Ways to Not Fall Off the Wagon During the Holidays

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Straying too far from your normal healthy routine will land you in a major rut. It will make you feel terrible. During the holidays no one wants to feel terrible. The holidays are meant for being happy, being with family and friends, and honoring traditions. From Thanksgiving through the New Year we are subjected to parties, open houses, and gifts of food and treats from holiday bakers and candle-stick makers. Who’s the other person in that list? Oh, the butcher, that’s right! Too bad all of us Paleo people can’t receive gifts from the butcher instead of the baker! So since that’s not reality what the heck should we do to make it through the holidays?

It looks good. Probably won’t make you feel very good. 
Remember your goals, make a plan, go easy. 
  1. Remember Your Goals. You started your healthy lifestyle journey for a reason. Maybe it was to lose some inches and pounds, maybe it was to become a better athlete, or to be more physically active in general. Getting too far away from your normal routine is tough, especially when it comes to food, sleep, and working out. Deviations from a routine will cause a reaction and when you are used to a very healthy, structured routine the reaction tends to be negative. I try to remember why I live the way that I do and that usually helps me to stay the course. My goal is performance; I want to be the best CrossFitter I can be. I know that if I miss a few hours of sleep one night, my training for the next day (or couple of days) will be affected, and the recovering that my body would have done during that missed sleep is lost forever. I know that eating too much sugar or drinking booze also disagrees with me and disrupts my sleep so I choose my poison carefully. One drink or glass of wine is usually good for me and then I switch to water or seltzer. Stick with Paleo-friendly treats and limit your intake. Think one or two cookies, not 10. Always remember that you have the control, not the food. You are a strong person inside the gym, be strong and hold your ground outside of it.
  2. Make a Plan and Stick to It. When you know that there is a party or event coming up it’s a good idea to plan ahead and stick to that plan once you’re at the party. For example, make a plan to have one glass of wine or allow yourself two Paleo-treats but then be done with it. When you are indulging really try to enjoy what you are eating. Eat it slowly and enjoy each bite. If your issue is that you’re finding it difficult to make it to the gym with all the holiday obligations, make a pact with yourself or a gym-friend. Agree that you WILL make it to the gym three days each week come hell or high water. Have that person hold you accountable. It simply must be a priority or you will let other things get in the way. You’ve got to be prepared and plan ahead. Tell yourself that you must fill up on meat and veggies before you can have dessert; or only have a glass of wine with dinner; maybe you could avoid the appetizers all together. Try some different things and figure out what works for you.
  3. Enjoy the People You’re With. It’s easy to become caught up in all the yummy food. The next thing you know you’re like a horse with a feed back on it’s mouth and you don’t know what happened. Instead of ending up in this unfortunate situation, think about socializing more instead of eating. Make a goal to visit with each person at the gathering and really listen to what they have to say; engage in the conversation, ask questions, and remember what your family and friends say. We can’t (or shouldn’t) be stuffing our faces when we’re in conversation. This will give you a feeling of satisfaction and will allow you to leave the party feeling closer to people instead of sick or guilty because you ate too much. 
  4. If you slip, don’t fall! If you end up getting off track, don’t let yourself plummet deep down the ravine. Have you ever had the thought process of, “Oh well, I already messed it up, so I might as well just eat whatever the heck I want from the rest of the day”? Please try to rid yourself of this mindset. In the big picture, a few treats isn’t going to make much impact. If you throw the whole day away because of those few treats, you run the risk of the slippery-slope effect. So maybe you had a perfect plan, but you strayed from that plan. It’s OKAY! Forgive yourself and move on. Don’t let it influence your decision-making longer than it should. If you miss a few sessions at the gym get back in AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. You will feel better once you walk through the door, but you have to walk through the door.
  5. If you can, avoid having treats at your home. Whatever your weakness is; whatever tempts you, avoid having it in your home where it will, without a doubt, stare you down and haunt your brain as long as it’s there. Learn how to politely turn down the plate of goodies from “food-pushers”. If you’re the host, be a food-pusher and send bags home with guests. If you end up with extra goodies, bring things to your workplace and share. Why do co-workers love junk so much? Mmmmm cake? Don’t mind if I do! You know you’ll receive a bag of Lindt truffles at some point. Don’t open the bag. Re-gift them immediately! 
Post comments here or on Facebook. Let’s keep this conversation going. How will you avoid sabotaging your healthy lifestyle during the holidays? Looking forward to hearing some creative strategies!

