Bars

I love when my family gets together and we get into fitness, either in the form of discussion or action.  Everyone in my family is into fitness and clean eating which makes for great conversation and fun.  This past Thanksgiving we hit a close-by school yard for a workout.  My son who is a huge crossfit fan did the coaching as it was his day off from working out.  Days off are very important when you work out hard.  So on his day off he shared some of his workout knowledge with his sisters, brother in law and me.  

My daughter who is also a huge crossfit fan; with her dog watching her do burpees. 

 I hung onto my daughter's Bull Terrier and took pics while they worked on their WOD (workout of the day).  It was really hot this morning and as I was also on my day off I skipped the WOD but did join in for some hanging workout. 
  

I loved this workout.

The first thing I did on the bar was to just hang.  I could literally feel and hear my spine stretching.  If you have back problems, this is wonderful.  Next it was bent leg lifts and onto straight leg lifts which are MUCH harder.  It is amazing what a great workout you can get just with a few bars.  Had it not been so hot I would have done much more.  So many muscle groups are hit by doing these exercises and the following day I had sore muscles that have not been sore in a very long time.  

As I've said before, form is so very important and my son really helped me with this hanging exercise by simply telling me to engage my lats (latissimus dorsi).  This made all the difference when doing the leg lifts; putting the work onto my lats and off of my joints.  

Now I just need one of these bars in my back yard.  

Crossfit women

National post photo and article.

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet: Fittest Woman on Earth and Winner of CrossFit Games 2014

article on Women Fitness

I watched the summary of the 2014 Reebok Crossfit games last night.  Wow, those women are impressive.  The first thing I noticed when I turned the show on was that there were no skinny girls in the mix.  Not one looked like a man and when the camera captured them before, after or in between competing; they all looked extremely fit, nothing like when they were in the heat of the challenge.  During the competition they were rippling muscle.  The women who one the whole thing is pictured above, pretty gorgeous right?  And she lifts weights and much more.

These girls are strong, dedicated, driven and focused.  This sport is a far cry from the glamour 'Miss' pageants that we see on television.  Getting to the level of the Crossfit games takes dedication beyond what most of us are willing to put out.  I sat on the couch considering what it would take to get there as they contestants were challenged with double Grace, 60 clean and jerks with 95 lbs.   The determination was incredible as they lifted through exhaustion to complete the challenge. 

The winner of the games was Camille Leblanc-Bazinet of Quebec, Canada.  An article linked below the image is all about her path to winning.  Watching these games gives new meaning to "go get it." 
Of course this competition takes it to the next level but it is most definitely inspirational.  It is surely better than the 'stop eating' and look pretty image that many things put on women.