Ringing In the Year of Fitness

Remember back on my birthday, when I stated that this would be the year of fitness for me? And that I was signing up for a triathlon?

Well, I had to postpone the triathlon, though I haven't ruled one out in the beginning of November - does anyone have a bike I can borrow?

Either way, it was shaping up to not be the year of fitness for me.

And then, little things kept happening. I kept reading articles about people setting goals and reaching them. Or seeing examples of life being too short. Or watching videos of my favorite CrossFit athletes talking about pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone.

Then, one of the guys at the gym told me about a competition that he had signed up for in November. There is a scaled category. I went back and forth, and finally decided that at some point, I was going to have to push myself outside of my comfort zone. And now seemed like that time.

Well, Nov. 16. The Saturday after I come back from a week of vacation.

Clearly, I've taken leave of my senses.

In an effort to not make a total ass of myself, I have stepped it up a little at the gym. I'm going in on Wednesday evenings for extra help with rope climbs, and to work on some other weaknesses (like rowing and pull-ups). 

Traditionally, on Tuesdays, we work on gymnastics skills and then do a WOD with either rowing or running - sometimes both. This past Tuesday, we were supposed to work on muscle ups, atlas stones, and max height box jumps - rotating through the stations as we progressed.

I am HORRIBLE on the rings. Literally, the only thing I can do on them is hang. People are getting upside down and doing dips and all kinds of crazy, and I'm like, "la, la, la, I'm a monkey..."

So, the coach had me working on the short rings, and just doing static holds with a band. I do that and he says, "That's too easy. Try a dip." So I go down in a dip and as I'm pressing back up out of it, my muscles start to fail. Rather than step out of the band and onto the floor, I just start falling. Nearly face planting on the floor of the gym. 

I honestly have no idea, how I managed to land without hurting myself, but I did. And I looked up at the coach and he said, "Are you ok?" I answered that I was, in fact, fine. And he said, "Next time, when you are approaching that redline - go ahead and just step out of the band."

Advice he probably never thought he'd have to give.