Ya Don’t Say

Two days in a row! That’s miraculous.

I almost didn’t make the 6:30 CF Boom class and that would have been sad. I’m glad I made it but boy oh boy, I’m so sore today.

POST WARM-UP

Sled pushes

CONDITIONING

12:00 min AMRAP for: (ROUNDS + REPS)
1-2-3-4-5
Hang Power Clean ~75% of clean

REST 6 min

08:00 min AMRAP for: (ROUNDS + REPS)
1-2-3-4-5
HSPU

Since it’s been a couple of weeks, I went 10lbs lighter than 75% of my 1RM clean. This left me at 85lbs for the Hang Power Cleans. We were instructed to do the scheme reps as posted above but to drop the bar between reps. So I did 1 Hang Clean, drop the bar, 2 Hang Cleans, drop the bar, 3 Hang Cleans, etc. After I got to my set of 5, I start over. 1 Hang Clean, drop the bar, 2 Hang Cleans, drop the bar and so forth. Rinse and Repeat for 12 minutes.

Each set of 1-5 counted as 5. My final score was 30. That’s 90 reps in 12 minutes. Doesn’t sound like a whole lot, but it takes a toll. I feel like I could have pushed a little harder and maybe got 35, but breathing was hard and my grip was getting weak.

We rested for 6 minutes then moved on to the HSPU. Modifications were Ring Push Ups or Push Ups with our hands on dumbbells. I used the dumbbells and I only made it through 2 rounds of the the 1-5 set. I suck at Push Ups!

I COOKED!

I do cook often and regularly, I just don’t wanna. And it gets old and cooking the same quick things over and over gets tired fast. So although I complained yesterday about cooking, I still did. Nothing fancy, some baked chicken, asparagus and enough egg muffins to feed my troops for one day. It’s been a while since I made egg muffins but they were a super big hit this morning. Chorizo makes all the difference!

I can’t promise you, that I’ll post daily, but THIS TIME, FOR REALSIES, I’m trying to stick to it.

Just One Day . . .

Makes a huge difference. ONE DAY OF CLEANER EATING, it’s almost unbelievable. I wasn’t even perfect, just a whole lot better!

I can’t promise everyone will feel this way. And I’m sure in 2 or 3 days, I’ll feel like crap going through food withdrawls. But I was high energy all day. And even though I sucked at my workout, I didn’t think or feel like I might die. Annnndddd, I woke up this morning before my alarm clock, wide eyed and bushy tailed. I finally made it to a morning workout! Which is key for me and our busy, crazy schedule!

4/14/14 WOD

Midline: 50 Hollow Rocks and 50 Russian KB Swings – choose a weight and go for unbroken
Coach said we should do the Hollow Rocks Unbroken. I laugh at him. Maybe 20, then 10, then 5’s. As far as the KB swings, I didn’t go heavy cause last time I tried I didn’t go UB. So I opted for a lighter weight and barely made it. I was smoked. Can I go home now?

Strength: Front Squat 5×3 @ 75%
Finally, I can front rack the bar without any pain in my wrist. It’s so nice. But today I had my back plaguing me. I was warming up and 30lbs away from my 75% weight when my back was not feeling it. Coach had me mobilize, which helped some but when I retested the weight the pain was still on my right lower back. More mobilizing for me. Sadly I didn’t get to put in the reps.

4/14/14 WOD

MetCon: 5 rounds of 12 Cleans and 6 Presses 115/75
Warming up I felt ok, but my back was still a little off. To be safe, I went with Hang Cleans at 65lbs. This alleviated the stress on my back which is good. I don’t need an injured back. After 1 round of the Presses, my wrist decided it wasn’t happy. I did 6 Hang Cleans in round 2 but was worried I wasn’t going to be able to finish. I was just going to take a DNF. I don’t know how long it took me before I decided to ask Coach what I could do as a substitution but it was at least 3-4 minutes of me standing around. Maybe more! He had me use the AirDyne instead of Presses and go until I hit 12 calories. By then my wrist was feeling ok enough to do Hang Cleans, but I was glad to not be going overhead. Once I had it in my head that I just needed to not worry about the clock anymore and just do work, I did fine. The AirDyne though is EVIL. Very EVIL! Time: 12:07

4/15/14 WOD
Oh yaaa, I got up early and went to the 6am class as a trial. The 5 am class is a better suited time frame because I gotta get kids to school and myself to work. But Tu/Thurs that isn’t an option. If I go into hyper mode when I get home it appears I can make it on time. But there is ZERO time to stick around if the MetCon runs late.

Skill: Muscle Ups or Double Unders
We kind of worked both, but if you have or are closer to a Muscle Up then they worked more on the MUs while those of us who don’t worked on DUs.

Gymnastics WOD: EMOM 5 min – 2 MU or 5 min max DU
Ya, I think I used up all my DUs in the skill session. And I kept tripping up which then led me to stand around and not do anything. I managed 183 reps in 5 minutes. I don’t think that’s very good but it is what it is.

4/15/14 WOD

MetCon: 12 min AMRAP of 40 DU and 20 HR Push-ups
So if my DU’s were gone in the skill session, they were definitely gone after 5 minutes of doing nothing but DUs. I at least thought I could do the first round Unbroken. But I only got about 20. I don’t think I strung more than 25 together ever in the 12 minutes. My shoulders were smoked. I couldn’t relax. Then Hand Release Push Ups were of no help. Just smokin’ the shoulders more! The whole 12 minutes was a mental struggle. My shoulders are dead. And so are my calves. Final: 4 rounds + 36 DUs RX

That’s a wrap!
Yes I had a poor poor petri post yesterday, but I’ve been gone from the blogsphere and I had to recap. Ya dig? And now I’m ready for my 798797th time to get back on the proverbial horse. Better than staying at the bottom I suppose. Just hoping to find my happy place this time around. Winning the lottery and becoming a stay at home mom would really help!

