The CFK Birthday Wod for the Month of May will be this Friday (05/11/12) at 0500 PM.
We will be doing the WOD then enjoying pizza and cupcakes to celebrate all of the May birthdays. Please let me know if you are planning on attending so that we can make sure that we have enough pizza and cupcakes to go around. Thanks!
May birthdays include:
When it comes to losing weight there are a lot of ways to do it - some are easy and some are hard. You can diet, exercise, take pills, have surgery, etc. But losing weight shouldn't be the goal - and if you are watching the scale you're going to be disappointed more times than not. The question is why?
Well, if you are trying to lose weight while eating clean and exercising, you may end up canceling out the fat loss with muscle gain. Changing your body composition - i.e. the percentage of lean muscle mass to fat - should be the ultimate goal and the driving factor behind all of your hard work. Many clients that I have worked with over the years have made big drops in weight the first couple months then they "plateau" and stop losing weight. After further discussion we find that while they aren't losing weight they are having to buy new clothes and have increased their workouts and their loads. So... you are now in an enviable situation that your fat loss is running hand in hand with your muscle gain - that's great! Don't get discouraged that you aren't losing weight - get encouraged that you are getting a lot stronger and that your clothes (that were once tight) are now falling off of you! :)
We all have to work - nothing you can do about that one. But finding what you can do about rest and play is something altogether different. Finding a job that meets your skill-set and fulfills your mental and emotional needs is hard - but it's also part of the balancing process.
Play is the element that most people don't even factor into their life and is one of the most important things you can do for your mind, body and spirit. What constitutes play? I look at my workouts as playtime - same thing with my martial arts training. I even make sure that I make time to play with my boys - we play "Star Wars", cards, video games, baseball, etc. It's good for them and it's good for me too. Play allows you to forget about all the stressful parts of your life and just let go and enjoy the moment... something we all need but don't take enough time for.
How about rest? Are you getting the sleep you need every night? Are you taking days off between tough workouts or at least scaling them back so that your body can recharge? Are you eating the right foods that allow your body to recover and grow? Are you using the foam roller, lacrosse ball, doing movement prep work, and stretching? All of these questions (and more) need to be addressed if you are interested in getting enough rest. Remember - rest is when you get stronger and "recharge the batteries" - if you are not resting enough you will constantly be taking one step forward and two steps back.
Check out this article by Melissa Joulwan to see how she works at finding the perfect balance in her life.
We all know that diet and exercise are key factors in developing and maintaining a healthy body composition. But what most people don't realize is that recovery (in this instance sleep) is one of the most important and widely overlooked factor.
I've worked with a number of clients who have had their diet and exercise routines dialed in and were still struggling week after week. It wasn't until we dug deeper and looked at the amount and quality of their recovery did we find the culprit that was sabotaging their results.
There have numerous studies done about the positive and negative affects of not getting enough sleep. In the case of an athlete that is putting extreme demands on their body several times a week the importance of sleep cannot be overlooked.
Check out this article for more information on the importance of sleep and how to improve the quality and quantity of sleep.
Check out this great image that shows what the average person comsumes in a year... of course, if the image was customized for me it would have a lot more MEAT in eat!
It doesn't get any simpler than this: eat less crap and eat more food.
This simple statement can make a tremendous impact on your bodyweight, your body composition and your longevity. If it's so easy then why doesn't everyone do it? Because it's simple, but it's not easy!
Making big changes are hard to do so why not make a series of small changes and see what happens. For example, why not start your day with a high quality protein shake? The shake will break your "fast" with a boost of protein and curb your hunger pangs (helping you get away from bagels and donuts). Next, how about taking another small step by removing processed sugar? Don't add it to coffee and don't consume it in your fluids... it's harder than it sounds, but the payoff will be huge. Now about increasing your consumption of water? You can lose almost ten pounds a year if you take soft drinks out of your diet - not to mention that you'll take a whole host of chemicals and sweeteners out of your diet.
Think about it - a small change, implemented over time, can have a tremendous impact on your life!
We still have a handful of the Crossfit Koncepts "Harder Faster Longer Deeper" t-shirts for sale - but I think it's time for a new one! So... put your thinking caps on and come up with some ideas for a new t-shirt design. I'll post them all on Facebook and here on the website and the design winner will get a cool prize!!! What are you waiting for - get to work!!!
