Sunday, January 4, 2015

2014 recap

I can say without a shred of doubt that 2014 was by far the best year of training I have ever had. Actually, I think it was one of the best years for me in general. I improved more than I ever thought I could, hit numbers that I thought were way out of my reach, and fully dedicated myself to training. Here are some of the coolest and best parts of this year (in no particular order):

Squatting > Power
This was the year that I finally gave in and realized I enjoyed squatting much more than power movements. I started to become more consistent with my Olympic lifting, especially my snatching. During the summer, Stephen had me do a lot of snatching off the blocks which forced me to drop into a squat. I also realized I was able to move more weight if I was catching it in a squat position and not a power position (this is an obvious observation but I was basically in denial for years). This year I squat cleaned 210, hang snatched 155, snatched 160 from the blocks and snatched 165 from the ground. If you would have told me a year ago that I would be SNATCHING 165 pounds, I would have said you were crazy. In April of this year I hit a snatch PR of 145. 8 months later, I hit 165. I have become a lot more comfortable with snatching, especially catching it in the squat position. My cleans have also been way more consistent and I hit a 200 pound squat clean multiple times this year. I am really looking forward to what 2015 has in store and I'm definitely going for some big numbers. I also have to give a shout out to Chelsea Kyle from Columbus Weightlifting, thank you for your patience and all your help over the past year, you are awesome!

The Open
2014 was by far the most fun I have ever had during the open. I basically went in putting very little pressure on myself, my main goal was to go hard and have fun. That is exactly what I did. I shocked myself on 14.1, my transitions were fast and I pushed myself hard. 14.2 was definitely my worst workout of the open but it was the only workout I was disappointed with. I came back the third week looking to redeem myself and had so much fun doing 14.3, it was short and heavy which is my JAM. 14.4 was awesome and during 14.5 I laid it all out there. The thing that set this open apart from the others was the feeling of knowing I held nothing back. I went hard on every workout and gave it everything I had. I did every workout twice (with the exception of 14.3) and I was really proud of my performance this year. I contributed a few scores and ended up 180th overall in the region. I also had so much FUN this year. Every Friday night all of us would get together and hit the workout the first time, then again on Monday. The sense of camaraderie and community was infectious, I wanted to be at the gym all the time while the open was happening. I got to do the workouts with my friends and I also got to judge/cheer them on as well. Everyone was just having a good time and working hard. 

Gymnastics
This was another huge part of training this year. I improved leaps and bounds on my gymnastics movements. At the beginning of the year, I could string 2-3 muscle ups together on a good day. Now I can string together 6 with no problem. I can do muscle ups much better under fatigue as well. I also finally got the hang of bar muscle ups! My pull ups and CTB pull ups also improved, I can do them in much bigger sets and my cycle time has gotten so much faster. My handstand push ups are faster and I don't have to stress over pistols anymore. It blows my mind how easy muscle ups are now. I also saw a lot of my friends get their first muscle up this year (Dave, Heather, Leah). It's a nice feeling to be able to look at a workout that has large sets of pull ups or muscle ups and think "yep, I can do that." I am looking forward to continuing to improve these skills over the next year. 

Mental Toughness
This was huge for me this year. I used to look at long metcons and think "this is going to suck so much, I don't want to do this." Now I look at every workout as just putting in the work. I still have moments where I know I'm going to be in a lot of pain, but I have gotten a lot better about accepting the feeling of breathing hard during a workout. Two years ago during the open, Stephen said something that really stuck with me. He was judging me on the clean and jerk/toes to bar workout and during one of my sets of clean and jerks he said "you know you're not going to fail a rep Chelsea" and now I say this to myself all the time. I have gotten much better about less rest and quicker transitions because I know I won't fail a burpee or kettlebell swing. It hurts, but I know I will be able to do it every time. I used to rest at the top of a burpee or stand bent over between sets of wall balls, but I don't really do that anymore. I definitely still have moments where I'm resting too much but overall my transitions and speed has improved so much. I look at my programming and go in and do the work.  Even on the days where I'm doing things that don't necessarily excite me, I still love doing it because I know it's helping me in the bigger picture. 