And yes let me say ONE MORE TIME, that I’m barely in day 2 of just eating better, more balanced, etc and I feel AWESOME. Not PERFECT but way better than any day last week, or the week before, or the MONTH before. Seriously folks. Just slight changes. Cutting out sugar. OR lessening sugar if you must. Eliminating or lessening grains. Eliminating or lessening processed foods. Adding veggies and protein with some heatlthy fat. Drinking MORE AGUA, aka WATER! And I get it, I feel you when you think NO way, not gonna do it. I keep going back to that place too. And I feel like crap and I get headaches and I lose the will to leave the couch. And to be honest it’s dumb to feel that way everyday and be okay with it. It’s just dumb. Yes I realize I’m calling myself dumb and it’s the truth. Especially when I can feel good physically and mentally just by cutting out junk. It’s easier than you think or make it out to be, I promise. I can guarantee you, that I don’t have extra special will power. Or that I’m better than any one of you out there. You just have to decide enough is enough. Make Tuesday your day of change!

My first weekend Post Whole30

I have a little less than 2 weeks left and then baseball chaos ensues. I feel like I’m in a good place though to survive ballparks and the food that comes with them. I off-roaded in the food dept this weekend. More than 2 meals, doh. But I didn’t go overboard or eat too much. In the end it’s my neglect to portion sizes that get me. And my love of the sugars. Fortunately though I didn’t go bonkers. And I didn’t even indulge in the cake ball madness. Only to taste some new flavor combos because my taste testers were not around. I did good y’all! I typically would have overindulged till I was sick to my stomach.

My kids have been on me. They know I like to eat. And they know I like to eat all the things. But when offered burgers for dinner from a little burger joint down the road, I kindly said NO, I have food at home to eat. I do have will power, I do!

The BOOM Box
Y’all should really come check out our Community WODs. They are so much fun and we all have a good time, even if at times we aren’t sure if we’ll even complete the workout. We always do and there’s always a great support system.

2/8/14
There was a nice group that showed up on Saturday and coach spared us from running in the cold. He did not however spare us of lots of reps of stuff. Teams of 4 to complete 100 Handstand Push Ups, 100 KB Swings, 100 Wall Balls, and 100 Shoulder to Overhead. We could “spot” our teammates on the HSPUs which we did with just one person! That’s a lot of HSPU, assisted or not. Then we just busted out sets of 10’s or 20s in the other movements. I don’t recall our time exactly but it was in the 13 minute mark I believe.

But we weren’t done, Coach had us race a 500M row. Not just row 500 but unstrap and run to a wall 30ft away. We have 4 rowers and had about 4 or 5 heats. The heat I was on, was all ladies. I’m not so good on the rowing so I figured I’d turn up last. The whole time everyone was yelling how we were all neck and neck. I thought no way, I’m so short and so slow. Turns out we all did finish with in seconds or less… so it was all about who got their feet unstrapped first. And to my surprise and almost falling on my face, I made it to the wall first! My legs were dead!

I got to be the example as Brett explained Warrior and Warrior 2.

Yoga followed that and Brett, our yoga instructor took the opportunity to really teach us more as most of us are beginners. It was nice to really break down different movements and to learn and understand we will always be at different paces as well as hold movements differently. I still lack in many aspects of yoga, but I’m getting better each time I hope.

2/10/14
For some reason, whether I have good reason or not, I’m struggling getting to the 5am class on Mondays! So I managed to hit up 6pm. And it was all about the MODFICATIONS.

Midline: 30 T2B Strength
Still got these, but still not stringing them together. But today was a MONDAY and I just wasn’t feeling it!

Strength: Back Squat 8×3 @80%
I’d much rather do lots of sets of low reps than a few sets of high reps. So this was nice and my HIPS weren’t completely jacked!

2/10/14 WOD

MetCon: 8 min AMRAP of 20 Thrusters 95/65, 10 HSPU, 20 Hang cleans 95/65
And this is where the modifications came in. 20 Push Ups instead of 10 HSPU. I can only do Thrusters with the bar right now and I can clean more weight than with proper technique. I can only do the chicken wing clean. So Coach asked if I could do 55lbs and I said I’ll try. Well that was dumb. I forgot in a split second I can’t properly clean the bar. So that hurted. So he decided to have me do STOH with the weight already racked. I said sure! 3, 2, 1 GO. I went to get the bar and go overhead and I couldn’t do it. The damage had been done and my wrist was not happy. So I looked at Coach while everyone was gettin after it, like I can’t do it. So I went to Push Ups while he figured out a modification for me. I did KB Swings in lieu of Hang Cleans and I did a Thruster mod with dumbbells. Final: 3 rounds + 20 Push Ups

That’s a Wrap!
I’m looking forward to some warmer weather at the end of this week but right now I just want to hibernate! Are you staying strong to clean eating or giving in? Remember every meal is a fresh start so don’t let a slip up drag you down for the week. Don’t forget to be awesome in all you do!

Testing the Waters

I finally went out and had a post Whole30 NON-COMPLIANT dinner at a local sushi buffet restaurant. And my biggest feat was steering clear of the créme brûlée! I had fresh strawberries instead. I managed to eat rolls that seemed more plain, not too many fancy sauces. And I ate less than a cup of white rice with some hibachi style chicken and steak. My concerns were what the ramen soup broth was made of and what makes squid salad so tasty. But nothing sent me into a spiraling madness. No headaches, no stomach aches. I woke up with a more than achy wrist, so something caused inflammation but since I didn’t reintroduce just ONE non compliant thing it will be hard to pinpoint. Other than that I don’t feel like I’ve opened any doors that can’t be closed. I even managed to get a cakeball order finished without licking a spoon, spatula or even my fingers! No sample tasting for me! WILL POWER folks!

