Be A Bond Girl

Last Supper Syndrome…and the New Year’s Day Epic Bridge WOD

Posted on January 5, 2015January 5, 2015 by Sandy

Last Supper Syndrome.

So, today, my husband and I started the Bulletproof Rapid Fat Loss Protocol.

Basically, it’s “eat butter for 5 days, carbo load on the 6th, go back to eating butter until you’re at your desired body fat percentage . . . oh and take a bunch of supplements, too.”

As described by Dave Asprey:

The best way to lose weight on the Bulletproof® Diet is with Bulletproof® Intermittent Fasting. But if waiting for results just isn’t your thing, you can use this Bulletproof® Rapid Fat Loss Protocol . . . . However, you need to understand that your body stores toxins in fat that your liver couldn’t excrete, so when you lose weight very rapidly, those toxins are released and can make you very sick. This Bulletproof® Rapid Fat Loss Protocol helps you avoid any side effects from this toxin release, so it’s important to follow the plan carefully.

In a nutshell: the plan uses 6 days of ketosis – when your body burns fats for energy – followed by 1 day of carbohydrate loading along with constant toxin binding supplements to help your body get rid of the released toxins. This protocol isn’t low-calorie, and you don’t run the same risk of causing metabolic problems that you do when you follow a low-calorie diet.

H and I both decided that we have gone way-hay-hay down the road of gluttony. I think it’s ‘cos his job is stressful, which makes him want to counterbalance by eating “good food and drink” – and of course, I am the perfect enabler in that respect. ;-)

We have tried more “moderate” starts to eating plans, but we always fall off. Back in the day when the Master Cleanse “maple syrup, lemon juice and cayenne” thing was all the rage, we actually did that for a couple of weeks – and doing something so dramatic really helped us to break out of the habits that we had fallen into. Even though I know nutritionally that the Master Cleanse is NOT the way to teach your body to burn body fat, we actually felt okay doing it, which is important. If we feel crappy, we’re going to quit.

I’ve tried just about all the “eating plans” that you can think of – since I’m over 50, I’ve lived through and tried South Beach, The Zone, Dukan, high carb/no fat, high protein/no carb, Atkins, Perricone, Rosedale, Suzanne Sommers, David Hirsch, etc. I’m sure there are others I am forgetting. I never went for the “grapefruit” diet or the “cabbage soup” diet, but I’ve tried all the others.

The problem? It gets boring, and it often doesn’t work that fast.

I finished Dave Asprey’s Bulletproof Diet book over the holiday, and found it very inspiring. His podcast always has really great information and guests, though he seems a bit “full of himself” on them. I generally use the podcasts as springboards to find new experts to read. The book, thankfully, doesn’t have any “self-promotion” feel to it. The one thing I do wish that it had was a “Supplies” index – he talks about “finding purveyors online” for some of the things that he recommends, but it would have been helpful to have had them listed. (My guess is they are on his website, but there wasn’t a “quick and easy” link in the back of the book to tell me that, either.)

Hubby and I discussed going on the protocol in the book, but we’re both way over the mark on our body fat now (as I posted previously). My husband has been doing a “head in the sand” thing about this for some time now, but when I got my body fat/lean muscle tested, he saw that it galvanized me into action (after some frustrated tears, mind you) – and that helped him decide to change, too. As everyone knows, it’s a lot easier to start a diet when everyone in the house is doing it.

We have a super-duper “electrical impedance scale“, that measures your lean body mass, body fat percentage, etc. My husband won’t touch it with a 10 foot pole. ;-) But this morning, I set it up for him (you need to input age, sex, height, etc.) and told him I didn’t care what it said – I didn’t have to know – but he had to know, because if this protocol isn’t working (if either of us loses lean body weight instead of body fat), then we have to stop. I weighed and “body fat-ized” myself this morning, and our couple weeks of gluttony have pushed me up on the scale, but as my body fat is about the same, I think I’ve likely retained water because of salt and junk in my system (as in, about 5 pounds’ worth).

When I got home from Crossfit, hubby was super grumpy, and the scale is in a different part of the bathroom, so I’m guessing he now “actually knows” his weight, and his body fat percentage.

We have been living the Last Supper Syndrome for this holiday season in “anticipation” of going on this protocol. You know what that means – eating and drinking everything in sight, because you “know” that you “won’t be able to” as soon as you “start.” It’s such a stupid thing to do, but amusing, too. Like, last night, we were eating everything in the house that is going to be “forbidden” for the next few weeks (months?). Anything we didn’t eat, I was going to throw away.

Oh for goodness sake! We chowed through a bottle and a half of champagne, “faux” gras (foie gras is illegal in California, this is a goose liver pate), brie, Stilton, guacamole, crackers (yes, GLUTEN crackers), bacon-wrapped pork roast with melted blue cheese and MORE guacamole on it, palak paneer . . . And that was just dinner. The whole day was a “clean out the fridge and eat garbage” Last Supper Day. Brandy-filled dark chocolates, chips left over from our New Year’s party, ranch dip, more chocolate, chilis rellenos with mole, poached eggs and bacon, grey-mosas (champagne with grapefruit juice) . . . Oy!

: our team

After a dessert of yogurt with mixed in coconut flakes, chocolate chips and granola topped off by three huge dark chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons, I went through the fridge and dumped out everything that is no longer “allowed.” Soy sauce, A-1 steak sauce, honey mustard, jams, jellies – you know the drill. Even (sigh!) big jars of bacon fat, which are no-go until we “reach the body fat percentage that we want” – which is going to be a long, long time from now.

Learnings From The Epic Bridge WOD.

On New Year’s Day, our Crossfit gym does the “Epic [Golden Gate] Bridge WOD” at 9:00 a.m. Last year, I had been at the gym for only a couple of months, but I did it anyway though I didn’t really know anyone – this year, I knew most of the folks who did it. Last year was pretty straightforward – a hero WOD on our side of the Bridge, run across, another hero WOD on the San Francisco side, run back, then a final hero WOD. You do it with teams – last year, it was 2 per team, and even though our team had 3, we came in dead last. (It was fun though.)

tree pullups on the far side (you had to "figure out where to do" the moves - extra points for creativity) — tree pullups on the far side (you had to “figure out where to do” the moves – extra points for creativity)

This year, they gave “points” for doing various things – and you could choose what your team wanted to do. Teams were made up of 4 people. If you got “bystanders” to join you in whatever you were doing (and took a video of it), you got extra points. (My favorite was convincing a guy to do cartwheels with us on the Bridge – or maybe it was the Christian gal standing all dressed up by her Be Saved sign, who we convinced to do a kettlebell swing in her long skirt! I will say that the ridiculous amount of walking lunges Claire and I have been doing in the KMC protocol made the walking lunges on the Bridge a piece of cake!)

Julian gets "extra points for creativity" by stripping down and doing his burpees in the surf! BRRRR!!!!! — Julian gets “extra points for creativity” by stripping down and doing his burpees in the surf! BRRRR!!!!!

The whole experience was a blast, especially as you had no idea “where you were” in the WOD vis-a-vis other teams. HERE is a write-up of the day from our gym’s blog, if you’re curious, and it contains a link to what we did, for how many points. As you’ll see if you read the blog link, our team came in first (though we were the last ones to finish), because you got 5 points per kettlebell/dumb bell if you carted them back across the Bridge (1.7 miles), and we brought 6 across. We had 4 dumb bells at 30 pounds, and 2 kettlebells at a “pood” each (36.11 pounds).

