Who'dda thunk?

Alrighty folks, bear with me. I have half written posts about my Level 1 cert, the Whole9 nutrition workshop, Sicfit Austin, and overall food ideas but right now I want to talk about weaknesses.

A few months ago I was a met con lover. I was a happy camper with body weight resistance exercises, box jumps, or short sprints. But when heavy wods showed up on the whiteboard I almost wanted to skip class or would do a workout with a "let's just get this over with" attitude. Then, CrossFit Central changed their programming to add strength sets at the beginning of class. My favorite 20 minute chippers, frolicking around inside and outside of the gym were no longer part of the programming and I had to deal with it. The reason why I didn't like the heavy workout days was because I was bad at them. Seriously, who wants to do something that they're terrible at?

So I didn't have any other choice but to work on it. CrossFit teaches us to work our weaknesses and exposes us to what they are. Tony Budding wrote:

"The goal of CrossFit is increased work capacity across BROAD time and modal domains. Our methods are constantly varied, functional movements executed at high intensity. Best results are found with a slight bias toward chasing weaknesses, not avoiding them.

This means that we should all train heavy some of the time. We should also train light some of the time. We don't see top performing CrossFit athletes training narrow bandwidths for extended periods: It simply doesn't give the best overall results."

But you know what's funny about training your weaknesses? They become your strengths. The movements that you absolutely can't stand, when practiced over and over again become those that you enjoy and look forward to. You just have to do it.

Guess what I did yesterday? I got to train my weaknesses with Zach at SicFit Austin and I loved every moment of it! Sure, it was hot and sometimes I feel like I'm going to die but I got to throw heavy weight around and try new things. For the first time, I put a clean and jerk together and it was hard but empowering and just gave me an overall sense of accomplishment. Day by day things are getting done at that gym that are going to ripple into all parts of life.

I don't always like the workout whether it be on my own, at CFC, or Sicfit, but you know what? I don't always like broccoli either and I know it's good for me!

Train your weaknesses. You never know what you're going to end up liking!

"Bad Romance"

Disclaimer: I did not come up with this. But I wish I had!

Bad Technique

Sing this to the tune of Lady Ga Ga's Bad Romance. I want to see Sage rap this and Carey Kepler + CFW as back up dancers!

Oh oh oh ohhhh oh oh oh

Caught with bad technique

Oh oh oh ohhhh oh oh oh

Caught with bad technique


Rah Rah ah ah ah

Roma Ro ma ma ah

Ga Ga oh la la

Fix your bad technique


Rah Rah ah ah ah

Roma Ro ma ma ah

Ga Ga oh la la

Fix your bad technique


Your lifts are ugly

Got Crossfit disease

I’ll fix your everything

But it won’t be free


I’ll fix your lifts

Lifts lifts lifts

Your ugly lifts


No time for drama

No hero workouts

It’s back to basics

Work it from the top down


I’ll fix your lifts

Lifts lifts lifts

Your ugly lifts


You know that you want to

And you know that you need to

To fix that bad, bad technique


I’ll fix your lifts and I’ll get some revenge

For the bastards teaching bad technique

You want to clean and you want to snatch

But it takes a little more than that


Oh oh oh ohhhh oh oh oh

Caught with bad technique

Oh oh oh ohhhh oh oh oh

Caught with bad technique


Rah Rah ah ah ah

Roma Ro ma ma ah

Ga Ga oh la la

Fix that bad technique


It’s such a horror

Oh there’s no design

It’s almost criminal

You need to refine


Your ugly lifts

Lifts lifts lifts

Those ugly lifts


Your movement’s psycho

With PVC stick

Then with a barbell

It gets really sick


Let’s fix your lifts

Lifts lifts lifts

Your ugly lifts


You know that you want to

And you know that you need to

(Cuz those are freak lifts baby)

