Yoga post CF

After work I drove back to MMA to take a Yoga class. For some reason (probably cross fit) I find Monday Yoga super hard. Today was no exception. We started a few minutes late as traffic was bad. But once we did start, boy did she give it to us. We did dancer and then a lot of core work and eagle legs for a stretch. I was drenched in sweat. I made it through class. My body is not overly sore yet, let's hope it stays that way overnight into the morning!

Monday Cross Fit

Today was more of a mental challenge than physical- Don't get me wrong, it was hard all around, but the idea of jumping onto something is just beyond my old mind. Today we started with the junkyard warm up. I jumped rope and did some arm stretches. We then moved into the first WOD- one rep max snatch. I got up to 75 but didn't feel like I was doing it correctly. I could do it better at 65. Once I maxed out I put up my bar. I didn't realize we were supposed to keep going. So I shared a bar with another lady there. She was up to 55 lbs and I am able to do that weight really well. Good form and strong lift/duck under. The second WOD was a five minute AMRAP of Burpee Box Jumps. Yeah- go ahead and find yourself a youtube video on that because you're not seeing it here! I had to modify, but I still did what I could. Instead of doing a different exercise altogether, I used a 45 lb weight and jumped onto that, then got down into my best plank then back up and jumped back up on the weight. It took me a lot longer to do, but I'm getting the technique down. I did a solid two jumps correctly. Mind you this was after many failed jumps or jumps where I just got one foot up and one foot was still on the floor- Mind games, man.. It's all mind games at this point. I know I can jump that small distances, but the fear is alive in my head. I would breathe, work my arms, bend my knees, keep my toes in, look straight so my back was aligned, then spring up and forward landing nicely on the weight. It helped me to watch this informative video on youtube- CrossFit Journal - Perfecting the Box Jump by Kelly Starrett and Carl Paoli before going to class today. Yes, it's super long, but it's really step by step instructions on how to do it properly. If you learn the wrong way you're just going to end up hurting yourself in the long run. We were supposed to count how many we did in the 5 minutes, but I couldn't. It was a lot of work getting up and down. I'd estimate somewhere between 15-20, but honestly only 2 of the jumps I made were worth counting. Core today was another bout of supermans. 40 and done. I rolled out my muscles and headed back to work. I'm going to yoga tonite. I hope she doesn't have a super rough class planned! I'm sore, but can use a good stretching.

Theme Park!

So while it's not related to my exercise regimen- it is because of it that I was able to go to King's Dominion today and walk the park. I even manned up and went on a few rides. It was fantastic! A year ago I could not have done this. Today we spent 8 hours and due to the heat, we did sit and cool off on a shaded bench here and there for probably a total of 3 of those hours. It was very hot. I was able to do the Xtreme Skyflyer, extra money, but pretty awesome. I was scared about the weight, but they say it holds 850 lbs. So there we went. What a way to start off the day. The log ride was also doable. I even got in and out without much issue. After that we headed over and I waited while my family went on one of the crazy roller coasters. We went to this bobsled like coaster ride. It was fantastic because I fit with no issue again! In and out, up and down with the knees and keeping my balance. I attribute a lot to Yoga as well as just keeping moving with my classes. It was a fantastic day! My progress really shows when I do something like this.

Cross Fit Lunch Break

Today we did our normal warm up of the 5 reps. I need to list these out one of these days. It's a workout in itself. I don't know how anyone considers it a "warm-up." The WOD 1 was five reps of 3 behind the neck push presses using the snatch grip- basically first two fingers over the thumb. I did that slowly getting my weight up. 15 lb, 35lb, 55 lb, 65 lb, then down to 60 lb which was where I found I could do it properly. WOD 2 was two 5 min AMRAPS. First was 15x double unders (I just became able to jump rope, double unders are not yet in my vocabulary), so I did single unders, and yes, it took me a long time cause I didn't count the ones that weren't full proper jumps. I was able to do two reps of the single unders. Then there was the behind the neck push press. I took it up to the rx weight of 65# and it was horrid. I only got in one rep between my jump roping debacle. We got a 2 min rest and then it was time for the rowing. I got my foot stuck so started a few seconds late. I was trying to hit 1000 m and they cut the time when I was at 984m. I had 5 sec left before I was at my 5 min row mark. I could have made it! Ugh. Core was 40 supermans. I'm able to rise higher and higher these days. I think yoga is helping with that. Looking forward to no workouts this weekend!

