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So, this morning I woke up with the sniffles. Not only did I do last night’s WOD (even though every muscle in my body was aching from Murph on Saturday), which attributed to my aches and pains, but my live-in partner is getting sick- which means it’s only a matter of time…

Got Beef? Don't put it on your Ipod.

On days like today, when I feel like I’m coming down with something I used to go to the gym anyway and do something light. At least do something. There isn’t really that option with Crossfit.  Tonight the WOD:

Complete four rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
15 Handstand Push-ups
15 ft Rope Climb, 2 ascents

I’m not sure I’m going to go, as I feel like lying down and going to sleep as of right now (and have since 8am this morning), but I may. I keep toying with the idea of doing something at home, it seems like my workouts at home aren’t that great, for a few reasons. The first is that I live in New York, and while the majority of New Yorkers are actually smaller on average than most Americans- it’s not because they work out at home because they’re so limited to space. My boyfriend and I live pretty far out in Brooklyn, which means we have about twice as much space as most, but still not quite enough to get your gym on.

We’re also on the second floor, sandwiched between two sets of multiple people, so things like burpees and jump rope are out of the question. Secondly, I love to run outside, but when I get home it’s pitch black. And even though we live in one of the nicer neighborhoods in Brooklyn, I still don’t want to run outside in the pitch black. Since I’ve signed up for the triathlon this summer I’ve been searching for pools in NYC (and am a bit scared of the public pools) and may have to bite the bullet and get a gym membership so I can take advantage of their pool.

Cosmos- not so primal.

This brings me to another point- staying “primal in the city”. Based on this great list from every little primal boy and girls’ mentor, Mark Sisson, we should be hiking, camping, rolling in dirt and playing as much as possible, and how do we do this when we’re stuck in such a big city? I grew up in Juneau, Alaska, on the side of a mountain (actually, the whole town is on the side of the mountain) and traded in my lifestyle of hiking, mountain biking and skiing whenever I wanted for one of concrete, skyscrapers and sidewalk puddles of indeterminable origin. I came from a town of 11 people per square mile to a town with over 70,000 per square mile. I’m lucky if I get to see the roots of a tree or hear… silence. Clearly I don’t like it, but for reasons of opportunistic growth I’m here for at least another year, so how do I make the best of it? How do I get outside everyday when that equates to asthma attacks and a thin layer of dust in the pores? How do I “play” when the parks aren’t open after dark? How do I get out of the city enough without breaking the bank?

We went up to Burlington, Vermont for Christmas weekend and it was a sanctuary. A cute college town with tons of outdoor activities, clean air and micro-breweries. Wonderful! But time consuming (7-8hr drive from here) and expensive (not compared to NYC) - well, considering I was spending money and not making it. Made me wish I was back West Coast, but also gave me hope that there’s great places out here that are within reaching.

So I’ll be exploring this in the next year, as my theme for 2009 is going back to our roots.

Yesterday’s workout;

Hang power clean 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

88lbs

88

88

88

FAIL

88

88

88

Warmed up with 58lbs. Just couldn’t get under that fifth one, and at the end we realized that we’d put a 15lb weight on one side and a 10lb on the other, so really I lifted 5 more pounds with my left side. Luckily that’s my weak side- and we weren’t about to do it over again!

Okay, so I know that Murph is about an amazing Navy SEAL that received the ‘highest honor’ (i.e. medal of honor) for his bravery in sacrificing himself to save his fellow SEALs. I know he’s been called an “an iron-souled warrior of colossal, almost unbelievable courage” and that he is an inspiration to all (read the story here) but to be totally honest, Murph, the workout that was named in your honor- royally sucks. And sucks in the way that (especially in 10 degree weather) makes you wish that you were at home, curled up in a ball on the bed. Or that makes even the most stubborn of all exercisers contemplate running toward the train and heading home instead of toward that 800m mark and never showing their face out of shame at CrossFit again. Or makes you actually question whether working out is good for you, because if it is- then why all the pain? Oh, and Mr. Murphy- I know that you did this entire workout with a weight vest on. Well, way to go hero. Nice to know you’re also a show off.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t that bad- but I can say that today, two days after I did it- I am happy for the first time my office has elevators instead of stairs and that I sit at a desk instead of running around. Because my calves hurt.

Oh, and BTW- I only did half.

1/2 Murph

800m Sprint

50 pull-ups

100 push-ups

150 squats

800m Sprint (or more like…  alternate between heaving gobs of muck from my lunges and shuffling like an old woman)

I broke it up into the run, 10 sets of 5, 10, 15, then run.

