So it was just Erin M and me tonight, pretty cool!! I didn’t get much of a chance to rest in between learning new things, since there was nobody else who had to practice the motions, but it just made me sweat more, which in turn makes me feel like I’m actually doing something..  BUT, one thing I DID get to do was apply one of their new decals!!! I’m hoping Erin posts a picture so we can see how awesome it looks tomorrow!

So tonight, in addition to our usual warm ups, I learned about Push Press, Hang Power Clean, and I got to swing a bit from the bars, getting the hang of the whole Kipping concept/movement. My only real concern is the skin on my hands.. I kind of need that skin! Haha I might chicken out and get some sort of gloves that will protect my palms so that I can practice better. They actually don’t hurt tonight, even though I did 18 of the swing motions for the pullups. I’m still dreading the actual pullups, but not as much as running around the building 80 times again! Good lord.. I think my left calf still hurts from that shit last Tuesday.. (sissy, I know.. but I’ll complain about running every chance I get, I hate that shit.)

Anyway, I also re-learned rowing motions. I’ve been working out on rowing machines since high school, and since I was never taught, I just sort of learned my own way, which unfortunately is not the way Erin wanted me to row tonight.  Was tricky re-learning something I had been doing for so long, but I got the hang of it quickly.

Our WOD wasn’t so bad, but it was mostly arms and upper body, which again, like last time, is something I’m not used to. I like that though! It’s exactly what I asked for when I told Erin from Day 1 that I needed a spin class for my upper body. 🙂 My legs are so strong already, but I’d really like to improve my upper body strength. There’s definitely room for improvement, anyway!  Tonight, I had to do 3RFT, which is 3 rounds for time of the following:

250 Meter Row
12 Hang Power Cleans (no weight, 45 lb bar)
9 Push Presses (no weight, 35 lb bar)
6 of the Kipping swing things. (I forget what they’re called, I apologize..)

It was awesome, and as usual, I felt so good afterwards! I also talked Erin’s ears off, rambling about the business how we got started, etc (hey, she asked!) It’s like opening a can of worms when Dave and I start talking about that stuff, and in turn, I got to hear more about the beginning of Crossfit Inertia. I’m so excited to be a part of this!! Watching them grow their business is going to be really cool, too.

Spinning with Diana tomorrow!!!

Spinning with Diana at the Brooks YMCA is one of the most incredible classes/things ever. I can’t describe it, and if you haven’t gone to one of her classes, there’s no way to even begin to relate. It’s quite powerful, in a sense that you’re in a room with 30 other people who have been looking forward to this one hour of their day, too.  And I swear, I’m smiling the entire time, no matter how difficult it is to do.

It’s an almost entirely choreographed hour, and everyone just KNOWS what to do.. from warming up in the beginning, to some of the most intense isolations, we know what each song brings, what Around the World means, for how many counts, when to cheer, when to take a quick drink of water, and when a sprinting song comes on, we all hunker down, lean forward and just go for it.  At the end of the hour, again, everyone knows the cool down, the motions, the breaths, the stretches. It’s amazing, and I get all jacked up for a good 2-3 hours after it’s over, too! (Even right now, I’m playing some of the tracks and smiling ear to ear because I KNOW how hard I worked today while each of those songs was playing.)

Every time she asks if there are any new people, and a couple here or there raise their hands, I want to run over and explain to them that while it’ll be the hardest spin class they’ve ever done, it’ll also be the most rewarding, and that they should stick with it for a couple weeks and see how they feel!

Today was my first day back to her class since last summer. Spinning in regular tennis shoes was one of the biggest mistakes I made with that class. I royally messed up my arches, especially my right one, and my 2nd biggest mistake was I kept going, regardless of the pain. Figured, it wasn’t going to get better so I might as well keep going and busting my ass. Well, sometime in November, I decided to go to someone else’s easy peasy class (RPM, I think) which consisted of mostly sitting and very little standing on the pedals, so my feet could handle it. Well, that instructor had clip in SANDALS. Best idea ever when it comes to cycling footwear!! Most cycling shoes are narrow as shit and they pinched the hell out of my feet. I immediately went home and began my research.. I knew I needed more rigid shoes to protect my arches and heels, and I was certain that was my answer. I went on Nashbar and found these precious gems, Nashbar Ragster II Cycling Sandals for a very affordable $50. I ordered them and anxiously awaited their arrival.  Since they arrived shortly before Christmas, I tested them out for 4 or 5 different spin classes, determined that my adjustments on my cleats were good, and decided I was ready for Diana’s class once again.

Well, I had every intention of going LAST Tuesday, but I swear, it was meant to be that I ended up going to Crossfit instead. 🙂  I told Dave tonight that I think just doing Crossfit for only 3 sessions so far has made me a better and stronger Spinner.  I felt like I gave it absolutely everything, and I didn’t regret any single second of it. (I hope I can put the same sort of intensity and enthusiasm in with Crossfit!! Ultimately, I want to be able to be awesome at both..)

