So, today was our last CrossFit class for the semester, which is sad. I know I will keep things going over break, but I like the raging music, having the WOD, the people, and, of course, our coach there to as motivation, but as I have learned over the last year, that motivation has to come from within no matter what. It also just so happened to be our 50th workout, which is kind of awesome. To think I have done 50 workouts in CrossFit. Although my benchmarks are not eons better than where they started, I know I feel stronger and have more endurance. Part of the problem is that I am pushing myself a lot more, so I am getting smoked sooner. I also think starting paleo has something to do with it. Although I feel like I am toning up and shaping out, I wonder if I am getting enough energy at the same time. Anyways, it was a great class – We did our “Kettle Hell” WOD, which is 4 Rounds of KB Swings, Goblet Squats, and L/R Snatches for a minimum rep score. When we did this a couple months ago, I got 12 reps @ 30lbs. and today I got 12 reps at 35lbs. Doesn’t seem like a huge improvement, but it is there!
What I really wanted to talk about in this post is connectivity. I’ve experienced a lot of this in the last year. How my diet connects to my health, my energy, how I feel. How starting paleo changed the way I look already and how my cravings have stopped for the most part because I am not pumping myself full of crap (I was eating healthier, but I honestly thing cutting the grain made a huge difference on the cravings).
Well, last night I went to fitness skate, which I hadn’t been to in almost an entire month. I was scared that I had lost a bit of the progress I was making on skates, but then I realized that I was skating way lower (basically a squat), going faster, and was even able to skate backwards (just a little bit), and feeling muscles and movements I had not in the past. Did I magically get better after taking a 3 week hiatus? NO. I realized as I was flying around the rink that CrossFit had given me something I didn’t think it would : Skating power! Obviously, working out will help you in a variety of ways, but on skates, the muscles you use and the drills we do are completely different than anything we really do in CF (minus the squatting). It felt great, and it kind of felt like I was a power surge and these different components to my fitness and health were plugging in all at the same time. It felt pretty amazing!
I know that one of my new goals is try parkour / freerunning, which I figure will help me with CF and vice versa, just in terms of mobility and function.
I also started weight training yesterday, which went well. I didn’t realize how many little steps to think about were in the process (where your hands, feet, butt, legs are at any given moment in the movement). It is defintely something new, but I think it will help me gain that strength that I feel like I need to increase those benchmarks. Also, the callouses on my hands do not love me, but that’s part of it all.
It is so ironic to think that just a year ago, going to the gym was a struggle. I hated it, it was a mental battle just to get myself there, even to go on the treadmill, and now, CF, fitness classes, skating, lifting, I love it all, and want to do more, improve myself. Then, a year before that, I was sitting at home doing nothing with my body, a slow moving laziness, going no where. It isn’t a hop, skip, and a jump, unless you are doing a burpee, and doing a lot of them, but it is possible. There is nothing I can say or do that will make that true for you, that kind of connectivity is purely mental, but it is good to know that IT CAN BE DONE, if you are plugging those cords into your own power surge.
Here is a photo of the WOD board board of (most) the workouts from this semester! I can’t wait to start back up next semester. I will be hitting my 2 year Healthiversary, which will be incredible. 
