My Crossfit Experience

The crossfit gym, or the sanctuary as they call it

Thanks to groupon, I have 10 crossfit classes at the "local" crossfit gym. I use the word local, very loosely because its about 30 min from my house, assuming there's no traffic on 95.  But I live in Delaware, so that's actually relatively close. (sigh!)  Anywho, I did my first class on Saturday morning, it was a Crossfit bootcamp they call RivFit.

My initial impression is that I love it, and will probably be sad when my 10 classes are up!!  As a gym rat, one of my weaknesses is my lack of stamina.  I do maybe 20 min of cardio every time I'm in the gym and generally take longer breaks than I need to between reps. So the cool part about Crossfit  was I got all the strength training, my workouts usually include, with a VERY healthy dose of cardio from the fact that we never stopped moving. Okay there was a 3 min break between the AMRAP's (can some crossfitter explain what that stands for, I forgot to ask).

So I got the class, (late.. shh! I got lost!) And joined the group on the green astro-turf you see in the background of the photo above.  We started off with a warm-up which consisted of a 400m run. Then some squats, burpees (the first of MANY), lunges, scorpions, and some other things I've forgotten.  We then partnered off and did a 15 min AMRAP of more burpees, and some exercises with a medicine balls. We had a 3 minute break (which I spent cursing myself for forgetting my water and stretching out my sore shoulders) before launching into a 10 min AMRAP with 25lb plates and more burpees.  At the end of this workout my shoulders and lats were BURNING!  I was positive I was going to want to cut my arms off by now, especially since I didn't have time to stretch!!  Crossfit ended at 11:15, and I was supposed to be showered, dressed and in DC for a baby shower by 1:00pm... Did I mention the Cross-fit gym is 30 min from my house? Okay, needless to say I was late, but I had a really cool gift (or so I like to think!).  I found this website earlier in the week and gifted the happy couple one of my own.

I had a busy weekend filled with lots of St. Patty's fun and foolishness courtesy of a friend's 30th birthday party. But good lord and am paying for it!!! 36 hours later and I'm still not 100%.  My quest for health and fitness means I don't drink like I used to, so my tolerance has gone WAAAAY down.... The sacrifices you make for your health, eh?  Ah well, work hard, play hard!! Right?

So, all in all, I really like crossfit, and might even join when my Groupon deal is over. I am a little sad, that I'm not sore, but that means 2 things.
1. that I'm more fit than I thought,
and
2. I have to push myself even harder this Sunday!

 So have you tried Cross-fit?  If so, how did you like it?

Signing up for more Cross-fit classes,
Candydiva04

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My Journey: Why I lift weights and why you should too

A friend of mine, whom I'll call "JBoogie" has decided she needs to start working on her health and fitness and asked to workout with RR and I. Seeing her initial struggles this week, reminded me of where I started, and made me realize that I've never really discussed the importance of weight lifting here in my blog.  As you may or may not know, I believe in lifting and lifting heavy. I lift weights every day, I do more lifting than cardio (although I do need to do more cardio), but I did not start here, getting here was a loong process. Although, I bet it feels like dog years to RR, because I was... uh, how shall I put this... less than cooperative in the beginning. 

 Two years ago when I first started working out with RR, I fought him tooth and nail about not wanting to lift. I only wanted to do the elliptical, attend a few fitness classes and maybe run on the treadmill, while he lifted weights. Weights were not for girls, in my opinion.  I just knew that if I lifted weights, I'd wind up looking like this.  

What I was afraid of

The body I wanted

And I did NOT want to look anything like that.  So we fought, for a few months, and I don't remember how he got me to do it, but finally he convinced me to try it his way.  I actually think he bombarded me with info on how just doing cardio wouldn't get me the body I wanted, then he compromised with me, the main terms of my surrender being that if I tried it his way, I could quit whenever I felt I was getting too bodybuilder-esque.

