I'm going to bed a bit later and then laying there thinking about things.  I might start having my relaxation tea again of an evening just to help me switch off and my plan is to get to bed early tonight.

Weightlifting is going really well and I think I have made some progress with regard to my snatch, jerk and OHS.  I think the fact that I have done some of these movements in both sessions and during each session I'm doing them over and over I can only improve.  I wish I could continue on with it when the school holidays are over but I feel like I have barely seen my family the last few days.  In the meantime I'm going to soak in as much information as I can and hopefully it will help me in the normal CrossFit classes.

Wanting It All

Our CrossFit box has started up a weightlifting club which runs 3 times a week between 6:30 - 8 pm.  It's a fantastic addition to our timetable with the added bonus of programming from the coaches who were involved during the weekends competition and coaching sessions.

The difficult part for me is the timing.  I don't like to spend too much time away from the family and the times it is on is, in my mind, an important part of our day.  I like to sit down and have meals as a family to talk about our day and spend time together.  We are so busy running around that it is easy to forget to be a family.  I like to train in the morning or while the girls are at dancing so it doesn't encroach on our routine too much plus I love the CrossFit classes and I would hate to miss out on those so with that in mind I had decided not to join the weightlifting club.  Until I did the training on Sunday and I saw how much it could help me.

School holidays start next week and Mal has a break from Touch Footy and the girls don't have dancing or netball so I decided to join in the weightlifting classes for those 2 weeks.  I'm grateful that I can change my gym membership to allow for this for a couple of weeks and because it is a new club they will be doing a lot of foundation work.

The hard bit for me is that I want to do everything.  I don't want to miss out on my morning CrossFit classes but I also want to do the weightlifting plus I need to work on a few other things.  I guess, though, even the 6 sessions I'm committing to over the holidays are going to help my lifting overall.

Exciting Times Ahead

I have a few things happening in the near future.  The first is having some weightlifting coaching with some Commonwealth Games coaches!  Crossfit Gladstone is starting up a weightlifting club and to start the ball rolling we are having a competition on Saturday and then small group coaching on Sunday.  I chose not to be part of the competition because, well, I don't want to make a complete dick of myself but after much thought I decided to sign up for a coaching session.  The last time I did a Oly lifting session it was with all the 'guns' of CFG and, to be honest, I felt really out of place and didn't get any feedback on my form.  I didn't really want to be the only "not quite a gun" to sign up.  I then thought to myself that there is only 1 way to improve and that is to ask for help so these poor coaches have to try and help me and all my uncoordinatedness learn the ways of Olympic lifting.  I can give you the hot tip that they are going to earn their money Sunday morning,

The other exciting thing on my radar is another local competition which will be a team competition this time.  There is another Crossfit Mum who is keen to do a competition and I asked another one of the girls with whom I have trained before and I know would be a great teammate.  I'm really excited as a team competition should be so much fun (I find this bizarre as I was always the person who hated team sports as a kid because I got so much flak for being so incredibly bad at stuff).  I think our team is quite even with regard to ability and in it just for the fun factor.  Can't wait!

Whew!

Today was a big one.  First we did some mobility which I desperately needed as my hips are so tight at the moment and then we got stuck into the WOD:

5 rounds for time:

80 double unders
50 lunges
20 burpees
10 handstand push ups

35 minute cut off

I chose to scale the double unders to 40 as I wanted to complete the workout and HSPU were scaled to box pikes.

I cruised through the first set of double unders and when I got to the lunges my quads were screaming at me.  Oh My God!  It was only the first round!  I just chipped away at the reps and was frustrated with how slow I was going.  It seemed to take forever to get through my burpees and I think every round I was surprised at how long it was taking me ... I would get to the 10th rep and think that it should be 15 not 10!

The HSPU were especially tough today which is most probably because my shoulders were tired from double unders and burpees.  I regretted my scaling fairly early on and was wishing I had gotten an ab mat as a depth finder.

I finished the WOD with 3 seconds to spare and was absolutely spent ... I hope we get to do it again sometime!

A Good Couple of Days

I had a few days off CF last week, 1 day because I was in Brissy for my yearly girl's weekend and then 2 days off sick (I seem to get sick every year after my Brisbane trip!)  I was back in the box on Saturday for my usual Ladies class followed by Pilates.  The Ladies WOD looked like a toughie but wasn't too bad as we were in a team of 3.  The workout was:

In teams of 3:
8 min AMRAP: max plate burpees

3 min rest

In teams of 3:
15 min AMRAP
8 thrusters
8 box jumps

BUT - every minute on the minute, perform 8 jumping lunges.

