WOD

Tunes Tuesday

February 12, 2013 1 Comment

No matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to get into those motivational fitness posters that are flooding Pinterest. You know the kind… the “Keep Calm and [do something unrelated to keeping calm]” or the ones with Little Miss Hottie with a Body posed precariously over a bench and the phrase “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” or “Run until your legs fall off. Don’t stop. You’ll pass out before you die. Train hard. Rinse and Repeat.”

Yeah, NEWSFLASH: Not motivating. I don’t know about other girls but I’m more motivated by a new pair of pink Nike booty shorts, the kinds that don’t ride up when I deadlift. I put these on and all of a sudden I get it in my head that I’m a flyer for the Dallas Cowboys cheer squad. Oh, wait, they just dance… in booty shorts. Still more motivating than those don’t-tell-ME-what-to-do Pinterest posters.

Other things I find motivating on this fine Tuesday morning: Burgers, Akinwale’s outlook on women and muscles, and Indie tunes to lift to. So for Tunes Tuesday, here’s what I’m warming up and lifting to:

The Warmup:

Conditioning:

Lifting:

And the COOL DOWN. Yes.

What’s on YOUR iPod? Sharing is caring.

Filed Under: Cardio, Psychobabble, WOD

How Mobility and Gymnastics WODs Saved My Road Trip

August 31, 2011 1 Comment

Bridge Ups saved my back.

Please don’t misconstrue the following as me being an ungrateful human. I truly AM thankful for the opportunity to spend 3 months traveling all across the United States doing cool things like hiking Mailbox Peak and camping the California coastline. BUT (!) do you know what sitting in a car for hours of driving does to the body??! My illiopsoas was screaming and at one point I’m pretty sure I was unable to sit up straight in the seat without complaining, “UGH. My back!”

And this is the part where Mobility WOD and Gymnastics WOD save my day. Before taking off on this road trip, we had the foresight to bring gymnast rings. There is a whole slew of bodyweight workouts you can do while on vacation – throw in a set of rings and you’ve now got, like, double that. (I’m just guessing.) So, after un-tightening the hip flexors and other parts with the help of a lacrosse ball, we’d knock out a GWod on rings hung on a tree branch. One particularly helpful Gymnastics WOD was the “Skin the Cat and Bridge Ups” WOD. The skin-the-cat maneuver just really helped my upper back and shoulders while bridge ups just stretched everything out. I kid you not, I felt like I had a new bod.

On my way to the bottom of a Skin The Cat in a half tuck position.

But, of course I can’t just hang rings at my campsite and NOT have fun with it. Who DOESN’T love just hanging upside down?? My oh-so-French camp neighbors kept staring like, “Those crazy Americans thinking they’re Nadia Comaneci!” I tried NOT to stare like “Whoa! Those crazy French!” when one of the guys, wearing nothing but his underoos, proceeded to change said underoo outside of his tent. I did, however, lose my grip on those rings… for no reason in particular. So while Mobility WOD and Gymnastics WOD can save your back from the rigors of car-riding, they can’t save you from the unintentional glimpse of French nuts.

Filed Under: CrossFit, Gymnastics, WOD

On The Prowl(er)

March 4, 2011 2 Comments

I’m feeling the urge to blog today because I might die tonight. No, really. Joe just posted our scheduled workout for tonight and I have Prowler sprints at 6:00 pm. “What are you doing tonight, Jess?” Oh, you know, pushing The Prowler and trying not to puke. (Gone are the days when I looked forward to Fridays.) My lack of excitement is warranted: The last time I did Prowler sprints, I almost didn’t make it home.

The Prowler is a deceiving little torture device.
p-(roll the ‘r’)-OWW-le-(roll the ‘r’)
“PrrrrOWlerrr”

Don’t do what I did and get it mixed up with the similarly scary-looking but sometimes FUN Cougar.

Unlike a cougar, there is nothing fun about the Prowler. You’re going along, doing fine, just pushing the Prowler and BAM! It’s like hitting a brick wall. All of a sudden the leg muscles go on strike. My calves cramped up so bad, I thought I had rigor mortis. It’s like an arena death scene out of Spartacus with bodies hunched up or lying all over the place, but without the blood and boobs.

This pic is the exact opposite of how I feel after pushing the Prowler but I had to show you what my face looked like on the body of Crixus.

I survived my first Prowler experience but after struggling back to my apartment with a THROBBING headache, I had to lie with my head on the cold kitchen counter for nearly 20 minutes to fight off the nausea. I’ve never before been so glad I had an empty stomach. In fact, nausea is guaranteed. Ask my fellow CrossFit Love member Chris. So, I know it’s not just me.

If you ever have the opportunity to push a Prowler, do not do as Joe recommended and YouTube “Prowler Flu.” Actually, you should totally watch this stuff: