one on one: day thirty-four

Given that today was a holiday and the gym was only having short hours, we still managed to have a session. I had to keep it short and sweet today to tend to other things before I headed into work (I did not get a day off like many of you did). Here's what Joon had me do:

Warm-up: Easy 5 min Row

Then,
3 Rounds, 1 min Rest after each round
     5 Front Squats @ 75#
     5 Power Snatches @ 75#

Then,
For Time- Grace:
     30 Clean & Jerks @ 65#
Final time- 2:47

It was a good day, though I did struggle with my power snatches a few times. The weight I did is only 10# less then my 1RM, which leads me to believe if I did 15 of them at 75# that 85# isn't my 1RM anymore. Then during my warm-up for Grace I managed to hit my chin with the bar, and well that sucked. Thankfully I didn't bite my lip this time, or break any kind of skin- yay- but I am still quite sore and will probably see a small bruise tomorrow. I did drop the bar about 3 times during Grace, but did my best to pick it right up. The last couple of days I've been surprising myself with pushing through the pain of breathing and yelling muscles and just continuing to move. I am most certainly making progress.

This photo was taken from Pinterest.

one on one: day twenty-six

This has been a very busy week and besides Monday and my session on Tuesday with Joon, I hadn't been back to the gym until today. I can't remember the last time I missed so much CrossFit, other than being sick. Thankfully Joon took it somewhat easy on me and we spent our session outside at Buckman Field. If I decide to go back to the gym tonight to do the WOD, Joon has already explained to me that I wouldn't be. He's got something in store for me and given that it's FYF (Fuck You Friday), I'm sure it'll be something quite F'd up! This is what I did this afternoon:

2 x Jog
2 x Skips
2 x Lateral Skips/Carioca

Then,
4x
10 Front Squats (25# DB)
Run (there and back- I think it was 30 yards)

Then,
For time:
     30 DB Snatches
Finished: 1:03

A fairly easy session today and I felt good minus the fact that I forgot my water bottle and felt quite thirsty when it was done. My legs felt good, the jogging was not bad, and my squats felt really good. It was a good session.

This photo was taken from Pinterest.

one on one: day nineteen

Today's session was probably one of the best ones yet! I really worked through some of the suck and amazed myself with exceeding both my and Joon's expectations, though I am sure mentally he was expecting more from me and got it. He's been really driving home how I need to learn to keep moving when I begin to feel the burn, which is the lactic acid build up in muscles, and utilize it for energy. I have a tendency to stop the moment I feel it and rest, but you never push through that threshold if you don't learn to embrace it and work through it. So I did today, through out the whole session and you know what? I survived and STILL had energy for more. It was crazy how I made myself keep going, what a mental game it is but so absolutely doable. Here's what happened:

Warm-up: 500m Row
Extended Warm-up:
     8 x 20m Skips
     4 x 20m (3) Overhead Walking Lunges + (1) Overhead Squat

A] 10 Front Squats @ 85# (Unbroken)
      2 Min Explosive Step-ups >20      Did: 35/43/47
      Rest 3 minutes between sets

Rest 5 Minutes

Then,
B] 30/30 KB Clean + Press 18#
     100 Total Reps / Timed: 14:09

Ok, for starters the skips are getting easier in one way as I am moving quicker but they are sucking when I get tired. Joon calls it quicksand and that is exactly how it feels. I start off explosive and high and by the time I reach the end of the 20 meters I am barely coming off the ground. The overhead lunges/squat were a tad challenging, breathing wise, but I felt good. My knees didn't bother me at all and I was able to get low. It's almost unbelievable that I am doing lunges with no knee issues. I did, however, begin to feel the lateral sides of my feet, more like a cramping feeling.

In part A I was pretty impressed with myself for doing 10 unbroken front squats three times with 85#. Just to think a week ago this WAS my 1RM weight. How do I do this? Over and over again I keep outdoing myself and Joon says I'll hit a point where these increases will slow down but when? I love hitting new PR's. Anyway, by the third set of front squats I was battling the suck big time. My quads were burning for sure but that was the least of my problems, I could feel myself wanting to panic breathe. When I recognized the feeling and fought back with myself mentally and said "NO!" I took a deep breathe and did another squat, slowly I was counting down but not before the panic breathing tried manifesting into something else. Having the bar right up against my throat is not a comfortable feeling, as anyone who is familiar with front squats are aware of, but try having a mind that tries to convince you that it's not a bar and rather someones hands around your neck. I literally started feeling like someone was trying to choke me. What I am proud of is that I didn't let that feeling take over, I took another deep breathe did my last two squats and dropped the bar. I didn't let the feeling win over me, I took control. I took a moment to gather my thoughts and take a few more breathes before moving on.

The explosive step-ups were definitely challenging and I focused hard on just working through the leg burn. Joon has a way of knowing when to say something, and what to say to keep myself focused and moving. When I could feel myself wanting to stop because my legs are burning or tired, I would push on to do at least 2 more before stopping to catch my breathe. With each round he would tell me to increase it by one but I went beyond that each time. I wanted to do more than one, I wanted to prove it to him but also to myself.

Part B was probably the hardest part of todays session, physically. We attempted to do 25# KB but I couldn't control the movement of two of them at the same time. So we opted down to 18# where I felt I had better control. But don't be fooled by the weight, after just a couple of rounds they began to feel extremely heavy. I now have bruises on my shoulders and wrists from this very movement. I call them Joon's twisted humor 1, 2, 3, and 4.

I'd say all in all it was a good session where I think I am finally seeing and believing my progresses!

This photo was taken from Pinterest.