Body Weight, I’m Coming For You!

Béatrice is finally on the mend which means, I have had a solid, uninterrupted night of sleep until 0600, when Rina came to ask me if she was still grounded… She had been without iPad privileges yesterday for not listening and giving me attitude and she was anxious for the sanctions to be lifted. I told her it was too early to discuss that and that she needed to go back to bed. I half expected her to stay in her room for a short while and then go downstairs, but she fell back asleep until I woke up at 0715! Last night, I was debating going to the 0600 class, but I kind of wanted to sleep in this morning since Rina has a Pr0-D day. That meant attempting to sleep in was something fathomable and I chose to do just that! Hurray for sneaking in extra rest!

I got up, made the girls pancakes while I made myself an egg, 1/3 sweet potato, with salsa and 1/4 avocado! Yum! Topped it off with a coffee and got ready for Crossfit.

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Skill: Back Squats 5×3 E90S

I’ve been chasing my goal of squatting my body weight on the back squat and I was wanting to try to get up to 135# today. I’m usually cautious with any squat and deadlift since my sciatic has a tendency to get angry with them, so I wasn’t feeling too hot for these this morning. I remembered the last time I had tried 130#, I was seeing stars and had to back out of a lift, so I wasn’t hopeful that I could get to 135# today, but I made it my goal.

I warmed up to 115# and we got going. At 125#, Coach AJ came over to tell me I was “stripping” my lift (not keeping my shoulders up on the up of the squat and leading with my butt instead of my shoulder). She reminded me to keep the shoulders back and the core tights, all the while, pressing my shoulders into the bar.

I loaded up my bar with 130# and tried as best I could to do everything Coach AJ had just told me. Yes! 3 reps done! One set to go.

I loaded up my bar with 135# and shared my plates with Marika. We had a nice system going and it worked out well. I managed 2 reps with some effort, but I think I managed to keep my form proper. The 3rd rep was a little stripper-ish, but I dug deep, pulling the bar into my shoulders and managed to get back up for my 3rd rep! OH YEAH! Heaviest squat I’ve ever done in my life! That means I am officially 10# away from back squatting my body weight! Gainz and weights going up! Woot! Woot!

WOD: Hung Up

After celebrating the high of my back squat, I had shaky legs and was very apprehensive about the WOD. Coach AJ had said we should aim for a time of 10:00 try to break our snatches into two for each rounds. Ha! Here I was aiming for 3 reps before putting the bar down! I scaled down the weight to 40# and was planning to do all the reps. For my pull-ups, I scaled it with the red and blue bands. I tried with the red and purple, but I was struggling way too much.

3-2-1-Go! The snatches were hard, but then again, they are my weakest lift I feel. I’m still not able to snatch a decent weight (in my opinion) and I struggle with these. I made sure to have perfect form on most of my reps though and I think I managed to do so. I broke the pull-ups into sets of 3s, then 2s. 21 was a lot and I was drained.

I got to the bar for my set of 15s and I wanted to quit sooooo bad! I was really trying to break them into 8-7, but I had to do 4-4-5-2. My forearms were done and the thought of 15 pull-ups was crushing my spirit, let alone another full round of 9s. I broke all the pull-ups into sets of 2 and made my way back to the bar.

I managed to break the last snatches into 5-4, then onto the rig for my last pull-ups where I broke them up into 2, except for the last 3 that I somehow managed in-a-row.

That WOD looked all innocent and cute, but it was a monster in disguise. I’m so proud of myself for not quitting on the round of 15, though because, once again, it means I am stronger than I think I am physically and I just need to keep pushing through the mental barrier in order to succeed.

That was me today, and pretty much everyday at the gym!

It gives me hope for my upcoming 5k that I plan to run on October 5th. I’ll talk more about that in a separate post… That run will be all mental and I’m going to need to dig deep into my mental fortitude in order to finish, I just know it! I left the Box with shaky legs from the squats and shaky arms and hands from all the grip of the snatch and pull-ups!

On my way home, I saw a biker that had been hit by a car, so I stopped and asked if he was ok. He was bloody and couldn’t move one of his shoulders, but I didn’t have to intervene since the ambulance and cops arrived just shortly after I did.

