Everyday we Husslin'

Trish sent me this one yesterday, Love it!

I am now obsessed with the song Jukebox Hero by Journey, check out a remix of the song below:

SOooo just like I told you, been KILLIN' it in the gym Monday and Tuesday after that 'Calorie-Packed' meal on Sunday night.

MONDAY:  Felt like a long day....came home and the power was out ugh...had nothing to eat because everything needed to be cooked.  I ate celery sticks with tuna (added miracle whip and pepper for taste, non-paleo) and a Protein Shake.  Took a nap in my muggy hot house, but at least the power came back on within 30 mins of me falling asleep and I took a rock hard nap.

Strength was 1 RM Bench Press -- I didn't do very well at this, Rob was giving me direction on how to execute it better and I feel I did worse following his instructions.  My 1RM is usually 105#.

WOD: 5 Rounds for Time
12 Full Squat Snatch 95/65
20 GHD situps

You wouldn't think this sounds so bad just looking at...but it was INTENSE...  65# isn't that heavy but its just getting the lift to flow properly is where you get stuck.  I tried to complete my 12 of each round in sets of 3.  The GHD situps I just cranked out as many as I could before getting light headed and then rested and went at em again.  The time cap was 15 mins but I wanted to finish, my Time for the full 5 rounds was 20:28.  I told Staci I wanted to set the bar for her and she completed it in 21:58, so BOOYAH!  I am glad she is back from her vacation in Nebraska, its good to have some competition and she really pushes me to do better.  Also, points out my weaknesses and what I need to improve on overall.

TUESDAY: Super Tired, but felt like I had a ton to do!  After work, I made lunch and prepared Paleo Pineapple Pork ribs!  Plus, I wanted to get the laundry started before it got too out of hand.  Finally, I was in bed napping around 2, I only got about a 2.5 hour nap before working out.  However, I took my new AMIN.O. Energy supplement by Optimum Nutrition and I love it!  I wanted to get away from all the chemicals and additives in 1MR and this was the solution to a more pure/clean energy.  The caffeine comes from Green Tea and uses BCAAs for recovery acceleration and improved focus and energy.  Plus the taste of Orange Cooler, tastes exactly like Orange Kool-aid!

Skill of the Day was to work on Hand-stand Push-ups.  I was able to do about 4 kipping and then after that my shoulders just got tired.  I want to be able to do them in actual workout, but if I am tired after 4 how am I going to complete the work when there is multiple.  I will have to scale back to using lighter bands to make it harder until I am able to link multiple kipping HSPUs.

WOD
12 min AMRAP of
12 Box Jumps 24/20"
6 Thrusters 95/65
6 Bar facing Burpees

I completed the 12 mins with 7 rounds Rx!  Murdered that.  Everyone else got about 4 rounds and a few extra reps.  My strategy going into this workout was to do everything unbroken.  I would do the 12 Box Jumps, then rest for a 5 count, do the 6 Thrusters, then rest for a 5 count, do the 6 Bar Facing Burpees, and rest for a 5 count before going on to the next round.  This strategy really helped me power through the workout and excel at it.

Bonus of the day, was that I actually got to coach 630 group!  I only had one student, Devin, but it was fine got a little one on one time an even got to stretch out with her which helped me out also.  After coaching, we practiced our 1 handed handstands.  Staci and I have come up with a challenge to see who can find the coolest/weirdest/funniest place to do a 1 handed handstand and take a picture of it.  The person with the most epic one wins!  I really need some ideas for this!?  Suggestions welcome :)

Now, back to the Pork Ribs!  The recipe I used can be found here.  These were delicious definitely making them again! However, Justin doesn't like pineapple...how can you not like pineapple, we live in Hawaii!

I will be trying out another rib recipe tonight, kind of adapted it on my own we will see how it turns out.  This one will be BBQ ribs, a little more traditional.

IPHONE 5!!!!

Happy Birthday to Me!!! I purchased the Iphone5 on Saturday, thanks to my Mom and Justin for buying it for me for my birthday present!  Best gift ever, well so far cause I love it!

I need to play around with the phone more to explore all that it has to offer.  I have added my usual apps to it, setup my email, and figured out the necessities.  But there is so much more to do on the phone, its crazy!  I <3 Apple products!  The phone is super sleek and thin, very light-weight.  I NEED to buy a case ASAP, I am so afraid to drop it.

This is the case I am going to buy:   It is the Speck SmartFlex Card case for the Iphone5

It will hold 3 cards!  My debit card, ID, and money! Perfect for a night out on the town, don't need to worry about losing anything cause I rarely lose my phone ha.  It would be the other stuff I'd lose!  I will post more about the phone as I become more familiar with it.

More Randomness-- We are actually looking into or thinking about opening an Aloha Salads, which is a restaurant here in Hawaii.  This place is SO good, it offers amazingly fresh salads and healthy sandwiches!  Everything there is made right infront of you and you can see the fresh products they use.  Everytime we go there, there is a line backed up to the door and we will wait for however long it takes because we love the food!  There are only 3 locations on Island: Kapolei, Honolulu, and Kailua.  Where we would like to open one up would be in Ewa Beach along Fort Weaver Rd, which is a very busy spot.  Also, there is a new complex coming up with a Safeway grocery store, Petco, and a few other things so this would be the PERFECT location to have one!  This would also give me a day job, but we will see maybe this would be a project for 2013.

Lastly, yesterday was a much needed rest day!  We were super lazy and laid around watching football all afternoon, then we decided to have a cocktail, and watch The League.  Again, we were super lazy and decided to go to Denny's for dinner.  I had a MAJOR NON-PALEO meal ha.  Which I looked up the calories for today and I really shouldn't have haha, oh well it tasted oh so yummy in my tummy :)

I recommend both of these items!  But not if your watching your calories haha.  Sometimes you need a boost in calories thou, I guarantee today when I go to Crossfit I'll (hopefully) murder the workout.  That is what normally happens after a huge increase in cals, my energy level skyrockets.  For all those who are like OMG you cheated on your eating...psh...don't think that way. Everyone needs to have a meal that's not-so-healthy every once in awhile, keeps us sane!  Plus, after I splurge like that I just hop right back on the bandwagon and eat my normal foods again.  Nothing to worry about.  

