Monday, July 30, 2012

An exploration of CrossFit

I know you have all heard of CrossFit, who hasn't. It seems like it's all the rage these days. Several months ago I happened upon a Groupon for my local CrossFit, knowing that strength training is one of the areas that I tend to slack off in, I thought I would give it a shot. Plus, how could I resist $49 for 20 classes.

Along came 1/2 Marathon training and it didn't seem like a great idea to explore CrossFit while training for a 1/2 and next came my first duathlon, well you get the point. There was also the tiny mention from my PT that I should be really careful with CrossFit as she see's a lot of people who come in with injuries from it. With the expiration date looming on my Groupon I realized that it was now or never.

I attended my first LCF 1 (Lamorinda CrossFit Fundamentals) yesterday. This eased my mine of any injuries as there are two mandatory classes that break down each workout they do with proper form and technique. I tried not to roll my eyes too many times as the instructor commented on Marathon Runners not being "fit" but he also commented on Body Builders not being "fit". He went on to discuss that CrossFitters are fit because of the many disciplines they focus on. He then launched into the Paleo Diet where once again I tried not to roll my eyes. I know enough about Paleo to know that it's not an option for me. I have had much success with making slight changes such as eating whole grains and incorporating more fruits and vegetables. I also found that eating from the the Food Zone Cookbook was ideal for training and everyday eating. While Paleo may work others, I'm not interested in it and I would prefer to not have it shoved down my throat.

I'll be honest, I felt more comfortable when we moved into the workouts and stopped talking. We walked through a squat and I am, proud to say I was told I had the best squat! I owe this of course to my PT who has made me do squats with the TRX. I no longer hate squats which is a good thing since he made me do 40 of them later. We continued to move through several things to assure we had proper form including dead weight lifting (really, who wants to do that shit?) I was feeling pretty comfortable with every thing and was relieved that I may not "die" after all. Oh, but wait, we still have the days workout to do.

The newbie workout consisted of a 400 m run, 40 squats, 30 sit-ups, 20 push-ups and 10 pull-ups, timed. Okay, we headed out on the run which was all downhill and of course all uphill on the return. No worries, I nailed it and came in right behind the only male in the group. A little out of breath I launched into my 40 squats. Strangely, the squats were not as bad as I thought they would be (again, must thank my PT) I was the first one done and moved into the sit-ups. which again were strangely easier than I would have thought. I finished my sit-ups and got up to start push-ups and that's when I hit the wall, hard. I got 5 push-ups in (at least I can say I was doing real push-ups and not modified ones) and collapsed. Pulled myself back up and somehow eeked out another 15. I could tell that my heart rate was too high, like really too high. I stood up and was dizzy. I walked over to the block for pull-ups. We had been given modified pull-ups since myself and the other woman can't do a pull-up. All we had to do was jump up to pull myself over the bar 10 times. This was an easy enough task except for the fact that I was crazy light headed. I took some time to recover and got them done. Then I proceeded to sit down while I tried not to puke/pass out. After a few minutes the instructor commented that the color was returning to my face, AWESOME! While, not what I hoped for I did get a good workout in. I'm certain that I was over confident and that had I actually slowed down my pace I probably could have gotten through everything without the horrid feeling at the end. There have been times where I have pushed my self hard at the end of the race and had that "going to puke" moment but never to this level where it lasted as long as it did. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing.

I did eventually recover and while I'm sore today, I can walk and get around my day with out too much discomfort. Of course I'll go back, I have a Groupon after all for 20 sessions. Would I go back if I didn't? Not sure yet. I'm not convinced that CrossFit is right for me but I'll give it a chance to prove me wrong.

I need to schedule an LCF 2 session, which is going to be difficult to do based on when it's offered and my schedule. I will get it done though and continue to blog about my journey into the world of CrossFit.

3 comments:

  1. Sounds like an interesting experience! And consistent with a lot of what I've heard. Will be intersted to hear what you think of subsequent sessions!

    ReplyDelete