CrossFit Spartanburg

Well, I live in Spartanburg now, so it’s time for me to go to a gym in Spartanburg. I reeeally love my CFBB family, so trying a new gym (CrossFit box or not) is scary for me. Not to mention that I’m introverted and meeting new people is scary!

On Saturday, I went to the Indoc class at CrossFit Spartanburg. It was for people who really don’t know much about CrossFit — what’s a clean? Here’s how to do a wallball. Are you squatting deeply enough? So, yeah, I know all that stuff already, but going to the newbie class made me feel more comfortable.

So today, I went to my first real class. And CrossFit Spartanburg doesn’t have Boost... so I have to go to regular CrossFit now. They scaled the workout a bit for me, which I was thankful for! So my workout tonight was:

15 lateral barbell burpees
15 Russian kb swings (26 lbs)
10 lateral barbell burpees
10 overhead squats (35 lbs)
5 lateral barbell burpees
5 American kb swings (26 lbs)

I finished in 7 minutes and 38 seconds. Felt good. Coach Tal was awesome. People were friendly. Guess I’ll go back!

Last night... no, really.

Last night was my last night of going to CFBB regularly. I'm pretty bummed about it. I am moving to Spartanburg this weekend, and the 2 hour round trip is a bit much for driving to the gym. I'm going to have to find something in Spartanburg!

My Boost friends took a couple of pictures with me!

Cleaning Up

Me again!

Last night, I went to regular Crossfit again. I was going to go to bootcamp, but a fellow gym member asked if anyone wanted to go to the 6:30 class... and I really wanted to because it actually looked pretty fun. Fun=hard.

We did our 400m run and stretching to start, followed by bench presses. The Rx weight was your body weight + 25lbs. I laugh at that. I benched 55 lbs. So there.

Then we had 20 deadlifts, followed by 10 push jerks... 3 times. Once again, I laughed at the Rx weight of 105lbs. I loaded the bar up to 55, but couldn't clean it. That was frustrating because I know I've cleaned 55lbs before. Oh, well. I went down to 45 and did fine. We had to do all that in 14 minutes, and I finished right at the 14 minute mark!

Next week is my last full, normal week at CFBB. Then I'll be living in Spartanburg. Gotta find something there. I'll visit, though!

June

So I've been really bad lately about writing in this blog!

June was great, though! There was actually a week where I went to Crossfit 5 times. I went to Boost twice, Bootcamp twice, and then to Conjuga (focus on powerlifting).

I've also been to regular Crossfit twice this month. I'm trying to prepare for later this month when I move. I'm very ready to move to Spartanburg, but there a two main issues I'm having. One is unrelated to Crossfit and involves a cat. The other is that I'm moving an hour away from CFBB. I love the community at BangBang and I'm pretty sad about leaving. I'm also very nervous about finding another gym that I'll like. I want to check out Crossfit Spartanburg, but I'm also open to other non-Crossfit options. I'm honestly kind of scared of other Crossfit boxes because they just do regular Crossfit classes without anything like Boost or Bootcamp. I know that I can do regular Crossfit, but I get easily overwhelmed.... I just don't know what I'm going to do! I do know that I still plan to drop in at BangBang and, of course, go to their social events.

In other news, I got a new deadlift PR last night -- 175lbs!

Murph+

I have not posted on my blog in a long time, though I have been going to Boost regularly. One day a couple of weeks ago, I missed Boost and went to Bootcamp instead. And it seemed like an easy workout in the description... but I should have known better!

Monday was a special day in CrossFit land. It was Memorial Day, which means Murph. Here’s the Murph workout:

This is the second year I have participated in Murph. Both years, I have done half — last year I did the workout with a partner, but I sailed solo this year. It wasn’t really that bad alone. But I tell you... I was sooo sore this year. I’m finally feeling better, though.
And then I went to Boost on Wednesday. I hoped for an “easy” workout (haha) since I was so sore, but that definitely didn’t happen. We had to do a hill run, followed by 60 dumbbell push presses, 4 sandbag cleans, 80 sit-ups, and then 60 lunges. And then start over! But I only got through it once with about 30 seconds left, so I stopped!

Oh, and here’s a picture from Murph:

Sandbags Be Heavy

I went to Boost again on Wednesday (and Monday, btw) evening. Jess was coaching. This workout was tough, but I think it was made tougher by the fact that I overdid it the first round through. Let's see if I can remember the workout....

20 min AMRAP

200m sandbag carry (45lbs)
20 air squats
5 hand release pushups
20 single unders
:20 bar hang

Yep, I think that's it.

Anyway, for whatever reason, my brain did not understand that carrying a 45lb sandbag was going to be really hard for me? I think it's because I can barely pick up the 65lb sandbag, so 45lb seemed light?

