Tag Archives: crossfit

A picture is worth a thousand words?

Posted by beautifullystrong in Jen's soap box and tagged with , , , ,

I posted a picture on Facebook a few days back of a woman, who in my opinion, is absolutely beautiful and inspiring. I was surprised, however, by the response it received. It was quite the little conversation starter, I must say. What I realized, is that A LOT of people have a lot of opinions on how other people should look…

Let me begin by saying why I DIDN’T post that picture…I didn’t post that picture to have anyone rip Andrea apart. That was in no way shape or form the intention behind that posting. This did upset me a little, for the reason that if I were to put up a picture of a woman who I felt was beautiful and inspiring, and she was by cultural standards “overweight”, how many comments of “she is disgusting/she is fat/she is a fat pig” do you think there would have been up there? If there were any (I would be surprised if there were), there would have been FAR fewer. Why then do we feel it’s okay to judge someone who is ”too fit’ for your liking?

Well then, why DID I post it?  I posted the picture because so often I hear women say they don’t want to get bulky doing Crossfit. I hear ya, neither do I! When I think of bulky, I think of female body builders. I am not saying that is not beautiful, it is what it is…those are women who are literally building their bodies for the sake of a competition…and I will go out on a limb here and say that those women are probably using some unnatural “supplementation” to get that way. So, when I think of bulky, THAT is what I think women are worried about becoming, not a lean, cut woman who is probably a size 4/6.  Let me also reiterate something that has probably been said 1000 times over…you will NOT become anything by ACCIDENT. If you WANT to look like a female bodybuilder for instance, you can…with A LOT of work…and probably “supplementation”… You will not, however, go to the gym 4-5 times a week, do the WOD of the day, eat a Paleo diet, and start looking like a female body builder…it just WILL NOT HAPPEN.  You probably won’t even be able to go to the gym 4-5 times a week, do the WOD of the day, eat a Paleo diet and start looking like Andrea Ager (the beautiful lady in the picture)! She didn’t get that way by accident either!

Now, before going into this further, I also need to cover my arse and say that Crossfit competitors are not necessarily HEALTHY. They are pushing their bodies to an unhealthy standard for the sake of competition. Their results are based on a LOT of hard work, a particular diet (not always Paleo…some of the competitors eat some pretty unhealthy things, and still kick ASS…like WIN…the Games…), and dedication to winning and becoming “The Fittest on the EARTH”; 99% of Crossfitters are not ever going to be at that level.

There were some pretty great, interesting comments on the Facebook thread, one of which was “I think there is a line between being body obsessed, chasing a cultural ideal of beauty or strength, and what is reasonable, balanced and healthy.” I couldnt’ agree with this more. The question here is…what IS ‘reasonable, balanced and healthy’? I think as women, we are a little confused on this… There is not a week (or even a day!) that goes by without some image of a woman being put on display in the public eye as “too fat’, “too skinny”…and now, “too fit”. There are poor women who have lost a bunch of weight after hearing over and over how “fat” they were by critics, only to be criticized for being “too skinny”. Luckily, most of us will never have to worry about being scrutinized publically this way, however, we are often victims of this in another way.

As far back as I can remember, I fantasized about being “skinny”. I literally would think, “oh man, if I were skinny my life would be so much better”. I had some pretty dark, negative thoughts about my body on a daily basis (some as horrible as “I wish I could cut off my legs!”, how terrible is THAT!?). I’m not saying any of this was right…I was younger, and “body obsessed” and had some pretty horrible self talk going on. I tried every diet under the sun, and literally never got “skinny” until I was basically starving myself (not on purpose…I was diagnosed with IBS and it was more out of necessity) and got down to a bony (for me) 140 lbs (which by the way, is still considered “heavy” to some people). It was literally not until I found Crossfit that my negative self talk stopped. I stopped thinking about calorie counting (completely!) and started actually eating MORE and ENJOYING food! I started exercising and not only starting changing my body, but changing my MIND! Exercise has done wonders for my moodiness…seriously, it’s amazing. The coolest part, however, has been the amount of RESPECT I have developed for my body. I no longer look at my body in the mirror and pick it apart (“my thighs are too fat, my boobs are too small” whatever it may be), I look at my body with complete respect and gratitude for everything it allows me to do. Thank you for my big, strong legs for helping me squat my BODY WEIGHT…Thank you for my bigger-than-it-used-to-be butt for allowing me to drop it like its hot 100 times over in a workout. I am GRATEFUL for my body now, and to me, there is NOTHING more “reasonable, balanced and healthy” than that. In my strongest opinion, this is all what Crossfit is REALLY about, isn’t it? In addition, I have been on this journey now for 3 years…and it is 100% SUSTAINABLE for me, I have much more balanced moods, and I feel the healthiest I have ever felt in my entire life…hell, physically AND mentally. As a bonus, I am SMALLER than I was at my “skinniest”…and not at all starved or deprived! Bonusssss!