The Challenge is Ending!

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It’s been about nine weeks. Nine freakin’ weeks of NO grains, dairy, legumes, or sugar. Minimal alcohol; a glass of red wine here or there, if any. Lots of vegetables, meat, and tiny bit fruit. WOW, nine weeks! There were days that were more challenging than others. Most days flew by and I didn’t have time to think about what I wasn’t eating. To be truthful, the challenge didn’t really require me to change a whole lot, just to reign it in. I definitely changed up my carb sources, I drank much less alcohol, and I didn’t eat any Paleo treats, nuts, or dark chocolate. Believe it or not, removing those things from my weekly food intake made a HUGE difference. I feel frikken amazing.

Here are my measurements: September 17th to November 15th:

Waist 29 “ 28 “
Hips 39 1/2 “ 38 1/2 “
Chest 30 1/2 “ 29 1/2 “
Thigh 24 1/2 “ 23 3/4 “
Arm 12 1/2 “ 12 “
Total 136 “ 131 3/4 “

Here are my before and after pictures from the 9-Week LuRong Paleo Challenge:

Here’s what I looked like 2.5 years ago and 7 months ago:

The best part about all of this is that I weigh around the same now (if not more) than I did back in July of 2010. THIS JUST FURTHER SUPPORTS MY SENTIMENTS THAT THE NUMBER ON THE SCALE IS NOT A GOOD WAY TO EVALUATE YOURSELF. Please take pictures and measurements, and pay attention to how your clothes fit and feel on your body!!! Not only had my body changed, but my performance has improved dramatically. In the three performance WODs I went from a total time of 32:25 down to 28:45. I feel lighter, stronger, more agile, and I have way more energy than I did at the beginning of September. 
So what am I going to do on Monday, November 19th, when the challenge is over? I’m going to get up, eat my eggs and sweet potato or squash, go to the gym, crush sh*t, coach, and get on with my day. I’m not going to go crazy eating pizza or chocolate. Do you know how long it takes to get gluten out of your system after one exposure?! It can take up to 6 MONTHS. It takes about 12 seconds to become re-addicted to sugar. That’s not scientific fact, but it’s about how long it takes me. Now, after I just spent 9 weeks ridding my body of inflammation and toxicity and un-addicted myself to sugar, why in the hell would I take 20 steps backwards by going on a binge? I’d rather go HAM on my WOD than pizza and ice cream. If you don’t know what going HAM means, look it up.
I know that there are some of you out there who are all like “I just need my fix and then I will be done and get back on the Paleo Train”. Okay, I get it…kind of. My question is: Why do you need to do this? Think about it. You WILL feel like crap after you eat junk food. Your performance WILL be affected. Your body WILL become bloated. You will probably wake up and your eyes will be swollen shut. I know from personal experience. Two summers ago Kyle and I had the brilliant idea to order a  meat-lovers pizza and make brownie sundaes. I woke up looking like I’d been attacked by a swarm of bees. NO ONE wants to wake up to that in the morning! I don’t know, I guess I’ve been through it enough times to know that it’s not worth it. But I beg you to learn from MY mistakes, instead of making them yourself. 
Treat yourself to something Paleo (i.e. cookie, muffin) if you want a “reward” for your diligence in the challenge. Don’t reward yourself with a food hangover. I have a great chocolate chip cookie recipe. It’s actually right HERE! Better yet, go out and buy yourself some new WOD clothes, or gear, or a massage. Learn to reward yourself with non-food items. It’s a valuable and helpful for disconnecting food from emotions. 
I am unbelievably proud of everyone who participated in this challenge. It took legitimate commitment and determination to get through it successfully. I am amazed by the changes you have all made. Many of you look different, but I can see in the way you carry yourselves that you truly are different people! The performance improvements prove this as well. 

We embarked on this journey together, I want to move into the future strong and driven, with all of you by my side. So, let’s do it!

Post comments here or on Facebook. What are you going to do on November 19th?

Disclaimer: I will not stop being your friend if you go on a bender. I just won’t ask you to be my partner for the WOD the next day. Sorry…

Short, Fast, and Deadly

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I spent last Saturday and Sunday in Boston at CrossFit Southie. It was the final event of the Garage Games New England Series. It was huge; 275 competitors, multiple divisions, multiple heats for each of the five WODs, VERY well run and organized. What an epic weekend. I wish I’d taken notes for all the amazing things that stuck out in my mind, but here I will do my best to remember and recap. These are some memorable moments that were inspiring and have some sort of take-away message.

