DAY 6: McGhee

I'm officially halfway the challenge! We started the strength part with sumo deadlifts but since a week or two they have been hurting the inside of my hip joint and this happened again today, so I switched from sumo deadlifts to deadlifts. I managed to repeat my 1RM from September (215 lbs) and that is really awesome after six days of daily training.

McGhee went great, I really love long workouts. Instead of jumping on a wooden box, I jumped on a softer box and this was the first time after my box jump injury that I did box jumps in a workout.

I finished with 15 rounds and 3 push-ups! 

DAY 5: filthy fifty

I slept only 6 hours last night and I could definitely feel it in my muscles. We did 4 x 20 front squats with 50% of our 1 RM and they were very difficult. My 1 RM is actually 135 and I could barely manage the front squats with 65.

Since it was a full house, I had to start the workout with the knees to elbows (knee raises) and it took me too long. My hands just couldn't hold on to the bar and I kept falling off. I took me over 7 minutes to complete the first fifty. Afterwards I tried to pick up the pace and that went well but I couldn't make up for lost time. I finished doing 43 jumping pull-ups and still had to do the kettle bell swings and the walking lunges. Maybe next time...

(I found this picture somewhere online but I forgot where..)

DAY 4: Isabel - 3 min rest - Grace

When I started to warm-up I felt immediately tired. Not as much my mind as my body. I could tell that I did Murph the day before but I gave my best effort nonetheless. 

We did 5x3 sets of power snatch (with 70 lbs) and 5x3 of clean&jerk (with 75 lbs) in the strength part of the workout. Afterwards we did Isabel and Grace with 3 minutes rest in between. I started the workout with 70 but lowered the weight to 65 after 15 clean&jerks because I couldn't hold my back muscles stable enough. I finished in 16:35. 

DAY 3: Murph

Today was murph-time. I was still sore from fight gone bad and seven when I started with the murph. The running actually went quite well but then the problems started. If I have a muscle ache, normally, it goes away after a couple of movements in a WOD, but today it didn't... I really struggled with the ring rows and the push-ups. The squats went really good and the running afterwards went as good as it can be after 300 squats.

Nonetheless it took me one minute more than when I did Murph in June, from 58:28 to 59:38, but I finished underneath the hour mark so that is good.

DAY 2: team SEVEN

Yesterday we did a team seven. First time I did this WOD and it was intense! My team mate and I finished in 48 min 31 seconds. I did almost all the thrusters and all the deadlifts and she did almost all the kettle bell swings and wall climbs. I can do wall climbs but they take so long....

Happy with the results and the upcoming muscle soreness. Luckily today is a rest day.

Murph tomorrow....

DAY 1: fight gone bad

Last time I did fight gone bad I did 224 reps. So today's goal was to do the same or better.

I ended with 221 reps, not bad for a fight gone bad :)

And afterwards I realized I took a heavier wall ball than prescribed, so I might could have done 224 reps...well...next time...

Last CrossFit challenge of the year: 12 days before Christmas

This is the first time that I'll do this kind of challenge: 14 days - 12 wods (2 rest days).

Let's see how my body will cope with daily workouts. I think it will be quiet interesting.
I'll combine this with enough sleep, healthy food and water..

October 17, I like sore butts and I can not lie...

We did a lot of squatting, lunges and tilts today. I will be sore tomorrow, that's for sure!

I did the 10 x 2 with 85 lbs (my 1RM is 135 lbs) because my knee was still sore from wednesday. 

I did the rack lunges with 45 lbs and in the beginning I did the pelvic tilts with 35 lbs. Since they went really easy I went up a kettle bell size every new round.

This WOD after so many squats, lunges and tilts was pretty heavy.  I scaled the cleans/squats to 75 lbs and finished in 9:51.

October 15, Hi Helen

Once a month it is test day: time to work on our skills levels. I finished the beginner's level a couple of months ago, so many of the exercises of the intermediate level are still far-fetched (muscle ups, ring dips, hand stand hold, 7 skin the cats...). However, some are within reach.

