Training outside.

Due to circumstances, I haven’t been able to get to the gym during the last 2 weeks. That doesn’t mean I didn’t train.

Normally I would stay inside. I’m not a big fan of training outside during the winter, but yesterday I made an exception since it wasn’t that cold outside. There is a school playground directly across from where I live, when I train outside, I make good use of it :).

After the warm-up, 200 or so single unders (still working on my double unders, slow progress on it..) a 30 meter bearcrawl and a few 100% sprints, I started my workout.

The workout that I did was the following:

15 BJ (box jumps)

15 Toes to Bar

15 BJ

15 Toes to Bar

15 BJ

15 Pull Ups

15 BJ

Unfortunately, I didn’t time it. Its a fun workout though. The Toes to Bar and Box Jumps weaken your arms enough to make the Pull Ups a real pain. I must say, I really liked training outside. I like being outside and It’s fun to see people watch your “weird” workout. Most definitely will keep it up!

“FAIL”….

Yesterday I had my first workout I couldn’t finish…. It felt so wrong. The workout was the following:

(1×21, 2×15, 3×9)

Pushpress (23kg)

Elbows to Knees

KB swings (12kg)

I failed miserably because i couldn’t get the pushpress right. Every time you are supposed to let the weight rest on your shoulders, I held it in front of my shoulders. The technique of it, or rather the lack of technique, blew my forearms away before I was even done with my third round.

It seems that I need to stretch my arms before my workout to properly execute a Pushpress/Clean&Jerk, the muscles in my arms aren’t long enough to get my elbows in the right position. I thought that stretching was overated, until I read this article. It seems I’m not the only one having trouble with the exercises.

The horrible, and wonderful thing about Crossfit in the beginning is that you are as strong as your weakest link. The pain in my back almost killed me the thirst couple of sessions and I can still feel it a day after a workout. Which means my back was in pretty bad shape.

And now, I discovered my second handicap. And, although it’s horrible, at least I know. (Stretching my arms every day now for about 5 minutes)

Thanks crossfit, for making me able to notice my handicaps, and thanks Melissa for making me confident I can overcome them!

The “300”.

I almost died today at my local crossfit gym. I was there for my third session (I only recently joined) and when I saw this workout, it wasn’t that impressive  to me. Boy was I wrong…

Ok, I have to admit, 50 pullups is pretty die hard, and I couldnt do these without some elastic band to help my body get up there, everyone has limits and with pullups I have mine around 20 unaided. But the rest seemed pretty doable. The pullups went pretty fast, the boxjumps ok, but after the Sit-ups I was completely busted.

The heaviest of them all where, by far, the burpees (without the push ups that is). I was so wasted from the previous exercise that my body couldn’t manage more than 7 at a time.

Ok, here my time: 17.59. Which probably isn’t so bad for someone who just joined the gym.

If the picture is a bit blurry, this is the “300”:

50 Pullups

50 Boxjumps

50 Pushups

50 Sit-ups

50 KB swings (I used a dumbell of 9kg)

50 Burpees (without the actual Pushup)

After this one, u will probably feel like shit (at least I did).

Finally, a Crossfit Gym nearby!

While checking the website crossfit.com I stumbled across an actual crossfit gym nearby! I didnt really like the website (the colours are just wrong on that one), but I decided to get in touch with the trainer there.

Since the contact we had was very pleasant and I was looking forward to actually do some real crossfitting instead of only training at home. I decided to give it a try and ended up massively motivated and enthusiastic.

Since I train at least 2 times a week at home I started of visiting the gym 1 day a week. The technique required for certain skills (deadlifts etc) are pretty hard to master, but the personal coaching is awesome and the guidance you will receive from the trainer is nothing compared to “regular fitness”.

If you are thinking of exercise and want to do something else than pushing away machinery, I suggest you check out Crossfit! And when you are living in the region of Enschede, The Netherlands, you should get in touch with Crossfittwente! (dont let the website scare you off, just throw them an e-mail!)

Gained 1 CM on each, in my first 20 Days.

Now dont get me wrong, Im not the type of guy who gets on the scale every day he wakes up, nor will I do it once a week. But since I work out on regular bases I want to see some results (besides the big result of actually feeling healthier) and I am the type of guy that likes to see them fast! Who doesnt..

Unlike the “being healthier” part, you will not recognize your body is actually gaining muscle (It isnt like gaining fat, it takes some time and “before” pictures to notice the difference),

So when you want to see some results, what better way then to get a piece of string, strap it around (for example) your waist, hold the string next to a centimeter, write down the numbers and do the same process again in about 20 days.

That’s what I did. In 20 days I lost 0,8kg, my waist shrunk with 1cm, my neck with 0,5cm and both my biceps gained 1.

Whoohoo to the workouts!

(measuring should be during rest days).