There were some good moments- like everything between the runs. I felt strong in my pull-ups and am using two small bands as of now- I think I can go to one. Although I’m an idiot and didn’t take a small white gold band ring off my middle finger- so by the 8th set of pullups I’d ripped a hole through the palm of my hand. Luckily Keith (of Crossfit Virtuosity - and yes, all the rumors are true) told me not to worry about it and handed me the chalk. I love CrossFit.

My push-ups also felt strong. The worst part of the whole experience was that second run. It didn’t help that it was so cold and my lunges were burning, but once you take those few first steps of the second sprint I felt like there were daggers going up and down my legs. The only other time I felt like that was getting on the bike, after the run, in the Triathlon.  I guess I have to start doing more bricks, especially if I want to do this Triathlon I signed up for this summer! It’s just a sprint, as I want to focus on getting my CrossFit skills up, and I’m not sure when I’m going to get the pool time, but I’m STOKED to be doing another one! If there’s one thing Murph taught me- it’s that I need to get my running back on par. That’ll be my next goal!

Update on Goals:

Weekly- Double Unders… okay I forgot this was my goal as of the 2nd, so I’ll practice tonight, good reminder!

Monthly- Pull-Ups, trying it with just one small band instead of 2 tonight, so we’re on our way!! I’m gonna try CrossFit Virtuosity’s hand wraps!

After an afternoon of toying with whether or not to go (and NOT because I didn’t want to, but because I didn’t know if anyone was going to be there) I made it to Crossfit on Tuesday for my LAST elements class. It was Court’s night- and since I never come on Tuesday’s I’d never actually met Court before.  Turns out we had some things in common- we’d both worked for Equinox and gotten Kettlebell certified by the same Equinox in-house certification, so we knew some of the same people. He actually reminded me of some of the people I’d worked with at Equinox and to put it lightly- he knew his shit. Very technical and somewhat soft spoken by nature I have to say I not only enjoyed a lot that last session, but also learned a lot.

I started with the Crossfit warm up, something I haven’t talked about much but is a constant at any Crossfit affiliate. It covers all of the 5 basic motions - squat, push, pull, bend and straighten.

Crossfit warm up (3 rounds)

10 overhead squats (with a PVC pipe)

10 sit-ups

10 push-ups

10 pull ups

10 back extensions

Court then graciously introduced me to my new favorite torture device - the GHD.  The initial meeting went something like this;

Me: Hello GHD, *giggle* I’ve heard about you, but never had the pleasure…

GHD, as it takes my hand with warm, sweaty palms: Nice to meet you, my dear.  Just imagine all the ways you can bend, stretch, and tighten all while all over me.

Me: *giggle* Oh GHD (virtually slapping it’s sholder flirtatiously)

But I couldn’t help but wondering how many ways I can use this device… Um… erhhh… back to the story.

Take one home today!

After coming out of my haze with the my introduction to the GHD we went through how to use it. Turns out it’s a simple way to get full range of motion on both sit-ups and back extensions. Making the movements more like isometric contractions of stabalizers- the spinal erectors (in the case of the extensions) and the rectus abdominus (in the sit-ups) and allowing the glutes and hams to work much harder. As a matter of fact, that’s what GHD stands for, Glute and Ham Developer.

We then began day 2 of Olympic Lifting with the Burgener warmup, but adding cleans and jerks at the end, still with a PVC pipe. We then finished with hang power cleans. 5 sets, 3 reps, up to 78lbs on the last two sets.  Brutal.

And now I’m officially a Crossfitter! Court took a few photos after giving me my introductory T-shirt and they even posted one on the web! Turns out in addition to the heart-pumping, fat-burning, sweat-inducing workouts they also make you famous.  Check it out!

http://www.crossfitbrooklyn.com/2008/12/last-one-of-2008.html

In the dawn of this New Year I’ve been thinking of how to make the most out of my training, so in addition to working on a list of 101 things to do in 1001 days (inspired by the Modern Forager) that I’ll post later, I have decided to make mini-goals in my training, either week to week or month to month, depending on the goal. I’m ALMOST up to a full kipping pull-up, so that’s going to be my goal for January, to get rid of the bands and lift my damn body weight.  The goal for the week is to get double-unders.  So here goes January!

This was a post I wrote long ago for calorie-count, a site I’m a featured blogger on. Thought after these last weeks of holiday craziness it might be nice for both body and mind if you re-set yourself by a nice winter detox.  I know Grok might not like that there are still grains in the detox, but a lot of them (especially the high fructose laden ones) are taken out, and by all means- baby steps!

