Hello to you all again.
What a fantastic few weeks we have had!
Firstly, I took part in my first
CrossFit competition outside of Connect on Saturday 26th April at CrossFit Kent and Sussex. Now you can ask
anyone who knows me but I am not a very outgoing or confident person. I am much
happier blending in and definitely don't like to be the centre of attention.
I know, I know. 'So why did you
enter a competition then…?'
Good question. Well, I had done a
couple of in-house comps at Connect and loved them, so when the chance came
along to enter a different one it all seemed like a good idea. That was until
it came around!
Everything I had ever done before:
half marathon, triathlon etc, nobody takes any notice of you (unless you’re
finishing last and they are waiting to pick the cones up behind you!) so you
can still blend in to the crowd. But CrossFit's different. People are watching
you, cheering you, looking at your technique and checking out your form.
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| The Farley family and a few other familiar faces from Connect watch the opening rounds of the competition. |
For me, this adds more pressure
as I am not only representing myself but Connect too.
I was scared stiff. It was one thing to
compete in front of the people I train with but the thought of competing
against people from other CrossFit boxes was truly daunting. However, the
coaches at Connect give you a greater sense of belief in your own abilities and
you feel that you want to push your own boundaries further and further, hence
why I entered.
The competition was broken down
into three WOD's (workout of the day) and you were scored on the amount of reps
you did or the weight that you lifted. There was a cut after the third WOD to
keep the top places and then a final fourth WOD. I'll give you an example of a
WOD. The first one was a seven minute AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) of 4 x
10m sprints and 5 burpees.
Once I started the adrenalin took
over and I managed to finish in second place overall in the scaled category and
I also managed a PB (Personal Best) in one of the lifts during the third WOD.
Not bad for 41yr old! It was a fantastic experience and without the backing of
the coaches at Connect I would never have done as well as I did.
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| Neil hitting a clean & jerk. |
I wasn't the only one competing
from Connect. Joey came third in the scaled division and the other competitors taking
part on the day were Sean (13th), Dean (9th), Imi, Barney, and Emma (2nd) who all
took part in the RX category and did amazingly well.
On the wider front I’m not the
only one entering things from the Farley family. Madi has signed up for the
'Teen Challenge'. This is not run by Connect but is an online challenge. Every
month I have to submit a video of Madi completing that month’s challenge. This
month it is a maximum height box jump. So from a standing start Madi ‘Zebedee’
Farley has to jump as high as she can onto a box. (Update – Madi managed to
score a 35” box jump on this!)
One of the many classes that
Connect offers is an Olympic lifting class and my wife Sarah has recently
committed to this class. It covers the two lifts lifts that you may have seen
on TV at the Olympic Games: the Snatch and the Clean & Jerk. These are run
by Connect Olympic lifting guru Holly. She is one of the owners of Connect and
also an Olympic weightlifting champion in her own right.
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| Both Joey (right) and Neil in action from Connect at the East Kent Throwdown |
Although Sarah has only been
going for a few weeks the progress she has made is amazing, getting PB after
PB. She has also now got her first strict unassisted pull-up which just shows
how much stronger she has become over the past six months. I know she sometimes doesn't feel like she is progressing but it’s milestones like this that show
she is. I’m very proud of her.
Sarah has gone from CrossFit
widow to the one who probably trains the most in a week (and is the grumpiest
when she can’t!). And I’m not even going
to mention that she now wants a pair of weightlifting shoes! Although I will
just point out that when I got mine she
said they were, and I quote, ‘A complete waste of money!’
There are a few more things I wanted to tell you all about but I'll leave those for the next installment.
