Desperate Measures

HTFU!

I did it!  I finally did it!  After procrastinating for four days, I am now back at CrossFit.

I was actually dressed and ready to go twice last week and, one of those times, I was already out the door.  But I kept finding excuses not to go - my shorts were too short, it was too late, I thought I had sore eyes...  When the simple truth was that I was terrified of going back in the box.

I don't even remember when my last real workout was.  I would have to say that that would have to be my last real kettlebell session at the now defunct Phil. Kettlebell Training Center.  Which was too long ago.  (9 May 2012, going by my blog posts.  Everything I've done since then I consider play.)

And then, of course, I've been eating like a pig since Christmas.  (Weight as of 8 AM today:  56.6 kilos.  that's .6 up since I got back from Australia, and I am officially 1.6 kilos over my acceptable limit.)

Last Saturday, to ease myself into working out, I enrolled myself back in barre3.  It was just my luck that my first day back had to be at an advanced class.  Needless to say, there was no grace or fluidity in any of my movements as I clumsily struggled along.  It was hard not to notice since there were only three of us in the damned class.

Today, I thought I was ready for CrossFit.  Until I finally got to the Libis box which, apparently, had undergone some renovation.  New box, new coach, new faces.  I felt disoriented.  It's a good thing the receptionist recognized me and I saw two guys whom I knew from sessions past, so the banter helped ease my apprehension.

We practiced the hang snatch.

 

I started with the 25-lb. bar then only ended up adding 7.5 lbs. to each side.  When I added the 10-lb. plates, I couldn't lift the barbell over my head.  Well, I did.  Once.  But I, more or less, pushed the weights over my head, instead of pulling it up, as required.

Metabolic conditioning WOD was 7 rounds of:

• 7 overhead squats (- I just used the 25-lb. bar)

 

• 7 burpees to box jump (18 in. box)

 

Trust me, I didn't look anything like that.

And then... there it was.  The feeling like you're heart is about to give out and death is close at hand...

But that's really just CrossFit for you.

I finished in 12:28.

Oh, I saw the Bootcamp WOD on the white board, and I'm not sure why the CrossFit MNL site says that it is "highly recommended for beginners intimidated by CrossFit" because it looked infinitely harder than the regular WOD.  I would only willingly join a CrossFit Bootcamp session if and when I've completely lost my mind.  Or after a year or so of doing regular WODs but, for now, I've only committed to a month of CrossFit.

I intend to go to CrossFit every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and barre 3 every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday/Sunday. 

I also resumed Paleo today.

Gai Olivares is getting back on track.

Now if only I can get my blog posts up to speed as well...  (Yes, I realize I've been remiss.  Sorry about that.  However, if I can't backtrack, I can only move forward.  And that's how it might have to be.)

CrossFit Strength Training, 14 December 2011, 7:30 AM

The WOD:

Watch this video on the hollow body position:

 

RJ started us off in the first position (legs and arms up).  He gave us other variations to try once we were comfortable but if we lost the lift in our shoulders or hips, we had to get back into the first position.  He said that, ideally, we should be able to maintain the hollow body position - with legs and arms extended in opposite directions - for the entire 30 10-second reps.

For the cash-out, I used 45 lbs.  Was tempted to pyramid down when I had trouble cleaning the bar to set up for the overhead hold but, yes, I stayed with it.  (RJ was very proud of me, thank you very much.  He asked if I was sleeping better because I seemed to be getting stronger.  No, am not sleeping better, I'm just pushing myself more.)

The grasshoppers we did were similar to the ones in this video but we had to bring the knees to the opposite elbows.  I must have been doing them wrong because I found them easy and breezed through them without breaking a sweat.  One of the other girls injured her back doing these though.

The WOD would have been a piece of cake if it weren't for the "DU"s.   That's "double unders" to you.  Chris Spealler makes them look so damned easy:

 

Yeeeeah, I'm still doing 1.5 overs.  Which means that, instead of 20 double unders, I had to do 60 singles.  Times ten.  That's 600 jump ropes.  600.  Well, if you're me, that's actually 900 jump ropes.  No wonder my feet were ready to fall off after the second set.

Can't remember my time.  I think it was 21:44 minutes but I could be wrong. 

CrossFit Strength Training, 12 December 2011, 6:30 PM

The snatch high pull.  Yes, it's a strange and awkward movement.  I only got up to 55 lbs. 

The cash-out was 6 rounds of:

• 20 fast feet - (It looks like the first part of this video but without turning around the box.)  That's 20 on each foot for a total count of 40.
• 6 side-to-side push-ups - Again, count is on each side for a total of 12.
• 3 kettlebell swings - I didn't do Rx and used the 12-kilo kettlebell.
• 3 snatch high pulls - AA told me to lift 45 lbs.

