Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Change

Well I just got home from another fun night at CrossFit Swift. Today was a good day. I was expecting a workout named Linda tonight. So in preparation for Linda I needed to weigh myself since some of the exercises are a percentage of your body weight. This is the first time I have weighed myself since September of last year.

At that time I was a ''soft'' 185lbs when I started CrossFit last year. When I weighed myself today I found that I am a ''not so soft'' 198lbs. I could not believe it. I have noticed a change in my physique but I was not expecting to weigh almost 200lbs at only 6 feet tall.

So as I walked into the gym tonight and looked at the board I was surprised to see we were not doing Linda. It was a good thing too because there were about 12 people there. It would have taken forever to do that with so many people. However what we did end up doing was a short little met-con. Now I am not normally a fan of met-cons but this one seemed to be ok. It was broken up nicely and the reps were manageable compared to other ones I have done.

Here was the workout:

On the mark for a total of 20 minutes do the following 2 circuits alternating each 2 minutes:

Circuit A:
3 Burpees
5 Wallball 20#
7 Sit-ups
9 KB Swings 24kg
11 Air Squats

Circuit B:
3 Pull-ups
5 Box Jumps 24"
7 Barbell Shoulder Presses 45#
9 Back Extensions
11 Bench Dips

The less time you need to finish each circuit, the more rest time you will have available during each 2 minute interval.

So when the clock started I began to work through circuit A. Then at the end of 2 minutes I switched to circuit B. This was to continue until 20 minutes were up. If I was able to finish the circuit early then I could rest the remaining time left in that 2 minutes. That happened on all the rounds except the last 2. I averaged25 seconds to 15 seconds of rest time during each round. But on the last 2 I had no rest time.

The night before began to take it's toll on me in the last couple of rounds. My legs and shoulders were tired and found it difficult to do the KB swings and the squats. But I did complete them all in the time limit.

So change is good and it helps to be able to adapt and move on with a positive attitude.

Making Time

Wow it's been what seems like a year since I last posted anything. Between work and snow and working out and life in general all my blogging time seemed to just fade away. I know that if I am going to make this work I have to make the time to do it. Just like anything else that is important to me. If it matters then I make the time.

Last night the workout at CrossFit Swift kicked my tail. It's amazing how much your mental state as well as your diet matter in doing these workouts. I did not eat terribly yesterday but my mental state was not where it needed to be in order to have a great workout. You could see it on my face that my energy level was low. The good and the bad news was that there were only two of us there. Myself and Deborah. The good part was that it was going to be a laid back low energy workout. The bad part was that it was going to be a laid back low energy workout. And this one was not one that needed to be low energy or laid back.

However it was what it was. One thing I have learned so far in this life is that you need to be able to take things as they come and positively accept them and work with what they offer. Just like people, if you try to make a situation something it is not then it probably won't work out too well. But if you take it as it comes and learn from it then you at least take something away that you can use later.

So the workout was this:

5 rounds for time of:

10 "Curtis P Complex" 65#
15 Knees to Elbows
20 KB Swings 55#

Note: Curtis P Complex - With a barbell, execute Hang Squat Clean followed by a Racked Lunge (1 ea leg) (racked meaning the barbell is at shoulder level in a front squat position), followed by a Push Press.

It took me a total of 62minutes to complete all of this. After round 1 I kept looking at the board and the clock and thinking - I have how many of these to do????? But I kept on going. One by one I did them all. The hardest part for me was the knees to elbows. That is so taxing on my shoulders.

All I can say is I am glad that is over. My legs are sore and it takes a lot to get them that way. But as my girl Mai would say - ''It's a good sore''.
Another night gone, another workout done.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

SLEEP

It's been a crazy, busy, stressful week. So today I have had time to catch up on some sleep. Sleep is very important and all of us never get enough. I am actually getting ready to get some more sleep before I lose another hour tonight. Tomorrow will be a busy day since I have my daughter and it will be 80 degrees. So feel free to read up on why sleep is important while I catch some zzzzzzzzz s.

http://www.apa.org/topics/whysleep.html