So, I hoisted the 45lb sandbag onto my left shoulder and started walking. I made it about 50m before I realized it was really too heavy for me. The problem was that I couldn't move the weight once I got it on my shoulder without putting it all the way down. The other athletes could move it from shoulder to shoulder, or maneuver it onto their backs, but I couldn't seem to do that. At the 100m mark, I had to put the bag down. Then it took me forever to be able to pick it back up. By the time I made it back inside, I was pretty much spent! The rest of the round did not go all that well, and then the thought of carrying the sandbag another 200m just about made me cry. Jess got me a 20lb medicine ball and I carried that for the rest of the time. I was just so tired that we skipped the 30lb ball entirely!

I kept going for the entire 20 minutes, but I wasn't particularly happy about it. I was pretty miserable, actually. Trent asked me why I do things to myself that make me miserable. I had a hard time explaining it at the time. But, the thing is, the workouts rarely make me feel miserable. In fact, I usually feel fairly proud of myself after a workout, especially if I make it through a really difficult one!

And in retrospect, I suppose I'm still somewhat proud of myself for going the whole 20 minutes of this workout. I just wish I could get to the point where a 45lb sandbag is actually doable. Where it's not a foreboding amount of weight. I just feel pretty weak sometimes and that does make me sad.

5 Times

Last night was actually the 5th time I've been to the gym since my last blog post. I've just sucked at posting anything!

So, last night's workout was kinda cool because I was the only one there for Boost. So I had Jess all to myself. I liked it! She even let me pick the music, lol. I chose, of course, Needtobreathe. Some of the other Boost regulars say they wouldn't want to be the only one there, but I really did enjoy it. Not that I don't enjoy the company of the other athletes as well....

The workout last night was a tabata work out, which I really liked. It was difficult, but the fun thing about tabatas is you know exactly what you're going to do and how long it's going to take. A tabata is 8 rounds of 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds rest... so 4 minutes total of one exercise. The first tabata was sit-ups, followed by rowing, hammer curls, and wall sits. I kept having to go down in weight on the hammer curls because they got so difficult! And the wall sits were pretty hard, too -- my legs were absolutely burning!

My arms a bit sore today from the curls, but I'm fine aside from that!

Death by Kettlebells

 I couldn't make it to Boost on Monday or Wednesday this week, so I did a big girl thing and went to regular CrossFit on Tuesday. I enjoyed being there with everyone! Daniel coached, Chris assisted, saw Haley... So it was a good day!

Here's the workout:

So yes, we started with hang power snatches, which I had never done, so I just used the training barbell for those. Also, I did not realize how much more difficult overhead squats are to regular squats. Ha! Then, the main workout was swinging a kettlebell until you couldn't anymore, basically. I really liked this class overall!

Twitchy Twenty-five

So Daniel was the coach for Wednesday’s Boost class, which was cool because I feel like I never see Daniel. Our workout was potentially crazy. We got the classic WOD, Filthy Fifty. Allow me to explain that. The workout is 50 reps each of so many horrible things....

• For Time

• 50 Box Jumps 

• 50 Jumping Pull-Ups

• 50 Kettlebell Swings 

• 50 Walking Lunges

• 50 Knees-to-Elbows

• 50 Push Press 

• 50 Back Extensions

• 50 Wall Balls 

• 50 Burpees

• 50 Double-Unders

So, Daniel said we could split it and do 25 twice. I decided to do that, but I never actually made it to jumping rope. We had a 22 minute cap on the workout, so that means I did half of it? Ha, oh well.

The Bike Strikes Again

So, this is the first time I've been to the gym since February 27. It hasn't been because I didn't want to go or anything like that. It's just that the classes I feel comfortable going to are only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, and there have been conflicts. If I would step out of my comfort zone and go to regular Crossfit, I would have a lot more options. 🤔

So tonight's workout was:

1:00 at each station

Mountain climbers

Alternating glute bridge

Sit-ups

Hand release push-ups

Single-unders

Rest

x3

And then, not so fast...

1 mile bike 

I'll tell you, I can ride a bike a mile, no problem, but the assault bikes are no joke!

Report

So, I did not go to the gym on Monday because I was sniffling and had an ugly cough. I didn’t think I was contagious or anything. I just didn’t want to be wheezing and wiping my nose during a workout!

So tonight was a 20 minute AMRAP:
14 db bench press
28 single unders (AKA jumping rope)
14 air squats
300m row

Here’s what my Apple Watch had to say about that. Btw, I set my watch at the start of warmup, not the start of the WOD.

Also, yes, I know my heart rate is ridiculous.

No picture... :(

I went to Boost last night as well. Some of the other ladies in the class are texting me now to make sure I show up.
So, last night, Chris was our coach. That was cool, because he amuses me.