Anyway, I’m working on my Spinning playlist, but I’m doing it from memory here.  I’ve got a few of the songs so far that make spinning AWESOME.  If you can’t work out to the following songs, then I dunno, you need to work on your rhythm or something. 😀

This one is spectacular for climbing and gradually increasing your intensity on the bike, with spurts of faster jogs out of the seat.

This is a great song to get started to..

Black Eyed Peas just, are awesome for this stuff.

I’ll post more in the coming weeks. 🙂  Looking forward to Crossfit tomorrow!!

We made decals for Crossfit Rockwall in April of 2008.. I did a search for those Sumo DeadLift High Pulls and their website was the first that came up.. how did I recognize them?? I saw pictures of the decals we made for them in the background.. SO COOL!!!!

Today was my 3rd day of Crossfit at Crossfit Inertia, and each time, I’m anxious, just a little bit, throughout the day because I don’t know what to expect when I get there.  I go over my list of clothes that I brought, did I bring a towel? No. Oh well.. Shit, I forgot my water, what socks do I have? Will they be good enough? Will my shoes rub the backs of my heels again if we have any rowing to do? What if there are all these people there who are way ahead of me?  Who can do like, 100 pull ups and run around the building 12 times like it’s nothing.  Please, I hope we’re not running today…

and then 4:30 comes.. and 4:45.. I go out to my car and get my stuff. Conscious that I’ll be heading over there soon. What if I’m late? Jesus, they’re only TWO MINUTES away.. it would be very difficult to be late.. Still, I get there early, just in case. This time, I brought over some decals for Erin and Erin (I need to find a better name for them.. the Erins?) to put on their door. I figure I’ll apply them next time, when the weather’s a bit warmer, maybe I’ll show up even earlier next time than I did today, just to put the decals up. Now, decals I can handle. 😀

So, today it was just Sally, me, and Erin M. It was quite nice, really, just being the 3 of us but I know they’d ultimately want more people there than 2, but I’ll totally take it. We did our usual warm ups, high knees, fast feet, jumping jacks, push ups, squats. I love squats! They are my easy exercise (Shh…) So thankful for my strong leg muscles when we’re doing squats, hah.  Even the push ups today felt easier.

We learned a couple things.. we did some umm.. dead lifts? and then we did dead lifts but brought the bar all the way up to our chin. (Forgive me, Erin, I was so caught up on the weird name I forget what it was called.. sumo dead lift high pull?? According to my quick Google search, I do believe that’s it..) Pretty basic, I can handle this! And then we went over the beginner’s guide to pull ups today. I’m going to suck at them, but I will try as hard as I can! So yeah, anyway, we started out by standing on those riser things, hanging from the bar, and just jumping up and pulling ourselves up at the same time. I almost felt like I could handle it, like oh hey, this isn’t so bad. It wasn’t until we incorporated that into our WOD that I thought otherwise. 

The WOD today was
10 pull up jumps,
10 SDLHPs (I feel so advanced using the acronym..)
15 sit ups with the awesome lumbar back pads, and then a
250 meter row.

We had to do 3 rounds as fast as we could, and I believe I did mine in 13 min. At first, I got off to an awesome start, and then yeah, by the 3rd round of my pull up jumps, I was beat! But we did it! Awesome sauce. (been dying to say that.. but haven’t had a reason to.. stupid, I know.)

I’m not sore yet, but I’ll be taking my Flexiril tonight juuuust in case. I gotta be ready for spin class with Diana tomorrow!!!! Soo excited to see her!  And then, I need to hope I’m ready for another Elements course with Erin on Wednesday. 🙂

Copy/pasted from FB:

Crossfit Day 2 done! Waaaay more intense than the first day, but I love it. Bring on the sore muscles.. 😀 (I’ll stop posting about it eventually, I swear..)

after our warm up (push ups, high knees, fast feet, jumping jacks, squats) we did some back and forth stuff running across the gym. Then, we did squats with weights. First a set of 8, then 6, then 4 (I think) but we gradually increased the weight with each set. I started at 35, then 55, then 75, then 85. At 85lbs we did 1 squat, then we did 5 suspended in the air push up things on the rings (REALLY HARD, I suck at those) and then the 1 squat, then the rings, and so on, 5 times. THEN for the WOD, one round was running 400m, which was twice around the warehouse building, rowing 500m, and then doing 25 burpees. We had to try and do 3 rounds in 20 min. (!!!!) I did 1 full round, and then almost all of the 2nd round (didn’t get to the burpees, I was not disappointed about that, sorry Erin! haha) Im beat. but it was awesome.

Copy/pasted from FB:

Last week we had a new customer email us about making some decals for their Crossfit studio that they’re opening right next to our warehouse. I spoke with her today and she invited me to come and try them out tonight, as they have a beginners’ class this evening. So yeah. Wish me luck tonight at CrossFit Inertia. I’m a little nervous!

(and then after I tried it..)

Aahahahaaa Crossfit day 1 was incredible! I’m hooked!