Attack of the "GRAMMA ARMS"!!!!

THE MONSTER ARMS! (and o my we have the same elbows too...)

Me and my mom have the same back....yikes.

The woman who started it all.....Grams!

Built in Wings....

Three generations of the monster arms...

So this is a follow up blog on the "monster drumstick arms"......this is where it all began.  The 2 older women in me and Randi's life.  They are the cause of all this humbug... lol, crap!!!  My Mom and my grams.  Those are the only 2 people that are still alive and have evidence of this generational curse....so I can make fun of them as much as I want.  

 Family time has been really wonderful this weekend visiting my Waianae ohana.  My mom recently moved to oahu to take care of my grandparents....which makes me the last person still on Maui...(excluding my wonderful cousin Nainoa and his parents).  I have always had lots of family around me all the time so these short trips are always bittersweet.  And with the recent move back of my sister to the islands from middle america I feel like a part of me has come back to complete me.  There is nothing like reuniting with your brother or sister after years of separation.  Having your siblings move away to the mainland for long stretches of time kinda make you feel like the only child sometimes.  It's a weird feeling for sure.  But I am soooo happy to have my sister back.  Maybe one day we can actually get her back to the right Island...RFM we shall pray for that. :) 

anyway, enough with the making fun of Randi....time to tie this into my crossfit life.  

I am happy to report that I have done........zero crossfit anything while on vacation. ha! just kidding I did demonstrate my progress on doing a pistol squat for my sister....but thats about it.  Kaika brought his 'Abmat' and jump rope so that he can still feel like he did something while here.  But not me.  All I did was eat, shop, sight see, eat, eat, eat........o my.  Good thing this trip ends today because I really need to stop this destructive cycle of gluttony.  

Although I did find me some PINK CONVERSE SHOES....I can't afford Oly shoes yet....and probably ever because In just a few weeks I am going to be jobless....so this pink find was a blessing.  Plus, because they were children size, it was only $24. O YEA! I'm ready now....bring on the SNATCH.....or not. ;)

Anyway, see all y'all tonight at the gym! I'm excited to be coming back.....if these pictures aren't motivation enough to get my ass to the gym I don't know what is.  Dips, pull ups, push ups, squats, lunges, and yes even Burpees....here I come!

Guava Girls! YEA BABY!

 

Seriously LOVE the personalized cartons! Kehau you are to good....

 

The three most vibrant yokes I've ever seen....perfect

 

Garlic and Onion Omelet! YUM

Just had my first Guava Girls Egg Omelet this morning and thought that would be a good topic to write about.  As you know Kehau has taken up farming.....and she has her won 'flock of hens'.....I hope I said that right.  I'm not a farmer in a sense of animal raising.  I'm better with plants...so far.   

Anyway, since I have heard so much about the dramatic journey of these young hens and their quest to make eggs for the world..I figured I would also do my part to show them support from afar.  Making sure their hard work is going to feed the multitudes.....ok maybe not the 'multitudes' but at least me and my family.  Which is a good start.  

And may I say they were AWESOME! Nice flavor...not to 'eggy' or 'chickeny'...if that makes since.  I kinda have issues with raw eggs and raw chicken...so don't mind me....I'm a little special remember.  Anyway, best organic eggs I've ever eaten! I think those things even held me over till dinner.  Seriously, I didn't get hungry again till around 4pm.  Crazy! because I'm always hungry.  

So anyway, JOB WELL DONE, chicken friends, and Mamma Kehau and Dadda Frank!  You guys are great chicken farmers! I see the love....even in the cartons that they ship off their product in.  Hand personalization, WOW! 

Anyhow, I am heading out tonight to go see my family on Oahu...so you might just see how we do CrossFit Waianae style if the WODs are easy enough to do with primitive tools.  :) 

Ok well..I'm chuckin up dem deuces ...PEACE!

A Little Encouragement and Inspiration for My Homies!

***WARNING FAT PHOTO'S ARE BEING POSTED...BEWARE!***

Ok obviously this isn't one of the "fat" photos...this was the good ol' days...back in 2004 senior year..high school.  (but as you can see the monster arms are developing) (also note that this picture can kinda give you an insight to the kind of person I was back then...hint: prissy girly girl)

O MY! yup this was taken in October of last year.  Probably the fattest I've been since giving birth to Kela. YIKES!

And now this is me today. The strongest I've ever been since.....ever. and the monster arms are finally shrinking! O YEAAA! *victory dance*

I just thought I'd share with all of you my embarrassing weight journey thous far in life.  I am still not as confident in my appearance that I think I should be...but I know that will come in time....and hard work.  I encourage you to bust ass during the work out because that is the only way to see results.  My time at RFM is limited so I am trying as hard as I can to push my body to the 'healthy' limits.  And thus far I think I've been here about 2 months and already am seeing major strength improvement and some appearance improvement in my body showing more muscle and less fat.  Which is I think...every persons goal.  