Crossfit is MOST inspiring when a 70-year-old woman walks in and decides to start a fitness regime for the first time in her life; when a 15-year-old boy starts to build confidence; when a regular ole’ person like me, who has never been an athlete in his/her life starts Crossfit, it completely changes his/her life and he/she finds PASSION and ENTHUSIASM in something for the first time in his/her life.  Yes, Crossfitters can be a bit evangalistic…that is absolutely, 100% true…but why do you think that is?! People only rave and rant about something that has worked for them; that has changed their life in some way. I am no different there. Crossfit is for everyone, and can absolutely be life changing…if you WANT it to be; it does not HAVE to be, no one is pushing Crossfit on you here. This is my platform, to talk about how Crossfit has changed my life; just like there are platforms to talk about how triathlons, or marathons, or tattoos, or art, or heck, heroin, has changed people’s lives… I choose to be inspired by specifically Andrea Ager because it helps me set goals for myself. I am a person who is not self-motivated (which is why nothing else WORKED for me); I thrive off visual motivation, and community support. Boom, Crossfit! Looking at an image like I posted helps me create fitness goals for myself (I want to look like Andrea Ager to some degree, so, what does Andrea do? In order for me to look like Andrea, I need to do what Andrea does…).

I am grateful for all of the comments on the picture, it really helped me recognize all over again how passionate I am about health and fitness, and really what this whole blog is about; my project to become beautifully strong.Beautiful is different to every single person…to me, a woman with strong, healthy muscles, who works REALLY hard in the gym and isn’t afraid to get really sweaty, and grunt her way through a WOD…is beautiful. I do not, however, live to Crossfit…I Crossfit to live; to make my life easier, longer and happier. Thank you for your comments, and I will step off my soap box now :)

Have a most fantastic day!

Hey, I may have peed my pants, but at least I didn’t hurt my back!

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

I am so happy to report that last week I completed an ENTIRE week without hurting myself at the gym! How did I do it?!

 

-I rested. Typically I complete 5 days of exercise a week, this past week, I rested twice as much! I completed three pain-free workouts. Now, this was challenging for me to get behind…I am used to working out much more, and I couldn’t help but feel that feeling of “you lazy bum” creeping up the back of my neck. I listened to my body, and what my body was needing was rest.

 

-I stretched. If you are a patient of Santa Barbara Family Chiropractic or a client at Innate, you know how important stretching and foam rolling are for our health! Come to find out, I have some seriously tight hamstrings. If you have tight hamstrings or a tight butt, those shortened muscles are constantly tugging on your low back, and that lack of flexibility is not allowing you to keep that straight back when you’re hopping up from your burpee… STRETCH and ROLL!!!

 

-I protected. I temporarily ex-nayed the movements that typically cause me problems. I gave my body a chance to heal itself up a bit before I threw it back into a workout of burpees and pullups. My workouts this week were:

*yoga and meditation

*beach sprints- on a side note, sprinting when you are injured is MONEY! You immediately correct your form if you break even a little bit. I found that I sprinted better AND FASTER than before!

*A WOD of:

10 double unders, 1 pushup

20 double unders, 2 pushups

30 double unders, 3 pushups…etc up to 100 double unders and 10 pushups

*10 minute time cap*

I got through 7 full rounds, which equalled 280 double unders and 28 pushups…

…and if you’re still questioning my title, you have never been a woman and done double unders :-p

 

-I ate cleaner. Focusing on what I eat is a HUGE piece in making sure that I don’t hurt myself. The less inflamed my guts are, the more control I have over what I do with my body, and the more power I give my abs to protect my spine. If you’re in the Santa Barbara area, Dr. Nick is giving a (sure to be kick ass) workshop on the Paleo Diet this Wednesday at our office (360 s. hope ave, c-100) at 6:30pm. Come check it out, and learn how to eat like a caveman!

