WOD: 09/09/13.

I tend to do my open training before the WODs as this is how the classes are set up at the box I go to. As I mentioned in my September Goals post, this week I am 1RM testing so that I can gauge where my strength is currently. I decided that Monday was deadlift day so off I went, gradually adding the weight until I reached my limit. I got to 85.2kgs (the plates are a mix of lbs and kgs and as I'm a slight perfectionist I had to work out the precise weight!). Which means I reached my goal of 85kgs which I'm super pleased with, so now I'm going to aim for 90kgs. I think having my goal really helped, but I don't know if psychologically I switched off after 85kgs knowing that I'd met it. We shall see if I'm able to add any more weight throughout the rest of the month.

Oh yeaahhh!!

After open training it was time for the class. The focus was 2x 60% 1RM deadlifts (50kg) every 30secs for 5 minutes. Although I'd been 1RM testing, the volume was fairly low as it was obviously one 1 rep at each weight, so I didn't find this one too bad. 

Then it was WOD time:

For time:

100 double unders/300 skips

25 thrusters (15kgs)

75 double unders/225 skips

25 thrusters (15kgs)

50 double unders/150 skips

25 thrusters (20kgs)

Time: 14:28

I found this WOD pretty challenging. I chose to just do single skips as my double unders aren't there yet, I can only do about 5 and that's with single skips inbetween, they're a work in progress. So skips it was. For the thrusters 15kg was the female weight, but there was three females and only 2 bars, so we decided rather than one of us do the whole workout at 20kg, we would take one set each...I pulled the short straw for the last set! It was tough but I got there. Roll on the next one!

Photo Credit

September Goals.

I thinks goals are something that's very important if you have something you want/need to achieve. I have recently graduated as an Occupational Therapist, a profession that views goal setting as a vital part of the therapeutic process. How do we know if our treatment is benefiting clients if we haven't worked with them to set goals and monitor their progress? Goals give us something to work towards, a target to guide our journey and provide us with some motivation.

I have never set fitness goals before, but this month I have decided that if I want to continue making progress then I need something to work towards. I do have a tendency to be a bit ambitious, so I'm going to try strive towards my goals and review at the end of the month how close I am to reaching them. My issue is that I'm in uncharted territory at the moment, I've never done 1RM testing (that's this weeks plan) and I'm pushing for PBs everytime I work out because I've still not discovered where my limits are. So we will see how we get on and I will update my progress at the end of the month. Please, if you stop by feel free to share your goals and we can push each other towards them together.

So here are my goals:

1. Snatch 40kgs 

2. Clean & Jerk 55kgs 

3. Deadlift 85kgs

4. Back Squat 70kgs

5. 1x Strict Pull Up

6. 2x Kipping Pull Up

7. Front Squat 60kgs

8. Rx as much as possible!!

Photo Credit

Ready, Steady, Lift.

Hello, I'm Jordan and this here is Ready, Steady, Lift.

I've created this blog mainly to document my personal journey towards a healthier, fitter life. To provide myself with accountability if you will, in order to help myself stay on track and take responsibility for my actions. I also hope it will act as a motivator on those days when I've lost motivation.

So, about me. I wouldn't class myself a particularly 'sporty' person. I wouldn't say I overly enjoyed P.E at high school, but let's be honest, P.E in UK schools isn't much to write home about. My passion was trampolining. I did this competitively from age 11-18 and I loved it. I trained 3 times a week and competed regularly at the weekends. . I stopped trampolining when went to University, I went to a couple of the Uni club sessions but it just wasn't the same without the coach I had been used to, it had run it's course and I had lost my passion.

I halfheartedly went to the Uni gym, how could I refuse for £20 a year membership! By halfheartedly I mean once every couple of week/when I felt like it I would go and do a short stint on the X-Trainer/treadmill and call it a day. Better than nothing I know, but not good enough. All the while, my boyfriend was studying towards his degree in Strength and Conditioning. He avidly went to the gym 4/5 times a week, lifting weights each time. I occasionally would go and lift weights with him, but in all honesty I was embarrassed to be the only girl in the weights room. I got more interested going into my final year in 2012, some weeks I would go three times and work on squats, deadlifts etc. But only with my boyfriend and never on my own. The University 'meatheads' were just too much for me to handle on my own!

As part of his course, my Man had been taught how to execute the clean and jerk and the snatch and due to being tested on them he was regularly practicing in the gym. I'd watched him in the gym and thought to myself "Hey, I'm a sucker for a challenge, maybe he can teach me!" So he did, and I enjoyed learning and practicing the techniques and movements involved. I was doing well with my training, lifting weights 2/3 times a week. But then I got to the final stretch of my degree, an 11 week practice placement along with multiple assignments. Then to make it an even more stressful time, we got our lovely pup Obi. It was at this point that the excuses started rolling in, I didn't want to go to the gym on my own, I was too tired after placement, I had too much work to do, I wanted to spent time with the pup. So I stopped working out in about April 2013 and didn't start up again until the end of July.

It was at this point that I discovered Crossfit. My boyfriend had started running some Olympic Lifting sessions at the box, my curiosity got the better of me and I eventually plucked up the courage to go try it out. OH THE PAIN!! I couldn't move for about 3 days after my first WOD, I'd used muscles that had never seen the light of day and I had a tear on each hand. But something inside had clicked, despite the pain, the high I felt after completing the WOD had been brilliant. I felt like I'd accomplished something and really pushed my body to it's limits. I was hooked after that first time and have now been Crossfitting for a little over a month.

So that is my fitness journey so far. I'm still only at the beginning and have one heck of a road ahead of me, but I am determined to push myself to the limits and really discover what my body is capable of. To those of you also starting your journey, or if you're already well on your way, please feel free to share stories, tips, tricks, recipes, ideas etc. One of the things I love most about Crossfit is having a team of supportive people around you to push you to continue when you're feeling battered and bruised and to share the experience with you. It makes it so much more worthwhile and enjoyable to me and I'd like to hope that we can do that here too.

Photo Credit