The Appetite of A Burly Man, Blame it on the Heavy Lifting

Really gross how much I ate today. NO, it’s gross how much I ate just for breakfast alone, ugg. It all started in my mouth when a piece of bacon talked to my eggs and said, “let’s throw her for a loop & turn on her man-appetite.” Protein can be such a jerk sometimes. So from eggs and bacon I went to prunes (love my fiber) and an apple and some oatmeal and some almond butter (A lot) with honey.

Why didn’t someone stop me. Or at least tie my hands behind my back to slow me down.

It’s too embarrassing to continue and log my entire day, but I estimate we are talking a good 3000 calorie day of regret. Not good for weight loss but very good for any ambition towards becoming a football linebacker…

What did I learn from today’s food mania? If anything can bring on a burly appetite, it’s absolutely burly-man behavior. 

Two things can be contributed to this drama in my belly:

1. Strong woman class at my gym two days ago. (I think it’s okay to blame something from two days ago, right??) If you want to be a BEAST (I do!) you must lift, throw and pull like one. We’re talking sledgehammers, tire flips and heavy farmer carries (55# in each hand) I LOVE these badass moves!

2. Max back squat today 175# on my back, SWEET! I originally thought I did 185 but I definitely only did 175. (figured out after I already bragged to someone about 185, oops) Not a PR today, but I matched my 2 year ago PR. I am so proud of my body! Also, had zero people spotting or coaching me so it was 100% self inflicted, meh.

The best part of my day was when a fellow gym-goer asked if I was training for a show! I was so flattered!!! Maybe that’s because my red fire-truck engine face is often times a dead-give away to my breaking point.

Here’s my workout: 
Run 1/2 mile
Row 1000 Meters

20 Medicine ball slams (14#)
20 Box jumps (24”)
20 Push ups
20 Sit ups
3X

Back squats:
10, 10, 7, 5, 3, 3, 1, 1, 1
working up to 175#

Random running and rowing, at which point I realized my body was pretty pooped

Pooped puppy. This guy has it right

and the dry sauna began whispering lovingly to me. So, I spent 10 minutes sweating out all the water I drank in 2013. It was marvelous. 

http://grass-fed-fitness.tumblr.com

Fight Gone Bad (But not so bad)

Watched an awesome motivational video yesterday of Rich Froning (my lifelong crush) and it got me wanting to step up in the gym. Go ahead, let the motivation take hold of you by watching right here.  Rich Froning tends to make me want to push things further, and I don't think I'm alone in this. After the motivation got me, I googled hard crossfit WODS, and suddenly it was as if I hadn't been breathing for years & someone gave me fresh air, F* yes. Brutal cross fit work outs came up and rattled my being. 

Here's the article: BRUTAL CROSSFIT WORKOUTS

One of  WODS which spoke to me is the Fight Gone Bad. So the next day I came prepared loaded with coconut electrolytes & some furry in my heart. I attacked the WOD  and I felt like I could concur anything. Here's the WOD:

"Fight Gone Bad!"3 rounds:

Wall-ball, 20 pound ball, 10 ft target (Reps) - 14# for girls
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 75 pounds (Reps)   -  modified at 65#
Box Jump, 20" box (Reps)
Push-press, 75 pounds (Reps)                    - modifiied at 65#
Row (Calories)
* One minute on each station & a one minute break between rounds. It's a 17 minute work out **

Concured this bad boy, though I didn't count points, instead I just felt the painful glory. I loved particularly the SDHP because I'd never done them in the gym before. They are ridiculous looking which guarantees I get to leave my comfort zone. 

According to Muscle & FItness magazine, the origin of the name came upon us like this:

"The origin story of “Fight Gone Bad” is now a thing of CrossFit legend. When world-renowned UFC fighter B.J. Penn went to CrossFit founder Greg Glassman looking for a workout that would mimic the trials of mixed martial arts, Glassman devised a devastating test: three five-minute rounds containing high- power compound exercises meant to work every muscle in the body and re-create the intensity of a real mixed martial arts battle. (um,,,, F* yes!)

When Penn was lying on the floor trying to catch his breath after the brutal workout, Glassman asked whether the new circuit felt anything like a fight. “It’s like a fight gone bad,” Penn replied, supplying the name for one of CrossFit’s most challenging—and notorious—workouts. " (Muscle & FItness Magazine link here.

I HEART crossfit!! - I will be doing it again & timing it. 

adios!


and happy st. pati's day!

