SOME DAYS ARE HARDER THAN OTHERS

You know what I am talking about. That day, when you procrastinate your workout, sometimes even for valid reasons. In the back of your head, gnawing at you, is the thought of you not sticking to your commitment.

When I am in that funk, I find it best to (begrudgingly) force myself to get it done. I drag my feet, sigh a lot, and even get cranky. Okay, I get totally unpleasant.
More often than not however, within 30 min of beginning to move, I feel much better and, oh miracle, I end up enjoying my workout.

But there are those other times... Where I can't lift as heavy than usual, I feel more out of breath, I feel tired and cannot wait for this thing to finish so I can go lay down. The whole process continues to suck.

The difficult thing here is that sometimes it's a mental thing that is going on. One that comes with profuse amounts of inner complaining and whining. I am being negative about exercising that day and the bad attitude gets in the way of the enjoyment.
But sometimes, my body is actually tired and needs the rest. I can usually tell because instead of toddler like negative self talk, there is a strong feeling of: this is being very challenging where it usually is not. I feel depleted.

I want to suggest that when we feel like this, we might want to stop said workout and go do something more restorative. Maybe this is the day for that Belly Dancing class that is on the list of things to try, maybe it's time to hop into a restorative yoga class or to take a nice walk outside. Maybe more Zumba® Fitness... ;)

It is difficult to take those cues from ourselves at times, we need to pay attention. Sometimes our egos get in the way... But a workout can always be moved around, switched, done the next day etc...
I tend to have a very rigorous and locked in workout schedule (surprise!!) with specific goals (look at the snatch test, and weep for me), so I too am working on being more in tune to my body's needs.


I would love to hear your thoughts about this, and listen to how you allow for some flexibility in your workout schedule, while sticking to your goals.

VARIANCE AND VARIETY

Last weekend, during my CrossFit Level 1 certification, one very important point of training was strongly emphasized: constantly varied.


This allows for the body to be constantly challenged and skip the dreaded plateau, it also makes you a better overall athlete.

One thing one could include in training, is long cardio days: an hour of Zumba, a long run, bike ride or rowing session. Anything that brings your heart rate up, where the effort remains manageable and you stay in that heart rate zone for some time.
Another important thing to include is high intensity metabolic conditioning. Something like Kettlebell swings drills, burpees, the program Insanity or the Plyometric DVD from P90X. Anything that will be very challenging and push you into that "very out of breath" state. Remember those workout are shorter.

Those 2 types of training fall in the category of metabolic conditioning. A third major component of your training involves weight!
In CrossFit, we use Olympic Weight Lifting, which works wonders. Any of the weight DVDs from P90X or ChaLEAN Extreme are wonderful choices. Remember, it is good to work with low weight had high reps for muscle endurance, but you also want to go heavy. That's where the STRENGTH is at!

Finally, you also want to make sure you work on flexibility, balance and are able to work with your own body weight. Yoga is fantastic for this, CrossFit uses gymnastic drills.

Keep varying what you are doing, from day to day and especially from week to week. If you start thinking of what you have available, you will realize that you can mix things up a lot.  And this makes you a better rounded athlete.
If you need any help building a program, I'd be happy to help.
You know you can always email me.

CROSSFIT LEVEL 1 TRAINER! I HAZ IT!

Zumba, CrossFit and Kettlebells. I would be hard pressed to find 3 other words to describe what I do everyday. Being a Beachbody Coach have given me a lot of time to train in different areas. I get to teach Zumba classes at my own studio, Studio Azul, train at CrossFit NRG, and as part of my own training and our workouts at NRG, I get to use my beloved kettlebells.

I did not think that I would love CrossFit as much as I do. You see, when I teach Zumba, the energy is all about love, fun and acceptance. Those classes have lifted me out of difficult times by giving me this sense of belonging and oneness. For that, I am grateful to all the people who attend and dance their heart out with me.
When I train CrossFit style, I get to explore a different side of me: I am competitive, driven, stubborn and I have a tendency to throw my barbell in sheer bouts of frustration. This also has been a life saver. It has allowed to feel capable to fight. To fight hard. When I first began, I would look at the Workout Of the Day and think "there is NO WAY I can do this". In spite of that, I would get to work and (eventually) finish. This taught me that I did not really know what I was capable of. I did my first CrossFit workout and never stopped going.

