When I woke up this morning I was still a bit sore from my workout with Ian yesterday.  I was really surprised to see how effective my first workout with Ian was, and how my leg soreness was something I hadn’t felt in quite some time. 

Wednesdays are a day I stay away from my business, so I yesterday I ended spending most of the morning chauffeuring my mother to her physical therapy appointment, and tracking down some supplies for my brother in law.  By lunch time I was still sore enough that I wasn’t sure if I should go to Crossfit today, but a part of me wanted more of what I had done with Ian. 

Liz my trainer at Crossfit is nice a balance to other male trainers I have, she is bubbly but not in an obnoxious way, I think I just like to have a woman tell me what to do, there is something sexy about a woman who has all the characteristics of a feminine girly girl who’s a jock at heart, yes I am a perve, and no I am not naked as I type this line.

The warm up today consisted of 8 minutes of three exercises, 5 ring rows, 5 overhead squats, and 5 push-ups.  I think I was able to finish 9 or 10 cycles.  Following the warm up a good portion of the hour was spent reviewing the maneuvers that I had learned previously, we haven’t been able to meet for a session for two weeks so it was nice to walk through our previous two sessions. 

I have posted video of Liz doing each Crossfit move I’ve learned so far followed by me doing the same move.  It’s funny.  First you watch a coordinated athletic woman, then you watch a tap dancing, roller skating, unicycle riding brown bear.  You can find the complete comparison videos here.

I learned two new moves today, first a push jerk, and then wall ball.  A push jerk starts with the bar in a front squat position, and then you have to take a slight knee bend and press the bar overhead while getting your body positioned in a half squat underneath the bar to brace the impact of the weight. 

Wall ball is something I’m sure you have seen in a gym, or perhaps have even done.  Using a medicine ball you go into a deep squat then press the ball upward, when the ball starts to return you start to squat again and catch the ball. 

The WoD (workout of day) for me today was to do 15 push jerks, 15 wall balls, and 15 sit ups, all of which was done for 15 minute continuous minutes.  I was able to complete 5 full rotations, and on the 6^th one I was able to complete the first two legs of the cycle before I ran out of time. 

After the Crossfit workout I went home, and ate a Cliff Builders Bar, and took Benny for a walk.  The weather in the DC area this week feels like the entire region has been transported to the equator.  During the walk I went by the Clarendon Farmers Market, I didn’t find anything worth buying.  The one person I was looking for which is the meat guy didn’t show up, this is the second week in a row I haven’t seen him, maybe he is no longer choosing to come to Clarendon.

Initially I had planned to only workout at Crossfit and then go to my core class.  But something told me to do one more workout so I was compelled to workout with Ali before the core class today.  It was something deep inside, perhaps the seeds of success which persuaded me.

Before working out with Ali I attempted a Miracle Mile on the treadmill as my warm up.  My legs felt dead after Crossfit.  So the first two minutes of the mile were spent walking at 3.5 mph, then I started to add a jog at 5 mph, eventually moving up to short sprints at 7 and 8 mph.  It took me 12:20 to finish the mile; with all things considered I think it was a good time.

My session with Ali started with some solid boxing; my hands are getting faster with each session of boxing.  I am learning to use more of my body, and I am punching through the trainers mitts with focused power. 

As usual the boxing was intermittently inserted between other exercises.  Most of the work was focused today on the back muscles; he had me start with a cable pull similar to pulling a rope during tug of war.  From the cable pull I moved to a bench press where Ali put 35 lb plates on both sides, I had to lift the bar off the rack and then hold the bar over my chest, while I moved my legs from parallel with the bench up to 90 degrees. 

From the bench I did a pyramid of bicep curls using the cable machine.  Doing a pyramid consists of starting with a light weight doing 10 reps, then moving to a heavier weight and doing 9 reps, you follow this pattern until you reach 1 rep, at which point you then move back to the weight one level lighter then the previous one increasing the number of reps until you get back to your starting point.

 The rest of the workout involved more boxing including a period of boxing with 1 minute cart pushers in between.  I did a few more exercises which I don’t recall, but we did finish the session with cable rows and lat pull downs.  There is one other exercise which I remember from today, which I found difficult.  Ali had me do assisted pull ups using a Bosu.  The Bosu was used as a spring board so I could jump up and hold the pull up at the apex.  I did this twice each for a minute each time.

When my session was finished with Ali, I went to the locker room to get changed, and so I could head to my core class.  I needed a few minutes so I sat on a bench in front of my locker and took about 5 minutes to decompress.  The two workouts up this point had taken more out of me than I anticipated.

The core class is getting better each week, as I get stronger.  The first day of the core class I was unable to perform most of the motions for the time which Ali would dictate.  Today I only had problems with a handful of exercises.  One type of motion which I did have a high degree of difficulty was any type of plank.  Both of my shoulders felt tender from Crossfit, in general my rotator cuff on both shoulders feels like shit during a pressing motion, so planks put a great deal of stress on the rotator cuff. 

Today was a good day.  I made progress physically at each of my workouts today.  I am happy I was able to get in a third workout, and still make my Wednesday a breakthrough day.  Tomorrow morning with Ian is something I am looking forward to, I just hope I can get up early enough to spend a few minutes on a treadmill or elliptical to get my muscles moving.

I have also placed my first order for meat with a local “buyers club” for grass fed beef, and free range chickens.  The company “The Humble Gourmand” is affiliated with the Crossfit I train at, so I actually pick up my food at Crossfit.  Apparently this type of buying club is found in most major cities. 

Another website I discovered is www.eatwild.com it’s a list of organic farmers which can be found in every state.  Check it out I’m sure there is a farm or local distributor which can you get access to good clean foods.

That is all for today.