My First CrossFit Open Experience

A few weeks ago I competed in my first CrossFit Open.

The CrossFit Games is an annual competition which aims to find the fittest man and woman in the world through a series of gruelling tests or competitions which athletes need to complete either in the fastest time or heaviest weight. But before an athlete can qualify to compete in the CrossFit Games, there are pre requisite competitions that they need to enter and win, to filter the best, or the fittest in the world. The CrossFit Open are the first round of competitions an athlete needs to enter.

6 Months into CrossFit

About 40% of my online browsing time has been consumed by CrossFit. I go on insta and search #crossfitchics and look at hash tagged images and videos for inspiration and motivation. I also read forums and blogs to understand techniques as I'm still new to all these olympic movements and would hate to injure myself. Being a mother and primary carer of my children I can't risk not being 100%, so good form and not hurting myself is really important to me. But I think that excuse it's holding me back from pushing past the uncomfortable or awkward feeling we all get when we workout.

I've also read its important to journal your progress and admittedly I haven't been. I kinda guestimate what my 1RM is for each of the weight lifting movements. There's a term used in CrossFit (and in the weight lifting world) called RM, Repetition Maximum. It is the maximum weight a person can lift and complete a full rep. 

It's been 6 months since I started doing CrossFit and I wish I did write down more stats then just my starting weight so I can see how far I've come. Especially since I expect to stop losing weight as I start improving my strength and focus on gaining mussle mass. I did take some "before" body photos but again wish I took shots of other areas of my body so I can really see the improvements. 

Sometimes during the WOD's (work out of the day), I wonder if my technique is right as there are no mirrors in a box, and I feel too silly to ask one of the trainers to record me on my phone. Maybe I'll borrow my sister's Go-Pro and record my workout one day ... maybe not.

Well there's no time like the present to start journaling my progress. It seems silly if I keep all this information in a different place than my blog. So starting today I'm going to push myself harder and also write down my 1RM for the various weight lifting workouts. 

It's been 6 months since I started doing CrossFit and I'm totally enjoying it. I like the variety, no two work outs are ever the same. I like weight lifting and improving my strength. I like feeling in pain for two days post work out. I like how the workouts are short but intense. I like the various types of cardio and I like the mind games I have with myself when I complete the workouts. Big personal wins since doing CrossFit six months ago include:

• Learning the various olympic weight lifting movements which, I've never done before. I've never touched a bar bell until I started CrossFit. 
• Wall hand stand. I could never do cartwheels as a kid and really don't feel comfortable hanging upside down. I still always fall at my first 1-2 attempts at wall stands, which then affects my confidence to try again ... so this is a big deal for me. 
• 1RM back squat: 50kg
• 1RM dead lift: 65kg
• Only need one band to complete pull ups, I started with two. 

When I get around to doing the other weight based movements I'll add them to this post with the date I completed it. I'll try finding my new 1RM for all the movements again in 3 months time and see how I've progressed. 

Today is The Day

I'm in the first week of another cycle of P90X. This isn't my first time doing this workout .. actually I was in the middle of it before I found out I was pregnant. During that time I noticed great results in terms of body toning and a bit of weight loss.

I was doing it a month after I gave birth and finished the lean workout schedule but wasn't really committed or sticking to the worksheet. So time I am doing the classic workout schedule, I'm going to workout everyday, I'm going to monitor my progress AND I'm going to watch what I eat.

They say the success to losing weight is 70% diet and that's where I've been slacking off. It is harder to stick to a diet at home. When mum cooks a big hearty meal for the family I feel bad turning it down. Also when you're not doing the groceries run you can't control what foods are in the pantry therefore impacts my ability to stick to a diet.

So starting today I plan to eat better and potentially stick to a nutritiously balanced diet. No matter how tired or how late it is I will go out and get whatever food or ingredients I need to make my healthy meal.

When I'm feeling unmotivated to work out I will log online and look at websites like beach body or YouTube to view other people's before and after pictures/videos to inspire me to keep going. 

Exercising With A Baby

Everything I enjoyed prior to being pregnant I still am able to enjoy but a cut down version of it. Exercising was a daily routine for me. I exercise 5-6 days a week, played team sport and took up any opportunity I could to do some physical activity. Now I work out when I can, usually late at night which isn't ideal and most times I end up deferring it to tomorrow, which 50% of the time doesn't happen. My one hour work outs are usually cut down to 40 minutes, I skim through warms up and cool downs and I don't stick to my schedule. 

I understand its part of the sacrifice of being a mother but I feel so robbed. I never had a body of an elite athlete however I pride in looking after myself. My main reason for working out is to maintain a healthy and strong body as long as I possibly can. Exercising is my "me" time, working out is my only selfish indulgence I want. So its quiet annoying when I can't enjoy it to its fullest cause Eli is yelling up stairs half way through or I'm rushing through my DVD's in fear he'll wake up soon. 

I love food and admittedly I don't particularly watch what I eat because I work out regularly but now I can feel this behaviour taking its tool. We all know exercising is hard and at times you really need to dig deep to find the motivation to do it but oddly enough its the lack of time that prevents me from working out. 

How does one balance it all? Please enlighten me on how you can maintain a regular exercise regime without interference from your commitment to your family.