Nākd Bars: A Healthy & Delicious Snack

I always struggle to find healthy snacks. Sure, nuts are tasty, but they're easy to overeat. You start with one almond and then the next thing you know you've consumed half of your caloric intake for the day in nuts. Fruit is good, but not very filling and sometimes tricky to transport. Beef jerky is one of my favorites, but the grocery store brands have tons of sodium and other ingredients I can't pronounce, and making jerky at home is a complicated process. 

Recently, I had the opportunity to sample Nākd healthy snacks, they're made by a British company devoted to increasing world happiness with yummy healthy snacks. Since I was competing in the Girls on Girls Partner Throwdown last weekend, I figured I'd share them with my fellow hungry athletes. Lots of folks in the CrossFit community try to eat paleo, and luckily Nākd bars are both gluten and dairy free and have no added sugars. Check out more photos and my full review below.

Girls on Girls CrossFit Competition

Check out all of these smokin' hot ladies (plus David and baby Leo.) On Saturday, we all headed to CrossFit Harmony in Newtown Square for the Girls on Girls II Partner Throwdown. We represented seven of the 54 teams and one of our teams even took first place! Woot woot! It was such a fun day, filled with some solid workouts, a lot of laying in the sun and hanging out with friends, and some quality baby snuggling. Check out more photos below.

Pure bad assery

If you follow me on Instagram or we're friends on Facebook, you might have seen a teaser from a photo shoot I participated in this weekend. One of the members of our gym is a super talented photographer and she had an idea for a shot that would showcase some of our strong and beautiful female athletes. The photo shoot was so much fun! We all started out a little nervous and stiff, but we quickly loosened up and had fun with it. The end result is the photos above which show strong, healthy and confident women and that's the perfect way to portray how CrossFit Manayunk will make you feel. 

Check out more behind the scenes shots below, and on the photographer's blog: Peachy Pie, Sugar Plum, Sweet Petunia Blossom

CrossFit 2 St. takes on 14.5

On Saturday morning, I headed to CrossFit 2 St. in Pennsport (sister gym to CrossFit Manayunk) and cheered on some of our athletes that were taking on the last workout of the CrossFit Open, and believe me, 14.5 was a big dirty biotch. The workout was a combination of thrusters and burpee bar jump overs, and it was a burner! It was really amazing to see newer and experienced athletes attack the workout and completely push themselves to the limit. What I love most about our gyms is that no matter whether you've met the person next to you or not, you feel compelled to cheer them on and support them. See more photos from the workout (and post workout shindig) below. 

CrossFit Maternity Photos of Kristin

Meet my workout partna', Kristin. She and I went through a grueling eight-week olympic lifting program together last summer before she decided to go and get knocked up! Kristin is a total inspiration for future mamas everywhere, she continues to workout on a regular basis. She's scaled back on certain movements but is in her ninth month of pregnancy and still going strong! The most impressive thing about this lady is that she has unbelievable energy and enthusiasm. Just when you think you can't put in one more rep in a workout, Coach Kristin will yell your name, and you just have to push take little harder. We set aside a little time to do a maternity photo shoot at the gym this weekend (my first official photography gig) to capture this wonder woman in action.

Also, if you want to get your butt whipped into shape by this mama right here, she's opening a new gym this spring in East Norriton, PA! Visit www.crossfitmontco.com to learn more or sign up!

Finding motivation to work out when it's frikkin' freezing

Believe me, I get it... It's hard to find the motivation to go to the gym when it's 10 below and one deep breath outside makes you feel like your nose hairs and lungs are frozen. But, if you want to meet your fitness goals in 2014 (here are mine) you don't have a moment to lose. I know for me, one unplanned day off from the gym is the beginning of a slippery slope to a week off... 

