I want ripped abs not hands!

Anyone can ask me how much I love Crossfit and like 99.99% of Crossfitters I’m blissfully obsessed! That doesn’t mean that since I started Crossfit that I haven’t been caught in the gym cussing up a storm questioning why I started this brand of torture in the first place… 

But that only happens for two reasons: falling on box jumps and when I tear my hands. I fixed the box jump issue with some sweet Rigor Gear guards so lets talk about hand tears.

Nothing sucks more than hauling butt through toes to bar, pull ups or cleans and having to stop and utter some obscenities because your hand is missing skin and bleeding.

After looking around the web I have found some tips for preventing and treating hand tears.

First of all your hands rip for one of two reasons: 
1. You’re a softy and your hands haven’t had time to thicken up
2. You haven’t treated your hands to the right kind of loving.

Prevention

Contain your callouses, keep those hands sanded down and smooth. Use a nail file, corn shaver, cuticle scissors, or a pumice stone to keep those bad boys in check. I have even read about people using dremel tools… If that’s true or not I don’t know.

To quote the Crossfit Journal, “Ideally, your entire palm surface should be one thick callus with no bumps or ridges in any one particular area. In order to do this, groom your hands always after a hot shower or bath (this allows the calluses to swell up). While the calluses are still “swollen,” I take a double-edged razor and very carefully shave the dead callus bumps down a little at a time until the bumps are about even with the thickness of the rest of the hand. With my younger students, I simply ask them to get a callus stone (you can buy one at any drug store), and gently sand the callus down even with the rest of the skin. Remember, whenever you groom or shave your calluses, don’t overdo it, since you don’t want to go too deep into your skin. Always leave enough thick skin so to facilitate your workout the following day. The goal is to maintain an even and consistent thickness of hard skin throughout the entire palm.”

Keep your hands well moisturized with a good lotion when you aren’t busy wodding!

Use tape, gloves or Second Skin to protect your hands!

You can also use chalk to help protect your hands during workouts, but there is a thing as too much chalk which can lead to even more tears.

Another thing you may want to look at is your grip! Having improper grip can add to tears on your hands. Fit Bomb has a great article on this! Clicky.


Treatment

Soak your hands in salt water or in the tub with Epson salt to dry out the skin and help with the healing process.

Some people trim the torn skin, but most say leave it attached for faster healing, it is up to you. 

Use Neosporin or any other kind of antibacterial medication to clean the affected area. Some people use alternative aids like vitamin e, tea bags, and Dermabond skin sealant - but I haven’t tried those methods.

Cover the affected area, I use Band-Aid Tough Strips, I love the H shaped bandaids! They are perfect for this purpose!

Aquaphor or a thick lotion will assist the skin in recovering and speed up the replacement of new healthy skin!

So take care of those hands, remember lots of scrubbing and lotion to keep those pains away!

Todays WOD:

This girl is SORE. No joke.

The Hubby offered to cook dinner while I soaked in the tub! {WIN}

And created this delicious meal! Dinner is served! Skinny Taste Asian Edamame Fried rice & Skinny Kitchens Low Carb Chicken Lettuce wraps!

Now I'm off to watch one of my favorite shows, Extreme Makeover Weightloss Edition!

Nighty!

Questions:
How do you protect your hands?
Do you believe in gloves or no?

Eat clean, train mean, and inspire others!
-Jaren

Sources: Diamond Bar Crossfit, Crossfit New England, Examiner, and Crossfit San Jose.

I Want to Try That Thursday

I thought today I would share of the recipes I have seen on other blogs that have mine and the hubby drooling. If you start seeing a trend, I would like to say that while it was not my intention to pic mostly recipes with sweet potatoes… I’m just obsessed. I need help. 

First off, because I would die without brownies in my life, Sweet Potato Brownies from Lindsay at the Lean Green Bean! Don’t those babies look moist and delicious? Serve with a little low fat ice cream and I’d say instant win! 

Second and third come from Jenn at Peas and Crayons. She cracks me up all the time. 

Homestyle Macaroni Salad – add some boiled eggs in there… Oh yeah. Are you drooling yet? Make this as a side dish to some BBQ’d chicken… America. That’s all. 

Next, Savory Sweet Potato Cassarole. If you haven’t had the awesomeness that is sweet potato, black beans and salsa combined in awesomeness in your face… Well you just aren’t living. This recipe is so easy and versatile! 

Lastly, Sweet Potato “Noodles” with Creamy Miso Dressing and Salmon from Meg at A Dash of Meg. Easy, healthy, and delicious!

As for the life of me, trying to get things set up for my last semester of college and it has been a complete nightmare. They only offer the class on Monday mornings, its mandatory to graduate, and impossible for my schedule because I work your typical M-F schedule. My advisors words were and I quote, “It looks to me like you have 2 options: quit your job so you can take the class or change your major.” Yes I have one class left, let me just switch my major! SO MAD. So I’m trying to find out my other options and so far no response. I need a margarita. Or a few. 

