Spaghetti Legs

Twenty three days since my last workout. That sucks. Just so happens, several months ago I bought a voucher for four elements ( learn the basic moves ) classes and two regular Crossfit classes at Swamp Rabbit Crossfit. I really bought the voucher for my daughter back in the summer, but she never used it. Now she is studying abroad in India and won't return until after the voucher expires. So after two years of watching The Crossfit Games and reposting Crossfit photos on Facebook and Google+ I decided to go for it, use the voucher and take my first crossfit class.

Our tiny elements class of three people - two women and me - was taught by Coach Brandon. We started with a warm up consisting of

• Some jogging forward across the building and then back pedaling to our starting point.
• "Hurdle over and unders" to open the hips ( pretending to step over a hurdle at your side and then squatting to go under the next hurdle ). We did this across the building and back.
• Walking lunges back and forth across the building. 

After the warm-up, we focused on proper squatting technique. First we were instructed on the proper stance and form. Then we practiced with

• Air squats. 
• Y-squats facing the wall, trying to get as close to the wall as possible without touching the wall. This forced us to keep erect w/ tight backs. 
• Then using lengths of PVC pipe in lieu of barbells 
• back squats
• front squats 
• and over-head squats. 
• We learned proper sit-up form using "ab mats".

I felt kinda' good because I've actually always loved squats. I have good form, but I learned a few tips from Coach Brandon that helped me have even better form, for example holding my breath to keep tight on the way down and up instead of exhaling on the way up. It also seemed to be easier for me to get proper form than the ladies.

After all of that my quads and hamstrings were already tight, my abs were cramping up and Coach Brandon announced that we would do a ten minute AMRAP ( As Many Rounds As Possible ) of

• walking lunges
• 10 sit-ups
• 10 air squats

Ten minutes doesn't sound like much does it? It was somewhere between 15 and 20 lunges to go across the building and we had to go down and back. I only made it through two rounds and was half way down on my third set of lunges when Coach called time.

I felt like I was in terrible shape. My quads and hamstrings were burning. My heart was racing and I was breathing like a bellows. I even told the coach, "Man I'm in terrible shape," as I was lunging back down the building to our starting point. But I didn't give up. I kept on going. He kept telling us to do "our workout," and to go at our own pace. I kept that in mind and just paused to catch my breath and made sure I used good form.

BTW, the two women in my class? They ate my lunch. One of them was in her 30s and looked to be a runner. She also said she usually works out at the Y, but had bought a deal similar to mine via Living Social and wanted to use it before it expired. The other woman seemed to be in her mid to late 20s but was thick and curvy. The first woman probably did four rounds in the AMRAP and the second woman was nearing the end of her third round.

We finished up by doing five to ten minutes of stretching for the legs and hips. I could feel my legs quivering. As I walked to my cubby to grab my sweatshirt and keys I had a stiff legged gait as if I had been pounding out super heavy squats and leg presses. I walked out of the building and had a choice of a longer walk down a ramp or four steps. I said to myself surely you can walk down four steps. That when the spaghetti legs really kicked in. I could barely get down those steps! I had to hold onto the rail!

After a 20 or so minute ride home, what am I faced with at home? Another four measly steps up into my house. I could barely make it, but I did and though my legs ache I feel good overall. I think I'm going to keep going to SRC even after my intro classes are over. Ever since I injured myself training for a powerlifting contest nearly fifteen years ago I have never been consistent with my workouts for longer than a few months. I guess I should face the music and submit to some external discipline. Hopefully I'll be able to keep this up. This feels like my kind of workout and doing it with a group of people will be much more fun than working out alone at home.

We'll see how these spaghetti legs are doing tomorrow! Oh, because of Thanksgiving on Thursday we're supposed to go back tomorrow for our second elements class which will focus on over head pressing. I need to decide whether I'm going at 0600 or 1800.