Rock of Ages

WOW...feels like forever since I have blogged which it technically has been since last week.  The whole just kind of flew by super fast!  I hate how that happens on my long weeks off, it goes by too fast.

The week was filled with some great Crossfit!  RECAP:

MONDAY:

Strength: Sumo Deadlift 1RM  (I was able to lift 185lbs for my 1 rep MAX, my regular Deadlift is 205#)

WOD = 25 min cap

3-6-9-12-9-6-3

Wall Walks

OHS 135/95

T2B

This was ROUGH!  But such a good workout.  Killer shoulder work.  The hardest part was obviously when you got to 12 reps...I kept thinking "It's all down hill from here..." and would repeat that in my head.  I did this WOD at 65 lbs for the OHS, 95 is my 5 rep max so I don't think I could do that unbroken especially after Wall walks.  This AWESOME part of it was I did it at 10lbs heavier than any other girl that attempted the workout and I also completed it in 23:59 which noone else finished.  I was pretty stoked about that, definitely was husslin' not gonna lie.

TUESDAY:

Strength: Back Squat  2-2-2-1-1, 85% (2's), 90%, 95% (Pretty sure I did this at 135# for the 2 reps then 145#, my MAX is 155# I am looking to improve on that)

WOD

"Ledesma"

20 AMRAP

5 Para. HSPU

10 Toes through Rings

15 Med Ball Cleans 20/14

This wasn't too shabby, the Med Ball cleans were the worst part not sure why just gassed me out.  I did the Hand Stand Pushups with bands and could do them unbroken so I need to try to do them Strict/Kipping/or with lighter bands to make it harder.  I got 6 rounds + 6 Toes Through Rings.

WEDNESDAY: No WOD, hammies were SO blasted.  Took a rest day and hung out with Trish before she left for her Cali trip.  We watched some Revenge and just hung out.  Much needed recovery.

THURSDAY:  Went to Turtle Beach with Dani and got to literally swim with a Sea Turtle SO COOL!  But also got burnt ha!  I also watched Rock of Ages (clip from above) and LOVED IT!  If you like 80s music and musicals you will love this movie too! Even Justin liked it, so it must be pretty good ;-)

I think you can see some abs here :-P

Strength: Press Tempo 5x2, 5 sec up, hold 5 sec, 5 sec down (This was hard for me, my shoulders are my weakest body part along with my grip ugh.  Did the 5 sets at 65#s tried 70# wasn't having it)

  

WOD

10 min. AMRAP

3, 6, 9, 12, 15 etc....

Hang Snatch 95/65

Chest to Bar Pullups

I only made it to 12 reps on this workout.  I did the snatch at 55lbs to practice form, 65 was just a little too heavy at a Hang Snatch.  Chest to Bar Pullups I have never done before so I did them with a red band, let me tell you it is DIFFICULT to get your chest to that bar.  A really BIG kip is needed in order to get your body up there.  Plus, who wants to bang their boobs on bar...come on now ha.  The true failure in this workout was my grip, my forearms were toasted.

FRIDAY:

Skill: Handstand/Shoulder Taps/1 hand  (This was a lot of fun!  I am getting better in my gymnastic movements so it is so cool when I can actually execute them.  I have to get better at the actual shoulder tap but I did do a one handed handstand!!!! The shoulder tap requires more confidence.

WOD  

15 min AMRAP

10 KB Snatch 24/16

10 Box Jumps 24/20

10 Ring Dips

Brutal...just Brutal.  1 pood aka 16kg Kettlebell Snatch is pretty heavy but once I got in the grove of it, I could rock em out pretty good.  Box jumps were a breeze.  For the first time ever, I did Ring Dips but I used  a red band since I can't do them strict yet.  However, it was nice to try them on the actual rings instead of using the Matador (bar) for dips.  The dips destroyed my shoulders and back between my shoulder blades...sooooo sore ha.  

SATURDAY:

Skill: Anyhow Windmill using Kettlebells (Very technical move, going to try this more to build core strength)

WOD

50 Air Squats

21 Deadlifts 225/155

21 Push Press 95/65

50 Air Squats

15 DL

15 P.P.

50 Air Squats

9 D.L.

9 P.P.

BEASTMODE!  I did this workout Rx, BOOM, it was freaking hard.  155# deadlift is pretty heavy ha, I broke it down into sets of 3.  I wanted to make sure my form was good and I was engaging my hamstrings.  Push Press I broke down into sets of 5 or 7 if I could.  The air squats were the break from the heavy lifts, the first 50 I did unbroken then the next 2 sets I did in 25s.  I finished the workout in 15:59, just dripping with sweat! 

Mustache Rides for Boobs!

On my sickness recovery day Thursday, I watched 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel'.  Starring Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, and Bill Nighy who are all older actors but they are classics!  The story line of the movie is about these elderly people trying to find a place to retire too and they stumble upon this hotel that claims to be more luxurious than it actually is in India.  The hotel is kind of a shandy but its the magic that it offers which is the most inspiring part.  It leads each character to realizations about their lives and inspires new found happiness and love!  I liked the movie, it was nice to see a change of pace in aged characters.  Not all movies should be based around the young crowd, I mean come on we look up to our elders!  Its a heart-warming story.  I would recommend it.  Plus, Dev Patal stars in the movie, the actor from Slumdog Millionaire.  I love that guy, he's cute and funny.

On Saturday, we had a fundraiser WOD for Breast Cancer Awareness month.  Its called Barbell for Boobs.  

It was a partner WOD and Trish was my partner, our team name was Mustache Rides (ha!).  The workout was 'Helen meets Grace', soooo AWESOME!  It combined the two benchmark girls so: 3 rounds of 400m partners run together, 21 KB Swings at a Pood (16kg), 12 Pullups.  After the 3 rounds were complete you then went on to Grace which is 30 Clean and Jerks at 135/85#.  I was rather nervous for the pullups, I did them kipping but was scared to link them cause of the friction on my hands :(.  I will get back to doing them, just got to get over that initial fear of it again.  I did everything Rx which rocked!  We completed in 18:44, boom sauce!  **Side note: I do want to try Grace on its own, I love the Clean and Jerk.  The actual Grace is done at 95lbs which I am pretty sure I can do.  I am not sure how my time will be on it but I'd probably do sets of 2 until I made it to 30...I am planning on trying this out this week.

