Ring Rows

Walking… Today It’s a Struggle

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A few weeks ago, my workplace had a health fair type day. There was a little bit of everything. Health food vendors, massage therapists, wellness screenings and raffle prizes for health related stuff. They also had a sign-up to win sessions with a trainer. I figured why not, I need the extra kick in the butt and it would be during my lunch hour… so I threw my name in. Turns out everyone who signed up got to be in the training session. Woooo!

It’s mostly cardio based (which I do need) and so far has been nice extra push to my CrossFit world. The bad thing is that there are MIRRORS everywhere! I haven’t been in a non-CrossFit type environment in over 3 years where there are ZERO mirrors. Suddenly I found myself turning into my old way of thinking – judging everything – about ME. I know I have some extra layers of flub on me the but the mirrors are a huge negative reminder. Not that I don’t own a mirror at home but when I’m working out, I’m working out! Feeling good. Feeling empowered. I have strength and I press on. So day one, although good, was strangely stressful. I did better on day two though. Just pushed through and brought the intensity.

Adding that to Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday CrossFit classes and I’m smoked. My shins, quads, hammies, feet… they all hate me! Not in the “overdid” it kind of way. But close! I need the shake up both physically and of course when it comes to food. I’m getting there. Making better choices and really trying to focus on the phrase I know all too well… “You can’t out train a bad diet!”

Tuesday – 4/21/15

SKILL & STRENGTH
8 min EMOM
odd 10 KB lunges
even 2 Turkish Get-Ups

Eight minutes isn’t a very long time. But add up the lunges and the balance it takes for Turkish Get-Ups and I was feeling like I could have called it a day!

CONDITIONING
CHIPPER for: (TOTAL TIME)
10-1
Pull-ups (modification: Ring Rows
OHS 65/45

Chippers. They can be your worst enemy sometimes. But I feel when it’s set up to to go from higher reps to lower reps, it’s easier on the mindset. The first set of Ring Rows and OHS went along smoothly. I did them all unbroken. I know that’s not impressive, being that Ring Rows aren’t entirely difficult an the OHS was only 45 lbs. But the idea is to move fast and get some work in. And then the round of 9. Ring Rows slowed down. I had to break them up. It was a sad state of affairs. But at least I was crushing my OHS. By the time I got to the round of 5, I was not feeling as defeated. I was almost done and the reps were getting fewer and fewer. I wanted to push harder on the Ring Rows… but there’s a point where the brain is not winning. Time: 8:30

Wednesday, 4/22/15

SKILL & STRENGTH
8x – 50ft band sprints

Not much to say here. Short and sweet.

CONDITIONING
5 rounds for: (Total Time)
Run 400m
20 KB Swings (1.5/1)
30ft Handstand Walk (Modified: shoulder touches on box)

Running. Bleh. If you know me, my feelings on running have not changed. Sadly, probably only have become more negative.  After my first run, I thought my left calf was going to literally explode, so I nicely asked if I could substitute the run with a row. Coach was cool with it. Which was great cause if not then I’d still be out there trying to finish!

KB Swings at 1 Pood… easy peasy! Ha. Maybe for the first 3 rounds. But towards the end, everything was a struggle.

And for my modified shoulder touches. I initially thought I got this. So I popped up into a handstand against the wall and just stood there. All I had to do was lift one hand off the ground and touch my shoulder. But my hands did not move. Didn’t budge :/ So I had to go to an even more modified situation using a box.

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This I could do. Right hand to right shoulder. Left hand to left shoulder. 30 times. Rounds 4 and 5 were a blur. But I finished. Time: 23:04

 

Surviving the Week

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It’s Friday! Woooo! Only one bad meal this week so far. And it was only bad due to the beverages I consumed. But other than that this week has gone along quite nicely. I’m struggling a bit with the workouts but I am getting them done!

Considering this isn’t my first rodeo, I thought I would be feeling more food withdrawals. But this time around, I’m only feeling a little sluggish. But not much more than that. I’m not even a full week in though, so there’s still time for a little bit of misery. Not that I’m hoping for it, but I don’t want to relax and then it hit me like a ton of bricks. That would be a good time to fail :/

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It helps to try and have a positive attitude though, which can be hard. Along with most of the overweight world, I wish there was an easy fix. But there is not. I wish that my couple of days of hard work translated to 20lbs weight loss. But it hasn’t. I wish that as long as I’m working hard in my workouts than the food I eat doesn’t work against me. But it does. All of those things could bring me down, but then I’d be back in the same rut. Miserable. There’s no time for loser talk though. Chin Up. Move forward. Think happy thoughts!

But it does take time and it’s not instant. It’s not the Biggest Loser Ranch over here, where they workout for hours and hours each day. It’s life and it’s busy. But feeling better is half the battle and that my friends is my instant gratification. I don’t feel as bloated and my mind is much clearer. I feel better. I just have to wait a little bit to feel super awesome, when the fluff melts away. And the fluff will melt away!

4/16/14 WOD

Warm Up Game: coaches choice (have fun)
I don’t know that our “games” were fun. We held Planks in the Push Up Position and passed a Medball around like hot potato. But after you got the ball and passed it you had to do a push up. When one person fell, the circle got smaller. The was a burner on the triceps. I was out after a couple of minutes. The second game was a 200m run with a cone. Kind of like carrying an egg on a spoon run. I gave up after 100m.