The WOD from this morning, as Thursdays is sort of the easy day and most people skip. Today was not easy. Those squats almost killed me. Good lord, my thighs were not happy after 45 of those at 85lbs. Yesterday and today's WOD have me pretty darn sore after a week of vacation. Walking like a Granny over here! 

You know those cravings we women get? I swear something is wrong with me, as I usually don’t have many cravings. Earlier this week it was dark chocolate, so I bought a bag of those Dove dark chocolate squares. Hit the spot! {Not the whole bag, I still have about half left after I hid them from my husband} Today its Starbucks… So off I went for a tall Iced Skinny Carmel Macchiato. NECTAR FROM HEAVEN. Day is made. 

Sometimes being married to my hubby is like having your own personal chef but better. He is a great cook and loves doing it... Doesn't hurt that he is cute and all mine. So earlier today I sent the hubby a text of a new Skinny Taste recipe and I came home to find the kitchen in full swing! Jalapeno Shrimp Cakes, spinach and cheese stuffed portabellos, and mashed potatoes! Holy wow! This girl is stuffed!

Questions: Have you had any strange cravings lately? 

What new recipe do you want to try?

Eat clean, train mean, and inspire others!

-Jaren

What I Ate Wednesday #11

Good morning! Its another WIAW post and I'm going to continue posting like I have the last few weeks. Instead of posting everything I had in one day, I'm posting all the things I ate this week that caught my eye! This girl likes variety! 

Since I spent most of last week sick {so I didn't eat much} and I didn't get to post my WIAW last week I am combining the two weeks into one post! 

----What WIAW isn't about----

Comparison - Judgement - Restriction - Guilt

----What WIAW is about----

Celebrating one of the glorious things we all have in common: We all eat!

"WIAW is about food and fun! It's about making new friends, breaking out of a food rut, noting changes in your diet/lifestyle, inspiring yourself & others, embracing fruit & vegetables, nourishing your body with the foods that work for you, finding new ways to eat your favorite foods, and so much more" 

<3-peas & crayons

sushi with the fiance: mine

his

peanut butter & chocolate froyo from orange leaf

pulled beef, trader joe's eggplant & zucchini, and sweet potato fries

scrambled eggs with trader joe's chicken sausage

check out my Larabar review and giveaway post here

chipotle burrito bowl, so good

pink berry chocolate mini cup

cafe express mini turkey sandwich, cup of turkey chili, and a spring salad

skinny taste sloppy joes & corn with quinoa

skinny taste santa fe chicken with some alterations

140 cal skinny cow, do you see an ice cream pattern here?

sometimes this girl just needs some chick-fil-a, grilled chicken nuggets with a fruit cup

skinny taste black bean chipotle bugers with homemade cole slaw, avocado's and sweet potato fries

even though my fiance thinks i have an addiction, he still takes me to starbucks to make me smile

iced skinny carmel macchiato

we tried a new froyo shop in town called chiller bee, officially my favorite. he got birthday cake and peanut butter while I got chocolate mixed with peanut butter. so tasty!

Now for the FITNESS!

These are just a few I recorded.

a short run i squeezed in before an hour of yoga

Question: 

What is the longest you've held a plank?

Eat clean, train hard, and inspire others!

Kiwi && Me

Date Day

The last few days I have been functioning at 50%, I have been exhausted. Yesterday the fiance let me sleep in till 10:30 while he cooked up some french toast! I woke up feeling pretty spoiled. And grateful! 

The last few days have been cool and rainy, so we have been enjoying a lot of rain on the tin roof - my favorite sound. I think it was working its magic on everyone!

We both got ready and headed to town for the day. First stop was the flower shop handling our wedding. We paid the deposit, gave her the color pieces, and signed our life away. Kidding. But I did have to listen to the florist and the fiance talk fishing for awhile... He is obsessed.

Then we headed to the mall to order his wedding ring. Kay was able to order the one he wanted since we were unable to find it in any store. I am not big on having credit cards, frankly I think they are evil {thats the finance and accountant in me} but having that Kay card has come in REALLY handy during all of this. He was happy, so I was happy!

And since it was sort of his day, he picked lunch - sushi at Chi. The sushi was just as great as last time, but it smelled funny in there. I'll let them slide this time. I stuck with my usual california rolls with brown rice.

And he got all this funky stuff. The fish freaks me out, but he bribed me into trying it finally though. It was alright, I haven't died yet but I haven't ruled that out as a possibility. 

We thought about going to the movies but there wasn't anything that we were dying to see that we hadn't already seen so we decided to go take a stroll through Trader Joe's! We bought some chicken sausage, some frozen veggies, some deserts {duh}, and the fiance got some of their peppermint toothpaste and bar soap. He likes to smell good.

Next we tried out a new froyo place called Orange Leaf. I am a creature of habit and the fiance likes to constantly try new things, so he won this time.

We split peanut butter and chocolate swirled together with gummie bears, cookie dough pieces, and little peanut butter cups. It was delicious! We also tried the brownie batter afterwards - AMAZING. They had a flavor called birthday cake that tasted just like Louisiana wedding cake and I thought the fiance was going to cry with joy - that is his favorite stuff. So I know we will be going back, even though it is really far away.

I came home and found this on the door step!

