Our CFKoP couples workout side by side.Who introduced you to CrossFit? Did it take you a little while to adopt it? Did you linger on the blog for a few weeks before trying a class? Did you jump right in? Were you stuck on that Elliptical in the Globo Gym for too long? Were you wondering why your significant other was so obsessed with CrossFit videos and blogs? Post your story to comments.
W.O.D. 5.17.09
Mental training/breathing discipline day.
Complete the following for max reps (NOT time) but with absolutely no pauses, breaks, extra breaths, hesitations, resetting grip, checking clock or any other F'n excuse to break the rhythm. Once an exercise is started, it must be a non-stop motion at the natural pace:
Burpees
Complete the following for max reps (NOT time) but with absolutely no pauses, breaks, extra breaths, hesitations, resetting grip, checking clock or any other F'n excuse to break the rhythm. Once an exercise is started, it must be a non-stop motion at the natural pace:
Burpees
Over Head Squats 65#/95#
Wall Balls 14#/20#
Wall Balls 14#/20#
Dumbbell walking lunge 20#/35#
kettlebell swing 35#/55#
box jumps, 21"/25"
box jumps, 21"/25"
Pull-ups
Quote:
"If you don’t have confidence, you’ll always find a way not to win."
"If you don’t have confidence, you’ll always find a way not to win."
-Carl Lewis
Results:
(I will preface this by saying I instructed people to focus on pace, not speed...no one went balls to the wall fast, but rather everyone focused on breathing and not stopping)
Scott: 50*, 1, 17, 41, 36, 66, 10 = 221
Paul: 50*, 5, 41, 23, 75, 101, 13 = 308
Mike B: 15, 15*, 22, 25, 50, 55, 1 = 183
Lisa: 70*, 13, 45, 55, 50, 300, 4 = 537
Laura: 52*, 7, 30, 35, 52, 175, 3 = 354
Tim P: 30*, 3, 23, 30, 31, 37, 12 = 166
Mike F: 11, 1, 23, 20, 40, 28*, 4 = 127
Hannah: 40*, 16, 21(20#), 20(35#), 39(45#), 60(25''), 1 = 197
Jen C: 68*, 20, 31, 30(35#), 63, 364, 3, 579
Calvin: 25*, 13, 22, 30, 32, 20, 16 = 158
*indicates starting station
My Crossfit story begins with my friend who was just shipped out on the USS Ponce. He lost his younger brother to suicide in early December, the same week he was denied a bid to BUDS Training for Navy Seals, he lost his passion to work out and take care of himself, falling into some pretty bad depression habits. He was a member of the Nova water polo team and our coach set up a workout regimen to help get him back in shape and help him jump some pretty tough hurdles.
ReplyDeleteI thought I would be making the workouts up for him, little did I know what I was getting myself into.
My first day to workout with him arrives and he tells me, he only has time for a quick 20 minute workout (at this point I was into 45 minute runs and 3 sets of 10 reps in the gym…hence I thought 20 minutes was a joke). I show up expecting him to be out of shape and in worse condition than me…apparently our armed forces friends stay in better shape than I thought. I arrive at the ROTC gym ready to knock out a quick workout…My buddy says “ok today we’re doing 100 pull ups, 100 push ups, 100 sit ups, 100 squats…Angie” …My next thought was “I don’t think I’ve done 100 pull ups in my entire life”…
17 minutes later he finished
45 minutes later I finished and my story begins from there…
Then I remember the first workout at KOP and Jeff informing me I better not get beat by an old man…truly motivational Jeff.
I’m heading back to New Jersey after graduation tomorrow and am going to miss you guys a lot. Crossfit has introduced me to an incredible community and even more importantly great friends. Keep up the hard work everyone and I will be back every so often to create some sweat puddles!
My Crossfit story actually starts from Facebook. A college friend put up these cryptic messages about FRAN and LISA. I wrote him an email asking what was he talking about. He quickly wrote back and told me about Crossfit. He said go find a place that does it and I would get hooked. I asked him if I could do it at the gym and his response "HAHA do this stuff at the globogym and you will be kicked out." He said he lost over 40 pounds and was in the best shape of his life including after Marine basic training. I have never heard anyone be so enthusiastic about working out. So I had to see what was my friend was talking about.