After that we went up to Trish's daughter Riley's birthday party in Kailua.  It was a blasty blast at her Grandma's house which had a pool.  This house was amazing!  It is what you think of, when you think of a nice house in Hawaii.  I wish I would have taken pictures of it, such nice taste in design she has.  Plus, she is really into Halloween so there were decorations everywhere and little scare tactics placed strategically to get people!  We swam, ate pizza and salad, chilled, had cake and ice cream and some amazing cookies!  The lady who brought the cookies, owns Cookies by Design, O.M.G. are they good!  She also brought this Smore Cookie which Dani and were pleased to try!  She said to place it in the microwave for 7 seconds and it would be perfect...which it was AMAZING...I can't think of another cookie that tops it.  I named this cookie, '7 seconds in Heaven Smore Cookie'.  I will seriously name her cookies my top favorites: 1. 7 seconds in Heave Smore Cookie.  2.  The Pumpkin cookie.  Haha!  Dani would agree with me. 

 A few pics from the day:

Great Crew these people are!  So lucky and blessed we are to have met them.

Justin's 25!

Busy Fun week I had!  Wednesday was Justin's 25th birthday, I tried to make it special for him.  I wrote Happy Birthday in as many places I could think of: Text message, Ipad Notepad, an actual birthday note, on our whiteboard, and on his facebook!  I am sure he was sick of finding them...oh well I love birthdays even when their not my own its fun celebrating!  I bought him the movie 'Fever Pitch', its with Jimmy Fallon who is obsessed with the Boston Red Sox until he meets the love of his life Drew Barrymore.  He has to learn to balance his love for the Red Sox and his new girl.  It's pretty good movie and of course Jimmy Fallon is really funny.  I bought him this movie because I always get him something Red Sox for his Birthday or Christmas, he loves that shit.

He wanted to Birthday WOD and thankfully it was a BOMB one!  Hero WOD 'DT', I loved this one.  A description of it below:


WOD:
5 Rounds for Time:
12 Deadlift
9 Hang Clean
6 Push Jerk
RX: 155/105
SCALED: 115/85
In honor of USAF SSgt Timothy P. Davis, 28, who was killed on Feburary, 20 2009 supporting operations in OEF when his vehicle was struck by an IED. Timothy is survived by his wife Megan and one-year old son T.J.

Great Workout! I am pretty sure I did this at 75lbs. I probably could have done 85 but those Hang Cleans were the killer, the Deadlifts and Push Jerk were easy for me but hang cleaning not so much. I liked this one alot thou and glad that we did it on Justin's Birthday. One complaint, was that our gym really needs to make sure we are adequately warming up prior to performing heavy/technical lifts like this workout. We had done PVC thrusters for October's month of thrusters...however lifting a light object like a PVC does not warm one up very well. I would rather use a bar or do a WallBall instead. Anywho, good workout completed it in 13:48 I want to say...I will have to double check my log book.

After that a few of us went out to Chili's to celebrate.  It was Me, Justin, Jordan, Jess, Andy, Trish, and Sam.  Great Crew, lots of laughs and good eats!  I had the lighter choices salmon and two sides of broccoli with salsa, nom nom!  Of course HAD to have a celebratory drink, long island hehe and Justin got a free brownie dessert which he ate probably like 2 bites of and the rest of us dug right in!

I had been coming down with a cold and after dinner it just got worse, I crashed hard Wednesday night and slept in until 10am Thursday.  I slept for 12 hours and then I just did laundry around the house, walked the dogs, and pretty much vedged...I was not feeling 100%.  Thursday night was a great mobility class working on Squat Depth, its crazy I almost have a full class every time 7 of 8 slots were filled!  This week I am working on coming up with something for shoulder mobility which I hope will be a good one.  I have been receiving very good feedback on my class which I truly appreciate.

Friday, I intern-coached with Donna for the 8:30, 10, 11, and 12 o'clock classes.  It was a very rewarding day coaching.  The group people were working on 1RM of Push Jerks and almost everyone PR'd, it was fantastic! Also, seeing new people who had just graduated essentials go up at least 15# in the lift was incredible!  Plus, the basics and essentials class people were great.  Everyone is so willing to learn and just feed off what you say its really amazing.  I love coaching :)   I hung out with Trish that afternoon and we just chillax'd watched a marathon of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives and talked of all the food places we need to go to in Hawaii ha!  We are going to make an Abby/Trish bucket list..I am STOKED!  That night we went out to Giovanni Pastrami's downtown Waikiki with Sam and Justin's co-workers Fred and Rudy, along with Rudy's wife Amanda.  It was a fun time again lots of laughs and good food of course!

Next to come...Movie Review, Barbell for Boobs, and Riley's Bday party!

This week's Recipes and Grocery Shopping on a budget

Can't wait to get cooking this week!  I went to the Costco last night for our usual 2 week grocery shopping endeavor.  I am starting to perfect Grocery Shopping on a budget!  Here is my normal process:

1.  Make an excel spreadsheet.  In the first tab I put the name of the recipe I want to make and the ingredients needed for that recipe.  I go through the ingredients and highlight what I need to buy at certain places.  For example: whether I can get it at Costco or Foodland, basically if I can buy it in bulk or if it would be best to get more of the individual size for the item.  If I don't highlight it then I probably have it on hand at home.

2.  Next, after I list my recipes and highlight the items needed.  I move to the 2nd tab and start my grocery list.  I make two columns one for Costco and one for Foodland.  I copy and past the items in each category.  I also add generic items I need to buy that we normally get to my Costco list.