 

-I got adjusted. I am forever grateful for my amazing chiropractor, who happens to be my hubs :) He constantly cleans up after me and my messes, but never the less, always encourages me toward OPTIMAL wellness, and being as strong and healthy as I can be (which includes not HURTING MYSELF!). He’s an amazing chiropractor, an amazing coach, and an amazing man all the way around. Thank you baby :)

 

I will be attending my first WOD tonight with a class since over a week ago…the workout is 50 power cleans for time, and a couple 6-8 min AMRAPs. Wish me luck amigos…I’ll let you know how it goes!

 

Much love,

Jen

Injuries and Olympics

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

In light of the frustration I’ve been feeling lately about hurting myself over and over in the gym… and of course the Olympics (trust me, this will make sense…)…I’d like to discuss with you my recent brilliant idea… :-p

This past Saturday I came to the 9am class at Innate, like usual, and proceeded to whoop my own butt, like usual! One of the movements in the workout was a standing med ball throw (more like HURL…or CHUCK!) at a wall. My team chose a 14# med ball. Now, while doing the standing med ball throw, Andrew continuously said to me, “check your alignment, Jen. Square your hips!” (We have great coaches at Innate who care about your well-being, AND your spine!) I honestly didn’t know how to do that…I continued rotating MASSIVELY at the waist, and hurling this #14 ball as hard as I could at the wall.

Later that day, which seemed as if “out of nowhere” my back gave out on me. There was nothing directly tied to it to make me associate it with any particular movement. I felt like I was officially in a body cast of pain. The next day I ended up stealing Nick’s massage to try to loosen everything up around my spine so that I could get a better adjustment…and alas the massage and adjustment left me feeling a wee bit better. This all lead to ANOTHER conversation of frustration with Nick (not WITH Nick, the conversation was with him though… :-p) in that I’m SICK of HURTING MYSELF!!! Nick very gently played with my hair and assured me that he understood why I would be so frustrated…that HAS to be super frustrating…(way to validate, baby…way to validate :) ). Where we went from there was this…

…while I maybe (I accent on MAYBE) could be a higher than average athlete compared to the “average American”…out of the pool of athletes…I am (and I quote, this came out of my mouth today…) “the lowest of the low”. Damn girl, why are you so hard on yourself? This is actually a fact. The MAJORITY of athletes who are my age, have been an athlete since they were small. They MOVE like athletes; they have learned how to use their body to access the most strength, power and agility. A seasoned athlete would have done that same standing med-ball throw, and moved THROUGH his/her legs and hips…instead of essentially doing standing med-ball throwing twist spasms…ahem…like me. Nick explained to me that I am unusual in that I was NEVER an athlete, and then I was an athlete in one of the most intense sports out there…I dont’ necessarily know my body yet…which is why I am learning the hard way day after day after day. So, what am I going to do?…

…Nick suggest that I join a sport (other than Crossfit, I know that is a sport…) which will teach me foot work and how to move my body like an athlete. HE suggests tennis…ehhhh…while I want to learn tennis, I don’t get all excited and fired up about it. So here is where the Olympics tie in…

We were watching the Olympics on Sunday night, and the women’s rowing competition came on. Oh mannnnnn, I would be SUCH a good rower! I am long and lean, and I have a pretty decent 500m row time…not bad for a novice…imagine what I could do with a little practice! However, before I could jump into a regatta, I realized that there really is NOTHING available in this area for the average adult, post-collegiate career, to join a team. Ehh! Unless any of you know how I could do that??….

The other thought I had was…da da da DAH!!!…BOXING! Yes…boxing. I think I could be a BAD-ASS BOXER… There are plenty of places in Santa Barbara for me to access some training in that area…so, that may be the thing for me.

In the meantime, I’m working on lengthening my hamstrings, doing some gentle yoga…and trying not to beat myself up for not working out right now. Listening to the Olympians last night, they have rehab on lock-down at this point in their careers..what do all of YOU do for rehab when you hurt yourself? I would LOVE to know!