To fix that bad, bad technique


I’ll fix your lifts and I’ll get some revenge

For the bastards teaching bad technique

You want to clean and you want to snatch

But it takes a little more than that


Oh oh oh ohhhh oh oh oh

Caught with bad technique

Oh oh oh ohhhh oh oh oh

Caught with bad technique


Rah Rah ah ah ah

Roma Ro ma ma ah

Ga Ga oh la la

Fix your bad technique


Rah Rah ah ah ah

Roma Ro ma ma ah

Ga Ga oh la la

Fix your bad technique


High block, low block baby

Work it, work position, baby


Pockets, mid-thigh baby

Work it to below knee, baby


High block, low block baby

Work it

Work position, baby


Pockets, mid-thigh baby

Work it to below knee, baby


I’ll fix your lifts

And I’ll get some revenge

I’ll fix your lifts

Make the barbell your friend


(Just sing the French here)


Make the barbell your friend

Make the barbell your friend

(Caught with bad technique)

Make the barbell your friend

(Caught with bad technique)

Fix your bad technique


I’ll fix your technique!


I’ll fix your lifts and I’ll get some revenge

For the bastards teaching bad technique

You want to clean and then you want to snatch

But it takes a little more than that


Fix your bad technique

Caught with bad technique

Fix your bad technique

Fix your bad technique

Caught with bad technique


Rah Rah ah ah ah

Roma Ro ma ma ah

Ga Ga oh la la

Fix your bad technique

Hang snatches and "Elizabeth"

This week's workouts have been hard. They're always hard but this week threw me off a little bit. I'm being drilled with technique progressions 2x/week at SicFit which is great and Tuesday and Thursday I got to put the technique to the test in CrossFit wods.

On Tuesday, I got a little ahead of myself. The workout written on the whiteboard was:
21-15-9
hang snatch (65#)
OHS
I loaded up 65#, didn't test the weight, and 3, 2, 1, Go! Rep 1 got to about my nose, shook it out, rep 2 got to my eyebrow height (oh shoot!), and rep 3 had Zach coming over to me saying the weight was too heavy. I finished the rest of the workout at 45#. I need to start finding the time to test the weight before time has started because I continuously load up too heavy of weight and can't do it. After the workout I was frustrated because I really thought I should (What does "should" even mean in this case?) have been able to do the prescribed weight. I sent emails off to Karen (My oly lifting partner in crime) and Zach and then a very timely post was written on CrossFit Watertown's blog.

"Some days, we will be better. Some days, we will suck. That’s life. Just work hard and get the **** over it."

At work, I printed out this post and put it on my bulletin board. It's a great daily reminder to shake things off and go forward. Tuesday's workout is done- I tried, I failed, and I did the best that I could do at the time.

Then on to Thursday's workout:
"Elizabeth"
21-15-9
squat cleans (95#)
ring dips

There's nothing quite like the feeling of being one of Crystal's 6:45 girls. We're all close friends, the best supporters and we're there to hit that workout hard. Sure, it's a women's class and we giggle and gossip but once our bars are loaded up, the sweat starts dripping and that workout gets DONE. I've watched these girls struggle and succeed, crush and disappoint and in the end, always come out on top. Chris goes hard and heavy EVERY time, she's stronger than people think and I love it when she outlifts me on Totals. Annie is small in size but one hell of a CrossFitter, she's going to make it to the top. Myriam, I've been working out with since the beginning and is the fastest person I know. That's my CrossFit love of the day.

Back to the workout- oh, squat cleans, what am I to do with you? Similar to Tuesday, I loaded up the prescribed 95#, did 3 reps and failed (I need a new word for failure). But this time, I wasn't disappointed in myself. It was more of a curious, "Hm, what's going on here?" moment rather than an "Oh shit, I suck" kind of deal. I learned from Tuesday's wod to put things into perspective. I had great coaches all around, my favorite girls for support, I was trying my best and it was FUN.