4/16/14 WOD

4/16/14 WOD

MetCon TEAM WOD – at least 3 person teams. 1 person working you must tag in from the starting line (mats)

5 min cap
40 Pull Ups
50 Russian KB swings 1.5 Pood for everyone

rest 2 min

8 min cap
100 Sit Ups
70 Back Squats 75# for everyone

rest 2 min

3 min cap
15 Burpees
10 ft ring for the guys
8 ft for the ladies

For our first round, only one of us has Pull Ups. But coach allowed us to do Ring Rows instead of Pull Ups but we couldn’t do more than half of the reps. So Tory, did 10 Pull Ups, Karen and I did 10 Ring Rows each and Tory finished with 10 more Pull Ups. Then we moved onto the Russian KB Swings. I put in 25 reps and Karen tagged in and picked up the other 25. Thankful that Tory could do Pull Ups, she got a break! Time: 3:51

For the second round we were pretty confident going in. Tory started us off with 30 Sit Ups. She felt she was slowing down, so she tagged Karen in. Well Karen went all out and busted 50 reps in, leaving me with only 20 to do. Back Squats were light but for some reason I wasn’t feeling it. Tory started us off with 15, Karen and I both did sets of 10 and then I don’t remember the rest. But we got our 70 reps in. Time: 6:45

And finally the third round. Burpees then jump and touch 8ft target. Before class even started I was practicing to reach the target and I was missing it by half an inch. Tory then pointed out I might be better off if I was directly under the target instead of Jumping at it from an angle. Well that worked! So I was ready. Time started and Tory did 15 of the reps right off the bat. Easy! So Karen and I split up the 5. My first attempt at hitting the target was a fail but I finally got it and didn’t have a problem after that. We didn’t get our time written on the board but it was some were around 1:33.

Overall that was a good Team WOD … no running involved!

4/17/14
Midline: accumulate 5 min of low plank
I know all this midline work is good for me but it’s really a pain in my arse. I held on for 1 1/2 minutes before I dropped. Then finished in 20 – 45 sec increments. Took me right at 8 minutes to accumulate 5 minutes worth of plank.

MetCon: 4 rounds of 200 m run, 10 DL 225/155 and 10 T2B followed by TABATA dips
I warmed up to 135lbs on my Deadlift and it felt heavy, maybe cause I’m tired. Who knows. But I thought 20 more lbs. I just need to throw it on there. I did a couple and was like I’ll be slow but it’s doable. I forgot however that Toes To Bar followed! Doh. We just killed our core doing plank. Now I have Deadlifts and T2B after a run. I just wasn’t sure I’d survive.

4/17/14 WOD

4/17/14 WOD

And we’re off. My shins hate me, but I ran most of the first 200m, just walked in the last 10m or so. Then I got 5 DLs in before dropping the bar, then did the other 5. Got to the T2B and slowly did one at a time. I can’t string them together and it takes a lot of effort to do just one, but I am getting better. I didn’t even look at the clock when I finished round one cause I knew it would be sad. The “running” part of my runs got shorter and shorter each time but I at least trotted or jogged 3/4 of the run. I got a little better at the Deadlifts and stayed about the same with T2B. Time: 21:10 RX.

I was still dying when I was reminded we had TABATA dips to still complete. TABATA is doing a movement for 20 seconds, then resting for 10 seconds for 8 rounds. It doesn’t seem like it would be hard but it’s not easy. This is a workout where you want to get as many reps as possible in the 20 seconds. Then the goal is to meet that same rep count each round. Your lowest score is your score. I did modified dips and started off with 6 then dropped to 5, then 4, then held out at 3. My triceps died. Score: 3

That’s A Wrap!
My biggest battles are the weekends. On the go = opportunity to eat really really bad. Hopefully I can conquer this weekend and be successful! I hope you all will too. It’s Resurrection Weekend aka Easter to most folks. A weekend that has the potential to be full of lots of yummy foods and candies. Show some restraint if you can because this weekend isn’t supposed to be based on celebrating food. Unfortunately, as a society, myself included that’s what we are drawn to – FOOD (savory meals, big desserts, easter candy). Sure there’s fellowship and church and family but a lot of times FOOD is the center piece to all of the above. I’m not opposed to indulging every now and then but if you’re on a mission, whether your months in or days in. Just remember you have work to do and you don’t have to go nutso on the eating. And if you by chance do lose it, it’s going to be ok. Monday is a whole new day. Have a beautiful weekend!

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Chugging Along – Whole30 Day EIGHT

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I SURVIVED THE WEEKEND! WOOOHOOOO! The weekend is where I typically crumble. We got things to do; I don’t want to plan; And then I cave in for BAD FOODS. I don’t just cave though, I disappear into the bad food, junk food abyss. But this weekend, I was prepared. And I made it!

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Day FIVE Lunch/Dinner
My meals were just a combo of leftovers. A little bit of matchstick salad. A little bit of salmon. A little bit of chicken. Nothing exciting or major.

Day SIX
I started off my morning trying out YOGA at the BOOM Box. I’ve dabbled in a class or two in my past but never got into it. It’s been several years since I’ve attempted anything yoga related. Boy oh boy, do I suck at this. But as I warmed up and understood the tempo and how things went along, I did get a little better. I realize how tight everything is when I’m trying to relax. Even so far as my cheek muscles didn’t want to give. It was beneficial to me and I hope to keep on attending as the classes pop up.

