I wanted to write a little blog on my foray into working out, fitness, and strength and resistance training. I currently do an adapted for my strength and smaller size cross-fit WOD (workout of the day) and have been experimenting in creatively bringing in different exercises to up the difficulty with my limited resources.
Side note: This turned out a bit more long winded than I anticipated, but, oh well.
Safety
I want to address safety first. Working in the workshops and doing the safety routine with students on various mills and lathes, I like talking about safety.
I read all these websites and books on weight training and exercising and no one warns you about safety. I realized how important this is after an almost accident I had with heavy 9kg(20lb) iron dumbbell which scared the hell out of me.
Let me say this clearly: Weight training is serious business.
1- When you lift weights, you must be aware of the proper posture and movement to avoid muscle or ligament injury. I usually have to look up a couple of videos and some written instructions before I get the information I need.
2- You must be 100% sure that you can control the trajectory of the weight in any direction down to a millimeter. Movements are never haphazard, they must be precise. Even the fast ones. For clumsy people, I should know, I am one, you don't want to knock yourself out with an iron bar because it's too heavy and you're not paying attention.
I usually do all new movements with light weights until I get the movements and trajectories of everything down. Then I make sure I'm focused and there mentally when I'm doing my exercise. Toddlers are not allowed in a room while lifting weights. A swinging hand and a small head at the same level is not a good combination.
Exercise
Right. Now that we've moved on from safety, on to the good stuff.
I usually do only around 1-2 heavy workouts per week. My normal days entail walking for around 1 hour and then spending several hours in labs on my feet back and forth in motion. I tried doing more than 2 workouts per week, but I simply felt exhausted, stressed, and completely burned out. Doing 1-2 on the other hand, makes me feel the benefits and at the same time I feel like I have enough time to recover.
So what do these workouts include?
Cross-fit stuff. Sometimes I do the regular things like interval sprinting or 800m runs. I usually combine these with a dozen push-ups and some stretching. Jump rope and trying double-unders is a great alternative to running. Didn't think it would be so hard, but it'll knock the wind out of you.
Other times I use Habib's old dumbbells to try some lifts. I do some deadlifts and snatches. I don't think my technique is so great on these so I avoid lifting too much, but I'm getting a little better. I think I need to watch a few more videos to figure it out. I also use the weights to do weighted and overhead squats and have a pull up bar that gets used (still can't do a pull up though).
I have a lot of fun with body weight exercises, especially for my abs. Switching the angle on something like leg lifts and other movements will use a completely different set of muscles. It's fun to play around with different movements. It feels like "play" which, of course, is primal approved.
Resources
I love cross-fit but I'm limited by resources. I don't have a gym membership. My equipment are limited to 1 pull up bar and Habib's old dumbbells with weight plates for a maximum of 9kg per dumbbell. I also have a jump rope and household furniture. There's a wooden stick from an old mop that I've been thinking about converting to a barbell so I can do proper deadlifts and snatches.
Accomplishments
My body looks completely different. I got nice toned muscles everywhere. My favorite part? It's not what you think. It's my back. Looks awesome. Nothing like before I started exercising.
Other less shallow accomplishments:
I was able to lift the 19liter water jug (that would be a total of 20kg or 44lbs of water+jug) yesterday without difficulty and place it on the water cooler. Did the whole squatting motion and positioning myself to do it properly. It was a proud moment for me as it's half my weight and heavier than anything I've lifted yet. I usually leave that particular chore to dad. It suddenly occurred to me that maybe I'm not weak and perhaps I shouldn't assume that I can't do things!
My goal is do eventually be able to deadlift my own body weight.
Today I was doing weighted squats and I realized the 18kg were no longer enough for a high intensity workout for my glutes. I don't have anymore weights but I think I found a workaround for that. Bulgarian split squats from the "You are your own gym" book with weights. Ha!
Food
I guess my biggest accomplishment is my appetite. I'm a notoriously poor eater. I'd forget and skip meals and eat very little when I did eat. I tried to force myself to eat more at the beginning of summer and made myself sick, so I stopped. I got better eating primal and giving up grains (goodbye gluten bloat! Who knew?) but not really where I wanted to be.
After I started cross-fit my appetite has gone through the roof. I feel like I'm constantly hungry and eating. Often I'll need to have 4 regular sized meals instead of 3, pour cream over everything to make it more filling, and snack on bananas and eggs like they're going out of style. Especially after a workout, I'll usually have two high protein meals an hour or two apart, not because I researched it, but because that's what my body demands.
Still not gaining much weight though, but maybe that's coming.
Community
I have to say, having a great online primal/cross-fitting community is great. It gives me unbelievable motivation and just makes me feel all fuzzy inside. I also love reading blogs. Even found my way into some bodybuilder bro-blogs which was hilarious way to spend a couple of hours. Now being a mechanical engineer who spends most of her time in shops and labs surrounded by guys, I'm supposedly used to how they act. But boy, all that testosterone and macho posturing in those blogs made me feel like I needed to do something ultra-feminine afterwards... like do my makeup or have a period!
Side note: This turned out a bit more long winded than I anticipated, but, oh well.
Safety
I want to address safety first. Working in the workshops and doing the safety routine with students on various mills and lathes, I like talking about safety.
I read all these websites and books on weight training and exercising and no one warns you about safety. I realized how important this is after an almost accident I had with heavy 9kg(20lb) iron dumbbell which scared the hell out of me.
Let me say this clearly: Weight training is serious business.