Detoxing made Easy

It’s been a long summer, full of sand, sun and fun! But what else does that mean? Often summertime is a perfect excuse for barbecues and cocktails, how else to take out the toxins by a quick week-long detox? Think about it, You sweep your house, you clean your room, you change the oil in your car- what have you done to clean your body lately? There are many benefits of detoxing your body, and with the flu season upon us, it’s the perfect time! Why do I need to detox exactly? Think about it - the human body is extremely heart pumping, fat burning, quick thinking machine, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t get a little too clogged once in a while. Detoxing is a way to clean out all the collected waste matter, environmental pollutants and residue that are trapped in our bodies. In general, people often report improved energy, clearer skin, regular bowel movements, improved digestion, and increased concentration and clarity.

Follow this quick, 7-day cleanse to clean out your pipes and get your body running as smooth as possible.

Foods to Enjoy

1. Fresh Fruit and Vegetables
   All fresh fruit and vegetables are great for detoxifying. Great detox foods include broccoli, cauliflower, broccoli sprouts, onions, garlic, artichokes, beets, red and green vegetables.
2. Healthy grains
   Brown or basmati rice, rice cakes, rice crackers and rice pasta. Quinoa, amaranth, millet, and buckwheat can be used instead of rice. They can be purchased at a health food store.
3. Beans
   Split yellow and green peas and lentils are easiest to digest and require the least soaking time. Other acceptable legumes include kidney beans, pinto beans, mung beans, garbanzo beans (chickpeas) and adzuki beans.
4. Nuts and Seeds
   Unsalted nuts, seeds and nut butters can be sprinkled over any meal. Includes flaxseed, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, cashews and walnuts. Avoid peanuts.
5. Oil
   Extra-virgin olive oil
6. Condiments
   Vegetable salt, sea salt, vinegar, naturally fermented soy sauce or tamari, any culinary herbs or spices, limited amounts of honey.
7. Herbal Tea
   Herbal non-caffeinated teas, green tea.
8. Other Beverages
   Water, lemon water, 100% natural fruit and vegetable juices, rice milk

Foods to Avoid

1. Sugar
   Refined sugar and mixtures containing refined sugar, including sucrose, dextrose, corn syrup, brown sugar, turbinado. Avoid artificial sweeteners.
2. Dairy Products
   Milk, butter and other dairy products.
3. Wheat
   Wheat and all products containing wheat.
4. Gluten
   All gluten-containing grains, including barley, rye, spelt and kamut. Some people are sensitive to gluten, a protein fragment in these grains.
5. Caffeine
   Coffee, both regular and decaffeinated, black tea, and other drinks containing caffeine should be reduced. Green tea is a great substitute to regular coffee.
6. Other Foods to Avoid
   Yeast
   Alcohol
   Food additives and preservatives
   Chocolate
   High-Fat Foods

Daily Detox Essentials

• Drink a minimum of 8 glasses of water per day, warm or room temperature. Water is the best thing to clear out your intestines. We often mistake hunger for thirst- so drink up!
• Dilute fruit juice (must be 100% fruit juice) with 50% water.
• Take the time to chew food well, especially grains.

Detox Additional Exercises

There are a few additional exercises that you can do while detoxing that will aide the toxins releasing from your body, the first is skin brushing, before you go to bed brush your skin — make sure it’s dry so brush before a bath. Skin brushing stimulates the lymphatic system and encourages the expulsion of toxins.

• Brush your feet, toes and soles and then the front and back of your legs (use long, smooth strokes). Always brush upwards and towards the groin.
• Brush your buttocks and lower back (as well as you can) using upward strokes.
• Brush your hands and arms towards your armpits.
• Brush across your shoulders and down the chest towards the heart (avoid your nipples).
• Using a circular, clockwise motion, brush your abdominal and stomach area.
• Now have a bath to which you have added two drops of rosemary oil. Gradually add cool water until, over a period of about half an hour, the water is quite cold. This further stimulates the lymph.

Because your body will be going through changes and withdrawals, Detox Meditation is a great way to alleviate stress and continue to focus on the benefits from the body.

Repeat the detox breathing this afternoon and then spend some time in meditation.

1. Sit either on a straight-backed chair or on the floor.
2. Check your body to ensure you aren’t holding on to tension, especially jaws, shoulders, legs and buttocks.
3. Now focus on your breath. Don’t try to change it — just be aware of it. Notice how you breathe in and how you hold the breath for a moment before exhaling. Then another pause before you inhale. It’s a four-step process.
4. Follow your breath like this and if your mind starts to wander, don’t be angry — just gently bring it back.
5. Imagine you’re exhaling toxic thoughts and emotions from your body and mind and inhaling new, exciting energy and possibilities.
6. When you feel ready, return your focus to the breath.
7. Now become aware of your body — of your buttocks sitting on the floor or chair; of your head balancing on your neck; of your shoulders relaxed and heavy.
8. Now become aware of the world around you: the sounds, the temperature. Slowly and gently open your eyes and return to normal consciousness.
9. Sit for a few minutes. Drink water before getting up.

