Cindy and Clean and Press!

Started the morning off with a private yoga lesson...

Nobody else showed up to the class!

It felt really good and was nice after a crazy pre-holiday week.

I had to leave to attend to a family matter after that, so I was unable to climb. Probably all right because I tweaked my elbow and shoulder on my right arm... so a little rest would be good.

Since it was the last day of working this year - and I didn't want TOO MUCH rest - I decided I wanted to make it to the Crossfit class one last time.

Warmup:
Half Mile run (treadmill) - 3.5 minutes
20 KB Goblet Squats
10 KB Push Press each arm

Workout
1 Round of Cindy (5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 bodyweight squats)
1 Clean and Press (I used 2 35lb Kettlebells because of the number of people there using the other bars and stuff)
1 Cindy
2 Clean and press
1 Cindy
3 Clean and press
... continued up to 10 reps Clean and Press with a Cindy at the start of each round.

at the 6th rep of the round of 7 clean and press - I had changed to an 80 lb curling bar for a few rounds - I pinched something in my lower back... OUCH! So for the remaining 3 sets I went back to the 2 kettle bells.

In the end I finished in 23:45 seconds - which was 2nd fastest overall.  My arm was twitching from my elbow up to my neck... and it hurt. Thankfully the majority of that pain went down pretty quick.

Unfortunately that back pain! YOW! Stiffens the whole spine up pretty quick!

Here's what I looked like after:

Not bad.

I'm not sure why but I've been taking progress shots like this in the locker room mirror for comparison lately... And while I'm quite happy with my progress...

It's just...

So weird.

Oh well!

Yoga, Climbing, Crossfit, Trail Running, Mudder Training CRAZY!

Wow.

Exhaustion.

Pain.

And even after all that I could STILL do muscle-ups at the peak of exhaustion! WOOT.  (I did 3 today after our Tough Mudder workout AND last night after our trail run)

I think I can consider that goal COMPLETE.

Warning folks, this is a long post with probably too many pictures!

SO. Yesterday.

Fantastic early morning yoga class with the awesome new yoga teacher/wellness intern followed by a solid half hour climbing on the wall. I used chalk this time to avoid the chafed hands I had on Wednesday, but I climbed fast and went up and across and back down and all over that wall a lot, so by the time I was done - I had some painful spots on my fingers that may turn into climbing callouses. Also I need to get a chalk ball to put into my chalk bag - just loose chalk is a bit harder to rub in properly.

That wall is already not very hard for me... but I can still get a dang good workout in and I love it!

Work got busy - but I still felt like I needed to go to Crossfit.

Warmed up with a half mile run (the route would be included in our workout) and some double kettlebell cleans, squats and presses, since that is also what we were doing for the workout. I had 2 35 lb kettle bells for the workout. When we were done with that, we started the workout, to finish for time:
Run .5 miles
Double Kettlebell Clean, DKB Squat, DKB Press 10 times
5 burpees
DKB CSP 8 times, 5 burpees, 6 KB, 5 b, 4 KB, 5b, 2 KB, 5 burpees
Run .5 miles

I finished 2nd out of everybody in a time of 14:32, the next person came in just before 15.

After the main workout we had 2 more workouts, the first being Russian Twists with a kettle bell - 20 seconds on, 10 second rest, 8 rounds. Yikes! The first 4 or 5 rounds I was all right, then 35 lbs was tough!

We finished off the workout with about 20 yards of Handstand Walks. I still can't even do a normal handstand, let alone walking on my hands! So I kicked up and pedaled my hands a few times and came down until I made it across. Now that I've completed me muscle-ups goal (though I will definitely continue to improve on them!) Handstand might just be my next major one.

So that was a crazy good amount of working out for one day right?

WRONG! Okay, so yeah, really you were right, because that is most definitely a crazy good amount of workouts, but I wasn't done yet.

I hadn't gone running up in the mountains all week! That's horrible! So my sister came over and watched the kids while the most lovely Kakes and I went for a run. 3.5 miles up Farmington Canyon, we kept a 17 minute pace, which was great for the way I was feeling, and we got some good pictures!
And we all know that's really what's important right?!

Definitely the pictures!!

Man... how many times can I pose the same way in one post?! (the answer according to this post is FOUR... wow)

So after that crazy day (worth 2040 points on Fitocracy, woohoo!) I was tired. Exhausted.

And of course excited to see what punishment could be dished out by my friend Justin today in our Tough Mudder workout!!

Unfortunately only Justin and I were there from the team, AGAIN. But I DID bring my sexy arm candy so she could experience the pain "ABSOLUTE FUN" of our trainings.

