Tuesday

Today was a pretty good day. I didn't get my morning run in, but I did get in a 30ish minute bike ride to class. I had an interesting time at crossfit this afternoon. First of all, the strength workout was weighted squats. My one rep max is 125 lb. and todays workout required that I do two sets of 5 with 75 lbs. on the first set and 85 lbs. on the second set. Then I was supposed to do a fail set with 95 pounds (a fail set is, as it's name implies, a set where you keep doing reps until you feel like you are going to fail on the nex rep). For some reason I could not do my sets. I mean I could do them, but they felt terrible. I was having trouble getting low enough and my weight kept shifting to the front of my feet. I gave up after two sets, took off a lot of the weight and tried to work on form. Even with a lot less weight I felt sloppy, so I stopped to avoid injury or bad habit formation. It was really strange. I think I'm just really tight from yesterday's workout.

Then there was the WOD. The WOD was:

21-15-9

Front Rack Lunges (same as the video only we step forward instead of backward)
Pull ups (I had to use a band)

Time: 8:18

That is a terrible time! I got it for two reasons. First, nearing the end of my first set of lunges (the set of 21) I fell backwards into the rack. When you do a lunge, it's important to keep your back straight while lowering your knee to the ground and bringing it back up. Once your knee is as straight as it's going to get and you are standing up right, you bring your feet back together. Because I was getting tired, I guess, I stepped back as I was standing up. This caused me to lose my center of gravity while my mass shifted backwards. The result is a big and awkwardly located bruise. The second reason for the terrible time is much simpler. I suck at pull ups.

In other news, I have a half marathon coming up this weekend. I'm kind of freaked out because I haven't been running that much lately. Also my exercise routine has been stop and go. We'll see how it goes. My thought is that I'll be quite pleased if I finish around 2:30 and satisfied so long as I'm under 3 hours. If I'm over 3 hours, I'm going to be quite unhappy with myself.

Also, I'm thinking of deferring my marathon registration for a year. Time is flying by and I don't feel I have probably acclimated my legs to that kind of distance running. A lot of this decision will be based on my performance this weekend. I have until the Friday following this race to decide.

The first day of classes

So I'm seriously starting to freak out about the races I have coming up because I have not been working out nearly as much as I should be. Races are a blessing and a curse because they are so much fun, but the lead time can be stressful (a blessing in disguise, I suppose, because it gets my butt off the couch).

Anyways, due to my schedule it's looking like I'm going to have to go the gym at 8 AM on MWF. I have an 8 AM class on Tuesday/Thursday so it would be nice to maintain a consistent schedule (we'll see if I can pull it off). I've also decided to bike to and from school as much as I can. This morning was day one and my bike basket broke and my bike chain slipped. Not only did it add several minutes to my bike time (making me almost late to the gym), but my stuff spilled into the street and a nice gentleman had to help me pick it up. I was very thankful for that kind stranger. Anyways, the ride to the gym took about half an hour and the ride home took around 24 minutes. We'll see if I can get that time below 20 (no I'm not competitive!).

The workout today was pretty awesome. We started with a crossfit warmup, which I won't go into, and then overhead press (5 x 40 pounds, 5 x 45 pounds, and 6 x55 pounds). My trainer gave me some excellent tips to improve my overhead press. As I got tired, my back started to arch so he told tighten my abs and squeeze my butt. He said something like "protect yourself like a prisoner in a shower." A bit crass, but it definitely helped. After that, we worked on form for the olympic squat (aptly timed, given some of the more recent posts). It's amazing how much form really matters. I love my gym because we focus on different aspects of form each week. Little things like grip, bar placement, and timing. It seriously makes a difference.

Then came the workout. The workout was in two parts. The first part was the baseline. The baseline consists of a 400m run, 40 air squats, 30 situps, 20 pushups and 10 pullups for time. My previous time was 5:32 and I got it down to just over 4:50. a 40 second improvement! I was happy with that, though I felt like crap. The second part was one minute each of burpees, sumo deadlift high pulls, american swings (16 pound kettlebell), push press (45 pound bar), and double unders for max reps. I lost count of how many reps I did at about the halfway point, but it was a killer workout.

We closed with 3x10 overhead press at half maximum and 3x10 sets of up GHD sit ups. It was a good day at the gym! :)

I'm going to try and run 13 miles this weekend and I'm planning to run 7.8 on Thursday with a group of people. I'll try to squeeze some other runs in as well. We'll see!

If You Don’t Squat, You’re Not Training

One of the main reasons why I wanted a personal trainer was to learn proper form while lifting.  I have low back and knee issues that have kept me from previously trying any serious lifting on my own.  I deal with pain on a fairly regular basis especially with increased workouts so I have been squeamish about anything that would put extra force on my back and joints.  I voiced my concerns to my trainer and explained my issues in detail and his reaction was surprising.  He didn’t seem to worry at all.  He explained to me that with proper form, I shouldn’t aggravate any of my knee or back issues.

We spent a fair amount of time going over proper form for squatting.  Perfecting your form for squatting is a must before you move on to weighted squats, deadlifts, and cleans.  Squatting seems like a pretty straight forward exercise, but it can lead to injuries if not done properly.  

Why squat?

Squatting is a whole body exercise.  It works your legs, abs, back, and arms (if using a bar).  Benefits of squatting include: building muscle, gaining strength, gaining flexibility, and strengthening your knees (when done correctly!!).

If you do squats with poor form, you run the risk of injuring your knees, as well as your low back and neck.  Do not do half-squats.  Your knees are their strongest in a fully flexed or extended position.  Half-squats will put a lot of unwanted pressure on your knees, adding to any problems you currently have, or creating a new one. Half-squats also only work to strengthen your quads, not your glutes or hamstrings.  This will lead to muscle imbalances and injuries.  Any time that you are lifting, you should be going through the full range of motion. 

Squatting

Practice.  Practice.  Practice.  If you do something a thousand times, your likely to start getting it right.  Do squats without a bar or weights until you perfect your form.  As you start adding more weight, small imperfections in your technique will become amplified and can lead to more serious injuries.  I found this video that goes through the proper technique for squatting without weight.  I’m with this guy up until the end.  He says not to go below parallel (meaning not to drop your hip joint lower than your knee joint) if you have knee problems.  Proper squatting is parallel or lower. 

It is only after you have perfected your form that you should start adding weight to your squats.  This video is a good example.  Push through the heels!!

I use to shy away from doing squats because of my knee problems.  I am currently able to squat 150lbs and I have had no knee pain associated with lifting since I have started weight training.  My knees actually feel stronger and better wince I have started lifting.  I’m sure that this can be attributed to the strengthening of my leg muscles which in turn help to stabilize my knees.  However, I have been running less since I have started lifting which is another factor.  My running time has actually decreased but my legs feel stronger when I run.  Hills are easier to manage and I no longer feel like my legs are tiring and causing me to have to stop.  I was never a fast runner and I certainly am not a long distance runner, so the decrease in run time for me is not a big deal.  I’m really happy with the strength that I have gained over the last few weeks through squatting.  My posture also seems to have benefited as well as my confidence.  I’m pretty sure that I could snap someone in half just by using my legs and that gives me this bad ass feeling of awesomeness.  Go get yourself some.