If you’re new to these posts, listen to this podcast first and then you can read days 1, 2 and 3 to help this one make a little more sense!
I’ll tell ya what: nothing makes me more grateful for a good night of sleep than a bad one! I slept so much better last night.
I woke up before my alarm around 4:05am and went straight for the coffee.
My morning routine is super important to me – I’ve talked about it at length on the podcast and I emphasize it within every Fat Loss Fast Track. I begin my day with gratitude, meditation, journaling and a little movement. The movement isn’t a workout, it’s a set amount of time (just a couple minutes) of either stretching, yoga or body weight movements like squats & pushups. Here are the things I wrote I was grateful for this morning:
- My courage and willingness to get uncomfortable (that’s what this is all about!)
- Proximity to my sister – it was no big deal to drive 40 minutes yesterday to see her for 5. I love her so much and after living far away from her for nearly 16 years, it’s so awesome to be close again.
- Practice in redirecting my thoughts. Every painful or sad or nervous thought is an opportunity to prove I am stronger than those thoughts, I am in control of those thoughts and the practice makes redirection easier & more automatic.
As usual, it’s straight to work after my morning routine. I’ll work straight up until the time I leave for the gym.
I’m excited by today’s workout structure. It’s a day of working on weaknesses. I’ve never been a part of a gym or worked with a coach who set aside a day, on a regular basis, to dial down the intensity and do skill development in areas of weakness.
This isn’t a workout about elevating my heart rate or pushing limits – it’s about picking a couple of movements where I feel weak or unpracticed and really working on form & mechanics.
I went with double unders and ring rows. Prior to this week I wouldn’t have said ring rows were an area of weakness or lack of practice. However, during my Elements day, I learned a different way to do these and it felt really awkward and much harder than the way I had been doing them. It was a different way of engaging my lats by pushing down on the rings that I hadn’t done before so I need practice.
As for double unders – I’m a good jump roper when we’re talking single jumps but my double unders need practice.
The workout was a 20 minute EMOM (every minute on the minute) so minute 1 was double unders and minute 2 was ring rows (repeated 10x).
I love being coached. I love immediately implementing suggestions and seeing what happens. That’s different from just collecting information and continuing to do it my way. Here’s what I know: these people are fitter and stronger than I am. “My way” isn’t going to get me where I want to go…
Post workout thoughts: so uh, limits were pushed and heart rate was elevated.
I surprised myself with the double unders. I worked hard, stayed focused and did far better than I thought I would. The ring rows took a lot of focus. It would have been easy to just pump them out with crappy form but keeping all the mechanics in mind – the new stuff I learned on Monday – took a tremendous amount of focus and muscle control. Great practice!
I did some mobility work with a lacrosse ball & gemini to keep my muscles loose & healthy and iced my knee after the workout. I have a huge tube sock filled with uncooked rice that I microwave for heat therapy. Somehow, despite the fact that the sock has caught on fire repeatedly, it’s still in 1 piece. I cross my fingers every time I hit “start” when it’s in the microwave. #usecaution
Time to get back to work…
I’m doubling down on my meditation today – I incorporated a couple short afternoon sessions because I’m working on a stressful project and I find it helpful to step back, slow down, breathe a little and center myself. I’m always looking to replace inner chaos with inner calm. That takes deliberate effort.
On the food front:
Because today’s workout is less intense than yesterday’s, I’ll eat accordingly. There’s a chance that I feel more hungry today because of yesterday’s hard workout, but I’m betting I won’t. So, I’ll eat less than yesterday.
You’ll notice that yesterday there was a fair amount of snacking (cashews, cheese, seeds, Halo Top) and that’s influenced by two things: where I’m at in my cycle and the intensity of yesterday’s workout.
I’m intentionally keeping my food choices more simple today.
I found myself staring into the fridge a few times this am and reminded myself, “Elizabeth, relax. You’re not even hungry. You’re procrastinating. You’ll enjoy the food more when you’re actually hungry.”
I started to feel hungry around 9:30am but decided to take a shower & do a Daily Motivations Podcast – sure enough, the hunger sensation passed. My confidence is growing re: knowing that this isn’t true hunger and my body doesn’t need fuel this early in the day.
I’ll go into the skills training workout on an empty stomach, even though I’m a little hungry. “A little hungry” isn’t a demand for me to eat. It’s just an awareness. I don’t have to respond to every twinge of hunger.
After the workout (around 2pm) I came home to make a cabbage salad bowl. I’ve written about it here. It’s absolutely one of my faves!
In my OXO Salad Chopper I mash together red & green cabbage, avocado, sunflower seeds and eggs. I skipped the bacon today.
Dinner last night was so good & filling I’m going with a repeat. I put all my Paleo Power Meals in the freezer before my move so instead of reheating the previously frozen stuffed pepper, I’m emptying the insides (ground beef, veal, bacon, carmelized onions & mushrooms) into a skilled & mixing it up with cauli rice. So freakin’ good & easy. If you guys want to try Paleo Power Meals, they’ve given me a coupon code to share with you guys – it’s ebprimal20 and saves you 20% off your first order. I did a full review of them on episode 273 of the podcast.
No Halo Top for me tonight – I don’t want to make it a habit and I was less active than normal today so my body definitely doesn’t need the extra fuel!
Check in with you guys tomorrow! I think the workout is going to be a beast…I can’t wait! 😉
Love you so much!