Today I added theses skills:

- 65 sit-ups in 2 minutes (Last month I did 63 in 2 minutes....)
- 40 knee push ups

I tried:

- 200 singles. I had to stop after 60 because my knee started to hurt.
- backward roll. Somehow I forgot how to do them.

Afterwards we did HELEN.

I scaled to ring rows

The running went really bad although I used my inhaler beforehand.
The second time round of running I even had to walk because my knee was so painful.

I finished the workout in 12:45.

October 13, Luckily it is not Friday and we aren't doing box jumps

It was 1RM time! We did a 1RM sumo deadlift today. The last time I did a 1RM sumo deadlift was on June, 22 and I lifted 155 lbs. Time to lift some more.

I easily lifted 155 - 175 and finally 185. I tried lifting 195 and I could actually lift it from the ground but I could feel that my technique was about to fail. Instead of risking back pain I stayed with 185. 

30 pounds more in 4 months isn't bad so I was really happy with my new PR :)

Yeah for progress!

After our 1RM we did 100 banded KBS: AUCH!

The WOD was:

AMRAP in 3 min of:

60 kbs (53/35)

max rep deadlift (255/185)

- 2 min rest -

AMRAP in 3 min of:

30 pull-ups

max rep sumo deadlift (255/185)

After the 100 banded KBS the 60 KBS were seriously heavy! I scaled the lifts to 130 lbs and did ring rows instead of pull-ups. The first round I didn't even do a deadlift the second round I could do 11. My final score was 101 (60 + 41).

October 11, Diet and health, allergies, intolerances, sensitivities....

Two years ago, while traveling in July, I've had a terrible rash on my legs that lasted for two months and was treated with high doses of cortison. Since I also had several digestive issues I decided to get some medical exams done. In September of that year I underwent a series of exams to figure out what caused the rash. We never found out and I had two minor outbreaks since that big one in July.

We did found out that I was extremely allergic to dust mite, pollen (trees and grasses) and cats, I was moderately allergic to raw tomatoes and hazelnuts, I had an inconclusive reaction to gluten and no dairy allergy. They also found out that I was on my way to getting hypothyroidism anytime soon.

Although I didn't have outbreaks anymore I had a (severe) migraine almost every week and breathing issues for which I had two inhalers. I wasn't doing CrossFit at that time but my boyfriend was. So in January of the next year, he wanted to do the paleo challenge at our box and I joined the challenge as well.

It was hard: I was a daily cheese and bread eater. I felt really bad the first week but it went better the next three weeks. And surprise surprise... no more migraines.

We have been on a semi-paleo diet ever since. We eat no dairy, no gluten, no preservatives... but we do eat rice, oatmeal and sometimes potatoes and beans. I have had several cheat moments: crisps, pizza, ... and most of the times when I have a cheat meal I feel bloated, tired ... and often the day after I have a migraine that lasts for a couple of days.

Adjusting my diet in combination with CrossFit helped me cut down on my inhalers. I'm only using one at the moment and not on a daily basis.

I know I'm not intolerant for most foods but there must a correlation between my health issues and my diet...

October 5, losing track of updates, clean slate

I've been losing track of all the updates that I still have planned in my head.  So I decided to start with a clean slate. No more posting postponed updates

For now just a couple of small updates:

- I finished Fight Gone Bad RX with 224 reps, reaching the 200 reps necessary for the intermediate level!

- We went to the Lowlands Throwdown in Apeldoorn last weekend and watched some great athletes compete. One of our CrossFit Leuven athletes, Marijke Gijsens, finished fourth in the master's category. Hurray!!!

- I'm looking for ways to avoid hyper flexing my joints, since I'm risking some serious injuries. Any advise always welcome!

- I can do 25 pull-ups with a green band and I can sometimes do a couple with the blue band. I'm working on my goals!

- Starting with yoga and the plank challenge are things I want to be doing in October!

