A few weeks ago when I was working out in North Carolina, I was not only doing nearly one hundred Double Under jump ropes a day, but I ran a half-marathon on Sunday, was at Crossfit on Monday, so at Crossfit on Tuesday I was, not surprisingly, a little sore.  I was so sore that at one point I had a 65 pound bar of weights resting on my shoulders behind my neck, and I had a moment where I thought that I honestly couldn't lift it off my shoulders.  If I had just kept that thought inside my head I would have been fine, but when the coach asked me to continue with the lift I muttered a simple, "I can't."  At this point he looked at me and said, "I guess since you are new we will let it slide, but we are never allowed to say, 'I can't.'  If you do it again you will need to do 10 burpees."  Now I am not saying that I agreed with his punishment, but I really feel that "can't" might be a good word to eliminate from our vocabulary.  The Crossfit coach was right in one sense, once I stopped telling myself I couldn't, I not only lifted the bar off my shoulders, but I completed the sets as well.
          I can attribute so much of the success I have experienced over the last few years to the fact that I have been pushing "can't" out of my head and trying things I never thought I could do.  First of all, if you had asked me even three years ago if I would be able to finish even one half-marathon, I would have told you that you were crazy.  Next month in Portland I will be completing race number 13, and I am actually planning on doing my first full marathon about this time next year.  It did take time, training, and perseverance to get to this point, but I think the key may be to change " I can't" to "I will be able to soon."
          When I first started with Crossfit five months ago, one of my major fears was the box jumps. It wasn't so much the fact that I am not very good at vertical jumping, I just didn't want to hurt myself.  As a runner, one thing that would truly sideline me is if I smacked my shins on the edge of the box, which is a real possibility with this activity.  What I have come to learn about box jumps is that more often than not, the barrier to a successful box jump is not a physical one, it is mental.  If you think you can't jump higher than the box, chances are that you won't be able to do it.  In the beginning, I had trouble with the 12" box.  More often than not, I wouldn't even jump, I would just step up and then back down again--safe.  Once I got the "I can't" out of my head, I was soon able to consistently jump up onto an 18" version. 
          Amazingly,  I had somehow managed to avoid having box jump as part of any workout for over a month until Tuesday of this week.  We were asked to do 5 rounds of the following: 3 tire flips, 9 wall balls, 12 Russian kettle bell swings, and then 15 box jumps.  I found myself again doubting whether I could still do the 18" box successfully.  Because we had to do the activities in rotations, the stations were set-up and ready to go.  When I looked over to the box jump station I noticed that there were only 20" boxes available.  Coach Al saw the panicked look on my face, and asked if I need a smaller box and I surprisingly heard myself utter, "Nope--I should be fine."  I was so surprised to hear that come out of my mouth because inside I was still doubting myself.  When it came time to do my jumps, I faced the box, bent my knees and moved my body into a squat position, held my chest high, and pulled my arms back so I could drive myself up onto the box.  Without hesitation, I exploded up onto the box, landed softly and then stood up to a fully upright position.  Like a kid, I threw my arms up in the air with excitement. I not only completed that one jump, but by the end, I had jumped 75 times up and down that box much more easily than I had anticipated. I had once again conquered a big fear by not letting "can't" into my head.
          So often when I share my workout routines with others, the first thing out of their mouths is that they could never do the same.  For those of you that are still thinking that you can't, I am here to tell you that you are wrong.  If a more than 200 lb woman can work her way into being able to do Crossfit and run races, anyone can.  I challenge you to take that first step in believing in yourself.  The only way to overcome the mental-not physical-barriers that are keeping you from a healthy lifestyle is to stop focusing on what you can't do.  I am willing to bet that if you, too, take "I can't" out of your vocabulary, you will be pleasantly surprised by what you CAN do.

         I was on my way home from my 5:30 AM Crossfit workout in Winston-Salem, North Carolina when I saw a car in front of me with the license plate RUXRCZN (Are you exercising?).  It felt great to be able to answer, even at that god awful hour, that, yes, I had been exercising.  I left when it was dark and arrived back before the sun rose in the sky.  I jumped back into bed with my youngest son, and when he woke up a couple hours later his first comment was, "Okay mom, you can go to Crossfit now."  When I told him I had already been to Crossfit, he looked at me with a puzzled expression, and asked, "You went at night?" Well, not exactly, but I have learned that I need to make sure I have a "no excuses policy" when it comes to my workouts.
          People often want the secret to my successful weight loss journey, and the truth is very boring--calories in, calories out.  Now, it is not really this simple, but the truth is,  if I eat healthy food in reasonable portions but don't exercise, I maintain but do not lose weight.  If I exercise but do not eat healthy, I also maintain but do not lose.  However, if I exercise on a regular basis and make sure that I am eating good food most of the time...with this mix I actually lose inches and pounds.
          That is why I was up before the sun doing my Crossfit workout.  I had a busy day ahead of me, and I knew there was no way to fit it in any other way.  Yes, it would have been easier to just roll over when my alarm went off at 4:30 AM, but nothing can replace that feeling of knowing you did not let life get in the way of a hard, much needed workout.  In the beginning it is tough to get motivated, but if you do it consistently, it really does become a habit--and what a habit to have.
          In fact, on Tuesday I arrived at my 5:30 AM workout and by 5:35 it was obvious that the coach had overslept and that there would be no official workout.  Several people got upset and drove off without their morning exercise.  However, I noticed one guy, Mike, get out of his car and started stretching outside the gym.  I had woken up at 4:30 and driven 30 minutes to get there, so I decided to get out as well and see what Mike was doing.  When I moved toward the gym, John also got out of his car to see what we were up to.  We decided to do our own WOD (Workout of the Day).  The only equipment available to us were some huge truck tires, so we decided to do 5 rounds of 10 tire flips (squat under tire and then flip it over) and 200m sprints.  50 tire flips and 1000m of sprints later, I felt better than ever because I did not let a little thing like no coach stop me from working out.
          So if you are not exercising, find something you love to do, and don't let anything get in the way of getting it done.  You don't have to do Crossfit, you don't have to run half marathons, just get your body moving so that if you ever encounter the question, "RUXRCZN," you, too, can answer with an enthusiastic, "YES!"