power lifting

True Grit & Goals

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If I truly care about a goal, it’s a scary thing because I feel vulnerable. I am mentally, physically, and emotionally invested. The goal feels overwhelming and out of reach but once I start taking the baby steps towards it it becomes something I can actually see achieving. In the beginning, I never think I can achieve a big goal. I get overwhelmed and usually don’t go forward out of fear. Where do I start? How do I get there? What if I can’t?

Here’s how I’ve learned to start:

I manifest the goal by visualizing myself achieving it. Whether that’s during shavasana on my yoga mat or random daydreaming at work. I find great power in visualization whether it’s dropping underneath a heavy barbell and catching it in the bottom of a squat or if I have to give a presentation at work.

I find sources of inspiration to stay motivated to keep going. It used to be pictures of super fit women but it was a fleeting temporary motivation. Now I like music, art and even a good quote within access on my phone.  Inspiration is motivating, negative self-talk is not. I’m not going to set an alarm that says, “Get up, go hard and get ripped.” Seeing it first thing would make me want to sleep in. I do set alarms that say things like, “Make today great,” “No matter what you are loved,” “No matter what, you are worthwhile.” I wake up and feel good reading them. It sets a positive mindset and I feel like I’m ready to take on the day and do some good throughout.

I stay patient with my progress (no matter how little) and work to block out negative self talk. I appreciate the beauty of training for something that comes down to a single movement or moment. I find that the pressure helps me rise to the occasion.

I wanted to share the video of me missing  the 295 lb deadlift on Friday. The last time we tested, I hit 290 lbs but had struggled for it every inch of the way and nearly came close to hitching it up my thighs (a no no in competition). Missing 5 lbs more than my last 1 rep max really made me question if I had what it took to try for 300 lbs.

You can see my face when I gave up mentally. I didn’t think I could fight for it so I didn’t fight for it. After, I was left resting with my thoughts and questioning myself entirely. It is in these moments that an immense amount of mental toughness forms and grit comes into play. All I thought to myself was, “How does my body feel? Do I have enough energy to go again?” The answer, was YES, so I did.

Cue crying like a baby when I hit my goal of 300 pounds. It never seems real even when it’s within 10 lbs in this case until it actually happens. I was overcome with a moment of shock, a floodgate of emotion, and a moment of gratitude. One would think I won an olympic gold medal. And those who wouldn’t understand may think, “What’s with the drama?” That’s the beauty of achieving a personal goal. Only you know the magnitude of the accomplishment because only you remember when you thought it was impossible, when you didn’t want to put in the work but did anyway, when you wondered when it would be your moment.

Action Steps:

1) Set a goal that scares you. One that you really think is too far out of reach.

2) Begin to manifest your goal. Visualize the moment or time frame of achievement. What does your life look like in that context? Visualize the first couple of steps towards your goal. What structures or support do you need to stay consistent?

3) Be kind to yourself (your body, mind, and spirit). Remember that motivation ebbs and flows and so does progress. This doesn’t mean you won’t get there.

4) Put yourself in situations that require you to rise to the occasion more than you normally would. A situation where you are slightly uncomfortable and have to push yourself a little further. Start to build your true grit. Build your mental endurance up for the moment you are required to achieve your goal so that on game day, you’ll be ready.

Strengthen your Posterior Anywhere: Chinese Arches

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Prior getting into strength training, accessory work was actually the only kind of strength work I did at my 24 Hour Fitness gym. It was an easy way for me to become aware of my body and how to work different muscle groups without much equipment. I always enjoy learning new effective accessory movements so I wanted to share one with you. This movement is also a great one for new moms who can do it anywhere using your child instead of a weight plate and any two even flat surfaces that can support your weight.

The three main lifts I currently train are the back squat, bench press, and deadlift. However, to continue to train the main muscles I use there is also programmed accessory work I follow. The purpose of accessory work is to complement the primary movement. I did these after heavy squats. The Chinese arch is a static movement that brings blood flow back to the low back and works on strengthening your posterior chain and core. It’s really simple and very effective.

 

chinese arch

 

What you need:

2 benches or same height flat surfaces

1 weight plate between 15-35 lbs

 

How to do the movement:

Suspend your body between the two benches with shoulders placed on one and ankles on the other

Gently place weight plate on your hip crease

Tighten glutes and core to raise hips to so body is completely flat

Hold static for 1 minute

Complete  3-5 sets, holding for 1 minute each

 

 

 

 

 

Beginning Yoga (Again)

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yoga mat on rug with puppy

My yoga mat

Here’s the thing about me and fitness goals: They don’t stick unless I find the joy in them. I love long distance running because it calms me down, I love triathlons because they start with a swim and nothing makes me happier than being in the water, I love CrossFit because I’m continually challenged by a grab bag of movements, and I love power lifting because of the confidence it gives me and the immediate satisfaction I feel with every lift.

