Sunday, April 26, 2015

I'm goin down...

I'm yellin timber....
Seriously -- I went down
I hurt myself :(

On April 6, somehow, I damaged my back .
the WOD was push presses, overhead squats, and russian twists. It could have been any of these movements, but the likely culprit was the Russian Twists.
So now I have to take it easy. No jumping or weights for awhile.....

Certainly no line dancing, lol. I love working out to this song. But the video...yikes!



 I'm working on mobility and upper body strength....

I miss the WODs.

OMG -- I'm addicted to CrossFit. They told me this would happen....

Friday, March 27, 2015

Rowing and Thrusters! Yay!

Well, rowing, yay! Thrusters, not so much yay. My thruster max has been, like 35 lbs.....

Workout 15.5
27-21-15-9 reps for time of:
Row (calories)
Thrusters
Men use 95 lb.
Women use 65 lb.



 
Luckily, I can do the scaled workout!

Scaled
(Scaled Men, Scaled Masters Men 40-44, Scaled Masters Men 45-49, Scaled Masters Men 50-54, Scaled Women, Scaled Masters Women 40-44, Scaled Masters Women 45-49, Scaled Masters Women 50-54)
27-21-15-9 reps for time of:
Row (calories)
Thrusters
Men use 65 lb.
Women use 45 lb.

I was really nervous about this one. But Alli talked me through the whole thing. Thanks Alli!! That's what so great about crossfit: the peer support :)
My goal was finishing in under an hour. Mags told me that I'd better go fast, because he was cutting me off in 20 minutes, lol. So I did it. 16:57. 
I LOVE rowing. Seriously -- it's my favourite exercise! (not rowing on the water. Least favourite thing ever)
Anyway-- this ended up being my most successful workout (I know, don't compare...)

Friday, March 20, 2015

15.4 -- Handstand Pushups -- I knew it :)


 So 15.4 was handstand pushups and cleans. Hahahahaha. I'll work towards them for next year :)

Workout 15.4

Complete as many reps as possible in 8 minutes of:
3 handstand push-ups
3 cleans
6 handstand push-ups
3 cleans
9 handstand push-ups
3 cleans
12 handstand push-ups
6 cleans
15 handstand push-ups
6 cleans
18 handstand push-ups
6 cleans
21 handstand push-ups
9 cleans
Etc., adding 3 reps to the handstand push-up each round, and 3 reps to the clean every 3 rounds.
Men clean 185 lb.
Women clean 125 lb.


This is what I did:


Scaled
(Scaled Men, Scaled Masters Men 40-44, Scaled Masters Men 45-49, Scaled Masters Men 50-54, Scaled Women, Scaled Masters Women 40-44, Scaled Masters Women 45-49, Scaled Masters Women 50-54)
Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 8 minutes of:
10 push presses
10 cleans
Men push press 95 lb. and clean 115 lb.
Women push press 65 lb. and clean 75 lb.
OMG - push press and clean. It almost killed me -- but it didn't :) This has been my best result so far.  

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Muscle Ups, seriously???

So, 15.3. humph.

2 more Super Strong women in the announcement challenge.




Workout 15.3

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 14 minutes of:
7 muscle-ups
50 wall-ball shots
100 double-unders
Men use 20-lb. ball to 10 feet, Women use 14-lb. ball to 9 feet


Whew, no muscle ups in the scaled version..... but wait! Where are the double unders??? I have practiced so hard and have finally mastered them. Singles don't feel "right". I really think that double unders are a basic skill and can be chipped through a few at a time :) Grrrrrr...... but I was very happy to see that the weight of the ball was 10 lb though. I've been practicing with an 8 lb ball and the jump to 14 was a bit much for me (I tried). But, dammit, I could have done the RX version had the muscle ups been at the end --  like the over 55 masters!!! (and just taken a 150 score) (oh well, something to look forward to for when I'm 55....). BUT we can't pick and choose our favourite parts in a workout, so lets move on.....

Scaled

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 14 minutes of:
50 wall-ball shots
200 single-unders
Men use 20-lb. ball to 9 feet, Women use 10-lb. ball to 9 feet

So, when I did the workout on Friday at the gym, I was judged by Tom, who I don't know. I got to the skipping and he counts 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10...1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,20... etc and I kept tripping. I had to stop and ask him to count straight through. He did it for me (even though it tired him out). But I stopped tripping. 
Again, this was one that I wished to have a second go at (but I won't). I'm sure it will come up in one of our regular WOD's after the open. But, of course, then I'll do double unders :) 

Anyway -- made it through 2 sets of 50 wallballs (with many breaks) and a full set of 200 singles and then 104 more. 
It is what it is. 
(special thanks to Mags who taught me how to do wallballs -- I still have difficulty catching, but the thrust and throw is going fine)

So, what's coming up? Burpees, I'm sure, ....  box jumps? thrusters? rowing?
and more lifting, ugh.  
I would wish for handstands if they didn't include the push up part :)

oh, and bye the way, I'm sore today in places I've never been sore before. My forearms. My wrists.
And my quads are killing me. But that's nothing new :) 

Sunday, March 8, 2015

15.2

So, this week's WOD for the Open was a repeat of last year's 14.2. Since I didn't do CrossFit last year, it's all new to me :).

