New Coach

I have a new coach. I don’t have t time to write about it at the moment but as this year draws to a close, I wanted to note my tearful and heartbroken farwell to Coach and note my excitement starting 2015 with fresh eyes and uncomplicated relationships.

For those who have followed me from early on, I am going with THE Trainer…the strongman competitor who travels the world and wins big comps. I asked many people and all said “Go to Jason”. I have spent years avoiding him and, out of respect for Coach, I wanted someone outside of our building. But I love lifting more than anything, enough to conquer fear and heartache.

I cried as I told Coach. It’s been 4 years and I don’t want anyone else. Coach knows me. I adore him.

Today was my first session with THE Trainer and I received more positive feedback in one hour than I have in 4 years. My form and technique are crazy good. He’s way out of my price range but he said “I know how dedicated you are and I won’t charge you that much…” I can now afford him, simply because I work hard.

The next time I lament “I work my ass off and I never catch a break”, feel free to remind of this. This is the motherload.

Update & A Client PRs

I promised not to go AWOL and while I am unable to write much now the update is this. Things are on hold. No more new clients. No more competition.

In wonderful news: one of my newer girls got a PR on her deadlift today. 135#. It was a great and proud moment for me.
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My clients are always thanking me for keeping them motivated and keeping things fun. I doubt they realize how they inspire me and offer a constant source of joy.

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Shoulder Day & Baby Arrives

Monday’s are shoulder days. I love lifting shoulders (usually) but it has been brutal lately. I have a wonky shoulder, always have, and I am used to it sublexing on a regular basis. It usually takes close to a week for it to get back in place. I am used to this being in my left arm.

Back around Christmas, I had a jerk go wrong and my right shoulder popped out of place. I haven’t had a pain free shoulder day since then. Coach has been programming lifts that, if I kept perfect form, my shoulder should ache but not be painful…if I kept perfect form.

Today began phase 2 of competition prep. I have come to associate Monday with pain and when I looked at my workout I knew today would not end well for me. It began with military presses (yay!), upright rows (ugh!), shoulder presses, rear delt work, and ended with core work.

I am overjoyed to have mil presses back, upright rows were the best I have ever had, shoulder presses pinched in the joint a little and I could have had a little more ‘pop’ on the push, we made a slight adjustment to the rear delts and I loved them. And, after taking some time off of core specific work, I was pleased with how quickly my core strength came back (I credit the return of heavy lifting in general for keeping my core in tact).

I ended the day and said to Coach “my shoulder doesn’t hurt!” We were both pleased. Apparently he noticed it moving oddly when I was with a client and was concerned it would be a rough day.

But 2 hours post-lifting the pain started and then began to radiate down my arm…what the hell?!

Mom-to-Be client is now Mom to a one week old precious baby girl. Mom, dad and baby are healthy and happy. I had the great honor to meet her last week and she is, in fact, the most beautiful baby I ever saw! As I sat there holding this dear gift to the world, I couldn’t help but think how amazing it was that her parents trusted me to care for mom and baby throughout the pregnancy. I am truly blessed! And I plan to spoil The Little Lifter like crazy 🙂

A New Normal

Second to lifting with Coach, this is my favorite place to be (even when I am wordless). One can imagine then how busy I must have been in order to have missed several days. I have been sleepless for many nights, Thursday had 12 hours in-session and my own lifting to fit in. In my normal life I would have melted down but I didn’t even come close. And I realized this: when you are doing something you love, building something you believe in, and given an extra special bonus of finally believing someone has your back if the world crashes, the world doesn’t crash that often. Meltdowns aren’t so catastrophic but more like a gentle thaw.

This is the first Wendler cycle where I am beginning to feel I am doing serious work. I like it, I am a worker after all, but it is a grim reminder that I have a lot of work to do to be who I was a year ago. The positive: I am not manic. I had a lot of fails this week but they didn’t get the best of me. I reset and continued my work. This new way of being, new attitude, scares me a little. I am working hard, am more consistent than ever, but it seems to lack spark or drive – I am used to living in extremes, this normal is uncomfortable. But I am staying in this uncomfortable space because it feels pretty sane to me and it seems to be working for the team.

Thursday: Bench 3×5. My First set was great. I had no concern increasing the weight for set 2 but I failed the last rep. And then I get to decide: keep the weight there for set three and get all five reps or increase weight and see how many reps I get. I decide to increase weight, push myself. I got all 5 reps and honestly, as hard as the last one was, I thought it was a clean rep. But apparently I pushed it forward so far Coach was on his tiptoes trying to reach the bar to pull it back in line. Whoops. Accessory work included single arm rows, dips, more rows and leg lifts.