I ended up doing all kinds of different weights for "Elizabeth", going from 95 to 85 to 75 to 85 to 65 to 85. Pretty much a mess but I was working on it, trying to find the blend of fast elbows, catching the bar, tight core, and squat depth. A goal is set for September 1 to do this workout as prescribed. Maybe I'll even video it for my viewing pleasure!

Money money money

Last night I was talking to Annie Bug-a-lug and money came up. Sometimes I have to give up certain things in order for budgeting to come out on the plus side. Crossfit + grass fed meat + organic vegetables = the big bucks. I'm not trying to be negative about this; I'm on board with paying the money to be healthy now rather than on antibiotics and medicine when I'm older. But it's true that this is an expensive lifestyle that I have to justify to people who don't eat real food or lead active lifestyles. Some would ask, "Well, why do you need to explain it to them?" When I get into conversations with people I care about about eating paleo or doing CrossFit it's because I'd love for them to join this crazy "cult" of ours too. It's life changing and it worked for me and I always think it could solve so many of their problems too. Like the woman I always hear cough on the bus on the way to work- if I could somehow slip an "Eat Real Food" flyer into her purse, it might be life changing for her too! That's a stretch, or maybe I'm just a fixer upper!

The Whole9 Life wrote a great article about how to summarize eating real food into a "Paleo Pitch". It's basically a short, to the point explanation of why we eat the way we do. I'm looking to come up with a great explanation of why I pay what I do. Because right alongside that conversation of a Paleo Pitch, or a CrossFit Pitch, is the "how much does it cost?" question. It's crazy to think that the money most young adults are putting towards shopping, alcohol and/or going out at night, I budget it to go towards Crossfit classes and food.

I read an article awhile back that said you could know what a person is like by looking at their bank account statements. Mine lists majority of purchases from restaurants, Sprouts/HEB/Whole Foods grocery stores, CrossFit Central, Advocare, among others. What does yours list?

Much needed quote

I love Again Faster!

Awesome from Patrick Cummings on Vimeo.

The men and women that decimate your times are not superhuman. What makes them different is not a gift, but an unreasonable desire to push self imposed suck beyond it's logical limits. What comes out the other side becomes legendary. Do yourself a favor and realize there is no technique in the world that will save you. There are no pills, no secrets, no passwords on the path to greatness. You've got to embrace the pain, push the threshold and feel the suck. And then you've got to muster the courage to go back six times a week.

In a Relationship with: Mr. Snatch

Mr. Snatch and I have a relationship comparable to those of high school sweethearts. When we first met, the bond between us was filled with awkward hand holding, googly eyes, giggles and flirty fun. Life was good and we were naive enough to not know what was coming next.

Then we went off to college together and our relationship changed. Our friends thought we were crazy as we would bicker and lash out at each other. There was more fighting, miscommunication and I may have cheated on him with Mr. Clean and Mr. Deadlift. Instead of all the fun and games we had before, we tried to be more serious with each other despite keggers and late nights. It didn't work though, and we broke up after our 13243th fight over the Hook Grip. Mr. Snatch rubbed my thumbs raw and I couldn't take it anymore.

We went our separate ways for awhile. Mr. Snatch played the field meeting some great people at Oly Lifting meets and I dated Mr. Running, Mr. Pull ups, and Mr. Box Jumps. But we came to realize that although we had our differences, life was better together than apart. Nothing can replace the feeling of the slow pull off the ground and fast drive underneath the bar. Mr. Deadlift might be disappointed but Mr. Snatch gives me butterflies!

Back squats and a fun wod!

Last night at SICFIT we worked on back squats. I am starting to love that little garage and everything about it, including the fact that I may have just showered upon entering only to leave covered head to foot in dirt. My neighbors have been asking me what in the world I get myself into on Monday and Wednesday nights because I always come home with dirt streaks, blackened knees and plastered hair. Beautiful. The concrete floor without black mats just adds to the rough around the edges feel of the place. It's great!