Made a bunch and didn’t even taste one!

Quick FOOD recipe – Cabbage Hashbrowns
So I was scouring the internet to find a recipe for shredded cabbage and low and behold I did find one. I don’t have the site but I just briefly skimmed it and had the gist of it. It’s like the Veggie Latkes I’ve shared in the past but so much easier.

You need ghee or coconute oil, cabbage, leeks or green onions, salt, pepper and one egg (maybe two). Depends on how much cabbage you have.

2/5/14 Lunch with Cabbage Hasbrown!

I bought shredded cabbage, but you could just cut and shred a full cabbage. Heat up skillet and 1 TBS of cooking fat. Put shredded cabbage into a large bowl. Put a hand full of leeks/green onions in with the cabbage. I had a lot of cabbage so I made two separate bowls, thus needing two eggs. Add egg. Add salt/pepper and whatever else you think you might like to spice it up. Get your hands in there and mix it all up until everything is well coated with egg. Take a handful of the cabbage mixture and lay in skillet. Press it down a bit with a spatula into a circular shape and let cook 3-4 minutes. Flip and cook another 3-4 minutes. Plate it and serve. Great with ANYTHING in my opinion. Breakfast, lunch or dinner! Servings differ on how little or big you want your “hasbrowns” to be. I used an 8″ skillet, so my hasbrowns were large. It made 4 with what I had.

2/6/14 Boom Box
I was driving into work as it started snowing. We don’t do well in cold temps as it is, then add frozen crap falling from the sky and all hell breaks loose. I wasn’t even halfway to my j.o.b. and I was still sitting on the highway. For 30 minutes, going pretty much nowhere. When I finally reached an exit, I blasted off and headed back home! Then I realized I could possibly make the 9am class and I did! Whew! Get it over with!

Strength: DL 5,5,5,5 by feel
By feel! It felt heavy! The whole time. I worked up to 205 but could only bust out 3 before I lost all my grip. I’m convinced the bar is WAY heavier when temps are below 20°!

2/6/14 WOD

MetCon: 3 rounds of 9 Burpees, 12 Box Jumps (step down), 15 Thrusters 45/35
I wasn’t dreading this workout but I didn’t move very fast my first round. I think I did better for rounds 2 and 3. But in round 2, I missed the box. That scares a person. So I took some time, too much time, just staring into nothing. But I’d rather be safe than sorry. I need to be right in the head so I don’t mess up again and potentially hurt myself. Ah well. As for Thrusters, I wasn’t sure if I could do them but when I tried one there was no pain. Granted, it’s only the bar at 35lbs but it’s better than nothing. And 35lbs was RX. So yay! (maybe that’s another reason my wrist is a little achy though) Time: 8:08 RX

2/7/14 Boom Box Test Day

Mobility: Shoulders!
This was a long overdue session. I needed this.

Skill: MU
I was the only one and MU wasn’t happening, so I got to do some more warmup and mobility. Realized I wouldn’t be able to do OHS in the MetCon as well, so that was good. I don’t need more wrist issues. I strugged with just the bar. Maybe it’s cold. Maybe it’s the Japanese food that caused too much inflammation. I don’t know. But the bar was not comfortable overhead.

2/7/14 WOD

MetCon: Open WOD 11.4
WOMEN – Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 10 minutes of:
60 Bar-facing burpees
30 Overhead squats (90lbs / 40kg)
10 Muscle-ups

I don’t think I defrosted until half way into the workout. Damn it, it’s cold. I’m pathetic. I was hoping to complete the burpees in less than 5 minutes. Had I shown up at 6pm instead of 5am, then maybe it would have been possible. I was moving so slow. I finally finished right under 6 minutes. Then instead of OHS, I did Overhead Presses with the Multi-Grip bar. I did sets of 5 because my core is toasted from all the situps on Wednesday. I didn’t think I would make it to Pull Ups (mod for MUs) but I had like 20 seconds left. So by the time it took me to get a band on the bar, time was up. Final: 60 burpees, 30 Overhead Press

That’s a Wrap!
If you live in DFW and want to check us out for FREE, we have a 9am Community WOD and a 10am Yoga class. Crossfitboom.com! Come out already. You know you want too!

Other than that, have a GREAT weekend. Do something fun! Make someone smile. Eat Clean. Train Dirty!

BOOM! Whole30 Complete!

And guess what? I’m just going to keep on keeping on. Like I’ve mentioned before, I may not be PERFECT but I’m going to try and hit 90% weekly. That allows me to have two OFF ROAD meals a week if I desire. But right now at this moment, I can’t even imagine eating junk! I was talking about it to my box mates and I was saying, I’ve only put “clean” food in my body for 30 days. My stomach is going to hate me if I stray from that. So the desire to eat out or eat junk is not there for me. At least not for the now. Heck this is only DAY ONE of post Whole30. A lot can change. Let’s just hope it doesn’t change too much!

I didn’t take measurements, which I should have! DANG IT. But I did lose 10lbs! SCORE! I still have many more pounds to shed but it’s a good start. This keeps me motivated to keep eating clean. I did take some before and after pics but I decided I will take them in 30 day intervals until I hit a weight that I know I should be around. Then I should, no promises, share my progress. One of my kiddos who helped me take pics could definitely see the difference from my pictures 30 days ago. I’m excited what another 30 days will look like.

