Mo A. before (L) and after (R) the 2017 Look, Feel, Perform Better Challenge. Mo is among the top-3 winners of the LFPB Challenge for the second year in a row!The Look, Feel, Perform Better Challenge Winners: 2nd Place
We’re so proud of everyone who recently completed the Look, Feel, Perform Better Challenge, our 12-week collective kickstart toward healthier nutrition and recovery habits in the New Year. Among the dedicated CFSBKers who rethought their diets, counted macros, and put in quality time with the foam roller, three women and three men stood out to us as winners, and we‘ve been annoucing them this week. We’ve also asked them to tell us a bit about the “secrets” to their success. Yesterday we announced the 3rd-place winners. Today we’re pleased to announce the 2nd place winners: Mo A. and Sarah M. They’re each taking home a Specialty 10-Class Punch Card.
Mo A.
This is my second time doing the Challenge. For me, this was more of a continuation of lifestyle goals of eating healthy, taking fish oil daily, drinking 64oz+ water, and getting a solid 8 hours of sleep. The biggest adaptation I made this time around was (due to) programming. I did 10 classes of 1:1 with Brett and followed a schedule of bodybuilding programming, Short Circuit, CrossFit, and AR. The biggest change for me was how my body reacted to the programming. I was able to shed belly fat and increase muscle mass, which translated into strength: a 20lb Bench PR and a 10lb Front Squat PR. This is my 15th month (continuing from last year) following the Challenge. For me, it’s just a continuation of keeping up with a healthy lifestyle. THANK YOU!!!
Sarah M.
Before (L), After (R)Look: I’m starting to see some body composition changes, my clothes tend to be a little looser, and I can see some muscles in places I didn’t have them before. Nothing super dramatic, but enough of a change for me to be happy. The scale shows that I’ve lost about 10 pounds.
Feel: I definitely have better energy and a better overall mood. Before the challenge my eating habits had really taken a turn for the worse. I was constantly overfeeding myself and eating low quality fried foods. I ate take-out for almost every meal. Now I feel in control at meals, and cook most of them myself at the beginning of every week. Even when I’m indulging with a treat, I feel capable of stopping when I’m full, and feel ready to pick up again with good habits at the next meal.
Perform: I stupidly didn’t write down my rowing the first time around. I guess I missed that it was part of the test. But I went from 5 full rounds and 3 Push-Ups to 6 rounds (and a 42 calorie row). It’s not a huge transformation, but I feel a difference. For one thing, I’ve been a lot more consistent in just showing up 3 times a week, which has been awesome. The most noticeable change for me has been in my Squating weight. Right before the challenge, I tried doing a 95lb Front Squat for the first time and felt like I was maybe pushing it too much. The other day I surprised myself by doing 3 easy 103lb Front Squats and realized I should probably be going heavier. Over the past 3 months I faced my fears and did my first legit Box Jump, which I found to be super exciting. In general I feel less out of place at CFSBK than I used to. I still feel like I’ve got miles and miles ahead of me, but CrossFit has become a part of my life, which is pretty cool.
In general I’d say I feel better all around, with a new set of healthy habits that feel easy to maintain. I haven’t had the dramatic changes I’d love to see in the mirror, but I feel hopeful that I’m on a good path. Letting go of quick results has been a good lesson from the past 3 months. In the past I’d drop 10 pounds in a couple of weeks by dropping my calories low, or cutting out carbs entirely, which would inevitably leave me feeling like crap, and eventually jumping off the “wagon” landing face first into a pile of bagels. I’d blame my lack of will power and feel bad, inevitably gaining back the weight and feeling worse off than I started. Now I’ve decided that just in the same way I have to scale workouts, I need to scale any changes to my eating habits as well. Over the past 3 months I’ve made a series of small changes, trying to take Fox’s advice of making them “too easy.” My hope is to continue to build off of all I’ve learned and just keep going, continuing to make small tweaks, and hopefully the extra pounds I’ve got will slowly come off a few at a time each month. It’s pretty awesome new feeling to leave a nutritional challenge feeling empowered, and like genuinely excited to keep going.
