Mr. Clean! Mr. Clean!

Seven rounds for time of:

205 lb Clean, 3 reps

4 Ring handstand push ups

75#s is my recent PR weight. Of the 21 reps needed to complete the WOD, I probably did 1/3 more in failed attempts. G said it was suppose to be a heavy clean, not a weight that you're comfortable with; it should be challenging. And it was. It wasn't but the first WOD I did in the new space (3 weeks ago) that I PR'd 75#s, so I was "unfamiliar" with the weight. 

But I completed it, and I wasn't stressin' about my time, because I knew the accomplishment was in doing the heavy clean, working on my movement/skill: like really timing my jump/shrug when the bar is at my thighs; really exploding big; and getting my elbows around quickly while trusting myself to get under the bar even faster. 

Satisfaction. I wish we would do cleans more often. And Snatch. And OHS. And, and, and. Good news, though, the WOD today back squats. Yay!!!

I think this crossfit-shit is in my soul. 

The Universe is all up in my ear. Look what get's posted on FB by CF HQ: 

Crossfit Journal: Level 1 Cert Experience

It is just what I need. I am a tad bit nervous. I don't know what about, but I am. Maybe a long run? Rowing? Upside down anything. I'm not too afraid of being called out in front the of the group, cause that means it's an opportunity to learn something new, correct bad habits and perfect a technique... and I actually want that.

10 days into the zone an I'm 103.6#s. I feel amazing and energized through the WODs.  I am seeing small gains everyday in my workouts. This was the main goal of being on the Zone. I'm stoked. 

Preeminence

I have decided to get Crossfit Level 1 Certified. I am registered for August 28/29 weekend at Crossfit Ethos in Laguna Hills. I'm excited to learn.

My next cert will be revealed thereafter.

Once I was lost, now I am found.

Where I train, where I workout

I had to borrow this from Practice Crossfit's blog. To truly understand where I workout, I offer that you come and join me one day.

When your questioned about where you workout at, what do you say to explain CrossFit? Try some of these the next time someone asks.

-I train in a box. It has walls...sometimes. Sometimes we go outside. Sometimes we meet elsewhere. Its not the location I value, its the people.

-I train in an open space, because bars and my training partners fly everywhere. There is not equipment in the way, only my friends near me as we all struggle together, and are rewarded all the same.

-I train in a warehouse with no air conditioning and big garage doors. If you didn't know where it was, you would never find it. There is no sign outside. The signs of training are all inside, working, or helping one another.

-I train where advertising is sacrilege. I train where I am a walking advertisement.

-I train with people I truly enjoy, and would do anything for, not where I need to put ear phones in to block out all the annoying banter. When we go, we hear yells, trainers instructing, or loud ass music making us go even harder...not elevator bullshit. Real music.

-I train in a place where if I am negative, I will be addressed by at least one person about my stupid ass attitude, and if I am unlucky enough on that day, I may be asked to leave, and come back when Im better, because I am effecting the core by my stupid ass baggage that is meant to be burned at the door.

-I train where if I want to keep my shirt on I can....but there are no rules saying I have to. Where I train if someone disrobes to any level, wears short ass shorts, or is quasi naked after a WOD thats fine...no attention will be paid, because its all about the training, not about meat markets. If you want a pick up joint, look elsewhere.

-I train where Im valued and truly appreciate for showing up and putting forth true, real, demanding effort.

-I train where I am judged on my movements and attitude everyday. Not because my friends are assholes, because they truly want to make me better at life, and want success for me not injury. A piss poor performance means someone will care enough to help me make it better, and find out why it happened to begin with.

-I train in a place void of gossip. Rumors are unwelcome at all times and if I was stupid enough to ever spout anything negative, or even just not positive about one of my training partners, or any other training location for that matter, I would be crucified on the spot, by any and all in ear shot. Drama queens are eaten alive where I train.

-I train where everyone applauds when I do well, and I applaud for them.

-I train where justification is lucifer, and honesty is gospel. For if I lie, I only fail myself.

-I train where I am confronted everyday by food Nazis who wont allow me to eat shit and call it gold. Where I train we call bad, bad, quality, quality and everything in between sub-par. Where I train life happens, the difference is, here I have to confront my downfalls and improve not hide them away for tomorrow.

