Year of Push: 1.1 Snow Suit at the Pool

by | Feb 27, 2017 | Blog

It’s a push year. I’ve announced to my email list and my podcast listeners that 2017 is a year of “push” towards my physical transformation goals & personal fitness.

For any of this to make sense to you, please listen to episode 302 of the Primal Potential podcast.

Today is my first day at the new gym. This gym is home of the cream of the crop in terms of fitness and motivation. It’s intimidating. I am absolutely gaining mental strength every time I step in here.

I kinda feel like I showed up at a Playboy bunny pool party wearing a snow suit.

These girls are like cover models – they routinely workout in booty shorts and bras. Today, I showed up in long black yoga pants, a 3/4 length shirt, a sweatshirt and my jacket. Oh hi. Like my outfit?

I think I missed the “No Pants” sign.

The first person I see when I walk in? Freakin’ Katrin Davidsdottir! CrossFit Games winner & one of the fittest women in the world. Heeeyyyyyyyy.

It’s easy to slip into self-doubt and insecurity. It’s easy to tell myself I don’t belong. But it’s a great reminder for me to keep my eyes on my own work. I’m not on their journey, I’m on mine. This is about my growth. This is about my progress. This is about me.

I’m not competing with them. I’m here to crush my comfort zone and reach my potential. The higher the fitness level & motivation of those around me, the better.

Gotta remember that. Constantly. This is why I’m here.

__________________

This isn’t the kind of gym where you can just walk in and start working out.

When I went in earlier this week, they signed me up for Elements, which is basically a 4-part skills & fitness assessment prior to taking classes with other members/athletes.

For better or worse, they weren’t starting another Elements session for a couple more weeks but they agreed to let me take the 4 Elements classes 1-on-1 with one of the coaches so I didn’t have to wait. Today was day 1.

Within about 10 minutes of going through some of the basics, my coach said he thought I’d test out in 2 sessions – sweet!

We worked through squats, deadlifts, the Olympic lifts like power clean, hang clean & snatch. We did some drills with strict press, push press & push jerk and then did some skills assessments with pushups, kipping movements for pull-ups and ring rows. We did these drills for just over an hour. I learned a lot and made some great adjustments to my form.

Then we did a simple, short workout as the last part of the assessment: a 7 minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of wall balls (to the 9 ft target), burpees with an overhead clap and ring rows.

As my coach was explaining the workout, he said the goal was to go unbroken throughout (no rest, no pause). When we were discussing the setup (feet position) for the ring rows, he reminded me of a great workout construct:

Mechanics first. Consistency second. Intensity third.

Make sure form is good first and foremost. Don’t add weight or speed until the mechanics are solid.

Then, are you consistent with that form at higher reps?

Only then add intensity (speed or weight).

That construct helped me really stay focused on great form throughout.

(Keep in mind guys – that construct can ABSOLUTELY be applied to your eating habits. Do you have the mechanics down? Do you have those fundamentals and are you applying them consistently? Don’t go for “intense” strategies or try to add more complexity until you’ve mastered the basics and you’re executing them consistently!)

After the workout, he informed me that I tested out of Elements in the first session! I’m super excited!

I snuck a pic of the board where we worked through some of the fundamentals: squat, deadlift, olympic lifts, gymnastic movements, pushup, pull-up, wall balls.

I’m full of nervous excitement.

My first full blown class is tomorrow!


On the food front:

I don’t usually eat much in the mornings. I’m not very hungry in the AM. If I am, I’ll eat, but I enjoy listening to my body to figure out when it needs food. I also really enjoy holding out on that first wave or two of hunger to see if it stays or goes. It usually fades away within a matter of minutes. I’m always on a quest to understand that.

I woke up at 5 this morning and drank coffee while I worked from 5:30a-12:30p.

From 5-5:30 I did some journaling, meditation and reading.

Prior to heading to the gym, I ate a bacon/egg “muffin” from Paleo Power Meals. I was only mildly hungry but I don’t know what this workout will entail & I didn’t want to be distracted by hunger. (If you guys want to try Paleo Power Meals, make sure to use the coupon code ebprimal20 to save 20% on your first order.)

Around 12:30 I headed out to the gym (in my snow suit).

I’m really glad I ate before I went – I didn’t think I’d be there for 90+ minutes!

I’m not hungry after the workout so I sat down to write this post and drink some La Croix before my 4p client call. I think I might take myself out to Whole Foods for an early dinner after that call. I still have no furniture in my place so it’s hard to relax here.

It’s about 6pm and I’m pretty hungry. I did go by Whole Foods and picked up a container of shredded cabbage that I’m going to toss in my Oxo Salad Bowl (fave kitchen tool ever) and mash up with hardboiled eggs, guac & nuts. After that I’m gonna have a little bit of Halo Top.

I’m already tired and hoping to be in bed by 9:30 tonight.

I love you guys & I’m excited to share this journey with you.


Side note:

What you guys can expect in these daily posts:

  • my workouts
  • what I eat
  • how I’m feeling
  • doubts, insecurities, struggles, setbacks, wins
  • what results I’m experiencing
  • video

I am super excited to begin creating regular videos for you guys over the  next few weeks. Ultimately, I’m looking to hire a videographer but for now I’ll be creating them myself. I’ll post them here and on the new Primal Potential YouTube channel.

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