Oiy!

Launching a business is no joke people. No. Joke.

It's moving along, and I may be a tad tardy of my Sept 1 deadline, but it will be completed very soon. Good ole ActionScript 3.0 is giving me a hell of a mental workout, and I'm afraid that a large chunk of my weekend was spent feeling like my brain was in a large knot. I know when to walk away, thankfully. Five years of art school taught me that the worst thing to do when you hit a wall is stay there and stare at it. Walk away, do something else, come back and go at it again. Reason number one for all those wide-eyed pacing students on campus at 3am in the morning. Well, some of them were on drugs...but they were also working their asses off.

I was surprised that I had any energy this morning for Fight Gone Bad, and was especially surprised when there were two rounds as opposed to three. I also realized I was sandbagging it through the first round a little, in prep for three complete waves of the workout. When I found out that it stopped at two, suddenly it didn't hurt so badly. Tisk, tisk. Come September 26th, I will need to pull on energy from the audience and hopefully that will help with my score. I really don't have any expectations, except to finish with the skin on my shins intact. That 14lb med ball just may be my greatest adversary during the entire workout. Right now, I am about 3-4 inches short of that gray box. Grrr.

This will also be my first public athletic competition in 15 years. On that note, please sponsor me! Click Here to lend your support and sponsor me for this event! Your donations support Athletes for a Cure and the Wounded Warrior Project.

Also, I just posted a handful of new recipes on EatCleanLiveStrong. Check them out and let me know you think.

Ok, back to work....

Do Not Pop The Clutch

Sleepy eyed and stumbling is, in my opinion, a perfect way to view the white board at the gym before class starts. I was very thankful to still have a protective cushion of brain fog when I read the scheduled workout for this morning....

*800m run
then 5 Rounds of....
*10 burpee box jumps
*10 pull ups
last but not least...
400m run

Now, a burpee box jump looks like this (edit, no not really, instead you jump on the box...this video is ridiculous):


Everyone that was still pushing through the workout from the earlier class looked like they had gone swimming in their clothes, that's always a reassuring sign it's going to be a beast. It was a beast and then some.

I did all my pull ups without the band, and didn't rip my hands! Hooray!! I worked on my form coming back down from the bar, and I think I made some progress. I feel like I'm 14 years old again, learning how to drive stick. Dad reminded me every time I popped the clutch to have patience and memorize the sensation of the transition between clutch and gas. He made me park on a slight hill and "balance" the clutch and the gas, which keeps the car from rolling backwards, and then slowly release the clutch and press the gas to start moving forward. I'm proud to say I never killed a u-joint. I feel like that is pretty similar to the transition from pull up to kipp. I lose momentum when I pop the clutch and have to start over.

Anyanecdote, back to the workout. Holy batman those box jump burpee things kicked my ass! Box jumps are slowly entering the endearment phase, and burpees have been a necessary evil for some time now. However, merging the two together is slightly overwhelming for my cupcake side. Cupcake me says "multitasking multiple fears is not my strength..." Totally not. It was fantastic to hear Ardith helping herself overcome her box jump fears with a hearty "UP!" shout each time her feet left the floor. That helped me quite a bit.

Bittersweet note....
It's time for us to say goodbye to Miss Carla Superwoman as she leaves this weekend to pursue the very admirable career of social work up north in Temple, Texas. I know we will see her during the free workouts, however I will miss her encouragement and her smiling face on a weekly basis. Miss Carla Superwoman, I'm glad you walked into the gym for the Spartan Challenge that Saturday last year.

This is why you are fat.....

I love healthy eating
I love healthy eating
I love healthy eating
I love healthy eating
I love healthy eating
I love healthy eating
I love healthy eating

Mac 'n Cheese Pancakes Anyone?

*shudder*

My BFF the Deadlift

(and My Blind Date With Miss Muscle Up)

I really heart deadlifts.

I haven't always held them so close to my heart. There was a dark period in my Crossfit days, before my thyroid was unmasked as the cause of my chronic weakness, where my heart would sink at the mere mention of a deadlift workout. September of last year my dead lift MAX WEIGHT (1 rep) was 145#s. This morning our workout was:


5 Rounds

4 Modified Muscle Ups*ours started on our knees, pulling up, finished with a ring dip

8 Deadlift

12 Cowboy Jumps *I can't find video of this, but you hold the med ball on your head, squat down then jump up and lift the med ball up off your head, then back down. This is a continuous up and down movement.