-I train to be better at life. The unknown and unknowable. To one day be able to help someone less fortunate than I. To be able to be moving on my own when I'm old and gray, not being moved.

-I train because I want the mirror to be an outward reflection of how I feel inside, which is pretty damn good, and I want it to stay that way.

-I train because laziness sickens me, and preventable disease is exactly that...preventable through effort, not medication.

-I train to be different than those before me. To go out swinging, not resting. To live valiantly, not cowardly.

-I train where the floor could double as a pool at times because people actually work hard. I don't care, that's how it should be.

-I train with football players, grandmas, kids, housewives, doctors.

 -I train with people of every walk of life, and if I cared about status...someone would make me leave.

-I train where education daily is paramount, and if I'm not a constant student, I will fail quickly.

-I train where we are all equal, because we truly are. The only thing that separates people is the attitude to believe this is true or not. The ones who believe they are better than others, are so much better....they aren't allowed to train with me.

-I train with people that make my day better.

-I train in a place where I want to be, not a place I feel I have to be.

-I train under expectations. Expectations to be better than yesterday. 

-I train in a community dedicated to the whole. The success of the many. this is the reason we all change and progress so fast. Where I train its not about "I"....its about "us"

I train....what the hell do you do?

Return of the Assassin

After 11 days of being away from the box, I was eagerly excited to get back into it. I saw the workout on the Nat'l site last night and already loved it. Pull ups and OH squats are 2 areas that I could always work on for improvement.

Arrived 2 minutes late to the 10AM class, and found that the very full On-ramp class was running long. All the rowers were occupied so I went for a run to warm up. I made sure to really warm up my shoulders as one of my concerns is range of motion and flexibility. I've only injured myself twice in 7 months and both times where my shoulder.

Since I had been cooking this week, which means long hours standing in one place, I had already made a mental note while in the kitchen that I knew I would have a tight back coming back into the box. I rolled on the foam roller to loosen up the tightness. I warmed up my OH Squats with a light bar. I wanted to to feel that money spot where the bar is perfectly above the center line of my body. I felt it and put more weight on to 35#s. My 1 rep max PR is 50#s, and WODs that were high reps, I would do 20#s-30#s. So combining the facts that  I had taken 11 days off and my back was acting like a bitch, I stuck with 35# for the workout, knowing that at this lighter weight I better be perfect with my form- getting deep and seated at the bottom and keeping active shoulders with arms locked out over the center of my body.

Right before Diso calls "3-2-1-GO!" I think, Fuck this is going to Suck! This is how I broke up the first set of 21: 11, break. 6, break. 4. I made a mental note that dumping the bar and having to clean it, push press it overhead took a lot of energy out of me... I had to change it up for the next set.

Going to the bar, I had the thicker blue band set up. Diso wanted use to go thicker if neccessary to satisfy the Chest to Bar requirement. I knew I wouldn't be able to do C2B with the thin red. I don't remember the set of 21 C2B pull ups. I guess I was in the zone.

Back to OH Squats. Knowing that getting the bar overhead used a lot of energy I did my best to go for as long as I could. I only dumped the bar once in the set of 15. Did 8 squats, dumped, then knocked out the last 7.

For the last set of 9 OH Squats, I did them straight- not stopping once. I really felt that at this point my hips were nice and warm and I can feel myself get really seated at the bottom. It felt good.

And my time:

I'm happy. I did some good work for a girl who's been out of commission for a bit. Afterwards I collapsed and went to into that lovely workout stupor that I'm addicted to :D

A feast for the eyes

Crossfit Games Northwest Regional Qualifier

Paleo is it

When I came into the Crossfit fold last fall, my first priority was to work on my fitness level; to love to be active instead of dreading it. Because of the ingenious programming of CF, I fell in love right away. I couldn't wait to become faster and stronger. 

In the back of my mind I rationalized that if I worked out hard then this would give me the excuse of eating whatever the hell I wanted. I've always thought that. Even when I got my first gym membership at Powerhouse Gym in Canoga Park in 1995. In the early 2000s, I was obsessed with indoor Spinning. I would spin two times a day. I would also eat anything my heart desired. I stayed well within my high school weight range (90-95#s), which only reinforced to me that I worked out to eat as I pleased, not for the multitude of GOOD reasons why one stays fit. 