Completely dedicating myself to training
My life revolves around training. One year ago, this was not the case. At the beginning of 2014 I was working a full time job and would come to the gym in the evening tired and grumpy. I wasn't eating well and while I was going to the gym every day, I wasn't really focused on actually improving. This was the year I quit my stressful job and decided to dedicate myself to training. I decided to work a few part times jobs instead of one full-time job, that way I could have more control over my schedule and work when I wasn't in the gym. Some people give me a hard time for doing so many different things and being all over the place (coaching, teaching trumpet lessons, personal training, working in a candy store, working for my dad's web design company) but honestly I have never been happier and I have never performed so well in the gym. I'm able to put training first instead of having to sludge to the gym after sitting at a desk all day. I'm eating so much cleaner and also eating at the right times during the day, and that has also been reflected in my performance, as well as the way I physically look and feel. I finally found a diet and schedule that works for me. I'm poor as hell but I'm happier than I've ever been and I put up some numbers this year that I am extremely proud of. Training is #1 in my life right now and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

2014 was an amazing year. I improved so much and for that I have to thank my coach, Stephen Flamm. His programming is detailed and he pays attention to what I need to work on. He makes sure I'm working on my weaknesses while also giving me workouts he knows I'll enjoy. His programming is big picture and he knows me better as an athlete than I know myself sometimes. He knows what to say to push me during a workout and when to say it. The guy has a plan and it works. I couldn't have made the improvements I did this year without his coaching and programming. So Stephen, if you're reading this, (which I know you are because you require me to have this blog) thank you for all you do. Thanks for pushing me when I don't want to push myself, for keeping me accountable and for taking the time to know me as an athlete. You're the coolest and you do a great chicken impression. 

I also have to thank all my CSC pals. You guys make training fun. I look forward to coming to the gym because I know I'll get to see all my friends. Thanks for letting me be weird and dance around and for making me laugh really hard every day. I push myself because I have others to push me. CSC is full of strong, goal-oriented people who are humble and work hard. My dad made it back to the CrossFit Games, Duprie took first place at a competition this summer, Jessie and Megan made it to regionals as individuals, Stephen was asked to coach teams through the Grid combines, and Megan moved out to AZ to train at OPT. That's just a few examples of how the athletes at CSC are just crushing it. It's easy to work hard when you're surrounded by people who do the same. 

The biggest thing I learned this year was to trust the process. I realized that sometimes I'm going to have a shitty lifting session, a shitty day, or even a shitty week. That's okay. It doesn't mean I'm getting worse and regressing. It just means I had a bad day. Everyone has bad days. I know if I work hard and trust the process, things will happen for me. I trust Stephen and his programming, and I also trust myself as an athlete to get the work done the way it should be done. This year is proof that if I continue to put in the work, I will continue to get better. I'm proud of all I have accomplished this year and proud of what all my friends have accomplished as well. I'm excited to see what 2015 has in store. I guess the only thing left to say is...Onward! 
























1/4/2014

3 sets @ easy pace:
:60 freestanding handstand hold attempts
:60 rest
200m jog
:60 rest
+
For reps/calories:
:60 row @80%
3:00 strict HSPU
:60 row @90%
3:00 strict pull ups
:60 row @100%
+
10 sets:
:60 airdyne @90% aerobic
:60 airdyne @50%

complete
+
15 cal
15 HSPU
18 cal
21 PU
22 cal
+
complete


Handstand holds are getting better, I practiced them against the wall today and I was able to hold one attempt for about 7 seconds. Now I just need to be able to do that in the middle of the floor instead of having to prop myself against the wall first.

The row/strict piece was tougher than I thought it would be. I was happy to get 15 strict HSPU (that's one more than last week so that's good?) but I still feel like I should be able to do more reps in that amount of time. The pull ups felt terrible, my arms were torched from all the pull ups and deadlifts I did yesterday during team practice. I was only able to do sets of 4 or less, last week I knocked out 10 right away. The last row hurt. This workout was not pleasant.

It actually felt good to get on the airdyne, it helped loosen up my legs since they were also tight from yesterday. 

Blog Archive

Followers