Health and Fitness during these times

I am see a lot more people getting outside and exercising than I have noticed in the past.  This is awesome.  Getting outside in small groups.  Walking, jogging, body weight movements or even having a friend over for a home gym HIIT workout is great.  Keep it up America.

Listen to One Podcast a Day

You should be listening to one podcast a day or you are making a huge mistake.  There is too much to learn and to experience from other people to think you can Google everything you need to know. 

The great thing about podcast is they tell you things you didn't know, you needed to know.  If you commute to work and are listing to the radio or music, stop doing that.  You are impacting you growth.  This is the time to grow beyond your current thoughts and skills.  They used to say, you are as smart as the average of your closest friends.  I think you are as smart as the 5 top podcast you listen to frequently.  

I recommend listening to a work related podcast on the way to work.  This will get you in the right frame of mind and thinking about new things before you are hammered with emails and Slack messages.  

On the way home, you might listen to radio some but even then, you should try to listen to something interesting to you personally.  This might be a good time to do Audible books, fitness, health, religion or any hobby related podcast.  This winds you down some and prepares you to transition to being with family.

2019 Year end review

2019 was a fun year but went by fast.  2019 was about figuring out what to do next with Cross Fit.  Our gym went through some major coaching and leadership changes which drove a lot of people away.  This was sad because our 5:30 class was pretty close.   This included me deciding to change to another local gym.  This change opened an exciting door of coaching classes.  I really enjoy working with others and helping them on their journey.  It keeps me accountable and keeps me learning. 

My 2020 Open was an improvement from 2019.  I moved up a couple percentages from the previous year.  With that said, it took a lot out of me because I got a cold the week after, plus took my flue shot and really struggled for a few weeks.  I really liked the workouts this year and even some of the customizations decisions you could do in the workouts. 

2020 will be about optimizing my time, recovery and skill improvement.  MU are still a problem.  HSPU are a problem and DU are a problem. 

I am also coming into 2020 about 15 pounds heavier. Some of it was lifting more in Nov and Dec and some from slacking off.  I hope to find some ways to optimize my nutrition in 2020.

Crossfit Update will come after the new October Open

Sat down to do my 2019 review and decided to wait until after the 2020 CF open. It should be a fun time.

First Year of CrossFit Recap

2017 - Started CrossFit February
Accomplishments
Started at 230lbs weight and ended at 212lbs
425 Deadlift (After tweaking my back a few week before)
345 Squat
6:20 Fran
7:12 Helen
Tripod to Handstand
Handstand PUs
Level 1 Course Completion
Spartan TriFecta 2017
Tough Mudder
Half Marathon (Never again, probably)
Learned to Snatch and Clean and Jerk
Comfortable in a deep squat
May Blood Labs were good

Failures
Did not get down to 205LBS
Focused on Low Carb Diet all year - I think Zone is better for CrossFit level of activity and recovery.
Bad Double Unders (10 Max unbroken)
No Muscle Up
Back Injury - Hurt for multiple weeks and still gets uncomfortable
Knee Tweeked Again - Hopefully nothing major



Now, what are my thoughts on a year of CrossFit. To be fair, I did not focus only on CrossFit and ranged from 3 to 5 classes a week.  I did two tennis leagues and running OCRs.  My CrossFit improvements are not significant but not bad for a 41 year old dude with an office job.  I have improved in lots of ways, despite it not being my primary focus.  Pullups, TTB and CTB are better but still can't string a lot together.  Not good at Snatching but got better at Cleans.  I improved in a lot of functional ways but it is a life time journey. 

I believe CrossFit's principles are the way to reach fitness and health goals.  Constantly varied, highly functional movements done at high intensities.  With that said, I also agree with CrossFit's principle of Movement, Consistency and then, Intensity.  Even then, I think nutrition is the core principle that is the most important because if not, you will risk injury, burn out and limited health improvement.  Nothing is new here.  I took the Level 1 this year and loved it.  It was a great experience and learned a lot about CrossFit.  The level 1 did not help much in fitness or movement but more of how CrossFit looks at fitness. I am completely sold on CrossFit style of Fitness.  Everyone can do CrossFit relative to their fitness level.

I learned a lot about nutrition and rest throughout the year.  I did low carb for most of the year and I feel my workouts suffered from it.  Fasted works outs and low carb recovery periods would just build up after a few days of tough work outs.  I would recommend looking into the Zone diet because that will help you eating the right food, the right amounts and at the right times for your life style.  I only started doing this about 4 weeks ago but I can already say, I see a difference in energy and recovery.  That is not exactly because of Zone but eating "Real food, mostly plants and proteins, some fruits, nuts and seeds, little starch and no sugar."  Lots of people have heard this around CF but what I did not know until the level 1 was the rest of the statement.  "Only as much as needed to sustain exercise and not increase body fat"  That is where Zone comes in and makes the amount of food easy to program. 

I am looking for to year 2.  Probably another scaled Open but that is ok.  I like the CrossFit community and regularly attend other Gyms like Rejoice and Allen.  There are some good people at those gyms.  We even did several family WODs at our house and on vacations.  It is always fun to workout with others.

Lots of people know the Active Faith scripture, "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength" but most people do not know the next scriptures says "Yet, it was good of you to share in my troubles"  This recognizes that we get our strength through having a relationship with Christ but it is better as a community or friends to share in the suffering.

Sugar should be treated like all other drugs

There is no nutritional value at all to sugar just like a drug.
It aids in cancer.  https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/sugar-industry-withheld-possible-evidence-of-cancer-link-50-years-ago-researchers-say


Everyone should be taking steps to reduce the amount of sugar consumed, especially in their kids.  It is a hard habit to break, if you start off addicted as a kid.

I also find it hard to believe that replacing it with a sugar substitute is better but we may not know the impact of those for another 50 years.

2017 Spartan Trifecta Club - Welcome

Austin Super
Dallas Sprint
Dallas Beast

The Sprint was a blast.  Running through Cowboys Stadium and doing obstacles was a blast.  I think everyone should do this.  I will try to do it every year and maybe even travel to do some other stadium series. 

The Beast, a different story.

The Beast was a cool experience but hurting my back a couple weeks before and the 34 degree starting temperature was brutal.  We finished in about 5:40 minutes.  No one got hurt.  I did all the obstacles except the heavy carry stuff.  We also walked a lot of the course because it just did not make sense to try to run. 

It was a cool experience but I over hydrated.  Because it was so cold, I did not sweat a lot.  I had to pee about every mile, if not more often. 

I wish I had more to say but the Beast just felt like a longer Super.