Ouch, ouch, ouch...am I supposed to be able to move after this?::

So I went last Thursday to crossfit and was barely able to finish it.  I was practically in tears from frustration.  Not sure if it was all the lactic acid build up in my muscles or the fact that I was trying to do burpees with an extra 40 lbs on me, but I was about ready to quit right there.  Other folks there told me to not get discouraged and I tried to keep that in mind as I went home and proceeded to sit hunched over my laptop for hours working.  I slept for about an hour and then went to work for the whole day.  I was sore, tired, grumpy and made others grumpy too.  Ahhh....spreading the joy.

I did however get up Saturday morning and go to the gym (LA Fitness) and do a benchmark workout for about an hour.  I was NOT at the prescribed weight for any of the exercises, but I did 3 rounds in an hour.  Not the prescribed rounds, but hey we had stuff to get done that day.

I took Sunday off, but signed up for classes last night, tonight and Thursday night.  Last night I struggled with chin ups, tonight I struggled with mountain climbers and Thursday I'll struggle with something else, but there are other things I don't struggle with.  Like tonight I shoulder pressed 70lbs, more than once!  I know there are things I have to work on on my own like double unders, wall squats and strengthening my wrists, but like someone said earlier - I was there!  Showing up is half the battle.  Once you're there, you might as well do the workouts right?

Right now, my shoulder aches, my knee and my hip ache and I'll wake up in the morning to 2 Aleve and some aches and pains, but my shoulders are getting definition, doing certain motions are getting easier and I can see a difference in my posture.  I mean just the amount of sweat I am putting out after a workout means I'm doing something!

So I'm off to shower and the bed.  With luck, some of this weight will start falling off so I have less to lug up in the air for chin ups or toes to the bar.  Baby steps, right?

Here are the workouts I did for the last four visits to a gym:

Thursday:
After a warm up which for the life of me I cannot remember:
AMRAP in 10 minutes (should have been 5)
4 overhead squats (I used a 10lb weight)
6 Ring Dips or box dips
8 Burpees

I got about 5 rounds in

Saturday:
WU:  4 sets of 10 reps each of Sampson lunges, OH squats, situps and dips
WO:  5 RFT (rounds for time) of 800 m run, 30 kettleball swings (started with 15lbs, moved down to 8), 30 pull ups - I moved to a reverse row after the first round. I made 3 rounds in an hour.

Monday:
WU: 4 sets of 8-10 reps of reverse lunges with bar - I had 35# but could probably have done more, and chinups - as many as possible but at least 5 per set, I used 2 bands for this one.
WO:  3RFT of 8 front squats (35#) and 400m run.  I finished in 10:56

Tuesday:
WU:  8 sets: 5,3,3,2,2,1,1,1 Shoulder presses - I did 55# from the floor for the 8 sets and then did a couple more at 65# and 70# from the rack.
WO:  4 RFT - 150 Mountain Climbers (MC) - I will be getting the hang of double unders so I only have 50 of DU's to do instead - 15 Wall Balls (WB) (I used 6# ball) and 10 toes to bar (T2B) - this I could get at least to waist level.  I finished in 18:44 I think.

Tomorrow is a rest day.  THANK GOD!

FxF

Annie

Hump Day!

Surprisingly, I feel good considering I was feeling day one pain from last night's workout starting about 1 pm today.  As long as I don't move, I'm fantastic!  Trying to get out of the chair, the car or go to the bathroom....I am like my grandmother with the broken hip, using whatever I can to leverage myself up.  Once I get going I'm alright, but changing from up to down or down to up...OMG!!!!!

Tonight, the rest of the group was just as sore as me.  We had a different trainer today.  We learned more about the different types of typical exercises that will be included in the various WOD's (that's 'workout of the day' in case you missed it).  That was our warm up for tonight including box jumps, jump rope, kettle ball swings, wall balls and some different types of lifts with the weight bar.  I will have to get a jump rope to practice my DU's - double unders.  I love it when I get code words.  So basically, not only do I have to jump rope (making all my jiggly parts jiggle a lot more), but I have to at the same time, work on my coordination to be able to pass the jump rope under my feet twice in one jump.  And this is where the low copay on medical visits comes in handy.....

The WOD was:

10 to 1
Dead lifts
Power Push

I used a 35 lb bar and could zip through the dead lifts, but the overhead lifts, my arms are like jelly.  I will definitely be a T-rex tomorrow....very little arm motion range.

After this week, I have to decide when I'll be fitting the classes into my schedule.  Getting there is a struggle, but I am hoping as the days get longer, traffic will improve so it's not so bad.  We'll see right?

Learning my lesson from last night, I ate at 4 so as to give enough time to digest before doing the workout.  Of course I was starving when I finally got home from class and from taking Alex to his dad's.  I was fairly good - scrambled eggs with wild onions, garlic powder and some cheese sprinkled in.  DELICIOUS!  The trainer tonight asked if we had any nutrition questions.  She said that people tend to put the nutritional changes last when implementing health changes, when really they need to do that first.  I mentally want to, but convincing that evil twin that craves a box of chocolate covered donuts at 1 am, that's gonna be a struggle!

Well off to bed...hopefully I'll be able to get out of bed in the morning....come on Day 2 pain!

FxF

Annie A.

Who signs me up for this crap?????