WSD and Yoga Wednesday

So after work we wen to WSD. It was fantastic. We had a sub coach- Moe. He's one of my favorites. We first met in Jiu Jitsu when he helped us through some of the moves and worked one on one. Super nice guy.  We warmed up and then went into reviewing what we learned with the choke yesterday. We did that a few times and then moved into a new choke hold break. This was pretty awesome because we got to use our elbow and then move into a flip. Step, elbow and block, after the elbow to the chin you wrap that arm around attacker's head and hold onto their wrist with your other hand, base into them, squat, scoop, and then flip. After that we got into a mutual fight pose. Reaching across and grabbing their arm and jerking them towards you then palming their button hard and swift, keeping hold of their arm still. You can use it to continue the beating or chop and slide the tricep to put them into a submissive stance. Sore, but worth every minute today.  Then after we stayed for Yoga. It was just three people today in class so we went very low key. The third person was new and it was her first time doing yoga. We did the basics and some balancing then stretching. I feel so much better! Started having some issues with my left arm a week or so ago and it's still popping up. I'll have to have it checked out if it doesn't go away after an adjustment. Hoping it's just a pinched nerve. Anyway tomorrow is Cross Fit. Looking forward to kicking that class's butt! It's nice to feel myself getting stronger. I'm sleeping better, moving better, feeling better- I never thought I'd say this, but it's all due to the exercise.

WSD

So after work we went to woman's self defense class. We started with some warm up. Had to do jumping jacks as part of it. Yeah that sucked. Coach was late so we had a sub start us up. We started with standing headlock take down. I stupidly volunteered to show the class how to do it. I put sub-coach in a headlock and he got into base, wrapped his arms around my body/arms so that he can control pulling, then take the foot furthest from the front of the attacker's body and place it behind the attacker's foot closest to you, then sit down. The attacker with drop with you and most of the time will let go (this was a hard fall onto his fist and I'm not going lie, it was so powerful of a drop it made me tinkle a little!) If they don't, then get up on knees and push against attacker- moving into a sort of cross mount. Taking leg furthest away from attacker's head and put it over to the other side of attacker's body, at this point one arm should also be down on the other side. Then take hand closest to head and slide it along attacker's neck, getting a solid push against it and pulling up to break the headlock. After this we moved onto having someone come behind while you are in a sitting position and trying to grab or choke you. Then we moved onto a standing choke from the front. That was pretty good. I can see how this is a really useful move. The dip of the chin, shrug up of the shoulders, drop to base, then duck and twist out swinging back to smack your attacker good and hard. It's smooth once you get the hang of it. So a lot of dropping today. It wore me out. But I'm glad that I'm getting better at the falling and feeling secure about not seriously injuring myself. The more I do it, the better chance I will have of not breaking a bone if I happen to fall on something harder. We skipped Yoga today, but I plan on going tomorrow.

Monday Night Yoga

So I sucked it up and went to yoga. Thankfully it was a "low key" class. I was still sweating up a storm tho. We did a lot of shoulder stretches tonite. The first 15 mins were slow and nice, the middle was faster and harder, then the last 15 were slow again. I'm glad I went. But I am also very, very tired. I'll sleep very well tonite.

Monday Update

Saturday we went to Yoga. It was early and it was brutal. I don't think my body was made to move that way that early in the morning. We got through it. Doing the boat again and it's still a struggle, but it's possible!

This afternoon was my Monday Cross Fit. Today was more about technique, but it was still a brutal work out. Warm up was junkyard something- basically one person sits down with legs straight out and arms straight out, another person jumps over arms/legs repeatedly. Then the person goes into a plank- another person jumps over them then crawls under them. Creepy, but I guess it really warms you up. I jumped rope to the best of my ability. I may have taken one too short or maybe it's my new shoes- Just got them and these nifty new socks- but the rope kept getting stuck in the last crease of my shoe sole.