September 21, Piotr doing a 140 kg bar complex Lowlands Throwdown Qualifier @ CrossFit Antwerpen

On September 21 the Lowlands Throwdown Qualifier took place in CrossFit Antwerpen. 8 members of CrossFit Leuven took a shot at qualifying themselves to go to Apeldoorn on October 4 and 5. 

In WOD #2 every athlete had 6 minutes to find his/her max weight for the following bar complex: 1 hang clean - 1 front squat - 1 shoulder to overhead.

One of the athletes of CrossFit Leuven excelled and finished 1st on WOD #2. Piotr did the bar complex with 140 kgs (310  lbs).

It is definitely impressing to watch!

 

(more photos of the qualifier will be posted soon!)

September 12, Body weight challenge

If you would ask me about the exercises I like the least, I would definitely say the majority of body weight exercises. I am still working on my one pull-up, I failed doing 65 sit-ups in 2 minutes (63, aargh) and for some reason I can't do burpees or V-ups very fast (yet!)

So when today's workout was announced, I felt a shudder.

AMRAP in 3 min of:
20 Burpees
? Pull-ups
-1 min rest-
AMRAP in 3 min of:
30 Wallball shots (20/14)
? Pull-up
-1 min rest-
AMRAP in 3 min of:
40 V-ups
? Pull-ups

Score = number of pull-ups

Worst nightmare and definitely a body weight challenge! I scaled the pull-ups to ring rows

The first round I did 13 ring rows, the second 11 and the third 17. A total score of 41 ring rows. Next time I will try to do 45 ring rows!

September 11, from 1RM to WOD weight

Today's workout was most definitely a milestone in my crossfit career. One year ago September 10, 2013 my 1RM sumo deadlift was 105 lbs and today it was my workout weight. Three months ago I did my first wall climb that was close enough to the wall to be considered a wall climb. Today I did 18 wall climbs in the workout!

In the strength part we did some sumo deadlifts (36 in total) and a lot of kettle bell swings (100 consecutive!)

The workout was:

3 rounds for time of:
12 Sumo deadlifts (225/155)
24 Kettlebell swings (53/35)
6 Handstand push-ups

I scaled the sumo deadlifts to 105 lbs and the handstand push-ups to wall climbs but I did do the kbs with 35 lbs! I finished in 14:57 and I was sooo happy! I managed to do all the wall climbs without falling on my face although I still have to work on coming down! Two big bruises on my knees!

September 8, mental block

I went to a party on Saturday so I didn't go to the box on Sunday although I wasn't hungover or so. I just went to bed late and wanted to give my body some rest.

I went on monday and this was the WOD:

21-15-9 reps for time of:
Russian Kettlebell swings (70/53)
Burpees
Toes to bar

7 power clean (135/95) after each round

The strength part consisted out of 1 RM power clean and 2 rounds of 10 man height jumps alternated with 10 double kettlebell cleans.  I thought my 1 RM was 85, but it actually already was 105 lbs. When I reached that point I started thinking that my 1 RM power clean couldn't be higher than my 1 RM front squat.... and I blocked. I could definitely pull the 115 lbs high enough but I couldn't bring myself to jump underneath it. Mental block !!

I did the WOD with a 53 lbs kettlebell (heavy!!!) and scaled the toes to bar to knee raises on the rings. I did the power cleans with 70 lbs. Unfortunately, I forgot my time, whoops, and I can't decipher the whiteboard picture but I definitely finished within 15 minutes and it felt great!

September 4, two days in a row

Normally I planned to go to the box on Friday but my mom asked me to drive her somewhere. So, instead of going Friday I went on Thursday, still a little bit sore of Wednesday's WOD.

The strength part was 'kettlebell fun' and it was definitely lots of fun but also pretty intense. The kettlebell fun was followed by turkish get-ups (aren't they also with kettle bells? what is the difference? no fun? :) ).

The WOD was an AMRAP:

AMRAP in 12 minutes of
- 3 wall climbs
- 9 box jumps
- 15 kbs (53/35 lbs)

I scaled the box jumps to step ups. I'm still not comfortable jumping on a box during a WOD. Considering that I did my first wall climb (halfway the last tile) in July this was definitely a challenging workout for me.

