I had never done them before, and thought they would be fairly easy, but I was wrong! As with everything in CrossFit, what looks so easy on paper ends up being a killer workout. We did these in conjunction with wall balls and omg--so hard! I think what made made them so difficult was that you basically are doing two squats for each rep. My thighs and quads were screaming at the end of this workout. I used a 10 pound med ball which added to the pain I think because it's much smaller then the 14 pounder and I had to squat lower to touch the ground with it. This ball is similar to the 10 pounders at my box:
It's hard like a basketball, but a little smaller. The 14 and 20 pound balls are cushier and similar to the ball used in the video above.
I'll post an update tomorrow and let you know how my legs feel. This is a simple, but seemingly very effective inner thigh and booty workout.
Have you been watching the 2016 CrossFit games this week?
They've been streaming the prelims on the CrossFit.com website and they are broadcasting the finals on ESPN this weekend. If you've never watched a CrossFit competition, you'll be surprised at how entertaining it is. The competitors range in age from teens to over 60 and they are pretty amazing to watch.
The athletes are all pretty fine physical specimens--muscular and very fit, so what separates the great from the good?--It's pretty obvious that it's mental toughness that puts the athletes on the podium.
Am I mentally tough? That's a big fat no--but I'm working on it, and CrossFit is helping. If you've ever run any distance, you know that your mind plays a huge part in running. You're tired, your legs hurt and your mind is telling you to stop--you're not going to die if you keep running, lol, but somehow your mind convinces you that you will, and you stop--at least, I used to. No mental toughness at all, and I can't blame it on my age because I've never been mentally tough. But CrossFit is slowly changing that. When I'm in the middle of a killer word and completely out of breath and I see box mates pushing through their exhaustion it gives me the extra push I need to keep going, so I do.
I remember a particular workout consisting of running and front squats:
It was an extreme cardio workout and I was having a hard time catching my breath. I had come in from the run portion and cleaned my bar to begin the front squats. I was tired and just cleaning took an effort--I can't remember how many squats we had to do, but I was planning on splitting them up because I was so winded, but the problem with splitting the lifts up is that it takes a lot of effort to clean the weight from the floor. So I made the decision to not put the bar down and pushed through all of the front squats, resting with the bar on my shoulders when I needed to. I surprised myself and my box mates, but was pretty proud of myself afterwards for pushing through.
I was reading about one of the female competitors who has a chance to win it all in the Games this year, Sara Sigmundsdottir, and she said that to toughen her mind she will do 1000 burpees for time so when they show up in a wod, she knows she's done 1000 burpees so what's a few hundred? Lol. I've thought that I should try the same thing--maybe not 1000 burpees, but try to do 100 a day so when I have to do them in a workout, my mind will be prepared.
I've noticed that I use the mental toughness I've gained in CrossFit in my everyday life. When I'm tired and don't feel like cleaning, or folding, or going to the grocery store, ( first world problems, I know!) I recall my workout that morning where I lifted that extra weight or ran that extra lap and realize that my everyday chores really aren't that bad.
Just another positive that CrossFit has brought to my life--I hope you are encouraged to try it, and you can reap the benefits of CrossFit too.
I have seen so many positive changes in myself this year from CrossFit.
As I've mentioned previously, I was 'skinny fat' before starting CrossFit. I was also very out of shape. I would get winded when walking the dog up the hill in our neighborhood. I was pretty weak too. I've told the story of my first day of foundations when I couldn't even push press...
...35 pounds above my head more than a few times. The weight felt so heavy--I really thought there was no way I would ever be able to lift that kind of weight, lol.
The first actual CrossFit class I went to involved goblet squats:
and ab mat:
sit ups. If I recall correctly, we were supposed to alternate between 25 goblet squats and 50 sit ups for 2-3 rounds. Sounds pretty easy, right? Except I couldn't even make it through the sit ups. By the second round I was really struggling and probably only ended up doing about 25 in the second and third round. That was really a wake up call--I was weak and I was terribly out of shape cardiovascularly.
We did a lift the other day that I want to share--It's called the Sumo Deadlift:
It's similar to a regular deadlift, but you spread your legs a lot wider and you can generally lift more weight since you don't have to lift the barbell as far. It was fun to do since I hadn't done it before. At my old gym we would do the Sumo Deadlift High Pull which is a completely different lift that consists of deadlifting the bar and then pulling it all the way to your chest. It involved some glutes, but was also dependent on the pull.
