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.