First for me...

Well.... I had my first Crossfit malfunction.....:) Don't worry, it was not too terribly bad... :) I made it almost 6 months of my workouts without getting hurt!

The box jump got the best of me last week... I was at the end of a really good workout and I had decided that I wanted to get in a couple sets of box jumps before I headed home... I debated a little whether to do them, but decided I needed to, so I pulled out the box and got set up to start...

Needless to say I didn't get too far in the jumps... I should have listened to my gut to not do them that particular day! I made the first jump and my foot caught the front lip of the box and I came crashing into the box, square on my shin and then landed on my arm as I threw my arms in front of me on the box so I didn't plow my face into it!!! Holy cow what pain!!!! Luckily I was on campus at the university and limped myself across the football field to my better half to have him fix me..... He just shook his head and went and got two bags of ice and put me on the training table with the bags attached to my shin and knee...

Now that I'm feeling not quite so sore, I need to get back on that box... :) I will admit though, its gonna be a big mental challenge at first.... I'm willing to bet that everyone of us that has ventured into the Crossfit life has at least one malfunction happen to them!! :)

Stay healthy and fit and get back onto that Box!!!

E

New Addition to our Family!!

Ok, so this post has absolutely nothing to do with fitness or healthy eating :)

We recently added a third member to our family!! :) Her name is Zeli and she is a 4 month old American Bulldog puppy!!!

We have been having a blast with this new pooch!!!  Right now as i sit here on a cool mountain morning, on our porch writing, she is wrapping herself around my chair and eating every stick, acorn, and leaf she can find!!!

I have always been an animal lover and have owned several dogs over many years, but I hadn't had one in over six years and now I remember why they are such wonderful companions!!! Its awesome to come home every day to have Zeli genuinely excited to see you!!! She is by far one of the most loving, sweetest puppies I have ever had!! All she wants to do is be right next to us at all times!!  Which is going to prove to be quite interesting when she gets to be 75-100 lbs and still thinks she's a lap dog!!! 

There has always been something said about owning a pet that makes us humans more happy, less stressed, and generally better individuals.  I completely agree with that!!!  

So go adopt from a shelter, humane society or where ever and find a new addition to your family!!!

Been a while....

Have you ever had one of those where you turn around and you think..."Where in the world did the time go???"... Well, I've had a couple of those weeks, and here it is August already!!! Where did the summer go??? I know that it's been a while since I last wrote, so my deepest apologies there :) I know everyone was holding their breathe waiting on my next post!! :) (hint of my delightful sense of sarcasm there...)

I have been eyeball deep in a new job that I am thoroughly enjoying as a legal assistant :) I'm having to do a sort of re org of my workout schedule though... which has proved to be a bit tricky... I missed about a week or so of my workout, which made me feel absolutely gross!! I didn't realize how much I missed my workouts and how much those workouts benefit other parts of my life as well!!  I managed to get 3 days in this week and I'm planning on some sort of workout this weekend too... Having to dig out my motivation again... I apparently fell off the workout wagon there for a bit...

How do y'all get yourself back into the swing of things when things go wonky?.....

I had to join a fitness center near my work this week to keep myself into my workouts... I'm losing my workout location due to massive numbers of college athletes coming back into town for the fall :) Not biggie though, as I have found a couple new workout buddies!!! I desperately wanted to join one of our local Box's but right now the budget won't allow that steep a "gym" membership.... Oh well.. :) Now I just get to be creative with my workouts! No sweat!! (well hopefully, lots of sweat...)

In addition to all my normal craziness, I'm trying to figure out how to dive into a near area of my photography business to try and take on some more business :)

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend and remember to keep yourself motivated!!! The outcome is SOOO worth it!!!!

E

Just a little soapbox....

So I'm gonna get up on my box for a minute...I recently experienced something at a local Box that troubled me a little bit and wanted to get it off my chest and vent a little... So just bear with me as I write with wine glass in hand....:)

This week a friend of mine and I went to a local Crossfit box near where we work....My friend has been asking about my lifting/Crossfit workouts that I do and wanted to check out the box that is close by....We went to a free Saturday class several weeks ago and had a blast and decided to go and try out one of their regular evening WOD's during the week... Keep in mind, my friend has never done any type of Crossfit, weight training, HIIT at all....

