Compare and Contrast

Posted by beautifullystrong in Crossfit Workouts and tagged with before and after, crossfit, exercise, health, muscle gain, weight gain, weight loss, wellness June 2, 2010

I often get caught “comparing” myself to others. “She has been doing Crossfit the same amount of time as me, and she can KIP!” “She did that workout 3 minutes faster than me”, etc etc. Often times, okay every time, Nick tells me to stop comparing myself to others. The only person that I should ever compare myself to…is ME! Well, last night I was writing in my Crossfit journal and Nick found a napkin that had fallen out of my journal. It was a workout I had done in April, Helen. Remember Helen? I just spoke to you about her recently (Helen). I had forgotten that I had already done Helen at one point, and I believe this is the first benchmark workout I have ever done TWICE! So! That means I get to compare and contrast, which I tend to do pretty well :-p

In April, “Helen” was the first time EVER that I did a pull-up on the BLUE BAND! It was a huge day for me! To refresh your memory:

Helen

3 rounds-

400m run

21 KB swings

12 pullups

So the first time I did this was April 7, 2010. I used the blue band for my pullups, 25# for the kettlebell swings and finished in 16:23! Fast forward roughly two months: I use the blue band still (but way easier!), 35# for my kettlebell swings (!!), and I finish in…14:35!!! That is almost 2 minutes FASTER!!!! IN 2 MONTHS!!! Super excited about that

My measurements haven’t really changed, and my weight is the same its been for the last few months. HOWEVER, I know that my composition has changed. My measurements are still 34-26-38 (like they were in December; down from 34-28-40 in October), however, I can SEE the changes. My arms have gotten more defined, and bigger (but in a way I’m QUITE fond of ), my abdomen has gotten more defined, and my butt has gotten bigger, hahaha, in a good way! I have also noticed a change in my back. When I started losing weight from Crossfit last fall, I just lost a lot of fat off my back and it looked like you could play the xylophone on my ribs. Now, I can’t see my ribs are much, instead, I see muscle! Yippee!! So, take THAT 2009 Jen :-p

Last nights workout:

3×3 front squats to start off with. Last time I did front squats was the same day I did Helen last (April 7, 2010). On 04/07/2010, I front squatted 65# three times on my first try, 75# (3x’s) on my second try, and 85# on my third and fourth try. LAST night: 95# on my first try (3x’s), 100# on try two and three, and 105# on my fourth try. That is a 20# gain in TWO MONTHS! Last night, I did three in a row of, what used to be, my 1 rep max!…the day AFTER doing 300 squats!!!! Who AM I?!

Rest of the workout:

30 reps of: box jump, kettle bell swings, wall balls

20 reps of: “

10 reps of: “

I used the 20″ box last night, which is what used to terrify me! I just decided I was going to do it (up my game!). I used the 35# kettle bell, and still the 8# wall ball. So that means that everything but the wall balls were prescribed weight last night. Let me tell you, I thought I MAY die last night. I pushed myself to the max, and it felt GOOD! That is where the best gains are made, right Nick?

So excited, so proud, and SOOOOO inspired to keep going with this!!! LOVE CROSSFIT!!!!

Happy Hump Day!!!

Today On Yahoo.com!

Posted by beautifullystrong in Crossfit Workouts and tagged with before and after, crossfit, relationships, weight loss, yahoo, yahoo.com May 19, 2010

Today on Yahoo.com they had a headlining article about couples who have lost weight together as a couple. One of these success stories was about a couple who found Crossfit…check it out!

Timothy, 43, and Eileen, 45, from Chicago

Weight Lost: Timothy, 36 pounds; Eileen, 18 pounds

How We Did It: We started working out at CrossFit Chicago, a total-body fitness program that focuses on functional movements (i.e., moves you would do in everyday life, such as squats or lifting heavy objects) performed at a high intensity (as quickly as possible). Then, we cut out all processed food and ate only “real food.” We felt so energetic right away and that made us want to continue exercising and eating right.
Top Tip: Make the commitment to yourself and your spouse that you will do at least one activity-such as exercise or eating healthy-together. Your spouse can give you that extra support you need to make sure you continue.
Relationship Bonus: When you feel good and look good, you absolutely reap the benefits of a better sex life!

Once again…Crossfit pulls through Bringing you better health, better abs, and better sex lives all around the world

Read the rest of the article here!

That Was Then, This Is Now!

Posted by beautifullystrong in Crossfit Workouts and tagged with before and after, health, jump rope, life, muscles, weight loss, wellness May 6, 2010

The Dangers of Double Unders

May 2010

So, just about every single time I do double-unders, I end up looking like someone took a whip to me… You can’t even see HALF of the lashings in this picture..but the majority of them were on my forearms. I had some of the back of my thighs, calves, and on my triceps. Does it hurt? No, not really…I was more pissed off that I didn’t land that particular double under than I was concerned about the whip lashing.

Don’t worry, they go away a day later :-p

While I have this picture up…

Someone recently told me that if you want to change the body you have, you should BRAVELY, may I add, keep putting up pictures of the one you DON’T want…that way you work a lot harder to move yourself toward the body you DO want! Well, I came upon some pictures from summer of 2008, and literally had a hard time looking at the pictures. I think I was at my heaviest…and it was physically uncomfortable for me to look at these. It’s not a GREAT picture as far as being indicative of how much weight I was carrying…but I think you can gather a PRETTY good idea by just looking at me (I’ll give you a hint, I was sitting in that position to hide my belly!).

Then compare to the above picture…wow!