Filtering by Category: Uncategorized
September Featured Athlete: Keisa Lindley
1. How did you find out about CrossFit?
I had two friends that were doing crossfit in Smithfield and they both called me and said "you should try this you will love it!" I also worked with Kelsey Chlarson so I talked to her a lot about it and she encouraged me to try it.
2. What is your favorite Crossfit exercise or WOD?
I love Saturdays but the one thing I love about crossfit is that all the work outs are different and fun and I don't have to remember or decide what to do for the work out it's already planned for me!
3. How long have you been CrossFitting for?
I have been to coming to CVSC for 2 years. When I came for my newbie work out I felt like I had hit rock bottom with my health and fitness. I have always considered myself athletic and enjoyed exercising but I was in a bad viscous cycle of not feeling good, so not exercising, not eating healthy, so not feeling good, so not feeling good about myself etc. etc. etc. Since starting crossfit I have lost 40lbs, dropped 6 sizes and I feel AMAZING! I have ran my first half marathon, started hiking and over all feel happier and healthier than I have felt in years!
4. What do you do for a living?
I'm the secretary at Cedar Ridge Middle School.
5. What are your hobbies?
My hobbies have changed dramatically the last year. For 22 years I have enjoyed doing what ever my kids have been involved in and supporting them in their interests. But we became empty nesters in May. So my new hobbies are crossfit (of course), hiking, running, 4 wheeling. I have always enjoyed and still enjoy reading and watching most sporting events (although I have to say they are a lot more fun when your kids are playing)!
6. What are your goals?
My goals have changed too, it use to be all about losing weight and I got very discouraged when I didn't lose very much weight at first and Brad told me to throw away my scales (which was hard at the time since I lived in a house of wrestlers) but I really don't weigh very often any more, I know how much I've lost because I went to the dr. So my goals now are just to keeping coming to crossfit, live a healthier life style and eat better.
7. Why do you CrossFit?
I'm a better, happier person because of crossfit! The people! The workouts never get old, always different, challenging and most of the time fun! At least when your done.
CrossFit Games 2014
For anyone that loves to watch their favorite CrossFit athletes compete amongst the best in the world, this past week was the best time of the year to turn on ESPN. The 2014 CrossFit Games in Carson, California crowned the fittest man, woman and team. If you didn't get a chance to watch live, here's some highlights of the week and footage of your fitness idols fighting for the podium courtesy of AllThingsGym.com
2014 CrossFit Games
Community Fitness
I recently came upon an article from Eric Stevens writing for BreakingMuscle.com "What Oregon and Colorado Can Teach us About Fitness"
According to Men's Fitness Portland,OR came up 1st as the 2014 "Fittest City in the Country" followed by Denver, CO. He writes what makes these two cities winners & what elements we can emulate in our own community to make health a trend. They include:
-Community Based Fitness
-Fitness is Contagious (as is obesity- in a sense)
-Functional Fitness Beats Aesthetic Fitness
-Eat Locally Grown, Whole, Raw Foods
-Commute to Work by Biking or Walking
He writes:
"Your community is important, and that includes your friends and family as well as the society at large. Habits spread like a virus, both good and bad. In order to curtail the spreading obesity rate, failing health of our children, and inactivity of all of us, we must combat these issues head on. The antidote is collectively rejecting that these trends are in any way natural. What is natural is moving everywhere every day, eating whole and nutritious foods, and instilling good habits in our children."
Many of these are already great local trends in Cache Valley, UT. And with the Cache National Forest at our doorstep, an already young and active demographic and a growing trend of cyclists, we are easily set to be the next fittest city.
Read the full article here.
What IS mobility?
What is mobilizing?Often you hear people use the terms 'mobilize' and 'stretching' interchangeably. But these are two different things, and both important to maintaining good range of motion, recovery and avoiding injury. As Kelly Starrett explains:
"Stretching only focuses on lengthening short and tight muscles. Mobilization, on the other hand, is a movement-based integrated full-body approach that addresses all the elements that limit movement and performance including short and tight muscles, soft tissue restriction, joint capsule restriction, motor control problems, joint range of motion dysfunction, and neural dynamic issues. In short, mobilization is a tool to globally address movement and performance problems."
The body is amazingly efficient at working with what its got, whether that be someone surviving on a diet of processed food or an athlete competing/training through minor injuries. Your body compensates and oftentimes with only tale tale signs of a problem, leading someone to falsely assume their in good health until a serious accident or illness occurs. CrossFit Athlete Jenny LaBaw wrote about this in her article 'Mobilizing vs Stretching' saying
"I have found through my own training in the last year that if I'm having some performance issues (non-skill related) it is 99.9% of the time a mobility issue. If I'm coming forward on my squat, my calves are usually bound up. If I'm having stability issues with my lumber on my deadlift, my hips are a bit impinged. Athletes are strong and our bodies find ways to continue to do these movements over and over without proper mobility and that ends up compromising something else, and that something else and so on and so on...which results in poor movement patterns and ultimately injury."
