I am ready

"Mini JT"

12-9-6 reps NOT for time of:

Handstand Pushups

Ring Dips

Pushups

Rest as needed, then

"Annie"

50-40-30-20-10 reps for time of:

Double Unders

Situps

New PR by 1:02!!!!

While i'm super stoked about my PR I can't help but think if I had not messed up like 5 time during my 40 round I would have at least done a minute better... Aaaaaand, this is not to talk shit buuuuuut I should not have jumped rope next to Viola, whom was frantically/spasmatically Double Undering, which really fucked up my "calm" that I need to get into a groove. I really had to concentrate on not absorbing his energy and tune him out. 

My sit ups were lightening fast. I know that Smidty started his 50 set about 5 seconds fast than I, yet I managed to finish about 5 seconds faster than he. I didn't take a calculated rest at this point and went straight into my 40 set of DUs, and failed several times. I then took a deep breath and told myself to relax. 

Rounds 30-20 and 10 were without incident. 

So I worked out 3 days in a row and I am so sore. My body is pretty beat down. I plan to take the next couple of days, probably go a back in on Sunday. 

I'm strangely calm. I got some very good "advice" and comfort from close friends. It has me refocused and serene about what I have to do. 

Wrecked

Power clean 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

55-65-75-80m-80-85m-85PR-90m

I've never done 1RM for Power Clean, so this is my baseline, but I do not for sure that I've never clean a bar over 80#, power nor squat, so I'd say that 85#s is a PR. My attempts at 90 where I failed I think is due to me being tired, not cause I'm not strong or fast enough to successfully complete the lift. So 90 is completely in my sights. 

Went LAXCF and continue practicing cleans. Dan wanted to record me to doing it and here it is:

I initially was doing power cleans, but I think as I get into the higher weights I need to do it as a squat clean. This was 83#s. I like it. I'm sure I could drop under the bar faster, but I'm happy over all. I felt my explosion in my jump shrug was powerful and I'm getting the bar pretty high, it's just swing my elbows around and dropping into that squat. 

I really want to record myself more so I can work on tweaking my technique. 

Soooooo tired. My body is super sore and probably is dying for sleep so it can heal. 

Having some clarity

3 Pull-ups on the minute for 10 minutes

I started with the 1/2" band for the first 4 minutes. Then on minute 5, I had to go up to the 1" band. I believe I did 11 rounds, just cause I lost count. 

After that I jammed over to SMC to join Frank n Beans for some Pose running- Yay'er! I will have video coming of the improvement of my pull and foot landing. You're excited, aren't you. We did an hour of running drills that included jumping rope. The wod ended up being 12- 100m runs for cadence on the minute; any leftover was rest. Using a metronome, we started off at a pace of 90 beats per minute. After 4 rounds we upped it to 93 beats per minute. The last 4-100m we paced at 96 beats per minute. 

The intention of the metronome is to be mindful of the timing AND HEIGHT of the leg pull off the ground. The faster the beat, higher and quicker you have to pull your foot off the ground. The WOD killed me--- not my lungs but my hamstrings. By the 8th-100m, my legs were not happy. The felt sooooo heavy. The springiness in my "bounce" was lost, but I did my damndest to keep up with the metronome as its speed increased. Frank took video of our pose in rounds 4 and 10. We reviewed the first video between rounds 8 and 9, and it was evident that I was still have a slight heel strike on my right foot. 

The second video shot in round 10, even though my legs were greatly fatigued, showed that I had definitely corrected my heel strike and I was looking "lighter on my feet" on my landing. My pose was a true pose. Yay'er!

I definitely did not eat enough calories today to fuel the amount of work I did. I'm starving and sleepy all at the same time. 

Oh, BTW, seeing myself on the video, I can now totally see the change in my body comp. Not great, but I definitely can see that I leaned out and have more definition. It's bonkers. 

Must eat/sleep now. 

Today, after a week of pretty intense work, my body is WRECKED. I'm sore all over. I love it!

Falling in love all over again

For time:

200 double-unders

100 kb swings, 53/35 100 Squats

* For every missed double-under AND every break in kb swings, row 25 m  do 5 Dumb bell push presses after final kb swing squat. Your time stops when the row  push presses are finished. For example, if you miss 25 double unders and break 5 times in the kb swings squats, you need to row 750m  do 150 push presses (30 x 5) before stopping your clock.

