Bear Bag: Unveiled.

My gym bag is rather large, pretty heavy, and filled with mostly useful items. I'll admit, I may come a little bit over-prepared (especially considering that I live 3 miles from the gym), but 99% of the time, I have everything that I need. What does "gym-ready" look like for this lady? Let's see :)

From left-ish to right-ish:

1. My bright blue, Innov-8 F-light 230's- THE best shoe I have come across thus far. Very minimal heel drop, flexible, comfortable, and most importantly: great for CrossFit. 
2. Optimum Nutrition Amino Energy (AKA "Purple Drank")- I use this as a pre-workout supplement and occasionally drink it in place of coffee or tea. It is delicious and a lot milder than other pre-workout supps. that I have tried...so if you don't like feeling like The Hulk before you workout, Purple Drank is for you.
3. Degree Active- The best D.O. for my B.O. 
4. Lemon Vanilla lotion- It smells like lemons & cake. I can't eat cake, so I like to smell like it.
5. Pink Fresh & Clean body spray- Because I am so fresh & so clean.
6. BodyBugg V3- It calculates how many calories you burn throughout the day, so it is especially helpful for weight loss. A lot of people overestimate how many calories they burn and underestimate how many calories they consume, so any kind of calorie-tracking device will ensure that you are getting the calorie-deficit that is necessary for losing weight. Plus, it's fun to see how many calories you burn when you're driving, mopping, or running around your house in a Robin outfit...
7. Chalk bag- CrossFit incorporates a lot of Olympic weightlifting, pullups, knees to elbows, toes to bear bar, etc. These are all activities where grip is especially important and sweaty palms are disadvantageous; thus, gym chalk in a cute lil' bag :) 
8. Gym bag- For carrying all of this shit.
9. The Paleo Diet for Athletes- This book is excellent! It is what really inspired me to be so strict with my nutrition because it discusses how big of a difference it makes with athletic performance. Even if you are not an endurance athlete, I would recommend reading this if you are interested at all in improving your workout level, your running times, or sports ability. 
10. Organic raisins- Because most manufacturers add sugar or preservatives, I like to buy organic dried fruit instead. I eat raisins post-workout because they are an alkaline-based food (decreases acidity in blood, helping with soreness) and they are high glycemic load/index carbohydrates (taken with protein, help with protein synthesis aka muscles sucking up protein). 
11. Dental floss- I eat A LOT of meat and broccoli; not so cute stuck up in your teethies.
12. Blender Bottle- This baby is great for mixing protein shakes, pre-workout supps, chocolate milk, etc. It has a little whisk inside that prevents chunkage :)
13. Lacrosse ball- I use this for self-myofascial release (muscle knots) and mobility (stretching). Just place a ball between you and a wall and roll around on the sore/tense area. Caution: this hurts and will make you want to cry/vomit. 
14. Nalgene bottle- I love my giant water bottle because I am more inclined to stay hydrated and avoid making 1,000 trips to the water fountain. 
15. Knee band- I have issues with my left knee (from running and attempting double unders), but this band helps quite a bit. I just wear it underneath my lil' kneecap and it alleviates most of the pain. 
16. Workout clothes- Fact: I own 10x more workout clothing than I do normal people clothing. I really like the Champion brand (Target) because it's rather inexpensive and it all fits me pretty well. 

Alrighty, I guess that sums up the entirety of my gym bag!! 

The Paleo Challenge is still going well! I think I'm at the point where it's just an everyday thing now. I don't think about cake every 3 minutes and physically, I feel amazing. I almost don't want to eat an entire pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving just because I feel like I'm doing so well. I am really seeing the truth in the whole "it takes 3 weeks to create a habit" or whatever...this is actually getting easier as I go along. The hardest rule to follow lately has been the "no measurements until the end" rule. I really, really want to weigh myself!! I think it's just out of curiosity, but so far I haven't set foot on the scale. 

We have kind of a segregation of sorts going on at work right now: very recently, we have a few people starting on The Zone Diet and a few people that are becoming Paleo. I just think it's awesome that everyone seems to be jumping aboard the health train, honestly. I used to be such a Zone hater, but I'm getting to be more understanding with not wanting to give up certain things. And I quote "The Zone Diet gives you cookies!!!" 

In workout news, I have been the sorest of my lifetime this week. Progressive's programming has been spot on lately and I'm really feeling it. I ended up working out last Sunday (and PR-ing the shit out of my wod), so yesterday was an impromptu (and much needed) rest day, along with today. So it's back to work tomorrow!! 

"Today I will do what others won't, so tomorrow I can do what others can't."