Tag Archives: success

What would you do if you knew you COULD NOT fail?

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

 

I’ve been thinking a lot about this question recently…

…and here is what I’ve come up with.

~I would write a book…about how I transformed my life

~I would be a lyrical hip-hop dancer…don’t laugh…look it up, its bad ass

~I would trust without any fear

~I would own a Crossfit Kids gym

~I would get my PhD in psychology (maybe POSITIVE psychology?? :) ) I have a serious affection for anything self-improvement related…

~I would write an article for a well respected magazine, and send it in :-p

~I would show everyone who I really am, what I really think…without caring what they thought (wooo, how freeing would THAT be???)

 

 

What would YOU do if you knew you could not fail?

Weekend Warriors

Posted by beautifullystrong in Crossfit Workouts and tagged with , ,

It would be extraordinarily easy to grumble and groan about how miserable Monday mornings are…especially when a Monday morning has to follow the act of such an incredible weekend! I will, however, pass on the grumbling, and instead fill you in on the weekend success’!! :)

I am so excited to tell you about Friday nights workout. I did, in fact, leave a hour and a half early from work to partake in the 5:30pm workout.

The workout:

21 Overhead Squats (I used 45#…prescribed is 65#…not yet guys..not yet.)

42 Pullups (blue banded…while I DID use the red band on Thursdays workout, there were just too many in this workout for me to red band them)

15 O.H. squats

30 pullups

9 O.H. squats

18 pullups

I did, indeed, rip a little again (Grrr), but I finished the whole workout in 11 minutes, 44 seconds :)

On the board for the end of workout challenge was a mile run time trial. I kept looking outside the entire workout thinking, there is NO way we’re running the mile, its POURING! To be perfectly honest with you, I was happy about this. I HATE running…with a fiery passion.

Come the end of the workout J.P says what I was dying to know…

“We will be running the mile…if you want…it’s optional.” Optional, he said it, I dont’ have to do it. Before I could even process this thought, however, I found myself turning to Nick and saying, “I think I want to run it.” He agreed to run it with me.

I am SOOOO glad I did :) While I came dangerously close to throwing up behind JP’s car, and ran a slower mile than usual (8:20…not BAD at all for right after a HARD workout!)…I LOVED running in the pouring rain, I LOVED that I did something I hate for the sole purpose of stretching myself and improving…and I LOVE that I could run the whole thing, no stopping, and felt pretty dang good the WHOLE TIME!!!

Saturday’s workout was a toughy as well…whew! :) I get there at 9am to meet up with my lovely friend Amanda Leigh Cannon :) We look at the board and I start thinking, “yeah that looks tough…but it doesn’t look tough enough to be in teams…and I’ve NEVER been to a Saturday workout where there wasn’t teams…”

“Anchor Man”

400m med ball run (I had a 12 # slam ball that I had to carry on the run)

30 Burpees

50 sit-ups

30 OH lunges (with a 25# plate)

50 box jumps

30 ring rows

400m med ball run

Here’s the way it went down…We were split into teams of five (I was the only female on the team)…it’s done in a relay format. So I decided to go out for my run first…as soon as I got back, the next person started on THEIR run, and I got started on the burpees, and it went like this all the way through. WHOA MAMA!! 26 minutes of straight working your ass off!! Seriously… AWESOME workout! :) One of my favorite feelings about that workout…I felt like I could keep up with the boys, and that felt DANG good! :-D

The rest of Saturday was blissful :) Breakfast with the gang, beach day in Gloucester, a date with my love to go see Inception (incredible…totally messed with my head for a good hour after…!), topped off with a trip to the beach at the end of the night, to sit and talk next to the water (I loved this…).

