Sunday, December 13, 2015

Planning My Life With The 2016 Intentional Life Planner From Just AGirl Abby


Today I want to tell you about my 2016 Intentional Life Planner that I purchased from Just A Girl And Her Blog. It is only $10 and I am really enjoying it.


To start off, I grabbed a binder I already had that I had and put some pretty scrapbook paper in the front and side. I also made a cute little name plate, but you could get a pretty new one like this or  a professional looking one like this.


The first thing I liked about the 2016 Intentional Life Planner is that you get a nice full year calendar for both 2016 and 2017.



There is a page for you to record important dates which is great for me because I always forget birth dates!


I love the "In Five Years" page! I haven't filled mine out yet, but I have a a LOT of ideas on my head and plan to have it written out by the end of December.



I am a huge believer in goal setting so I really appreciate the goals for  the year page. The action steps are great because many of us set goals and then don't plan how we are going to achieve them! "Dream Life 2016" is a little project I'm working on to help myself and others reach their goals and these pages match perfectly! (See below to find out more about that project) I have a brain dump page going on right now with goals and ideas and plan to have these pages filled out by the end of December as well!



Every month starts out with a great quote and a monthly focus goal sheet. I like how it allows you to tie in your yearly goals to each month.


Next comes the big, overview calendar for the month. I like to fill it up with appointments and the tasks that happen every week. Blog and periscope ideas go on there as well.


Next in the planner is the weekly breakdown.Each day has a To-Do section and an hourly breakdown. I LOVE THIS! The day by day hourly breakdown is what sold me on this planner. When I have really busy, hectic days, planning it out hour by hour makes it way more manageable.

One con to this planner is that printing it out can be tricky if you don't have a great printer. However, the quality and price makes that a very trivial matter.

And I don't know if it was something in the file or my really crappy printer, but everywhere in the planner that has a "W" printed weirdly.

(I'm pretty sure it's because my printer is 10+ years old and I purchased it on Black Friday for only $25.)


Check out my video if you want more details of how I use my planner!


Stay Strong Y'all!

Hey, I know you may not know me that well, but can I ask you to do something for me? An early Christmas gift if you will? Do  me a favor and subscribe to my email list. Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts, I'll send you my weekly planner printable! And you'll be the first to get my Dream Life 2016 Goal Printable!


And if you are hip on the social media, 

Follow me me on Periscope, I'm crossfitang.  I broadcast about fitness, nutrition, life improvement, planning and organizing and lots of random stuff.

Follow me out on Instagram, I'm doodleturtle. I'm even more fun over at IG!

***Affiliate link*** because I am an Amazon Associate they give me a little thank you gift of a few pennies if you shop through my link. The price is the same for you as if you just went to straight to Amazon. Even if you don't want to buy a new binder, use my link and buy something you would normally buy, ok? And then I can write in my YMJ that someone shopped through my link and earned me a penny for my thoughts. :)

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Random Thoughts At 5 AM. Who Is Greyber Rubio?

Current Situation:
Eleiko is having no problem sleeping.

I didn't put up a tree last year at all. This year I at least put up a baby one.


So what do you do when you wake up wide awake at 5 AM....and you went to bed at midnight?

Hmmm....I had such a fun, great night last night that I had trouble winding down and then woke up at the end of a weirdo dream wide awake just a few minutes ago. (Today will be fun).

I decided to just write a random blog because there is so much stuff in my brain that I need to get out. This will not be the most grammatacilly correct or most fluid post ever, just roll with me.

After Dallas I decided to not compete anymore in 2015. My body was pretty tired of maintaining comp weight and constantly being pushed hard. I'm no spring chicken and it was getting harder and harder to recover from each event. But then an email inviting CFM to compete in Reps for a Reason found it's way into my inbox last week.

And I love me some powerlifting....

So I entered last Saturday. I weighed in that day at 123.2 and completed

90 squats at 75% body weight
22 bench presses at 65% body weight
40 deadlifts at 85% bodyweight

And then I couldn't walk right for the next 84 hours. Seriously. I've NEVER been that sore in my life.

Last night we hosted our annual Pound For Pound Lifting Challenge and I decided to lift (I'm not real good with the "I'm not competing" thing am I?). It was so fun because I had zero expectations and I didn't cut weight. I just showed up and lifted with friends. I weighed in at 122.8 and snatched 125 and clean and jerked 165. No PRs, but I did attempt to PR both and got really close.



