When I was a competitive athlete, no matter the sport, my coaches always put us through a Hell Week. Hell Weeks are increased training sessions where your sessions are longer, more intense or perhaps you do 2 workouts a day. These crucible training cycles were important for developing grit, stamina, endurance and mental toughness.
At True Spirit CrossFit we have our own unique Hell Week, we call it Femme Fatale Week. Femme Fatale Week is a special training cycle of increased intensity and frequency. We challenge you to workout 5 or 6 days. We challenge you to workout 2 or 3 days in a row. We challenge you to try something Rx'd for the first time, or to try something you've never done before. Femme Fatale Week is a crucible and it can teach you a ton about yourself. You've heard me say that you are 20% stronger than you think you are. Everyone who completes Femme Fatale Week learns just how strong they are. You will do workouts you didn't think you could do. You will be inspired by your fellow athletes. You will be motivated to move better. You will be encouraged to try your best. Hell Weeks teach us about our limits and our tolerances. Femme Fatale Week is our Hell Week training cycle that will get you fired up and ready for the next level. Femme Fatale Week will teach you about your mental toughness and offer you a chance to find out just how awesome you really are. Your coaches know that you're a badass. Join us for Femme Fatale Week and learn it for yourself. Registration for Femme Fatale Week is now OPEN! We need 24 brave people to commit to Femme Fatale week otherwise the 6 seductive, alluring, and irresistible workouts who are ready to show up Feb 8-13 will stay home.
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The deadlift. If you could only do one weightlifting movement for the rest of your life I advocate for the deadlift.
The deadlift is simple: pick up something heavy. The deadlift is functional: pick up something heavy. The deadlift is fun: pick up something heavy! YAY! The deadlift gets its name from how the lift starts, from a dead stop. This distinguishes it from the clean, jerk or snatch which use dynamic movement and momentum to help lift the bar. There is nothing deadly or dangerous about the deadlift. The deadlift has a multitude of health benefits. It develops an incredibly strong core. It develops BONE DENSITY! Many of the women who train at our gym, including Meg who is pictured above deadlifting some heavy shit, have been warned about osteopenia or have even been diagnosed with osteoporosis. After training with us, all of the women who have been warned about bone density have reversed their condition. That's right! You can increase bone density, NO MATTER YOUR AGE, by deadlifting. Deadlifting doesn't have to be heavy to be effective. However, for most of us the deadlift is our strongest lift and we like lifting heavy shit. A great benchmark for anyone with less than a year of CrossFit training is a body weight deadlift. After that, a double bodyweight deadlift is a great goal to pursue. Deadlifting heavy, like we are doing today, drives a potent hormonal response. Tonight when you sleep your body will release human growth hormone (HGH) to help you recover. Human growth hormone will not only repair your muscles, it will also help you fight off illness. Immunity boosting and bone density increasing ? I'm ALL IN for deadlifting!
I thought it would be fun to see the fittest women in the world left some very, very heavy weight at mere 15 minutes after running a grueling 7KM trail run at the 2017 CrossFit Games.
âSometimes, we just need to watch something fun and motivating to get us psyched for a workout. I'm ready to lift heavy after watching this. Are you? Tell us in the comments! The Importance of Small Steps
I have been exploring strategies and tactics for making sustainable change over the past few #transformationtuesday blogs. The New Year is a natural transition time for many of us. We may want to start or STOP a habit. We might seek a change in our lifestyle, and we will best accomplish that through smaller steps.
Smaller steps allow us to "shrink the change." We all like the idea of a big sweeping change. However, implementing that change is so. damn. hard. Small steps can help us create success, and you've heard me say it so many times, success creates motivation. When you succeed at something you are much more likely to continue to WANT to work on it. If we slip while working on small steps the results are not so disastrous. Simply start with your last successful step and keep going. We use small steps to teach you physical things at the gym. How do you learn how to do a pull-up? Step one: get to the gym. Step two: do a ring row. Step three: learn how to do an active hang from the bar. Step four: do a scapular pull-up. See? Small steps towards a big goal. What big fat scary goal do you have? Can you write down a series of small steps that will help you work towards that goal? Share with me in the comments. Is Sitting the New Smoking?
Sitting is something we do A LOT! By some estimates we sit up to 10 hours a day. All of this sitting has impacted our health. In fact, some folks say sitting is the new smoking.
According to Daniel Lieberman, an anthropologist who studies human fitness, there are 2 factors that make sitting a problem. The first is the time we spend too much time in uninterrupted sitting, Lieberman says: "Just getting up every once in a while, every 10 minutes or so â just to go to the bathroom or pet your dog or make yourself a cup of tea â even though you're not spending a lot of energy, you're turning on your muscles.
âSecond, according to Lieberman, sitting in a chair, with a back, is a relatively new practice. Up until the last few hundred years when we sat it was on the floor, or on benches or stools. Chairs with back rests were used only by nobility and the rich. In many part of the world sitting on the floor is still common. When I lived in Japan I sat on the floor all the time. â According to Lieberman
"The reason it matters for our health is that a seat back essentially makes sitting even more passive than just sitting on a bench or a stool because you lean against the seat back and you're using even fewer muscles, even less effort to stabilize your upper body.
Sitting is a common practice in all societies that Lieberman has studied. You can reduce the deleterious impacts of all the sitting by getting up and moving around, spending some time standing, and sitting mostly on a bench or a stool.
You can listen to the entire podcast below. Do you have a myth you want me to investigate? Tell me in the comments. |
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