My CrossFit Experience

Day 360 - Hot Body, Nasty Hands

2012-01-26T12:53:00.001-05:00

You know how they say you can always spot a CrossFit chick - hot body, nasty hands?

Tuesday we did 75 pull ups which made today not very fun. I think I am in a little funk anyway, but today we did back squats and because of the 20x1 tempo I didn't lift as much as I would have liked to. And then we had to do weight pull ups. I felt so weak - again there was a 22x2 tempo, and I felt fine on the up, and the hold at the top, it was the 2 second lower that was killing me. My shoulders just kept letting me down. Too quickly. Maybe it was because of my nasty CrossFit hands. Couldn't get a good grip.

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Day 358 - "Karen"

2012-01-13T12:22:00.003-05:00

Today was Karen - 150 wall balls for time. Karen RX is 20# ball for men, #14 for women - to the 10 foot line for both.

I hate Karen - mostly because last time we did it I was in the bottom percentage on the white board. First I thought about not going. Then I thought about just getting through it and not worrying about my time.

But when I got there my coach told me he wanted me to use a 20# ball. And throw to the 10 foot line. Wasn't it bad enough that I didn't want to do it at all? Now I had to find it in me to use the big ball? He really does push me in ways I would NEVER push myself. That's why he's there and that's why I'm progressing.

I knew I could use the 20# ball - but only to the women's line. I have a hard time throwing it to the men's. I told him I would do my best. And then tried to leave during the warm up.

Ok, not really.

But I knew that I was going to be very slow so I forgot about the clock and just wanted to finish. I broke it up into 6 sets of 25. Then I broke those up into 5 sets of 5. And I got to 100 and thought I was going to die. But I kept throwing.

(The whole WOD was to the women's line - I think I only got the first 3 throws to the men's line).

At 100 Coach brought me a 14# ball and told me to do 25 unbroken with the 14# ball. I did 8 unbroken and slowly fought my way to 25. And then went back to 20# ball for the last set of 25.

And I finished. Laid on the ground and rued the day that I ever found CrossFit. Then thanked God that I found CrossFit and wondered where I would be without it. And my total time was 12:06. And that makes me happy.

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Updates

2012-01-12T12:47:00.001-05:00

Today's WOD rocked. More burpees. More double unders. It was stellar. On to more interesting things to talk about. Like that our box is doing a 30 day paleo challenge. There are three teams competing on a team level and individual level. I did not sign up for the challenge because I couldn't make any changes to my diet to make it better and because I've been eating this way for so long I wouldn't expect any major body comp changes in the next 30 days. But the really exciting news that I get to be a team captain for one of the teams. It's great - everyone is really into it and asking great questions and posting pictures of their delicious meals on Facebook. It's creating a whole new energy in the gym above and beyond sweating it out together. Go team RED!

Another really fun thing this week is this video that went viral on Facebook yesterday. I have been laughing about it ever since, and also wondering how many of these things I've said.

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Day 356 - Burpee Broad Jump

2012-01-10T18:54:00.000-05:00

Today's WOD was just so incredibly perfect. It was 6 rounds - three of this and three of that.

They were short.
And hard.
And so intense.
And included burpee broad jumps.

Photo - paul'a fitness blog

It was the kind of day where you go into the box with a head full of problems and you leave with a huge grin and a head full of endorphins and no idea what was bothering you before. Just what the doctor ordered.

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Day 354 - Double Unders - Jump for Joy

2012-01-06T11:12:00.000-05:00

Here's to keeping it real in the new year. Today's WOD was for time. 5 Rounds. And it included double unders if you have them. How many times have you started out doing double unders in a WOD and then you get frustrated after only stringing 4-5 together at a time and you feel like you are taking so much time starting over. And starting over. And starting over. So you go to singles cause that clock is ticking.

Photo - inkity

After I looked at the times on the white board for the early class, I was tempted to just do singles and jump fast. But I have double unders. And I decided that no matter how long the WOD took me, I was going to do doubles. But the jump rope gods were looking down on me today, because in the first round the doubles came easy and I got through them like nothing. And if I had done singles I would have cheated myself of that experience. I finished all five rounds with DU's and in the last round I got them unbroken.