After warm up we used the white pipes to practice the technique for the WOD. We stood in a circle and just went through the movements. We got our weighted bars and then for better balance were advised to take off our shoes!!! Yes, take off those new shoes you got just for cross fit class! The one day I don't show up in flip flops we take off our shoes! Anyhow, 2-2-2-2-2-2-2 Hang squat snatch. Rest 60 Secs between sets. I did this with first 35 lbs then moved up to 45 lbs two sets in. If I had went heavier, I'm not sure I would have made it to the next section of the WOD. 3 Rounds of:  4 x Snatch Pull (These start from the ground and end with the scarecrow portion of the movement.) Rest 60 Secs, 4 x Heaving snatch balance, Rest 60 Secs. I kept with my 45lbs. It got so much heavier as class wore on. Finally after putting up the weights I moved onto core. My core was different- I did 3 reps of 15 sit ups and then 15 supermans. Yeah, I can still feel my abs crying on the inside. Yoga is still up for discussion. I want to go, but I don't want to go, but I should go, but I'm sooo tired.

WSD, Yoga, & Cross Fit

Wednesday I went alone to WSD. There was one other girl in the class so it was pretty low key. Warm up included rolls. Seema took it slow for me so I could see where she was putting what. I keep going sideways. I want to do a roll! Finally after about 6 times (Yes, I've rolled before but I always go sideways) I did a fantastic roll. It was modified a bit because of the weight distribution I found if I push off more I can accomplish it. The next one was crooked, but I see the light at the end of the rolling tunnel.

Yoga was *awesome.*  It was just me and the teacher. She worked with me and did stretches and helped me pose to get the most out of it. Knowing that I can only go so far and do so much.

Today I went to Cross Fit and dreaded it. For some reason I was feeling super weak. We did the normal warm up (5 sets of like 10 exercises, used the 15 lb bar) and then onto the WOD. 5 Mins AMRAP of:  5 x Hang power snatch (55#) and 5 x Thrusters (55#). I did 3 sets of each. Then Rest 3 mins and 5 Mins AMRAP of:  Rope climbs. I did 0. Yeah. 0. This is a lot to lift people. I'm working on it! I was struggling trying to get a little off the ground. Then rest 3 mins and 5 Mins AMRAP of:
8 x DB Snatch (25#) (Alt arms each rep) then 8 x DB Lunges (25#) (Hold DBs in each hand). I did 3 sets of the first and 2 sets of the second. We got to rest for about 4 minutes and then did Core. 100 x Anchored sit-ups for time. Everyone got done and I was at 35. The weights kept falling off my feet. I kept feeling like I was going to pee my pants. So she came over and cut me off at 50. I was at 5:35. I know I can do better than that with the regular sit ups we do. Next time.. Next time..

WSD & JJ

Tuesday we went to Women's self defense and class started a little late. But coach more than made up for that when he got there. A medium warm up and then going into the skill for the day we did the maneuver to get out of a cross mount. Basically you are on your back and someone is almost perpendicular over your chest, one arm under your neck, their other arm under your arm. You get your knee closest to them into their hip to keep control of where they are since you can't see, then you cross your arm that is "more free" over their face and into their shoulder/collarbone, bring the other arm up to create a brace. Shift your body over so that your knee can go from the hip down under them, rendering you on your side almost. Making sure to keep hold of their arm that is around your neck, take your other leg and flip it up over their head and down around the arm. You can shift to lock up their arm or to position both feet on their hip bones to shove them off so you can get away. It's not easy, but once you get the steps down it's doable. I struggle with the turning and the flipping of the leg. Baby steps. We went to Jiu Jitsu afterwards and I did a little of their warm up. Then we went into the moves. First we practiced getting out of the bear hugs and then the main skill was what we had just learned in WSD. The kid didn't really want to do more of the same thing and she was "tired." We struggled through a few more but left about 5 minutes early. Pretty good for the day. I think I mentioned that last week at JJ, Coach Rob got out the super thick mat for me and I was able to be taken down and do the fall. Well yesterday I did the fall on the regular mat floor. Multiple times!!! It's a painful success. But what a goal to reach. I didn't think I'd be able to so quickly. It's only been a few months of classes. Very excited at the progress I'm making. I can't see it, but I can feel it.

