GERMANY is WELTMEISTER

Wir sind Weltmeister. After years of hard work, smart coaching, physical and mental training, Germany has finally made it: Winning the FIFA World Cup. Athletes and fans alike know how good winning can feel. Endorphines basically replace adrenaline or couple up, I guess. I am not an expert on hormones, but the emotions I felt when Götze shot that one and only goal during the second half of overtime, were intense. I made my dogs go crazy as I screamed "Jaaaaaa!" and jumped off of my chair. Unbelievable. Simply wunderbar.
My posture will be fixed for at least the next couple of days, as I carry myself with an extra touch of pride...

But, at the other end, we all were shocked to see Kramer go down, keep playing, but then a bit later - surprisingly still walking - going off the field. Head injuries are not uncommon in soccer or any other contact sports for that matter. I hope that 23 year old Christoph will only have suffered a concussion as the TZ reported, but I also hope they will take x-rays of his neck. Just in case. Pereira (player for Uruguay) was knocked out during their game against England. Although he was unconscious, he kept playing. According to sources such as die Zeit, FIFPro is calling for "more" head protection. That's great, but they will keep happening, so discussing the measures that should be taken during a game, seems just as important to me. I'm sure FIFPro is considering that as well, but I am just saying. 
 
It certainly reminded me of my own spinal problems, the pain, and the thoughts of recovery,and fear of being able to perform at the gym again the way one did pre-injury. I sure am no star soccer player, but it does not matter who you are and it does not matter why you got injured in the first place. It is important, however, to address the cause and to be proactive and optimistic about recovery. My body is telling me with the pain it sends down my arm, that I have to do something. Change something. And I am. Never have I been more focussed on form and core strength. Maybe this will play out in my advantage in the long run, even if it will take me longer to get back to where I was pre-injury.

Tomorrow, I will see another specialist to get a second opinion on surgery and all. 
For now, I am happy to be Weltmeister and hope the best for all head-injured players of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which has been one of the best I've seen - not only because we made it.

By the way, if you haven't read my "About me" blurb: I am German. 

Gute Nacht - tonight without narcotics! Woohoo!

Back to Blogging about Crossfit

I am back. Over a year later, I decided to really do a blog :)

Long story short, CrossFit changed my life. For the better. I am likely to write more about how and why in other posts. So here are my reasons, why I decided to blog about my experience as a female crossfitter.

First of all, I am a writer. I just finished my dissertation and should be drafting proposals for conferences and publications, however, life got in the way and the only form of typing I can do currently is using my iPhone. I guess, I could try writing proposals with my iPhone, but honestly - and despite the fact that it's pretty much impossible - I don't even have the mental space for that right now.

Brings me to the second reason. I want to share my current journey of being an injured crossfitter who was just getting stronger than ever, dreaming and working towards making it to Regionals in 2015. I'm not saying this dream is crushed, because that's not how my competitive brain works, but I have encountered obstacles that need some more care and caution than just doing some extra credit work at the gym.

I have been diagnosed with a C5/C6 disk herniation, cervical radiculopathy, and foraminal cervical stenosis and as a consequence - my muscles trying to work around this - a kyphotic deformation of my neck vertebrae (loss of cervical lordosis). To sum up

My symptoms: numbness and tingling down my left arm into my thumb, pain in my wrist, elbow, shoulder, tri and biceps, loss of range god motion, grip strength, reflexes, and motor skills. And some neck and back pain. But that's nothing compared to the pain felt in my shoulder and arm. Luckily NO headaches!

While analyzing the causes of my neck problems, I can go far back into my childhood. I was dropped and injured my neck as a toddler, then injured my neck jumping rope (yes, jumping rope) in 4th grade, and passed out one time cleaning up my room ( trying to get my head under the bed) while in high school. I also suffered several whiplash accidents (two during horseback riding, two during snowboarding and two in car accidents). Rest was the prescribed treatment for all of these incidents. I don't think ever had they taken X-rays. All this occurred while still back in Germany.

At any rate, the first time it really became an issue - besides episodes of stiff neck every now and then - was when I became more and more active at CrossFit. Note, that sitting in front of the computer with suboptimal posture for the majority of hours per day added to my already harmed neck.

So, to keep it rather short today, I will follow up soon to let you all know how it all got worse, what I have been trying to "heal" it and what will be ahead on my road to recovery, and on my path to becoming a competitive CrossFitter.

In the meantime, let's cheer for Germany to win the World Cup today!

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"People will keep saying something is impossible until someone shows them that it is possible."

Measurements and Baseline

Baseline WOD


400m Run
40 Air Squats
30 Situps
20 Push-Ups
10 Pull-Ups

Time: 4 minutes 51 seconds

May 1 before working out, I had my measurements taken.

Weight: 142Ibs / 64.5kg

Chest: 35.5in / 90cm
Waist: 28.5in / 72.5cm
Hips: 38.5in / 98cm
Thigh: 21in / 53.5cm

BodyFat%: 18.8

So, I guess I should be setting a goal.
I want to improve in one month.
If I could do the WOD in 3 minutes, that would be great. I am better on 10min+ WODs but that's ok. I am already doing RX on most WODs though. inch-wise I think I can lose around the hips, possibly thigh and waist but I think my chest is not goign to get smaller, rather bigger. Similarly, I am barely in the athletic range for body fat, but 15% would be pretty awesome. Weight-wise I have no idea. But 135 would be great, yet, I really don't care about my weight.

I have no idea if any of these are realistic but let's say these are my goals:

Performance Time: 3 minutes (1minute 50 seconds)

Chest: 35in / 90cm (0.5in)
Waist: 25.5in / 65cm (3in)
Hips: 35in / 90cm (3.5in)
Thigh: 19in / 48.5cm (2in)

BodyFat%: 15

Weight: 135Ibs / 61.5kg

The Beginning

I did my CrossFit Elements course in  May 2012 and had no idea how much I would like playing with barbells, kettlebells and all until the beginning of 2013. My husband had been telling me about CrossFit many times before but I think I never really understood what he meant, I guess. I even booked us in for a bootcamp, which he did not enjoy at all, and I just didn't experience pushing myself. Eventually I came across a living social deal for CrossFit Cedar Park which was conveniently located close by. The vouchers were bought and the first step towards a better more healthy lifestyle was set.
We didn't go regularly at first, had to put it on hold every now and then because of travel, but towards the end of 2012 I began to establish a routine. We participated in CFCP's  Holly Jolly Challenge, a 6-week team challenge that included to stick to paleo eating, recorded in daily logs with an allowance of 1 cheat meal per week and  3 team challenges and working out (of course). The eating was the hardest part for me and my husband, but we definitely learned a lot about what difference it makes to not only watch what you eat but to actually making a true effort to change habits and feeling better about your daily choices.
In January, we decided to go unlimited, and I settled for 4 times of CrossFit classes a week. I started to see results after just a month, hitting new PRs and finally being able of completing most WODs RX (as prescribed). I think I got my first real pull-up in February and was talked into participating in the CrossFit Games Opens just for fun. And it was fun: I beat my husband on all but one of the 5 WODs :)
So, here I am now, enjoying CrossFit and feeling much better about myself, even though I have gained about 15Ibs since I have started a year ago. I am still having trouble with the nutrition aspect of it but hopefully time and effort will make that better as well.