Ouch!

DH and I did a pretty intense workout tonight with the Crossfit class.

Three rounds of:

30 dumbbell snatches (15 on each arm)
30 walking lunges
30 dumbbell swings
Row or run 400 m

I started out using the 35 lb dumbbell for snatches and swings and 2x16kg KBs for the lunges. I had to lighten up a bit for the last round, because I felt like my hamstrings had really had enough. I rowed twice and skipped one round of rowing/running because I was leading class... I like KBs way better than DBs for snatches and swings, but its good to mix it up once in a while. Be strong!

Still trying to come back

I guess I am still recovering from whatever knocked me on my butt - either a virus or Central Texas allergies. Anyway, I'm feeling better, but I still have this annoying cough and I'm still low on energy.

Tonight DH and I went for a 3 mile run at a pretty easy pace, although it didn't feel easy for either of us.

That's it. Be strong!

First real workout in weeks

I warmed up with 2 sets of rowing 500m. The first one took about 2:08 and really got my heart rate up. I did the second one in 1:57 and it kicked my butt. Then I did a KB swing ladder: 5 swings with the 12kg, then the 16, the 20, and the 24kg with no break. Then same thing with snatches, starting with the 12 and working up to the 24.

My workout was a prison workout, starting at 12 reps each of burpees, pushups, wallball, and KB swings. I used the 20lb med ball for wall ball, and the 24kg KB for swings.

I was toast afterwards. I came home, ate a snack, and passed out for a couple hours. Now I feel a little better, but my legs are burning. Should be interesting to see how I feel tomorrow.

Be strong!

Still recovering...

Well, I am sick of being sick. Last night DH and I went for a brisk 2.5 mile walk. Tonight, I went for a 2.5 mile run at a nice, easy pace. Then I did 5 sets of 10 pushups, 5 pullups (with assistance from DH), and 30 situps.

My throat is still a bit hoarse, and I am still feeling fatigued. I'm on antibiotics for another 6 days, but I'm off the ibuprofen and decongestants. I still have a bit of a dry cough, but its not too bad. It definitely could be worse. I have a really hard time accepting being sick...I really stress out about it...pretty silly, eh?

I'm glad I was able to muster up the energy for at least a light workout. I'm hoping if I do something like this every day, it will speed things up.

Be strong and stay healthy!!!

Following my own advice...

So, had a beautiful workout on Friday morning, had a great day at work, came home feeling up, up, up!!! Light dinner, fun conversation, went for a run Friday night, got up Saturday morning and went to workout. FIT was a c-band partnered resistance. I found a good strong awesome partner and a new red c-band. We did 4 sets for 6 minutes each:

Resisted running (trade off resisting and running with each length of the floor).
Resisted slides
Resisted crawling for frog jumps (really hard!)
Resisted jumping jacks (hard to keep symmetry).

Then HEY (great for realignment, had to step out of most poses).

Then after a little lunch yard work (more garlic mustard, still not done).

Sunday: I was in pain! 2 hours of trapeze and contact improve dance. Didn't expect to become very active with this but darn it I'm a slave to the music!

Slept extra long last night, drank lots of water Saturday and Sunday, ate a lot of veggies and fruit. Monday morning workout:

40 clean squat press (2X 16 ks)---Lightened up, because, I could tell I'm headed for trouble if I don't manage the intensity.

20 Turkish get ups (1 16 k). We were supposed to do 40, but I could only get 20 done. I'm o.k. with that!

Be strong AND be smart! Take care of those beautiful strong bodies!

More congested than I-35 at rush hour

So I had a sinus infection from hell, which is starting to clear up...but now I still have a cold from hell. Everything is congested, I'm exhausted, and now my vocal cords are coated, so I don't have much of a voice. This stinks. I've hardly worked out in two weeks, and I feel like a a beached whale. Ugh.

I slept from about 10 p.m. last night to 1:00 p.m. this afternoon. I woke up in the morning long enough to take my meds, drink some OJ, and smell some eucalyptus oil. My plan for the weekend is to lay around and sleep, drink lots of hot tea, and hope to be better by Monday. :)

Back to the gym, again

So, back in this morning. Burpees, I love that I get to see you when you're there these last few days. Anyway, a prison workout:

Renegade rows------Crawl to:---------Push-ups:------Lunge back to renegades


Start at 10 and work down to 1. I used the 20K for renegades and concentrated on keeping my hips level and down. For the pushups I put my feet up on a box. I almost find that that is easier, in terms of stabilizing my lower core. It was good!

I'm starting to feel strong again. Not as intense as before, but I feel like I can start to trust my strength and that feels so good. Hitting it again tomorrow!

