Strict Presses and Apples

"You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them." - Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou passed away this week she was best known for her inspiring words that shed light onto the beauty and injustices of the world.  Many of my favorite quotes were said by her, and her passing is sad but there is so much power in her words.  I think Maya fits in to the stronger section of this blog, but perhaps also the happier, the quote above definitely speaks to me.

As I continue my healthy exploration journey (not sure that's the official name), I have learned some new things in the last 48 hours.

First the bad news, despite being real food I have quite possibly narrowed in on a food that aggravates my skin:....apples.  While I was worried about dairy and wine throughout the whole30, I never thought something as healthy as an apple could causing throat scratchiness, red eczema blotches on my face and tingling lips....I currently feel miserable after eating an apple two days in a row.

I of course googled this to see if I was crazy and maybe just having seasonal allergies that were acting up more today that regularly.  See article http://www.nbcnews.com/health/body-odd/when-apple-allergy-suddenly-appears-f1C6436946  So this is apparently a thing, let's hope it doesn't translate to other fruits.

For now despite my love of apples as my afternoon snack, I will be changing back to berries or another alternative fruit.

Now the good news, I have been attending crossfit classes for 8 weeks.  I am really enjoying it, it's giving me something to work at, focus on and it just really makes me happy.  There are a lot of moves like Wall Balls and Double Unders that I struggle to do correctly either due to technique failure....double unders are just really hard or mobility issues. 

Squatting to full depth with a 13+ year sitting career is a struggle but I am working on getting better at the squatting and of course the squatting for wall balls.  Some of the things I am doing to work on this are extremely unexciting but I will mention them in case you have this issue.  I am foam rolling my IT band, sitting in my squat while watching TV in the evening, stretching, and walking on the off days from crossfit.  As I said not glamorous, but one day I hope that my legs will loosen to the point where I can get a full range squat, it's nice to have goals.

Now for the good news, I have found a lift that I absolutely love and have complete mobility for something I can do well with confidence and fairly heavy weight for a 5'3 girl who is new to weight lifting moves.

That move is: The Strict Press - I don't have any pictures of me doing a Strict Press so you will have to settle for this image.  It is all upper body and pushing the barbell over head.  Great workout tonight.

After the strength portion we finished the night with Double Unders and Wall Balls which while I know this type of endurance work is what will help my conditioning it is definitely the part I struggle with.