Tag Archives: abmat sit-ups

CrossFit Day 54 & 55

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I’ll be honest, this far into CrossFit, it shouldn’t seem so hard EVERY DAMN TIME.  But it is hard.   I’m not sure if that is good or bad.  I want to be stronger but just don’t feel as if I am getting where I want to go.  Maybe because I only go twice a week?  Maybe because I’m in the middle of a pretty fast training cycle as I am trying to get these legs to start turning over QUICKLY again?  Maybe because I’m overeating and have gained weight?  Maybe because I’ll be 40 in a little over a month?  Obviously, I’m not sure what the missing part of the equation is, for me, but I’m pretty sure I can put the blame on the crap that I’m stuffing in my mouth my food intake.  I eat well 90% of the time.  But apparently that 10% WEIGHS me down.  I need to get it together!!  I need to be more disciplined.

What You Want Now vs What You Want Most

So I’m taking a break to go fill my water bottle and peel my banana ………

Now onto the WODs from last week.  I’m still going.  I’m still trying.  And when I get tried, I tell myself that I need to keep pushing because that’s what will make me stronger.

CrossFit Day 54 – Push Press 5×3 (73#s) & Tabatas

Tabatas – As you probably know by now, this is the 8 sets of each movement with 20 seconds on and then 10 seconds off (rest) between sets.

  • Ring Dips – Super hard.  My spaghetti arms aren’t showing much improvement, plus I’m not coordinated enough for the ring dips.  I’m very shaky and even with the assistance of the band, this is a difficult move for me.
  • Ball Slams – 20# ball.  We’ve recently moved up in weight in all our “balls”, and even the kettle bells.  I know this is a positive thing but it makes everything SO tough.
  • Sit-ups – Actually something I can do.  Yay me!
  • Wall Balls – 14# ball
  • Rowing

CrossFit Day 55  – Front Squats 5×3 – (73#s)

Partners – Each person does half of the prescribed WOD (workout of the day).  Items can be divided in any way you choose (sometimes we just do half each, sometimes we have to break it down more.  EX – burpees we did 10 each x2, then 5 each).  Timed workout, so please bust it so your partner isn’t waiting on you for too long!

  • 50 Burpees
  • 100 Sit-ups
  • 50 Box Jumps – Super tall box this time!!  I  normally use the 18” and this was maybe 24”, I could definitely tell and had to be careful to make it up and not misstep.
  • 100 Kettlebell Swings – 35#
  • 50 Wall Balls – 14#
  • 100 Ball Slams – 20#

Last week was a tough week.  I was tired.  But I still went.  If I go into every workout “fresh” and ready to rumble then I’m not pushing myself or improving.  While it’s important to know my body and know when I NEED to rest, it’s just as important to realize when I get to the mid to 3/4s point of a tough training cycle, everything will be tired.  And this is the most integral point of the cycle when I need to keep pushing so that I can make the most progress.  I “get it” but that doesn’t mean that I don’t feel like crying sometimes tired.

The Moment You Want To Quit

** Keep Pushing, the Results Will Be Worth the Effort ** Amanda – TooTallFritz **

P.S. – The giveaway for the FREE Entry to the Corn Fed Spartan Crucible obstacle course, mud run is still going on!  Enter HERE.

Winter Workouts + CrossFit Day 50 & 51

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Just like you, these cold wintery days are taking their toll on my good humor.  I’m not sure why because I do most of my workouts inside since hubby changed jobs in August of 2013.  Yes, it’s been a long ass 6 months, in case you were wondering.  My outside runs are few and far between and yes, I may have just signed up for another marathon so that I’m guaranteed at least 1 outdoor run within the next six weeks.   So if you are heading to the Little Rock Marathon on March 2nd, LOOK FOR ME!!!!

Last week brought back “real” workouts for me.  A couple short runs on the treadmill and the return to CrossFit.  This week, I’ve been at both the TUE & THUR CrossFit sessions PLUS I ran 7 miles on the treadmill Monday night AND I hit the StairMaster on Tuesday night.  Yes, I’m feeling like a total stud for making the most out of my indoor workouts.  Plus I love the StairMaster and it’s nice to have an excuse to use it rather than just pounding out miles on the treadmill.  Say HELLO to me in my dining room home gym as I stair away.

StairMaster

On to the week’s CrossFit workouts. 

CrossFit Day #50  – Back Squats – 6 x4 – 73#

WOD  for time – 200 Single jump ropes, 75 Kettlebell Swings (26# – and DANG was this hard), 50 – 10# medicine ball “side to side” sit-ups, 25 handstand push-ups.

The side to side sit-ups might be new.  I don’t remember doing them before but I envision them to be very beneficial to my spongy core.  Assume the sit-up position.  Come up to crunch position but only lift the feet slightly off the floor.  Then move the medicine ball from side to side, touching it on the floor each time before pivoting to the opposite side of your body. 

side to sides

CrossFit Day #51 – WOD “Jackie”

  • 1000 meter row – Apparently I was rowing incorrectly and even though it was explained to me, as well as demonstrated, in SLOW MOTION, apparently it was too much for my brain to absorb at 5am.  Sorry, J.  Anyhow, I limped thru it in about 5ish minutes.  Not sure it counts if I was doing something wrong but I was moving.  Smile
  • 50 Thrusters – 33#
  • 30 Pull-Ups – assisted with 2 bands and I still struggled.
  • Extra Credit cuz we had extra time – 10 Pull-ups w/ bands, 50 abmat sit-ups, 50 superman’s, 50 side to side sit-ups, 50 ring rows.

Bam!  Another awesome week of workouts and I still have a couple days to go!  What are you up to this week?