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When I got home, I did a quick heat of some grassfed ground beef, onions, spinach, tomatoes and over medium eggs. Ate a handful of raw trail mix and out the door we went. Good thing we came home in time for me to eat lunch, but I did have hardboiled eggs, fruit and some salad packed up just in case home wasn’t an option! Instead I stir fried some leftover chicken, threw in some broccoli and a handful of coconut flakes and voila! Lunch. And dinner was pretty much the same. Heated up and finished up leftovers. Also had a nice mug of Bone Broth. I could be an addict. It’s sooo good.

Day SEVEN
One full week in Wooooo! Before we headed out to do our shopping for the day I had some eggs, broccoli, tomatoes and a clementine. I can’t remember what fat I had but it was probably coconut flakes.

I had my shopping list in hand ready to purchase foods for Week 2 of Weeknight Paleo. Ernie really really like the pork from last week. So instead of Steaks, we are going to redo pork and just make the sides that would go with the steaks. I’m excited for the menu because it has new things like turnips and celery root, both of which are foreign to me. When we got back home, I went straight into prep mode. I was a little less enthusiastic this time around. My head started pounding. My stomach wasn’t happy and I was not feeling the prep time. I still muddled through most of it before I took my lunch break.

Paleo Chicken Salad and Sweet Potato Chips. Not a pretty pic but yummy!

Paleo Chicken Salad and Sweet Potato Chips. Not a pretty pic but yummy!

I took leftover roast chicken, way too much onion, green apple and diced it all up. Then I threw in some paleo mayo (on the verge of expiring), and voila Chicken Salad. I also took some sweet potato slices and fried them up in some coconut oil for some chips. I probably could have thrown some kind of green veggie in there but I was dragging, starving and not feeling well all at the same time. Finished up some of the prep then took a NAP! I felt a little better when I woke up and waited for my Pork Roast to finish before I did anymore food prep.

By the evening I had all of my PWO meals made. I had emergency hard boiled eggs made. I had Pork to last us a couple of meals and a few other veggies chopped and ready to go.

Day EIGHT
BOOM Box 1/13/14
Midline: 30 hollow rocks
I think I will never like these. My ribs are broken.

Strength: Front Squats 4 sets 3 reps @ temp 103X1 (10 sec neg, 3 sec hold, fast up, 1 sec at top) without dropping 10 reps AFAP
I CAN FRONT RACK THE BAR! I CAN FRONT RACK THE BAR! But that is all. Now that I know can do this, I just need to work the movement regularly. My wrist is tight but not pained. When I added weight, well that’s a little scary. So I definitely need to work my way up slowly.

As for this tempo Front Squat, negatives and what not. It was hard on me today. My left shoulder was not on my side today. It was in pain and limited mobility. So after a few reps in, the frankensteining was taking a toll. I had a hard time holding the bar up. So even though I did try to stay on track, I just couldn’t. I still got work in, just not the kind of work Coach was wanting.

1/13/14 WOD

1/13/14 WOD

MetCon: 7 min AMRAP 5 HSPU 5 Clean & Jerks 135/95
For me it was Ring Push Ups and Dumbbell Clean & Jerks (25lb dumbbells). I never felt right doing the Ring Push Ups but my triceps and shoulders were on fire, so something was working. And for the Clean & Jerks, as I got through, they seemed to get easier. Just working overhead in general is a work in progress. But I’m glad I’m working my back. Final: 6 rounds + 5 Ring Push Ups

As for PWO meal, just some chicken and pureed sweet potatoes. It was breakfast that is still OH SO HARD to eat. 1. I’m not hungry. 2. I’m not hungry. 3. I don’t want to chew my food. But alas, I had 2 hardboiled eggs, a cup of broccoli, handful of cherry tomatoes and some trail mix. At least it holds me till lunch. I just wish I could drink the meal. But Whole30 frowns on drinking your meals. Something about the chewing of food and the messages that sends your brain. Work in Progress. Just fighting through today for sure.

That’s a wrap!
As you can see, the shiny new excitement has worn off just a touch. Don’t get me wrong, I’m in this. I just am so blah about it right now. I guess the best description I have for it now is that it’s more of a chore than exciting. I need a personal chef. That would help tremendously! For real!

I hope you all are getting your workouts in and sticking to whatever healthy plans you are on! Don’t forget to stay hydrated! And Stay Strong!

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Stay-strong

Icemageddon 2013 @!$$%&*!@***

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Thank goodness the ICE is melting away. For those of you who don’t know, I live in TEXAS. We don’t get nice fluffy snow to play in. We get ICE. And we get ICED in. No fun. I fell several times on the ice, once even trying to catch myself with my bum wrist/hand. That HURT. But so far no further major issues. I’ve been a caged bird. And to top it off, I had to get my AC/HEAT unit replaced on Monday. So after a cozy stay at my dads for 4 days. I had to return to my freezing cold home while I got a whole new system. Brrrrrrr. But all is better now that I have a heater that works and the roads are drivable…. for the most part.

At least the kids had fun!

At least the kids had fun!

11/5/13
Last week I left off saying I was going to miss Thursday workout, but due to the incoming weather, all afterschool activities for my kids got canceled and I got to make an evening class at the BOOM Box.