ReplyDeleteI was starting to stagnate in my workouts and thus I stopped working out consistently. I was looking for something new to try to get in shape. I went on the Crossfit main page and found Crossfit KOP. I still remember my first workout, FRAN with Scott. Paul was there for the next workout and gave me some encouragement. I don't think I will ever get bored working out again. Great training, great coaches, great people.
By January of 2008, I had ballooned up to 233 lbs with no end in sight. I was 46 and a friend of mine just had a quadruple bypass at age 48. At that point, I decided to not die young. I wanted to be there for my little girl, Dana Rae.
ReplyDeleteI started on my Bowflew and the Atkins diet and I dropped down to 205 lbs by June 2008. I then bought a rower and added that to the mix and I began using a Zone diet approach. I changed my workouts to an interval format at higher intensity.
In November of 2008, I was down to 200 lbs but stuck on a plateau. I found the main crossfit web page while surfing around Concept 2 rowing sites. I thought, "wow, that looks awesome, but I am too old for this stuff." I kept watching the videos and reading, and then I said, "I can do this."
I finally found Aimee's blog and I scheduled a session with her when she was transitioning from FAC to the "little box". I started into the intro sessions in January with Jen. I knew immediately that I had found something very different and that it was something that was going to change my life. That happens very rarely, and when presented with such an opportunity, you had better seize it.
I sustained two injuries along the way: a Grade 2 hamstring tear and a sprained shoulder. Those injuries were not insurmountable barriers. They were tests to see how bad I wanted it. They were the price I had to pay for having sat on my ass for so long. A small price to pay for what I have gained.
Today: Age 47, 185 lbs
I have not been in this kind of shape since I was 17 in Marine Corps Boot Camp. Yesterday, I power cleaned my body weight and threw 165 lbs overhead 3X. Not bad for an old bastard.
Best of all, I am a part of a wonderful community of friends....highly motivated, positive people that I look forward to being around every day.
Who Ray, I hope I can match your accomplishments. I too look at Crossfit as a way to be healthy for my soon to be born child. I really started to think about this stuff when my dad had some medical issues in September and found out my wife was pregnant. Amazing how children can put things into perspective.
ReplyDeleteIf you were not there this morning you missed one of the most inspiring acts of endurance I have not seen in long time. I know now that once they put their minds to it women will take an extrodinary amout of pain to accomplish the task they wish to complete. Lisa, I'll fight side by side with you any day.
ReplyDeleteI also forgot to give props to Laura P. as well for her stellar box jumps.....
ReplyDeleteDo I see dueling box jumps in the future?????
You are right Paul. The average female is hard wired to withstand far more pain than the strongest men. I watched my wife deliver 3 children with no pain med whatsoever. I think I heard her say, "Oh my" a few times, but that was it. Impressive.
ReplyDeleteI think I am going to go try "Kelly" now. I need to work on my pain tolerance!
I wanted to thank everyone for giving me the chance to coach more. I appreciate it and I hope that you enjoyed my sessions.
ReplyDeleteYour favorite coach will be back tomorrow to distribute some pain.
Today was impressive. It is nice to see people pushing through and not giving up even though you can see in their face that they really want to. I did not think we would see anything over 100 in any one exercise so I need to give mad props to those that did. The all-stars for this Sunday are:
Granny: SICK box jumps at a constant pace
Lisa: Insane box jumps and a desire to win
Laura: Crazy box jumps at an AWESOME pace
Swine: Representing the men with 101 on box jumps and destroying the KBS with 75. Sweet.
Good job everyone. Also, thanks to Hannah for sticking around to count for my OHS and welcome to Calvin. The gentlemen may have some serious competition in the future.
I've been doing the same weight lifting routine since college and while I was committed the workouts were starting to become a drudge and I spent many years plateaued physically and mentally. Worse was that fact that isolating body parts let to inflexible shoulders and knee pain and I still had high blood pressure when I had a checkup done with the advice that I needed to exercise more. I'd spend 1.5 hours in the gym and most of that was just sitting around pondering how stale this was becoming. After seeing the olympics this past summer I came to wish I had a reason to work out or something to compete for. After college there are no structured athletics for people.
