Feel free to ignore these posts, family. They’ve nothing to do with the kiddos or anyone else, I just wanted to track my own progress and keep a record of how things were going. About a week ago, I started the On Ramp classes. They are for two weeks, M & W @ 8 PM and Saturday @ 8 AM. I decided upon this gym for a number of reasons: (1) a friend goes there and recommended it, (2) they offer more crossfit classes at a wider range of times, (3) they’re primarily a gym for martial arts, not crossfit, so they’re considerably cheaper than most boxes (crossfit gyms are called boxes, not sure why), and (4) they have some childcare–not a lot of it but enough that will allow me to still go on Saturdays when Andy works. They also have a kids’ martial arts program and Eli has been expressing some interest. It’d be nice to keep everything in the same place.
The regular workouts look pretty brutal. Most of the on ramp is designed to give us time to ease into the workout, get used to the format, and mainly to learn and practice form in a slower paced environment. I really like the coaches I’ve had so far–a different one each class. They all seem very invested in making sure we take our time and practice form. The classes are getting progressively harder–the first two were fairly easy for me although did leave me breathless, the third (yesterday), kicked my butt a little. None have made me sore and I think that’s a good sign as I’m going to take it to mean I’m in at least decent enough shape to survive the practice workouts! Crossfit is all about high intensity training. There’s also a lot of weightlifting in it and although I’ve only really practiced three moves so far (dead lifts, shoulder presses, and push presses), the weightlifting part was by far my favorite.
So here are the practice workouts we’ve had to far:
Monday 1/6/14 (my time: 8:18)
200 M Run
15-12-9
Push up
Squat
Body Row
What that means is that we ran 200 meters and then did a series of 15 push ups, 15 squats, and 15 body rows. Then 12 push ups, 12 squats, 12 body rows, 9 push ups, 9 squats, 9 body rows, then another 200 meters.
At this point, I cannot do a proper push up (I have never in my life been able to do a proper push up). So the exercise is scaled for me, I don’t do a knee push up but rather one on a 30″ box. As I get stronger, the box will get lower until I can do one from the ground. Completing the above workout took me 8 minutes, 18 seconds. My push ups were pretty sad, even with the box. I probably only got about halfway down after the first 15. I’m getting a lot better at proper squats by doing them in front of a wall so I don’t lean too far forward. Although doing them properly felt really awkward at first it’s getting better. The body rows started hurting on the last 9 and I had to really push (pull, ha) through them. It’s the first step on the way to actually being able to do a pull up, though, so I’m excited.
No real soreness from this workout–my lats felt it ever so slightly but that was about it.
Wednesday, 1/8/2014 (my time: 7:42)
10!
Medball Deadlift
Push Press
Jump Rope
So for this one, you do 10 deadliest, 10 push presses, 10 rope jumps, 9 deadlifts, 9 push presses, 9 rope jumps, 8 deadlifts, 8 push presses, etc. all the way to 0. I think I messed up my time on this, I’m not sure if I skipped 6 or not. In any case, the deadlifts were with a 14 lb medicine ball and for the most part I did not find them particularly challenging. The last few were starting to burn a bit but that was about it. The push presses were with just the barbell (17 lbs) and the last few sets really required some effort–my upper body strength has always been pretty meh. The jump rope was just easy.
No soreness from this one either. Yay for practice workouts!
Saturday, 1/11/2014 (8:00, 4.5 rounds)
Partner A: 200 M row
Partner B: AMRAP while partner A rows
5 KB swings
5 Burpees
*then switch
It’s worth nothing at this point two people have already dropped out of on ramp. Yeesh.
So on this one we paired up with another person. One person rows 200 meters and during that time the other person does As Many Reps As Possible (AMRAP) of 5 kettlebell swings (they were 15 lbs or something) and 5 burpees. Good Lord, I hate burpees with a passion. I especially hate Crossfit burpees because these people require you to do a push up at the bottom.
Here’s what they look like (you might mute your computer, the music comes on kind of loud)
The rowing part was easy (and fun! I like rowing). The kb swings definitely started requiring a lot of effort after the first set or two, probably because I practiced so many prior to the workout. My burpees are just horrible, though. Those things wear me out faster than anything else and I have to do them really slowly to maintain anything resembling form. Ah well, it will improve.
Today is day after and no soreness. I’m really enjoying this so far and looking forward to what is left. I had sent Wendy a text asking for weightlifting resources re: form and all that since I figured it couldn’t hurt to do some reading on it. I was a little concerned about the back issues I’ve been having and I definitely do not want to aggravate that again, particularly now that it is so much better. The piriformis syndrome has been acting up a bit this week after pretty much going away because of all the stretches I had been doing. I’ve gone back to doing the stretches daily and using the foam roller and I feel like I can control it.
Tales from the Smiths 