Burpees in the basement

I always have to alliterate in my titles, if I can. :)

I'm visiting my parents (happy birthday and retirement dad!) so I was holed up in their basement trying to work out tonight. Luckily I'm not tall, or there wouldn't have been enough ceiling clearance. As it was, I had to stand between two ceiling joists to do double-unders, and look up during my burpee jumps to make sure I wasn't going to hit my head instead of clapping my hands over my head. :)

My sweet spot in front of the washer and dryer. Took this with my webcam while the computer was sitting on the ironing board. :-D


WOD: (H/T CF Coastal)

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
situps
burpees
double-unders

Results: 16:37

Probably a little slow, but I'm happy with doing high-quality push-ups on all my burpees and also continuing to practice my double-unders.

After a few minutes of rest, I did tabata squats. I've been reviewing several of the classic CrossFit Journal articles during the last week, and Squat Clinic has some great advice on when you know for sure that you've mastered the squat:

When has the squat been mastered? This is a good question. It is fair to say that the squat is mastered when both technique and performance are superior. This suggests that none of the twenty-three points above are deficient and fast multiple reps are possible. Our favorite standard for fast multiple reps would be the Tabata Squat (20 seconds on/10 seconds off repeated 8 times) with the weakest of eight intervals being between 18-20 reps. Don’t misunderstand - we’re looking for 18-20 perfect squats in twenty seconds, rest for ten and repeat seven more times for a total of eight intervals.

Well, I didn't quite demonstrate mastery. Here's my results for the 8 work sessions:

17-15-14-12-13-13-14-13

Yes, I got a little "woe is me" on round 4. Ick.

Side note: I used this online tabata timer, and it was super convenient. You can even download the Flash (swf) file to use when you're not connected to the internet. Wish I could install a tabata timer app on my new iPod nano -- yet another reason I am coveting an iPhone.

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Best part of working out in the basement? Mom coming to the top of the stairs twice to yell down, "Are you OK....?". LOLs! It's the little moments in life that make me smile the most. :)

The first time she called down, I was in the midst of some very painful double-unders -- I gave myself a few good welts on the back of my arms and on myback, and I couldn't help but groan about it out loud. The second time I was breathing really heavy during the tabata squats, and I guess she heard my panting all the way upstairs.

CrossFit does make us look and sound "not OK" at times, doesn't it? :)

Now that I have been so successful with losing my "after the wedding" weight, and am happier and healthier overall, my mom is really enthusiastic about my CrossFitting and Paleo. She has even agreed to be my training guinea pig at some point in the future. I can't wait!

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I'll be out of the basement tomorrow, 'cause I have another field trip planned! CrossFit Pittsburgh, here I come!

It's gonna be a bit of a drive (at least 1 hour), but I think it will be worth it. I'm hoping to meet Jenn, because I think as a fellow military wife and CrossFitter, she and I would have a lot in common. :)