You too can do this! So look up Whole30, download their free pdfs, scour the forums, and get to it already. Someone mentioned that it seemed like it went fast. And I’ll say at around day 12 is when it seemed like the days just ticked along at a nice pace. The first couple of days are EXCITING. Wooo! I’m doing this, but after a few days in, it’s like OH CRAP I’m doing this :/. By day 12, I was definitely more in control. The mind isn’t so stubborn. You just DO! You do what you have to in order to make this work. Before you know it, it’s Day 30!

But you have to make that commitment. You can’t let Birthday Parties, family from out of town, office functions, etc. get in your way! Your family is NOT going to fall down dead because you didn’t have birthday cake at your grandpa’s 99th birthday. Your boss shouldn’t fire you for not having happy hour drinks. And your Mom, sister, brother or WHOEVER is not going to disown you if they come to town and you are doing Whole30. Sure you may get questions, weird looks, exclamations of insanity, but it’s your choice to be a healthier you. You are a grown up. You are an adult. You can make your bed if you want or not. You can eat and drink till you want to explode. But the minute you decide to cut “bad” foods out of your life, it’s like, ” OH $hI†, I can’t give up wine. And eating out, not possible. I can’t do this.” And you go into panic mode. Well I’m here to tell you, YOU CAN give it up for 30 days. You WILL feel better. You WILL feel a difference. So suck it up buttercup. Stop sitting on the fence. On Day 31 you can revert to all the unhealthy foods and habits. But I’m thinking/hoping that won’t be the case. Hopefully, you’ll see the forest through the trees! Don’t forget, I’m here for you as a cheerleader or as a listener. I will support you. You got this!

Boom Box
2/4/14
Strength: 50 heavy Russian Swings
1.5 Pood. Booo!

Skill: HandStand Push Ups
My wrist isn’t supporting me right now, so I just watched from the sidelines.

2/4/14 WOD

MetCon: 4 rounds of 400m Run, 30 KB Swings, 15 Strict Pull Ups
Oh man, running and pull ups! Not my kind of fun at all. But if I try and cherry pick my WODs, then I won’t get better at my weaknesses. It wasn’t pretty. My runs were slow and my Pull Ups even slower. The only thing I had going for me were the KB Swings. I don’t really even have much to say except that I finished. Time: 26:42

2/5/14
Strength: Turkish Get Ups for weight & 3 sets max Ring Dips
A couple of weeks ago we did a MetCon with TGU and my wrist couldn’t handle the kettle bell. Today I could at least do the 25lb KB. I didn’t try pushing more because the good ol’ wrist is a little worn out and I want it to heal up, not get worse!

Skill: Pistols
It is what it is. I’m not there yet. But we worked on them to get warmed up for the MetCon.

2/5/14 WOD

MetCon: For time – 200 Sit Ups, 4 alt Pistols EMOM. Start with Pistols
My modified pistols were done by holding on to a bar on the Pull Up rig. With all my clean eating, my knee didn’t even cause the tiniest of pain. I’m always scared with my left leg because it HURTS. But today I was able to bust them out quickly. And fortunately I was able to do Sit Ups in a good time. Well, a good time for me! I did 31 in my first minute. But I couldn’t keep that pace, but from then on out I did anywhere from 18-26 reps per minute. Doing Pistols EMOM is a little break, but not a big one. And for once, I just kept a good pace with Sit Ups. I didn’t pause for anything. I would just go slower or faster, but no stopping! Time: 9:46.

That’s a Wrap!
I feel good. My brain is ALERT. My energy is up. And my overall recovery from workouts is at it’s best. Wooooooo! I wish I could give everyone a taste of how I feel, so you can experience the feeling! That would, without a doubt push you to make changes. But, alas, I have no magical skills to do such things. You’ll just have to take my word for it!

Have a Happy HUMP Day! Do something out of your comfort zone today, like 200 Sit Ups or hold a Plank for as long as you can. Or just drink half your body weight in ounces of water (200lbs = 100 oz water). Do Something!

Also, if you are in DFW, CrossFit Boom is hosting another Community WOD, this Saturday at 9am. Yoga at 10am. Don’t be scared or intimidated. We have all levels of fitness that show up. It’s fun, laid back and then some more fun. Coach works around injuries and limitations. There’s something for everyone. Come on out and play with us!

Drumroll please……… DAY 30!

You know it. Although my Day THIRTY is not complete, it soon will be! I made it! I am crossing the FINISH LINE!

It wasn’t the smoothest ride but I fared pretty well. I ate compliant foods the whole way and although some of my weekends were a little off on proportions, I still hit this one out of the park. I was mentally prepared for the challenges I knew I would face and by the end of this journey, the temptations and cravings were no more. I know I will not be 100% from here on out but I hope to be 90-95%. I hope to continue with my food prep and staying on task but if I go rogue once a week on dinner, it won’t be the end of my world. I have no plan post Whole30. I just want to be better than I was for a majority of 2013. I don’t think that will be hard because I feel so darn good. I like where I’m at. And I don’t want to go back!

I learned that no matter how good you are at clean eating or how disciplined, there will be pitfalls. I know there will be struggles. I know, because I fell into the abyss around April of 2013 and it took me 9 months to find the light. I’ve learned that if my body and brain feel better then I’m not as harsh on my physical self that I see in the mirror. We are our worst critics and I’m super bad! But when I feel good because I’m eating good, I’m less likely to nitpick at myself. I’ve RE-learned that just because we are busy that I can always make time to get GOOD CLEAN food and I can’t use TIME as an excuse. I’m not saying it’s easy but it’s true.

Superbowl Sunday baked drumsticks with a mango glaze and tossed in Ghee and Franks Red Hot Sauce. YUMMO!

