Consistency does pay off. I know it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that but I think all of us will try to make excuses for everything if we let ourselves. Just because 2 weeks of trying to eat better and exercise isn’t showing any results doesn’t mean that the 3rd week, the week you may have quit, wasn’t going to be your “golden” week. It may even be the second month. But you will NEVER know if you QUIT!

I’m pretty sure most of us always want those INSTANT results. In a time of growing technology, the faster the better! Quick food, quick apps, quick everything. Quick weight loss and body results are just fantasy! The stuff we see in magazines. The mid day shows that promise and guarantee weight loss without putting in the WORK that it really takes to achieve those goals. We all want the easy route. Who doesn’t want that route? Only thing is, it’s not easy. EVEN if one of those gimmicky plans worked, it would only be for the short term. Why even bother? I want results and I want the results to stay. I was on track, being the most awesome I have ever been and then I derailed. Big time. Gained some LBs and woke up and said WHOA where did those come from? Well they came from stuffing my face and showing up to the Boom Box like once a week. My consistency went down the drain and I was a HOT MESS and it was ugly.

Now I’ve cleaned up MOST of my eating, not all but most. I promise, FOOD, it’s a bad addiction sometimes. But I’m cleaning it up and I’m CONSISTENTLY showing up to the BOOM Box and whaddyaknow…. my progress is showing up in WODs and in my strength. Again, this doesn’t take an expert to know that putting in work will make you better, stronger and faster (well faster is questionable in my case :D). But it’s something that I know we all just put to the side. We make excuses. We justify our poor eating habits and lack of exercise through busy lives and schedules.

With my dedicated 4-6 workouts a week and at least 80% clean eating, heavy weight is becoming easier light weight. PRs are here. And I’m feeling that confidence come back that comes with killing WODs. Although I’m still a MAJOR work in progress, it’s coming along. Much slower than I was planning but it’s coming along none the less!

8/6/13 WOD and my 2nd ever DNF (womp womp)
If you look closely at the pic next to my name there is NOTHING. No time recorded. It was a sad day for me mentally and physically. I had just flown through Power Cleans at 95lbs and was feeling great and was actually looking forward to the Kettle Bell Swings and Toes To Bar.

I’m not great at TTB but I’ve made some progress and I’m getting them knocked out even if it’s only 1 at a time. It wasn’t till my last round of TTB that I just lost all my energy, juice, mojo, etc. My toes weren’t touching that bar. I struggled a lot in the round of 15 but managed to finish. I thought 9 more wasn’t out of the question. But for this day, it was completely not going to happen. Not in the class time anyways. I probably had 50 ALMOST TTB but only managed about 5 for that last round. The next class was already starting and I wasn’t going to be able to knock out the last 4. I knew I didn’t have it in me. And I realized that it was going to be OKAY if I didn’t finish. I wasn’t going to get kicked out of the BOOM Box. No one was going to tell me I was a loser, except for me of course and the world was going to keep on spinning. It did take the wind out of my sails for a few hours but I realized I did 41 TTB in about 20 minutes which in the end was pretty GREAT for me who sucks at the TTB. I felt much better the next day and I know that I made progress.

8/7/13 WOD
I wasn’t sure how I would feel walking back into the BOOM Box after sucking so bad the day before but I was fine. The WOD wasn’t for time. There was just work to be done.

MetCon: 3 rounds of Row 250m and 8 Box Jumps 40in/30in THEN 3 x 8 @ 90% of 5RM Press and 1 x ME @ 70% 4 sec negatives

We worked on Box Jumps and well I’m scared of the box and I don’t know why but I am. I jumped a few times on the 20in, then a few on the 24in, then just stared at the 30in. Went back to 24in and put a 25lb plate on top. Made it. Put another 25lb plate on top. Made it. Ok I’m good right there.

That was till we rowed. It was only a 250m row As Fast As I Could Go. But it was enough to take some JUMP out of my legs. So I took one of the 25lb plates away and jumped on the one. That probably made it a 27in jump. I didn’t measure. But I finished!

We moved onto strict Press afterwards and 65lbs was my 5RM from the week before so I went off that. Each set started off great but it was always at the 6th rep where I felt it hit me. Still got through the last 2 reps but the weight felt so HEAVY. My shoulders were dying by the end and I wasn’t sure how long I’d last with those negatives. I started off feeling like this will be easy but I only managed about 12 reps. My triceps were on FIRE!

8/9/13 WOD
Strength: Front Squats 4 @75%, 3×4 @80%
That puts me at 110lbs and 115lbs. Surprisingly this was feeling pretty good. I didn’t struggle. Woohoo, getting stronger.

