PhillyGirlAWs

Balance, yo.



Carrot sticks and 77% dark chocolate courtesy of Sook Hee's Produce in the Comcast Center. Side of to-do list courtesy of life.

I've had a really good couple of weeks, fitness-wise. First, let me start with an unapologetic, attention-whore, self-congratulating remark: I CAN TOTALLY TELL I'M LEANING OUT BECAUSE MY GODDAMN PANTS FIT BETTER.

And really, it's so much more obnoxious than that. Because today I am wearing a pair of chinos I bought late last spring, when I'd dropped some el bees doing P90X. I regained said el bees during a period of baking obsession last fall (which I am sure is a complete and total coincidence, and not in any way causally related). Thus, these chinos, while wearable, were definitely bordering on uncomfortably snug.

THEY ARE LOOSE. Not like, too big loose, but comfortably loose. And every time I put them on, I'm like "haha YAAAAY my pants are loose!" But that's not it. Legitimately, all day long, I think to myself "heh...heh...these pants fit AWESOME." When I stand up, when I sit back down, when I lean over to put shoes on, when I walk downstairs to buy carrot sticks and chocolate.

So, you know, that's good stuff. But I'm getting stronger, too. This week's recaps:

- Friday: Lynne. I benched for the first time since at least 2007 or 2008. Back then, I was doing (I think) 65 or 75lbs for sets of eight. Friday, I used 90lbs for the metcon, which was 5 rounds of max bench presses followed by max pull ups. I thought I took a picture of my sets, but I guess not - can't recall with total accuracy, but I did something like 7/11, 7/11, 7/10, 6/10 and 5/9 - with 90lbs and the average band.

- Sunday: gymnastics. Muscle-up work. Once I get a pull up, I think these will start to come together for me. Metcon was redonk.



I started getting sick this weekend, and I could really feel my weakness in the handstand holds. Normally I can do 60 seconds without too much of a problem, but after the first round on Sunday my shoulders started to collapse between 40 and 45 seconds each time. That meant 4 broken handstands, which meant a cashout of 40 burpees. I did them in sets of 10 and knocked them out in about 3 minutes, which is SIGNIFICANT improvement over that time I did 50 burpees in 4:05 and legitimately thought I was going to pass out afterwards.



(AW moment: post-metcon, while I was regaining my composure, Sammy told me she noticed how my body composition was changing. The words "your back looks ripped" may have come up. AW AW AW AW. )

I took Monday off from the gym and spent the night on the couch drinking broth and playing scrabble. It helped my recovery tremendously.

Tuesday - ring dips, peak set of 3. I'm still using bands to assist but am getting stronger. Light band - 1/2 light band (one strap only) - mini band - 1/2 mini (complete fail) - 1/2 mini (one rep, then fail). Metcon: 3 rounds of 1min max ring dips (LB), 1 min ring rows strong arm, 1 min ring rows weak arm, 1 min row for calories, 1 min rest. Score: 151 (total reps + total calories). Not too shabby. Stayed for gymnastics; worked on kipping pull ups and kipping for handstand pushups. Between the metcon and my cold, I was definitely feeling fatigued, but my kip is getting better. I will throw a goddamn party when I get my first bodyweight pull up.

Wednesday - sandbags, double-unders. Goal: get a sandbag off the ground and overhead any way you can. 40-50-60-70 (couple attempts). Sandbags are awkward to clean and not easy to control overhead - both times I did the 70lb bag, it fell backwards off my hands at the top, since I couldn't keep a grip on it when cleaning. Metcon was awesome: 5 rounds for time of 35 DU's (I scaled to 10) and short loop run. I finished in 14:59. Runs felt strong, and by the end I was stringing DU's together "unbroken" (meaning "without stomping on the rope or getting the rope stuck in my hair," not "DU after DU after DU without fail or interruption") with singles in between. Wish I'd thought of that in the beginning - I would have shaved off a BUNCH of time.

Um and also PhillyGuy got Sophie a new toy. It's a stuffed hedgehog.



Or her doppelganger. Whatever.