Whole30 and Beyond
I do plan on trying new Paleo recipes so I will try and share those as I go along. Honey and some pastured dairy are all I really plan to add occasionally back into my kitchen. If I eat anything non-compliant it will because of a social outing. And of course, I’ll let you know when my off-road eating gets the best of me!

I’m here to cheer you on, be your support system, or answer any questions if you choose to do your own Whole30. There are also many supportive folks in the forums at Whole30.com. So don’t be afraid to see what’s going on over there.

CrossFit Boom
As always, I will continue to post my workouts here so that’s never going away! I did end up making it to the Friday morning workout, so yay for that. Then there was the Community WOD and Yoga on Saturday, both of which are fun.

1/31/14
Test Day BOOM Total: Snatch, Squat Clean Thruster, Back Squat ADD Total weight!

Ain’t no thing but a chicken wing! So even with the wrist not 100% I was still able to hit my 1RM on Snatch. That’s not great since I feel I could do more weight, but I a scaredy cat As for Squat Clean Thrusters it’s a NO GO. I could clean the bar by itself but to Squat and then do a Thruster was too much. Coach T asked if I wanted to do something funky in regards to Cleaning the weight so I said SURE! Let’s Clean like Kelly Starrett!

Yay, that was fun! And I can actually do my favorite lift now! I didn’t start out doing the Mixed Grip, which probably would have helped with heavier weight. But I did get to 105lbs which isn’t bad for my first go round at this new Chicken Wing method. Moving on to Back Squat, I feared I wasn’t going to get close to 175lbs which is my 1RM but I managed to hit 165lbs. I’ll take that for now. I know you can’t always max out or hit new PRs. It’s been a hard lesson learned over they years but I finally found my peace with it! Totals: 75, 105, 165 = 345lbs

1/31/14 Test Day

2/3/14 Chicken Wing Pt. 2

Midline: 30 T2B
Have no fear T2B are still here! Woot Woot! Now if I could just string them together!

Strength: Back Squat 5×5 @75%
Mondays and Squats. Just wasn’t feeling it today. So 5 sets of 5 at 135lbs felt HEAVY. I was ready to go home after that! My hips are smoked!

MetCon: 4 min AMRAP of 10 HrPU and 5 Cleans 115/75 rest 3 min then 4 min AMRAP of 10 HrPU and 5 Cleans 115/75
I was so excited to actually be able to do Cleans in a MetCon again! Granted, they will be slower than normal because I can not touch and go with a chicken wing but I can do them! This time, I started off with the Mixed Grip and felt that my hand was less likely to try and revert to a normal Clean movement which was good on the wrist. Since the weight was not heavy I tried to catch the weight at the bottom so I could have a little more fluidity. This only worked half of the time though. Push Ups are what got me. I only got 4 Push Ups in and my wrist felt tight and achy, so I moved back to fist Push Ups. This was no fun and I really dragged ass. Final: 8 rounds RX

2/3/14 WOD

That’s a Wrap!
Thank you all in general for being faithful readers. And an Extra BIG Thank You for your support during my Whole30. I would hug you all if I could! Having something to blog about other than my workouts is definitely nice but now that Whole30 is over, I hope you continue to stick around. I’m still planning on getting involved in more giveaways and what not so stay tuned.

Remember it’s not about being perfect, it’s about making progress! Every meal is a new meal, every day is a new day. If I were to pick one thing to eliminate for good that would be WHEAT. I know what it does to my body when I reintroduce it and it’s not good. So just pick one thing to ADD or ELIMINATE from your life for at least 30 days. See if anything changes. Then change something else for the next 30 days. No one said you had to go cold turkey! But it sure is helpful if you do! Don’t forget Paleo Parents has a handy dandy e-book, 3 Phase Paleo that will help you make the transition. You can find the link to the book in the menu bar, top right!

Have a beautiful Tuesday and Whole30 ON!

The Countdown is ON!

After my Whole30 last year, I went off the rails. And I had many failed attempts on getting back on track. MANY FAILED ATTEMPTS! And I got to a point where I was ready to concede to the weight gain and just be. Thankfully, I shook myself out of that thought process and recommitted to finding my happy healthy self. I’m now TWENTY FIVE days into Whole30. Five days to go! And by Day 12ish, I was super happy I decided to get back to it.

I know I’ve lost some weight but I’m not sure how much just yet. But I was blaming my poor performance at the BOOM Box on my weight gain. But in the end it was just my poor eating habits that needed to change. I’m pretty sure I’ve had minimal weight loss right now (I DID GAIN ALOT) but I am doing so much better in EVERYTHING. My runs are better, I found my Toes To Bar and I’m able to push through on most everything much easier. These are big things for me. So can you only imagine if you have moderate to zero physical activity, yet you are having a hard time getting out of bed because everything hurts. Eating clean should make you feel like a ROCKSTAR! Imagine: less headaches, less joint pain, clear focus, better sleep, more energy. That’s what Whole30 could do for you. Heck, just trying to eat cleaner in general will do wonders. Make that change folks.

You can’t look at me and say… oh she was already skinny. Or she was already super fit. I wasn’t. I gained a lot of weight. I let self discipline go out the window. I had to start over. You can too. And you will be OK. You will be GREAT! So quit with the back and forth. Quit with the lolligagging. Just make the decision to do better. Find better health. Find physical activity. Find your Happy Place!

1/29/14 Lunch

1/29/14 BOOM Box
Mobility: We did the killer QUAD stretch against the wall. 3 minutes each leg. UGH!

