Remember when I failed last week?
I walked into the gym last night with a vengeance and with a goal of nailing my repeat Week 5 Magnusson progression in Week 6. If you recall, I needed to complete:
- 4×4 (4 sets of 4 reps) at 200lbs
- 1×2 (1 set of 2 reps) at 225lbs
- 1×2 at 255lbs
- 1×8 at 200lbs
Josh, my trusty weightlifting partner and I had a great time, in between talking comedy and doing math (who knew adding and subtracting weight plates was so hard sometimes?). My lifts felt strong. As I approached my 1×8 at 200lbs I could feel the nerves kick in, and I just stood and looked at the barbell for a good few minutes to prep. Watching Lauren, Kelly, and Ariel have successful lifts after a setback or two was motivating, too. The energy was there. Coach Jake had some great advice for me as I went into my 1×8 about lifting faster, and I think that helped me a lot, too. Results:
- 4×4 (4 sets of 4 reps) at 200lbs COMPLETED
- 1×2 (1 set of 2 reps) at 225lbs COMPLETED
- 1×2 at 255lbs COMPLETED
- 1×8 at 200lbs 1×10 COMPLETED
So bring it Week 6. Let’s add 10lbs on each set. I’m ready for you. 
In other news, we had our first Solcana WholeMe get together on Saturday. This is the in-person extension of our Facebook group – have you joined yet? It was fun to hang out with my also-in-real-life gym pals over some good, healthy eats and warm, hearty laughs. Coach Hannah joined us and gave us an article to read before we met: Why Personalizing Your Diet and Lifestyle Is the Key to Success, which was a great discussion starting point. There is so much information that surrounds food and what we should and shouldn’t eat, and I’m so excited that we have our over own nutrition nut to at Solcana to bother with our questions now! LUCIA THIS IS YOU! We all brought a dish or two to share – most of them followed paleo – and we discussed the recipes. I left with about 8 new things to try to make at home. Most importantly, I learned about the benefit of MASSAGING KALE which makes it that much easier to eat in a salad. OH KALE YEAH, DUDES.
I made a lovely butternut squash soup (two ingredients: butternut squash and coconut milk!) which always makes me feel like an adult until I remember that I have nearly bald tires on my car. Also feeling like an adult, I traveled to this rockin’ party with a CROCK POT of soup because I am a woman of technology. Old technology at that, because my crock pot does not posses a locking top, and when I zipped around a corner in my lovely and powerful Hyundai Elantra, said crock pot tipped over and emptied out under my front seat. I managed to salvage enough for the party, and now 
you can find me serving butternut gazpacho (sans tomatoes…it’s fusion!) out of my car in various downtown MSP locations. You know what they say: “when life gives you a car full of soup…” But I digress. Back to the party: I also went out on a limb and made Grain Free Brownie Bites for the very first time. These called for dates, walnuts, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt. I EVEN USED THE BLENDER which made me realize that I really need to invest in a food processor. I’ve already been scouring the interwebs so if you have suggestions, holla at your girl. Anyway, not knowing how these brownie bites were going to turn out, I let my pals at the party try them first. You know, to see if they died. They didn’t! In fact, they were a hit, so, you can bet I’ll be making these for a little sweet treat every now and then (also very high in fiber, protein and healthy fats).
The Solcana WholeMe get together was a really great introduction that helped continue on my path to being comfortable with food – eating it, talking about it, learning about it, all of it. I can’t wait to share with you what kinds of things we’re about to embark on together in the New Year with this group. Join us if you haven’t yet – it’s pretty powerful what you can accomplish when you’ve got a rockin’ support group around you. See you next week!