Love/Hate CrossFit

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve read articles bashing CrossFit and articles praising CrossFit. And everything in between.

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I’m pretty sure a lot of the CrossFit haters have never even attended an event or walked into a box. And maybe the few that have ran with the wrong folks. But on the flipside a lot of the CrossFit die hards are badass mofo’s that are so elite, I can only wish to be like them. They are those beautiful bodied people. The kind of people that belong in magazines. They are never average joe’s such as myself – With lots of flaws and lots of weaknesses. A few months ago, I wrote a post on Why I (still) CrossFit. I wish I was more “popular” in the blog world because I think my experience and who I am caters more to the AVERAGE person who is just looking for an active and healthy lifestyle but may never grace the covers of magazines.

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Truly, if you need/want a great EVERYTHING workout and you want a supportive community then CrossFit is something you should check out. There are lots of people out there with goals and a group is out there for every walk of life, but I really believe that the community I have found is one that is solid and that keeps growing. You can have so many different types of people connect on the same level even if you aren’t on the same physical level. Sure you’re gonna see silliness and sure you may see some instances of absolute ridiculousness, but as a competent human being you should be able to discern good coaching over poor coaching. Click here for what you should look for in a good box.

If the group thing isn’t your cup of tea, you can do CrossFit anywhere. But for me, I like sharing my success and failures with those who are learning and growing with me. Some folks have flown right by me, but are still there in support, cheering on to the last rep and some folks commiserate with me as we work towards our sometimes lofty goals.

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Regardless of what our goals are, or where you are at on your health journey, I believe that you gotta do something that works for you. But if you’re gonna bash CrossFit, you better have participated. And if you’ve read someone’s love for CrossFit but are intimidated because they have beyond the 6 pack abs, just know it’s not all about outrageous workouts or insanely perfect people. There’s a lot of people similar to me. The girl next door. Or in my case the mom next door.

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11/13 – 11/14 WODs
My body hates me, For real! Everything hurts. I told myself on Tuesday when I finally hit up the BOOM Box after a tiny hiatus that I would go Tu/Th and then baby step my way back into everything. I’m still a wounded birdy so I’m still limited. But by last night, I was so achy that I knew I had to WORK the soreness out. I was glad I did but I wasn’t sure if my bed would keep me hostage or if I would be able to walk this morning. I set my alarm anyways. Barely by the hair on my chiny chin chin did I make it in. Only to find out I’d be the lone ranger today.

It’s been cold in the mornings and it takes a while to get these old bones ready to go. My ankles, hips and shoulders are sooooo tight. And well everything else is sore.

11/13/13
Strength: Max distance sled pull in 30 seconds x3 3plates/2plates
Well it was still cold at 7pm but probably not near as cold as 5am! I have never like sled pushes, sled pulls, sled anything! And as refreshing as cool air can be, it can also burn your lungs. Whew it was bittersweet. In 30 seconds, my first and best run was for 220 yds. After that I got close but my butt was on fire! That pretty much felt like that was all the workout I needed. Time to go home.

11/13/13 WOD

11/13/13 WOD

MetCon: 3 min EMOM of 5 Box Jumps, 10 Push Ups, 15 Air Squats; 5 min EMOM 2 Power Cleans 225/135; 3 min EMOM 5 Box Jumps, 10 Push Ups, 15 Air Squats
But we had 11 whole minutes more of MetCon to complete. While 11 minutes doesn’t sound like a long time, why don’t you do the above work. I was barely finishing the reps in the minute. I’d get 5-10 seconds of rest and then bam, start again. No I can’t do Push Ups right now so I did Hollow Rocks. And to substitute for Power Cleans, I did Deadlifts. I completed all my rounds, but some of them were too close for comfort.

11/14/13
Lone ranger this morning! Boooooo! Who knows I may have had the best time. Ok really, I know I didn’t but one can hope.

Midline: 30 evil wheels
Not knowing what my wrist is capable of is scary. Just nerve-racking. I realized I could do 30 evil wheels, damn it! My abs will be dead in the morning.

Strength: Strict Press 5,5,5
This a no go so I did rows. I didn’t do too much weight. Started at 65lbs and ended at 80lbs. It did feel good to work my back vs. LEGS. Even though squatting is the best and deadlifting is nice… sometimes the lower body needs a break!

11/14/13 WOD

11/14/13 WOD

MetCon: 5 rounds of 10 Burpees, 20 Lunges and 25 Double Unders
Ya, not bad for 1 round. 5 rounds is a different story. Remember folks you want to kill this workout As Fast As Possible. To substitute for Burpees I did GHD situps. I thought the time it would take to get up and down from the GHD would hinder me, but who am I kidding, Burpees would hinder me just as much. The lunges were killer. Halfway through each round, my hips would just ignite and burn soooo bad. I just had to chip away and put that pain elsewhere. DUs weren’t too bad. I’d be so close to getting unbroken each time but would trip up close to 20. Doh! So frustrating. Time: 9:26

The End
That’s a little bit of everything don’t ya think? It’s almost the weekend y’all. Smile and be happy! Get active, eat clean, sleep and as always be AWESOME!

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Showed Up, Didn’t Die.

It’s been 17 days since I’ve done anything remotely active. And I was getting close to just being OK with that.

