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My excessive energy, extreme narcissism, and intense love of neon-colored spandex is both managed and fueled by my addiction to fitness. I push myself to extremes and I push other people's buttons. Obviously I needed my own blog.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Traveling 101

This post was inspired by the RelayRides Travel Must-Have's campaign. Because I am the worst, I didn't write this post before the holidays and ended up ignoring my own advice and that's how I found myself in Walmart at 9:30 PM digging around their workout clothes section. Do you know they don't sell shorts in the winter?

I've got quite a bit of travel this month and this time I won't forget these fitness travel essentials.

1) ALWAYS pack one workout outfit in your carry-on. If you don't, your checked luggage will 98.9% of the time make a detour, even when on a direct flight to your grandma's. This is a major bummer when you have the 12 Days of CrossFit early the next morning.

2) Pack lightweight multi-purpose shoes. I love to bring my Saucony racing flats because I can use them for running and CrossFit and they barely weigh anything.

I own the Grid Type A4s but the newer Type A5s are on sale.


You could also spring for the Type A6s but I don't like the colors as much.

3)  Bring a jump rope. If you're into CrossFit, you know how annoying it is to do doubleunders with someone else's rope. And no matter what you're into, you can get a great workout in wherever you are with one simple piece of equipment. I have an Again Faster rope but I covet an RPM Fitness bare cable rope. They're absolutely beautiful and they really hurt if you miss.

Monday, January 12, 2015

Hook Grip Lessons

The hook grip is a method of holding a barbell. Instead of just holding the bar in your hands, you put your thumbs under your pointer and middle fingers and this creates a stronger, more effective grip. The hook grip is hard at first. It doesn't feel natural. It can hurt. I kept hearing that once you got used to the hook grip, you'd never go back, but it didn't feel right to me. My thumbs didn't feel long enough. I couldn't clean the weight I was used to.

I keep gym equipment stock photos on my computer for this very reason.
This is an old one from CrossFit Central LI.

Friday, January 9, 2015

Planning My Macros

It's January so everyone's on a diet. At least four people have told me they're going to lose 20 lbs by cutting calories and doing lots of cardio. I cringe. You can totally drop a lot of pounds off the scale if you eat nothing and run your little heart out, because I've done it like 9 times, and I'm not going to tell you not to do that if that's the plan you choose. I just thought you might want to know my plan of attack for 2015.

Things I know to be true:

  1. I need a plan if I am going to be successful.
  2. I need a tracker if I am going to be successful.
  3. I won't cook vegetables that don't come out of microwavable bags.
  4. High quality ingredients are expensive and then you have to cook them yourself anyway.
  5. Carbs are the devil. I need to eat a certain amount of protein and fat every day to meet my goals.

I know how to eat clean. I know how to read labels. I'm pretty damn knowledgeable and yet I don't have the body I want so I've decided to make some changes. My goals are to give my body the nutrition it needs to train at high intensity multiple times a week and to change my body composition. I was looking at photos from old Weight Loss Wednesdays where I weigh the same as I do now, and I look much different, (read worse), because I had a lot more fat and a lot less muscle. I want to lose body fat while maintaining the muscle I have now AND hopefully add some more. This means that my weight in pounds doesn't matter to me but the percentage of my weight that is fat does.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Progress

Yesterday I got to ring the PR bell at CrossFit. It's kind of a big deal because it means you set a new personal record. When you first start CrossFit, you PR practically every day. Now that it's been a year and a half, I might not PR as often but I know that I am making progress. For the first time ever, I completed the workout Nicole Rx. Feel free to clap.

You might be wondering how I got such a flattering angle for this photo. My friend Sam is 6'7" or 6'8" and this is the photo he took by just standing a few feet away from me. Where was Sam when we needed him for all of sorority formal photo shoots??

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