hello stranger

+ i made it through another monday. also, at my urging, donny rescued two turtles from certain death (vehicular turtleslaughter/accidental suicide) yesterday.

well, i've failed miserably so far. i could provide a list of excuses, all of which would be true and somewhat valid, but the bottom line is this thing intimidates me. i've had a million things i've wanted to blog about, but haven't. so i've now decided that this venture needs to be slightly more focused, at least for the time being. what, you may wonder, will this focus be? 

if your first guess wasn't my upcoming, quickly approaching nuptials, you probably haven't talked to me in the last, oh, 10 months or so. wedding planning and preparations have been more or less all-consuming... i prefer the terms "involved" and "detail-oriented" to "bridezilla", though ;)

the most recent development in this three-ring circus has been my pre-wedding fitness methodology, CrossFit. what IS CrossFit, some of you may be wondering?

"CrossFit is a core strength and conditioning program. We have designed our program to elicit as broad an adaptational response as possible. CrossFit is not a specialized fitness program but a deliberate attempt to optimize physical competence in each of ten recognized fitness domains. They are Cardiovascular and Respiratory endurance, Stamina, Strength, Flexibility, Power, Speed, Coordination, Agility, Balance, and Accuracy.

Our program delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. Our specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist.

The CrossFit prescription is constantly varied, high-intensity, functional movement. No aspect of functional movements is more important than their capacity to move large loads over long distances, and to do so quickly." -from the CrossFit website

in summary, CrossFit is unlike anything i've experienced before, it is kicking my ass, and i am loving it. i will be using this blog/journal to record my daily CF workouts, in addition to the previously stated purposes, primarily because it seems like an easy place to keep track of them (which is recommended), and it is indirectly wedding related. i just finished the introductory "on ramp" course last wednesday; my first two "real" workouts are detailed below...

9.11.09

5 sets of:

5 burpees (like up-downs in football, but with an added jump into the air after the up part, repeated as quickly as possible)

15 box jumps (from standing, jump onto a 20 inch box, extend knees straight, and jump off, repeat as quickly as possible)

15 wall balls (throwing a weighted medicine ball at a 10 ft high target from a squat, catch, repeat as quickly as possible)

time= 13:18

this one was really tough. without a doubt the most difficult workout i've ever done. i was sweating from places i've never sweat from before and wanting to die about halfway through.

9.14.09

max dead lift= 118 lbs (weak, but plenty of room for improvement)

bottom-to-bottom tabata squats (20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of "rest" in bottom squat position, for 4 minutes total; lowest number of reps in any work interval equals your total)

total= 10 reps

much more difficult than it sounds, but i felt pretty good while doing this one.