My time:  17:29

I am really really happy with my time. The first 100 DUs, I took 4 breaks. I did 40 straight, then another 10, another 26  straight, then took on last break before hitting 101. The last 100 DUs was another story. I took a total of 7 breaks. And my breaks this time around were longer in time. I was def. tired and was getting a bit discouraged. I was relieved to complete them.

The 100 squats I broke up into 30, 15, 25, 30. In total I took 15 breaks combined during the double unders and squats. That meant I had to do 75 DB Push-presses.

I was really disheartened. The number just sounded insurmountable. The had to break the 75 into smaller increments, lest I get overwhelmed by the work. I did it by 10s. After each set, I shook out my arms and took big breaths. All the jumping was killing my mid-section. I felt pukie by the 50s set. When I had 25 left, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I called time and collapsed on the floor. My body felt like one big heartbeat. I love that feeling.

I'm just happy that even though I have this potentially serious injury that could sideline me for a long time, I'm still getting my dose of high intensity. I have the best coaches.

This is the most sure I've ever felt

I ran 400m for warm up. Came back and jumped right into DROM. During my leg front kicks and side kicks, something tweaked in my hip. I felt fine at extension, but when flexed it was painful, at 90 degrees or less. I decided to continue with the classic warm up. Doing the squats were painful. I did some stretches and some mob-wod movements to see it would "work itself out." I was determined to do deadlift today. 

Without feeling any relief I jumped into lifting some weight. I started at 115#, then 145#. I wanted the my 165# to by my first official number on the board (In January I set a 4RM PR @ 165#). I got it the new PR!!! It was actually "easy." I did not release the bar at the top of the deadlift, but did the eccentric movement back to the ground. Probably a bad idea for my strained flexor, which at the time I didn't isolate it to be that muscle. 

For 175#, I did release the bar at the top after each rep. The first 3 reps felt great; #4 was tough. Rep #5 was very difficult, breaking the 5RM PR I just set 5 mins prior. After dropping the bar, I fell to my knees feeling the stars swirling about my head.  It really gassed me. I laid there, rotating my hip, feeling the tension building up. At that point, I thought I would do my last set of 5 reps at the same weight of 175#. 

The pain was starting to be too much. Tyler recommended that I throw in the towel and be satisfied with the numbers I put up. I'm glad I took his advice. I immediately rolled out my hip and iced it. It felt sooooo good. 

I have a strong feeling that sleep isn't going to be so comfortable tonight. My hips bother anyway when I'm injury free. 

Instead of back squat tomorrow, I may have to work on push-press and do an upper body couplet, maybe like the Main site WOD, hmmmm. 

Testing my inner strength

Five rounds for time:

7 Front squat (185/135#)

10 Burpee pull-ups

What a day. So much on my mind, and in heart, trying to listen to my gut, still not trusting my intuition.... With all this, I really wanted to unload all this "heaviness" at the box. Just lay it all out. 

With this in mind, I attacked my 1st Strength WOD with lofty goals. My 1RM max, set in November is 105#s. In the past 3 months I've attempted to set a new 1RM of 110# twice about a month ago, failing both times!!!

I remembered being discouraged. I just kept thinking, "What's 5#s more over my current PR of 105#?"

Fast forward to today, and I thought, I'm going to set a new PR. Of course, I actually thought, I'd be happy if I did just one rep, but successfully completing a 3 reps, that just sent me over the moon!!! :)) It was difficult, but doable. I'm sooo happy. Setting a new PR is so satisfying.  

Following the CFSB (that's Strength Bias) template, I proceeded to prepare for a high intensity WOD, taking today's WOD and modifying it so that it would fall under 10 mins and keep the intensity high. I dropped down to 65#s and lessened the reps to 5 & 7 vs. 7 & 10, respectively. After lifting those heavy loads, this WOD was definitely brutal. I just kept thinking, I just want this to be over, I just want this to be over!

End of round 2, I felt hopeless. My legs were so fatigued at that point. My burpee pull ups felt so slow. When I got to the burpees in round 4, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel and put into high gear and went all out. 

I finished my last set of front squats and Diso called "9 mins in!" I knew I wanted to be under 10 mins so I pushed through the last 7 burpees and called time at 9:29. I collapsed and writhed on the floor, feeling my stomach convulsing. My head was reeling... Burpees do that to me. 

