Tender

~ Blur ~

I have muscles at the bottom off my neck? Really? I've done A2G (ass to grass) squats with 90kg hassle free, but now my ass is sore from doing power cleans with only a 17kg bar (they don't trust the newbies with the weights yet) & you don't even go down to 90 degrees. Seriously? And something we did worked my core. It hurts when I...anything. But a good hurt. A hurt that says you worked your muscles, now go do it again. But just don't wear a shirt that you have to pull over your head.

I've always started a new sport with the promise that I'm not going to compete, I will just participate for the fitness. I still remember the first Taekwon Do class I did almost 7 years ago - "I don't want to do sparring (fighting), maaaaybe just the patterns, I'm just here for the exercise."  But I was hooked the first time I stepped into a sparring ring, and 7 years later I was representing SA in North Korea, for the World Championships. Mountain biking? Same thing - started out as a hobby. 3 Weeks later I'm doing a 80km race.

That's why I didn't even kid myself with Crossfit. It's competitive, no matter how much they tell you it's about the people you will meet and that you have to push only yourself. You want to do better then the guy/girl next to you, even if it is your first night. It is a hell of a motivator to want to beat someone, but still try & keep your correct form.

Wow...is there a lot of things Ryan Gosling will do for you if you just finish that workout....

A lot has been said about Crossfit - good (the community), bad (the socks) & douche-y (people that don't shut-up about Crossfit), but I think we are going to give it a try for now. Boyfriend just nods. Good Boyfriend. Luckily we both love being active (when we are not fighting for the PC or Xbox), so trying out something new together makes it a bit easier - you've got someone to complain to about those tender muscles.


I've found that posting photos of what you eat for everyone to see really keeps you on the straight & narrow. I was thiiiis close to buying a mega Wimpy cappuccino today & then thought how crap I would feel if I had to show other people my cheats. 

A lot less coffee today!

For supper we wazzed up a pukka recipe from Jamie Oliver's 15 Minute Meals. Hahaha...15 minutes, took us 45. And we learned words like "wazzed", "pukka" and, wait for it "wazzy wazzy woo woo". All in all it was a success - but a lot of ingredients (22 to be exact).

Mr Oliver's Chicken Tikka, Lentils & Spinach Salad on the left.  Our version on the right.

Today was a rest day, so no gym. Just teaching the little PeeWee's (4-9 years old) Taekwon Do, so I use it as a good stretching session. If you are reading this and you have kids, I take me hat of to you. We have them for an hour, twice a week and that is more than enough.

Time to pinch my nose & force down some L-Glutemine, cause tomorrow is leg day and we can't have any of this soreness!  Night folks!

Start me up

~ Rolling Stones ~

Clicking the "Publish" button on my first blog post this morning was a big deal for me.  It meant a new start, with new challenges and possible failures. I've always been afraid of putting myself out there, being comfortable only with Boyfriend, my close group of friends & a routine I know, so putting a blog out there for (potentially) the whole wide world to see is as big as "not comfortable" comes. And we all know that once the Internet has it, it's there forever. Ask Beyonce, she knows.

I mentioned earlier that we were going to try out Crossfit [Algoa Crossfit with David Levey, a CF Games competitor] tonight.  Boyfriend & I have never done it before, but being comfortable with weight training & HIIT workouts & years of Taekwon Do drilling we both can do a mean weighted squat & the hated staple burpee. How bad could it be...

I decided to check their website so that I would know what we were in for. My first mistake. The WOD (Workout Of the Day) started off with pull ups. It went south farking quick from there. 100 Sit ups, 75 power cleans & 300 double unders (or 900 singles). I'll wait a second while you go and Google that...cause I had to. With a time cap of 15 minutes (snorts, yeah right).

All in all it went well (read - I didn't puke) and will be going back for more!  It was loads of fun, and being a very competitive person I loved the vibe the class has. Will let you know more soon.

Eating wise I managed to keep it mostly clean today.  I follow a high protein/fat, moderate carb eating plan [set up for me by David Cross from Evo Fitness] - and I'm loving it.  I'm also doing this the IF (Intermittent Fasting) way, so I eat my last meal around 8/9ish at night and then only again lunch the next day. When I wake up I have a cup of coffee with cream & coconut oil & then water (or tea/coffee) until 12ish.

Just realized that I seem to be drinking a lot of coffee...

There are so many different ways you can go about it, but I think you have to find what works for you. I've tried Weighless, Weight Watchers, Atkins, Cohens, and then one day I realized that this is BS! Eat healthy food, in moderation and you cannot go wrong! If your food is healthy the only thing you have to focus on is how much you will allow yourself to eat. Let's face it, we all have days where you pig-out because you are bored, but at least eating a whole bag of raw nuts is better then a chocolate, right? Right!?

Supplements for the day (BCAA, Omega, Pro-Sprint & Whey Protein)

So this is what I've been trying to do the last 2 odd months. I've seen small changes to my body, and I've become stronger in gym. But I'm nowhere near the "toned" I want to be. Not yet anyway.  And that is why we are here isn't it?

Now the only thing that I need to do is somehow gain 2 extra hours a day, cause the sleeping 8 hours is not happening yet. I'm off, going to attempt to kick Boyfriend of the PC so that I can get some Battlefield play time.

Oh gods...it's going to hurt getting out of bed tomorrow morning.

Let's get the first post out of the way...

I've been toying with the idea of starting a blog for ages. Then the inevitable “OMG everyone is going to read this and think I’m stupid!” thought races through my head and that is as far as it goes...

So what makes this time different? Well, today I'm starting something new (again...) and I decided that I would (1.) love to share my experiences with you and (2.) keep myself accountable.

So here you will read all about my day, my love, my food, my exercise, my family, my friends, my likes, my peeves (come on - hate is a strong word) and then some.

If we met at a coffee shop and you asked me to tell you about myself, what would I say? I think I had a harder time coming up with this then the actual blog title... Seriously, I've never known how to describe myself.  

I'm comfortable in my craziness. Some days I am a tomboy, a princess, a slob or a health freak - and fabulous either way.  I can be short tempered when I’m having a bad day. I get frustrated with myself easily when I can’t do something someone else can. I feel things rather deeply and used to think everyone did. I worry too much. I am a bit OCD with certain aspects of cleaning or how and where things should be. I love to laugh till I squeal & squeak... 

I've always been in love with sport - participating & watching. And it has always been such a bastard that even tho I am so active I was still overweight.  It wasn't until my early twenties that I realized that no matter how much sport you do, if you are not eating right (not dieting) you will not get anywhere.

While trying out all these sports (track & field, netball, hockey, boxing, karate, running, mountain biking, taekwon do, weights and tonight crossfit!) I'm also trying to remain a decent girlfriend and member of society.  

That is how I would think others would see me. But in reality someone else might describe me as an anal bitch, we never know...