Bench Presses and My New Lady Crush

So Tuesday was bench press day at CFID and I was psyched because I know I like bench presses although I am terribly inexperienced at them. I have benched exactly four times since high school and that's including this past Tuesday (once at CrossFit T-Town, twice at CrossFit Central LI, and once at CFID.) For whatever reason, we didn't bench at CFHK.

The programming said to do 5x5 at 80% across and to warm up our deadlifts between sets. My 1RM (debatably 2RM) is 70# so my 80% is ~55#. I ended up being with a group of women who are a lot stronger than I am, we were using 65# faster than I would have liked, I got uncomfortable, I got unhappy, I decided that I was going to focus on warming up my deadlifts. Because I don't skip work, I went back after the metcon and used the empty lady bar to do my 5x5. It felt light but I knew I was performing the movements correctly. 

Overall, I considered Tuesday a failure. I didn't speak up when I felt uncomfortable and I didn't perform the way I would have liked. And because my boyfriend is a dick, he decided to rub salt in my wounds on Instagram and compare me to Ella Anne Kociuba (@ekociuba) and her bench press. 

Ella Anne Kociuba @ekociuba

My boyfriend may be a dick but he's a dick that knows me very well. I could have stayed in a mental funk about my poor bench pressing performance, especially because I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to CrossFit until Thursday evening (damn conferences), but I'm not one to sit at my own pity party when I can stalk badass chicks on social media. Ella Anne Kociuba is an effing unicorn cheetah hybrid and her hair is even cooler than mine. And she even offered to spot me after I chastised the boyfriend for bringing up my failed bench press while the wounds were still fresh. Thank you boyfriend for finding her.

I. CAN'T. EVEN. I NEED THAT HAIRSTYLE. @ekociuba

Ella Anne Kociuba is a sponsored endurance and obstacle event athlete. I was reading her website this morning and she is seriously impressive. I'd also like her to be my new best friend.