Crossfit: is the feeling of death worth it?

Crossfit is probably one of the most rigorous things I have ever participated in, but holy cow it makes you 10 times stronger than you were before. It may feel like you are dying during the workout, but it is totally worth it in the end. 

This year, I am doing crossfit with a few girls from the track and field team. We joined a 3 month program that is on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday for an hour(and no we don't go to those crazy crossfit competitions for insanely buff people). For the first 2 weeks, we learned form on our lifting during the first half hour of class. These lifts include power/full hang cleans, power/full hang snatch, clean and jerk, front squat, box squat, sumo squat, and probably 20 more lifts. When we hit the 3rd week, we went to the regular workout. The workout would consist of one primary lift that you would do a certain amount of reps on. For example, we would do 3 clean and jerks every other minute on the minute for 10 minutes. That would mean doing 3 clean and jerks in 1 minute, and then a 1 minute break period. After that, we would go to the WOD(that means workout of the day which I just figured out like yesterday) which are always very VERY difficult. They are circuits of different workouts that you either have a time limit to do a certain number, or you do as many rounds as possibly in a certain time cap. For example, tomorrow we are doing a 5 rounds of 400 meter runs and 15 overhead squats in a time cap of 18 minutes. This is one of the easier workouts. The hardest workout I've had to do so far was 50 box jumps, 50 jumping pull ups, 50 kettle bell swings, 50 walking lunge steps, 50 knees to elbows, 50 push press, 50 back extensions, 50 wall balls, 50 burpees, and 50 double unders in a time cap of 30 minutes. I'm pretty sure I died after that workout. 

I know that crossfit is working for me because my hang clean max has improved 15 pounds and my squat max has improved 10 pounds. It may be very extremely terribly hard, but it is very worth it if you stick it out. 

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Recruiting: such a frustrating thing

One of the most frustrating things going on in my life right now is recruiting. There are so many rules to keep track of and it's hard to know what to do! Hopefully I can help you out a little from this post.

Now recruiting might be different for other sports, but for softball, a D1 and D2 coach can't contact you until after the July of your junior year. But how do people verbally commit to schools when they are freshman and sophomores? They start the recruiting process very early on and they know that they need to get in contact with the recruiting coordinator. Another thing you must do is get a NCAA Clearinghouse. I think this goes for all sports. A D1/D2 college coach can't talk to you until you have that done!  It's a little different at a D3 school, they can contact you the August after your sophomore year, so it is not as complicated. 

One thing that has helped me is getting the help of a recruiting website. I use a website called CaptainU. You make a profile with all of your stats and accomplishments for any college coach to see. It also provides you with a list of things that will help you get started on the recruiting process. You add the colleges you potentially want to go to, and CaptainU keeps track of everything you are doing to get recruited by the school. It prompts you to send emails(which almost every single college coaches email is there) and even tells you when they open the email and if they reply. Don't get discouraged if they don't reply, because they legally may not be able to talk to you yet. In order to get a coaches attention, you have to be overly obnoxious! Send them email after email about what you are working on, if there are any camps you can attend, why your interested in going to their school, and even how your grades are. It's important to a college coach that you get good grades. If a coach sends you information about a camp, go to it! It's very important that you show yourself off the the coaches as much as possible! After the camp, don't be shy and go talk to the head coach. If you introduce yourself to them personally(and confidently) they will remember you! 

Once a college coach has decided they are interested in you, they get you set up with the recruiting coordinator. This is the point that I am at, so I am not quite sure what comes next. I do know that the college coach is going to come watch you play at anything and everything they can come to, so be on your best behavior!

A few tips for when a college coach is watching you:

1. Be a good teammate. Encourage them and pick them up when you are down. 

2. Don't get upset at yourself. If you make a mistake, you can't let it affect you. If a college coach sees that it affects you, they will almost always walk away.

3. It may not seem important, but make sure you have a quality warmup. You never know when a college coach is watching. If they see you being lazy in a warmup, they will not come watch you play in a real game. 

4. Be respectful to your coaches, teammates, and even your parents. A college coach will walk away if you act rudely towards anyone. 

5. BE A TEAM PLAYER! This is probably the most important. If you are all about yourself and it shows, there is no chance you are going to get recruited. It is more important to a coach that you're a good teammate rather than a good player. You can always teach someone how do play a sport, but you can't teach them to be a team player.

I hope this post is helpful to you guys. I know it would have helped me! Good luck to you all who are in the recruiting progress and see you soon!