Much love,

Jen

Taking personal responsibility…and potty talk

Posted by beautifullystrong in Eat Well, Move Well and tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

I have been asked on numerous accounts why I am doing the candida diet. The number one (and probably ONLY reason) I started the candida diet is because (I’m going to get REALLY honest with you right now…) I have had digestive issues since college…

My senior year of college, shit hit the fan in my life (family, school, relationship,friendships, not knowing what I wanted to do with my life, etc, etc…you know, the normal stuff!) and my poor body could only handle the stress I was going through by deciding to seize all function of my digestive system. I was in and out of specialists for a year (my lowest low was having an “examination” (digestive system…take a gander at where that exam was taken…) by a 70 year old man…lowwww low). I was drugged up, knocked out, and had the pleasure (*puke*) of experiencing my first ever colonoscopy at the ripe age of 22. The final diagnosis was IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). What’s a girl to do with that information??!   I was terrified to eat ANYTHING; I was constantly full of fear. It got to a bad point where I was only eating about 500 calories a day (not on purpose…just because everything was making me sick!). That 500 calories usually came in the form of a Smart One (the broccoli and cheddar potatoes :-p).

I was CONSTANTLY on the lookout for some MAGIC PILL that would get rid of my digestive issues.

*In walks Nicholas Araza*

Through Nick I learned all about the Paleo diet, and it completely changed my world. I started exercising…uh duh, I think we know how that affected my world. I started getting adjusted. All three of these things have COMPLETELY changed my world for the better…including my digestive issues. I no longer FEAR eating (I am actually quite OBSESSED with it, thank you!) and I haven’t had an “episode” in a couple years. Phew! :)

So why the candida diet… well…while my guts are much happier, they are not 100% better. I have messed up my guts for the majority of my life…and while changing my diet, exercising and getting adjusted has stopped it from getting worse I’m sure…I have lost a LOT of integrity of my gut lining. In laymen’s terms: my guts are screwed. Presently :-p I was hoping that the candida diet would clean up the last of those bad bugs because since adding exercise to my life, my bad guts have posed a WHOLE other kind of problem…

If I, or anyone, is unable to keep their abs tight while doing Crossfit…you are essentially efffffffffffffed. There is WEIGHT you’re lifting, weird positions you’re getting into, high repetition of exercises, BURPEES, full extension of exercises…etc, etc. If you are unable to protect your spine during these exercises, you are GOING to get hurt…period. WELL…unfortunately, when you have inflamed guts due to something you ate, or bad bugs that are taking over your guts…you cannot properly protect your spine, and you get yourself in the predicament I have been putting myself in for the last year and a half…which is constantly hurting myself, over and over again. 

back pain

Here’s where some venting comes in: people constantly ASSUME that since I am married to a chiropractor I don’t EVER have back pain, that I have a BEAUTIFUL spine, and la da da…well, not exactly. I met Nick in 2009, and I was diagnosed with a Phase 1 subluxation…borderline phase 2. My spine was as straight as a rod…and I have a congenital scoliosis in my mid-back. Not the “ideal chiropractor’s wife spine”…sorry to disappoint. We have made AMAZING changes so far (I literally started crying when I saw my most recent progress x-rays, I was so happy)…but as magical as my husband (or ANY chiropractor for that matter) is…he’s not a magician…and in order for him to do his job the best he can, I NEED to stop hurting myself!!!! Which in short means (because after many, many discussions, we both believe is mainly related to my irritated guts)…I need to stop messing up my guts, and I need to KEEP working on PERFECTING my form in the gym (and in life for that matter!).

I started the candida diet on June 25th, and then decided to have some homemade coconut ice cream this past Saturday (that would be TOTALLY okay if I were not doing the candida) that was topped with homemade whipped cream (this would NOT be okay even if I WASN’T doing the candida) and let me tell you…that whipped cream EFFED me. I have been feeling it since Saturday. Yesterday was a workout with burpees and pull-ups (my two biggest offenders)…so last night I was laying in bed, complaining and whimpering because my back was in so much pain. I’m frustrated. I feel like I should be stronger, I feel like I should be able to go faster, I feel like I should be able to do MORE reps; it’s hard to do that when you start progressing, then jack yourself, you know?

