Monthly Archives: December 2010

Cure For Cramps?

Posted by beautifullystrong in Crossfit Workouts and tagged with , , ,

Goooood morning! It is the last Thursday of 2010, and my last Thursday here on the East side :) Today is Nick’s last day in the office, and our last night in our house. Holy jeez…I should definitely be packing right now, but I’m going to take a few short moments with you while I drink my coffee!

Yesterday, they came back…dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn….those crazy cramps. Guys, if you’re not interested in reading about this, now would be the time to turn back. It’s not going to get any worse than that, well maybe it will, we never know do we? So, here’s your chance to back away from the computer… :)

Okay, if you’re still with me, HELLO! So yesterday, the cramps, they were BAD!!! Last time this happened I was writhing in pain and Nick didn’t know what to do, and we came to the conclusion I wasn’t drinking enough water and it made it far worse than it needed to be. Well, this time, I started out the month STRONG on the water intake, and slowly fell off that wagon as the month went on. The closer it got to when I thought it would be starting up again, I panicked and started sucking water like it was my job…but…too late. Yesterday came and hit me like a ton of bricks.

Ps: Can I just say that I find it very humorous that I started this blog about exercise, and it seems to be that the thing I have the most emails or questions about, and the highest hitting post is all about lady stuff? :-p Who would have thought…haha.

ANYWAY! The cramps hit me like a wall, and instantly I started pacing….and swaying…and squatting down, standing up, squatting down, standing up. I can NOT sit still when I am in pain. This is why it makes NOOOOOO sense at ALLLL to me that women in labor would be put flat on their back! It hurts so much more when you’re stationary. Yes, I know that cramps are not labor, although, I’m feeling very prepared for labor with my history of cramps, but its the same muscle, and it just makes sense that we need to move! Naturally my body just wants to wiggle and move as much as possible! As soon as I sit down or lay down, it’s exponentially more painful.

I was doing squats in the middle of the kitchen while whimpering and crying when Nick asked me if I wanted to go to the gym to see if that would make me feel better. Ha! Old Jen would have slowly turned my tear soaked face up at him, with a look of disgust and would have asked “does it LOOK like I want to go to the gym???”. Maybe I wouldn’t have…but that’s what one side of my brain was saying yesterday anyway. The other side of me was thinking, Yes….let’s MOVE! Luckily, that is the side that spoke up.

I slowly waddled to the car, whimpering the whole way (oh it is FUN up in this house when those things are happening….trust me!). I decided on the car ride over that I was just going to row. I was going to row a 5k. That is 5000 meter, 3.2 miles! :-D  A few years back when I was part of a regular gym, I got on a rower and could NOT row for even 5 minutes straight. Rowing is not as easy as it looks! Well yesterday I was bound and determined to do a 5k…and guess what?! As soon as I got on that rower, the cramps just POOF, went away. I sat on that rower, rowing obviously, for 22:18 minutes STRAIGHT! It. Was. Awesome!!!

Guess what guys…in life, we’re going to have suffering. That is not being negative..its just the truth. We will have suffering in life. However, there is such a beautiful side to this…

We get to choose our suffering. :)

Yesterday, instead of suffering with cramps, I chose to “suffer” on the rower. That is SO much more PRODUCTIVE and so much better FOR me!

As soon as I got off the rower, almost instantly, the pain came back. I ran for the pullup bar. Threw in some pullups. Then did some double unders. Finally, after all of that…they were gone. Without me even realizing it, my cramps were gone. I had literally worked those little suckers right into the GROUND!!

So, lesson learned from this? Drink more water, and someday when I go into labor I’m just going to start rowing till it’s time to push :) hehe :-D

Have an incredible day :) Love you all!

xoxo, Jen

T-Minus 11520 Minutes

Posted by beautifullystrong in Uncategorized and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

 

Lifes a journey, not a destination

 

I am sitting in probably the only clutter-free spot in our house right now; on our sunshine-yellow couch that will soon be taken away by a stranger. Looking around are boxes full of “must-haves”, the few things we have found important enough to us that they earned a coveted spot in the back of the Expedition for the trip west; the rest will go. It’s beginning to feel a little sad in here.

