Too old to get better? RUBISH!!

Too old to start? Too old to stop? Too old to learn? Too old to teach? Too old to be loved? To old to love? To old to be forgiven? Too old to forgive? Too old to change? Too old to conform?  Too old to _____?  I'm sure you can come up with your own.  We all have them...limiting beliefs reflective of where we are on our life line.  Courtney Dunn, with her beautiful eyes and witty tongue, not unlike another beautiful woman I love, told me I could take as much time as I wanted on the lifting platform because I am old.  AND her eyes twinkle with "Got ya!" as she says it. I love being reminded of my age...I forget it all the time. (laughing to myself at my great jokes)

Do I think I'm old? What do I think?

 "As a man thinks, so is he." Proverbs 23:7
These days I think I'm a Crossfit Games competitor and therefore I AM.

The Bridge City Beat Down is upon us.  It's my first individual competition in years. My first proving ground for I AM.  Remember my post on winning?  Remind me of it when you see me.  My spirit and soul want to be on the podium, my heart tells me top 5 and my head says top 10.  I remember what I said about winning.  I stand by it.  I'm older and wiser now.

Much wiser and grounded. We did one of the BCBC workouts on Tuesday.  I was standing there face to face with my toughest competitor.  No, not you Matt Bathgate...ME.  Allow me to digress one short moment to point out, Matt, that ONCE during the workout I reached the cone before you did. (first round of HSPUs..downhill from there on remaining in 1st place. YOU ARE AWESOME!!)  But what I'm real excited about telling you all is that while being face to face with ME, I was calm.  I can even describe it as peaceful...and that's an accomplishment when this is standing right in from of you:

This is my point...we are never too old to learn new thinking patterns, adopt new brain patterns, add a belief to our heart that overtakes less useful, less effective ones.  I was never a complete mess before a competition WOD but I remember a racing heart, very dry mouth, tight muscles as stress was  constricting my veins and shutting off oxygen flow.  This was different...and it was good. It was anticipation, excitement...and TRUST.  BUT I've been preparing for it.  Just like I'm training for those freakin', easy-to-do Bar MU's,  I'm training my brain to be better too.  

"...make every effort to add to your faith, goodness: to your goodness, knowledge: to your knowledge, self-control: to your self-control perseverance: and to perseverance, godliness: and to godliness, mutual affection: and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive..." - 2 Peter 1: 5-9

WHAT?? Ineffective and unproductive? We don't want that...no sir.  Get rid of those two nasty qualities and Bar MU's will be a breeze. So yes, I've been practising to increase in measure these qualities.  If you note the last one is love...so go ahead, hug me. 

As well I take great calm & courage from Joshua, God's mighty warrior General. The book of Joshua is not much but war and carnage.  AND rarely in Joshua'a favour but he was never shaken in his faith & belief nor was he ever defeated :

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. " - Joshua 1:9

So as old as I am, I've re-wired my brain or started the process...it's a process not a destination.  AND look at Lynn!! She's an inspiration to be young and fit forever!! Lynn turned 70 years young awhile back.  She never worked out before joining our gym. 

So BOY am I excited to get older, Courtney and take MORE time on that lifting platform.  There is still so much I am capable of.

















AND have you seen this? I look forward to joining these athletes next year.  Ask them if they feel old.

Most of all...let's remember we are never too old to laugh.  To laugh especially at ourselves. I love that Crossfit keeps me humble.  It's made me cry too...cry like a baby. But I'm not too old for that either.   Here is a snatch attempt at a PR to end this with a smile. TEAM, we have to remember to keep the video running on moments like these to find Coach Benko and get his reaction on video.  It's short but packs a punch, this attempt.

Macronutrient mayhem

A major breakthrough is not something that happens randomly. It is a combination of hard work and lots of trial and error. It comes at the price of looking silly to those around you. To do great things you must welcome and embrace failure for it is the path to greatness. Without it you cannot succeed. Know that each setback brings you closer and closer to your goal. The faster you fail the faster you will reach your desired end.          - Aaron Parkinson - Genius & my friend http://aaronparkinson.com

Aaron also says he is running to success one failure at a time as fast as he can. 

ETG. Embrace the Grind. Daniel Cormier's motto. 
https://www.facebook.com/danielcormiermma

Embrace each failure because it's meant to be on the road to your success.  I'm happy to say after failing at chest-to-bar pull-ups for ...umm... all my cross fit years. Today I did 7.  They were programmed in a WOD with back squats.  Only one round.  I stepped up to the bar and knew I would get one but was determined to string some together on this day. I hit the bar so hard on the first one the Rogue rig shook and I continued on very surprised at how easy 4 came together.  I jumped off.  What just happened and why does my sternum hurt so much? I jumped back up and easily got another 3.  Hmph! I gave a little yelp and scared the lifters on the platform in front of me. God is good. 
"You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." - James 4

I've been asking lately in a different way and I am very thankful to give praise where praise is due. 