Dana butterfly kipping like a boss. This was Dana’s first major individual competition. She was in the women’s scaled division. For those of you who know Dana, you know that she is a beast and she works very hard in the gym and outside of it. She has been CrossFitting for less than 6 months and she already possesses an extensive tool bag of skills and great movement. The first WOD of the weekend, “Queezy Baby”, was an AMRAP 8min of 6 burpee up-and-over the box and 7 pull-ups. Scaled women had the option of using a blue band for pull-ups. I was unsure as to what Dana was planning on doing for the pull-ups since she can do prescribed pull-ups, but after finishing her first set of burpees she jumped up to the bar and started banging out butterfly pull-ups like it was her job. I just started laughing; you could see her determination. It was a great way to start the day, watching her destroy a WOD. Cannot wait to see where she goes from here!

Almost missing my heat and going HAM in “Short, Fast, and Deadly”. This WOD was exactly what it sounded like. It was 5 rounds for time of 10 thrusters and 10 toes-to-bar, with a 10-minute time cap. I didn’t practice this WOD so I had no idea what it was going to feel like. I definitely wasn’t expecting it to feel good. My heat was supposed to begin at 12:24. I was in the athlete warm-up area and I looked over and recognized all the girls from my heat already in their lanes for the WOD. I ran over to the judge to ask if this was Heat 4. “Yes” he said, “2 minutes until the WOD starts”. Oops…no warm-up for Ashley. I had no time to think about what I was doing before the 3…2…1…GO! Right on the bar for thrusters…unbroken, over to the bar for T2B…unbroken, back to the thrusters…unbroken, T2B…unbroken. Despite my hand ripping more than it already had, I kept a decent pace. Thrusters felt light. I was happy about that. I actually think that jumping right into this WOD helped me to just get after it. I didn’t think about it, I just moved. This was my last WOD of the weekend; I was tired and I could have let it get away from me mentally. Glad I didn’t!
Feeling bad about Jameson not having a legit jump rope for the Chipper, but thinking about his evolution as a CrossFit athlete. I didn’t get to watch Jameson do the WOD called “Awful Waffle” because I was in the other building getting ready (more like not getting ready) for “Short, Fast, Deadly”. Awful Waffle was a chipper that started off with a 40 calorie row and continued with 35 double-unders. He was the first one off the rower, no problem. The rope he was using was pretty much a weighted rope that didn’t lend itself to getting double-unders done quickly. Sh*t. This SNAFU certainly affected his WOD time, and I assume that this was a learning experience and J will always bring his own rope from now on. It’s a minor blip on the radar when we’re looking at the big picture, though. Kyle and I often discuss the evolution of the athlete and Jameson’s evolution has been pretty incredible. From a deconditioned college guy to a beast athlete putting up big numbers and holding his own among the top men in our region in about 2 years – makes us proud. As an athlete, I look up to other athletes, like Jameson, who are motivated, committed, focused, and confident.

The amazing support crew from The Fort. It never surprises me that we have such an amazing community; I get to witness it every day at the gym, and I am always in awe of the support that our people give to others. It was great to have so many Fort Monsters come down to Boston to watch our competitors and enjoy the atmosphere. Watching a competition is a great way to motivate yourself to get after it in the gym. Despite being exhausted from doing 5 WODs in 2 days I feel energized to keep going strong with training (after a good rest day, of couse!). We have an unbelievable group of people who truly care about each other. Use it to your advantage; lean on others for help, inspiration, and support. 
After my last competition, the Garage Games at CFNE, I felt very defeated. All but one of the WODs involved a heavy barbell and I felt out of my league  I looked at the positives and took this as a learning experience; realizing that I need to get stronger and keep building my engine and work capacity. With this past weekend’s competition I had a lot of FUN. I felt like I worked really hard, but I didn’t have the feelings of defeat like I did last time. I’m pretty sure the WODs had something to do with it; they were well-programmed, classic CrossFit, all movement I am comfortable with, for the most part. Each time I compete I learn more about myself as an athlete and I gain experience to make me better; a better coach, better competitor, better CrossFitter. I know that Dana and Jameson also learned a lot over this weekend. I appreciated having others there competing to share the athlete experience with. It was just an all-around great weekend. I wish they could all be that great. 
Thank you to everyone who came out to support us and cheer us on and for all the support our fellow Monsters gave us in the weeks leading up to the Garage Games. Our next competition will be December 1st at Champlain Valley CrossFit up by Burlington, VT. We have 10 athletes signed up to throw down. It’s going to be a great weekend. 