Boat pose!

So I was convinced to go to Yoga last night because tonite my kiddo wants to do Jiu jitsu. I am very glad I went. I was able to go through the two cycles of the downward dog to up and lean back then down to dd and then plank to alligator and cobra then back up to dd. It was nutz! I rested while they did the vinyasa because it just went too fast. I'm not quite there yet. Towards the end of class we worked on core and we did the boat pose. I held it for 8 breaths all three times we did it! I literally did the boat pose! Unreal. Even the teacher commented on how good I am doing. She's super nice. We'll see what we do tonite, I'll be there for two classes, but I'm not sure which.

Just another Monday...

My morning started off on the wrong foot. So when it was time for Cross Fit I was more than happy to get some aggression out. We started with the regular warm up- 5 reps of a long list of exercises. Then the first skill was to do a split jerk and find our max weight. I think mine was 90lbs- Either that or 85lbs. I smashed my head on one of those. It wasn't fun. But I did it again and I got it up. Yay!  Then we moved onto the main WOD. We cycled 20 seconds on, ten seconds rest, switch and keep going for 8 minutes. It's a L O N G time when you're working hard!!!  I did box dips while everyone else did ring dips. Then rest, then jumping squats, rinse, repeat. I did my best and even did some of them correctly. But it was tiring. I stopped counting how many I got to. I just kept going. Core was doing sit up wall balls. I just did sit ups. But I did do all 50 of them! Tomorrow is Women's self defense and Yoga- tho I may go to Jiu Jitsu if the kiddo is really interested in it. We shall see.

Friday the 13!!!!!

Monday was Cross Fit. We did the 5x cycle warm up through the "core" warm up with the 15 lb barbell. After warm up we did weighted pull ups. Five sets of three, trying to find your max weight. I am my max weight so I was just trying to get my feet off the ground. I totally can't do a pull up... yet :) Then moving to the main workout we did a rotation- every two minutes start a 200 m run (for me I rowed). This pretty much meant you had to bust out and then hope for a minute rest between runs/rows. This was torture. By round 5 you want to die and then after round seven you're pumped up and ready to finish it. Thankfully we got a small rest before we worked on the core. It's like doing a sit up, but you raise your knees to your elbows. It's awkward and you hurt a lot afterwards. I don't recommend doing 50 of those if it's your first time.

Tuesday we went to Women's self defense. It was a good class and I was fully intending to go to Yoga after, but my daughter got her nose cracked by one of the girls in the class. So we left early.

Wednesday was nothing. I had to pick up my car from the dealership after work. Yay car maintenance!

Thursday was back to Cross Fit. Regular warm up of the 5 times ranging from squats to snatches and using the barbell for most of the time. The WOD was a 20 minute AMRAP where you start with an 800m run (yeah cause that's not tiring, thankfully only doing that once, ps I rowed 800 m in about 6 mins) then continue to do 10 x Hang squat cleans, I used a 15 lb barbell with 15 lbs on each end. It was brutal. After that you do 15 x Hand release push-ups. I didn't do them like everyone else. I did knee push ups and tried my best to keep straight, but it's hard pulling up this much weight. I only made it through twice and that was brutal. The row wore my arms out that I was like jelly when I tried to lift the bar. Ending with core we did 50 sit ups. Yay for sit ups!? wait no. never mind. I was tired. My daughter decided she wanted to go to Jiu Jitsu so we returned that evening for class. We kinda half did it. She was wanting to, but then kinda backed up, didn't want to do warm up etc. I did a lot of the warm up. Some stuff I just can't do like bear crawls. She did none- blamed her ankle. We paired up and practiced some moves. We got out the thicker mat and she was able to pull my legs out and make me fall. I think she quite enjoyed that. Very tired and slept like a baby last night! Another weekend to look forward to before the week of torture begins!

