Thursday, January 3, 2013

Happy New Year!

"Fran-tastic" New Year WOD @ MV.

First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone!!!!  Sorry for the lack of posts during the holiday season.  I was sick for most of it and not feeling too great.  But that was last year, and now I'm back in full swing, baby.

So with a few days already into 2013, I wanted to reflect on my fitness goals from last year and make new ones for this year.  Here we go (warning this is a long self-reflecting post)...

2012 CrossFit Goals:
  • Back Squat: 210# (~2x BW)
  • Clean & Jerk: 155# (~1.5x BW) 
  • Snatch: 103lb (BW)
  • Strict Press: 103# (BW)
  • Deadlift: 255# (BW)
  • Butterfly Pull-Ups
  • 10 consecutive kipping muscle ups
  • 24 consecutive strict pull-ups (since I'll be 24)
  • 2-minute 500m row

Looking at the goals above, I must have been out of my mind, haha.  I was so focused on numbers and not enough on other things like form, skill and technique work.  Some goals were within reason but I failed to account for time, work schedule, stress, injuries, and change of interest.  After all, CrossFit is NOT my full or part time gig.  Last year, I made my first job switch, not just to a different company, but also in role.  Towards the end of the year, I battled through a series of injuries from sitting (yes, a post to come on this soon) and hence was limited in what I could do.  My interests also changed.  I became more interested in Olympic Lifting and also got more into cooking and the art and science behind that.

That being said, I did make or exceed most of them, and came slightly short from others.  I have a  current body weight snatch, a front squat that is 90% of my max back squat, large sets of proper beautiful butterfly pull-ups, BW bench press, and fucking legit strict ring dips.  Some of the lifts I haven't tested yet, but that doesn't matter to me so much.  I overcame my fear of high pull-up bars, and now I can do bar pull overs... and reliably!  Handstand walks, kipping toes-to-bar (didn't have these during the Open last year!), the glide kip, and strict & deficit HSPUs are all things I learned how to do last year, too.  I also improved on little things like keeping my elbows in on push ups, staying in my heels on KBS, and finally actually kipping my muscle ups without any wiggle... and pretty much kip in general, to some extent.  Last year turned out to be more for technique than strength for me.  But you know what, I'm happy with that and all the progress I made.

 2. Bar Pull Overs!  This seriously took me a year to learn, haha.

In addition, I also participated in my first team and individual CrossFit competition in 2012, along with a USAW meet.  Had I not binged and went on a food tour of Sonoma the day before, I would have made my intended weight class and qualify for the American Open.  I did the CrossFit Games Open for the first time.  Top 75 in the NorCal region and a top 10 finish on the muscle up workout!  And after tough competition, I made the NorCal CrossFit team for Regionals.  A huge accomplishment and memorable experience!

 3. CrossFit Games NorCal Regionals 2012.

4. Pound for Pound Award at a Occupy Strength.  Yea yea little people.


I'm sure there are a lot of things I missed, but just from the 2-minute brain dump I just had, I think I had a pretty bomb and fullfilling 2012 for CrossFit, as a side hobby.  So here are my 2013 fitness goals:

2013 Fitness Goals:
  • Solidify split jerk technique
  • Clean & Jerk: 1.5x BW (USAW standards, no press outs, see above)
  • Qualify for the American Open in the 53kg class (plus maybe gain 5lb)
  • Kipping Bar Muscle Up
  • Front Squat: 190#
  • Butterfly chest-to-bar pull-ups
  • Get my left and right splits back 
  • To be able to do Isabel in a reasonable amount of time Rx, and ideally with a few power snatches.


Those are my fitness goals for 2013!  To kick off the New Year, this year we did a variant of Fran: Fran + round 15 and 21.  Fun!  Maybe I should add an unbroken Fran to that list.  Anyway, what are your health and fitness goals for 2013?

Related Posts: Happy New Year 2014Happy New Year 2012 | Jes' CrossFit Beginnings
2012 Highlights: First Team Competition | First Individual Competition | The CrossFit Games Open | NorCal CrossFit Regional TeamFirst USAW Meet