Fitness, Xfit Style

Last Thursday, I joined our local Crossfit branch.

If you don't know what Crossfit is, then visit this website: http://www.crossfit.com. Basically, it's the grown up big brother to most of my training styles and philosophies.

I joined it for several reasons: the first, I absolutely love Crossfit workout styles, so when I noticed that there was a Xfit in town, I wanted to jump on it. Second, I knew I would learn a TON doing these workouts. Several new moves, ways to motivate, making sure MY form was perfect, etc. Third, I feel like I'm STILL working on getting my fitness levels back up to where they were almost two years ago. I wanted someone to push me, kick my butt, pick me up and tell me to keep going. I consistently apply that principle to the bootcamp classes I teach, and it allows people to increase fitness and results almost magically. It is something that is missed quite regularly when people are hemming and hawwing about whether they should get a personal trainer, join a bootcamp class, or do Crossfit.

So, as of this morning, I've done my third official Xfit workout. Damn. 1. I am SO much more out of shape than I'd care to be. 2. I've done more pull-ups in the past 8 days than I have ever done in my life. 3. I went from 18 mm on the calipers to 16 mm at the same time.

Yep, the calipers bumped back up to 18 about two weeks ago, and were pretty stubborn about staying there, so the fact that they dropped back to 16 in the course of 1 week was awesome (to give you something to compare to, most of my clients see 1 mm/week drops in the calipers).

Here's the real secret though: I worked out 6 days last week, 4 the week before, and the food, while not awesome, has been supportive. I intend to sit down and plan out some menus, because that's when the real magic occurs for me. And the chocolate sitting on the dishwasher is going into hiding.

Some great recipes:
Banana Awesomeness
1 scoop Prograde Protein Powder (because it's the awesome in taste)
1 frozen banana
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
8 oz water

Blend all together and enjoy. Alternatively you can put the blended awesomeness into the freezer for an hour or so and come out with ice cream.

Tacos Egg-strordinaire, Mexi-style
2 whole eggs, 2 egg whites
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder (alt: chili flakes)
1 tsp garlic powder (alt: minced garlic)
2 corn tortillas, warmed in wet paper towel in the microwave for 20-30 sec
1-2 tbsp cottage cheese
1/4 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup salsa
opt: 1 tbsp taco sauce

Blend (whip) eggs, seasonings, and cottage cheese together and make as scrambled eggs. Warm tortillas. Place scrambled eggs on tortillas and garnish with salsa, cheese, and taco sauce. To add more veggies, cook an onion, peppers, or more salsa into the scrambled egg mixture. Enjoy!