MetCon: 5 rounds of 9 Deadlift 85lbs, 6 Power Clean and 3 Power Snatches
I can DL 85lbs easy breezy. Power Clean 85lbs fairly well but it’s a NO WAY on the Power Snatch. Theoretically I should be able to do it. But that Brain of mine likes to get in the way. But I needed to settle on a weight I could do. So I warmed/worked my way up to 75lbs. My current best. And it felt good. So I stepped up to 80lbs. DONE! PR right there. I thought well hey I got this, so I added 5 more pounds and maybe just maybe I can do this RX. Got the weight to my eyeballs and failed. There was no dropping under that weight. Boldly I decided I would work with 80lbs. Good or bad idea. I wasn’t sure till the clock started. I failed on my first 2 attempts in the first round! I should drop weight is what I immediately told myself. But I gave it one more shot and although it was sloppy I got the weight up. Took some deep breaths and finished out the 3 reps. Still debated if I should drop in weight and talked myself into staying at the weight. It wasn’t a matter on if it was too heavy, it was just a matter of me doing it. Plus it was only 3 reps at a time. Again these weren’t the prettiest Snatches but I wasn’t HURTING or feeling like I was going to be hurt so I stuck with it. 5 rounds was not an easy task. That’s 45 Deadlifts, 30 Power Cleans and 15 Power Snatches, at a Personal BEST I might add! Time: 10:53

8/10/13 Community WOD
Finally a Community WOD that didn’t involve running! I was so excited! Of course until Coach explained what was going to go down. And then, and then and then. That’s all I heard. Teams of 4; 2 guys, 2 girls. 50 Thrusters each (my once favorite now least favorite movement). While the guys are going the girls will be holding Kettle Bells (35lb) overhead. Girls can’t drop the KB and if they do guys must stop doing Thrusters. Girls can transfer KB but only from overhead position. And no one can let the barbell touch the ground! DOH! That’s a lot of weight not being able to touch the ground. Who knows how long this will take. Our guys, Kyle and Micah, did great. Breaking up their sets nicely and not dropping the bar. Us ladies did fine managing how long we held onto the KB before switching. Once the guys were done we had to change the weight on the barbell before continuing. Almost moved too quickly removing weight but it all worked out fine. I went first on the Thrusters (55lbs). Annette and I decided to start of with sets of 10 and if we had to drop to sets of 5 then so be it. Just do the work. I was feeling great doing sets of 10 until I finished my 3rd set. I knew I wouldn’t survive that again. So I said I HAD to do sets of 5. This way I wouldn’t quit or be tempted to drop the bar. I moved as fast as I could. RUNNING wasn’t involved, I had no excuses! I think Annette and I had a good pace going and a good way of transferring the bar between us. I know our guys weredoing just fine holding the 53lb KB. Never let it down. Time: 12:05! FInally KILLED a Saturday WOD.

8/12/13 WOD SQUAT HEAVY DAY
Strength: Back Squats; 5 @70%, 5 @ 80%, 2 @85%, 3 @90% and 1 @100%
Everything was feeling AWESOME till I got to 2 @85%. IT felt so HEAVY. Manageable but HEAVY, so I wasn’t sure what 3 @90% would be. Guess what? It felt lighter than 85%. So weird but definitely good. So hitting the 1 rep at 165lbs was great! Really looking forward to a PR!

MetCon: 3 rounds of 400m run, 15 Ring Dips and 10 Burpee Handstand Get Ups
UGH! more running. If it weren’t for the running I would have beat this WOD up, no problem. But there was that run. Each round. And they were ugly slow runs. I went with the Green Band for the Ring Dips. My shoulders are sensitive creatures and I didn’t want to blow them out. My first round I did 10 and 5. My second round I did UNBROKEN! And my third round I went 8 and 7. As for Burpee Handstand Get Ups, they weren’t miserable but they weren’t fun. I’ve explained in the past I have a hard time breathing heavy and being UPSIDE DOWN. It’s just hard to breathe when you are out of breath. I knocked these out in sets of 5 each round. Just to regain some composure. I surely didn’t want to fall over out of dizziness or something worse. Time: 21:20. The runs did me in

How’s that a for a week of ups, downs and all arounds? I’m slowly getting back into everything and I’m struggling and succeeding. All part of it. Learning and growing. Being consistent! Hopefully I’ll get back to a more normal blogging schedule as well. This once a week posting is sad. So hopefully I’ll get back to more of daily thing. Who knows. Have a happy and joyful Tuesday. And until you see me again… next week?? hahah, Be AWESOME!