I wouldn't describe my back squats as great though, I'm always a little worried I'm going to decapitate myself. I think my dislike of them started with a wod including a run and 95# BS reps and its been growing ever since.
5x5 BS 95, 115, 125, 135, 140 (scratch at rep 3, finished the last two reps at 135).
My BS 1RM is 145# and I only got through that last set with an awesome spotter, Karen! She deserves a huge congrats because she was like a different person last night with a killer snatch and PR on back squats. She made Oly Lifting look easy!

This morning Zach's 5:30 am coed class did this:
1000m row
30 thrusters 65/95#
50 American swings 16kg/1.5 pood

I deleted my Twitter account so I didn't know the wod beforehand. It looked like fun, I'm a fan of thrusters and swings and I've been eyeing that 1.5 pood for awhile so I asked Zach if I could scale the wod up! I chose 75# for the thrusters and a 20kg and both felt like challenging weights for me. Finished in 11:41, not even close to top 3 but I'm really happy with how that wod was programmed and how everything felt! My new goal is to use a heavier KB whenever the 16kg is prescribed for women.

Total change of subject but tomorrow at work we're having a baby shower and I really want to continue my clean eating. What are some good ideas of a paleo dish I could bring that makes a lot of food without taking that much time? Everyone else is signed up for chips, cake, pasta salad type stuff and I need to bring something that will satisfy me (and maybe encourage some co-workers to eat something healthy!). Thanks for your help!

Week 1 at SICFIT Austin

SICFIT Austin is now open! It is a small garage gym a couple blocks south on Burnet from CFC. If you guys go looking for it, look for the Texas Hydroponics sign because there isn't a SICIFT Austin banner up yet. I told Zach I could make something pretty sweet for them - I'm thinking hot pink with some swirls, hearts and stars. Maybe some glitter. He said no.

When I got home from work before my first class I was feeling a little down. I thought I would be missing out on doing FGB with my girls because I love Crystal's 6:45 class a lot! My expectations of SICFIT Austin was that it was going to be a class full of seasoned crossfitters, mainly guys that could deadlift 400#. I didn't know what I was getting myself into!

I popped my Muscle Strength and Catalyst like a good #AdvocareAddict and trotted myself over to the gym only to find out... I am SICFIT Austin's first client! Coaches Zach, Winchester and Big Mike were there trying out the equipment and doing a wod of deadlifts, push presses and muscle ups. There were also 2 crossfitters from Chicago that were jumping in and Bekah, Mike's girlfriend was hanging out. The garage has a great, no-nonsense vibe to it and I can already tell that a lot of progress is going to happen in there!

Class began with Zach putting me through a brand new warm up and Winchester shadowing/videoing with his new flip cam. I can't wait to check out that video! The warm up is completely different from Central's - it didn't have any of the high knees, fast feet agility type stuff but more of getting your shoulders warm, legs loosened up. I don't remember all of it but we did about a 400m sprint to start, then jumping jacks, arm circles, donkey kicks, leg swings, hopscotch, a variety of push ups, and squats. Whew, I was like, "I'm sweating and we haven't even touched a barbell yet."

To be honest, I don't really like Oly lifting. That's why I signed up to do Zach's seminar and that lead into SICFIT Austin because I'm really bad at it. CrossFit teaches us to work on your weaknesses and I'm trying to chip away at mine. What I do appreciate about Oly lifting is that it teaches you such GREAT body awareness. I really try to get in tune with my body placement, how deep my knees are bent, if my core is engaged, where my shoulders are leveraged. The next thing we did in class after the warm up (or it kind of was still in the warm up) was PVC pipe work. The PVC pipe is where all the body awareness begins. I need to feel the hamstring stretch and the locked out position on top and it's great to learn this with a PVC pipe instead of a 45# barbell. There are so many smaller movements in Burgener's Warm Up that I have to be self aware because fixing the slightest body placement could give me that much more power in a lift.

