You can always tell if someone does CrossFit if you just listen to them talk for 5 minutes. At some point, if given the chance we will mention it. We can’t help it; it’s our passion, it’s our community, our family, our hobby.
Whether it’s analyzing upcoming workouts, complaining about past WODs, or showing off battle scars & bruises. There are always bumps and bruises. When you are throwing around weights jumping on boxes and constantly gripping a bar that is just part of it. Your hands won’t be pretty and delicate, your shins might have a few notches on them, and a few bruises.
The one thing that isn’t appreciated or warranted is the “CrossFit is bad for you” comments. These kinds of comments get me fired up and get a huge eye roll emoji. When someone posts a picture of said battle scars, because us being cross-fitters there will be pictures, you had better believe there will be backlash. Someone that has never even attempted the movements, will begin to lecture you on how bad they are for your health or joints or back.
My goodness people you can choke while eating, but you still eat. You are taught to take small bites and chew your food at a very young age. In CrossFit you are taught proper technique and gradually build up in weight…at least you should be. If you don’t listen to your body and make stupid choices that physically harm you, that is on you, not on your coach or the sport itself. I have plenty of days that I should not go workout, but I do anyway. There are days that I attempt heavier weights than I should and later feel a pull. That is my stupidity, not the sport’s.
One comment I saw recently said something to the effect of ‘…that is why I don’t do that. I am 48. I just need something to keep my heart pumping good’ in response to beaten up legs.
I am sorry but, do WHAT?!?
You are 48 not 98! My goodness when I am 48 I hope that I don’t have that same attitude towards my physical health. I want to be dominating workouts, lifting heavier than I do NOW, running, hiking, swimming, everything there is to do physically with EASE with my family. Not just wanting to keep myself moving.
What people really don’t get is that CrossFit is ‘a la carte’.
Can’t do muscle-ups? That’s okay, neither can I, here are 4 other options for you. Can’t do handstand push-ups? No big deal here you go ma’am or sir, 5 other options. During my last pregnancy I scaled A LOT. Almost every workout was changed according to MY needs. Just because the board said to do overhead squats, doesn’t mean I did them. Did I skip out because of what was on the board? No. I changed it based on what I needed.
Everyone thinks ‘oh, I can’t do those movements, I can’t lift that heavy’ and that is okay. I can’t do all of those movements or lift that heavy compared to some of the other women in the gym either, but that doesn’t stop me from going! That surely doesn’t make me hate the sport all together. You can get an injury from NOT working out. Roll out of bed wrong, pick something up without knowing proper form…eventually you will pull something and it won’t be CrossFit’s fault. NOT working out can do more harm than working out can do.
I think most people that put down CrossFit are just scared. Whether it is scared to put themselves out there, scared of the uncertainty, scared they might actually like it, afraid for others to see them in workout clothes, embarrassed because they can’t lift heavy…the list of reasons to not do it is endless. The reasons TO do it is more beneficial and powerful though. Why not put yourself outside of your bubble and try something new? If you are afraid of getting hurt, don’t be. Injuries are self-inflicted. CrossFit doesn’t bite. Your body NEEDS to move. No one is looking at what you are wearing, we are all too worried about our warm-up and what is on the board, to notice if you have a little extra love showing or that shirt has a stain on it.
Don’t knock it until you try it. Don’t talk negatively about something you have never done. Certainly do not tell me it is bad for my health, if I am healthier than you.
M • E • N • U
Winter Rainbow Quinoa Salad Bowl
Ginger Roasted Pumpkin Quinoa Bowl
Pork Loin Chops + Roasted Beets with Goat Cheese
Winter Rainbow Quinoa Salad Bowl
My thing lately seems to be making salads into a complete bowl. This is easy to do of course. I make sure there is going to be enough dressing to cover the meat and the salad.
This salad is full of color and flavor. Pomegranate seeds, like everything else delicious and pretty, have carbs. For every 1/2 cup or 87 grams there is 16 grams of carbs, 1.5 grams of protein, 1 gram of fat, and 72 calories. It takes a decent amount of work to beat out pomegranate seeds. The only way I can effectively (and without much of a mess) get the seeds out is to cut it in half and then turn it inside out and pull the seeds off. I have tried the beating method and it just makes a big mess. Pomegranate will stain too.