I won it in a giveaway hosted by Itz Linz! Her blog is awesome, and she has such a cool personality! Go check her out! 

This box has all kinds of cool stuff: bars, protein, tea, aromatherapy, house cleaning stuff, make up, and snacks! 

Decided to nerd out again with some Star Trek. I'm serious when I say I watch this A LOT. I love it. 

Dinner consisted of pulled beef on sandwich thins, sweet potato fries, and eggplant we got from Trader Joe's. Of course the boys picked this meal out, but it was good none the less.

The fiance and I decided to have a planking contest, I lost but I did make it to 2 minutes which is a new record for me so I was very happy! Then I opted for some Bob Yoga! I am really  becoming addicted to this yoga... Who would have thought?

Saw this on a friends facebook and it just cracked me up! So made me think of my own furry little monsters!

Well my friends I'm off to enjoy my day! 

Question: 
Are you a creature of habit or do you enjoy trying new things?
What is your favorite thing at Trader Joe's?

Eat clean, train hard, & inspire others!
-Kiwi && Me

The Weekend and Back to Routine

Sorry for the weekend absence, but I was a busy little bee. Plus I wanted Logann’s post to enjoy some glory. It was pretty awesome wasn’t it? I don’t know if she has gotten on to see everyone’s kind comments yet since she is on her way back to Austin but I’ll shoot her a message and let her know!

Friday, after soaking up some last rays on the beach we headed to Granny’s (Hi Granny – Love you) for some family time and dinner. Now like most other granny’s in the world, my grandmother, my father’s mother, is a wonderful cook. Pretty much everything she makes is to die for. We watched Wall-E with my nephew and then sat down for some pot roast with sweet and regular potatoes, lima beans, broccoli and salad. Oh my lord was this girl stuffed!! You should see my family when lima beans are involved, it’s a mass grab it and growl fest! Don’t step between this girl and her lima beans, you may get hurt.

Goodbye white sandy heaven, until next time.

Saturday we left the condo and headed to the country. My mother’s parents had lots of land north of Fort Walton, which her father divided between her siblings and a few others during his life and at his death. My aunt has a horse ranch there, and my parents have a little house near the canyon. On this property is a fishing pond, and a natural spring feed creek perfect for hot afternoons. So after lunch, and a nap, we headed down the hill to the creek – Logann, Candace and her family, and me and the fiancé. The first time you step in that water it never ceases to make you cringe with the cold, but we took a hike up the creek to explore. I wish I could have gotten some pictures but I was afraid of getting my phone wet. We found animal tracks, little beaches, and spring heads that we literally took a cup and drank from. The land there sits on a large slab of iron which gets in the water, and holy moly it is the best water I have ever had. I think it lost out on a national taste test to somewhere in Colorado. But oh so good.

We came back up to the house to find Granny had shown up, and my aunt and uncle cooked up some fish, cole slaw, and potato salad. At this point I was a stuffed pig. Then she tells us that she has angel food cake with strawberries in the fridge. If you learn anything from this point, remember this – Angel Food Cake with Strawberries is MY FAVORITE. Period. The end. So I couldn’t say no. Last day of vacation, what the heck. Spent some time chatting and playing with my sisters kiddos, and then it was time for goodbyes before heading to our hotel for the night.

Yesterday was spent in the Camaro, driving from Florida to home. I hate leaving Florida every time, but it is nice to be back home in the great state of Texas! I spent the morning driving and then the fiancé took over, while I napped. Those who claim you can’t sleep in a camaro are wrong, I got two hours of sleep only to wake up to my fiancé driving like a crazy person – almost gave me a heart attack. In his defense, he was trying to get over and some guy cut him off going like triple digits and he slammed on the breaks and woke me up. Brat. All in all it was a good drive. Got to do lots of chatting with the honey and I got to listen to the Indy 500 race on the XM.

Vacation is wonderful but I am glad to be home, back to my routine - healthy food, and exercise! Came home to find a box for me, I’ll post more about that on Thursday, and my Women’s Health Mag with none other than my favorite Jillian Michaels! I can’t wait to read it later today! Tonight I am cooking dinner for my mom and myself, and in a house with no groceries this girl is going to have to be creative. Then I think I will bust out some Beach Body Insanity, which I’m dreading after a week of not doing it. Pray for my muscles.

Please ignore my lack of make-up above. 

On a separate note, I had three very happy fur babies when I got home yesterday. Pookey seemed freaked at first, I’m sure she was enjoying the peace and quiet. Jasper let us cuddle with him for a good ten minutes, I’m pretty sure that is a record! Since we had to leave food down for them instead of portioning out their food, Mr. Chunky Monkey is… a little chunkier. Back to his diet too! And Ms. Kiwi. Well she hopped right on the bed and onto my back and rubbed her head against mine as if to say, “MOM! Thank goodness your home!” Those moments where she is being kind and not a princess are few so I soaked it up!

Question:

What do you miss most when you are on vacation?

Live, Love, and Lift!

-Kiwi and Me

For tips, suggestions, questions, or if you just want to share your weight loss pictures or story - email me at: kiwiandmefit(at)gmail(dot)com!