I wasn't sure how I was going to go with this as it was going to get the old heart pumping and I was concerned that I wasn't up for it but I was worried for nothing as my team killed it.  I sometimes wish my athletic ability equalled my ability to come up with strategies in team WODs because we attacked the WOD differently to everyone else and got a much better score.

I also pushed myself out of my comfort zone with the thruster weight and went with 25 kg which was really tough but I'm happy that I did it.

Yesterday's WOD was working on our back squats.  Squats is an area in which I have to improve.  I have a really good squat but as soon as it gets heavy I start to shorten the movement and not get depth.  It's odd because I feel like I hit depth but at the same time I know that I could go deeper.  The beauty with the WOD yesterday is that it was in the 10 rep range and therefore a lighter weight which allowed me to focus on getting it right.  I want to strengthen my squat from the bottom of the range.

We then went onto a conditioning workout which I underscaled.  It was a EMOM WOD of 15 KB swings on the first minute, 10 squats on the second minute and 15 V-UP on the third minute for 18 minutes.  I was concerned about winding up my back so only did 12 kg KB and 20 kg squat and full V-ups (very ugly V-Ups, mind you!)  I could have gone heavier.

Today was a snatch day.  I kept the weight light as I need to work on my snatch technique and today it felt like it clicked.  There were a couple of times when I thought to myself that the movement just felt right ... it was like a lightbulb went off.

We finished with another conditioning workout.  The last couple of weeks I have been attempting full push ups in WODs and I always struggle to keep my hips up and I end up snaking the movement (my head and chest comes up but my hips stay low).  Today I really focused on keeping my core on and hips up and was really pleased with how I went.  Yay for small victories!

Trying to Lose the 'C' Word

 

I find there is something I do when something pops up in a WOD, the first thing I say is that I can't do it.  My mind goes into overdrive and shuts down.  This is what happened when I decided to join in the gymnastics WOD on Saturday.  Normally we have Pilates but our instructor was away so the coaches substituted with gymnastics instead.  I have absolutely no talent for gymnastics WHAT.SO.EVER!  I could have not gone, it would have been easier to stay at home but because I'm not good at it I chose to stick around after the 8 am WOD and do gymnastics.

 

The warm up included cartwheels.  Like handstands, I have NEVER been able to do cartwheels and, of course, everyone in the class were cartwheeling like they do them every day.  Me, I had to get shown where to put my hands and what to do with my legs ... it has been 30-odd years since I failed gymnastics in PE.  My initial thought was, "Nope, it's not going to happen.  Everyone is going to laugh at me."

 

I know I've said it so many times, but the coaches are so patient with people like me (uncoordinated and unathletic) and after some instruction I managed to do a bunny hop pseudo-cartwheelie thing.  We then moved onto some muscle up transitions which I enjoyed.  Ring dips and pull ups are something I'm kind of okay at.  I have a long way to go before getting remotely close to a muscle up but I love bouncing around on the bands when we do the transitions.

 

Next up was rope climbs.  I have actually never climbed the rope before as we only have one rope at our box.  We were shown how to clamp the rope between our feet so we use our legs to shimmy up the rope rather than tax our arms.  I managed to climb halfway up the rope but, to be honest, I don't think I would remember my foot positions if I tried it again today.

 

We finished the day with a quick 10 minute WOD of bear crawls, push ups and sit ups.  I left the gym with a big smile on my face.  When I got home I said to Mal that the one thing I like about myself is that I can still have fun even if I'm not great at it.  I hope they find a spot in the week for a regular gymnastics class ... mind you, it may be like the mobility and pilates classes for me in that I never have time to get to them with my family commitments.

Another Shocker

I'm not sure if it's because the Open is coming up but we have had a few tough WODs in a row.  The downside of our coaches going to competitions is that it gives them ideas for nasty WODs to inflict on us mere mortals.  This was a particularly horrible workout from the Sydney comp:

 



All Stars Again Faster Final

Event 3

-

Teams of 6

-

In Partners Rotate between each station.

You have 5min to perform required work or AMRAP.

-

*50 Plate Burpees

Over Head Hold – 60kg / 40kg

-

*750m Row or 175 KB SDHP 32kg / 24kg

Pull Up Hold with Chin above bar

-

*300 Double Unders

Rope support hold

 

It was awful.  I was partnered up with another young gymnast (poor kid!) and I feel as though I let her down a little as I couldn't get a decent run of double unders and I struggle with all the hold movements.  She was a lovely kid though and we gave it our best.

