Week 19 and 20 – How Do You Become Successful?

In order to successful you have to fail. There are starts and stops for anyone who is successful. It’s a drive. Sadly, I missed last week because I was working on becoming a stronger photographer and advancing that part of my life. I did not take a week off from the box I just focused on something else for a little bit. One of the great things about CrossFit is it gives you time with your thoughts. Yeah CrossFit allows you to stop and think about what you want to do and who you want to be. It allows you to see that sometimes you make choices and sometimes those choices make you. Sometimes the path you take is not the path taken but it is your path. I have seen that I cannot just feed one part of myself I have to feed and nurture the whole self. That includes my artistic side. That side with the creations, images, and greatness. So in short, a thousand apologies for missing a week. Here is what happened last week and this week. I have decided to focus on my photography in my time away from work. It has to be a priority as it is a huge part of who I am. I spent a good part of last weekend taking photos and I will post some as soon as I can. I also want to take more photos of athletes.

One of the things that made me realize I have to focus on myself is last week we had a few really hard workouts. I remember laying on the floor next to my friend Jackie. I was so exhausted that I just lay down and threw my arms over my head. Something amazing happened; half of my arm touched the floor. This is huge as when I started this adventure only my fingertips would touch the mat. The next day we had a set of overhead squat which was one of the biggest weaknesses I found in the CrossFit Open. I could not do overhead squats because of my shoulder mobility due to sitting at a desk all day since I was 22. Who would have thought that sitting at a desk can really hurt your back and shoulders? I have been working on trying to get it better but this was not an easy task as scar tissue had to be broken up in my shoulders and I had to stretch the muscles every day. I got to overhead squat day and the trainer said “Let’s warm up and get set up to the WOD”. I happened to have a 15 lb bar out and I took all the weight off and I just thought, let’s do this. I pushed the bar up and squatted down (my arms are strong enough to hold a 15 lb bar even if it shoots way out in front). I got my shoulders locked out and squat I did. The trainer looked over at me and said “When did that happen?” to which I just replied “Just now”. I decided not to push it too hard so I just stayed with the empty bar. This made me think, what else have I been telling myself that I can’t do that but in reality I just need to stretch and work on it every day. What have you been telling yourself that you cannot do? Is that really something you can’t do or is it just your mind saying you are too weak?

Week 18 – What Is the Cost of Sitting on Your Ass?

So I have been very upset that I have only lost 10 lbs over the past few months. There was the argument that I had with the bathroom scale, the steamy discussions with the bar of soap in the shower (what the hell is that? Oh right I have one on the other side so it must be ok as no one has twin tumors), and the odd winded talks with the dog in the backyard asking him if I look fat (FYI, he is a true gay man and just tilts his head as if to say “I love you no matter what size you are”). One of the ladies in my class has lost 20 lbs in a few months time. I love that she was able to lose weight and super proud. I had to stop myself today while doing plyo ski jumps and think I could not do some of these things in the prior month. My recovery time from cardio is much smaller (usually I can get it together in about 3 to 6 deep breathes). I do still get annoyed when I have not lost a lot weight but then again I didn’t gain this weight in 4 months. I am just a little down today but I will go home, have a nice healthy dinner, go to bed, and wake up to start over. It is a day by day effort and some days I am up and feel great but other days I am down but those down days pass. I just have to look at the price tag on being healthy. That price tag is work, dedication, and commitment to a goal. I have put my goals in place to push myself and they started small but they are getting bigger. There is more time before I get to the goal and I think that is part of my frustration. I have to keep going and remember that the path to greatness is paved in failure. Sometimes you have to fake being great until you just become great. So I stand in a Wonder Woman stance and hope that one day I can be as strong as Wonder Woman.

Time at the box this week has been awesome. We have been doing a few workouts that are similar to what we did before so you can track how much you have improved. I feel like I have gotten faster and faster at different things. The first thing I noticed that I am getting faster at is my jump ropes. I am consistently doing about 2 for every second which means in a 2 minute window I can do over 150. I even got 2 double unders in a row.

Cheers to all my friends and followers out there and here’s hoping I can fake it until I make it…

Week 17 – Is Today Dodgeball Day?

This past week was tough. I was tired, had a bunch of stuff to try and get through this week at home and on top of everything else, my partner (the stabilizing factor in my life) had to leave on a business trip. The last time he left I was attacked by flour, had a cat escape, and a few other odd things. The cats never go out the front door but Fred just decided “Well the tall chap is no longer here and I can’t take it so I must go out into the world and find him” (yes I believe my cat is British). I am still unclear as to why the flour attacked me but that feud has continued from that point forward. So before he left I was told I could not go into the basement for fear a ceiling tile will fall on my head (would not be the first time), food processer is off limits as is open fire (this has been a long standing agreement between him and my mother), and minimal time in the pantry. Of course because of my job I am always finding loop holes and I had to cook dinner. Seeing as how I am only 5’4, on a good day, cooking in my kitchen involves gymnastics. I had decided to try a Mongolian Beef recipe which called for a crock-pot on the top shelf which required a modified muscle up and a dismount. I managed that task pretty well and nothing weird happened like the fridge falling on me so I thought I was good to try to use a knife. All in all, this week was pretty much injury free, dismounts were AWESOME (sure the Russian judge might have given me a 5.7 but hey), and I got to eat all the foods that my partner hates. I did try to cut out candy with a few false starts early in the week but so far, 4 days without candy. I am also on my third week without wheat. I have started this week pretty well as I have my protein packs that taste like Mounds candy bars. The weather here has been horrible (rain almost every day) and it makes me just want to curl up on my sofa with the dog and sleep.

This week in training, well as stated above I was tired all week long. Even when I went to the box I was tired. Friday was a fun day (I felt like I was in middle school and we got to play dodge ball on Friday). We had a challenge of how fast can you row 500 meters and you have 3 tries. Of course I got my best time on the first effort (2:00 flat) but I got close on the third time with 2:03. I did not go to the gym this weekend as we had a baseball game for the boy (first one I have seen him play since he was in high school and he is now a senior). We also got rain free days on Saturday and Sunday so I wanted to spend some time with dog out in the yard. By Thursday and Friday I felt like I had more energy. Today I was tired again but I did not get to sleep until almost 11pm. Here is hoping that this week will be nicer for weather so I can start building out my vegetable garden outdoors instead of in the greenhouse. I also have a few items for the yard where I can use my newly found muscles (maybe push the stone fence back in place and maybe some clean up of the side yard).

Until next time, happy lifting…