spezzy's back to awesome challenge!

[spezzy]

spezzy's back to awesome challenge!

so i haven't been 100% the last two challenges (especially the last one, which was a total and complete epic fail for me), due to the fact that pretty much every aspect of my life was undergoing some sort of massive change all at once. so instead of challenges, i had to focus on... all of that

The good news is that everything is pretty much sorted and turned out better than it was before, so its time to get back to awesome.

vital stats:

age: 27

height: 5'5

weight: i have no idea. i still don't have a scale. we'll say around 140-145 for now.

starting photo:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]375[/ATTACH]

when im not on NF, i can be found here:

http://www.twitter.com/stacixmarie

goals:

In the next six weeks I want to cut some of the fat ive gained over the past few months (did i mention i was stressed and eating candy like crazy??? ) while maintaining strength.

Ive decided that im going to do that by really honing in on my diet, and adding a bit of running to my routine won't help anyways (which i need to do anyways for my lungs)

So:

diet:

*Follow 95% paleo except for a few pre-determined cheat meals/drinking nights.

And when I do drink, try to keep it as paleo as possible.

Now, my gym is doing a paleo challenge, and this lines up with that as well. The biggest problem that I've been having is that it doesn't allow things like bacon, sausage, and dried fruit (ok, well, it allows any food, but you have to take points off to eat them). I've cut out the dried fruit pretty successfully, but the bacon and sausage are really difficult for me to cut out, mainly because I really dont want to. You CAN have them without taking points off if you make them yourself, so maybe we'll see me get courageous this challenge!

the challenge: i'm moving, and there's an ice cream stand within walking distance to my new house. im praying that its terrible, terrible ice cream. oh, and i really like chocolate.

the how: pretty much continue to do what i've been doing, only cut out my little cheats. the good news is, now that its summer, i crave fruit instead of chocolate. oh, and stay away from the ice cream stand. if i keep telling myself its gross over and over again, i won't like it, right?

*keep nuts to a minimum

they make me sick, and im simply unable to only eat a few. if i open a bag, i eat the whole thing, and then get terribly sick.

challenges: sometimes they're the only paleo food available somewhere (like a convenience store)

how: just don't buy them. seriously. i don't crave them, but if i have them, ill eat them. if its my only food option, get the smallest bag possible, and share.

*drink at least 1 gallon of water at my desk every day. drink another half gallon at home after work. drink my gallon and a half on weekends also.

i normally drink 90% of a gallon of water every day at work, but lately have been forcing myself to finish it before i leave. however, when i get home, I then drink very little water. thats gotta change.

the challenge: none really. if i have water in front of me, i'll drink it.

the how: i have a gallon jug at my desk at work, so fill that and make sure its gone by the end of the day. i'll get a half gallon jug to use while im at home.

fitness:

*Hit a PR of at least 10lbs on each of the main lifts.

Since I'm going to be cutting out some calories here, I'm not going to expect big PR's. And honestly, I should be sticking with just maintaining, but I like PR's better.

Current numbers:

deadlift - 315

squat - 200

bench press - 130

press - 90

push press - 120

powerclean - 120

snatch - 85

overhead squat - 110

the challenge: i'm not always sure what's coming up in the next few days of crossfit, so its hard to come up with a good heavy lifting schedule.

the how: well, this one's simple. just ... continue to lift heavy. ask for guidance on what lifts i should stay away from at CF (which he's been telling me anyways, and that helps a LOT)

*Be able to do all crossfit workouts as close to rx'ed as possible. That means doubleunders and muscleups. oh yeah.

It also means more kipping pullups, handstand pushups, and ring dips.

Current numbers:

muscleups - 0

doubleunders - 1

kipping pullups - 7, but mostly 5

handstand pushups - 0 full ROM

ring dips - 3

the challenge: most of these things require coordination, which i lack. i don't have a pullup bar or rings anywhere except for crossfit, so i have to practice those movements at crossfit only. my jumprope sucks for doubleunders.

the how: once i move, get rings, a pullup bar, and a speedrope. set these up in my backyard. a lot of them arent strength movements, theyre things i just need to practice.

*mobility/stretching:

-mobility wod:

got off the bandwagon with this last challenge, so lets be reasonable about this and not say every day, but lets say 5 days a week? i'm going to look it up the night before, watch it, and ALWAYS do it at the gym in the morning. need to make it habit.

