Big News From My First CrossFit Competition!

Well, I don’t know how else to say this except…

HOLY CRAPBALLS! I TOOK FIRST PLACE IN MY DIVISION!

I’m speechless. I really didn’t expect to do that well.

I was in the lowest scaled division because I can’t do unassisted pull-ups or double unders (jump ropes) but I was proficient in all the minimum weights.

The first workout was by far the hardest.

It was basically a ladder of push-ups and jumping pull-ups.

The ladder was 3 push-ups, followed by 3 pull-ups, followed by 6 push-ups, followed by 6 pull-ups, then 9, then 12, and so on until 30 or 7 minutes was up. I made it through 21 push-ups and I was done.

My arms felt like rubber bands!

The next workout was my favorite and the one I did the best at.

It was 2 minutes of tabata-style jump ropes, step-ups and kettle bell swings with 20 seconds on and 10 seconds rest.

Honestly, I killed it winning the round with 306 reps.

The next workout I did (even though it was 4th in the scoring) was a stamina test. I had to carry a 55-lb bar in the front rack position as far as possible.

I did good but not great. The pressure on my neck was too much after 1,399 feet.

The last workout (3) was a killer.

3 minutes of Max Effort Thrusters.

That means as many as you can do in 3 minutes but there’s a catch. If you drop the bar you get a 15-second penalty.

I refused to drop the bar.

I did 53 before time ran out.

This is one of my favorite photos of the competition.

And I caught my friend Leslie snapping it. :)

Even though I didn’t win every round (I only won one) I took first in the division because I had the lowest overall score. Basically that means I consistently performed well in each round.

I’m proud of myself. I did my best, faced some fears (OK, a LOT of fears) and again pushed myself to do something WAY out of my comfort zone. I can honestly say I’ve never truly felt like an athlete before today but I’m totally embracing it now.

Next goal: Train for pull-ups and double unders so I can compete at an Rx division one day. I’m not sure how long it will take but I’ll get there, slow and steady, doing what I can when I can just like I’ve been since I started this crazy journey 8 years ago.

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My First WOD!

What’s a WOD you ask?

I didn’t know either until this morning.

I’ve seen “WOD” all over the place and it always seemed to be paired with CrossFit. Unfortunately, my gym doesn’t offer CrossFit and I didn’t have a CrossFit center near me (until now.) Reebok did offer a CrossFit session at FitBloggin’ this year but as the host I rarely get to actually participate in any of the activities.

Anyway, I happened to catch a billboard for Athletic Asylum, a new CrossFit center just a few miles from my house. I immediately reached out to them and asked if I could give it a try.

I decided to sneak in early this morning and that’s when I learned about the WOD.

See, every day there’s a new CrossFit Workout called the Workout Of the Day or WOD. I’m not sure if all centers do this but they had a warm up (WU,) a strength training move (ST,) and WOD. You’ll see each on the board above.

The class was small. There were only 3 of us and everyone pretty much worked on their own with some guidance from the instructor. I asked him how big the classes get and he said they cap them at 10.

The WU was was actually pretty intense. Jump ropes, pushups, squats, etc. There were 5 things in the circuit and you did each once twice.

After the WU there was a strength move which I skipped. The instructor used that time to orient me to today’s WOD and the technicalities of the moves.

We all started the WOD at the same time and I didn’t realize he was timing us. There were 5 exercises and we repeated the circuit 3 times. Then we cleaned up and stretched. This format really made the hour fly by.

All in all it was a great workout. I love that you can move at your own pace and use weights that are right for you. This is really a workout for anyone even though I feel like the image of CrossFit is for the super fit and advanced.

I also liked the structure of the class. I’ve always enjoyed group classes more than solo workouts and this is a good mix. It’s the best of both worlds.

However, I did feel a bit overwhelmed. There are so many abbreviations and acronyms and the gym is very nontraditional. It was intimidating.