Workout 15.2

Every 3 minutes for as long as possible complete:
From 0:00-3:00
   2 rounds of:
   10 overhead squats (95 / 65 lb.)
   10 chest-to-bar pull-ups
From 3:00-6:00
   2 rounds of:
   12 overhead squats (95 / 65 lb.)
   12 chest-to-bar pull-ups
From 6:00-9:00
   2 rounds of:
   14 overhead squats (95 / 65 lb.)
   14 chest-to-bar pull-ups
Etc., following same pattern until you fail to complete both rounds


Overhead Squats and Chest to Bar? Really?

Have a look at these 2 super strong women competing immediately after the announcement of the workout. (fast forward to the 9 minute mark if you want to skip the preamble)


This is what I'll be doing :)


Scaled
(Scaled Men, Scaled Masters Men 40-44, Scaled Masters Men 45-49, Scaled Masters Men 50-54, Scaled Women, Scaled Masters Women 40-44, Scaled Masters Women 45-49, Scaled Masters Women 50-54)
Every 3 minutes for as long as possible complete:
From 0:00-3:00
   2 rounds of:
   6 overhead squats (65 / 45 lb.)
   6 chin-over-bar pull-ups
From 3:00-6:00
   2 rounds of:
   8 overhead squats (65 / 45 lb.)
   8 chin-over-bar pull-ups
From 6:00-9:00
   2 rounds of:
   10 overhead squats (65 / 45 lb.)
   10 chin-over-bar pull-ups
Etc., following same pattern until you fail to complete both rounds
Overhead Squats at 45lbs.... maybe.... but Chin over Bar??? not yet!


I did this workout on Friday night -- and almost keeled over during the 6 squats. I did banded Chin to bar pull ups -- so my pull ups didn't count. I think that I made it to 4 squats into the next round... so my workout was finished in 3 minutes. The fastest WOD I've ever done :) Unfortunately, fast time is a bad thing in this workout, lol. And thank you, once again, to Steph, who insisted that I could do those 45lb squats.... and I did :)

So, 15.2 -- score of 6

If you check out the Leaderboard, you will see that I am in good company with my score of 6. Even many RX people scored 10! Those C2B's are hard! 
BUT, the upside? I've kind of got the rhythm of the pull up movement now, so I will practice them a lot from now to next years open!
And really, for me this is all about the workout -- and doing my personal best. I am breaking all of my previous "records", so I'm very happy that I am doing something right!

p.s. The Lovely Miss L is competing as well. Her score for 15.2 was 132. Holey smokes she's strong :)

Sunday, March 1, 2015

The Open

So, I have been coerced into participating into the Open. Pressure from the homefront (Miss L) and from the Gym (Tidal).
I just LOVE that I am competing in the Masters category :) I'm a master. hah!

Workout 15.1 and 15.1a were announced on Thursday night. I didn't sleep very well Thursday night. From worry.
9-minute AMRAP:
15 toes-to-bars
10 deadlifts
5 snatches

  (M 115 lb. /  F 75 lb.)
Workout 15.1a
1-rep-max clean and jerk
  6-minute time cap

(I look just like her when I'm competing)

I had to perform the "scaled" version of the workout. I can't lift the Rx weight (yet) and I can only do 2 toes-to-bar in a row, lol. 

See the explanations of the scaled workout HERE.

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 9 minutes of:
15 hanging knee raises
10 deadlifts (85 / 55 lb.)
5 snatches* (85 / 55 lb.)
*ground-to-overhead allowed


I was a bit lot worried. I can deadlift 55lb in a workout, no problem. But snatch? uh uh. My max snatch was 40lb :) But ground to overhead? maybe?

But on Friday I did it! Yay me!

But most impressive (to myself, don't burst my bubble)
I clean and jerked 80 lbs! My PR was 45! 

My biggest surprise -- Those hanging knee raises whipped my butt! 

A HUGE thanks to Coach Stephanie who talked me through the whole workout. 