Please post comments here or on Facebook. Thanks 🙂

"Breaded" Chicken Cutlets

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I can vividly remember huge pasta dinners. My Mom would make her famous sauce and let it simmer on the stove all day. We’d have pasta and meatballs and sometimes breaded chicken cutlets. I loved the chicken with the pasta and sauce and cheese all over it. “Loved” is the key word here. Since going Paleo I don’t eat most of the above-listed items, but have worked to recreate this home-cooked comfort food to align with the way I eat now. I must admit, I really don’t miss the old way.

“Breaded” Chicken Cutlets
 
What you’ll need:
  • About 1 cup of almond meal, depending upon how much chicken you’re planning to cook up
  • 1 cup plain, unsweetened coconut milk or almond milk 
  • Chicken breast pounded into thin cutlets, or bought as thin cutlets
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 tsp Garlic powder
  • Coconut oil and olive oil

What to do:

  1. Put coconut milk or almond milk into a shallow bowl
  2. Mix almond meal, garlic powder, S&P on a plate to make “breading”
  3. Heat up your frying pan and cooking fat on medium heat. I like to use a mixture of coconut oil and olive oil.
  4. Dip the cutlets in the liquid and then lightly coat both sides with almond meal mixture
  5. Place in hot pan
  6. Cook for about 5-7 minutes per side, depending on thickness of chicken. They should have a golden-brown crust.

I like to eat these plain with veggies on the side, but you could also enjoy them with sauce and spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles. Another fun variation is to cover them with Frank’s Original Buffalo Sauce. Wrap them up with a little homemade Paleo mayo in some lettuce wraps. YUM!

Let me know how it goes. Post comments/questions here or on Facebook!

Heading into Competition Week

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This weekend, November 10th and 11th is the Garage Games at CrossFit Southie. You can check out the 5 WODs I will be doing HERE. Looks fun, right!? I’m pretty excited. This week I have a few things to focus on…

  1. Hydrating. We don’t hydrate for today, we hydrate for tomorrow. That means I must resist drinking more coffee than water during the day. Coffee is delicious and tempting, but it’s clearly not good for staying hydrated or falling asleep at night. 
  2. Sleep. I will be in bed at a decent hour this week, preferably before 10pm. If I can do this and then sleep until 6am each day, I’ll be good to go. 
  3. Mobility. If I neglect my mobility this week, I will be in trouble. Shoulders and hips are the priority. My left hip and shoulder have been feeling slightly off these days.
  4. Getting my mind right. I have been struggling with this lately. I get defeated easily and when it comes to competition, this cannot happen. There will always be someone better than me, and in this case, there will be many people who are better than me. I’m still thinking about how I will do this…suggestions are welcomed. I guess it might be good to just keep believing that I will do the best I can. As an athlete you cannot rush the process, if you want to be better you just have to keep working hard.

My fellow Fort Monsters, Dana and Jameson, will be there competing as well. It’s always nice to have others in the competition to feel your pain and help you create a strategy for the WODs. All Fort Monsters are welcomed and encouraged to take a trip down to CF Southie to watch our gym’s competitors and also some of the best athletes from the region. Competitions are always a good time. Carpool if you can, parking is tight down there. Reminder: NO Saturday classes at The Fort on 11/10.

My Favorite Carbs

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Carbohydrates (carbs) are always a great subject to talk about. They have been a hot-button word in the diet/health/fitness industry for quite a while now. No carb? Low carb? Tons-O-Carb? What to do, what to do? As human being we need them for energy. Especially those of us who are very active. Paleo lifestyle proponents agree that we all need carbs, just in different doses. For instance, because of my high activity level and my performance goals in the gym, 40-60% of what I eat daily is carbohydrate. I have learned that I am not a happy camper when I eat too few carbs. Conversely  a person who has a seated desk job and is physically inactive needs way less carbs than I do. In this post I would like to introduce you to my favorite carb sources and how I prepare them. And no, I will not be discussing bread and pasta (barf). Paleo peeps get their carbs from vegetables and fruit, and we feel damn good about it!