I did 4 rounds and 3 wall climbs and I am really happy about that!!!

After the WOD I did 10 box jumps under full control, proving to myself that I could still do them!

September 3, 3 rounds for time

Today's warm-up and strength part were intense! Every time we do skull crushers at the box I seem to be missing those particular muscles needed to do this exercise. I definitely have to work more actively and more frequently with those muscles! I did the military presses with 45 lbs. I've done them with more weight but apparently I lock my shoulder joint, so I tried to do them without locking and that limited my press weight.

The workout went ok but not great. I did the push presses with 55 lbs and did ring rows instead of pull-ups. The V-ups went way slower than I expected them to go and I finished in 13:49.

September 1, new beginning: first WOD

Today's workout started with a general warm-up and continued with 10 x 2 front squats (75% 1RM). I did them with 85. Recently, I've become more focussed on my hip movement and my core. I try really hard to avoid standing up from a squat whilst moving my hips first. And... it's working, I'm getting better at squatting straight up but my lifting weight has come down. But that's ok. First work on technique and then on strength.

After the front squats we did some stiff legged deadlifts. Those are pretty easy for me since I am flexible enough to touch the ground with the bar maintaining straight legs (and a straight back!)

The workout was an AMRAP in 15 minutes of:

24 double unders (scaled to tuck jumps since I can only do double unders one at a time)
8 front squats (135/95)  (scaled to 65)
6 burpees

I did 4 rounds and 7 front squats. I wasn't happy with my performance but it can only be better next time!)

September 2, good resolutions in September

There is no better day than the first day of school to start with some new resolutions (I'm a teacher).

What are my new resolutions and how will I make them work?

1/ Eat better (eg healthier) and more regularly (easy with the fixed breaks at school). I will go to the farm market weekly and I will put those veggies that are about to spoil in the freezer or in a fresh homemade soup!

2/ Work out more regularly. I will start with working out on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. So, more or less every other day. If that goes well (no setbacks or injuries), I will add some more workouts and an endurance and/or yoga training.

3/ Lose weight but most importantly get a strong healthy body. I will work on my short and long term goals. These are:

- short term goals (before the end of 2014):

• 1 pull-up without a band
• consecutive double unders 
• front squat and back squat with bodyweight 

- long term goals:

• consecutive pull-ups
• 1 toe to bar -> consecutive toes to bar
• row 500 m under 1:50
• be faster

September 1, I fell off the wagon...

I must admit something.. I fell off the wagon... (but now I'm back on it!)

When my girlfriends and I were in Malta I did visit two CrossFit boxes (more about them later on) and had a great time but I also drank too much (mostly too often) and was not careful enough about what I was eating. After we got back I really started slacking, my 29th birthday was approaching and I felt ill. To me that meant: no time to work out but time for comfort food (read: junk food). I ended up feeling like I didn't want to move or work out ever again.

The first of September was also approaching so I made some resolutions, start working out again and eat healthy again. You have to realize that my disinterest in sports was so big that I really had to force myself to go to the box yesterday (August 31st). My head kept saying, it is not September 1st, you don't have to go yet. I have no idea where this negative feeling came from and I have never felt like this before. Luckily, my boyfriend pushed me yesterday to go and do a workout and I went. It took me over 40 minutes into the class before I started to enjoy it. The first forty minutes I felt like: "What am I doing here? I want to go home and sleep a little bit.".

It was strange for me to feel so negative about sports but after working out yesterday that feeling has faded and I feel like I'm ready to kick some ass tonight!

August 11, Fran, the sequel (new PR)

Today we did Fran again (last time was in the beginning of June, here).

The strength part of the class consisted out of figuring out our 1 RM jerk/split jerk. We have practiced the jerk movement before (with a pvc pipe or an empty bar) but never did we do a 1 RM.

