Voluntary Pain

Well. Today is the end of week two of our Cross Fit adventure. And, day six of my Paleo six week challenge. Today's workout kicked. My. Ass.

Up and down.

The pre-workout was 2 100 meter runs at 75%
2 100 meter runs with 10 walking lunges
2 100 meter side straddles
2 100 meter runs at 90%
10 push ups
and 10 ring something or others. Basically mid air pull ups on the gymnastic rings

THEN, the workout was, well, it was for time, in teams today. There were only two of us there today, three including our trainer. His name was Mountain by the way, which I found really cool. So, he decided to do the Team workout with us. Which, was awesome. The Team WOD today was as follows:

100 Wall Balls - For those of you who dont know what a 'wall ball' is, well, it's just a little bit of hell
100 dumbell swings? My mind is mush right now, so, it's something like that. Basically, ground to overhead with it
200 sit ups
100 pull ups
10 rope climbs

Now. Here's how this all worked out. One of us couldnt do sit ups. One of us couldnt get up the rope (give you one guess who). One of us had an achey shoulder, so the pull ups werent going to be any good.

So. Only one of us could be doing anything at any time, and only in sets of ten, but you're really trying to bust ass because you want your Team to get the best score possible. Long story short, we finished this in 18:53, give or take a few seconds. I ripped through 40 or 50 of the wall balls, and really, my last ten were shit on form, but I got them done lol. And, I did quite a few situps. I can still feel them as I write. So. It kicked my ass, but as I was just told, I had the guts to show up, so, I kicked some ass myself ;) Thanks S!

The Paleo. Well, it's actually gone really well. Until last night. I started to have a sweet tooth the night before last. The first night, I ate my weight in strawberries. Quite literally. Definitely got my fiber in that day. However, last night, well, last night, it hit me with a vengence. I was three steps from walking out the door to go buy a piece of chocolate cake. I could have made one of my rockin' cakes, but then I would have eaten more.

Dont cringe though, I didnt do it. I have pretty good will power, but last night was hard. What I did do, I'm paying for today however. I had a small bowl of Multi Grain Cheerios. I figured, much better then chocolate cake and for whatever reason, fed my craving for sweet. Well, my body was PISSED. And today, I've paid for it.

Let's put it this way, the cereal and milk hit my stomach hard. As though I were standing at one end of a football field waiting with my mouth open for Ben Roethlisberger to launch a football straight into my stomach. He's got that kind of arm I think. Anyway, my point. I wont be straying again for the remainder of the six weeks. It wasnt worth it. Not that it was the worst choice, but it certainly didnt help my cause. I guess that's about it for now. OH!! And, I've only lost two pounds, but in just over two weeks, I've lost three inches off of my waist. I had to measure about ten times before I believed it myself. There's a selling point for any potential Cross Fitters out there.

6 week Paleo Challenge

So. Two days ago I started something that kind of goes hand in hand with Cross Fit. The Six week Challenge. It's Paleo/Crossfit and basically clean primal eating. Here's what it is:


The Rules: Eat only meats, fish, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds for six weeks.

Do not eat anything processed, dairy, sugar of any kind, chips, starches, breads.

Ingest no alcohol.

Take Fish Oil Supplements, drink a ton of water, sleep eight hours and work out like a champ.

Day 1 of the Challenge: Get measured and weighed. Get your body fat calculated, take a pic and do CINDY.

Last day of Week Six: Get measured and weighed. Get your body fat calculated, take a pic and do CINDY.

CINDY is a Cross Fit workout. All Cross Fit workouts are named after men or women. Which is nice, because when you hurt like hell, you can call them whores or bastards. I started with Jackie. She kicked my ass so bad that towards the end I screwed up my counts about ten times. Hopefully my trainer doesn't read this. I was surprised by the 20th thruster that I could remember my name.