Carb Source #1 | Sweet Potato
Sweet potato is super cheap. I bought three today at Hannaford for 2.48 or $0.79/lb. I eat one medium sized SP every day, so that roughly $0.83 per day. These little babies are packed with nutrition: vitamins A, C, E, and B6, potassium, manganese, magnesium, and iron. For one cup of mashed sweet potato I get 58 grams or dense starchy carbs to fill my muscles after a tough WOD, keep my belly feeling good, and to keep my energy humming throughout the day. Sometimes I eat the whole sweet potato after my WOD, or I eat most of it then and save the rest for the next morning to eat with my two eggs before my WOD.

My favorite way to prepare SP is:
1. Peel them (always peel potatoes)
2. Slice them up with a mandolin food slicer
3. Place them in a single layer on a lined baking sheet
4. Coat them with olive oil
5. Sprinkle them with a pinch of salt
6. Bake for around 20 minutes at 400 degrees

Sweet Potato “Chips”. I always eat carbs with protein.

Carb Source #2 | Acorn Squash
I never ate a lot of squash before I went Paleo. I never ate any acorn squash (that I can remember) before last month. It is now my new favorite. Squash are also relatively cheap, especially this time of year. If you can find them at a roadside farm stand I’m sure you can get a better deal, but I bought one at the market today for $1.49. For one cup of cubed squash, I get 15 grams of dense carbs. So if you have a small acorn squash, that’s probably about half of the squash.

My favorite way to prepare Acorn Squash:
1. Chop the ends off (use a sharp chef’s knife, be careful)
2. Cut in half length-wise
3. Drizzle with olive oil
4. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder
5. Bake cut-side down (skin-up) on lined baking sheet for ~45 min at 400 degrees

Baked Acorn Squash

Carb Source #3 | Cauliflower
It’s no wonder that cauliflower is a dieter’s dream food. You could eat an entire large head of the stuff for 210 calories, 45 grams of carbs, and 17 grams of protein. I am in no way saying that I am on a diet, but clearly I am conscious of what I use to fuel my body. Maybe I should have said “a paleo-lifestlye enthusiast’s dream food”. When cauliflower is cooked and becomes slightly caramelized it is sweet and delicious. I can easily eat the whole head all at once, but usually I portion it out so I don’t feel like a bloated stuffed turkey. For instance, if I prepare a head of cauliflower using the method below and I eat 1/4 of the dish, I can assume that I’ve eaten around 12 grams of carbs. Not a lot. But, for someone watching their carb intake, it’s a great food because it’s filling, nutritious, and tastes awesome.

My favorite way to prepare Cauliflower:
1. Chop if up in a food processor so it is the consistency of rice. I use the entire head.
2. Put in a large mixing bowl. Mix in 1/4 cup canned coconut milk, 1 egg, minced garlic, salt and pepper, 1/4 cup olive oil.
3. At this point you could bake it like this. Add to 9×9 inch greased baking dish.
4. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees until golden on top.
5. For more fun and flavor add 1) Sun-dried tomatoes, basil, parsley or 2) Lime juice, cilantro, cayenne pepper. Be creative – think up your own variations depending on what you’re serving and what you like!

Baked Cauliflower Mash with sun-dried tomatoes
Please ask questions and/or post comments here or on Facebook 🙂

Some Life Updates

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I haven’t been able to tame my thoughts for a more concise post, so this one is all over the place. 
I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Paleo Challenge & Nutrition
Being just about half way through the Paleo Challenge is motivating and exciting. A typical 30-day challenge is very beneficial but when they end I always wish they were longer. Right now I feel great and I find that I no longer have cravings for anything. I have freed myself from sugar’s evil grasp! People keep asking me, “What are you going to eat when the challenge is over?” I’m not really planning to go crazy. I might have a celebratory second glass of red wine – maybe a tequila drink – and some super-dark chocolate. But to be honest I have no desire for any of those things. I certainly do not want to kick myself back into a sugar-addicted state which seems to happen to me quite easily. So, my plan after the challenge is to pretty much just keep doing what I have been doing.

Thanks, Melissa, for these birthday treats. The chocolate is stashed away until November 19th! 

The only times I have felt deprived or limited have been when I am out to eat. I went out with my parents to the Blue Moon Evolution in Exeter, NH. This is one of my top 5 restaurants. If you’ve never been you need to go. Make a reservation, especially on the weekends. Everything they serve is local and high quality. Therefore, I eat everything on my plate and fight the urge to lick it clean each time I am there. So my parents and I were out that night and I felt bad because I couldn’t eat my potatoes and I couldn’t eat the goat cheese on the salad. I made my Dad eat everything I couldn’t because I didn’t want to see it go to waste. Another time I was out for my 27th birthday dinner with a bunch of super-cool people at XO on Elm in Manchester, NH. Again, very paleo-friendly menu. I ordered the half duck, but asked them to omit the rice and instead serve me some asparagus. Normally I would have eaten the rice as it doesn’t really affect my belly negatively. So, my solution to feeling limited at restaurants is to limit eating at them until the challenge is over. This is probably good for my bank account as well. Ever notice how much smaller the check is when each person at the table only has one drink instead of 3? Haha.