My last successful attempt was 85 lbs, jeej! I tried 95 lbs once but the difference was too big and I failed. Next time, I guess! Compared to my 1 RM push press (75 lbs) and 1 RM shoulder press (70 lbs) that's a good result!

The WOD:

















FRAN:

21-15-9 (for time)
thrusters
pull-ups

I did the thrusters with 45 lbs and scaled the pull-ups to ring rows. I finished in 6:53 and although I thought it didn't go as well as it did in June I was actually half a minute faster!

So 45 lbs instead of 35 lbs thrusters and 6:53 (compared to 7:24) equals a new PR on Fran! Jihaa !!

August 10, open air Yoga tryout

One of my best friends is a real yogi. She does yoga like I do crossfit and I have been wanting to give it a try myself but the step seemed to be too big. I didn't know a good yoga studio in my surroundings and the hours I looked up online didn't match my schedule.. excuses, excuses...

So, when my friend told me about this initiative called Yoga discovery that organizes free yoga sessions in a nature setting every sunday I saw an opportunity to give it a try. 

Although the weather forecast wasn't very optimistic (the remainders of tropical storm Bertha were coming) we still went. The setting was lovely. We were in this small park in Herentals next to this little river called de Kleine Nete. Mandukamats were provided by the organization and it stayed dry during the whole yoga session. 

Since I wasn't the only newbie every movement was explained really thorough and l loved it. I could really focus on correct form and breathing. After the session we got some free yoga magazines and a free drink! 

After this experience, I really want to combine Yoga with CrossFit. The yoga exercises will help my posture and stability while the crossfit exercises will help my strength and endurance and they are both working on my core strength!

That's me in action! (Photo by Ilse Fimmers )

The setting (1)

The setting (2)

August 8, New PR Front Squat

Today, I added 20 lbs to my previous 1RM front squat PR. 

January 2014: 115 lbs

August 2014: 135 lbs

I tried to do 145 but I hit a mental barrier.

Still, a big yessss !!!

July 7, I AM CrossFit Upper Keys

On July 4 we travelled from Belgium to Miami for our road trip up the East Coast but first of all we drove down to the Keys and the Everglades. We were only three days in the USA and still very jet-lagged when we decided to visit our first CrossFit box on our trip.

Based on the location, the website and the schedule we decided to pay I AM CrossFit Upper Keys a visit and we were really happy that we could drop in for the next class. The fact that is was around 94 °F (34,5 °C) was just a mere detail. The coaches welcomed us with open arms and showed us around immediately.

We started our WOD with a core WOD and believe me when I say that this is a very good core WOD! Afterwards we worked on our power snatch before we did a WOD named HULK. I decided to do the fitness variant while my boyfriend did the performance variant.

I must admit, I struggled with it. Whether it was the jetlag, the heat or the humidity, I don't know what was bothering me but afterwards I actually did not care. We struggled but we loved it! We loved working out at I AM CrossFit Upper Keys. It was also lovely that we could buy a T-shirt after our workout. I got a cute green tank top and my boyfriend got a black long sleeved T-shirt with the I AM CrossFit Upper Keys logo (long sleeves with these temperatures?)

Great box, great wod, thanks a lot!

the whiteboard with the WOD

the box

the logo

we, post-wod

3 rounds for time

Yesterday's WOD was no joke, that's for sure. It looked okay on the whiteboard but during the wod you could definitely feel the exhaustion caused by the 6 rounds of 6 reps of good mornings and 5 reps of bent over rows.

The WOD was:

40 kettlebell swings (35 lbs)
30 pull-ups (scaled to ring rows)
20 burpees

I managed to finish in 25:34. I had to take a lot of breaks to catch my breath and to calm down my stomach (had some spaghetti one hour before the WOD).

...and I'm back!

I took July off from blogging for various reasons. One of them being that I just wanted to be free from my computer for a month, the other one being that I was traveling for the majority of the month!

