High Intensity Midmorning Workout

Day four is a high intensity routine from the BB4FL.

Warm Up: Intu-Flow 9 minutes

Plan 5 Rounds 10 Reps per Exercise. The last three of the four exercises are 10 reps per side.

Frogger Level 1
Swing Split Level 1
Elevated Scorpion Level 1
Pillow Twist Level 1 w/ stool

Actual:

Round 1: 9 minutes 10 reps each
Rest 1: 4.5 minutes
Round 2: 10 minutes 10 reps each
Rest 2: 4 minutes
Round 3: x minutes 8 reps each
Rest 3: 4 minutes

Cool Down: Prasara Yoga 14 minutes

This is a beast of a workout, even harder than I remembered. I had to cut it short to make sure I made an appointment. Only three rounds rather than the planned five. Also, I cut the number of reps in the third round. I'm really out of shape. I was often hovering on the edge of nausea. I think next time I do this, in four days, I'll try 7 reps for each exercise for each round. Or should I do 10-9-8-7-6?

I'm sore. A little bit of spaghetti legs, but not nearly so much as my short intro to Crossfit. . My core is sore, too. We'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Moderate Intensity Evening Workout

I am once again following the Bodyweight Blueprint for Fat Loss. Today was a moderate intensity ( HAHAHA! ) workout.

Warm Up: Intu-Flow 9 minutes

5 Rounds As Many Reps as Possible of

• Kneeling Push Ups 45 seconds
• Rest 60 seconds
• Hip Bridge 45 seconds
• Rest 60 seconds
• Side Plank Left 45 seconds
• Side Plank Right 45 seconds
• Rest 60 seconds
• Split Squat Left Leg Back 45 Seconds
• Split Squat Right Leg Back 45 Seconds
• Rest 60 seconds

Cool Down: Prasara Yoga 14 minutes

I had a notion to do a couple of sets of light weight, high rep kettlebell swings after my WOD and before my cool down. However, in my presently shall we say undertrained state, this workout was challenging enough just as it is. Notice I chose to do kneeling push ups. I knew I couldn't do 45 seconds of regular push ups for 5 rounds.

I also did the side planks on my forearm and knee instead of the more traditional hand and foot position. The split squats replaced 1-legged squats. Even scaled down this was plenty challenging enough. Think you're in shape? Give it a try. If it's easy I can provide the more challenging variants of each exercise. There are at least 3 and sometimes 4 more challenging forms of each exercise provided in the program.

I can feel my muscles, that's for sure. I hope between this moderate workout and tomorrow's high intensity one I don't make myself as sore as I did with my brief Crossfit experiment. BTW, I was again tempted to skip this workout since it had gotten so late in the evening. Then I thought about how well I slept the last two nights and wanted that good sleep again. Also, friends would be looking for my post in our exercise and weight loss support group on Facebook.

Warm Walk in the Sunshine

It was much warmer than I expected when I went for my walk today. As I walked the clouds started to clear and the sun was beaming down on me. I didn't need the gloves I wore, which I wished I had worn yesterday. After about a quarter of a mile I took them off. After a about a mile and a quarter, I took off my sweatshirt. It took me 42 minutes to walk two miles. That's slow but to be expected given my low level of fitness. I know it will get better over time.

After I got home, I did a Prasara Yoga recovery routine from the Bodyweight Blueprint for Fat Loss. I am very, very tight. It is going to take a lot of work to improve my flexibility. I even got a cramp in my right hamstring just getting into a simple kneeling pose! Tomorrow I'm going to do a moderate intensity workout from the BB4FL that includes an Intu-Flow warm up and a Prasara cool down. I'll do a couple of sets of kettlebell swings, too.

BTW, after yesterday's workout I slept like a log! Just 40 minutes of walking and 20 minutes or so of Intu-Flow joint mobility work and my sleep improved tremendously. I've got to keep that in mind when I'm tempted to skip a workout.

Discipline What Discipline

Last formal exercise was 20131207. Today I did an Intu-Flow recovery routine and walked for 38+ minutes. Intu-Flow is a method for increasing mobility. Tomorrow walking and Prasara Yoga.

I would really like to join a Crossfit gym, but $100 - $165 a month just isn't in the budget right now. I've got to lock into a routine and pay off a debt or two before I sign up.

Walking, Yard Work and Mobility

Yesterday, 20131207 - Pearl Harbor Day, I took a thirty-two minute walk that was about 1.5 miles. That's not fast but not slow either. If I get back into the habit of walking regularly I'll work on speeding things up. I think four miles an hour would be a good target to shoot for.

Once I got home I did yard work for thirty-six minutes. I shoveled piles of leaves into the yard waste can and raked up leaves over maybe 1/6 to 1/5 of our huge back yard.