3.  Now that I have my list and recipe ingredients I am set!  I started this last night and I think I will continue this...I went to Costco with my list printed out, a pen, and a calculator.  As I picked up each item, I wrote the price of the item next to it on my list.  This way I could compare certain things as I saw them.  For example: Zucchini was $4.99 for 4 of them and Cucumbers were $3.99 for 3.  Zucchini would have been a better deal but we haven't had cucumbers in awhile so I switched it up!  Another example:  I wanted to buy Ahi Tuna, the fresh nice steaks were $20.49 and the frozen bag of prepackaged tuna steaks were $15.29, I went with the frozen I think it was more for my buck.

4.  Lastly, once I had all of my items I added them up on the calculator to see where I was sitting.  If I would need to put things back or change certain items.  My total came too $261 and some change, which was perfect!  I allotted myself $300 to spend on groceries, this left me with a little extra to spend at Foodland for the other miscellaneous items I need for my recipes.  When I went to ring up with the cashier my total came to $262 and some change, so I was very close!

5.  Our fridge is stocked now.  Just need to make a trip to Foodland on Thursday (my day off) and then I can start making some delicious recipes. The ones I plan on making which I will post more details of as I cook them and their recipe links are: Creamy Chicken Casserole, Paleo Butternut Lasanga, Paleo Pineapple Crockpot ribs, Bratwurst & German Potato (turnips) Salad, and Spicy Pineapple Chili.  I am on a pineapple kick because my mom says I need to eat more of it since we live in Hawaii ha, so might as well make some recipes with it in it.  Then when she comes to visit, I know exactly what to make!

Hope this helps to all those pinching pennies like me!  More to come this week with recipes and some pictures as well. :)

Empty Zoo...Lame sauce.

What a FUN week!  It was a short work week this week, which was super nice!

Wednesday - my first day off, I went to the beach with Trish and her 2 monkeys for most of the day! We totally didn't think we were going to get to go cause it was a super cloudy and rainy in the morning but by noon it was beautiful!  The unfortunate part was that we should've faced the sun directly because the whole right side of my body got burnt and not my left, I have a very uneven tan!  But its rather funny non-the-less.  I will even it out Today (Sunday) when we go to the beach again with a bunch of Trish's friends!  Pictures to follow :)

Thursday - Buck, Kelsey's Blue Healer was dropped off at our house Wednesday night and it was a very interesting first night.  About 3 mins after they had left, Buck peed on the kitchen floor and then our fridge! I let him outside and he took 2 poops (yes you wanted to know this), he must have been very nervous but after that he was completely fine with terrorizing sky!

I watched the movie 'Snow White and the Huntsman', Thursday morning.  I believe Trish said it best..."The best part about that movie, is the Huntsman."  The movie itself was very slow moving I thought, however I did love Charlize Theron in it she killed her part as the nasty witch.  Otherwise, the movie wasn't anything to really write home about.  Classic snow white story with a hottie huntsman in it...The End!

Yummy.

I also,went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond...love that store!  My lovely mother had sent us a wedding gift card to there so I figured why not spend it!  I bought some K-cups, ice trays, straws, and 2 nice water bottles for Justin and I.  Add to that a nice picture for our wall!  Mom said I had to get something that I could tell people, "My mom got me that!"  :)  SO, I did!  I love paintings or pictures, basically art in general...along with inspiring words and I think the one I picked out fits us perfectly.

I took the dogs for a walk, what a difference it is walking with a 35lb dog on one arm and a 12lb dog on the other!  Basically, they were walking me for the first half of the walk and once they calmed down I was walking them ha but for the most part Sky did fairly well!  Each dog is different, Buck gets excited over squirrels and Sky gets excited over people so I just have to be careful that a squirrel doesn't run by with me unaware otherwise I will be being dragged behind a 35lb dog!

My Mobility class has been quite popular not going to lie!  Out of the 8 slots I have to fill, there has been at least 3-5 people!  And Lucien doesn't make money unless there is 3 people so BOOM, I am making him some dough.  

Friday -  ZOO day!  I had told Trish that I hadn't been to the zoo yet and would really like to go.  We planned on going after Riley's field trip at her school.  We made our way down to Waikiki and ate lunch at Lulu's right by the Zoo!  I ate fairly well, I had their Lava Burger with out the bun and a salad.  The Burger had Pepperjack cheese and jalapenos on it and with the Salad I had balsamic vinaigrette.  Fairly Paleo besides the cheese which I have decided I want in my way of eating as long as it is in moderation.  What was not Paleo, was eating a few of the Kid's fries...oops!  (Whatever who cares ha, we walked enough at the Zoo to burn it off)  

On to the Zoo we went!  It was a pretty decent Zoo, not the best I have ever been too.  For some reason, most of the animals were missing!  Each enclosure we would visit it would either say "Sorry the [insert animal here] is temporarily gone but will return soon."  OR at some of them...it would just be empty, quite the disappointment!  Least we were able to make jokes at how empty the zoo was.

Horrible pic of me..I look High ha

Zoo knocked em out!

Trish and I went to CrossFit....6 days this week!  We ARE ADDICTS...the first step is admitting...the second step is doing nothing about it!  My hands have been healing up this week and I really didn't want to hurt them anymore, therefore, anything that involved pullups I did pushups instead (YUCK! I hate pushups).  Friday was the '300' WOD, which I did not like!  It was an arm killer.  

I did the 1st 25 pullups with a Purple band and the 2nd with a Green band. Deadlifts at 95lbs along with Floor Wipers. Clean and Press at 8kg.  Completed in 22:30.

Last thing I promise!  We started House Season 8 on Friday night...oh man did I miss Hugh Laurie!  I can't believe its the last season ugh but so excited to see what it has to offer!

He's SO the HOTT DAD type :)

Sweet Tea, Sims, & Revenge

Friday Night after we performed surgery on my hands...aka...petroleum jelly, gauze, and tape, we hung out at home.  Warmed up some Paleo Chili, I had a glass of Barefoot Sweet Red it pairs well with beef.  I am not really a wine person but have been craving it more often, I like the red wines.  I am a nerd and love the wine at church, I do not know why but I'd drink that stuff at home! HA :-P  We then tried Seagrams Sweet Tea Vodka which a lady recommended at Target mixed with lemonade.  Now, this stuff is dangerous because it does not taste like alcohol it literally only tastes like Sweet Tea.  However, it was a nice change from Jack Diet Cokes.

