Happy Friday! This weekend will be busy and full of lots of hard work, fun, and excitement!
For those of you that don’t know, I work full time at a non-profit therapeutic horseback riding program. We offer riding lessons as a form of therapy (physical, mental, and emotional) for children and adults with a wide range of disabilities and special needs. As you can imagine, it is extremely rewarding and inspirational. This weekend, we are putting on our 21st Annual Country Hoedown! It is our biggest fundraiser of the year and the night is full of live music, dancing, BBQ dinner, and much more. It’s a blast!
Anyway, I will be back on the other side of the weekend to share more delicious recipes. But in the meantime, I wanted to post a recap of this week’s CrossFit Workouts! I always say I couldn’t do my job, which can be very physically demanding at times, without the endurance and mental and physical strength I gain by working out. (Check out last week’s post where I explain in depth why I love to hate CrossFit.)
Monday:
For the most part, CrossFit workouts are either “For Time” or an “AMRAP.” This particular workout was under the For Time category, because there are a set number of rounds and we are supposed to get them done as quickly as we can for the fastest time possible.
The WOD (Workout of the Day) was:
4 rounds: 20 Wall Balls, 10 Shoulder to Overhead, 20 Kettle Bell Swings, 10 Chest to Bar, and a 200 M run. It was a great combination of using our legs, shoulders, gymnastic skills, and running.
My time was 18:20, which is a relatively long workout in CrossFit. It was more of an endurance day, testing some of that mental strength to keep going, despite the length!
Travis beat me by a minute and 20 seconds, so he started off the week with a W…
Tuesday: 
Tuesday was an AMRAP style workout. That stands for As Many Reps As Possible. So for this type of workout, coach writes up the set number of moves with a set time domain, and we try to get as many reps as we can in that period.
Tuesday’s WOD:
9 minutes to get As Many Reps as Possible
1 Squat Clean, 1 Burpee Box Jump Over. Then another squat clean, and 2 burpee box jump overs, alternating squat cleans and an increasing number of burpee box jump overs each round.
The squat cleans got HEAVY as the workout progressed, and the BBJO’s became increasingly difficult as the reps count went up!
I got through the 9th round (1 squat clean and 9 BBJO) plus 6 reps into the next round. (9+6)
I beat Travis by 4 reps, so we were tied 1-1 by Tuesday!
Wednesday:
Wednesday’s workout was another AMRAP, but fortunately, it was a partner workout! I partnered up with the teen phenom at our gym, Ashley and we did our best to beat Travis and his partner (who happened to be Ashley’s dad!)
The movements were: 100 Double Unders (with the jump rope), 40 dumbbell snatches, 30 calories on the rowing machine, 20 handstand push-ups, and 10 overhead squats. We were allowed to break up the reps between the 2 of us, we just had to do an equal number of everything. It is always nice to get a little bit of rest while your partner works, but that just means you have to push harder when it’s your turn to exercise!
We got through 3 full rounds, plus 2 double unders…gotta squeeze out all the reps you can at the end!
This was another workout with a variety of moves to make a well-rounded athlete. We worked gymnastics, strength, skill, and endurance all in one.
Thursday: 
Thursdays tend to be more of an “active recovery day” at our gym. I actually often take the day off altogether because I usually feel like I need a slower start to the day by this point. This week, I got off work early so I decided to join the afternoon class for a change of pace! I debated going, but I knew I would benefit from a good sweat and heavy breathing. I always feel better after that!
The WOD on Thurday was: 4 Rounds, 400 M Run, 200 M Kettlebell Carry (One 35 pounder in each hand…it’s rough on the grip/forearms!)
My time was 14:20.
Since Travis didn’t work out, I am going to take that as a W for me!
This would be a GREAT workout to do at home or a hotel gym if you have kettlebells or dumbbells. It was the perfect way to get my heart rate up and practice some running without beating up my body on a recovery day. It was just what I needed before going into this crazy busy weekend!
Friday:
True to form, this Friday workout was killer! Coach Charley likes to make sure we think about him all weekend long- every time we go to sit down, or wash our hair, or really move at all!
This Friday’s Fun Day WOD included 2 mini workouts combined together. First, we started with a 21-15-9 couplet (2 movements) of Thrusters and Toes to Bar. Thrusters often show up on Fridays because they are THE worst. Toes to bar are a fun gymnastics move that keep the heart rate up and work the core.
Once we completed 21 reps of both moves, then 15, then 9, we got to rest for 3 minutes! Yay! Then, we moved onto 6 rounds of 5 Clean and Jerks and 5 Bar Facing Burpees (you have to jump over the barbell after each burpee.) That’s what did me in…I strongly felt that we should have only done 5 rounds, and I let our coach know my opinion 🙂 But that is why I go to CrossFit-I can’t trust myself to push as hard as I do when I’m in the gym, surrounded by others pushing just as hard.
I ended at 16:01 on the clock, but then we subtracted 3 minutes for our score (because of the rest time.)
I think I edged Travis out right at the end…our scores are usually so close! (Unless there is running involved-he is always so much faster than me at that!)
So there ya have it! I love the variety and “expect the unexpected” mentality that CrossFit offers. I never know what’s coming when I walk into the gym, but I know I’m going to get stronger, faster, better, and have fun doing it every day. Plus, I don’t have to think for myself (which is mandatory at 6am.)
Feel free to ask if you have any questions about the movements or CrossFit in general! I will work on sharing more videos/pictures to help visualize 🙂
Have a great weekend, friends!
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