CrossFit Day 58 & 59

Posted on February 27, 2014 by tootallfritz

Good week at CrossFit. It’s one of those activities which can seem SO HARD one day, then not so bad the next. It’s all about the movements in the WOD and whether it hits your list of strengths verses weaknesses. This is the reason as to why it’s so important to KEEP GOING, even when you are feeling bad or as if you aren’t making any progress. The very next workout may be the one that YOU knock out of the park.

Day 58 – Push Press 5×3 – 73#

Tabatas for Total Reps – Keep track of your reps throughout each of the 8 sets of a movement.

Kettlebell Swings – 35#s – Dang that KB is soooo heavy. As indicated by my crazy face below.

Ball Slams – 20# – Another super heavy item!
Hand Release Push-Ups – Not a good move for my spaghetti arms.
Rowing for Calories (something to count for the total reps)

Day 59 – Back Squats – 5×3 – 83#s – Moved up in weight!!

5 Rounds

15 Front Squats with a 35# KettleBell – Yep, still heavy.
10 Sit-ups
5 Burpees – Dare I say these are almost manageable in increments of 5?

Then we stretched, rolled & worked on our Double-Unders! Good week!

** Keep Pushing, Even When Progress is Indiscernible ** Amanda – TooTallFritz **

CrossFit Day 54 & 55

Posted on February 19, 2014 by tootallfritz

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.

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.

** 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.

More Wintery Workouts + CrossFit Day 52 & 53

Posted on February 7, 2014 by tootallfritz

This was a good week, workout wise. I’ve been in a bit of a wintery rut and decided to kick that to the curb by starting to focus on one of my favorite races, the Shamrock Shuffle 8K! This brought the realization that I was NOT ready to run fast and I needed to start reintroducing some speedier run sessions ~~so that I don’t hurt myself in the Shuffle~~!

Source – Emily Zatopek

As a result I started a fresh training cycle via the Run Less Run Faster app on my iPhone. This forced both a speed workout AND a tempo session this week ~~that I was dreading but then actually enjoyed~~. While the initial speed session didn’t go perfectly, I feel as if the tempo session was decent. No perfect, but good. Which means that my pace isn’t that far off, I just need to get used to spinning these long legs a “little” faster!

I also managed two StairMaster sessions, which I am dubbing as “hill work”. Since I’m running on the treadmill, and since its super hard ~~for me~~, I just zone out with a 1% incline. All the time. No hills. No fun iFit live workouts thru some mysterious mountainous areas. Nope, just flat running with a teeny-tiny incline of 1%. I’m hoping the StairMaster workouts will give me a tiny bit of strength for whatever hills I might encounter in Little Rock.

I also was able to brave the snow and our drifted roads to hit both 5am CrossFit sessions this week. #WINNING

CrossFit Day 52

Push Press – 5×3 – 73#s

Tabatas – Perform 8 sets of the particular exercise before moving to the next station. Each set is timed and you do as many reps as possible in the allotted time. The time frame for Tabatas is 20 seconds “on” for the movement, 10 seconds rest = 1 set. Repeat x8, then rotate to the next station.

Kettlebell Swings – 26#
Hand Release Push-Ups – Super hard. My arms are weak even though I want them to be strong!
Sit-Ups
Rowing
Ball Slams – 20# – Whoa, my pencil arms were tried by this time. Tough but I got it done!!

CrossFit Day 53

Front Squats – 5×3 – 73#

WOD – 5 Rounds

10 Kettlebell Squats – 35# – HEAVY!!
10 Ab-Mat Sit-Ups
10 Burpees – Whew, I think we all know how I feel about Burpees. I hope they eventually get easier, just a tad easier! This all goes back to my pencil arms being weak too.

Then we finished off the day with 2 minutes worth of planks. I had to do 5 different sets to get the full 2 minutes: 40 seconds, then 20 seconds x 4.

DONE!

I’ll be pounding miles on the treadmill this weekend! I hope you have a plan to get in your workouts too! It’s so much easier when I have a plan and stick to it.

** Making It Happen, Even During the Snowiest Winter EVER ** Amanda – TooTallFritz **

CrossFit Day 41, 42 & 43

Posted on December 5, 2013 by tootallfritz

Tripling up on the CrossFit workout report since last week was a short week ~~and I’m so slammed between work and life~~.

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving we had a fabulous workout. Apparently “someone” thought we should hit it hard “in case” we overindulged during the holiday.

Day 41 – Strict Press 7×3 (10 #s on each side w/ a 33# bar = 53# press)

Simple move, press from shoulders straight up in the air til arms are extended. Might be tough if you have weak spaghetti arms like me cuz there is no “hop” or leg help. Yikes, this is all arms, baby. All arms. Cool diagram below from sliveryearsfitness.com.

Step down: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

Wall Balls – 10#
Hand Release Push-ups
Ab Baskets – 10# ball
110 single jump ropes

Not sure on the official name of this workout but I call it step downs for lack of a better word. First round, do 10 reps of each and end with 110 single jump ropes. Second round, do 9 reps of everything and then end with 110 single jump ropes. And so on, and so forth …. FUN but I was dying on the last couple rounds with the 110 single jump ropes!

Day 42 – Tuesday – Karen WOD – OMGosh “Karen” you are a real ~~bitch~~ tough chick. 150 Wall Balls for time. 10# ball for me. We did increments of 15 so that helped but by round 3, I was wondering if I would survive. I did survive. I mean, HELL YEAH, of course I survived and I loved it!! It took me 8 minutes and 18 seconds though and then I proceeded to go lay on the floor ~~and cry~~. Here is my girl, Michelle CRUSHING her workout!!

We got to follow that up with 7×5 Front Squats (10#s on each side & a 33# bar) just to make sure our quads and hammies were totally trashed when we left. Mine were for sure.

Day 43 – Today – Still sore from WOD Karen. 25 Pull-ups – 2 bands assisted me and it was still hard today. ~~Stupid spaghetti arms.~~

Tabatas – 8 consecutive rounds at each rotation before moving onto the next. 20 seconds on, 10 seconds rest. Repeat x8.

Rowing
Hand Release Push-ups
Kettlebell Swings – 26# – Wow, that kettlebell was HEAVY today!
Sit-ups
Rope Slams – SO.MUCH.FUN. We did single rope slams, see first photo from phillymag.com, but the more recognizable version is the double rope slam as pictured by muscleropes.com.