3 sets of 100 ft sled pull backwards (3/2) plates and 20 Air Squats AFAP, rest 2 minutes between efforts.
Out of the 4 of us there, I was the only girl. With 2 sleds I was pulling the sled with the 2 weights. But by my 3rd pull, there was 3 weights so we could get out of the freezing cold weather. Instead of taking off the weight, I just pulled it. And OMG it was freakin hard. And of course it was on the uphill of our parking lot. I thought I’d just be tough and I think it almost killed me! It was only an additional 45lbs but it felt like an additional 100lbs. Coach saw me struggle and was going to rescue me but I just dug in and finished. Kind of felt good to finish strong like that. The 20 Air Squats after that were so miserable though.

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12/5/13 WOD

MetCon: For time – 250 m row, 30 kb swings (2/1.5), American, 500 m row, 20 kb swings, 1000 m row, 10 kb swings
Before we got started I tested out the KB swings at a lighter weight. American standards are to get the KB overhead. With my wrist still being wonky, I opted for Russian swings which are at eye level. I still did the 1.5 POOD though. The first row didn’t go as bad as I thought it would. I don’t recall my time exactly but I’m pretty sure it’s one of my better times. It was all downhill from there. I suck at rowing but oh how I wish I was good at it. The first set of KB swings weren’t too bad. I did 15, 5 and 10. I just didn’t feel like I had a good grip. The 1000m row I thought was going to kill me. There was a handful of times I was literally fighting internally with myself on if I should stop. I’m glad I didn’t stop but it wore me out. For my last set of KB swings, I just had to keep telling myself HOLD ON. DON’T STOP. It was struggle to the end. Time: 13:35.

12/6/13 ICEMAGEDDON has arrived.
After a lot of bs’ing and statements of bravery at Thursdays WOD, there was a decision that if the roads were driveable then we would have a 5am class. It’s fortunate I’m not far from the BOOM Box. And it was fortunate that the white stuff on the ground was slushy at 4:30 a.m. The slush didn’t stay slush, making FRIDAY, SATURDAY and half of SUNDAY miserable!

Mobility: Hips and Shoulders

MetCon: 20 min AMRAP of Elizabeth 21-15-9 Squat cleans 135/95 ring dips
Of course I had to modify. I did Front Squats and Push Ups. I still don’t have the wrist mobility to rack the weight so I’m over there Frankenstein-ing it. My squats are week. I think I only had 65lbs on the bar and I was STRUGGLING! I did closed fist Push Ups instead of the ring dips. I started off strong but had to resort to scaling down to my knees.

12/6/13 WOD

12/6/13 WOD

Elizabeth is normally just 21-15-9 for time. But this icey morning called for an AMRAP. Woooo fun. It was a perfect beatdown before the CABIN FEVER, STUFF MY FACE WOD commenced for 3 days straight. I managed to get through 2 full rounds + 5 reps into the 3rd round of Squats.

12/9/13
Once my heater was installed and my bones warmed up, I figured I get a WOD in. I had a killer headache at 5am, probably from all the junk, and just couldn’t get moving.

Strength: Back Squat 3×5 @80%
I may not have the flexibility to rack the bar for front squat but I now have some flexibility for back squat. I didn’t get NEAR my 80% but I was able to FINALLY hold the bar for the Back Squat in general! WOOOO!

12/9/13

12/9/13

MetCon: 3 rounds 1 min at each station HR Push Ups, Box Step Overs 20″, Hollow Rocks, Jumping Split Lunges, Ring Rows, Rest
This was Fight Gone Bad Style. I did mention I stuffed my face for several days right? This wasn’t going to be pretty.
My Push Ups were a hybrid of my left hand being flat on the ground and my right hand in a fist. The Box Step Overs were dizzy-ing. The Hollow Rocks SUCKED DONKEY BALLS. I probably did best at Jumping Split Lunges even though I paused frequently. And RING ROWS were a butt whoopin. I had a low score of 310 reps. There were names on the board at over 500 reps… WTH?!?!? I bow down to you beastly folks.

The End
And then there’s today. Where my roughly over an hour drive into work turned into 2.5 hours. I should have just stayed home. Let’s hope my drive home isn’t so miserable. There were reports of people being stuck in their cars for 24 hours on Friday evening. SO GLAD I didn’t attempt that trek! It’s good being back at the BOX consistently. And hopefully I can get on to cleaner eating now that the depression is wearing off. I hope you all are doing well, staying on track and of course BEING AWESOME!

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Challenge Accepted!

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Hi guys! It’s been a week since I last checked in here. I’m sorry! You see, last week a weight loss challenge was brought up at my job. There were quite a few of us that said we’d do it… FOR REAL, and battle it out for most percentage of weight lost over the next 60 days. So for me that meant, PIG OUT the rest of the week. Eat up buttercup! And that my friends is what I did. I enjoyed BEER! And all kinds of non healthy FRIED foods. I even had an all COOKIE dinner consisting of Oreos and Chips Ahoy for my last hoorah Sunday night. Oh ya, I went big. And oh ya, I paid for it come Monday at the BOOM Box.

My body definitely felt the pain all week and I just said to hell with it. I’m going to enjoy, enjoy and enjoy. Because I knew that I would have to cut it all out. There’s a potential to win $400 bucks here. It’s not a super grand prize but it could definitely buy me some new clothes that I’m in desperate need of.

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I also figured that I better commit to something. Cause so far I’ve had a complete FAIL with the Get Fit, Stay Fit Challenge and another fail with the Mobility Challenge that Jenn over at Wine to Weighlifting has going on. I’m a mess, we all know this. But I got this. I’m in it for the CASH money and well of course a healthier me, right? hehe. YES a healthier me is more important but the CASH is definitely a good incentive.