1- When you lift weights, you must be aware of the proper posture and movement to avoid muscle or ligament injury. I usually have to look up a couple of videos and some written instructions before I get the information I need.
2- You must be 100% sure that you can control the trajectory of the weight in any direction down to a millimeter. Movements are never haphazard, they must be precise. Even the fast ones. For clumsy people, I should know, I am one, you don't want to knock yourself out with an iron bar because it's too heavy and you're not paying attention.
I usually do all new movements with light weights until I get the movements and trajectories of everything down. Then I make sure I'm focused and there mentally when I'm doing my exercise. Toddlers are not allowed in a room while lifting weights. A swinging hand and a small head at the same level is not a good combination.
Exercise
Right. Now that we've moved on from safety, on to the good stuff.
I usually do only around 1-2 heavy workouts per week. My normal days entail walking for around 1 hour and then spending several hours in labs on my feet back and forth in motion. I tried doing more than 2 workouts per week, but I simply felt exhausted, stressed, and completely burned out. Doing 1-2 on the other hand, makes me feel the benefits and at the same time I feel like I have enough time to recover.
So what do these workouts include?
Cross-fit stuff. Sometimes I do the regular things like interval sprinting or 800m runs. I usually combine these with a dozen push-ups and some stretching. Jump rope and trying double-unders is a great alternative to running. Didn't think it would be so hard, but it'll knock the wind out of you.
Other times I use Habib's old dumbbells to try some lifts. I do some deadlifts and snatches. I don't think my technique is so great on these so I avoid lifting too much, but I'm getting a little better. I think I need to watch a few more videos to figure it out. I also use the weights to do weighted and overhead squats and have a pull up bar that gets used (still can't do a pull up though).
I have a lot of fun with body weight exercises, especially for my abs. Switching the angle on something like leg lifts and other movements will use a completely different set of muscles. It's fun to play around with different movements. It feels like "play" which, of course, is primal approved.
Resources
I love cross-fit but I'm limited by resources. I don't have a gym membership. My equipment are limited to 1 pull up bar and Habib's old dumbbells with weight plates for a maximum of 9kg per dumbbell. I also have a jump rope and household furniture. There's a wooden stick from an old mop that I've been thinking about converting to a barbell so I can do proper deadlifts and snatches.
Accomplishments
My body looks completely different. I got nice toned muscles everywhere. My favorite part? It's not what you think. It's my back. Looks awesome. Nothing like before I started exercising.
Other less shallow accomplishments:
I was able to lift the 19liter water jug (that would be a total of 20kg or 44lbs of water+jug) yesterday without difficulty and place it on the water cooler. Did the whole squatting motion and positioning myself to do it properly. It was a proud moment for me as it's half my weight and heavier than anything I've lifted yet. I usually leave that particular chore to dad. It suddenly occurred to me that maybe I'm not weak and perhaps I shouldn't assume that I can't do things!
My goal is do eventually be able to deadlift my own body weight.
Today I was doing weighted squats and I realized the 18kg were no longer enough for a high intensity workout for my glutes. I don't have anymore weights but I think I found a workaround for that. Bulgarian split squats from the "You are your own gym" book with weights. Ha!
Food
I guess my biggest accomplishment is my appetite. I'm a notoriously poor eater. I'd forget and skip meals and eat very little when I did eat. I tried to force myself to eat more at the beginning of summer and made myself sick, so I stopped. I got better eating primal and giving up grains (goodbye gluten bloat! Who knew?) but not really where I wanted to be.
After I started cross-fit my appetite has gone through the roof. I feel like I'm constantly hungry and eating. Often I'll need to have 4 regular sized meals instead of 3, pour cream over everything to make it more filling, and snack on bananas and eggs like they're going out of style. Especially after a workout, I'll usually have two high protein meals an hour or two apart, not because I researched it, but because that's what my body demands.
Still not gaining much weight though, but maybe that's coming.
Community
I have to say, having a great online primal/cross-fitting community is great. It gives me unbelievable motivation and just makes me feel all fuzzy inside. I also love reading blogs. Even found my way into some bodybuilder bro-blogs which was hilarious way to spend a couple of hours. Now being a mechanical engineer who spends most of her time in shops and labs surrounded by guys, I'm supposedly used to how they act. But boy, all that testosterone and macho posturing in those blogs made me feel like I needed to do something ultra-feminine afterwards... like do my makeup or have a period!
Does that mean you'll keep up with me once we're about to miss our train ;) ?
ReplyDeleteBut seriously though, great! You're motivating me to start working out again. Didn't do much for the last couple of weeks...
Squats with 18 Kg WOW (O_O)
One question btw, I just checked the CrossFit website, how are you doing the WOD? Lots of these stuff require a gym and/or equipment...
ReplyDeleteYou can do substitutions. You can come up with your own or you can check out the list that they have on the site somewhere.
ReplyDeleteFor ex. instead of the rope climb, I do towel curls. Works the legs and biceps in a similar way. For rowing I do a combination of those door let-me-ups, push ups, and regular unweighted squats.
I've been doing deadlifts and other lifts with the dumbbells, and you can substitute the medicine ball for ex. with a jug of water or a bag filled with heavy books. All you need to do any lift is basically a weight. It doesn't have to be in a regular shape or a gym-weight, those are just for regulations and convenience.
You can also scale the weights for your own body weight. They usually put these for a 170lb person.
Btw, let me say, that I've yet to actually do a complete WOD. I die well before I finish because they're ridiculously hard sometimes. I'm still hoping that eventually I'll be strong enough to finish one.