Ready, Steady, Lift.

Hello, I'm Jordan and this here is Ready, Steady, Lift.

I've created this blog mainly to document my personal journey towards a healthier, fitter life. To provide myself with accountability if you will, in order to help myself stay on track and take responsibility for my actions. I also hope it will act as a motivator on those days when I've lost motivation.

So, about me. I wouldn't class myself a particularly 'sporty' person. I wouldn't say I overly enjoyed P.E at high school, but let's be honest, P.E in UK schools isn't much to write home about. My passion was trampolining. I did this competitively from age 11-18 and I loved it. I trained 3 times a week and competed regularly at the weekends. . I stopped trampolining when went to University, I went to a couple of the Uni club sessions but it just wasn't the same without the coach I had been used to, it had run it's course and I had lost my passion.

I halfheartedly went to the Uni gym, how could I refuse for £20 a year membership! By halfheartedly I mean once every couple of week/when I felt like it I would go and do a short stint on the X-Trainer/treadmill and call it a day. Better than nothing I know, but not good enough. All the while, my boyfriend was studying towards his degree in Strength and Conditioning. He avidly went to the gym 4/5 times a week, lifting weights each time. I occasionally would go and lift weights with him, but in all honesty I was embarrassed to be the only girl in the weights room. I got more interested going into my final year in 2012, some weeks I would go three times and work on squats, deadlifts etc. But only with my boyfriend and never on my own. The University 'meatheads' were just too much for me to handle on my own!

As part of his course, my Man had been taught how to execute the clean and jerk and the snatch and due to being tested on them he was regularly practicing in the gym. I'd watched him in the gym and thought to myself "Hey, I'm a sucker for a challenge, maybe he can teach me!" So he did, and I enjoyed learning and practicing the techniques and movements involved. I was doing well with my training, lifting weights 2/3 times a week. But then I got to the final stretch of my degree, an 11 week practice placement along with multiple assignments. Then to make it an even more stressful time, we got our lovely pup Obi. It was at this point that the excuses started rolling in, I didn't want to go to the gym on my own, I was too tired after placement, I had too much work to do, I wanted to spent time with the pup. So I stopped working out in about April 2013 and didn't start up again until the end of July.

It was at this point that I discovered Crossfit. My boyfriend had started running some Olympic Lifting sessions at the box, my curiosity got the better of me and I eventually plucked up the courage to go try it out. OH THE PAIN!! I couldn't move for about 3 days after my first WOD, I'd used muscles that had never seen the light of day and I had a tear on each hand. But something inside had clicked, despite the pain, the high I felt after completing the WOD had been brilliant. I felt like I'd accomplished something and really pushed my body to it's limits. I was hooked after that first time and have now been Crossfitting for a little over a month.

So that is my fitness journey so far. I'm still only at the beginning and have one heck of a road ahead of me, but I am determined to push myself to the limits and really discover what my body is capable of. To those of you also starting your journey, or if you're already well on your way, please feel free to share stories, tips, tricks, recipes, ideas etc. One of the things I love most about Crossfit is having a team of supportive people around you to push you to continue when you're feeling battered and bruised and to share the experience with you. It makes it so much more worthwhile and enjoyable to me and I'd like to hope that we can do that here too.

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