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.