Rocky Point Crossfit - Week 2

Well it's been a tough and rigorous week at Crossfit but I think I've gotten to the turning point where those first few foundation classes start to come together. I had a rough start to the week on Tuesday with a flare up of an old whiplash injury that causes torticollis about once or twice a year. It gets so bad I can't turn my neck right without severe pain and I pretty much have limited mobility in all directions. And that makes me super cranky and impossible to be around.  

I decided on Wednesday that I would go to CrossFit anyways and let Tom, my trainer know that I was having neck issues. I was so glad that I went because for that hour I was there my neck pain had mostly gone away (only to return again after class). We started with the warmup 'farmer walk' which is a 400 meter walk with 25lb kettlebells. This was actually really nice because the kettlebells where stretching out my  trapezius muscles really nicely. After that we worked on handstands and I just could not get them. I was afraid of falling, my neck hurt and I was afraid of landing on my head, all that and my arms were already dead from the various other exercises I had done. Clean and Jerks were next and those were a lot of fun. I think I did about 20-30 with I think 25lb  (95lbs total) weights on the bar. I really need to do a better job of remembering what weights I use so that I know what to choose when I'm on my own but by the end of the workout I'm seeing stars and if I don't write it down as soon as I'm done it's gone. I'm finding I really, really like the lifts best of all. I enjoy learning the techniques and using my entire body in one exercise instead of all those little muscle groups. That and I'm just better at them then some of the other exercises like handstands, pushups and pullups.  After that we moved on to my WOD (workout of the day) which was something like 30 squats, 20 pushups and 6 pullups repeated several times (6? maybe 8 reps?). The pushups where the hardest for me in this exercise and I dragged thru each and every one of them. 

My last workout of the week on Friday was a doozy but I was feeling strong despite still have my torticollis. We started with a 500 meter row in about 2.30 which was much faster then I had done before, then I was taught the Sumo Deadlift which took me a few tries to get the coordination down with keeping my elbows up but once I got it they felt much more natural and I could do them without thinking about the movements. We went back and attempted hand stands and I finally got it!! My technique this time was walking up the wall and then walking my hands back where as last time I had tried doing the hands stands by kicking my legs up and trying to flip over. I wasn't able to hold my handstands very long but I did get my confidence that even if I fell out of them I was in control of how I fell and I wouldn't land on my neck. After that we did 25 kettlebell swings and then back to the Sumo Deadlifts. My WOD was 21 Sumo Dead Lifts, 21 Push Press and then 18 of each, 12, 9 and 6 and those were hell. I finished in 8.30 and I think my weights were 10lbs so probably 65lbs total with the bar. I think that was the most gruelling workout I've had to date but somehow I liked it. I liked that I could just get it done and ignore the voice that kept telling me to stop. I cooled down with a slow 500 meter row and then somehow drove myself home with arms that felt like jelly. 

I'm now halfway thru the Crossfit Foundations Program and am totally hooked. I like going in without knowing what my WOD is going to be, and then when I learn it I think 'thats totally impossible'. By the end of class I'm always reminded that I actually can do what is asked of me and I'm getting stronger every class for it. I can definitely tell that my upper arms (bingo arms) are starting to slim down and I can actually see muscles in my arms when I flex. And my tricep muscle actually do exist in there somewhere. This is incredible after only 6 classes so I'm stoked to see how far I get with 3 months of training. Right now I'm going to Crossfit 3 days a week. I'd love to get to 4 days a week but it's really hard getting in with my scheduled foundation classes. Once I'm done the foundations program I think it may be easier since I can just drop in at whatever time slot works best.