So, week 3. A lot happened last week. I signed up for a 12 month commitment to this workout as of Friday. One year to reach my goal. One year of lifting and losing. Even though the workouts keep getting more intense, I am loving how I feel after. I want to see the day that I can do the moves and not need to modify them. I will get there.
So let's go back to Monday and workout #7. We had to do as many rounds as we could in 10 minutes. Each round consisted of pull-ups, push-ups and overhead squats. I don't know about you but pull-ups are the one thing I could never master. I dreaded pull-ups in gym class. I was lucky if I could do 1, even the girl way. So when I saw pull-ups I was ready to leave. Turns out, there is a way to modify them and it makes it a little easier. We use these colored bands to help us. Basically they are attached to the bar and you put 1 foot inside the band and it helps you to get your chin above the bar. We had to do 5 pull-ups. Next up push-ups, same as we did before, 10 of these. Lastly, overhead squats. Basically you hold the bar overhead while you do squats. We were lucky that we only had to use the PVC pipes but we had to do 15 of these. That is a LOT of arm work in a 10 minute period. I managed to get through 4 complete rounds, plus 5 pull-ups and 9 push-ups in that 10 minute period.
Workout #8 was frustrating for me. We had a new move that I just couldn't quite get the grasp of. We had to complete 3 rounds for time. A round consisted of 15 push jerks, 9 box jumps and 6 muscle ups. The push jerk had me stumped. I just wasn't understanding it and my head was stuck there. Basically it is just an overhead lift but there is a dip in the beginning and the end. The end dip wasn't happening for me and no amount of practice or explanation was working. The box jump was more a nuisance than anything. It gets in your head. You start thinking, "what if I miss it? What if I fall? Can I really jump that high?" Once I did one, I was fine, and luckily we only had to use a 12" box. A true muscle up takes a lot of arm strength. We got to modify ours. It utilizes the rings and has 3 steps. It's not easy to explain but it's kind of like a push up on the rings starting from a lying down position. Yes, not easy to explain at all! I made it through all 3 rounds with just a slight shin pain. I attributed the pain to the box jump since I tend to land flat-footed. The pain went away by the next day.
Workout #9, the end of week 3, the final class before the final week. What a doozy! 3 rounds, each round is max reps in 1 min followed by a 1 minute rest. Each round consisted of power cleans, double unders and wall ball. Power cleans start out like a dead lift and end up in the front rack position. Double unders are just the jump rope and since we haven't really mastered double unders we got to do singles. Wall ball utilizes the medicine ball. Hold it in front of you while standing just shy of arm's length from the wall. Squat down, throw the ball up to a predetermined target on the wall, catch it and go back to a squat. I ended up having some serious pain in my shins from the jump rope. This hurt my overall numbers because I just could not get good reps on the jump rope. I was very happy that I had 2 days off to rest my legs before the final week.
Even after 3 weeks, I can already feel a difference. Muscles that I haven't used in forever are reawakening. My energy level is higher. My clothes are fitting looser. I am excited about the next week and beyond that. I hope someone is reading this and it motivates you. Whether that is to get up and take a walk or find your nearest Iron Tribe or even just to change what you are eating. It is a choice. You can choose to make a commitment to better your health or you can choose to do what you have been doing. Either way, the decision is yours and nobody can make it for you. If you choose healthy, great! If I have motivated you to choose healthy, even better! Let me know what journey you have chosen to take. I would love to hear from you :)
Until next week!
♥xoxo♥
Kay