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feldmanI'm training again.
I've been quiet about it because I'm trying something new, something I
found through stumptuous.com to try to replace the running I just
don't have the daylight for right now. I've been quiet about it
because the running is on indefinite hold and hence more frustrating
than illuminating. So this new thing has been on the down low.
But I'm finding that getting my ass kicked by it is becoming a kind of
bizarro fun, so I've decided to share.
I've been soaking up the info at Crossfit.com.
They offer a refreshing take on fitness and are remarkably
well-acquainted with, you know, rationality--stuff like
physiology and the scientific method. There's some Kool-aid factor,
which you'll get on any topic that grows a community and forum, but
there's very little zealotry.
The take-home message is that fitness isn't complicated, it's simply
hard work and variety and play. The training consists of functional
movements done with intensity in a very short amount of time, to
condition you so that life isn't difficult. It's something you can do
in your garage, in your basement, in your backyard, in your 5x5 cell
in solitary if you're five feet tall and have the clearance. You
scale as needed, workouts, equipment, athleticism. But dude, get
this: it's totally built on monkey-bar skills and the shit you do in
any given day.
One of the big projects on my plate is to be able to play with Cmonkey
on a jungle gym. As she's already running and figuring out how to
jump, that means this summer is Go Time. I've never done a pull-up in
my life, even as a kid I could only dead-hang and do a few swings.
But hey! Neither has Cmonkey! So we can learn together, right?
Currently two weeks in, and I'm still working on being able to
complete the warm-up. Let me tell you, a proper sit-up pwns even the
toughest crunch any day of the fucking week. I'm doing modified
versions of half the warm-up exercises and about 60% of the reps
because it kicks my ass sideways in under ten minutes. And yet my
posture has already improved and I can tote laundry up two flights of
stairs without sucking air like I'm drowning afterward*.
*Actually, I do this after the workout--can't have everything
you know? But it's ten minutes of hard suck three days out of four
that seems to greatly reduce the amount of chronic suck involved in
getting shit done per diem.
It is made of win.
These are my current specific goals:
~*~Do a pull-up.
~*~Re-gain the ability to squat with the effortless form of my
toddler: heels on the floor and knees in armpits. I've actually come
a long way with this already, but my heels still hover an inch and I'm
leaned forward. I can sense a really comfy place just backward and
down of where I can currently reach.
This weekend I'm hoping to DIY a pull-up bar.
I've been quiet about it because I'm trying something new, something I
found through stumptuous.com to try to replace the running I just
don't have the daylight for right now. I've been quiet about it
because the running is on indefinite hold and hence more frustrating
than illuminating. So this new thing has been on the down low.
But I'm finding that getting my ass kicked by it is becoming a kind of
bizarro fun, so I've decided to share.
I've been soaking up the info at Crossfit.com.
They offer a refreshing take on fitness and are remarkably
well-acquainted with, you know, rationality--stuff like
physiology and the scientific method. There's some Kool-aid factor,
which you'll get on any topic that grows a community and forum, but
there's very little zealotry.
The take-home message is that fitness isn't complicated, it's simply
hard work and variety and play. The training consists of functional
movements done with intensity in a very short amount of time, to
condition you so that life isn't difficult. It's something you can do
in your garage, in your basement, in your backyard, in your 5x5 cell
in solitary if you're five feet tall and have the clearance. You
scale as needed, workouts, equipment, athleticism. But dude, get
this: it's totally built on monkey-bar skills and the shit you do in
any given day.
One of the big projects on my plate is to be able to play with Cmonkey
on a jungle gym. As she's already running and figuring out how to
jump, that means this summer is Go Time. I've never done a pull-up in
my life, even as a kid I could only dead-hang and do a few swings.
But hey! Neither has Cmonkey! So we can learn together, right?
Currently two weeks in, and I'm still working on being able to
complete the warm-up. Let me tell you, a proper sit-up pwns even the
toughest crunch any day of the fucking week. I'm doing modified
versions of half the warm-up exercises and about 60% of the reps
because it kicks my ass sideways in under ten minutes. And yet my
posture has already improved and I can tote laundry up two flights of
stairs without sucking air like I'm drowning afterward*.
*Actually, I do this after the workout--can't have everything
you know? But it's ten minutes of hard suck three days out of four
that seems to greatly reduce the amount of chronic suck involved in
getting shit done per diem.
It is made of win.
These are my current specific goals:
~*~Do a pull-up.
~*~Re-gain the ability to squat with the effortless form of my
toddler: heels on the floor and knees in armpits. I've actually come
a long way with this already, but my heels still hover an inch and I'm
leaned forward. I can sense a really comfy place just backward and
down of where I can currently reach.
This weekend I'm hoping to DIY a pull-up bar.
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-03 12:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-03 03:14 pm (UTC)It's the variety that sparks my interest, it's the fact that once I catch my breath I feel energized. It's the fact that I wake up stronger, with a different carriage. It's that I could do maybe 5 sit-ups the first day and now I can push through 10 in a row. It's that the Cmonkey feels lighter despite her latest growth spurt.
It's that I always wanted to swing from bar to bar like stronger kids, but I'd always assumed I just wasn't able. It's a heady thing to realize that it's there for me to reach, if I put in the work.
I want a kettlebell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettlebell).
no subject
Date: 2008-01-04 08:04 am (UTC)I'm loving the treadmill workouts. I just adore them. I've tinkered with my treadmill music (anyone for Britney Spears?) so it goes from 6.2 klms to 7.2 klms per hour over the hour. And, I'm buying a treaddie now on a monthly payment plan. (I so love my new treaddie!!) It's damned cheap when you put it up against gym membership fees. Whoot! *still stupidly excited*