Sunday was the Culture Festival in Salem, and exactly ONE YEAR since I met Nicholas Araza :) I can honestly say babe, that I have smiled more in the last year than I did in the five years put together before you :) Sappy…yes…but I don’t care :)

I would LOVE to know what YOUR favorite part of the weekend was :)

Finally, for your viewing pleasure, some AMAZING Crossfit pictures by my good friend Amanda Leigh Cannon :) You’re the BEST lady :)

Amanda Cannon Photography

 
Prepare yourself for this next one, you MAY be frightened! :)

Amanda Cannon Photography

 
MMM, yep, that’s my handsome man :)

Amanda Cannon Photography

 
BRANDO!!!

Amanda Cannon Photography

 
I just LOVVVE this shot Amanda, it looks STAGED!!! Love it!

Amanda Cannon Photography

 
Team JAB (Jen, Amanda, Bethany)!!

Jesse Davis Photography :-p

 
Sigh..my purple chucks :)

Amanda Cannon Photography

Success and Short Shorts

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

While some people use their earned time to take off a little early on a Friday to go to the beach, or get a beer at their favorite pub…I’m taking off an hour or two early to…

go to the gym :-p

I usually NEVER go on Fridays to the gym because the latest class is at 5:30pm. The problem with this is that the earliest I get home usually is 6pm…see the issue there? SO! Since I wasn’t able to get into the gym as much as I had hoped this week, I have decided to get my weekend started a little early so I can get my bum to the gym! Not a bad way to kick off a weekend of fun! :)

The workout is Josh:

Josh
 - 21 Ovehead Squats (95#/65#)
 - 42 Pull-ups
 - 15 Ovehead Squats (95#/65#)
 - 30 Pull-ups
 - 9 Ovehead Squats (95#/65#)
 - 18 Pull-ups

Challenge:
 - 1 Mile Time Trial

 I can (almost) guarantee I will not be putting 65# over my head tonight…but I may surprise you and I both! Eee…time trial for the mile…don’t love that…but sometimes you got to do something JUST BECAUSE you don’t love it…or else you would never do it.

I aspire greatly...

 

As for last evening, I have some personal success’ for myself! Yesterday I went to buy some new shorts to workout in, and I decided to try on those really short, yoga pants material type, shorts that I see a lot of crossfit ladies wear. I wanted to know the appeal. Now…to preface this…I used to wear pants all summer long because I hated shorts (my legs) THAT much. I remember the first time I ever wore shorts to Crossfit I felt like everyone was staring (and not in a good way), which I know no one cares…but I was THAT nervous.

So anyway, I’m standing in the TJ Maxx dressing room yesterday, and all of a sudden I find myself with a problem I was NOT prepared to have! I LOVED THEM! As a matter of fact, I loved alllll the pairs I tried on so much that I didnt’ know which ones to get! I bought two, and left the store happy. The next challenge however was not going to be so easy. It’s easy to love short, spandexy type shorts on you when you’re standing in the comfort of a 5ftx5ft stall. HOWEVER, the thought of walking into the gym with those shorts was NOT so secure. The result? I walked out of that bathroom wearing those shorts, and not even thinking about it for a second! How did that happen?! I have no idea how that happened, but to me, it was a HUGE success :)

The workout was great too :) I, unbeknownst to me, stumbled into a Level 1 class, so I didn’t end up doing the workout I was planning on doing. I did, instead, a modified Helen :)

5 rounds:

200m run

12 (25#) KB swings

6 pullups (WITH THE RED BAND!!!!!!!!! Now, tonight’s workout involves a total of 90 pullups, so I cannot promise a completely red banded workout for me, but I will darn try!)

Great night, great morning today with Nick and Alexis at morning rituals :) So much to be thankful for!!! Um…and hello…ITS FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! :-D

The Moment I Have Been Waiting For Has Finally ARRIVED!!!…

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

 

…and it leaves MUCH to be desired…

MY FIRST RIP!!!!

I know, its ODD that I was so excited to get my first rip…but you have to understand…it’s like a rite of passage in my opinion. I’ve seen my fellow Crossfitters tearing their hands open and actually wondered what I was doing wrong!! haha! Well my friends, I figured it out…

I wasn’t doing 100 pullups in a ROW!

