Progress and poetry

Worked out again this morning at CrossFit South Bay. Which wouldn't be unusual, except that it was Forrest's first class as the instructor!
We did squat cleans -- a tough movement to teach. But he did it really well. So cool to see... So now that he's training, he's also sharing the responsibility for writing blog posts up there. To commemorate his first day, I wanted to share the post he did right after going through last weekend's level 1 certification.
Feeling super tough, he decided to blog about it ... in Haiku.
This one is my very favorite:

Functional movement
I need help off the toilet
Not so functional

You can read the rest of them here if you're interested....(And in case you're wondering, yes he did Photoshop his head on top of one of the winners of the CrossFit games. He's the one in the pink glasses...)
In Paleo news, I'm feeling like I'm at the point where I can't imagine returning to my old eating habits. Last night at AJ's going away dinner, Justin ordered onion rings and I was surprised at how surprised I was. I mean, I realize that as time goes on, I'll have a fry or a cupcake from time to time just like Justin occassionally can order onion rings. Just strange how right now, I'm really not feeling like eating any of that stuff. The results are too good to ignore... My clothes are super loose and earlier this week I hit a two-rep deadlift max of 200 pounds. A month ago, my one-rep max was 180.

Compliments

So last night I went up to Hollywood to see Point Break Live! with a group of friends, many who I haven't seen in a couple months. And before most of them even said hi, they commented on how skinny I look. None of them really knew I've been working so hard at Crossfit or following a paleo diet. But they said it so often that I thought Forrest had told them.
He swears he didn't.
Honestly, the compliments felt great. But it was also a little strange because while I've been focused on eating better and getting stronger, I haven't taken very much time to think about what I looked like before I started Crossfit. Inside, I feel the same. Outside, apparently not so much.
Some time this week, I'll find some photos from when Forrest and I went to Maui earlier this year and post them. It was just a couple weeks before I started Crossfitting. And I'll take some more this weekend to show the difference.

A PULL UP!!!

I got my first unassisted pull up today!
I can not explain how happy I am. I have always the weakest upper body, never an ounce of definition on my arms. So when I started Cross Fit, I immediately decided a pull up would be one of my biggest goals because honestly, it seemed completely unattainable.
It happened when I dropped in at Cross Fit South Bay this afternoon. Forrest and I went in about 45 minutes before class started and did a really long warm up -- stretching, practicing double-unders, doing overhead sqauts against the wall with a PVC.
We had some time to kill before the WOD, so I practiced kipping. If you don't do Cross Fit, then you might think the way we do pull ups is strange. We swing on the bar, using momentum and core strength to help out our arms. Up to now, I've always used a rubber band to give me the extra help I needed to do WODs with pull ups.
Then today, after about 10 tries, it suddenly made sense. I kipped a couple times, then went for it, and my chin actually made it over. I was so surprised that I let out a yelp, then shouted, "I did it!" To a room full of mostly people I had just met. I didn't even care, though. I was so happy I could have cried.
So I've done my first pull up. Problem is, I couldn't do a second tonight. It's like when I was learning how to gleek as a kid. Every once in awhile I could get my mouth to do it right, sending a skinny stream of saliva onto who or whatever. But I never quite knew exactly what I was doing, and I could rarely do it on command.
Right now, for the pull up, it's the same. The difference is I'm not giving up on this. I know I'm close to getting the rhythm right. I know I have it in me to do one. And if I can do that, it won't be long till I'm doing two, then three.
This picture is from after the WOD today (we did 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 kettlebell snatch, kettlebell swing, goblet squat). I was determined to do just one more, but my hands were already raw from the kettlebells. Got close on two then ripped my hand. Which is another first.
The other two hands are Forrest's -- he effed them up doing power cleans yesterday and the snatches today. Tough love...