Conditioning: 1k time trial rower
I repeat over and over, I enjoy rowing, but I’m not good at it. So here was a good time to work on rowing. I’m only steady and strong for about 250m. Maybe one day I’ll bump up to a solid 500m. But that’s not anytime soon I don’t think. Time: 4:27

1/29/14 WOD

MetCon: 10 min AMRAP of 25 Jumping Air Squats, 50 DU, 3 MU
Well, we thoroughly smoked our legs on the Rowing. Now add Jump Air Squats. I figured I wouldn’t be able to walk today, but I can with minimal soreness. But I also didn’t get too far into reps with it being a 10 min AMRAP and having to do 9 Pull Ups for the Muscle UP modification. I got through my first set of 25 JAS pretty quickly. My DUs were a struggle. I was trying to do them slow, but I couldn’t slow down. So I was messing up way more than if I just busted them out AFAP. Then got to Pull Ups and struggled. Not as bad as I would have weeks ago but PULL UPS are terrible. By round 2 my JAS were not as quick but I still kept a steady pace. My brain and body were too tired to think for the second set of DUs so I finished them much more quickly. For some reason, I had a hard time getting a good breath in. So I hung out a few seconds before getting to the Pull Ups. But I was good on time. I thought I could get one more round in. I stumbled through DU again which slowed me down. Final: 2 Rounds + 25 JAS + 50 DU + 3 Pull Ups

That’s a Wrap!
It’s almost the weekend. Woooo! And if you’re local, then come out to CrossFit Boom for a Community WOD at 9 am and YOGA at 10 am. You wont’ be sorry. We have fun and you can laugh at me sucking at Yoga!

FIVE days to go! No matter where you are on your journey, keep going strong. Do your best. And if you trip up, that’s fine. Just get back on the right path and don’t be too hard on you! Happy Thursday!

It’s a La-di-da Kind of Day

It’s Day TWENTY FOUR of my Whole30 and although I’ve been going strong, yesterday wasn’t the best day. I didn’t fuel up before my grueling workout and I was too much of a bum to put real effort into dinner afterwards. And maybe due to eating dinner so late, I woke up feeling icky. My stomach was not happy so I wasn’t about to hit up the BOOM Box not knowing what my innards would be up to. Fortunately it was just a sour feeling and nothing more, but it’s been with me all morning.

And even in the midst of feeling not so great, I still feel good in all other areas. I still managed to get Eggs, Brussel Sprouts and an orange down for breakfast. I’ve been drinking water and hot tea. Just trying to push through. I attribute some of the ickiness to monthly perks of being a female, but gosh darn it, I’ve been on a winner’s high. I’ve been kicking old food habits in the bootay and getting back to my old healthy self. And then I feel bleh. Ah well. It’s not getting in my way! Even though “food dreams” are becoming a nightly thing. I don’t crave food when I’m awake. Just thinking about greasy, cheesy or sweet food makes my brain think “ick”. I know the ramifications. I know it will hurt or hinder me. And right now it would just be a set back to all my hard work. So keep your fingers crossed my mind stays in this mode!

1/28/14 Boom Box
Strength: 50 heavy Russian swings
For some reason these got me. NO FUEL in my body I suppose. But it took me a while to get these knocked out.

Skill: Box Jumps
Thank goodness we just went over being efficient. Nothing high or insane. I can handle 20″ and 24″ box jumps. Get into the 30″ range and I’m a scaredy cat.

MetCon: 50 thrusters 165/105 3 lat bar burpees every minute on the minute.
When I walked in to the BOOM Box, the 6pm class was finishing up. I should have left right then. It was brutal. It looked and sounded like a movie set in the gladiator days. I could have snuck out and I wouldn’t have had to endure the craziness!

But I didn’t did I?!? I stayed. And I realized although my wrist is getting better, I still can’t do Thrusters comfortably with the bar. I can do them but I can feel it all too well in the wrist. So I went with 25lb dumbbells. These were a beating, so I do not know how everyone did 75lbs+. Seriously, death! 3-2-1-Go and we started with 3 Lateral Bar Burpees. So we do a Burpee and jump over bar X 3. Then we can start our Thrusters. But as soon as a minute is up, it’s back to 3 Burpees. I really thought because I just had 25lb dumbbells that I would fly through the WOD. I was wrong. OH SO WRONG! I managed to do mostly sets of 4-6 reps, then a few sets with 4 or less. Time: 9:51

That’s a Wrap!
SIX full days to go! Can I get an AMEN?!? You may just be 6 days in, or you maybe 6 days from committing. Just commit. It’s worth it. It’s a work in progress. But overall it’s AWESOMENESS! Feel better, look better and build that confidence in yourself to be better. You got this! I BELIEVE IN YOU!

Found!

At the corner of Clean Eating and Consistency, I FOUND my Toes To Bar! What! What! This my friends is a big deal. Back in early 2013 I still had them but as time went on, the LBS packed on and my Boom Box attendance floundered. I slowly but surely lost them. I wasn’t beastly at them in the first place but how sad it was to know how easy T2B can just disappear. Now boys and girls they are back! I was so excited, you have no idea. Whole30 will not do you wrong! I can’t promise it will always be rainbows and unicorns but eventually you find that happy place and it feels good.

So it’s Day TWENTY THREE and Day THIRTY is out there in the shadows. So much of me wants to just keep on keepin on, but so much of me wants a little break too. This is such a hard mental battle. I’m determined to stay on the right track but I’m already making up excuses in my head for days I have to offroad a bit. I’m hoping when push comes to shove, that I just stick it out and stay strong. WholeLife it on.

