Thursday, August 2, 2012

Hurtling: Overcoming Health and Fitness Road-blocks

Time for a little honesty:

I know this challenge was mainly designed to help me get "back on track" with my healthy lifestyle. And while I feel as if I have been fairly dedicated to following the rules Harper explicitly lays out in his book I know I have not been as strictly adherent to them as I probably should be. There are two conclusions I draw from this: first, I consider myself to be a fairly healthy person. I'm not super rigid about my diet and perhaps I should be a little less lax. Second, I'm not sure I can reap the full benefits of these rules, in the sense of seeing clear changes, because I'm already a pretty healthy person. I'm not in any medical danger due to my size, nor would I consider myself (the BMI doesn't either) "overweight".

Therefore, I think I need to change my approach to achieving my goals. What I really want to focus on right now is getting leaner and stronger. When I think about the time I felt happiest with myself I immediately think of when I was at my strongest. I wasn't worried if I missed a workout or decided to splurge a little while out with friends. At the same time I was also more conscientious of sticking to a cleaner diet and a stricter gym routine.

So how do I get back to where I was? Well as I mentioned in my first post, I enjoy challenging myself physically and my newest challenge is CrossFit! I'm really really excited (and unbelievable nervous!) to start the program. I've been very interested in CrossFit for about six months now. Groupon just sent me an offer for a local CrossFit facility (http://www.crossfitanax.com) so I thought, "its now or... once I get a better income!" I love the idea of mixing intense strengthening moves with high-intensity cardio bursts. Since I'm not great at balancing these two out, I think following a program (and having  instructors pushing me to my limits) will help me achieve my over-all goal.

I still don't know very much about CrossFit so I'm sure I'll need to do some more research before classes begin. Walking into a session without a mild understanding of the concept of CrossFit just doesn't seem like a wise thing to do. These workouts are intense and I don't want to be surprised, or scared... too much! Anyone with any CrossFit experience or tips feel free to leave comments!!