Crossfit

I looked at the scoreboard after last night’s class and my jaw dropped. 10 rounds? 11 rounds? I completed 5, almost made it to my sixth round and felt accomplished. Had I not tripped on my jumprope a few times, I’m sure I could have finished the remaining 68 jumps to mark a 6 not a 5 down, plus reps.

How in the world did they do it? They must be gods. I was racking my brain until I realized: double unders. They really do save so much time. Where others in class only have to do 30 double unders, the rest of us are trying to get out 90 singles. 90!

I hear horror stories about training for double unders: whip marks, jumping too low, jumping too high, not flicking your wrist enough. I’ve only ever completed a handful of double unders, not in sequence, and certainly not very well. Most of them I think were an accident.

So in addition to trying to master a handstand pushup, I’m adding double unders to my bucketlist. Anyone who wants to practice with me, let me know. I’m going to need some encouragement.

I’ve been watching videos online on how to do a double under, too:

Andy was not too happy with me this morning. At 5:15 a.m., I rolled over and let him know we had to get dressed and head out the door. After a few complaints, a mention or two that he didn’t sign up for this kind of torture this early in the day, and finally putting on his shoes, we left for the first Crossfit class of the day.

I was amped. I couldn’t believe that Andy had actually gotten out of bed (when he goes to class, it’s always at night). I am not a morning person, by any means, but if it means I need to be chipper to get him to go with me, then I’ll pretend to be a morning person.

So we went. The warm up was fairly easy, some Monster Walks with bands, then some squats. Not bad at all. (Should have been a sign.)

Then we did some stretching, and some front squats. Patty was super supportive today despite her back hurting her a bit and not wanting to go too big on the weight. (I was grateful to go slow.) She worked with me up to a 100 pound front squat. You’ll notice our little 2.5 “cookies” on the ends. Hey, if I can’t really see them, they must not weigh anything, right?

And then I watched Andy in his group, do a 225 lb front squat. What?!?! Where did that come from? I’m so proud of you, hun. SO much weight and you haven’t been in a bit. So proud to see you front squat the big weights!

The hard part was the WOD. I got stuck in a burpee loop. It was supposed to be 20 wall balls, 20 push jerks. But every 90 seconds we had to do 8 burpees. Let’s just say that I flew through the first set of wall balls, first set of push jerks, and another set of wall balls, then got stuck. You see, when you’re slow at burpees, you don’t have enough time to finish your set, then get back to the main workout. We were supposed to do four rounds. Needless to say, I only got 2 (rounds) + 2 (reps). I tried. I really did.

But I hear tomorrow is handstand pushups!! So I’m hoping I make it to class.

I’m pretty sure my friend Molly wants to kill me.

You see, I invited her – really lured her with promises of wine and food – to a WOD and Wine event at Everproven last night, a completely ladies-only evening of Crossfit, food, wine, and fun. And since then, I’ve been getting text messages about how sore she is. (I feel her pain, my thighs are a lot sore, too.) Apparently I didn’t quite inform her how intense Crossfit really is. If I told her how sore she’d be after one workout, I don’t think she would have gone, but from the smile on her face (see above picture) to the positive response she had after the first workout, I think it was a win. (That’s just a glisten on our faces, ladies don’t sweat.)

It was tough, but she did it. Scaled, but who cares! She gave it her all, survived, and I’m hoping she comes back.

We had around 60 ladies rocking out at Everproven on a Saturday night. Yup! That’s right, a full house on a weekend night and it was so inspirational. So many women of all different ages, sizes, and levels working out together through burpees, push-ups, ring rows, lunges, planks, and more. And all supportive. That’s what I wanted Molly to see. To know that I’m not crazy when I’ve gone to a 5:45 a.m. class. To know that Crossfit allows you to be motivated by other strong women to make yourself stronger.

And Everproven is planning to do a few more of these WOD and Wine nights this year. Open to members and their friends for a free, fun evening with a group workout, some snacks, and wine. So any of my lady friends out there who are still interested in learning about Crossfit, giving it a go, or just want to see what all the fuss is about, let me know so I can invite you. What’s the worst thing that could happen? You go for a free workout, don’t enjoy it, and don’t come back. I won’t be mad, I’ll be glad you tried!