Here are some tips to stay motivated to hit the gym during the winter months: 

• Don't sit down! I usually go to the gym after work. First, I stop home to do a quick clothing change and then I hightail it out of there to try and make the 6 o'clock class. The key is to not sit down or get too comfortable, otherwise that one minute of relaxation on the couch turns into hours of watching the Real Housewives while dipping pretzels into a jar of nutella.... wait... is that just me?
• Set out your workout gear in advance. Have everything ready to go when you get home or if you're one of those psychos that works out before dawn, set out your stuff the night before. You're less likely to be mulling around trying to find that sports bra or fresh pair of socks if you get it all ready to go in advance. Or even better, go straight to the gym from work and have your stuff packed in your car.
• Dress appropriately. Maybe your gym has heat... you lucky duck, you. Mine doesn't. So that means I need to layer appropriately. Usually I start with three shirts and two pairs of pants that slowly but surely get stripped down as I go through the workout. 
• Set your gym schedule in advance. Know which days you're going to work out for the week and put them in your calendar. This way you can plan other activities (grocery shopping, happy hour, etc.) around your workout schedule.
• No excuses, play like a champion. I'll be honest, sometimes there's a little dusting of snow on the ground and I'm all like, "I can't possibly go to the gym now, it's a blizzard out there -- far too unsafe!" But really, that's just an excuse. Whether you're not feeling 100 percent healthy or the weather is not cooperating, don't allow yourself to make silly excuses. However, if weather is truly a factor, or you're actually sick, it might be the safe bet to stay home, but you should still do something physically active at home. Yoga, a home wod (pushups, air squats and situps), zumba, sex, whatever... just because you're stuck inside doesn't mean that you can't get in a little heavy breathing!
• Make your gym your second home. This is a little trickier and takes some more time, but basically if you immerse yourself in the culture of the gym and get to know the people there, you'll probably feel more motivated to go. This means that you have to take off your headphones every once in a while, talk to people, put yourself out there and attend a social event being hosted by the gym. Not all gyms are built equal in this category, so if the community aspect is really important to you, it may take some shopping around. Most CrossFit gyms have a great community or family atmosphere, and even some traditional smaller/family-owned gyms are the same way. Cue the shameless plug: if you're in the Philadelphia/Manayunk area, I highly recommend CrossFit Manayunk or CrossFit 2 St because, well, they are the best. 

And just to prove that I practice what I preach, here's a little clip of my workout from yesterday (Four hang power cleans and three burpees, every minute on the minute for 22 minutes!) 

You'll notice the pile of clothes on the rig... I'm like an onion, I have layers. 

CrossFit Manayunk wins... at life

I've said it before and I'll say it again, my gym rocks. It's not just because the programming is good and the coaches are awesome (although both of those things are true.) It's because the people are welcoming and fun and they don't take themselves too seriously. A bunch of folks from the gym are part of a competition league called the Liberty Box League with other CrossFit gyms from around Philadelphia. Competitions are held every Saturday for five weeks and then there is a championship competition the first weekend in November. Since Saturday was our first week hosting at CrossFit Manyunk, we wanted to make it memorable. In addition to having a stellar cheering section, we hosted a post-event barbecue and potluck. Also, because both our advanced and novice teams kicked butt, we celebrated our victory with a lot of alcoholic beverages and an epic game of Catch Phrase. 

The top-secret secret to a shapely butt

Photo from Muscle & Fitness Hers

Shhhhhhh.... 

I'm about to tell you a secret. 

Honestly, you can't share this with anyone. This is just going to stay between us. If people everywhere got a hold of this information it would be catastrophic.

The secret to a plump, perky and perfectly JLo-esque derrière is..... wait for it.....

True Confession: I Cried at the Gym

Yup. You read that title right. I bawled my eyes out last night...
At the gym. 
In front of everyone. 

To make a long story short, I failed at something yesterday. And it totally sucked.

I'm not a big crier so, to me, this is kind of a big deal. I probably cry maybe five times a year (and I'm not counting those times I tear up for a sappy commercial or a heartfelt romcom, those aren't real cries). But serious cries are usually the result of death, pain, or an emotional breakdown typically induced by exhaustion.

So which category did last night's fall into? Most definitely it was an emotional breakdown induced by exhaustion. 