Self Made Masterpiece in Upper Body Strength, ROAR

WOD 3.24.14

Today was overhead squats, lots of them, yippee-kye-aye-aye! I sometimes tend to shy away from these shoulder-killing monsters, but end up feeling a lot of LOVE for them in the end. NOT too much love, but just a teaser to leave me coming back for more. And just like the snatch, the OHS is incredibly empowering; it’s one way to make this shorty feel more giant-like. 

I started my workout:

500M row
500M (ish) run
3X

20 Weighted lunges (with 25# plate overhead) 
x4

10 OHS (here we go!) 65#
15 push ups on the bosu ball (the half one)
20 V-Ups
x 5

10 Kettlebell swings 26# 
10 Kettlebell snatches 20#
Weighted sit ups with 26# KB
x2 (I might have done more, but I was in a daze at this point & they were getting pretty sloppy)

I realized while doing the KB work that my shoulders were not agreeing with my decision to work on KB sntaches. The lunges, OHS & KB work was too much & I felt week & in bad form. ROokie mistakes.  

A pic of me doing OHS a couple years ago (inside the box)

ROARING Out of The Box, Shrinking Boobs & Heavy(ish) Power Cleans

Out of the Box…This girl’s journey without crossfit, Hollar! I'm going rogue. My hybrid, semi custom- made workouts without the box. 3.2.1 go

Today at the gym included shrinking boobs, heavy-ish power cleans and a stench of major proportions. My morning began at the early 4 am hour. WTH is going on here, almost two hours premature, and wide awake, all be, even my alarm is offended. Either way, made it to the car and I'm good as gold.

So when I did make it to the dungeon gym at Colorado Athletic Club (which I have come to have a mutually loving relationship with) I started off strong, forgetting to stretch, yet AGAIN. Hopefully it never bites me in the arse with an injury, neh.  Lately, I have been starting with a bang, running upstairs in the midget track and adding rowing or kettlebells.

 But wait, what about the shrinking boobs  you ask? Right, let’s get down to business.

After the warm up, I headed to the barbell, YAY. I love you barbell, you rock my world. Unfortunately my usual work station is facing a mirror which gives one way too much vanity time. Today, this vanity time let me see that my particular semi-voluptuous nature seemed to be suffering from shrinkage. What can testosterone do to you? I crush you estrogen dominance, muah ha. What was once a T & A body has now evolved towards an A body with um, tic tacs. (Tic Tacs and Ass??) As I am trying to focus on my lifts I am distracted by this epiphany, but aspiring to be the humble badas I want to be, I push on.
What we have here is my WOD:

8 rounds
3 power cleans (95lbs)
9 push ups
9 air squats

My lifts felt strong today and my face felt gloriously sweaty, success! Back to the minus T issue, I have been thinking of how I could make a deal with the devil to save my bouncy girls; What would I give the devil to trade? My cocker spaniel? But as the shock has worn off, I realize I am making peace with whatever my body needs to do. Besides,  there’s always surgery right? Hehe, that’s not at all drastic.

My workout ended with a short trip the rower just for one last hurrah before my departure.  This is where I made one hell of a mistake. Never, ever do this  when you are in the company of others. I removed  my IPOD arm band, (I just squinted remembering this) Yes. I did that. And I know of one lucky personal trainer who also partook in the heavenly aroma. Oh the stench of sweaty balls. Yes, that's what a few weeks (months?) worth of arm sweat added up to. So now I know I should be washing that naughty arm band more often.  OK, we covered power cleans, boobs and stench.  Stay tuned for a joke on my next post. Until then, send the devil my way, will ya?

The first date (with the CF Open)

Ah. The start of the Cross fit Open! The process has begun to  identify (and seriously congratulate) the "fittest woman and man on earth". It was an exciting day today, driving to the 6am work out at Front Range Crossfit. 

I woke up this morning at 5:30am, almost a full 12 hours after the first Cross fit Open workout had posted to notify almost 50,000 people what WOD (work out of the day) would be completed for the first of five weekly challenges. Definitely, I woke up with a fire lit under my ass (oh so warm), because I had no problem getting out of bed. Special events can do that for you.

So I would say today was the first date, and next week is the 2nd date and then comes the relationship also known as regionals. And only a very elite few will move onto marriage, (good thing I'm very married) I don't plan to make it past the Open, but the competitive spirit has been sprinkled upon me since I first clicked submit on my $20 entry fee. The spirit also brings with it some massive butterflies in my gut... Here we go!!