Last nights workout was Angie:

100 pull-ups

100 push-ups

100 sit-ups

100 squats

YOU CAN NOT DO IT OUT OF ORDER! At least this is what I was told. So, until I finished all 100 pull-ups, I could not go on to the push-ups, and so on. Well, lucky enough for me, I didn’t realize I had ripped until pull-up number 92! It was actually the push-ups that got me…raw open wounds, planted flat and firm against the gym floor…

…yeah…

I immediately went to wash my hands as soon as I finished (which was in 26 minutes and 31 seconds!!!!), and endured one of the most painful things I’ve ever experienced (hot water and soap on said raw open wounds); only to be trumped by a warm shower infused with shampoo later that evening…

…I cringe…

BUT I RIPPED!!!! And now that that itch has been scratched, I think I’ll learn how to wrap my hand :-p

Have a great day!!!! TOMORROW’S FRIDAY!!!

Love Always,

Jen

Annie’s Got Some Guns ;)

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

I’ll admit that I walked into Crossfit last night feeling pretty good about the workout. Karnie. Karnie is a combination of “Annie” and “Karen”.

Annie

50,40,30,20,10

Double Unders

Situps

+

 

Karen

150 wallballs for time

=

 

Karnie

50,40,30,20,10

Double Unders

Sit-ups

Walls Balls

Now, I feel like my strengths are probably in jump roping and definitely sit-ups, so I felt pretty confident about the “Annie” part. Wall balls, however, are not my favorite thing…and there were 150 of them on my list of things to do.  HOWEVER, I made a couple breakthroughs last night! Once I started in on the wall-balls with the 8# medicine ball, Paul could tell they were too easy, and made me go up to the 10# ball. SO, that means, by the end of the workout, I had done 150 wall balls with an additional 2 extra # than I am used to. Also! When I was doing my first 50 double unders, Paul (coach) came over and was telling me that he could TELL that I was sooooo close to just breaking through and stringing like 20 double unders together. At the moment I was struggling to get 3 together, so I laughed and gasped with whatever air I had left, “Yeah right!” Sure enough, not even 5 minutes later, I strung 12 together for my first time ever. Strung another 10 together a couple of times in the rest of the workout. Amazing!!!!!!

Just incase you’re not sure what a double-under is, here ya go:

So I finished the whole workout in 22:25!! 150 double unders, 150 sit ups, and 150 wall balls (with an additional 2 pounds!), 22 minutes, 25 seconds!!

 :-D TAKE THAT KARNIE!!

I HAVE to comment on Nick’s rockstar abilities last night!!! He did the first 50 double-unders with 49 (!!!!!) of them strung together. He finished the whole workout in 15 minutes!! What a STUD! :-D

I was talking to Melissa last night…I just dont’ know why I EVER doubt myself about going to Crossfit. I ALWAYS feel so amazing once I’m done. Yeah, its tough to get there a lot of days, and its tough during the workout…but I leave there feeling like I really did something…I’m tired, exhausted, sore and completely relaxed. I’m always in a great mood, even if its mellow…Just show up. You will NEVER regret it.

Now For Dessert: Push-up Surprise!

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

It has officially happened…

I got my first push-up! ON MY TOES!!!

The best part about it though? I didn’t realize I was doing a push-up!!

So on Saturday morning Nick and I went to the free yoga class that Crossfit was offering, post-workout. I was really enjoying the class, feeling much more flexible than usual, and noticing my recent strengths. When I used to do yoga, pre-crossfit, I couldn’t (smoothly) transition from downward facing dog into the upward facing dog. I noticed Saturday that I was having a MUCH easier time doing this!

After yoga, Nick and I helped Alexis move some of her furniture into her new apartment. After helping him carry a loveseat/chair down to the Expedition, I started telling him how excited I was that I could do the “swoop” into upward facing dog. Right there, in the middle of Bow Street, I got down on my hands and toes and showed him. Then I reset, and did another. Then came the question…

“Wait Jen….are you doing push-ups?”

