Keg Over Bar

Let me back up a bit.  (Ha, I say that a lot, don't I?)  Things have been pretty crappy lately.  Work has sucked epically and I had been putting in a ton of overtime to get a project done.  That means that I've had less time to get to the gym.  Add the fact that LA Fitness is seriously pissing me off and that I had a crappy sinus infection a couple weeks ago, and well, I've been seriously doubting myself.

I needed some self care time, so I took off this past Thursday and Friday.  (Initially, I was only going to take Thursday off, but I enjoyed that so much that I took Friday off as well.  It was much needed, and after the little break, I feel much better about the ongoing project at work.)

But all this time away from the gym was really making me nervous.  I mean, I have a competition coming up on April 11, and I really want to try and place in the novice division.  I mean, if I don't, the world won't end or anything....this stuff is really a ton of fun....but placing is kind of my super secret goal.  (Well, not so super secret anymore, I guess.)

So I was rather apprehensive about strongman training this morning.  We were slated for sled drags, kegs over the bar, and carrying awkward objects.  That's pretty much the name of the game in the strongman world.....awkward everything.

I did pretty good with the sled drags....I definitely prefer pulling things as opposed to pushing.  We used a big ole rope, which left behind some big ole blisters on my hands, but oh well.  Shit happens.

What I'm most proud about this morning was the keg over the bar.  Previously, when I've tried lifting a keg over a bar, I couldn't get the 140# keg over.  Granted, we were using a 48-inch bar b/c people were training for Atlas stones, and in the competition I'm in I only need to get the kegs over a 44-inch bar, but still.  I'm going to have to get a 100# keg, then a 130# keg, and then a 150# keg over the bar, all from varying distances.  (I'll get more into that in a later blog.) I couldn't even get the 140# keg over!

Today, with the bar set at the proper height, I not only got a 140# keg over, but also the 165# keg over it!  OMG.....I was So! Freaking! Excited!

Ok, so uploading this video has been super frustrating, b/c it cuts out like half of it and makes it look waaaay easier than it was.  Trust me....I struggled a tad more than this video lets on.  Seriously.....this video is pissing me off!  On the bright side, I really feel like I don't look ginormous here.  :)

A Simple Hug

I went to the chiro yesterday, and he really pointed out some awesome things.

But I have to back up a little bit here, only for those who may be newer to my random ramblings.

I've battled with my weight for my whole life.

My. Whole. Life.

Do you realize, that I was never (for as long as I can remember) an acceptable weight.  Even when I was running all the time, and not eating nearly enough (yeah, I figured out why I was dizzy all the fucking time back then....double workouts, not eating enough, and running a shit ton will do that to you) I was not an acceptable weight.

But, well...what is acceptable?  When I got down to 180, I wanted to lose more.  I always thought that I would magically know when I hit that magical weight that would make me happy.

But I didn't.  I kept striving for more, pushing for more, and feeling like crap.

Something had to give.

Fast forward to now.  I'm right around 230.  Yep.  I put it out there for all of you.  230 pounds. Sometimes, I feel like such a fucking failure when I look at it that way.  I think about how big I've gotten all the time now.  But then again, when I was smaller, I kept thinking about how much smaller I could get.

My. Weight. My. Whole. Life.

I have gained 50 freaking pounds since I over-exercised and under-ate my way to my smallest. And that was my problem.  I wanted to be as small as possible.

Fuck that.

Can you believe that now I physically feel better than I have in ages?  I can deadlift 285 on a straight bar without a belt, 315 on a trap bar.  I can front squat 170.  I feel like that is some decent weight.

I'm lifting heavier than ever before, moving some awkward objects in strongman training, and feeling better than ever.  Seems kind of crazy, doesn't it?

The chiro commented about how I'm changing my body.  My ribs were good, my back was good.  My neck needed some adjusting, as well as my hips, but compared to six months ago, I feel completely different.  I feel freaking fabulous.  (I better knock on some wood, so I don't jinx myself.)

Before I left, he stopped to give me a hug, to congratulate me on my success.  He said I'm making my body better; that I had  not only evolved in the past, but that I continue to evolve and improve myself.

That simple hug meant the world to me today.

Race To Anyplace

Once again, I've sucked at keeping up this blog.  I always have these ideas about what to write about, but then once I'm sitting in front of my computer at home, I get sucked in to other things.

Ugh.