So thank you Lord for Bar MU's.  Yes they are banded but I'm patient. (not really but I'm learning) The bands are being removed one at a time.  

Let's talk fuelling and it's challenges...'cause there are challenges.  This is an area where I have tripped and stumbled, got back up to do it all again.  

This has been a long journey for me and I continue to walk it.  This is one of those roads that never ends.  We have to look at food as fuel that makes our engine perform.  One wouldn't put a Coke in the Porsche, would one?  Well I'm here to say I've put poor fuel choices in my Porsche and paid the price.  I've read some articles about "carb addiction" being a myth.  I believe it's different for each of us.  Why?  Because what I lived was an addiction. It was ugly and really tough on every dimension of me - psychological, physical, spiritual, emotional and relational.  My body has a strong physiological reaction to carbohydrates.  I would eat a loaf of bread in one evening, edge a cake until 2/3 of it was gone but I didn't have a piece.  I was a macronutrient mess!  AND today I still work at getting it right.  I've learned the importance of ALL macronutrients being in balance to negate cravings, hunger and improve performance.  Protein, carbs,  fats & fiber....get it right and you feel amazing AND you will perform VERY well - psychologically , physically, spiritually, emotionally and relationally.  I've discovered the various macronutrients that suit my body.  The ones that don't cause inflammation, gassy tummy, fatigue & trigger cravings. AND when you get it right, it's awesome...so get out there and find your macronutrient profile. It gets confusing for sure...but that's where you pay attention to YOUR body.  Pay attention to performance, to pain, to fatigue, to mood, to sexual prowess (indeed!), to your happiness level.   

So how do I handle eating enough to maintain muscle & performance but not too much to support fat?  I track. The tracking is crucial.  Oh, did you miss that? The tracking is CRUCIAL. There's a tall, handsome, very fit guy at Synergy who can vouch for what I say. If you have no how idea how many grams of protein you are getting, how much water you REALLY drink in a day, how many grams of carbs you are ACTUALLY eating in a day, you are likely in macronutrient shambles.  It takes extra time in the beginning but it WILL become part of your schedule like laundry.  AND feeling GOOD is addicting.  I get asked, "Don't you get bored with what you eat?" My answer is, "Do you mean do I get bored with feeling good? No I do not."  

This is serious...even the Good Book has something to say about tracking what you eat:

When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
    observe carefully what is before you,
2 and put a knife to your throat
    if you are given to appetite. - Psalm 23:2

SO just DO IT!!  Get into your macronutrients. Set an appointment with Dawn, Start eating to live, not living to eat!!  You'll thank me. 

Lifting PR or Scale PR

My friend Nicole said this to me the other day at the gym.  She thought it would be great to hear more conversations at the gym about PR numbers than scale numbers.  "How did your back squat go? Did you PR"? vs "You look like you lost weight." Nicole hit the bulls eye with that thought.  "Dieting down" takes us down a slippery slope of slowed metabolism, less muscle, and eventually a higher fat percentage on our new size 6 body.  This leads to less energy to get to the gym, subsequently decreased serotonin, possible depression and before we know it, size 16 or 18 is back. So what's the answer?  Let's focus on performance: better press, better back squat, better FRAN :) And forget about the scale. 

What the scale says really doesn't concern me.  Performance does. If I'm performing well, I'm lookin' fine. AND if I'm performing well, I MUST be eating well.  My body, your body cannot perform without proper fuelling.  Let me clarify the scale statement.  95% of the time I don't care what the number is.  There is 5 % of the time I think "How would I feel, look, perform if was 5 lbs leaner?"  I didn't say "lighter", I said "leaner".  That means less fat on my body and maybe more muscle.  My point being let's focus on being healthy, on learning what that means because then the number on the scale will be healthy. 

I like the following quote...it says so much:

Leanness is the natural side effect of excellent health. Excellent health is the natural side effect of good nutrition. Good nutrition is the natural side effect of choice & habit. Choice & habit are reflections of WHO WE ARE. 