So going on to today. I work a night shift so I thought I'd get my workout done this morning instead....and visit my 8am crew.  I am still sore from yesterdays workout and pretty much I'm still sore from day 1 of joining RFM.  I don't think that ever really goes away.  It's like the ache that never leaves and is your constant unwanted tag along for every day movement....giving you a zap of annoyance every time you bend to pick something up or doing various movements that you took for granted prior to the continuous torture we do in the gym to those unknown muscles. It sucks but it's true.  

Anyhow, moving on to the WOD...

Now I know you guys probably haven't looked at what we are doing today so I won't spoil it for you.  All I'll tell you is the WOD was AMAZING! Difficult in the right degree of pain.  I think you guys will really enjoy it. (for those of you that are planning on coming tonight....yes I'm calling you out 5pm and 6pm classes!)...Rod....Chandler...Jen....not naming any names. :P  and Rod Vegas Abs are at RFM tonight.  Super fun and killer.  

I  think this WOD will give you some unforeseen confidence after you are done.  It looks intimidating I'm not going to lie about that....but what WOD isn't. If you aren't scared of the workout you aren't working out hard enough right? 

So anyway, sorry I can't make it tonight but I am rooting for you at 10,000 ft..(haleakala summit) CHEEHOO! 

WORK IT BOYEEEE! CHEE!

Pistol squats Beeoch!

 

Look Ma' no hands....or shoes..huh.

 

My mother-in-law beats me at everything...including pistol squats...sh*t. 

 

My baby boy gets warmed up for his WOD with his Daddy...

Ok gotta start this blog with the last picture....My little boy Lokela decided that he wanted to do the runs with us.  So kaika decided that he will go through some stretches with him and get him warmed up for the runs...It was the cutest thing I think I've ever seen...warms my heart up to the core. :')  Anyway, Kela ended up doing the first 200 meter run with us and actually beat me to the finish line...and decided that he was going to do his own WOD so he got a 45lb weight and did his "box jumps" (he even helped his Auntie Val with her fear of jumping...such a good boy we have)....then he did assisted hand stands with his Dad. and when I was ready to do my 400 meter he was out the door with me.  He made it to the stop point and half way back when his little body finally needed a rest...so me being #1 mom (just kidding)...I carried him while I ran for a little bit. (not kidding)...after his little rest he took off sprinting again and beat me to the finish...again.  Now if that doesn't motivate you to finish off strong I don't know what does. :)

Anyway the WOD was short and sweet.  More arms of course.  Kristi is watching my back and getting some arm workouts in there...Love it! 

so it was: 

200 meter run

20 box jumps

5 chin ups (strict hang)

400 meter run

10 box jumps

10 chin ups

200 meter run

20 box jumps 

5 chin ups

yea sounds like a whole lot and sounds crazy difficult but it wasn't as bad as I originally thought.  Well I originally thought we were doing 20 wall balls which scared the crap out of me cuz I hate having a huge 10lb black ball rocketing towards my face...just saying. Also I have issues with letting that ball take me into a squat and then having to hurl that thing back up in the air.  Not fun. But box jumps I can do.  When  I first started RFM we did a WOD with crazy amounts of both box jumps and wall balls.  I had my little internal 'battle of wills' with the box....me and him had to clear some sh*t up.  But in the end I showed that box who was boss and now I even upgraded to a higher box for this WOD....O yea boyee!  But me and the wall balls are still trying to hash sh*t out.  I think I won some battles but the 'big black ball' cracked me in the chin a few times so we are still trying to work on our 'relationship'.  I donno I'll let you know how it goes with that one.  

Anyhow, I had fun on this WOD.  Especially since we were doing pistol squats and I didn't do to bad...and I actually saw a real quad muscle bulge here and there.  O YEA!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to tomorrows WOD...because I just looked and it looks like some fun! 

Peace y'all!

"1001, 1002, 1003....O It's a Deep Burn...Burn so Deep...."-Ron Burgandy

 

All the dear friends that made it to Kristi's Birthday Party!...wait a minute where the hell is Rod?

 

This is titled "Kaanapali"...I don't know why or what they are doing...Kristi any input?