The intent is not to become paranoid about injury but rather to be vigilant about your health through good diet, exercise and mobility. Use your workout journal to keep track of not only your workout or diet but also how you feel, note pains and stiffness, talk to your coach if your have a nagging discomfort. Oftentimes, these can be curtailed or prevented with a daily routine of mobility work.
Regardless of your level of activity, sitting at a desk all day or an Olympic-level athlete training 5x a day, to reap the benefits of mobilizing it should given a time priority into your daily routine. For some people that is when they're at the gym, arrive 15 minutes early and devote yourself that time, stay late and do the same. If thats just not possible, take 5-10 minutes in the morning while your coffee is brewing. Or maybe you have a favorite tv show you watch, use the commercial breaks to hit some great couch stretches, as demonstrated below. Thanks to Kelly Starrett of Mobility WOD for this one.
http://youtu.be/IioW8A3fgW0?t=1m28s
The 11th Fitness Domain
"CrossFit is a core strength and conditioning program.We have designed our program to elicit as broad an adaptational response as possible. CrossFit is not a specialized fitness program but a deliberate attempt to optimize physical competence in each of ten recognized fitness domains. They are
1. Cardiovascular and Respiratory endurance
2. Stamina
3. Strength
4. Flexibility
5. Power
6. Speed
7. Coordination
8. Agility
9. Balance
10. Accuracy"
- Greg Glassman from "Foundations" CrossFit Journal
The 10 fitness domains are well-known among CrossFitters as the parameters with which 'fitness' is measured and what cumulatively create a well-rounded athlete. When it comes to competitive CrossFit, serious weakness in any of these domains will prevent an athlete from excelling very far in a competition. Most of us can easily identify which of these are our strengths or weaknesses, but whom has the perspective to see they lack in what Invictus Athlete Justin Nahama calls the "11th fitness domain", self-confidence?
"What do Steve Jobs, Michael Jordan, Josh Bridges and Kris Clever all have in common – aside from being generally awesome and having a huge fan base? While these individuals, like each of us, differ in background, strengths, weaknesses, shape and size (see picture of Josh and Aja), they all share at least one common characteristic: the ability to maintain self-confidence in the face of adversity or “failure.”
Many are quick to point out their 'goats' in gymnastics or weightlifting or cardio but do we realize that our negative self-talk may be our biggest weakness?
"Whether it is in the gym, at work or at home, it will happen. The opportunity for negative self-talk will invariably ensue and you will be at a crossroads. The easy and tempting path is to honor that negative self-talk, which is a road peppered with self-indignation and excuses."
Read Justin's full article here and remember that keeping a positive perspective, a strong mental fitness, will carry over to our personal & professional life in life-changing ways. Like all the muscles, you must exercise this skill to become better. Take the challenge to actively engage only in positive self talk for a week and see what strength can be gained.
A Case for the 11th Fitness Domain
Numbers of the Beasts | CrossFit Games
"What’s tickling the eardrums of your favorite CrossFit athletes and trainers while they yank on the Concept2 for 5,000 meters or smash through Fran?
What does Chris Spealler want to hear when it gets heavy? What does Lindy Wall listen to when she needs to get in the zone? Does Dan Bailey listen to acoustic guitar when he’s training? Does Lucas Parker prefer DMX or Shania Twain?" - Kevin Daigle | Crossfit Games
Read what some of the top CrossFit Athletes listen to when they're getting pumped. Maybe you have more in common than you thought. See their answers and the full article at the Crossfit Games site here: Numbers of the Beasts | CrossFit Games.
"Bring Up Your Bad Days"
As a beginner in any sport/training, improvement often happens rapidly for those who remain consistent. The first few months are a sharp incline of progress. Every time you retest a movement, a workout or a lift you may be hitting PRs, sometimes huge PRs. It feels amazing. Eventually though, you may start to notice those PRs may not occur as frequently, they may be smaller jumps and you may even find yourself slipping backwards on something. This slowed progess is often misinterpreted; many people believe that have just reached their potential and settle or even give up on their training entirely. But this is normal, progress is not a straight line. Accept that you are going to have 'bad days', and instead of lifting more than you should for ego's sake or doing more reps than is healthy, focus on technique.
Coach Dan Bell writes about this, specifically about Weightlifing, but the principles hold true for all training. A bad day for a new lifter has a lot of attempts and a lot of misses...
If the lifter keeps coming back and keeps practicing, a year later their bad day consists of a miss or two...
With practice, the lifter has made their bad day an essential part of reaching their training goals, not an exercise in “PR or injury” Russian Roulette. They have made their bad days good, and when the good days start to pile up, you don’t have to wait so long for a great day.
Bring Up Your Bad Days | Coach Dan Bell
Read his whole article above & remember that if you put your focus on perfecting your technique, listen to your coaches and remain consistent, you WILL get better, stronger, faster.
Comparing Yourself (to yourself)
Everyone does it. Its perfectly natural.
