Weekly Workout Recap : Elements

Monday - Crossfit Element 7-8pm
Tuesday - Crossfit Elements 7-8am
Wednesday - Cyclebeat 45mins
Thursday - REST
Friday - REST (Walking)
Saturday - REST (Walking)
Sunday - REST

I didn't intend to have so many rest days this week, but after two Crossfit sessions and Cyclebeat I needed a day to recover, and then unfortunately came down with a horrible cold so spent the weekend laid up in bed.

We went out for a couple of walks to get some fresh air, which helped a bit, although I spent a lot of the time blowing my nose! I definitely thing it's important to listen to your body though, and if I need a few extra days to fight off this germ that's fine 🙂

After my Crossfit Foundations Course last week, this week saw me progressing to the Elements classes to build on what I have learnt. Exciting and scary!

The Elements classes are structured like a normal Crossfit WOD (workout-of-the-day) class, with a warm-up, technique drills, then a workout, and a finisher or cool-down. The idea is that you do the Elements classes for 8 weeks, and then if you're feeling comfortable you can move up to the WOD sessions with the big boys! 🙂

This was Monday's class:

We worked on hang power clean technique - here's a short clip:

We were using a plastic pipe, and then an empty bar to practice with.

The WOD was:
5 RFT (Rounds For Time)
10 x plate snatches (10kg)

Kettlebell snatch

5 x burpees

Burpee

It sounds easy when you write it! I finished in 5:31 which I'm pretty happy with - it's hard to know whether that's good or not when you're first starting out, but as long as I feel as if I put everything into the workout without compromising on technique, then I'm pleased 🙂

My first WOD result : 5:31mins

Tuesday morning I headed back to the box for another class - it was a little tough dragging myself out of bed so early but I really want to get into working out in the morning. It's so nice to feel like you're done for the day, and have your evenings free!

This class was a lot harder! I guess that each class can be very different in intensity depending on the workout, and this definitely left me aching for days! We also covered quite a lot more different exercises, which was fun as you were constantly moving and learning new things, but it's a lot for me to remember at the moment. This is where writing a blog is great, as I can keep track of what I've done. Plus I have my new Crossfit Training Diary now too 🙂

Warm-up
800m run
Kettlebell swings

Double-unders (skipping)

Technique
Box jumps

Broad jumps

Burpee broad jumps

Pistol (one-legged) squats

WOD - "Terrible 25s", which was indeed terrible!

This workout was really hard, mostly because it was a lot longer, and I also struggled with quite a lot of the exercises involving upper body strength. I used a green band to scale my pull-ups, but they were still tough!

Scaling pull-ups with exercise bands

I finished in 15:15, with 50 single skips, rather than 25 double-unders. But again, there are modifications to enable you to complete a workout - using lighter weights (8kg for KBS, 10kg shoulder press, 4kg wall balls), exercise bands to assist or breaking each 25 into sets of 5 or 10, with a short break in between.

I'm sure it will get easier! And no matter how long each person took, the others who had finished were really supportive and encouraging 🙂

Beki x