 

The rope support hold was really hard.  As we only have 1 rope we used a towel draped over the pull up bar.  It was so hard to get a decent grip ... particularly when you have child-sized hands.  My biceps have DOMS which meant that both the rope hold and pull up hold was tough and I found by making running movements with my feet helped me get my mind off the pain.

 

We had planned on only doing the bar for the overhead hold until some of the other teams put the weight up to 25 kg.  This was the point where I nearly cried as I was shaking and felt like I couldn't hold it anymore.  We tried to break it up as much as possible by doing 10 burpees each between the 2 of us but our shoulders didn't get any rest.

 

Anyway, I survived it.  It is interesting to see how we fare in a competition WOD and I always enjoy team workouts.  It was kind of fun ... in a horrible, painful way!

 

Oh, and I thought I would mention that I'm continuing to work on my headstands at home (I haven't done it in awhile) and am making a small amount of progress and am able to do a tripod balance.  Such small steps but progress nonetheless.  I also am doing 'bed' jumps and am getting more comfortable with jumping 20" but still need to transfer that to a wooden box at the gym.

I hurt!

I was thinking last week about how it has been awhile since we have done pullups and how I have missed them ... I should've know that it meant that we were going to get caned with them at some point.  Friday's WOD was written by a couple of a girls who were leaving:

For Time:

Teams of 2

Buy In: 435 Double unders

then..

3 rounds

19 Box Jumps (each)

11 KB Swings 32kg/20kg (each)

20 Sit Ups (each)

600m Run (Together)

12 Pull Ups (each)

8 Hang Squat cleans 60kg/40kg (each)

1 Muscle Up (each)

*All reps must be completed by both partners but can be split up however you like to complete them. Only one person working at a time.

 

We had a 40 minute cut off for this one and missed it by 1 muscle up!  Not happy, Jan!  It was a really tough WOD and my partner and I scaled the double unders to 235, I did 16" box jumps (I hung onto the pole) and we flipped it for her to do the 20, 12 kg KB swings, orange band pull ups, 25 kg squat clean and 2 pull up/ring dips for the muscle up.  I didn't feel to great when I was finished and I must not have looked to flash as I got a couple of comments when I picked the girls up from dancing.

 

Here is Saturday's WOD:

 

Partner Wod

-

5 Rounds For Time

-

15 K2E

20 Push Ups

15 Thrusters 42.5kg / 30kg

20 Pull Ups

-

*one person works at one time,

each partner must complete all

rounds and reps.

 

I did this one with Missy T and it was another toughie.  It doesn't look like much on paper but because each partner had to all reps and rounds it was very long.  We had a 40 minute cut off again and we didn't come close to finishing it.  Missy T had a bit of a meltdown partway through and I did some of her reps so she could rest more.  I felt like we did okay as a lot of people had ripped hands at the end and ours fared quite well (thank God for my leather hand grips!)

 

An this is today's WOD:

 

For Time:

In Partners

(comp Squad ride solo)

-

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

 

Another partner WOD!  I was partnered up with one of the youngsters at the gym.  She is an ex-gymnast and her kipping pull up is so effortless.  We killed this workout and got it completed in 16:11 which was well under the 25 min time cap.  I have done this WOD before solo and got cut off but at least doing it in pairs I could do harder scaling.  I was fairly happy with my overhead squats as while I had to break them into sets of 10 I felt I got quite good depth and managed to get through all my reps with decent form.  I was happy with this WOD as I went better than anticipated.  My lats and arms were quite sore from the previous workouts and I slept really badly last night but I still got it done and didn't break very often.





Squat Day

I had the worst sleep last night and was going to give the gym a miss this morning but as we are going away on Friday and will be missing my Saturday workout I decided to go.  It was a squat day looking for our 3RM.  I decided early that I wouldn't be lifting heavy as I just wasn't feeling it and was okay with being partnered up with my normal partner as well as another lady with whom I have trained a few times but never a strength workout.  She was a little concerned as she doesn't lift as much as Jo or I but I don't have any dramas with taking weights off and putting them on according to what we are lifting.

Her previous squat PB was 20 kg.  We warmed up with 15 kg and then Jo and I stacked on the 5 kg weights which Jen did with ease.  We then put on the 10 kg bumpers and again Jen squatted this weight with no problems at all.  I kept on putting weight on until her final set where she did 47.5 kg beating her previous best by 27.5 kg.  It was priceless seeing her face each time she faced the bar and then squatted with perfect form.  I was so happy for her when she rang that PB bell.