ReplyDeleteI discovered crossfit after searching to web and reading up and the concept of functional fitness made real sense to me. The reasoning and methodology was basic and just seemed right. I took some sessions at crossfit delaware valley but the distance was really far and I wasn't entirely ready to leave my comfort zone. One day I'm looking at the crossfit website and behold an affiliate opens right in King of Prussia. I was sort of skeptical at first because I thought this was going to be some sort of group fitness class or something. But of course as it is with everyone else the challenge of the workout kept me coming.
What I enjoy most about crossfit is the high school sports like camraderie that takes place. When I'm gasping for oxygen at the last leg of a workout theres always 2 or 3 voices urging me to keep going. There isn't another place for adults to get this sort of combined training and support. And because crossfit movements are in our DNA I don't have inflexible shoulders or knee pain. I play basketball and realize I'm not as out of breath as I used to be. I've made more progress in the last 8 months than I have in 9 years of lifting alone anonymously in some globo gym. I'm learning new skills and feel like I'm a part of something too. This is really what working out is supposed to be.
Just finished "Kelly":
ReplyDelete5 Rounds:
400 M Run
30 Box Jumps
30 Wallballs
Time: 41:30
Kelly is kind of like Helen only Kelly is a nymphomaniac. Those wallballs are a total pain fest.
I just saw those numbers from this morning. Damn ladies, did you girls have a couple of bottles of Rock Star for breakfast or what? I am in awe.
ReplyDelete1 - Holy F! Those scores are amazing, i wish I could've been there to see this today. Full Disclosure: in similar workout, I think i did 40 box jumps (and I was happy with that, too!). Great job. This is why I need to work on this stuff.
ReplyDelete2 - Like Joe, sick of the globogym, sick of stupid leg extensions and preacher curls and wanted to get back into wrestling-type shape. Then an internet post on rockclimbing.com mentioned that Mark Twight (an idol of mine for his mountaineering accomplishments and punk rock ethos (and currently a crossfit pariah... see www.gymjones.com or any of the comments-page wars when "300" came out)) trained Steve House (another amazing mountaineer) using this website called "crossfit". I started the next day at low intensity as instructed in the getting started section. It sure felt like wrestling season again. It's the only gpp i've done for the last 3 1/2 years. Mostly alone and mostly in a globogym. The atmosphere at this gym makes me work harder than I ever could back at the LA Fitness. Thank god Aimee had the good sense to start CFKoP or I'd still be there, gingerly setting down my steel plates and constantly explaining that, yes, I DO know that's not the right way to do a pull-up, and yes I DO know that my sweat is getting on the mirror but F YOU go mind you own business, I'm on the clock here.
Mike M,
ReplyDeleteGood luck to you although you won't need it, you create your own luck by working your ass of and being a great guy. Any Father would be proud to call you their son. Don't be a stranger and take care of yourself.
Great work and times yesterday and today! Apparently my wife is an olympic box jumper
My crossfit journey is just beginning. I had started to hit the weights and cardio in my mid twenties when I had fallen woefully out of shape. Over the years I had to change gyms and lost gym partners. By the time I wound up at my last gym my motivation had deteriorated. Originally my intent had been to lose weight, add muscle and get in better cardio shape. Then it became stay in some shape. Finally I was doing just enough to keep the mid-section from getting out of hand. Once the market broke in October work took over and my gym schedule got wrecked. After 6 months of that the weight had piled on and all pretense of fitness was gone. The need for a change was apparent.
ReplyDeleteMy wife Nicole meanwhile has had a very satisfying experience with Aimee since FAC. She has drank the kool-aide. She is motivated and has seen results. She has made friends and genuinely looks forward to her next class. That was something I had not experienced in too long.
I have a long way to go but I remain encouraged. The nice thing is that everyone has been really positive. Clearly there are people who are more advanced and yet there is not any flashing of ego. Aimee and Jason have been real patient. It is a geat way to control stress and I have no doubt this is the best way for me to get fit again.