I finished in 9:05 minutes.

CrossFit Strength Training, 6 December 2011, 12:30 PM

Pfft.  If you want to test how strong - or how weak - your shoulders are, do a shoulder press.  The power can't come from your legs or your hips.  It's all shoulders.

Predictably, I could only lift 35 lbs.  RJ said it was too easy for me but I really couldn't lift the 45-lb. barbell without dipping.  So I just did more sets using the 35-lb. bar.

For the cash-out, I used the 25-lb. bar.  Damned thrusters.  Did you see how many squats we had to do yesterday?  Try doing a thruster when your legs have turned to lead.  I asked them to turn the music up so that I could scream a little.

I must say though that my band-assisted pull-ups have vastly improved.  It actually looks like I'm doing real pull-ups (albeit with a giant green rubber band attached to my foot).  If I keep doing this for a year, maybe I'll finally move up to the purple band.  Har har.

I completed four rounds and finished the 100 m. row of the fifth round.

By the way, this is my last month at the box.  It sucks because I'll be traveling a lot this month too, so I won't be going to CrossFit as often as I would like.  There are a few new things I have lined up for the New Year that I'd like to try out and write about, but mostly I'd like to commit to six months of Krav Maga (and kettlebell training).  So I hope to be going to the box everyday this December, at least while I'm here in Manila.

CrossFit Strength Training, 1 December 2011, 7:30 AM

Today, we did back squats.  We had to keep adding plates to our barbells, do five reps, until we hit our maximum weight.  I was able to do five reps of 95 lbs. but could only do two of 105 lbs.

Cash-out was 15 minutes of four rounds:

• 8 stiff-legged deadlifts
• 8 ring push-ups
• 8 hang cleans
• 8 wall ball sit-ups
• 1 minute plank

Since there were a lot of us, we were split into two groups.  The first one followed the above order, while the second one (where I was grouped) started with the hang cleans.  Rx was 50% of our maximum back squat weight so I did 45 lbs.  I finished in 12:25 minutes.

CrossFit Strength Training, 24 November 2011, 12:30 PM

Warm-up:

I didn't do the jump ropes though.  I did a 250 m. row instead.

WOD was:

I used the 25-lb. bar to do the snatch balance, both for the strength exercise (A) and the metabolic conditioning exercise (B) that followed.

My fastest time for exercise B was 37 seconds.  My slowest time was 43 seconds.

CrossFit Strength Training, 3 November 2011, 7:30 AM

Team 1 was in da box!  Herb, back from the States, sporting a shaved head, and Nickey, looking fabulously fit - being the only one on the team sticking to the Paleo diet.  (She's been scoring top marks while Herb and I have been notoriously slacking off.)

Today's strength training was for overhead squats.  I probably should have pushed more but I stopped lifting at 55 lbs. because I felt that my squats were already compromised.

Cash-out was 15 minute AMRAPs of:

• 3 overhead squats (Rx for women was 65 lbs. but I only used the 35-lb. bar)
• 6 burpees
• 9 pull-ups - Matt thought that the green band was too easy for me and tried getting me on the purple band but I could barely do one pull-up without his assistance so I went back to using the green band but, before I left, he said that he'd work on the pull-ups with me next time.

I finished 11 rounds.

CrossFit Strength Training, 20 October 2011, 12:30 PM

I had no intention of going to CrossFit today.  I sent Nickey a message that I was going to be out partying Wednesday night and had appointments all of Thursday afternoon so that it was highly unlikely that I would make it to any of the morning sessions.  She told me not to stress about it, since the head-to-head with the other Paleo Challenge teams was only worth two points - if we even won, that is.

Stumbling in at five in the morning, after having danced for four hours straight in four-inch heels, I didn't even bother to set the alarm clock.

Except that I woke up at ten o'clock anyway.  With a pillow over my head, I reached for my phone and checked my messages.  There was one from Nickey informing me of the WOD today, how she fared and she signed off by wishing me luck.

What the --?!  Didn't we agree...?

I had flashbacks of the previous evening.  It involved beer, rum and cigarettes.  Eek!  That would be minus two billion Paleo Challenge points.  For crying out loud.  I had to at least try not to let Nickey down any more than I already had.  Plus the WOD sounded fairly easy.  (There were no burpees involved.)  I canceled my one o'clock and willed myself to join the land of the living.

I made it to the 12:30 session.  I saw Karen and said hello.  Upon hearing my raspy voice, she asked if I was okay.  I confessed that I had been smoking.  (And left out the part about the dancing, drinking and the lack of sleep.)