Only seven short days from now we will be having our going away party with all the people we love here in Beverly, and the following morning, heading west…well south, THEN west :) Since I’ve shared so much of myself in the last year, I want to share a little about Jen BC (Before Crossfit)…

Over the last six years, I have had MANY conversations with my parents about moving to California. It’s a little odd thinking back on it, considering I had never visited California until March of 2010! I just had a feeling that I was supposed to live there; and I’m not talking LA, I’m talking a small-ish coastal beach town where I could learn to surf and be “crunchy”, haha. I am not really either of those things, but really secretly (well maybe not so secretly) want to be, hehe.

So anyway, over and over I would have conversations about moving to Calfornia, all of which NO ONE took seriously. Why not?? Well, I had a litttttttle problem with commiting to goals that I had. I would start a workout regiment, done after a month. I would try a new crazy diet, done after a month. I would talk about moving to California, changed my mind after a couple of months. I wanted to do this for a career, or that for a career, then I would get distracted on to something else. Not super appealing, but I did a lot of it. So, summer of 2009 one of my close friends got transferred from his company here in Massachusetts to the west coast branch in San Luis Obispo, CA. I had a renewed interest in moving out, and thought, HERES MY CHANCE! I’ll know someone, it’s a small beach town, this will be GREAT! Then, I got accepted to a program that I had applied to here in New Hampshire for health education (at least that was consistent, my interest in health!) and decided to stay for that. Just six short days after I was SUPPOSED to pack up and go out west, I met Nick at the Salem Culture Festival. Whoa BABY I would NOT have been happy if I had missed out on THAT one! On our second date, Nick mentioned (not to get ahead of himself of course) that he wanted to eventually go back to California, and asked me if that was something I would be interested in….um, yes PLEASE!

So after much thought, I decided not to do the health ed program (THANK GOD) and decided to stay here, join Crossfit and start eating like a caveman. Yep…those were the best choices I have ever made…and more importantly, STUCK TO!  :) I have learned more about health in the last year than I would have EVER learned in that program, and the two versions of health (the one the school would have taught me, and the one I’ve learned for free here) couldn’t BE more different!

So here I am, a year and a half later, heading for California anyway…a place that I truly have always felt is where I belong…don’t ask me why! Things are really starting to fall into place for our future practice, right down to the font on our logo! Last week I spent three days in the office with Nick and got to see the office, how it flows, how it thrives and how it functions! It was INCREDIBLE! I have struggled a bit with being “just a C.A.” for a little bit now…and for you C.A.’s (chiropractic assistants) out there reading this, please don’t take offense…I knew nothing! See, I was a receptionist for the last three years, and I had no interest in moving across the country to continue doing that…and I was constantly hearing comments like “oh so you’re going to be Nick’s receptionist?” While I felt that it was going to be more than that, I really didn’t have the information to say otherwise. Well guess what…one of probably the most valuable things I learned while I was in the office with Nick was that it is NOT a receptionist job…wow! Honestly, the C.A. is like a conductor for an orchestra, or a stage manager for a play…Nick MAY be the star of the show, but the conductor or stage manager is JUST as important in making sure everything goes smoothly and stays on course. There were so many little tiny details that the girls covered that the doctors never even had to think about, so that all of their energy could go toward giving the best possible care to their patients. To top it all off, I get to be the ambassador of first impressions for all our future patients! :-D ..and get to play with the kids and hold babies…just another perk :)

I am SO excited to start this important career.

So, starting next week, I will keep you all posted on our journey, with the cool things we do and see along the way, and of course a few handstand pictures as well :) :) I love and appreciate you ALL, and hope you had the best holiday yet :)

Much love,

Jen

Crank It UP!

Posted by beautifullystrong in Crossfit Workouts and tagged with , , ,

It’s that time…

 

I’ve decided its time to get serious…about STRENGTH!

I have been doing Crossfit for a year now, and while I have had some SERIOUSLY incredible results, I think its time for me to stop being so afraid of getting STRONG…and start throwing around some heavier WEIGHT!

I’m ready for the defined arms

I’m ready for the 6-pack

I’m ready for a bigger butt

I’m ready for that line that goes down your chest defining your pecs, ahaha, yes, I’m ready for that!