This was exactly what I needed. 

4 hours later and my legs are just killed. 

Say it with me, "Bee-Brahms"

For time:

70 Burpees

60 Sit-ups

50 Kettlebell swings, 1.5 pood

40 Pull-ups

30 Handstand push-ups

Since this was yesterday's WOD, I had already heard the murmurings of everyone's take on it: arms are blasted and wrecked by the time you get to the HSPUs, regardless of what kind of progression you use. Even my Wondergirl, Courtneyrose, had to scale way back from box HSPUs to tri-pod. Knowing this, I went into it realistically. 

The burpees were not bad. I mean, by #55 I was feeling it in my triceps and my shoulders. Every time I threw myself on the ground for the 2nd half of 70, I did a little upchuck in my mouth. I believe I did all 70 in under 5mins. The sit ups I broke up into 10s. I did take a decent rest between sets, but they felt like they went by fast. I also broke up the KB swings in sets of 10. I used 3/4pood (26.5#s). My last 2 sets of 10, I was feeling tired and my form was starting to be compromised. I felt myself not controlling the KB at the top, at times being overextended.  As well, there were times where I felt I was loosing my neutral back (core was going soft) and dipping my chest too far forward on the downswing. Makes sense since I just did 60 sit ups, my abs were going out on me. 

The pull ups were a joke. I did one kipping pull up and my arms were cooked. I got a 1" band and broke it up in sets of 10. It was really difficult, even with the band. My forearms were not happy post KB swings. I was really tired and kipping was becoming harder and harder. It felt like this movement took the longest for me, I don't know if that's the truth but it seemed like it. 

Onto the HSPUs, in which I did the tri-pod. I did 3 and rolled onto my head. I couldn't believe I had to do 27 more. It was with a lot of groaning and moaning that I did 3 at a time. I started HSPUs at 16:09 and called time at 20:44. That's a big chunk of time to spend on 30 reps. My arms were soooooo screaming after every rep. It took all my energy to get my arms locked out. It was brutal. 

After I called time, I collapsed in a heap and laid there for awhile since my arms could not support my weight to get upright. 

I went to the board and saw that my time was perfectly "average." I was saying to Thomas that being average in Crossfit is pretty fuckin' phenomenal, so I'm happy with being average among such great athletes at my box. 

Holding it together

Five rounds for time of:

135 pound Back squat, 20 reps

Handstand walk 20 yards

It was a lot of back squats. Why can't I ever do the basic math before I get in there. 100 sounds like a lot, but 5 rounds of 20 doesn't. Yea, I'm a 'tard. I did notice that my abs were totally hurting the entire time I was doing the back squats. Zeb says it's cause I'm doing the the right thing of keeping my core engaged and tight. 3rd round and 4th round seemed to be the hardest to get through during the 20 reps, breaking up the set in 4 squats. The 5th round I suddenly realized that it was completely mental and told myself that I've already done so many squats that it's NOT my body in the way of doing the work, it was my head. I did 8 in a row, then 6, then 6 for the last round. 

The handstand hold against the wall was really difficult. I walked my feet up the wall so that my stomach was pointing towards it. The point was to try to keep your hips over your hands, so you had that hollow position in your back. Explaining it in words doesn't seem to do it justice in regards to how difficult it was for me. The longest stretch of holding the HS was 30 seconds, and that was with deadly concentration and mindful breathing. 

I just wanted it to be over by round 3. I couldn't believe I had 2 more rounds to go. 

Now my shoulders are pretty sore and my legs/posterior chain feels all swoll. Lol. 

Crossfit is my refuge, my therapy, my release, my rock... It's getting me through this tough time in my life. 

I should have listened to my body

Hang power snatch 3-3-3-3-3 reps

I awoke feeling tight in my upper body, but not sore. I felt doing HPS wasn't going to be a big deal. I looked up my 1RM and saw that it was 50#s. Came in, did the Burgener Warm-up and started to feel really sore in the shoulders. I attempted 40#s as my first set and I couldn't get under the bar and lock out my arms. They felt like jello; I was pretty much just pressing the bar to complete the movement. 

I decided to go down in weight and stay there and work on my technique. Well by my 3rd set at 35#s, I could barely jump/shrug the weight. I was just "gassed." My arms would not work. I got on the rings and did several skin the cats to get my shoulders warmer. I went to pick up the bar and I had no strength in my left. 