95% vs 100%

(Credit to Crossfit 1Force for the awesome disclaimer.)

Recently, I read an article shared by a CFCC member about the "chronic almost-achiever." Short version: are you the type of person who constantly gives 95%, but almost never truly gives 100%?

It really struck a chord with me. Because, um, hi, that's me. Do you know why I prefer running mile repeats to racing a 5K? Because while it's pretty tough to run a fast mile, it's REALLY tough to run 3.1 fast miles without taking a lil' rest in the middle. I rarely do anything to the point of actual failure...whether it's pull ups or a metcon or whatever, I'd much rather take a quick rest when [my forearms start to give out, or my wrists start to get sore during bridge-ups, or box jumps start to get tough, or insert whatever other signal of discomfort is appropriate] and jump back in when I feel a bit recovered. And my diet. I mean, I JUST wrote a post about how I'm happy to be eating Paleo about 95% of the time - but seriously I eat fruit for breakfast EVERY DAY and and AND have a Larabar for "dessert" after lunch. I am not giving 100% when it comes to cutting out unnecessary sugars, even if they do come from peaches and dates.

But, really, am I ever going to get my body fat down where I'd like it to be, or get a bodyweight pull up, or have burpees not completely suck ass, if I keep at it like this? Using pull ups as an example - I've figured out that my weakness is in my forearms/grip. My back is sort of strong, and it's never THAT hard getting out of the bottom. If I'm going to fail in a pullup, it's when the bar is about eye level, when the work shifts from my lats and biceps to primarily my forearms (or at least that's what it feels like - perhaps there are other muscles at work in the last few inches of a pull up, but whatever). SOOOOO...I should be doing lots and lots of pull ups, since, well, that's the only thing that's going to make me better at pull ups. And I should be doing lots and lots of them WHEN IT GETS HARD. (TWSS.)

I am definitely a 95%-er. And this week I've tried to keep that in mind - am I really, REALLY giving this everything I have? Maybe it's helped, maybe it hasn't...but as long as I keep focusing this way, I'm hoping to narrow that suck list WAY down. (TWSS TWSS TWSS.)

And I had eggs for breakfast instead of fruit TWICE this week. I rule.



This week's workouts:

Monday - squat cleans, peak of 2. Learning a new movement was tougher than I expected that it would be. This will eventually be a strong lift for me, I think, because the movement is very, very similar to stunting in cheerleading, which I was good at. So far, it's a lil' ugly since I'm still figuring it all out. 45-65-65-54-54-64-64-74. I would like to up this to at least 100lbs by the end of this strength cycle. Metcon (which I was dreading, since Sunday's thruster/wallball duo left my quads screaming): 3 rounds for time of 50 air squats, short loop run. My quads were like jello at the beginning of every run, but it wasn't so bad. 9:34.

Wednesday - sandbag thrusters and a metcon I consider Sandy Fran's cracked-out cousin.



4 rounds for time of short loop run, 15 sandbag thrusters (80/50), 15 pull ups. Crossfit gods must have sensed my still-screaming quads and had mercy on me - we were able to do this as a partner workout. Talia and I killed it with a great strategy of each doing three reps at a time. We never got too tired and had plenty of short rests throughout.



16:46 with 40lb sandbag, average band for me and light+mini bands for her.

Thursday - missed out on sumo deadlifts (sad face). Gymnastics was AWESOME: back extension rolls, bridge ups to kickover, back limber. Sammy suggested that the next step might just be back handsprings, which would just make my little heart explode with happiness. Finally, FINALLY got a back extension roll where my arms cooperated in pushing up. Metcon: 7 rounds of 7 bridge-ups and 7 inverted burpees. Even ending my inverted burpees in a donkey kick (not even CLOSE to a handstand), this kicked my ass. 17:57. PhillyGuy asked me what a bridge-up looked like when I got home and my shoulders were so shredded I couldn't even do one.

Tonight is BENCH PRESSES (?!) and Lynne (5 rounds of max bench presses (RXed is bodyweight but I'm pretty sure I won't even be close) and max pull ups). This should be interesting.