My current plan is Paleo, but not stressing over it too much. Then Oct. 1 go full on Whole30. And if I’m feeling frisky, I may even take on a 21-day sugar detox, starting Nov. 1. Our weigh in is Nov. 14th so it would be perfect. Nothing is set in stone but it’s a good start. Right now I’m just worried about today. I made it through yesterday with no snags or hiccups and today should be on track as well. It’s SATURDAY AND SUNDAY that I need to prepare for! DOH! I hope I can make it!

But enough about my Challenge, lets get to some BOOM Box insanity.

9/16/13 WOD
After all my weekend eating, my sleep was not all that great for the early bird class on Monday. Plus it was a 1RM day for Back Squat. There was NO WAY I was going to have a good morning so I made it to the 6pm class.

We worked on mobility for quite a while. Oh boy did it feel awesome. My body was rested but seriously running on JUNK! So everything was hurting. Started my warm up with just the bar and about 10 seconds after just barely warming up, my Quads start hurting. Not a cramping type of hurt but more of a ARE YOU F’ING KIDDING ME, what is this weird pain I’ve never felt before. I was concerned. I rolled out. Tried out the bar again and although the pain wasn’t excrutiating, it was present and odd to say the least. So I kept rolling out and slowly adding weight. In the end the pain mostly went away but I knew I wasn’t going to PUSH to hard for that 1RM.

9/16/13 1RM Back Squat

9/16/13 1RM Back Squat

A couple of weeks ago we had 103% on the board and I hit that for 170lbs. Today my goal was 185lbs. I think under different circumstances I would have hit it. But I took a week off. I did absolutely ZERO in regards to good health and knew it wouldn’t be pretty! I hit 175lbs and it was HEAVY but I felt 185 was there… maybe. Got under the bar and I didn’t feel that it was too heavy till I went down and that’s where I stayed. It was HEAVY! Hahaha. After a few minutes rest, I dropped to 180lbs. Got under the bar, dropped and could only get halfway up. I was stuck. I wasn’t going to hit 180 today. But woohooo for another PR! 175lbs!

And I just want to say GOOD JOB to everyone who killed it! Amazeballs.

9/17/13 WOD
I made it to the early bird class! What??!?? Yes sir. Back to back workouts.

Strength: 3RM Push Press
My shoulders were feeling alright considering my gluttony. It’s my wrists that were really feeling the pain. But overall the Push Press was feeling good. So good that I 3RM at my 1RM of 95lbs. I think maybe I could have hit 100lbs but time ran out and 95lbs wasn’t a walk in the park. Next time!

MetCon: in 3 minutes 500m Row Max pull-ups with remaining time. (ring rows for mod) rest 3 min repeat until you have 3 rounds.
I was due for a good row. And 500m isn’t all that far right? HOLY DONKEY BALLS it took everything out of me. On each round around 250m it felt like I hit quicksand. It looked like the numbers were going backwards instead of forwards. To get from 300m to 400m felt like an eternity! I did hit the first two rounds right at about 2:10 and the last round at about 2:20. Not great, but for my OOMPA LOOMPA legs, not too shabby. My first round of Ring Rows got me good. My quads are still pissed off at me from yesterday. Add rowing this morning and just to hold my body up was a task. I got 10, 9, and 8 for my Ring Rows. Total: 27 reps (booooo) I was cursing myself on every pull of the rower and every time I let go of the rings. It is what it is though and I can only get better from here.

Barbells For Boobs
Oct. 12 is quickly approaching! Thankfully I committed to getting healthier with the weight loss challenge, so hopefully I’ll kill it at Boom For Boobs. Although in the end it’s not about killing the WOD, it’s about raising MOOLAH and awareness for Barbells For Boobs, a non-profit organization that provides funding to pay for breast cancer detection services as a last resort for thousands of people who don’t qualify for assistance elsewhere.

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I’m fundraising and you can find my personal fundraising page here: HELP SAVE BOOBIES. Donate if you can. $1, $5 or whatever you can. If you can’t donate then share me to someone who may be able to support the cause. My goal is $100 but I’ll be more than happy to raise more. Thank y’all in advance.

And of course if you’re local, YOU ARE INVITED to come participate or spectate. It will be a good time. Lots of fun!

The End
And that’s all for this fab Tuesday. I feel good about finally shedding some pounds and encouraging my co-workers to do the same. Take that step for yourself to find a healthier you. Health still comes in all shapes and sizes. So don’t go for what a magazine or tv show tells you how to be. Go for feeling better and enjoying life. And you know the drill…. be awesome!

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Day of Blah!

It’s just one of those days where you just rather crawl back into bed, call in sick and sleep or watch mindless tv. Too bad that I can’t just do that. I probably COULD but it wouldn’t be a wise decision in general. I also made the mistake of weighing myself and that does no good for anybody if you know it’s probably going to be bad.

I’ve been feeling thick, heavy, squishy, etc. And as good as I have been not worrying about the “number” on the scale I just couldn’t help myself. Backslider I am! I know why I did it…I’m having a hard time cleaning up dinners and also probably not eating enough in the day. And I totally splurged at my kids fundraiser last night at CiCi’s pizza. Over a year I haven’t been in a place like that and what do I do? Chow down like it’s a show down! And it’s not even GOOD! Wasn’t even worth it. So in my guilt I figured I’d weigh. WHY? Cause misery loves company. Even after the BOOM Box I still sit here feeling bleh.