We watched the tv show PRANKED on MTV and discussed how we should prank each other and get it on video!!!  I really want to do this to Justin, but I need to come up with some good pranks.  Ideas are welcome, post some comments of pranks for me to do to Justin!

I told him thou, if he does prank me he needs to video it because whats the fun in only him knowing how he got me.  We might as well share with the world or at least our friends!

I also downloaded SIMs FreePlay on the iPad, can you say Nerd uhh yup!  But I forgot how much fun it is, I used to love the game back when it was on P.C. and this just brings back that pre-teen fun!  You can even play it on your iPhone and sync it with your iPad which I will have to do when I get the new iPhone5 coming soon!

Saturday, I coached Mobility again same routine as Thursday.  I am thinking I want to incorporate a day where we literally just foam roll hardcore and do some static stretching which is good for the body also.  I don't want it to get boring and be the same MobWOD every week. Afterwards, Trish convinced me (She really had to pull my leg hard...not) to work out with her.  Justin came too and we convinced Josh to stay and also endure in the pain!  It was a good day for accomplishments:  Josh did parallete Hand Stand Pushups (BEAST MODE), Justin did strict HSPUs and also figured out how to kip them, and Trish got 2 handstands!!  It was a great day for being upside down I guess lol.  I on the other hand was limited by my hands, you really realize how much you use them after you hurt them ugh.  The WOD of the day was 21-15-9 Cleans with 42-30,18 Pushups, Justin, Trish, and I all scaled our cleans to 20lb MedBall Cleans.  Josh did it at Rx.  We all did fairly well, completing in under 15 mins.  It was a nice workout because it wasn't too brutal but it got the blood flowing and sweat dripping!

In the afternoon was Kelsey's bridal shower, 1950's themed.  I did not have anything to wear so I just wore a sun dress, it worked out fine and I didn't spend any extra money (such a tight ass).  It was a very nice party, we played a few fun games and got to decorate our own mini cakes!  The even better part was that the girl hosting the party has been doing Paleo for 3 years now and everything she made was Paleo!  It was all very delicious:  bacon wrapped scallops, hardboiled eggs filled with avocado, bora bora spicy pork balls, cream cheese filled dates, olives with something not sure what, and apple crumble!  I had just eaten lunch so I didn't have too many snacks, but I ate my entire mini paleo cake that we got to decorate...it was SO good!  I love cake :)  I will definitely be getting some of those recipes from her!

I started a new show called Revenge, recommended to me by Trish.  At first, I didn't think I liked it but now I AM HOOKED!  It keeps getting better every episode.  The entire first season is on Netflix, so go go go little birdies and watch it! Second season starts up soon, my DVR will be set to record :P

Death by Pullups

What a great past 4 days I've had!!!  Besides my UBER ripped up hands which I will explain later...

Thursday was SUPER fun!  Slept for about 12 hours, woke up feeling fabulous.  Then Trish and I drove over to KoKoHead in Hawaii Kai and did the Hike!  There are about 1,100 steps I read somewhere up this mountain...  They call it "Nature's stairmaster" which is so true.  Our legs were BURNING and we were especially tired still from doing the Filthy 50 on Tuesday but we made it up there like champs!  Even beat Trish's previous time of 27 mins by 5 mins...we completed it in 22 mins, I'd say not too shabby.  But there are some crazy people that actually run up and down KoKoHead like its a cake walk...yeah...not for me!  I was drenched in my own sweat after just the once up it!  

After that I coached Mobility and did the WOD...which was 20 min AMRAP of 6 strict Shoulder Press @ 70% 1RM and row 500ms.  I did 5 rounds + 6 Presses and 263m beating Staci by 1m ha!  But she also did 70lbs where as I did 65lbs.  Strict Shoulder Press always kicks my ass...or any shoulders for that matter, I wish they were stronger.  That will come with time! Tough WOD thou after doing kokohead, my hipflexors were burnt out oofta.  

We watched 'Cabin in the Woods' Thursday night and this is one movie I DO NOT recommend, it was STUPID!  I still don't fully understand what they were trying to accomplish by that movie and the whole concept is ridiculous.  Basically, its not scary, the acting is horrible, and storyline doesn't mount up to anything.  There are a few funny parts that is about it.

Friday morning, I got up and cooked Justin breakfast.  I wanted to try these Caramel Apple Pancakes I saw on PaleOMG.  They were kind of a fail...I don't know if they were a fail on my part or that's just how the recipe is supposed to be.  But the pancake batter was SO dense, I tried adding water to make it a bit more runny like pancake batter but that did not help it just soaked up the water like a sponge...  I didn't think they tasted bad but they weren't great.  Justin said it best, "You can definitely tell these are paleo..." lol.  The best part of it was the cinnamon apples and the caramel sauce you make with it.  I could eat that stuff all day nom nom, so may be incorporating that into a different recipe would be good!  I still have some batter left over so I'm going to try using it maybe like a sandwich type deal.

The sausage looks like a penis. 

Now, the recipe that REALLY turned out GOOD was the Banana Chocolate Muffins from FastPaleo.  These were delicious, I did add Non-Paleo chocolate ha.  I had Hershey bars left over from smores and just chopped them up into pieces and threw that in the batter.  You can't go wrong with some chocolate every now and again!  Plus, it wasn't that much.  I brought these to crossfit and everyone said they were yummy...even Justin liked and like I said he's my toughest critic ugh.

OH and how could I forget, I made my own Paleo Hummus!  This was exquisite!  I was recommended to try hummus from some co-workers, which I have never had before and I was looking at the ingredients and of course regular hummus is made from chickpeas.  So therefore, I decided to google Paleo Hummus and found this amazingness recipe.  Paleo Friendly Hummus  The only thing I had to substitute was that I had maybe a 1/4 cup Mac Nuts so I filled the rest of the 1/2 cup with cashews.  I will try to get some more Mac Nuts to do the actual recipe but doing the half and half of the two, it is still really good.  I put it on my celery sticks I need to eat up and I've never eaten so many celery sticks due to this stuff! 