Comparing yourself to others.
Its how we often judge our performance on a workout, did we do better than so-and-so? How is her Fran time? What is his 1 RM Deadlift?
The atmosphere in CrossFit group classes naturally encourage friendly competition and measurable progress with whiteboard scores and PRs. But often, instead of letting those things inspire and excite us, we let these numbers define and discourage us.Zach Erick at Invictus put it this way,
"If you’re the type of person that has to have the fastest time on the board, and is heartbroken when someone else beats you, ask yourself these questions the next time you leave the gym: What do you really want, and are you willing to sacrifice time/money/relationships/personal joy to get it? If you don’t have any intentions competing on the professional level, then why does it matter if somebody beat your time? I understand if you leave a workout upset with yourself because you feel that you could have pushed harder, but if you truly gave everything you had during a workout then there is no reason to second guess your abilities."
via Comparing Yourself to others | Invictus
We are all a work in progress. The PRs are just icing on the cake, but the work between those are what make you a better athlete, a better person.
Our minds want to quantify and organize things, so instead of using others as the measuring stick for your success, focus internally. What have you done recently that you couldn't do before? Have you been more consistent? What has improved for you in the last 6 months, year, 2 years?
We are all different and that is a beautiful thing; embrace it and make positive goals that improve your weaknesses and enhance your strengths. Seek to make improvements that bring you personal joy, not public praise and you will not only take control over your happiness, but you will find greater satisfaction in the journey.
FAT
Here is an interesting nutrition post courtesy of The Poliquin Group called,
"Why Fat Is GREAT For You: Seven Tips For Eating Fat So You Lose Fat"
Often maligned and villanized as the cause for obesity and heart disease, good fats are actually essential to good health and body composition. Its important that you are getting the correct kind and that it is in conjunction with a non-inflammatory diet of low grain, whole food. The article covers several good sources of fat to include fish, coconut oil, avocados, grass-fed butter and more...
OMEGA 3's help you burn fat
"...Eating the omega-3 fats will raise energy expenditure, leading you to burn more calories than you would otherwise. For example, a study of overweight men found that when they increased their omega-3 intake from 0.43 g/day to 2.92 g/day, they experienced a 51 percent increase in the amount of calories they burned after eating. "
Pair with a LOW CARB DIET for a healthy heart
"The fats highlighted here will improve insulin sensitivity, decrease inflammation, enhance cellular health and gene signaling, and support hormone balance. But they can't fix the damage that you do if you eat lots of carbs, trans-fats, or processed foods.
For example, recent research shows that it is carbohydrates, not fats, that elevate cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood, contributing to the development of heart disease."
If you already have made the switch to healthy fats and low/no grain diet, and inevitably are questioned by friends and family how eating all that fat isn't making you fat, read up on Mark's Daily Apple on The "Top 7 Most Common Reactions to Your High-Fat Diet (and How to Respond). He talks more indepth on the common misconceptions about a high-fat Paleo/Paleoesque diet. Read up and eat up!
October Featured Athlete #2: Jodi West
1. How did you find out about Crossfit?
I had heard about it from multiple people, but it was really my husband, Brady, that started looking into it and all the gyms available for us in Cache Valley.
2. What is your favorite Crossfit exercise or WOD? I enjoy the workouts that are circuit style, moving from one movement to the next. I feel that I get a good all over workout by doing so many movements in one workout. I also really enjoy workouts that include lifting a lot of weights.
3. How long have you been Crossfitting for? My husband and I have been coming to Crossfit together since August 2012, so just over a year.
4. What do you do for a living? I work at Bear River Association of Governments (BRAG). I do low-income assistance for families in crisis situations with their housing and utilities. I also coordinate the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program in Rich, Box Elder, and Cache Counties. I coordinate volunteers that are IRS trained to do basic tax returns for families.
5. What are your hobbies? I enjoy spending time with family and friends. I love to travel, especially to warmer places then Cache Valley! Summers are full of hiking and camp fires. Winters are full of cuddling in blankets with a good book. I like to give of my time to help others through volunteer work in the community and my church.
6. What are your goals? My dream is to someday be a mother. I love kids and would love to have the opportunity to raise them in a good home.
7. Why do you CrossFit? I Crossfit because I love the variety of cardio and weights. I’m able to do workouts with the group that I never would have been able to come up with on my own. I may not always love how I feel during a workout, but I love how I feel after. I sometimes feel that I have been pushed to the extreme and it is good to know what I can accomplish.
8. Any advice for future CrossFitters? Just do it! Make sure to eat healthy and drink a lot of water to keep hydrated. How you eat definitely effects how your workouts go. Be consistent. Once you start, try to stick to a good workout schedule.
Cason Creger
Congrats, Holley Creger!!
Brad, I thought I would let you know that I had baby Cason on Saturday morning. He weighed 6 lbs. 15oz. And was 20 inches long. We are both doing well! Cant wait to come back! - Holley
Free Logan Outdoor Bootcamp
