Believe

For the past few weeks I have felt an overwhelming amount of gratitude for my life, and for my career. I am not sure where it is coming from, all I know is I have been feeling high-on-life. My career is at an all time best-I wake up at 3:30AM jumping out of bed excited to see those athletes who are ready to work, sweat, and start their day off right! I feel a special bond, and protectiveness for each and every class I coach, and for every member I am coaching! Every hour of work, doesn't even come close to feeling like 'work'!

Due to this shift in my life I decided to get a new tattoo. It is a reminder to myself, and those around me to ALWAYS believe. Believe in something greater than you-believe in your goals-believe in the struggles it takes to get there-believe in hard-work-believe in your personal power to achieve anything you put your mind to-believe in YOURSELF!

I believe…..

In God, and in my faith
In my marriage
In my children
In health, fitness, and nutrition
In CrossFit
In forgiveness
In pain and hardship, for which there would be no compassion
In human kindness
In hard work
In education
In honesty
In giving
In myself

And last, but NOT least, I believe in YOU!

A little something to help you be a better you!

A little something to help you be a better you!

I was doing some reading this morning, and found this old gem.  A few of these we have all heard many times, but every once in awhile we need a friendly reminder. 

Take a few minutes out of your day, and a enjoy these helpful tips to be a better you. :)

ONE. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

TWO. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.

THREE. Don't believe all you hear.

FOUR. When you say, 'I love you,' mean it.

FIVE. When you say, 'I'm sorry,' look the person in the eye. And mean it.

SIX. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.

SEVEN. Believe in love at first sight.

EIGHT. Never laugh at anyone's dreams. People who don't have dreams don't have much.

NINE... Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.

TEN.. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.

ELEVEN. Don't judge people by their relatives.

TWELVE. Talk slowly but think quickly.

THIRTEEN. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, 'Why do you want to know?'

FOURTEEN. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

FIFTEEN. Say 'bless you' when you hear someone sneeze.

SIXTEEN. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.

SEVENTEEN. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions.

EIGHTEEN. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

NINETEEN. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

TWENTY. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice

TWENTY- ONE. Spend some time alone.

Paleo sweetness for your sweetheart!

FUDGE ESPRESSO BROWNIES {GRAIN FREE, NUT FREE}

PREP TIME

15 mins

COOK TIME

30 mins

TOTAL TIME

45 mins

Fudge Dark Chocolate Espresso Brownies (Grain free, Gluten Free, Legume Free, and Refined Sugar Free)

Author: Sharon

Serves: 9

INGREDIENTS

For the Brownie

·         6 Tablespoons of Pastured Butter

·         6 ounces of Solid Semisweet Chocolate

·         2 Tablespoons of Packed Coconut Flour (20g)

·         ¼ cup plus 2 Tablespoons of Tapioca Flour (45g)

·         1 cup of Sucanat or Palm Sugar (165g)

·         ¼ cup of Strong Hot Coffee

·         ¼ cup of Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (30g)

·         2 Eggs

·         ½ teaspoon of Baking Soda

·         ¼ teaspoon of Kosher Salt

·         Extra butter for pan greasing

For the Mocha Frosting

·         ¼ cup of Pastured Butter, melted

·         ¼ cup of Pastured Butter, softened

·         ¼ cup of Strong Hot Coffee

·         ¾ cup of Sucanat or Palm Sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

For the Brownie

1.    Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease an 8x8 baking pan and line with parchment paper.

2.    Ensure eggs are at room temperature. You may run them under warm water for about 10 seconds while shelled.

3.    Gently melt the semisweet chocolate and butter in a double boiler. You may use the microwave at 50% heat at 30 second intervals with intermittent stirring.

4.    Stir in the coffee and unsweetened cocoa powder.

5.    Measure the sugar and coconut flour and add to a food processor. Give a few pulses to make a superfine texture.

6.    Sift together the superfine coconut flour, sugar, tapioca flour, baking soda, and salt.

7.    Beat the eggs and add the dry ingredients. Beat until combined

8.    Add the rest of the wet ingredients and beat until incorporated.

9.    Pour the batter into the lined 8x8 pan.

10.  Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350F until a toothpick inserted into the center of the batter comes out clean.