 

I’ve definitely heard some protest when I’ve mentioned my deeply rooted desire to gain a bit more muscle…well, to those who have protested, I ask you…

 

Are youuuu surrrrre??…

 

Here’s what I’m thinking…

 

Strong is the NEW Skinny!!

Muscle UP! :-D (pun intended :-p)

 

Love,

Jen

!!!!!HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAUTIFULLY STRONG PROJECT!!!!!

Posted by beautifullystrong in Uncategorized

Holy moly, I can’t believe it’s been one whole year since I started this blog! Well almost.. :)  Almost 200 blog posts later, I still love writing to you all as much as I did that first day when I told you that I wanted to stick to this CRAZY thing called CROSSFIT! Over the last year it has evolved to not only give you the details of my Crossfit adventure, but it has let you peak in the windows of my life a little too…it’s okay…I don’t mind you watching. :-p

{Get you head out of the gutter…jeez}

I’ve had some bumps, bruises, blood, tears, LOTS of sweat, failures and LOTS of success. I am literally not the same person I was a year ago. I’m 20 pounds lighter, but WAY heavier on muscle. I am 3 pant sizes smaller, and heading toward 4. I went from THINKING I once had a 6-pack to realizing that those were skin creases, and now I actually AM close to that 6-pack. I went from the mentality that thin is in, to realizing that strong is sexy. I went from struggling mentally and physically with that dang green band, to recently getting my first unassisted kip. Have I yet to get one since? No…but I know that I have the strength to do one, its mental..and I’ll get around it. SOON!

I use to say, “I can’t do this…”, now I say, “I can’t do this yet…but I will”

I use to be a MAJOR grump every Saturday morning before a Crossfit workout because the Saturday workouts terrified me, recently I just participated in my first ever Crossfit competition. I wish I could say it was grump-free…it wasn’t…YET :-p

I used to think whole grains were good for me, now I educate people on why it isn’t..and of course live by that myself.

I could go on all day folks…seriously..the last year of my life I have grown MORE than I may have EVER…in all my years combined. I’m sure that’s not true…there was PROBABLY a lot of learning required going from being inside a womb to looking around, learning a language from scratch, learning how to walk, etc etc…that probably trumps this..but you get me. :)

Have there been struggles this past year? Oh yes..and honestly, struggles that I didn’t see coming. Sure I figured there was going to be pain in growth, but I didn’t think I would lose friends due to this kind of change (as in personal growth). I’ve lost friends because I’m “too positive”, because I sound like a “walking blog post”, because they just don’t have anything in common with me anymore I guess…does that suck? Yes…am I going to change back to the way I was before to get those people back? No. Why not? I wasn’t happy before. End of story. I’m happy now and people who truly love you would want nothing more for you than for you to be HAPPY…’nuff said right? Oh! AND the best way to GROW is to surround yourself with people who inspire you to be  a better person. Check!

So thank you for being awesome and interested in what I have to say to the point where when I slack, you’re on me about it…you’re all a HUGE part of why I keep writing in this blog…and I love you all so much for it.

There are going to be LOTS of fun exciting things in the NEXT year; lots of life changing events, and I’m sure lots of funny stories along the way. I’m really excited to hang out with you guys (close to) everyday for the NEXT year…let’s see where life brings us, shall we? :)

BEFORE

NOW

This Is Gonna Be A Good Life!

Posted by beautifullystrong in Crossfit Workouts and tagged with , ,

Gooood morning!

I have to say, I forgot how GOOD it feels to sit in front of a blank page (whether it be electronically or in the form of a notebook) and just begin to write. Over the last couple months, when things were getting crazy I think I would have fared better by blogging rather than thinking of it as one more thing I needed to do. It’s pretty cathartic I must say.

As I mentioned in the last post, Saturday was Nick and I’s first ever Crossfit competition. We won!! Ha…I’m kidding. We did however tie for last :-p A three-way tie!! haha. Doesn’t even matter, I am SO glad that we did it; Nick made the whole thing look easy, and I exceeded my own expectations! Jared, you were great too :) :) Here are some pictures!:

I must have done 40ish reps of deadlifts...at 115. Me bum hurts!

