My last day of On Ramp

I recently completed the On Ramp course at West London CrossFit. After a half-year break from CrossFit, I needed a way to ease back into training and I’m very glad I chose this way! I really feel ready to get back to regular classes. My skills are back up to par and I even corrected some mistakes I’d been making previously without even knowing it.

Everyone graduates from On Ramp by running the same WOD (workout of the day) that they completed day one. The trainers recorded both times so we could see how much we’d improved in On Ramp. I wasn’t sure if my time would drop because I had done this workout a number of times before this round of On Ramp. I was pleasantly surprised to see a drop of a little more than a minute.

On Ramp was designed to introduce people to all the essential movements and skills of CrossFit. However, it was also a great refresher for me. If you’ve taken a break too, don’t be afraid to come back. Don’t quit just because it’s easier. Talk to your coach about refresher options if you need a little help getting back to your best habits.

Back to the Gym

My gym bag has been taken over by kitty!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve been taking it a bit easy in terms of my workout routine. My anxiety makes me more prone to injuries and my depression exhausts me. Now that I’m back in treatment and starting to heal, I need to practice healthier habits. Right now I’m mostly just going for walks with Nick, doing yoga and occasionally hitting the elliptical and bike at the gym, so I’m not totally inactive. However, when I think back to the times in my life when I’ve felt the happiest and the most stable, I’ve been working out more often and with more intensity. My workouts release positive chemicals in my body and make me feel I’ve accomplished something. So now it’s time to set some proper goals.

At my best times, I workout five to six times per week for an hour. My workouts consist of CrossFit, cardio at the gym, swimming, biking, hiking, and yoga, (it sounds like a lot, but if I don’t change it up, I get bored and stop working out.) So from now until my summer break starts, I’ve got four weeks to achieve five one hour workouts per week. I’m going to start with lower impact workouts and work my way up to a full variety of exercises.

Week one :

Monday – Yoga.

Tuesday – Cardio at the gym.

Wednesday – Yoga.

Thursday – Cardio at the gym.

Friday – Day off.

Saturday – Hike.

Sunday – Day off.

Week two:

Monday – Cardio at the gym.

Tuesday – Yoga.

Wednesday – Swim.

Thursday – Yoga.

Friday – Cardio at the gym.

Saturday – Hike.

Sunday – Day off.

Week three:

Monday – Bike ride.

Tuesday – Yoga.

Wednesday – Swim.

Thursday – Yoga.

Friday – Cardio at the gym.

Saturday – Hike.

Sunday – Day off.

Week four:

Monday – Cardio at the gym.

Tuesday – Crossfit.

Wednesday – Swim.

Thursday – Yoga.

Friday – Bike ride.

Saturday – Hike.

Sunday – Day off.

I think this is a reasonable plan and I feel confident I can accomplish it. I’ll update you as I work away at this. #dowahtworks

Am I finally turning the corner?

So I have been suffering through the process of coming off my antidepressants for almost a month. It has been much more difficult than I thought. Well actually, coming off the meds was fine. It was the two weeks after I stopped talking the pills that kicked my butt. In my last post, I mentioned a list of withdrawal symptoms I was experiencing, including brain zaps.

The good news: the brain zaps have pretty much stopped.

The bad news: my other withdrawal symptoms got really awful.

I started to have irrational anger. When it comes to anger, I may have a short fuse but it’s a quick explosion too. I get angry for may five or six minutes tops unless it’s something really serious. Lately though, everything seems to be making me mad. For example, I caught myself getting angry at one drive for running a red light, (how dare you endanger us all?) and cursing another for not running a red, (get out of my way, you slow-poke!) Poor Nick has born the brunt of my craziness with relative good humour, although when he laughs it just makes me angrier. The upside is that I generally recognize these bursts of emotion as irrational and can at least wait them out if I can’t get rid of them.

I have also been suffering horrible headaches and body aches almost every day. I get cramps in my legs and sharp pains in my back whether I sit, stand or lie down. I am still exercising but it takes all of my willpower to drag myself to the gym.

Finally, I had a few days where I’ve had some very negative thoughts I can’t seem to dismiss. Mostly, I feel sad and worthless. Again, I know these emotions and thoughts are just part of the withdrawal and not real. That doesn’t make it less exhausting to put up with.

Today was totally different. I felt almost normal. I didn’t wake up in pain or with nausea. I actually wanted to get out of bed and start the day. I was able to eat breakfast without gagging. In my Crossfit class I felt stronger than I had in days and I wasn’t totally exhausted by the end, (although I got a good sweat!)

Better than all of that, I enjoyed my day! I wasn’t just waiting for the day to end so I could crawl into bed. I hope this day wasn’t a fluke. Perhaps my withdrawal is finally winding down. I love feeling like myself again.

I hate not going to the gym.

