Happy Anniversary to Me!

I can't believe it was a year ago that I first started my juice fast after seeing "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead." Yeah sure, juice fasting was less than successful for me but I see it as a starting point. A point where I realized, "Man, I'm in really bad physical shape." I'm proud to say too that even though I failed at juice fasting I didn't throw in the towel completely. Instead, I picked up that towel, started going to boot camp classes, and used that towel to wipe my sweat away.

When I started boot camp in September I couldn't even run round the block without stopping and walking but I didn't stop trying. I dragged my butt out of bed every morning Monday through Friday at 5 AM (yes, there is a 5 AM too) and kept trying and by my birthday I was able to run a mile.

I'm not going to pretend this last year was easy and I'm certainly not going to pretend that I was perfect (I ate some ice cream yesterday at work...bad, bad, bad) but what I'm proud to say is that I am healthier. I have slightly better eating habits than I did a year ago and I definitely have better fitness habits. I weigh 55-60 pounds less and I'm not stopping there.

So what did I do to celebrate my Exercise-iversary? I started a month of Crossfit. What better way to celebrate right? I have to admit I've been planning on going for months now. I would look at the schedule and think,"I'll start tomorrow" but then I would chicken out. Once August started rolling around I decided that there was no time like the one year mark to take the plunge. I was so nervous the first day. I had seen those Reebok Crossfit commercials on TV several times and I had done some research (thank you Google) and it looked really intimidating. Sure I had been working out for a year but could I handle this?

My first night  we started out with rowing and I though "YES! I've done this before". Let's say it was the easiest part of the whole night. The next exercise was chins-ups, really playing to my strengths (sense the ever so subtle sarcasm). They gave me a band to assist me like in the picture to the left. I couldn't even pull myself all the way up one time. It was pathetic but he counted my 6 lame attempts and we moved on.

For our timed WOD we had to do 30 knees to elbows (see picture to the right, I probably looked like the second guy), 30 burpees, and 50 squats. They assigned me 20, 20, and 40 since it was my first day but I probably ended up doing about 60 -70 squats since I couldn't really get my form right so I kept having to re-do. It was really tough and while it was happening I couldn't help feeling like my last year of exercising had gotten me no where. I felt so weak. Everyone was so nice and encouraging though and I left thinking, "you have to crawl before you can walk." The last year I've been learning to crawl and I took my first step at Crossfit and it was tough but I'm going to keep trying and hopefully before long I will be walking.

Today was my second day of Crossfit and it went a little better. Not my smartest idea but I decided to walk there since it is only 1.5 miles from our house. By the time I got there I was a little sweaty from the humidity. We started out jump roping to warm up and then pull ups. They gave me two bands today and I was able to pull myself all the way up 8 time.

Then they told me we were going to do handstand push-ups. Fear swept over me. This was one of those workouts I had seen during my research and frankly dreaded. I've never once in my life done a handstand and the thought of breaking my neck or head scares me. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as I expected. As a newbie they gave me a box like in the picture but I got to kneel instead of stand. I wasn't able to get my head all the way to the ground but I got close a couple times...I think.

We then worked on clean jerk (I think). Everyone was using the bar no weight to practice, they gave me a PVC pipe...good idea. After we practiced for a while they gave me a 15 pound bar to use for the WOD. We had to do 8 reps in 12 minutes. Each rep consisted of 2 clean jerks, 8 box jumps, and 10 hand release push-ups. I was also pretty afraid to do the box jumps, I kept imagining myself not making it and falling on my face. While practicing the trainer came up to me and said, "Aim for the middle and don't fear you're not going to make it. Know you are and when you do stand tall." Damn these people are motivating. And I did do it. I wasn't able to do all 8 reps in the 12 minutes but I did finish my 7th rep right as the clock was ticking up to the 12 minute mark. Everyone else was done, of course, but came to cheer me on. It was really nice and I walked home proud...and shaking slightly from fatigue.