Today was strength day.  Thankgod.  We were doing cleans.

I started with the 35-lb. bar, seeing as the 25-lb. bars have disappeared from the box, and cleaned it three times.  Then I moved on to the 45-lb. bar and cleaned that three times.  Then I added 10-lb. plates to the 35-lb. bar and cleaned that three times.  At 65 lbs., I faltered.

Karen had me go back to the 55-lb. barbell and finish the last two rounds of three with it.  She told me that she thought the 55-lb. barbell was too light for me but that I had to get used to the motion of cleaning before I could lift the 65-lb. barbell.  She was right.  After I finished the last two sets with the 55-lb. barbell, I tried cleaning the 65-lb. one again and was successful with the first two tries but got stage fright as soon as Karen started watching me and coudn't do it anymore.

The "cash out" (I have no idea why they call it "cash out" but it's the mini-WOD that follows the strength workout) was 6 minutes AMRAPs of:

• 6 medicine ball cleans
• 6 box jumps
• 6 wall balls 

Yeah, try doing box jumps after a night of brain cell carnage.  I nearly missed the box entirely at one point.  I managed to finish four rounds and the box jumps of the fifth round.

After the WOD, I did 50 sit-ups on my own.  I think I'll start doing extra work after the WODs from now on.  It might be what I need to get better at this.

CrossFit Strength?

Those who've seen me recently have noticed that, since I've gotten skinnier, I've also lost whatever muscle definition I had in my arms.

I know for sure that I'm not as strong as I used to be doing CrossFit than I was when I was kettlebell training or doing Kinesis.  I was already doing two-hand swings with a 24-kilo kettlebell and one-hand swings with a 16-kilo kettlebell and now I'm only two-hand swinging 12 kilos?  What can I one-hand swing?  Eight kilos?  That doesn't seem right.

The thing is, I'm not sure how one is supposed to gain strength while doing CrossFit when the WODs are so random and inconsistent.  You could be doing push-ups for three days straight and then none at all.  I was doing sumo deadlift high pulls for an entire week when I started CrossFit, but I haven't encountered them since.  Strength is something you build on and the inconsistencies of the WODs don't exactly allow that.  

I know that this is something CrossFit has been criticized for (see links to articles below) and it has tried to address with its CrossFit Strength Bias program.  Which we do at Crossfit MNL, what, once or twice a month?  That's hardly enough to build any actual strength on.

The hardcore CrossFitters at CrossFit MNL swear that they've gained strength doing the WODs.  But then I see them staying after the WODs are done, to do more exercises on their own.  They row or do sit-ups or pull-ups.  I wonder how many of them visit The Box on off-hours (or other gyms for that matter) to supplement the WODs with weight training.

I'm not sure that I've become more fit since doing CrossFit.  I was already pretty fit when I got into it.  It's possible that my stamina has improved but I never did like to rest much between exercises.  It's a great cardio workout, that's for sure.  And I do like the WODs and the challenges they present.  I like the variety.  It's certainly never boring.  But I do wonder if it's bringing me closer to achieving my fitness goals.

I have lost weight, but that's more because of the Paleo diet than the workouts.  If I am losing muscle though, then that is a concern.  Not that I have aspirations to become The Bride of The Hulk.  Not at all.  Which is why I am not too worried about not being able to lift heavy weights.  But I do want some muscle tone.

Then again, maybe it's this now-you-see-me-now-you-don't disappearing act I keep pulling.  Or maybe I'm not pushing myself hard enough.  Whatever.  I'm in this till December after which I'll evaluate my options and proceed as I see, um, fit.

***

Some articles worth reading:

CrossFit:  The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
Eight Ways to Un-Fuck Your CrossFit Gym
The Truth About CrossFit

CrossFit Strength Training, 6 October 2011, 7:30 AM

Team 1 was in the house!!!  Yay, Nickey and Herb!  And me!  Yay!

Today, we did deadlifts.  We had to do a deadlift then add on plates until we hit our maximum weight.  Our heaviest weights were as follows:

• Herb - 335 lbs.
• Nickey - 205 lbs.  (FYI, Nickey is one of CrossFit MNL's Amazon Women on the Moon.)
• me - 135 lbs.

Afterwards, we had to do 6 minute AMRAPs of:

• 6 kettlebell swings
• 6 kettlebell cleans
• 6 (on each leg) backward lunges

Here's how we stacked up:

• Nickey - 5 reps
• Herb - 4 reps
• me - 3 reps  + 6 kb swings

Yeah, yeah , yeah.

I hate squats.

(As if I love anything else on there.  I hate them all.  Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh, I suck.  Phooey.)