Crossfit Central aka PR Central!

After many, many false alarms and cancelled trips, I finally made my way back to Austin, TX on a work assignment. The last time I was out there was in August 2010 and I had the pleasure of dropping into Crossfit Central. Since that trip 10 months ago, I've met a dozen people on twitter who either are affiliated with Crossfit Central or work out in boxes around the Austin area. So needless to say, I was pretty stoked for this trip!

Last week was Crossfit Total at Central, and due to the class size and limited 45 minute duration, we ended up breaking up the movements per day. It had been roughly 6 months since I had done my last Crossfit Total back in December 2010, so I was ready and excited to max out.

On Wednesday 6/1, we started with back squats. Previous 1 RM in December was 185lb and in February, 189lb. With much joy, I was able to bust out a 200lb back squat for my 1 RM! It felt pretty good too and I am pretty sure if I had time for one more rep, I could have tried for 205-210. Nevertheless, I was ecstatic to finally be part of the 200lb back squat club!

Side of humor: During warm ups, Coach Big Mike introduced me to the class by saying, "Everyone say hi to Jaimie, she is visiting us from Crossfit Invictus; they are kind of a big deal...." Funny, as that is what CJ and I said about Crossfit Central as well.

Me & Holly before our back squat attempts:



With such great results on Wednesday, I decided to drop in the next day so that I could test out my Deadlift. Previous Deadlift 1RM back in December was a disappointing 215lbs, so this time around I was only expecting to maybe get to 225-230lb, if I was lucky.

Coach Jefe was also my coach the day before, so when he saw me warming up my deadlifts, he pulled me aside and asked me what the previous 1RM was. I told him it was 6 months ago at 215lbs and since he saw my back squat the day before, he instantly made me throw alot of weight on the bar and start my first of the 1-1-1 reps at my previous max. The 215lb was easy peesey and I started getting that mixed feeling of excitement but nervousness of the unknown, like I knew something great was about to happen.

With the amazing motivation and instruction from both Coach Jefe and Coach Zach, my rep/weight set ended up being 1-1-1-1, 215-235-245-255. Yep, that's right - I ended with a 255lb deadlift. It was one of the most amazing feelings of accomplishment I've had during Crossfit, ever.

I didn't get a chance to test out my shoulder press (previous in Dec 10 was 95lbs) but my two new PRs were satisifying enough. My next goals, of course, would be a 225lb back squat and a 300lb deadlift. I know that if I work hard and keep at it, I'll see those goals met before I know it.

And, of course, to top off a fantastic week, I finally got to meet Diego! I usually shoot the shit with Diego on twitter on an almost daily basis, he's an awesome member of the SICFit crew and a fellow Progenex rep. I can't wait to party with his crew at the Games in July.

Finding new motivation.....part 1.

It has been a week since my last blog post and I feel like so many positive things have happened! So here is a quick recap.

A few Saturdays ago, Sage Burgener (who is an OLY coach at Crossfit Invictus) put on an OLY Meet at our box; it was open to all athletes who wanted to sign up. I really haven't done any snatch technique practice since the Windy City OLY Meet over 6 months ago, so I decided instead to just volunteer to help out Sage and Jen. I know, such a cop out. It was a relatively small meet but it packed a big punch with some amazing females lifting some amazing weight. You want some motivation? Watch a 19 year old who weights 116lb cleaning and jerking 150% her body weight. It was amazing.

Although being surrounded by awesome guys and gals pick up heavy weight all day was a cherry all in it's own, I will say that the highlight of my day was meeting Kris Clever. I was pleasantly surprised when she walked in the door before the meet; I didn't realize how close Valley Crossfit was to San Diego plus I figured she would be resting before any Games competition. Not only did I get to watch her lift, I also got to shoot the shit with her afterwards as we discussed the aforementioned amazing 19 year old who's name I can't remember to save my life. Even Kris found her motivating.

This past weekend also marked 2 weeks since I started my meal planning and nutritonal discussions with Coach George, and it was time to take some new measurements and pinching. Pinching hurts, by the way. I didn't think my jeans felt any looser but atleast they weren't feeling any tighter, so I wasn't all that optimistic going into the measuring session. He took some quick measurements and then, as if he was a doctor running tests, he told he would let me know how it went.

Later that night, I got this email from him:

"So you're weight didn't change, but your measurements did...4 out of 8 sites were significantly lower, to include the umbilical and supra-illiac (right about your hip). Your umbilical site went from 34.4 to 28.2!"

I don't know exactly what he was measuring as I know he didn't mean my waist is now at 28 inches but either way, it was motivating to see that my work is paying off.