Shoulders, shoulders, shoulders...

7 days off from Crossfit for the holidays.. That is one long break and I am not too happy about it... It's been a busy last week but it feels so good to be back in the box!!

Christmas was amazing and I got all new Crossfit gear! My new Crossfit lifters, workout shirts, pants, wrist wraps, socks.. You name it :) I am one happy CrossFitter, that's for sure! 

Anyway, tonight killed my shoulders. We did shoulder presses, push presses and push jerks for the power lifting part. 

Bill set it up in a way that we had to keep increasing weight and reps.

Shoulder Press 1-1-1

Push press 3-3-3

Push Jerk 5-5-5

My PR for each was:

75/95/75 

Once it was time for the push jerk, my arms were so weak and it was tough to maintain that 95 weight. I had to drop to 65 at first and could only get up to 75 pounds. 

The warm-up and work out weren't too bad tonight, except for the fact that my quads and calf muscles were on fire! 

Warm-up

Row 2 min

Then

4 rounds

-1 wall climb-

-5 pull ups-

-10m lunges -

WOD

As many reps as possible in 10 min

500m row

100 air squats

50 double unders (150 regular jump ropes)

15 foot rope climb

The WOD was a killer on the legs. Coming off the rower and going into air squats burned so bad! Then going into jump roping after squats, forget it! My legs were so numb after jumping that I could not even climb the rope. I was so mad I didn't get a rope climb considering I can fly up that rope now. It's unreal how mad you get at yourself when you can't do what you know you can do. It's okay, it was a good workout after a 7 day break. 

After the workout, I was beat but it's been worse before... Way worse...

Craig (my soon to be brother-in-law) was the only other person in class tonight with me lol. He got a rope climb in and I'm so proud of him! He's new to Crossfit and he's kicking butt!! His PR tonight with the shoulder presses, push presses, and push jerks were 165/185/165 which is really impressive! He had to drop down in weight on the push press too. He's still trying to find his PR's with certain lifts so he went a little heavy to fast.

Here's some pics of us lifting tonight. 

Craig at 185 push press

Me at 75 push jerk

Feels so good to be in pain! Hehe 

-Crossfitlys

Back squats and Burpees. Death.

Today was a 6 stage of WOD grief day.... 

Saw the WOD and I kid you not..went through all 6 stages during today's workout...

My responses to the WOD tonight:

1. That's not bad, kind of looks easy

2. Maybe I can use less weight on presses

3. I don't want to do burpees again!!!

4. My arms :( I'm dead

5. I should have pushed harder on the last 5 rounds

6. What are we doing tomorrow Bill? 

Before the WOD even began, Bill gave us a tough warm up. Today was already a long day for me and I was so tired on my way to the box, but I tried hard to leave my stressful work day and everything else that ties me down at the door. The warm up was so hard because I felt so weak and tired... 

Took me about 10 minutes to finish.. Was out of breath and so sweaty already. The 20 pull ups were so hard for some reason, I think because Wednesday killed me!!! 

Anyway, the back squats were motivating today. The last time I did back squats, I maxed at 85 pounds and could only do one!!! Mom, same thing at 75 pounds...

TONIGHT, I maxed at 100lbs and did 3, not to mention.. We had to pause at the bottom of the squat for 3 full seconds. Mom maxed at 90 for all 3! So impressive for us!!! On my 3rd rep, it took everything I had to drive that up... I froze in that in between squat and stand up position. Bill was behind me saying "drive drive drive drive drive!" And sure enough, I got it!!! So accomplishing that's for sure! I feel so strong when I Crossfit, I absolutely LOVE it!!! 

Here's some pictures of the back squats tonight.. Wish I could show videos.. Check out my Instagram @crossfitlys if interested in vids :) 

Me 

Momma

After back squats, it was time for The WOD... It was so hard tonight!! I wanted to stop and keel over so badly. Burpees are seriously the worst things on earth! The first 5 rounds were so hard...

We had to do 10 overhead presses (we used 45 pounds) then 10 burpees. Then, 9 overhead presses, then 9 burpees. Then 8 overhead presses, then 8 burpees. Then 7 overhead presses, then 7 burpees... You get the idea lol 

It wasn't until I got to the 4 and 4 that I really gave everything I had to get done before 15 minutes. I pushed myself to the limit! I wish I had pushed harder in the beginning but I didn't want to tire out too quickly. Lets just day that those first 5 rounds were so darn hard!!! I wanted to quit but I just kept pushing foward. Every time I finished the set of burpees, I just stared at the bar until Bill yelled, "let's go jump that bar up!!" Each time he said it, I jumped it up. Thanks Bill! You really motivate us. 

Burpees.... Death...

I wanna curl into a ball and sleep for ever right now! Goodnight bloggers. Nice job tonight crossfitters! 

Results: 

-Crossfitlys

Thrusters.