July 5th Cross Fit

Today was hard, but doable. Started with their "normal"  warm up- 5 reps of a loooong list of things. Then we started the first of two WODs. The first was was 4 reps of 5 barbell rows. I did 65 lbs twice and then 75 lbs twice. The second WOD was a 5 minute ARMRAP of 5 burpees (modified for me) and then 5 sumo deadlifts at 125 lbs. I completed 5 reps of the modified burpees, 4 reps +2 of the sumo deadlifts. We took a water break and then started our Core- timed supermans. I did 40 in 55 seconds. And I was worn out, but not dead. I feel like it's progress!

July 2nd Cross Fit

Went to my normal Monday lunch class and it was a big crew. Warm up was pretty easy- 3 rnds of 10 squats, 10 push ups and 15 supermans (tho for the first two I thought it was 5?! so did extra at the end) and then on to the main work out. They're called squat clean into thrusters.. basically you start in a squat, grab your weight bar, lift body up, bringing bar up and then squatting underneath it- then using hips/knees to push up and pop bar over your head. It's a crazy move and it's not fun or awesome.. but it's a workout! After 30 of those, our core work out was different for everyone else, I did more supermans.. 40 to be exact! Went back to work and finished up there. I decided to be nutz and tried Monday Yoga. It was way harder than Tuesday yoga! Ah well. It was still good. I keep trying to push a little here and a little there. Eventually I'll get there.

Busy Life...

So it's been a while. I've missed two workouts since my last post. The 12th I went to self defense and then yoga. Wednesday the 13th I just went to women's self defense.  Thursday I missed Cross Fit because of a dr appt. That weekend we went to Rehoboth Beach for my daughter's birthday. Monday I went to Cross fit- I'm in a haze about what the workout was. Will have to look it up later. the 19th I did self defense and then skipped  yoga- some little kids went in and I wasn't comfortable going. Wed I went to self defense and Yoga. I'm getting better. It's a good feeling. Thursday we had another dr appt and I missed cross fit again. Definitely feel the lack of exercising in my body. Monday the 25th I made it to cross fit. I didn't finish the warm up- everyone is so much faster than me. I need to start early sometimes. I did the 200 m walk twice, three sets of 10 ring rows, two sets of 10 push ups. The workout was pretty brutal- Ten box step ups and then five ring rows repeated for 8 mins. Then we got a 5 min rest and did five dips and ten lunges repeated for 8 minutes. I was able to do the first exercise 4 1/2 times in the 8 mins and the second one I got 5 done with a couple of box dips tossed in at the end. Yesterday I did self defense and then yoga. Today is another round of self defense and yoga. It's weird but I'm looking forward to it. I need to get my eating under control because I'm lost there. It's a defeating feeling when you're doing so much but the scale doesn't agree with you. And the weak point is obvious. I know where my issue lies. Now it's just a matter of dealing with it. I really want to do the 5k but I'm scared. I'm scared I won't be able to finish. I'm scared people will laugh at me. I'm scared to be the only fat person there. It is easier to give up and not try. But I really don't want to. I need this. I need to overcome this. Why is it so damn hard?

OK I got a refresh on what the WOD was from the day I couldn't remember. It was brutal. I think I did 20 squats for a warm up and some push ups. Then it was 8 rounds of 200 m rowing and 40 squats. I didn't think I'd get through it. I had a partner to time me- Ryan. He messed up his knee so she put us "slow" people together. I got a minute rest in between reps. Amazingly I averaged 2:34 ish throughout. My highest time was 2:38 and my fastest was 2:30- minutes people. Seriously. Who knew? Ryan was really supportive too. It helps having people on your side encouraging instead of berating and thinking they're helpful.

I'm coming back to this to add the workout from 6/28. I knew I was missing one. It was the standard warm up of the list of 5x a bunch of different things then the WOD was 16 minutes long. Four rounds of 40 seconds working out, 20 seconds rest. 40 secs SDHP (55#),  20 secs Rest, 40 secs Anchored Sit-ups, 20 secs Rest, 40 secs DB snatch (25#) (Alt hands each rep), 20 secs rest, 40 secs C2B Pull-ups- I'm pretty sure I did ring rows- My memory is a little hazy. Somewhere during this break time I attempted jumping rope for the first time *ever*! And I succeeded! It was amazing. I was able to do more than 5 in a row. Didn't make it to 10. I'll get there tho. Eventually...