 Alright so first and foremost....HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTI! We had a great time celebrating with you and all the RFMers!  Of course one of the main questions of the night was..."where is Rod?" but I guess we will never know since he didn't show up for the WOD tonight.  :P  Also, an explanation would be nice for this picture that Kristi took on my phone.  I have no idea what Shauna is doing to Mikki.....and obviously Mikki is expressing her thoughts through sign language. lol

Anyhow, I can definitely say that this night as brought our already tight group even tighter through all the adventures that we shared....quick recap: starting with the various margarita pitchers that was consumed during dinner...which made Ali (one of our newer members to RFM) more talkative and even loosened him up to bust a move or two, Mikki's little 'love show' with the dessert, Val's 'deadlift' on the dance floor, Kristi's 'Snatch-clean & jerk' on the dance floor that made a mexican "jerk"...lets see what else...o and Derek and Elena's burpees..... and last but not least Lori's black friend that made her look tall.  All these things made it that much more fun and very eventful for sure!

So going on to today's WOD.....

here it is:**DB=dumbbell** **AMRAP=as many rounds as possible**

AMRAP in 10mins

5 DB hang cleans

5 DB push press

10 alternating renegade rows (5 each arm) w/ DB

Hey looks like the theme for this week is still arms...o yea! 

So I was really scared of this WOD, because as you can see there are lots of arms and my arms aren't very strong....but that's why we do this right!?! so 'no fear' just do it.  O my! I was already feeling the 'deep burn' after the first round...and looked at the clock and only a minute or so passed so I like..."omg! I still have so much more time to go...Damn!"  Also I used 15lb DB's and those were getting heavier by the min.  I think what killed me the most was the hang cleans.....I HATE cleans with a PASSION!  Mostly because they scare me and they hurt like hell fire! bringing weights all the way up to your shoulders and then squatting down into a full below parallel squat will sap your energy real quick if you are pushing hard.  Then on top of that scary, energy sapping squat, you gotta get those DB over your head for the push press...yea arm burn for shizzle my nizzle!  To top off the bbq on my arms doing 10 alternating renegade rows was like putting lemon juice on an open wound.  It just took the pain to another level.  But hey, if it will shrink my 'monster drumsticks' I'm there! 

Unfortunately, I couldn't do more than 6 rounds.  I felt like I could of pushed a little harder maybe....take less breaks, let the pain linger a little longer before I stopped for a breather....maybe bang out at least 1 more round but that's ok.  At least now I know what I want to shoot for in the future.  I know my reps will increase over time so I just have to hang in there and keep at it.  This is going into my second month in CrossFit and I have already exceeded most of my expectations for myself.  The only thing that I really want to do is do a full unassisted pull up.  But I know that is coming soon.  I just have to keep doing the assisted ones.  One day though...real soon I'm going to do it.  Anyhow...I need to go ice my shoulders now...cuz my arms are starting to show signs of bruising from all the times I let the dumbbell wack my shoulders as it made it's barely controlled resistance lacking fall in my arms.  I'm just lucky I didn't wack myself in the head with those damn things.  

WOW that was a good workout! *sigh....and 1 2 3...pass out*

Peace!

Two Tickets To The Gun Show....

 

Showing off the 'Guns'

 

(this doesn't have anything to do with my blog but....)

Props to brother Rod, look at that stance...VEGAS BABY!

 

& Thank you to everyone that has been making sure Kaika is taking better pictures because as you can see....you can actually see me....amazing!

Ok so the topic of this blog is....The 'Guns'..aka: arms.  Ever since high school my genetics have been  going against me.   When I was younger everyone called me a 'bean pole' because I was really skinny, zero form, just straight limbs...thats it (obviously my filipino blood was going strong back then). But when high school hit I started getting MONSTER ARMS...among other things (like THUNDER THIGHS....but that's a blog for another day).  Unfortunately from my gene pool my grandma contributed 2 things....a love for food that borders on obsession and the notorious MONSTER ARMS.  If I was a guy...it wouldn't be so bad.  But my mom had 3 girls.  All of which have grams arms. 

Imagine substituting your bicep and tricep for a KFC fried chicken drumstick (but more like human life size)....what I'm trying to get you to picture is basically the fat bulb of the drum as my arm and then my forearm being just the bone part (cuz my forearms are very narrow and skinny plus i have small hands)....and that's how I picture my arms....disgusting right?  Anyway, that is one of the issues I have in my self image.  I look in the mirror and see the MONSTER DRUMSTICK! ew! (and mind you they are big for no good reason. totally useless mass...lame)

So being at CrossFit of course one of my goals is to get rid of the terrible arms that I unfortunately inherited from my elders.   So WODs that have pull ups, dips, push ups, push press...basically anything that can shrink my arms into a more slimmer feminine form I am all for it.  Well I got what I wanted this week so far.  on top of squats to 'tame the junk in the trunk' I also got lots of arm workouts. 