Update on My 2013 Goals

You may have seen my New Year, New Goals post shortly after we rang in the new year. I figured I should give you an update on where I stand with those goals since we are a quarter way through the year already. Whaaat?? How did that happen? 

Career:

There are quite a few developments in this area. I recently accepted a position with another company, yipppeee! After almost three years with my previous company, it was time for a change. In this new position, I will be able to focus on the areas of marketing and communications that I find most rewarding, and I will also be able to manage a larger team, which is awesome. Long story short, I did not start taking training courses on Photoshop to improve my graphic design skills, BUT I think a new job is a pretty big accomplishment!

Personal & Relationship: 
Maybe I should ask BryGuy his opinion on this but I do think that I've done a better job on my listening skills and not being defensive as a first reaction. 

(Update, since I just asked him: BryGuy says he hasn't really noticed a change since the New Year so apparently I need to work harder!)

I also wanted to do something nice for him on a daily basis...hmmm I kind of forgot that I wrote that goal. But I do find myself consciously choosing to do things that I know will make him happy. Like, throwing in a load of laundry when I get home, or wiping down the bathroom. (If that didn't give it away, I'm the messier one). 

One Year of CrossFitting

I looked at the calendar today and realized that it's exactly one year, to the day, that I started CrossFit. And oh, what a year it has been. When we first started, BryGuy and I had signed up for a membership that allowed us to go to classes twice a week. The workouts were posted online so I could see what was in store for me later that day. Honestly, it would give me anxiety. How was I going to make it through that workout? What was that move again? Sometimes, if it was a workout that I was uncomfortable with, I would just decide to go another day that week. (Real talk: I'm scared to try new things. Always have been.)

On the days I was determined to go, a.k.a. BryGuy was making me, I would be thinking about the workout all day long – looking up videos online if I wasn't sure what the movement/exercise was. I would get home from work, change my clothes, and the butterflies in my stomach would start. At that time, our gym was on the fourth floor of a storage unit and while climbing those stairs I was seriously wondering if I should just turn around and go back home. Luckily, BryGuy is fearless in situations like this, and he was always right next to me, dragging my ass up the stairs and telling me, "It's not that bad, you'll be fine." 

New Year, New Goals

I have mixed feelings about New Years resolutions. On the one hand, I don't think that I have to wait until the first day of a new year to decide that I'm going to make some changes in my life. On the other hand, I understand the  importance of the milestone, a new year means renewed focus. Now is as good a time as any to start making changes and setting some new goals. 

I'm a firm believer that you have to be held accountable for your goals, or you'll find excuses not to achieve them. So, here are mine, I'm laying it out there for you. Periodically, I'll check back in and update you on the status of my goals and accomplishments throughout 2013. 

2013 Goals/Resolutions for Marissa:

Career

• Take online workshops and courses to improve skills in graphic design and video editing 
• Bring a renewed energy to my current job, go in with a positive mental attitude and creative ideas

Personal & Relationship 

• Work on listening skills and making sure that my first reaction in a conflict is not to be defensive
• Do something nice for the hubbers on a daily basis

Toes to Bar

Health & Fitness

• Get to the gym three times per week
• Stick to the paleo diet Monday through Friday
• Be able to do pull ups (without resistance assistance band), toes to bar, and hand stand push ups 
• Compete in at least one CrossFit competition

Financial 

• Save money towards a down payment on a home (yes, I have an exact dollar goal, but I'm not sharing that with you nosy folks)
• Start a retirement savings account. (I can hear you now, *gasp* "You don't have a retirement account?!?" Well I did have one at a previous job, but when I started my new position in Philly a few years back I never set one up or moved my funds over from my previous account. So, I'll be doing that this year.)

Blog

• Set aside more time to focus on the blog and post at least twice a week. Lucky you, you'll be hearing from me more often.