We realized half way across the Bridge that this was way too ambitious, which lead to good teamwork and strategy. Mikaela carried the 2 1-pood kettlebells most of the length of the bridge, then Kevin, Jessica and I traded off the 4 30-pound dumbbells for at least half the Bridge because of a miscommunication with Suzanne. (She ran ahead because we said that we should do a “trade off” with one person staying fresh, but we meant between light standards not half way on the Bridge!)

Kevin and I basically had to trade off carrying 1 or 2 dumb bells each for the first half of the Bridge, and Jessica carried one. Sometimes Kevin and I would each carry 2 to let Jessica rest (There were a lot of rests in there.) Once we caught up to Suzanne mid-span though (meaning there were now 5 people instead of 4), I took off with one of the 30 pound dumbbells, leaving the 4 of them with the 2 1-pood kettlebells and the 3 other dumb bells to trade off. I walked straight without resting to the other end of the Bridge, up the stairs to the parking lot, down the LONG set of stairs under the Bridge, crossed under the Bridge, then back up the LONG set of stairs to where the cars and the other teams were waiting.

I dropped the first 30 pound dumbbell in the parking lot, then went back, carried Mikaela’s two kettlebells a portion of the way for her (I did mention the LONG flights of stairs to get down under the Bridge, then back up the other side, right??), then ran back and took one of Kevin’s 30-pounders under the Bridge and up the stairs, then finally got Jessica/Suzanne’s 30-pounder down the stairs, under the Bridge, and up the other side. (Must be my Marine background – No Dumbbell Left Behind!)

The most instructive part of the whole thing for me was actually when I carried that first 30 pounder by myself from the middle of the Bridge to the cars (about a mile). I had been carrying one, two, trading off, etc. from the San Francisco end to the middle, but usually that meant that Kevin and I were walking together. Once we had re-found Suzanne, I took off alone, because I knew that I could walk faster and get more done that way. I also knew it would go faster if I dropped that initial weight off, then go back to help “ferry” the other weights in for the team v. trading off and resting along the way.

Thirty pounds is about the weight that I have to lose right now. Carrying that doggone dumbbell was like something out of The Biggest Loser. It made me realize just how much I’m asking my body to cart around. When I’d get to the parking lot and heave that thirty pounds down onto the ground each time, my body felt like it was floating.

I need to remember that feeling. I wish I’d thought to have a member of my team take a photo of me while I was doing that carry – I’d print it out and put it on the refrigerator!

To all of you who are starting something – an eating plan, a workout plan, or any other “Resolution” today – I wish you well! Leave me a comment if you like, and let me know what is on your goal list for 2015, so I can cheer you on!

TEN pounds of MUSCLE lost…???

Posted on December 23, 2014December 23, 2014 by Sandy

Wow, I’m REALLY unhappy as I type this post. I actually don’t know the last time I was so unhappy.

Just returned from getting “re-assessed” on my “numbers.” As those of you who read this blog know (all 4 of you LOL), I was told about the middle of last year that I had to dramatically change what I was doing eating/exercise-wise, because it was wreaking havoc with my body chemistry.

I had “everything” tested last August – then the “chemistry part” was re-tested fairly recently (October). Per the way the chemistry was going, I was taken off doing “met cons” and endurance-type exercise, and told to concentrate on strength, and then non-“metabolic” training, like walking.

So today, I had my numbers re-assessed. As all 4 of you (smile) know, my coach at our Crossfit box has “un-metcon’d” the workouts for me, so I can still train basically “with” the class. As you also know, I’ve added other strength/conditioning training from Krissy Mae Cagney’s program, as blessed by my mobility guy.

I feel pretty good these days. I’ve noticed a lot better tone in both my arms and in my legs. But I’ve felt “heavy.” Now I know why . . .

My body composition came back that actually my body fat has gone from 29.9% (in August) to 33%. My actual body fat (in pounds) went from 53.6 pounds to 57.9 pounds. My lean muscle weight went from 125.8 pounds, to 116 pounds.

2014 04 17 muffin — yup – that’s me and my muffin.

That’s just 0.2 pounds shy of a loss of TEN POUNDS of muscle.

(Imagine if I hadn’t picked up my strength training…??)

And before you ask – it’s not some half-assed test. It’s not only the same test as in August, but it’s also the “2nd best, only to a body fat dunk tank” test.

Beside. Myself.

So, I’ve been instructed to go back to logging on MyFitnessPal with a vengeance. Yeah, so, I hate logging. I have said before how great and semi-painless MyFitnessPal is, but I still hate it. I’ve been doing logging for two weeks, but in a desultory fashion – meaning, for example, that weekends (when I’m away from the computer and my phone), I haven’t kept track.

As my pal Claire (who I’m doing the Krissy Mae Cagney program with) said – it’s time to ix-nay the ine-way and eese-chay.

So there’s the thing. I HATE having to change what I eat. I love what we eat. I HATE feeling that my body has “betrayed” me by getting older.

The scary part is that if I’d put on body fat – if my body fat had just “gone up” – that would be one thing. But what up with the significant muscle loss?

He said that one possibility is that what I’m eating just isn’t getting in to “feed” my muscles. Instead, I’m “stuck” saving calories as fat because of something wonky with my chemistry. And, since I have now added strength, stopped met cons, and all the rest of that jazz from the exercise side – it’s time to hit it hard from the eating side.

I wish I wasn’t such a great cook (brag, brag, brag, but it’s actually true). I wish my husband didn’t think I was the best cook in the world, which makes me cook even more. I cook “primal” – veg, meats, some starch (but, like, sweet potatoes and squash now and again) . . . but the portions are large, very large. I also eat way too fast. Also my husband likes to eat pretty late at night (he’s European).

My husband has a habit of throwing little “spanners” in the “works” of course – like, “Hey honey, let’s go drink champagne and eat dark single-sourced Amazonian chocolate out on the deck.” But it irks me to no end that NO, we are not eating Twinkies. Or bread. Or croissants. Or McDonald’s. Or KFC. Or fruit, even. And also NO, I’m not starving myself – in fact, I’ve kicked up my caloric intake by a bit, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts.

9.8 pounds. Nearly TEN POUNDS of muscle lost. In five months?? That’s nearly two pounds a month!

I know that what I’ve been told has to be right – that what I’m eating is being stored as fat and not “feeding” the muscles, so they are breaking themselves down to “get at” what my body needs. I’ve read about this ad nauseum. I just never thought it would apply to me.

vacationing in Florida when I was about 10.

I hate being surprised. I guess the part I hate the most is that I very rarely “look forward” to things. It’s been a habit since I was a little kid. Folks would ask if I was “looking forward” to a vacation, my birthday, etc. The answer was always No. Because if you “look forward” to something, you build all sorts of great things around that event in the future – and if it doesn’t meet your imaginings, you’re bummed out. So instead, I always stay neutral when it comes to holidays, vacation, birthdays, etc. – so everything that happens is an awesome surprise.

Walking into that office today for the re-test, I was “looking forward to” the “delighted” look when my numbers would be “so much better.” It’s my own fault that I was “looking forward” – I know better. The fall from what you expected to happen to what “really” happens is so much farther if you have pumped yourself up from not expecting anything at all. In fact, it’s kinda a shock.

