Lipedema Fitness WOD: 7/28 - Warm Up Gone Bad

Saturday WOD in the park. Mobilities only, because the workout should be called "Warmup Gone Bad".

(45) 1 minute rounds of pushups, situps and squats...

• Rounds 1-15: (10) push-ups every minute. You think no problem, until you get into the middle rounds.
• Rounds 16-30: (15) sit-ups every minute. I was finishing the first round of 15 just as round 2 was starting, so had to drop down to (10). I was kipping the sit-ups, and my thighs were burning in the later rounds, always good when the squat rounds are still coming up.
• Rounds 31-45: (20) squats every minute. Surprisingly my favorite rounds. Had to remind myself to keep the core tight, looking strait ahead and not at the ground kept my back in alignment. Much stretching in the down time.

An older woman (who was killing it on the racquetball court) said “you know the shade is right over there” 🤣 I loved her. Our park is awesome, lots of activities and families out enjoying the space.

MOD option for sit-ups: if doing sit-ups on the ground is not good for you, I have used playground equipment at the park to raise me up, or the incline of a small hill to give me a little lift. Look around, you might be surprised what you can find to help you.

No video, just my post WOD tomato face selfie. Hope you had a good weekend.

Lipedema Fitness WOD: 7/21 - Wall Ball Situps & Squats

Saturday WOD in the park, regular CrossFit warmup followed by descending/ascending 10lb. Wall ball sit-ups and squats (my mod for double unders).

Round 1: (50) WB situps and (10) squats
Round 2: (40) WBSitups and (20) squats
Round 3: (30) WB Situps and (30) squats
Round 4: (20) WB Situps and (40) squats
round 5: (10) WB Situps and (59) squats

My time was 23 minutes, squats went unbroken, so another mod might be needed next time. Video taken after I finished the workout, note to self maybe do before or during LOL I was spent and still needed to video.

How Lipedema plays into this workout for me: getting on the ground and back up slows me down, I need to be extra mindful of knees and ankles since they are more easily twisted. Progress since I started training, being able to get on the handball court (and back up) at the park! Woo hoo!

Lipedema Fitness WOD in the Park: 7/14 - Agilities & Box Jump MOD

Our Saturday WOD (workout of the day) started with some stretching and our CrossFit style warmup (3 rounds of 10 each: sit-ups, pushups, squats, samson stretch and good mornings, no pull-up options at the park, so I used the fence to get a good pull stretch for 10 seconds on each arm).

The warm up was followed by agilities (high knees, side step, walking lunges, light jog, Carioca, Tapioca, burst starts, rolling start sprints, sprints, long strides, lateral strides, combo strides, etc.). Coach had some small cones set about 20 yards from each other and we went up and back with each movement, sometimes the movement was doubled up and we did the movement up and back twice.

Things I have to be mindful of when exercising with Lipedema:

• Twisting a knee or ankle, and since there was wet grass (it had recently rained before we arrived at the park), it became necessary to stay very focused. Slow and good form helps to limit injuries.
• My legs are quite heavy due to Lipedema, which makes any cardio movement a pretty big hit physically. Being mindful of hydration and humidity during the workout, and understanding I might require more recovery post workout are key.
• Wearing graduated compression is also key for me, I couldn't do any of the workouts I do without compression supporting my legs (gives something for my muscles to work against) and wearing compression helps support the knees and ankles and and keep the lymph fluid from filling up in my lower legs.

After agilities we worked on box jump progressions on the park benches...

My box jump mod, is a step up. It started with a much lower step and over the past couple years I have progressed to a higher step, in this case the park bench. 

I need some work on bringing up the second leg, it is harder because my body is in a compressed position. 

Mad respect for those who can do full box jumps. Great workout!

Lipedema Fitness WOD: 7/7 - Lipedema Arms

Last Saturday's WOD (workout of the day) was what we call a private (as in private lesson). Our training mates had summer commitments that kept them from joining us in the park, so we headed to our backyard, and coach filled me in on what we would be doing. For those that do not know, coach is also my husband, Bob. Sometimes referred to as Coach/Hubby.

As coach outlined the workout it became clear that for me, it was going to be a Lipedema Arm day. 

In CrossFit there is a named workout called LINDA (or as some have nicknamed it, 3 Bars of Death). As prescribed on the CrossFit website, here are the details...

LINDA

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps for time of:

1 1/2 body-weight deadlift

Body-weight bench press

3/4 body-weight clean

Set up three bars and storm through for time.

Even our warmup was amped up today, in addition to our 3 rounds of 10 sit-ups, pushups, and Samson stretches we did 25lb. Single arm kettlebell swings (to replace my usual good mornings), 35lb. Overhead squats (to replace my usual squats), and jumping pull-ups made an appearance, because we have pull-up bars at home, something hard to find at the park these days.

Then came LINDA. I know some pretty amazing women named Linda, so I’m not sure what the namesake of this WOD did to deserve this cussing WOD, but I was sure there would be a nap in my future.

My modified LINDA...

Round 1: (10) 135lb. Deadlifts/95lb. Bench press/55lb. Cleans
Round 2: (9) 115lb DL/95lb. BP/55lb. Cleans
Round 3: (8) 115lb. DL/95lb. BP/55lb. Cleans

You get the picture, round 4 was (7) of each, round 5 was (6) of each, etc. This took about two hours, because coach and I had two bars to work with, and required different weights for each lift, so taking the weights on and off each round slowed us down quite a bit, and added extra lifting moving the weights around.

After we were done coach said he had a “treat” for me. We took the sledge hammer to an old wooden fire pit cover to break it up for use in the fire pit that night. I took some good swings and it was fun to see the movement be used to do actual work, and not just in a workout.