You mix in my career- former chef, culinary consultant, and food geek... the 
"necessary" exposure of amazing culinary adventures that my jobs have brought to me. I called it work mandated eating. Working side by side with the best chefs in the world, the desire of honing my palate by eating everything I can, and just the added peer pressure that diets are for pussies-- it really shaped my relationship with food. I have in the past verbalized that I people on diets are not my friends. Those with food hang-ups/fears are my enemy, closed minded and narrow is their view of the world, and the world is made to eat everything in it.  I loved food. It never let me down. It brought me great pleasure. It was my ally. It came to a point where if I was having a bad day at work, I would soothe myself by indulging in a meal that I craved. It made it all better. 

These meals that were the salve of my wounds served as comfort, satisfying a base human drive, HUNGER.

Entering in the 3rd month of doing Crossfit on a consistent basis of 3-4x a week, I noticed that I hadn't lost any weight. I was still 119#s and my clothes were still very snug. I was perplexed. My formula of working out and eating what i wanted was not yielding the results I expected. I remember opening up to David, my coach/trainer,  about my concern. He did his best to try to take away focus from the weight loss, but asked if I desired to improve on my performance. Of course, I answered yes. His solution to my concern: Paleo. 

I remember coming home and googling the term Paleo. I ravenously absorbed as much as I could about the lifestyle. My initial thoughts were, "this is going to be temporary, cause there is no way I will want to live life this abbreviated." No sugar? No grains? No dairy? WTF? These were my friends. No more butter and sugar on white toast with a glass of warm milk before bed? I couldn't fathom. The foods of my childhood...

But my desire to get faster, go harder, be stronger won out over my sentimental relationship with "those" foods. I eased into my Paleo lifestyle. I didn't follow a strict regiment. I enjoyed cream in my coffee, had rice at my Mom's house, and occasionally enjoyed bread with my sandwiches. I would allow myself these cheats so I wouldn't go crazy. I also continued to consume alcohol. My results were apparent in the gym, a couple weeks into my program. The first 2 weeks I struggled with eating enough calories of WHOLE foods, to displace the calorie-dense carbs I took out of my diet. But once I got over that hump, my stamina improved and my strength increased exponentially.  Of course, with these gains my confidence soared and my desire to beat myself and set new PRs increased.

More than 2 months of this loose Paleo living, I had seen leaps and bounds in my fitness, and had lost about 7 pounds of weight. My clothes still fit the same. I still had a muffin top, a roll on my back under my bra strap, and my ass still looked droopy. I knew in my heart that I had to commit to a strict paleo program; no cheats, no sneaks, no rationalizing that I can't get through without a bit of grain in my day... 

On April 12th, I weighed in at 112.3 pounds and a BF% of 28.9 percent. That day I committed to a 30 (actually 37 days) paleo challenge that would eliminate sugar, dairy, grains, legumes and alcohol from my diet. In the first week, I lost 4#s, so when the Paradiso Crossfit Paleo Challenge started on April 19th, I weighed in at 108. On that day I also did benchmark workout Fran, and clocked it at 12min42sec. 

The first half of the 30 day challenge was easy, but the second half was unbearable. I started having dreams of my favorite (forbidden) foods. And my desire for an alcoholic beverage was too much. So I indulged. I had some beer and wine at the end of week 3. At that point I had already met my weight goal (actually surpassed it) and my performance in the box was exemplary in my eyes. I had enough energy to go 4-5 days in a row- all due to my paleo diet, I believe. Either way, I fell weak to my desires, but I wasn't going to beat myself up for it and overshadow all the gains and improvements I had made so far.  

On May 19, collectively as a box, we tackled Fran again to see if our "clean" month will show itself in our times. I did Fran this time around in 8min53sec, just 11 seconds shy of a 4 min. gain. I was pleased as punch. My final stats were: 9# weight loss (that's a little over 8% loss of my body weight), minus 3% BF, and of course, 3min49sec off of my Fran, all in 37 days.

