Jackie

I was absolutely thrilled when I saw today's WOD. It was Jackie.

1000m Row
50 Thrusters at 45#
30 Pull-ups

You're probably thinking, "That's it?" Yes, that was it. About 15 minutes of awesomeness. Due to the number of people in our class, I opted to start with Thrusters. So mine looked more like this.

50 Thrusters at 45#
30 Pull-ups (jumping pullups off the 12" box)
1000m Row

My time was 14:12. It would have been so much faster if I could just master the pull-ups. But, I was very pleased. The prescribed weight, in our box, for women was only 35#. I knew I could do 45# and I was very pleased to complete that.

The thruster looks like this:

It's a combination of front squat and a push press. Luckily, we did some of these on Tuesday and I learned the value of going past parallel on the squat. 

Pull-ups are the bane of my existence lately. I'm still jumping off the box. When I use the band, I can do the kipping motion, I just don't quite get high enough. This is my new focus. I really want to do kipping pullups, with the band, by my birthday. 6 weeks to go, I know I can do it.

The row machine is one of my favorite parts. Its a lot like running, I can pace myself well, turn on the speed in the last 250m and let my mind wander.

I can't wait to do "Jackie" again in the coming months when I can improve my time and do those pullups!

Back in the gym .... John Henry

This morning husband and I faced the music and went back to the gym for our WOD. Thankfully it was an "active rest" day. This is by no means restful, but its generally less pounding on your body. Here's what today looked like:



24 kettlebell swings at 1 pood (Russian measurement for 36 pounds)


20m Sprint


24 sledgehammer on a tire (11 pound hammer)



We were to do as many of these rounds as possible in 24 minutes. I did 7 full rounds and one extra set of sledgehammers.

It was a good first day back, I'm sure tomorrow will be differently hard, but I'm ready for it. I really missed working out with the great people at Crossfit Cochise, I'm glad to be part of such a community.

Trying to get back into the swing of things....

Today I woke up at 6am (east coast time) and traveled for about 10 hours, with my children and husband. After getting home, I decided I had to hit the gym. Over the course of my 8 day vacation, I ran once, did a short Tabata workout, walked the Washington Mall/Smithsonian, and did one CrossFit Workout. My body hates me right now. After yesterday's Visitor WOD, I knew I needed to keep moving or I would basically be starting all over again. So I headed to the gym on post to do something.

This is what I came up with:
5 Clean-Thruster-Overhead Squat at 65#
250m Row
5 Clean-Thruster at 75#
250m Row
5 Clean at 85#
250m Row
5 Clean at 95#

Attempted cleans at 105# and 100# but my brain got the best of me.

My body is sore, but happy, and I am so glad that I went. Tomorrow will only be easier.... right?

Visitor WOD

This morning, on the tail end of our family vacation to the East Coast, my husband and I found a new box in town. We were able to attend a class for free this morning and convinced our friends to join us.

This box was set up slightly differently, but they welcomed us with open arms. The kids were in an area of their own to play, but they could still see us.

We warmed up with a 500m row, 15 wall ball shots with 14#, 10 pushups, 5 hollow rockers and supermans, and then 5 minutes of handstand work.

After that we moved into some strength workouts. 4 sets of 2 reps of back squats increasing in weight each time. Then a 5 rep maximum weight press. (Think the same move as a bench press but while standing.)

Then the WOD. This consisted of 5 Thrusters (115# for men/75# for women), 10 hollow rockers, and 5 chin-ups. We did this circuit as many times as possible in 15 minutes. I did 8 full rounds. I did the first two at 75# and the last 6 at 65#.

I'm really glad we were able to workout today and that this other box was so welcoming and accommodating. It encourages me to continue to find Crossfit gyms and communities as work may have me traveling in the future.

Hero WOD

One of the things I like most about CrossFit is the sense of communities and support you get from the other people in the gym. Never have I felt like people were frustrated or upset due to having to wait for someone to finish. More times than not, people are willing to run the last 400m with you, or do the last 15 burpees with you, or row 1000m while you finish up your workout. Its something I think ties in nicely with my little military lifestyle. In fact, a lot of the people we work out with are military families as well.

Last week, I experienced my first Hero WOD (Workout of the Day). These Hero WODs are appropriately named after fallen heroes. We did one honoring Army Captain Dan Whitten. This workout consisted of:
5 rounds, for time
22 kettlebell swings, 70#
22 box jumps, 24" box
400m run
22 burpees
22 wall ball shots, 20# medicine ball

Needless to say, Hero WODs are incredilby intense, both physically and mentally. On this day, most of us could only do 3 rounds, and with a reduced (or scaled) weight.

CrossFit Goals for 2013

I talk to my workshops every week about setting goals and writing them down. Of course, at that point I'm talking about professional goals working towards their transition, but it works for all goals. So, here are my CrossFit Goals for 2013.

1. Do a pull-up by the end of the year, on my own. Just one.
2. Join the 1000 pound club. (This means that the total of my deadlift, bench press, and back squat weight equals 1000.) Right now I'm at 185 for deadlift, 95 for bench press, and 205 for squat. So I basically need to double all of these weights to hit it.
3. Break the 35 minute mark on my 5k. (Not entirely CrossFit related, but I know getting stronger will make me faster.)

*And, of course, I reserve the right to updated, modify, and reevaluate these goals whenever I see fit.

Does She Crossfit?

This may not be the first question that runs through your head when/if you see me on the street. Unless, of course, I'm wearing my awesome SoxBox socks and gym clothes. But, the answer is "Yes!" I'm a CrossFit convert. Husband and I tried out some free classes at the local gym, CrossFit Cochise and we were immediately hooked.

Friday marked my 14th Workout at CrossFit. I'm still loving it. I've seen improvement in skills in just 3 weeks. I'm stronger and probably faster than when I started. We work in three basic areas: gymnastics skills, weight lifting, and cardio programs. Each day we have a WOD (workout of the day) that usually consists of one of these skills or a combination. The great part of doing CrossFit at the gym is that they take the time to teach us the fundamentals and work with us on form. The coaches are great, they have quickly identified our strengths and weaknesses and push us where we need it.

Gymnastics:
The skills we work on are things like handstand push-ups, pull-ups, burpees, and box jumps (jumping up on a 24# wooden box.)

Weight Lifting:
My favorite part of CrossFit by far. I really enjoy lifting weights and take great pride in lifting more weight than others. (I know this sounds prideful and wrong, but we are all a little bit competitive.) Things we work on here are deadlifts, bench press, cleans, push press, squats, etc.

Cardio/Metcons:
This is probably the most challenging part of CrossFit. Its a combination of gymnastics and weight lifting and its done for time. Sometimes its also involves jump rope, rowing on the machine, and/or running. A lot of these workouts are given girls' names. Some of the most popular are Fran, Isabel, and Linda.

Here are some of my beginning stats:
Fran: 21-15-9 (number of reps per set) of Thursters and then Pull-ups. I did this with 45# weights and jumping pullups in 7:25.
Linda: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 of Bench Press, Deadlifts, and Cleans. I did this in 42:49 with 145# deadlifts, 85# cleans and 75# bench press.

Stay tuned for more information on CrossFit and my progress over the next few weeks. I'm really excited about getting stronger and faster!