Well, we’ll see where I’m at in another six months. Until then, my new JournalMenu.com journal has a section for goals. I blithely put as my first goal to have an 18% body fat percentage by a date next year. I don’t care about weight – in fact, I actually “lost weight” between my last test and now – but we know what it was “made up of” (muscle)! So now, I have to add another goal, and it has to be to re-up my muscle percentage in a BIG way.

quotes I chose for my new JournalMenu.com journal. now time to pay attention to them... — quotes I chose for my new JournalMenu.com journal. now time to pay attention to them…

Bummed. Just bummed.

{…pause…}

I have just spent the better part of an hour figuring out what I can do S.M.A.R.T. Goal-wise to attack this problem. Not to beat up on myself but wow am I bad at Math. As a side story, remember “story problems” back in grade school? (You know the ones: “If a train leaves New York at 3:00 p.m. going to Chicago and another leaves Chicago at 4:30 p.m. for New York and they are going x miles an hour, when and where will they crash into each other if someone doesn’t throw the switch?” – oh oops that’s the Addams Family version…) Well, back in math class, I used to move the trains forward by an hour at a time, until I got “close” to where they were meeting, then move them forward in minute increments, until I got them to smash – um – I mean pass. Stop laughing.

So that’s what I’ve been doing, trying to figure out what’s “attainable” (the “A” in S.M.A.R.T. goals) and in what time (the “T” of S.M.A.R.T. goals).

After moving my muscle and fat “trains” forward and back by a pound at a time, I’ve decided that, by my husband’s birthday (when we’re likely to be in Hawaii, and I’m likely to be doing Crossfit Open Workout #1 at a box there) I would like to gain three pounds of muscle, and lose eight pounds of body fat. That would be a “total” weight loss (as in “scale weight”) of five pounds – or less than a pound a week. Now, mind you, I know that putting on that much muscle is not going to be easy. But I am going to crack open my nutrition books (I only have 10,000 of them), and figure out what has gone haywire, and how to signal my fat cells to release their stuffed little faces, and how to signal my muscle cells to fill up their starved little selves.

So there you have it.

crossFIXE Muscle Paste – unicorn horn dust in a jar

Posted on December 9, 2014December 9, 2014 by Sandy

I’m not easily impressed.

Well, that’s not totally true – I’m super easily impressed by the awesomeness that always surrounds me daily at Crossfit – but when it comes to products . . .

I’m not easily impressed.

Over “Black Friday/Cyber Monday,” WOD Superstore was having a sale, and so I decided it was high time to get me some voodoo floss bands. I threw a little tub of CrossFIXE muscle paste into the package, because with the new Crossfit/Krissy Mae Cagney “Sexy Sculpt” routine, muscles I didn’t even know existed are hurting.

I used the Muscle Paste last night after a particularly punishing morning “Upper Push” session that took nearly 2 hours and left me unable to even do Child’s Pose with my arms (truth). Push Press, Bench Press, Plate Raises, Cleans, Tricep isolations, Pushups, Dips . . . you know the drill. My elbows, triceps and shoulders were killing me when I went to bed, so I slathered on some of this stuff and went to sleep. Didn’t smell too bad – a little herbal – and this is important because my husband can’t stand sleeping next to me if I have on a “smelly” balm of any kind. (Poor guy lived through enough of that when I did the Ironman to last several lifetimes.)

My elbows seem to always be hurting. I am fairly “loose limbed” (uncharitably referred to as “gangly” in my youth), and though I really watch my form in Crossfit, some of the lifts just seem to push that particular joint to the limit.

I woke up this morning and . . .

I got nothin’.

As in – for the first time in what seems like forever, my elbows don’t hurt in the slightest. I even did a couple of Billy Blanks-esque boxing moves (remember him??) and . . .

I got nothin’.

The product contains blueberry extract (antioxidant), coffee extract (stimulant), sea buckthorne oil (skin repair), coconut oil and the like. The antioxidants and stimulants supposedly help support blood flow and promote healing to sore skin, muscle, and connective tissue.

All the ingredients are “food-grade” and natural, which I suppose means that you can eat this stuff (though I wouldn’t recommend it). When compared to something like your usual Ben Gay-ish product with a fistful of unpronounceable chemicals, this is a bonus . . . especially because the product seems to work.

I’ve tried arnica-related products with limited success – I have also used Traumeel – which has a number of actual medical studies pointing out that its homeopathy often works better than NSAIDs, without the NSAID issues. Traumeel is, however, homeopathic – meaning it uses diluted botanical/mineral extracts to address inflammation – so while it has been medically shown to have actual long-term anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties, it’s not an “overnight” thing.

Interestingly enough, the company that makes CrossFIXE also has a product line called RIDICULOUS! – which even includes a “pain spray” and a bath soak. The ingredients on that one (I don’t have it – I’m looking at it online) say:

Coconut oil, organic sesame oil, green tea oil, blended with a special sauce of organic ingredients to soothe tension, soreness, tightness, etc. caused by lifting weights, running, cycling, Cross Fit, mad strength trainers, crazy marathon runners, etc.

Gotta tell you, if you are getting something from WOD SuperStore and you want to tuck a little extra in, I would certainly give the Muscle Fixe a try, given my own experience with it.

I might even give the RIDICULOUS! line a try – especially as (from the advertising on their site, mind you) it seems like this is an amped up version of Muscle Fixe.

Oh, and . . .

. . . NOPE, I did not get paid to write this review. And who knows, maybe the unicorn horn dust will wear off ten minutes from now – but until that time, I am blissfully unaware of my poor overused muscles and constantly aching elbows – and for that, I am immensely thankful!

Ya gots any products that contain “unicorn horn dust” for you? Let me know! I’d love to try them!

Awe and the Austrian

Posted on December 7, 2014December 7, 2014 by Sandy

My husband is Austrian, not American. He has been here since he was like 20, but English is not his first language.

Today at lunch, he mentioned that he’d gotten something done that has been on our List for a long, long time. My response was “Awesome!”

He thought about that (what was there to think about, you ask?)

And he thought some more.

(Now I’m curious what’s going on in his brain.)

And he says, “So, ‘awe’ is something that it’s good to have a little, but not so good to have a lot?”

Now I’m really puzzled. Obviously, it showed in my face, because he said earnestly:

“Well, ‘Awe-some’ is good, but “Awe-full” is bad, no? So it’s good to have some, but not a lot?”

I just love my husband’s mind. It’s

Macros and Zone and…Divots (Oh my!)

Posted on December 7, 2014January 19, 2016 by Sandy

Dr. Barry Sears’ The Zone.

Unless you’ve lived under a rock for the past like 20 years, you’ve heard of Dr. Barry Sears’ The Zone eating plan. My husband and I actually quite successfully followed the prescriptions of this eating plan when it first was published, though we fell off the wagon because of the whole “calculate your blocks” thang.

What’s The Zone about?

In The Zone, you calculate “blocks” that are made up of macros. (If you don’t know what a macro is, scroll back a few blog posts or go HERE). There’s a good bit of math involved, but the idea is that you figure out how many “blocks” you should be eating in each meal in accordance with Dr. Sears’ plan, and then you stick to it. Each “block” is made up of a set amount of grams of each of the macronutrients (protein, carbs, fat). So if you’re having a “1 block meal” or a “3 block meal” you’re eating 1 (or 3) blocks (each) of protein, carbs, and fat.

It’s basically a set 40%-30%-30% thing at each meal – carbs-protein-fat – which is supposed to moderate your insulin response, and all sorts of other good stuff. (For a more detailed description, click HERE.)