So I started lifting with RR.  At first it hurt (a lot) and it was intimidating (as hell).  I'd go home sore, I'd be sore the next day and even though I didn't believe it was even possible, I was even more sore the 2nd day! I should have bought stock in Icy hot, epsom salt and Bengay I was so sore. I couldn't tell if it was killing me or making me stronger! When it finally started to get easy, he'd start adding more weight or more reps, or both.  Most days, I just thought RR was torturing me. 

After a few months, I noticed my clothes felt bigger, despite the fact that the number on the scale hadn't changed too dramatically. I complained to RR about not seeing a difference on the scale.  He bombarded me with info about the "myth" of muscle weighing more than fat. The myth stems from the fact that muscle is denser than fat and it takes less volume of muscle to be the same weight. 

 It took him a while to learn that if he gave me too much info, I'd just tune him out, but eventually he got it through my thick skull that technically, an equal volume (not mass) of muscle will weigh more than an equal volume of fat, but that's not how your body works.  It won't immediately replace 5lbs of fat with.. say 15lbs of muscle.  Unless, of course, you're on steroids, otherwise it takes a long time and a lot of hard work.  However, if we make the comparison solely on mass, (as shown) a 5lb piece of muscle looks smaller than the 5lbs of fat. Which is why two people can be the exact same height and weight and look completely different.  

Moral of the story, 

So

 So ladies, I implore you go pick up some weights, maybe skip the Zumba or Cardio kickboxing class a few days a week and pick up some weights instead.  Oh and learn to not only embrace the soreness, but learn how to work through it, as well!

Hoping my story will inspire you,

Candydiva04

P.S - RR insists I put emphasis on the fact that I do both cardio and weights.  Your workout routines should include both, because neither weights nor cardio alone, will get you where you want to be. Also, while I say I'm eating poorly, my "poor" dietary choices are sporadic, the majority of my diet isn't that bad.  I try not to eat too much sugar and focus on eating the right amount of Protein, Carbs and Fats everyday.  I generally don't eat processed food, and almost never eat fast food. But I'll get deeper into that another day, probably whenever I do my BMI post.  :)

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One Workout, 2 Recipes

Despite having sore shoulders, delts and lats yesterday, I went to the new gym, pushed through the pain and banged out my biceps and back exercises. Which looked like this..

Exercise                                                     weight             Sets                  Reps                               

Lat Pulldowns                                             45lbs               4                            15
                                                                   65lbs               2                            15
Seated rows                                                75lbs               3                            15

Single Arm DB rows                                   15lbs                3                            15
Iso-Lateral chest/back machines                  10lbs              1                           15   

                                                                   15lbs               1                            15  

                                                                   17lbs               1                            13
Seated Row Machine                                   30lbs              1                             2

I tried to do the 2nd set of Rows but my delts were NOT about it.  lol  So i did about 10 min of cardio before leaving for Ballet class!!

After class I realized we ran out of bread, so I thought, I should just make some!! The plan last night after thoroughly kicking my own butt in the gym and then running back to the old gym for Ballet class, was to come home and make this but if I made ithis bread recipe I would have been up until 1am. (No way Jose!!!)  So I bought some bread and went to sleep, this is however on my agenda for later this week. I had hoped to do it tonight but I started to come down with something this morning and making bread is the last thing on my mind today,  :( 

Honey Whole-Wheat Sandwich Bread (for bread machine)

SERVES: MAKES 1 LOAF

INGREDIENTS

• 4 ¼ cups whole-wheat flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups warm water (not too hot or it will kill the yeast)
• ¼ cup honey
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (or melted butter)
• 1 packet or 2 ¼ teaspoons yeast

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Follow your bread machine’s directions for making a whole-wheat sandwich loaf. For me that means putting in the dry ingredients first with the wet ingredients on top. I have the Panasonic SD-YD250 Automatic Bread Maker and it takes the machine five hours to make this loaf.