Skill/Strength: Muscle Up Practice
I’m nowhere near a Muscle Up but coach made a good point that the progression work we do applies to a lot of different movements. It’s not like I don’t know that but sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of that when all you read is MU practice. I can do one thing at a time but when it comes to piecing it all together my brain goes wonky!

11/7/12 WOD

MetCon: HELEN – 3 rounds of 400m run, 21 KB Swings, 12 Pullups
This is my second time to do Helen. It was over a year ago and believe it or not I documented it. I used a black (THICK) band for pullups and a tiny Kettlebell. This time around I used 1POOD for the KB and did ring rows instead of pullups. If it weren’t for sucking at the runs I probably would have fared better. One day I won’t be writing about being horrible at running, I just have no will to want to be better at it at the moment. It obviously doesn’t help I was a piglet last night. Last year’s results: 14:17 This years results: 12:00 I seriously thought I would have fared better. I couldn’t remember my time from last year so it was a good thing I at least beat it! But after looking back I wish I had done A LOT BETTER instead of just better. Helen we shall meet again and hopefully it will be RX’d! and FASTER!

Foods: So I shared my major fail and I still can’t manage to clean everything up in general. I’m much better and getting closer to what my once disciplined self was but still not there yet. And in my whole struggle my oldest kiddo declared last night he knows he needs to straighten up the foods he eats and wants to do strict paleo starting Friday! I was like REALLY? STRICT? He says yes and well he’s 13 so that could change but just that little bit of enthusiasm helps me want to get back to being disciplined. I don’t know why mentally I just want to rebel but I do and I guess I’m finally getting over it. I had the scale to help me along. I guess it’s just a phase and it’s not the end of the world and I know it’s not hard to do the right things and I still manage to eat clean a good majority of the time. I’m just hard on myself which is part of it. I’m responsible for me and I have to own it. I need to tighten up the dinners and weekends and I’m good.

Now I just need a nap. In addition to eating poorly I slept poorly. I decided staying up late and watching American Horrow Story and Nashville were better options than SLEEP and now I am paying for it. Let’s all hold hands and pray that I get some sleep and stop eating crappy dinners! Hahah, THANKS! It’s almost FRIDAY folks! Let’s BE AWESOME!

Competing Everyday

That’s been on my brain as of late, mostly because a couple of months ago I received a COMPETE EVERYDAY wristband that I stare at everyday and just recently I was gifted a nifty COMPETE EVERYDAY shirt. “Compete Everday, BECAUSE I HAVEN’T REACHED MY LIMITS”. It’s perfect.

I’m sure the word “compete” is a turn off to a lot of people. It sounds like work. It sounds hard. Why do I want to compete everyday? Competing everyday doesn’t have to be tedious, it should be fun, it should be YOU vs. YOU, not you vs. that magazine ad, or the scale or you vs. anything but YOU! I look at my wristband and although I don’t always hit the mark in making myself better in my eyes, I do really have to reflect and tell myself that YES you are making yourself better. Yes you push your limits.

Some days my limits are set lower but some days they are set high and I push them. I have to remind myself that I get up 4 out of 7 mornings before the sun comes up to go kill a workout and stay busy the other 3 days. I strive for clean eating. I strive to be a good parent. I strive to better at life always. And I do. And I also tend to get lost in it all and whine and complain and whatever else but at the end of the day I do COMPETE. And certain days it’s truly an aggressive action but it’s not always aggressive; it is however wanting more, it’s wanting to be better for me, which in turn helps me to better for a lot of other people. It feels good, self-empowerment. I hear a lot of people say, “oh I’m not competitive” or “i’m passive, i don’t compete” But I’m not talking about team sports. I’m talking about life. Most people have desires and wants, and unless you come from the land of the rich, most things don’t just fall in your lap. It takes work. It’s takes want to. It takes competition. Sure I like to compete in general, it’s how I’m wired but I know not everyone is wired that way. I compete always, in my head! And sure I know how to relax and enjoy the simple things in life. It’s called balance. Find your balance but also find your drive. Find COMPETITION.

The BOOM Box was full of my weaknesses this morning and I was really having a hard time finding my want to. It’s true and that’s what inspired my ramblings. I showed up to work but was I there to PUSH? I was but I didn’t want to at the time.

Skill/Strength: 3 x 10 Ring Pullups. MODIFIED to Ring Rows. The movement is not HARD for me but I don’t have a lot of reps in a row. By the 3rd set I had to bend my knees to get solid reps in. My problem this morning was “hanging” for too long. Instead of just fighting through, I’d hang and lose power. And in that 3rd set I forced myself to push through all 10 reps. Granted they were even more modified but I think I won that battle by not stopping.

10/23/12 WOD

MetCon: 30 Pull Ups, 20 Wall Balls (14lbs), 10 Shoulder to Overhead (85lbs), 20 Wall Balls, 30 Pull Ups. All upper body. All weaknesses in my book! So coach didn’t want us using bands today for Pull Ups so MORE Ring Rows it is… at least I had a warm up session! Before we started we warmed up our STOH with Push Presses, Push Jerks and Split Jerks. The RX weight was 105 but that’s really pushing past limits and I wanted to finish the WOD! So I worked up to 85lbs which isn’t light for me but I cleaned the bar fine and felt I could at least do 10 reps right? Even after Pull Ups and Wall Balls! LOL, Yes I was convincing myself it’s doable.