-stretching:

this isn't really a challenge, because i wont be changing anything else i'm doing - but i'd like to be able to do downward dog with my heels on the ground by the end of this challenge.

*Run.

HA. HA HA HA. hahahahaha.

If youve seen my challenges before, you know why this whole running goal is funny.

But! I have a 3.5 mile race on June 2nd

Warrior Dash (3.1 miles) on June 25th

And then Tough Mudder (12 miles) in November.

So I have to run.

Plus, itll help the lungs get back in shape after years of smoking. Oh, and the doctor, who has recently decided that I'm asthmatic, thinks it'd be good for them too.

So seriously, I dont know what my problem is with the running, but I need to somehow get over my mental "i dont want to do this" block.

the challenge: i hate running. its summer, and hot out. im whiny.

the how: well, i need to get over that 'i hate running' barrier. i need to run because:

a) i have races coming up

it will make me better at crossfit

c) it will make my lungs better, which will make me better at getting air into my body which will in turn make LIFTING better.

so how do i overcome this? i need to just shut up and do it. oh, and:

*Don't take the elevator at work

Stupid, I know, but I take the elevator at work to our offices on the fourth floor. I want to stop doing this, even if my legs hurt from CF in the morning.

the challenge: my legs hurt in the morning after 2+ hours of working out.

the how: again, just need to shut up and do it. oh, and again:

Level up my life:

*Go as minimalist as possible without crying. Don't move anything that I dont need.

So, I've always been a packrat. I've been getting better over the last few years, but really, I'm still pretty bad.

In the next two weeks, I'm moving into a house that's about half the square footage as what I have now. I see this as the perfect opportunity to get rid of all of the crap I don't need, and go as minimalist as possible.

...ill document this as proof i'm doing it, because ive been working on it already, and its painful.

the challenge: for a very long time, i used stuff to identify who i was. i have a lot of emotional attachment to items. i need to get over that. i have things i want to keep just to 'keep'

example: i used to be a musician. i was a music major my first two years of college. i have seven instruments laying around my house that i haven't played in forever. and its not that i don't play them because i don't have the time, because if i really wanted to play them, i would spend less time at the gym and more time playing them. i make time for what's important to me, and its just not important to me anymore. but letting go of that musician identity is hard...

the how: well, first, i'm going to sell a lot of stuff. i really like money, and once i see money coming in it will help me justify selling the stuff.

theres a coaches certification i want to get, so maybe i can use the money from selling my stuff to get the certification.

this will be my motivation.

*Create a new budget (new living situation and all of that) and follow it.

New living situation = new budget. Create it and stick to it.

the challenge: new living situation = lots of stuff to buy for new house!

...the minimalist challenge should help that.

the how: create the budget, stick to it. its that simple. no shopping at lunch unless im looking for something specific.

also - stay away from target

*Answer emails/phone calls the same day I get them.

I'm really bad at this, but it would help me in every aspect of my life if I could get better at it.

the challenges: i get a lot of emails. a LOT.

the how: try to reply right away. if i can't, take the extra 10 minutes at the end of the night to reply to everything.

Right, so. All I can think of for now. Good luck everyone!

[Brometheus]

A running goal? Again?!?!?!?!

Good luck. You're going to need it. Mwahahaha. *runs and hides*

[Brometheus]

Okay, in all seriousness, good luck.

I'm not sure I'm going to be the super-awesome participant around here, but I understand the whole running goal. I see the date when I'm supposed to do the whole "warrior dash" thing and cringe. Hopefully it won't be a super embarrassing moment.

Any plans on how to actually conquer your goal? I see a couple different races, and a goal, but no plans on how to tackle it.

[spezzy]

ok, updated to include why each section is a challenge and how i plan on overcoming it.

for running, i just need to shut up and do it. seriously. its a mental thing. i dont like it, so i dont want to do it.

i am, however, also going to find the charger for my mp3 player and create some playlists that could potentially at least help push me further.

what do you listen to while working out? song suggestions? i feel like i always listen to the same album...

[spezzy]

i would also like to add that i tried to add goals, but the boards actually told me my challenge was too long, so i couldn't.

how's that for a sign that i need to get better at moderation?

[citabean]

what do you listen to while working out? song suggestions? i feel like i always listen to the same album...