And I really like this quote:

Everything is permissible for me - but not all is beneficial. Everything is permissible but I will not be mastered by anything.  Therefore honour God with your body.  
- 1 Corinthians 6:16

Coming from a past of over-eating & bingeing, files chock full of these habits are still present. They simply don't get opened because I have replaced them with other files that open sooner when choices about eating need to be made.  This didn't happen overnight..it took a long time. Is it worth it? To commit to change, to conscious action to create new files, new habits?  YES it is.  As long as you have a reason, a desire to change, the initial discomfort is worth it.  For me at first, it was wanting to be an honest role model for my children, and honest to myself.  Today my children are excellent role models for me.  AND my reason has become a little more personal.  I want to go back to the Crossfit Games. That WILL NOT happen by showing up at the gym and training hard ... WITHOUT eating for that training.  

Next post... more eating details.  Until then let's eat & train for PRs!   

Competition Week

Yes indeed.  It's competition week for me!

First one in 2-ish years...and I'm pretty darn excited.  Let me set the stage for you.

I'm in Maine, Topsham ME to be exact. The box is Crossfit 321.  http://www.crossfit321.com/

My crossfit coach daughter, Justine Chabot and her hubby, Dan Pelletier live here. And their English Bulldog, Stella.

I will be spending time with them for 7 days. Justine is personal training as I write this at Women's Fitness Studio & Spa, an all women's gym, where she shares her talents as a coach. So very easy for me to go to work with her and see her in action transforming lives. Dan works for the Federal Government in Veteran Affairs.  Not so easy for me to tag along with him. 

When I was booking this trip Justine mentioned that it covered the weekend of Crossfit 321's Summer Throwdown. Well that was settled.  Flight got booked, Justine found me a Master's partner and here I am.  My daughter is very talented, definitely in line to take over the world as she moves toward her potential.  Finding me a partner was very strategic on her part.  Where I lack, she made sure to fill the gap. She partnered me with an ex-gymnast, someone very springy and swingy.  Susan, my dearly loved partner who I haven't met yet, I love her for one reason I'll get to, has been in contact over FB with me.  She actually apologized for only being able to hit 105 on the announced bar complex. And quickly added she loves burpees and C2B pullups.  I'm thinking in my head, NO PROBLEM.  I'll cover the bar complex, you do C2B pullups.  I also know Susan competed at a Master's Track & Field competition and got 2nd.  She was disappointed because she wanted 1st. There it is...the reason I know we will get along.  When there is a 1st place up for grabs, there is nothing to do but go after it.

Yes, winning!! If you are uncomfortable with that word, you just haven't explored it, batted it around in your head, made peace with it.  I have...I think I have come to peace with winning...and loving winning. I say "I think" because it will get tested as I move into a competition year.

Let's use this all women's gym that I am at right now. It's definitely NOT crossfit...no snatches and clean & jerks, no shirtless men for sure :), no shirtless woman either!! There are no pull up bars, rings or boxes.  There are lots of cardio machines, hand weights and various other fitness paraphernalia.  What I am witnessing is lots of friendly chatter, people of all ages and sizes getting their bodies off the couch and moving...AND lots of smiles. This is winning...they are all winning.

For me winning includes a dimension that may be present in all these female fitness enthusiasts here this morning, I just wouldn't know unless I asked them.  That dimension for me is, each time I use my talents in the gym (we ALL have them), have I given 120%, did I do my BEST? Did I honor what God gave me with a matching dose of commitment and attitude? Did I do my BEST? That's my gage, my determining factor for winning.  Now of course the question begging to be asked...can I finish 2nd, 5th or 10th and say that? That's what will be tested this year as I compete again.  Coach Benko and I have stared eye to eye on this with a few words added in on many occasions. As I've grown older and wiser will I admit to him being right on some points? OK, yes! See? If you know me, I'm making progress!

Back to this weekend and the Summer Throwdown.  I am smiling right now as I type just thinking about all the sweaty bodies finding one more gear to get one more rep, go just a little faster as the clock ticks down, block out the lactic acid burning...and my partner Susan and I are part of it. What's on the line here? The same thing that's on the line as I walk into the gym every day.  Did I do my best? Did I learn something about myself? Did I push to fail 'cause if I don't fail how do I know where my line is? And if I don't know where that line is how do I know if I'm getting better? 

See? Winning is growing...and we are created to grow...grow old, grow wise, grow to be our BEST. My goal this year is to be as intense as I ever was while adding a big dose of love & gratitude for what I have been given & therefore, can accomplish. 

These pros say it very well.

"Winning isn't everything - but wanting to win is." - Vince Lombadi
"Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength." - Phil Jackson
"The glory is being happy. The glory is not winning here or winning there. The glory is enjoying practicing, enjoy every day, enjoy working hard, trying to be a better player than before."
- Rahael Nadal