Welcome!
Hey there! I'm Holly. A 40+ year old insurance-nerd wife, mom, beauty lover, and about a million other things in between.
This is the place where I share about our lives, what I'm currently loving, books I'm reading, plus-size style, beauty recommendations, health + fitness endeavors and anything else I'm finding interesting at the moment.
Thanks for stopping by!
Tag Archives: Toes to Bar
Fun Things To Read On A Friday
If you need a visual of how I feel after this week, here you go! I can’t even believe I made it to Friday, frankly and I am ready for the weekend! I get to see my family this weekend at my cousin’s 30th birthday party and then it’s back to the grind for another busy week next week. I guess I will sleep in April. 🙂
As for last night’s Open Workout 13.4 — well that did not go well AT ALL.
Last year it was Workout 12.3 of the CrossFit Games Open where I ran in to a movement that I just couldn’t do: Toes to Bar. My score included all of my reps up until that movement, but nothing I did afterward counted. It frustrated the hell out of me and I made it my MISSION to figure out how to do them.
Toes to Bar and I have a long and sordid history. I spent the entire year trying to figure out how some people make it look so easy and yet, for me, it feels the hardest thing ever. Then on one random November day, I finally did one. And it was the best feeling EVER! And it felt so natural, like “How has it taken so long to do this? THIS is how you do this.”
And then I was never been able to consistently do them again! So needless to say I wasn’t that happy to see them show up in last night’s workout but I was determined to give it a shot.
And I did give it a shot. But let’s just sum it up by saying it did not go well. Score the workout: 3 reps, a fragile ego, and super messed up hands.
Obviously, I NEED some fun things to read to distract me from my (physical and mental) misery. 🙂
*If I was a person who enjoyed decorating things I would buy every single print from this Etsy Shop. LOVE LOVE LOVE. Maybe the impulse will turn me into a decorating person.
*Interesting perspective on love languages, compromise and how relationships probably shouldn’t be measured by how Facebook-worthy they are.
*Even though I hate the use of the word FurKid and do not consider my dog a child equivalent, I related so much to this post. Maybe I will be able to do this kid thing after all.
*I want to do this workout immediately.
*This post about Healthy Integrity really resonated with me:
You live with health integrity when you truly own your journey, when you realize it’s yours and yours alone. You stop living the old blame game and buying into the false dichotomies, the pedantic guilt trips, the bullsh** marketing messages, the cultural labels, the past-imposed limitations and identities. There’s a real freedom in that decision. It doesn’t matter whether you’re at the beginning of your journey with a hundred pounds to lose and a collection of lifestyle conditions to beat or if you’re at your ideal weight and healthy but want to know what it is to thrive in new ways. It’s your journey, and from here on out, you get to define it. You don’t make the rules of physiology, but you do get to design the vision you will live out each day.
*Best advice I’ve ever read on How To Find Purpose and Motivation.
*And while we’re feeling warm and fuzzy: 9 New Ways To Practice Gratitude.
*Garrett can not comprehend the amount of bobby pins he finds ALL OVER THE PLACE. This week, I sent him a link to this.
*Lessons For Creatives From the World’s Biggest Rappers. I mean, it’s basically everything one needs to know. 🙂
*******
Have a great weekend, friends!
Emptyness. Input vs. Output. Progress.
On Wednesday night I looked at Garrett and said, “My tank is empty.” Luckily I wasn’t talking about my love tank but maybe even more sadly, my life tank. I’ve been feeling drained this week. Moments after saying that (and coming up with a good excuse not go to the gym) I closed my eyes, curled up on the couch and slept like the dead for 2 hours. It was life changing. Kind of like Target Jeggings, actually. Who knew?
Anyway.
I think I’m just in one of those moods this week where I need to focus on the information and energy I’m taking in instead of focusing on what I’m putting out into the world. Input vs. Output — such a fine balance, you know? Consequently I’ve been fine tuning all of my goals, which I will be posting next week along with a review of literally, yes…LITERALLY, the best cookbook I’ve cracked open all year. I know it seems like I’m being hyperbolic, but I mean it. Especially if you have even the tiniest interest/curiosity about Paleo Cooking.
So, as I was de-sweat-ifying after the gym last night the overarching theme of 2012 came to me like a vision, you all. I had a coworker who used to call any epiphany a “shower thought” which, you know, was kind of awkward when she’d say “I had a shower thought about you” in a meeting, but dude WHAT IS IT ABOUT THE SHOWER THAT BRINGS SUCH CLARITY? Truth. 2011 was was my year to get healthy. 2010 was my year to get honest with myself. So what thematic variation does 2012 hold?
Well I’ve finally decided:
Last night my workout involved a series of exercises called Toes to Bar. It looks like this in case you have no idea what the hell I’m talking about. Anyway, the point is a year ago when I walked into my CrossFit box, I couldn’t do them. Last night in my workout…well, I still couldn’t do them. Wait, what? No triumphant story of overcoming adversity? Nope, not here. But last night, I was still celebrating. I came the closest I’ve ever come to being able to doing them. In one workout they went from something that I couldn’t do, to something that is well within my reach. And those are powerful moments that we often overlook because it’s so much easier to wait to celebrate when we have something concrete to check off a list.
In CrossFit there are progressions to just about every movement so that if you can’t do it exactly as prescribed, there is a scalable way you can work towards it. Working through these measurable little checkpoints have helped me make vast improvements this year. I’m still not the best or fastest or most amazing athlete in the box, but I am kicking ass at being my best self! And I get better every single day that I walk in that gym. And those baby steps need a little pause for recognition every once in a while.
I have lots of goals in my life — and frankly probably too many goals for next year but I can’t help myself — aspiring to be better is something that motivates me. Tempering that with my desire to live a balanced life, however, means I want to keep my eye OFF of the prize a little bit more next year and instead keep my eye focused on finding joy in the journey. My plan is not to stop making goals, but rather to stop being so hyper-focused on the part where checking them off is the only measure of success and joy. I want to focus on the little moments. The baby steps. The Progressions. Walking out of the gym last night I felt really happy. My life tank felt full. I’m feeling improvements and I’m working in the right direction. So that’s what I want 2012 to be about.
Not the end result, but the journey.
Progress.
I like it.
