My Latest Experiment - Update week 2

Week 2 updates of my leaning out joyfully (possible, right?)

Two weeks ago,  I wrote about a plan I had put together to lean up a bit for an upcoming photo shoot and some other events happening later on this year.  In that I had promised weekly check-ins, more for my accountability than your interest but here it is anyway.

I have been consistent with my walks and logging daily thoughts in my "food, mood and gratitude" journal.  I need to check back over the past few months since I have been logging that to see if there are things I notice or if there are trends to my energy.  I recently added the "gratitude" part of those journal entries and I love it.

I have been working daily on my overhead and front squat form. Doing this through reading about squats from various sources and practicing daily with the PVC pipe...facing a wall.  Some times just a few reps, some times set to a tabata timer.  Its good work. It is not with weights but I know it is good foundational work that will bring strength and growth eventually.  Below is a picture from Greg  Everett's book Olympic Weighlifiting. I hope to squat like this some day. Beautiful.

My food has been ok. There are times where I feel like I should be pushing more, tracking every calorie and depriving more but that doesn't align with my goal of doing this with balance and joy. Running down the crazy train track of depravation will cause me to crack, break and binge. I know. I have been there.

I started this week on a deliberate strength training plan to supplement my Crossfit workouts.  Happy to be under way with that.  Also this month I am giving myself a little space. I am taking a break from training clients one on one to focus on coaching on Crossfit and spend some time on some other projects.

Measurements won't be done again until Monday so I am looking forward to seeing the results. Will report in next week's blog update.

Have a great week!!

Kara

My Latest Experiment - Update week 1

Last week I wrote about what plan I had put together to lean up a bit for an upcoming photo shoot and some other events happening later on this year.  In that I had promised weekly check-ins, more for my accountability than your interest but here it is anyway.

 - Realized trying to overhead squat and snatch daily with weights requires more warming up than I thought it might.  Have been doing it mostly with PVC pipe or empty bar.  Realizing my form for both is poor. Keeping up the practice all the same.

 - Eating feels really stable and healthy right now and that makes me happy.  Although I did manage to eat my body weight in spiced nuts at a friend's bridal shower on Sunday. Oh well, back on the wagon the next day.

 - Did measurements on Monday.  Things are down from the previous month which is great.

 - Have been enjoying my morning walk - loving the early in the day exposure to sun and nature.

Pretty happy with things at the moment.  Only struggle is getting organized around a more deliberate strength program to pair with my Crossfit. I am not detail oriented like I feel like I should be for tracking what I do every week and some times I am a little low on extra energy. Oh well, buck up and do it anyway!  I know I will be glad I did.

My Latest Experiment

I often get comments from people who know me well that they admire that I am on a constant path of self improvement. I love that. I do feel in this life that I want to learn as much as I possibly can so that I can be the best me I can be and so that I can help others around me learn and grow also.  This is fits in nicely of course with my ultimate 2012 goal of "Be the most fucking awesome person you can be".

My new experiment fits right into that.  For a month or so now I have been struggling to figure out how I can prepare for an opportunity for a photo shoot in late June 2012 with out making myself crazy or miserable.  The idea of being super restrictive with food and increase the frequency with my workouts puts me at great distress.  I want to show up being proud of the strong body that I have and be at peace at with where I am at that time.

I am willing of course to make some modifications and do things a little differently to get me there in a leaner state but not push so hard and live the next few months in a state of depravation and fatigue...even if that means not showing up at the photo shoot with a visible six pack.

It finally hit me today what I want to do.  The Crossfit WOD we did today was a triplet of 9 dead lifts, 6 power hang snatches, 3 overhead squats.   For those of you who haven't tried an overhead squat it is probably one of the ultimate in abdominal/core exercises.  In doing this work out today I realized (again) that THIS is the kind of thing that makes me exceedingly happy.  I love the thought of increasing my PR for the snatch and overhead squat.  As Dan John says "if something is important do it every day" and that is what I am planning to do!

My current routine:
Crossfit 3 to 4 times per week
Sprints 1time per week (although this has been inconsistent due to traveling)
**Typically 2 to 3 meals a day depending on hunger level
Meals contain a balance of carbs, protein and fat
8 hours or more of sleep a night

 ** Have been reading about and experimenting with intermittent fasting. Two great sources for this:  Fat loss: The Truth and Eat Stop Eat

What I want to add:
15-30 minute slow paced, stress reducing walks daily
1-4 Snatches and overhead squats daily starting at 65lbs and increasing weight each 1 or 2 weeks
CLA supplement (supposedly good to fat metabolism - we shall see!)

This is something I feel like I can do with out being crazy and even better than that something I feel like I can do that will make me happy and proud. Yes, I am wanting the results to bring about fat loss but if at the end of the 8 weeks I have merely gotten stronger... then I am pretty damn ok with that too.

So I commit to checking in once a week with status and hopefully progress. They say part of success in a plan is making it public so you have to stay accountable.  So here it is! Feel free to ask me about it and throw in some words of support and encouragement.

My 1 Year of Crossfit

March 11th marked my 1 year Crossfit anniversary! Little did I know that first workout that I was terrified to even show up at would turn me on to something that would change my life. After that initial workout, I started going once a week, then twice a week and probably with in a month and a half I was going as much as my body would allow me. In that time too, Crossfit Midlo moved from the garage to its own location and continues to grow like wildfire.

