Fit Mom's Blog

These were a big hit with my kids this weekend at the CrossFit Regional Competition! Although, they are designed for much younger children, they still did little circuits of swinging the Kettlebell and doing thrusters between the two of them. Super fun if you have little ones at home who are watching YOU lift heavy weights.

You can purchase them here. The set they were playing with was not for sale and they are really designed for kids under 5.

I would also like to congratulate my team, CrossFit CDR, for qualifying for the CrossFit Games! Guess, I’ll be taking a trip out to Carson this summer.

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For those of you who follow this blog {thank you, by the way}, you know that only VERY recently I got my first muscle up. And, just last summer, I had reached a long time goal of a 100 pound Snatch.

Since January, I’ve been loosely following the Outlaw Way …the workouts are short, intense with TONS of Olympic Lifting practice, love it. {Rudy, if you read this, more than my mother reads it!!} My PR’s in most of my lifts have gone up regularly and consistently…which has made me more of a follower lately. Long story, yesterday the workout called for “Amanda” 9-7-5 of Snatches & Muscle-Ups. Two of the hardest things to do in CrossFit and both of which have taken my years to get. Since my first muscle up two weeks ago, I had not been able to get another one…with the encouragement of one of my teachers, “Rachel, today, you go down there and get another one.”

I did. I got 5 muscle ups and completed all 21 reps of the Snatch at 90 pounds!…..I was pretty damn happy with that result.

Then, today, I read on Facebook about the Amanda Miller Memorial WOD. In 2009, she competed in the CrossFit Games and passed away less than a year later from Melanoma Cancer. This July, there will be a competition in her honor. A $20 participant fee is all that is required and you can compete at whatever level you are capable of or you can just donate money.

Resources
AmandaWod
RobbWolf

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As a new parent of just one baby, I had plenty of time to do what I loved- running.  When my youngest was 6 months old, I ran a marathon after training just barely 3 times a week.  I don’t remember it being too stressful because, babies take naps and they also don’t move around too much as a six month old.  Also, my husband was around plenty to pick up and carry our six month old baby boy.

I believe I spent the better part of my first two years plus one year pregnant running only.  I’d also acquired a treadmill during that time, so, if I couldn’t go out to run, I could do something on a treadmill.  In addition, I found I could jump rope, do pushups with the baby in the car seat.

Then, since I had been a cyclist in college, I briefly dabbled in bike racing- between the years of 2006-2009, although I bet I completed only a handful of races during that time.  I enjoy bike riding and occasionally bike racing, but, in order to get really good at bike racing, you need to do it all the time.  No go, for me.  Two kids under the age of 5 was not a time to devote myself to a sport that requires a minimum of 10 hours a week on a bike.   Also, I recall having complete and total meltdowns 15 minutes prior to the races as my husband would be out racing, and I was supposed to be warming up, but, couldn’t concentrate because I was worried about what my children were doing.

Back to running in 2008, trained for the St. Geroge Marathon and ended up injured and running it after having lost a month of training.  Long story, but I ended up in Yoga “rehab” for my stupid hip which had lead to basically tendonitis in my right knee. Yeah, me.

Now, 2012, my longest “workout” takes 15 minutes or less and I can be completely torn up in just 7 minutes.  I love lifting weights and I love that my quads are bigger than they’ve ever been and I love seeing progress in my lifting.  And, I love spending time on mobility work and I just happen to love crossfit.  In all my years of athleticism, I’ve never felt or seen as much progress in my own personal strengths or in my change of body type or in my overall outlook on life as I do with crossfit.  I’ve also met some of the coolest people on the planet through crossfit and have improved my diet by 200% since I first began.  Bye bye iced mocha’s with whip cream daily!!

In summary, CrossFit is working for me because it takes a hell of a lot less time (more or less) {I’m still a die hard}, I’m fitter than I’ve ever been in all my years as an athlete, and I have a 100 pound Snatch, heck yeah!!

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Image Credit: CrossFit CDR

One of the most hated, slow moving strength training movements you can do with one piece of equipment is the Turkish Get Up. It’s fantastic for improving core strength, midline strength, balance- you don’t want that huge KB to land on your head, and teaching you how to maintain your core strength with just one arm. Most women I know start with the lightest thing around- sometimes it’s an eraser, to learn the movement and then you gradually work your way up from there. Pictured here is 35 pound KB and although I can do them, it is brutal. Ten minutes of them is even more brutal and they were not executed as perfectly as you might see on a video.

To learn more about the Turkish Get-Up and how to do them, please refer to the RKC manual for women, here.

You can also check it out on You Tube, here.

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For those of you who are new here, my current passion is CrossFit. I’ve previously been passionate about lots of sports including marathon running, triathlon, bike racing and yoga all documented here to some degree. However, for the past 2 years, I’ve done nothing but crossfit and yoga almost daily and with that kind of dedication and consistency comes certain opinions about shoes, for example.

CrossFit requires an athlete to be able perform multiple different movements in the course of an hour, an event or even a trail run (I miss those). And, so far, there really hasn’t been a perfect shoe, at least for me. Most days, I’ll start my day in a wood soled weight training shoe and finish in a light weight cross training type of shoe, usually my Innov-8′s unless the workout requires significant amounts of running- in which case, I wear a racing flat.

Today, I’ve had the great pleasure of trying both the Barefoot Runner Dash Glove and also the Barefoot Run Bare Access Arc.  Both shoes are designed to be barefoot runners with the Run Bare being more of an entry level barefoot runner as it offers more support in the sole.  Can I just say that my first out of the box experience has been amazing!  It is rare that I love a pair of shoes the minute I put them on and these have left me completely floored.  Both have a wider toe box, a very light weight feel to them and are easy to get on and off.  I love the extra elastic strap at the back of the Dash Glove shoes as it gives you just a little extra flexibility in getting them on and off.

