Did my foundations class. Not sure what I'm getting myself into. Haha. I really enjoyed it. Never thought I would be able to do something like this. Totally psyched! And tips from the pros are much appreciated.

I feel great today! I went looking through my pantry, through all the protein powders I bought post op, in search of some sort of recovery shake. And I found one! Didn't even realize my unflavored powder has the BCAAs in it. It's GNCs Pro Performance. Not the best recovery out there but it's what I already have. I think it helped a ton. I woke up this morning and wasn't sore at all. Now, with that being said, I was back at it today so we shall see in the am.

Wls4me - Thanks for sharing. That is really good to hear today was a better day for you. Are you really going every day? Wow, great commitment!

Oh, haha, no Fiddle. Im nowhere near the beast that you are ????It's just how much work schedule went this week. I'm don't for the week. I'll be back on Monday. I think I would die if I went everyday. But I'm loving it!

Question for you Fiddle... Yesterday at Crossfit we did kettle bells (my first time doing them). I did 10 reps of 10 with an 8kg kettle. Today when I woke up my low back is sore. It doesn't "hurt" per say but I definitely feel it. Is this normal for the kettle bell exercise or did I not have correct form?

Question for you Fiddle... Yesterday at Crossfit we did kettle bells (my first time doing them). I did 10 reps of 10 with an 8kg kettle. Today when I woke up my low back is sore. It doesn't "hurt" per say but I definitely feel it. Is this normal for the kettle bell exercise or did I not have correct form?

Hey wls4me- it could be your form or that you are using muscles that have not really been used in this way before.

For the latter, feeling sore is perfectly normal. Rest a day if you need to. Do some stretching, take some bcaas and Omega 3 to help your body out with healing process. I take 4 g omega 3 daily, 2 g in the morning and 2 g in the afternoon. the product i like to use is either nutrigold triple strength omega 3 gold or stronger fitter healthier Super omega 3. nutrigold is definitely cheaper than sfh where nutrigold 2 month supply of gel capsules is about 30 and sfh 2 month supple is about 60. sfh is better, in my opinion, because it is in pure liquid form. however, the capsules are sometimes more convenient to take when i do not have a measuring tsp available. You did not hear it from me, but take some ibuprofen or Advil if you really need to. Sometimes I need to after a hard cross fit workout where I am sore the next day. Taking ibuprofen really helps take some of that soreness away.

If you are sore from the former ( incorrect form), then what I can say is this: make sure your back is slightly inverted, butt out, with your chest up, head point forward. When you are swinging kettle balls, all the "power" comes from your hips. Not from your arms, not even from your back, but from your hips. As you bring the kettleball up from between your legs, thrust your hips forward fast, almost a twitch. If you do it right, the thrust will give the kettleball the momentum it needs to finish the upward arc. Depending on if you are doing American kettleball swings or Russian kettle bell swings will determine if you finish the upward arc above your head or at eye level, respectively. Do not hold it up for long at the top of the swing before letting the kettleball fall back down the arc. Always keep a strong inverted back with chest up and head looking straight forward to prevent the lower back issues.

A good stretch you can do after kettle bell swings is to splay your fingers and lean into the wall, feeling the stretch in your hands and forearms. Second good stretch is to bend your hands at the wrist, palms down and lean into the walls. Doing a lot of kettle bell swings is hell on your fore arms so be sure to stretch it out afterwards.

It is exciting to hear about your adventures in cross fitting. Keep it up!

Thanks Fiddle! I think I'm just sore. I'm finding new muscles that I didn't know I have. Haha. I'm going to try those stretches. Thanks again for all your advise!

You are always welcome.

Welcome to the Crossfit family!!! So excited to have you!! I've been doing Crossfit since march of this year. I am really starting to see progress. However be aware that it is a kind of ebb and flow thing. You will see progress then feel like nothing is happening. Or worse...that you are regressing. But that's not it at all. You just need to take it one WOD at a time. Lol.

My box ALWAYS posts a warm up and cool down as well as a bonus on top of the skill/strength and WOD. Here is today's for instance:

Warm-up:

400m run

10m elbow to inner thigh (its a lunge/stretch)

10m burpee broad jump

10m toy soldiers

Classic tricep stretch

Classic shoulder stretch

WOD:

3 parts today.

10 min EMOM (every minute on the minute):

5 WBS (wall ball squats)

5 HSPU (hand stand push ups)

Then straight into a 10 min AMRAP ( as many rounds as possible):

200m sprint (running or rowing)

20 pull-ups (I used a combination of banded pull-ups, jumping pull-ups and ring rows as my progression towards my goal of an unassisted pull-up)

The straight into 5 RFT (rounds for time):

5 box jumps (I do step ups instead but they are 20")

10 KBS (kettlebell swings).

The cool down was:

600m row

Split stretch

Progression side split stretch

*skill: pistols

That's a WOD in the day and the life of a crossfitter!! Lol

Hi Talley - you are such an inspiration to me and I am sure many others. Thanks for your post.