How Do The Zone & Flexible Dieting Differ?

It’s quite likely that you would be eating a similar number of calories per day under either dietary road map.

However, in Flexible Dieting, Krissy Mae Cagney basically says “just get your macros when/ where/however you can” – and she doesn’t limit what you eat in the slightest. She also doesn’t have you “combine” foods.

So, for example, in discussing carbs, she basically says that “a carb is a carb” to your body. For example, she points out that if you eat a donut, your body is going to treat it as a super-fast acting carbohydrate (energy source) – which it would also do with something on the “high glycemic” scale like watermelon. But a “lower glycemic” carb – like say collard greens – is still a carb.
So, when it comes to carbs, a donut calorie = a watermelon calorie = a collard green calorie.

Instead of matching up protein/fat/carbohydrate “blocks” lock-step in each meal, Flexible Dieting is, in a word, flexible. As she points out (and I tend to agree with this), if you are on any eating plan and you fall off the wagon (e.g., suddenly waking up to find an empty chip bag in your hands and crumbs in the corners of your mouth), it’s human nature to just throw in the towel and go look for those Oreos you stashed behind the gluten-free, lactose-free, sweetener-free, soy-free, humanely-harvested-in-the-moonlight-by-vegan-fairies unsalted beet crisps.

The Zone’s proportions are pre-calculated for you without any real room to personalize, unless you are a super advanced Zone-er. So the Flexible Dieting/macro method is a less rigid approach, while still basically going after the same result.

Looking good…inside and out.

KMC does, of course, point out that while your body will “look great on the outside” if you stay in your macros (even if the carbs are all made up of Oreos), you’re not going to “look so great on the inside” – because there are carbs with way more “nutritional value” than what are otherwise generally thought of as “bad” carbs.

The Zone has huge lists of which protein/carbs/fats are “better” and which are “worse” – and (ahem) things like Oreos or Twinkies (do they still make Twinkies?) aren’t even on their list.

To KMC, a calorie of protein is a calorie of protein, a calorie of fat is a calorie of fat, and a calorie of carbohydrate is a calorie of carbohydrate.

In my own personal experience, I have found that “restrictive diets” like most everything but Flexible Dieting wind up with me on a bender. Then I sort of run out of gas (read: get too embarrassed to log what I ate), and stall out.

As you know from my previous posts, I actually do eat “clean” (as the parlance goes), with a few notable exceptions (champagne being one of them). So I can’t even imagine what it would be like to be a “standard American” trying to go on some sort of eating regime. The delta (or “V”) between what you “ate before” and what you “are allowed to eat on the [non-Flexible Dieting] plan” is so great, it’s gotta act like a giant slingshot. You try and try and try and then when you see what you used to love (but which is now not allowed), *SPROING!*

That delta catapults you into an entire casserole pan of lasagne.

Which you’re too embarrassed to log.

And you stall out and head for the Oreos.

So, in sum,

Both The Zone and Flexible Dieting talk about figuring out a certain number of “macros” (grams of protein, fat, and carbohydrate) that you should be eating each day. In that way they are similar. However, Flexible Dieting lets you eat whatever you want, and doesn’t “combine” foods in any particular way.

As such, I’d suggest that if you’re thinking about “doing The Zone,” maybe you should actually start with Flexible Dieting. It will get you started with calculating your macros, looking at what you eat, etc. It will change the way that you’re eating now, no doubt about it. But it also will work with you, and what you eat now. After you get in the swing of Flexible Dieting, if you want to be more scientific about it with respect to things like insulin response, glycemic index, etc., then give The Zone a try.

Um, didn’t you say something about “divots”?

If you read this far, this is a little treat for you ;-)

Yesterday when I got up, I texted my Sculpt Buddy Claire that I could actually see my triceps. Now, I know there is a very fine line between “swole” and “swollen” (smile) – but that was a total first for me. Since most of my life I’ve either been a couch potato or an endurance-type athlete, the idea of a hunky upper body was never something I even entertained..

On the final day of our Sculpt last week (day before yesterday), we had to do like 400 bejillion tricep-related exercises. (Well, that might be a little exaggerated. But only a little.) I couldn’t put my seatbelt on – Claire was considering carrying her backpack on the front of her body, ‘cos she couldn’t reach back into the straps.

Last night, my husband and I were watching something on Netflix, and he looked over at me, then looked over at me. All concerned, he poked me in the arm (okay, OWWWW) and said (cue Austrian accent): “Honey! You have a divot in your arm!”

I almost bust a gut laughing. Well, I would have, had I been able to laugh, but my stomach muscles hurt too much. So I snorted. A lot.

You’re welcome…

…for that little smile to add to your day!

Any other questions on this topic?

Mo’ Macros… Mo’ Macros…

Posted on December 6, 2014January 19, 2016 by Sandy

Ooooookay, you’ve asked some questions about what I wrote in my Krissy Mae Cagney/Flexible Dieting blog post, which I think I better clarify, because those of you asking the questions actually dutifully bought the Flexible Dieting book, and are still confused.

(I also have an “oopsie” confession to make, after reading a third KMC book – one of those “D’oh!” moments.)

I figured out my
maintenance number…
now what?

OK so here’s sort of the basics. From the Macro Cheat Sheet, you get your calories to maintain. There are 4 ways to figure that number, and also the whole “multiplier thing” – but I went into that before.

Once you have your calories, you figure out your protein grams, then calories, per day, to maintain. It’s easy and again – as an author, I never ever want to “spoiler-ize” someone else’s book by giving away things… if you have the book, you should know how to do this.

…but what about the fat v. carbs thang?

Here’s the deal and where folks have been sending me “scratching my head/can’t figure this out” emails.

The “rest of your calories” (after you subtract the protein ones) will be split between carb calories and fat calories. How they are split depends – ta da! – on you, personally.

My “partner in crime” in all this, Claire from Girls Gone WOD Podcast, gets more bang for the buck energy-wise from fat, so she has a higher fat percentage than carb percentage – by a good amount. I mean, we’re talking like her fat is 10-20% higher than her carbs (from my memory).

What the Flexible Dieting book recommends is if you haven’t got a CLUE where to start, to just match your carb grams to your protein grams. This will also mean that your carb calories equal your protein calories – because fat has a higher gram to calorie ratio (9 cals/gram), but carb and protein’s are the same (4 cals/gram). After you figure out your protein and carb grams, the rest will be fat.

Meaning, you take your total calories, subtract the sum of your protein and carb calories, which gives you your fat calories . . . divide that by 9, you get your fat grams.

It winds up being around 40%-40%-20% or so.

Unless, like I said, you already know you want your fat percentage to be higher – then you tweak your carb number to get “more fat” out of your allotment.

Then you need to stick on this for 2 weeks, logging what you’re eating in MyFitnessPal.com, and if you are blowing either your carb or fat number out of the water, tweak accordingly, so it matches what you’re more likely to be eating.

If you’re not eating enough protein, eat more. If you’re eating too much, eat less. (Don’t tinker with that number.) BTW, if you eat too much protein, here’s a little shocker . . . your body will store it as fat. Protein isn’t some magic substance where the calories disappear into the ether (or your poop) if you are overeating what your body needs. It either gets used to replenish your amino acid stores, or used for energy (like carbs are) or stored in your adipose (fat layer). Thanks for asking. And now after that commercial break…

But, I don’t wanna weigh my food…

Yeah, me either. So here’s the deal. If you use MyFitnessPal, they have just about every single food you can think of already listed. In reality, you should weigh your food, because density is different, blah blah. But you can also use the Dr. Oz-ish “make sure your protein amount is about the size of your palm/a deck of cards,” and then log what is already in the MFP database.