This is my favorite!

So the workouts were hard, and I was thoroughly good and sore for the next two days. The MOST sore I have ever been in my life! haha. Am I glad that I did it??…you BET! I would do it again too :)

The rest of the weekend was a blur of spending time with friends, catching up over coffee, screening for Franson Family Chiropractic and spending some time with the Franson’s picking their brain about opening a practice. After an incredible conversation on the way home about life, and where we saw ourselves in the next few years, we got home and watched a video that Amanda Cannon Photography had posted of us (our engagement shoot)…and I want to share it with you. Just so YOU’RE warned, because I was not…I wept like a little girl, haahhaa. Okay, maybe not that dramatically, but I DEFINITELY cried…

So…here it is (captured and created by none other than the talented Mrs. Amanda Cannon of Amanda Cannon Photography): Make sure you have your speakers up!

I have 9 whole days of work left, and I can’t WAIT! I am SOOOO excited to work in an environment that is loving and supportive, with my teammate :) I have so much faith that together we will rock some people’s lives! :-D ANNNNDDDD, in a couple of weeks I get to have a little taste of it when I work alongside some of my favorite people on the planet at Franson Family Chiropractic to soak up everything Miss Alexis, Sarah and Chaney want to throw at me!! I love this life! :-D

Daisy Dukes, Bikinis On Top!

Posted by beautifullystrong in Crossfit Workouts and tagged with , , , , , ,

Hello! I AM in fact alive, everything is okay, and I still intend to write in my blog :) Just to clear up a few things :-p

Now that we have that out of the way, let me fill you in a little on why it is I have been…well…sparse!

Some of you know this, and some of you may not…but there is going to be a LOT to write about in a month…and the reason for that is…

…Nick and I are moving to California! Santa Barbara to be exact! HOLY SCHNIKES!!! Soooo, as you can imagine, things have been a little crazy! I officially have 10 full work days left after today, and then I am on to the next chapter of my/our story :) So why are we moving?!! Well…as you guys know, Nick is a chiropractor, so we are heading west to start our very own practice, Santa Barbara Family Chiropractic. We will not only be offering chiropractic, but education on how to eat, move and think well to gain optimal health! I am so freakin nervous, scared, excited, sad, thrilled, etc etc etc…but what keeps me sane is knowing that I have all the faith in the world with Nick’s ability as a doctor, and our combined ability to rock people’s lives as a team!

This is major.

Not only are we moving, but we’re selling EVERYTHING we own, and driving out with whatever fits in the back of the Expedition (mainly clothes and books!).

We’re taking a 15 day road trip to get out there, heading all the way south to Hotlanta, and all the way west across the southern border to Santa Barbara. We plan on doing handstands in every state, and hitting up as many Crossfits as possible along the way. Once I have our exact route, I’ll post it and maybe you guys can give me some ideas for things to do along the way/Crossfits to visit! January 5th is our date of departure :)

Since Oprah lives there, I’m planning on making her our client :) Don’t laugh… :) Global marketing!

Okay, on a different topic, I need to fill you in on some things that have happened, are happening since I last spoke with you!

1) I GOT MY FIRST UNASSISTED KIPPING PULLUP!!! I have only gotten it that once…but whatEVER, I got one! I didn’t even realize I did one! Much like the first pushup on my toes I got, haha.

2) I am going to be doing my FIRST EVER Crossfit team competition tomorrow!! Holy JEEZ! If you want to check out the three workouts we are going to be doing as a team tomorrow, here is the link! HERE! I’m not even going to go through the negative self talk on this one…in the past I would have. I KNOW I am less experienced than the majority of people in the competition, maybe even all, but I also know that I am going there for me…for the experience…and to push myself harder than I have before. That much I know I can do.

So…I’m glad to have finally bit the bullet and faced the incredibly daunting task of writing this post after waiting a month to do it! and I’m looking forward to crushing any fears of what tomorrow will be like, by taking the moment by the horns and just having at it! Woot!! BRING. IT. ON!!

 

Current reining champions! Crosbie, Alicia and JP!