Thanks Fiddleman!! I watch all your posts and devour the information. I have learned a lot. I need to get better about posting and tracking my WODs. I think it makes for better accountability. And I am flyin out to Cincinnati to take care of my grandmother for a week. She had her knee replaced on 7/9. So I will be missing my box for the next 10 days or so but I am going to do some weight bearing exercises while there.

Happy crossfitting!

Didn't have a very good workout today. I think it's because I didn't eat before I went. I drank a new pre workout drink an hour before I went but that's all I had today. I also got nauseas half way through. Not sure if it was the liquid sloshing around in my stomach or working out without proper nutrition. At any rate, I won't do that again.

Yup, do make sure you eat and drink as much as possible before a cross fit workout to prepare for the intensity and push.

I learned early on that drinking while doing an intense crossfit, like 100 burpees with a series of heavy weight standard bar exercises) is a recipe for throwing up all the Water and more from my trainer. I asked for a drink and she said not a good idea. So, I do not drink usually once the WOD and skill sections of a crossfit session are underway.

I try and consume as many good carbs (within reason, say, 6 energy squares between morning and 4 pm cross fit) and water up to an hour before cross fit. Also during this time I will have my normal meals every 2-3 hours. It is important to max out the amount of energy and water that is available to your muscles. trust me, they will need it. both creatine and bcaa drinks will really optimize availability of water and energy to muscles.

I will usually be taking the amino acid drink about 15 minutes before and a pre workout drink about 5-10 minutes before. I try and time the pre workout drink so it peaks after my warmup, right around start of skill / WOD, but this is a hard thing to time accurately and it depends on how your body is currently reacting to the pre workout drinks. I usually take a few gulps of water after warmup, but before WOD/skill. I usually hit the BCAA immediate when done with WOD/skill and drink as I am driving home. 10 minutes after that I will have an AMRAP bar (300 calories) to strt replenishing the glycogen stores. 30 minutes later I will drink a 400 calorie Protein shake (2 scoops synth 6) and then have dinner (lean protein and veggies) about 2 hours after that (sometimes 1 hour after). Before bed I will have a casein shake to keep the burn going all night.

Like I said in other posts, I am eating and eating all the time small meals throughout the day from wake to bed to hit around 2000 calories and I am still leaning out (or rather, cutting). In last 9 weeks, I have dropped from 192 to 175 and still have a good athletic build. Just not huge. I like the way Crossfit is shaping up my body composition. And the best part about crossfit is every single WOD is unique. In the last 6 months I have only repeated 1 WOD from one month to the next month because we were measuring for progress. Otherwise, it is always exiting and new to see what my trainer throws at me.

Cheers!

I had a cruddy day yesterday at the end up my crossfit WOD, also from dehydration. First part of workout was a 60 % max one rep weight squat in sets of 7,8,10,8 and 7. Felt awesome about these and my trainer even said form was really good ( been practicing deep squat exercises at home).

My second 1/2 WOD was going to be 50 burpees, 20 squats, 50 burpees and 20 squats.

1/2 way through the first set of burpees, my muscles in my lower back were bunching up (sending little pain signals) and my calf was on the verge of locking up in spasms ( absolutely hate this - been there and done that a few weeks ago). Input the breaks on that WOD. Do not want injury. This is not good pain. My trainer reset the 2nd WOD to be 5 2 minute AMRAP of burpees with 30 second rest in between, which I still had a challenge with.

Don't be like me and be certain to get hydrated really well. I thought i was hydrated, but it must have been my preworkout drinks that are dehydrating. i am going to get off those as it takes like 5 scoops for me to feel anything. When I got home, I sucked down my BCAA drink and coconut Water, followed by recovery shake with 5g creatine.

Today I feel fine and did my usual Wednesday am workout. One more upper body workout this afternoon.

The funny thing is my trainer was claiming I would be really sore today in my Quads. I do not feel a thing, but my quads and thighs really toned overnight (yes!). The legs feel ready to workout. My legs never get sore from a squat workout like the one above so it must mean I need to ramp up the weight to where I fail at the end of each set. I did almost feel like failure at the end of the 5th set, but did not hit it.

Thoughts?

I have no thoughts for you Fiddle but I have signed up for the On Ramp sessions..so away we go!!!

P.s. I hope you feel better!

Yup- it was only an issue yesterday. Crossing my fingers it does not happen tomorrow. The on ramp sounds awesome, like a real commitment. Way to challenge yourself! Keep reporting back how things progress. It might be similar to what I when joining cross fit except it was called "go big" and consisted of 18 training sessions. I am now on my second set of these training sessions and love it. So much I am thinking about 3 a week. Once these run out, I will do 5 days a week open gym and start serious preparation for regionals summer 2014. It is tough to even qualify.