Awesome, back breaking, pain staking workout tonight! 

Ryan started us off in a group stretch which was so funny because we were doing the craziest stretches (helicopter being one of them lol). He gives us awesome warm ups though and they really do stretch us out before the workouts. Thanks Ryan! 

Anyway, tonight's WOD looked simple but was a real hardcore, endurance workout and it kicked my butt, once again leaving me flat on the floor gasping for every ounce of air I could get. Not to mention doing everything I could do to get my abs to stop screaming in pain! 

WOD: 

Thrusters are one of the easier motions in Crossfit. I mastered this right away and easily climbed the ladder in weights. A thruster is just taking the bar and holding it in shoulder position with elbows up as far as you can. You then go into a front squat with the bar and then shoot straight up and push the bar into the air above your head. Here are some pictures of me and mom doing thrusters tonight. 

Me_ 1 Rep Max at 105lbs. I think I could have gone up but I didn't wanna chance it. 

(That face lol priceless!)

Mom 1 Rep Max at 80. She was doing great and could of went up too, but she didn't wanna chance it either and end up hurting herself. 

(Smiling because she didn't think she could do 75 and here she did 80! Go mom!) 

After thrusters, we were hurtin' 

Monday was so intense and after all those pull ups, squats, and kettle bell thrusters, we were in pain going into today's workout, so you can only imagine how much pain we feel lifting and moving. It's hard!!!

Like I said, the WOD looked easy, a simple row, some box jumps and a plank...

Well, the row was for calories, which took about 3 minutes and 15 seconds. After this, you're legs are on fire and then you don't even get a break before box jumps.

 I walked right over to the 20 inch box and stared jumping. I chipped away at those 75 box jumps without stopping once. The last 5, I powered through and did them super fast. I then dropped down into the plank as fast as I could! 

The clock said 8 minutes and 14 seconds when I started the plank. All I could do was stare at the ground and breath as steady and deep as I could. I was so out of breath from box jumps that I used the plank to catch it. 

After about a minute, my arms were shaking, my legs were giving out, and my abs were SCREAMING! I put my knees down for 5 seconds which extended my time to 10 minutes 19 seconds. I forced my body up and Ryan kept saying "Let's Go!!!!" "Get up!!!!" I lasted another 40 seconds and dropped for another 5 seconds. I finally finished at 10 minutes and 24 seconds! I was DEAD! 

I rolled over onto my back and just groaned in pain and of course, relief! 

Everyone was just moaning and groaning during the plank. Something so simple works every single muscle in your body and just kills you! Especially when you never do it. 

Well... All I can say is..

Accomplishment, elation, euphoria, satisfaction, ecstatic.. This list of positive adjectives goes on to describe the feeing after a workout like this. If you've never done it, you'll never understand this feeling... It is an "on top of the world" feeling and nothing can bring you down... NOTHING. 

High fives across the room, and then time to go home and eat! 

Results of the WOD:

Tonight's paleo dinner. Mussels, asparagus, quinoa, mushrooms. This is the start of week 3 of paleo and it is amazing! 

Night all! 

-Crossfitlys 

Hang Snatch!

Ryan seriously wanted us dead tonight! I know this because I almost died. Tonight's entire workout, including warm-up consisted of:

Warm Up

50 wall balls

50 push ups

Hang Snatch 2 • 2 • 2 • 2 • 2

WOD

4 rounds for time (shoot me!)

35 air squats (shoot me again!)

25 pull ups (ok now it's not even funny)

15 kettle bell thrusts (35 pounds) 

The hang snatch is a difficult move to master and I still can't master it. It's one movement, taking the bar from the hang position and snatching it above your head, going into a squat position. I maxed at 55 pounds at 2 reps and mom maxed at 50 pounds at 2 reps. The hardest part about the hang snatch was really sending that weight on my heals and keeping my arms above my head and pushed back. I kept falling foward and dropping the bar. I also jump too far out into the squat which then I can't squat low (definitely need to work on this in the future). 

Some pictures of us doing hang snatch

Momma

After the hang snatch, our arms were already sore, and then we began the agonizing 4 rounds of H-E double hockey sticks!! 

Just one round was enough to send me to the floor gasping for air. The first round of air squats was easy, same for the pull ups, but the 35lb kettle bell thrusters killed me. My back, legs, and arms are going to be on fire tomorrow and the following day. After the second round, my legs couldn't even feel the air squats anymore, they were numb to the quad pain. My arms were KILLING me during pull ups so I had to keep breaking the 25 reps into different sets of all different numbers. I used the black band for most of the time and added the skinny red when I needed help, same thing for my mom. By the time this was over, I just wanted to curl into a ball and cry! 

Results from tonight! 

It was a much needed workout and as difficult and agonizing as it was, I'd do it all over again just for that amazing feeling of euphoric accomplishment you get at the end of it all :) ...each and every time.