So here's to believing in yourself more and pushing yourself to do a heavier weight or doing pull ups without a band in a WOD if you have a couple pull ups, or doing double unders in a WOD if you have a couple DU's. Even if it takes you longer. Even if you are the slowest time on the board today. The feeling of accomplishment is worth it.

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Day 353 - A Nice A@@

2012-01-05T15:50:00.000-05:00

We all know CrossFit isn't about how you look, it's about what you can do. But everyone has a body image. And I think it's human nature to want to look good. And while I don't obsess about the way I look - (I don't really think about how toned my arms have become until someone comments on them) - I still feel like I have one area that could use a little lift - all that junk in the trunk. Don't get me wrong - I think I can hold my own in my Lululemon pants. But it's the dimpled sad pockets of ick UNDER those Lulu's that need improvement.

You may have seen this image making it's way around Pinterest.

When I first saw it I have to say I had a little butt envy. But I showed it to some of my coaches and their reactions surprised me. One said it's probably a dude. Another said that her butt is really big - and her legs are really big. Like probably bigger than my coach's leg. And that I would have to drink a whole lot of milk to get that kind of bulk. (And we all know that we don't DRINK milk on the paleo diet). SO maybe I don't want EXACTLY this butt. Maybe a smaller more gentle version. But I'm still doing millions of lunges this year. Because in the immortal words of Sage Burgener "Lunges really do give you a better butt....which, in turn, makes you a better person." Amen Sage. Amen.

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Day 352 - Go Go GO and Coaches Yelling

2012-01-03T12:11:00.001-05:00

I don't watch the clock during a timed WOD. Maybe that's a tool I can learn to use so I know when to pace myself and I know when to push. But generally in a timed WOD I just push and try to get through it as fast as I can.

Today we rowed, swung heavy kettle bells, did burpees, swung heavy kettle bells and rowed again. They were short rows - only 250 meters. Sprints. I decided to do the WOD Rx'd with a 1.5 POOD. That #44 kettle bell was calling my name but I pretended not to hear it and went Rx'd.

During the first set of 15 KB swings I did 10 unbroken and then did the last 5. In the second set of 15 I only did 6 and put the bell down. I did 2 more and then felt like I couldn't do anymore. I walked away from it. I looked at my coaches and thought they would bring me the lighter bell. But no-one did. I had to pick it up again. And I did. And I finished the last 7 unbroken.

But the entire time, all of the coaches in the gym were yelling at me like I was the tortoise in the race. I had seen a lot of the times on the white board from the early class and they were in the 4-5 minute range. All using a #35 KB. But the way everyone was yelling at me I was sure I had to be closing in on 10 minutes. I think someone even said my burpees looked like I was 50 years old.

I finished the WOD in 5:41. Which honestly I was ecstatic about being that I used the heavy KB. I think that's a respectable time. Maybe it's time to stop listening to the yelling and start watching the clock.

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Day 351 - Back Squats

2012-01-02T15:32:00.000-05:00

2012 - the year of the non-goal. I have been reading a really great book called "Thick Face, Black Heart" and while I am only half way through the book, it has made me think a lot about goals and where I am headed in my training and in my life. I used to be very driven and motivated and lived every single day by goals. I think that's part of my control issues. For at least the last year I have been living without goals. Just taking life day by day. My stress level is way down. And last week I came to the conclusion that maybe instead of setting goals and trying to control our lives, maybe the secret to life is to just let life come at us and to try to have the strength and wisdom to deal with it as it comes. Isn't that what CrossFit is all about - being prepared for anything? If we knew tomorrow's WOD was going to be dead lifts and the following day was going to be dead lifts, we would practice dead lifts and get really good at dead lifts. That's not how we train. We don't know what tomorrow's WOD will be. But we are mentally and physically prepared for whatever it is. So I am not setting a fitness goal this year - I am just going to do my best every single day. At least I thought I was.

Today was back squats. My back squats are finally progressing again. For an entire year I was afraid of falling and my weight didn't progress AT ALL. I stayed at 125# for almost the entire year. Last week I had a #155 one rep max. Today we did 5 sets of 3 heavy reps. I put #130 on the bar and felt pretty good about that (it's more than #125). But then my workout partner Lisa who I was sharing a bar with, put #160 on the bar. And she lifted it like it was nothing. And it made me wish I was as strong as Lisa. Not exactly being happy with my own personal best. Good reminder not to compare myself to other people in the gym - I'm going to do MY best this year. I AM going to do my best this year. I am.