Another reason last night was fun is that I live broadcasted the event on Periscope. Y'all, I'm addicted to that thing! If you aren't on Periscope, it's like YouTube, but LIVE! I get to pretend like I am a reporter or a talk show host. SO FUN! I need to figure out how to get paid to do that.... Wanna hire me to live broadcast your event? :) If you get a chance, hop over to Periscope and follow me. I'm crossfitang over there.

The other awesome thing last night was watching our pre-teens and teens lift. They did sooooo good!! The girls all hit PRs and they were mostly really pretty lifts. I think the boys all hit PRs as well, but their lifts started looking like demolition derbies at the end! Lol, there were barbells and bodies flying everywhere.

I love working with our teenagers! That is were my teacher heart lies. I love watching them get frustrated and then growing. I love the smile on their faces when they do well. CrossFit and weightlifting is just so dang good for kids. It teaches them patience, dedication, humility and perseverance.

Everybody last night was awesome. From the athletes to the parents to the judges to the spectators, it was great!

When I got home, Jeremy and I stayed up watching the videos from the night until almost midnight. I had a little trouble falling asleep because I just kept going over every lift I attempted. #weightlifterproblems

Once I finally fell asleep, I dreamt I was visiting my old school. I was coming in to do a guest lecture and I had brought a few friends. Somewhere in this, a friend (I think it was Audrey), told the custodian he was doing a crappy job. He proceeded to tell us to do it ourselves then and stomped away.

As we were cleaning the cafeteria of styrofoam peanuts (why?!), the cafeteria became overcome by a weird presence. Yep, the cafeteria was haunted and the ghost was harassing us. He was dumping our mop buckets and making big messes after we had just cleaned up.

Weirdly enough, we discovered it was the ghost of the janitor! (I have no idea when he died, but oh well!) We started communicating with him via an Etch-A-Sketch and he told us he was tired of being treated like poop. He said everyone took him for granted and no one ever spoke to him. In fact, he said, no one even knew his name. So we asked what his name was.

Greyber Rubio

And then I woke up. At 5 AM.

And couldn't go back to sleep.

So I got up and fixed a cup of coffee and grabbed a slice of cold pepperoni pizza. Breakfast of champions, right? (My macros will be a little flexible today).

I watched a few Periscopes (Told ya I was addicted) and then decided to write this. My alarm will be going off at 7 AM, but I plan on just sitting here in this chair until then.

What do you do when you are wide awake at an ungodly hour?

Do you 'scope?

WHO IS GREYBER RUDIO??

Stay Strong Y'all!

Hey, I know you may not know me that well, but can I ask you to do something for me? An early Christmas gift if you will? Do  me a favor and subscribe to my email list. Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts, I'll send you my weekly planner printable!


And if you are hip on the social media, 

Follow me me on Periscope, I'm crossfitang.  I broadcast about fitness, nutrition, life improvement, planning and organizing and lots of random stuff.

Follow me out on Instagram, I'm doodleturtle. I'm even more fun over at IG!

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Gift guide for your CrossFitter!

I first published this over at crossfitmurray.com, but thought I'd share it over here as well. 


Are you a CrossFitter with a clueless family? Or do you have to shop for a CrossFitter and have no idea where to begin? Here are 16 great ideas at many different price points! 

3-2-1 SHOP!




1)    Demon Bell $60- $175- One of these would definitely make your CrossFitter Smile! Prices vary depending on weight, but generally men want a 53 lb and women want a 35 lb. If those aren’t enough for you, add in a really cool Demon Bell Key Chain $29.99 

2)    Muscle Clamps $9.29- Every gym provides clamps for the barbell, but some of us like to whip out our own pair. You know, just to look boss.
3)    Junk headband $14-$24 -Men and women agree these headbands are the best! They are made in the good ol’ USA in Bentonville, Arkansas!
4)    RPM Jump Rope $49.95- This is one bad mammer jammer jump rope! For a little extra $$, you can get it personalized for your giftee!



