Kirsten Captures

Monday, December 17th 

Monday I worked at the office all day then went back to Chorus! I went to just pick up our CD we recorded last year but ended up staying and singing and then going to dinner with everybody. It was great! It felt good to sing again. It also felt good to hear our CD!

We worked so hard it this past spring. It was nice to hear the fruits of our labor!

Tuesday, December 19th

Peter flew in from China at 5:30pm so I made sure to shop at my favorite health food store and get in a good workout before picking him up at the airport. Even though I hated my first Kombucha experienced, I saw it on the shelf and decided to give it another go. This time I went with ginger, my favorite flavor.

It was actually good! I don’t think I’ll be chugging these on a regular basis but they are tasty enough to be enjoyed every once and awhile. They help your gut too which is a plus.

At the gym I chose another random WOD from The Traveling WOD and got to work.

WOD

50 Situps

40 Side Step Squats

30 4 Count Flutter Kicks

20 Push Ups

30 4 Count Flutter Kicks

40 Side Step Squats

50 Push Ups

This WOD was pretty fun and I finished in 12.09. I was excited to do some side stepping squats in preparation for our ski trip! I hope my legs and feet are strong enough to withstand all that action on the slopes! 

Now I want to talk about some recent revelations I’ve had about fitness, body image, and of course, Crossfit.

How Crossfit transformed my relationship with my body:

If you follow me on Instagram, you probably already see all the photos on my blog! Sorry about that. And you probably also saw me post this picture:

I don’t take too many body selfies mostly because I don’t think they help me or my followers. Why should I compare myself to others?

Sometimes I get bombarded by pictures of strong, fit, and beautiful women who are constantly tracking their progress of fat loss, muscle hypertrophy, etc. with pictures and then stating they want to look tighter, bigger, smaller, and so on and so forth. While I applaud these women on their fit lifestyle and goals, this type of tracking and intense body scrutiny is just not for me.

I also have to ask, is there an end? Unless you are working towards a figure competition, why is there so much focus on improving your appearance by whatever standards you are setting for yourself?

I realize now that Crossfit has transformed my relationship with my body. Before Crossfit, I was fixated on fat loss and growing certain muscles for aesthetic reasons. Each lifting session, treadmill run, and spin class were a means of reaching the goals I had set for the appearance of my body. It was a depressing cycle that left me tired, injured, and not seeing the results I craved. You know why? Because I was fixated on seeing results.

With Crossfit, I am working out like I used to do in gymnastics. I am swinging from bars, rolling around on the floor, ripping my hands, and lifting some seriously heavy weights. During each WOD I focus on my performance. How fast can I go? How heavy can I lift? How many burpees can I do in a row? (not many! yet!). At the end of the WOD I record my time and any modifications I made.

After 2 months of Crossfit, I can feel results. I feel how much stronger I am. I feel that I can do much more, much faster without my lungs bursting out of my chest. I can do push ups on my toes. I can do kipping pull ups. I can deadlift 180 pounds! I feel my body more and more able to do anything I put my mind to. Best of all, I am down to 4-6 workouts a week instead of 5-6 and I actually rest on rest days. Funny concept right?

And amazingly, the physical results that I can see have followed suit. When I took the picture above I was shocked at how strong, lean, and fit I looked! This realization came out of nowhere. Now I am in no way super lean and cut because that would take too much diet restriction. I do not feel my best restricting my food intake. I love food too much!

But now I understand that in order to look your best, you must first feel your best. Fitness is about the journey and not the destination. My goal on this life-long journey of fitness is to feel comfortable, strong, and beautiful in my own skin.

A hot bod is just a plus 😉