FIGHT GONE BAD V

Well, it's that time of year again, and I'm ready to rumble!

I'm fundraising for Fight Gone Bad V, a "fun" and grueling event that is taking place on Saturday, September 25th that helps raise funds for 3 great causes:

LIVESTRONG (Lance Armstrong's charitable foundation for the fight against testicular and other cancers), Wounded Warrior Project (a non-profit group which helps wounded soldiers and their families get back on their feet when tours of duty are ended), and the CrossFit Foundation (which raises money for other charities and spread the wealth among them (Operation Phoenix, etc).

THE EVENT ITSELF:

The event format is the Fight Gone Bad CrossFit format:
In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. The event is in the 3 round format.

The stations are:
Wall-ball: 20 pound ball, 10 ft target. (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull: 75 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump: 20″ box (Reps)
Push-press: 75 pounds (Reps)
Row: calories (Calories)
The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. On call of “rotate,” the athlete/s must move to next station immediately for good score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.

Here if a video link and explanation of FGB V by coach Glassman

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1471175174570526588

Please support me!

To donate go to:

http://www.fgb5.org/donate?name-contains=Alexandra

Thanks :D

You've Come A Long Way Baby....

" Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm" -- Winston Churchill

While training a new client this week I was reminded of something very important: as athletes and fitness buffs we always want to get faster, stronger, more efficient, perform, and be better athletes; but we must not forget what we went through to get where we currently are, that every failed lift is a lesson, and every small improvement is a victory.

If I look back at my own training past it amazes me how far I have come. To give you an idea here is a little timeline:

As a kid growing up I was a physical, adventurous child. My mom always said that I never learned how to walk: I went from crawling to running. I hated to be confined to a playpen, I needed to run, jump, and do summersaults in the back yard.

When I saw older kids diving off the high board at the pool, I was in awe and practiced (belly flop after belly flop) fearlessly until I could swan off the high board.

20 odd years ago: I used my bike as transportation everywhere, but I got sidetracked from health and I smokes cigarettes in high school. I weighed 115 lbs had no muscle tone, and had a hard time doing 10 shoulder presses with a 5 lb dumbbells. The teen age years were somewhat of a health disaster.

13 years ago a quit smoking, graduated from university, started swimming, and told myself I would get healthy and fit. I had a hard time getting through a 60 minute step and tone class, and did no weight training.

1o years ago I did my first triathlon and loved it! I felt like I accomplished something, I continued to train for triathlon, became quite a good swimmer; but still no weight training

7 years ago I started paddling (dragon boating) and started weight training. I could bench 65 lbs, could do 3 push ups, did not lower body weight training. None. I became a trainer and fitness instructor.

5 years ago I was paddling at a fairly competitive level, my 1 rep max bench press was up to 140lbs, and I could do 13 strict pull ups. Still no lower body work. I was teaching between 10-20 fitness classes a week like spinning, boot camp, etc...

1 year ago I started to train at CrossFit Montreal. It was the first time I started doing barbell weighted squats... 80 lbs was challenging. I learned new skills, started to dead lift, perform olympic lifts and was thinking about technique before weight.

Every WOD (Workout Of the Day) was incredibly challenging and I needed to scale most weights and was not able to do any workout "Rx" (as prescribed with the full weight). My legs were permanently sore, I could not do a proper double under (double skip), could not do a muscle up, kipping pull up, and a 24 Kg kettlebell scared me.

I still have lots of work that I need to do ( see previous post about my "bucket list" of stuff to work on) to improve my performance and lift more, more efficiently; but I also need to allow myself to feel good about accomplishment up until now and take a moment to see how far I have come.

I can do kipping and butterfly pull ups, I can do muscle ups, I can do push ups, clapping push ups. I can dead lift 200lbs ( compared to other women, it's not so huge, but compared to where I started , it's huge for me!), I can back squat 150 lbs, front squat 125 lbs, over head squat 125 lbs, split jerk 145 lbs, and I can do 95% of the WODs as prescribed.

The trend that I see over the past decade or so is that I kept going, kept trying, tried new things, worked harder to better myself, remained consistent, and never gave up.

Some days are hard, some performances are disappointing, some workouts are overwhelming, but as long as you keep learning about what you did wrong, and try again to work at bettering yourself, you're ahead of the game.

Almond Flour Peach Blueberry Cobbler

Almond flour: Made from finely ground toasted blanched almonds; it's from a nut so it contains no gluten, is low on the glycemic index, and is full of heart healthy fats.

If you're looking at keeping "paleo", or have a sensitive tummy or gluten allergies, it is a great alternative for baking and cooking. No need to skip dessert!

Blueberry Peach Cobbler

6-8 medium ripe peaches skin on, pitted, and sliced
1/2 pint of blueberries
3/4 cup of almond flour
1/3 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1 Tbsp on lemon juice
3 Tbsp organic honey
2 tsp cinnamon

Mix slices peaches and blueberries in a 9X9" baking pan sprayed with PAM.
Drizzle the honey over the fruit
Mix coconut, almond flour, and cinnamon in a bowl and sprinkle over fruit....shake the baking pan so some of the flour sifts down.

Bake at 350°F for 30-35 minutes

Serve warm (it's yummiest!, but it's good cold too)

For more great ideas check out www.elanaspantry.com or check out my links sidebar :)

My Bucket List

Things I REALLY need to work on:

Squat Cleans
Hang Squat Cleans
Squat Snatch
Dead Lift (need to get stronger!)
Back Squats
...anything "squatty"!
Hand Stand Push Ups
Muscle Up Multiples
Running Speed
Thrusters

Things I must not forget to practice here and there:

Box Jumps (so easily forgotten!)
Working with one side (1 armed anything: overhead squat, snatch, clean...)
Toes to bar
Wall Balls

I'm sure there are more, but it's already a pretty hefty start!

Training Bucket List

Everyone should have one. Without one, weaknesses are easy to deny, forget, and make excuses for.
What I'm talking about is a list of things that really need attention: the lack of sleep, working on your hang squat cleans, avoiding to work on thruters because you really , REALLY don't like them...
Everyone has a few chinks in the armour that need to be seen to, and the truth is as human beings we tend to chose the path of least resistance...we concentrate on what comes naturally, what makes us feel good about ourselves, and what we're ultimately good at.

Avoiding the elements we don't like as much only reinforces our dislike for them because by avoiding them, we don't improve, get stronger, nor will we ever if we keep on delaying working on them.
So go ahead, make a list of the elements you need to improve on , and go out there and practice them!
I'll be posting mine tomorrow!