I have a mixed playlist with bouncy songs I can sing to. There's some Ke$sha, Lady Gaga, Flo Rida, Black Eye Peas and a couple Glee songs. I find if I feel like I can dance around while working out, I do better... heck sometimes I do dance around!

[MMyers]

Thought you might find this interesting.

http://gohomealive.blogspot.com/2011/04/running-10-miles-without-any-training.html

[spezzy]

yes, totally, thanks!

i definitely agree that you dont need to be a runner to be able to run (like, look at in january, when i ran 10k without training for it at all, the longest i had run before that was 5k...)

running is definitely more of a mental thing for me, and breathing. i CAN run if i can breathe.

[spezzy]

oh, and did i mention that my challenge starts today?

diet:

today i ate:

protein shake

pear

steak with red peppers, green peppers, and red onion

grilled chicken breast

sweet potato fries (ok, so a tiny bit not paleo, but so good!)

tomato/lettuce

mixed berries

water:

i hit a gallon about halfway through crossfit this morning.

have had probably another gallon since, still drinking more.

not at work today, but found a 1/2 gallon jug to use at home.

fitness:

today's workout at crossfit:

MURPH

run 1 mile

100 pull-ups

200 push-ups

300 squats

run 1 mile

The pull-ups, push-ups, and squats may be broken up however you would like

I did the first mile run in under 8 minutes without stopping, was pretty happy about that.

Then:

5 pullups, 10 pushups ,30 squats x 10

and then 5 or 6 pullups, 10-12 pushups x3

then i finished my pullups, and finished my pushups after that.

last mile run took a good long 9 minutes, and was really a lot of sprinting/walking.

I'm not sure of my exact time, but it was around 53 minutes. Which I'm happy with, because my goal was to get all of the pullups without assistance, and I got there. a lot of the time was me standing looking at the pullup bar, wondering how badly i was going to bleed on it each time i jumped up on it.

The biggest challenge for this was that I tore my hands up on Friday pretty badly.

I taped my hands up pretty well, but using cheap tape + mile run in 85 degree weather... The tape came off after the second round of pullups.

The bleeding started at about the fourth round, I discovered that chalk actually stops bleeding after the fifth.

So it was the pullups that slowed me down, but I knew it would. So I'm happy with that.

life:

*went through a bunch more stuff

*cleared out personal email inboxes, starred things i need to take care of/reply to.

[Brometheus]

Ouch. That sounds like a fun workout...just don't eat an orange, okay?!

Oh, and just in case you need some more quotes:

Remember: 'my name is John Kimble, and I love my car'. Only really awesome if you have a pump action shotgun in your hand at the same time and are wearing sunglasses.

Do you have gmail? I did a bunch of filters this last week to automatically filter, sort and archive unimportant e-mails as they end up in my inbox. I LOVE IT!

[Brometheus]

Oh, and I know we were talking about quotes earlier. Since you said that language was allowed within your thread, here's my favorite:

"Usually, people just feel intimidated by anything that resembles a technical exercise and just would rather not do them. This is just being a pussy, and sets a bad precedent for the management of both training and life." ~ Mark Rippetoe

[spezzy]

Ouch. That sounds like a fun workout...just don't eat an orange, okay?!

Oh, and just in case you need some more quotes:

Remember: 'my name is John Kimble, and I love my car'. Only really awesome if you have a pump action shotgun in your hand at the same time and are wearing sunglasses.

Do you have gmail? I did a bunch of filters this last week to automatically filter, sort and archive unimportant e-mails as they end up in my inbox. I LOVE IT!

Oh, and I know we were talking about quotes earlier. Since you said that language was allowed within your thread, here's my favorite:

"Usually, people just feel intimidated by anything that resembles a technical exercise and just would rather not do them. This is just being a pussy, and sets a bad precedent for the management of both training and life." ~ Mark Rippetoe

haha shush, even shampoo hurts them! i had troubles sleeping last night because they were throbbing.

I do use gmail for personal stuff, but I just unsubscribe from emails if I don't want them. For my work email... I use outlook, and have more rules and filters set up than I know what to do with. But getting 5000 emails a day is sometimes hard to manage even with all of them

And I love that quote. And most of all of his quotes.

"Now I also know that you're supposed to 'listen to your body', but my brain says 'don't be a pussy, and just lift the fucking weights', and that's just what I do."