From there, we grabbed a barbell and Zach lead us through progressions with the hang snatch. I've been working with him for more than a month now on Oly lifting and I could really feel my progress with the snatch. I wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as when I started with the weight overhead. It felt good but I still need to work on keeping the bar close to the body and pulling myself under it faster. Sometimes I get frustrated with all of the things to think about before a lift but Mike gave great cues of when I fixed something or when a lift looked a little better. I liked the combination of Zach and Mike as coaches. Zach is great at getting me fired up to be more aggressive and he's so knowledgeable about the breakdown of the movements to improve your technique.

On Wednesday, I was joined by Sally and Karen. I think Sally will be with me once a week and Karen still needs to sign up! I'm still surprised that SICFIT Austin isn't sold out with a bunch of muscle-y guys, who would have guessed that girls would fill the classes first? We went through the same extended warm up while Zach made female jokes, cursed his allergies, and told us to be more aggressive. He's a winner, I'm telling ya.

We worked on the first two pulls for the snatch. Pull number one is off the ground and it's slow and steady. When I watch videos/people of this first pull I'm like, "Why are they going so slow, how in the world are they going to get that overhead??" But it's supposed to be slow until the bar reaches the knee where the second pull of the shrug happens. I think, "Slow, slow, slow, SHRUG!" and I better freaking explode with as much power as possible or else Zach is there to call me out! First we did it with the bar, then 65#, 75# and finally 95#. 95# felt SO heavy and it was really hard for me to be explosive with that weight.

All in all, I'm really excited that I tried something new this month. It's really cool to be a part of the beginning stages of SICFIT Austin and see all the potential of what's to come. The coaches are awesome, the vibe is great for hitting goals and the small garage gym is going to be a huge success!

Pictures

In the past few days I have found a few pictures that really stopped my day and made me think. Unfortunately I can't find the first one I wanted to share. It was in the news links on sicfit.com but Web must have already taken it down. The picture showed a pair of hands that had been battered by gymnastics. I complain about rips and blisters all the time but as soon as this picture loaded all I could do was say, "Wow". It represented so much dedication and hardship.

The second is a series of pictures that Mel linked on Twitter. It's a photo journal of a woman's fight against breast cancer.



(Regrave) <--- The whole story can be viewed there.


The third picture is more fun! I have printed this out and it is now in my workout log and on my vision board! I love it!




"The pain ends but the beauty remains" -Renoir

Weekend Discoveries

Jess K, Linds and I decided to kill our TeamLLcoolJ blog. It had a good run and we'll always be TeamLLcoolJ in spirit, just now not in blog form.

Anywhoo, I was going to post this over there but now I'm back here. I know, it's a tough life. But! I am about to reward my faithful readers (all 2 of you...) with some top secret information that I discovered this weekend!

#1 What do you get when you combine two of the most amazing paleo foods? Bacon + Kale = BACALE! This is my new favorite dish EVER!

Yum yum, here's how I did it:
1. Buy nitrate free bacon pieces and the curliest kale you can find. Curly kale is what makes it!
2. Throw the bacon into the skillet first, it needs more time to cook than kale.
3. As the bacon starts cooking and the fat rendering, tear the kale from it's stalk in bite size pieces and add to skillet.
4. Stir all the bacon fat into the kale. You can add some pepper to taste but it's pretty good as is too. Cook until kale browns a tinge and bacon looks nice and crispy.

#2 My second discovery is not really mine. Carey Kepler gave a great talk about cleansing and it inspired me to go buy a blender which I was somehow living this long without. I didn't want to make a fruit smoothie because I'm laying off the fruit so I made a smoothie out of: spinach, carrots, 1 egg, coconut oil, mint, and lemon. It sounds so gross and I was just throwing random stuff from my refrig in there but it tasted so good! I think it was the lemon that made it. I'm going to call these my Willy Nilly smoothies where anything goes!


Good luck to the Spartan and Trojans this weekend!