What's up with CrossFit? Part I

So I'm diving into the world of CrossFit, because honestly, I haven't had enough experience with it quite yet to make an educated decision on whether I like it or not.  Yesterday I was watching the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and I was thinking about Weapon X (the dude that has pretty much all the cool powers mixed into his body).  I thought about how beast mode that guy could really be if only he were a good guy, and not having to be slain by Wolverine.  I mean think about it, having all the greatest mutant powers in one guy...okay, enough babbling.  There is a point here:  I love to learn about all types/styles of training.  I like looking into anything and everything I can get my hands on for the purpose of taking what I like from each and creating a stronger, more diverse program for my clients.

Probably 8 of 10 members who come into the gym these days grab a towel and head straight for the treadmill or elliptical, where they will remain for the duration of their stay.  Unfortunately, though they are burning off those cheeseburgers for the day, they're not getting the greatest training.  Now before you throw something at your computer screen, let me explain.  Great training programs include a mixture of exercises that challenge more than one system in our bodies.  Now all you marathoners out there, you probably like the treadmill, and that's great.  However, should you desire to be a more well-rounded, stronger athlete, you need more.  This is the idea behind CrossFit.

"The aim of CrossFit has been to forge a broad, general, and inclusive fitness" (CrossFit Training Guide, pg, 3).  Ultimately, CrossFit is designed to create a well-rounded athlete.  Not necessarily one who will be the world's greatest powerlifter, cyclist, or gymnast, but instead an athlete that can cycle, run, swim, stretch, and lift more than the average Joe.  It is a style of training (some refer to it as a sport) that is designed to prepare the athlete for any physical contingency.  This means it's programming and design is built around training for the unknown, as well as the unknowable.

Upon gazing in from the outside, having just stepped in the shallow end of the CrossFit industry, I see plenty of things that I like about it.  If you are looking for a specific type of training (ie Cycling, Marathons, Body Building, Specific Strength Growth) or are not a fan of the group fitness setting, I would suggest finding a personal trainer (ps-I can help with that) and working one-on-one, where you can be catered to specifically.  If you're looking for a program that's all-inclusive, or you're just looking to try it out, maybe you should give CrossFit a try.  Stick around, I'll give you more information about what's up with CrossFit in the upcoming posts.  As always, should you have any questions, comments, concerns, or you would like to talk about training, feel free to contact me.

Stay Strong,
Chad

The Post-Chocolate Experience...

Well it's almost the end of February...holy geez.  This year is already blowing by, which is kinda lame because supposedly the end of this year is the end of the world (though I'll believe it when I see it).  Anywho, on to the post chocolate experience.  How many of you threw down some chocolates this February?  Maybe you got a cute basket from your sweetheart that was filled with delicious, calorie-ridden treats.  If you're a teacher like my wife, you probably received plenty of awesomeness from your students...enough, in fact, to feed your friends, family, and your wonderful husband.

For the average bear, you've probably been trying to stay in the gym as much as possible since the beginning of the year (along with about 5 billion other people).  If you're still there today, give yourself a pat on the back.  One thing I've noticed as a trainer in a big gym is that people tend to fizzle out of their New Year's fitness resolutions around the end of January.  Unfortunately, this is just the time the chocolates roll out for Valentine's Day.  Thankfully, for those who have been faithful at least up until the candy overload, you probably aren't going to balloon like you had the years before.  However, you will nullify all your hard work from the previous month if you let it end here.  Let me encourage you: DON'T STOP EXERCISING!!!

What tends to happen with most people at this point in the year is they lose the drive, the fire, the passion, the motivation to stay on track with their health and wellness, thus spiraling back into the whirlpool of bad fitness (or no fitness) and eating habits.  It's at this point that you MUST grab someone(s) and give them permission to push you beyond what you think you can handle.  That's what training is all about.  You want to quit.  You think you've gone as far as you can go.  However, the fresh perspective of the outsider can change everything.  They know you can handle a few more laps.  They know you can push out a few more reps.  They know you can wait one more day until that cheat day.

We're 2 months in to 2012, and if you want to make this a good year for your health and wellness, then go and make it happen.  Grab the fresh perspective of an accountability buddy, get your backside in gear, and keep working!  As always, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or you're looking for a good trainer, let me know.

Stay Strong,
Chad

80% mental, 40% physical

Don't worry, I know math.  But it wouldn't grab your attention as well if it were correct...

