IBBC/SBFC TEAM!!

We all plan on coming back a certified Crossfit Level 1 TRAINERS!!!!

7 rounds

7 front squats (165# for men RX’d, modified to 65# for intensity)

7 chest to bar pull-ups

Check out Crossfitter’s doing the workout HERE

Chest-to-bar pull ups

As you can see here, Jason K and other fitter-than-most were doing this workout in 3+ minutes…it took me 9:50. I DID, however, get my first, second, third and fourth (maybe more) CHEST TO BAR pull-up yesterday!!!! I was able to do a few un-assisted for the workout, but then had to switch to the orange band to finish them up with proper form. I guess all that time I thought I couldn’t do pull-ups I was actually STRONG enough, just didn’t have the coordination!! So here I am, a week after stringing my first set of pull-ups together, able to do a chest to bar…effing NUTS!

On another health related note, lack of coffee equals (honestly) goodness for Jen’s body; I have not been bloated this week, I feel more energy in my workouts and I dont’ feel SICK when I drink a hot, comforting cup of goodness! I had a decaf Americano this morning at my girl’s Wednesday breakfast, and all was good in this hood While I don’t think I would even have DECAF on the regular, it “felt” good to do it today So, here I am, at Starbucks drinking chamomile, and being fine with it Plus, I dont’ have that yucky, post-coffee, taste in my mouth. Why can’t I ALWAYS remember this feeling!?

I hope you all have an incredible day!! T-minus 3 days until the Crossfit Level 1 Cert!!

Love,

Jen

The other night I got a call from my good friend, Amanda. We chatted about this and that, and after a while she asked me how things with Nick were; my response was “better than ever”, and I meant EVER! I feel like we have improved and grown even more together, figured each other out a little bit better, and learned how to do this all the while being together 24/7 (work and life :-p). While I was listing these reasons to Amanda, I hear Nick from the other room call out:

“And you found your definite purpose, so you’re not in your head so much!”

Me??? In my head?? Say WHAT?!  I keeeed. Yes, for those of you who do NOT know that side of me, I used to tend to get all up in my own head quite frequently, thinking WAY too much about things that were not important to think about, or that would only cause myself harm. What I FOUND is that when I defined my definite purpose, which was: “To introduce and excited as many people as possible to Crossfit, while being a leading authority in the Crossfit Kids community”, I started searching for tools on how to BECOME this person that I want to be, rather than thinking twice about an interaction that took place earlier that day. Combine all of this with a full schedule of working out, eating healthy foods, taking fish oil, and of course being ADJUSTED!, well heck, I’m feeling pretty darn good right now :-p

Other side benefits of finding my definite purpose have been:

~More confidence

~More enthusiasm for what I am doing

~More energy

~Improved relationship with everyone I encounter

~More positive

~Did I mention MORE CONFIDENCE?!

I think gaining more confidence has been the most exciting “side benefit” for me. When I go next door to Innate Fitness to help Andrew teach on Thursday nights, I feel MUCH more comfortable in front of people, I co-taught a WORKSHOP with Nick, I was one of the coaches for the group workout a couple Saturday’s ago, I feel like I’m speaking up more in meetings, and volunteering to take on more and more. I feel like myself again. When I was in Beverly I felt like I ate, breathed, and slept all things CROSSFIT…when we moved here I lost it a little…more than a little actually (but it wasn’t completely gone!). I feel since defining my definite purpose I am back to the girl who wakes up thinking about kipping pull-ups or this morning it was a book idea/seminar tour that I would love to do in the future that means a lot to me (but I’m going to keep that one on the DL for a bit :-p).

How to find your Definite Purpose:

Sit down with a pen and paper and start writing! Write down what gets you excited to get out of bed in the morning, what skills you think that you excel at, where you think your gifts are. Then pick the things that are HIGHEST on your list of values (if you do not pick things within your values, they will not be sustainable. Anything that is not honest, true or good is, by law (of the universe, and maybe the government as well, haha) not sustainable…it WILL break down over time. So, pick only that which is HIGH on your list of values.

Once you have shortened your Definite Purpose down to one POWERFUL sentence, its important to map out a plan of action for reaching that purpose: How are you going to do it? What do you need to learn to become that person? Who do you need to become to reach this goal?

Once you have it mapped out, you want to visualize the person you become who is able to achieve this definite purpose. The Laws of Success by Napolean Hill recommends meditating and visualizing that person in the life that you want for 30 minutes a day! Yes, that is a huge commitment, but ‘the dominating thoughts of your mind eventually reproduce themselves in outward bodily action and gradually transform themselves into physical reality’.