“No…wait…oh my god…I am!! Do these count!?!”

“YES! They count!! Do another one!”

So there in the middle of the street, I did a few more. On my toes! Then later, in the middle of Atlantic Ave I did my first set of three! Then later, at home, I did another three….it continued like this all night. It was like discovering I had a secret power all of a sudden…who WOULDN’T want play around with that all day!?

So, it’s official :) I can NOW do “real” push-ups. I may regret letting anyone (including myself) know, because now I’ll have to do them ALL like that in the workouts…but for now, I’m on cloud 9  :)

Other wonderful events from the weekend: handstands in the grass at Dane Street (I got a 1-mississippi, 2-mississippi, 3 count on one of mine!! Nick got a 4-mississippi!!), cartwheels and not caring WHO saw, jumping in the ocean with our clothes on, sitting “in the rain” sheltered by our massive tree that covers our deck (and not getting wet!), ladies’ night on Friday night, Nick’s new haircut, visiting Latitude with Nick on Sunday and PR’ing on my 3×3 back squats (125#: first time I ever backsquatted anything over 110), pressing 3×3′s of 50# (my 1 rep max used to be 50), and trivia with an awesome group of people Sunday night!

What a great weekend!!!! Happy Monday guys! :)

My Mom’s Big “AH HAAA” Moment!

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

Good morning! I hope you all had an amazing weekend!

My parents were in town for the weekend to visit me from northern Maine. I was so excited for them to get here on Saturday, and I was very sad to see them go this morning. We had a lot of good times, made some great memories, and I can honestly say that this weekend changed my mother’s life. Sounds dramatic doesn’t it? Well…to tell you the truth, it was dramatic.

My parents pulled in the yard at around 2pm on Saturday. My dad came bobbing down the path to our steps, chipper as usual; my mother still getting some things in the car. The weather was ridiculous, in the 70′s, and the sun was shining! Perfect! Finally, my mother comes limping down the path. “What’s going on with you?” I ask. The 7 hour trek from northern Maine to Beverly really took a toll on her back. Now, as long as I can remember, my mother has had problems with her back. When I was 11 she had a surgery on her back and it hasn’t been right since. So, needless to say, I wasn’t excited (obviously!), but definitely not surprised by this response. Since learning more about what chiropractic does for a person, I have been bugging her to see one, and hard! So being a smart-ass I say, “You think it’s about time you see a chiropractor?” Nothing.

So we take a walk down to the beach, my mother slowing down more and more as we go (our house is only 2 blocks from the beach). Once we get to the beach, she stays standing up, her face contorted in pain. It’s quickly getting worse.

As the night progresses my mother’s back starts bothering her more and more, her face expressing more and more pain; till at one point she just started crying and couldn’t walk at all. This is when Nick stepped in. He offered to check her spine. Now would you believe me if I told you that my mother is a NURSE, has been in the healthcare system for 30+ years, and no one has EVER shown her what her spine looks like? Well believe it. So, to make a long story short, Nick did an exam on her, found multiple areas of subluxation (what is subluxation?), and told her that he would like to adjust her. She was petrified. She was so worried that an adjustment would put her in more pain than she was already in. I told her that I would be there with her, and promised her it wouldn’t be scary. So, after looking back and forth between Nick, my dad and myself, she hesitantly agreed.

