Week 5, Day 3 - Big girl belt!

 Its Wednesday! My new 1rm test is over a week away. So exciting!

I was struggling!

Smolov:
4x9 @ 130

Thoughts: Success! I got the chance to have excellent spots today and got to try out Erin's legit weightlifting belt, which was awesome. It was rather challenging to get on though, lol its like a modern day corset I swear! My squats were miserable but I got through it. I really like having a spot and am glad that i dropped the weight down this week. I am so sore currently I didn't want to overwork my body. I foresee lots of foam rolling in my future!

...And I ate it all!

Intake:
Breakfast: Protein Coffee shake
Snack: Tuna roll
Lunch: Giant salad with chicken, egg, bacon, cheese and seasame strips
Snack: Baked snapped peas
Pre-workout: Protein Bar
Dinner: Egg scramble made with one turkey patty, two piece of bacon and four eggs

I'm an eating fiend! Or at least I'm trying..

Week 5, Day 2 - Pullups, Pushups, Situps, oh my!

 So exhausted. I think I will take it easy tomorrow and just squat. My body hates me right now. 

Fellow members getting after it!

Swod:
OTM for 10 mins
2 Split Jerks
Results: Used 115
Thoughts: This went well. I had an almost failure at round three but as I got more comfortable my jerks got more powerful and my drop got faster. My shoulders are freaking beat from the ring dips yesterday though.

Cwod:
5 rds for time:
20 pull ups
30 push ups
40 sit ups
50 air squats
Results: 36:51
Thoughts: Ow. my. sholders. The push ups were miserable. There is no doubt I've gained weight in the past two months and I felt it in this wod. I'm guessing I've probably gained 10 pounds (I don't weigh myself) and just imagining myself doing this wod with a 10 lb play makes me cringe. I really am ok with it though I'm not really focusing on body weight movements right now. It felt great to get a good sweat in.

Cool down:
Run 800
Handstand hold x10 for three seconds
Handstand walk 50 ft 2x
Thoughts: My shoulders were just shot. The run felt really nice though. 

Intake:
Breakfast: Coffee Protein, three eggs and three pieces of bacon
Lunch: 6inch sub with lots of meat and cheese and veggies
Dinner: Giant sushi roll 
Post dinner: Greek yogurt

Week 5, Day 1 - The power of the big spoon

I'll be your little spoon any day Erin!

Smolov:
10x3 @ 135
Thoughts: This went great! I had my awesome friend/power lifter Erin spot me and it helped so much with my confidence. She also told me to slow down on my descent and to eat more. I will definitely work on both those things this week. So happy I was able to get after this weight and it felt really solid.


 



Cwod:
"Elizabeth" 10 min time cap

21-15-9

Ro and I post-wod making sweat angels.

Power cleans (95)
Ring dips
Results: As perscribed, 4 dips on my round of 15

Thoughts: Yay no belt! I was really happy I was able to get those cleans without my crutch aka my belt. no failed cleans and I did all of them in sets of 5 or 6. What slowed me were my dips. I HATE them. I feel like my chest is ripping apart and I still don't have the mechanics down of the kip so basically all the ones i did today were strict. But hey, at least I'm getting stronger! It also felt great to back in my gym and surrounded by encouragement and positivity. After last week, it was just what I needed!


Intake:
Breakfast: Protein Shake 
Lunch: Chicken salad
Dinner: Eggtastic taco. Three eggs, two pieces of bacon on a whole wheat tortilla.

My appetite has been way down. I was struggling with finishing dinner. Ain't nobody got time for that!

Ps thanks to Coach Colton Zeck for the pics!

Week 4, Day 4 - The taste of failure

I'm just going to be honest, I left the gym in tears on Friday.

Smolov:
5x5 @ 135
Results: Failed 3 out of 5 sets on third rep, only completed 2 sets
Thoughts: [Insert Explicit Word Here]. I don't understand how I can get 5 sets of 7 reps at 130 but cant get more than two sets of 5 at 135 without failure. I was supposed to do 7 sets of 5 but I had to stop because it wasn't worth hurting myself and I ran out of time. Every time I failed a set I would clean it back up (taking off some weight), rack it and finish the set so I could get something out of it.  There could be a couple reasons behind my failure. I was lifting on an empty stomach or I was just too sore or I'm fighting a cold and bacterial infection in my finger. Regardless, I'm freaking upset. I REALLY need someone to spot me.. I feel like I could have gotten those reps if I had just had someone behind me to help me out a little and give me some confidence. I just hate excuses!

So now what.

Does this mean I quit? Hell no. This is where I modify. So here is my new schedule and hopefully I will have more success. Thanks to my awesome coach/friend dan for helping me figure this out. I'm dropping it down ten pounds and  I will definitely still get a lot of it.