So, I am totally pumped and even feel that I could have done better -- part of me wanted to try again right away :) (Yes, I know that I still could, but I won't).

The reveal for 15.2 will come this Thursday night - 8pm EST (March 5). I really hope that it doesn't have box jumps. Because I'm just ready this week to move up to a higher box and I'm not even sure if it will be high enough to be the scaled version! But, I'll try :)

 

Monday, February 16, 2015

You are far too smart to be the only thing standing in your way

Today's lesson:
Have confidence in yourself, and trust in your coach.

Friday's  WOD included thrusters. For you non-crossfitters - that's squatting (my least favourite thing), while bringing the barbell to your chest/shoulders, then as you stand, you push the bar up over your head. NOT my favourite move.
The WOD was 3 rounds 4 time -- of 10 burpee facing bar; 15 thrusters (Rx 55) ( me - empty 35 pound bar:); then 10 chest to bar pull ups ( I scale it back with some bands).



So, I got to my 3rd (last) round of overhead squats and I was pretty sure I was going to die faint collapse. I was shaking. So I ran to switch out my heavy bar for a practice bar ( yes, I know --  in the middle of a workout) .

 


Mags stopped me " What are you doing???"
Me - " Uhhhh, switching my bar"
Mags - " No you're not," " You're finishing with this one "
Me  (scuttling sheepishly back to my bar)
Mags "3 at a stretch-- we're finishing this!!!". And he begins to count for me....
Me ( I do 5, then 5 more, then 5 more), then skip off to do the pull-ups. And pretty much look sheepish, like someone who has tried to get out of something (well, I tried).
and Mags is giving me this smug, told you so, kind of look....

So after the pull ups, I get a different from Mags, the 'what the hell were you thinking?' look,  then the lecture.
Crap. I'm a teacher. I give that look and the exact same lecture every day. But I like to feel free to thrown in the towel myself, when life gets a little tough. Yes, people, I am a quitter :)

You finish what you start. You don't scale back in the middle of a WOD ( unless the coach tells you to). The coach ( or teacher ) will not ask you to do something that he/she truly believes that you cannot do. You can do it ( and you will).

Self confidence and trust. Sigh.

Okay, I need to begin practicing what I preach :)

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Shake it Off

Well, I'm not a huge fan of Taylor Swift.
But this song seems to come up often in our WODs.
And I tell ya. Music does affect my results, lol.

I get lost in the song.
The problem with the music in our workouts is that I lose count. Because not only do I have to count my reps, I have to count what round I'm on. I can't hold all of those numbers in my head :). When I work out at home, I put some jewels in a jar after every round. Some people use pennies. But for the gym, I just bought one of these:



What do you use? Do you just keep it all in your head? How do you do it when you are concentrating on the movements (and singing along to a catchy tune)? I need a personal trainer to do all of that counting for me, lol.


it is a cute video :) I think that the video makes me like the song more :)

Sunday, February 8, 2015

When I get older I will be stronger..

So.... many people have asked what drew me to CrossFit. Part of it was Miss L's nagging  begging encouragement. The other part went like this.

"Hi Ms. Brown!" (I'm a teacher)
I waved Hi back. But, horror of horrors, the underpart of my arm kept waving (just like a wavin' flag). It was fascinatingly repulsive.

That, my friends, was my wake up call. I was 49, out of shape, and overweight.
So the journey began.
The funniest thing that I remember from the Foundations class what when Mags shooed me out the door and said that I'd be running 100 meters. Then he looked at me and said "you can run, right?". I said "uh, well, I run for the bus sometimes..." But I ran that killer 100 meters. And in a later workouts ran many many more of them.

So, I started CrossFit last May. And remember that wavin arm? Now it stops when I stop.


Monday, January 12, 2015

Monday's adventure at CrossFit

So, I didn't do anything amusing or embarrassing at the gym today. Yay! 

This was our workout (after a warmup and mobility) ( warmup was rowing, yay!)( plus other stuff like lunge with twist, goblet squats, wall walks, and broad jumps) 

Strength:
Back Squat - 2x10 . I did 25lbs. Squats are not my forte. At All. I'd rather do 100 burpees than 10 back squats. Or front squats. Or air squats. 
 
Conditioning:
5 Rounds of:
2 min AMRAP of:
30 Double Unders (If cannot do 30 unbroken consistently, scale = 30 Lateral Jumps over bar)
15 PowerSnatch (75/55) 
*Rest 1 min bw Rounds
Score is worst round total reps.

WooHoo! My score was 45. I did lateral jumps and my PowerSnatch was way under at 25. Seriously, 25. The baby bar and some 5 lb weights. Because I thought that 75 reps of the ten lb weights would kill me :)  So, not close to Rx on this one. Yet. 

