day 1 feels

Two days ago I attended my first crossfit class. Lemme backup actually. So, some sports in school, a TON of bowling, and marching band. That was me pre-college. Then I attended a different school, wandered across the states a bit, wandered back, graduated, and moved north for work. My in-shape days are 12 years behind me. I’ve attended gyms, I would start classes, and my attention would go elsewhere, or my partner would stop showing, or I’d get lazy, or whatever. There are tons of excuses, and in the end, I wouldn’t stick with anything.

So, I am looking to crossfit for help. The reason is this: small group workouts where we rely on each other and have a trainer helping us individually. This provides a measure of accountability I’ve never had. So, I’ll disappoint myself AND them, and I’ll be out a ton of money each month. Or, I’ll attend and do my best.

Anyway, attended crossfit on Monday. We went through a bunch of basic stretches. These felt awesome. Guys, I don’t think I’ve ever stretched properly before. Anyway, we stretch forever and then we start with some very basic stuff. It’s just me and one other guy who is recovering from double hip surgery (and this guy finishes doing box jumps while I’m failing with stepping up on boxes… kill me).

I learned/did:

• the correct way to squat (yes, I am so focused on not falling on my ass I almost always topple over and have terrible form)
• a correct version of a sit-ups (I’m feeling this in my sides only just now. Is that weird? They were terrible when doing them)
• the correct way to do push-ups (even though I could only move my body up and down a few inches, he said that was OK. I don’t feel it was, but he said so)
• lunges
• jumping rope
• trx rows (I’m a huge fan of the trx system – one day I’ll do pullups!)
• Box jumps (for him) and step ups for me
• and I think that’s it. I should have written this that night. Whatever.

Everything was difficult, as I expected it would be. The most embarrassing part, though, was while stretching. I get winded walking up 1 flight of steps… I don’t know how I forgot about that. Now, imagine me stretching, REALLY stretching. Yep, noticeable heavy breathing when done. I think I felt ashamed the entire time. Only when sit-ups started hurting did I not feel shame. I was too focused on getting that final damn sit-up that I forgot about shame. But, I felt it as soon as time was called.

Anyway, we went through a lot of the above basics. It was great to learn how to do all of those things properly, and best of all, the trainer mentioned why we need to do them the proper way, what groups are worked (and what are worked when done wrong), and how it translates into the real world. Knowing the why makes the how sink in for me.

The final actual “workout” was a 250m row and 25 sit-ups in 4 minutes. I think it worked out to equal just under 2 minutes for the row and only 12 situps. I counted 15, but I don’t think I had proper form for the last few. That was me just trying to get my back off the damn floor, even it if wasn’t the *correct* way to do it. I really didn’t want to stop, but it was hard and I couldn’t breathe well.

Before anyone rolls their eyes, I totally understand things should be hard. But I’d be lying if I ignored that my body was saying “THIS IS HARD, STOP DOING THIS” while doing a sit up or push up. Remember, I’m the worst kind of out of shape. So my body doesn’t WANT to do hard things. But, I made it, and that’s what I’m taking away from Monday. I made my lazy, overweight, weird body do hard things that it has not done in a dozen years. I didn’t finish the work out in time, but I did more than I thought I could do. And, that’s a starting point, it’s my baseline.

I decided to go back tonight. I have my meals planned for today/tonight.

• Breakfast: bec on a wrap
• Lunch: work catered, so keeping it simple with a couple of chicken tacos, and skipping the shell/wrap on 1, hoping will power holds to skip for both
• Snack before end of work day: greek yogurt
• Dinner before workout: spinach salad with egg
• Food after workout: I hate this part, but I should eat something according to the internet… and that means I gotta listen, right? Left over broccoli and rice. I’ll add chicken if I can swipe some from work.

Goal: 250m row and 25 sit-ups in 4 minutes.

Actual: 250m row in 2 minutes, 12 sit-ups in 2 minutes