Team Zach

Zach is killing us with Sunday workouts. I thought last weeks was bad:
50 wall ball (14#)
50 box jump
400 m run
x 3

This week was just as rough:
50 air squat
25 pull ups
10 power cleans (E 95#, I did 75#)
x 3

Zach said that we should finish in about 15 minutes, ummm I got stuck on pull ups, AGAIN! Just like in the IAC, when I get fatigued to doing 1 pull up at a time, it takes foreverrrr. My hands are not pretty after all of those darn pull ups. I love them because I worked so hard to get off of the band but I hate them at the same time!

I'm not understand cleans these days. I know you're supposed to make the bar feel like it's floating up and then you get under the bar FAST but mine feel like an awkward blow to the chest/back arch. And my elbows aren't fast enough but I don't know how to go faster! Zach said I need to be a lot more aggressive with the weight. In my head, I'm thinking, "Be aggressive. Fast elbows!" But it doesn't always come out that way.

Other than my complaints about not being able to do the movements, I am absolutely loving Team Zach! Everyone is working so hard and we had a bunch of great food ideas this morning. I need to test out spaghetti squash and eat more vegetables! Grabbing protein is too easy for me - I need to make it into a meal. I also may or may not have a half eaten jar of Sunbutter that I need to get rid of! I don't trust myself with those delicious nut butters!

I am CrossFit Benchmark

I am trying to stay positive about today. But it's hard to be upbeat when I couldn't do the pull ups, I couldn't do the hang cleans and I could hardly run. Why? It was cold, it was early, sure there are excuses but that doesn't really explain it.

It's a hard task mentally to come back from not finishing a wod. Since I only got through one and a half rounds of the IAC benchmark, it's even harder to think that I hardly got through HALF of the workout when so many around me finished. Yes, I was doing unassisted pull ups when others had bands but still, I should have been able to get my chin over that bar. And I didn't.

I feel like my head is in the right spot - I signed up for the 95# bar to do Level 1 and really expected my body to be able to do unassisted pull ups and 95# hang cleans. But my fitness is not where my mind wants it to be. I have the bar set high for myself and I'm not quite reaching what I think I can do.

The good news is that I have the rest of my life but specifically the next 8 weeks to change this. If I eat clean and do the recommended workouts for the next 8 weeks I have the opportunity to change my life. So I'm in this. I'm going to put everything I can into this challenge because I know how frustrated I am now with not being able to do what I want to. If this is my low, then it is only up from here!

Because,
I AM CROSSFIT.

IAC Goals

Here are my goals for the I am CrossFit competition:

1. Lose 5% body fat
2. 30 kipping pullups in a row (at 20 now)
3. No cheat challenge! HARD but I can do it.
4. 210 deadlift (at ~185 now)
5. Double unders in a row (now I do 2, 1, 2, 1)

Angie - Jan '10

"Angie"
100 pull ups
100 push ups
100 sit ups
100 squats

Here's my Angie story:

With Central being closed for two weeks prior to our attempt at Angie, I was really worried about the workout. Angie is tough regardless but to go into it with 2 weeks of rest? Lory = freaking out. I did work out on my own throughout the break - Christmas workout with Mom, 3 free CFC wods, Jess's apartment gym but those are different than throwing around barbells at the gym.

Thankfully, veteran Erika was at the gym before our workout and gave us all great workout advice, "Do what you can" along with great nutrition tips and overall positive motivation! Since I'm still kind of new at kipping pull ups I really didn't know how many I should do before going to a band. Before CFC closed I managed 20 kips in a row but now I'm thinking it was a stroke of luck. When I try so hard to get that many in a row the next set that I can do is about 3. Then I'm struggling with holding onto the bar, fighting the negative monster in my head and making sure that my hands don't rip.

Again, thankfully, I have the world's best coach, the amazing Crystal McReynolds, and she was NOT going to put up with me going to a band when I already know how to do kips. In my head, I got to 25 without a band and was like, "Okay, that's good enough, Band Time!" Not quite. Crystal walked up, "What are you doing? Put that away, you're doing this RX'ed". Eff my life. I got to 75 pull ups with about 4 minutes left and could not do a single more. The push ups were ROUGH and I was struggling/shaking to push myself back up at the end while even being on my knees! I finished right under the cap: 24:32

Looking back, a huge thank you goes to Crystal. She always knows when to voice the encouragement to make you believe in yourself again. She really is the best balance to the negative voice in my head, plus she's real and that voice isn't!

In April Angie and I will battle again and next time:
All 100 kipping pull ups
All 100 push ups on toes!

-January Angie:
75 kips
25 push ups on toes, 75 on knees
100 situps unbroken
24:32