Where have I been?

Well, I think I said something about being terrible at blogging from the beginning... considering that it's been 5 months since my last post, I was not incorrect.

The good part about not blogging for five months is I am also slacking at taking progress photos, so this next one is some seriously noticeable progress!

I've been working on doing a pull-up progression to get to being able to do a strict pull-up. (see below).. so far I am on week 1 and my poor hands are a little frustrated at me. I managed to find some lifting gloves for barbell work at TJ Maxx of all places (Nike lifting gloves for $9.99... okay!) and some gymnastics grips with pink velco, which is always a great identifier for my things. I slept way way way later than I planned on today and missed open gym, which was okay with me until I started baking a peach cobbler.

This summer I worked really hard on recording my lifts in an app called myWOD and managed to increase my squat clean max by 15 lbs., and my back squat by 40 lbs. (other lifts we haven't done a 1RM in a while but I'm sure they're increasing as well). It's been fun sending photos to my boyfriend and Crossfitting friends and having people who can relate to my excitement!

Some of my goals for myself are to compete in a competition this fall, get consistent double unders, and get a strict pull up! I have never been able to do a pull up in my life, even in middle school PE so this is going to be a big moment for me when it finally happens! 

I take no credit for this pull-up progression, I just inputted it into Excel so I could read it better. Currently I am doing this with a band and aim to use less and less help from bands until I can do a strict pull up with no assistance.

Progress on Progress

I added another photo to the back selfie progress collage today after a butt kicking workout of cleans, running and ring rows for time! I have to say, I'm feeling stronger every day and it's great to see noticeable changes- especially in my arms and back. 

I'm finding that I'm antsy to get to Crossfit on the days I have planned to go, and sometimes edgy that I'm missing out on days I can't. By 4:30 on Monday I was sprinting out of my office to get to the gym and start lifting all of the heavy things in sight at the gym. Today I had a slightly frustrating afternoon dealing with some lack of follow-through and sure enough, I was ready to go again come 4:30.

Honestly, nothing is better than leaving your work at work, getting your ass kicked by fitness, and then leaving happily sore and sweaty. I've already rearranged my schedule and the times I'm out of the office to accommodate working in going tomorrow. Brendan and Ari, are you reading this? I'M SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO START DOING CROSSFIT.

Chapter One

One week down, and I'm thrilled that I am feeling right at home at my gym. Monday we completed the Crossfit Open 15.4 workout- I did a super scaled version of 10 push press, 10 cleans in the 8 minutes for AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) and got through 5 full rounds plus 10 extra push presses.

What was really nice about doing the open workout was seeing all of the different skill levels within class. One woman was doing the RX of actual handstand pushups, something I can pretty much only dream about at this point.

Despite not being able to fully raise my arms above my head on Wednesday thanks to the push press, we did the WOD below.

I don't think I have ever sweat so much in my life than I did in those 20 minutes. This is even including when I ran the Chicago Marathon, which was also quite sweaty! A day later, my legs stopped working randomly when I was walking because my quads were so sore. 

I've been working really hard on staying focused on where I'm at and making progress for myself, and not feeling like I'm competing against anyone else in the classes. I saw the quote below on Pinterest and it really resonated with me, because I feel like I'm doing a good job of doing things for myself instead of trying to be the best. 

Until next time!