11.  When done, remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes.

For the Mocha Frosting

1.    Measure the sugar and add to the food processor. Give a few pulses to make a superfine texture.

2.    Gently heat the sugar with the ¼ cup of melted butter and coffee until dissolved or mostly dissolved.

3.    Refrigerate the mixture for a few hours. It will look terrible at this stage, but don't despair. It is beneficial, but not necessary, to mix every now and then while cooling.

4.    When the mixture is cold enough, beat in the softened butter 1T at a time on high speed. I find the hand mixer best for this task.

 http://www.paleofondue.com/2013/07/15/fudgy-espresso-brownies-grain-free-nut-free/

Pre and Post Workout!

If you are anything like me, you may find yourself getting overwhelmed by the amount of supplements you "should" and "should not" be taking, as well as feeling broke-broke-broke! I am going to try and make this as easy as possible for you by sharing what I personally use and trust.

Think about this, you spend time, and money on training 2+ days every week, and if you're one of the smart kiddos, you put a lot of effort into your nutrition, which also takes time and money.  But are you fueling your body with what it needs before and after your workout? Are you getting everything you possibly can out of the extreme work you just put your body through? These are important questions for you to ask yourself. If you have paged through you WOD journal to find that you have not made the kind of progress you had hoped for, you may need to add a couple supplements to the mix. If you have less energy before your workout, or feel it is taking days to really recover from your workout, then I HIGHLY recommend you invest in pre-post workout supplements.

Here are my favorite Pre-Workout and  Recovery-Workout. They are distributed by the same trusted company I use for my fish oil, and whey protein. Stronger. Faster. Healthier. creates amazing products for us athletes, I cannot speak highly enough about them!!

• Stimulates drive and focus for demanding training
• Provides Energy
• Endurance Enhancers
• Hydration
• Antioxidant Protection
• BCAA for protein Synthesis

For my Recovery (post workout) nothing beats....

·  Multi-component mixture of co-enzyme Q10, ribose and carnitine increases mitochondria productivity and maximizes cell energy.

·  Amino acids build muscles naturally.

·  Creatine boosts energy.

·  Glutamine helps with muscle recovery and maintenance.

·  Glucosamine sulfate* and chondroitin sulfate helps maintain joint health and flexibility.

·  Carnitine facilitates the transport of fats into mitochrondria for oxidation and ATP generation.

·  Leucine and isoleucine may promote muscle strength, volume and synthesis.

·  Ribose increases ATP synthesis/cellular energy.

·  Taurine may prevent muscle fatigue and atrophy

Both of these products come in different flavors, are sold at CrossFit Round Rock, and are my BEST recommendation for anyone who is training regularly!!

That ahhh-haa moment....

Update! I few weeks ago I posted a blog about my determination in returning to #ATEAM #CFRR coaches workout sessions.  Just as I predicted, great things have happened!

First, I am completely convinced of the importance in mobility. Hands down, best thing you can do for your body pre and post workout! I can absolutely feel a difference when I take the time to mobilize!

Second to that, listening to your body!  If you catch the flu, and push yourself to workout, you are seriously asking your body to do too much. You need to rest! Trust me, I understand the frustration. Being told I cant workout and need to chill is like taking my birthday away from me, but, if you want to recover faster, and get back into the gym, sit your sick little tushy down and get better!

Here is my biggest ahhh-haa moment thus far, just yesterday it finally sunk in! I have said it a hundred times, not just to myself, but to so many other people! You can imagine what it must have felt like when I actually truly understood it!

Ready?!.....

Reaching your goals takes hard work and most of all.....TIME!  I can honestly say it took me nearly a year to get to where I feel I am strong.  Keep in mind this is MY standard of strong, not any one else's. Comparing yourself to others (as natural as it is for some of us) is unproductive, and harmful to our self-worth. So I urge you not to do this, no matter where you are as an athlete. 

This is where it gets really exciting! I can't wait for my next workout-I am thrilled to log my food to see what is working, and what isn't.   What will my next PR be?  I need new, bigger goals!  I haven't felt this motivated in awhile, and it feels soooooo damn good!!

I dont know where you are as an athlete, but if by chance you are feeling like you're just not getting there, PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP! I promise if you keep working at it, you will reach your goals!

Now.....go register for the CrossFit Open!! Let's come together even more as a community and kick some CF ass!!

