Oh yes you CAN!

Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons dijon honey mustard
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 (2 pound) boneless pork loin roast

Directions

1. Whisk together the olive oil, soy sauce, garlic, mustard, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Place the pork loin in a large sealable plastic bag and pour in the marinade. Marinate in the refrigerator at least 1 hour before cooking.
2. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3. Transfer the pork loin to a baking dish; pour marinade over the pork.
4. Cook in the preheated oven until the pork is no longer pink in the center, 45 to 60 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).

Logic'd

Pessimism, cynicism, and all the rest of the negative-ism's need to be chucked.....up out of your vocabulary.  As well, any remaining bits of negativity need to be purged.  There is no reason for you to have doubt in what you can, or may accomplish here to forth.  Right!

Now that we're ten pounds lighter and have a faint waft of confidence about ourselves let us continue.  

Skills are learned and not given.  Strength can come naturally, but must be nurtured in order to grow; funny saying strength and nurture in the same sentence, but it's good.  Everyone has a set of skills that can be put forth in order to become stronger, not just in the gym but in every day living.  Accomplishment is the greatest means to confidence, so accomplish more.  Accomplish more in quality and leave the quantity to the number of reps you have to do tomorrow in the gym.

Here are some basic skills to increase your accomplishments daily, leave the gym stuff out of it for once (Diet is not a gym thing, it's a whole life thing so no donuts......Dave)

Make a list of everything you want to do before you go to bed.  Simple enough.  Use those skills of reading and writing and put them to good use.  Jot down a quick list of WILL DO'S before dancing off on your slumber screen.  Make it a list of no choice will do, don't add "wash hair" or "XYZ"(think third grade on that one).  Here's a quickie for those: 

*Quality breakfast

*430 Class

*Fold Laundry

*Pick Up Dry Cleaning

*Read CF Journal

*Read Headlines

Simple enough, but there is a great deal of confidence that comes along with having a set plan for the next day.  Awesomeness ensues checking off the things you've done.

Secondly if you want to be successful at something read up on it.  There's little doubt that the reason the best people in the gym don't pick up CrossFit walking in the door and set it down before they leave.  You have to invest the things that make you happy.  Become the current affairs person in your group of friends, or the random trivia, or better yet the recipe guru.  I think you know what I'm getting at.  People who are passionate about something are happier.  Don't be lack-luster, be super-luster.  Now get to reading something other than this blog, but please finish this post before you do.

Finally, be proud of what you can do.  Look back at your success and don't let your life be bogged down because you're not in that super awesome job, house, car, boat, plane, train, or have a moped.  You're here and there's not much else you can do about it.  If you can do something about it why wasn't it on the list before you went to bed??? Why haven't you taken that next big leap??? If you can, go for it.  If you can't move on, be proud that the opportunity was there and you let it pass.  Success is once again a measure unto itself.  Set the bar to someone else's standards and you won't meet it.  You have accomplished a lot.  You're through school (or nearly there), you have friends and family, your job provides, you'll wake up tomorrow and increase your awesome ten fold.  

Live long and prosper.

As I struggled to come up with an intelligent and motivating post similar to the ones written lately, something became evident.  There is something this blog has been missing. An incoherent, irate rant about the silly things we say and do as part of the Crossfit community.

So if the last few post have inspired you like Bono’s monologues in between songs during a U2 concert, think of the following content as speed dating with Gary Busey after his three day crystal meth binge.



He likes long walk on the beach.

 “I want to lean out so I can perform better”

If it were true that an extremely low body fat percentage makes you a superior athlete, fashion models would be on the Olympics. There is nothing wrong with wanting to look better for purely aesthetic reasons.  Taking care of your appearance is a sign of pride and healthy self-esteem.

Be honest with yourself and avoid sounding like a fool in the process. The same goes for items as “Strong is the new skinny”. Strong people don’t make excuses for their commitment and passion.

PS: Stop looking at pictures on the internet of Crossfit athletes and hating yourself for not looking like them. Have you noticed how none of them have body hair, stretch marks or dry skin?  Do you think it’s the lack of grain?