Fitting in a Workout During the Holidays

'Twas the day before Christmas and all through the house, cookies were baking, and I sat on the couch with my spouse (clearly, poetry is not my forte). The truth is, we were feeling a little sluggish after a few days weeks of not eating the most nutritious of foods and a less than consistent work out regimen. We decided that it was time to get moving. 

Rather than paying a cool $20 per person to go to a CrossFit class at our home-town affiliate we decided to do an at-home workout. That's one thing I love about CrossFit, many of the exercises you can do in the comfort of your own home. Pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, kettle bell swings, running, jump rope and burpees all require little or no equipment.

BryGuy and I started brainstorming what type of workout we could do. Given our space constraints we decided to take our workout into the front yard, and embarrass ourselves in front of all of my parent's neighbors. 

Here is our pre-Christmas workout, which we appropriately named, Earn Those Cookies. So if you happen to be stuck somewhere without access to a gym and want to do a quick workout, here's what we did. 

"Earn Those Cookies"
Workout of the Day (WOD) 12/24/12 

50-40-30-20-10
Double unders on the jump rope (meaning the rope makes two rotations for every jump)
Sit-ups

Between each set of dubs and sit-ups perform 10 burpees and run 100 meters 

Dubs first!

Then sit ups.

Followed by 10 burpees

Then a 100 meter run.

And repeat many times.

This photo makes me chuckle because it looks like BryGuy is dead,
but I swear, he's working out here.

BryGuy finished in an impressive 17 minutes and 10 seconds
I took slightly longer (my dubs blew chunks that day...) 20 minutes and 40 seconds.

Attention Women! It’s Time to Start Pumping Iron

Take a moment to pause on the hamster wheel, put down your celebrity gossip magazine and read this post. Here’s the thing, for a long time I was the girl spending the entire gym session on the elliptical or treadmill and then maybe dedicating 10-15 minutes to get on some weight machines. So, I get where your head's at. 

There were a few things holding me back from really dedicating time to weight lifting:

1. I was concerned about what other people were thinking. Do they think I’m lifting too light/heavy? Am I doing the movement right? Are my pants see-through? All of these ridiculous things that go through my head...
2. I was only comfortable doing the machines or movements I knew how to do. I went through the same “weight lifting” routine every time I was at the gym. Quad machine, hamstring machine, highly inappropriate ad/abductor machines (the ones that make you look like you’re at the gyno), a few curls, bench press with dumbbells, and a few other random exercises. Looking back, I realize how most of them were targeting a single muscle, not a whole group of muscles, and I wasn't lifting weights that were particularly challenging. So, I really was not working very efficiently in the time that I was weight lifting.
3. I was primarily focused on the calorie burn! The cardio machines give you this lovely little number that tells you how many calories you’re burning. I was aware that the number was totally inaccurate, and yet I still lived by it. 400 calories!?! That makes up for the ice cream I ate last night, only 300 more to go to cancel out that bag of chips I ate at lunch. I couldn’t as easily “quantify” the calories I was burning during my weight lifting time, so it became less valuable.

Here’s where I was wrong (and I only learned to believe this when I actually started doing it. So I fully understand that you’re probably going to read this and ignore it). With weight training you will see results in far less time than you will on the cardio machine. Whether you’re trying to tone up or lose pounds, it’s going to happen faster when you get serious about lifting weights. I’m so tired of hearing the “lighter weights, more reps helps tone muscles”, “heavy weight, less reps helps build muscle” bologna. That’s just not true. Heavier weights = more calorie burn and muscle production. More muscle = higher metabolism and less fat. Boom.

Here’s the fact. You’re NOT going to look like this, unless you’re trying to look like this:

You can, however, look like this (toned and feminine):

Stop being scared, stop being a headcase, start reading some magazines that talk about weight lifting, and start lifting! One of my favorite fitness magazines is Oxygen - these women are strong, healthy, and toned, but they look perfectly normal and attractive in everyday clothing.

My husband recently sent me this article: 10 Things Women Weight Lifters Should Know I think it’s a good mental prep article. Although, I’ve never cried at the gym, and I’ve yet to pee myself...but at least I have those things to look forward to.