Fat? Get rid of it!

It has been 20 days since my last confessi blog post.  I've missed you all.  What propelled me back into my writer hat?  Fat. 

Huh?

People want to lose it.  It makes people uncomfortable in their own skin.  It makes people ashamed of how they look.  It makes people slower.  It makes people less agile, mobile, flexible...

So, why are so many fighting it...or at least saying they WANT to fight it?  An even better question, why are so many failing in their struggle against it?

The answer is not easy...or is it? 

I checked out several claims to the fattest/most obese countries in the world...and this is a problem in many countries.  America, God bless us, is right up there on all the lists.

The problem that I see really comes down to people wanting a quick fix.  Guess what?  You didn't get fat overnight, and you're certainly not going to lose it any quicker than you gained it.  There is no miracle "cure", no FAD shake or diet that will miraculously melt the weight off, no one certain exercise or gimmick piece of equipment to make you skinny.  It's going to take hard work and discipline. 

Discipline is the key ingredient.

It is the most valuable part of any diet or workout.  Discipline.

Discipline to eat healthy.  Discipline to control portions.  Discipline to workout.  Discipline to stay consistent in your workout.  Discipline to push yourself beyond your limits.  Discipline to stick to your plan.  Discipline to do all this.....even when those around you are not.

Now before I start getting an inbox full of hate mail telling me that I don't understand, or that it's not as "easy" for some people as it is for others, or that it's genetics and can't be helped...I want you to visit two people (via the interwebs).  One man, one woman who have chosen to fight genetics and being content with being overweight and are winning.  Both are chronicling their journeys on a blog to promote changing your lifestyle, because that's what this is all about.  If you want to change it cannot be short term.  You can't go on a diet for 6 weeks, lose 20 pounds, and then go back to the way you used to eat.  You can't do a 90-day challenge and then return to your former way of life.  You must make a permanent decision to change from here on out.  Check out Fat Boy Crossfit and the ongoing story of Holly, who is on the road to losing 300 pounds!

Contagious!

A friend of mine just joined John and I at the Lake County YMCA to do Crossfit workouts with us this week.  He has been active and in-shape for many years, but has never done anything like Crossfit before.  That being said, as the three of us finished our workout this morning, apparently we caught the attention of a couple other people.  On our way out we were stopped by two guys in their mid-twenties who wanted to know if we were doing Crossfit!  They were very interested and are going to come do a workout with us this Thursday.  They both said they were tired of doing the same boring stuff in the gym and wanted to do something that was functional, purposeful and "not boring".  The fever is catching and people are starting to notice a difference between Crossfitters and everyone else all over the world.  If you still don't know what Crossfit is, follow this link and find out.

The reason I do Crossfit is to get stronger, faster, and more agile and set that precedent for my family.  So far, I have seen stellar results.  Crossfit, combined with a healthy lifestyle (healthy diet and proper amounts of sleep/rest) will transform your life, and that is a guarantee you can take to the bank.

Today's workout was:
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Power Cleans (135/95)
Push Press (135/95)
Run 200m
(Got this one from the Crossfit 440 website, which is a local Crossfit box in Mentor, OH)

I did the power cleans and push press at 115 after going to almost failure the first round with 135.

And finally a shout out to my boys Henry and Ronnie for getting their Crossfit Level 1 certs this past weekend!  Way to go fellas!

Who needs Atlas Stones?

My parents had about 6 or 7 trees come down in a wind/thunder storm last Friday.  On Sunday my family and my sister's family went down to help with the clean up.

Here's just a couple of pics of the damage and the cleanup:

And, as the title of this post suggests, Who Needs Atlas Stones?  A lift by me and then one by my Pops! :)

What a goofball!

On Saturday, I did Cleans for 7x3.  My weights were 135, 135, 135, 145, 155, 175, 185 (*PR*)
For MetCon, I did a real fun one.  Run 1 mile, stopping every minute to do 10 air squats, 10 pushups, & 10 situps.  My time was 12:58.


This Monday morning I worked on the rings with John a little then started learning the Butterfly Kip per Jeremy Kinnick.  For our workout we did the Minute Pullup Ladder.  This is 1 pullup the first mintue, 2 the second, 3 the third, etc... until you can't do any more! I got 16, not a PR, but I'll take it after all the hard work we did helping out Mom and Pops yesterday!