My first inclination was to get through the workout, so I walked up to the 135# bar and scoped for a med ball under 20lbs. Jen wasn't having any of that. "155#s" she says. Crap. Ok. No med balls under 20#s were available. Crap. Ok. Jen was right; if the reps are under 10, no reason not to go heavy. Like, really heavy. I'm not doing this to be first, I'm doing this to get better. (This is my new mantra)

Deadlift at 155#s, Cowboy Jumps at 20#s. I made it through three rounds before time was called. The majority of my time was spent on the deadlifts; but whatevs, 155#s is more than I weigh. The modified muscle-ups were incredible, and I think I have a new end of the year goal. These take a long time, and a lot of patience to master, so I'm going to be easy on the time limit. After doing the modified version I felt all sparkly about them, and then humbled myself in a big way on the real rings. If a bonafide muscle up is what I want, then I have a lot of work to do. It's a good thing I like work.

Kipp!

I'm obviously still holding my breath at the top....this must change.

Soooo, body comps weren't as epic as I thought they would be. I went up and down and up and down, all over the place. Not by much at all, but enough to make me curl my lip and look confused. My body composition is changing. I've gained a lot more muscle, now I just need to burn off the fat, and then I do believe, I will see the results I'm so eager for.

After looking at the last eight months, I need to work harder at getting in five solid workouts a week. Totally doable. Also, adding in more drills from the endurance site are a must. My diet is pretty much spot on, but...the fat...needs to be pulled in a bit. I'll go back to trusty avocado and olive oil, the almond butter needs to be reserved for pre workout only. It is too dangerous for me.

The hamstring soreness from those power cleans is settling in nicely already. Tomorrow I'm doing a remote tandem workout with Catherine and her lovely hubby Matt.

30-20-10
box jumps
wall ball (8#)
push press (15#)

I have a sneaky suspicion it's gonna be an ass kicker.

OH! I am helping with a new blog, Eat Clean Live Strong. Please check it out and send me recipes, questions for the coaches, articles, anything in regards to eating Zone/Paleo/Alkaline....let me know if you have any suggestions on how to make the site better too. I went to art school, my skin is thick and appreciative of constructive criticism.

85# PHC = New Normal

A few weeks ago I scraped my gusto together for 75# Power Hang Cleans during two separate workouts. It was hard, and I got a nice raspberry on my clavicle from catching that damn thing and standing it up. I maxed last week with the Power Hang Clean at 90#'s. Did 5 reps, and called it my max. This morning, we did a pyramid workout, 10 PHC, 1 pull up, 9 PHC, 2 pull ups, all the way down until you do 10 pull ups and 1 PHC. I found myself heading towards the 85# bar for two reasons:

I was feeling slightly lazy, and the bar was already built

It was going to be heavy, but doable, and it could challenge my form

I did not finish the workout. Those PHC's were tough, and I used bad language.

HOWEVER, I was able to find that sweet place before the lift. That quiet moment where your muscles stop shaking, the energy regroups and your alignment is right on. Sometimes I made it, and sometimes I didn't have enough power on my jump. Ah well, next time it will be smoother. I focused a lot on patience (thanks to Jen), and when I was able to finally BE PATIENT, noticed a huge improvement in my form.

My kipp is getting stronger, hopefully that means more consecutive kipps are on the horizon. Body comps are tonight! Eeep! We'll see where I'm at eight months into the year. I think it just may be lower, but with these things, you never know. I'll post 'em here and be accountable for that pint of dairy/soy free made-from-coconuts chocolate hazelnut fudge ice cream that I ate in its entirety in about an hour last week. Emotional much?

Hell Summer

This last week had me by the nostrils...

Big ups and downs this week on a mental level. I'm back to my college roots of eating on a strict budget, but happy to report that I've learned how to do it in a healthy manner. No more iceberg lettuce sandwiches with generic mayo, bologna and processed cheese twice a day, capped off by a 30oz Miller High Life for dinner. Yeah, I was that awesome once.

Nope. I've upped my intake of raw vegetables to help keep me full and healthy, and pared back my meat intake just a touch, so I can make it last a little longer. Fats remain a high priority though, and I absolutely refuse to skimp on the almond butter and avocado.

Monday was the start of Crossfit totals, and I mind f'ed myself into a corner during the back squat. So much so, that I had to go down in weight to get it back up. I know why that happened, and I'll make it my 3 month goal to not cupcake at the bottom. My shoulder press stayed the same, I tried like hell to push 75lbs up, but it stuck at eye level and refused to move. Ok. Wednesday was dead lift, and I was hell bent on making a difference. There were no options.

And I made it happen. 195lbs. That's 20lbs higher than three months ago! I tried for the 200 club, but apparently, when I wasn't looking, someone decided to bolt that damn bar to the mats. Or, I was too giggly to get my brain straight. You decide :o)

This really has been a hellacious summer in various ways, from the heat to finances, it's been a constant threat to my optimism. Luckily, I'm stubborn in all the right ways (snicker) so I refuse to let it ruin my good time....even if my good time doesn't move past my day dreams.

For Lunch Today

This Little Guy