Nick was AMAZING with her. He very slowly eased her into it, and I began to see her relax. He talked her through every little thing that he was doing, and performed her first adjustment. I think from that moment, till about an hour later, I had a CONSTANT lump in my throat. When I went to Franson to become a patient, I didn’t have any symptoms that pushed me to go, but I had some symptoms that I didn’t know (because I wasn’t educated) were related to my spine. So, when I received my first adjustment, it felt good, but it was not such a CLEAR illustration of what chiropractic can do for a person as it was with my mother.  Her relief was almost immediate (I’m not saying it was GONE or that one adjustment is going to “fix” her…I’m saying her ridiculous pain was relieved some), and DRAMATIC! Her face softened, she was smiling and laughing, and WALKING! After her adjustment, she was instructed to walk for 15 minutes around the building, so I joined her. She kept talking about how much SENSE Chiropractic made (she had never been educated about that either, and Nick did such a great job of educating before even showing her what her spine looked like, so that she knew what she was LOOKING at!), and how she definitely wanted to begin chiropractic care once she got home. This made my world!! I know that Nick does this for his profession, and that he does this every single day…but to know what my mother has gone through my whole life (and my dad even was talking about events with her back from when they first got married…) and that she feels HOPE for the first time; hope that she’ll be able to become more active, hope that she’ll be able to chase after her grandkids someday and even just pick them UP, hope that she’s not going to have to feel this way, or WORSE, for the rest of her life! Hearing her talk this way made me SO proud. I was so proud of HER for doing something that was so outside of her comfort zone, something that she was so afraid of. I was so proud of Nick because not only did he show her WHY her back has been this way (which no one ever gave her THAT answer), but made her feel safe and comforted, and unlike some of the chiropractors back home (which have scared her away from chiropractic from stories she has heard), really got her excited about what chiropractic could do for her to be the healthiest person she can be!

It was such a beautiful weekend…I feel SO grateful for these amazing people in my life :) Have a beautiful day!

Feeeeeels GOOOOOOOOOOD

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

Ahhhhh…it is GREAT to be alive, isn’t it? I woke up to the smell of turkey bacon, while sweetly being awoken by a gorgeous man, the sun was FINALLY shining, and…I WAS SORE!!! Ah how I missed you, my sore, tired, worked body.

"Its a new dawn, its a new day, its a new life...and I'm feeling fine!"

I noticed an immediate difference in myself last night after I did Crossfit. I was bubbly, energetic (bordering on hyper), and suuuuuper happy!! I craved a salad the second I stepped out of those doors. Last nights workout was definitely TOUGH! A LOVELY welcome back for me!

The Workout:

15 rounds of 30 seconds of thrusters (the prescribed weight for the workout was 45# and you can BET you BUM I did just THAT!), and 30 seconds off of rest. When Danny made me do 45#, which I am now grateful for, I didn’t think I would be able to do it… I looked up at the whiteboard where all the prescribed totals were (total up the amount of thrusters you did for the whole 15 rounds, and you only get your total up there if you do it prescribed; as opposed to modifying the weight down), and the lowest on there was 105 by a guy in one of the earlier classes. I was thinking, there is NO WAY I’m even going to come CLOSE to 100 if I’m doing 45#. Thrusters are TOUGH! You’re dropping down into a squat with 45# racked up, and then shooting up and pressing that 45# of your head…you’re moving your body from the lowest point it can go, to the highest…TOUGH! So I mumbled and grumbled a little bit about doing prescribed…but I am SOOOO glad that I did. I didn’t end up with a score nearly as high as everyone else, but I did 103 thrusters in those 15 rounds, and I’m happy with that! FOR NOW! :)

THEN! Oh no, it wouldn’t be Crossfit-like if we ended at that!! We did DOUBLE DUTY of tabata situps…that means: we did 16 rounds of the situps instead of 8. I am FEELING that TODAY! A lot of people tend to feel the pain 24 hours from the time they work out. I really BEGIN to feel the pain 24 hours out from when I worked out, and then feel the WRATH 48 hours out. SOOOO not looking forward to how I’m going to feel tonight and tomorrow. I DO want to up my workouts to a constant 4 times a week at crossfit (with the weekend), and maybe something lighter on another 2 nights a week. After seeing one of my fellow female crossfitters 6-pack the other night, haha, I decided it was time to step it up a couple notches.

Glad to be back on the horse; glad to be back to feeling myself; glad to be back in the sunshine; and just glad to be back in the swing of life! WOOOO HOOOO!!! Have a rockin’ Tuesday!

