Fitness Makeover Day 1 #chd

I've had bouts of fitness in my life: high school, in San Diego (thanks Bryan at Wired Fitness) and in my late 20s in Los Angeles (thanks Damien at RIPT Gym and those at CrossFit). In my early 30s, I tried again ( yay Stephanie at XTC kickboxing and the guys at AKFit 360). At 33, I'm trying again.

Why'd I stop? Well, at 28I had my second open heart surgery. That took awhile to recover. Then, at 31, I just felt tired. All the time. I slept through valentines day. I tried swimming at the amazing Rose Bowl Aquatics Center. It got to the point i could barely get an eighth of a lap before purple nail beds, dizziness and fatigue took over. Turned out, I needed a pacemaker. So, now at 33 and 7 months after the surgery, I'm trying again.

First, I had to decide on an exercise program. After the pacemaker surgery, I walked. And walked. But, that bored the living daylights out of me. I'm scared to swim because of last time. One day I will get my courage up. The pacemaker means no more kickboxing for now. So I had to really think. I work for a nonprofit and am still paying for my pacemaker surgery. I'm poor and don't have tons of extra cash. I needed something free. I decided to try CrossFit again. Not the way I did before though...no more 180 pound dead lifts. I have to do it my way. So, I'm taking the exercises and modifying them. I still plan to compete against myself, but in a different way. I want to do real squats again. Work up to a real push up. Maybe get to lifting 20 pounds. But for today, I did:

• 100 modified pull ups. No pull up bar. Instead unweighted overhead thrusts to get used to motion again. My arms felt like limp spaghetti.
  
• 100 modified push ups. I'm not ready for the floor yet. I had to use a high surface.
• 100 modified squats. I got down to a stool. I'm working on my form. I'd rather start at a high level with good form, than go low with bad form.
• 100 modified crunches. I can't do a sit up. I admit it. So, I'm working up to it. I remember doing standing crunches with Damien at RIPT Gym back in 2008. It started me up with getting in shape after open heart surgery. I figure it will help me get in shape now too.

My goal is to one day get to doing a real Angie, but not at 100. My goal is unmodified 25 by November. I'm not holding my breath on pull ups. But I hope to use a pull up band and do 25 by then. Wish me luck!