Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Finding My Deadlift One Rep Max


Hello hello!

Above is a snapshot of a typical start to my day.  I have baby spinach with olive oil, fruit, and nuts, along with tea and the occasional piece of extra dark (88%) chocolate.  I read my Bible and follow my salad up with two eggs.  And sometimes I even plan my workouts!

I decided about a week or two ago that I wanted to go to regionals this spring...and realized that I couldn't expect to stay at my current schedule of 3 classes per week and magically achieve the next level of fitness.

My plan was to add a "girl" day and a strength day.

Friday was "Girl" day.  I took the bus over to the gym after work on Friday and took a four page printout of the Girls with me to decide which one to attempt.


Holy smokes there are a lot.  And pretty much zero that I can currently RX.  Well, gotta start somewhere, right?

I knew I wanted something I could do in the gym fairly easily since I wouldn't be in the box.  Didn't want to be in people's way too much and wanted to be able to set-up at the beginning and not have to waste anytime during the WOD.

I ended up going with Helen, since I've been really working my pullups and thought I had a shot at a snail's pace RX.


Oh how I wish I had a photo of me doing this WOD.  (Or a shortly-after photo.)  The (treadmill) run was fine, and I LOVE kettlebell swings, so I cranked them out unbroken everytime.  But after linking the first 5 or so pullups, I started going downhill pretty fast.  Eventually I was doing one rep at a time, and sometimes couldn't even get one rep in and had to take a break and try again!!!  Finally I decided that 2 rounds RX was gonna have to cut it since I didn't have an hour left to spare.



It was probably the slowest two rounds of Helen known to man...BUT I DIDN'T USE A BAND FOR MY PULLUPS.  First time ever in a WOD!!!  I felt so whupped but so proud of myself.  I know it's only gonna get easier as I keep working at it!

Saturday was Week 0 for my strength training.  At the suggestion of Coach Allison, I'm gonna try a variation on Wendler's approach.



Since I only have one designated strength day per week, I'm gonna focus on one particular lift each month.  For August, I picked the deadlift.  However, I had no clue what my one-rep max was and so I needed to start by figuring that out!

It was weird to be in the gym with all the meathead high school kids two days in a row...although they were very nice and shared equipment and such.  I did my PT exercises, core work, shoulder stability, and about 15 minutes of warming up and mobility work before getting down to business.



The machine was a little unnerving, but thankfully no one else needed it and I didn't have to work in sets.  I got kinda a let down partway through when I found out the bar was a #40 instead of #45, so I wasn't lifting quite as much as I thought.



It took me close to an hour to find my one rep max of #160.  I went for #165 and couldn't get the bar off the ground!  Apparently it should not take that much time to work up to a one rep max...but honestly I am really just learning about some of this strength work stuff. 

At least I had my lulu gear to motivate
me - I was so tired Saturday morning!
Women should be able to deadlift at least 1.5 times their body weight.  I didn't get there, but now I have a good goal.

Afterwards, I spent another ten minutes on mobility.  Jared is obsessed right now with Mobility WOD and I think it's starting to rub off on me!

Sunday: Rest Day

I took Sunday as much needed day off from my first full week of serious training.  What's weird is that I expected to be really sore...but instead I've just been REALLY tired.  CrossFit is kinda exhausting!  The cool thing is that one week of this training and eating mostly Paleo caused me to drop two pounds and keep my body fat percentage right where I want it.  Win!

I had intended to do some mobility, but after church and grocery shopping (Trader Joe's rocks), I pretty much read a book and lazed around the house all day.

Jared made us a chicken/sweet-potato/eggplant curry for dinner.  It was almost totally Paleo with just a splash of half-and-half.






Well, have a good day, friends!  I will keep you updated on this week's workouts - you do the same for me!

2 comments:

  1. Congrats on no band for the pull ups!!! My first WOD without a band was Jackie and I remember being so thrilled about it too! Such a great feeling!

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  2. Thanks! I just did Jackie this morning as my first RX girl - I felt so proud!

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