So This week I was working with a younger client of mine and I've learned something about his performance.  He is a beast.  Unfortunately, most training sessions he likes to "hibernate" through certain drills, mainly because he doesn't like them.  We finished our session with a circuit of:

30 elevated leg crunches

10 pushups

single-leg ladder run

sprint to finish

Now, you have to know, this guy HATES crunches...not that he can't do them, he just doesn't want to. (fancy that)  Round one, he clocked in at 58.6 seconds.  I didn't like those results.  Round 2, 56.3 seconds.  Improvement, but still lacking.  I then told him every round he doesn't beat the previous round's time, he has to add 10 more crunches (keep in mind that his time STILL has to beat the previous run).  He got inspired.  Round 3...41.6 seconds., Finally, round 4 he hit 38.4 seconds!!!

Not only did I learn something about him, but he learned something about himself.  He was pushing himself mentally.  His body was going through the motions, but his mind was sluggish.  He wasn't concerned about being the best, but instead just getting the job done.  When he was faced with a challenge that could potentially end up with painful circumstances, his beast mode kicked in.  His mind then told his body "we gotta get to work" and he cranked almost 20 seconds off his first mark.  What if you knew that if you didn't finish your exercises full speed you'd have to keep doing more and more until you got there?  Would you be motivated?  What if you knew that being lazy in your workouts would shorten the length of your life?  Motivated now?

Most people who are at the gym, or exercises at home are already beyond the majority of our society.  You're trying.  I'm not going to knock that at all.  I actually think that's awesome.  But now it's time to kick it up a notch.  Instead of doing the same ole 40 minutes on the treadmill, 20 minutes of bicep curls, maybe it's time to push yourself...and it's not always easy.  Your mindset changes how intense you train. If you've had a slow day, you're more likely to take it slow and not work too hard.  If you've had a stressful day, you may either give up entirely, or be pushed to drive yourself to pass out (people deal with stress in different ways).  

Whatever it is, before you take that first step in your workout, try getting your mind focused.  Listen to some good workout music (for me, it's classic rock on Pandora).  Take several deep breaths.  Think about what you're about to do, and assure yourself that you CAN do it.  Then make it happen.  You'll be amazed at how much more you can accomplish when you get your mind set on it.

Stay Strong,
Chad

What Time of Day Should I Train?

Now that I've got your attention, let me start out by saying that though there have been studies about what time of day is best for training, there is no specific conclusive evidence to prove any time of day is better than the next.  That being said, let me give you a few ideas to mull over when you're trying to make your decision.

First off, you have to ask yourself: "Why am I training?"  Is this for a specific event, like a marathon or olympic lift competition?  Are you trying to shed a couple pounds before beach season?  Are you simply wanting to stay active and keep your body in shape?  Depending on your answer, you may have just solved your own time problem.  For those training for an event, like a marathon or lift competition, you need to examine at what time the competition will take place.  For you marathoners, you will most likely be competing in the morning time.  For you, I would definitely be training in the mornings.  Maybe you have an olympic lift competition that will start at 6pm in the evening.  Guess what?  I would be training yourself at 6pm on the evening.

Our bodies have what we call a circadian rhythm...basically our body's' internal clock.  This is what tells our bodies when it's time to get up, when we're tired, when to provide the most energy, etc.  Naturally, our bodies have their own circadian rhythm (internal clock).  They know when they should sleep, and when they should wake (though some people think their "clock" wakes them up way too early).  Your circadian rhythm can be manipulated by your environment, such as daylight, an alarm clock, or even exercise.  For me, I can't sleep or nap when I know it's light out.  My body just won't shut down enough for me to rest knowing that I could be enjoying the day outside.  For some, you can't get to sleep with the slightest noise in the background.  It's the same concept with waking.  Some people can't really wake up until they turn the lights on.  Others can't really wake up without a cup of coffee.  For me, the best way to wake up is to get my rear in gear at the gym.  All of these stimuli help us to adapt our circadian rhythms to the pattern that we like best.  It doesn't happen overnight, but usually in a month or so your body will then be ready to work at the time you want it to be ready to work.

When you wake up in the morning:
-if you're a morning person, you jump out of bed and start singing "The Hills Are Alive" or something of that nature
-If you're a moderate morning person, you probably yawn and stretch, slowly rise and throw your slippers on and go for a morning snack
-if you're an angry elf (not a morning person) you throw your alarm clock across the room, possibly shouting expletives, and think about how badly you want to go back to bed.