Congrats, Sarah and Mo! Check out tomorrow’s post for the 1st-place winners!
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Yesterday’s Whiteboard: Bench Press | Run, Squats, Pull-Ups
Music in Training: Is It Helping, or Making You a Whiny Baby? Catalyst Athletics
Meditation’s Calming Effects Pinpointed in Brain Scientific American
Wednesday's Programming
Tempo (31X1) Front Squat
2-2-2-2-2
Work up to a heavy double tempo Front Squat.
Post loads to comments.
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AMRAP 9 Minutes:
3-6-9-12-15-18…add 3 reps per round
Deadlifts 225/155
Box Jumps 24/20"
The barbell weight should be on the medium heavy side for you, and unbroken through the 9s at least on the fast end. The Box Jumps are Rx'd as a two foot take off. Step Ups are scaled.
Post rounds, reps, and Rx to comments.
Wow, nice guys! Congrats on the challenge.
AG
A. Toes to bar – kipping/strict
B. Conditioning:
3-6 rounds
20 wall ball
15 cal row
rest 5-7 min
Sarah and Mo!!! Such impressive progress & commitment. Congrats!
WELL PLAYED Mo and Sarah!
7 AM squatting w/Jess
Worked to 160 on the doubles. This was pretty tough. I'm kind of surprised I wasn't sore from all those air squats yesterday, but moving at a slow tempo is still not easy!
WOD: finished round of 18, plus 11 deadlifts, Rx. Low back is feeling pretty toasty now.
PS, my choir is singing Benjamin Britten's "War Requiem" at St. John the Divine on Thursday and Friday nights. It's not performed very often because it has so many moving parts — two orchestras (one full, one chamber), two choirs (one giant grownup choir, one children's), and three soloists. If you want an introduction to 20th-century classical music I can't think of a better composer than Britten.
Tickets here: http://www.stjohndivine.org/visit/calendar/series/1/great-choir-a-choral-concert-series
Congrats Sarah and Mo!! Awesome job!!
First day back in a looong while. So so happy to be back with the familiar faces of 6am. Felt like I never left. But James is more clean cut now. 😉
Did Monday. Took it easy on the bench at #115. Didn't want to hurt myself right out of the gate.
Metcon: Went for Rx at first but had to scale kipping pull-ups to 15 in second and third rounds in sets of ~3-4. Slow at 19-something, but felt good! Tomorrow probably not so much when my legs lock up.
Congrats Sarah and Mo!!
Congrats Sarah and Mo, great work!!
Make-up post from yesterday's 7am:
Worked up to 105 on the bench press to match my heavy 10 from Feb. Came in wanting to push it to 110, but arms just weren't having it.
WOD in 15:06 Rx. Pull-ups in sets of 6-6-6-2 for the first round, then a random smattering of 5s, 3s and 2s for the rest. Shoulders are enjoying the rest day.
Love seeing the LFPB challenge winners getting TLC on the blog. These folks worked hard and consistently for the past 12 week and it shows. One of the best part of these is reading the write-ups and seeing how people made consistent behavior changes in their lives. So inspiring!!
Yesterday's 6:30pm Group Class with Coach MelRo's Place
Bench Press
135×10
145x10x2
3 Rounds
550 Run
40 Squats
20 Kipping Pull-Ups
15:22 as Rx'd
I always set some specific goals for every metcon in terms of how I want to break something up or a time I want to attempt. I find metcons much more interesting when I have specific things within the workout I'm trying to achieve. In this one I set up 4 goals beforehand
1. Be the first person back from the first run (I hate running, I've got one good run in me per workout, might as well start strong)
2. Do all the pull-ups unbroken (did it!)
3. Don't walk from the run to my squats, jog all the way to my station and start on the squats right away
4. Sub 15:00 time. (didn't make it!)
Yesterday:
Came in for 430 after a late-night flight and a day working from home
Bench – 205×10 then did a drop set of 185×10
Metcon – 10:44 Rx'd – did this outside with Michael – fun racing against him
Today:
FS – 185×2, 205×2, 225×2, 235×1,F – didn't have it on the FS today
Metcon – 18 + 8 DL
So impressed by all the winners so far – awesome work!