SOOOO ABOUT DEATH BY PULLUPS...Friday night's WOD was 9 hang snatches paired with 15 pullups...4 rounds for time...  Two movements that should never be paired together because they are two of the top movements that cause Hand Rips...  I wanted to do all my pullups Kipping because I am trying to practice that and link them.  I used lots of chalk an still ripped horribly bad.  My problem I think is the jumping onto the bar, which I need to use a step up instead for and then I grip too hard during the motion.  I need to learn the hand release to lessen my grip.  And for snatches using the hook-grip the bar was rotating hard core in the middle of my hand.  I was on the last round of 15 pullups and I seriously did not think I was going to make it, I was almost literally in tears trying to finish it out.  Lucien had get me a step ladder and purple pads for my hands but I did it.  The time cap was 20 mins and I completed it in 20:38, hand rips, tears, and all.  FML  

Not for the faint of heart.

Needless to say, Justin is investing in some gloves for us because my hands do not want to HARDEN THE F**K UP grr :-/

Improvements, Realizations, and Goals.

I have noticed A LOT of improvements lately in CrossFit, my body, and my outlook on things.

CrossFit Improvements:
1.    I finally understand how to Kip properly during Pullups and Toes to Bar.  Knees to Elbows not so much for some reason.  I have a perfect kip forward but it was the coming back I wasn't getting.  I now realize I have to basically 'pull the bar' down to my bell button when I reach the back position or else I will be exerting too much energy and lose my efficiency when I actually kip up.  Also, CORE CORE CORE.  You must keep your abs tight, body in hollow position, and feet close together does help.  When doing the motion, I try to imagine myself as a gymnast sounds lame but it really helps to get in that mindset when doing gymnastic movements!

2.    Secondly, Carl Paoli from http://gymnasticswod.com/  is a genius.  He stresses the importance of a tight core in all your movements once again and how important it is to keep a neutral neck and spine. Basically, this is stating avoid the 'Chicken Necking' syndrome...I myself am guilty of this also.  You 'chicken neck' when you want to get your chin over the bar in that pullup, or you think it will help you pull more weight up when deadlifting...both of these are false.  Keeping your neck inline with your body helps to maintain...homeostasis (for lack of a better word) but it really does.  I've been testing this theory and it does work.  It makes Pullups harder but you use less energy and it activates the proper muscles during the movement.  The skill can also be transferred to pushups, burpees, backsquats, deadlifts and many more.  Working on my deadlift...I used to look up when lifting, however this was inefficient, a buddy Rob showed me that if I keep my neck neutral and inline with my spine the lift would be more efficient and it was!  I was able to complete more reps with less fatigue and better form.  Give this a shot!

3.    I have made Kipping Handstand Pushups my BITCH!  I did about 7 yesterday, not in a row but doing 1 then getting off the wall and resetting and doing another.  Soon I should be able to link a few!

CrossFit Goals to come:
1.    Improve on Strict Pullups and Dips.
2.    More linked Kipping Pullups
3.    A Muscle-Up...need to get the above first to be able to get this guy.
4.    Strict Handstand Pushup and an Rx one either kipping or strict.  This would be 2 25# plates on each side of the ab-mat.  Which I probably can do, I'll give it a shot on Thursday :)
5.     Make improvements on my 1RMs.

Body Improvements:
1.     I've noticed that after completing the Whole30, I've actually seen more progress.  During the 30 days I didn't really see the results I wanted but you need to keep in mind it was only 30 days...it takes the body a lot longer to actually make true change.  I've been feeling stronger and I can see some Abs coming in!  And not like the 'Holocaust Child' ones I had when I was prepping for my show, but true STRONG Abs.  Plus, my arms are looking more cut and a bit bigger :)  Legs are legs ha I know they are strong but I don't see too much change in them personally.


2.     Also, eating wise I can tell what my body likes and doesn't like...well sort of.  I notice that after I eat something that I don't normally have, for example: Thai Food Saturday, Alcohol and Pop, and the meal we had at The Shack...I tend to get Acid Reflux or as the internet calls it Gastroesophageal reflux disease.  I get this feeling that food is lodged and I can't swallow it down pretty much the whole next day after having something 'not normal' to my body.  It pretty much SUCKS!  I then have to take at least 4 tums to get the feeling to subside some.  So in some respects its almost not worth eating the food if I am gonna have that feeling blah...

3.    A few things I've been incorporating back in to my diet in small quantities are Peanut Butter, Ketchup, and Protein Shakes.  I have to use up these things in my shelves before I make my own Paleo Almond Butter and Ketchup...but Protein powder well that is one thing I probably will not give up.  Also, I have been adding some dairy such as string cheese because I have one of those GIANT bags of it from Costco so I must eat it ha.  And some milk occasionally if I have a bit if NON-PALEO cereal :P.

Lastly, my realizations are that I AM HAPPY!  I love my life.  I have an Amazing Husband.  The Best Family.  The Best Friends.  An annoying yet loveable Dog, Sky.  A new found passion for CrossFit, Paleo, and cooking.  I have a good paying job.  I am making new friends here in Hawaii.  I live where it is perpetually Summer.  And who would've ever thought I'd like to Blog.  I hate the saying but YOLO, you truly only live once and why not live life to the fullest!

Carl is HOT!

Vampire Diaries Season 3 on Netflix!!!

On Sunday morning when I came into work it was slow...so I was searching through Netflix for something to watch and low and behold the most recent season of Vampire Diaries had been uploaded!!!  SO EXCITED!  I've been watching it non-stop at work, have about 11 episodes down and 10 to go...I just may finish it this week at work.  Then the new season starts up Oct. 11th, going to have to set the DVR to record that one!  This is the one thing I love about my job when it is slow and there is nothing to do, I can catch up on my TV shows as long as their on Netflix.  I can also browse a bunch of youtube videos and do all the crossfit research I want! Lucky me to be getting paid to watch TV basically, I can't really complain except for the hours suck Midnight to Noon, but on the upside I get a 3-4 day weekend every week :)

I NEED to find someone with Sons of Anarchy Season 4 ugh, but no one seems to want to borrow it to me ha.

