Show Love

I was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. I cursed the humidity and the two glasses of wine I'd had the night before.  Everyone else was done with the workout and I still had the whole last round of 10 deadlifts to go.  I got stuck after four.  My hands were ripped and stinging and I couldn't keep a grip on the bar.  Each second felt like an eternity.

Coach said to stay positive, but I was kicking myself.  I had chosen to do the perscribed weight, 135 lbs, when I probably should've know that it was too heavy for me at that volume (four rounds of 400 meter sprints followed by 10 deadlifts for time).  The two other women who chose to go r'xed can go way heavier than I can on deads.  I felt foolish.  Plus, it was the morning session.  People needed to leave to get ready for work and there I was holding everyone up while I slugged out single reps. 

I thought I heard Brian tell me to switch my reverse grip.  I tried, but it didn't work.  Someone, maybe Xan, said something about my hips.  Brooke said to drive the ground away.  As I gritted through those last six reps, I couldn't really absorb the advice I was being given.  I was a mess.  What did sink in, though, was that I was surrounded.  My boxmates were watching and cheering me on. 

That was awesome. 

Later that day, I got a text from Jimmy, who hadn't been there, saying, "So I heard that you're kind of a big deal."  I didn't know what he meant, so, naturally, I signed on to Facebook.  Jen, who hadn't been there either, had commented on my wall, "Great job this morning gymbelle!!  Everybody on the [CrossFit Metropolis blog] is talking about it!!"  Three other friends wanted to hear the story.  I migrated over to CrossFit Metropolis' blog.

Jen was right.

In the space where everyone posts their times and scores for the day's workout, I found the following:

"Big up to Lauren fighting thru that last set of DL’s. That was downright inspiring." -Xan

"Lauren that was the most inspiring thing I have seen in a long long time. Has me thinking about how many times I have picked a weight to find myself in the middle of the pack, as opposed to going that little extra and challenging myself to the edge. You rock." - Mike

"And major love to Gymbelle this morning for toughing out the whole thing as RX. Really great to see everyone cheering her on and her not giving up until the last deadlift was completed. I think it deserves a Gympressions blog post. " - Brooke

"I’ll echo everyone else’s comments, really inspiring push this morning Lauren." - Tall Brian

"Nice job Lauren!" - Dan

"Way to power through Lauren." - Mike

Inspiring.  Whoa.  I literally teared up.  That's not how I'd typically describe myself.  I mean, yesterday afternoon, I managed to dump pickle juice down the front of my shirt... and my pants... and my keyboard... and my office chair... and the floor...while hosting a conference call.*  So, to come home after a crazy long day at work and read these messages was extra super awesome.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, CrossFit Metropolis is a very special place.  Thank you to everyone who cheered me on, during and after.

And, despite the state of my hands, I still do love heavy deads.

-Gym Belle- 

*  

Before the incident. It looks like a harmless individually wrapped pickle. Don't be fooled. 

An App For That?

When I was in high school, I had a Filofax.  I loved my Filofax.  It had absolutely everything I needed to know within its worn leather and suede covers.  It contained all of my homework, appointments, contacts, everything I needed to remember and all of the notes I passed in class (many encrypted in French transcribed in Cyrillic - I was that cool). 

These days, I have two blackberries, an iPad, a Macbook, a desktop... I could go on.  (I'm still that cool.)  And I am nowhere near as organized.  As much as I try to sync, as of yet, I have found no perfect solution for my mobile life.

High school me would have kept track of her workouts in a special section of her Filofax.  Where else?  Modern me has entirely too many options: Daily Mile, my Twitter feed, Beyond the Whiteboard, my blog, CrossFit Metropolis' blog etc.  None is so amazingly perfect for me that I use it for everything, so my notes are pretty scattered.  Hence, Wednesday's dilemma.  The workout was Cindy, which is 20 minutes of as many rounds as possible of five pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 air squats.  I knew that I had done Cindy recently, but where was my score?  Eventually, I found it, but it took over 20 minutes of searching.

One of the many amazing things about CrossFit is that by scoring all of our workouts, we can objectively track our progress.  If you can't find your previous scores, that's lost.  I know some things by heart.  My one rep max deadlift is 190.  My backsquat is 110.  I can't remember everything, though.  Some people keep notebooks... it's an idea, but I no longer function linearly.  I'd prefer something searchable, and something that i had with me at all times anyway.  Perhaps I just need an iPhone...

-Gym Belle-

Mirror Image

I've got this $150 gift certificate to Equinox that I've been planning on using at the store.  It's a total jinx.  Normally, I could find $300 worth of stuff to buy there just by looking in the window.  Now that I've got the gift certificate, nothing is appealing. 

The one intriguing thing I've found are these tank tops with motivational sayings on them, like "I will persevere until I succeed" and "I am powerful" and things like that.  Only, the sayings are written backwards.  It took me minute, but, clever girl that I am, I realized that if you're working out in front of a mirror, you'll see your motivational saying the right way.  

Cute.  I think.  Unless the medium changes the message.  The sayings on their own are positive and empowering.  They celebrate strength and accomplishment.  In the context of shirts specifically designed to be worn in front of mirrors, though, aren't we really celebrating appearance?

I'm totally conflicted about mirrors at gyms.  I spend most of my time at a gym that, by design, has no mirrors.  Like a lot of yoga studios, CrossFit is decidedly anti-mirror.  We focus on the work, not what we look like doing it.  This makes sense.  A lot of the time, CrossFitters look kinda nasty.  We're sweat-dripping, heavy-breathing, shirt-shedding, grunting messes.  Also, mirrors would be dangerously distracting.  Can you imagine having half your body weight over your head and suddenly noticing that you have a new zit?  Bad idea.  It's better not to know that until the pictures surface on Facebook.  (CrossFit gyms are really into photographs.)  Also, we'd probably break the mirrors dropping weights.

One of the things that CrossFitters poke fun at other gym-goers for is admiring themselves in the mirror as they do endless numbers of biceps curls.  So, when I saw the Equinox t-shirts, my inner CrossFitter rolled her eyes and felt totally superior those Equinox narcissists.

My inner CrossFitter is a total hypocrite.  Put me in a studio with mirrors and I'll stake out a front corner spot to have an unobstructed view of both a front and a side mirror.  And, at Physique 57, I'll all but shove someone out of my way to grab a mirrored spot at the bar (and preferably one of the spots where I'm not facing a seam between mirror panels).  I learn visually, so seeing what I'm doing in a mirror is incredibly helpful in terms of form.  I also find that mirrors can be very motivational.  Just seeing my tummy in the mirror reminds me to keep my core engaged.  And, when I like what I see, I'm encouraged to continue.

For me, I think what it comes down to is that I don't have an issue with mirrors in gyms as means to an end.  I just don't want the mirror image to become the end.  There's so much more to it than that.

-Gym Belle-