I've been wanting to do a post on the CrossFit crew here at the house for a while now. It's a pretty significant part of my life. In March of 2011, I received my CrossFit Level 1 Certificate which gave me the knowledge and right to teach CrossFit. I originally signed up to do it for my own learning and benefit. I had several months to study for it and learn, while I continued to do CrossFit at my coach's gym.
In that time, Todd and I were nearing the completion of the construction of our home and putting in flooring and equipment to the room we designated to be our home gym. All that I was doing and learning, and the confidence and fitness I was gaining, led me to feel VERY blessed, grateful, and a bit guilty that I was able to enjoy all that and no one else could. My coach was the only CrossFit coach in the area, owning a small garage gym, and had no other openings to accept any one else, had any of my friends been interested. Some were, but couldn't find a place for their children since it was during their husband's working hours. Or they couldn't afford it because CrossFit is fairly expensive compared to your average gym membership- it includes a lot of serious equipment and (practically) personal training which makes it rather expensive.
My neighbor across the street took my children for me each workout, the class was RIGHT NEXT DOOR, and I was able to pay the fee. So it worked for me, perfectly really.
But I started to wish I could let my friends share the same joy of feeling super fit and healthy even after having several kids. People were frequently mentioning, "I need you to teach me what CrossFit is, so I can do it from home.", or similar things. I knew you really couldn't just "DO" CrossFit from home. CrossFit is not just body weight training and running. It's definitely not light dumbbells and kettle bells either. It's heavy lifts- a lot of Olympic lifts. Things you shouldn't do by yourself and need a good deal of training to do properly. It's strategic programming in a varied way- not the same few weekly routines like a P90X regimen.
So Todd and I invested in extra gym equipment and with my certification complete, I invited a couple of my closest friends to work out with me on the days I didn't have class at my coach's (he only offered classes twice a week). Then I felt bad that they weren't getting many workouts in each week while I was. So we quickly upped it to 3 times per week, and I would just not workout with them on days that I was already going to be at my coach's. I liked (still do) being coached and not on my own with my progress. (I like being pushed and I like having a coach's eye to fine tune my form as I get tired, or teach me advanced progressions of things.)
Word spread fast and soon I was up to over a dozen women. Which did not really fit the room and really limited what we could do with limited amounts of different pieces of equipment. I quickly learned the art of saying "no". Not something I have a talent for doing. It was clearly too crowded or took so many rounds of women to do a workout that my day was cut into too much and I felt it took too much time from my children and family. When several stopped coming, most because they felt too crowded, I made a cap on the group at 8 women. 4 would work out while the other 4 watched all the kids, then they'd switch. And that's how it's been, successfully, for a long time.
I did, however, stop working out with them as time went on and I could see the benefit of them being coached, the same as I benefited from that myself. Todd started doing CrossFit about that time and my sister-in-law asked to join the group around then. So I gave her my spot which kept the group at 8 people, and joined Todd for workouts with him. Which became our favorite part of the day. It's like a date night every evening and I cherish that time alone time with him. Now that he is certified, I get that coaching aspect from him too.
Todd's brothers and my siblings are all very fitness minded and they all dabble in CrossFit as much as they can with school and work and things wherever they live. Here at the house, 2 of Todd's brothers (and their wives in my group) come regularly, and a couple of Todd's good friends, as well as their dad join Todd's group on occasion.
Now, this group of people is seriously just astonishing. To see what we all can do has literally brought me to tears. It's an amazing thing to me. My ladies are such strong, disciplined women. Just about all of them can deadlift 200 lbs. or more. Almost all of them can do unassisted pull ups, LOTS of pull ups, and those that can't are CLOSE. They put up some heavy weight, sometimes more than the men, can do clean and jerks, can do snatches, they are FAST. They look great. I just don't know any other group of women that can hold a candle to them. I have my weaknesses in life, but I feel like in this one thing, I've done something good. I'm proud of these friends and their efforts. They are healthy and CrossFit is blessing their lives and their families. The only bitter thing about it is that it's exclusive to only 8 and I can't share it with more in the limited time I'm willing to give to a class.