Unrelated side note – When I woke up this morning, I found this by my purse.  Aby made it for an Art Club project and I am IN LOVE!  Great job, “baby” girl!

Keep Calm and Run Faster

You’ll find this sign on one of my kitchen cabinet doors for the next year or so.  #KeepingItClassy

**  Keep Calm and RUN FASTER ** Amanda – TooTallFritz **

CrossFit Day 29 & 30

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Another chill week at CrossFit since most of us at the 5am class are recovering from the Chicago Marathon.  I personally had a very chill week too.  I ate for recovery and fun.  Then I ate some more.  Then did a billion loads of laundry.  Then I probably ate some more.  It takes a bit for my the body to bounce back after using that many calories in one stint, so I just try to go with it until I feel somewhat “normal”. 

I did CrossFit on TUE/THUR, rode my bike on the trainer for 11 miles last night, then ran 6 miles this morning.  So I’m getting back into the swing of things but I’m certainly not in a rush.  Next week, I’ll start some faster speed work though to shock the body prepare for a few local 5Ks where I’d like to show up and actually run fast.  It’s been a long time since I’ve tried to run fast, like 5K fast, and I’m both terrified and excited.

CrossFit – Day 29 – How to baby the marathoners and get them to show up for a CF workout 2 days post race.  Arms ONLY WOD!!!

  • 10 Wall Climbs
  • 10 Reverse Rope Climbs
  • Death by Pushups

That’s all folks.  I only made 12 rounds of Death by Pushups.  I wanted to get to 15 but only made 10 into the 13th set.  Seems pathetic but I tried, so it is what it is, right?   As a refresher, death by anything uses the clock, in one minute intervals.   One minute per round, go as many rounds as possible.  First round started with 1 push-up.  Do the 1, then rest til the minute ends.  Then 2 push-ups in the next minute.  Then 3, etc. until you can’t go any longer.   In all, I did 88 pushups. 

CrossFit – Day 30 – Trying to get the marathoners back on the CF wagon!

  • Front Squats – 7×3 – We did more than 7 rounds of 3.  We started with the bar only.  I think we probably were using the 31# bar instead of the 45# one but I really have no idea.  I just lift what I’m told.  After a few rounds which focused on loosening up our tight runner hamstrings form, we started adding weights, 10#s at a time (5# to each side).  I think we made it up to 20#s on each side, squatting that 3x before it was time to move on. 
  • 5 minute ladder – Wall Balls & Step Ups.  A ladder starts at 1 and then each round 1 rep is added.  First round, 1 wall ball, 1 step up on the 18” box.   Second round, 2 wall balls, 2 step ups.  I made it thru 10 full rounds and was working on my 11th with the wall balls when the 5 minutes was up.  Hard.   Continuous movement.  Fun.
  • 100 abmat sit-ups.  OUCH.

Source

Previous post on Marathon Recovery HERE.

** Still Recovering ** Amanda – TooTallFritz **

CrossFit …. Day 2 …. FGB

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Apparently every day at CrossFit will require me to google acronyms and try to figure out what the heck we are actually doing.  This morning’s 5am workout was the “FGB” workout.  Apparently that stands for “Fight Gone Bad”.   Ummm, okay.  I thought sure I’d be the only one that showed up but no, I had 15 other friends who were just dying to KILL the FGB WOD (workout of the day).

FGB – Fight Gone Bad

(3x) – 5 minute rounds  – 1 minute per station/5 stations, then 1 minute rest after completion  of all the stations in succession  = 17 minutes total

1)  Jump Lunges – Grab some coordination real quick if you are clumsy like me cuz your gonna need it.  Think walking lunge except there is no walking but rather jumping and changing feet in the air to get into the next lunge position.  I think I did 4 before the tears appeared and my quads started shaking.  Maybe 3.  Not sure but the good news is that once I got into a rhythm, it was easier, and faster.  Success.

jumping-lunges

2)   Kettlebell Sumo High Pull – Took me a “minute” to get this right.  My damaged hips/back/hamstrings took a beating here and I subconsciously wanted to cheat and not go down into squat to grab the kettlebell.  Photo source:  Google Images

KB Sumo High Pull_squat   KB Sumo High Pull

3)  Box Jumps – We got to use the small box today.  Yay for being a newbie!!!!  And yes, we’d totally steal the short box from that kid.  Photo source.

box jump

4)  Abmat Situps – Sit-ups with a device which supported the arch of the back.  I heard sit-ups and thought the doc would be mad at me but the support ensured that I didn’t hurt my back.  Image #2 from abmat.uk

abmat     abmat_stick figure

5)  Burpees – HA!  Apparently, I’m not very good at burpees yet.  This was by far my weakest station.  Here is a diagram below which I got from yakkaFIT HERE.

burpee-1

6)  REST – 1 minute – Cough up your numbers & repeat.

After each session were recorded our numbers, how many reps we did total.  So if we did 10 of each exercise while occupying that station for one minute, we would have had 50 reps.  Not sure if that’s the proper term but we were basically counting each thing we did and compiling a number as we went.

Round #1 – 97, Round #2 –  113, Round #3 – 116, Total = 326

No idea if that was good or bad in the grand scheme of things but I want to record it for comparison going forward.  I’d like to think that I’ll get better, faster, stronger.  My burpees were almost non-existent, so that was a wasted station for me.  I did much better in the other areas, and much better after I got a rhythm and an idea of how to do each activity.

Another fun, Fun, FUN workout.  Loved it and look forward to going back next week but for now, I’m going off grid to swim, bike & run.  Don’t forget about my giveaway for the Chicago Half Marathon cuz I’ll be drawing Monday morning!

** Let’s Get Strong!!  ** Amanda – TooTallFritz **