The Sumo Deadlift is, in my humble opinion, the best inner thigh exercise I have ever done. Because the legs are spread widely you are forced to use your inner thighs, and when lifting considerable weight--I was able to do 105 lbs--it really does a number on your adductors-
I would imagine that most women in their 50's and beyond would agree that the inner thigh is a hard section of the body to exercise. Before I started CrossFit it was a part of my body that I was very dissatisfied with and a spot that seemed to put on weight easily. I'm sure you've seen the machines at the globo gyms that are supposed to target the adductors, but they never were very effective. I'm here to tell you that the Sumo Deadlift works those inner thighs. I was sore for at least 4 days after doing the lift and the soreness was mostly in my inner thighs and my glutes which is always a plus. I'm thinking of asking my coach if we can do the Sumo Deadlift at least once a week--it's just that good.
The Squat--what can't it do? One of the reasons I wanted to do CrossFit was to learn how to squat properly. As I mentioned in a previous post, I had a hard time learning to squat because my glute muscles (my rear-end) did not fire properly. This was because I hadn't used them for many years. Years of sedentary living--from chair to car to couch to bed, had given me dormant glutes. Even when I was running regularly, I didn't really have to fire my glute muscles very much.
I have done a lot of reading on lifts that help fitness and function as you age, and squats and deadlifts are always the top two. Heavy lifting can help increase bone density, and squatting helps increase joint function--specifically the knees and the hips which are two areas that older folks typically have trouble with. Many people think that lifting over a certain age is dangerous, and that it can hurt your joints, but I can attest to the fact that if done properly, weight lifting can free you to live a longer, healthier, and much more active life. Don't let the naysayers or the internet experts tell you otherwise--you can lift heavy weights as you age.
It has long been recognized that the 'third world squat' is a movement that comes naturally to humans, but after we age out of toddlerhood, we just don't do it anymore. I'm here to encourage you to try the squat for yourself and reap the benefits!
As I get older, I've noticed that my brain isn't as sharp as it used to be. I sometimes struggle to find the right word--even though it's on the tip of my tongue, I don't remember names very well, and I'll walk into a room for a specific purpose and then wonder why I'm there, lol. I had one incident in particular that really scared me. I was in line in the post office (this was quite a few years ago) to get a passport application and I was almost up to the counter when all of the sudden I couldn't remember the name of what I was there for. I knew what I wanted, I just couldn't remember how to say it. I actually had to step out of line and collect myself (I was really freaking out) before I remembered how to ask for what I wanted. I left there thinking I had the beginnings of Alzheimer's. It was not a good feeling. It wasn't Alzheimer's, but it made me realize that I need to excercise my brain as well as my body, so I began to do more crossword puzzles and downloaded some memory game apps to play in my spare time.
Just came back from my Tuesday morning workout. It was good! Got the heart pumping, the muscles burning, and now I'm ready to start my day. If you had told me even a year ago that I would be getting up before 6 am 4-5 mornings a week to work out, I would've said you were crazy! But here I am doing exactly that. I am also in the best shape of my life. Even my family is amazed. I never really did a whole lot of working out in the past. I was blessed with a super fast metabolism and was painfully skinny as a kid (which I hated). But by the time high school rolled around, and then college, being skinny wasn't so bad, especially since I had developed nice curves in all of the right places. But this was something God blessed me with--I did nothing at all to work on keeping my figure, or even just excercising to stay healthy--I didn't have to, or so I thought. Then I had 3 kids and as the years went by I was still skinny, but not very toned. When my oldest was in high school she started running track and I started running too. I ran steadily for two years, but I never liked it, never ran enough to get that 'high' everyone talks about (does it even really exist or is it a myth!), and it made my knees hurt.
There are quite a few myths surrounding CrossFit, probably mostly disseminated by people who have never tried the sport. However, in order to be as accurate in my depiction as possible, I want to discuss my perception of the good, the bad and the ugly in CrossFit.
Myth #1 You have to be an athlete to do CrossFit There are many ex athletes in CrossFit and I can understand why; many of them have competed most of their lives and are able to find the same kind of competition level in CrossFit. But one of the great things about the sport is that it can be scaled to meet any level. I never played competitive sports as a young person and I am not very athletic. CrossFit lets you start where you are and build on that. You aren't competing with the other athletes as much as you're trying to better your strength and skill. A good coach will work with you to master the movements before ever pushing you to lift heavier or move faster.