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Happy New Year CrossFitting Friends

2012-01-01T19:59:00.002-05:00

Today we were watching the replay of the CrossFit Games on ESPN 2. So motivating. And my husband really said, out loud, "Wow, those CrossFitters are crazy." Um, hello? What do you think I have been doing every morning between 8am and 10 am for the last two years? THOSE CrossFitters.

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Seed Cycling to Regulate Female Hormones

2011-11-19T18:00:00.001-05:00

Periods. No-one’s favorite subject. I have had a lot of problems in this area in my late 30’s. And my experience with GYNs seems to be that they love to medicate and operate for fast fixes, but don’t ever try to help you get to the root of your problems. I wanted to share my story so that other women may think about alternatives before any unnecessary medications or surgeries happen to them.

A couple of months ago I started having very painful cramping. The kind that Advil or Motrin wouldn't touch. My doctor recommended using a progesterone cream for the last 14 days of my cycle to see if that helps. The cream burns your skin, it can’t be used near any vital organs (I put it on my wrists and think about whooshing into my blood stream) and there is a very large warning on the side of the box about cancer. Great. But it stopped my cramping. And I wanted to know why, so I Googled it. It turns out that I am seemingly estrogen dominant. Some symptoms of estrogen dominance that I had were:

Decreased sex drive
Depression with anxiety or agitation (off and on since my teens)
Fat gain, especially around the abdomen, hips, and thighs (identified by personal trainer as possible estrogen issue)
Fertility Issues (miscarriage, difficulty getting pregnant)
Fibrocystic breasts
Hair loss (even took this one to my physician because it was so bad)
Migraines (went away with paleo diet)
Irregular menstrual periods (went away with paleo diet)
Irritability
Magnesium deficiency
Mood swings
Premature birth (my daughter was born 8 weeks early)
Uterine fibroids
Sensation of foreign object in ear such as insects
Premature wrinkling
Panic attacks
Painful ovaries upon ovulation
Social phobia, sense of loss of social skills, withdrawal

This is not a pretty list. I actually feel like a wreck when I see all of these symptoms grouped together like this. However it’s shocking to me that my doctor, seeing some of these MAJOR symptoms, like having a baby two months prematurely and fibrocystic breasts, has never suggested testing my hormone levels to see if there was a problem. It wasn’t until I complained about cramping that she suggested progesterone cream.

In the middle of all of this reproductive system chaos, my CrossFit coach posted a video about female health on the gym’s blog. It was an interview with a holistic doctor - Dr. Thom, talking about female athletes who don’t have periods anymore. It turns out it’s pretty important to have periods - they flush toxins from the body. (Really wishing I hadn’t had that ablation now). And here’s the kicker. He suggested Seed Cycling to get a woman’s hormones back on track. He suggested that eating certain seeds at the beginning of the cycle and switching seeds after two weeks can regulate hormones. Seeds. I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing. But I Googled it. And it turns out to be a real thing.

I figured that it had to be better than progesterone cream, so I tried it for a month. For the first two weeks of the cycle a woman eats flax, pumpkin or chia seeds. We are talking raw seeds - nothing roasted or salted. I ate pumpkin seeds daily on a salad. Dr. Thom also suggests taking 3 grams of fish oil a day during these two weeks.

For the second two weeks of the cycle, switch to sesame or sunflower seeds (again raw), lower the dose of fish oil, and add an Evening Primrose Oil supplement.

For the first week eating pumpkin seeds I felt a little foolish. How could seeds actually change my hormones? But after that first week I felt different. I felt invincible - I felt vivacious, strong and sexy and had a very healthy libido. Those feelings lasted for the entire second week. (Normally I may feel that way for a day or two during ovulation). I can always feel myself ovulate, and it happened like clockwork on day 14. I could FEEL my body working. It’s a hard thing to describe, but it feels pretty darn amazing. (Could all of that be from eating pumpkin seeds??)

On day 15 I switched to sunflower seeds and added the Evening Primrose Oil. (I wasn’t sure about dosing so I used 1300mg capsules. Not sure if that much is needed.) I was hoping that this combination would support my progesterone enough to ward off the moodiness and irritability I normally start to feel on day 15 and usually have for the last two weeks of my cycle. Mostly I was hoping that they would prevent the severe cramping I was experiencing.