After class, I jetted immediately to Santouka to order D-set, Salt. I couldn't finish my bowl of noodles or the chasu rice. I think my body was already telling me NO! I then met with my boss and had a large Kirin. From there I went to BJs brewery and had 2 pints of house stout. The next several days after I continued to indulge my hearts desire which included more beer, bourbon, fried chicken, rice and gravy, chili cheese fries, onion rings, croissants, donuts, ice coffee with half/half and more and more breaded and fried shit... then more beer. 

Every morning of those days of gluttony I awoke feeling bloated, lethargic, and just an overall feeling of discomfort. I also notice my skin started to become inflamed. I was breaking out like a 15 year old. My eczema was flaring up on my face and arms. My skin looked sallow. I didn't feel good about myself. 

The new week began and I knew that I had to get back on track to eating clean. I mean, just a few short days I had managed to make myself feel horrible. Not to mention, I weighed myself and I had gained 4#s (probably all water) in less than 5 days. That's when it started, the mutiny in my stomach. It was pissed and it was going to let me have it. I'll let you use your imagination on what a pissed of GI tract will do to its owner. That is when I made my vow that Paleo is it for me. "The proof of the pudding is in the eating."

My experience in the last 2 months has shattered any convictions I may have had in the past about my relationship with food. This epiphany is paramount in my life. My way of thinking has been completely rearranged. I've come to the conclusion that I have some form of allergy to grains/sugar/dairy; they cause an inflammatory response in my body. Removing them from my diet equates to performance gains at Crossfit. I have settled my sleeping patterns. I no longer deal with mood swings. I have yet to endure panic attack this entire year of 2010. (sidebar- I use to be a regular at the pharmacy to fulfill prescriptions for my insomnia, depression, dermatitis, et al; not anymore) I have yet to get sick since becoming strict on paleo. AND the cherry on top is I'm back in size 0, which is what size I wore in High school and college. 

The complete satisfaction that I achieved the goals I set out for myself is tantamount to the actual end results. 

Valley Crossfit and Sweet Assassin= BFFs

With a clock running for 20 minutes:

Run 800, then
AMRAP-
3 Clean/Jerk (I cleaned only 65#s)
6 Pull ups (with band)
9 Push ups (knees)
At the end of the 20mins, run 800m

Your score is how many round you completed

My score: 5 rounds + 3 cleans

Soooo much to say... First, I loved this workout, even with all the running.  It was pretty crazy class with 24 peeps. We all warmed up collectively in the parking lot; 200m jog, skipping and DROM.

We paired up for the WOD. Janice was by herself with 35# bar and small kettlebell to do high-pulls instead of pull ups. I tried to do 65# clean and Jerk, but I couldn't get the bar over me. It is 2/3 my body weight. So Mike said to just clean the bar cause there were no more bumper plates for me to have my own bar. Mike told me to do a couple cleans to feel it out. I felt a lot of pressure. Now realize, that I just set that PR of 65# for my clean so the weight is somewhat new to me. I thought, I better do this, I don't want to look like a weak sauce in front of Mike :)

Well I did 2 right off, and my confidence shot through the roof and I felt good going into it. The 800m run wasn't bad at all.
During the WOD, after every clean I did I felt even more confident and strong. I felt good. My pull ups were nice, and I felt strong during my push ups.
The second 800m sucked. I hated it.

During the cool down, the first place woman at the CF Regionals walked into the gym and I got kind of excited, like a school girl. I'm such a goober.

I ate well today.

10 oz Chicken breast
4oz. broccoli/cauliflower
1 banana w/ 1Tbls of hazelnut butter

1 tangerine
Garlic Shrimp
5 jumbo purple asparagus

1 large orange

1 Sierre Nevada Torpedo IPA

Tomorrow is sooooo going to be rest day. Except that I look at the WOD and I really want to do it.

I'm fuckin' Crosffit crazy :D




I think Janice is seriously considering taking on Crossfit. I can see her coming up with all the objections... hopefully I've answered them satisfactorily.

Facebook Status November 30, 2009

Lauren Nicole Half way done with Crossfit On-Ramp, and I think I'm in deep. Just got home from crossfit, planning to go back in 12 hours :)

November 30, 2009 at 9:05pm · Comment ·