A Fit Place: www.afitplace.com: Try something new...

Norcal Strength and Conditioning competitors left to right. Lani, Shawn (coach), John, Myself, Colin, Matt

Almost 2 weeks ago, Marcus and I joined Norcal Strength and Conditioning here in Chico, CA (where we just moved back to). It's been great to be able to have people to workout with since I've been working out by myself for about 2 years now. The coaches are great and the community is very supportive and motivational. See, even trainers need a boost every now and then. ;)

After just a few days in the gym, one of the trainers "suggested" to me that I should sign up for a strength challenge just a week away. I was pretty hesitant to agree because I was clueless as to what it was all about, what my ability level was compared to the competition and even if I was going to be able to do the workouts. But, nervous out of my mind, I agreed to do it 2 days before the competition began.

Friday night I did some prep work...packed my fuel (sweet potatoes, applesauce, chicken, strawberries), my essentials (extra clothes, hair ties, shoes), my first aide (bandaids, triple antibiotic, athletic tape...for my huge heel blister), and then knew I had to get good sleep or I was going to be worthless the next day. To my surprise I actually slept pretty well that night. Saturday morning I woke up before my alarm went off, showered, took Ziggy for a short walk, ate a couple of hard boiled eggs and some fruit, grabbed my bags and headed to Level 10 Crossfit in Oroville, CA where the competition was held.

Pretty much sick to my stomach, the events begins...

The day consisted of 5 workouts with about 1.5 hour or so between each workout. Here's how the day was scheduled.

9:00am- Workout 1

Row 350m, 50# Sandbag Run down 75m hill, drop sandbag, run back up hill and grab 140# for 50m down and back (100m total) farmer's walk, run down hill again, pick up 50# sandbag and run back up to top.

10:30am- Workout 2

7 minutes to get max height box jump and max weight strict press

12:30pm- Workout 3

5 rounds of 20 seconds on/15 seconds rest of...

44# Kettle Bell Swing

Lateral Burpees

15# Weighted Pullups

87# Clean

2:30pm- Workout 4

3 min of max reps 105# Front Squat (getting weight from deck). If drop weight to deck, must do 10 double unders before picking weight back up.

4:00pm- Workout 5

4 rounds for time of...

185# Deadlift - 5 reps

100ft Sled Push High Handles

35# Kettle Bell Snatch - 7 reps each arm

100ft Sled Push Low Handles

Hard, intense workouts, great competition and a lot of fun! I ended up shocking myself and winning 4 out of 5 of the events and getting 1st overall female. I think part of it was my adrenaline, but a big part of it too goes to Shawn Gower, my coach from NorCal that helped me strategize. Also, the crew from the gym that came out to support us and cheer us on the whole day.

So, in a matter of 2 weeks, I joined a gym, hesitantly signed up for my first ever strength challenge, and won it. Most importantly though, I overcame my fear of trying something new. I walked into an event not knowing what to expect and walked away from the event falling in love with a new type of competition than I have ever done before.

Moral of the story guys...try something new. If you're a competitor find events like this, or endurance races, or local adult team sport events. Find something that you're interested in, that's going to be a challenge, that's going to put you out of your comfort zone. You'll be surprised with how you do and you'll be surprised with how good it feels to dive into something new.

Below are some pics from the day...Thanks to everyone that came to support, to coach, to spectate and a big thanks to Level 10 Crossfit for putting the event on.