Since I did my "Girl" day on Thursday, Friday was a regular CrossFit class for me. I was excited because we were doing the 2 minute challenge for August - wall balls!
If you've been following along with me for more than about a paragraph, you know that I hate wall balls. I'm short, which makes it tougher to reach the target tape, and I just can't ever seem to get a good rhythm. I've finally switched over from cherry-picking my WODs to trying to improve my weaknesses, so I knew that having this movement as our August 2 minute challenge would be a HUGE help to me.
For the challenge, we grabbed two medicine balls each...one to use for the movement, and one as a "butt target." Basically, if your butt doesn't touch the second medicine ball at the bottom of your squat, the rep doesn't count. I tried to be really strict and had to no-rep myself a lot. However, I didn't hit myself in the face (#win) and beat my goal of 30 by getting 31 reps in the two minutes! I want to hit 45 by the end of the month.
Next, we were on to the WOD. Adding to the fun, this one contained thrusters...my other nemesis! I decided to try to RX, even if it meant I'd be slow. Now that I can do pullups, I want to tackle Fran! And getting better at thrusters is a must.
This one was pretty killer, but I made it through each round of thrusters unbroken and felt super proud!
It was awesome to get to work my two worst movements on the same day. Every time we do them, I gain a little confidence and a little strength. Hopefully a day will come when I see wall balls or thrusters in a WOD and think "I can totally crush that!"
Saturday was my Deadlift Week 1 day. (Week 0 was finding my one-rep max last week.)
I was SO tired from work and my previous four workouts. It's a good thing Jared was there to help me get motivated. He wrote up a warmup for me and an outline of reps to go through before my Wendler's program.
I do a two-minute forearm plank, followed by one minute single-arm-forearm planks on each side, followed by 10 supermans and L-Sit work. I made it through 15 seconds in a true L-Sit but had to bend my knees on the second rep.
Then I did some exercises for my IT band and hip integrity, and moved into my warmup. I did the box jumps on a bench in the gym.
It took me about 15 minutes to do my core, PT, and warm-up work. By the end, I was feeling WAY more motivated and ready to start lifting!
If you want to give this workout a shot yourself, I've put together a Google spreadsheet for you. All you need to do is plug in your one-rep max in the highlighted box, and the rest of the numbers will fill for you!
Please use common sense...I'm not certified or qualified in any way and am not responsible if you hurt yourself lifting.
It was the perfect workout! I felt like it was heavy and really challenging - I had to switch to a mixed grip for the final 5 reps at #130, but I did it! The lifting only took about 25 minutes including rest time.
Afterwards, I spent about twenty minutes on stretching and mobility.
That afternoon, we had a kick-off meeting for the Mercer Island CrossFit 30-Day Paleo Challenge!
I admit, I had mixed feelings about Paleo. I tried it in January and lasted about 9 hours. But I tried going mostly Paleo for the last two weeks and have seen great results already, so I am excited to give this a shot with Jared!
I've been getting hard-boiled eggs at the grocery store if I'm out and about and didn't pack enough food - it's surprisingly easy to find stuff that's Paleo if you can be a little creative!
Yesterday we did our shopping at Trader Joe's, and Jared baked up several sweet potatoes and a bunch of sausage and bacon.
We had "hot dogs" for lunch, and burgers for dinner!
We also took our "before" photos - obviously we aren't smiling because before people are always miserable, right?
We're armed with lots of produce and protein and added fish oil to our vitamin regimen. I'll keep you posted on our first week!!!
If you have any tips...please share! I'd love some input from those who have gone before.
Have a great day!
I love attacking my weaknesses. I have been working on my box jumps since they terrify me, I'm still working on them!
ReplyDeleteThose can be scary! One thing that works for me is jumping up, standing at the top, then stepping down. It slows me down, for sure, but if I'm feeling tired at the end of a WOD and worried about injury, it makes me feel a lot safer. And as long as you jump up and fully extend your hips at the top, most boxes should count that! Keep it up, girl.
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