July 01 - my personal mountain

Today's WOD featured the dreaded over head squat. Oh how I have struggled with this particular exercise. But it has become my own personal mountain to climb. And while I can't say I made it to the summit, I think I must have at least made it to the first pass. (Sorry for the mountain metaphors - I'm dreaming of cooler climates.)

Anyway ... today we did the following:

21 - Dead Lifts (155#)
21 - Overhead Squats (45#)
15 - Dead Lifts (155#)
15 - Overhead Squats (45#)
9 - Dead Lifts (155#)
9 - Overhead Squats (45#)
This took me almost 20 minutes to complete (19:23.7 to be exact). That's DOUBLE the amount of time it took for Wonder Dad to finish. But I am so proud of this, I am almost ready to BUST. PLEASE NOTE that I have an actual weight next to all of my OH squats! For the FIRST TIME, I did not have to resort to using the PVC pipe for this exercise! Can I get a "woo hoo!"?

I took my time - I could only do about 3 - 4 reps unbroken. That is why such a lousy time. But I didn't have to use the PVC pipe. And that is WORTH the added time (to me, anyway).

We followed this up with 30 knees to elbows.

I am already feeling SUPER sore! I think I am going to have to have a serving of Advil for desert tonight to make sure I'm able to sleep.

And one OTHER thing to note ... we got a very rare July "cool front." It was still 96F at workout time, but the humidity was super low and there was a breeze blowing. It truly almost felt cool! (Yes, this is what life is like in Texas in the summer - anything below triple digit temps is "cool.")

I know I'm going to be feeling this for a while, but hopefully this "cool spell" will last a few days at least!

May 6 - Nancy

5 rounds for time of:
400M Run
15 - Overhead Squat (PVC)

We last did this WOD on Feb 13. And last time, it took me just over 20 minutes to complete. Today I trimmed a couple of minutes off that time and came in at 17 minutes and 51 seconds. WHOOP!

That's the good news. The not-so-good news is that I am still struggling with the overhead squats. My form is getting a lot better, but I am still having to use the PVC pipe rather than the weighted bar. *sigh* I would like to try one of the lighter bars for this the next time we're at the gym.

We followed up (again) with 20 knees to elbows. They're really working our core. I hope it will make a big difference the time we try toes to bars.

May 1 - WOD

100 Ft. Walking Lunge
50 - Push Ups
50 - Jump Rope Revolutions
25 - Knees to Elbows
50 - Box Jumps
25 - Overhead Squats
25 - L-Pull Ups
50 - Sit Ups

I finished in 17 minutes and 30 seconds. And I guess I'm happy enough with that. This was a tough WOD. I was able to do a few of the pull ups without jumping, in groups of 3 reps at a time. I did have to resort to jumping and doing negatives after the first 15 or so. I am getting stronger, but I must confess I wish it was coming along quicker.

April 24 - WOD

To say I don't feel like working out today is an understatement. I left work with a migraine and my legs are still sore from Momnday's WOD. But after a 2 hour rest, my headache was down to a dull roar so I felt obligated to do something.

You know, it's days like today that I can really appreciate working out at home. With me feeling on the puny side, if I had to pack up and go to the gym, I would probably just call it off. But since all I had to do was walk to the garage, I was able to work myself up for the effort.

Today's WOD, thankfully, was not a cardio killing WOD. Instead it was more of a strength day. Today's feature exercise was my favorite (NOT), overhead squats.

My seven sets went like this:
1: PVC bar
2: 45# bar
3: PVC bar
4: 10# bumper
5: 10# (5# plates)
6: 10# (5# plates)
7: 45# bar

We finished off with 20 knees to elbow.

My struggle with OHS continues. But I feel like I'm making progress. I guess I just have to keep at it. Hopefully soon this exercise will start to feel more natural.

So while tonight's WOD wasn't super intense, I am pretty pleased with my efforts anyway.

March 13 - WOD

Today's WOD was pretty simple, but in true crossfit style, I am already starting to hurt.

Overhead squats. Need I say more?

Five sets. Only 3 reps each set.

I've made it no secret that I have struggled with this exercise. For my first set, I stuck with using the PVC pipe. But I finally graduated to the weight bar for my last 4 sets.

It might not seem like much. But I am so pleased with myself for using the bar for this exercise finally. I have a long way to go but at least I am seeing some progress. That's good enough for me for tonight.

In other news, we also got our run in yesterday. Just a quick couple of laps around our street before judo class. Since we were short on time, we pushed the pace. It sucked (or at least I sucked wind doing it). But at least we worked it in before time to run to judo.

This Saturday we have the Warrior Dash. Despite the fact that this is a run (which we all know is not my thing), I am really looking forward to it.

Feb 13 - WOD

Another sleepless night, an all morning meeting, and a couple of 11 year old boys = one worn out old girl.

But I am oh so pleased to let you know that we stuck to our workouts today. We went looking for a WOD with some running in it since we missed our run yesterday. Thought we would get a two for one out of it. So today we did "Nancy."

"Nancy" consists of 5 rounds of the following:
400 M run
15 - overhead squats

"Nancy" took me just over 20 minutes to complete.

I am still doing my overhead squats using only a PVC pipe instead of a weighted bar. And while I hate to admit that little fact, I am really happy with how they are starting to feel. I am confident in the form I am building and plan to try some light weight bars at the gym the next time we get there for a workout.

In addition to the WOD, I did my plank (2 minutes & 50 seconds) and squats (70) for the Planks A Lot challenge and even completed 50 "penguins" for the February Fab Abs challenge. Ths was another silly sounding exercise, but at least I felt it a little in my oblique abs.

Is it too much to hope for a restful night tonight? I just know I am beyond done with all this coughing.

Jan 14 - WOD

I found a version of today's WOD on the Men's Fitness website, so naturally, I call it the "MMF WOD" (modified men's fitness WOD).

Each round of this WOD consists of:
10 - sand bag swings
10 - thrusters
10 - push ups
10 - sand bag overhead squats
10 - box jumps

The goal is to do 5 rounds in as little time as possible. My time today was 20 minutes and 21 seconds. Yes, you read that correctly. This WOD took over 20 minutes and I huffed and puffed and longed for my inhaler (I forgot to bring it) all the way through. *sigh*

If you have never done them before, let me tell you that overhead squats are a serious form of torture!

I have always loved squats. It is one of the few exercises that has come fairly naturally to me.

But overhead squats are another beast all together.

I am determined to contort my body until it can do the proper form. It doesn't come naturally, but ever so slowly I am beginning to work my way into the correct motion for this exercise.

As I am still working my way to a good overhead squat, I had to abandon the sandbags for that exercise. Instead, I used a length of 1" diameter PVC pipe. It really helped in terms of my form. I'll work on adding weight next time.

Another way to ramp up the intensity of a traditional exercise is to use an unconventional, unstable weight like sandbags. In this WOD, we replaced kettlebell swings with sand bag swings. It never fails to amaze me how, even when the weight is fairly light, when it is unstable like this, it completely changes the complexity of the movement.

I think this is the longest crossfit workout I've been able to do. And I am already feeling muscle soreness setting in, especially in my shoulders and upper back.

All in all, though, I am happy with this workout. It's tough. Tougher than it looks "on paper." But we did it. Without dialing anything back. That's something to hold onto when my body starts screaming at me later.

Also got back into the swing of things in the 'planksalot' challenge. Today's time was 1 minute and 20 seconds. I'm getting very familiar with the carpet in my little cubicle. :+)