I’m a total beefcake :)

Let’s talk about the Crossfit Open first – when the second workout was announced on Thursday night, it wiped the smile off my face. The smile that had been there since the first open workout last Friday.

The thing is that the scaled (easier) version of the workout included pull ups. I had been thinking how great it is that this year they have a scaled version of all workouts which means I can actually do them all and then boom – pull ups!  I can do 1-2 chin ups or kipping pull ups on a good day. That’s sort of IT.

A lot of people who are taking part of the scaled version of the Open were upset about the full pull-ups being included (instead of ring-rows or jumping pull ups, for example). I figured I could probably yank out 2 before the time ran out, so if I got a score of 8 at least, it’d be ok (first 6 reps are/were overhead squats).

Secretly I was dreaming of a few more reps because I know that I respond well to a group environment and having people yell at me while I’m trying to do something hard. I don’t consider myself lazy but I do find it hard to motivate myself to push myself WAY out of my comfort zone when there’s no crowd support involved. I guess that is the reason I do Crossfit and not Barry’s Bootcamp videos at home which are damn hard but totally ZERO fun for me – the ONLY time I enjoy exercising on my own is when I’m running, everything else – I need a crowd.

The crowd did not fail me, my friends. I finished the workout not with 2 pull ups or with 5 but with TWENTYFREAKINGFIVE!*

**high five**

When I do something I did not believe I could do I want to do it again just in case I was dreaming. That’s how I feel right now, like maybe it was a dream. Too bad my right hand is a bit ripped up and sore, I’ll wait til it gets better before I try pull ups again.

On Sunday my bouldering crew and I (also a great crew! 🙂 did some good ‘problems’ on the walls of White Spider again. I tried a new V3, struggled quite a few times and then asked my husband to film me. As soon as the camera was rolling I did it.  I am SUCH A SHOW OFF! Turns out I not only need crowd freaking support but I also need video proof to push me just that extra bit out of my comfort zone and into success!

After I watched that video I had another wow moment – I got muscles! When did that happen?? I mean I can guess – I have been going Crossfit for 2 years so even though I still consider my upper body to be weak, there are some gainz definitely visible. (I never wear a sleeveless top usually but it was the first properly sunny day of 2015 and I got over excited).

And just to make sure the video wasn’t a fluke, I asked my husband to take a photo of my back this morning (he’s FINALLY stopped rolling his eyes at me when I ask him to take photos of me for the blog :).

Damn. What’s this world coming to – first it turns out I can do kipping pull ups and THEN it turns out I actually have visible muscles when I flex?!?!

Turns out exercise changes your body and turns out the funnest way to discover the changes is not by checking every nanosecond but just having fun with what you do and then one day – muscles!

I’m super chuffed right now. More about the pull ups actually than my TOTALLY RIPPED back 😉 but I am proud of my muscles as well – I MADE them, what’s not to be proud of?

I remember when I weighed 7kgs less than right now – I liked finally not being chubby (for not long before that I weighed 10kgs more than right now) but I didn’t feel proud and strong and confident, I sort of just felt hungry all the time and like I was punishing myself for something. I can restrict my calories and be all slim but making muscles is so much more fun than that!

So if you’ve found a sport that makes you happy – keep doing it. With happiness come the muscles.

If you haven’t yet found a way to sweat that truly makes you happy – keep looking. There are so many different ways to move your body, there is something for everyone.

And remember that there is no rush. Slow and steady is the only way to make sure you’ll have a healthy body and mind for ever and ever. Rushing into a crazy exercise and diet regime in March every year because you all of a sudden need a bikini body is no fun – the body you have year round is enough, keep feeding it the right things (even cake sometimes for cake is good for the soul), keep moving it and whatever you do, make sure it’s FUN for you – exercise because you love your body, not because you hate it.

* Not all in a row obviously, I’m not THAT big of a beefcake! 😉