Yesterday, we did the CrossFit Total workout at Arbor. That workout is all weight lifting, with the goal of setting 1 rep maxes for 3 different lifts: Back Squat, Shoulder Press and Deadlift. You only get 3 attempts at each lift, and you need to hit each of the lifts one at a time within a 30 minute window.
Since the class wasn’t crowded, we all went in order. But before the clock got started, we warmed up our back squats to where we wanted to start – a good thing, because while 30 minutes to do 9 single reps seems like a lot of time, it really isn’t. It goes a lot faster than you’d think.
In early 2020, I was starting to really get stronger, but the pandemic interrupted my gains and I’m now struggling to get back to those heavier (for me) lifts. So I wasn’t expecting to lift very much on this day, but just see how I felt.
For the Back Squat, I did my first 1 rep at 135 pounds, then went to 145 pounds, and finally 150 pounds. I probably could have hit 155 pounds, but I decided to play it safe. Turns out, I did the same thing last time we did this workout on 12/7/2021. Looking at just the weights, I’ve not made any progress in those 4 months.
But I also need to look at my weight, because I started calorie counting for weight loss in December. When I hit 150 pounds for my Back Squat on 12/7, I weighed 151.4 pounds. When I hit it yesterday, I weighed 142.4 pounds. So my lift stayed the same, but my body weight was down 9 pounds. That’s a total win!
Which also puts my Shoulder Press and Deadlifts in the win column; I basically did the exact same weights on 12/7 as I did yesterday for both of those as well. Okay, technically, I lifted more on my Shoulder Press – in December I only did 70 pounds and yesterday I hit 75. But both deadlifts were 175.
I’ve also been working on my pull ups since I started my calorie counting for weight loss. Back in December and January, it was one pull up attempt at the end of class; sometimes I got it, sometimes not. February and March, I got better at getting one consistently. April, I started to break out sets of 2. And this week I have started to get sets of 3. In fact, I’ve been doing 2 sets of 3.
I’m excited about retaining my pulling strength as I lose weight, because that will absolutely make my pull ups easier. I had a dream the other night that I was doing strict bar muscle ups. Just doing them, like they were nothing. It’s not the first time I’ve had a CrossFit dream, but this one felt a little different. Like, this time, the possibility is within my grasp if I just keep focusing on my goals.