I know that will make Krissy Mae Cagney (and my buddy Claire) want to hit me with their food scales, but look: If it’s do it or not, and your gating item is that you “despise the idea” of weighing your food, then do it, and use your eyeballs and their database, and get going. It’s my opinion that when you actually start doing this, you’re going to get curious, and borrow a food scale, or start looking at the ounces on the package of steak you bought, or some such thing, and start moving toward more “real life” logging. But if you’re a scale despiser, just do this part.

MyFitnessPal.

I signed up to MyFitnessPal a LONG LONG time ago – when I had a personal trainer for the Ironman. Has to have been like 2010. He pointed me to it, and wanted me to log my food, so he could see where I was with my diet. He also was a big proponent of “meal timing,” and so my personalized MyFitnessPal logging diary actually doesn’t say “Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner/Snacks” but “6:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m., and 6:00 p.m. on.”

This was instructive to me, because I came to realize (and am re-realizing) that if I don’t get something to eat in one of those zones – usually, for me, it’s the 3-6 zone – I am ravenous at dinner and eat everything in sight. Twice.

My doctor had me go back to logging a while back, too, when we did my hormone tests and they were so messed up.

So I have a track record with MyFitnessPal.

meals…bar codes…and recipes.

The thing is – MFP changed. Or, at least, the app has changed. (Maybe this all is old news on the non-app/browser version of MFP, but I always use the app.)

It used to be pretty straightforward – you logged your food from their database, or you could group together foods into a “meal” if you eat a certain set of things often. So, for example, I have a “meal” made of what I eat for breakfast plus my protein recovery drink after working out, so I can click on it and it “magically” logs that in my 6:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. slot (because I have the same breakfast before going to work out at 7:00 a.m., and the same protein/recovery drink when I finish at about 8:45 a.m.)

This was good – but the new additions are great.

Now, you can scan the bar code on a food – and it will suck in the calories, etc. from the nutrition label. If something wasn’t in their database before, you had to log all this in manually, and it put that food into a portion of the database called “My Foods.” You could mark that as private, but it defaulted to adding what you entered to their database. (A smart move as that means users are adding to the database and MFP doesn’t pay them anything for it.) Back in the day, if you wanted a certain food to really show up “legit” in their database (versus as “user entered/unverified”), you had to send them a URL that showed the food label from the actual website of that food’s producer, and they’d vet it out. Now, if you scan the bar code, it adds it to their database automatically. Again, smart of them since this means users are adding to their database without MFP having to pay for all this information.

But the best thing is their ‘recipe’ feature.

Using this, you can just type in a recipe.

As an example, I typed in my egg muffin recipe.

12 medium organic eggs…6 strips uncured bacon…1 red bell pepper… 2 shallots…1/2 cup parsley… cup of spinach…1 TB seasoning.

Then, you can click on a button, and it goes out to its database and searches for the ingredients. If it finds them, you just say how many servings your recipe makes, and you’re done. So far, the only thing that it hasn’t found is a spice mix that I use – but it had Trader Joe’s “21 spice salute” which is basically like the one that I use, so I just chose that.

Since I make 12 egg muffins at a pop, I said that the recipe made 12 servings, and it automatically gives me the calories, grams, etc. for each muffin.

(Cool, eh?) I’ve now done this for my meatloaf recipe, a green smoothie I make the same every time, etc. This feature, plus the bar code scanner, is making me like MFP a heck of a lot more.

So now for my confession…

Well, this isn’t so much a confession as a “D’oh!”

I was reading Krissy Mae Cagney’s This Is Not A Cookbook (again, available at this website, and again, no, I am not getting a kickback) and she talks quite a bit about MyFitnessPal.

This is where I discovered I was “doing things wrong.”

As you know from my previous blog post, I decided on 1525 calories per day, for various reasons. But the thing is, on MyFitnessPal, you log your Food, but you also log your Exercise. As I pointed out previously, it will even “go get” your calories off of a BodyBugg or Fitbit, and then “automatically” subtract that number from your Food.

sigh.

KMC pointed out in the book that I just read (this morning) that you’re not supposed to “spot yourself” the Exercise calories. You’re just supposed to eat the calorie number that you figured out, in your Food, period. No “gimmies” for Exercise.

oops.

Now, when I started on this odyssey this Monday, I told myself I would do the KMC Sexy Sculpt workout, and log in MyFitnessPal, but I wasn’t going to go crazy about the latter until 2 weeks from Monday. Meaning – I would log what I was eating, but from their database (no weighing . . . kinda allergic to weighing . . .), and I would check to see “how close” I was getting to the macro percentages that I worked out on the Macro Cheat Sheet. But I’d use the first two weeks to just get reacclimated to logging on MFP.

With my Exercise, I was (ahem) “right around” the 1545 calorie level. I was “right around” my macro percentages, too.

Note what I said.

With my Exercise.

If I look at the numbers without the Exercise subtracted out, I’m over by a lot. (Like around 400 calories, which doesn’t sound like a lot until you realize that 400/1525 is pretty significant.)

Hmmmmm.

So now I’m doing a re-think. With the Exercise subtracted out, I was right around the right number, as I said. “Right around” being maybe 100 calories over. And I really am logging everything – including (hey, it was a tough week…) the wine. (And, if Claire is reading this, including the first glass of wine (smile).)

And here’s where I’d love a little input:

What should I do next week? (just next week – after that, I might stay with what I’m doing that week, or tighten it up, as that will be the end of my self-imposed “two week trial” period of easing back into logging.)

Should I stay on my plan of doing what I was doing for 2 weeks (which would have me using their database and my guesstimations for the food, plus subtracting out the exercise)?

Should I stay on my plan re. the Food, but turn off the “subtracting the exercise” part?

The former is currently bad enough – the latter might make me throw in the logging towel altogether or it might help me get my act together even more.

Help!

Best salty/sweet snack EVER.

Posted on December 5, 2014May 23, 2015 by Sandy

Oh for goodness’ sake. This is my favorite salty/sweet snack (du jour)….

Have you tried KIND bar’s “Strong and KIND” Honey Smoked BBQ bar?

Nom Nom Nom.

I thought this was going to be the weirdest experience EVER. (They have these at Trader Joe’s, so I picked one up in my “forage when I’m starving” grocery mode. Bad me.) It sort of tastes like . . . Heaven (LOL) – no, seriously – it has a sort of “bacon-y” flavor, crunch like almonds, plus sweet.

Nom Nom Nom.

If you have a Trader Joe’s near you, hopefully they have them there. If not, I’ll put a link below, just in case you’re on Amazon or have an Amazon order coming and want to add some.

Kind Bar – Strong and Kind Almond Protein Bar Honey Smoked BBQ – 1.6 oz. (45 g) Supplement Facts Serving Size: 1 Bar (45 g) Servings Per Container: 1 Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 230 Calories from Fat 140 Total Fat 16 g 25% Saturated Fat 1.5 g 8% Trans Fat 0 g Cholesterol 0 mg 0% Sodium 120 mg 5% Potassium 220 mg 6% Total Carbohydrate 15 g 5% Dietary Fiber 3 g 12% Sugars 6 g Protein 10g

Key Product Features (stole this off Amazon):

10g of soy and whey-free protein and all 9 essential amino acids
ingredients you can see & pronounce
Gluten Free
Non GMO
Low Sodium
No MSG

<br />

Krissy Mae Cagney Sexy Sculpt: Week One, Check!