My entire upper body went to jello. 

Another downer to the day is that my hands are completely raw and very sensitive to the touch. Holding my steering wheeling while driving is painful. This makes me upset cause I purposefully took tomorrow night off to attend the Oly Lifting Class at 6:30pm. I should have taken the day off, let my body and hands heal so that I can do my best on technique tomorrow without being hindered. 

I came home today from the box, feeling very sleepy, which is a sign to me that I need sleep/rest to heal. I got 8 hours last night, too. 

Oy. I do too much too soon, too fast. Here are the consequences and now I'm being a whiney little bitch about it. Ugh. 

It's 2fer Sunday!

21-15-9 reps of:

95 pound Sumo deadlift high pull (I did 55#)

95 pound Overhead Squat (I did 45#)

This workout kicked my butt. And it was the Sumo deadlift High-pull, not the overhead squats, that I had difficulty with. I felt like I couldn't control the the bar on the way down, so I had to "reset" every rep; I couldn't get into a rhythm. And the bar felt heavy :(

For the squats, I broke them up in to sets of 7 for the round of 21 and 15. For the last 9, I did 6, dropped the bar, then did the last 3. I felt really good and solid in my squat. I was very mindful to get low enough. I probably had more inside of me after I called time, EXCEPT for my weak-ass wrists. I taped them up but they still were about to give under the of 45#s. 

So, feeling I still had some fuel in my tank (a sign that I didn't ramp up the intensity like I could have) I decided to do today's WOD

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:

4 Deadlifts (135/95) I used 55#s

3 Hang power cleans

2 Front squats

1 Shoulder-to-overhead

Your score is the total number of reps, each round has 10 reps.  Example: if you do 5 full rounds plus 4 deads and 2 hang power cleans your score would be 56 total reps.

OMG this was brutal. Really. So much so that I tapped out at 15 mins, and collapsed on the floor completely obliterated. At Diso's urging I did one more round to get my at 16. So that means I did 1 round a minute on average. I know that at 4:37 I had completed 6 rounds, so I definitely went hard out of the gate. The hang cleans were yucky towards the end. The front squat was bad every round. I'm not sure what it is that coming out of the cleans that your thighs are sooooooo jacked that I couldn't fire out of the bottom. It definitely was a struggle (and right now my quads are cramping---- oh shit!!!!) ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  fuck fuck fuk fuk.

I just realized that I did a lot of squats today: SDLHP, OH, Front... Ugh. My thighs hate me. 

Then the dessert in this quadruplet is the shoulder to overhead; it was very difficult. Every time I push jerked the bar up, I didn't think I would stick it cause I was sooooo gassed. So it was my hands/wrists were what killing me; makes sense right since my wrists were killing the previous WOD. I know I was getting sloppy and tired in my last few rounds with the hang cleans and the bar was landing on my hands and not my shoulders, so wrists were absorbing a lot of energy. When I would push jerk the bar overhead, my wrists would not support the weight anymore--- and that's why I tapped out. I did burp throughout the WOD- sure sign of my intensity :)

Soon thereafter my abs started to ache and feel sore. Which confounded me being that we didn't do any ab specific movement... Drives home the fact of how much your core is completely engaged. Abs still aching now. 

Now I'm at home, cramping quads, achy abs, posterior chain feelin' it, as well. Starving, but lazy. God, I need a male house bitch. Lol. 

Zombie-light!

Deadlift 3-3-3-3-3 reps

I felt I had good form on all of my successful attempts. I controlled the bar on the descent. On the fifth set, I attempted 170 and I could not get the bar off the ground. I was completely gassed. I still feel good about the work I did. 

I just want to say that my body is complete destroyed from the last 2 days of WODs. My quads and glutes are wrecked from the overhead walking lunge and the squats from yesterday; my shoulders, pecs and tris are obliterated from Cindy. Every movement from bending over, to sitting up is a painful sore... Don't get me wrong, ITS THE GOOD HURT. 

When I saw the optional WOD of 100 abmat situps for time, I wanted in. I wanted to round out my soreness by destroying my abs. 