Overall, I really enjoyed it and I’m considering buying a package of classes. I can’t afford a monthly membership and I don’t think I’ll be able to go enough to justify it anyway. That is, unless I ditch my gym membership but then I’d really miss BodyPump. :( However, I only ever take BodyPump so maybe paying a full gym membership probably isn’t worth the expense of 2 classes a week.

Hmmm I think I have a some things to ponder. :)

OK, so where’s all the CrossFit nuts? Hit us up with what you like about it. Not a fan? Why not?

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Our First Share!

Real quick tonight. I went out with a friend to FINALLY see the Hunger Games and we stayed out chit chatting a wee bit too late.

I can talk.

A lot.

Anyway, I didn’t want to go to bed without sharing our first share!

That’s right, today was CSA pick up day better known to us as "Farm Day."

Here it is!

This is what we got…

Little guy had so much fun. Here he is washing the strawberries.

I didn’t have much time to clean and prep everything tonight, but I did use lots of stuff for dinner.

I made quick tacos out of leftover turkey meat from yesterday, black beans, leftover corn and red pepper. They were DELICIOUS!

I decided to put mine on the fresh lettuce leaves.

The lettuce looked so good and I knew I’d be overdosing on popcorn later. Why not?

The husband had traditional tortillas…

and The Little Guy had a quesadillas made with the taco fillings and some greens.

Little Bean had everything deconstructed.

I LOVE taco night. It’s so easy to make light and everyone is happy.

oh! and even The Husband had a salad with all out fresh greens today. I snapped this as proof!

Ok, got to go to bed. We have a super busy day tomorrow. I’m starting with a workout, then baseball, and then 2 birthday parties back to back. Yikes!

I’m just gonna go with the flow. :)

Oh! and no snacking besides my popcorn tonight. I am really on a roll!

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Dont be afraid to take that first step (guest post).

Fear really is a 4 letter word. Fear of failure is a very strong motivator to stay where you are. Fear has held me back from doing so many things throughout my life.

I was a very overweight child. I started my first diet in grade-school which was the beginning to a life of losing weight then gaining it all back plus a few more. A life of feeling like a failure because of my weight struggle.

Listen to people when they tell you your thoughts and the spoken word have a lot of power. One diet I went on, I lost 101 pounds and made jokes though-out the entire year of how much fun it would be to gain it all back. I made these jokes because I didn’t really believe I would keep it off and it was my way of letting everyone know not to be surprised when I gained it all back.

I had 2 miscarriages that really sent me in a downward spiral for many years in my 30's. My thoughts were telling me what a failure I was because I couldn’t even do that right. My son is grown and married and I felt like I had nothing to live for and was just glad when each day was over and I was able to go back to bed and sleep.

I was happy when I was eating. I often ate to the point of feeling sick, but was still able to eat a little more in an attempt to get rid of all of the negative feelings I had inside. Then I felt guilty and beat myself up for my unhealthy choices.

In my early 40's I tried several diets for a few weeks or months, but always gave up and gained any loss back, plus a few more. One day I decided I was going to try something different. I was going to add positive things into my life and not get mad or feel guilty when I still made bad choices. No strict rules or guidelines. Just adding in some healthy things.

The first thing I decided to do was really hard for me. I had to stop beating myself up and telling myself I was a failure and stop all of the negative self talk. I have been telling myself I was fat and a loser since childhood. I never really believed I was deserving of anything good because of my weight. I had to start being kind to myself at 247 pounds. Now that was tough!

I was so uncomfortable even thinking I believed in myself in the beginning. I actually cringed a little the first few times I said out loud that I liked myself. I found it easier just to say it in my mind in the beginning because it was too difficult to say the words out loud. As I continued to make healthy changes in how I thought and talked to myself I also started adding some other healthy things.

I added in some activity. In the beginning it was only 5 minute walks and I worked my way up to walking most days of the week and increasing my time and often I take several walks a day.