Posted on December 5, 2014December 6, 2014 by Sandy

Just finished my first week of the Krissy Mae Cagney Sexy Sculpt program, as accented by “Bo-gramming.”

You, yes you, are a bad *ss.

The program really is pointing up my weaknesses, which I like. It’s also – through feedback from my “Sculpt Buddy” Claire from Girls Gone WOD Podcast – pointing out where I actually am a bad *ss.

sweat angel. well, um, maybe sweat "condor" best describes it. — sweat angel. well, um, maybe sweat “condor” best describes it.

Here’s a funny thing – it just took me like 5 minutes to actually write the end of the paragraph above, though it’s really what I wanted to write. I wrote about this a couple of blog posts ago, but I have a hang up with just saying “Yes, I am a bad *ss.”

Both because I’m a bit older and I was taught to be more “self-effacing” (you know, “don’t brag, it’s not ladylike”), but also because I have to judge myself against myself – not against everyone else in the gym, where I am far and away lifting/pushing/pulling less than anyone else. Judged against myself, and how I feel, yeah baby, I’M A BAD *SS! ;-)

(So there.)

iTraining buddies rock…

I remember when I was training for the Ironman, I wound up with an “i-buddy” – Missy- who found my blog, and was training for the Ironman alone so started “training with me.” The coolest part was that we actually met at the race (HERE is a link to that post). I was training using the Team In Training/Leukemia Society’s training program – so I had a bunch of “real life” folks to train with – but she (after we asked LLS if it would be okay) used the same program, but trained by herself. She was a stay-at-home mom, homeschooling her kids, and she still made a hefty donation to my TNT page, in “thanks” for the training.

As I said, Claire and I are doing this together, and it makes it imminently more do-able. (They talked about it on the podcast this past week – if you don’t know their podcast it’s fun, you should check it out.) Claire is a Level-1 trainer and all around bad *ss her own damned self – we actually met when I was recently in Denver. So I was a little … well, not scared, but like … worried? … “hopeful that it would not be this way?” … that the fact that she’s way more of a killer Crossfitter than me would depress me. Far from it – it’s been a blast.

no this is not me. but if you think it is, IT'S ME IT'S TOTALLY ME. — no this is not me. but if you think it is, IT’S ME IT’S TOTALLY ME.

The training god(desses) smiled down on me…

OK so one thing that I can totally do are deadlifts. As Claire pointed out in their podcast though, since I’m 6’2″ tall, I basically have to lift the damned bar about three feet higher than she does.

The funniest part though is that our gym is all kg weights, whereas hers is pounds. She did the first workout first, and sent me her numbers…and I am all thinking “OMG. She really IS a bad ass. I can’t even APPROACH that weight!”

Yeah, shut up, you figured it out . . . she was writing to me in pounds, which are 1 for every 2.2 kg. So when she said she had done the movement with “70” I’m thinking 70kg – which is like 150 lbs.

That spurred the crap out of me to really reach for as good as I could get. I am not particularly competitive, and I didn’t feel like I was “competing” with Claire. What I felt like was that we were…like on the “same team” in a competition if that makes sense. I haven’t felt that in fact since I was on the Varsity Fencing team at Cal – my first year, we had an amazing team and went to the NCAAs – I was a freshman, the other women were seniors – and it was my first experience with that “Go Team” thing in what is basically a “solo” sport. It was exhilarating, and that’s how I’m feeling at the end of this first week “doing the Sculpt” with Claire.

Ooops, digression (how unusual). ANYWAY, so Claire’s numbers the first day really had me “kicking it up a notch.” But the COOLEST thing was that I worked out before she did the next day, and my deadlift is pretty strong (something like 77 kg?) Well, that spurred HER on – and she did a 1 rep max advance by FIFTEEN POUNDS. That’s just the awesomest EVER. Even awesomer ( ;-) pretend I’m 20 not 50 when I say that) was the fact she told me that my numbers pushed her to put up some numbers.

my pull up band pile. looks like gay pride spaghetti.

Anyway – all that said, I’m typing this with the computer on my lap, in bed, in my stinky Crossfit clothes, because I can barely walk (in a good way…) Today was an Upper Pull day, made up of bent over rows, kettlebell cleans (nearly knocked myself out learning how to do that – d’oh!), and then some other things, capping off with 8 rounds of 10 pull ups, 10 burpees, and 20 situps. (That last was added from the Bogramming.) When folks start drifting in for the 9:00 a.m. class now (I start at 7:15) I’m usually about 1/2 way into that last set – and I apparently have quite the evil face, because even the “competition girls” have commented on it. Today I left a gay pride rainbow of bands under the pull up bar after I was done, but I felt quite …. BAD ASS.

So you have a great weekend, and celebrate your bad ass self, ya’hear???

Sexy Sculpt & Flexible Eating (Krissy Mae Cagney)

Posted on December 3, 2014January 19, 2016 by Sandy

Well, first of all, if you don’t know who Krissy Mae Cagney is, watch this. (Even if you DO know… watch this ;-) )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqKraKIxHeY
I “discovered” Krissy Mae Cagney via her interview on Girls Gone WOD Podcast. Then, Claire of GGW posted that KMC’s books were half off for Black Friday, so I picked up her book “Flexible Dieting” and her 12-week training program, “Sexy Sculpt.”

Claire and I actually decided that we’d give Sexy Sculpt a try. We texted on Sunday about it, and started Monday (December 1st). Claire had “done the math,” and starting now basically means that we will be done just about when the Crossfit Open starts. We also realized how much better it always is to do a program with someone else – even though Claire’s in Denver and I’m in the San Francisco area, just having someone to “check in with” makes it all a lot easier to stick with.

I started with the Flexible Dieting book, and figured out my “macros” through that. This book definitely nails the whole “macro” thing and if you are interested at all in following a macro or “Zone”-type eating program, I would strongly recommend you pick this up. Because I am over 50, have metabolic damage, and have a body fat percentage of 31% even after everything I have done to budge it, I chose a multiplier of 11.1; however, after reading Sexy Sculpt, I re-calculated my multiplier to 12.

Whatsa Macro?

You really need to get the “Flexible Dieting” book, but in very general terms, “macros” stand for “macronutrients” (e.g., protein, fat, carbs). You need to take in a certain number of grams of each macronutrient daily to just survive – if you’re working out, or want to lose or gain weight, you need to know your “base” number, then tweak from there.

Whatsa Multiplier?

I mentioned you really gotta get the book, right? Once you have your weight and your body fat percentage, you use a “calorie multiplier” to figure out the amount of each macro you need daily. the multipliers run from 11 (if you are older, have metabolic damage, don’t really exercise, or have body fat over 29%) through 14 (if you’re super active, exercise all the time, have a fast metabolism, are young, or have a low body fat percentage).

What you multiply by the multiplier is the first number you have to choose. You can:
1. Just multiply it by your current weight, and get a number for your “maintenance calories.”
2. If you know your body fat percentage, you can subtract that percentage of your current weight, leaving your “lean body mass,” and multiply the multiplier by that to get the maintenance calories needed for that lean body mass.
3. If you have a goal weight, you can use that, to give you the calories that you will need at that weight, to maintain that weight. And, lastly,
4. If you have a goal weight and a goal body fat percentage, you can do that math, giving you the calories that you will need to maintain your lean body mass at your goal weight and body fat percentage.

