Lead a Fit and Healthy Life
Archive for May, 2011
Age is nothing but a number
07 months ago
At age 74, will you look as good as Ernestine Shepherd, the oldest competitive female bodybuilder?
Very inspiring lady — no doubt, but read closely and the hard work she puts into it. Especially when it comes to what she eats. It’s not easy to be in this sort of shape but even half in shape as she is – is worth it. You are never too young to make a change —
“Age is nothing but a number,” Shepherd says assuredly into the microphone. She has been featured in Essence, on the “Today” show and local television in Baltimore. Last fall, she appeared on “The Mo’Nique Show,” explaining fitness and aging. “We can do it! Why?” Shepherd asks. “Because we are determined, dedicated and disciplined to be fit. You can. You can do it.”
Workout Time
07 months ago
This morning – sore & tired, I still headed into CrossFit. Today is gymnastics day and I love those days!
Warmup
50 DUs
—-
10 Pass Thrus
10 OH Squats
10 Good Mornings
10 Trunk Extensions
10 Cherry Pickers
Wrist mobility
Skill
Hand stands
Hand Stands on the Parralettes (where I promptly landed wrong and whacked my shins! Ouch.)
WOD
15,12,9
80# Front Squat
Parralette Shoot Thrus
time: 7:29
Yeah, I’m tired. Front squats seemed extra hard today.
Honoring Murph at CrossFit
0Yesterday was a great day. I headed to CrossFit Impavidus for their Memorial Day ‘Murph’ WOD. I did ‘Murph‘ last April and the weather was pleasant. Yesterday – not so pleasant. Hot, Humid, Hot — but this was a great WOD, and great way to honor a real hero. We started the day with National Anthem and read about Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy,, who was killed in Afghanistan June 28th, 2005. To do Murph with all the fellow athletes, many of them military — it took it to a bigger level.
So my Murph time for yesterday: 53:10. It was brutal. We were all drenched in sweat and just completely wiped out. We did a post WOD potluck as well – full of paleo and non-paleo food. It was really fun and great to spend time with some great people outside of the brutal body beatings aka WODs.
I got home and had to get ready for a small cook out – We invited some neighbors over. I love having people over because it forces you to clean up your house. Hannah walked in from the pool and said ‘Mom, the house is so clean and orderly.’ I said – let’s keep it this way ok? Easier said than done! Great cookout, great friends, great food. I even made homemade strawberry ice cream with strawberries picked from Great Country Farm. It was a great day — and I slept great last night!
Your Commute Could Kill You
07 months ago
This week, researchers at Umea University in Sweden released a startling finding: Couples in which one partner commutes for longer than 45 minutes are 40 percent likelier to divorce. The Swedes could not say why. Perhaps long-distance commuters tend to be poorer or less educated, both conditions that make divorce more common. Perhaps long transit times exacerbate corrosive marital inequalities, with one partner overburdened by child care and the other overburdened by work. But perhaps the Swedes are just telling us something we all already know, which is that commuting is bad for you. Awful, in fact.
Changes in the Food Pyramid
08 months ago
Goodbye Food Pyramid, Hello Dinner Plate
The Obama administration is about to ditch the food pyramid, that symbol of healthy eating for the last two decades. In its place officials are dishing up a simple, plate-shaped symbol, sliced into wedges for the basic food groups and half-filled with fruits and vegetables.
The circular plate, which will be unveiled Thursday, is meant to give consumers a fast, easily grasped reminder of the basics of a healthy diet. It consists of four colored sections, for fruits, vegetables, grains and protein, according to several people who have been briefed on the change. Beside the plate is a smaller circle for dairy, suggesting a glass of low-fat milk or perhaps a yogurt cup.
CrossFit Impavidus Weekend Workout
0
Memorial Day weekend is here! I headed to CrossFit Impavidus for their free weekend workout. I have said this before but I like the open community workouts because I get to see some of the people that go to CFI at other times during the week. I am a 6A girl, so I rarely get to see the evening folks.