Going to the gym is not always my favourite thing to do. However, I hate not going to the gym a lot more than I hate going. People say it takes approximately three months to form a habit. I’ve been going to CrossFit for over two years so I would say that’s a pretty set habit for me.

Recently, I’ve been having trouble with my migraines so I’ve had to take some time off CrossFit. During these rounds of cluster-style migraines my concentration has been so poor that I’d be a danger at the gym, besides the fact that the rush of Adrenalin would make my head pound even more. After several months I was able to find a treatment that did not include drugs, (those of you with migraines will know how difficult this can be.)

When I did head back to the gym, I got the usual warm reception sprinkled with questions about where I had been. I know this was because people had missed me but it got my guilty brain stirring. Everyone else had been working hard and improving their bodies while I had been going home to bed most nights after work. I felt chubby.

I also felt out of practice. I struggled a lot more than usual and had to life less weight than usual. I was slow and I made silly mistakes. At one point, a trainer had to stop me because I had 15 lbs on one end of my barbel and 10 lbs on the other. But I’m still glad I went back and am still going back. I’m increasing the number of classes I’m going to a week and I hope not to miss any more classes.

I mean, there’s only so many reasons I’ll allow myself to skip a workout. Taking care of my health is one of them. Therefore, I’m going to say goodbye to guilt and hello to sweating hard and toning up. #dowhatworks

 

 

 

Winter Classic

This Valentines Day we held the Winter Classic at West London CrossFit. It’s basically a team challenge WOD followed by a potluck. It’s family friendly and the workout can be scaled for all ability levels.

Everyone loves the Winter Classic!

It’s a great excuse to hang out with my gym family and show some love for my body at the same time.

Joel was our MC for the day.

Here was our WOD menu.

And our potluck menu.

 

Mini cupcakes!

Yum!

Have you ever wondered what your lifting face looks like? Scroll through the gallery below and you may just find out. I tried to get pictures of most people lifting. If I missed you I apologize. I was probably lifting at the same time as you.

There were prizes for all teams. I think my team came in tied for fourth or fifth. We don’t really take the results all that seriously as this event is more about a healthy activity than a perfect score. Plus we don’t want our new members to feel intimidated. This event is for everyone!

Here are our top three teams.

This was a very successful event. I hope you’ll come to our next event. Stay tuned and I’ll make sure to post when events are coming to West London CrossFit.

The Winter Classic is Coming!

Mark Sat. Feb 14th on your calendars! The date is set for our annual SC Winter Classic Team Challenge and Pot Luck. There will be fun, prizes, food and even vendors! Sign-up sheets are in the gym so sign up today. I’m on the list, are you?

Superb Socks

There’s a trend at West London Crossfit and I am a big fan. Wacky socks have become standard apparel for our members and they’ve never looked better!

 

 

I dug out my own rainbow socks so I can fit it too! Thank you to all my sexy sock models. Come on out to CrossFit and rock your wacky socks or leg warmers!

 

LFP Best of London

It’s time to vote for the Best Of London again. Head over to http://www.lfpress.com/bestoflondon

I know who’s getting my vote for best chiropractor and gym 🙂

12 Days of Christmas WOD

On December 24th West London Crossfit on held the 12 days of Christmas WOD. It’s always a favourite! Here was the day’s breakdown:
1 – Push Press 115 / 95 / 65
2 – HPC & Jerk 115 / 95 / 65
3 – Box Jump 24 / 20 / 15
4 – Push Up’s HR / regular / knees
5 – Pull up’s CTB / Regular / Ring Row’s
6 – Wall Balls 20 / 14 / 10
7 – Air Squats
8 – KBS 75 / 55 / 35
9 – DU’s
10 – DL’s 115 / 95 / 65
11 – Burpee
12 – Thrusters 115 / 95 / 65

So basically you do one, then two one, then three two one and so forth. It was challenging but fun. Plus people wore costumes and there were treats afterwards.

Merry Christmas from West London CrossFit!

 

Morning Training

I’ve got to admit; I was skeptical. Morning training? At six am? Really? But because of a scheduling change at work I now have the opportunity to go to the early CrossFit classes.

Truly, the biggest challenge is just getting my butt out of bed. To make it to West London CrossFit in time to warm up, I need to wake up at five am. Once I’m washed and dressed, I scarf a quick breakfast, (usually a hard-boiled egg and some tea,) and head out. Usually I arrive just as the gym is opening so it’s really quiet and can be quite cold. Rolling out and doing mobility doesn’t seem so appealing but I do it because if I skip it, I’ll pay for it later.

Once class begins, time moves quickly and before I know it, I’m rolling out and ready to go home. I can often watch the sunrise on my drive back. It’s peaceful.

I’ve done the morning classes a few times now and although I enter bleary-eyed, I leave energized. I feel like I’ve accomplished something first thing in the morning. I also find my energy doesn’t wane as much during the day. Dangit, I guess morning training is good for me after all. It looks like I’ll be sleeping in less often from now on.