Thanks Ryan! Way to work us hard! 

-Crossfitlys 

Turkish what?

Tonight's WOD was great! Combination of some good stuff! 

Tonight we were introduced to the Turkish get-up. You're face and response are probably the same as my moms, "What the heck is that?" while she looks completely confused. I looked this up before so I was a little familiar; however, I never attempted it. 

The Turkish get-up is a strange maneuver of holding a kettle bell, dumbbell, or bar straight above your head while laying flat on your back, then bending the same leg that the hand with the weight is in so your foot is now by your butt. You then drive your heel down and push your body up, bending your other leg under your body, and then standing up... You then do the exact opposite and go back into the lying position, all while keeping that weight above your head.. (That entire description probably sounds like Chinese unless you've done a Turkish get-up lol) 

I don't have any pictures because while we were videotaping, the video got messed up somehow.. But here's the basic idea... 

LOL, the description on the picture actually makes more sense haha Owell. 

Anyway, I maxed at 30 pounds with Turkish get-up and mom maxed at 18. I tried 35 multiple times and just could not get up! So frustrating... But it's okay, next time I'll be at 40 :)

(Side note): last workout, I maxed at 115 doing front squats which is a 10 pound improvement from last time :) 

Going into tonight's WOD, I had a strategy, which was to split the workouts (one arm thrusters, pull-ups, and box jumps) into 5 rounds of 8, 10, and 12. After the 1000m row (which sucked btw.. Especially after already rowing 500m for a warm up), I went to the 10 pull-ups because my legs were tired, then onto the 12 box jumps because my arms were tired, then the 8 thrusters because they were the least amount of reps. 

This WOD wasn't that difficult for me and I finished way earlier than I thought I would have. This indicates only one thing to me... I should have used a skinnier band on the pull-ups (I used the black one) and I should have used a heavier kettle bell for the thrusters (I used 18lbs). I think if I increased the intensity of this workout, I would have had a more reasonable time, instead I had times comparable to people who have been crossfitting for a while (obviously, I should of pushed myself harder and used more weight). 

Results from WOD

 I finished in 15 min 30 sec

Mom finished in 17 min 30 sec

All in all, a great combination of workouts and an awesome workout. It was the perfect amount of reps and the perfect amount of time spent on them. 

Thanks bill for another fabulous workout! 

God I love CROSSFIT!

-Crossfitlys

Strong Partner.

This blog is a dedication to my strong Crossfit partner, not only my mother, but my best friend, my confidant, my motivation, my strength, and my teammate throughout this entire Crossfit experience. 

My mom is incredible, and to be honest, I can't even describe in words how truly proud of her I am. There are not many daughters who can say, "My mom Crossfits." For that alone, I am still blown away. 

My mom knows that she's my motivation... Heck, without her I probably wouldn't be doing Crossfit. However, what she doesn't realize is that she is my inspiration. Every workout that she completes, whether it's minutes ahead of me or minutes behind me, she is a machine and a true champion. I am 25, in the prime of my life and my mom is right by my side lifting weights not far away from mine, it's insane! 

It drives me nuts sometimes when she compares herself to me or to others working out because she doesn't really get the chance to step back and take a look at herself. Everyone that sees her in and out of that gym thinks she looks amazing. All of our Crossfit friends, including our trainers, are astonished by how great she is doing. The problem is, she doesn't see that. In fact, she doesn't see a lot... 

She doesn't see the smile on my face when I watch her and see the incredible progress of her deadlifts, front squats, back squats, overhead squats, clean jerks, overhead presses, and God knows what else. 

How about the fact that a month ago, 20 burpees almost made her quit and throw up and last night she did 100. 

Or that a month ago we were pressing nothing more than a bar and 2 green weights (35 pounds) and now it's nothing less that 65 pounds. 

Or that a pull-up seemed impossible even with a band. And now we moved up two bands. Knees to bar? We laughed when we watched the trainers do that because we said no way, and then tonight we did 42 of them. 

I want to be doing what she's doing when I'm at that point in my life and I hope I am. It's incredible and it really does inspire me. 

The crazy part is, my mom does beat me in workouts and it kicks my butt knowing that I have such strong competition by my side. 

The number one rule to crossfit is to remember that you are not competing with anyone in that place other than yourself. You are tracking your own progress, finding your own times for workouts, increasing weights and comparing it to your old max weight. It is all about YOUR OWN progress and nothing else should matter. 

Some awesome pictures of my strong partner :) 

Front squat

Overhead split

Box push ups

Overhead squat 

Farmer's Carry

Ring push-ups

Inverted ring stand

Rope climbs

Burpees

Thanks Mom, without you, I would not be where I am. I could never thank you enough for how you have shaped my life and how you continue to inspire me and make me want to live better. You are a strong, sexy, confidant crossfitting woman and I get to call you mom.