I am super-proud of everyone competing in this challenge. Nine weeks is kind of a long time when you think about it. There are a lot of newbs (new to CrossFit and/or Paleo) participating as well, which impresses me even more. You will truly be a different person when you finish. If you’re a challenge competitor and you are feeling deprived or limited try making a new recipe. Find a recipe for something you really feel like eating and spend time preparing your ingredients and creating this new meal. The entire process can be very satisfying and take your mind away from feelings of deprivation. Share a Paleo meal with friends and family and relax. This is not supposed to be a stressful process.

Training
I don’t usually monitor my weight during challenges, except for at the beginning and end. Weight can be misleading and becoming a slave to the scale is discouraging, can become obsessive, and lead to destructive behavior. I can tell by how my clothes feel that I have slimmed down a bit. I can also tell when I run and do pull ups. They feel easier! That’s a cool thing. Speaking of running…thanks to everyone who came to The Fort last Monday and threw down for my birthday WOD. It was quite a bit of running. I hope you enjoyed the hang power cleans as much as I did. We’ll see how we all do with that one next October.

Me after my first attempt at “Badger”. Rugged WOD.

I have been obsessed with lifting lately. I just want to get my hands on a barbell all the time. I think more barbell makes everything better. I’ve been back-squatting a lot and I can feel a huge improvement in my all-around strength. Good stuff. you should want to lift more too. It’s the way to go, really. I feel like a lot of times women are afraid of the barbell. I’ve never been afraid of moving weight, but I sometimes lack the confidence that I am capable of doing it. Although it takes legit strength to lift a heavy bar, it also takes the believe that you can actually do it. It’s called self-efficacy; or having the confidence that you will be able to complete a certain task successfully. Last Wednesday night at Weightlifting Wednesday I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to spend time on my clean or if I wanted to back squat heavy. I chose squatting based purely on the fact that I was feeling very strong at the moment and I wanted a new 3-rep max. I was feeling confident that I could do it. The atmosphere was awesome; it was hot and there was chalk and sweaty people everywhere. It was #haught. My lifts felt amazing. I played around with the bar position on my back and my grip width. I found a sweet spot and got a new 3RM! Saaahhhweeeet!

But back to women being afraid of the bar. DON’T BE! I find that the fear generally originates from 1) lack of confidence and/or experience or 2) the notion (myth) that you will somehow morph into the She-Version of the Hulk. The first reason is legitimate and the second reason is dumb. We can work on building a woman’s confidence by having her spend time under the bar paired with sound programming and good coaching. Voila! Problem solved, usually. Dispelling the myth that you will end up big and bulky is challenging and daunts coaches. Lifting adds lean muscle to the body, makes you stronger, helps you to move better, and literally demolishes fat. Lifting actually helps you become slimmer. Word. Now, a caveat. You might experience an increase in the size of your assets. I find this happens only after quite a bit of time under a heavy bar. I like to think of this more like the booty-shaping effect. Something similar might happen with your thighs. If anyone tells you that a CrossFit booty and gams are not smokin’ hot, then that person is not worth having in your life. That’s my humble opinion. Why are we so focused on appearance, anyway? Why can we not just think about how awesome it is to back squat 200 pounds, or clean 135, or bench press 140? I would rather measure my success by the numbers I write on the white board than by the numbers on a scale. It’s taken me a long time to feel this way. Okay, moving on…

I have the best brother…ever. For my birthday he arranged for me to go down to CrossFit New England and spend some time with Mel Ockerby. She is a strong, beautiful athlete, is friendly and encouraging, and has competed on the CFNE team for the past 3 years. Watch her complete “Fran” in 2:38 unbroken at the 2011 Games HERE. CFNE won that year! She is competing as an individual this year so we all need to be cheering her on once the Open arrives. Anyway, we had a great time working on some of my gymnastics skills and making those things better. Lots of work to be done, as always, but it was so nice to have a fresh pair of eyes watch me move. As a coach it felt really nice to “be coached”. These experiences help me to become a better trainer which is awesome. We capped it off by having a shopping spree at Lululemon. Thank goodness I got more spandex. Not too shabby. Twenty-seven (27, really!?) may be one of my best birthdays on record. Thanks, Ky.