After some consideration, I decided this year I would certify in both RKC and CrossFit. I know it sounds crazy. And it is a little bit!

Well, I accomplished one of those goals last weekend. I attended my Level 1 certification in Las Vegas. It was a long weekend. To CrossFit HQ's credit, their trainers were outstanding, all extremely well versed in their training method and the training was run like a well oiled machine. Every goal set was reached on time.

I gained a lot from this training. My understanding of the CrossFit methodology has grown tremendously,  I feel I have been outfitted with a new pair of eyes, able spot details I would not have caught before. I understand so much better functional movements and their ability to make us fitter, stronger human beings.

Fitness, as defined by CrossFit is increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains. What that means is being able to do well at whatever the task is presented and for however long it is going to last. This is accomplished by constantly varying our training, performing at high intensity and using functional movements. Read this again: constantly varying.
This kind of training keeps your body on its toes and yields tremendous results.

So, I want to hear what you do to keep yourself always engaged and allow your body to adjust to a lot of different challenges.

Do tell.

CROSSFIT OPEN WEEK 1

I just did my first CrossFit Open workout. This week, the workout is composed of 30 double unders and 15 Power snatches at 55 lbs for women. You go for 10 minutes, as many times as possible. Check out this video if everything I just said means nothing to you.
Yesterday, after teaching my morning Zumba class, I went to Crossfit NRG and, with major jitters, did my workout with a judge. I was vastly disappointed in my performance. I had set my expectation to being able to do 4 rounds. I must have underestimated the difficulty of snatching my 55 lbs when my lungs are busted from the double unders. I pushed myself really hard and still did not achieve what I thought I could. I did 3 rounds, 30 double unders and 3 snatches. Thank you to James, Anne and Jag for the encouragement and the helpful pointers. I was wasting a lot of my energy bringing my barbell down, and trust me, it makes a huge difference... in a bad way...

I really felt like I could do better. I was rather disgruntled with that score and decided that I would do the workout one more time. Worse case scenario would be a worse score.

Today, no Zumba class till later so I went to NRG between 2 group workouts and our beautiful and strong trainer Aubrey agreed to be my judge.
I had my mind set on finishing that 4th round. Call it determination, obsession, maybe a little of both. I was going to push myself harder. This time I barely took take time to catch my breath before moving from double unders to snatches. I did *my* best. And for a moment, it seemed I was going to achieve my goal. I was in my 4th round, doing my snatches as fast as I could, looking at the last 10 seconds of my time dropping by. I realized, 3 seconds before the end that I would not be able to finish my 4th round entirely. I had 2 snatches left. In a sheer moment of anger I dropped my barbell and walked away, just about ready to cry.

SO CLOSE!!!


Working out CrossFit style is flirting with your physical limitations, pushing past what you think is your best. It's accepting that you are only as good as your weakest link. It can get emotional.

Check out how I am doing at my first CrossFit Games participation. I need all the cheers I can use.

CHALLENGE YOURSELF

It's been close to 8 months since I started training at CrossFit NRG. The whole experience has changed my conception of exercise and fitness as well as introduced me to amazing new tools.

The idea that resonates with me most is that of fitness being a way to be prepared for the unexpected.
And I am sure in the light of recent news events, we can all see that life dishes us things we were not necessarily planning on. Your life might be saved by your ability to lift a heavy and unstable object, to climb up a very high wall, to run for a long distance, to run for a short distance as fast as possible.... Think Armed Forces and Firemen here.

In that spirit, I have continued to train at my most favorite CrossFit facility as well as incorporate different Beachbody workouts in random ways. My favorites still are Insanity for cardio, P90X Plyometrics or Ab Rippers X and of course, Turbo Fire. It's all about keeping my body on its toes, never encountering the dreaded plateau. And believe me, it has worked!

I also wanted to talk about the CrossFit Games. Amazing world event you guys. While some things can be expected of the different workouts of these Games (things like gymnastic moves, Power Lifting and endurance drills) there is still that element of unexpected. Watch this video to see more.


I am signed up for Sectionals, which I know full well, I will never get passed. And I am so cool with that. Fitness is about challenge and being competitive... with YOURSELF first and foremost. Challenge yourself to do better than last time, challenge yourself to do a workout at all when you don't feel like it. Challenge yourself to try something you have never tried and learn something new. Compete with yourself.
Run your own race.