So now it is time for some updates. There are a couple of them in the pipeline, such as:

- While we were traveling on the East Coast of the States, we (boyfriend and I) visited 7(!) boxes in two and a half weeks. I will blog about each of them based on when we visited them: I AM CrossFit Upper Keys, Reebok CrossFit Miami Beach, CrossFit Hephzibah, Gold City CrossFit, Bull Run CrossFit, Reebok CrossFit Fifth Avenue, CrossFit Hell's Kitchen

- I achieved a new level of fitness!

- WOD's at home, at CrossFit Leuven!

- CrossFit in Malta? Trip with my girlfriends!

- Short-term and long-term goals.

Something with burpees

On Saturday we celebrated the Swedish Midsommar Gille with some CrossFit Leuven friends. Although I didn't get home until 2 o'clock there was no reason not to workout the next morning. At the party it was really hard not to eat all the yummie Swedish food but I kept to my paleo diet and I didn't drink a drop of alcohol. I did splurge on sushi before the party though (whoops, not so paleo).

The WOD was:

AMRAP in 15 min of:
10 Burpees
10 Sumo deadlifts (225/155)
10 Russian KBS (70/53)

Burpees are my least favorite exercise! For some reason I just can't do them fast enough. 

The Sumo deadlifts (with 105 lbs) and the Russian KBS (with 45 lbs) were actually going very easy in comparison with the burpees. I managed to do 5 rounds and 7 burpees in 15 minutes.

CINDY

Since we were out on a school trip, I didn't train for two days. We did play on the beach and kayaked on a lake, but that doesn't really count does it?

So, I was really happy that I could go to the box yesterday, although I was exhausted from the school trip (entertaining 21 adolescents isn't relaxing :) ).

We did some bench presses and skull crushers before the WOD and they went really bad. I just couldn't push the bar/dumbbells up. At that moment I was really hoping that the WOD wouldn't be like that either.

The WOD itself actually went great. I scaled the pull ups to ring rows and the push ups to knee push ups. I managed to do 17 rounds and 5 push-ups. Not bad, not bad at all... :)

Tuesday's WOD

Whoops I forgot to blog about Tuesday's WOD.

This was the WOD:

AMRAP in 12 min of:

6 Handstand push-ups

12 Wallball shots (20/14)

18 Double unders

I finished with 5 rounds and 10 wall ball shots (scaled the HSPU's to sitting thrusters and the double unders to tuck jumps). I can actually do double unders (one at a time) but somehow when it's workout time I can't do them anymore, hence the scaling.

In the warm-up we built up to handstand (push-up). When I was little my friends once dropped me on my head/neck whilst I was doing a handstand and since then I have been sort of scared of doing them. 

However, with a little help (to make me swing further) I did a handstand today (and I didn't drop on my head)!! :)

10 day evaluation

So I've been following my strict paleo / crossfit regime for ten days now and I must admit that I haven't felt so good for a while (although I have trouble just walking after the Murph). I can't really say that my energy levels are up but mentally I feel great.

And let's not forget the main reason why I'm doing this: I want to get ready for swimsuit season. I'm happy to say that it is going in the right direction. I have lost 3,6 kg in 10 days. Pretty good result, isn't it? :D

Plank challenge

Today I also started with a 30 day plank challenge. The first 20 seconds went great ;) We will see how it goes on day 30 :)

Murph time

Today it was Murph time and although I have been working out at CrossFit Leuven for more than a year, it was my first solo Murph!

I scaled the pull ups to ring rows and the push ups to knee push ups and finished in 58:28. 

I'm soooo happy with this result. Not only is it under the one hour time cap but I can barely believe that I did 200 push ups. I remember being happy half a year ago with the fact that I could do 10 knee push ups !!! What a progress!!!!

New PR back squat

On Friday I went again to CrossFit Leuven. The WOD was very short and not my cup op tea.


WOD:2 rounds for max reps:

2 min Back squats (155/115)2 min Mountain climbers2 min 10m farmer walks (90/45)

2 min rest before you go on to the next round

I only managed to get 100 reps in total, especially the mountain climbers were 
horrible!