Success demands singleness of purpose.

~Vince Lombardi

Have a wonderful day xoxo

Jen

“The Chief”

5 rounds

3 min AMRAP

3 power cleans (135/95 – I used 75)

6 pushups

9 squats

1 min rest

Now, I went into this KNOWING that I may not have as many rounds as everyone else, because I presently struggle with pushups; HOWEVER, I COMMITTED myself to doing the whole workout on my toes for the pushups(and I don’t mean halfsie pushups, I’m talking kissing the freakin’ floor pushups), and by golly, I did just that!

13 total rounds + 1 power clean =

40 {75#} power cleans

78 (TOE) pushups!

117 squats

If that is not exciting enough, (I can TELL that you’re freaking out with excitement :-p) I reached a goal that I have had for a year and a half (at least a year and a half that lululemon’s goal tender had been reminding me that I hadn’t reached my goal anyway…)!!!…

…::to string together 10 UNASSISTED kipping pull-ups::…

I FINALLY did it!!! Not once, maybe twice or three times…to the point where Nick told me I need to rest for the day :-p Doesn’t he know that when you get a new toy alllll you want to do is it play with that new toy?!

I’ve come a long way since my first ever pull-up in CENTRAL PARK on January 6, 2011…and no, I don’t have any actually pictures to PROVE my first pull-up…but it did happen there, after all these failed attempts

::and look at me now, 10 unassisted, consecutive kippers!! ::

Great day in the gym followed by a great date night with my love…which will be followed by a GREAT weekend…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**::Weekend Ketchup::**

I know that I haven’t talked much about the wedding in the last, ohhhh, year and a half since we’ve been engaged, but with the practice, the move, making buddies and trying to feel like I LIVE here, it hasn’t been the forefront of our world. Now that it is two months away (as of a week from today) things are definitely starting to pick up! This weekend alone we:

• BOOKED OUR HONEYMOON!!!!…TOOOOO MEXICO!!!!!!  I am BEYOND excited to be on vacation for a whole week, in the hot Mexican air, in an all inclusive resort where we won’t need to think about anything, besides, “do we want to lay on the beach or snorkel??” Trust me, I’m counting down the days :-p
• I had my first DRESS FITTING/ALTERATIONS!!!! I was sooooo lucky to have some of my SB ladies there with me, you all made me feel like the most beautiful person on the planet!! I love you ladies!!!!
• Finalized our CATERING MENU!!!! I am sooooooooooooo excited to eat that food again at the wedding hahaha.
• My bridesmaid’s have their dresses!!
• I am ALMOST finished addressing all 200 invites :-p

Great productive weekend with a little game of ‘Nick chases Jen up a mountain for ¾ of a mile’ to top it off (no joke, it was intense, I thought my lungs were bleeding when I got to the top) :-p We have fun ‘round here :-p

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Much love,

Jen

Nick training in Nevada

“Success is doing ordinary things, extraordinarily well”-Jim Rohn

My goal is to be an AMAZING coach…not just an adequate enough coach, or even a GOOD coach…I want to be f$@*ing AMAZING. In order for that to be the case, I have a lot of work ahead of me. While I KNOW I have the heart to be an amazing coach, the passion, the enthusiasm; I have a whole lot of skills I need to tuck in my back pocket in addition to those gifts.

One of those skills will be checked off the list next weekend at the Level 1 Crossift certification. I am so excited to be around a whole room full of like-minded individuals who are all pursuing the opportunity to change people’s lives, just like I will be.

While I used to chase dreams for a whole hot second, and bail as soon as it looked difficult, or I looked inadequate…I feel like my mind set has changed dramatically in the last month! I am feeling a huge shift in my perspective as far as looking at that same difficult situation (let’s say I needed a particular degree for a career that I wanted to pursue), and while in the past I would have run if it looked like too large of a hurdle, I now am looking at it as one more tool I need to obtain to be a bad-ass TRAINER…an INCREDIBLE trainer. I have had the pleasure of having one particular challenge look me in the eye over and over again in the last week; that challenge comes in the form anatomy. ”Wait, you’re going to be a trainer and you’re not super sure on anatomy??? Say WHAT?” Now hold up…I never had any interest in this subject of movement AT ALL in my former years (up until two years ago) so I never did what I needed to obtain that information. Luckily, I’m still a vibrant young lass, and have the functional capabilities to learn new tricks! So rather than beating myself up and running the other direction yelling, “I am not worthy!!!” I will chalk this up as an OBVIOUS presentation from the universe of the next tool I need in my tool box in order to be the best trainer I can possibly be!  

Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell ‘em “Certainly I can!” then get busy and find out how to do it!

-Theodore Roosevelt

Since upping my workouts, I have been….EXHAUSTED!!! I mean…EXHAAAAUUUUUSSSTTTEDDDD!! Going to bed at 8:30, taking naps in the middle of the day, incapable of waking up for ANYTHING in the morning…exhausted. Poor Nick has had to deal with me saying “Why am I so tired?!?!” pretty much every hour of the day for the last few weeks…he doesn’t seem to understand why I’m STILL asking this after he has already answered me about 50 times.

"I'm just going to lay here for one little second..."

While I am definitely noticing some differences in my strength, AND my body compisition…I’m super excited that I have a rest day today, to be perfectly honest with you. I’ve posted the last two days of my workouts…

Tuesday’s WOD

max pullups (15 kipped with orange band…I think I could have done more on a day when my hand was completely healed from the LAST time we did a lot of pull-ups :-p)

5k run (24:32) it was more like 3 miles, rather than 3.2 but I SCHOOLED my last 5k even still! (my 5k time was 30 minutes and some change the last time I did it :-p)

There was a lot of realization of growth in this one for me. While  I was no where near first done, which I didn’t expect anyway, I was able to run the entire 3 miles without stopping AND my time was significantly lower than any other time I’ve run 3 miles. To refresh you all on where I USED to be with running, essentially if I saw 200m on the board I would a) feel like crying, b) actually cry, or c) get SUPER grumpy and feel like leaving… So, I think it goes without saying that being able to run the whole time is definitely a spurt of growth, actually ENFORCING that we DO the 5k (because I don’t think anyone else wanted to do it either…) is a whole other level of growth in itself! Oh, and thank you to Andrew for running the last half of it with me Best brother-in-law-to-be ever

Wednesday’s WOD

6 min amrap:

10 deadlifts (#95)

15 pushups (knees)

20 sit-ups 

3 full rounds + 1 dead lift

I’m taking my rest day today and running with it I’m going to soak up every little morsel of my lunch break and fill it to the brim with food, sunshine and naps

Mucho love-o

Jen

Today marks the one year anniversary of when Nick and I drove across the city limit line. It is BEYOND hard for me to believe that I have already been here 365 days…you’ve taught me so much.

I’ve learned that no matter how hard things seemed when we first got here, a year later, I can’t even remember them…Nick’s experience is not the same supposedly :-p

I’ve learned that it IS possible to laugh THAT much… I have met the most incredible group of ladies here, that pretty much keep me in constant roaring laughter for the entirety of the time we spend together. Kelly, Lauren, Kristen, Sammy, Jessica, Bri, Cris, thank you ladies…thanks to all of you, I feel lighter, funnier, younger and even more full of love and gratitude than ever!

I’ve learned that I am definitely marrying the right person. Let me explain this one…hehe. Over the last year Nick and I have driven across the country, with everything we owned in the back of the Suburban and drove together for two weeks straight….in a car… THEN, we moved to a new town, away from all our friends (and for me, family) and opened a business together (which I’ve heard is like raising a newborn)…To top it all off, we have pretty much spent the last 365 days together, non-stop. The best part is that at the end of the day, I STILL love hanging out with Nick, so much. So, this last year has definitely been a testament to our relationship, and I DEFINITELY feel even more sure that I’m marrying the right person

I’ve learned just how much Crossfit means to me. When we first moved here, and I was the first time (since KNOWING about Crossfit) without it, I actually got kind of depressed at times. I missed the community (and I wasn’t quite IN with the Innate Community just yet), the accountability, the movements, the workouts, the coaches, the intensity, etc. I had a SUPER hard time transitioning at first. This has really solidified HOW much Crossfit means to me, which definitely played a huge part in what led me on the path toward becoming a trainer Hooray for that!

I’ve learned that I am just as wussy about the cold here in California as I was in New England. I’m just more pathetic in my friends and family’s eyes as far that goes :-p

Celebrity sightings are not as a’ plenty as I thought they would be. For as many celebrities that live within 10 miles of me, I have seen SOOOO few…W. T. H! Who have I seen so far? Kathy Ireland, Tony Danza, Sawyer from “Lost” and Jason Statham (or the back of his head, Nick got a better glimpse). If I sound like a silly little girl from Maine who gets excited about celebrities…it’s because I am!  Forgive me :-p

Amongst all of these things, I have learned that I am SO grateful for everything in my life; great weather, farmers markets everyday year round, a kick ass job!, an adorable little tree house home, family here, the Pacific, Swednesday mornings, having the gym on the other side of the wall, etc etc etc.