I rested up this weekend and now I'm ready to get at it on Monday. I will get through this!

Week 4, Day 3 - Embracing my inner penguin

Ow. 
My legs are officially blocks of rock. I waddled around work today, definitely not feeling my best. 

Not leg day but close enough

 But I did manage to do some stretches at work and lunge down the hallway every chance I could. And yes my co-workers judged me.

Grey Skull 
Strict Press
5,5, 5+ @ 70
Results: 5, 5, and 4 
Thoughts: This was a happy thing and a sad thing. A 70 lb strict press was my old one rep max. So technically this is one hell of a PR. That being said, 70 went up really nice my first two rounds so I was disappointed I couldn't finish it out strong. Next week! 

Cwod
4 rounds for time:
Max unbroken handstand pushups
Row 250 meters
*record time and sets
Results: 8:24; 15-11- 9-8
Thoughts: Again this workout had some pros and cons. I was dissapointed in my handstand pushups, I wanted to be getting at least 10 every round but as upper body isn't my focus right now, this is understandable. What I was super happy about was my rowing (NEVER thought I'd say that) I was able to keep my pace under 2:10 each round which, for me, is really unheard of. I mean seriously, I am the worst rower at my gym. But you know what that means? I'm getting stronger! Yipeee! Anyway, overall a good training day. 

This is how I feel some days...

Cool down:
Stretch
Foam Roll 

Intake:
Breakfast:   Protein shake and a PBJ
Lunch: 2 PBJs and a hot dog
Dinner: Giant whole wheat quesadilla with turkey patty, fro yo probably later.

Back from the dead.. Week 4, Day 2

The new plan for smolov, modified since I did a comp midway through the cycle:

So today after I slept in a real bed for a couple hours (my plane got canceled and I spent the night on a cot in the Dallas airport) I got my butt out of bed and went to squat. I got on the bar and literally was like "uhh how do I do this again?" Struggle bus. 

Here is where I slept last night!

Smolov:
5x7 130 
Thoughts: I had some good sets but some seriously ugly reps. Pretty much every 6th and 7th rep involved me cringing and grunting and struggling to get my knees out. I made it through though. barely. I really need to start having a spot though.. there were some reps I wasn't sure I was going to get up. I'm hoping that it was just my combination of being tired and rusty on my squats. Hopefully, Friday goes better!

Intake:
Breakfast: none
Lunch: Qdoba Burrito
Dinner: 4 Taquitos and some organic spinach pizza bites

When in doubt...dance. Pipehitters 2013

So I survived.

This past weekend was a highlight of my summer. I got my butt kicked but it was incredible to watch such talented athletes compete.


First workout:
4 rds for time (8 min time cap)
10 double kettle bell front squats (35s)
Single-handed double bell suitcase carry down and back(35s)
Results: I believe 2 rds  10 reps, I got half way down the field but getting all the way wasn't happening.
Thoughts: I should have worn a belt. My back was on fire the entire time. Also front squatting with  kettlebells is freaking awkward. I kept being like this is only 70 lbs why is this so hard...My goal was to get 2 rounds so I'm proud that I was able to push through and get above that.


Second workout:
40 sec at each station:
1: max reps 70 lb single arm kettlebell ground to overhead
2: max reps 120 axel bar power clean
3: 10 reps 110 lbs atlas stone throw over yoke
4: max reps 70lb single arm dumbell snatch
5: 10 reps 145 lbs atlas stone throw over yoke
Results: 0
Thoughts: Yes, thats right I couldn't do any of these movements. The only one I almost had was the 110 lb atlas stone which I missed getting over the yoke by a couple centimeters. bummer. From fear of injury I didn't attempt the most of the stations. I have no experience with axel bars so the clean wasn't happening, especially with my baby hands. This really was embarrassing but I tried to give the crowd a little show since I couldn't really do any of the movements...see video.


Third Workout:
9 -15- 21
Hang power cleans (95)
Kettle bell jerks (35s)
Jerks had to be performed unbroken or you would terminate your set.
Results: all 15 hang cleans
Thoughts: I surprised myself with this one. My form on my hang cleans was right on point. The nine jerks I knocked out pretty solidly which felt awesome because I have little to no experience with that. The 15 jerks was were things got ugly...I got to 11 jerks and then got no repped for push pressing instead of jerking. It was crushing. Everything hurt and after that I think I got no repped like 3 times before I had to drop the bells. It was just too much to think about. I felt like i was knee bending but my body wasn't listening. Still proud of my work though.

Overall, it was a really fun day. I had a blast getting to know people from not only my boyfriend's gym but other gyms. It also gave me more motivation to continue on with Smolov. Although, it isn't going to turn me into some super human..It can start me on my way to getting stronger. I also can't wait to come back next year and hopefully see some improvement!

More pictures to come...