Side Effects

Because they didn’t feel so great going in, they’re not going to feel that great coming out… here are some of the side effects to expect during the detox;

• A headache
• More, or smellier, sweat
• Fatigue
• Feeling unusual emotions
• Spots, pimples or rashes
• Constipation
• Bad breath
• Other side effects can include fainting, dizziness, low blood pressure, heart arrhythmia’s, weight loss, hunger, vomiting, diarrhea, and kidney problems. If these side effects occur, there is a worsening of symptoms, or new symptoms appear, the fast should be discontinued and it should prompt an immediate visit to a qualified health professional.
  A possible side effect is diarrhea, which can lead to dehydration and electrolyte loss.

You can follow this detox for as long as you like, a day, three days, a week, a month etc Any amount of time will help clean out your body of all the unnatural residues it’s collected over the past year. Finish this summer and blast into
fall feeling great!

Last Monday at Elements Day #7 we worked on Olympic lifting. Cleans, Jerks and Snatches. I don’t have much of a background in Olympic lifting, so I thought I’d do some research and explain.

The Power Clean

The power clean starts from the ground position, and ends at what they call the ‘meat shelf’ (aka right above the chest, at the clavicle).

The hang power clean

Starts from the ‘hanging’ position and ends with the bar resting on the meat shelf.

Jerk

The jerk is an interesting one, and we just touched on it (story below). It starts with the bar in a press position, with a mini squat for power, and ending in a split stance.

Snatch

There are a few different types of snatches. There’s the snatch from a back squat starting position;

There’s the hang power snatch (normally from a hang position), also called the muscle snatch.

and the power snatch (with the bar on the floor in the starting position)

The only thing I’m not entirely sure about is the wording of the ending position. Sometimes you take a full squat at the end, and others you do not. Now, I’m no authority and would LOVE to hear if something is inaccurate.

Last Monday I came in and Justin aka Thor and Greg aka Jack  Bauer (my two favorite Heavy lifters) were prepping everyone for lifts! We first went over the Burgener Warmup, which prepares you for Olympic lifts both by helping get used to the form, and give a little movement for the muscles. We proceeded to rock some Jerks (not many- because the workout was to be rough) and finally ended with a workout.

Workout

30 powercleans, for time.

58lbs- 4:33

I used the women’s bar (38lbs) and added two 10’s on each side. This was one of the first times it didn’t feel light at first. I had no idea at the beginning how I was going to get 30 of these in. It was no fight gone bad, but it was brutal nonetheless. I need to focus on getting my knees out and using my hips more than my arms. Yet another workout that solidifies that Crossfit is all about the thrust. I knew these were my kind of people.

I do have to say that the highlight of my workout came at the end- when I was talking to Jack Bauer (JB) and he said “You’re one of the strongest girls I’ve seen come through here.  So with more practice- you could be great.”  I’ve always thought I lacked on the strength end of things and really had more endurance. It’s nice to have some encouragement, it really helps continue to push you to succeed.
SO- I’ve got one more elements class and then, not only am I officially a Crossfitter, but I can also participate in the WOD’s, pretty exciting!

Turns out Burger King’s fragrance Flame is not getting the kind of press it wanted to (read my original post here). I think most people thought it was a joke, initially, until figuring out that you could actually buy it for $3.99 at Ricky’s. Turns out one unlucky blogger was awesome brave enough to actually buy it. And then try it out. At work.

Turns out it smells more like a vat of burning fat and melting grease than a disgusting chemically enhanced multi-cow beef patty smacked between a couple of high fructose laden white buns. Yum.

It's like a fist to the eyes.

Check out the full story here.

In other news- yes, I found the beauty of the strikethrough text. I might’ve gone a little overboard, but it was for dramatic effect. Don’t like it? Bite me.

Mark from Mark’s Daily Apple- the reason and inspiration behind my decision to go primal, is coming out with a book of the primal blueprint.

Here’s a sneak preview here! The great thing about going primal is that it’s a holistic approach to living, in a way that we all (espeically those on the East Coast- like me!) can understand. Bringing us closer to the roots of the earth and the roots of our self. Check him, his blog, and his killer bod out!

