jelly legs

[maerdi]

zudini and I have been making it to the CrossFit classes at our local gym once a week for a while now. We missed the gym this week, but Maximus (yes, that's his real name) posts the workouts every day so we don't have to miss the workout even if we can't come to class.

Today we completed yesterday's workout, Respect Your EldersFor Time

Comments

[jcmdev0]

Man, everyone is doing crossfit these days. A buddy of mine did '300's last week. I forget what the exact run-down is.

[porfinn]

I think this falls into the category of "inspirational"-- like individuals who survive a airplane crash and manage to hike through the jungle using a purse as a machete while wrestling boa constrictors and eating a gorilla. I am extremely impressed and inspired to go do my ten push ups (while midly horrified at the same time :).

[maerdi]

By the way, that's a lovely icon you have there, despite the wimpy weights.

It inspires me to take photos & make a workout icon of my own. In fact, I was thinking about 'copying' this one, but with a much more impressive barbell ;). I'm not sure that in particular will come to fruition (I don't have the same waist to anything else ratio that Marilyn has, to be sure, and it's hard to find a bench at the gym with so much free space around it), but I hope to put together something. I realized yesterday that I have very few photos of myself as I tend to be the photographer rather than the photographee when cameras are around; maybe it's worth it to spend some time every year capturing my current state.

[porfinn]

I am fascinated by Marilyn Monroe. She was truly an enigma. It is just hard to imagine someone having been born in an orphanage and marrying someone at 16 to possibly escape foster care, then ending up as one of the most familiar Hollywood icons. I'm always interested how much of someones life is luck, and how much is skill. And how someone who started from such humble beginnings managed to develop a personality (power?) that was of interest to Joe DeMaggio, Henry Miller, and possibly two Kennedys. I love how she was willing to manipulate her image in photographs, and to see the 1950's icon of femininity pumping weights (even wimpy ones) in jeans is delightful. The jeans are the perfect touch. I also like looking at her exercising to remind myself that I have managed to do something she never did: reach the age of thirty eight, and that I intend to live a long, long time if I can

[mtbg]

Reminds me of the good old days in high school swimming. Even aside from the odd 8000-yard practice, I remember doing sets of calf raises on every step up a long flight of stairs, and then limping up and down stairs around school all day. Good times!

Those workouts sound like "fun", but I think I'll probably stick to cranking on V7s a few times a week ;)

[bonboard]

I know what sit ups are, I know what push ups are, and I think I can visualize a walking lunge.

What the heck are the rest of those things?

And, why the inverse linear dependence on age, when it's done for time? If the elders want my respect, they can do the same workout faster than me! Being able to say "I can do half the work in an hour, when it took you two hours" doesn't impress me.

[maerdi]

*laughs*

Air squats are just squats. I think they call them air squats because there's no weight involved. If you'd like to see the technique, or if the term "butt wink" amuses you, here's a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k45YlFHn6xs

Kettlebell swings are easier to understand by watching rather than explaining: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CAeO8OUkvs. Basically, a kettlebell is a cannonball with a handle. A kettlebell swing swings the kettlebell through your legs in a squat position to perfectly above your head, and back down again. It's actually really fun-the key is to work with the natural pendulum frequency and add just enough power to resonate it perfectly every time.

Wallballs and double-unders can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZEmC8eY4hYWallballs are basically throwing a large, soft, heavy ball at a target 10 feet in the air by using a squat to help generate the thrust. Double-unders is just jumping a rope, but spinning the rope at twice the speed at which you jump: each jump passes over the

[bonboard]

Ah, yes. Many of these things were in my high school and junior high PE classes.

When we did the squats, they told us to "do them as slowly as you can handle". They gave us like five minutes per station. This degenerated into a contest to see who could do the slowest squats while always maintaining movement. The best was about 1 1/2 squat in 5 minutes. I've never been told to do them quickly before, though.

The kettlebells look like they could do some serious damage, if and when the handles break off and/or the bell is not handled properly. Slippery hands, people not paying attention, a little too much oomph...

Why did you end up doing 148 push-ups? Is that because 2x(100-26) = 148? Why the 2x?

[maerdi]

Yeah, the emphasis on time isn't my favorite part of CrossFit. However, it's not uncommon for us to start with a squat ladder as a warm up: the first person does 1 squat, then holds the squat position while the next person does one squat and then holds the squat position, etc., until it gets back to the first person, who may then rest by doing two squats and then has to hold the squat while 2 goes around the room, and on and on. When you can't stand it anymore, you fall over dead and you're 'out'. Not quite the same as one and a half 3 1/3 minute squats, but in the same vein.

Yes, the kettlebells can be a little dangerous, esp. with little kids running around. Our have an industrial-strength rubber-coated handle, though, so slipping isn't as much of an issue as getting carried away or having someone walk into you.

As for the push-ups, remember that each burpee contains a full push-up, especially for people like me (more methodical than frenetic).