Example of this is tonights workout....5 rounds: 10 Dips, 5 pull ups, and 20 lunges.   I think I was pushing a little to hard for the negative pull ups prior to the WOD because by the time the WOD came my arms were already dead.  I also tried to do harder dips because I felt like doing them the way I have been was a little to easy.  So I did it with my legs elevated and I used 2 parallete bars instead of the bench.  Yeah I felt the burn...o my! Then came the pull ups...dead hang....o gosh.  I was using the blue band and I could barely get my chin above the bar.  by the 3rd round my arms didn't want to go anywhere.  So my sweet husband tells me....ok use the green band instead of the blue.  So I do and then I get through the 3rd and 4th round doing that.  But by the 5th round even the green band was not getting my body up from a dead hang.  so Kaika (genius that he is) puts the blue band and the green band together and tells me to try that.  ok ok, I don't weigh that much so what do you think happened....that thing sprang me up so fast my pink shoes went right over my head...(I think kaika got confused some how and thought we were doing toes to bar or something)  Good thing I was holding on because that would of been a disaster.  So of course Kaika, Lori, and Kats were all witnesses to this 'hilarious' moment.  and I was trying to get my legs out of the thing laughing so hard...my time suffered for that.  (good thing speed isn't something I shoot for).

anyway I my arms are super sore and I think I did a good job pushing my arms to the limit.  and aside from the little mishap with the bands...I think I did ok.  The motto for me and my sister Randi that we will have to repeat for the rest of our lives is......

"NO GRAMA ARMS! NO GRAMA ARMS!" 

which I will probably have to revise to "NO MONSTER DRUMSTICKS!" 

anyway that's my story...Peace!

ps: im kinda writing this in a rush because i need to get up at 5am and I still haven't showered yet....so if i am all over the place. sorry :) but enjoy!

Gym Rat

 

 

From Zumba Skirts and Dancing sweat....

 

To Pink Shoes and Olympic Lifting......

So as you can see it has taken me a long time to write about these past couple days....  There has been much to ponder, much to reflect on, and much time to get back to reality.  This past weekend, as you RFMers know, was the Matt Major Olympic Lifting workshop or seminar (whatever it was called).   I did not plan on going to it.  And since I already had reservations about joining CrossFit there was no way I was going to get myself any deeper by learning more about 'oly' lifting.  But, as fate would have it....there were some last minute cancellations and slots that needed to be filled. ('needed' probably isn't the right word..since i don't really think they 'needed' me to fill in) but since I was available and I was (just so happened) in the area, I went. 

So for the whole weekend I was surrounded by sweat, barbells, weights, gym cloths, and RFMers.  It kinda gave me a mini flash back to youth camps....in a sense where you are surrounded by one purpose, one goal, one focal point....and all you think about is that.  Even when you leave you are still picturing the Snatch movements...still practicing at home even though your muscles are so sore and tired that you are not doing anything more than jerking back and forth and you look like you are in serious need of some strong mental medication.  

I think the most interesting thing I learned from the workshop was......how to pole dance.  Pole Dance, WHAT??? Actually, Matt is surprisingly very good at it.  I know what you're thinking...what the heck were we doing in the gym for 4 hrs a day for 2 days?  And the answer to your question is......we repeatedly did obscene movements...some with a pole, some with the barbell, some with the pvc pipe.  Ok ok, not really....but really.  Before your brain starts going toward more X-rated material...I'll explain.  We were learning how to bring our hips to the bar and not the bar to our hips....which gives us more power for our Snatch Clean.  It's actually just a lot of pelvic thrusting....which I think is why Oran scheduled 'Thrusters' for our WOD yesterday.  (He still has 'thrusting' on the brain. haha. jus kidding Oran).  

Anyway, even though (like with everything else exercise related) I wasn't planning on being there or trying it out, I really enjoyed it.  Not that my new goal is to be a competing Olympic Lifter or anything but it was a great experience and I'm glad I did it.  Coincidentally, I feel more confident in the gym now.  Especially where the weight lifting is concerned.  I told a few people that when I first started I had a huge fear of the bar.  I've always been afraid of the bar.  bench pressing in high school was an ordeal for me.  Mostly because I didn't and I still don't have much upper body strength so not being able to bench the 45lb bar was very embarrassing for me.  Since we aren't doing much bench pressing at RFM I guess i don't really have that much to be scared of.....Even so, I still have lingering 'prissy girl' tendencies and shy away from more 'strong people' activity.  Which is stupid right? Because I can do it, I'm not weak.  But old habits die hard.  

Any how, I was just thinking back on my Zumba days and if anyone told me back then that I'd be doing 'Olympic Lifting' I would of laugh at them.  So WOW for me!  Getting crazy over here...breaking out of the box.  Watch out....you never know what could be next...'Muscle ups' here I come. Ha! or not. 

Peace Peps!