Crossfit Days

For the last couple of days, I decided to dabble in the powers of Crossfit. This motivation came from visiting the Crossfit site and reading Catra's blog. I am becoming quite the believer in this method of strength training and will be developing a regular schedule to incorporate the daily workouts into my routine.

On Wednesday, the head cold cleared up just enough to get to the gym. Lorene informed me that she would not be swimming due to an infection that she was trying to shake. That was fine by me because I did not want to go hard anyway. The Crossfit workout was as follows:

200m run
21 Deadlifts (used 90lbs on a 15lb bar affixed to the Smith Press)
21 pull ups (80lbs assisted on Gravitron)
400m run
15 Deadlifts
15 Pull ups
800m run
9 Deadlifts
9 Pull ups

The first set of pull ups were tough because of the number of reps. After that, it got easier. After the set was completed, I saw one of the guys doing a fun abdominal workout. Lorene encouraged me to ask him how it was done and to try it. He was very happy to show me how it works. Basically, using one of the cabled units, the handle was dropped to the floor and two foot straps or handles were attached to the one cable. The feet would then go through the loops and you would be on your back. The appropriate weight would be set for the leg raises/crunches. What buddy did was do a loaded leg raise and crunched with a medicine ball. It was definitely impressive. I tried it out but I was only able to do leg raises. Once the coordination kicks in, I will be adding crunches. It was fun and definitely a keeper. I did feel it on my abs and it felt good. My core is definitely getting a workout these days.

Yesterday, in an effort to kill some time before heading off to a fundraiser, I ventured over to the gym after work. Crossfit workout of the day was as follows:

1km row
75 burpees
50 squats (loaded with 70lbs on a 15lb bar affixed to the Smith press)
25 pull ups (omitted because it was included in the previous day's workout)

I will say one thing - do not try walking down more than one flight of stairs immediately after doing 50 squats. I was definitely feeling it. The burpees were quite powerful even though I had to rest a few times. I couldn't believe how easy it was to do the pushups that were part of the burpees. After doing the workout, I tackled the abs by doing the loaded leg raises. I was even able to support myself on my elbows and do some crunches.

The workout was concluded with a stretching session. I got to use the foam roller to roll out the tight spots before changing and heading out to the fundraising schindig.