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Sports Drinks: Good or bad?

There has always been a controversy between whether sports drinks are good for you or bad for you. Well here is your answer: it depends. Drinking it while you sit on the couch watching tv, not good for you. Drinking it during or after exercising, that's good for you! The only time you should drink them is when you need to replenish your electrolytes, otherwise it's just unnecessary sugar for your body. It would be the equivalent to drinking a soda. 
There are many different types of sports drinks such as Gatorade, PowerAde, All Sport, and I consider Propel a sports drink too. It is not bad if you drink one after just a simple run, but these sports drinks should be used only when you are still exercising, and you feel physically drained. You feel this way because when you sweat, you lose salts, or electrolytes, and your body needs them to run properly. Without the salts, your muscles could cramp up, and trust me, that is the worst pain of ever (I'm exaggerating)!
If I have a preference of these sports drinks, my favorite is Gatorade, the yellow one to be exact. My dad likes to surprise me with the giant bottles of Gatorade, and don't get me wrong I get really excited, but they usually just sit in my refrigerator until my next activity. I can say from personal experience, Gatorade actually replenishes your energy! I was playing in the 5th set of the regional semi-finals for Volleyball (this is the start of the state tournament, meaning you lose and your out!), and we had played almost every single point that could be played. The scores were 22-25, 21-25, 26-24, and 25-23 and I was absolutely exhausted. I could have probably laid down in the middle of the court and slept! So what did I do? I grabbed my handy dandy Gatorade and chugged that puppy down. That 5th set, I had more energy than the first, may that be accredited to the adrenaline of being in such a close match or not, and we won and advanced to the regional final! It was great.
So yes, Gatorade is good for you in those tough workouts and long games, but I wouldn't recommend it for your everyday workout. It is very sugary, and sugar leads to fat. If you would like to read another opinion, go to this link----->http://healthyfitfierce.blogspot.com/2014/09/is-gatorade-actually-beneficial.html

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Picture source: http://dialog.scarborough.com/index.php/sports-drink-enthusiasts-thirsty-for-media-big-on-sports-and-down-with-music/

TIME FOR A CHANGE

Sorry guys, but I am changing the topic of my blog! It was time for something new, and I love sports. Hopefully you like my new blog!

Celebrity Sibs

How awkward would it be if both you and one of your siblings were famous? I mean it would be a competition all the time! And one would be more famous than the other and I would just hate it! But, I have to say, some of my favorite celebrities are siblings. Sometimes I don't understand how one person could make so many beautiful and talented children! They are some lucky parents!
My first pair of celebrity siblings are the Hemsworth brothers. All of you know Chris and Liam, but did you know there was a third named Luke? I certainly didn't and I kind of feel bad for him! His brothers are super famous and good looking (especially Chris!!!) and he's not bad... I think I would hate my siblings if they were famous and I weren't!
Next up, the Chmerkovskiys! I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! The fact that both of them are super good dancers makes them ten times better too! Personally, I like Val more but my sister likes Maks. They are both on Dancing With The Stars (one of my fav shows ever). But the fact that me and my sister have favorites proves my point of how awful it would be to have a celebrity sibling.
Now I personally feel bad for the next one... Beyoncé and her little sister Solange. Beyoncé is the most perfect person in the world and I didn't even know she had a little sister... She must feel very neglected compared to Beyoncé! How can anyone even compare to her.. Ugh I feel so bad! I guess it could be a good thing too because then you would get to say "Hey my sister is queen Bey" to all of your friends! But we've got to give Solange a little credit, she's done her fair share of incredible things too. She is a successful singer and actress.
There are definitely more examples of really famous celebrities with siblings but I don't have enough time to tell you them all. It's pretty cool to see that many of the siblings are famous themselves. Could that be because they already have a famous sibling or did they earn it on their own? You would never fully know if you did something on your own or if you got the job because your sibling is famous. That is why I feel terribly bad for all of these siblings, because they will probably always be competing against one another.

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Pictures: http://pandoraboxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Maks-and-Val-Chmerkovskiy-2.jpg

&http://ionetheurbandaily.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/solange-beyonce-armani-73008-1.jpg

 & http://www.usmagazine.com/uploads/assets/articles/66149-liam-hemsworth-bonds-with-brothers-chris-and-luke-parents-at-tiff-amid-miley-cyr/1378735435_liam-chris-luke-hemsworth-zoom.jpg

Childhood Letdowns

It's very disappointing to see all of our favorite childhood stars go down the drain. These girls have very young fans and are setting wrong standards for them. From taking nudes, to getting addicted to drugs, these childhood stars are in the wrong.

