Started up Crossfit

Hello everyone, or just Bruce. I just moved to Chicago from CA to go to Medical school. I've always wanted to join a crossfit gym, but they were always so expensive. But by looking around Yelp I was able to find a place for pretty cheap, so on my first day here I checked out and I haven't looked back yet. I just completed my 3rd day of training so I get to rest tomorrow. I feel like this was one of the better decisions of my life. I've been pretty homesick, but I walk out of that gym feeling a lot better. I feel like if I can focus on this and Medical School I will end my four years in Chicago pretty successfully. I'm going to use this blog to keep notes on crossfit and map my progress. I'll probably take pictures of my physique so I can see the changes. I might even talk about medical school, but that won't start for another 2 weeks.

So I'll run through what I've done WOD(workout of Day)-wise.

Tuesday

Since I'm new they modify the workouts for me.

Five Rounds for time (RFT)

10 Deadlifts #95

15 Tuck Jumps

10 Knees to Elbows

This didn't seem like it was going to be hard, but man was I wrong. By the 3rd round I thought to myself, "Am I going to die?" But coaches kept pushing me on, and some how I got through it. I don't recall my time, but it wasn't great. It was a good first WOD.

Wednesday

Partner WOD

Me and my roommate did this together

21-15-9-9-15-21

Calorie Rowing

Wall Ball #20

Then when both partners are done, 30 burpees.

So for this WOD one person had to row while other did wall ball, after the set with 9 the partners would switch exercises. I decided to row first since I felt my cardio is the worst and do wall ball second. I found out how hard wall ball is when you have tired legs lol. That last 21 Wall balls was not fun, this was the hardest WOD of the week for me to get through. Thought that I was going to barf. Also, those 30 burpees were utter hell. It was a fun time for all. Maximum effort was definitely acheived.

Thursday

This was supposed to be the gyms rest day- typically crossfit programs run a 3 day on, 1 day off schedule. So we worked on getting the technique down for Cleaning. I've done cleans before, but I wanted to really nail the technique, so I'm glad I suggested that they teach my roommate and I the form. We ran through a Burgener warm-up with pvc while the coach (instructor, sifu?) explained to us why we do certain parts of the movement. The Warm-up basically goes over the form of a snatch which translates to the clean pretty directly. 3 parts of the warm-up are triple extension, bending elbows to keep the bar in close, and whipping it over head in the catch position while jumping down to receive the bar at a lower center of gravity. We then progressed to using a bar for cleans. The coach said I pretty much had it, so we added some more weight. Things that he noticed were wrong were my approach to the bar and my initiation of the lift. I guess I have to have the bar a bit closer to me; the bar has to intersect the foot in half. Also, when I initiate I need to sit back and start pulling the bar more gradually before actually bringing it off the floor. He said I slam into it like a freight train--I thought that's what you were supposed to do, so its good that we got that ironed out.

I have to say that after the coaching my cleans already feel, well, more clean. I'm sure over the next few months i'll really get it down.

Well after that we watched our gym mate make his way through Fran, which is 21-15-9 thrusters and kipping pull-ups. Glad I didn't have to do that.

We ended up doing a WOD after all:

21-15-9 Dips and Kipping Pull ups

I did band assisted ring dips instead of regular dips, because there weren't enough normal dip stations, but I can't do that many ring dips yet. My kipping pull ups were ok. I need to push myself away from the bar after getting to the top to keep my momentum. I'll celebrate when I can knock out 20 kipping pull-ups in a row. Right now I'll do like 3-4 lose momentum, reset, then do some more. This wasn't a "hard" WOD but my muscles were having trouble getting through all of the reps towards the end. WOD time was 7:50.

Well its been a good start, I hope I can stick with it because I know it works. I also want to tell my lady that I love and miss her. Love you Kelly!

Thanks for reading.