We got all set up to start and this woman, whom I can only think was a frequent member of this box and seemed to think she had to tell my friend everything she was doing wrong... This woman proceeded to yell and scream in my friends face about how she wasn't doing the front squats correctly and never once stopped her to truly SHOW her how to do it properly...She repeatedly yelled at her to speed it up, that she wasn't going fast enough... And me being my friend's partner for the WOD, I was trying my best to motivate and encourage my friend between the yelling and craziness from this woman!!

Has anyone experienced this at their boxes before?? I don't use an actual Crossfit gym for my workouts because I have access to a facility that works good for me and the group I workout with, but I have heard nothing but great things about the different boxes all over the country... Fortunately the owner of this box is a wonderful young couple that know how to help, teach, motivate, and encourage...

Luckily this craziness did not discourage my friend from Crossfit, thank goodness!!! Although, I wanted to throw a barbell at that crazy woman!!! Thank goodness she didn't decide she wanted to aggravate me!!! Seriously?? That is NOT the way to teach, help, or encourage any individual, but especially those that are new to the sport!!!!

At the end of workout, my friend did a great job and finished the WOD and got a GREAT workout!!! And just in case anyone is wondering what WOD we did......
              SWOD(still not sure what the "S" is for..) - 3 sets of 10 Pistols -which i have never done...Tricky for me, but felt pretty good about it!!        

              3 rounds for time:
              15 pull ups
              12 burpees
              9 front squats

Thanks for letting me get up on my "box" :)

E

Staying motivated

In listening recently to one of my favorite podcasts, Jillian Michaels, she talked about something that stuck a cord with me... She talks about what the number question that is asked of her... People want to know how to stay motivated.. Well, this brings up the question of what is it that motivates you...?? So many people give the answer(..and I'm guilty of giving this answer too..) "being healthy is what motivates me"... Ok, so you want to be healthy? What does wanting to be healthy really mean to you? Just saying you want to be healthy is a big generalization that so many of us tell ourselves is our motivation.. 

I think we need challenge ourselves to create more specific goals to keep us motivated.. This is something that I am working on trying to be one better at too.. Me telling myself that I want to be just be stronger isn't gonna cut it for keeping me motivated... :) I think a big part of keeping ourselves motivated is goal setting... One of my fellow bloggers, Claire at www.theascentblog.com, wrote on goal setting recently, and I agree with her 100% that it is so very important!! They don't have to be big goals... Start with something smaller, say drinking an extra glass of water every day... Don't set your goals so ridiculously high that it will be impossible to reach, because all that motivation we mentioned earlier, gone... Poof.. Setting a goal of dead lifting 175 lbs when you just started working out, probably not a reasonable goal:) Start small and once you reach your first goal, bump up your next goal slightly so that you are challenging yourself each time... 

A couple of my goals at the moment are, deadlift my body weight, drink as close to 45-50 oz of water every day as I can, and make sure I pack enough healthy snacks every day(I'm really bad about not eating between meals now that I'm back to working in an office setting).. 

Remember, stay motivated, set reasonable goals, challenge yourself, and most important, have fun getting healthy!!!

Been a while.... :)

Wow!! My apologies that it has been what seems like a LONG time since the last post!! We were on vacation in Florida a couple weeks ago (which was wonderful, but I was ready to come back to my mountains... :) ) and the week after we got back I started a new job, so needless to say it has been quite a hectic last two weeks in our household!!

I'm having to re-adjust my workout schedule and remember how to pack healthy lunches and snacks and remember to drink all my water all while working a normal person desk job now after being a house honey for six months!! :) Getting used to doing our workouts at 6pm is taking some getting used to!  Luckily one of my workout girls has agreed to workout with me and my bf has been really great and works out with me a couple days too :) He just doesn't get dinner until 7:30 or 8pm... :)

On a Crossfit/workout note.... :) I wanted to bring up something that I have heard sooo many times from different women over the last several months since I "drank the Crossfit kool- aid..."... So many women have asked me "why are you doing weight training/Crossfit? You're just going to get all big and bulky and manly and will lose any girlyness...." And I'm pretty sure most of us women that do this type of workout have had this asked of us at least once...