I knocked out 10 Ring Rows, then 5, then 6 and then I don’t know what till I got to 30. I suck at Wall Balls and really dragged ass on those. Got to the STOH and pushed out 5 but lost momentum and dropped the bar. I sure as hell didn’t want to Clean it again but I did and decided I would SPLIT JERK the remaining 5 reps. Well I was doing great and did my 5th rep, dropped the bar and moved to Wall Balls. Coach NO REPPED me!!! ARGH. I didn’t step together and show I had control on the last rep! It was a mindless act, I didn’t do it on purpose :/ But I had to Clean the bar again and do that last REP! ARGH! NOW onto Wall Balls, I threw that damn ball up there, hit the mark but was unable to catch it on the way down. I was done! I struggled through the 19 reps left! Hahah, I ended up knocking them out in sets of 5 but it was a sad sight. 30 Ring Rows left and I could only bust out a handful at a time. Time: 11:14. Those damn WALL BALLS, I let them get in my head and take up too much time. One day I will own Wall Balls!

Food Front
In regards to FOODs, back to Paleo and Clean Eating for sure, but not entirely back on Sugar Detox. In truth most foods I have been eating are without sugar. It’s only been 2 days but I’m already feeling that much better. I know it’s a mental state as well but my body is definitely loving me more! Nothing exciting. But everything is tasting so much better!

Barbells For Boobs/#Occupy Boom
This Saturday Oct 27th @ 6pm! The workout is GRACE (30 Clean & Jerks for time). If you been keeping up with me, then you know you’re invited. I want you to come out and experience all of this FUN I write about day in and day out. If you would like to be a part of this event please visit the link on the right and donate at least $30 to mammograms in action. Even if you don’t want to participate, donations are welcome to support my efforts in raising money for Barbells For Boobs ツ! I’m still at $40 of my $100 goal. IF you can help, click here. Any amount is welcome. Thank you for your support.

Barbells for Boobs is a non-profit breast cancer organization whose mission is to provide funding through the Mammograms in Action @ Grant Program for qualified low income and uninsured women and men who need screening and/or diagnostic procedures in the prevention of breast cancer.

#OccupyBoom will follow B4B. Not sure what’s in store but I know it will be team workouts and loads of fun. Come see us be crazy!

Have a beautiful day peeps. Remember to be AWESOME. Today I challenge you to Paint something. I say this only because we got to paint pumpkins last night for the kids and it truly is fun. I suck at painting and in the end we did a lot of gluing but it’s a good time anyways. So go be creative and have some fun.

Fab Friday

The weather has really cooled down around here, chilly for girl babies, i.e. ME and it’s great. One of my kiddos told me today was Fab Friday. They get a little bit shorter classes for the day and an extended RECESS, that is if you’ve been a good student all week! How fun is that? Can we do that in our grown up world please? It’s also FAB because today was Crazy Sock Day at their school and don’t you know I have a ton of socks that they were able to get crazy with. I love that one of my kids picked a BACON sock to wear on one leg and mulit colors on the other leg. I say leg, because they are knee socks and well knee on me and leg on him! I clearly ♥ my kiddos and their fun spirits!

Anyhow it was also not so bad of a day at the good ol’ BOOM Box! Kinda Fab there as well. I’ve said FAB so much I feel like it’s the word of the day from Pee Wee’s Playhouse… AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!

Skill/Strength: 3 RM of Press
So I’ve been stuck at 70lb 1RM of Press for what could be FOREVER although not really, just in my head. And today was 3RM. I warmed up a bit at 35lbs then jumped up to 55lbs. Jumped to 65lbs and my lower body snuck right on in and I did a push press! YIKES, not good. Rest, Lacrosse Ball and Repeat. I’ve developed some sort of tightness/pain, whatever you want to call it, somewhere along my lat/shoulder, and well it hurts.

I roll it out with a lacrosse ball and wooowweee it sucks. I went back to my 65lb bar waiting for me and got 3 reps in but a little wonky on the last one. I didn’t have a left arm Chicken Wing today but a right arm weaksauce instead. I moved right on up to 70lbs, got 1 rep and wouldn’t you know it the damn Push Press showed up for rep 2. ARGH. I put the bar down, took a lil break and finally showed up to knock out the 70lbs. It was a little better than 65lb reps! I take that as another win 3RM at my 1RM weight, FAB! AHHHHHH!

MetCon: 3 Rounds of 1 minute KettleBell Swings (1Pood), 1 minute Ring Rows, 1 minute Wall Balls (14lb ball), 1 minute REST
KB swings are my strength for this WOD so I knew I couldn’t fail with these and I didn’t. I did the whole minute UNBROKEN all three rounds. I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it on that last round! Ring Rows after KB swings was no walk in the park, my first round was weak but I stepped it up on rounds 2 and 3. Finally WALL BALLS, my kryptonite. Last Community WOD there was only 10lb balls left to use and those were delightful for as much as a wall ball can be delightful. Add 4lbs to a med ball and it’s not so delightful! I really dragged ass on those. I don’t think I ever managed to get more that 13 in one minute. Not a good showing at all. Overall I ended with 186 total reps. Hopefully that was a challenging mark for the rest of the day but I can only hope.

