Jordyn's Lifting Adventure

Okay so I recently discovered T-Nation because there aren’t very many teen powerlifters where I live, and I needed to compare my stats to people my age. Unfortunately there are not very many girls especially at my age of 14, so I’m starting this log to mainly keep myself accountable and to get advice from people all over the world. So today, I’m going to explain my history, where I stand, and what my goals are.

So up until a couple years ago, I was crazy unathletic. Like working out, was not something that anyone would ever associate me with. But then my dad made me go to the gm with him, and I was like “whatever, can’t hurt me”. So I spent about two years doing a couple leg presses, squatting on a smith machine, and watching videos on my phone in the locker room of an LA fitness. I made about zero progress from my squat 1 rep max of about 120lbs (also I was obsessed with one rep max’/ until my former coach informed me that I should stop training with them).

Then, in August of last year, my dad convinced me to join his Crossfit gym because I needed somewhere to go after school. And it was a little life changing. Lifting became part of my identity and I felt like a had an authority to talk about it which made me feel important. I’ve also taken an interest in the fact that the human body can be pushed to lengths exponentially higher than that of its ordinary state. I one rep maxed my squat for the first time since I started, and I pulled 175 lbs last week. I haven’t maxed out my deadlift in a while, but the last time I checked it was 205 lbs, and my arms have gained some solid definition compared to before. But other than lifting I’m focusing on felixibility and technique.

My gym works on a lot of exercises that I simply can’t do. I recently got my toes to bar, and I’m super close on double unders (I can get them individually but not consecutively). About a month ago, I achieved my center splits, but I lost them after pulling a hamstring (I’m working on them again). I want to get my pull-ups and ring dips and hand stand push-ups, and all that stuff, but my upper body strength is disproportionately small to that of my lower. I’m working on it. I also only train Monday through Friday. Weekends I usually jog or hike.

So for my future goals:
-I want to compete in a competition this year
-I want to achieve those small technical tricks that I mentioned
-I want to get stronger
-I want to post a 2-3 times per week depending on my work load at school

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Today was an a-okay day. For breakfast I had oatmeal and toast. Lunch consisted of protein powder, part of a vegetable wrap, and an orange. Dinner was a spinach and soy cheese quesadilla, plus this small bean and corn enchilada thing. I also had protein powder between training and dinner.
Training: my day is split into two sessions. From 4-5 I do a basic lift+stretching. And 5-6 I do a cf class.
-Warm Up: 500m row + 400m run
-Basic Lift: 5x5 75% of 1rm Back Squat
-Stretching: Working towards center splits. I got pretty close today.
-Accessory Training (group class): 2rm Squat Clean + 15-12-9 of Thrusters and Toes to Bar
The workout wasn’t too hard today but I definitely felt it.

Today was not very special. I stayed home from school for the first half of the day and made this really healthy smoothy with like flax seeds and bananas. Later, at the gym, it wasn’t a lifting day so I just did the regular workout. It was a 30 min eomom: odds were calorie rows and evens were ten pushpresses and then the buyout was 50 ring rows. I came home and had some protein powder and a grilled cheese sandwhich with spinach, and I made an avocado sushi roll for tomorrow’s lunch. Also, for further notice, I have been eating a vegan diet since September which has actually helped with my lifting/energy a lot, so whenever I say cheese or like turkey, just know that it’s not the real deal.

I’ve never been to a Crossfit gym, so I don’t know anything about Crossfit except for the WOD and such.

Do people actually manage to achieve handstand push-ups and strict pull-ups by just doing the typical training you’d do at a Crossfit gym?

What I find strange is that you’d have people post their WOD Cindy time online and all you’d see is kipping pull-ups. That’s all fine and good if your goal is to do kipping pull-ups, but I’m curious if people are taught to devote the time and kind of training necessary to do strict pull-ups and the like, or are they taught that doing kipping pull-ups will eventually let them do strict pull-ups?