Oh, the boyfriend, bikeman, brought me fresh morrel mushrooms. Had those with potatoes, garlic, and the liqueur from the soaked mushrooms and parmasean cheese. So, so good. Bon apetit!

Back from Nashville

Hey! Had a long conference, but managed to find a fun workout there. It was at a large convention center that was far from just about anything. I wouldn't recommend it. However, I did go outside my second day there and started to run around the complex, just to see how long it would take and get in a workout in the open air and sunshine. On the far side of the complex, I came to a huge set of stairs (like in front of museums and so on). There were 3 flights, all divided into sections by metal railing. So, I ran up and down between the railings until I was all the way across, then around the corner was another 2 sets of stairs like that. It made a nice interval and took about 30 minutes total. I did it everyday. It was the best part of my trip. That's all for now!

wicked wednesday

Yesterday's workout will be felt for a long time!

80 of each:
divebombers
chins
pistols
jump squats
PW curls
PW rollouts with a rocker

Today I can't find a part that isn't sore.

The planned FIT workout today is the workout that Ksmash and I did in Austin that kicked both of our butts: 5 round of 30 burpees, 30 wall ball high throws, and a lap around the building. I taught this morning and it was a tough workout. It takes about 25-35 minutes to do depending on level. I'll do it this afternoon with a couple of CNT's, and see if its easier to do when its 60 degrees out!

Congrats to iheartburpees!!!

Congratulations on graduation!!!!

So I ended up taking a full week off from working out. Saturday morning I donated blood. I felt great afterwards and planned to do a light workout Sunday. However, late Saturday I developed a cold...it came on pretty fast too. Sunday I laid around being sick. Monday I felt like hell, but did a light workout anyway. I did a little jumprope, a little rowing, some pushups (around 50), some pullups (around 5), some pistols (about 10 on each leg), and maybe thats it.

Today I warmed up with the jump rope, and then did a circuit of rowing (400 m), renegade rows (2x12kg then 2x16kg), overhead squats (12 with 45lbs, 5 or so with 75 lbs, 5 with 85 lbs, 3 with 95 lbs), and 30 situps. I guess I decided I wanted to see just how much my core could take. Then while working with a client, I did some PW rollouts and did better with them than I thought I would. I really struggled through the rowing and cleaning 95lbs was really tough too. A few weeks ago I cleaned 115lbs, so I was getting pretty ticked off at myself for feeling so tired. Then I remembered that I donated blood AND I'm getting over a cold...so I just need a little more time to recover, I suppose. Its funny how differently I treat myself compared to how I treat clients. I would tell a client, "Of course its going to take more time to recover, that stuff takes a lot out of you," yet I expect myself to come back from it in 48 hours or less. Silly, silly, silly. :)

fun but demoralizing

That's a weird way to describe todays workout, but it was both. It was a 1-arm, 1-leg workout, heavy weight. The design was to start at your max weight, do as many as possible, then drop down, repeat, drop down, repeat, until you had 20 reps done per side.

Cleans: started with 32k, did 8, then did 12 with the 28k
Presses: started with 16k, did 11 or 12, then did 8 with the 12k
Foot up lunge: started with 28k, did 11, then did 7 with 24k, then did 2 with 20k. That burned the buttocks a bit
one leg deadlift: started with 28k, did 7, then did 6 with 24k, then did 7 with 20k

It was hard, and by the end you felt like a wuss, barely able to press the 12k. But my arms were toast, and in fact they are still shaky as I type this. So I guess I had a good workout. At the time it sucked though.

Then I did a core set: 20-15-10-5 reps of each: pikeups, curls, and rollouts with the power wheel.

Wow....

OK, so I donated blood today. When I was going through the little pre-donation check up, the lady took my pulse and then had someone else come over and take my pulse. They told me it was too low to donate...it was 44. So they told me to go get a snack and go for a walk, then that they would check it again in 10 minutes. So there I am, walking through the neighborhood eating cookies and drinking orange juice to try and get my pulse up so that I could donate. I've donated quite a few times before and never had a problem like this...of course, most of the time, my resting heart rate is between 50 and 60, so I'm not sure why it was so low today. When I came back from my walk, my heart rate was up to 60, so they let me donate. I feel fine now...a little tired, but that's it. I think I'll be back to working out on Monday...

Have a great weekend!

lots of sore spots

So that sprint workout from yesterday kicked my butt. My hammies are sore today and my butt's hurting too. The sprints were fun though, and felt pretty fast.