For years, I’ve been doing yoga on and off because when I moved to San Diego everyone was doing it and I can never stick with it. I love to lift heavy weights and I recognize if I want to continue to grow and benefit my sport I need to spend time on flexibility. I’ve been pondering why my experience “trying” yoga again and again has led me to think I dislike it? Is it because I didn’t identify with with crowd it attracted? Is it because I feel too ADD to every truly relax? Is it because I didn’t want to be packed into another room with other peoples smells too close to me? Or is it because I wasn’t ready to be open to getting in touch with myself on a deeper level?

Hesitant to set myself up for failure by setting a goal doing yoga x days per week, I started with a visual cue. I unrolled my yoga mat on my bedroom floor. Initially I did it as a reminder to do yoga. But my behavior upon seeing it before I went to bed and first thing when I woke up was interesting. At first, I stepped around it to get to my dresser or closet getting dressed in the morning. Then one night I thought: Why does my mat out mean I have to hold a pose that’s difficult for me? One night I went in and laid on my back in shavasana pose with the bottoms of my feet touching together and just tried to relax. “What are you doing, Hannah? This isn’t even yoga,” I told myself on night one. Now it’s been three weeks and I am looking forward to my nightly shavasana. It is my baby step towards meditation/self awareness. I strongly believe it has increased my creativity and I come out of it almost high that for a few minutes each day I get to exist somewhere between dreams and reality.

tricep stretch yoga class

Saturday Yoga at Humanity

My next step is trying to make a point to attend CrossFit Humanity’s Saturday yoga session. Katie Dunn is excellent at what she does and is her authentic dog loving self instead of trying to be some uber zen yoga faker. Yoga is difficult and humbling. I’m continuing to use my mat to build awareness with myself and who knows maybe one of these days I’ll feel the pull to start doing poses on my own.

 

What is Mobility, Anyway?

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In the beginning I was hyper-focused on training. How can I be consistent with my training and how can I continue to push myself to the next level. I’m good at pushing myself and unfortunately I did some pretty crazy stuff and am lucky I haven’t sustained any serious injuries. In college, I would party all night and jump in a 10k run still drunk and dehydrated and run the entire race. In my mid-twenties in San Diego a fair number of my long distance training runs were hung over as I was insistent on living it up Friday and Saturday night EVERY weekend. At twenty-nine it was like the fifth gear in my engine gave out. If I wanted to improve I’d have to start changing my lifestyle. What I didn’t understand is that coming out of the invincible twenties decade I can no longer neglect my body and expect it to perform. Mobility is a big part of how I care for my body so it will continue to meet strength training demands.

I thought mobility was stretching. Stretching was what we did in gym class before the mile run. We sat on our bums with both legs straight out in front of us until we felt an uncomfortable pull in the backs of our legs hold for 10 seconds then move on. I learned that mobility was a newer school of thought from Kelly Starrett of San Francisco CrossFit and MobilityWOD. He describes it as, “a movement-based integrated full body approach that addresses all elements that limit movement performance including short and tight muscles, soft tissue restriction, joint capsule restriction, motor control problems, joint range of motion dysfunction, and neural dynamic issues. In short, mobilization is a tool to globally address movement and performance problems.”

The simple way I began thinking about this was adding movement to “stretching.” Like in these banded good mornings where you hinge at the hip with legs as straight as possible (without locking out the knees). It works you posterior chain and can be incorporated into a warm up or cool down.

banded good mornings

Photo Credit: Sal Ocampo/CrossFit Humanity

Finding a mobility routine has shown me the benefit of 3 tools: the roller, the lacrosse ball and the resistance band. If you want to see some of my favorites download the free app MoveWell and it has a nice little timer feature to ensure you spend ample time on each side. Also, if you’re at all physically active, invest in a roller, lacrosse ball and band. They will soon become your best friends and are easily packable for travel.

Action Steps:

1. What are some ways you can be gentler on your body? You only get one, folks.

2. Think about health and fitness as a lifelong goal. I want to be active well into my eighties.

3.  If you love training hard how can you care for yourself to gain top performance?

I Lift and I Like It (part 3)

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After my first class I felt like I had a coach who was compassionate and heard my needs. I also realized as fit as I thought I was I had no upper body strength. I was unable to pull up my body weight and able to only do two push-ups without putting my knees (insert grade school taunting here: “You do push ups like a girl”). It was then that it dawned on me: If I’m as fit as I think I am, I should be able to pull up my own weight.