Day one of Cross Fit on the Move.  Oh My God!  I thought I was gonna hurl and I wasn't even a third of the way thru the workout.  I finished though, made it home, put laundry away, showered, got the boy in bed and got some work done.  I won't make it to bed on time tonight, but I worked out like a mo-fo today.  Here is the workout in case anyone wants to follow along:

Warm up:

• Rowing (machine obviously since we didn't have a boat handy) 200m
• Squats - 2 minutes 
• 10 pushups (good form - keep that butt tucked in!)
• 400m run

Workout:

• 400 m run
• 15 pullups, pushups and squats
• 12 pullups, pushups and squats
• 9 pullups, pushups and squats
• 400m run

I completed in 14:04.  I'm guessing this was a benchmark workout and I will probably do this again soon to see my progress.  Hopefully, I'll make some.  #1 progress is to not feel nauseous after the run and the first set of pullups.  After that I went outside for a minute to cool off, catch my breath.  Next time I want to pace myself so I can make it through without stopping.  #2 progress is to do an actual pull up - using the bar - and not the modification of the ring row.  #3 progress is to not do girlie push ups - legs straight, butt tucked, pound them out.  My squats were my best format - had those down pat.  One lady nearby clicked every time she did one.  Thankfully that wasn't me.  Today.  However, tomorrow is probably another thing altogether.  

This morning I had weighed in at 170.8.  We'll see if I cross the 170 barrier in the morning.  Fingers crossed...well they would be if they didn't hurt like the rest of me.  

I also got the guide for the gluten free diet - not sure I have the strength to start that until the weekend.  Planning is #1 and with nothing but rice chex and skim milk for breakfast, I'm not gonna be able to start right away.  I struggle with maintaining interest past the first week so with everyone watching (so to speak) I have to definitely make more of an effort.  And no more wasting fresh veggies by buying them and letting them rot in the fridge while I eat cookies and microwaved pizzas.  How stupid is that right?  

I am struggling with the idea of deprivation.  I know I shouldn't be feeling that way because I will be full, but right now it feels like I am giving up the good stuff.  I need to change the mindset to giving up the bad stuff.  Like if I was giving up cigarettes or something like that.  I know I need to give up the sodas...today I read that the same ingredient used in flame retardant is used in Mountain Dew.  So in those commercials where the kids do stupid things...there's a reason for that.  I need to warn my cousin in Florida who drinks those like I drink Diet Pepsi's.  I'm sure she'd say the same thing back to me....aspartame causes brain damage and increases my chances of getting diabetes.  AWESOME!  No wonder I can't think anymore.

Well, the nausea has passed, but the exhaustion is setting in.  Happy Tuesday everyone!

FxF

Annie A.

Man that hurts!

Falling off the wagon should leave physical marks like, well like you fell off a wagon.  Why is it a wagon anyway?  Wouldn't a bus be faster, and you'd be less likely to fall off of it...just sayin'....but I digress.

So I avoided blogging when I started drinking soda again, kept avoiding it when I couldn't stop eating at 8 pm, and when the new year weekend came and went, I figured I'd get back into it when I settled into a new workout routine.  These things did not happen, neither the blogging, nor the workout routine.

Here is what I know.  I procrastinate.  I like to sit around reading or working on the computer or watching TV rather than hiking mountains, doing triathalons or whatever other outrageously physical activity there is out there.  I also know that I don't like my stationary lifestyle and I make forays to change it but nothing sticks.  Here's why:  Patience.

We all know I don't have any and so when I don't see some tremendous effect in the first week, I lose interest. I allow one bad habit to creep back in, then another, and then I am right back playing FB games for hours on end, stuffing a bag of cookies in my mouth while watching TV and NOT doing anything physical or productive.

That ends.  Actually it already ended.  These are the changes I've made:

1. I gave up FB games two weeks ago.  It's caused me to be on the computer a lot less too.  I am more productive at work since I am not sneaking off to my FB page to send gifts or work on goals or whatever.  
2. I have tried a couple of different meal plans, but one thing is for sure...no more gluten.  I bought Ezekiel bread the other day for the kids, but I am working hard at finding gluten free products (delicious chocolate cookies by Pamela's in case you're interested).
3. I finally called and made my appointment to use the Cross Fit on the Move (CFOTM) Groupon I bought a couple of months ago.  I had my first class tonight.  More on that later.
4. I am working hard at getting enough sleep and not taking stress from home to work and stress from work home at night.  I am enjoying spending time with my family.  Soon I may be ready to venture out into public...not yet though.

I have done these things this month.  I hope with the CFOTM classes, I will actually get my ass moving again.  I have a bet with a friend that the person that loses 10 lbs first gets a new purse from the other person.  Sadly neither of us is doing all that well although she is in a pant size smaller while I am bursting the seams on my size 14's.  She is 5 (or more) inches taller than me - how can she be in clothes smaller than me???  What is up with that?

One of the things we had to do tonight was write down 5 goals that being at CFOTM would help us accomplish.  This is a list of the 4 I wrote down and the one I secretly keep in my head as the REAL motivator for my fitness kick this go round:

1. I want to reach my goal weight of 138 lbs.  This would mean losing (as of this morning's weigh in) 35.2lbs. 
2. I want to be able to run a 1/2 marathon in under 2:15:00 - that would mean improving my record by 5-7 minutes, but would entail getting faster and in better shape to be able to endure a 1/2 marathon.  
3. I want to be in clothes 2-3 sizes smaller (this is an 8 or a 10). 
4. I want to be healthy and strong and fit.

and the 5th reason - I want to look so damned good, 'that' guy will regret not picking me.  You know the guy.  The one that when you think about him you start to salivate, the one that in your current state, he doesn't look twice at you, the one that you would love to have hanging on the line while you make him crazy for you.  Yeah, that guy.  We all have one, had one or want one.  So while I am not doing this to get him back, I am thankful to him for giving me the motivation to do this.  I want to be confident in my skin enough to know he wants me and you know what, I don't want him anymore.

Okay, well I have to get offline now so I can make my bedtime of 10:30.  It's a shame my brain doesn't know it's bedtime yet, but soon, soon I will get my rhythms back.  Nite nite all!

FxF (Fit by Forty)

Annie