What a beautiful, refreshing day! A high of only 97!!!
So today, DH and I went to a free Crossfit community workout. Its the third one we've done since moving down here. I like working out with the Crossfit group - they're a really friendly and encouraging group of people. I still miss the MBG...a lot... :(
We started the workout with their usual warmup: 3 sets of 3 exercises...squats, pushups, and side-to-side twists while in a quarter-squat. Then some shoulder rotations - not circles, but holding onto something like a broomstick, keeping elbows straight, and sweeping the stick from the front of the body, overhead, to the back of the body several times. We did a clean break-down; so first, the shoulder shrug holding a med ball. (I grabbed a 20 lb med ball, because that's the heaviest they have there, and anything lighter for cleans is ridiculous.) Then after the shoulder shrugs it was shoulder shrug with bringing your elbows out. Then we held the med ball overhead and dropped down into a squat several times. Then we did the whole clean. I think after that we did line drills...not nearly as extensive as the line drills at the MBG. We did two lengths of high knees, two lengths of butt kickers, two lengths of punter kicks, and two lengths of walking lunges with a torso twist.
After that we did a 20 second on/10 second off circuit through four stations: overhead squats holding a PVC pipe; med ball cleans; burpees (with a pushup in them!); and wall ball (high wall throws with med balls, and squating everytime you catch the ball). So the burpees were challenging because they make you do a pushup in each one. That slowed me down considerably. I like them much better without the pushup because I like to go really fast, especially if I'm only doing them for 20 seconds...but I can't complain too much, because I love pushups. I think we went through that circuit three times.
Then we did resisted running. We would have a resistance cable around us and our partner would be behind us, holding the cable for resistance. A lot of people did 4 or 5 lengths; a few of us, including DH and I, did 6. Those were fun. At first I was paired up with another girl, and on my fourth sprint, I guess I was really dragging her along, and then somehow she catapoulted into me. For the last two, DH and I paired up, and we really made each other work hard. That was cool. I resisted him first, and I was yelling at him to pump his arms and run harder, so then when it was my turn, it was payback time. I loved it! :D
Lastly, we did L-sits, or a progression of L-sits, with the PVC paralettes. Those were fun. I am a little better at them than the last time I tried them. I think I am going to try and make some paralettes to have at home so that I can practice. The one thing that stood out to me though, is that they don't really stress spinal extension during the L-sit. They didn't mention anything about avoiding collapsing in the shoulders. Most people weren't collasping a lot, but I think they could have extended a bit more for better alignment.
The thing that I really like about the Crossfit workouts is that they are challenging, and its a nice check-in to make sure that I am not fooling myself and becoming weaker by training on my own. The thing that I like most about them is the people we meet there. Very cool people...like MBG type of cool. :) The only complaint I have about the workouts...well, actually I have two...is that for some things, like cleans and snatches, I wish they brought heavier weights. The other thing is that the whole workout is always very heavy on the squats, and my hammys feel very neglected.
As far as yesterday's workout, I got up early (before sunrise) and ran 4 miles. I wasn't too sore, but I was SUPER tired, so it was an easy, consistent pace. I think tomorrow I might run a shorter, harder run. Actually, I should really do some intervals. Maybe I will do Alex's Awesome intervals. 30 hard, 30 seconds easy, 45 seconds hard, 30 seconds easy, 60 seconds hard, 30 seconds easy...repeat, repeat, repeat. That's a great workout.
Well, ladies, I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! !
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2 comments:
A thought about the Crossfit stuff . . . because they're so heavy on quads, perhaps during those weeks around this workout, you can do a quad-light, hammy heavy workout (PW curls, supine thinkers, deadlifts).
Hey K-smash! You can get more hammy action even in squats if you work the thighs back and out like in HEY. I know it's not as good as doing a hammy targeted exercise, but I think you can still activate more than you already do...Try doing a pose (e.g., supine bridge, or better still, forward flection) before squats to get the activation going. Then as you do the squat, direct your awareness more to the back and out action just above and behind the knee, as well as right under the glutes. See if you can find it!!
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