After the yard work I came inside and did some mobility and stretching work. I focused on the Bretzel and Bretzel 2.0 and this "30 second mobility cure." I did some other upper and lower body stretching for a few extra minutes.  So, I was moving for over an hour probably closer to an hour and a half.

Many Crossfit Skills

I think I'm getting a little more fit even with just four Crossfit Elements classes. I'm still a long, long way from fit. However, I feel really good today. Yesterday evening, 20131205, at Swamp Rabbit Crossfit we learned or reviewed a lot of exercises. The same two ladies I had my first class with and I were again coached by Brandon.

Warm Up Routine

• Shoulder mobility work w/ PVC pipe
• Hurdle Over/under width of gym and back
• Air Squats

The exercises we learned we only did a few reps of each.

• Box Jumps
• Pull Ups
• Kettlebell Swings
• Jumping rope, both Single and Double Unders
• Wall Ball Shots
• Glute Ham Developer Sit-ups
• Back Extensions
• Glute Ham Raises

It seems like we did one or two more exercises but I can recall what they were.  I really sucked at jumping rope. I used to be able to jump rope but you wouldn't have been able to tell that last night. I must practice. After that we did our WOD of the day which was AMRAP in ten minutes of

• 10 Air Squats
• 10 Abmat Sit-ups
• 10(?) Walking Lunges
• 10 Push-ups
• 05 Burpees

Once again the two women I was working out with beat me in the WOD. The 30-something runner probably did 5 rounds. The 20-something curvy girl was on her fourth round. I was just starting my third round of Burpees when Coach Brandon called time. I guess I shouldn't feel too bad, after all I'm 10 - 20 years older than either of my exercise companions.

It was unseasonably hot and humid last night. This also made the painted concrete floor pretty slick. So slick that my back foot occasionally slipped a little during lunges, so slick that I had to put my feet against some stacked mats to do my push-ups. The gym is undergoing renovations, including resurfacing the floors so hopefully this won't be a problem in the future.

So, I've finished my four Elements classes. I can take two more regular classes and then I'll have to make a decision about joining Swamp Rabbit or another Crossfit affiliate. I'm leaning more towards one closer to home but I'll need to visit them.

Deadlifts, Cleans and Snatches

I got up at 0415 this morning after turning off the TV and lights sometime between 2330 and 0000. Somehow I still managed to be a couple minutes late for my Crossfit Elements class at Swamp Rabbit Crossfit. I laid out my workout clothes, packed a bag with work clothes and toiletries last night. I should have also prepared the coffee pot ahead of time. However, it was mostly just my own slowness and generally poor estimates of time required to complete stuff.

Anyway, the box was packed this morning. We went outside with our coaches of the day, Jessica and a guy whose name I don't recall and who is not listed on the coaches page, and split into two groups to warm-up. The warm-up consisted of doing

• Walking lunges
• "Inch worms"
• More walking lunges
• Air squats 
• Squatting on one leg with the other leg crossed over the supporting leg at the knee for 20 or 30 seconds per leg.

I think the other ( and younger ) half of the class did some high knees and butt kicks, too. After the warm-ups we went back inside and proceeded to work on learning.

• The Deadlift
• The Hang Power Clean
• The Snatch

After we worked on those skills with extremely light weights. We went through our workout of the day, a five minute AMRAP of 

• 15 Abmat Situps
• 15 Burpees

I only made it through one round. My whole core, front and back, cramped up like CRAZY! All of the work we did today required strong core which has been one of my weakest points since I was a teenager. I was hurting too much to pay attention to how many rounds other people in the class completed. I really enjoy these types of workouts even if I'm far, far from being fit.

My Legs Finally Returned to Normal

Well, they returned to feeling like they do a day or so after a normal workout on Saturday which was the third day after I worked out on Wednesday. Thursday I didn't workout at all, just drove to ATL to Mom's place for Thanksgiving dinner and back. Friday I walked for about thirty minutes or so and did some stretching, primarily the Bretzel and Bretzel 2.0.

Sunday, I had good intentions to walk and stretch again but never got around to it. Today I had no plans to exercise but tomorrow will be another Crossfit Elements class at Swamp Rabbit Crossfit. I intend to get up early enough to make the 0600 class. I've packed a duffle with toiletries, towels and work clothes. I've also laid out my workout clothes. I'll need to leave the house sometime between 0515 and 0530.

I told my spaghetti legs/pressing means no legs story several times on Thanksgiving. I hope everyone realizes that even though I complained that it felt as if my quads were about to fall off my femurs, I really did enjoy the crossfit workouts. It was a lot of fun even if it was hard.