My mood was greatly improved - I didn’t have an annoyed, snappy attitude. I was very patient with my kids and even welcomed them helping me with messy projects that would normally drive me to distraction during this phase of the cycle. Again, like with the pumpkin seeds, the second week of sunflower seeds had me feeling amazing. It was like being on mood-enhancing drugs. I have heard friends who take anti-depressants describe the way I was feeling. Happiness was bubbling out of me like high doses of Prozac. It’s not just that they stopped me from feeling bad - it’s that they made me feel so, so good.

I did experience some mild cramping at the end of the cycle. At first this bummed me out because with the progesterone cream I had no cramping. But the cramps were not as bad as without the seeds, not bad enough to require pain medication, and I’m hoping that with repeated use of the seeds my hormones will adjust so that this gets better and better.

In the end, even if I still had severe pain and cramping, the mood enhancing effects of the seeds were enough to convince me to stay with it. I would highly recommend this to every woman I know, but I’m sure the couple of friends I have talked with about it think I have lost my mind. All I can say is that if you are having any troubles in this area, this is a low cost, natural remedy that is harmless to try.

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Run

2011-10-25T16:32:00.000-04:00

Today I ran like the wind. One of our new members even said "You really run fast." Me. Proof that this thing called CrossFit isn't just another snake oil. It really works.

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Day 300.

2011-09-22T15:28:00.003-04:00

300 WODs.
300 Hours.
Thousands of air squats and handstands and ab mat sit ups.
And pull ups - that started with a big fat white band and now with no band.
And push ups - that started on my knees and now look pretty good chest-to-deck, toes on the ground. Thousands of meters rowed.
And run.
And kettlebell swings. So many kettlebell swings.
And a lot of sweat.
And a little blood.
And maybe a couple of tears - virtual tears of course - there's no crying in CrossFit.
And a lot of growth - muscularly and as a person.
A huge boost in self esteem and belief in myself.
A lot of walking toward a challenge instead of walking away.
For me, CrossFit has become like breathing - it's necessary.
I wouldn't be me without it.
It's been a game changer.
A life changer.
My body looks different.
My hands look different.
My kitchen looks different.
I am CrossFit.

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Day 296 - Fight Gone Bad

2011-09-19T10:32:00.000-04:00

Fight Gone Bad went really really bad. The last time I did it was over a year ago and I was only using a 35# bar. I not only was hoping to beat my score, this was my first time doing it RX'd. Despite that fact, I guess I wasn't taking it very seriously. I kept thinking that it's just like any other WOD, don't get excited about it, just go in and do it.

We invited another box to come and do it with us, so there were 100 people in the box, which was unsettling to me. I guess I can point to a million things that went wrong, but ultimately I think I was dehydrated and wanted to walk away after Round 1. A friend talked me through it rep by rep - I was sure I was going to pass out - the room was spinning, my mouth was like cotton and all I could hear was people calling my name - I couldn't hear the music, I couldn't get any focus. Round 3 was a little better, but friends, by then, it's all over.

The best part of the morning for me was that 3 children from our box did the WOD in a children's heat and my 9 year old daughter was one of them.

She was so excited and pumped and awesome and she used the same box that I did for box jumps. I asked her if she was nervous in front of all of those people and she said, "everyone was saying my name - it's like I was famous!". I am so proud of her and love that she's growing up in this environment and feels comfortable in "competition". They are the future of our sport.

Anyway, glad it's over, was happy to be a part of it for a good cause, and was pumped to see so many people getting in to it this year.

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Day 293 - ChChChCh Changes

2011-09-09T16:56:00.000-04:00

I just realized that it's been a REALLY long time since I've written anything about my workout. I think it's because I got in a really comfortable place - I CrossFit to look and feel better, for a daily challenge, and for the awesome community, I'm not in this to win anything or get better quickly - this is a long term journey for me and I didn't feel like I had anything else to say about it.

