Now isn't that a mind bender?

What is an exercise that you hate so much, you LOVE to hate it because it is so good for you?

Mine used to be pull-ups. Pull-ups are ok now that i can do 10-20 unassisted in a row. Now I love to hate toes to bar exercise. This is essentially where you hang from a high metal bar with your arms straight and you have to use your core strength to get your toes to touch the bar where your fingers are at or above the bar. My trainer made me do almost 200 of these today. And today was my first exposure to them!! Yup- I love to hate T2B exercises and need to get good at them. They are good for me I hate you so much I love you T2B!!!! better strap me down now while I still have some sanity.

Here are the T2B exercises in context of my cross fit workout today:

1600 m run

Stretches

Cross fit warmup - 10 of each: air squats, push ups, pull ups, ght sit ups, back extensions, lunges

5 sets of 4 dead lifts @ 300 lb

1600 m run

50 T2B

55 Kettle bell snatches @ 55 lbs

800 m run

60 T2B

65 kettle bell snatches @ 55 lbs

400 m run

75 T2B

80 kettle bell snatches @ 55 lbs

Time : 16 min 25 seconds

Fore arms and hands on fire and HURT. Worked hard, but not broken yet. A little crampy and nauseous from the work, but basically ok. haven't tossed any Cookies yet from a workout. I asked my trainer to break me and she laughed and said I am not ready to be broken. i want to feel what it is like where I cannot do anything the next day. I am always ok with these types of workouts for the next day to do another workout. Waiting to be broken... Lol. Break me already!

I may sound a little crazy in this read, but I am really not. Just having a good time. I am training for the cross fit open at the national games next year.

That is great to do the burpees. It is a really good full body exercise. One trick I have learned is when jumping up from lay on the ground, it is easiest to have your fingers splayed out on the ground rather than palms flat on the ground. You get more spring that way, in my opinion. Also spreading your feet apart a little helps in keeping the burpee execution light and quick. I started doing them from a classic push up position and found that to be way too hard after 25 or so on my way to 100. It kind of looks like you are a frog with your arms and legs splayed outward on your finger tips.

That's amazing! Go you!!! I definitely jump up with a little bit wider stance bc I'm not super flexible, working on it or at least I intend to work on it! haha! The spreading the fingers apart is great advice I did that naturally the other day and I was like "wow that makes a HUGE difference"!!

Ok, now that I have hijacked my own thread...

Lets hear some more of those exercises that you just love to hate.

At least you hijacked your own thread and not someone else.

I hate pushups. Like most females I do not possess a lot of upper body strength. Another that is painful and difficult for me, but a very good workout, is planks. Doesn't matter what position. I just keep working at it to get more endurance to last longer.

Burpees are grueling, but not L2H inducing ... for me that would be WallBalls ... *shudder* I hate you, WallBalls! I love you! I hate you, you are pure evil, but so good for my a$$!!

I hate lunges with a resistance band, HATE HATE HATE them but my thighs and calfs and butt are looking fabulous so I still do them.

Burpees are grueling' date=' but not L2H inducing ... for me that would be WallBalls ... *shudder* I hate you, WallBalls! I love you! I hate you, you are pure evil, but so good for my a!![/quote']

I'm so glad I looked WallBalls up on YouTube, because I was THINKING you ran until your balls(or lady parts) hit the wall. Instead it looks like the fitness version of practicing imaginary free throws in basketball. Such a misleading name lol. Looks like its good for the glutes and thighs and will give em a try this week.

I'm so glad I looked WallBalls up on YouTube' date=' because I was THINKING you ran until your balls(or lady parts) hit the wall. Instead it looks like the fitness version of practicing imaginary free throws in basketball. Such a misleading name lol. Looks like its good for the glutes and thighs and will give em a try this week.[/quote']

Yup - wall balls are good for you and a common exercise in a Cross fit WOD. They can be modified with any weight medicine ball, but typically people use anywhere from 20-50 lbs. these take a lot of core balance. I really sucked at them the first time I tried them. If you are good at squats, more then likely you will also be good at wall ball throws. Sure enough, as my flexibility and mobility improved for the squat, the wall ball throw got much better and felt like a continuous movement of up and down. They are grueling though after a certain number and really build good overall body strength because it is a great compound movement. The fast you go, the deeper you squat and the more powerful / explosive your throw is, the more intense a workout you will get with these. Try not to throw up after them though.

I also really hate pushups. I am still modifying it by using a bar setup and we do go lower each time, but damn..I am struggling by like that 7th or 8th rep.

However, I noticed the other day that I am getting that like nice bump of muscle on the top of my arm. Now if the bottom bat wing would just drop off it would look like Fiddle's arms

Ok - new exercise that I love to hate that I tried today : rolling sit-up to stand up with weight. It is hard and my core, glut, hamstrings, whatever are not strong enough to do 20 of them, not even 10 of them.

Essentially, you start in a standing position while holding 2 hand weights, squat, roll onto your back, keep rolling until feet are behind head, arms stretched out with weights, reverse motion and stand up while still holding these weights above your head. No hands to stand up! They are holding the weights up in the air. It will take me a few weeks, but I am going to get good at these as part of a new workout program I started today at home.

ME & MY RIGHT KNEE....WE BOTH HATE LUNGES!! LOL

BUT I'VE LEARNED TO LOVE SQUATS, THOUGH :-)

I have a love/hate relationship with burpees and leg day.

Squats and lunges! Lunges more than squats but they both suck lol. My knees just feel very wobbly and I don't feel like I'm able to go low enough. I think my years of being back catcher for my high school softball team screwed my knees up :/

Squats and lunges! Lunges more than squats but they both suck lol. My knees just feel very wobbly and I don't feel like I'm able to go low enough. I think my years of being back catcher for my high school softball team screwed my knees up :/

Another former back catcher here and I have trouble going deep enough on squats as well. I do better with the sumo squat...it feels more comfortable going deep. I think playing catcher they always taught me to stay on my toes....doing back squats you have to get back on your heels and I always feel as though I'm going to fall over backward.

As far as lunges....I don't love to hate them. I just hate them. I think lunges are Satan's curtsey.