I was happy with how I lifted today.  No PB but I reached 50 kg and I felt like I had a little more in the tank which amazed me considering how I felt leading into the session ... I think I was feeding off the energy from Jen.

Our finisher was

1000 m row/run then
2 rounds of:
15 HSPU
15 KB swings
15 Back Squats (taken from the ground)

As we only have 4 rowers I decided to run.  My theory is that I'm not particularly good at running or rowing so either way I'm working on a weakness.  I then did box pikes, 12 kg kettlebell and 25 kg squats.  The workout took me 11:02 to complete with my run slowing me down.

Considering I didn't want to go at all this morning, I really enjoyed today's workout.  I find it funny how that happens sometimes.

To Open or Not To Open

That is my main question at the moment.  Registration will be opening for the Crossfit Open in the next few weeks and I'm unsure of whether to give it another shot or not.  I don't feel like I have improved enough over the last year and will quite likely get stuck on the same movements as I did then.  I'm also worried about things like bar facing burpees or lateral burpees because I continue to have issues with jumping with 2 feet at once and will skip over the bar.  I don't trust myself to clear the bar.

I have decided to spend a little time at home on some of my weaknesses which includes box jumps, handstands and jumping over a bar both forward and laterally.  I'm not spending a massive amount of time just a few minutes for each exercise and hope to continue to build confidence in myself.

Today's WOD was a nice little 21, 15, 9 triplet of power cleans, squats and toes to bar (I did knee to chest).  I had a plan of doing a weight of 25 kg but decided to drop it right back to 15 kg as my back has been a little tight and this type of workout can wind up the back.  We then finished with some handstand work which gave me some good pointers to try out at home, particularly working on that hollow rock position.

Now for something that I don't usually want to talk about because I try not to get caught up with body image and weight but the fact is after the Christmas period my clothes have become uncomfortably tight.  I weighed myself at the gym on Friday as we had to do a bodyweight deadlift as part of the WOD and was shocked at the number on the scale.  This is where I'm torn as I have been getting PBs in the gym and when I look in the mirror I see a quad sweep but my clothes are getting quite uncomfortable.  Zoe, one of the coaches at the gym, is doing up nutritional programs and I have decided to have a chat to her particularly with regard to eating for strength.  I figure it can't hurt and she does a body fat %, measurements etc so I can see where I'm sitting. 

Missed it by that much

Today we had a strength WOD of Sumo Deadlift High Pulls followed by a met con of:

5 Rounds For Time:

30 Sit Ups

20 Med Ball Cleans 10kg/6kg

10 KB Swings 24kg/16kg

Rest 1 min

 

When I saw this workout I thought that this was one I could RXd and I even warmed up with those weights.  Nick came over and gave me the cue of having to have the kettlebell vertical overhead and this was when I swallowed my pride and went down in weight.  I'm glad I did as my back has been a little tight the last few days and the final rounds were quite tough.

 

I could have beaten myself up for not doing the workout as prescribed but I have chosen not to do that and realise that my body wasn't up to it today.  I still got a fantastic workout.  I was still shattered at the end and that is the most important thing.



D'oh!

I totally misread the gym opening hours and didn't realise that it was regular hours for yesterday and today.  Not to worry, the rest day did me good and I spent the afternoon attempting banded bar muscle ups and working on my handstand strength.

Today, the girls joined me in our last WOD for the year.  It was:

Batman and Robin

-

In teams of 2 AMRAP 26mins

-

Partner A runs 400m

partner B does clean and jerk (60/40)

(switch and repeat)

-

Partner A runs 400m

Partner B does back squats from the ground

(switch and repeat)

-

Partner A runs 400m

Partner B does Double Unders

(10 DU =1 point)

(switch and repeat)

-

Partner A runs 400m

Partner B does Burpees

(switch and repeat)

 

I had planned on doing it with the girls and they could be counted as 1 person but we actually had an even number of people attend the session this morning so I was partnered up with a lovely lady and the girls were together.  My partner, Leanne, is stronger and fitter than me which meant I felt a little bad that I was going to let her down but she was really lovely and we went with my preferred weight of 25 kg for the clean and jerk.

 

The girls did really well today and from what I saw they really gave it their all.  I was fairly pleased with how I went.  The thing I was most happy with is that I continued to run and even picked up some speed at the end of each 400 m.  I know I'm one of the slowest runners in the gym and when we start with a run leg I am always one of the last ones to make it back into the gym but I'm consistent and today I noticed that toward the end I was passing people who beat me at the start.  A case of slow and steady wins the race?

 

It was a great workout to finish the year and I'm looking forward to my break and start the year rested and ready to kick butt.

