Tag: training versus working out

When you Take Training Seriously, Amazing Things Happen

by crossfitmomm, posted in CrossFit

Yesterday, we did Grace, which is a girl workout in CrossFit of 30 clean and jerks.

I’m just coming off of a forced rest due to injury so I didn’t want to push my arm/shoulder too much.  So I decide to just do 105 lbs on the bar when the RX (or prescribed weight) is 135 lbs.

I do this in 6 min and 10 seconds.

Not bad, I think.  Could have been faster.  Could have gone heavier too.

I go to log my time and notice the last time I did Grace was May 22nd and I only did it at 88 lbs.  That triggers the memory of doing it and I remember I thought that was heavy and my shoulders were trashed all weekend from doing it.

So, in less than 3 months, I upped my weight by 17 lbs.  And I still had some in the tank!

“I’ve come a long way,” I tell my coach at the end.

“You sure have!” he agrees.

All because I started training.

Other notables:

I’ve beaten the boys several times–the number of times has increased dramatically in the last two weeks.

I usually beat all the girls in my box.  Not always.  Depends on the workout.

All my lifts have reached PR’s.

I can do 50 unbroken double unders almost every time I grab a rope.

I have a bar muscle up.

My hspu’s are consistent.

My form on butterfly pull-ups has improved, and I can now string multiples together regularly.  Same with toes-to-bar.

These are just some of the things that pop to mind.

Don’t get me wrong:  I still have work to do.

Bar muscle up work.  I want to have better form and string multiples together.

Chest to bar pull-ups.  All I can do is strict.  Kipping these are challenging and I really want to be able to butterfly them.

Toes to bar needs more work for stamina.

Always working double unders and hspu’s.5d0210cd1439540456042513589d7ee0-reaching-goals-quotes-church-quotes

These areas are my goals for the next few months or so.

I’m reading self-help books about how to reach your financial goals and the principles in there apply to strength training.  Stick to it.  Small steps.  Believe in yourself.  And you will reach your dreams.

 

 

Nothing in Life Worth Doing is Easy

by crossfitmomm, posted in CrossFit

Last night, I had a Bar Muscle Up call (the course I’m taking through Ben Dziwulski at http://www.wodprep.com) and this saying came to mind.

Everything in CrossFit (and Olympic lifting for that matter) is practice.  EVERYTHING.

It took me a year and a half to finally have confidence in my double unders ie. not messing them up all the time.  I practiced for 6 months every day in the beginning.

Bar muscle ups.  I finally got them.  They are ugly and sloppy.  But now every time I jump up I get one.  I’ve practiced this on and off for 9 months.  Now, I’m focusing on perfecting my form through this class.

Snatches.  I used to get so frustrated cause I could never break past 85 lbs.  But I never gave up.  Never.  I’m up to 105 and 95 is now fairly easy for me.  Practice.

Running.  For some reason, most CrossFitters dread this move.  Not me.  It’s one of my favorites.  But I’ve had to train it.  Hard.Climber standing on a mountain summit

Rowing.  It’s one of my least favorite moves, but I’m improved.  Cause I keep at it.

Same with rope climbs, pull ups, toes to bar, chest to bar, cleans, deadlifts, squats, push ups, etc.  It’s all practice and time and training.

Which is what I’ve learned this year through my strength book.

Quick tip:  QUIT WORKING OUT.

If you’re mindlessly showing up to your box and doing whatever they tell you, you need to stop.  Unless that’s all you want–a workout.

You’ll improve.  To a point.  But if you want to excel, you have to train.

That means finding a strength program with specific goals in mind.  Training all the moves.  Doing it every week.  Along with the programming.  I work out at home before I go the box.  I work out when I don’t go to the box.  I follow my program.  Period.

Sure, life happens (like my arm).  But you keep moving.  Keep training.  Keep progressing towards your goals.

Cause guess what?  The Games are over.  Now it’s serious training time for the Open.

And I don’t know about you, but I want to kill it this year.  I did good last year.  But I want to kill it.  I’ll be twice as strong.  Twice as fast.  Twice as prepared.  I’m getting older.  I want to hit CrossFit hard while I still can.

Nothing in life worth doing is easy.  And CrossFit ranks right up there.  I can’t tell you the number of people who come and go out of my box.  It’s definitely someone special who never gives up.  Who comes despite the soreness and the tiredness and when they are burnt out.

And the rewards?  Incalculable.