Life is good, count your blessings.

What are you grateful for today?

In the last week, I have had my first…

-REAL workshop that I taught with Nick on the topic of goal setting (real, meaning it wasn’t me telling my story, it was teaching others about a topic)! Super fun, too! The part I enjoyed about the process the most, besides that I got to do it with my best buddy, was that I wasn’t nervous one tiny little bit. I don’t know if you all remember me talking about how nervous I was when I taught “my story”…if not, let me refresh you. I was so nervous that I almost blacked out right before I went up, and once I was up there, I was sweating a consistent stream of bullets…so distracting to those in the front row :-p Anyway, Saturday’s workout was nothing like that. I was excited to go teach with Nick, and I truly felt I held my own up there :-p

-Paycheck from Innate Fitness!!!! This meant SO much to me. While I DO get paid at SBFC, I get direct deposit, aka, money transfer to my account…so getting a tangible paper check with my name on it for COACHING made my night   I have yet to cash it, however :-p

-Equal coaching environment. Now, I’m not sure how to word that any better, so I’ll just have to explain it. Every Thursday night I coach with Andrew, as I have been saying. He is so awesome to work with; he definitely treats me like an equal in there, which is awesome considering I’m officially NOT an equal quite yet. While he most definitely treats me like an equal, I think there is still an understanding that I am HELPING and he is TEACHING… On Saturday we had the big group workout, and four of the coaches between SBFC and IBBC were teaching four different stations (squats, sprints, pushups and situps), and because Casey couldn’t be there, I decided to jump in and offer to teach the sit-up. It was a growing moment for me to be so quick to offer to teach, I used to be terrified of things like that. The result: I taught, I lived and I had SO much fun doing it!

-115 FULL CLEAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The last time I tried for my max full clean, I got 95#. Yesterday, I killed the 95, and PR’d with 105 and THEN 115!!  Two PR’s in a day is ALWAYS a good day!

So now that I have you all fully caught up, I thought I’d fill you in on Nick and I’s newest sweet, sweet pillow talk low. ..Do you remember the integumentary chatter?? Well, the other night we sweetly whispered the day good-bye to the talk of…

…HDL, LDL and VLDL’s… oh yes, you are correct in questioning whether I’m talking about fat… in bed (and I don’t’ mean IN bed…just in bed…)…

"Thank you for last night...I'm much clearer on my understanding of cholesterol now"

 Oh yes.  New low.

So now I ask you this…I’d like to hear from all of YOU! Please leave a comment with a first you had this week, or the craziest thing you’ve talked about in bed :-)

 3, 2, 1, GO!

Oh, and have a beautiful day!

Love,

Jen

*Picture credit to Chelsea Renee Photography :) Also, if you enjoy what I have to say on the regular, or even every once and a while, “like” the beautifully strong project on facebook, and help spread the word! http://www.facebook.com/crossfitwomen

While the downfalls are few and far between, I would be lying if I said there were none. Now, are these downfalls so big that I can’t bear to live with them?…absolutely not. As a matter of fact, when I’m in a better mood than I was yesterday, I tend to find it down right entertaining.

Picture this: you are standing in line at the grocery store, your cart loaded with produce and healthy meats. Once it’s your turn to step up to the belt, and you begin unloading your goods, this is when it starts…

…that glaring look from the cashier….AND the people behind you. First it all starts as a glare from the people in line behind you, but then it turns to looks of mockery and secret giggles with the person they’re with. They look from the belt to their cart, snickering…”what are they vegetarians or something??”…which we’ve actually been asked before. For vegetarians, I would say there is a lot more animal protein in our cart than the rules allow…

Customer 1: "What's going on?" Customer 2: "Oh those damn weirdo's with all the produce again..."

While the people behind us turn from glares, to snickering and then usually back to glares about half way through our pile…, the cashier just never comes out of the dark side:

“Ugh…Sarah, do you know the code for…what is this?? Kale?”

“Ugh…Sarah, what about these? What are they?”

“Ugh…Sarah, do you have a paper towel, I need to wipe down my belt….*grumble grumble*” Oh, I’m sorry… I didn’t feel the need to use 30 little plastic bags (that one’s for you China :-p)…save the mermaids, buddy!

What gets me, however, is this: isn’t it a tad bit crazy that people think people who eat a lot of produce…are weird??? All I can say, in that case, is this:

Embrace the weird!!!

Sneak peek!!

One little baby step closer to realllly being a trainer