Today I did a card deck: cleans and presses (using 40#), capoiera lunges, and PW rollouts. The weight was low, but I still feel overtrained and I wanted more of a cardio kick, so I did all sets very, very speedily. That was this morning, and now my abs hurt so much from rollouts! That exercise is unparalleled in how much it builds your core, I swear.

Then during class I took K-smash's advice and stood on a balance board for 2 hours! We'll see how my feet feel about that tomorrow :)

Fitness for the Suburban Jungle

Getting ready to go out of town for about 5 days for a conference, and need to get the flowering garlic mustard out of the ground before seeds form. Have been pulling weeds for 6 hours. Basically, this workout invovles, varying degrees of a low squat combined with forward flexion... Oh, I forgot about the hauling---bags filled with weeds, too big for a d-ball carry, more like a d-ball drag. My ass really hurts, and as you know, that's a LOT of hurt. I'll check in while I'm on the road, my workout is what helps me stay sane. Jumping rope, running, biking, it's all so much more fun than pulling weeds, but I couldn't have done as much as I did without it!

last few weeks in Madison

And I need to take advantage of the gym and classes as much as possible! Which is hard when I'm still tired from this weekend, but I'm putting in low-key workouts anyhow.

Yesterday I did the static hold workout, with 3 1-minute handstand holds, 6 30-second chin holds, 3 1-minute wall sits, 3 1-minute stability ball curl holds, 3 1-minute one leg balance holds, 3 1-minute prone thinkers and 6 30-second side thinkers. I was sweating by the end but not wiped. Today only my hammies are sore.

Today's workout (once I get the energy up enough to go do it) will be 10 50m sprints, 10 min of cone zig zagging, and 10 minutes of agility ladder. And some core :)

I also need to get out on my bike a bit; maybe I'll bike to the gym this afternoon. Its supposed to be 80 here today!

Still recovering...

I've been exhausted the last couple days, and this morning it took all my will power to get myself out of bed to get to the gym. I ran 800 m and decided not to work out. I felt way too heavy and sluggish, and I knew that I need another day of rest.

I either have a virus or I'm just over-trained from last weekend (which was totally worth it!).

Thursday burpees and I did a fairly easy workout together..I think we did some overhead squats, some barbell snatches, and whatever else we felt like doing). Friday morning we did a hard workout (15 overhead squats, 15 pushups, 15 chins, row 500; x3). Saturday we walked around San Antonio for hours, and then did a short intense workout at night (75 burpees, 75 wall ball, 50 jump lunges, 25 PW curls). Sunday we ran 4 miles at Town Lake, and then spent the day hiking at Enchanted Rock. Monday we did an intense workout in the morning (~4 rounds of 30 burpees, 30 wall ball, 400 m run), and then a few hours later, Adam spent some time teaching us some o-lifts (snatches, clean and jerk). So, by the time Monday night came along, I was completely wiped out. I guess another day of rest is reasonable. I'm actually going to rest until I really feel strong again, and then I'll do another hard workout. :)

Walking Tall

Well, last night had 2 more hours of stilt walking lessons. It is not difficult, but for me it is anxiety producing, until I can get used to / over the fear of falling---which is actually not as much of a problem as it seems. I wear in-line skate kneepads, and there is a technique to falling. So, it's all a mental game right now. Worked out this morning, not any really structured workout. I guess I'm still feeling a little sluggish from the weekend overtraining. I have to observe that I need more time to recover than I used to. Not that that makes me old or anything. But I do need more time. So, this morning:

HEY warm-up: table, kneeling mountain, prone mountain, table, incline plane, down dog, incline plane, standing mountain, forward flexion, front warrior. (just thought I'd throw this in.)

15 push-ups
8 chin-ups (light jump at the start)
walking lunges

Then people came in from class and I started doing what they were doing which was a static hold workout:

handstand (2 sets accumulated 1.5 minutes)
chin hold at 90 degrees (accumulated 30 sec over 3 sets)
wall sit w/2X16 K (30 seconds, then stopped because knees were really protesting)
one-foot balance holding 16 K overhead (30 s each foot)
leg curls with stability ball (30 s each leg held at flexed starting position)

Have a lot of meetings today. Need to really pay attention to keeping a balance between work and everything else...Hence, stiltwalking until 9:30 at night...

Owweee

Well, I was pretty toasted after Friday's workout. Not all of my, but my arms and upper chest really protested the 50 yards of handstand/wall walks from Friday morning. So, I did the mature thing and after subbing burpee girlz class on Saturday morning, took the class. It was a lot of fun. 15/15 workout 8 minutes for each set:

burpees/oompas
running/d-ball carry (30 lbs. held overhead)
skaters/jump squats
touchdowns/around the world

I did it and loved it (at least the parts of me that weren't hurting from Friday loved it). But, by the time I got home, reality set in, I had a tension headache that grew worse through the day, and no amount of soaking, heating pad, etc., seemed to bring relief. So, I slept a long time that night, got up and took a bike ride on Sunday, and took it easy for the rest of the day. So, not a productive weekend, but a good one. Slept in this morning, so missed workout. May get back to it tonight, definitely tomorrow morning. Have fun ladies!!

