Tag Archives: CrossFit New Lenox

CrossFit Day 39 & 40 …

Posted on by
3

Who would have thought that I would be able to manage 40 CrossFit sessions this year?   Not me!  I still can’t believe that Jared said yes to opening “the box” at 5am a couple times a week.  Major shout out of thanks to Jared & CrossFit New Lenox!  You’ve made a lot of lady runners excited about getting strong.   That’s a big step in our world. 

excited about where i'm headed

CrossFit Day 39 – If I get to name it, I’m calling “Ball Buster” cuz I was sore for a day afterward.

Push Press – 5×5 & Pull-Ups 5×5 – All about getting stronger while using those free weights that are so darn intimidating.  My group just loaded up the bar with 10 lbs on each side.  I think we had a 31# bar so that’s a total weight of 51#s of lifting.  We did 6 reps of 5 lifts cuz we had a few extra  minutes at the end.  For the  Pull-Ups, we are still using the bands for assistance.  I  have to use 2 bands.  6 reps of the 5 pull-ups, alternating with the push presses.

12 Minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) – Move thru each of the moves and just keep going as many times as possible.  Do the moves in order.  Pray the clock beeps sooner rather than later so you can stop.

  • 5 Front Squats – Bar only but I think we moved up to the 45# bar.  I’m super knowledgeable, I know.  They say lift it and I just do it. 
  • 10 Sit-Ups
  • 15 Overhead lunges with a 10# plate
  • Repeat all of the above, as many times as possible before the clock beeps.

We had a decent size group so this was fun and slightly chaotic.

CrossFit Day 40

EMOTM (every minute on the minute – 20 minutes)

Odd Minutes – 6 Ring Dips ** Even Minutes – 15 KettleBell Swings (26#)

5 Rounds

  • 5 Burpees
  • 10 Supermans
  • 5 Push-Ups
  • 10 Sit-Ups

I was super thankful that today was mostly strength work.  My legs were a little fatigued from a rough treadmill session late last night so today was good, although tiring. 

** Getting Stronger, One Day At A Time ** Amanda – TooTallFritz **

CrossFit Day 27 & 28 …..

Posted on by
8

Although it’s Chicago Marathon week, I’m still CrossFitting!  Fortunately our instructor is fully aware that our 5am class is filled with runners.  I think only two of the ladies who showed up this morning were NOT running the marathon on Sunday.  Therefore, this week was probably “easy” by CF standards but we were still full of taper madness energy and ready to go!

Tuesday – Day #27 – Tabatas (8 rounds of each exercise for 20 seconds, 10 second rest between rounds, then switch to the next item)

  • Rowing
  • Sit-Ups
  • Kettlebell Swings (35#)
  • Ring Rows

We also did 10 reverse rope climbs and worked on pistols, rolled & stretched.  Why does the rope always shed tiny pieces that stick to my shorts?  First world problem, for sure!

Reverse Rope Climb_Me3

Today – Day #28 – Barbells for Boobs Practice WOD

** Edited to correct the WOD.  Since I felt like a “sally” during this workout, I apparently wanted to call it Sally instead of Nancy, which is the proper WOD.  Sorry! **

Our box is hosting one of the many fundraiser WODs for Breast Cancer Awareness month.  The WOD for that fundraiser is “Clean Nancy”.  One division for the full version, a second for a scaled Nancy and then a possible third for what we do, which is below the scale.  I’ll just call it “Unweighted Nancy”.  If you would like to join the CrossFit New Lenox team {or donate} click HERE for more info on the Barbells for Boobs event on October 26, 2013.

“Unweighted” Nancy  – 5 rounds

  • 400 meter Run
  • 15 Front Squats (115/75) – but we just used the bar.  Smile
  • Repeat x5

Super easy and fast workout.  So glad I didn’t have to worry about more than the bar with those front squats.  This momma had tight hammies and it takes a bit to warm up for fun things like squats.  The run helped a lot though.

Front Squat

I must say this is a runners workout.  Definitely one of  my favorites so far.

Then we did 50 sit-ups, stretched and left.  Nice week at CrossFit.  Kudos to the instructor for keeping us moving thru the final days of taper madness before the marathon!

** I’m DEFINITELY Getting Stronger ** Amanda – TooTallFritz

CrossFit …. Day 2 …. FGB

Posted on by
2

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 **

CrossFit ….. Day 1

Posted on by
10

If you follow me on Facebook & Twitter then you know that I’ve been terrified brimming with excitement to start something new.  CrossFit.  It’s no secret that I want to get strong.  That I need to get strong.  That my body has been breaking down over the last year or so because it can’t keep up with the demands of what I ask of it each and every week.  So I NEED strength to carry me thru when my body just isn’t feeling quite up to the task.

image

I’ve tried to do things at home.  But getting out the weights is dangerous because my lil man then feels the need to also prove his strength.  Do it when he sleeps, right?  Wrong.  Lil man doesn’t sleep much cuz he’s my Mini Me. 

I would have taken a class at a local gym but with my lil man schedule being so crazy between work, “the commute”, kids, family, training & Aby’s extracurriculars  …… well, they aren’t open enough hours in the day.  I don’t have a traditional life and don’t fit into a traditional mold so I couldn’t get my ass to attend any classes at this point in my life.

Hmmmm…… what to do?  Continue to be weak and dream of being strong?  Sounds good!  Maybe I’ll wake up “strong” one morning, that sounds way easier.   Well, I’ve been waiting for years and that isn’t working.  Then, I started talking with a few friends and it seemed that many others were having a similar problem, wanting to get strong but lacking the time to make it happen.  So, I went out on a limb and asked a local CrossFit instructor if he wanted to open an early morning CrossFit class for us.   And he said yes.  Crap.  I thought he would tell me to shove it.  The fear seeped in immediately for all of us.  We were concerned we couldn’t do it.  I was concerned that he was going to try to kill us and “make an example” out of us by showing us how weak we were even though we were all runners cuz that’s how my one and only personal training session went back in 2008.  Yep, we were scared.  Like really scared.  And I was amazed that with all that fear floating around 19 people managed to show up for a 5 am CrossFit session.

CrossFit_Day 1

Wow, proud to know these brave souls!  And the workout was good, a nice intro to CrossFit without killing us.  I know that it was probably one of the “easy” sessions but I’m glad that he didn’t scare everyone away because I don’t want to be the only one who shows up for Session #2! 

Our first workout, WOD (Workout Of the Day) is below.

20 Minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) Teams

3 person teams – First team member completes a full round before 2nd person starts, 2nd person completes a full round before 3rd person starts.  Repeat rounds, rotating thru team as many times as possible.

  • 10 Ring Rows

Ring Rows

  • 10 Pushups
  • 10 Ball Slams

ball slams

  • 100  meter sprint

We had so much fun.  The group had so much energy.  The team concept really helped push us faster than we may have otherwise done had we been doing the workout “solo”.  It was good!  My group got thru 11 rounds in the 20 minutes.  Today, I feel slightly sore in my chest and shoulders but it’s manageable.  I was still able to swim last night.  The Tuesday WOD didn’t destroy me.  This means, I’ll go back for the Thursday WOD.  Cross your fingers for us!  We are all CrossFit “newbies” who are just looking to get strong!

** Trying New Things ** Amanda – TooTallFritz **