Fall has arrived. It’s cold. The leaves are gross and falling from the trees. I have to start my car and let it warm up or else it gets mad at me. It was a great summer (sigh), but it feels nice to move on. A long winter of CrossFitting and other fun things awaits. Like acupuncture. I’m having acupuncture for the first time next week. I’ll let you know how that works out.

Please post your thoughts to comments or on Facebook.

Challenge Thoughts

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This post is going to be a little bit rant-ish. I have a few things I want to address:

1) A challenge is called a challenge for good reason…
All 45 of us probably questioned our ability to successfully complete a 9-week Paleo challenge. I don’t know all of the reasons for why folks chose to sign up, but I know why I signed up. I signed up because I had a summer full of booze and foods that do not help performance or body composition. All summer I felt guilty about food choices I was making. I chose to ignore the voices in my head because summer is precious to me and I wanted to have fun. I don’t regret any of the choices I made food-wise. But now that fall is upon us it’s time to detox. Nine weeks is a great amount of time to make some serious changes. At this point I know that I have a long winter of CrossFitting ahead of me. I want to be the best coach I can be; I need to practice what I preach and be the example for the awesome people I work with everyday. It’s simple: do or do not. I am choosing do.

Yes, there are going to be hard days. Believe me, if I could eat 4 paleo muffins every day I would. Just because it’s made with Paleo ingredients does not make it okay to eat all the fracking time. A muffin is still a muffin. Our bodies gravitate to fatty and sweet foods. So when we mix a shit load of ground nuts (fat) with a “natural” sweetener (sugar!) we have created the perfect storm for fueling our evolutionary instinct. When I eat a muffin I want another muffin. Soon I am in a muffin-coma and I wonder why I can’t lose body fat! Hmmmmm. I am not a detective, but I can probably make an educated guess.

2) Don’t stess, just do.
Stress is terrible for our bodies. A Paleo challenge takes us away from foods that put stress on our insides. When we are less stressed by our food, we are less stressed in general. We are even better off if we can fight to alleviate other stressors in our lives. Easier said than done, I know. Some of you have expressed to me that you are nervous (stress) about the challenge. I know that when others were signing themselves up there was a lot of peer pressure flying around. Please know that if there wasn’t something inside of you the KNEW YOU COULD DO THIS you would not have signed up! YOU CAN DO THIS! Stop shitting your pants about how hard this is going to be and eat your meat and vegetables. Try your absolute hardest in WODs and leave it all on the rubber mats. Call me if you need a pep-talk.

3) You are stronger than shitty food.
You mind if more powerful than you know. You have the power to to say, “No, thank you” when someone offers your some cheese and crackers or a Big and Toasted from Dunks. You can silently (or loudly depending upon where you are) tell grains, dairy, legumes, and sugar to f*ck off whenever you see them or they happen to temp you. As you walk around the grocery store you have permission to completely avoid the inner aisles. You shouldn’t need much down there, anyway. If you avoid looking at it you won’t be likely to buy it. If you need to be a bitch because you are withdrawing from sugar, then be a bitch, but don’t eat the sugar! Believe me, after 2-3 weeks without non-Paleo foods you won’t really care about them anymore. Stay committed to the reasons you signed up for the challenge. Even if you clicked the button because “everyone else was doing it” you need to stay with it. You paid the $50 bucks. Follow through and be stronger than the shitty food.

I love you all.

LuRong Paleo Challenge

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Two weeks ago when I signed up for the LuRong Paleo Challenge I thought for sure I was going to be the only one from our affiliate participating. In hindsight I have no idea why I thought this. We have the most amazing community of people; we care about our health, we are fit, we want to be better, and more importantly, we care about each other. We have over 40 Fort Monsters competing in this 9-week challenge and I could not be more proud. People are going to make serious changes over the next two months. 