So Happy Together

Its so cool to have iheartburpees here to play for a few days. We've been spending a lot of time at the gym. Last night, we worked out together by just practicing different olympic lifts, and then burpees played while I trained a couple clients. Then we went on a little tour of Austin.

This morning, burpees and I both assisted Adam teaching KB swings to all the new people in the Crossfit class. After class, we did an awesome workout together:

12 overhead squats (with barbells)
12 snatches each arm
12 chins
row 500 m on C2
12 pushups (did feet on box, hindu, and alligator)

Three times through.

We hung out in Austin more during the day, then back to the gym for more training, playing, and teaching. I definitely think we are going to wear ourselves out by Monday. :)

Yowwzaa

Fun, fun, fun last night. Took a stilt-walking class in preparation for a show I'm going to do this summer. The stilts I was learning on weren't very tall, but tall enough to feel scary. Got to walking forward, backwards, and sideways without needing to hold anyone's hand for balance. Really looking forward to feeling like I can dance a little on them. Anyway, the stilts strapped onto my legs just below the knee, and were over-balanced to the outside, so each step really pulled hard to the outside. It was HEAVY push inner shinbone in and forward feedback. My feet and ankles felt a little tweaky this morning, but I still had a good workout:

50 yards wall walk
run around the building
50 yards pole climb/cliff hangers
run around the building
50 yards lunges (2X16K)
run around the building
50 yards broad jumps
run around the building

For the wall walk and the pole climb I substituted 50 box lunges (each side) and jump rope because I didn't want to take my shoes off and on. Play hard!!

Dragging in this morning

But I did make it to a workout. This was one-armed kettle bell workout 3 each side for a total of 6, 6 X through.

1-arm cleans--28 K
1-arm press--20 K
1-arm front squats--28 K
1-arm swings--28 K
(1-arm snatches) more advanced Didn't do these.

I did 4 sets not six. Really felt slow on this workout. I'm finding that my lower back is acting up on cleans, and I think it's because my legs and hamstrings have become more activated which means that I don't flex as readily at the hips (hamstrings are tighter) or maybe I'm not integrating the action of the legs into action of the hips smoothly and my lower back is taking a tiny hit with each clean. Or maybe my hip flexors are getting too tight and pulling at the lower back. I'll check it out when I go for my massage on Thursday. I'm a little unsteady with my form on the presses, I could press more, if I had confidence in controlling it. That is also why I didn't do the snatches. I'll need some one on one coaching for a bit before I really master it. I may go for a run tonight, just to get a little energy flowing. Be strong!!

It's not you, it's me

So I designed this workout specifically for two clients, but it was so good, I've used it with five clients now, and its been intense for every one that did it. Everyone keeps asking "Why is this so hard???" during the workout, thus the name, the "Its not you, its me" workout. :)

I did the workout myself this morning...

15 cable cleans
15 overhead squats
15 pushups
15 push presses
400 m row
x3

It was pretty good. I used a 45lb bar for the OHSs and 2x30lbs DBs for the pushpresses. I went pretty easy on the cable cleans, with my magenta cable. Afterwards I did a little jumping rope. I should have done situps too, but Adam was training someone, so I had to take off anyway.

I can't wait until tomorrow! Whooooo-hooooooo! More havoc and chaos in Austin! :D

The Beast

Ha ha. My boss came up with this workout and called it The Beast. He's such a nut.

Anyway, I did it today, and it was pretty nice.

50 pullups (I did jump chins...such a poor excuse for a pullup)
50 box jumps
50 KB swings (used the 24kg)
50 burpees
50 situps
50 pushups
50 back extensions
800 m run
50 KB cleans (did 10 with 2x12kg and decided they didn't count-then used 2x16kg for 50)

It was good. Took me about 30 minutes or so... The KB cleans were supposed to be after the situps, but I didn't want to be going out for the run when my client showed up, so I left the cleans until the end, thinking they would take the most time. I don't like jump chins. If I didn't have a time constraint today, I would've subbed 90 degree chins with the jungle gym. That would've been much better. My pushups have been a struggle again lately. I think I need to start doing a lot of pushups all the time, because then they eventually feel easier when I do that. Same thing with situps. Need to do lots and lots of them all the time...