As with any new shoe, there is a “get to know you period” especially when it comes to running, but, for everything from jumping rope to box jumping to hiking outside with the kids, I can honestly tell you these shoes feel fantastic.   There is a good amount of research and knowledge on the Merrell site about why to use Barefoot runners here.  I’ve previously owned a pair of Merrell’s called the Siren and loved them till they fell off my feet!  In essence, Merrell has never let me down and these Barefoot runners do not disappoint.

If you’ve had good experiences with Merrell,  please share them here!

P.S.  I am incredibly thankful for having this opportunity to review Merrell’s Barefoot Running Shoes for purposes of review on this website.  The opinions above are my own, no joke.

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As an avid crossfitter, I’ve found many useful websites to reference for  more information on how to do stuff using the crossfit methodologies.

Check out Network Fitness for any and all mobility issues!

Check out CrossFit Endurance if you’re still an avid marathoner, triathlon or cyclist.

Check out Gymnastics WOD for information,  progressions and lots of well instructed videos on all gymnastic movements.

Check out CrossFit for demonstrations and video explanations of all the basic barbell lifts, medicine ball cleans and standards of movement.

Whole 9 Life for amazing resources on why certain foods are bad for you.  Also, check out the 603PTP  program they have written.  It’s rock solid in getting results, as I witnessed 20 pound PR’s in Deadlifts and Front Squat after following this program.

Finally, if you’re interested in competitive exercise, you can check out The Outlaw Way.  {be warned, these workouts are hard as hell and the coach is prolific with the f-word}.  Our affiliate is currently following the strength and conditioning portions of the workouts and we have already seen great results.

Any others, feel free to leave a link in the comments!

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(among other things!)

So, my carpet smells like puke, my laundry is unfolded and I have two kids home today one whose obviously been puking and the other one whose kind of lost without his brothers creative energies to direct him.   In addition, there are dishes to wash, bills to pay, rooms to clean and bathrooms to scrub…and I still need to write here on this blog, workout and find things to keep me happy like reading!  It’s a weekend so that means that I have two days to work on all of the above and still be a mommy!  Usually what happens is that I wake up, workout, and then (it feels like running on a treadmill) but I run around my house attempting to multitask doing a little here and a little there but never really finishing a job…Argh.  My head is spinning.

How the heck do you balance it all?!

How am I going to remain sane? How does anybody remain sane with this stuff? All moms juggle the same things I am- and many probably have their children in extra curricular activities as well.   Yesterday, my kid wanted pizza for lunch and I couldn’t even remember to check off “pizza” on the sign in sheet!

If I were a superhero, I could just snap my fingers and get everything done all the time no problem, however, I’m just a regular mommy trying to squeeze it all in (all the time).  I realize that maybe I could  just give up a few responsibilities to others or do less, but then what?!

And to add to this nonsense, I’ve been asked to participate in the CrossFit Open again this year.  Just like adding more stress to the already chaotic life!  “Just do it for fun this year…set new goals and use it to judge where you should be next year!”

Thoughts, comments and suggestions welcome!

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We all have 2012 goals right?

I did not write any resolutions, just goals I’d like to achieve relatively soon.  At our local CrossFit box, there are 200+ people participating in a 2012 Get Fit Challenge.  This is a really great way to kick start the new year amongst friends and have our friends be our accountability partners!  Our coaches also sat down with us each individually to rewrite/tweak our goals.    Technically, we have until February 11 and that is NOT that far away, Yikes!
For those of you who don’t know, I’ve been crossfitting for more than two years. I have 100 pound Snatch {that is an Olympic Lift), lots and lots of strength that I’ve worked hard to increase and my cardio strength as never really gone away….However, there is one thing that I don’t have yet and that is a Muscle Up. The Muscle Up is essentially a pull up on rings from a standing position into the deepest ring dip ever.

Why is this so hard?

I don’t know anymore, the one thing I know is that I have not consistently trained for a muscle up in the last two years.   I’ll work on it for a while, then, move on to something else.  Now, is my chance to really focus on just this one thing with tons of witnesses!!

This is the best progression I’ve found on the internet to date. It’s well explained, simple and easy to follow. So, as of this writing, I’ll follow this one. Mainly because it’s based on strength alone. My coach has been working with me on the kipping muscle up as well….between the strength from the strict and the momentum from the kipping one, God Willing, I’ll have one in one month.

Muscle Up Training Progression By Jeff Tucker from Mike Jackson on Vimeo.

Wish me luck!

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Welcome readers,
If you are new here, please check out my about page, click on categories on anything you’re interested in, and spend some time here. I’ve learned lots about being an athlete and I’ve also had lots of fails, but, what interests me most is what can I learn about now..How can I improve being an athlete now?

My current quest might be a surprise to you via internet, but, for those of you in and around the crossfit community, then, you know about the Double Under problem for women. And, frankly, it isn’t just about women who’ve had kids…I used this as an excuse for a long time…but I know the truth now. The problem is basically we pee amidst multiple doubles in a row….bleh, there I said it {stress incontinence}. Now, I’ve talked to young and older women, grandmas and moms, and we all have had the “oh my god, I have to go” problem right in the middle of a workout. (competitions make it worse)

My question to you is ….what can you do about it?!
The answers I’ve gotten so far include surgery, wear a pad, don’t do double unders, don’t compete, do your kegels, and therapy!

What else can you do?

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