If you're a morning person, by all means, go for training in the morning.  If you're a moderate morning person, you may need to see what best fits your schedule.  If you're an angry elf, maybe the afternoon is best for you.  The bottom line if you really want to stick with your program and see best results: CONSISTENCY.  If you try to "fit in" your training to your day, you'll never keep it up.  It's like saying "I'll put the trash out in a little bit"...then 6 days later you realize a "little bit" has turned into a foul odor in the kitchen wastebasket.  Make your training something to do at the same time each day in a nice, scheduled pattern.  This way you'll also get past the "I'm too busy" excuse.  You may have to choose mornings 2-3 days a week, and evenings the other days.  Whatever it takes, get yourself on a schedule!

Like always, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or you'd like to talk about private training sessions, shoot me an email/text/call.

Stay Strong,
Chad

Which diet should I choose?

The bottom line when it comes to special diets is "What am I trying to accomplish?"  There is a ridiculous amount of dieting options in this world, virtually one for every person who studies nutrition and fitness.  To name a few:

Atkins Diet
Buddhist Diet
Cookie Diet
Crash Diet
Detox Diet
Diabetic Diet
Dukan Diet
Earth Diet
Fruit Diet
Feingold Diet
Gluten-Free Diet
Grapefruit Diet
Hallelujah Diet (you don't say hallelujah during the diet....)
Inuit Diet
Jenny Craig Diet
Juice Diet
Kosher Diet
Liquid Diet
Low-(insert type of food here) Diet
Mediterranean Diet
Organic Diet
Paleolithic (Paleo) Diet
Raw Food Diet
South Beach Diet
Subway Diet (thanks Jared!)
Vegan Diet
Weight Watchers Diet (ranked #1 of all popular diet plans)

I hope you're still reading.  Have you ever tried any of those diets before?  How did you do?  If you're like the average American, you've probably struggled with getting into one of these diets before, and struggled even more when you stopped.  What typically happens when you start a new diet is you give yourself a crash course in moderately starving yourself.  In our culture in the U.S., we have been raised to eat.  We know what we like, it is easily accessible (sometimes entirely TOO easy), and there is no one to stop us.  Therefore, we overeat...thus creating the need to begin a diet.

Now you will hear from the conspiracy theorists about how all diets are meant to fail so you will keep going on more diets.  I'm not buying that.  However, ALL diets are based on our ability to maintain discipline.  There is no diet that is successful without some means of self-control.  After all, the lack of self-control is what got us here in the first place.  Now I'm not about to tell you which diet is best and which is worst, because there is no clear way to define that for every individual person.  I will say that I know multiple people who have tried Paleo diets, Jenny Craig, and Weight Watchers.  Of all the folks that could maintain self-control, they saw great results.  Those who cheated more often than not, found themselves right back at square one.

For me, dieting was as simple as picking one thing at a time to either cut back or cut completely from my menu.  As you may have read earlier, I had (have) an obsession with sweet tea.  I probably drank around a gallon of sweet tea a day (special thanks to Chick-Fil-A and Bill Miller's BBQ).  That delicious nectar of heaven was my staple for any meal, snack, or just because I was driving by.  It had to go.  It wasn't easy.  But it worked.  Pounds melted off from one simple adjustment from my menu.  And that's exactly what I want to encourage you to do.

If you like a specific type of diet, then go for it.  But do so slowly.  Don't try to shock your body into submission, but TRAIN it to be okay with less portions, and different things.  If you just can't cut something out of your diet, try and modify it.  Though I would never wish this on my worst enemy, I will say it did help me to throw in the occasional sugar substitute in my unsweet tea in order to get by.  Like I said, WHATEVER IT TAKES.

So what did we learn from this?
1.  There are ten million diets on the market out there
2.  Ask yourself "What Am I Trying to Accomplish?"
3.  Take it slow.  Moving too fast only sets yourself up for disaster.

Like always, if you have any questions, or would like to sit and talk fitness and nutrition in your life, shoot me a message.

Stay Strong,
CHAD

Functional Training

You've probably heard of FUNCTIONAL TRAINING around the gym, blogs, or other places on the web.  It's becoming more and more of a buzz term across the fitness world, though it's been around for a very long time.  Before we move on, let's clarify...