Tempo FS Doubles: 155-165-175-180
The tempo gets me every time.
WOD: Round of 21+ 24 deadlifts + 9 box jumps RX
This workout is my jam. Hoping my back is not vengeful later today.
9am.
Asked Chris what I should do and he said 'cardio'. Fine. Decided to go with:
50-40-30-20-10
Cals, bike
Cals, erg
-took about 34 mins at a leisurely, yet sweaty pace. McDowell joined me after I was already about 30 cals in and still finished way before me. Pretty sure I'll always hate the bike.
11am with Chris and Whit!
50ft Yoke carry- 195×2, 245, 295, 325, 355, 375×2
5 false grip ring rows with 3 sec decent
5 banded muscle up transitions
-alternated the muscle up work each round to do 4 sets each
Finished with some rock-through practice on the Ring Thing.
10 AM with McFox
Bench Press: 95×5, 115×10, 125×10, 135×10, 145×6 (fail on 7th)
WOD with 10 strict pull-ups and 550m row.
Finished in 14:21
And: congrats to Mo and Sarah. Very inspirational.
11am mini sweat sesh with the Fox Fam
3 minutes on the bike to heat up, then…
50' Yoke carry
195#
245
295x1x4 i think
-with some kip and bar muscle up practice in between.
-did sets of BMU doubles in between each of the 295# carries.
Then "snuck up" on my workout, as Jess said, and jumped right into:
5x:
:60 on / :60 off
6 TTB
6 box jump 20"
2 Bar Muscle Up (done as singles)
AMRAP burpees with remaining time
Round 1-2 = 5 burpees
Round 3-4 = 7 burpees
Round 5 = failed a BMU and only got 3 burpees
This would be really spicy for 20 minutes instead of 10!
oh and HUGE congrats to Mo and Sarah!! So wonderful to read about the commitment to manageable, realistic changes in habits/lifestyle/behavior over time. It's incredible work; you guys ROCK.
Noon class with McDowell and Whitney
1x10x45#
1x10x95#
3x10x115# on the bench press.
WOD with rowing and lots of kipping work with great help from Whit in 15:37.
10/8/11 pullups by round
First time I've ever started to feel like I could get these.
Back north, no biscuits ;-(.
Congratulations to Sarah and Mo! Great work.
Such a pleasure to honor Sarah and Mo. Both of them clearly worked their butts off and stuck with the process, as evidenced above. Mo is an easy win, as he has gone the extra mile to excel in many ways and is always around putting in the work. I am especially proud of Sarah who had a great, thoughtful end of challenge write up and really seemed to "get" what the challenge was all about.
Congrats, you guys!
Go Mo and Sarah!! It's super inspiring to read about your work over the last few months. Huge kudos to EVERYONE who did the challenge; I got scared initially but will definitely do it next year. (And, any vegetarians do it? I'd love to connect.)
Did yesterday's workout in the 4:30 class with Whit and Nick. Bench press (second time ever) 60×10, 63×10, 65×5 before failing. My arms were a little crazy all over the place so gotta work on the form. Breathing right helped.
WOD time was 21:35 with jumping pull ups. PR of a sort for not walking at all during the run – I was looking van at the 1/22 WOD (squats + run) because in my notebook it just says "died trying; time too sad to record" so we'll mark this as progress!
Congrats MO & Sarah. Amazing
6am with McDowell
FSQ 185×2, 205×2, 225×2, 235×2
All squats felt good; slow coming out of the bottom without the bounce
WOD Rx – 15R + 15 DL
Round of 15 was 5's across; round of 18 was lots of triples and doubles
Unlike Kayleigh this is NOT my jam
@Jen, Barbara is a vegetarian, and I am too (I didn't do it this year but I did get 2nd place/lose 10lbs last year!)
Since it's macros based I found it pretty do-able, I just added in a daily protein shake and an extra high protein snack to hit my protein targets. 🙂
yay Mo and Sarah M!!!