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.

Yawn!

This week has been a massive week in the gym and as a result I'm shattered.  Today was a fairly low key strength day and I trained at nowhere near my best.  I actually felt clumsy and uncoordinated and I made the decision to not complete the strength workout.  We had a little 7 min finisher and I scaled back on some of the movements with that as well.  As I have said before I don't mind having days where I take it easier, it's a case of listening to my body.

I have to say, though, if anyone asks me what is the best exercise for the butt I would immediately say pistol squats.  My glutes are so sore today!

A Workout Away From The Box

Having Some Fun Post Workout

Covered in Sand

As most of the coaches are away at a competition it was decided to train at the beach this morning.  It was only a fairly small group which made it nice and intimate.

Michelle, our coach, warmed us up with a jog and then we went into sprints (a bit like lifesaving where we had to lie on stomach down on the beach and then race to a marker), commando crawls, wheelbarrows and running with resistance from a partner.  That was the warmup!!

We then had a fun 7 min team WOD of 'rob the nest' ... much like what we played as kids.  We each grabbed an item and had to steal from the other teams 'nest'.  It was the longest 7 minutes of my life, but lots of fun in the process.  Sometimes we forget to have fun during a workout.

The next WOD consisted of:

50 push ups
50 squats
50 burpees
50 sit ups
200 walking lunges

This was designed as a partner WOD but most of us decided to go alone for the 'fun' of it.  It was a great workout with the sand both making it harder and easier depending on the movement.  The funniest part was doing burpees because everytime I clapped overhead I was covered with even more sand ... I'm still trying to get it out of my hair.

It was a really tough workout and my legs are fried from all that sand running but it was loads of fun too!

Start of Another Week

I'm still a bit tender from Friday and Saturday's workouts so you can imagine that I was super-pleased to see a dumbbell thruster, pull up, running triplet.

The warm up was enough with running, bear crawls, broad jumps, walking lunges and stretching.  I was puffed before I even started.  I chose my scaling and upon thinking about it further I decided to go down slightly in weight for my thrusters but stuck to the orange band for my pull ups.

It was a tough workout but once I got into it I knew that I was going to get all 5 rounds done ... not fast but done.  The thrusters and pull ups weren't a drama (maybe I should have stuck with my original heavier weight for the thrusters) but the run leg got me.  I have decided that if I have running in a WOD I would rather it be the first exercise instead of the last.  I'm not sure why but there is something about finishing the last pullup and then realising there's still a run to go.

On Saturday I was determined to not let anyone pass me during the running section of the WOD and a couple of times I really picked up the pace on the way back into the box.  The sound of someone running behind me just spurred me on.  I didn't have that today and I tried to increase speed but it wasn't at the same intensity as Saturday.  I think I might be a little competitive :P

I felt really good in the pull ups today (even with DOMS) and there was a glimmer of hope that I might be off the bands sometime in the near future.  As I was looking around at the other girls doing their pull ups and they look so pretty doing their kip, it seems like this nice fluid motion.  Me, I think I look like a frog in a blender as I seem to really kick with my legs.  Nevermind, it gets the job done.

It is nice being back to my old, positive self.  I had a few moments when I doubted what I was doing and as I looked at my goals I set months ago I thought how I haven't achieved very much on the list.  I know that I will never set the world alight with my progress but regardless, I'm making progress; it's just baby steps

Oooowww!

Two days in a row my enthusiasm surpassed my abilities and as a result I am suffering from whole body DOMS.  Thursday we had a finisher of toes-to-bar and box jumps and I decided to push myself with the T2B scaling from knee to chest to knee to tricep.  By the time I finished the workout I was doing knee to somewhere in the air around the tricep region, it wasn't pretty!

Friday was Muscle Fran.  As we know Fran is a 21, 15, 9 rep range of thrusters and pull ups.  This Fran was 21 ,15,9 dumbbell thrusters and muscle ups.  As I don't have muscle ups I scaled to ring pull ups and ring dips and modified the numbers to 15, 9, 6.  Silly, Silly girl.  I should have done banded pull ups!  What on earth was I thinking?

Today was a team WOD doing a 30 min AMRAP of Helen (400 m run, 21 kettlebell swings and 12 pull ups).  Missy T joined me today (Moo has cricket on Saturday mornings now) and we did 7 rounds between us.  She did so well again and I'm impressed at how much her KB swings have improved and she stuck with the green band for her pull up option.

Even though I'm sore as hell I've enjoyed the last few days of training and I'm looking forward to having a rest day tomorrow :-)