“I want to do it RX but last time I did …(fill in the blank) hurt my back/ knee/ leg”

Really?!?! It HURT you?  If you are hurt, go see a Doctor or stay home and rest.  If you are not hurt but rather just sore then suck it up.  Both being sore and injuries are part of being an athlete.  These are your options:

-Stay home and rest or get medical attention.

- Take ownership of your well-being and scale the workout.

-Man/ Woman up.  The fact is your grandpa jumped out of a boat onto a beach in Europe while getting shot at and did not develop Rhabdo.   In the meantime your grandma, who was probably fitter than you, worked in a factory full-time lifting heavy things and was not crippled by injuries. They both went on with their life after the war and gave birth to a generation that expects to look like strangers they see on the media without ever feeling even the slightest of discomfort.

Not worried about fish oil or the mobility WOD.

“I want to do Paleo but I get bored eating the same thing all the time”.

I’m sorry, Pumpkin.  I forgot that your life prior to Paleo was nothing but an orgy of tasting menus at five star restaurants.

Odds are you ate the same stuff every day most days.  Well, get rid of the bread and move on.  In the words of Jim Wendler: “Really?* Fire up the grill.* Put chicken on grill.* Cook chicken.* Eat it.”

You got food choices & plenty of them.  It’s not about your diet choices but your lack of imagination.  By the way, do you remember those folks in Africa your parents lectured you about when you were a kid? They would gladly eat eggs for breakfast every morning.  

Staying Focused

A few days ago,  Jeremy Melissa wrote an article on getting out of your comfort zone.  There was a venn diagram of a circle labeled, "comfort zone," and another circle entitled, "Where the magic happens."  I found myself unable to push into that magical circle today and wondered... Why?  I could make excuses about being by myself,  being sore from yesterday, or maybe a lack of quality sleep but the reality is that these things don't matter.  The clock and the barbell do not care about how I feel.  So when you go to the gym, and maybe you just don't feel like doing the work, what can you do to get over it and get a quality workout.  Here's a few things that can keep you motivated and focused.

1. Listen to your coach.

If your coach is yelling at you to pick the barbell up or get back on the pull up bar... listen to them. Appreciate the fact that not only are they watching you, trying to ensure that you're doing the movement in such a way that you wont get hurt, but they want you to get the benefit of "getting out of that comfort zone." Your body will adapt to either situation.  If you just go through the motions and never really push yourself.. then your body will adjust.  You will become stagnant with your progress.  

2. Talk to your fellow CrossFitters

For the most part, you will be working out with other people when you attend a class.  What a blessing.  Humans naturally bond when they are put into stressful situations together.  The fact that friendships blossom in a CrossFit gym is not a fluke.  It is magic.  How much harder is it to do a workout if no one else is there other than your coach?  There's no friendly competition, no cheering, no high fives, no "come on ____, lets get through this".  When you are in a class, look at everyone.  Take a second and look at what everyone else is doing.  Talk to your classmates and ask them how many rounds they think they're going to get.  Try to pace yourself with someone who is a little more experienced and hold on for the ride.

3. The Whiteboard

This is one of the greatest things about a CrossFit gym.  The Whiteboard will list rounds completed, weight lifted or time completed.  Guess what happens here? You look at these times and you want to perform better.  Every time I go into the gym, I look at the whiteboard and I do everything in my power to get the fastest time, do the most rounds, or lift the most weight.  A natural and healthy competition can arise from the whiteboard and this is a good thing.  Even if I have to do the workout by myself... I know that I have to beat _______'s time... and I know that it's going to suck.

4. Dialing in the Diet

Yes dialing the diet in can help you lose weight. It can help you achieve visible abdominals and help general body composition. One more thing that improving your diet can do is improve your performance at CrossFit.  Next time you do Fran and you've slowed down by 20 seconds, or you can't keep your intensity level up in a longer metcon, or you cant pick that weight up, examine your diet for the past few days.  Maybe it was that trip to Five guys and Carl's frozen custard the night before.  Before you indulge in that bowl of spaghetti carbonara with a loaf of toasted french bread, lasagna, and 3 cannolis, make sure that you are willing to make the sacrifice in performance at the gym and stunting your progress.