5)    Natural Grips  $23.98- The first time your hands rip in CrossFit you are kind of excited. The second time though you realize it sucks and you need some hand protection. Try these!
6)    BioFreeze $10.49- Growing muscles are often achey muscles. BioFreeze to the rescue!
7)    Nanos from $99- Because CrossFit is a cult, we all must dress alike and it starts with our shoes. Get your CrossFitter a pair of Reebok Nano’s asap so he/she can fully fit in.
8)    MetCons from $120-  But wait, if your CrossFitter is more of a rebel, he/she might want to go the Nike Footwear route. These are the latest CF shoe on the scene and your hipster might be down with that.



9)    Rogue Fitness Lifting straps $13.50- When you lift big weight, lifting straps help you out. These are by Rogue Fitness and are super sexy in their simplicity.
10)     King Kong Gym bag  from $129.00- These are the ultimate gym bags. HUGE and very organized. Show your love for your CF’er by giving them a BIG OL’ BAG!
11)    Gym Boss Interval Timer $19.95- When your CrossFit cutie wants to do a Tabata or interval sprints, this little timer is a great tool!
12)     Food scale $7.95- When your macro game is strong you need a food scale. When your macro game is weak, you still need a food scale.


13)    6 Pack Meal Bag $71.95- If the way to a man’s heart is his stomach, then this bag will get you in deep! The meal management bag keeps food organized and cool all day long!
14)      Nubs  $9.95- saving the nubs from hookgrip since 2013
15)        Athletic tape 16.50- The distress call of the CF athlete, “Does anyone have some tape?” 
16)    CrossFit 2015 Invitational Shirt $32-$35- Because, 'Merica


Comment below and let us know what you are getting or giving!

Disclaimers
1* CrossFit is not a cult
2* Some of these are affiliate links and we get a few pennies if you shop through these links

3* Prices are accurate as of this posting

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Guest Post- I Food Prep Because It Makes Me A Better Mom


Courtney has been one of my long time nutrition coaching clients and over time she has become a friend as well. She has two little bitty beautiful girls, co-owns a CrossFit Box and coaches multiple classes a week. Her husband travels a lot for work and she is often flying solo on the mom front. 

With all that, she never gives up on herself. She sets goals and tackles them head on. Her weekly check-ins show that she takes her nutrition very seriously. Because of this, I asked her to tell us a little about why she food preps and how she handles it with everything else going on in her life. 

Here's what she said.

I could use my family for excuses or reasons. If I want to get out of a social situation, one of my kids could be sick.



Or cranky.



Or sleeping.



Or in time-out.



If I wanted to eat a bunch of cream filled donuts on a daily basis and exclaim the extra weight around my mid section is from having a baby 9 months ago, I totally could.

 Or if I wanted to drown each temper tantrum with a glass of wine and pretend one tantrum in particular that resulted in intentional vomit at the airport just plain didn’t happen. I could.

 But, I don’t use my kids as excuses. I use them as reasons. I just had a baby 9 months ago and I have fought like hell to look better than I did before I started having kids. This means I put nutrition and working out as “non-negotiables” on my to-do list. Sundays are spent in the kitchen prepping food for the week and it takes twice as long because my 4 year old is helping.


I’m firm about actually eating it too.We don’t stop at fast food chains at the end of a long day because there is no food in the house. I prep our meat and some of our veggies on Sunday, I boil a dozen eggs and wash and cut our fruit. I even put some of it like grapes into baggies for times when we are running out the door and I know somebody will want a snack. 



Most of the time my meals are carefully measured and weighed for the following day in containers that sit next to my 4 year old's lunch and my husband's food that also has been weighed and measured. There are a lot of dirty containers at the end of the day, but we feel better about ourselves than we ever have. 



We’re faster in the gym  and we’re lifting heavier than before.  Want to know the best part? All this meal prepping, planning, weighing and measuring actually makes me a better Mom.

We spend valuable time in the kitchen learning how to measure food for recipes and talking about which foods make your muscles big and which foods make you tired and lazy. As my teething 9 month old gnaws on a carrot and my 4 year old dips hers in hummus, she asks

"Mommy, how do my muscles look now?"

And for one second of my very long day, that epic tantrum in the airport feels like it never happened. 


The fitness goals I have set for myself have come into  line with my family goals … and somehow it all makes sense. And for one millisecond I enjoy the hell out of it because who has time to bask in glory when there is spit up to clean, food off the floor to scrub and bed time books to be read? 

If you enjoyed reading Courtney's take on being a food prepping mom, show her some love by sharing this post. You can also read more from her where she blogs over at Vette City CrossFit.