I didn't have a marker to compare to, so I didn't really have a goal in mind, but when heard that at the minute mark that I was already more than half way done near 60, I thought that 3 mins would be a good goal. Well the last 40 sit ups I hit a wall and felt slow as molasses. When Lara called time I was at 85, which meant it took over 30 seconds to finish 15 sit ups. Kinda sad :/

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be outrageously sore in the mid-section. Then I'll be completely achy over my entire body. Lol. 

Go to Littlest Giant to see what I did after class. 

"murder you in your sleep"

For time:

100 Burpee pull ups, ya I did 50

This is my first WOD since my hip/back injury. I loved it. I missed "killing" myself. Not sure if I would be able to make it to 100. My last 10 of the 50 were slow, just cause my arms were giving out on the pull up. Every time I threw myself on the ground, I had a pukie burp... that's why they call them burpees. It's been about 12 hours since I did the WOD and my upper body is screamingly sore. It feels good to be back. 

Maybe 150 wall balls today. Lol. 

A stinker

Three rounds of:

10 Deadlifts

30 GHD situps

Wow, this was doozy. The bar was stinkin' heavy. And the GHD sit ups were gross. My back was achin' the whole time, even with the amount of rolling and stretching I did before the WOD. Glad I got below 10 mins. It was the sit-ups that slowed me down for sure. By round 2 I had to take a break every fourth sit up due to being dizzy and that my muscles were failing. Round 3 was the worst, my legs would not fire at the bottom. I literally had to use my abs/back to get up from inversion. Ya, my abs are sore already. 

My deadlift was heavy, but it felt good to do the WOD at this weight. Now I know I can do 130# on high rep WODs. Sweet. 

Very very sleepy. Only got 7.5 hours. I needed to be home to register for classes at 12noon, so I set my alarm to be at 10AM class. I'm glad I did. 

Today, I started a new regiment as part of my cool down to accomplish my goal of doing strict pull ups. 

5 jumping pull up with slow eccentric decent

5 very slow strict pull ups with thinnest band

My arms and shoulders are definitely feeling it right now. Not sure how to time this goal, but I'm thinking if I do this consistently I could get a strict pull up in a month or so... who knows?

Still eating clean. Body definitely craving carbs and feels a bit weaker and sluggish from lack of calories. 

Yesterday:

Shake, Shrimp Salad from CPK, Coulotte Steak, Spinach. 

Assassin's Day

Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:

30 second Handstand hold

30 second Squat hold

30 second L-sit hold

30 second Chin over bar hold

I'm really sore this morning after. The chin over the bar was the worst of it. Being upside down for the handstand wasn't so bad. My back is achey, though, because of it. 

My one year anniversary blog post was featured on the PCF website yesterday. I was humbled and pleased when Zeb asked if he could use it as a guest post. I want everyone to know how much Crossfit has changed my life. Sharing is caring.  Assassin's Day

Pot calling the Kettle(bell) black

21-15 and 9 rep rounds of:

Left-arm Kettlebell snatch, 1.5 pood

Right-arm Kettlebell snatch, 1.5 pood

Pull-ups

I scaled to 15-12-9 using a 18# KB.

My left arm is very weak and I had a very difficult time controlling the KB when I punched out  mid-swing. I have a huge bruise on my left forearm because of it. The Pull ups were very difficult after the snatches, my forearms were not cooperating. Still stoked that I'm doing kipping pull-ups unassisted. While the workout was difficult I did not feel like dying. Yay!

Day 4 on Zone and I feel thin. I don't feel hungry, nor do I have dips in my blood sugar or feel moody. My sleep is somewhat regulated. I do sleep late, but when I do sleep it is restful. I did have huge flair up on my eczema earlier in the week, but it has so far calmed down. I do feel more clearheaded. I think this says a lot since this first week of zone is corresponding my period. Usually when I'm on my rag, I'm a loose cannon and an emotional wreck. High five, Zone!