:D

[CapN_Tommy_Sunshine]

I'm assuming that you didn't want your thread closed, so I re-opened it. First official use of MOD Power!

[spezzy]

haha yes, i just realized i accidentally closed it. thanks!

[spezzy]

updating quick with this morning's workout:

1. Push Press

find your heavy 3

hit 95x3 and then 115x1. i did 115x5 like 2 weeks ago, so definitely had to do with yesterday's 100 pullups and 200 pushups.

2. WOD

21 – 15 – 9

power clean 135/95

hspu

this took over 20 minutes, and i only did partial handstand pushups. but, it was done.

after the first like, 3 powercleans i thought "oh, shit, should have picked a lighter weight, i have to do 45 of them", but I finished it with the 95lbs.

I realized during my second set of hspu's that my hands were bleeding again, and when i got back to the bar for the last set of powercleans, i realized that the bar had blood on it.

oops.

so that had to be cleaned up after.

so after that ordeal was over:

press

45x6

65x2

75x2

push press

85x2

95x2

snatch balance

45x5

65x5

75x5

85x5

and i did my 10 minute bottom squat hold (mwod1) and a bunch of stretching.

today i ate:

protein shake

sweet potato with cinnamon

pear

apple

ground chicken

red peppers

green peppers

chicken sausage

beef ribs

mixed veggies

protein shake

apples

took the stairs at work

drank 1.25 gallons of water at my desk, +.75 gallons at home + whatever i drank at CF.

emails answered! (also, i would like to add the caveat that if i receive the email after business hours and its a work email, its considered a next day thing... )

so all in all a good day!

[Raincloak]

If just going for a run bores you, how about intervals? Crunch the run down into half the time, in theory you'll get most of the benefits. You still want to do a few longer runs to prep for the distance races, but you don't have to do hours of jogging three days a week.

Good luck with getting rid of stuff for the move. A strategy that worked for me was asking myself: "If I found this in its current condition for $5 at a garage sale, would I buy it?" If the answer is "no," it goes bye-bye (unless it's special, like an award certificate or something). Get rid of everything that is:

a) replaceable and not being used (if you want it back, you can always buy/rent another)

irreplaceable and not being used (unless it's a major emotional keepsake)

c) duplicate of something else you own (keep the best, ditch the rest)

d) broken, stained, ugly, incomplete, or ill-fitting, unless you intend to get it finished/repaired within the next 7 days

e) worth money to someone else, but not of use to you

f) coupons, bills, and assorted bits of paper (copy any important info to a notebook or computer, then recycle them).

That should take care of at least 40% of your stuff. For me, ditching books is the hardest part of moving. I have so many, and they are all dear to me, but I haven't got the space for all of them... so I must admit to myself which ones I will never read again. I only have time to read 3,000 books in my whole life, so there's no point re-reading the crappy ones or wasting storage space on them.

Alternatively, if you REALLY want to go minimalist, pick out the things you know you will need (things you already use at least once a month) and get rid of EVERYTHING ELSE. That will knock out at least 75% of the stuff you own. Not for wimps, but it could be pretty awesome.

[nightlight]

you did murph.

you are my hero.

also, instead of double unders at your box, what does your coach make you do if you don't have du's?

[spezzy]

I have a mixed playlist with bouncy songs I can sing to. There's some Ke$sha, Lady Gaga, Flo Rida, Black Eye Peas and a couple Glee songs. I find if I feel like I can dance around while working out, I do better... heck sometimes I do dance around!

haha i THINK thats what they play at the college gym I go to... unsure. I definitely need high energy too though, Ill have to look to see what those are. (Yes, I'm serious... I'm old and not so hip )

[spezzy]

If just going for a run bores you, how about intervals? Crunch the run down into half the time, in theory you'll get most of the benefits. You still want to do a few longer runs to prep for the distance races, but you don't have to do hours of jogging three days a week.

Good luck with getting rid of stuff for the move. A strategy that worked for me was asking myself: "If I found this in its current condition for $5 at a garage sale, would I buy it?" If the answer is "no," it goes bye-bye (unless it's special, like an award certificate or something). Get rid of everything that is:

a) replaceable and not being used (if you want it back, you can always buy/rent another)

irreplaceable and not being used (unless it's a major emotional keepsake)

c) duplicate of something else you own (keep the best, ditch the rest)

d) broken, stained, ugly, incomplete, or ill-fitting, unless you intend to get it finished/repaired within the next 7 days

e) worth money to someone else, but not of use to you

f) coupons, bills, and assorted bits of paper (copy any important info to a notebook or computer, then recycle them).