Stay Strong Y'all!

Hey, I know you may not know me that well, but can I ask you to do something for me? An early Christmas gift if you will? Do  me a favor and subscribe to my email list. Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts, I'll send you my weekly planner printable!


And if you are hip on the social media, 

Follow me me on Periscope, I'm crossfitang.  I broadcast about fitness, nutrition, life improvement, planning and organizing and lots of random stuff.

Follow me out on Instagram, I'm doodleturtle. I'm even more fun over at IG!

Linked up at 
Dolen DiariesWednesday

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Setting The Theme For Your 2016





Hey y'all! 

How was your Thanksgiving? We've had a blast camping over this long weekend and I've been able to do some much needed brain dumping and relaxing!

One of those much needed brain dumps was to sit down and assemble my 2016 planner and start planning how to make my 2016 the best it can be. 

Even though it's only the end of November, it's not too early to start planning for 2016.

The first thing I'm going to do for 2016 is to come up with a theme. This is a word or a phrase that sets the tone for the year and guides your decisions for 2016. 

Maybe your theme word could be "Yes". Anything presented to you in 2016 you are going to fully embrace with a "yes". You aren't going to be afraid to say yes to things that scare you and you're going to walk through any open door. You aren't going to turn away from things that challenge you!

Maybe your theme could be the opposite and your 2016 could be the year of "No". Are you one of those people that take on too much and are always stressed and burnt out? Learn to say no! In 2016 you could consider offers and opportunities from the vantage point of how they affect you, rather than other people, and say no to  some things. When you say no to something that is going to stress you out and make your life more difficult, you are saying yes to yourself. 

Could your word be "Inspiration?" You could find people that inspire you and learn from them. You could read inspiring books and go to events that uplift you. Maybe you could set out to inspire other people in 2016!

How about "Breathe?" We all feel rushed and harried from time to time, the mantra of breathe could calm us all down. It might encourage us to take a yoga class or book monthly massages. It might help us plan a relaxing trip with our significant other or friends. Deep breathe, exhale, and let 2016 be the year of breathe.

If that's a little hooey-fooey for you, maybe you need to go to the other end of the spectrum and make 2016 the year of adventure! I think that's going to be at least one of my themes for the upcoming year and it could develop into a lot of different things. If I set every day's intention to look for adventure, what fun I could have! 

I think adventure is a great theme because we all work. We chase the kids. We feed the dog. We wash the car. We do paperwork. We go to school. We clean the house. We get caught up in the monotony of day to day life and we lose our sense of adventure

Your theme could be any word or  phrase.

Be kind.
Love yourself.
Give in abundance.
Strong.
Powerful.
Gratitude.


Spend sometime between now and December 31 to decide what you want your 2016 to look like. You start laying the steps for an amazing year right now. You don't want to wake up and it be August of 2016 and realize you're not sure where your year went.

The next step, after deciding on your theme, is to decide on your goals! I'll address how to decide those in a future post, so stay tuned! 

To help you to help you with all of this, I'm creating a 2016 Dream Year Goal Setter printable to help you create the best year ever! Only those that subscribe to my newsletter will get it, so make sure you are on that list! Click subscribe now to get on my list (you know if you don't do it now, you'll get busy and forget, so click that little link). Be watching you inbox for the 2016 Dream Year Goal Setter printable soon!


Stay Strong Y'all!

Hey, I know you may not know me that well, but can I ask you to do something for me? An early Christmas gift if you will? Do  me a favor and subscribe to my email list. Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts, I'll send you my weekly planner printable!

And if you are hip on the social media, 

Follow me me on Periscope, I'm crossfitang.  I broadcast about fitness, nutrition, life improvement, planning and organizing and lots of random stuff.

Follow me out on Instagram, I'm doodleturtle. Even more fun over at IG!

Linked up over at...

Dolen Diariesgrab button for The Fit Foodie Mama

Sunday, November 22, 2015

My Top 5 Posts Of My First 100 Posts!



When I hit publish the other day I couldn't believe it was my 100th post! Wow! And I couldn't believe that people have actually read what I wrote, commented on it and shared it! Thanks y'all!

To celebrate, I wanted to go back and find my top 5 posts, based on number of views. I've linked each post so you can go back and check them out. Here we go!