 

CrossFit Open (repost)

This morning I was spending some free time reading blogs, and doing my normal search for any useful info. on all things health and fitness. I stumbled onto this great little blog written about the upcoming CrossFit Open. It's short, sweet, and I love  Allison Truscheit's points of view. 

I hope you can get out of it, as much as I did. :)

Open registration is almost here, and CrossFitters across the nation have greeted the Games season opener with anxiety, trepidation, groans, moans and an overall negativity.

Stop it.

The Open, even more so this year, is a qualifier for a very small percentage of the participants. For the other 100,000 or more of you, there is very little pressure. Just like every other day of the year, it’s an opportunity to create goals and attack them, to test yourself and compare your performance to last year, and an opportunity to expect your best performance possible. What makes this different from any other day? There is no need to inflict unnecessary pressure on yourself and destructively compare yourself to Games athletes who have made this their livelihood and job. If you expect the best from yourself every day and enjoy exercising with your friends, the Open is just another day of doing what you love.

More than individual accomplishments, however, the Open is a celebration of the global CrossFit community. Teenagers in Thailand are doing the same workouts as Masters in Spain, and they’re doing the same workouts as Jason Khalipa in California. At no point does any other sport do this. Whether you do CrossFit as a way to satisfy your competitive energy, simply to stay in shape or as a way to break down mental barriers, the Open is a celebration of the individual and collective transformations, journeys, improvements and obsessions that we’ve developed for this community and methodology.

Use this time to create a wealth of positivity in the gym rather than resentment, competitiveness between members and cheating. Look at the Open for what it is — it’s allowing CrossFit Headquarters to unite us all for five weeks. The Open is coming whether you like it or not; choose to embrace it — and for goodness sake, get excited!

---

Allison Truscheit is the owner of CrossFit Synapse in North Hollywood, California. She is also a two-time Southern California Regional competitor, who placed seventh in 2013, a nationally ranked competitor for USA Weightlifting, a CrossFit Level-1 trainer, a USAW Sports Performance coach and a YogaWorks 200-hour yoga teacher.

Categories: Crossfit Blogs.

Tags: CrossFit open, CrossFit Open 2015

By Allison Truscheit CFL-1

8 weeks. 1 goal. #reborn

2015 is here, a new start to a New Year!! Most of the people around you have declared their goals to live a happier-healthier-better life. You, yourself most likely have a few things you would like to improve on. And honestly, is there a better time to make those changes and improvements than at the beginning of a new year?!

I am most excited for the 35 athletes at CrossFit Round Rock who made the commitment to our yearly #REBORN challenge!! For those of you who do not know what the #REBORN challenge is, I will give you a few highlights....it is 8 weeks, each athlete is in a small group with one coach. Our #REBORNers commit to a clean, Paleo diet (I prefer lifestyle) and of course weekly workouts. Everyone is required to log their food daily and will receive feedback from their coach. Measurements, body comps, pictures, and a bench mark workout are done at the beginning and end of our 8 week challenge. 

The results for those who give 100% are remarkable!! This is my second year witnessing these athletes taking on a the challenge, and I cannot express how incredibly motivating, and inspiring it is to watch unfold! 

I'd like to offer a bit of advice for our #REBORN athletes...

First and foremost, and I cannot stress this enough....please be honest, and communicate with your coach. I mean, no-holds-barred, lay it out there, and tell us how you are REALLY feeling. If we don't know what is truly going on with your body, and emotions we cannot successfully help you. Think of it as like communicating with your doctor, would you not be completely honest and forthcoming about how your body is feeling with your doctor? Would you lie to her/him about what you are eating, or drinking if your life depended on it? I sure as hell hope not! We are here to help, and if we struggle with the right answer or solution for you, we will find it through someone else. We want you to succeed, we want you to feel better than you have ever felt before, we want this to change your life, for you, and for all those around you, and we want nothing more than to see HEALTHY, HAPPY, SHINING athletes all around us!! We love what we do, we love whom we do it for!

Remember just like any challenge we face, we need to take it one day at a time. So when you are feeling defeated, or stressed, and you are having a tough day (this will happen) keep in mind what a difference a day can make. Tell yourself you can do this, you are strong, you are determined. Keep your focus on your goal, and don’t let anything come in your way!

2015 is YOUR year!! YOU. CAN. DO. THIS!!

re·born

rēˈbôrn/

adjective

1.    brought back to life or activity.