Let me tell you THIS much…I am SO grateful that I AM married to a chiropractor…I can’t imagine doing this, and learning this journey without my sweet, sweet husband to clean up after me. Tip, however: do not use your chiropractor as a custodian for your injuries and then wonder why you’re not getting the results you want. Clean up your own messes, prevent messes, and do what your chiropractor says! :)

Anyway, the point of this post was a vent, mostly. I needed to be honest and “out” myself…I DON’T, yet, have a perfect spine…I don’t, yet, do the movements perfectly…and I still hurt myself…kind of often :-\ I, too, am working on my health everyday. I, too, am on this journey with you.

With love,

Jen

How do YOU prepare?

Posted by beautifullystrong in Move Well and tagged with , , , , , ,

How do you prepare for a workout?

…Let’s say the workout is Fran…what’s going on in your head right before the 3, 2, 1…?

Nick said before a workout he figures out how many sets and reps he wants to do at a time to pace himself…this does not surprise me, Nick is extremely LOGICAL :)

I, before a workout, stare at my bar…with lots of butterflies and deep breathes…and whispers sweet “eff you’s” to the bar before the 3, 2, 1…this again does not surprise me…I’m am extremely emotional :-p

…some people yell, some people bounce in place, some people pound their own chest (I’m not sure MANY people do this, but it’s reasonable)…

…Let’s see what, elite athlete Katie Hogan does :) …

 

What do YOU do before a workout to psych yourself up?

Plan Your Weekly Meals!

Posted by beautifullystrong in Eat Well, recipes and tagged with , , , ,

sys·tem/ˈsistəm/

Noun:     1) A set of connected things or parts forming a complex whole, in particular.

2) A set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network.

 

If I never have to hear the word system again, in the entirety of my life, I would be MORE than grateful.

Since starting a business in July of 2011 (our 1 year anniversary is July 5th!!), I have heard the word ‘system’ more times than any one person ever cares to hear it. “We need a system for this”, “we need a system for that”. It has all grown a wee out of control, to the point where it is now seeping into our sacred HOME time…eek. Let me say, however, that I understand the need of…that s word…in order to make a business run smoothly, efficiently and effectively. I get it, I GET it! But when *ahem s word* means spending more and more hours at work, planning and developing…and you already feel like you live at your office…well, that word does not fill me with feelings of cozy, warm fuzzies.

Now, much like I have learned to turn off my EEK factor with the word “moist”, and yes, I can even say it now…I am learning how to handle the word…ss…syss…sysTEMS! :) Which leads me to my point today :) …

This weekend Nick and I went out to breakfast with some of our buddies, post-workout. Of the many topics that were covered (dumpster diving, the fall of the economy and some other super intelligent thing I’m sure :-p), one of the things I took away from it was Jess had to go home to “plan her week”. When Nick and I got in the car, we mentioned that that is a great idea, why haven’t we ever done that, yada yada. Lately I have been struggling BIG time with wanting to go home and cook, and if it were up to me I would eat out every single meal of the day! When you go to work at 7am, and don’t get home till 8pm…AND as a paleo person, you can’t just pop something into a microwave…who the hell wants to COOK?! But…then I mentioned that Danielle had made a printable worksheet on her blog that would organize our week by meal, and maybe that could help us.

So we sat in the parking lot of Whole Foods, dreaming about what we would eat for the week…and something that I thought would be annoying and tedious, turned out to be FUN, empowering and saved us MONEY!

We organized it like this:

 

Sunday: Fajitas (lettuce wrapped :-p). We made DOUBLE of this, because Mondays are our LONGGGGGGGGGG days, and having to cook at the end of it just makes me grumpy! Also on Sunday, I chopped a bunch of lettuce that I had in my CSA box, and a bunch of kale and put that in a bag; then chopped a bunch of vegetables, hardboiled some eggs, and Nick cooked up some sausage…all so that we could just grab and go for salads at lunchtime throughout the week.

Monday: LEFT OVERS!!! Let me tell you, after a long day yesterday, and not the EASIEST day…coming home to dinner already being done was heavenly. The best part of our day was last night!! :)

Tuesday: Chicken marsala with swiss chard :) Date NIGHT!!! :)

Wednesday: Pot roast with Dey Dey’s Best Beef and carrots, celery, potatoes and onions. The beauty of this is that we have Wednesday morning off, we pop everything into the slow cooker, and come home Wednesday night to dinner!

