My CrossFit Addiction

[SMS]

Anyone been competing in the 2015 Open?

 

[vvvvvvv]

I'm just finishing up my 8th week of CrossFit, and I have come to enjoy it. We just recently had a gym open up here, so we decided to try it out. My wife like the organized workout format, and I like the feedback. We're both able to hold each other accountable to go to the gym in the mornings, and that had been much of our struggle before since she would do the treadmill stuff and I'd do the weightlifting because I couldn't do much cardio with asthma issues. My massage therapist had actually been recommending it for quite a while.

So far this year, I've put on 4lbs and dropped 2% of bodyfat (based on measurements using the Navy calculator). I could do better if I'd remove the Dr. Pepper from the diet, but that doesn't turn out well for other people (I'm down from 2L/day to 20oz/day).

Where I really notice a difference is my asthma. Usually I would be buying my third inhaler and fourth box of duoneb by now, but I'm down to just taking the duoneb before each workout as a preventative measure and puffing my inhaler mid-workout when the WOD calls for a ton of burpees (more of a confidence booster at this point - early on that exercise would cause actual wheezing and shortness of breath). I do like to joke a bit that if I do have an actual asthma issue, there are first responders (two firefighters) running the gym, so I feel like I'm in good hands there.

Six months in. ~10lbs lost overall and down from 39% to 29% bodyfat. Lean body mass is up 20lbs. And I feel a hell of a lot better.

Other than running and some bodyweight exercises (dips, pullups, etc.), I can RX most of the workouts (and can always do the RX weights except on olympic lifts - need to work more on technique). I have to substitute rowing for running since I still cannot find a breathing rhythm running that doesn't trigger my asthma within 200m. I started the year barely able to knock out 5 bench dips, and now I can do sets of 10 with 90lb of bands to assist me on the bars. Pullups I'm down from 180lbs of bands to 60lbs of bands for 10 reps.

One of my goals for the year has been to be in the 1000lb club by the end of the year on powerlifting weights. I had last tested my powerlifting 1RMs mid-April at 375 deadlift, 210 bench, and 315 squat. Wednesday, I tested my deadlift with a goal of 405lbs, though I honestly would have been happy with 395. I did a 40%/50%/60% warmup and then went at it with the idea of doing 90%/100%/PR (with the 100% being an estimated max of 385 based on math). Well... the 385 felt easy, so I thought might as well pull 405. For me, I saw 4 plates as a psychological hurdle. I thought I'd fail it, but I pulled it and felt like I still had some left in the tank. Threw another 15 on for 420lbs and killed it. Ended up failing a 425 attempt (I swear it felt like I put on 50 instead of 5lbs, lol), but I'm extremely happy with a 12% gain in 10 weeks. Doing bench on Monday and squats on Wednesday. With a lot of luck, I might be able to reach my goal next week. If my squat has stayed balanced with my deadlift, I should be able to do 355, which means I'll only need 225 on my bench.

 

[SMS]

Nice job man!

My wife and I are still at it....I'm not RXing much but getting stronger. My old ass doesn't recover from the workouts very fast lol.

 

[vvvvvvv]

Ended up doing 365lbs on my squats today. Did bench on Monday, but it was a bad day and I just wasn't into it mentally at all. I'd done 5 reps at 195 two weeks ago and I couldn't even get 195 off my chest Monday.

So that puts me at 995lbs - 420/365/210.

I haven't gone to the actual Crossfit classes this week, though. This cold front and rain has really screwed up my allergies.