Oh, here's something amusing. Miss L has 'convinced' me to join in the Crossfit Open this year.  So glad that there is a scaled option. And an age class, I think. Cause I'm old.....

Sunday, January 11, 2015

A new year, a new blog :)

I've blogged about Crossfit before on my art blog -- and that post got so much traffic that I thought I'd start a blog about my adventures in Crossfit. And adventures they are.....

For those of you who don't know Crossfit , Rx is the prescribed weights etc, that one should be doing in a workout (WOD -- Workout Of the Day). I don't do Rx very often -- but I'm working on it! Hence the name -- Destination Rx.

If you're here to get pointers in Crossfit -- look somewhere else :). Here I will talking about what is working and what is not -- for me :). It may provide you with some comic relief......

The following is a copy of my Crossfit post from my mixed media blog in July, 2014:

In May, I succumbed to Ms L’s pestering  influence, and began Crossfit. The gym ("box") that I go to is right near my school ( Danforth and Coxwell). Tidal CrossFit. (There are also locations in York Mills and Burlington) Miss L recommended it—she teaches at a few different Crossfit Gyms, but she knew that I would only go if it was convenient, and Tidal sure is, so she recommended going there. I started with the “ Foundations” class - because there would be only up to 4 people, so there would be more individualized instruction. Mine was taught ( mostly) by Mags—the co-owner - and I was the only one in the class, so I got personal training. It was $199 - for 6 classes ( 3x a week)(1 hour classes) and then unlimited regular classes for the rest of the month. It was well worth it!!! Mags and Stephanie made me work HARD.  When I gave up, they made me keep going. They made me laugh... and didn’t make me feel like an idiot when I couldn’t remember things from one day to the next. 

(I try really hard not to bore my friends to death with my enthusiasm)

I had always thought Crossfit was too expensive, but it’s really not. You really get personalized instruction, and it is motivational. I used to go to Goodlife, but it wasn’t really friendly, and after the introductory hour, you’re on your own, unless you take classes, which I found too intimidating (seriously -- I NEVER knew what was going on -- and the instructor was too busy to ask). At Tidal -- ask away -- that's what the instructor is there for. So now I’m totally a Crossfit convert :) I started doing this to make Miss L happy—but I kept going because it made me feel good and it’s an investment in my health. 


http://crossfitsaber.com/?attachment_id=942
 
The classes start with a warm up, then go onto strength (often some form of Olympic Weightlifting) and then the WOD ( Workout of the Day). I am there, working out for over a full hour ( I get there early, because for some reason, the warm up takes me 10 minutes longer than everyone else , lol) . I go 3 days a week -- Mon/Wed/Fri.
I am getting WAY stronger—and lost 12 pounds in just over a month. Seriously. I sweated it off, lol. Don’t worry, I’ll put it back on this summer with all of those Privateers Bounty Ice cream cones. And also, in my Nova Scotia, chips are a valid vegetable :)

I am trying to continue on with the workouts here in Port Mouton. I ordered equipment through Amazon and Walmart ( free shipping! ) Some dumbells, a kettlebell ( OMG - so heavy) , pull up bar, rings and a skipping rope. I am VERY DETERMINED to master double-under skipping this summer. I’m still doing workouts on Monday/Wednesday/Friday, and I skip on my off days.

I’m even looking forward to September when I can go back to Tidal. -- Not just for the exercise, but for the community. I miss everyone! They are all so encouraging and inspiring!

If you live/ work in the East end of
Toronto, check out Tidal. Your won’t regret it. Tell them Martha sent you :) !!
 
This was my workout for today -- on my own
WarmUp
3 Rounds:
10 squats
10 burpees
10situps
3x 6split squats on each side
kettlebell swings (25lb)
WOD 
5 rounds
100 single under skips
50 squats 
(I could feel Mags' evil eye on my wobbly left knee every single squat)
Here is my work out gear corner:
 (missing -- my pull up bar -- it is being installed in a doorway)
(and I need some 10lb weights -- those 15s are too heavy for thrusters right now)
(you can order from Walmart. Free shipping. Hate Walmart, but I'm cheap)
Here is Andy's work out gear corner -- he piles it all up together -- sometimes right on top of mine :) 


p.s. I got new shoes. Less dorky than the old ones. Now they won’t get stuck when I try to escape from the rowing machine.

p.p.s
If you want to see how strong Miss L is -- here is a short video of her competing in the 2014 Canadian Senior Weightlifting Championships in Saskatoon, SK. She takes after me (hahahahahahahaha.... not).