October CrossFit Update

Another month another CrossFit post for everyone to sit through. Sorry! If you do CrossFit though, please consider joining Jen and I in our BTWB squad. I actually don't know how to use it but I like seeing what Jen does and aspiring to lift like she does one day.

I didn't think I'd get a lot of PRs this month but I WAS WRONG. Most of them were deadlift PRs though.

October Achievements:

10/1/2018: PR - Deadlift 125lbs
10/8/2018: PR - Deadlift 140lbs
10/9/2018: Reached the top of the rope in a rope climb!
10/16/2018: PR - Split Jerk 90lbs
10/17/2018: PR - Back Squat 115lbs (sumo)
10/23/2018: PR - Snatch 55lbs
10/28/2018: PR - Deadlift 145lbs (this was in sumo stance with the axle bar, which is really thick so harder to grip)
10/30/2018: PR - Deadlift 150lbs (regular bar regular stance, it was super easy)

I was so excited to add 25lbs to my deadlift in a month. That's insane!

So I do a power lifting class on Friday nights that has been really helping my back squat and deadlift. We do a lot of percentage work and speed work so I've been getting way more comfortable with those lifts. My coach is also having us use a sumo stance now, which takes a lot of the pressure off of my ankles, which have some questionable mobility.

This month I started to feel really strong and fit. The workouts aren't at all daunting anymore. Even the day that my coach had us do 400m of walking lunges. Sure I complained during it and was really sore, but I didn't for one second think that I couldn't do it.

Yay split jerk!

It doesn't recognize the sumo squat as a back squat, which kind
of sucks because I mostly sumo squat these days... 

We have a new person who started who I have been paired with a lot in power lifting. Even though I've been going for a while now and am WAY stronger than I have ever been, I am still one of the weaker ones at the gym. So I tend to be in the bottom group in power lifting. That's okay and I know that if I just keep plugging away, I'll slowly move up. Also some of these people be crazy with how heavy they can lift.

But I got to talking to this new person while we were doing deadlifts one day. She said she felt like she could do the weight but was nervous because her knee kept collapsing and she'd had a previous injury there years ago. I told her that I was in the same boat with my confidence for the first few months. Very vividly I can remember having 75lbs on my back for a back squat and needing my coach to spot me not because of a lack of physical strength but because of a lack of mental strength. My warm up for back squats is now more than that.

So I reassured her that she could fucking DO this and then as she started, I reminded her about her knees and she did it and was smiling the whole time! She then said thanks for telling her that I also had confidence problems when I started.

150lb deadlift!

I still go 4-5x per week and am still loving it. I don't feel bad taking a day off or two though. There was a whole week where I felt like I was just kind of off and in response to that, my coach and I talked about the importance of taking lighter days/weeks at times even if I am at the workout. Don't push hard all the time. It makes it less fun, and it makes it more likely you'll get injured.

It got me thinking in the long term. Let's say my long term goal is to hit a 200lb deadlift, which it totally is. If I lift as heavy as I possibly can every time deadlifts are the skill or in the workout, I'd be way more likely to hurt myself.. then need to rehab... then need to build strength again.. and then I'm further away from that goal than if I had just taken it a bit slower.

And that made me think of TC. With his butt soreness a couple weeks ago, he told me that he needed to take things a bit slower. It's hard because he's so willing, and often won't tell me that something was too much until he's sore the next day. But there's no harm in taking it a little slower with the collected work. Put in the reps at 50-80% rather than going for 1RM collection all the time. And then he'll be happier in his work and when I do ask for that 1RM collection, he'll be fucking on it.

Me too, pony, me too!

Life lessons, I'm learning them!