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Wow, sounds like I’m at an AA meeting but instead it’s a lazy ass meeting or something. Thanks goodness the fit girl that got eaten by the fat girl inside of me is fighting. And it’s true, I let my injury get in the way of everything. But that’s the lazy part of me. It’s the fat kid inside of me that just doesn’t want to leave!

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And of course I pick one of the first cold mornings this fall to get my ass up and moving. Ah well, we all have to start over/get back to it/etc at some point. I showed up at the BOOM Box, still injured, but I was there and I didn’t die. Whew. Day 1. I survived.

11/12/13 WOD
Strength: Dips 3×20 Strict pull-ups 3×10
Skipped the dips since my wrist is still brokedown. Pain is much better now that it’s stabilized. Hoping it heals up quicklike. Coach T had me go ahead and knock out Pull Ups. And boy was I scared. I shouldn’t have any problems hanging from the bar but I really didn’t know. Got my bands set up and just sat there overthinking everything. When I finally did one, a bone popped but not sure from where. What mattered is that there was no pain. I was able to knock out the pull ups but at a slow pace and boy oh boy my forearms were smoked. 17 days! Why is it so easy to lose strength but so hard to gain it?!?

11/12/13 WOD

11/12/13 WOD

MetCon: 15-9-3 of Deadlift (225,155#) OHS (135,95#), 200m run before each round
I wasn’t ready to go balls to the wall. Baby steps. So I opted for 135lb Deadlifts and substituted 65lb front squats for the OHS. I can’t rack the bar like I normally would and holding it on my arms isn’t as stable as I would like so I went for less weight.

3.2.1 – Go! I took off like I’m a runner or something and it actually felt good. BUT, 3/4 of the way in I could feel my abnormal powers draining. Then my brain realized what was going on and shut it down. I did a slow trot to finish out the 200m. Although I had just warmed up Deadlifts, they sure felt heavy now. Did 3 sets of 5. My right hammy was not happy with me AT ALL. Moved onto Front Squats and my out of shape self was just huffin and puffin. I barely made it to “jogging” status on the 2nd 200m run.

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The second round of Deadlifts and Front Squats were that much easier cause we dropped to 9 reps each. The whole time I’m thinking, why does this suck so bad? Well you took almost 3 weeks off and it’s gonna suck for a little bit. Went out for my 3rd run and pushed a “run” for half way then slowed down to a walk the second half. Knocked out 3 and 3. Time: 13:27. Not a good time at all but I showed up! I just have to keep telling myself that.

And that’s all I got folks. There’s a butt ton of busy outside of working out but it’s only probably entertaining to me and my own. So I’ll stick to the physical activity and every now and then the clean eating. Which by the way, I do have a link to share. I tried it and it was fantabulous. So if you’re up for some tasty chicken soup then make it. It’s easy and tasty. SLOW COOKER MEXICAN CHICKEN SOUPISH.   I hope everyone has a perfect day and of course don’t forget to be awesome.

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Bummin’ It

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Yikes, I know. Where have I been? Being a BUM, dammit. And the little guy above perfectly portrays how I look and feel right now! Am I happy about it? NO. Am I doing anything about it? No. I haven’t even walked into the BOOM Box for over a week! That’s like never happened unless I’ve been sick or out of town.

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Here I sit with a bum wrist. And no, I haven’t seeked professional medical advice, but I did realize I was living in some land of denial. I kept thinking it will get better, it just needs some rolling out and some ice and I’ll be good. Well it needed some stabilization. And finally when it hurt to put my hair in a pony tail, I snapped out of my delusional world and I went and bought a brace for it. And now, I’m officially taking care of it. Just stabilizing it for a couple of days has helped dramatically. I know, I know, most of you are screaming, go see a dr. but my insurance sucks, like bad. Like I have a $5K deductible and have to pay full, sometimes contracted rates, but pretty much full price until I reach $5K. So paying for XRays and/or other spendy services at full price isn’t fitting into my life right now. If after a couple of weeks, I’m still hurting, I promise I will see a dr.

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And instead of working at my eating habits or taking up some form of jogging/walking. I sit here in my sad, poor, poor, petrie hole. I have fallen into the water, but I’m not flying out. I am being a bum. I will lose the weight loss work challenge too :/ And as I sit here typing this, I’m seeing how disappointed in myself I am. So maybe I’ll motivate myself right out of this funk. But odds are I won’t. Not today at least. It also doesn’t help that it’s cold and dreary in my part of the world.

I also had to tell my Wodapalooza team that I don’t think I’ll be recovered enough in a month and even if I am, the losses I have from being limited will surely put us at a disadvantage. So there’s another reason to stuff my face with oreos. Nevermind the article floating around telling tales of oreos being worse than crack or something.

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Blah Blah Blah, right? It’s a phase, I hope. And maybe as I peruse the interwebs, I’ll find some motivation at working through my funk.

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I just wanted to check in with y’all and say HI. Ask for some prayers. And if prayers aren’t your thing, then maybe some happy thoughts. And I wanted to remind you all how awesome you are and to keep on doing the right thing. And if you’re in a funk with me, know that it’s short term. We’ll find the inspiration and motivation to get our mojo back!

Have a happy Tuesday! Be awesome!

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