I am going to add chicken to this dish and really limit the amount of apple I use. I don’t think we have this particular kind of apple in local stores, so I am going to use Gala Apples, which are my favorite.
I am pretty happy that this salad doesn’t have any oil in it so no substitutions there!
Ginger Roasted Pumpkin Quinoa Bowl
I have made this salad several times in the past few months with butternut squash, but now there are pumpkins in the store! I love this salad and it is pretty great with squash, but the pumpkin is even better.
I have been making this into a bowl, by just adding in chicken or pork loin chops. I use a sugar free syrup and you can’t tell the difference. The last time I made this with butternut squash per serving (without chicken) it was 4 servings for 264 calories, 4.9 grams of protein, 35.7 grams of carbohydrates, and 7 grams of fat. I used 2 Tbsp of olive oil, 0.12 cup of sugar free syrup, and 58.9 ounces of squash.
The amount of quinoa you use can be/should be based off of how many carbs you need for that day. Likewise, the amount of servings you make for this salad depends on how many carbohydrates you can afford to eat that day. 1 cup of quinoa prepared is about 40 grams of carbs.
Pork Loin Chops + Roasted Beets with Goat Cheese
Yes, two beet recipes in one week. Sorry, not sorry. Beets are my jam. I like to boil them just for meal prepping ease, but you can wrap them in tin foil and put them in the oven.
If you use the twice roasted method like in this recipe, I would recommend spraying your beets with olive oil and not covering them in 2 Tbsp of oil. I don’t think you will need that much oil to keep them from sticking. Don’t forget that pecans have carbohydrates and fat too, so don’t go crazy. 1 cup or 99 grams of pecan halves s 71 grams of fat (!) and 14 grams of carbohydrates. You can always opt for another nut or none at all.
I will boil my beets, then roast them with the olive oil spray cutting way back on the oil.
With all this pork leftover from Anderson’s birthday party, I have got to do something a little different than tacos and sandwiches.
I did forget my tortilla at the house this past week and had to eat my meat and peppers without the shell and really it wasn’t bad at all. If I would have had some jasmine rice in there, it would have been perfect.
My boston butt is already cooked so I am going to have to rely on my salsa to really bring this dish to life. Since my pork was seasoned and cooked for the purpose of sliders, I am going to mix the spices together and add them to my meat before I heat it up. You can eat this a variety of ways. You can make a sandwich, a bowl with jasmine rice, or with a low-carb tortilla!
This salsa doesn’t have much to it, in the way of macros. The main ingredient to track is the pineapple, onion, and oil. I am skipping the oil so I am going to be the most concerned about the amount of pineapple per serving. One great thing about tracking is that not everything carries much weight. A few pieces of jalapeno don’t have to be figured in, your herbs aren’t going to make or break your macros either. Sometimes you can just track the main ingredient that carries all the macros to figure out your servings.
This sandwich is so good and easy. I found these bad boys a few years ago when I was hunting for different ways to use deer cubed steak. I am not into frying food and that was about the only way I knew to cook cubed steak. Now I use it several different ways that don’t involve frying. (Maybe I will get lucky and Josh will get a deer Sunday night and can skip buying steak at the store…all the positive vibes.)
If you don’t have any cubed steak left in the freezer…ours ran out way too fast this past season, then skirt steak or flank steak will get the job done. You can even opt for sirloin steak, just make sure to tenderize whichever cut you decide to buy. You want to be able to bite pieces off easily and not have to rip it off with your teeth.
The sauce for these sandwiches is EVERYTHING. It isn’t spicy, well depending on how many pickled jalapenos you use. I love to make my sauce with a lot of limes. You only need to buy a single serving of non-fat greek yogurt, unless you just want extra yogurt around. Make sure you use the stems of the cilantro, it really has more flavor than the leaves and smells amazing.
Don’t forget the list!
& Go Dawgs!