However, before that we worked on our 1 RM back squat. The last time I did a back squat was in January and then my 1 RM was 135 lbs and that's actually less than my front squat (155 lbs). My new 1 RM back squat is now 145 and that actually went really easy as well, so I probably could have gone up but I ran out of time. New PR nonetheless!

Late evening run

I was too tired in the morning to go for a run and although I had to work late (until 10pm) I made myself go for an evening run. Same run as saturday and it went great. I ran faster and more smooth (from an average 7min14/km to 6min35/km) than I did in the morning and that after a busy working day. 

Loved it!!

Before the run I did 20 air squats and afterwards I did 50 Russian kettle bell swings and 20 knee push-ups!

Day off or offday

Although I should have taken a day off from working out yesterday (I started to workout everyday too quick too intense), I could not help myself and I went to the box after all. Yesterday was a hot and humid day!

The WOD was the baseline WOD: so 500 m row, 40 squats, 30 sit-ups, 20 push-ups, 10 pull-ups (or 20 ring rows). This is a very short workout so we did a longer warmup.

We started with two rounds of 

20 push-ups

20 V-ups

20 wall ball shots

20 pull-ups (or in my case 20 ring rows)

Although it was not for time but for technique it was intense nonetheless. 

After that we practiced our techniques for hand stand push-ups, kipping pull-ups and ring support. 3 movements I will have to work on hard in the future.

I finished the baseline wod in 6:49. Last time it was 7:14. An improvement nonetheless!

Today wednesday is a definite day off!

I met FRAN after all.

Although I did a morning WOD, I couldn't resist the temptation of going to the box in the evening.

I started a more intense workout program 4 days ago and my body is handling it fine, except my knees. They start to get a bit 'crunchy', when I squat it feels as if my bones are grinding against each other. So I'll have to watch out for that.

We did some front squats with bands attached to them to get more explosive. I should have done it with 55% of my PR (155 lbs=77,5) but my wrists (especially the one that was unusable two weeks ago) and knees couldn't take so I switched to 65 lbs. We did 9 reps of 5 squats every minute on the minute. Intense!

Then it was time for FRAN:

21-15-9 reps for time of: • Thrusters (95/65lb) • Pull-ups

I scaled to 35 lbs and ring rows and finished in 7:24.

Little home WOD

This morning, I didn't go for a run but did a little WOD at home, for time.

I did:

50 (knee) push-ups
50 sit-ups
50 Russian kettle bell swings (watch out for the ceiling)
50 air squats

I finished in 14:05 and I'll try to beat that time next week!

Morning run with my mom!

Today I went for another morning run but this time not with my boyfriend but with my mom. She is actually in a much better shape than I am and runs 10 km on a regular base.

I ran almost one 1 kilometer more than yesterday so that is a personal win. However, I have to admit, my mother was setting the pace otherwise I would have run a lot slower since my muscles were aching from yesterday.




We ran uphill around the second kilometer so the pace dropped a bit. All in all, I ran 5 seconds per km faster than yesterday. After the run, I did 50 air squats to finish this day's workout.

Let's see what tomorrow brings!

First morning run... ever!

In 4 weeks the summer holiday begins and that is officially the beginning of bikini season... so it's time to pick up the pace and push my workouts to the next level.

From today onwards I will workout every day in some way, either at home, at the box or on the road. In combination with the paleo diet I should have some results by the end of June.

Since my work schedule is already pretty full I am creating a new time slot in the morning before work.

Today was day 1 and we went for a morning run. It had been six months since my last run so it was definitely an experiment but it went just fine.

We ran 3,5 km (2.18 miles) in 24 minutes. Not that fast but a great start!!

Another kind of filthy fifty

Yesterday's workout was tough, especially since I didn't go to the box for almost a month. Too busy working late nights. A common excuse, I know.

Warm-up:

1 RM shoulder press: new PR 70 lbs (previous March PR 55 lbs)


WOD

For time:
50 Push Press (95/65)
50 Pull-ups
50 Toes to bar
50 Walking lunges
50 Burpees
50  Slamballs (40/20)

Scaled:

PP 40, ring rows, knee raises, slamballs (4 kg--> wrist injury)

It was tough and hot outside but I managed to finish in 24:51 (time cap was 25 min).