Came in today draaaaagging hard. But I got a lot of work done so I'm happy. Goals of the next few months are to work on my hinging tolerance/overhead stability. So I started off with a performance care segment
A) PCS: 15 min for quality
10 KB suitcase deadlifts ea (53#)
20 PVC OHS
10 KB sumo 1 arm DL (53#)
20 PVS thrusters
B) have a competition this weekend. Have to do a 1RM clean and jerk but I knew I wasn't feeling good so I went in with the intention to find something heavy-ish
105, 115, 135, 145, 155, pulled 165 and decided I didn't have it in me to go any heavier. Good decision.
C) 10 min EMOM: 1 weighted pullup
44, 44, then dropped a bit and finished with 37.5 x 8
D) 4 rds:
6 strict press *rest 1 min*
8 HR pushups * rest 30s*
Strict presses completed at 73#, failed the last rep of my 4th set
HR pushups were hard AF after yesterdays bench sesh
E) 8 min AMRAP:
1 TGU ea arm @ 35#
4 PC @ 105#
100 ft double KB OH walk (16kg each hand)
30 DU
Got through 3 rds I think. This was less of an AMRAP and more of a try to move well.
–TGU are feeling more controlled, but still sloppy
–PC AFAP and unbroken
–the double kettle bell OH walk was really hard. but want to do more of these
–doubles were with a super long licorice rope. so i tripped through these the best i could
Good session. Now time for an epsom salt bubble bath, a solid 8 hours, and a blue powerade on ice.
Tried my first short circuit today….and it kicked my BUTT!!
Coach Brett programmed a mean workout, and got to work on a lot of accessory things while in class which was a really nice change of pace. Definitely something I should be focusing on more!!
Going to hit this class once a week to help with all my weaknesses for sure!
Rowed for 30 straight minutes maintaining a pace of 2:10 with 25 spm. Did a 100m sprint at 1:50 pace Q400meters, with a total row of 6500meters. Got my heart rate up but maintained the same all throughout, which was the goal.
Lots of mobility and stretching after and walked out feeling good!!
Thanks everyone. Y'all are super impressive and so kind. Srsly the best.
Did monday's work today:
Bench Press: 53, 63, 73. I had to really grind out number 10 on 73lbs, thanks to Laura for cheering me on that last one. I think I'm still figuring out how to drive with my legs, but it's actually a little easier when the weight is heavier.
Just under 23 min for the WOD with ring rows. Really looking forward to the day I can actually run this much. For now I'm happy that I could at least do a solid jog around the block the first time around. For my second/third runs I had to alternate jogging and walking. Still gotta keep perspective that it's better than my first day here when I could barely jog to the corner and back. Baby steps!
Congrats to all the winners! I'm so impressed by the consistency and dedication— IT'S SO HARD TO STICK WITH IT! If these folks are third & second place–can't wait to see the first place winners!
Sunday: Worked up to 108 on the cluster. Such a badass movement! Rawr! 26something on the wod. 10ttb, 10-12 pushups, then lunged as fast as I could
Super fun AG: Ro is encouraging some "training" style workouts that I really like. Going really hard with plenty of rest. Ended up doing 3 rounds of 20 walking lunges with 22.5# DBs, 20 burpees, and a 30 calorie row at 80%. 85%, 90%. Really fun.
Monday Today:
Bench Press: 75×10, 80×10, 85×10.
WOD: 15:21 RX The runs were so hard. I used to be good at running a couple years ago, but I've stopped running in my free time. Probably because I have a social life now. Should probably do that more often now that the weather is nice…
Another fun AG: Played on the wooden wall rack thing with some strict tempo TTB, tempo DB rows at 20#, :60 planks,
Did 4 rounds of 90%: 10 wallballs, 12 calorie row. Have a lot of work to do, but it's great to be pushed to get this type of "training" in. I wouldn't do it on my own, that's for sure!!! I also have not improved on the erg in the entire time I've been doing crossfit–obviously what I'm doing isn't working, so this is an awesome chance to get better! Remember: dig feet into the feet holders as if you weren't strapped in; even if I'm tired, don't resort to pulling with my chest–use legs to drive despite the pain! Much more efficient!!!