Gearing Up

for another year, another set of goals and (in a few days, anyway) another CFCC BCCC.

Lots of good stuff to get me there, like this.

What is that, you might ask? Well, that's what happens when you poke a fork into this:

Braised lamb shanks from Make it Paleo. These were incredibly simple (sear meat, deposit into slow cooker with beef broth and herbs, come home to falling-off-the-bone lamb) and a great change-up for my otherwise very repetitive (though very delicious) diet.

Like my regular weekend breakfast of Whole Foods dry rubbed black forest bacon...

...which generates the fat for cooking my eggs AND an entire bunch of kale.

Mmmmm, greens.

And last night, we reinstituted Friday-night-steak-night for the first time in a good month:

Steaks cooked in our new ginormous Le Creuset cast iron pan, sweet potatoes and green beans roasted with a little bit of the most incredible olive oil on the planet, from Kasandrinos Imports. (GO BUY SOME NOW. I got a three-liter can for myself and a couple bottles to give away as Christmas presents. It's light and lemony and oh holy shit.)

I'm not going to recap 2011 too much, except to say that over the last six months, I've made some incredible investments in myself. In late June, I joined CFCC. Sometime in July, I started eating paleo, at least 80-85% of the time, and started to drop a bunch of body fat. In October, I did my first CFCC BCCC and really cleaned up my diet - and REALLY got some results.

As of October 1, these were my goals:

Sitting here on December 31, I'm so proud to say that I've achieved them all (I think). I'm down a whole lotta pounds (at least 15-20), several sizes (at least 2) and am much, MUCH stronger. I never do knee pushups anymore and I can do one or two REAL PULL UPS. (To be established with video evidence this morning.) This week, I deadlifted 250 pounds (a 15-lb PR) for two reps. Last night, I pressed 80lbs (a 5-lb PR) for 2 reps. I have yet to back squat 185, but I feel confident that I'm going to put that number up at the total in January.

Not much more to say but - WHAT NOW MOTHERFUCKER. I'm still formulating my goals for the next six months, but I know they involve a 300-lb deadlift, continuing to chip away at deadhang pull ups and learning to kip so I can do more metcons RXed, and (for the love of christ) mastering the pistol/single leg squat.

Time to get dressed and head to the 9am class. HAPPY NEW YEAR!