5th Most Viewed: 
I did a series on If It Fits Your Macros and Flexible Dieting, and Part 2 was the 5th most popular post I've written. Lol, why didn't y'all like the other parts?

4th Most Viewed:
I was hot and bothered when I wrote this post about being Commit-O-Phobes! We are all busy so we should really get over it!

3rd Most Viewed: 
This was one of my favorite posts to write and I'm so happy so many people got to share the experience of winning Bronze at the Worlds Masters Cup Weightlifting Championships with me!

2nd Most Viewed:
Dana is a former client who completely rocked her nutrition plan and reaped (and still is reaping) huge results from dialing in her nutrition! In this guest post, she reflected on how she felt during a recent competition as the "bug" in the proverbial "sometimes you're the bug, sometimes you're the windshield" metaphor.

1st Most Viewed:
This was not a fun one to write. Here I had just completely blown a big weightlifting competition and was trying to come to grips with the failure.

Thank you all so much for following along on my crazy journey! I feel like I wear a lot of hats. Mom, Wife, CrossFitter, Weightlifter, coach, nutrition coach, Tupperware Lady, organizer and planner.... I appreciate you all listening to me ramble about the randomness of my thoughts!

Stay tuned as I have plans to add another hat to my head soon..... :) :) :)


Stay Strong Y'all!

Do me a favor and subscribe to my email list. 

Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts, I'll send you my weekly planner printable! 

Check me out on Periscope, I'm crossfitang

Check me out on Instagram, I'm doodleturtle

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

What I Ate Wednesday AND it's my 100th blog post!

As a nutrition coach, you might think that I eat only raw, organic, free-range tofu.

But you'd be way wrong.

I eat based on a few principles.


  • Hit my protein gram goal.
  • Hit my carb gram goal.
  • Hit my fat gram goal. 
  • Hit my fiber goal.
  • Get most of my micro nutrients from meat, veggies and fruit.
  • Supplement with a multi vitamin and fish oil. 
  • Eat fun stuff after all that.

If I'm cutting for a weightlifting meet, I'm very, very strict. If I'm just living life, I'm fairly strict, but I enjoy more freedom to wiggle with the macros. 

So in honor of #WIAW (What I Ate Wednesday), here's my day, no holds barred!


Breakfast #1
It doesn't look amazing, but it tastes pretty darn good! It's 30 grams oatmeal, 5 grams chia seeds, 5 grams of flax, 60 grams pumpkin, 10 grams raisins, 8 grams crunchy peanut butter, 1 scoop Progenex Belgian Chocolate More Muscle. Oh, and because I have a problem, the oatmeal was made with a bit of coffee (errrr....or a lot of coffee). 


Breakfast #2
Quest S'more Bar and two S'more Candy Corns. Because, yum. 




Pre-Workout
BCAA's & Creatine



Post-Workout/Lunch
One bag of California Blend Veggies, 40 grams Libby's Pumpkin, 3 ounces chicken breast & siracha. I don't normally pumpkin it up like crazy, but once you open a can, you have to eat it!



Pre-Workout #2 Snack
1/4 Cliff Bar and a few milk chocolate chips


Afternoon Snack/Post Workout/Lunch 2
Starkist Tuna Creations Pouch and a banana


Dinner
Taco Bell Chicken Cantina Power Bowl. Sorry the picture is horrible, I was in the truck, in the dark and they got a little heavy with the Cilantro Ranch Sauce. If you haven't had one of these, they are AWESOME! Chicken, rice, black beans, lettuce, tomato, cheese, quacamole and cilantro ranch. It also comes with sour cream, but I don't like sour cream. 


Evening Snack Part 1
Hard boiled egg



Evening Snack Part 2
24 grams Kroger Natural Chunky Peanut Butter, 10 grams of raisins and sprinkles.



From a previous post, you may already know I have a drinking problem. No, not that kind! I just REALLY like caffeine and diet soda. It's a vice and one I may have to contend with soon. In the spirit of transparency, here's what I drank today. 

2 cups coffee
1 Absolute Zero Monster
1 32 oz Dt. Dew
1 large McDonald's Dt. Sweet Tea
1 gallon of water (yes, an entire gallon)
1 cup decaff

So there you go. That's my day. And that is pretty much every day as I don't like to cook.