5. Goals

Set small achievable goals on the goal board and spend some time knocking them out.  Every time you check a goal off you will get inspired to write another one on the board just so that you can check that one off too.  The key here is to set goals that are not too far in the future.  Yes you can have long term goals as well... but don't just put on the board that you want do string 10 muscle ups together when you can't do a ring dip.  Have that long term goal but break it down into pieces... 10 strict pull ups, 10 strict ring dips, then 1 muscle up, then 3 unbroken muscle ups, then 5 and so on and so forth.

Hope these help! Stay motivated and if you're having trouble... talk to a coach.  It's his/her job.

See you at the gym,

Kent

     

Can It

It's Strawberry Season

Want Fresh?  Pick Fresh!!!

Every year I take my girls to a local farm to pick these wonderful little gifts from God.  If you have never picked your own strawberries I highly recommend you do it this year. 

http://www.millerfarmsmarket.com/marketplace/strawberries

Millers Farm is a local farm right in the heart of Spotsylvania County.  They have a great little store where they sell everything that us Paleo Peeps would love.  Grass Fed meats, eggs, veggies,

 fruits, and heavy cream.  I even found raw honey from a local bee keeper.

I looked the web over for a paleo friendly canned strawberry recipe but came up with nothing.  I then text the one person who would be able to help.  Mr. Ingalls text me back in under 2 minutes with a website for me to go.  With just a little more digging I came across a paleo friendly Strawberry Jam recipe.  I will be making this very soon.  ENJOY!!!!

Recipe: Honey Strawberry Jam

ingredients:

• 6 cups chopped strawberries
• two boxes powdered pectin
• 1 ½ cups honey
• 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

method:

1. Wash and sterilize six 250ml jam jars. Boil the flat parts of the lids in a small pot and keep at a low simmer.
2. Mash the berries with a potato masher and place in a large heavy bottomed saucepan.
3. Add the pectin stir with a wooden spoon, and place on a burner over high heat and bring to a rolling boil. Stir and boil for 1 min.
4. Remove from heat and add the honey and lemon juice and mix well. Return to heat and bring to a boil again, stirring occasionally. Boil for 5 min, stirring constantly.
5. Remove jam from heat and let sit for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally. It will thicken slightly. Ladle jam into hot jars, then place a flat lid on jars, and add screw rings.
6. Immerse jars in hot water bath, and boil rapidly for 8 min. Remove from bath and place on a towel on the counter to cool.

Yields: 6 cups of jam

Check out this website for some great information on canning!!

http://www.simplebites.net/sugar-free-honey-strawberry-jam


Enjoy and remember to support your local farmers.

Spaghetti and Meatball Bites

Found these on PaleOMG I can't wait to try them! I LOOOOOVE spaghetti squash!

Prep time: 25 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 45 mins Serves: 12

Ingredients:
1 medium spaghetti squash, cut in half lengthwise, seeds removed
1lb Tropical Traditions Grass Fed Ground Beef
1 (14oz) can tomato sauce
3 egg whites, whisked
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried thyme
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon fat of choice (I used bacon fat)

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise, use a spoon to remove the seeds and excess threads.
• Place spaghetti squash cut side down on a baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes. Make sure not to overcook!!
• Add your ground beef to a large bowl and add 1/2 tablespoon of parsley, basil, and thyme and a bit of salt and pepper. Combine.
• Make your ground beef into small bite-sized meatballs.
• Now place a large skillet under medium heat, add your fat then small meatballs.
• Then add your can of tomato sauce, extra herbs, and salt and pepper.
• After meatballs have cooked for about 3-4 minutes, flip them and let them simmer in the sauce.
• While the meatballs are cooking through, remove your spaghetti squash from oven and use a fork to dethread the squash.
• Turn oven down to 350 degrees.
• Place silicone cups in your muffin tin then add your spaghetti squash threads to eat silicone cup, pressing down in the middle of the cup for the meatball to sit.
• Once the meatballs are done cooking, remove them from the sauce, and place each one in a muffin tin.
• Now pour just a little bit of beaten egg white on top of each muffin, spaghetti squash and the meatball.
• Bake for 18-20 minutes or until egg is completely cooked through.
• Add extra sauce to a bowl and dip your spaghetti and meatball bites in the sauce! BOOM!