So, today our gym held a nice little event called Grit Summer Games. I've been talking about Grit before, Les Mills' own HIIT-series with focus on either basic strength, explosive strength or cardio. I was a little nervous beforehand, because we weren't told what exercises were awaiting us at the gym. All we knew was that there'd be 9 different exercises and we'd have 45sec per exercise during which we had to perform as many reps as possible. Then 15sec rest and on to the next exercise.
The exercises were: 1. Clean-and-press (20kg for women, 30kg for men), 2. sumo jumps from a step-board, 3. burpees (of course there were burpees...), 4. bent over rows (again 20kg women, 30kg men), 5. lateral jumps across a step board, 6. c-crunches with a plate (5kg women, 10kg men), 7. squat to overhead press with a 5kg plate, 8. push-ups and finally 9. my least favourite exercise in the history of ever: the jumping lunge. I even prefer burpees to the jumping lunges, which is mostly because my legs are about to give out 3 reps in on a good day.
Today was not a good day, I might add. Firstly, I am still sore from all the stuff I've done all week, especially grappling on Friday and Pump+Combat on Saturday (yeah, I know, I should have rested, had I taken this seriously. But this was for fun). And secondly, well, just try doing jumping lunges after already being so far beyond your lactate threshold that all you want to do is hug your toilet bowl close and your triceps' have already failed you and your quads are burning.
What I want to convey: it felt great, even more than great afterwards (as most HIITs), but during the thing, I wanted to quit, scream, puke, quit again, throw myself onto the ground and cry. I did nothing, but go on. I tried to think of nothing but the next rep. Clean-and-presses are one of my favourite exercises, and I got 17 of those, already feeling slightly winded, and there was a little burn already, because normally I half-ass them with 15kg (I never realised I half-assed them until today). The sumo jumps are usually not my kind of thing, I like them, but - as with the jump lunges - my legs don't really like 'em, meaning I start strong and after 15sec my legs are on fire. But the competitor across from me and I pushed each other through this and I got 39 of those, too. Severly winded it was burpee time. And cue the sickness. I'm quite good with exercising at a high intensity, but as soon as we take it to the ground, I get really sick and a little dizzy. Something about lactate acid, I was told. Halfway through the bent over rows, my left triceps failed, but I tried to do as much as possible with my back. Still, the last few reps where a bit lopsided. The lateral jumps were a whole other thing, because you need some kind of coordination to land on the step board and at that point, I was already so tired that this seemed a Mission Impossible. Again, my heart rate soared and it was down to the ground. Serious retching going on. But the crunches went fine. Not well, but okay. Then the squat jumps in itself were okay, but then again, almost none of us did them with the right technique or movement range in the beginning and that made them a loooot meaner. Thank goodness, my triceps recovered at least a little until it was time to do push-ups, but I still did those ten at a time, short stretch into child's pose. I actually got quite far with this technique. 39 push-ups in 45sec is not too bad. But yeah, the lunge jumps were horrific. I only did 29 of those and all the time I was afraid my legs would give out any second.
Still, this was a fun and interesting experience and I know where I have to push a little more. Next time I'm doing something like this, I will get at least 45 push-ups in those 45 seconds. And I will work on my burpees. I got to have some goal now, because moving tomorrow (effectively the day after tomorrow), I have to switch gyms and one of the reasons I never had to think about going to the gym was that I knew certain instructors' classes would be fun and missing them would be a pity. Now I need some internal motivation again, until I know the who's who of my new gym. So, yeah. (I also have to lose about 8kg before the competition season for MMA starts...but that's a whole other story)
Anyhow, I believe the Grit Summer Games have been A) an incredible success, B) fun, C) a possibility to overcome oneself and get out of this comfort zone nobody likes these days and D) a great way to wrap up summer and effectively my membership at Gogo. I'll still be pretending that it doesn't end tomorrow, as I'm going to take one last class with one of my favourite instructors. After that I got about half an hour to get to my train to the airport, so that hopefully realisation only hits when I'm sitting on this train.