Turns out that winter solstice (also known as the ’shortest day of the year’ or ‘depression in a day’ as we called it in AK) - this Sunday,  is also doubling up as the third annual Global Orgasm Day. Yup. Otherwise known as G.O.D.

Now, I’m not as harsh of a critic as Kelly at Fitness Fixation (although I LOVE LOVE LOVE her blogging style and hope that one day I can bleed sarcasm like she does), I’m somewhat in the middle of the ‘love everybody, hug a tree, sleep with rainbows and carnivores are lame’ and the opposite end (like Maddox maybe) and I do highly enjoy the amazing art of the orgasm, so I think anything that promotes it, should get some press. Turns out that G.O.D. is all about peace. And in order to make peace, we should make… love. All at the same time. Literally. So at 12:04pm EST on Dec 21st, give peace a chance!

Well, all I have to say is that I wish I caught the guy who videotaped me for a little bit yesterday, because I would make sure that tape never went rogue and hit the net. Of course it was at the beginning so you’d think I’d look good, composed, fresh. Wrong. After about the first 20 seconds of the first row I was dead and my inner voice said “this is the first, of FIFTEEN exercises. You’re so fucked.” Awesome. What is fight gone bad?

From the Crossfit website;

This is our famous Fight Gone Badworkout. It has been used extensively to prep fighters for the UFC. In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. We’ve used this in 3 and 5 round versions. Today is 3 rounds. The stations are:

Wall-ball ; 20 pound ball, 10 ft target. (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull 75 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump 20″ box (Reps)
Push-press 75 pounds (Reps)
Row (Calories)

The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. On call of rotate, the athlete/s must move to next station immediately for good score. One point is given for each rep.

Actually, on the Crossfit website instead of row it said burpees and thank god Brooklyn didn’t make me do that.

I walk into the Black Box last night and Sam (equipped with his English accent) was in the middle of his workout. Something that looked equally as lame as FGB. After finishing and catching wind that I what I was about to go through with one of the gals said ‘Nothing can prepare you for Fight Gone Bad. It’ll be one of the worst workouts you’ll ever do.” Awesome. Thanks. ‘Preciate the psyching me up for it. Sam then asked if I wanted music and what I wanted to hear. Since I was the only schmuck doing the workout I thought I would put on my own music. So with the Dropkick Murphy’s screaming about shipping up to Boston I hopped on the rowing machine for my first round and tried to psych myself up for it.

For the next 17 minutes I’m not sure what happened. I know I barely heard a single solitary note of the music that was playing. I know that I kept waiting for there to be an exercise (we went Row, 10lb Wall-Ball, 32lb Sumo DL high-pull, 20″ Box Jump, 38lb Push Press) that I could rest on and each one seemed more excruciating than the next. I know that I heard ‘from the hips’ about a thousand times. I know that I felt like there was 20 lbs of mucus in my lunges upon finishing. And I know the rest did not feel like 1 minute.

It’s funny once your mind gets in that state before, during and after a hard core metabolic conditioning (met-con) workout like the ones at CrossFit.  The kind of mindset that Sam related to our fight or flight mechanism. As you’re gearing up for that kind of extreme workout (and I was- all day) you start to feel your blood start to warm, your heart to pump and your mind start to clear and psych you up before you even begin the first rep. It’s like moving into a different world. That’s probably the feeling that keeps us addicted to this thing called exercise.

I’m not going to go through all my numbers because that would bore everyone but me, but I have them. Sam said the number of conditioned CrossFitters is 300 (you add up all your numbers at the end - counting the calories for the row) and my number - the number for me to beat - is 258. Not bad.

Ultimately if I can keep my numbers where they’re at but increase weight I’ll be good to go, because my numbers are looking pretty good- for a beginner. I looked online for about an hour before I could find a good depiction of FGB -here’s the best one. I like the end the best.

Oh and by the way- I’ll be excited when my body looks like those chicks. Damn Crossfit does good work!

Last night I had Elements Day #5 at Crossfit BK. We first went over movements for Fight Gone Bad (where I found out my wall ball’s suck) and then I went through Fran.

21-15-9

Thrusters (I did 58lbs)

Pull-Ups (I’m still using a band)

Time: 6:19

I have to say- it’s gotta be bad when you’re resting on the pull-ups. I thought from a name like Thrusters I would get some sort of sick pleasure out of them. Turns out, I’m wrong. My wrists were killing me afterward, makes a lot of sense as Justin was constantly telling me to get my elbows up. It also means the weight is too light for me, as I’m holding it while doing the front squat instead of making it rest a bit on my shoulders.

You live and learn.  Actually, I was kind of proud of myself until I saw this;

Someday I will kick as much ass as she does. Someday.