I have quite a few TV shows I've started and NEED to finish.  Including SOA above, Breaking Bad Season 4, Grey's Anatomy (I am on season 6), House (the final Season 8), and my new friend Trish has recommended Revenge.  I looked it up, and noticed it has the girl from Everwood if anyone ever watched that show.  I believe her name is Emily Van Camp, I really liked her so I may just have to start that show too as well.  But along with my long list of TV series to watch, I have started many books ugh!  I should read the 2nd Hunger Games book and I also started the Steve Jobs book which I REALLY need to finish.  Along, with everyone telling me to read the 50 Shades of Grey series.  I need to set some goals on getting these accomplished I think!  But besides my love for TV shows, Movies, and Books of all kinds...I love cooking as you know.  This week there are a few recipes I believe I am going to make:

1.  Paleo Mayo! I want to try making Paleo Ketchup and my own Almond butter however, I am not one to put anything to waste so I want to finish my bottle of Organic Ketchup and JIF natural Peanut Butter before I buy the ingredients to make those.  The recipe I will be using, was recommended my a friend from CrossFit who states its amazing!  It can be found here:  Homemade Paleo Mayo

2.  Crockpot Breakfast!  I am trying to get Justin to like eggs, he has a thing about their texture and I think this recipe could possibly cure that as long as they eggs are cooked through and do not give off that rubbery texture eggs normally have.  Its worth a shot, if he doesn't like it well I guess I'll just be eating it hehe!  OMG Crockpot Breakfast Pie

3.  The Crockpot Chili from last week.  We loved it so much and I have enough ingredients to make it again so HELL why not! It's very delicious.

4.  Caramel Apple Pancakes!  I must be on a breakfast kick but these looked fabulous and more like dessert to me then anything.  Plus, I have dates that needed to get used up before they go bad.  I hope to try to make this for Justin Friday morning.  OMG Pancakes

I will let you know how the recipes turn out and post some reviews and maybe tips on cooking each.  Stay tuned.

Weekend Warrior

I forgot to state in my last post that another funny/romantic comedy movie I love is, 'Friends with Benefits'.  

Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis are great in this film.  They are both really funny and all of the banter between them is just perfect.  I've seen this movie multiple times but it still makes me belly laugh every time I watch it.  

Saturday morning,  I was scheduled to coach Mobility at 9:30 but noone signed up.  So Justin, Rob, and I just went through my class together and stretched out our lower back, hips/hipflexors, and ankles.  I am thinking I will probably repeat this class on Thursday for those that couldn't make it to Saturday.  You can always use hip flexor stretches because those muscles tend to get very tight in all of the movements we do in CrossFit.  Plus, almost EVERY movement we do in CrossFit involves the thrust of your Hips.  After mobility, my new found girl-friend Trish was all alone for the 10:30 WOD and we couldn't just let her go by herself that is NO FUN!  I am not going to lie however, I really wanted to do the workout anyways and helping a friend out was an added bonus :).  I found my 1RM in bench press which was 105lbs I think I can do more than that, I was watching a CrossFit.com video on youtube that said you should drive the weight up with your heels pressed firmly into the ground.  Basically, you should be ripping the floor apart with your feet engaging your core muscles, keeping your butt tight, and driving the weight up with your chest.  I want to give this a try next time and see if I can move more weight.  

The WOD was 7 Full Squat Snatches @ 60% of 1RM, 40 Double Unders, and 13 Box Jumps.  My Full Squat Snatch is only 75lbs...the movement is very technical the weight will increase as I get better at the technique.  Which I will be practicing...been watching Coach Burgener A LOT!  And we are going to purchase some PVCs to work with at home.  So for the WOD I did my snatches at 55lbs, I aimed for perfect technique on each rep.  I did 5 rounds plus 7 snatches and 20 Double Unders.  During the workout, Staci gave me a few tips to remember to not Pull to early because then I am muscling up the weight but to PULL right when I hit that 'pocket' aka a little bit above your knees and POP the hips...boom fall under the bar quickly.  I need to work on this more, once I started to do it that way it was much easier and more fluid.

I am including this video below because it is a great Instructional Slow motion version of the Snatch.

The rest of the day we stayed at the gym and helped out with Gym Maintenance day, it was fun we got to drink a bit and play with power tools....that can' t be safe lol.  It also gives Justin and I time to be together and we work well on projects, were a great team!  Just takes communication and we really have gotten much better at that.  Afterwards, we went out to Thai Village with Jed and Kelsey.  I had never had Thai food before, they couldn't believe this...but I am almost certain I never have.  Its kinda like Chinese food thou!  I had the Stir-Fried Broccoli and mixed seafood it was very good, I also had a few bites of Justin's rice.  I have been sticking to Paleo like I said 80/20, when we go out to eat I try to pick paleo options and if anything I just have a few bites of Justin's food like french fries and what not.  For example, yesterday for the Sunday Night Football game we went to The Shack in Kailua with Justin's co-worker and his wife.  I ordered the Jalapeno Chicken sandwich without the bun and a side salad instead of fries.  The sandwich came with Pepper Jack cheese which is fine because I have been including more cheese in my Paleo and the Salad came with croutons.  Also, I asked for a better option dressing but its a sports bar so of course they don't really have any healthy options!  They didn't even have salsa, which I thought was super odd!  Therefore, I got some ranch...at least I tried to get a better option.  So this whole meal was, I would say "mostly" Paleo and keyword is mostly.  I did allow myself to have a few bites of Justin's fries cause I am a sucker for potatoes!  But see its really not that hard to pick healthy options at restaurants you just have to ask, yeah they may look at you a little funny but who cares...your the one paying for it right!? ;)

I was DOG tired yesterday, didn't get much sleep before work and at work.  Then to just stay awake after work was quite difficult.  I have noticed that I need at least 4.5 hours of sleep before work.  I am going to try to stick to that!  Well that's my weekend in a nutshell.  

Friday Sickness. 2 movie reviews!