I wish you could see the smile on my face as I write the words, I have my first bicycle in almost 30 years. That was not something I thought I would ever be saying. Just a few short years ago I was breathing heavy walking through the house and my body hurt too badly to think of ever being on a bicycle.

I also started adding in healthier foods. I started adding in a lot of fruits and vegetables and started drinking water. I kept healthy foods ready and in the fridge in baggies, so it was quick and easy for me to grab a baggie of cut up veggies or fruit instead of chips.

I am still learning more about myself each and every day and liking myself more every day. I knew from the beginning of this journey I was going to have to make this a new lifestyle that I could stick with forever if I truly wanted to lose the weight and keep it off and live a healthy and happy life inside and out. I wasn’t going to punish myself with deprivation or off limit foods. When you spend your whole life over weight and being beat up by yourself and by all of the “well-meaning” comments you get you already feel like crap and feel punished enough.

I don’t want you to think this was an easy or overnight process.  I had to work it and I still mess up at times. As I continued working on me and adding in all of these positive things I found I wasn’t wanting or needing to eat like before. I’ll still have a cookie or a few chips, but I don’t feel the need to eat the whole bag anymore because I actually like myself and want to take care of myself. I am down 120 pounds and I feel like I have my life back!

I have a purpose in life again and look forward to the future. I want to encourage anyone struggling with their weight not to give up and to know it is never too late to take that first step in the right direction. I’ll be celebrating my 48th birthday tomorrow and I am so excited for the future and the journey ahead of me!

Jaki Sinclair is founder of Slim Down U,  has lost 120 pounds and is committed to inspiring and empowering others to take that first step to creating healthy new habits that will last a lifetime.

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The First Sensational Sunday of 2012!

And I almost forgot! Well, not really I was just late with the camera. The boys woke up around 7. We made some Banana Pancakes and Little Bean LOVED them. I so wish I had a picture. :(

Once they were fed I made myself breakfast and then remembered the camera.

Little Bean was trying to figure out where the music was coming from. It was so cute. I have my ipod speaker in the corner of the kitchen.

After breakfast it was down to work. We had laundry all over the house!

I folded while the boys played.

Then we made coffee for Daddy on our new Keurig.

I’m in love and I’m not even a coffee drinker! Best Christmas gift of the year!

We brought the coffee up and instead of getting Daddy OUT of bed Little Guy was recruited into lazyville.

I left all the boys sleeping and hit the grocery store for some supplies. I needed veggies

and eggs.

I made some hard boiled for the week. Click here to see how I do it.

Little Bean woke up and we had a snack.

…while the boys organized the LEGOs.
Little Guy got a new Dino set that he loves.

Dad and I then tag teamed the laundry.

We got it all folded and put away!

It was getting close to race time so I grabbed a bar…

(The husband put these in my stocking. LOVE! Although high in points)

…and got everyone out the door.

Today was the Resolution Run. A 5k I’ve run for 3 years now. I convinced the husband to come so the kids could run with me. Last year Little Guy did it impromptu. This year he started and finished with me taking about a 2 mile playground break in between. ;)

Here’s some pics..

All the fresh air knocked one Little Bean out!

We got home and just relaxed for a bit before making dinner.

He was eager to help tonight. It was nice. :)

Dinner was baked ham, baked potato (I had a half) and some roasted carrots and parsnips.

We JUST tried parsnip the other day and fell in love. Click here to see the video where we taste test them. It’s priceless.

Somebody was VERY grumpy during dinner…

He was SO tired but thankfully Big Brother is here to entertain!

Big Brother also reminded me it was time for a new calendar!

Then it was bath time…

then game time..

finger time…

and after the kids went to bed, POPCORN TIME! :)

I picked up this cute little popcorn maker on sale for myself. LOVE IT!

That’s it. That was the very first day of 2012. My food journal was kept, I got a nice run in with my boys, and even got some cuddle time with Irish while writing this.

2012 Sensational Sunday’s have begun! :)

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