Friday: Front squat 3×5. Because I haven’t had a break from soreness and my hip was still irritated from the previous Friday, I took an extra long dynamic warm-up. I planned to take some extra warm-up sets as well but once again my math was off and the second warm-up set was my working weight. I really have to double check my equations. After the first working set with working weight, I looked at Coach and said something is catching and “popping” in my hip. He is not surprised as he observed my knee diving in and out. My second set I focused more on maintaining my knee position. I had to break after rep 3 in order to reset my head and body. Set 3 I again struggled on that third rep and as I was coming out of the squat Coach said “every week gets heavier from here on out” and I don’t know if he said the following or if it was in my head but I heard “so how badly do you really want this”. I am tempted to ask him because I see this entering a fight someday and I would like my facts straight but I don’t think it matters. The facts are: from here on out the weight gets heavier every week and I really want this.

New move added to my repertoire: Weighted glute bridge 135#. One of those awkward questions when your Coach is male and Junior is there – if it is this painful for me across my pelvis, how the hell do men do it? Message received and Coach was more careful when loading me and I was more careful to keep it in line with the iliac crest. Hamstring work included good mornings.

I love Friday training especially with Junior being a regular participant now. He doesn’t have classes on Friday which makes it easier to plan with Coach and I having sessions in the morning. Junior had back day (with a bonus shoulder lift) and Coach had deadlifts with some squatting thrown in.

My afternoon was scheduled with The Mentor. Things are going well and on schedule. My homework: keep doing what I am doing, continue to report in on my eating, continue to work on my many relationships with Coach.

Tonight I am having a bonfire, going for a midnight hike, and evaluating this new normal. Those who are religious will be giving thanks for renewed life and I…I will be giving thanks for yet another chance to get this one right. Thanks Coach.

To Lift or Not To Lift

I wasn’t going to lift today. The decision was made sometime last evening and I was still in full support of it when the sun came up. If the temperatures were where they should be (upper 40s) instead of where they shouldn’t (hovering near zero when I woke up) I would have gone running, hip be damned – I can’t take the indoors anymore.

As all my clients are mid-afternoon and late evening, I sat in my pj’s drinking copious amounts of coffee and researching things I am still capable of competing in – pretty much this means power lifting. My Girl texted with the sad news she has strep and with the happy news that her mom is taking her to regionals. Somewhere in the midst of this I decided that researching only goes so far if one doesn’t actually do the work…the work Warrior Girl reluctantly and only after a long battle with herself, she asked for Coach to give her. And I remembered that I am a role model to a young female athlete. One, who when it was proposed to her this weekend that she transition to a coach with more experience, she replied “Elizabeth is my coach. If we need another eye that is fine but you are my coach”. I have said these exact words many times about Coach, I understand the feeling and passion and loyalty that they are born from. I suddenly carry a great responsibility to be the athlete, leader and coach she is inspired by. I will do my work.

I considered going to the place where I know no one but there are actual, real-life lifters so that I could get a spot. It is bench day and the weight is set where a spotter must be present. Coach gave me a variation on my grip and told me to go lighter but if I was going to do this today, I was going to either follow the plan or go heavy DB chest presses. I went to my normal place and a girl who did power lifting in high school was there. She agreed to spot me. Where the hell do people learn how to spot? I am pretty clear on what I need – I am too short to lift off without losing my tension – just lift off and let it go. That didn’t happen.

So where do people find good training partners? I am in the market. I am going to have to suck it up and hang out more at the other gym. There are more power lifters there anyway and, knowing Coach has no love for the sport and since I know no one else doing it, it is probably good to get in there.

It was a good day. I did my bench and the rest as written. I added DB chest presses – it was a rough weekend and I still had energy to clear out. I think those were a new high for me: 60# each arm for 5 reps. If it wasn’t a new high, I have to say it wasn’t too shabby for a girl who weighed 80#s 2 years ago.

I think I am going to be ok. I think I am taking care of myself. Friday’s I get a special indulgence from Coach and it usually helps me get through the next three days until I can kill myself on the weights again. This weekend, due to life, it lasted me until Saturday. I filled in with big hopes and dreams and thoughts of attending regionals. I thought today would be survival mode but…it is half way over and I am accomplishing things and I am still ok.

I Completed A WOD!!

December 23 and 24 I attempted post-rehab WODs and had to cut them short due to the hip. What followed was weeks of just trying to get a lifting program together, strength is my priority and CrossFit would have to go. Now that I have a lifting program written by the best programmer I know – me – I began to study how to program WODs for designated lift day. Something genius was written in those pages: Program rounds and do not time yourself. Let’s face it: this girl doesn’t need a timer to kill herself and it forces me to focus on form. I did it, completed it (first time in 8 months I did a WOD!!) and NO PAIN!

