Monday, December 28, 2009

And it Begins...Again...

My fridge is full of good food. Leafy greens, squash, broccoli, asparagus, celery, sweet potatoes, apples, chicken breast, lean ground turkey, lean pork loin and almond butter. Christmas did me in and it is time to get back on track. Sectionals are in two and a half months. My shoulder is healing, slowly. I'm doing everything my power to heal it quickly and be ready to jump into gear when my shoulder decides to like me again. I'm finally to a point where I can do some rehabilitating exercises with five pounds weights. It sounds very sad to be excited about lifting a five pound weight, but trust me, it is better than nothing. I would give anything to be swinging from that pull up bar again. Hopefully another few weeks and I'll be there.

Now my diet is my sole focus. Eat clean. Eat clean. Eat clean. Leaving out the grains and sugar has become second nature, until home baked holiday goodies are around of course. :) Lots of water, protein and fat are in my sights. I made a visit to the Reasor's salad bar during lunch today and it felt like home.

Hallelujah.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

What To Do When Your Shoulder Hates You

My shoulder is still on the fritz. It is getting much better, but it is still not there. I highly recommend never getting a shoulder impingement. They take forever to heal and are utterly annoying. On the bright side, having my upper body out of commission has helped me focus on some things I don't normally focus on. I'm running a lot...which I love. I used to run four to five miles a day five days a week pre CrossFit. The past few weeks I've been focusing on 5K's to build my running endurance and 400's and 800's for speed. I can already tell a difference.

I'm becoming an expert at subbing out exercises. I know that just because my right shoulder is down, my left one is great. I can do dumbbell snatches, presses, cleans, etc. No need to let the left side of my body suffer when it is ready for battle. Keeping one side strong will benefit me greatly when the right side decides to rejoin civilization. I'm squatting a lot, wearing weight vests during workouts, doing 24" box jumps instead of 20" box jumps. GHD sit ups and back extensions are incorporated into almost every workout I do now. Keep my core strength is going to be a big plus! Pull ups, push ups, heavy weight...that will all come back quickly to me. I build strength fast...I always have. At least I have that going for me. The goal is to keep my legs strong and my endurance up so when I am 100% I can rock it again.

Being injured forces you to get creative. The worst thing you can do is give up. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't envious of all my healthy fellow CrossFitters and that it wasn't a big deal. To me it is a big deal because I love CrossFit.