First RX!

Today was a good day! My first RX work-out! Probably one that many could RX but still, my first RX! :)

Warm-up: medicine ball mile run
Technique: 2x800m (100% - 110% effort)

WOD
3 rounds for time:
- 400m run
- 15 slamballs (20 lbs)
- 10 goblet squats (35 lbs)

Finished in 12:01

Jeej, first RX :)

Diane

Yesterday we did Diane at the box. First 'girl' I have ever done!

The class started with 8x2 deadlifts (75% max). Followed by 100 'hammies' (auch).

WOD: Diane
21-15-9
deadlifts (125)
handstand push-ups (scaled to knee push-ups x2)

Time: 11:09

Although I did knee push-ups, I was happy that I finished in a little over 11 minutes. Before I started CrossFit, I couldn't lift a pan of the stove, my wrists just wouldn't support it. Being able to do 90 knee push-ups = a success!

Listen to: Therapy - Diane :)

Off-day at the box

Yesterday was most definitely an off-day. It was the Belgian Labour Day but to be honest, I was so exhausted that I couldn't work and on top of that I ate something my body didn't like at all.

Nonetheless did I go to the box, it was one of the only days I could go this week, and joined the WOD.

The warm-up consisted out of 5x8 Front Squats (75) and weighted walking lunges (20 pound dumbbells). 

WOD: 

120 sit-ups

60 walking lunges

30 front squats (65)

15 dumbbell thrusters (20)

It took me almost 10 minutes to do the 120 sit-ups (auch) and I finished at 18:09. Not a good day...

CrossFit @ School

Today my boyfriend and I did four CrossFit@school sessions for a "Health day". Four groups (24 pupils) did an introduction session. We first told them what CrossFit is, did a general warm-up, some skills exercises and to finish we organised a team WOD (50 push-ups, 50 squats, 50 V-ups, 50 burpees). It was fun !!!

Push press / Wall ball pyramid

After a time-consuming work week it was finally WOD-time again.

On the program:

21-15-9-15-21 Reps for time of:
Push Press (115/75)
Wall ball shots (20/14)

I really do not like wall ball shots, I always drop the ball or get out of breath. For me, they are actually worse than burpees. I would rather do burpees than wall ball shots :)

So after the first round  of 21 repetitions I was gasping for air and thinking that this WOD was going to take a very long time. I lowered my pace and kept on going and surprisingly I recovered. 15 went slow but steady, 9 went great, 15 as well and 21 was a bit of strain.

I finished in 13:05 (push press 55, wall ball 14)

Yeah!

3 days, 4 WODs

I finished 4 WOD's in 3 days... and after the third day it felt great. Now three days of rest. I will need it!

Saturday @CrossFit Lummen

Team WOD: Murph, combined with an orientation WOD

Murph

1600 m run

(orientation WOD)

100 pull-ups (ring rows)
200 push-ups (knees)
300 squats
1600 m run

Orientation WOD

3 round for time:
200 m row
5 sit-ups
10 push-ups
5 burpees
10 wall ball shots

Time orientation WOD: 10:05
Time Murph: 47:55

Sunday @CrossFit Leuven

4-8-12-16-20
front squats (50)
pull-ups --> ring rows
box jumps --> step-ups (a bit of a box jump phobia after injury)

16:17

Monday @CrossFit Leuven

AMRAP 8 minutes
burpees
push press (55)

6 rounds, 2 push presses

One year...

I have been a member of CrossFit Leuven since April 1, 2013 but only recently I have been going more frequently. It took me a while to become a regular CrossFitter but at the moment I am going 3-4 times a week and if I could  (work-wise) I would go every day! 

This blog will track my progression and it will be some kind of online WOD-logbook. Since I am also eating gluten- and dairy-free most of the time, I might post the occasional Paleo recipe.