OH WAIT! I just discovered this is my 100th blog post! I would say 80% has been complete rambling on my part, but the other 20% was/is some high quality, informative reading! I'm looking forward to continuing this little project and have some awesome ideas for down the road!

Stay Strong Y'all!

Do me a favor and subscribe to my email list. 

Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts, I'll send you my weekly planner printable! 






  



Tuesday, November 17, 2015

26 Facts About Me!

Twenty-six things about me... 

A- Age: 37

B- Biggest Fear: Small spaces, snakes, aliens

C- Current time: 7:27 AM

D- Drink you last had: Coffee

E- Every day starts with: Coffee

F- Favorite song: "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley 

G- Ghosts, are they real?: Maybe...

H- Hometown: Hazel, Ky/Puryear, TN

I- In love with: Jeremy

J- Jealous of: eh, nobody really

K- Killed someone? Not yet

L- Last time you cried? Saturday

M- Middle name: Dawn

N- Number of siblings: 7 including halves,steps and in-laws!

O- One wish: People would be kind to others

P- Person you last called: The insurance lady

Q- Question you've always asked: How has evolution not weeded these people out? (I know, not kind)

R- Reason to smile: Even on our bad days, we still have it really, really great!

S- Song last sang: "Unlock The Swag" by Rae Sremmurd (terrible, but catchy)

T- Time you woke up: 6:51

U- Underwear color: N/A

V- Vacation destination: Warm, beautiful beach!

W- Worst habit: Anxiety

X- X-Rays you've had: Foot & abdomen

Y- Your favorite food: Cheesy pasta, gas station food, peanut butter & chocolate

Z- Zodiac sign: Aquarius

What are your 26? Post and share!

Stay Strong Y'all!

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Quantity Vs Quality

My November goal was to blog every day.

I didn't blog yesterday.

Oops.

It's not that I didn't remember to do it, it's just that I didn't have anything profound to say. So I made the executive decision to not say anything at all.

Which led me to mull over the question of quantity vs quality.

In Blogging

Most bloggers and internet entrepreneurs tell conflicting stories. One will tell you it's all about volume at first so that you have content and credibility. Another one will tell you that it's both. You have to put out a lot of really good content. And others will tell you it's about really great content and to not waste readers' time.

For this November goal, I was going to try to do both. But I just wasn't feeling it yesterday and didn't want to waste bandwidth ranting about people that turn left from the go right lane. Or jabbering about how banded back squats can kill you. They can. I almost died yesterday. Thanks J for saving me!

I could have written about the lovely play my daughter was in last night, A Permanent Signal. It was really good and she (as usual) was amazing! As she gets older, the quality of the productions she is in keeps improving and becoming more and more enjoyable. I don't know why I didn't go ahead last night and write about that, but I think I had subconsciously decided to not write already.

The final decision then, is that for November, quantity may trump quality. I'll share the good ones and quietly hit "publish" on the meh ones. After that, we will see!

In Food

I struggle with this one! I'm a grazer and a half and I love to just eat and eat and eat! I love gas station food and Taco Bell, so obviously I'm not a quality snob! I think quantity wins on this one, though I do try to eat high quality in large quantities as well!

 I like to partition my macros so that I get the most amount of food, think small portions, multiple times. A few ounces of chicken and veggies here. A handful of nuts and raisins there. A little bowl of oatmeal and bananas.

When you watch the cooking shows and they present their "entree" to the judges and it is one jumbo shrimp on a quarter cup of polenta with two green beans, I'm like, "What the hell?!"  I get that it is high quality foo-foo food, but if I'm paying $$$$ you better flippin' bring me more than what I can cram in my mouth at one time!


Since I got to pondering this QvQ thing, I've come up with other areas you could apply it to, so stay tuned to part 2!

Stay Strong Y'all!






Thursday, November 12, 2015

#tbt November 12, 1994

No big post today. Enjoying a day of R&R with my husband of 21 years! 
Stay Strong Y'all!

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Watching Athletes Grow

       The last two nights at work have made my heart swell with pride as I have been reminded of how awesome my job is. Of course, it is super fun to hit your own PRs (Personal Records), but it is just as much fun to watch an athlete that you coach hit their own PRs or do something they were physically unable to do before.

       When "Betty" started with us she could barely squat and she definitely couldn't lunge. She would step forward, lower down and either completely fall or get down and be stuck. I can't tell you how many times she fell on her butt squatting or fell over lunging.

