I started writing this post 6 months ago, but never got round to finishing it due to my golfers elbow injury. I have basically taken the last 5 months off Crossfit to give my elbow time to heal but as I’m expecting to get back to the gym by the end of May, I thought I’d post this up now anyway.
In a nutshell, 1 year after starting Crossfit and the Zone Diet:
- I’ve lost nearly 2st (28 lbs).
- My waist has shrunk from 43″ (at the belly button) to 36″.
- Body fat percentage calculation has dropped from 30% to about 16%
- For the first time I ran 1 mile, then 2 miles.
- I’m much stronger than I ever have been, e.g. a 145kg /320lb back squat.
- For the first time in 20 years, I’ve got no knee pain and don’t worry my knees will give way.
But more importantly, Crossfit and the Zone have given me back a functional level of fitness, to the point where I no longer see my body as a limiting factor. For example, here are my current plans, all things I never would have even considered possible for me a year ago:
- Take up rock climbing.
- Take up Krav Maga (Israeli martial art).
- Enter next years British Masters Weightlifting Competition
- Apply to be an ESA astronaut – oh yes baby! (see below)
Not a bad change in outlook from a 15 year couch potato huh? 🙂
On the subject of my elbow injury and returning to the gym, things are progressing nicely. I have the least pain now of at any time in the last 6 months and am able to do some exercises on it. I’ve been working backup to doing a full warm up, by that I mean:
- Short jog (I run on the spot for 2 minutes)
- Then 3 rounds of:
- 10 sit ups
- 10 press ups (push ups for you Americans)
- 10 air squats
- 10 pull ups
I’m not quite there, I can do everything except the pull ups. I have a low pull up bar at home (put up for the kid) which is only 5′ off the ground so I hand with my legs out in front with heels on the floor. However the first time I tried to do 3 x 10 pull ups my elbow was sore for 2 days after, so I’ve reverted to 3 x 5 pull ups for the moment.
The plan is to get to a full warm up by the end of May and then get back down the gym. This morning I did the warm up above (with 3 x 5 pull ups) and then went for a mile run, which I did in 11:05. Slow I know, meh.
And on the subject of astronaut training – I went for my Private Pilots License medical (AR-FCL 3 Class 2) at the weekend. It was a 2 hour thorough poking and proding. I passed everything, but the Doctor wanted a report from my Doc on my old asthma, before he’d issue the certificate, so that’s been a bit delayed. But I’m not anticipating any problems there. Tee hee.