I'll let you know how my bread turns out,when I  make it! Then while playing around on the internet last night I ran across this recipe which MUST.BE.TRIED!!! ASAP!!!

Healthy Vegan Nutella

That's right, healthy nutella!! Who knew such awesomeness was even possible in a healthy version!! I obviously intend to give this a whirl, I'm contemplating making some Nutella covered strawberries, not sure if that'll work the same as regular chocolate covered strawberries, but we'll see.

Healthyvegan Nutella

You will need:
Two cups of raw hazelnuts
1/4 cup of dark unsweetened cocoa
4 tablespoons agave nectar
3 packets of stevia 
1/4 cup of almond milk 
2 tsp vanilla extract

To prepare:
Toast hazelnuts in 350 degree oven for 15 minutes (or less for a less strong hazelnut flavor). Wait for them to cool and then remove skin by rubbing nut between hands or a paper towel. Put in a food processor and blend until it looks like peanut butter. This may take awhile because the nuts have to begin to release oils. Once it reaches this consistency, add all other ingredients and blend until smooth.

Spread over bread or eat by the spoonful!

Sick, sore and pouting,

Candydiva04

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Alternative fitness, part 2.

Just a few more of my experiences in the never ending quest to keep myself motivated to continue lifting and working towards getting fit, instead of being one of those girls on the treadmill or elliptical focused solely on being skinny.

You'll notice that the activities I seek out are generally physical activities.  I do other stuff, like go to the movies, archery range, hit happy hours with friends and go to the gun range. Not in that order, but you get my drift, right?  These are my fitness related activities.

1. Rock Climbing -  I love Rock Climbing, but its pretty rough on the hands.  Supposedly, a lot of women stay away from rock climbing because they think they lack the upper body strength needed for it.  However, according to the guy who taught me how to belay, women are better rock climbers because they use their legs, which what you're supposed to do.  Unfortunately, I rock climb like a guy... all upper body.  I typically leave the rock gym with sore biceps, triceps, shoulders and back. 

2.  Pole Fitness - Pole is a lot of fun, once you get past the pole burn, which is not fun.  However, this turned out to be a better workout than I expected.  Pole is actually a full body workout,  I left my first class feeling sore from head to toe.  The focus on improved flexibility is also a nice plus.  Unfortunately, the school I was attending didn't really seem to have a curriculum, and all class were drop ins.  So one week I might be the most inexperienced girl in the class, which meant I learned a TON of stuff, and the next weeks, I might be the most experienced girl in class which meant I spent the class working on basics moves I already know.  Couple that with the pole studio being about 40 min away, and I haven't been pole-ed in a while.

Since its only a matter of time before someone asks me about Zumba, I guess I should take a moment to address Zumba.  I, personally, am not a fan of Zumba  for *ME*, I don't find it challenging and have never so much as broken a sweat in Zumba.  I think Zumba is a great place to start if you don't already have a fitness routine.  For the first year or so of your workout, I think its a great cardio workout to supplement a lifting routine.  However, as far as I know Zumba doesn't have levels, and at some point you're going to need to switch it up, or leave Zumba behind because it won't be as much of challenge, for you.  

For those of you who are hard core Zumba lovers, I want you to look around the next time you're in class.  You'll see a lot of the same women who've been coming to Zumba week after week. How much of a difference do you see in their bodies? Do you see any women who look the way you want to? If so, ask them about their workout routines, I guarantee they do a lot more than just attend a few Zumba classes.  The same goes for all fitness classes.  Your workout needs to be dynamic and well rounded.  Don't just rely on a class for your fitness needs, and don't be afraid to try something harder.

On the list still to try (but not available locally that I know of) are Parkour, Flying trapeze, Adult gymnastics, Salsa dance, and maybe a martial arts class, but I want to find one that's practical for a short woman.  I'm thinking about trying Krav, Muy Thai, or Ninpo, but at the moment my schedule's a little too full.  So we'll see...

The quest continues,
Candydiva04

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