I lift in the morning, condition in the afternoon. Morning work: bench 5-3-1 week 1 with sets of strict pull-ups between, bb row 3×10. Turns out that when I said I could work with the bench max hubs messed up, I was wrong. What should have been a challenge on the last set of 5 I managed to get 15 reps on. I’ll need to find someone else to spot me and get a real number.

Afternoon: 3 rounds 21-15-9 box jumps, dips, burpees, 1 minute plank holds. Box jumps and burpees together: the BEST welcome back WOD ever!

I haven’t felt this good in…8 months. As I began my last round of box jumps I got that grin I always got in the home stretch of a WOD. The grin that everyone reads as “cocky little b*&^%, thinks she’s all that”. The one that would make GTG/former coach want to put me in my place. And today I get to keep my smile, this time there is no one to knock me down and point out how far I have fallen. I just get to think of what I have overcome to reach this moment: I am awesome.

Let’s be clear: I don’t think I am all that. I am not cocky about being great (no timers but if there were I am sure it would read “long ass time”). I am cocky because I should be dead and I am not. I am cocky because I should have quit a long time ago but I have not. I am cocky because I don’t need anyone to push me, I push myself better than any coach. I am cocky because there is no one else like me, no one else with my fight, and no one can hold me back.

I am cocky because I have earned the right to be: I completed something I was told I probably would never be able to do again.

Day 8 #100happydays completing a WOD in my new favorite shirt

Good News: Post-Rehab Maxes

As The Professor is fond of saying “it’s all good”. Finished maxes today and am now doing the math for my 5-3-1 program. Who would have thought that doing 2 lifts a day for the last two days would make me so sore?

Anyway, I am glad I started with the front squat PR. I lost: 80# on bench, 50# on push jerk, and … 20# on deadlift.

Yep, I only lost 20# in my deadlift. Do you know what this means boys and girls? Besides the fact I’m awesome it means I could actually – if I stick to my resolution to rest hard and listen to my aches and pains – hit 300# by the end of the year! A year later than my pre-injury plan but sooner than my post injury hopes. I am NOT putting pressure on myself but I sure as hell am going to enjoy the next year of lifting!

As for the back squat, I have estimated a loss of 100# but I will be working them as an accessory lift and, quite honestly, I am buying into the idea that front squat is more important because of the oly lifting.

Rest day (with mobility work & a ton of foam rolling) on Sunday.

Little Brothers, New PR, & Another True Max

Happy Valentine’s Day! I spent it in my favorite place, lifting weight and coaching others, from 8AM until 7PM – It honestly was the best Valentines Day I ever had!

In case the title didn’t give it away, there’s a lot of ground to cover. First, I miss my little brother even more than I miss having a coach. I don’t trust people or believe in them but little brother held my hands, looked me straight in the eyes and said “you can trust me, you can believe me” and so I am. He promised he wouldn’t go AWOL again so I am holding onto faith, he has his reasons. And I have faith that he knows this:

(ok, I’m still learning to bite my tongue but believe me, most of the time I do and I keep getting better at it)

And when I think of him, it is with this kind of love

Replace best friend with team mate. I don’t want a best friend, I want a team

And I will always be his little, loyal Pitbull

Having endured that sappy crap (it’s my blog, I get to pick the priorities – suck it), welcome to the big news:

As of February 14, 2014, I declare myself officially injury free and I now have a better understanding of the importance of listening to my body and “resting hard”. I am writing a solid plan (with strict rules to adhere to) and the next few days are dedicated to finding my current maxes.

New PR: Front Squat…confession: we never tested it so who knows what is was in May/June but today it was 135#. Not bad for 6 months of rehab and 2 months of playing around with 5 different programs. I did a little dance, celebrated with The Professor and then had 3 evening clients. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!

The hubs came to spot bench which is laughable. He doesn’t really know his way around weights, how to spot or what to do. What’s worse is that out of respect/concern for me, he totally freaks out when I am in the middle of a set and grabs the bar even though I have it easy. Chaos, f-bombs, and fighting ensues…and so I don’t ask. But I am maxing and I need a spotter. I couldn’t care less about Valentines Day but he thinks it means something and I am spending it in the weight room (so he is here). Let’s just be clear: I do recognize that he is the nicest human being to walk the planet.