The nutrition change isn't so tough for me. It's very close to how we already eat. The most difficult part I've found over the past couple of days, isn't even sweets. It's been dairy. I love cheese. Adore it. If it were people, I might consider leaving Jen for it. It's tough not to have milk, cheese, skinny cows, etc. However, I haven't had any. And I wont. The good thing is, I do love meat. So, I've been gorging on chicken breast, veggies and fresh strawberries. Delicious. Then again, this is day two. I'm sure I'll have some moments, but my resolve is pretty good.

One of the other difficult parts is the competition in my household. Jen isn't doing the six week challenge, but she is doing Cross Fit. And, she's SMOKED me at all of the timed or counted rounds. She hasn't worked out in six years. I work out all of the time. What's wrong with this picture? lol I'm ok with it, but it sure is an eye opener.

I was last in everything for my first workout, which I'm also not used to, but again, I'm ok with it. I had a really supportive class that day, and no one looked at me funny or said a word, at least not until after I left lol No, seriously, really cool group of people and lots of motivation. And pain.

My body still hurts in places. Right now my motto is 'temporary pain for long term gain'. I need to keep saying it over and over. That, and my friend Korin says I'm going to love my ass after a while. So, me, being a booty girl, holds onto that.

My challenge goes until the end of September and I will post before and after pictures. Here's to fitness and the future.

Cross Fit

Just a small break from my 30 days of intensity lol. A lot of people have been asking about the lifestyle Jen and I just started, so I thought I'd put it out there.

Most of you know I work out pretty consistently. I've been very frustrated the last few months, because no matter how 'on' my nutrition has been, or how many two a day workouts I've done, not much has changed. So, for the last month, I've just kind of sat back a lot and tried to figure out which direction to go in next.

I'm fortunate to have a sister and brother in law who are ridiculously fit and kind. I thought this was a rare combination. Until they told me about Cross Fit. They attend a Cross Fit 'Box' as it's called, down in southern Cali. During my last visit a few weeks ago, I expressed frustration over my lack of progress. They extoled the virtues of Cross Fit convinced and me to check it out.

I'd looked at what I thought were all of the Cross Fit's in our area and didnt feel like it was something we were going to be able to do. Everything was too far, or too expensive. I'm still not sure why, but during those first few days of searching, the Cross Fit we ended up joining wasnt showing up. Suddenly one day, there it was, Diablo Cross Fit. At first, the plan was for me to join, and if Jen thought she might like it, she'd join later. I really wanted her to join, but I figured I'd let her make the decision. So, we made our appointment to go check it out.

I was addicted the second I walked through the roll-up door. It's not your typical 24 Hour Fitness 'gym' with treadmills, universal machines etc. It's gymnastic rings, medicine balls, walls full of weight bars and racks and a lot of sweat. Pain in the air and people all around who are loving it. The perfect sick environment for me. Life changing. Which is what I've been looking for. The trainers we met all have flawless bodies, and attitudes to match. You wouldnt expect it. They're all really kind, positive and open to any and everyone willing to give their all.

It was such a positive visit that Jen ended up joining with me the same day. Cross Fits are very family oriented which is another unique aspect of it all. Everyone at our Box has small children and brings them with them to workouts. It's kind of funny because the first day I went, there was a super fit dad, jumping rope, with his six month old little boy about two feet away in a stroller having a bottle. Awesome. They do family nights at Chevy's and other family oriented events. They do co-op type buying for organic foods, nutrition classes and on an on.

It's the environment and support system I've been searching for, and the right fit. The fact that Jen is willing to do it, and come together with the nutrition at home, is also one of the components that's been missing. It's painful right now, but it's going to be more then worth it. It's tough. I'm tired a lot, very sore, but again, worth every second. Plus, I like a little pain, so it's right up my alley ;) I'll be done with the Elements classes as of Friday. You have to do four elements classes before you can get into the regular classes. I'm excited and terrified all at the same time.

I'm nervous before every class. They say that that's good, so I'm already doing something right lol. So, there you have it. It's very new, but I see this being a long term life changing decision.