Except when I think about where I am today versus where I was in March, a lot has changed. Over the summer I feel like a reached a new level of training. I went in one day to a WOD with burpees and suddenly I was flying through them instead of resting and huffing and puffing through them. My toes to bar started looking more like they should look instead of some weird embarrassing dance move. I am stringing more and more pull ups together. My handstand push ups are getting deeper and deeper. I just feel stronger and quicker. I'm not worried about what the WOD will be anymore - no more clammy hands on the drive to the Box - I know now that whatever the WOD is, I'm going to do it and it's going to be good. I won't be the fastest time on the white board, or the heaviest weight on the white board, but I feel like I have earned a seat at the table and I am comfortable sitting in it, if that makes sense.

My diet is completely dialed in - still very low carb paleo. I have learned about myself that when I add more carbs to my diet I feel sluggish and bloated and not very happy of myself in general. I am drinking whey protein with added glutamine with BCAAs post WOD. I am also back to eating the sweet potato/applesauce mash about an hour post WOD.

I wonder sometimes if it's possible to get stronger than I am now. Will my lifts continue to go up? I know I will get more pull ups and be able to do more bodyweight work, but at what point are you as strong as you are going to get? We were talking in the gym today about telling our grandkids about our workouts when we are 80. It made me wonder - will I still be doing dead lifts when I'm 80? (I hope so) And will they still be as heavy? Is there an age, time, point when you start to lose strength and what sets that off. I plan to find out. I'll let you know.

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Long Needed Rest Week

2011-03-23T06:44:00.001-04:00

It's Spring Break for our kids and I haven't had a rest week since last October (oh my) so I thought this would be a good time to r e s t. We went to Orlando for a couple of days and I thought it would be easy to stay paleo on the trip. I ate eggs and bacon for breakfast, salads and burgers without buns for lunch, and I was pretty good at dinner - one night we went to a Mexican chain and ordered a huge fajita plate with 4 kinds of meat - AMAZING.

The thing that surprised me was that even though I was eating foods that should have been paleo approved, they were full of sodium and chemicals and my body was bloated and angry about it. I had a headache every morning and generally felt like garbage. We are so used to eating at home and eating clean food that the processed food was killer.

That scares me a little bit - first because a lot of people eat this way all the time. How are we still functioning as a country? Second because I love to travel and don't like to feel bad while I am doing it. I know Orlando isn't like the rest of the world and you can find clean food on the road, but I really appreciate now why people open organic restaurants and if I could have found one by the third day of our trip, I probably would have stayed there for every meal.

We have a lot of discussions in our family about the future of our country and staying competitive with the rest of the world. My mother just returned from a trip to Vietnam. Every meal there was meat and veggies. (Yes, they do eat noodles and rice too). She said she felt amazing on the trip - had a lot of energy and even went to the store when she got home and changed the way she shopped.

The rest of the world is not eating our disgusting western processed made-in-a-factory diet and I question if this is not another obstacle (along with our messed up university system) to America remaining a super power in the world. Our kids are hyper and distracted in school because they eat garbage for breakfast and lunch. The great founders of our country, the thinkers, inventors, authors and poets that shaped America until the middle of the last century, all ate clean food. They were not bombarded with the factory food and chemicals we are dealing with today. I predict that the great thinkers of our time will turn out to be people who eat clean food. I'm just sayin'.

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Day 208 - The CrossFit Open WOD 1

2011-03-17T14:08:00.000-04:00

I didn't sign up for the CrossFit Open. I don't have anything to prove to myself, and I'm not very serious about competing in this sport, although the healthy competition we have going on in our box is fun.

But our coach maybe did have something to prove to us. And that is, "YOU CAN DO THIS".

Our box's WOD today was the first WOD from the CrossFit Open:
AMRAP in 10 minutes of:
30 double unders
15 power snatches

Everyone in our box did this WOD today. And in the middle of it, I got Coach's message loud and clear. I can do it. I was doing it. In my last round of snatches (I subbed clean and jerks - my snatches are ugly) it kind of hit me - you are at the CrossFit Games. This is it. You are doing it. The people doing it next to you, their scores are going to count. Their names will be on the leader board. (Which is so cool and I'm a little obsessed with).

And I imagined standing in a big parking lot in front of a big affiliate with hundreds of CrossFitters milling about, cheering for athletes. And it felt good. I did it. Rx. Just didn't actually sign up.
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Unplanned Rest Day

2011-03-12T08:04:00.000-05:00

I took a day off yesterday. Which is so not like me. Did you see this photo on the CrossFit page this week?

