Woman’s Day‘s Karen Birkemoe has taken on a 12-week CrossFit workout challenge to shed some unwanted kilos. Here she reveals the events of her first week.
WEEK ONE
Confronting is a good word to describe my first week. I knew from looking in the mirror that things were getting out of hand with my weight. A year and a half ago I was diagnosed with insulin resistance and adrenal fatigue and the result had been an overall thickening of my body… arms, belly, thighs, face, really nothing had been spared.
When the idea of a CrossFit Challenge came up in the Woman’s Day office I jumped at the chance. I had dreamt for a long time of being “super” fit and I had seen the results CrossFit had produced for a few friends. Lean, toned body here I come.
Day one started with a return to my carb-sensitivity diet (basically, a whole lot of protein and veg, no grains, no sugar and nothing too high on the glycemic index). This shouldn’t be too difficult as this is how I’ve been eating for most of the last year or more.
THE BODY SCAN
Next step was getting my body scan. The guys at CrossFit Athletic recommended Measure-Up in the Sydney CBD, where they offer a full body composition scan called a Dexascan (www.measureup.com.au). I was a little nervous but the scan was quick and painless. I didn’t even have to take my clothes off. I just hopped on a table and lay still for a few minutes while a scanning arm glided up and down capturing the evidence of every TimTam I’ve ever consumed.
Minutes later I was seated in front of a computer screen with Luke Michael, an Accredited Exercise Physiologist. This is where the real confrontation began. Staring back at me from my rainbow coloured x-ray was my tiny skeleton with a fat suit securely fastened around it. Ouch! The Dexascan really doesn’t hide a thing. There was some good news, my bone density was normal as was my muscle mass. The scary part was that my total body fat was over 40 per cent of my weight (recommended limit is between 21 and 33 per cent!). With all of the data gathered they could calculate how many calories my body burns, how much weight I need to lose, how many calories I should consume, and exactly what my bones weigh. (Who knew my bones only made up a couple of kilos of my total weight?)
THE ASSESSMENT
Next up was my physical assessment at CrossFit Athletic. I had a sit down with Christian d’Astoli, co-owner of the CrossFit gym in Brookvale, and went through a whole mass of lifestyle questions and my goals for the next 11 weeks. After our chat we moved on to a whole slew of strength and mobility testing. The results weren’t amazing. Surprisingly while my upper body was strong enough, my hips, legs and core fatigued well before they should have…DOH!
The outcome of my assessment was that I quite simply wasn’t fit or strong enough to jump right into a CrossFit class. While bruising my ego a little this did come as a bit of a relief. While having my assessment I had seen some of the gym members going through their WOD and there was no way I could have matched their moves. Think hand-stand push-ups and jumping up on boxes higher than my knee.
So Christian’s solution would be to start me off on personal training and assess me again in a month. Three sessions a week at the gym and two walks, plus keeping a food diary. I’d put in the effort and they’d provide the expertise… sounds doable.
Let the games begin!
See www.crossfitathletic.com.au for more.
