The Beginning...

Eat meat and vegatables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not boy fat. Practice and train major lifts: deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast. Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinatiosn and patters as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. keep workouts short and intense. Regularly learn and play new sports.


Yep that sums it up, fitness in 100 words or less. This was written on the back of the shirt that was handed to me last Friday night at the EPOC 2010 Goal Setting Meeting. I will adapt these principles strickly for the next 8 weeks and hopefully for the rest of my life. I will train hard, eat clean and see results.

Before I go into explaining all this crazy talk, let me back up to June 2009 when I made a VERY wise decision and joined Crossfit ...life changing experience. With an amazing, woman and athlete whom I'm very lucky to have as one of my cloest friends, Melisa, we started T/Th 6:30am CF Bootcamp at Jack and Adams. Lisa would put us through workouts that would leave us, as I like to say "hurt so good". Each workout was a new challenging experience which I craved; how much faster can I go? How much harder can I push myself? These thoughts and questions lead me to taking Elements (3 sessions that explain the concepts and proper lifting technique of a variety of exercies). This was my ticket to "indoor". In July Melisa and I moved to indoor classes, and became 2 of the first participants to take on the T/Th 5:30am (huge difference from 6:30am) at the Runtex location; we were even lucky enough to keep Lisa as a coach! These workouts are different than the boot camp ones and allow us to do numerous more exercises. Within 3-4 months of being indoor I was able to do a kipping pull-up (scroll down); and still can. I cannot even beging to list the strength improvements I have seen. We have a great 5:30am group. Rumor has it we are the most motivated, high intensity class at the Runtex location!

Now lets jump ahead to January 2010 when I decided to become a part of this crazy 8 week challenge that I am looking forward to... I AM CROSSFIT E.P.O.C. Challenge. Just to brief you, I am one of 150 crossfitters participating. We all have been split up in to groups and those into teams, I am Team 3. We are challenged with food logging, following Paleo way of eating, then adding additional workouts to our already crossfit workouts. My direct coach is Travis (who also was a great addition to our indoor class for a few months), and my other team coachs are Mike and Jen, both amazing! My team and coaches will offer me support and guidance as I take on the next 8 weeks...and no doubt after that. These people are already in addtion to my friends, family, current crossfit coach, Lisa, as well as my 5:30am-ers. How lucky am I?

I bet you are all wondering what on earth EPOC is, right? Well it stands Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption, mainly what is your body doing post workout? To prevent me from writing a loooong paragraph here, just check out the link!

Finally, for the reason of writing/starting this blog. I am asking for support from you. Thanks to my love of foods such as m&ms, chips n salsa, etc and the way margaritas, wine and vodka (not as a combo) taste....this isn't going to be easy for me. Please don't hold back any reminders of why I'm doing this challenge or the results I hope to see. Please encourage me to do just one more round of exercises or to pick up the bar and make it move. Please feel free to give me "a look" when I complain about anything, because this challenge is my choice and I do want results. I will use this blog to update you on what I'm doing and how I feel as I take on these next 8 weeks and possibly make these lifestyle changes.