First up is Miley Cyrus. What the heck went wrong here? Her dad is such a good person how could Miley have turned out this way? She does drugs and is practically naked every time she does a performance. It was really unexpected too. One day she was Hannah Montana and the next she chops off all of her beautiful hair and sticks her tongue out at everything. It's really quite strange to see. Although I really do like her new songs, she doesn't need to act the way that she does performing these songs. She wears these weird leotard things and it's very unappealing.

The next childhood star is Lindsay Lohan. Of course everyone has probably heard all about what she has done. I used to love her as a kid because she was in one of my favorite movies, Freaky Friday. And how could one forget the wonderful Mean Girls. Then all things went downhill for this celeb. She was caught doing drugs and she even had a DUI. I will never understand the appeal to drinking and driving... And then, she kind of fell of the face of the earth... I haven't heard much of her since her arrest.

Oh why did Amanda Bynes have to make the same mistakes as Lindsay? I LOVED her as a kid! She had that awesome show literally called The Amanda Show and I used to watch it all the time! I swear, these celebrities are setting kids up for failure because of the mistakes they are making!

The most disappointing thing for me is Jennifer Lawrence recently had nudes leaked of her... WHY!! I will never look at her or the Hunger Games the same again! I bet the director and author were seriously peeved at her! But what makes anyone think that taking a nude picture of themselves is okay? IT'S NOT! So please, other celebrities, do not follow her footsteps!

This topic really makes me mad, and I have even mentioned a few of these in some of my other blogs... But really, the stupidity of some people has me amazed! There is some crazy stuff out there if all of this was appealing to these celebrities! UGH!

Pictures: http://cdn.all4women.co.za/var/all4women/storage/images/media2/images/amanda-bynes4/1567997-1-eng-GB/amanda-bynes.jpg

& http://www.gotceleb.com/wp-content/uploads/celebrities/miley-cyrus/2013-mtv-video-music-awards-in-brooklyn/Miley-Cyrus-Pictures:-HOT-VMA-2013-MTV-Performance--43.jpg

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Law and Order SVU

This is one of my favorite and least favorite shows of all times. It's terrifying but wonderful all at the same time. How is that possible? Because it's about a police station catching serial rapists and murderers.
When I watch SVU, it makes me think about how horrible some people can be in the world. I don't understand what could make someone angry enough to want to rape or murder them. It also makes me realize how lucky I am to be living in a safe environment with good parents. Most rapist and murderers become the way they are because they have experienced something similar. They either don't understand what they are doing is wrong or they are just so angry, they don't care anymore. But, there are some very rare cases were people are born psychopaths. Those are the scariest episodes to watch. They give me chills!
One downfall to the show is that it scare the life out of me. I don't like to be home alone, outside at night time alone, and I even lock my bedroom door at night. I realize that I live in a very nice neighborhood, but you never know who will come knocking at your door. That reminds me, I don't like to answer the door by myself either... It's become a problem!
Even though the show is fake, things like rape and murder happen everyday in our world, making the show very real at the same time. I don't think I could be a detective for a special victims unit. It has to be the most stressful job in the world. I have great gratitude for the detectives that go through all that they do to catch all the "bad guys" in our world.

You could say the show has been successful because they have had 15 seasons and counting. The 16th season just started and it's really good and terrifying. I love all the people in the show too. Especially Detective Amanda Rollins and Sargent Olivia Benson. They are my two favorite characters on the show.

I highly suggest that you watch this show because it gives you a taste of the "villains" and "heroes" of our world. It also can be very beneficial because if you ever come across any of the situations in the show, you know how to handle them correctly and teaches you how you can protect yourself as well as you can.  

  

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Picture: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYoY6bIfrM169XTZ-G8Bw9pbaAhZHuNIsy70TngsC52WV-oO8W_BmPtN2YE2gqHLN4h_dhlEYjPIOJnw1fBfYmRxlyTSRxk2PZXyiK-1fcQXYgLip9lrckhhshTHIGQK8K4JHzzCMXglQ/s1600/Law+And+Order+Special+Victims+Unit+Season+14+Episode+Born+Psychopath+14019+6+Mariska+Hargitay+Kelli+Giddish.JPG