During the month of October we did a 30 day Paleo challenge with this group and the men's group that Todd coaches. There was a national Paleo Challenge going on that month called the LuRong Paleo Challenge for affiliated gyms. We aren't an affiliated gym (costs a lot of money to be and we don't charge our friends), so we weren't eligible for the national contest's prizes, but we did our own jack pot prize. Everyone put in $10.00 at the beginning and the winner got it all in the end.
Everyone got a point for each day they followed the Paleo guidelines (no sugar, dairy, or grains, trying to eat whole/real food not processed versions of it). And we did two pre-workouts which we repeated after the 30 days, receiving points for every second shaved off in the repeat workout. The winner actually get's announced tomorrow.
I've eaten this way for health reasons (Candida Overgrowth) for 2 years now and I know it is extremely beneficial for athletic performance- getting enough protein and staying very anti-inflamed. In addition to being incredibly healing to your gut. Bloating, constipation, acid reflux, it all goes away and your waistline goes way down just in the balancing of your digestive tract. It keeps you lean without ever feeling hungry too. In one month people were averaging 5-6% body fat lost WHILE gaining muscle (fallacy that you have to lose muscle to lose fat) and several of them felt so good doing it that they've decided to keep eating close to this way indefinitely. The women were gaining 3-4 pounds of muscle in just that month! That's pretty incredible for a GUY let alone a woman.
The food break down is meat, vegetables (lots), nuts, seeds, some fruit (daily), little starch, no sugar. This way of eating is really just eating clean, giving your body a break from insulin spikes, and learning what your body can tolerate in moderation. I really think moderation is the key, but that it's important to steer away from fringe diets that clump everyone into the same category eating the same things. Every one's body tolerates different food differently. Some need more or less proteins/carbs/ or fats than others. Paleo doesn't tell you how many calories to eat or what your macro-nutrient portions have to be. You figure that out on your own. It just teaches what foods are really meant to be the staples of our diet and which are more of an occasional addition to our diets.
Things like grains are really "poor man's food" used biblically in times of famine. They keep for years and years and years. But while they do have nutritional value, they are NOT meant to be eaten 6-11 times a day by ANY means. Not even 6 times a week. There are so many reckless properties to grains that make them something to really reconsider what "moderation" means regarding them in our diets. Everyone tolerates them differently, so there really is no golden guideline as to an amount to have. But going without them completely for 30 days gives your body a chance to detox and then you can add them back in slowly to figure out what they do to you and what you can and should tolerate.
Dairy, again, lots of good qualities, but we are the only mammals who continue to demand nutrition from dairy after childhood. Most, I repeat MOST adults have dairy allergies of some form whether they've learned to pin point it yet or not. Post nasal drip, those re-occurring colds or flus, acne, bloating and other digestive issues. Try going without dairy for a while, you'll only be pleasantly surprised. It takes a portion of your immune system to digest milk and grains that goes toward performance and thriving if you omit them from your diet. This coming from a HUGE fan of whole milk with Oreo cookies.
Which leads me to sugar. There is only one good reason to ever eat sugar: psychological/emotional relief :). This does add to one's overall health in moderation by giving us quality of life.
Anyway, we snapped some pictures last week of our group. We didn't want to let too much time after the competition pass before taking it, but sadly, we were missing two of my ladies; Melissa and JaNeil. JaNeil is 8 months preggo and still coming regularly!
Every one of them are mothers- super hero moms of anywhere from 2 to 5 children! It get's a little crazy behind the scenes at my house when the mom's work out and all the little ones have a tri-weekly party play date :-) But that was kind of the point from the very beginning; A) To share an elite form of fitness that I felt selfish to keep to myself, and B)To allow moms the chance to get in shape despite the fact that it is hard when you are a busy mom AND when no gyms in the area provide child care. I only wish I could fit more than 8 of my friends in my little gym without taking more of my time. But here are 6 of them with me:
Our "mean face". I look like Lemony Snicket.
