M&M

Here lately at Elite we have been having Max-Out Monday.  It's been awesome because we are fresh and our muscles have gotten a break from the weekend.  A lot of us do workout on the weekends...it just seems different I guess because you have the rest of the day to relax instead of having to go to work after a workout or work all day, then go workout.  I mean...most of the times on the weekends there are chores and errands and doing hood rat things with your friends to catch up on...but there is just more rest time on the weekends even if you've worked out!  Anywho...I have loved doing M&M because I have gotten some new PR's the past couple of weeks!  Nothing seriously major...actually just a 5 pound increase on the last three things we've done.  But, Cody put it to me in a really good way...5 pounds for me is like 10-15 pounds for him...so I'll take it!!!  It's improving and that's a major plus and excitement for me!  Here are a few new 1 RM (rep max) weights for me:

Bench:

125 lbs.

Squat:

170 lbs.

Push Jerk:

110 lbs.

I'm excited about those numbers...especially because I'm almost 28 years old and I'm maxing out more now than I did in high school when I was between the ages of 13-17!!!  I'm telling you, CrossFit does amazing things for your fitness levels.  They don't call it "Forging Elite Fitness" for nothing.  And...the CrossFit Games is all about finding the "Fittest on Earth."  Age has no discrepancy when it comes to CrossFit.  Anyone can do it and they can do it to their level and their ability.  When I first started, I was a lot weaker and a lot more doubtful of myself than I am now.  In fact, one of the skills that I'm working on right now is Double Unders (DUs).  A DU is when you are swinging the jump rope around you twice and only jumping once.  It's pretty intense and requires a lot of coordination.  The breakdown if you can't do DUs is 3:1 for Single Unders (SUs).  Which means, if a WOD calls for 10 DUs, and you can't do them, then you do 30 SUs.  Obviously, a SU is just normal jump rope!  I have just recently gotten to where I can do DUs...so I am still struggling with them in WODs.  Especially WODs like a couple we did last week.  We did "Filthy 50"...a benchmark WOD and another WOD that was:

100 DUs

30 Pull-Ups

30 Hang Cleans (135/95 RX)

30 Pull-Ups

100 DUs.

I did the WOD RXd...but the DUs took me a total of 10 minutes.  4 minutes for the first 100, then after I did 60 Pull-Ups and 30 Hang Cleans at 95 lbs, my shoulders were fried and it took me 6 minutes to do the last 100.  The same thing happened with "Filthy 50."  Here's that WOD:

50 Double unders
50 Burpees
50 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
50 Back extensions
50 Push press, 45 pounds
50 Knees to elbows
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood (35 lbs)
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Box jump, 24 inch box

I decided to the DUs last...stupid on my part.  There is a lot of shoulder work...well...it's really your entire body that is getting a serious workout!  But, I started the DUs at about 21 minutes and I finished the WOD in 26 something.  Towards the end, I was only doing one at a time.  Needless to say...I was a little mad!  However, I keep telling myself that this is part of CrossFit.  I want to break this mental/physical barrier that I have put up when it comes to things like DUs and do them RXd and forget about my time.  Yes, I want to finish fast; yes, I want to lift heavy weights; yes, I want to win.  But, I will NEVER get any better if I keep cheating myself by doing SUs instead of DUs, or by doing less than the RXd weight if it's doable for me.  Sometimes, it's not and that's ok.  I just do as close to RX as I can and tell myself that I will get there soon.  For instance, a few weeks ago, the WOD was 3-3 minute AMRAPS.  One of those AMRAPS was 3 95 lb clean and jerks and 5 burpees.  Well, I only did 4 rounds, but I did the RXd weight.  And you know what?  I also failed on a few of my clean and jerks.  I just couldn't get my arms locked out.  But, you also know what else?  Now, just a few weeks later, I can do that weight and not fail and get more rounds!  It's still hard...don't get me wrong.  But, I'm slowly learning that my times are going to be slower for awhile and that's ok because I'm getting stronger and doing skill work that is really tough for me.  I'm already getting better at DUs and I've only been doing them in WODs for 2 weeks now.  I've been chickening out and only doing SUs because I knew my time would be faster instead of sucking it up and doing DUs until I finally had them down.  Today our WOD was:

Strength:

Work up to a 1 RM for Push Jerk

WOD:

"Karen"

150 Wall Balls

Then whatever time was left of 20 minutes, do an AMRAP of:

10 Kettle Bell Swings

10 Double Unders

10 Push Ups

For example, I finished "Karen" right at 6 minutes, so for the next 14 minutes I completed as many rounds as I could of the KB swings, DUs, and Push Ups.  I didn't count my rounds...oops!  But, I did the DUs again and was already better at them.  The most I did was 6...but that was a victory for me!  This is one of the many, many things I love about CrossFit.  You see a drastic improvement within days, and you realize more about yourself and what your body can do than you ever realize.  CrossFit has a very special place in my heart.  I love the community that it brings, I love that I get to workout with my hubby and best friends, I love pushing my body to it's max everyday, I love that I can use the CrossFit acronyms in our house and around all our besties and they know exactly what I'm talking about, I also love saying one of the "girl's name," "hero" or other benchmark workouts to anyone that does CrossFit and you immediately get the "OMG...that one is a killer!"...which always means it's a great one...but man...it will take everything out of you!  CrossFit is more than a workout, it's a way of life and something that I am proud to be a part of.