This is me. Lately when I take weight over my head (like in the thruster and push jerks that we did this week) I feel like the photo on the left. When I get to the top of the lift my back feels like I am pulling on the muscles right around my spine. It doesn't HURT or feel especially sore after, but I am afraid that I am going to pull something.

On Thursday's push jerks I tried to work on keeping my abs tight at the top of the lift, and that helped for a couple of reps but then when I fatigue I get that curve again. Not sure what to do about this.

So yesterday's WOD was dead lifts. Heavy dead lifts. I decided to give my back a rest. Wish I would have gone in and tried to PR.

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Day 201 - That's TWO HUNDRED and one

2011-03-02T19:14:00.002-05:00

This week was my 200th WOD. It passed with very little fan fare on my part. I actually didn't realize it until the WOD was over and I was logging it in my WOD book.

Anyway, that's a lot of WODs. It took a year and five months. So that averages to about 12 a month. Except I have been pretty consistent with four a week for a while, so I must have started out slow.

I challenge anyone in any other kind of gym to talk to me after 200 workouts and tell me that they are not bored. Because I am not bored. Every day is a new challenge. And off the cuff I can only think of two WODs that I have done more than one time - Fran and Fight Gone Bad. So that's a whole lot of absolutely unique workouts every single day. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Also, because it is awards season and the Oscars are this week, I would like to take a moment to thank each and every amazing coach at CrossFit Redline. Your encouragement and guidance has shaped the woman you see before you today. I would like to thank my family for putting up with my completely changing their entire diet and listening to me talk about nothing but CrossFit every. day. I would like to thank all of the members of the Redline tribe who have cheered for me when I was slow and lifted me up when I didn't think I could do it myself. Everything about this whole experience has been positive. I highly recommend it.

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Day 199 - A Realization About Lifting

2011-02-25T10:45:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was a power clean ladder. I PR'd my clean. I was happy. The coach who was there is a great coach. But she paid too much attention to coaching DURING my lifts. It was distracting me and I left the box very discouraged with myself instead of excited about my PR.

And I came to a realization. I do my very best lifting (and I got my PR yesterday) when the coach's back is turned away from me. I know that our coaches are there to make sure that our form is good and that we don't get hurt. And please, if I am doing something that will lead to injury, tell me! But not in the middle of my lift. When the bar is coming off the ground and THEN you tell me that my form sucks, that's just distracting. Tell me those things in the warm up. Tell me that when I am working with the empty bar or starting to add weight. Please don't tell me that in the middle of my lift.

It's true with dead lifts too. I always PR when the box is full of people and the coach is talking to someone else. If I have a coach in my face telling me to get mad. Don't think about it. Keep my a@@ down. FOCUSING too much on what I am doing, it's distracting. I never do well on those days. I need a nice balanced mix of making sure that I'm not doing something really horribly, and leaving me alone to get inside my own head, getting my own concentration in the right place, so that I can just pick up the bar.

Every coach has their own coaching style (and every coach in our box is really good at what they do) and the number of people doing the WOD with you makes a difference, I just know that for myself, I do better without an audience.

TODAY WAS SUPER EXCITING. Like sparkly hearts and unicorns exciting. We did a test WOD two weeks ago that included rowing for calories, pull ups, back squats and push presses. We got a score. Today we did the same test and in only two weeks I increased my score by 12 points. I love to see progress like that. It's measurable and I can own it. The work I put in in the last two weeks made me better. I love it.

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Day 196 - Back Squats Are My Friend Again

2011-02-21T12:04:00.000-05:00

If you are just joining us, welcome. And a little recap. About a year ago I fell during a back squat. The weight was too heavy (125#) and I couldn't stand up with it. But the box was crowded, there was someone lifting behind me and I didn't bail on the bar, I fell forward with it. I have been afraid of back squats ever since. And in almost one year, my back squat hasn't increased at all. I have successfully squatted 125# since then, but no more than that.

Today's WOD was back squats. And I started to realize this morning, that everything else that I have done in the box in the last year has increased dramatically. It's silly to think that I wouldn't be able to squat more than I could a year ago. What, am I just going to squat 125# for the rest of my life?? So I made the decision that I was going to do it today.