Each time I participate in a 30-day Paleo Challenge I feel amazing and see improvements in my performance and appearance and I always think, I wish I could keep going. The LuRong Challenge is the perfect opportunity to take things to the next level. I have been living the CrossFit/Paleo lifestyle for quite a while now and the thing I have realized is that I am a work in progress. Living in such a way that does not conform with the majority of society is challenging, but once you’ve been at it for long enough it becomes your “normal”. Normal is simply what you are used to. So I figure that the strictness of this challenge will become normal after a couple weeks. Breaking habits and changing behavior is one of the most difficult things to do in life. If we can successfully alter the way we behave and maintain that change we have set ourselves above others who say they want to change but never actually do anything; never actually put the work into making positive change. We have taken ourselves to a higher level.
Over the next couple months there will be ups and downs. There will be times when we feel weak and other times when we want to crush shit. No matter how we feel we can take comfort in knowing that there are 40 other people potentially feeling the same way. In those moments of weakness we can call upon our friends to build us up and inspire us to be better no matter how crappy we might be feeling. Sometimes we rely on others to take us to a higher level. 
Don’t get freaked out by the length of the challenge; don’t get down because you are in “scaled” and not “rx’d”; don’t think about the what-ifs. Envision your goals and what it will feel like to accomplish those goals over the next 9 weeks. Take this one day, or even one meal, at a time. YOU CAN DO THIS. WE CAN DO THIS. WE ARE CROSSFIT. WE ARE THE FORT CROSSFIT.


I Exercise for Fun

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“Hey, do you want to go out Friday night?”
“Oh, I would love to, but I have a competition all day on Saturday.”
“Okay, maybe another time. What kind of competition?”
“CrossFit.”
“Isn’t CrossFit just working out”
“Yes…um, but it’s not just working out, it’s different.”
And then it dawned on me…I exercise for fun. I do exercise competitions FOR FUN. WTF!?

This is quasi-verbatim dialogue that I recently had with a friend.

During the partner competition at CrossFit Free a few weeks ago I think we all questioned why we were there. The WODs were certainly not easy, and there were 3 of them. So why exactly were we spending our Saturday working out? My reasons are that 1) it’s fun; who wouldn’t want to hang out with other CrossFitters all day?, 2) it’s challenging; you really get to test yourself, and 3) at the end of the day you walk away with an amazing sense of accomplishment.

Competing removes you from your comfort zone; your gym; your people; your lucky barbell; your ideal time-frame for WODs; you optimal pull-up bar. It challenges you to perform well when you are anxious, or tired, or working with a partner. Competing surrounds you with positive, like-minded people who love CrossFitting just as much as you do. The atmosphere is absolutely electric and you find yourself wondering how the hell did I just do that!? This leaves you with a sense of accomplishment and pride that is unmatched. We get this feeling in the gym, but it is taken to another level in competition.

Lately I have been struggling with finding the “competition feeling” and really pushing myself during WODs. I’m not really sure how I can motivate myself to push harder, and it might be that the competition feeling is unique to true competition. Then again, not every day needs to be a competition. I do know, however, that competing has helped me to be a better athlete and a better coach. I am a better athlete because I think about WODs differently; I plan strategy and think about the best and most efficient way to do the work. Competing has also helped me become stronger mentally. There is always someone who is way better than me and I know that I must not lose focus when that person is ahead of me. I keep my head down, do work, and do the best I can. At the same time, competing helps to expose weaknesses. In my last partner competition I realized that I utterly despise burpee broad jumps and it’s probably because I suck at them. Not that burpee broad jumps come up that often, but I had to do them after running with a 60 pound sandbag. I realized that transitioning from one intense movement like running to another super-intense and explosive movement is something I might need to work on. I also need to keep practicing my free-standing hand stand. Absolutely NO gymnastics history/experience in this girl!

Competing has made me a better coach because I am able to think through WODs to help athletes create a strategy and push a little harder when they might think that they can’t. Competing also evokes an energy that stays with you when you return to your home gym. You want to bring a small piece of that atmosphere back with you. It reinforces the principle that being CrossFit is being prepared for the unknown and unknowable.

I would encourage everyone to participate in a competition at least one time. No matter if you’re competing in your home box or in a 2-day major competition a few hours from home, the intensity will be taken to another level and you will push harder than ever. You might not win, you might not even place in the top rankings, but at least you will have had fun. Yes, you exercised for fun – all day – and you loved it.

My next competition is the Garage Games – September 8th and 9th in Natick, MA at CrossFit New England. During the 2-day Firebreather Festival I will be challenged by 5 WODs, most of which involve a heavy barbell. I know that my competition will be fierce and I am prepared to do the best I can. Hopefully we’ll have a crew representing The Fort – that would be amazing! In competition you can take in lots of energy from a rowdy cheering section (hint, hint).

Swingin’ the 53-pounder. Fun times!