So in review of my first date with the open, I would say I had a good time. It was short and semi-sweet with seven LONG minutes of very proper burpees. In seven minutes, I performed 82 burpees which included a six inch jump at the end. Also, I decided because I completed the workout at the 6am class that I should get an additional 10% added to my score, so I took it nice and easy today. That and also because I drove through un-plowed snow (and uphill, barefoot with no coat!) to this first date, that I could take another 10% addition- I'm rocking this so far. That might even earn a good-night kiss :)

How many burpees can you do in 7 minutes? Huh, you don't know this? WTH? Give it a go...3-2-1 go

PR's...Ready, Set, Go!

So I have begun to realize that I am intimidated by two things revolved around workouts:
1. Early mornings and 2.Scary Front Range Cross Fit WODS (workout of the day)!

It's funny how much free time I used to have for working out, and I usually took advantage. Of course that was the pre-baby days before I had to stop focusing so much on just me, me and me. Before my baby girl Juliet,  life was such a breeze. I could compare it to eating cake.

Pre-baby = cake eating
Post baby=eating a juicy filet minion
While both are enjoyable, one can sustain you much much longer!

Since the creation of my little lady Juliet, I have had a priority shift in my time management. Workouts continue to remain very high on my list of needs as they fit right in with water, food and love. Trust me, one does not want to be around me when I don't work out.  Non worked out Steph brings out the devil in me (just ask my dear hubbo, who can testify to this).

In the most recent couple of months, sleep has began to quietly seep into that list of things I have to do. This priority change has placed a huge damper on my workouts. My usual crossfit time is 6am, which requires not only a 520am alarm clock (oh, how I do NOT love thee) but also an early morning breast feeding session for the little Kinzer baby. And believe me, any other time for work outs just doesn't happen, what with the chaos that ensues later in the day. OK for cheesy purposes, lets just call that our family time. So, it's 6am or it's a bust & that's a huge guilt producing delima currently. To be honest, it requires a bedtime of 930pm, which is difficult for me.

This recent prioritization of sleeping habits has come from two relatively reliable sources: Marks Daily Apple (web site) and Lights Out, the book. Both which say, it is better to get more sleep & get a short workout in later in the day rather than getting up early & sleeping less than 8 hours. There are so many reasons our bodies need more sleep, mostly regarding hormones and oh...small things like diabetes and heart disease! All of which just so happen to make an absolutely dreamy excuse to reach over with my naughty right arm & turn off that alarm clock.

Hence, I have fallen short lately on my cross fit workouts, so much so that if I go this seldom it's not worth the monthly debit from my bank account to pay for me just LOOKING at the WODS online. This is the point my oh-so-logical husband mentioned the other night & sent me on a rage. Ah! the truth HURTS, especially when I was fuming in the wrong direction (at him for saying it) instead of myself with this bastard right arm (see, I already told you about my devilish tendencies when I'm not working out). Thank goodness I picked a forgiving spouse, and I say this with my most perfect toothy innocent smile.

This brings me to point #2, scary WODSs. Case in point: This morning's WOD:

Three rounds:

20 burpees

30 wall-ball shots (14lbs)

But just for the record, I did go to crossfit this morning - (thanks, I did pat myself on the back already) I think it was some sort of karma for sleeping in lately because only 3 of us total went for this punishment. But even scarier than today was a couple of weeks ago when we attempted to uncover our max snatch (btw, have you warmed up your snatch lately?) And for some reason, be it my lack of barbell confidence when weights are over my head or just that I am a total wimp; I am afraid of the snatch. Yep, I said it. And my max weight showed it, only 75 pounds. yikes. And a real jab to the ego took place when I was told a prego crossfitter snatched 110pounds.

So, more recently, when we had another max lift day, I decided it was game on. I came fully hydrated, ready to rock and well fueled after a prior night's paleo dinner. It was game on, ready set go! Which leads into the name of this post: PR's and FR's. What is an FR you should ask? It means first record and it takes place when you don't have a prior weight to beat, it is also totally made up for this blog post my good friend. So I went to uncover my FR's on the following:

Overhead Squat - 90lbs

Front Squat - 150lbs

Back Squat - 175lbs

and I feel pretty good about that level of strength! I sure hope I can grow from there. Not only did I score some "way-to-go's" but I left with quite the ego boost! Thank you Crossfit for all the fun!