Yes, I was a little nervous. Yes I doubted myself. But there on the white board was this morning's early crew and they had some big numbers for their back squats. It was now or never. And I did it. I squatted 135#. A 10 pound PR. And it was hard standing up with the weight. But my legs felt strong. Am I disappointed that I didn't put more on the bar just to see what would happen? Maybe. But I am happy that I finally broke out of the box, so to speak. I'll take it.

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Rest Day - What Happens When Women Lift Heavy Weights

2011-02-09T10:31:00.000-05:00

Did you hear the one about Gwyneth Paltrow's trainer Tracy Anderson and how she doesn't think women should ever lift anything over 3 pounds. Don't get me wrong, Gwyneth looks thin. But she doesn't look strong. Are you worried about "bulking up" from lifting heavy weights? Do you think you are going to look like this:

Source: Men's Fitness

It's not likely. Women in general don't have the natural ability to grow muscle like this. Part of the equation is testosterone - we just don't have as much as men. Part of the equation is DNA. Different people respond to exercise in different ways. Our genetic make up determines what kind of muscle fibers we have and where they are located. It also determines our testosterone to estrogen ratio and where we store body fat. (Source).

So what happens when women lift heavy weight? I can share my experience. I have been dead lifting more than my body weight for almost a year. I have been lifting and squatting with heavy weights for 18 months. Here are the results:

Now go lift something heavy.

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Day 187 - Side Note

2011-02-03T13:15:00.001-05:00

On a side note, I was working on inversions on the rings today for skill work and I did my first "skin the cat". I was so excited and upside down and discombobulated that I couldn't bring it back around. So that's skill work for next week.

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Day 187 - Deadlifts and Running Don't Mix.

2011-02-03T11:05:00.001-05:00

Or in other words, BREATHE.

You are setting up for a dead lift. You set your back. You squeeze your a@@. You grip the bar like there's no tomorrow. You drive through your heels. You take a breath and hold it. And you stand up with the weight. Perfect for 1 rep.

How about 21 reps. I get tired. My back starts to relax. I am lifting with slack in my arms instead of driving through with my legs. And what the hell with breathing. At my 8th rep touch and go I am trying to remember to breathe and not just hold my breath until I pass out. By the 21st rep my lungs are exploding.

And now I have to run. 400 meters. Not that far. But I can't breathe. And I can't get my breathing under control. It takes me 200 meters to calm down enough to remember to breathe through my nose and out through my mouth. I am getting a cramp. But there's air in my lungs again. So I start to sprint. Only 100 meters left. Run fast.

But wait, I'm staring down 18 more reps of dead lifts. My breathing gets @#$$% again. And there's another run coming.

Please someone tell me that this is increasing my respiratory endurance. Because OUCH.

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Rest Day - S-T-R-E-T-C-H

2011-02-02T09:12:00.000-05:00

I always take Wednesdays off as my rest day. Two days on, Wednesday off, two days on. I have really started looking forward to those rest days. I don't have to rush in the morning to get school lunches and hair and teeth brushed and protein shakes made. I can take the kids to school and come home to a quiet house and drink another cup of coffee before my day starts.

On my rest days I do a stretching program called Classical Stretch. Where I live it's on PBS at 6 in the morning so I TIVO it. It's a half hour stretching program and it feels SOOOO GOOOD. Especially after a hard couple of days in the box. I highly recommend it.

Day 186 - Sumo Dead Lift High Pulls

2011-02-01T12:31:00.001-05:00

Hello Internet - I am still alive. I am still CrossFitting like it's going out of style. Sorry for not updating the blog, but January was long and like everyone else I was just trying to get through.

Training is going amazing. I am still not an expert at anything, and still working on EVERYTHING, but there is progress being made and I'm still not bored. 186 WODs and still not bored. Who can say that about their fitness routine?

Today was sumo dead lift high pulls. Which really, is an awkward weird position to be standing in when lifting a heavy load. I feel stupid and must look ridiculous during the WOD. But I'm always glad for the practice. It's the only way to get better.

In February I am going to be working on a skill for 5-10 minutes every time I go to the box. Pistols, inversions, negative pull ups, Turkish get ups, hand stand push ups. March is sure to be amazing.

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