1/27/14 Lunch

Food and the work that comes with it!
A lot of people moan and groan on how much work it takes to prep and cook when they start off on the Whole30. It’s true, it is work but it does get easier. For a lot of people, this is completely new and it can be a little bit overwhelming. You aren’t just picking up your normal items in the grocery store. You aren’t buying processed, full of badness, boxed food where you just add a protein. You have to hunt down specific things and maybe even venture into other grocery stores, which in itself could be a confusing adventure. It can also be very defeating because there a lot of staples out there that just aren’t Whole30 compliant and you’ve probably been buying them your whole life. At this point, I’m hoping you’re determined enough to at least start. But as with any new endeavor, once you learn the ropes, it all starts becoming easier. You learn and make new kitchen habits. You will try to find ways to be more efficient and soon enough it will be second hand. I would say that halfway through Whole30 is when you probably will find ease in your prepping. You’ll know what works for you.

What worked for me most, is that I keep all of my free Whole30 downloads with me, along with a copy of It Starts With Food. I keep my phone linked to Whole30 forums so I can do quick and easy searches. On my first Whole30, I tagged all the important pages and I constantly referenced them. This time around, I mostly just keep them with me so I have ZERO excuse when I want to give up. I literally carry a bag with me with all of the literature. It’s with me at work, it’s with me in the car, it’s with me at home. All of the time. I know with technology you can have your smartphones or iPads, but there’s something about me physically carrying the paper and books that keeps me focused.

Even though I’ve made Paleo Mayo a lot, I still bust out the Whole30 recipe and put it on my counter. I’m in a hurry most everyday so I’m liable to screw it up. I make sure I read the recipe every time even though I have it memorized. It’s not work anymore. It’s just what I do. I’ve made new habits. You will too. And remember it’s only 30 days. You can push yourself outside your comfort zone for one month out of a year!

1/27/14 Boom Box
Midline: 50 Hollow Rocks
What can I say? I still don’t like Hollow Rocks. Same as it ever was.

Strength: Back Squats 3×10 @65%
Who doesn’t love Squat time? But it’s been a while since I’ve worked on Back Squats. We were doing a lot of Front Squats and my wrist was holding me back so the weight wasn’t as heavy. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel. But 65% of 175 isn’t so bad. My first set wasn’t weak but it was slow. I picked up the pace for the other two sets and felt much better about everything.

1/27/14 WOD

MetCon: 8 min AMRAP of 8 T2B and 5 DL 225/135
Well you already had the spoiler at the beginning of this post, but I wasn’t sure I’d do Toes to Bar. I really had the mindset coming in that I would do Knees to Elbow. But Coach had us warm up a little bit with Knees to Elbow before we started and I realized how close I was to T2B so I went for it and FAILED. But I was so close. So I went for it again and I failed! I probably did that for 4 or 5 times and finally my TOES hit the FREAKIN BAR! Well I done did it. Now I have to do it in the workout! Doh! So even though I hit the bar, I wasn’t sure I’d do it for 8 reps or MORE!

Even though I couldn’t string them together it turns out FOR MY STATUS, I was killing it! I only had 2 No Reps, and I probably did rest a little more than I should have but I kept chipping away. Deadlifts were relatively light but again. I rested a little too long before picking up the bar. Final: 4 rounds + 3 T2B RX! Small victory for me 🙂

That’s a Wrap!
It’s cold down here in Texas and I’d love nothing more than some comfort foods. So I’ll probably have Steak and Cauli Mash for dinner! But a lot can happen between now and then. So we’ll see. I do hope you all are making things happen. I’d love nothing more than to see and hear happy reports of progress and change! Stop waffling and get on board if you haven’t committed yet. Do something NOW!

We have a Winner!

If you didn’t already know, the 3 Phase Paleo E-book giveaway ended on Friday. And the winner is one of my readers, Samantha! You know who you are and you’ll be receiving an email soon on how to claim your prize! Thanks again everyone for being a part of my first book review and giveaway. Hopefully it will be something I do more often! And you can still buy the book if you’d like. I have the link available on the menu bar to the right or you can click right HERE!

In other news, I’m on Day TWENTY TWO of Whole30! I even had some successful outings over the weekend where I took control of my food and only craved non compliant foods for a half second 🙂

1/24/14
Day NINETEEN. At this point I can really throw anything into a bowl for breakfast and eat it on the way into work. Sometimes it doesn’t sound appetizing but I still eat it all up and stick to the Whole30 guidelines. As you all have probably noticed, lunches are typically leftovers incorporated into a salad. Just like the one below. I had some drumsticks and we have Franks RedHot Sauce at my j.o.b. So I tossed my already yummy drumsticks in the sauce for some extra heat. Paired with my salad and BAM, lunch was fantastic!

1/24/14 Lunch

Boom Workout
The CrossFit Games Open is coming upon us and Coach must have been nostalgic for the workout 12.2! Snatches, snatches and more snatches.
Skill: Kipping/C2B/Ring MU
Well I’m really feeling better about my Kipping abilities. But that was just that one day for about 10 minutes. Another day could be a totally different story!

1/24/14 WOD

MetCon: This is an example of a CrossFit Open WOD WORKOUT 12.2 Proceed through the sequence below completing as many reps as possible in 10 minutes of:
45 pound Snatch, 30 reps
75 pound Snatch, 30 reps
100 pound Snatch, 30 reps
120 pound Snatch, as many reps as possible

Well I know I can do 75lbs from one of 2013 workouts where we had a similar WOD. But they were sloppy and ugly. With my wrist being such a bugger lately, I wasn’t sure how far along I would get.

