First Post!

I'm making this blog as my own personal workout journal to measure progress. It will be very minimal in detail compared to my food blog (not as reader friendly), but if your fitness goals are similar to my own (see below) it may help you in some way.

Background: I started lifting weights during my freshman year of college after 2-3 years of hardcore browsing through forums.bodybuilding.com in high school. After the first nine months, my weight increased from 125 lbs to 165 lbs (hurray for newbie gains!) while my bodyfat stayed between 12-14%. My workouts consisted only of lifting weights and no cardio, where I focused mainly on heavy compound movements (deadlifts, backsquats, bench press, etc.). On average, my daily calorie intake was anywhere from 3000-5000 calories. For the next three years, I did not work out consistently or eat as much and thus did not see any gains.

Since starting grad school, I've been following the workout of the day (WOD) on crossfit.com. Although CF suggests a 3-day-on 1-day-off routine, I workout every other day so that my muscles have time to recover. After about 1 year of CF, I have noticed a slight increase in strength, huge increase in muscle endurance, and feel much leaner. On any given workout day, I will choose any WOD I feel like doing and not necessarily the one prescribed on the website.

Goals: Increase strength to weight ratio, qualify for Crossfit games someday

Yesterday's workout:

"Elizabeth"

21-15-9 reps of:
Clean 135 pounds
Ring dips

Comments: I was still feeling a little feverish and congested, so I didn't pay attention to the time it took to finish the workout. I scaled the weight down to 105 lbs and did power squat cleans instead of cleans.