Yum! Arm Candy! Mmmm

Our workout today (which incorporated a few of the same things we did 2 weeks ago) consisted of 3 15 minute sections:
Warmup/Round 1:
Run for 2 minutes
Bear Walk for 1 minute
Run
Monkey Bars!
Run
Crab Walk
Run (sheesh is there some sick pattern here or what?!)
Monkey Bars!!
Run
Walking lunges (my nemesis!)
Round 2:
Run 2 minutes (wait more?!)
Tire Flip 1 minute
Run (Most definitely more!)
Sledgehammer
Run
Sandbag (70#) lift (clean, clean & press, whatever)
Run
Jump Rope
Run
Dip Walk
Round 3:
Farmer Carry 2 minutes
Burpees 1 minute (yay no more running)
Sled pull (sandbag in sled)
Jump angle sprint (Broad jump forward, Sprint to the side and forward for about 10 yards, repeat)
Medicine Ball throw and chase (17# ball - split the tape some need to fix it!)
Goblet squat (20# kb)
Agility Ball throw and catch - mean little sucker bounced all over the place - fun!
More MONKEY BARS!
and Box Jumps.

Awesome workout. My shoulder hurts. I think it is from yesterday's handstand walking attempts. Or the falling.

Crossfit was Glorious!

I thoroughly enjoyed Crossfit today!

Mostly because it was outdoors, but it was also a fantastic set of movements. Due to limited kettlebells I ended up with a 35 lb'er - Shortly after that I wish I'd gotten a bit lighter!

We started off with a warmup doing sumo deadlift high-pulls, followed by running to the gate and back.

Here's a picture to help illustrate:

So starting back by those stairs on the parking garage, we did 10 sumo deadlift high-pulls, run to the gate, run back, 8, run, back, 6, run, back etc until done.

After that first warmup Dave (our crossfit trainer) explained our exercise and had us do 5 of each movement on each side. Starting at the bottom of the stairs (closer than before), you do 10 kettlebell squats holding the kettle bell each side (total 20 reps), then take your kettlebell up the stairs to the second level:

Here we move away from the stairs (so faster and/or slower people still have access!) and do 15 total kettlebell press ups, so 7 and 8 or 8 and 7 each side however you want to do that. Upon completion you again take your kettlebell to the top level for the final 3 movements of the set.

You can see way in the back where the stairs come up. At the top there near the stairs you combine the squat and press to do 5 kettle bell squat-presses on each size (total 10) then leave your kettlebell there and head to that wall that is between the middle and back light posts for wall burpees! I like wall burpees because it makes me feel like I'm doing parkour training. To do a wall burpee you drop back into the normal burpee start, back and down to a pushup, come up and jump over the wall and down to the pushup. Each time over the wall counts as one rep. After 5 times over the wall you run a lap around the upper level of the parking lot back to the stairs where you have finally completed your first set. Now we had 2 minutes until you start the next set. Total of four sets, goal is to try to be below 3 minutes per set! My first set was 3:55. Yikes. Sadly I have already forgotten my total time, but I DO think I improved a bit, and was able to pass people on the burpees and running, which made me feel good. After I finished my four rounds, I was able to rest for a bit allowing a few more people to finish their fourth round - but there were a few people who were a set behind. Dave asked who wanted to do a challenge and complete the last round with the final people. I decided to do it if I could use a lower weight, so I used somebody's 20 lb weight and went down to the bottom to start round 5.

Wow what a difference lighter weight makes! I was a LOT faster on that 5th round and finished it in 2:45... which was a nice feeling.

Four house after I STILL feel really good - although I'm starting to fatigue a little and my shoulders are being a bit wonky. Part of that is because we took the whole family out for a Costco shopping trip!

Just for fun here's one of those awesome mirror self-taken-raised-shirt-ab pics. I've almost got some abs yay!

Tomorrow we are going to a farm to pick up a quarter cow! We're excited to have a lot of grass fed beef in our house!!

Daily Exercise Digest - with Shoulder Care Links

Done Today:
10 Pullups
3 mile run, around 8:30 pace First run in my new shoes Merrell Barefoot True Glove
10 Chinups
50 Stressball squeezes each hand (with 10 second squeeze at end - not hard but feels good!)
20 Ab Rollouts
50 Pushups - I need to do these more I am a wimp right now!!

Shoulder issues are something a lot of people deal with -  My right shoulder has improved a lot since I injured it in a freak arm wrestling accident with my younger brother-in-law (freakish in that he was a monster at the time and about ripped my shoulder out of it's socket!) but it still gives me pain. Strangely I think it hurts most when I'm doing the hula hoop on Wii Fit. Weird!


Jason Ferruggia's tips for Healthier Shoulders:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Some of this advice is way beyond what most people need - definitely more for people who do a lot of lifting - BUT I think you can definitely find something in these posts to improve your shoulders and keep them safe!

My new shoes!


**Note**
Above Amazon links are Associates links - you buy something there I get a tiny bit of money - I don't get anything from Ferruggia except good fitness info - and you can too!
**End Note**