So my running is still mediocre at best. My IT Band seems to not want to recover as quickly as the last time. I’ve incorporated all the same stretches and walking as before, but I’m not catching up on my miles. I’m getting a little antsy about whether I will be able to meet my marathon achievement for the year. Not to mention that running was my catalyst for weight loss, and my plateau hasn’t gone anywhere in the past two months.
Well, sort of.
A couple of months ago I re-joined 24 hour fitness. I actually typed a nice little post to talk about it and never posted it. All you need to know is that they gave me a massive discount to rejoin and it was at a time when I was in desperate need for some cross training.
So anywho, when I re-joined they calculated my stats, including (gulp) body fat percentage. And the result was….22%. Sigh. For those playing along, that puts me in the “acceptable” category. Gee, thanks. But now, after cross training for 2 months, my body fat percentage is…..18%!! What?! And ok, ready for this…my weight is exactly the same. Hmm…so in other words: fat off, muscle on. I’ll take it!
Now, I still have 10 lbs to go, and I still want to bring that body fat percentage down. One more percent would actually put me into the “fitness” category…then I’ll start celebrating.
So what the heck have I been doing at the gym you ask to accomplish all of this…why Crossfit of course!
I was introduced to Crossfit by my brother-in-law who started an affiliate gym that is based around this type of exercise. According to their website, CrossFit is “the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide“.
Basically, it’s working out with the purpose that you might actually need to perform those moves. After all it makes more sense to practice a move that will help you squat , lift, stand, and move than it does to just use most gym weight machines. Don’t get me wrong, leg extensions are great, but how often do you really need to kick your leg forward with 100 pounds of pressure?
I haven’t done the P90X thing, but I think it is very similar to those workouts with lots of body weight exercises and plyometrics. They don’t just follow the idea of calories in, calories out. They look at kicking your ass until your body is forced to adapt and grow.
To give you an idea of the type of workouts, here is one that I’ve done a couple of times. It’s called the Filthy Fifty where you perform 50 reps of one exercise before moving on to the next one.
50 Box jump, 24 inch box
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 Knees to elbows (hang from a bar and throw those legs up)
50 Push press, 45 pounds (similar to shoulder press, but with more umph)
50 Back extensions
50 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
50 Burpees (reminds me of squat thrusts from PE class)
50 Double unders
I’ve done this workout twice and both times it took over an hour. By the time I get to the end, I feel pretty light headed–like I’m going to pass out. In a bizarre way it feels really good. And the soreness after feels good too. Much better than the gross overfull feeling following a hearty dinner at On the Border.
As fun as all that is though, I really want to get back to running. I miss the consistency of the footsteps on the road and the solitude of being outside. I’ve all but given up on running the San Antonio half, and the White Rock Lake Marathon may not be far behind.
In other news: Congratulations to Keri and Dale for finishing their first half-marathon this past weekend! You guys are an inspiration for crossfit and for running! Keep it up!
