Inspiration

Coach IA²posted this on the Ignite page today....hmmm its a thinker!

Rite of passage-CrossFit style

My first ever hand tear from swinging like a monkey on the bar. 

Just one step closer to becoming the fire breathing CrossFitter I need to be in order to do FRAN prescribed.  

Did I mention I am really close to doing a kipping pull up :)

(Note: Please ignore the old lady hand wrinkles...chalk does nothing for dry winter hands.... yikes)

   

Auld Lang Syne

Its at this time of year that it seems like no matter where you look there is ads for gyms, health clubs and diet plans that promise this year will be the year their classes will help you to shed that last 10 pounds, their trainers will take your body from flab to fab or their dietitians will help you look on the outside how you have always felt on the inside.  This in turn will make you look better in your swimsuit, help you meet the partner of your dreams and get you into the single digit jean size you haven't seen since, well since you were a single digit age.  All you have to do is come in and sign yourself up and you will be one step closer be the healithiest and fittest you have ever been.

Really?  All I had to do was sign up?


How did a single day become the day to make promises to yourself and the rest of the world that when you wake up you will be the person you have always wanted to be?  The person who doesn't smoke, doesn't drink, is 10 lbs lighter, eats cleaner, is more active and in general just an all around more healthy person.  If each year of your life was like a lap in a perpetual race then January 1st would be like the starting line where you can reset and begin all over again hopeful to avoid the same health pitfalls as the lap before.   What is it that holds most people back from choosing to make a change in their life any other day in a year. Why so much pressure to be healthier starting on New Years.  As I have come to realize since last April, goals are important and actually essential when you are trying to change your lifestyle. But why do so many people feel it necessary to make this commitment just as the ball is dropping in Time Square.  The pressure to live up to the hype surrounding these kind of resolutions is so powerful that you are almost self sabotaging your efforts before you even get to Valentine's Day. 

I am not in the habit of making New Year's Resolutions but not because I don't believe they don't work for some people but simply because the few times I did partake in this age old tradition I never stuck with it.  Goals that should have resulted in positive warm fuzzies ended in me feeling crummy because I never followed through.   There was the year I promised myself to worry less.   Hahaha does a zebra have stripes?  The 3 year stretch in University I swore I would drink less and study more, starting the next morning of course.  There was even one New Years Eve after a rather disappointing rendezvous, I swore off dating.   Hmmmmmm....I see a pattern.  All lofty goals with results that would require more than just self discipline and a decent game plan.  Things that subconsciously I knew would require a significant alteration of my lifestyle. The kind of alteration I was never really ready or willing to make.  Thus each and every time I promised myself one of these things I ultimately failed.   It took me a long time to realize that if I was going to make a life change I couldn't just say I was going to do it.  Figuratvely speaking, I was going to have to get off the couch put down the bag of chips, make a realistic plan and then spend some time really examininig the parts of my life that would require my attention to carry out this plan.  Why do you think it took me until I was 29 to make my health my priority? Making a positive life change is hard, no matter when you decide to do it.   So if this is your year, the year you have decided to be the "real" healthy you, stick with it and don't be another New Year's Eve statistic. 

 

Inspiration

Sooooooo close. Between the kippers and skippers workshop last month with Tenacious T, B-rah rah and Coach Hurly and some one on one work with W this past week my kip was starting to look more like...well more like a kip. Then today with the support of Fancy Nancy I was this close to getting my chin to the bar. Pretty good Christmas Eve workout if you ask me!!! It pays to believe in Christmas magic I know that if I get this kip thing down I can do Fran prescribed. After the self doubt that has been creeping in over the last week or two this is just what I needed.

Watch out b$&@#!!!! I'm coming!!!!!

Inspiration

In elementary school, teachers celebrate the 100th day of school.  And because there is 100 days left until FRAN I thought a little song a friend of mine shared might be appropriate.  Considering how often I play the mental game of breaking up my reps in different ways this is quite fitting. 

How Many is One Hundred?

(to the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb")

How many is one hundred,
One hundred, one hundred,
How many is one hundred?
It's ten groups of ten.

How many is one hundred,
One hundred, one hundred?
How many is one hundred?
It's twenty groups of five.

How many is one hundred,
One hundred, one hundred?
How many is one hundred?

It's fifty groups of two.

How many is one hundred,
One hundred, one hundred,
How many is one hundred?
It's one hundred groups of one.

Iram Khan

Blogger's block

I thought a blogger never ran out of stuff to say! Isn't that an unwritten blog rule-rant and rave ALL the time even if its about nothing in particular.  Well its hard for me to admit it but I got nothin'.  There have been very few times in my life that I haven't found something to talk about.  I am good at talking, its kinda of my thing.  So the fact that I have written once in December and have about 6 half written mediocre "essays" that just aren't that exciting or interesting is a little frustrating and has started to wear on me.

To be honest I think that my naive idea to try one of the most famous CrossFit benchmarks was based on very little personal knowledge of what I would have to do to complete FRAN.  And as time has passed this fun way to get in shape has taken a serious turn! In fact I think like many who sample the kool-aid I might suddenly be in "too deep" to sarcastically comment on the things I used to.    

This new respect for the idiosyncrasies of CF combined with a lack of valuable screen time (wait a sec....valuable + screen time = an oxymoron) has left me with a very sparse blog this month.  I find that my time online has been consumed with other things lately.  Who knew that this one time, reluctant, weekend CrossFit skeptic was going to someday be scouring the Internet soaking up any and all information about anything and everything to do with this not so underground fitness phenomenon.  No seriously, I used to surf the web for cool ways to teach balancing equations to grade 10s or fun things to do with your toddler.  Now I am looking up ways to improve my front squat, finding tips and tricks to help my thrusters and the majority of my time I just watch videos from Mobility WOD....oh come on....you would be hard pressed to find a CF lady who doesn't love that guy....for that matter any lady who doesn't swoon over that guy...Sigh....

Inspiration will come...it always does, but for now I will spend my time pretending that K Starr is my personal mobility coach and even if I have nothing to ever say again I will at least be limber :)    

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Inspiration

So this isn't me....don't get too excited.  I have just mastered doing a 30 sec handstand against the wall without falling or freaking out. 

I just joined pinterest.....hello, where has that been all my life!!!! It takes friend stalking to a whole new level. 

Found this picture among other awesome CrossFit inspired stuff on Coach Jazzy J's pin board.