Day of Wreckoning

Five rounds for time:

5 Muscle ups (sub C2B PU/Ring Dips)

115 lb Overhead Squat, 10 reps (sub with 40# front squat)

15 Toes to bar (sub K2E)

20 GHD Sit-ups (Abmat)

My Scale:

My Time: 

I chained 2 double unders together-- twice! Of course, only 2, not more. But it feels good to know that I can :)

I woke up at 6AM Friday morning with only 4 hours of sleep. Not really a good thing since my body needs all the sleep it can to heal. I spent the day on my feet making hundreds of Prosciutto, Mozz and Spinach crepes... There were 3 parties at lunch and 3 parties for dinner. All day my lower back was aching. I couldn't lift anything off the ground. For example, I know I could easily lift a 50# bag of carrots to my station, but when I attempted it yesterday, I failed. My back and entire posterior chain was tight and would not "fire." I really think the 2 movements from yesterday of back extension and deadlift back to back is what really killed me. I did 105# which I am perfectly capable of doing, but coming out of the BE is what made it a doozy.

So standing on my feet all in Dansko clogs probably only exacerbated my back pain. Later into the afternoon, I start to feel "pain" running down my left thigh.  I say "pain" because it felt uncomfortable, but bordered on a soreness, tingly, numbing sensation... It was a little scary. This feeling has continued until this morning. I question if me standing all day has irritated my sciatic nerve.

As well, my left shoulder is acting up again. I cannot recall any specific movement I did this week that caused me injury or pain at the time of doing it. But Thursday evening, whilst at dinner, I felt it need to be move so I did mini-drom in my seat, rotating my arm slowly. It felt good to get it moving. It was at this time that I felt the clicking in joint. It was a weak click, but obviously there.

After leaving Dreamworks, I get in my car and my body is starting to vibrate. I'm feeling all my weeks activity and lack of sleep. I get pulled over by CHP (yay!) and get cited for a fix-it ticket.  I arrive at the box at 5:40pm; do not really say hello to anyone and B-line it to loft. I pass out on one of the folding chair. I awake not so invigorated. I feel ok. I question whether I should even work out or not.

I decide to work on my double unders for warm up... And that's when I string 2 DUs together. I was so stoked. I do it again. After several more failed attempts, being mindful of keeping the body upright and tightening the mid-line, I try one last time. During this last attempt I aggravate/pull/cramp a muscle in my neck!!! Now my neck is stiff and doesn't have range of motion. I start on DROM hoping to loosen it up, but it hurts to bad. My move onto rotating my arms, and that is when I notice the click in my left shoulder has become more pronounce and slight tingliness. I let Zeb know of my sorry state of affairs and we come to terms with how to scale the WOD to my injuries.

I felt good during the WOD. The dips scared me a bit with my shoulder but I felt no pain during or after. Knees to Elbows we ok. I had a hard time getting into a rhythm. I think in round 4, I finally was doing them consecutively, instead of breaking after each rep. I went light on my front squat not to stress out my already tense back. Going light was good because I was able to work on my form.

Overall I am happy with time and efforts considering....

I'm resisting the fact that  I have to start taking some kind of post-workout supplement. I'm 80% against taking anything processed or man-derived. But I cannot deny that I dont' think that I'm doing a good enough job with my meals or sleeping to jumpstart immediate healing like the SFH Post Workout REcovery shake says it does. All I know is that I'm committed to 3 on/1 off schedule, which is a lot of WORK, and I've hated how my body has felt all week. I've been taking fish oil morning and night desperate to facilitate healing. I need to seriously do something.

I'm sooooooooo glad today is a rest day. My plans to go to the Korean BBQ Cookoff have taken a backseat to relaxing at home. And the Going Away/Pool Party for Kristie and Alyssa doesn't seem so likely either, as I have no desire to drink and do not want to be in a situation where I will be tempted to drink alcohol. I just want to languish in my house.

Back in my own bed

Three rounds for time of:

50 Double-unders

25 Wallball "2-fer-1s", 20 pound ball

MY SCALE:

MY TIME:

I chose to scale way back just for the reason that I've been away from the box for over 10 days, that I battled a crazy sickness for almost 2 weeks, and because of that my diet has been not been clean.

I'm already sore. My adductor muscles are definitely tight. The 2 for 1 Wall Ball is trip. It's kind of scary from reason.

I've decided to go to 3 on/1 off training schedule. I'm excited to see what kind of gains I'll see in my game. I know that Zeb said that after he followed the main site schedule and programming he gained 5#s of muscle. I'm excited to see what's to come. Tomorrow, even though it's a "rest day," I do plan to go into the box to work on my some weaknesses. I think my unassisted pull up takes precedence over chaining my double unders together. And then maybe I'll work trying to get upside down... MAYBE.