        One of the first times she attempted a 12 inch box jump, I held her hand and told her she wouldn't fall and that if she did, I would catch her. Well, that was a coaching-fail for me as not only did I let her fall, I went down with her and landed on top of her. Oops.

       Betty's jump rope ability wasn't that great either.

        The last two nights I got to watch Betty PR her squat snatch, her ten rep back squat, do double-unders and lunge 200 meters! We laughed about how we wished we had videos of her first few weeks of CrossFit so that everyone could see her huge improvements! Her husband bragged on her as well when he told me about them moving a basketball goal and how it was super heavy, but she was able to easily help him load it in the truck.

       We have a new CrossFitter, "Suzie" that came on a Bring A Friend Saturday a few weeks ago. The WOD had jumping pull ups and Suzie did them, but awkward doesn't begin to describe how they looked and must have felt. Suzie would donkey kick her legs, lay back a bit and never really get her chin over the bar. Then she came back the next Saturday and has since joined in on 5 more classes.

       Tonight she did jumping pull ups again. Wow, what a difference! Her chin went over the bar each time because now her movement and energy were all generating and driving up! I know to her, that little bit of progress may not seem like much, but it made me grin ear-to-ear! I love watching people learn to use their bodies!

     In CrossFit Kids Monday, I told the kids we would do a pistol challenge on the following Monday. We spent a few minutes practicing and if you can imagine what 8 to 10 year-olds look like trying to do one legged squats, add even more giggling, wiggling, falling and rolling and you have an accurate picture.

   Today we practiced again for a few minutes and the improvement was huge! I could tell they were trying their hardest and that some of them had been practicing at home. I can't wait to see what a weekend of practice will bring.

    We all love to watch people lift big weights and do crazy stunts on the rings, but sometimes it is the small victories that mean the most. And those small victories snowball into huge victories. I am happy I get to be a part of them.

    Stay Strong Y'all!

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

A Random Assortment Of Thoughts

This is going to be a free flowing post about things floating through my head, bullet style.

*Squats- Yesterday got crazy (see below) and I had to make a decision to either do my heavy squats at home at 10 PM or wait and do them today. I was just not feeling it last night so I did them today. They were not fun, nor the prettiest. I don't generally use my belt anymore for squatting, but today I did because the core was just not holding up. I didn't want to sacrifice the leg work by dropping weight so I belted. 

*Blessings Disguised As Stress- Yesterday was hectic in a very good way and while the hectic-ness drove my overly planned and scheduled self nuts, I couldn't help but smile because it was an awesome kind of hectic. Yes, my workout schedule got messed up, but it was all because of very good things!

*Double Unders- Here's an amazing fact you might not know. If you make people attempt double unders, they figure out how to do double unders. 

*Tired Of Not Being100%- I've been a bit under the weather the last week and the meds are helping, but slowly. The meds are also making me slightly nauseous and I'm getting dizzy easily which makes working out super fun.  Box jump overs?  Let's go up and down and spin around! Blech. GHD sit ups. Ain't happening. 

*I Ran A Mile Today!!! I know that's not a big deal for many, but I rarely am able to actually run a whole mile. I didn't walk at all today, woop woop!

*I Don't Understand Hunger Strikes- Seriously. How does someone choosing not to eat affect anyone else? If I choose to not eat to protest something, who am I hurting except myself? On the flip side, if you choose to not eat to protest something I'm doing, why should I care? 


Stay Strong Y'all!

Monday, November 9, 2015

Life Goals: Food Edition

Today was super packed with amazing stuff and I've really had no time to process any profound ideas so here are two of my life goals.

1) Order everything on the Taco Bell $1 menu and eat it. Maybe not all of it, but at least try all of it.

2) Purchase one of each Sammons' Donuts to definitely decide which is my favorite.

Stay Strong Y'all!

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Find Your Candlepower

"I hope my story inspires people to find their own "candlepower", that ability to keep the candle burning bright no matter how hard the wind blows. Whether they're having a tough day, trying to build something, start a company, move up in their own business, or just do something cool for their family, I want people to realize that they are capable of more than they could ever imagine." - Kat Cole President of Focus Brands (Cinnabon, McCallister's Deli, Auntie Ann's, etc)

I wish I had said those words, instead, I'll just have to co-op them from Kat. That's the way I feel about everyone I work with and that's how big I want my life to be. 