As I have discussed before, I’m not at my slimmest currently. My hormones are also all messed up, which my doctor ascribes to my doing a boatload of endurance events back to back for a year. (I blogged about this in my last post.)

My maintenance calories – using 11 as my multiplier given all of the “reasons to use 11” were:
1. 1958
2. 1351
3. 1705
4. 1398

After figuring this all out, I read the Sexy Sculpt book – in which KMC states there is “no way” that you should be doing this program on a multiplier that’s less than 12-ish. I figured that I’m doing the program, but I also have all the other “11 issues,” so I re-did my maintenance calories based on using a 12 multiplier, which gave me:
1. 2136
2. 1476
3. 1860
4. 1525

I decided to use the 1525 calories as my marker for figuring out my macros. (That is my goal weight times my goal fat percentage.) Now, from here, you figure out how many grams/calories of protein, fat, and carbohydrates you need a day. (Go get the book…HERE is the link again. You’re welcome.) So I did that, and re-introduced myself to MyFitnessPal.com. I really hate weighing and measuring and logging, but what the Heck, I’m doing it with the workouts, might as well just suck it up. I also found, then recharged, my BodyBugg. Now, many of you probably use FitBits – which I find a little odd, frankly. BodyBugg keeps track of your heartrate, perceived exertion, steps, sleep/sleep quality, etc. FitBit does…steps. Oh okay and logs your sleep time, if you remember to click it twice and turn around and click your heels or whatever you do. Yes, FitBit is nicer looking, but I’ll take all the information over a fancy bracelet any day. So I re-upped my BodyMedia account, linked my BodyBugg to MyFitnessPal.com, and I was ready.

As I think I mentioned in the previous post, I’m currently having our programming director, Coach Bo, program WODs for me specially, that take out the MetCon portion, but still “track” the programming for the day. (Yes, I know I wrote about this in the last blog because I explained what a MetCon was.) So I got myself all industrious, and “matched up” the WODs from the “Bo-gramming” to the KMC WODs. Basically what that entails is just adding the KMC Sexy Sculpt WODs to the Bo-gramming, because the former is a lot more involved than the latter.

Um, yeah, so, the photo here is what that looks like. It’s the WODs from the Sexy Sculpt (HERE is the link to the book again! Oh and NO I do not get paid anything or get anything free for recommending it), with the Bogramming added, plus the pre-stretching and post-mobility added from my fascia guy and my mobility guy. (Claire asked if that stain was blood. Naw, just tears. Big honkin’ tears.)

So far, it’s actually been a blast to do the workouts “with” Claire. We both started with Day One/Lower Body (barbell back squat, barbell glute bridges, etc.) and then, as is allowed in the program, moved today to Day Four/Lower Body (deadlift, good mornings, calf raises, etc.) I did this because it matched my Bogramming better – though our legs are so sore we are having “functional fitness issues” in things like, oh, getting up from the toilet (laugh – TMI!). Tomorrow we’re doing Upper Pull (bentover row, lat pulldowns, cleans, etc.) and then Friday we’ll do Upper Push (overhead strict press, bench press, push ups, etc.)

The Sexy Sculpt program is 4 days, though you get “extra credit” for doing other things on the other days. I’m doing just “Bo-gramming” on one day (as I do Crossfit 5 days), and then hopefully hiking or something like that one other day.

So far so good.

Wanna Join?

Claire and I are just 2 workouts into the Sexy Sculpt program – if you’re looking for something to do to really attack your weight issues, body fat issues, strength issues, or what-ev-ah, why don’t you join us? Get the book, give it a read, and if you’re interested, leave me a Comment and maybe I will start up a Facebook group or some such.

I just wish it wasn’t called “Sexy Sculpt.” Beh. Claire and I are calling it “The Black Iron Workout” because that’s KMC’s gym and sounds less ’80s Jane Fonda.

Go get the books!

I’m baaa-aaack…and cryin’ at Crossfit again ;-)

Posted on November 20, 2014December 6, 2014 by Sandy

Where have I been? Oh boy . . .

The super duper short answer is that I had my computer and purse stolen recently, plus my cell phone went haywire, and trying to replace and regroup has taken an inordinate amount of time and energy. I still am not totally over it – still haven’t found an adequate way, for example, to do emails the way I “want to” – but I’m getting there.

Losing 20+ years’ worth of email tags, flags, folders, etc. is like losing a part of your brain. Though I have “chronological” backup, I lost all my email folders and flags, because I didn’t set up the backup correctly. It’s not as gut-wrenching as losing things that are “irreplaceable” – like the chamsa from Israel or my USMC dog tags that were in my coin purse – but still miserable. Just the other day a client asked for the name of an expert I’d told her about a few months ago, and I went to get the name from my “expert folder” which is . . . gone. No way to remember the name, as it was snuggled in that folder for years, where I would pull it out on the random occasions I needed it. Harrumph.

But this post was to be about Crossfit.

About three weeks ago (more or less) I also was given the medical opinion that I should basically quit Crossfit. The short story (I know, I know, my stories are never short) is that doing the 5 marathons and triathlon in a year-ish totally messed up my hormones, and that the ‘metcon’ [METabolic CONditioning] portion of Crossfit wasn’t allowing that to heal. Hence the continued 30% body fat percentage (and dreaded, unbudge-able, “back fat”), draggy-ness even on a handful of meds and supplements, etc.

I parsed through the “Why” of quitting Crossfit with medical professionals, and what it came down to was that I could keep going, if I concentrated on the Strength portion, walking, and “some sprinting, but not right now.” This follows the basic prescription from books such as Younger Next Year and innumerable podcasts that I’ve blogged about. Just no metcons or long, endurance-type workouts.

So Coach Bo (our Programming Director) now does up a week-in-advance schedule for me. It basically takes out the metcon portion of whatever is programmed. As an example, I might be doing the same movements as the program, but not “for time,” or I might be “going heavy” where the program is to go less heavy and to sprint.

Since I now have to really concentrate on form because I’m trying to “go bigger” with lifts, I also had to change my workout time.

Why?

I’ve been going to the 9:00 a.m. WOD for over a year now. Recently, it’s gotten a lot more “social” – people talking, etc. There are also now a lot of people in the box, and with lots of people, one coach, three different programming tracks, etc., you wind up being coached more reactively (“No, don’t do that!”) than “proactively” (“Let me show you how to do that in the best way for you.”)

So I swapped out to the 7:15 a.m. WOD. It has, max, 4 other people besides me in it, and all are men concentrating on “getting’er done.” Some mornings, it’s just me, or me and one guy. So this allows me to get proactive, personal coaching. There’s no “share the bar, gossip or chat between sets, sass mouth, sandbag, don’t-squat-all-the-way-down-in-wall-balls-if-the-coach-isn’t-looking” vibe.

A big part of why I wanted a switch, too, is that I continued to be far and away the “worst one” in every activity. New women would join, and within a month or so, they’d be out-squatting, out-lifting, out-whatever-ing me. (And no, they were not 20 to my 50.) I’m not particularly competitive, but this sort of thing just grinds you down, especially when you feel you are trying so hard at everything.

Bar-facing burpees. Yes, I am so tired I'm resting my head on the PVC pipes I was jumping over. — Bar-facing burpees. Yes, I am so tired I’m resting my head on the PVC pipes I was jumping over.