The Biggest Reason You SHOULDN’T Be Afraid to Fail!

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

Many of lifes failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. -Thomas Edison (failed at designing a functioning model for the light bulb 1000 times. What if he had given up on try 999?)

This is an excerpt from a book I’m reading, “The Millionaire Real Estate Agent” by Gary Keller (Ever heard of Keller Williams? :-p):   

“Fear of failure is so common it even has its own phobia- Kakorrhaphiophobia (“Kak-or-rhaph-io-pho-bia”). The problem, for some of us, is that overcoming our fear of failure, especially public failure, is very difficult to accomplish.   

When I was a child, my parents had a framed print across from my bedroom called Portrait of an Achiever. Below that title was this list:   

- 1832 Failed in business- bankruptcy   

-1832 Defeated for legislature   

-1834 Failed in business- bankruptcy   

-1835 Fiancée died   

-1836 Nervous breakdown   

-1838 Defeated in election   

-1843 Defeated for U.S. Congress   

-1848 Defeated for U.S. Congress   

-1855 Defeated for U.S. Senate   

-1856 Defeated for Vice President   

-1858 Defeated for U.S. Senate   

Had you stopped there, you would have missed the final point.   

-1860 Elected President of the United States of America.   

The subject, of course, was Abraham Lincoln. What a great message: You CAN NOT fail unless you QUIT!   

If there is anything that history bears out, it is that failure almost ALWAYS precedes SUCCESS!”   

It’s funny that this book is geared toward being the best real estate agent you can be, but how well does this message apply to life in general! ? You have tried a million diets, they all didn’t work, but then diet one million and one you adopt as your lifestyle, and it sticks (and changes your LIFE!). You date a hundred “jerks”, then man/woman 101 comes along and thats it, you’ve found the “one”. You apply to 50 jobs, get turned down for every single one…you get discouraged, but then you get an interview for resume 51, and you land your dream job.   

Failure almost ALWAYS precedes SUCCESS!!! Set your bar high and watch all those smaller goals fly by!!   

   

Loved Crossfit last night!! We did a ladder (sets of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) of ring dips and box jumps, and a challenge of a vertical jump (took me 5:50 min to complete the WOD, and had a 15″ best vertical jump). First of all, the warm up was my least favorite, but thats only because I have a phobia or something of front rolls. Bethany thinks its HILAROUS when I do them because everyone else in the world seems to be able to roll forward in a straight line, but I somehow end up rolling on my side into fetal position (although I must say last night was MUCH better than it has been). Then we did bear crawls back to the beginning of the line, and then did a box jump course..yippee!!  

Anyway, the workout was short and sweet…but killer! Since it was such a short workout, we got to ask for help on anything we felt we needed work on. I jumped RIGHT on that and asked for help kipping. I’m getting soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo close guys!! AHH! Drives me NUTS! I wasn’t able to bend my arms at ALL before and now I get them to a 45 degree angle..so I just need to incorporate the actual KIP and get my ass up there!Soon! :) I feel it coming! Also, I never thought I would work out somewhere where I was advised to shave off my calluses…haha. I was working quite a bit on the bar last night, and the center of my hand started to get pretty raw. One of the girls there last night showed me her hands, YIKES!! There were huge open CRATERS of raw skin in the middle of her hands because she didnt’ shave off her calluses. I will be sure to be doing that! I don’t need my hands looking like this!:

 Then, when I was practicing last night, I felt this weird POP in my left middle finger (the digit closest to the palm of my hand). It was all swollen. I started kind of massaging it a little, and felt this weird THING in it, like a swollen nerve or something…super bizarre. Nick had to adjust my middle finger last night, haha. The pains of being super bad ass :-p LOL 

Anyway! Happy Thursday everyone, the weekend IS a COMIN’! Oh, and ps: today is my Dad’s birthday…he’s pretty awesome :) Talk to you tomorrow! xoxo