What I have learned over the past year:

• You can squat below parallel- regularly. 
• I am a Tough Mudder.
• No matter what the duration of the workout...3 min to 60 minutes... It's going to be exhausting. 
• You are capable of more than you think you are. 
• Facing the scary stuff makes you grow. You will at a minimum survive the experience and more than likely thrive because of it. 
•  Never underestimate the power of a high five. 
•  There are amazing people in the crossfit community: from the women in my 8:30 class, my coaches, the other people at the box who I don't get to work out with often but will greet me warmly and cheer for me all the same, to the people and coaches at other boxes I have had the pleasure of visiting. I have felt welcome every where and work to make others feel the same. I always worked out a gym by myself and was ok with that so I was surprised by how much I enjoy the commune aspect of crossfit. 
• Lifting heavy makes me really happy. People talk about the flow when every thing else drops away and you have complete focus and joy. This is one of those activities for me. 
• Coming in to Crossfit, I thought I knew a good deal about working out. This changed how I think about everything which has benefitted me as well as my personal training clients. I like being reminded to keep a beginner's mind - always open to learning and questioning.
• As with anything you love, it is important to see the good and the bad and embrace all of it. Crossfit continues to be controversial. I do see its flaws and understand where the criticism comes from. I question. I read. I change things I need to change. All the same, I love it, I am working safely and continue to get better and stronger. 

Of course with all my lessons not only my brain has changed but my body too. I am finally building the body that I thought I could have that no other way of working out has been able to carve out for me. 

I would love to hear other people's experience and learnings from Crossfit! Please feel free to share or message me!  

My Highlights from the 2012 Arnold Sports Festival

I had been excited to go for months so I knew this past weekend at The Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus Ohio was going to be a good one. It ended up being amazing. If you have never been and have any interest in really almost any aspect of fitness, it is worth checking out.  I went last year for 1 day and knew this year I needed the whole weekend. This weekend was so full of amazing connections, people, lessons and experiences.
Here are a few of my highlights:

•  Meeting and getting to watch the work outs of some of the top of the top Crossfitters - amazing athletes and very nice people! 
•  Judging Crossfit for the first time - I was so nervous but so happy to have gotten this under my belt. I learned more every round I did and I didn't screwed up any one's score in the process.
•  Competing on Saturday for the Games 12.2 work out - Facing the scariness makes you grow. I grew this weekend.  Also it continued to reenforce for me the fabulous-ness of the Crossfit community.
•  Time with friends - I had some great conversations with friends I have had for a long time, some one I was just getting to know and one on one time with a person who continually inspires me. I felt honored to connect and get time with each of these people
•  Time with a mentor - Nick Tumminello was up at the Arnold this year teaching at the personal trainer conference. I have had the fortune to connect with Nick a few times but this was a cool chance to get some time in a more relaxed setting. He is so friggin' smart about this training stuff. It is hard for me not to feel completely stupid around him but I loved the time anyway! :) 
•  The Strikeforce Fights - We all went to the fights on Saturday and it was a great time to see a new woman champion take the belt and to see all the fun people at the fights. Amazing night! 
• Clarity - We went to the figure finals judging this year.  It was awesome to see all those women on stage showing off their hard work.  Competing in figure is something I have tried to convince myself I "should" do for several years now.  This year after seeing it again and having a year of Crossfit experience under my belt, I was able to just let that go completely. I want to be strong and I would love to be ripped but my goals are different than those that were up on stage. It was great to get clarity around that. 

There is more I could mention (cake batter vodka, anyone?) here but those are the big high lights!

I loved it. I am still on a high from it and I can't wait for next year!!

Show Up - Crossfit Open Games 2012

There is a quote I ran across this week that I can't stop thinking about:

"I don't care if you win, but I don't care if you come in last either. I only care that you don't make excuses...and that you suffer with me."

It was from a post from Crossfit Lisbeth talking about showing up for the Crossfit Open.

For those of you not familiar with it, Crossfit holds games each year to decide who is the fittest athlete (male and female). The coolest part (at least to me) is that to start EVERY one who wants to can participate and we are talking on a global scale. The first 6 weeks of the games are called The Open. All you have to do is pay your $20 to register and then complete the workout of the week and post your scores to see how you rank against all the other people competing.  This year 55,000 people world-wide have chose to participate.

I think it is beautiful and amazing. Yes, there are some astounding world class athletes with fitness levels that I cannot even wrap my head around that are participating. These are the ones that will make it to the regional rounds and then maybe to the Finals in LA. However, I am sure many are people like me. People who show up at their Crossfit box or their garage regularly working on getting better and stronger.  People who will try their best at a work out even if they cannot do the work out as it is prescribed.  People who love to be a part of the community that comes with Crossfit.  In the end, it doesn't matter if you are the fire-breather or the average Joe/Jane. We all get to show up, support each other, compete in a activity that we love - suffer together and grow from the experience of the 2012 Crossfit Open Games.

Self Talk: I got this!

I have been thinking a lot recently about self talk. I have come a long way in this area as I used to be pretty hard on myself.  However, it was a recent podcast from Leigh Peele that reminded me I could be doing better.  I am more than the number on the scale. There are more important things than the fact that I don't have wash board, magazine cover-worthy abs.  I had already decided that I would focus this month on not letting any negative comments about my body pass through my head - or I would quickly catch myself and counter them.

This morning reminded me that I needed to take this even further.  There was a Crossfit workout posted that scared me. My immediate thought was "I can't do that.  That is impossible." I was filled with fear and anxiety.

But you know what? There has not been one work out posted that I haven't managed to get through. It might not always be pretty but dammit I have done it.

So I am extending my positive self talk to my work out prep - No more "I can't do this".
Instead:
"I've got this!"
"I can do this!"
"I will conquer it!"
"The bar is light"
and what ever else I need I keep it positive.

How do you manage your self talk? How do you get yourself through the tough spots?