It came in the mail, yay! I cannot wait to pore over it:

The Last Ascent

"Last Ascent"

5 - 10 - 15 reps of

225 lb Back Squat

Box Jumps, 24"

Loved this WOD. On paper it looks so simple. A couplet. Low reps. Fast. Don't be fooled, it kicked my butt. It was one of those that really got my sweat glands goin'. I was drenched in sweat after only 5 mins and 6 seconds. 

I had some flexibility issues with my arms and shoulders due to the WOD yesterday. It was a challenge and painful to get my arms parallel to the floor, with my shoulders actively holding the bar "racked" on my back. I was tight. The first set of 5 back squats were good, I had good depth and I felt strong coming up. 

The second set of 10 were not as seamless. Diso said to go lower on a few of my reps, so I was being conscious of trying to go below parallel. 

On the last set of 15 reps, I broke up the work into sets of 5 then racked the bar to rest. Each set was difficult at this point; I was getting tired and getting deep in my squat was tough cause I was afraid to not be able to get back up. I can feel it in my hamstrings, actually the whole posterior chain was tiring. I had to fire my legs at the bottom as explosively as possible to make it back up. 

The box jumps were the "rest" portion of the WOD. 

I love back squats. I wanted to do more weight like 85#s, but I don't think I'd make it through the WOD. My 3RM is 110#s set about 2 and half months ago. 

Sleepy. 

Mr. Clean! Mr. Clean!

Seven rounds for time of:

205 lb Clean, 3 reps

4 Ring handstand push ups

75#s is my recent PR weight. Of the 21 reps needed to complete the WOD, I probably did 1/3 more in failed attempts. G said it was suppose to be a heavy clean, not a weight that you're comfortable with; it should be challenging. And it was. It wasn't but the first WOD I did in the new space (3 weeks ago) that I PR'd 75#s, so I was "unfamiliar" with the weight. 

But I completed it, and I wasn't stressin' about my time, because I knew the accomplishment was in doing the heavy clean, working on my movement/skill: like really timing my jump/shrug when the bar is at my thighs; really exploding big; and getting my elbows around quickly while trusting myself to get under the bar even faster. 

Satisfaction. I wish we would do cleans more often. And Snatch. And OHS. And, and, and. Good news, though, the WOD today back squats. Yay!!!

I think this crossfit-shit is in my soul. 

The Universe is all up in my ear. Look what get's posted on FB by CF HQ: 

Crossfit Journal: Level 1 Cert Experience

It is just what I need. I am a tad bit nervous. I don't know what about, but I am. Maybe a long run? Rowing? Upside down anything. I'm not too afraid of being called out in front the of the group, cause that means it's an opportunity to learn something new, correct bad habits and perfect a technique... and I actually want that.

10 days into the zone an I'm 103.6#s. I feel amazing and energized through the WODs.  I am seeing small gains everyday in my workouts. This was the main goal of being on the Zone. I'm stoked. 

Still eating clean :)

The Ass Blaster!!!!

Walking lunge 100 ft.

21 Pull-ups

21 Sit-ups

Walking lunge 100 ft.

18 Pull-ups

18 Sit-ups

Walking lunge 100 ft.

15 Pull-ups

15 Sit-ups

Walking lunge 100 ft.

12 Pull-ups

12 Sit-ups

Walking lunge 100 ft.

9 Pull-ups

9 Sit-ups

Walking Lunge 100 ft.

6 Pull-ups

6 Sit-ups

My time: 22:23

I'm kind of disappointed in my time. The lunges were cool until about the 3 round. The PUs were kickin my ass as well. And then I can't get over the little hang up that if I were already doing unassisted pull ups, this workout could have potentially been RX'd. But then again, even if I had achieved an unassisted pull by my birthday, I highly doubt I would have been able to do the required reps. 

My ass is truly burning, and my hips still feel sore from the back squats yesterday. My posterior chain is in effect, yo!

I have been eating Paleo-Zone, but not strict-strict. Like I had BBQ sauce 2 nights ago. And I had some milk in my coffee. But I'd say 97% I'm following my 3-3-4 blocks. I bought sweet potatoes and a family pack of chicken that I've been mowing through--- not much for variety, but it gets the job done. 

For dinner I had Chicken breast, an apple with Sun butter. I love Sun Butter. It is soooooooo good. See:

~Sweet Assassin says relax and have fun