Soooo it's been a few days!  I got pretty busy it seemed, I definitely missed blogging.  It's weird...I will think of things and be like oh I should blog about that or write about that, but I am really not sure if anyone will read it or think what I think about is interesting ha.  Oh well, if anything I'll just write to myself!  Kind of like little notes or things to remember.

ANYWHO!  Friday morning,  I felt fine when I woke up but after breakfast I was just miserable.  My stomach and head were at war with one another :(  It was really not a good feeling, I felt like butt most the day. I drank about 3 liters of water and took a two hour nap in the afternoon.  After that, I felt amazing...I think because Hawaii is so warm and I constantly seem to work up a sweat here that I get dehydrated really easily.  So I will have to keep up on my water intake as much as I can.  

I did however watch two movies!  'How to Train your Dragon' and '127 Hours' both once again that I will recommend you see!  'How to Train your Dragon' was awesome, I seriously love pixar movies and when you look back at the very first one aka 'Toy Story' you can truly see the improvements they've made since then.  So remarkable.  But the movie itself was super cute and had a great message, basically to never give up on what you believe in even when everyone else seems to be doubting you.  Kids need to see and hear that message, I myself am a BIG dreamer always talking and thinking about things that I want to do or see that probably may never happen but why not dream!?  I don't see anything wrong with it.  Great example, I told Justin the other day after watching the Men's Crossfit Games Pendleton: "I will be the Fittest Woman on Earth someday."  And he looks at me and goes "I know you will."  I then told my mom this too, and she chuckled and goes, "I believe you."  I also told her, that WHEN I do become the 'Fittest Woman on Earth' that she would need to fly out to Cali to watch her daughter compete in the games and she said, "Without a doubt, I will be there."  See now, the two most important people in my life know that I may dream BIG but If I put my mind to something and commit to it that it will get accomplished, that is just who I am and I praise them for their support.  I couldn't do the things I've done without them.  Therefore, 'How to Train your Dragon' will be a must purchase for my kids when they come along!

'127 Hours' was another really good movie.  This was actually a movie that I watched where I was not on the computer facebooking or doing other things while watching it.  It kept my interest the entire time and the way it was directed was fantastic.  It had many camera effects in it that really sucked me in.  It is about a young guy who goes hiking and doesn't tell anyone where he is going.  He has done this hike many times and figured that nothing could go wrong.  Well...of course...he was wrong.  One false step and he is plunged into a crevasse in the canyon with his hand wedge between a rock and the canyon wall.  For 5 days, he recaps the many things in his life that he should have done better or changed or wish he had changed.  He thinks of all the people in his life that have supported him and how important they are.  It makes you think about all the things you have in life and not to take them for granted.  SO watch this movie!  Plus, James Franco is a stud.

Friday, I made the Paleo Chili I posted in my Food Prep blog and by Sunday night it was already gone.  So delicious.  I will be making that again for sure.  We didn't do much Friday night, went to Crossfit and I found my 1RM Box Jump Height of 33".  I want 35" ugh!  I am very close to it, I will get it soon gotta keep practicing my jump.  The WOD of the day was 20min AMRAP of 8 Toes to Bar, 16 Pushups, 12 Wall Balls.  I finally understand how to properly do T2B which made it so much easier.  **TIP**: Everything in Crossfit is about keeping your core tight!  I did 5 rounds + 8T2B + 16 PUs + 5 Wall Balls...HOWEVER, I did the entire thing wrong because I was doing 20 Wall Balls instead of 12 blah!  I don't know what I was thinking.  Still did pretty well for doing more, I also used the 14lb ball and aimed for the men's dark blue line (Practice for real life competition).  I am going to start mixing it up and using the 14lb ball at the dark blue line and then sometimes use the 20lb ball at the women's line just to get stronger in the movement.  

I was going to write about my whole weekend in one blog but this one got a little long so I will finish up my next EXCITING days in another post ha.

Food Prep and an article about 'Zone vs Paleo' in "The Box" magazine.

I wanted to show some of the things I do for Food Prep that makes Zone Paleo rather easy.  I am getting more familiar with the measurements of how much is 1 block of each protein, carbs, and fat.  Below is what I had for breakfast today, a little change from my usual!  I made a zucchini, bell pepper, onion hash with Eggs over easy or Fried eggs whatever you rather call them.  Along, with avocado.

Here is the measurements of the peppers and zucchini.  1 block peppers is 1.25 cups, 1 block of zucchini is 1.33 cups and 1 block of onions is .5 cups.  I just chop em up and as I am chopping I put them in the measuring cups for my own reference.  I only had 3 blocks of carbs at this meal.

Next, is what they looked like separated.  I sauted up the veggies in the skillet with some salt, pepper, and oregano then fried up the eggs (4 whole eggs = 4 blocks of protein).

Lastly, is the final product! All 4 eggs piled on top of the veggie hash and 4 slices of avocado roughly 4 blocks of fat.  It was so yummy.  I needed a bigger fork to pile it all in my mouth ha.

Dried apples are a great Go-To snack!  I tried soaking them in water and lemon juice before, but those just didn't taste as good.  This time I just sliced up the apples and then sprinkled them with cinnamon...WAY BETTER!

Thought this was cute, a perfect heart!

Great way to keep peppers for a really long time, cut them up and freeze them on a cooking sheet for a few hours then put them in a ziploc, BOOM peppers for easy use in any recipe!  You can also do this with onions.

Lunch Time!  Pretty standard lunch, finally finishing up my turkey burgers!  1 cup zucchini, 1 cup carrots, 1 cup grape tomatoes equals 4 blocks of carbs! 

The AMAZING Paleo Chili I made!  Which Justin loved, if he loves it then I know it must be good because he is SUPER picky.  I can't take credit for it but you can find the recipe here:  Paleo Chili

I highly recommend it! 

Thursday night's WOD: 1 RM of Full Squat Snatch: 75lbs for me, improved by 20lbs and perfect form which I was going for.  Then row 5K...barf...I completed it in 22: 54, pretty good for never doing it before!

Lastly, I wanted to say that everyone should read "The Box Magazine" July/August 2012 issue.  It has a great article on Zone Vs. Paleo and really states that incorporating both are the best of both worlds!