That should take care of at least 40% of your stuff. For me, ditching books is the hardest part of moving. I have so many, and they are all dear to me, but I haven't got the space for all of them... so I must admit to myself which ones I will never read again. I only have time to read 3,000 books in my whole life, so there's no point re-reading the crappy ones or wasting storage space on them.

Alternatively, if you REALLY want to go minimalist, pick out the things you know you will need (things you already use at least once a month) and get rid of EVERYTHING ELSE. That will knock out at least 75% of the stuff you own. Not for wimps, but it could be pretty awesome.

oh i will most absolutely NOT be doing lots of long distance runs. intervals are way better, I agree. I used to do a sprinting loop around my work, maybe I will try that again.

What Im thinking of doing, is because I have 2 weeks to move... just literally move one room at a time. Kind of put the things I need and see what's left, and pick from there what's left to move.

Lets see how that goes though.

I definitely like the "unless you intend to get it finished/repaired within the next 7 days" rule!

[spezzy]

you did murph.

you are my hero.

also, instead of double unders at your box, what does your coach make you do if you don't have du's?

haha please! it too me like an hour. and you should see my hands. they're a disaster!

for substitution for doubleunders he either makes us do 3 singleunders (for every 1 du) or two mountain climbers.

unfortunately, instead of working at doubleunders, ive gotten much better at singleunders.

[Crooked]

I'm so impressed. I just got started on my crossfit and paleo adventures, and reading this is so motivating. my big goals right now are pull-ups without bands and deadlifts above 200 lbs., so I have a long way to go before I can do murph, but your challenges definitely give me something to aspire to.

and also, I love that you have a matches quote as your signature. I miss them!

[spezzy]

I'm so impressed. I just got started on my crossfit and paleo adventures, and reading this is so motivating. my big goals right now are pull-ups without bands and deadlifts above 200 lbs., so I have a long way to go before I can do murph, but your challenges definitely give me something to aspire to.

and also, I love that you have a matches quote as your signature. I miss them!

Thanks! you can TOTALLY do it! i started crossfit about 2 months ago and am just getting the Kipping pullups down to a point where I can do them in a workout... I did get 7 in a row ONCE but it's mostly sets of 3-5.

something he had us do one day was burpees with a pullup - so do a burpee, and then at the jump do a pullup. when we did that, I got to 'reset' every time and had the momentum of the jump to help me out. that helped something click in my brain on how to getthem right.

that being said, I still have a long way to go before they're completely right

and I miss the matches too! they are one of my favorite bands to work out to... I have drive as the third song on my running mix... really gets me going

[spezzy]

ok, first, i have no internet, so im upsating from my phone, which is somewhat painful

update from yesterday:

*decided to take the day as a rest day from all activity, even stretching.

*took the stairs at work even though my quads were in insane amounts of pain from Monday's murph and Tuesday's 10 minute squat.

*hit like 2.5 gallons of water

I ate:

protein shake

pear

chicken sausage

red pepper

green pepper

more chicken sausage

applex2 (they're tiny apples!!)

steak

red pepper

green pepper

red onion

protein shake

also: got the keys to my new house, went in and took measurements of everything so I can see what furniture will fit and what won't.

called the gas company and got on a balanced billing plan so my bill will be the same every month and easier to budget with

[spezzy]

also forgot to say that I picked up my tshirt and number for the 3.5 mile race today yesterday!

ok, so, beginning of today:

crossfit WOD:

backsquat 10-10-10-10

max ring dips in between

back squat to start at bodyweight, and then to up if you can do all 10 without resting.

so I did:

45x10x2

95x10 (warmup)

then:

140x10

150x10

160x10

170x10

the last 10 was hard, but manageable. I need to work on keeping my chest up on the heavier squats.

did 12 ring dips with a red band in between each set... still a bit fatigued from Monday and Tuesday in that area so couldn't even get out 2 regular dips, decided it'd be more worthwhile to do a lot with the bands instead.

so far I have eaten:

protein shake

[citabean]

You're my hero... one day I hope to do workouts as awesome as yours!

so far I have eaten:

protein shake

What kinda protein shakes do you make?