Have a FAB (AHHHHH!) Friday Folks! Make it an AWESOME weekend and make AWESOME contagious!!!

WHY YES IT IS FRIDAY!


It’s Good Friday, Opening Day, Resurrection Sunday Weekend & Kids Baseball Weekend! So much going on! We will be busy bees indeed 🙂

So I may be blogging but I fell off course by forgetting to take a picture of the whiteboard today! DARN IT! I was so beat down I literally forgot.

Skill/Strength was RING ROWS, 3 sets of max reps. Key to a successful rep is having your hands touch your chest. This is not easy. My max reps were weak! In the picture below you will notice this guy has his feet on a step ladder thing. We just had our feet fully extended but on the ground. If you couldn’t execute the movement with your legs straight then you brought your feet under you.

And for the oh so wonderful MetCon – DEATH BY CLEAN AND JERK! The RXd weight was 95lbs. I tried that and it didn’t work out so well. So I went with 75 lbs. I felt so sad about not finishing my week off RXd! Mon/Tue and Thurs were all RX workouts for me. Ah well I think the 7789707 pushups I did yesterday did me in. I managed to complete 7 full rounds before the death got me. I’m definitely feeling the hurt from yesterday and this morning!

Also I finally got those lamb riblets cooked up. They were alright I suppose. The flavor was there but they were still a little tough to eat. Overall it wasn’t a FAIL just not great success.


Hope y’all have a super duper weekend!

Fake IT till YOU MAKE IT

I know we all have those days where you just want to stay in bed all day but you know you can’t. You gotta hit the pavement running regardless. Today is one of those days. My plate is full, there’s a LOT of stuff going on and mentally I’m just checked out.

Yesterday I skipped out on my post because my Dad had a heart procedure being done and I was out all day hanging in the hospital. Dad is good. All is well. I thought about blogging from my phone because I had a lot of down time but it just isn’t the same as banging away at the keyboard. A whole day off and I’m back! Aren’t y’all excited? NO? That’s what I thought.

So I’m already blah for the day but I gotta get up and get going to DO WORK at the BOOM BOX and I just am not feeling it. I slept fine, my body isn’t falling apart so I just had to FAKE it till I made it. And that’s what I did. And it worked out alright. Now if I can just get through the work day!

1/19/12

As you see the Skill/Strength wasn’t too bad. Ring Rows aren’t so much my enemy as other movements are but they do wear you out. I managed to do 16 of the 30 ring rows with my legs straight out. But I did break down and have to bend my knees to maintain full extension and what not. At least I’ve made some progress 🙂

The MetCon was a tiny but killer doozy of a workout. Burpees with Ground to Over Head using a 35lb plate. I thought it would take me longer and in reality it should have taken me less. I paused a couple of times as I wanted to just quit halfway through. Once I was committed I was hoping for sub 3 in time…. BARELY over 3 minutes. I should have never paused!!! There’s a lot of shoulda, coulda, woulda’s in my life lately. I gotta get that under control.

I almost forgot about holding a squat for time POST WOD and I sucked at it 😦 Although all day pain is gone my hip flexibility is still not super duper and it started burning about 30 seconds in but I managed to pull out over 2 minutes. I should be able to hold it forever but I can not. I am sorely disappointed in my lack of flexibility/tolerance, etc. I really do hope it’s just my hip that hinders me and not “my head” in general.

As far as foods go, I’ve been sticking to my standard meals. I had family in town to check in on my dad and I invited them over to my house for dinner. They all are unaware of Paleo and the whole lifestyle that we are throwing ourselves into but they are aware they need to step it up nutrition wise. I thought it’d be a perfect time to share with them how YUMMY the food can be and still be super good for you. I made them Paleo Meatloaf, Cauliflower Mash and Asparagus which I posted about the other day. They seemed and acted as if it were quite pleasant and I’m hoping they truly felt that way as well. Score 1 for spreading the good health to family members. Now I just have to get them the recipes so they can get to work 🙂

The night before I attempted to cook my first WHOLE chicken. I know I’m behind in the “cooking” game. Whole chickens… that’s nothing to most, but to me that’s WORK. I thought it would be so time consuming and complicated and I have no idea why. We always buy chicken breasts… organic, cage free, etc…. spendy! So this time we bought a whole chicken even ranked better than the chicken breasts in quality and it came out BEAUTIFUL in appearance and TASTE! I only took a before picture because I was so excited at how pretty it was when it was done that I forgot to take an AFTER pic. Plus the kids were ready to test it out as well! It was EXCELLENT and juicy and overall great 🙂

A little over 4lbs

Of course I had to google on how to cook it and Everyday Paleo was there to save me 🙂

I preheated the oven to 450°, Rinsed off chicken, patted it dry. Doused it with salt inside and out (could have scaled down on the dousing though) and then added a little white pepper. I only added pepper because I didn’t believe only salt would be sufficient. NOTHING ELSE! THAT’s IT! Throw it in a roasting pan, dish, whatever and bake it for an hour. Perfection! HOMERUN!

Chicken isn't so "pretty" but it tasted GREAT. Served up with some Sweet Potato Latkes and Steamed Brocolli

So that’s all she wrote today folks. I forgot to defrost meat AGAIN, so I don’t know what dinner will be but I’ll figure it out. Have a Happy Thursday. And I’ll be seein’ y’all tomorrow 🙂