Thought it was time I did a Crossfit Workout update, now that I’ve been back at the gym for about 6 weeks.
Basically I’m still on my way back to full form. The elbow is holding up nicely and each week I’m able to lift more without pain. When it does hurt a bit, it’s always fine the next day. It’s still lifting stuff over my head type exercises that cause the biggest problem e.g. Shoulder Press and Push Press but it’s getting better.
For example, 5 weeks ago I tried some shoulder presses and stopped at a very modest 30kg due to elbow pain. However this week I did a complex of: 1 Shoulder Press, then 2 Push Presses, then 3 Push Jerks (done together as a single exercise without putting the bar down) at 40kg, which I did 3 times. Yes I felt the elbow, but not enough to stop me doing 1/2 Crossfit Angie Workout (1/2 means 50 reps of each not 100) and by the evening I had no pain at all. Next time I’ll work up to 45kg.
I’m still getting my strength and conditioning back. For example Back Squats last week were done up to 120kg for 3 reps, which is 10kg off my PB. Deadlifts this week were done at 130kg for 3 reps which is 15kg off my PB.
Yesterday we also did the most infamous Crossfit Named Workout: Fran, which has a special reputation for being the fastest Crossfit workout (typically 5-7 minutes, 3 minutes is possible!) but also one of the most punishing. It’s amazing how you can still feel the effects of a 5 minute workout 2 days later! I was disappointed with my time of 7:00 minutes exactly, especially as my PB is 5:31 but I guess that shows the effects of 5 months off.
Oh and while I’m here, there’s a great photo on the main crossfit.com site at the moment from the Crossfit Games 2008 which nicely illustrates an interesting point. It’s a common misconception amongst women that weight lifting makes you big and muscley (aka ugly). I assume when saying this, they are thinking about Eastern Block female olympic athletes and that’s fair enough. But bare in mind, if it was that easy to build muscle mass, body builders wouldn’t go to the massive lengths they do to build their muscle size. It’s actually not that easy at all. Anyway, to the point, take a look at this photo (click to enlarge):
This girl is lifting what looks like 175lbs / 80kg which is way over her own body weight. She’s hardly big and muscley to the point of ugliness, I would imagine that she has the body that most women would aspire to, what do you think?