Functional Training:
-An exercise continuum involving balance and proprioception, performed with the feet on the ground and without machine assistance, such that strength is displayed in unstable conditions and body weight is managed in all movement planes.
-Multi-joint, multi-planar, proprioceptively-enriched activity that involves deceleration (force reduction), acceleration (force production) and stabilization; controlled amounts of instability; and managament of gravity, ground reaction forces and momentum.
-A spectrum of activities that condition the body consistent with its integrated movement and/or use.
(credit: http://www.nsca-lift.org/)

Basically, functional training is that which challenges the body in acceleration, decelaration, with challenges to your balance as well.  There are simple functional training movements, such as a push up, pull up (chin up), bodyweight squat, or lunge.  EVERYONE should be able to do at least one clean repetition of each of these exercises.  You don't need machines...just a couple moderate weight dumbbells (and perhaps a chin up bar).  It's the beauty of simplicity.  There are many machines that will help you perform movements and lift "weights" in an attemp to build muscle.  The reality is, however, most movements in life don't occur while seated on a bench, or with your back pressed against a nice soft pad.  Train your body to behave in normal environments that don't involve being completely stable.  In case you aren't sure about what to do, here's a great example training session:

Incline Push Up using a bench (focus on form; keep that back straight, and that butt down)
*10-12 reps, from knees if necessary

Pull Up (give yourself a little boost if you need one; don't be ashamed, just do your best)
5-10 reps
*give a little "jump" when necessary

Crunch (progress to a stability ball if you have one)
20-25 reps

Bodyweight Squat (focus on form; back straight, push through the heels)
10-15 reps

Push Up from floor (focus on form)
10-12 reps

One Arm Dumbell Row (back straight; squeeze the shoulders)
10-12 reps/arm

Bicycle Crunch
20-25 reps

Lunge Walk (shoulders back; chest out)
8 reps/leg (16 total steps)

You'll want to do about 2-3 sets of every exercise, either one exercise at a time, or for better metabolic challenge, do 1 set of everything in a circuit, taking a short rest every 8 exercises.  Get after it, and if you have any questions or you'd like some one on one attention, shoot me an email.

Stay Strong,
Chad

Football and Sore Feelings...

Now normally I'm not much of a college football fan (outside of Texas teams), but I did in fact watch the National Championship last night.  As were many football fans across America last night, I was surprised at the lack of awesomeness in that game.  I truly believed that despite his missed attempts, Alabama's kicker was more worthy of the offensive MVP award.  In any case, it was a lackluster offensive performance last night from both teams.  

On a lighter note, I got together for football Sunday with a group of friends to put on a little more of an offensive effort.  And by offensive effort I mean I ran my rear off...literally.  I made up my mind before kickoff that I would sprint every play, no excuses.  This was such a great idea, boosting my heart rate and destroying calories by the hundreds (and thousands).  It was a great idea of course, until Monday morning. It took just about everything that was within me to pull my tired, sore, tight legs out of bed.  I was immediately reminded of one monumental aspect of training: stretching/flexibility.  Most people, like I did, don't think about stretching (either before or after) exercise.  Unfortunately, we are missing some important qualities:

1.  Circulation:  the last thing we need AFTER exercise is for the blood to stop flowing properly.  Proper stretching after exercise increases the blood flow, decreasing risk of blood pooling in the limbs.  It also helps to prevent waste, like lactic acid, from building up in the joints and muscles.

2.  Lubrication:  stretching out those joints and muscles that just gave their all for you is like sending them to the spa for a quick once-over.  It helps to prevent waste, like lactic acid, from building up in the joints and muscles.  

3.  Improves Flexibility:  A good stretching practice (both before and after exercise) increases your overall range of motion.  Increasing your range will not only provide you with more flexibility, but will help perfect your form in your current exercises.

4.  Reduces Soreness:  By decreasing muscle tension, you reduce the amount of soreness/stiffness you will feel later on.  Your muscles after exercise are still prepared to work, so they keep their tension, even when you're done.  You have to tell them to release, which is done through stretching.  If your muscles are extremely sore (inhibiting your mobility), maybe it's time to grab a foam roller and have someone help you roll it out.

If you'd like more info. on stretching or foam rolling, shoot me an email.

Stay Strong,

Chad