Thursday: LEFT OVERS!!! Thursday is our other 12 hour day, so left over are ESSENTIAL!

Friday: My favorite Mark Sisson dish: Kielbasa and raisins over cabbage. Sounds not the best, but trust me…it’s delicious and takes 5 minutes to prep. You can make a double batch and it’ll last you a few days…if Nick does not live with you :-p Okay, who am I kidding, I eat as much as he does… :-p

Saturday: LEFT OVERS!!!!

 

Nick and I were psyched on this, and since we had a plan for what we needed, we saved some money in the grocery store because we weren’t needlessly wandering around picking up everything we THOUGHT we may need…which usually ends up in us wasting it.

 

If you want to try your own sheet, here it is! (don’t be fooled by the simplicity…the very action of WRITING IT DOWN is the key ;) )

Danielle’s Printable Meal Planner

So far this SYSTEM is working for us by saving us money, and getting us EXCITED about what we’re going to eat at home, so I am much less likely to want to go out to eat…

I hope it works for you too! :)

Much love,

Jen

 

Crossfit Trainer??

Posted by beautifullystrong in Crossfit Workouts, Move Well, Think Well and tagged with , ,

I just wanted to say thank you to Nicole for keeping me on my toes and calling me out on my absent ways :)

“How did {the Crossfit cert} go?”

Well…

WE ALL PASSED!!!

 

I sat down Monday morning (LAST Monday morning) to write about the weekend for all of you, and what happened is I just sat staring at my laptop screen for an hour with TOO much to say…so naturally, I said nothing. To recap the weekend, I’m going to bullet-ize it for you:

- Got to be coached by Katie Hogan and Jason Khalipa! It was so neat to be trained and coached by people who both Nick and myself admire as athletes, so much. Also, it was so great to be able to watch them be coaches (they are PHENOMINAL coaches…) and hear their thought processes while they’re training athletes and learn from them :) You guys rocked!

-We did FRAN the first night…did it in 7:30 (but finished in 8 something…took me a MINUTE to do my last pull-up…). Now, I need to stay on this for a second; this was the first time EVER that I have done Fran WITHOUT a band, and the pull-up bar was FOREIGN to me, and probably twice as thick as the bars at our gym. So even if this was my worst Fran time yet…it was a PR in a way for me :-p  China killed it though :) Something like 5:50!! Animal!

-Met and was coached by the first “kid” to go through Crossfit Kids…: Conner Martin; He is the eldest son of the creators of Crossift Kids,  Jeff and Mikki Martin. Super nice guy, and super impressive coach…he was certified as a trainer at the ripe old age of 12…seriously.

-I met a reader of my blog!! So neat to meet and chat with people who have randomly stumbled across my blog and enjoy reading it :) So nice to meet you Brittany!! :)

-The ride there was interesting…China, Dannielle and I drove down together to San Diego, while the guys left together. They literally left about 10 minutes before us, and got there 3 hours before we did…you do the math… Let’s just say that by the end of the ride, us ladies were completely delirious, and could do nothing but laugh till the point of tears when Nick’s directions led us to the middle of a cemetary…Who knew that there is both a Camino PUERTA and a Camino HUERTA in the SAME zip code…who knew… :-p

-I feel closer to my coworkers than ever before; it was a wonderful bonding moment, and I’m so thankful for the experience with them.

So, that is it, in a nutshell :) We all passed, we are all officially Crossfit level 1 trainers, and I get to start working it now :)

PS: 54 days until Nick and I’s wedding!!!

Love,

Jen

Boobs to Bar

Posted by beautifullystrong in Crossfit Workouts, Eat Well, Move Well and tagged with , , , ,

Yesterday’s Crossfit Main WOD:

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

On Getting SUPER “Defined”…

Posted by beautifullystrong in Think Well and tagged with , , , , , , ,

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about finding my “definite purpose”. In that post I touched upon what my “definite purpose” was, what one IS, and how I came to it; what I did not touch on was what it has done for me since.

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?! :-P  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

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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

Yesterday was one of those days in the gym that, regardless of what “place” I came in, I won in my mind :) Yesterday’s WOD:

“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!! :-D ::

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