Anyway: I went to 3 reps. I think I had more in me but I saw his hands reach in as he said “oh shit” and I lost the tension. In an effort to develop that lifting attitude GTG always wanted, I decided not to kill hubs, thank him for the effort and use that set as my number. 5-3-1 programs can be a little flexible. So I took this number and calculated my max to be 80# less than pre-injury. Good, seriously good. Now I know exactly how and what to do to get it back up.

The hubs looked a little apprehensive about my reaction until I said “I can write a solid program with this” and high-fived everyone there. For two years GTG has been trying to teach me this attitude. It would have made him proud to see me actually have it.

Over the weekend I will get max numbers for my deadlift and push jerk, I will write my 5-3-1 hybrid program, and I will keep my promise to stay out of the way and just trust and believe.

Day 5 of #100happydays was blue sky and sunshine (finally!)

Never Say Die

This morning I did the math on what my lifting has been (zero) and conditioning (I row every chance I get) since last Friday. Some of the terminology is new this week and I have been spending 2 hours a day watching videos and reading about the hybrid movements, trying to understand. The programmer has written several posts on the importance of having a coach (please make me feel more alone than ever) so the athlete doesn’t create unfixable bad habits (already have plenty). My hips wake me up at night and when I nap. By last night I was in a bad mood. I won’t accept defeat!

This morning, listening to a CrossFit podcast, I received an answer.

The topic: the importance of CrossFitters returning to basics occasionally and utilizing Wendler’s 5-3-1 program (hey, even Froning does it!). I get to hit the big lifts (some that I have been missing), it’s structured around lifts I have confidence in because damn I’m good at them and I know what my weakness are, the percentages I can manage yet still gain strength, I get to pick my accessory movements and focus on my weak spots. I can include cleans and snatches, and do WODs within reason. I still do my own programming but I have clear instructions. I may just meet that deadlift goal.

I want my next coach now (NOW!) but it could take GTG a while to find someone. When it happens, whether next week or next month, I want to be strong enough that we can focus on my oly technique, I don’t want to waste time getting back up to speed. I must do all I can to stay strong so we don’t have to start with the basics. I can do the basics.

I used my Kindle to download Wendler’s book and get back to lifting the way I like to lift.

While talking to The Mentor I confessed my hip was waking me up because I haven’t done my mobility work since the last bout of inflammation. Hey, if you are going to fix a problem you have to be honest about your contribution to it. I started mob back up tonight and immediately felt the relief. She is also having me report in on all my workouts. She doesn’t know what she signed up for (soon she too will be asking the universe to reveal my next coach).

Day 4 of 100 happy days

My Kindle. I can be in my pjs, unable to sleep, and order a book in the middle if the night. A world of information at my fingertips and The Cloud, the keeper of my books, is filled with facts and dreams and classics. #100happydays 100 Happy Days

Ninjas, Jedis, Warrior Girls & Competition

The instructor of the Martial Arts class I will be taking asked a friend “what are Warrior Girls goals?” and she told him “to become a Ninja”. I may be put in the kinderkickers class.

With the exception of my one miserable day which was due to overtraining (in my posts I have left out all the fun extra-curricular activities I have been doing), my body has felt great and my hip has been the least of my troubles. I took out all those “extras” this week and my body feels reset.

It is a shocking thing (to me anyway) that I have been squatting and deadlifting every day for the last month and my hip is not bothered. Simply dropping the CrossFit portion of my workout seems to be preventing the hip inflammation. And now that my vision is no longer totally blinded by what I have lost, I can begin to see possibilities: I can still compete. There are plenty of lifting competitions that I could be a part of. It’s not regionals, they don’t have WODs, it’s not my original plan, but it’s something! I ran this by The Professor who asked me details about how my hip was feeling and then gave a little shout of excitement. And then we discussed the importance of successful people surrounding themselves with successful people. GTG always said he would pick my next Coach and I am ready to have a coach again. I will ask for that referral today.

Having had two weeks of hitting my pocket, I lost it Tuesday. Today is snatch work again and the pocket will be my #1 priority (without overthinking it…ha!). I have shown amazing patience (patience? Warrior Girl? What?) in the catch for both the snatch and clean. This is a miracle years in the making and my confidence is growing every time I succeed at waiting. My lifting today will end with two of my favorite movements: front squat and box jumps.

The program is ok – I am seeing progress in areas where I was stalled but I am losing ground in everything else. So much gets neglected and I am beyond frustrated with the lack of focus on these areas.

As for becoming a Ninja: it’s a pretty cool goal to have. If I make it to the weapons class, I could become a Jedi. Developing patience in the bottom of my squat will help with both and, most definitely, will add to my status of Ultimate Warrior Girl.