So it really depends on the gym and what they decide to focus on. So at my gym, we focus on double unders and toes to bar in wods so it’s totally conceivable to get them just by doing the workouts in a short period of time. Most coaches will have you scale the workout, so if you can’t do hand stand push-ups (which take a long time to get), you’ll usually do push presses or just kick up on the wall and hold it for a certain period of time. If you’re actively putting effort into the scales and programs, it’s pretty typical to have most of the technical movements within a couple of years, but obviously practicing outside of crossfit would speed up the process. As for the kipping pull ups. Most gyms will have you learn strict pull ups first as kipping pull ups require more strength. The majority of people who can do a kipping pull up, probably knew how to do a strict one first. Crossfitters tend to do kipping pull ups because they’re just faster in the wods.

Another 14 year old :slight_smile:
In

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Today was interesting. My dieting was kind of screwed up because of all of the sugar from Valentine’s Day so dinner will probably just be a protein smoothie. The workout today was not fun. It was a very excruciating WOD. It was 3 rounds for time: 400m run, 21 power snatches, 15 OHS, and 9 chest to bar pull-ups (which I scaled to jumping). My total time was 19:43 which wasn’t bad but I didn’t RX the weight, but I was very proud of myself because I did the overhead squats unbroken for all three rounds and I have really horrible balance so it was definitely an accomplishment. Tomorrow is a lifting day at my gym, but I might just train before the class and sacrifice my numbers on the Olympic lifts since those aren’t done during meets.

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So today I am taking a rest day because I’m hella sick but yesterday was purely a lifting day. I did three rep max for floor press and 10 rep max for reverse lunges on each leg. After that, I stayed late at my gym and did 5x5 deadlifts at 75% one rep max. And I was sick yesterday aswell. Also I ate this really weird crepe today but that’s pretty much the extent of my fitness. Maybe I’ll stretch or do some crunches. I have a little fitness room in my new house so I may do bicep curls and set up the treadmill.

Thank you for the explanation.

How does your gym break down training? Do you spend most of your time doing WOD or more time doing basic strength/skill work?

WOD:Monday, Tues, Wed, Fri
Strength/lifting: Thurs
Most skill and technical movements are just incorporated into the wod and if you can’t do them, you scale them with a different workout

Sorry I haven’t been logging for a few days. I’ve been crazy busy lately. Last night I arrived home at 10 pm, took a shower, and went to sleep just to give you an idea. Anyways, I’ll log about yesterday and today’s workout. Yesterday was a 15 minute AMRAP:
60 cal row
50 wall balls
40 toes to bar
30 power cleans
20 s2o
10 muscle ups
I got through 25 power cleans and I had to scale the second half of my toes to bar because although I can do them, once I start to tire out they become nearly impossible
Today’s workout wasn’t horrible on paper but because of timing and lack of rest and overall discomfort, it was one of the most tiring and exhausting workouts I’ve done at crossfit:
EOMOM-20 minutes:
10 power snatches
10 burpees (and no step downs, it’s a new rule for the open)
I don’t know why it was so exhausting,but I was never caught by the minute, so I RXd it. I believe the problem to be a serious lack of rest. Then I had a debate with my coach about the merits of the taste of vegan protein powder, but you can’t really change someone’s personal opinion of flavor so I was unsuccessful in convincing him. I’m hoping to finally do my homework at home instead of in class right before it’s due.

While I have mixed feelings about CrossFit as a whole, at your age it’s fantastic to get involved in something that will push you physically and mentally.

Kudos to you, keep up the good work, and log away. I’ll be following and checking in!

Still lifting?

Yeah, I’m still lifting. I’ve kind of fallen off of the lagging due to the CrossFit Open because I was going super light during the week, and I’ve had to focus on school since AP tests are coming up. I’m definitely getting back into it at the end of this month when I have more time, and I will be traveling to Europe for almost a month, so I will log about lifting while traveling.

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