So I was flying through the 45lb reps and realized after about 12 I should slow it down. So I stopped at 15 and took a small break. I moved on to the last 15 and then it was time to load on more weight. 75lbs and me have issues. So after a few FAILS, I finally got it overhead. IT was still ugly but not as sloppy as I was a year ago. And I definitely had more UMPH in me this time around. I was able to do more reps but I was so slow to convince myself for each rep that I could freaking do it. So I took a lot of time holding the bar, leaving the bar, coming back to the bar, etc. I’m a girl baby. Final: 46 reps RX. Better than 12.2 where I only had 30 and better than Open 13.1 last year where I only got 5 reps at 75lbs. So YAY for small victories!

1/25/14 A whole Day of BOOM
The Boom Box was happenin on Saturday. Morning Community WOD, Morning YOGA and a Ladies Night Out. Fun, Fun and more Fun. We had a nice showing for the Community WOD and yay for us we did a Fight Gone Bad style workout.

3 ROUNDS of One minute of each: Row for calories, HR Push Ups, Butterfly Sit Ups, Burpee to Plate, and Rest.

1/25/14 Community WOD

Welllll, we have 4 rowers and one Airdyne. Lucky me got to use the Airdyne which is spawned from HELL. This little bike apparatus is not so little and not so cute. It’s evil and takes everything out of me. And I couldn’t get it to reset ever, so I’d be biking along with no Calories clicking. So frustrating. So by the time I did get some calories in, the minute was almost up.

Evil Airdyne

Boooo. Then I moved to HR Push Ups. I started off on my knuckles then tested the water for normal HR Push Ups and I could do them! Wooooo! Not a lot at a time. But the wrist was being cooperative. My only movement that helped me gain reps was the Butterfly Sit Ups. Without those my score would have been much less. Because I was dragging by the time i got to burpees. I averaged between 12-15 reps there. Final: 180

Yoga

Last time we had Yoga, I felt pretty good about the whole thing. This time around, I felt like a HOT MESS. I couldn’t stay still. I was fidgeting, itching and overall sore. Not a happy camper but I stuck with it.

Ladies Night!
All you ladies who aren’t sure about CrossFit should definitely come to a Ladies Night, well if you’re local that is! And if you’re not, maybe check out nearby boxes to see if they offer anything similar. It’s fun, it’s laid back and we still get work in. Plus we like to go eat afterwards.

Coach had us all warm up as a group. Then he separated us regulars from the new faces. He tasked up with Yoke pushes and Ring Toes to Bar. While we were doing all of that, he went over the fundamentals of CrossFit with the first timers. Then we all got back together for the main WOD of the evening. We split up into groups and he went over the work.

2K Row, 50 Burpees, 25 Box Step Ups each, 50 Burpees, 2K Row. So we could split the work up except for the Box Step Ups and we could only go one person at a time. I didn’t realize that I would have such a hard time coming up with the right words to help the new ladies row. Thankfully Coach stepped in to help out! But we all did our work and pushed through the workout. And hopefully the new folks had a good time.

Then it came down to EATING. The whole day I debated if I would go eat or if I would just go home. Even though I prepared some food to take to dinner, I wasn’t 100% sure I would put myself into dangerous waters. But I had fun with all the Boom Box ladies and wanted it to continue. So I went with my Whole30 Compliant snacks. And of course we went to a Mexican food restaurant! So many tempations. The chips, the tortillas, everything! But I held strong. Had me an iced tea and ordered some guacamole. Then I busted out my Paleo Ranch Dressing and some carrots and cucumbers and I was set. I also made sure to have more Chicken for my PWO meal so I wasn’t missing out on Protein. Was it the ideal Whole30 meal? No, but I feel I did rather well.

Dinner out with the Ladies of CrossFit Boom.

1/26/14
No working out today. All Rest. Shopping. Prepping. And Cooking. I did good this past week with no real Food Plan so I figured I’d wing it again this week. And score, my Whole Foods now carries Bearded Brothers Energy Bars. Score for me. They are Texas local and I had never tried their bars but I’ve read about them plenty. So it was a pleasant surprise when I was looking for Lara Bars to have found them. These are better than Lara bars in my opinion, but they are also a little more spendy. Well worth it though!

But my Sunday wasn’t all about shopping and prepping and so forth. It was my youngest kiddo’s Birthday! And we always go eat Japanese Hibachi. Welp, they cook with loads of butter, loads of oil and loads of SOY. I don’t like to be the one who asks for everything special so I just ordered some sashimi and brought my own coconut aminos. I also ate before hand so my minimal amounts of fish were just extra protein and fats. Oh did I want some fried rice. Not in the I’m might hurt someone kind of way, but I could taste the rice in my brain! So bad! But again I survived! Wooo! But I think the Fish got me. My stomach was unsettled all night and I tossed and turned not getting great sleep. Which left me missing out on the 5 a.m. Boom Box workout.

1/27/14
So with little sleep and a bleh stomach, I just had bone broth and half of a Bearded Brothers bar with GINGER to help settle the stomach. Still not feeling AWESOME but I’m getting through the day.

I’m hoping I’m feeling up to a workout tonight but if not, I’ll be fine. Extra rest isn’t going to hurt me!

That’s a WRAP!
So there you have it! I’m on the downhill stretch now! Feb. 4th is the 30th Day. It’s so close! Woooooo! I’m not planning on derailing, I’m just looking forward to not being so strict. Let loose a little and not be super duper concerned about every oil or seasoning something is cooked in. Anyhow….I hope everyone is doing good in their Health and Fitness Journey. And if you’re a little discouraged on your journey, this post by Whole30 should be a good read for you. Be strong! Be Better than Yesterday!

idrankthecfkoolaid

and it's good

Paleo

Ya Don’t Say

Just One Day . . .

My first weekend Post Whole30

Testing the Waters

BOOM! Whole30 Complete!

Drumroll please……… DAY 30!

The Countdown is ON!

It’s a La-di-da Kind of Day

Found!

We have a Winner!

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