Anyway, I don't have a lovely picture of the workout, but I think I remember it:

6 cal row
7 db push press
8 cal bike
9 slam balls
10 mt climbers

And I believe that was a 20 min AMRAP... which just let me say, 20 minutes is a damn long time!

Oh, and it just wouldn't be me if I didn't say how much I hate the bike. So there.

I'm back on the wagon?

Well, I'm back to Boost now. People started wondering where I was. Which is a good thing! I think that means they notice I'm there in the first place. Now, if only I can get my butt up on Saturdays to go to CrossFit....

And I've fallen off the wagon

I'm not sure exactly why, but I have not been to BangBang in at least 2 weeks. Which is just plain bad for me. I don't even mean physically. Mentally, people. I need to see friends and stay active. I legitimately could not go a couple of times and then I've made excuses the last few times. And then every time I think I'll go back, something comes up. The next workout I could feasibly make (and let's not count 5am workouts) is Saturday at 9am. But now I'm going hiking, so that's out. So the next time I could go is Monday at 7:30. But I have a late doctor's appointment that will probably prevent me getting back home at a reasonable time. Maybe? Anyway, there's a part of me that knows I need to go back, but there's the other part that, for some reason, doesn't want to. I know I need to ignore that last part! I don't know why I can't just form a dang habit and stick with it!

Row Your Boat

Man, last night’s workout was not cool. And I thought about quitting multiple times during it. But I didn’t!

January So Far

Made it to Boost last night! And I almost forgot to write about it! Here’s the workout:

As is often, the workout didn’t seem very hard when I read it, but it definitely was in real life! For some reason, every time I did my HR pushups, I had the strangest urge to cry! I didn’t mentally want to; it was a totally physical response. Very strange! And the KB swings seemed so difficult even though I used my regular weight. Today, I am also a little sore, which is almost strange. I usually don’t really get sore!

So, this far in the month of January, I’ve only managed to get to the gym 5 times! Tomorrow will be 6, though. Also, I really wish I had done the competition this past weekend. It looked exhausting, yes, but also quite fun! Next time!

Wednesday Boost

I went to Boost last night, which was the first time I made it to the gym this week. I intended to go on Monday, but by the time I got home from my interview, I had an unfortunate headache and didn’t really feel like potentially getting sick at CFBB. So yeah, I’ve been slightly absent from the gym for a couple of weeks, but I’ll get back in the groove next week, hopefully. I’m still really nervous about all my schoolwork, though! Anyway, here was last night’s workout. I didn’t think it was too bad (except for the burpees, of course).

I did the bag cleans with the 30lb wall ball instead of the 60lb sandbag. I can get the sand bag over my left shoulder (barely), but not my right. I think I need a sandbag somewhere between those two weights!

First Post in a Week

I don’t know if anyone has noticed I haven’t posted in a week. That’s because I’ve been bad and haven’t gone to the gym in a week. I’ve been concentrating on work stuff and have neglected my gym habit (which I do indeed love as of late). But, I went to the gym today because my brain definitely needed it.

Here was the workout:

It was actually quite a fun workout! I am worried about keeping myself in the gym now that school has started back. I just think this semester is going to be a challenge and a lesson in extreme time management! We’ll see.

Missed again!

Sigh, I missed Saturday Crossfit again. I'm not as upset about it this week as I was last week, though. I did miss a good workout, though!

I went home though, instead, and worked on a presentation and celebrated my dad's 74th birthday!

Fight Club and Deadlifts

I made it to Fight Club tonight! Unfortunately, this cannot be a regular thing for me because of my work schedule, but it's fun when I can go! Not gonna lie, tonight was pretty hard. We had 5 different 5 minute AMRAPS. You be the judge:

I used the 35lb barbell for the presses and rows. The strict presses were a lot more difficult than I anticipated, but I got through them. 

I thought about staying for Bootcamp (they were doing a variation on Cindy) but I was pretty tired after all those AMRAPs. I decided to work on my deadlift instead. I honestly hadn't done a deadlift since my 150lb PR several months ago. Christy helped me with transferring weight and, of course, motivation and photography. Guess what?! I made it to 155lbs and got to ring the PR bell! 

First Boost of the New Year

Well, Crossfit is back to its regular schedule now (thank goodness!) so I was back at Boost last night. I'll be the first one to tell you that I don't workout on my own, so I am glad I have structure again. Last night's workout was fairly rough for the first one in a while!

Of course, it was the bike sprint at the beginning that killed me. That, to me, was the hardest part... And my "sprinting" speed isn't much faster than my regular speed. I didn't really mind the 500m rows. 20 lunges was fairly difficult after rowing though! My least favorite exercise of the AMRAP was the push-ups. I suck at push-ups, and I feel like I never get any better at them. Overall, though, great workout. Fight Club is tonight!