Happy Sunday! 

Stay Strong Y'all!


Saturday, November 7, 2015

Campfire workout!


Last night after work, J and I pulled the camper down to Turkey Bay and I was very excited for a weekend of decompression. 
The first thing I did was unpack my backpack and plan all the fun things I would read and write. I 'may' have a notebook problem. 

I stayed up until midnight reading and taking notes! #nerd

Yes, I woke up like this. 

And I woke up to this! 

Thank goodness J cooks while we camp. He earns mega points for boiling water so that I could have coffee! I don't care that it was instant, it was coffee!


After breakfast it was time to get my workout on. I brought a dumbbell with me, but could have easily just used a water jug. No excuses to miss a workout folks! 

Warm up: a ten minute trail run

WOD: Turkey Bay 250

For time:

50 Goblet Squats
50 Sit Ups
50 Dumbell Snatches
50 Push Ups
50 One Armed Overhead Squats

Every two minutes run to the creek bed and back. 

This was fun and being on the leafy, non level ground made it even more challenging! The 30# dumbell was great, but a sloshy gallon of water might have been more challenging, especially on the one arm overhead squats. 

Accessory work: bent over rows, one leg Romanian deadlifts, and one arm over head carries. 


And now we lunch!

Stay Strong Y'all!

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Friday, November 6, 2015

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Rest Day = Eat Everything Day? 7 Ways To Beat The Binge



#feedmeseymore

According to all the research on physique development, rest days should be lower in calories and lower in carbohydrates than training days, especially if one is losing or maintaining their weight.

Logically I know this, but my body disagrees. 

It seems that every rest day my body screams at me, "You beat me up all week! Feeeeeed meeeeeee!"


Combine that with the fact that I'm mostly off work on rest days and you get a lot of laziness combined with massive inhalation of food. And I'm not talking steamed broccoli and chicken breast.

My brain on rest days:

PB&J? Yum! 

Cliff bars are sorta healthy, right?

Banana and peanut butter!

What is that in the back of the freezer? Cinnamon Toaster Strudel? Cinnamon Toaster Strudel!

Oh, I've eaten a lot of carb. I should balance that with some protein....

I know, I'll mix protein powder and PBFit and spread it on raisin bread!

CANDY CORN! CANDY CORN! CANDY CORN!

I know there is a chocolate bar around here somewhere!!


Nothing listed above is forbidden or "bad". In fact, a lot of it is a pretty decent choice for healthy eating. The problem is I'll eat all that stuff and have 70% carb, 28% fat, and 2% protein at the end of the day. Not exactly a recipe for good body composition and performance.

(Sidenote: Sitting down with a BOWL of peanut butter, banana(s), candy corn, marshmallows and chocolate chips is rarely a good idea)

Some days lately I win the rest day battle. Other days I don't. If I overeat on sugary, carb-y stuff like the stuff above, I feel really bloated and sluggish the next day and my workouts are torturous.

The days I win I use the tips below.


  1. Plan your meals the day before.
  2. When you get the urge to eat something off plan, do something else. Do a load of laundry. Go for a walk. Play a game.
  3. Time your meals. If your brain tells you to raid the pantry, ask yourself how long it's been since you had a meal. If it's been 3 hours or so, you might actually need real food. If it was 30 minutes ago, you are bored, not hungry.
  4. Honestly, I'm more likely to overdo it when I have just been to the grocery store, so try not to grocery shop the day before rest day. 
  5. Text an accountability buddy and tell them you are about to eat a 1 pound bag of M&M's all by yourself.
  6. Better yet, take a picture of it and post it on social media. Tell the world you are about to eat the whole thing. Would that make you stop and reconsider?
  7. Ask yourself two questions. One, will eating this help me reach my goals? Two, how will I feel 30 minutes after eating it? If the answers are NO and CRAPPY, don't do it. 

If nothing helps and you have an 'OH MY GOD I ATE EVERYTHING DAY', so be it. Move on and accept that it will hinder your goals a bit, but it doesn't have to stop all progress. No guilt and no beating yourself up. Draw a line in the sand and step over. 

Just because you got a flat tire, there's no need to slash the other three.

Come see me tonight at 7 PM at Flex Fitness! I'll be talking nutrition and doing a little Q & A!

Stay Strong Y'all!