I still thought lifting heavy weights with a barbell was unfeminine but decided to join to be able to conquer the body weight movements and gain some upper body strength. Looking back, I think I really joined because I saw one or two super strong fit female members and I wanted to see if I could ever be like them.  My first year I loved going to CrossFit Humanity and taking as many CrossFit classes as I could. Like endurance sport training, I didn’t have to come up with a random gym routine, the programming was all done for me but even better than my endurance sport background was it didn’t over work the same muscle groups. It was also the first time I became aware of my soft core. I ran with a soft core, I swam with a soft core, I biked with a soft core. When a Strength and Conditioning class began I decided to give that a go and found how much I enjoyed the act of lifting a heavy barbell. With each small gain my confidence increased as well as my appetite for a challenge. I was still worried I’d look manly but I noticed the harder I pushed myself the opposite occurred: my waist shrank, my overall body fat decreased significantly and my body shape began to change into that of an athlete: my lats grew, I had visible traps, shapely quads and hamstrings, but I still looked feminine. I was getting compliments from my family and at almost 30 years old was kicking myself for not lifting weights sooner. As my confidence grew so did my curiosity for competing. The first team competition I did was a last minute fill in for Pete’s Paleo team. It was at least 80 degrees at La Jolla High School and while we got our butts annihilated, I loved being a contributing member of a team putting in work.

Last year, a power lifting coach, Sal Ocampo, joined our gym and was training three girls for a November lifting meet. Three weeks prior to the meet one of the girls couldn’t do it and the coach asked me to take her place. I was thrilled to be exposed to power lifting. At this meet I saw all sorts of female body types and was stunned to see some of the most petite girls moving huge amounts of weight. Since then, I’ve trained seriously for and competed in 2 more powerlifting meets and an Olympic weightlifting meet. I currently deadlift 290 lbs, back squat 240 lbs and bench press 133 lbs. I am 5’4” and weigh 133 lbs. Not only am I the leanest I’ve ever been but the byproduct of all of this lifting has been an exponential growth in confidence: the way I carry myself, the way I own a space when I walk in a room, the way I pose for photographs instead of hiding half of my body behind someone else.

CrossFit showed me I was strong and power lifting has taken my fitness journey to a whole new level. Gaining strength has increased my CrossFit abilities. As a personal trainer and CrossFit coach, it is always the top of my list to encourage women to quiet their fears and put the body image thoughts in a time out to just try. You can try with me as your trainer or without me, but please, TRY. You don’t get big from lifting big weight you lose fat and lean out. You get big based on whether or not you have a healthy relationship with food and an understanding of what it means to eat clean. If you love to run or hike or do triathlons don’t give that up but discover how adding weightlifting will make you faster and stronger in whatever sport you play. Still skeptical? Don’t worry, I was too. I believe strong women change the world and if all you need is information and a little encouragement I want to be the one to show you what I’ve discovered because I’m never looking back.

Action Steps:

1) You don’t get big from lifting weights. You get huge from eating crap or a combination of both.

2) Building strength builds confidence. Who doesn’t want a little more of that?

3) Try is a polite way of saying be CONSISTENT with your new training program and give it enough time to take effect. Then decide if it’s right for you.

I Lift and I Like It (part 1)

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lunging

Photo Credit: Chris Wodjak Photography

“Lifting weights makes you bulky.”

“I don’t want to look too muscular.”

“That’s great that you can lift that much and you don’t look too manly.”

“Wow. I could never do that. I’m not very strong.”

“You do what? You’re too little to do that.”

“I’d have to get in shape first before trying that.”

These are just a handful of excuses that I hear from women about being reluctant to lift weights. Instead, I see them literally running in circles to burn fat and be slim. I was like you, I tell them. If you have the time and you want to listen, I now know a secret. It’s a secret most women, including myself don’t believe until they try: Lifting weights makes you lean, powerful, confident. It changes the way you view yourself and carry yourself through the world.

There is something you need to know about me: I was not an athlete as a kid. I was a social butterfly sports team participant. I was neither fast, nor strong, nor particularly coordinated. The only thing I had going for me was once I set my mind on something I never quit. I was the second to slowest female runner on the cross country team in high school but I trained at every practice and completed every meet. If someone had told me I’d be doing what I’m doing now, I would’ve bet money that I would never be able to accomplish what I have in the world of health and fitness.

I started becoming interested in fitness in college at the University of Wisconsin in 2004. That was where I ran my first 10k and had the thought that someday I’d like to be “fit enough” to run a marathon. In graduate school while living in Chicago, I put my dream into an action plan thanks to a friend who had run one before. He gave me a training schedule swore up and down if I stuck to it I’d get there and we could meet up and run a marathon together. I had six months to build to 20 miles without stopping. I had never run more than 3 miles. I thought okay, I’ll just be disciplined enough to run each day it says run X many miles and I’ll get there. I stuck to the plan and ran my first marathon in 4 hours 15 min up and down the hills of San Francisco.

Action Steps:

1) You didn’t need to be athletic as a kid to get in shape as an adult. It’s never too late

2) Whether you’re big into fitness or looking to get started there’s no right way. Let your journey be your own.

3) As you begin, log your accomplishments no matter how small they may seem. The first time I ever ran more than 3 miles I logged it. Going back to those original logs and reading my sense of pride and confidence fuels me even now.