Once again- Coach Lori created a great, challenging WOD for the gang to do. It keeps you moving and you feel exhausted at the end – the way you should.
Warmup
Dynamic Stretching
Tire Flipping in Teams
WOD
5m AMRAP
50m run/7 push ups
50m run/7 lunges
–1m rest–
5m AMRAP
50m run/7 air squats
50m run/7 pull ups
–1m rest–
5m AMRAP
50m run/7 burpees
50m run/7 Knees to elbow
Totals
Round 1=7
Round 2=4
Round 3=3
Push Up Challenge
15# plate on back 24
Push ups (no plate) 5
Push ups on knees 10
total: 39
It was a great day at CrossFit. If you aren’t busy this weekend and are in the Ashburn area, stop by CFI on Monday at 9A for a special WOD called ‘Murph’ -
“Memorial Day Murph” at CrossFit Impavidus
Monday, May 30.
Start time: 9A
Post Murph Pot Luck- at the box.
(Pot luck theme: lite brunch type food )
Show your support and head to CrossFit Impavidus Monday 9AM.
Find out more about Memorial Day Murph and how to register to become an official participant of The 2011 Memorial Day Murph.
Strength Day Workout
08 months ago
I am so mentally ready for this weekend. I have been under a lot of stress at work – not in a bad way, just in a way too much work to do way. I haven’t been sleeping well and I have noticed my eating has definitely been not what it should be — I have been still staying away from gluten but have been snacking on gluten free foods. I know well and good that doesn’t equal healthy. Stress eating=not good.
Today’s workout was strength focused. Normally I dont LOVE these types of days, but I know that in order to make larger gains, they are necessary. We are so conditioned to think that all cardio/heavy breathing type workouts are the only way to get a good workout. It’s the strength days that make those possible.
Colleen, a CFI athlete, brought her dad in to use the rower while we did the WOD. Later during the workout, she told me he was 89 years old. No way anyone would have guessed that age. He is in amazing shape and did the rower the entire time. He will be 90 in 4 months. I asked him if he always worked out — he said he started running at 46 years old. Colleen has had a great role model in her formative years. He made sure to tell me how Colleen held records in high school track and one of them still stands today. He is also a veteran — so hat’s off to him for also giving of himself for our country. It was a great honor to meet him this morning.
Another great example of how it’s never too late to start
Warmupx2
Sampson Stretch
10 Pass Thrus
10 Whirly Birds
10 Hip Whirly Birds
10 Pull Ups
10 OHS
30 Double Unders
Skill
Burgener warmup
Split Jerk
WOD
Shoulder press 1-1-1-1-1 reps
Push press 3-3-3-3-3 reps
Split Jerk 5-5-5-5-5 reps
Results:
75 lbs, 80 lbs, 80 lbs, 85 lbs, 85 lbs
75 lbs, 80 lbs, 85 lbs, 90 lbs, 95 lbs
75 lbs, 80 lbs, 80 lbs, 85 lbs, and 85 lbs
Your work is making you fat
08 months ago
Workplace Cited as a New Source of Rise in Obesity
Looking beyond poor eating habits and a couch-potato lifestyle, a group of researchers has found a new culprit in the obesity epidemic: the American workplace.
A sweeping review of shifts in the labor force since 1960 suggests that a sizable portion of the national weight gain can be explained by declining physical activity during the workday. Jobs requiring moderate physical activity, which accounted for 50 percent of the labor market in 1960, have plummeted to just 20 percent.
The remaining 80 percent of jobs, the researchers report, are sedentary or require only light activity. The shift translates to an average decline of 120 to 140 calories a day in physical activity, closely matching the nation’s steady weight gain over the past five decades, according to the report, published Wednesday in the journal PLoS One.
Today, an estimated one in three Americans are obese. Researchers caution that workplace physical activity most likely accounts for only one piece of the obesity puzzle, and that diet, lifestyle and genetics all play important roles.
