What's for Dinner?There is one question that every single human on earth asks themself every single day. What's for Dinner? Cooking is a basic human endeavor. We all must eat, multiple times a day, and feeding yourself and others is a basic skill we all must develop. Without it, we will die or be dependent on someone else. I don't want to be dependent on anyone else for my food! Food is the foundation of my health and I want that squarely under my control. When was the last time you were actually hungry? So many times when we feel like eating we might actually be feeling cravings rather than actual hunger. Actual hunger comes on gradually, is felt physically in your stomach, and is easy to satisfy with ANY FOOD. Cravings come on suddenly, are specific to a particular food, are habit driven, and hard to satisfy. One of the biggest myth's in our modern food accessible world is that it's NOT OK to be hungry. We are encouraged to eat at the first sign of discomfort be that physical or emotional discomfort. Often times we eat because we've developed a habit to eat at a particular time or after an event. There's a strong psychological component to why we eat what and when we do. Here's the ultimate test of hunger vs. cravings. Are you hungry enough to eat baked fish and steamed broccoli. No? Then you are not hungry but are craving. I learned that it's ok to be hungry from my nutrition coach. She coached me through a 20 lbs weight loss after I finished my competitive weightlifting season in 2019. Many times our weekly coaching calls focused on how I managed my hunger. I can tell you from experience it's not managed by eating the things I WANTED. The things I wanted to eat did not satisfy my rumbling belly. Things that satisfied my rumbling belly were a very large glass of water followed by lean protein and vegetables. Yes, many times I ate baked fish and steamed broccoli. So the next time you find yourself reaching into the fridge, pause and see if you're willing to eat baked fish and steamed broccoli. If you're not, drink a tall glass of water, step away from the fridge, and plan your next lean protein and veggie rich meal. Good luck! Of course, it's not #foodiefiday without a recipe:) Here's one for delicious baked fish from The Mediterranean Dish. Enjoy!
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I follow WOD Science on Instagram. They posted about a recent journal article on why middle-aged women do CrossFit. You can read the entire article here.
The research article states that: Women significantly reduce regular exercise during middle-age by up to 40%. Concurrently, women experience a reduction in basal metabolic rate and loss of lean muscle as they transition to menopause]; thereby increasing their risk for body weight gain and obesity. Obesity is associated with co-morbidities including diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers
It got me thinking about our gym and the amazing middle-aged women in it. Our gym is over 60% women and of those women 60% are 40 years or older. Clearly these women have heard the messages about the importance of lifting heavy shit and high intensity interval training as they age.
On the flip side, I have seen many, many people, men and women, come and go at our gym. So what makes you all so sticky and the rest of the population not? In my nearly 10 years of owning this gym I can usually tell by the end of Foundations how "sticky" someone is. Meaning, I have a good sense based after just 5 personal training sessions if someone is going to stuck with us or not. It's got nothing to do with physical ability. People who stick with exercise, particularly the kind we do at our gym, have particular mental toughness qualities. They are curious, want to improve, lean into hard things, and like having fun with other. The WOD Science folks found this factors lead to the best exercise adherence: CrossFit doesn't work well because it is more effective than other resistance exercise and endurance programs. CrossFit works well because it is fun.
What do you think? Why have you stuck with us for as long as you have?
Feel free to email if have ideas about what makes someone sticky. In the meantime, please take 2 mins and take my non-scientific poll. â By now I should no longer be surprised one someone assumes that lifting weights will make you bulky and inflexible. However, after several years of talking to people about CrossFit and weightlifting I understand many folks don't understand the difference between weightlifting and lifting weights. Weightlifting is a sport, in fact there are two competitive weightlifting disciplines. Powerlifting which consists of the deadlift, back squat and benchpress, and Olympic weightlifting which consists of the snatch and clean & jerk. Olympic weightlifting is an Olympic sport and is governed by the International Olympic Committee. Powerlifting is not an Olympic sport, and has several national and international regulatory committees. Lifting weights is not a sport, but rather a fitness pursuit. We do not lift weights. We practice the sport of weightlifting. Like any sport, weightlifting requires flexibility, coordination, agility, balance, accuracy, power, speed and strength. All of these physical characteristics, along with stamina and endurance are specific adaptions we try to illicit through the demands of our training program. Flexibility (which we often call mobility) is a physical trait that can be trained and it is ESSENTIAL to the sport of weightlifting. You simply must have full range of motion of your ankles and knees to squat to depth. You must have full range of motion in our shoulders, elbows and wrists to support and receive the bar safely in the clean or snatch. One of our favorite methods for flexibility and mobility training is the physical practice of yoga. Yoga asana (the poses) develops flexibility, balance, coordination and to some extent strength. If you don't believe me, take a look at Dmitry Klokov's warm-up in the video below. You will recognize the plow (halasana), seated forward bend (paschimottanasana), wide-angle seated forward bend (upavistha konasana), and the squat (malasana). Klokov is a Russian Olympic weightlifter who won Silver at the 2008 Summer Olympics. His flexibility is so good he can do the splits. So, tell me again why you don't want to lift weights because it will make you inflexible. Linda, Why Do You CrossFit?1. What was your fitness life like before you started training with True Spirit CrossFit? I wasn’t a gym person before joining TSCF. I had a few brief samplings of gyms over the years and was never impressed. My philosophy was keep fit for life by staying active in daily life, and hike, bike, ski for fun and fitness. Through this I kept some aerobic fitness, but I was losing muscle, strength and mobility with age. My son, TSCF member Thomas, was convinced I would enjoy CrossFit if I tried it. 2. What brought you to True Spirit CrossFit in the first place? A broken leg. A son that knew better than I did what I needed to gain back fitness from 3 months of none weight bearing on the leg. A paradigm shift: some gym memberships are worth fitting in the budget. 3. What was your first impression? Somewhat awed by the super-athleticism of some of the members (there were some super bad-ass girls in 6am class back then). I must admit that I felt pretty pathetic with my mega-scaling, but excused myself owing to my 'senior' status. I continue to admire the gym super--athletes (male and female), but no longer hide behind my age and I feel pretty pleased with where I am on my fitness journey. I now know to embrace the scalings, but those occasional Rx workouts do feel pretty sweet. 4. What was the first thing fun or positive thing you experienced while training with us? In first few weeks I ran a mile--I didn't know I still had a mile run in me. 5. Are you working on any special CrossFit related skill now? I never stop working on double--unders and rope climbs, both of which regularly regress back to ground zero. I would really feel more positive about calling my push up, a true push up if I could tighten the core and stop the 'sway' back. But currently my 'biggie' is working on my squat 'mobility'. To get better strength, stability, and form in air squats and other squats, I need to work on ankle, hip, 'back' mobility and core strength. (This realization emerged during mobility month.) 6. How has you life changed since training with TSCF? Definitely physically stronger and therefore more capable in the activities I participate in--yard/garden/land, skiing, hiking, (biking). I feel like I know my body better than I have ever know it. 7. What's your favorite True Spirit CrossFit memory? Maybe when TSCF hosted Festivus. After signing up, I got pretty freaked out about my ability to participate, but the level of mutual support and encouragement was in high gear, and I did fine. Lil' OLD me a cross fit competitor--who'd ever have thought it!!! Congratulations, Linda, on qualifying for the CrossFit Games w65+ Age Group Quarterfinals! |
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