This is what came out for me yesterday. There is a new coach at our box, Coach Chelsea. And yesterday, it was just the two of us in the WOD at 7:15. So, basically, I got a private.

Part of the WOD prescribed for me that day was “weighted walking lunges.” I have had stabilization/balance and pain issues with lunges for years now, so I have always done these either forward but holding on to a vertical with one hand, or as reverse lunges while standing in place. When I went to do that, Coach Chelsea said, basically, “Nope.”

Just the day before, I’d done a WOD with Coach Bo, who was enthusiastically surprised when I could do an “ass to grass” squat with my heels still on the floor. Oh sure, I have to push up with my hands to get out of it, and I can’t just drop down into it, but when I first came to Crossfit, I couldn’t even squat down more than maybe about 5-6″ before getting “stuck.” It took me a year to get to the point where I could get my butt below my knee crease, and even then, it was with a box or wall ball under me. (I still do this for lifts that contain squats.)

Because I’m new to Coach Chelsea (and vice-versa), however, she doesn’t cut me any slack. She wants to “see” why I have to scale, and pushes me to do things where my constant, ever-present internal backtalk pushes back with “I can’t.”

I did this when she told me I had to do actual forward lunges – not with a weight, but I had to actually touch my back knee to the ground, and I had to travel doing it. When I said “I can’t,” she said, “I don’t believe you. Do it. Show me why you can’t.”

The first round was not the prettiest thing. But I did it. Then she stopped me and said, “You are always saying you ‘can’t’. You’re stuck in your own back story. It’s time to look forward from that, because you’re using it to get away with not progressing further. It’s a crutch.”

What did I want to say back? I wanted to say how far I had come. I wanted to say that she didn’t “know” how “bad I had been” and how “great” what I was doing was, comparatively. Heck, all the other coaches are amazed that I can lunge down while holding onto a vertical, why aren’t you? Why do you want me to do something I find not just scary, but super scary? What if I fail?

Why didn’t I say that? Because I knew she was right. So I teared up (which totally surprised her), and then we had a discussion about the issue (it being a private lesson and all).

The discussion brought up a memory of a friend of mine, who, to be crass, “thinks her sh*t doesn’t stink.” She objectively is not all that good at her job (we used to work together, so I know), at what she does in her personal life, etc. But she thinks she’s awesome. It’s a wonder for me to behold.

I admitted to Coach Chelsea that one of the main reasons that I didn’t try some things was not so much that I felt I would get hurt doing them. It was that I didn’t want to be embarrassed by trying super hard at something that wasn’t even a drop in the bucket for everyone else, and potentially failing. Also, I told her about the whole “being the worst in the gym” thing.

She didn’t disagree with me about that comment. But what she said was that I was looking at this from the wrong perspective. That sure, maybe I was the worst. But there were people who would love to have the will power to get off the couch and go to a gym to just ride the stationary bike and leaf through a magazine. Much less go five times a week to something as “bad ass” as Crossfit.

She also said that everyone in the gym felt the same way. In other words, if you were doing a move perfectly but without weight, you looked at the ones who did it with weight. If you did it with light weight, you looked at people doing it with more weight. If you were the top of the box, you competed, then realized that you were really just a big fish in a small pond.

That you want to use where the people that are better than you are to motivate you – and to use where you used to be to springboard from. (Which reminds me of my first BIG “Can’t” argument with Coach Chelsea – max box jumps. My max to that point was 15″ – I was stacking up plates to start at 13″ and “maybe get to” 17″. She made me go over to the gymnastics pit and practice and practice and practice. and “Shut up already with the ‘Can’t’!” By the end I did 24″. Still the “worst in the gym” – but way better than my previous best.)

And speaking of couch potatoes, I had, in fact, been one. That’s what had started the odyssey that ended with me completing the Ironman triathlon. I know that many people just want to run a half or a full marathon, and, gee, I did five in one year with a triathlon and a long distance swim thrown in. If someone marvels at that, I of course answer immediately that I’m a back-of-the-pack’er, and that I know that they can do it. But being a “back of the pack’er” doesn’t take away from the pile of finisher medals on my bureau, and I have to stress that in my mind, not the “back-ness.”

Coach Chelsea also said that she had had some of these issues herself, because she’s of larger stature. As she put it (when we were practicing rope climb drills), she had a “lot more to get up the rope” than the usual Crossfit woman. To progress, she had to not only compare herself only to herself, but also to constantly poke any “Can’t’s,” to see if they’re still true.

I hate realizing that my own mind is holding me back. Realizing that feeling I had gone “so far” from my beginning was making me sandbag to some extent. And, more importantly, that not wanting to “feel stupid” for trying a heavier weight that was still by far the lightest weight on the whiteboard – and failing at it – was causing me not to try that heavier weight at all. Also, that I was sort of depending upon the coaches who really had seen me from the beginning to tell me how great i was doing – when I could do better. Yuck.

Well, that’s enough from me. How about you?

Have you ever “not tried harder” because you felt you were “doing enough”? Or that even if you “did amazingly” you would still be last, so you don’t even want to put in the effort?
What are you sandbagging at?
What’s your self-talk like? Do you constantly “bad mouth” yourself to yourself, or do you think that your “stuff” doesn’t stink?
How do you handle defeats? Do you keep at it? Do you stay in the “safe” zone? Do you quit? Do you blame?
How does what people “think of you” affect you?
Where do you feel you could improve? If no one is pushing you, are you able to push yourself?
What do you aspire to? What inspires you? Or, on the flip side, what defeats you?

Last Supper Syndrome.

Learnings From The Epic Bridge WOD.

To all of you who are starting something – an eating plan, a workout plan, or any other “Resolution” today – I wish you well! Leave me a comment if you like, and let me know what is on your goal list for 2015, so I can cheer you on!

Ya gots any products that contain “unicorn horn dust” for you? Let me know! I’d love to try them!

Dr. Barry Sears’ The Zone.

What’s The Zone about?

How Do The Zone & Flexible Dieting Differ?

Looking good…inside and out.

So, in sum,

Um, didn’t you say something about “divots”?

You’re welcome…

Any other questions on this topic?

I figured out my maintenance number… now what?

…but what about the fat v. carbs thang?

But, I don’t wanna weigh my food…

MyFitnessPal.

meals…bar codes…and recipes.

So now for my confession…

And here’s where I’d love a little input:

Help!

Nom Nom Nom.

Nom Nom Nom.

You, yes you, are a bad *ss.

iTraining buddies rock…

The training god(desses) smiled down on me…

So you have a great weekend, and celebrate your bad ass self, ya’hear???

Whatsa Macro?

Whatsa Multiplier?

Wanna Join?

Go get the books!

Well, that’s enough from me. How about you?

Have you ever “not tried harder” because you felt you were “doing enough”? Or that even if you “did amazingly” you would still be last, so you don’t even want to put in the effort?

What are you sandbagging at?

What’s your self-talk like? Do you constantly “bad mouth” yourself to yourself, or do you think that your “stuff” doesn’t stink?

How do you handle defeats? Do you keep at it? Do you stay in the “safe” zone? Do you quit? Do you blame?

How does what people “think of you” affect you?

Where do you feel you could improve? If no one is pushing you, are you able to push yourself?

What do you aspire to? What inspires you? Or, on the flip side, what defeats you?

I figured out my
maintenance number…
now what?