I am now planning to take the girls to Hotel Transylvania 2 this afternoon. It will be their very first time watching a movie on a big screen! I’m not sure that Béatrice will tolerate the noise and length of the movie, but I plan on going with my sister-in-law, who would then say with Rina at the theatre while I take Béatrice home if she’s too bored. Keeping my fingers crossed it will be a successful outing! Who knows, maybe I’ll even be able to sneak in a nap in the dark! 😉

 

Something New

Remember last week when I said to you all that Rachel Siemens might start a weightlifting class at CFVC? Well, she did and her first class was today. I signed up for 3 classes, to see how it would feel like to be coached by a different coach on my Oly lifting. Some different things:

• the class today was at 1230, therefore, I am a little more awake than my 0600 class, but it also means I have to manage my meals accordingly.
• I have to “check with the husband” before I go. If we’re both off on weekends, it’s unspoken knowledge that we normally have “family-time” for most of the weekend. I just wanted to make sure he was ok with me going to lift heavy things for 1hr on a Sunday when we’re both home.
• Coach Rachel isn’t Coach Caleb. Duh. No kidding. They both have a different approach at Oly lifting and it’s nice to have a different perspective, or cues on my lifts. Some of the things are very similar, but some are very different.

Overall, I had fun (that is, until Rachel brought out the whip because I was being a smart a**. That got me to shut up quickly! 😉 )! The class was very fast-paced, yet it felt like we really worked on plenty of things. Here’s what I ended up doing for reps and weights:

Pause OHS: Rachel wanted us all to start light for these and she went according to our 1RM Snatch, so I had to start with the training bar with 2×5#. That felt light. Pausing at the bottom of the squat for 3secs was easy.

Hang Power Snatch: Again, I started with an empty bar and worked my way up to 50#. I think I could have gone up to 55# easily, but we ran out of time. Rachel gave me a good tip to start on my toes and curl my wrists towards my legs, elbows slightly facing forward on my last rep. That felt weird, but she said she was pleased with the results. She also said I would be able to do 65# Squat Snatch in no time. What she doesn’t know is my hesitation to drop into the squat has been my major issue all along and she didn’t get to see that in the power snatch. We’ll see! 😉

Hang Power Clean: Those felt good. Again, I just need to remind myself of keeping contact on my legs with the bar on the pull. Still struggling with this as the weight goes up.

Snatch Grip DL: Those were hard, but I did manage to go up to 65# which is technically 100% of my snatch weight (although I have never successfully managed a squat snatch at that weight). You could really feel your posterior chain working hard and I had to drop my butt much lower on my set-up. It felt weird at the beginning, but then I kind of got used to it. Something to keep working on.

 

In other news:

I officially start the Whole30 tomorrow! Yay! Although, it will probably end up being a Whole60 or maybe even a Whole100 (with some modifications when we go to Cuba for a week). I’m really hoping this will be a new way of living for me and not just a fad. I know I already feel better and I sleep so much more soundly at night (that is, when BeZU isn’t puking in her bed at 0400… Which happened last night, ugh!) and, already, I feel like I have more energy.

But why doing the Whole30 and why now you might ask? Here are my reasons:

So long, trustee crutch!

I have been popping one of these bad boys pretty much on a daily basis ever since I got pregnant with Rina, 4 1/2 years ago. Heartburn is something I’ve come to consider normal for me. THEY AREN’T! I have been doing the Whole30 unofficially since last Sunday and haven’t had the need to take a Zantac since Tuesday. It may not be much for you all, but that’s a whole 5 days without me resorting to medication to relieve my upset stomach. WIN!

I already have talked about it previously, but energy levels are a big thing for me. I’m usually up at or around 0500. Every day. Whether I have to be or not. I also do Crossfit and have  2 daughters who like to be on the move (as should they, at 2 and 4)! Sometimes, I admit that keeping up with them is a struggle. However, since starting my Whole30, I’m usually in bed at 2130 (on a good night when I stay up late), which means I get close to my 8hrs of Zzzz. It also means that I have the energy to, let’s say, take them to the playground, go for an Oly lifting class (by myself) and then take them to the pool before putting them to bed. (Exactly what we did today). All that, on top of laundry and only having coffee this morning (no caffeine after noon, except on night shift duty). So yes, higher energy levels will always be welcome for me!

The third one is particular to me. Don’t be afraid by the picture below, but I’m trying something here. Here’s a picture of me, no make-up.

Not smiling because when I do, you can’t see my dark circles…

Notice the dark circles under my eyes? They have lived there pretty much since my early 20’s and I’m just curious to find out if doing the Whole30 will help lose those. Maybe it won’t, but I’ll check back in 30 days. 😉

Another reason is purely about gainz. I want to see if I’ll be able to PR on certain lifts or WODs at Crossfit. I’ll also keep you posted on these as we go along!

Finally, let’s face it: losing some weight or some pudge would be awesome! I’ve always said that I will be wearing a bikini on the beaches of Cuba (I am very comfortable with who I am thanks to Crossfit and self-confidence), but if I could really rock that bikini, that would be gravy on top, right?!?

So there. Those are my reasons for doing the Whole30 now. My “pre-Whole30” pictures and measurements are done. I will keep them to myself until I do the comparison in 31 days! I hope you stick around for the joyride! 🙂