Anyways, today is a quickie.  On Sunday, March 1, I'm participating in a Race to Anyplace to help raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

I've participated in one of these a couple of years ago, and it was such fun.  Teams "race to anyplace" in a five-hour stationary bike race.  Each team has 12 riders, who alternate riding every 15 minutes. There are two goals: be the team with the most mileage at the end, and be the team that raises the most money.

I'll be doing my part in pedaling my little heart out each time I'm on that bike for 15 minutes.

But I need your help to reach that second goal!

Please visit my fundraising page to help me reach my personal goal of raising $250.  Every little bit helps, and your donation will help fund treatments that save lives every day.

I really appreciate any help you can offer, and thank you in advance for your generosity!  I know, as well as you, that a dollar simply does not stretch as far as it used to.  So if you find that you have a couple extra bucks and can make a donation towards this cause, I truly do appreciate it.

And a super-huge-ginormous THANK YOU to those who have already donated!

Paleo Chinese People

So, I've been going about my new workout routine for over a month now.  And things have been going well.  I'm not bored, I'm not beating myself up, and I don't constantly feel tired all the time.

I'd call that a win.

Annd, I think I just realized that I never explained my new workout routine.  Oh well....that's not the point of this blog post.  I'll have to share that at another time.

Anyways.  As you know, I broke up with Death Gym, and have moved on to taking a strongman training class once a week.  At a CrossFit gym.

Eeek.

I am so not a crossfit chick.  In my mind, they are elitist, crazy, cult-like folk.  Don't get me wrong, I love watching the crossfit games.  I watch videos of some pretty awesome lifts that show up in my facebook feed.  The amount of weight those peeps can move is impressive!

But for me, not so much.  I imagine that if I attempted a snatch, my arms would hyperextend and detach themselves from my body before I managed anything productive.

But I digress.

Aside from thinking that most crossfitters are bat-shit crazy, I also feel that they are fanatical about their diets.  So imagine my delight when the gym started posting about an upcoming Paleo challenge.  (See what I did there?  That was sarcasm.)

Yippee skippee.

I've been working hardcore on the "eyes on your own plate" thing, which basically means, "I don't give a fuck about what you eat, so please don't give a fuck about what I eat."  If you want to eat Paleo, be my guest.  But don't fuck with me and my food, and go on and on about how awesome Paleo is, and how great you feel, and how you wish you could eat a fucking potato.

Because if it was so awesome, and made you feel so great, you wouldn't be wishing you could eat a potato.

So strongman training was at 9:00am yesterday.  And so was the intro speak to the Paleo challenge. Thankfully, our class was in the strongman dungeon (what I've dubbed the room) and the Paleo challenge talk was in one of the main rooms of the facility.

(Ooooo....I'm finally getting to the point of this.  It's about time, right?)

And my strongman coach basically says, we don't eat Paleo down here.  And she went on to say, "What did the Paleo Chinese people eat hundreds and thousands of years ago?  I'm sure they ate rice."

And I laughed.  And I knew that even though I take strongman classes at a crossfit gym, I've found a new home.

A Break Up

As some of you know, I'm breaking up with Death Gym as of December 1st. And I'm terrified. Seriously. I get all panicky inside and my chest feels tight when i think about it.

I know part of my apprehension is fear of the unknown.  I started working out at LA Fitness in January of 2009, and started lifting with Frank soon after.  We were at LA for a couple of years, went to Unlimited Changes and when that closed, back to LA. Then the current Death Gym opened, and we've been there ever since.

So for the better part of six years  (wow, really?) I've been working with Frank. He was there from the beginning, when i didn't even know what a plank was.  He saw my first real push-up. And when those got easy, he showed me different variations. (It feels quite bad ass doing push-ups with a plate on your back.)  When i told him i wanted to flip a big ass tire, he made it happen. Back squats, front squats, goblet squats....i wouldn't be doing any of that crap right now without his guidance.

He prepared me for Warrior Dashes, Tough Mudders and my first Strongman competition.  

I'm afraid that without him, I'll stagnate. That I'll lose the faith in myself that i can do what I've been doing.

Plus, I'm absolutely terrified about making my own weightlifting routine. It is so easy to go in the gym and have Frank tell me what to do. I don't even know what weights I lift because i never had to worry about it before. I literally "lift things up and put them down".

What if i do it wrong? What if i put the wrong types of exercises together? What if i lose all my strength and go back to suckling at life in general? I've already gained back a bunch of weight. What if i go back to being weak as well?

It's funny, because a lot of people have more faith in me than i do. I've had several people tell me i should go into personal training bc of my knowledge, my experiences and because i love lifting.

But I'm scared to do it on my own.