Last Monday I had the worst workout result ever.

Mobility: Ankle, Hip & Shoulder

Skill: Overhead Squat

Strength: 3-3-3-3-3

WOD: Every 1 min for 10 mins do:
5 Sit-up (butterfly)
5 Deadlifts, 1x body weight
5 Burpees

Overhead squats are not my thing. I was happy about the deadlifts.

I was happy about the deadlifts until I decided to check out my weight on the scale at the Box and I was confronted with the fact that I’ve gained 5 kg., which makes my deadlift max my body weight and that wasn’t happening. I was bitterly disappointed, despite being able to fit into my teenage son’s jeans. I stomp off to prep my barbell and M. remarks that the human body works in mysterious ways. He’s the trainer, so I didn’t bite his head off. Anybody else would have been toast. I scaled it to 45 kg. The deadlifts were a piece o’ cake.

The sit-ups went surprisingly well, and I did them Rx for a change.

Let’s take a minute to consider the burpees. Everybody hates burpees, that’s a given. I can’t do them very well; my modified version of a burpee is embarrassing, to put it mildly. By the third round, I was on my face, on the floor and wanting to make a break for it and never come back to the Box again. I was so mad at myself I had to skip a round to get a grip. I no-repped myself on all attempts at the burpee and wrote

next to my name on the whiteboard. Bad, bad, bad Veronica.

Tuesday was a rest day, all my muscles hurt and boy did I rest. I didn’t even break 1000 NikeFuel but I improved my score on several computer games and watched series 3 of “The Nanny” all day.

Wednesday we attended a funeral in the morning. A funeral is a valid excuse not to train, especially if it’s your own, don’t judge.

It wasn’t my funeral, really. A friend’s father died. I’ve reached an age where I’m getting to be a familiar face at the crematorium. My parents passed away a while ago, and now it seems the turn of parents of friends to leave this mortal coil. I’ve spent more time with these parents than with my own the past 27 years, and it hits you pretty hard.

The ceremony was lovely. Laughter and tears followed by the usual coffee and sandwiches afterward in the coffee room, no booze. We had everybody back to our place after my father-in-law’s funeral and there was definitely booze on hand. What? The man enjoyed a nice single malt of an evening, it was a mark of respect in his memory.

By the time we got home, I felt like a glass of wine, just the one,mind. I wasn’t planning on training that evening, but after the glass of wine, I thought, why not?

I almost never look at the training posts, but I wanted to sign in for the workout, so I had to look. Well, it was a Tabata. I like me some Tabata.

WOD 1: “Tabata” – Pull-ups : 8 x 20 secs / 10 secs
–2 min rest–
WOD 2: “Tabata” – Air Squats : 8 x 20 secs / 10 secs
–2 min rest–
WOD 3: “Tabata” – Push-up (hand release)s : 8 x 20 secs / 10 secs
–2 min rest–
WOD 4: “Tabata” – Lunges : 8 x 20 secs / 10 secs

I like Tabata workouts generally speaking. I don’t like Pull-ups because I stink at them, but the rest was ok.

The trainer tells us, 8 rounds, your worst round is your score. I’m learning. I went for 5 Pull-ups per round, 13 Air Squats (could have done 15, but I was being conservative), and 10 Lunges (also being conservative) But what about the Push-ups?

Push-ups are something I’m pretty good at. I’ve been doing them “strict” for a few weeks. I started with a round of 10, decided that maybe 8 was probably better for me, so took it down to 8. Round 6 was a killer. I made 5. There I was, laying face down on the ground (getting to be a habit)

and I was so mad at myself for not making 8 and sad about the funeral and why the hell do I even bother to show up here, I suck so bad at everything and I hear this almighty yell. Then I realize it is coming from me. Then I hear other people yelling and I figure it’s okay to yell. I couldn’t help it, it just burst forth spontaneously. Round 7 was a 7 and round 8 I was back to 5, but it was a “gentleman’s 5” and I wrote it nice and big on the whiteboard.