I wanted to address this . :) .... What these women, and some men, either don't know or forgot from any science/nutrition/fitness class they took, is that women naturally are NOT going to bulk up (in the way they see in body building magazines) because our bodies/muscles do not bulk up like that from just doing weight training. We are not genetically made to naturally become bulky from just doing weight training. Now, let me clarify... if you are taking muscle building supplements, creatine, etc then yes, you are going to bulk up. The body builder women are typically the ones that have those types of physiques because they do use those supplements and such to look that way.  The Crossfit/HIIT(high intensity interval training) workouts do not bulk us up, they make us stronger, leaner, healthier, sexier women and men! Just to show what I'm talking about... My favorite female Crossfitter, Camille Leblanc-Bazinet is one of the top women in Crossfit (and my current girl crush... :) She is a strong, beautiful, feminine(not manly at all!) woman!!

I hope that these women will understand that the weight training that we do makes us not only more fit, but healthier, happier, and satisfied with ourselves and we are NOT bulky, manly, or big! And I guarantee you we are still girly!!! We still wear makeup, high heels, dresses, and fix our hair! (just not in the gym....)

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!!!! 

Elizabeth

Guest Blog!

Hi!! I am on vacation for the week, so I asked a really cool fellow blogger, Claire if she wouldn't mind doing a guest blog while I am away :) I also included one of my pics from this morning for everyone as well :) Hope you enjoy!!! I know I did!!!

"Making Time for Active Rest

Hey folks! This is Claire from The Ascent Blog coming to you while Elizabeth is at the beach! Jealous of her vacation? Me too!

Before Elizabeth left for the beach, she posted on my wall and asked for some suggestions for travel workouts. I started thinking about sit-ups, squats, lunges, push-ups, and other bodyweight movements that were easy to string together… but then I stopped. Why not just let a vacation be a vacation, even from working out?

Don't get me wrong--as a CrossFitter, I love dropping in at new CrossFit gyms when I travel. I also personally find exercise to generally be enjoyable (did I just say that? yikes), so the thought of NOT working out for a whole week while on vacation sounds like a bummer. But I also think that vacation should be a time for branching out and just being active, instead of worrying about getting your "workout" in for the day. 

Sometimes you need to give your brain a break from the calculations and the stress of every day life (and every day workouts)… but that doesn't always mean that your body needs a break, too! Being on vacation gives you a chance to explore a new place by bike, sprint down the beach just to scare a group of seagulls, spend a few minutes being ok with being the adult on the monkey bars, or even just go for long walks. In my mind, those things definitely count as exercise--and even though they might not contribute directly to your specific fitness goals, I think that they can be even more valuable than hitting a PR or working on your hill sprints, because they bring you back to the root of WHY being in shape is fun. Because let's be honest, how much fun does it really sound to be doing Burpees or worrying about rep schemes while you should be hiking up a cliff so you can jump back off into the ocean, or hanging onto a tube for dear life as you're whipped around behind a speed boat?

One of my favorite things to do on vacation is to go surfing. And not because I am awesome at surfing--actually, I suck at it. I can barely stand up on a surfboard, and when I do, it's for about one millisecond before I am back in the water, swallowing the next wave that's crashing down on my face. I can only spend about 15 or 20 minutes surfing at a time because otherwise it sort of turns into drowning. But I still love it, because it always means one thing: I am on vacation! 

I also absolutely love going to Moab, Utah, which is a very hot desert with the Colorado River running right down the middle. And even though it isn't technically "working out," I never feel more deserving of a cheeseburger and a milkshake than after a long day watching my fiancee rock climb.

Do you feel the need to work out in a gym on your vacations? What is your favorite thing to do when you're on vacation that keeps you active but isn't necessarily "working out"? "