Are you ready for a long row or run today?
With snow forecasted for this weekend I guess Autumn is really here. FINE, but I don't have to like it. This week's Foodie Friday recipe is courtesy of an old favorite of mine, Well Fed. As the weather cools my preferred method of cooking switches from grilling to braising. Braising is a cooking technique in which you first brown or sear meat (or veggies) then cook it slowly with liquid in a closed container. Of course, you can use a pressure cooker to decreasing cooking time. I love Ethiopian food and this time of year I use berbere spice more than any other. It's a delicious blend of aromatic spices and peppers and it turns elk, venison, beef or bison into a stew of beauty. Enjoy this recipe for Ethiopian Beef stew, Key Wat, and feel free to use wild ungulate if you have it in your freezer. Click on the image for the recipe.
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During the last Open, Jessie tried for her first chest-to-bar pull-up. She ended up getting over 20! There is magic in The Open and it is more probable to strike YOU if you're prepared.
You often hear us Coaches talk about the difference between training, practicing and competing. In class, everyday, you are training and practicing. This means you're scaling complexity, managing load and volume for a specific stimulus, and working on mechanics and consistency. Training and practicing are what make you better, more efficient, and ultimately faster, stronger and more fit. If you're competing in class by comparing your times/score to others you are missing a HUGE opportunity to work on your own fitness. If you are competing in class you are letting your ego get the better of you. Your ego is not what's going to make you faster, stronger and more fit. Your ego only cares about right now. It doesn't care about the progressions, the process, the mechanics, or the consistency. But, you need the progressions, the process, the mechanics, and the consistency to get faster, stronger and more fit. The time for being competitive is when you're in an actual competition like Row'd Royalty, The Open, or Festivus Games. We LOVE competition. Competition reveals our character, our grit, our fortitude. Competition is the culmination of months of training and practicing. And, competition season is upon us. The CrossFit Games Open starts October 10 and we are, once again, hosting an Intramural Open. The Intramural Open is a friendly in-house competition in which everyone in the gym can participate. There are Prescribed, Scaled, Masters and Teens divisions with appropriate modifications and scalings for everyone. We will do The Open workout every Friday, Oct 11 - Nov 8. We have divided all of you into two teams based on the median age of our gym which is 37. Everyone who is 37 and older will be on the "OLD" team and 36 and younger on the "YOUNG" team. We desperately need team names! What do you suggest? You earn points for your teams in the following ways: PRE-SEASON POINTS 1 point if you officially register for the Open INTRAMURAL POINTS 1 point if you do the CrossFit Open Workout 3 points if you finish in the top 3 Scaled, Rx or Masters 2 points if you do something for the first time or get a PR 5 points to the team with the best SPIRIT - Organize your team for group photos, costumes, etc. during The Open You have the opportunity RIGHT NOW to earn a point for your team. Get after it! Christina works on her splits.
We place a high value on both mobility and flexibility at our gym. Do you know the difference? Flexibility is the ability to maximize the range of motion of a joint and/or muscles. Mobility is the ability to move through a functional range of motion while maintaining balance, strength, alignment. Flexibility is one of the 10 General Physical Skills we seek to develop through our strength and conditioning training. Everyday in class we devote a section of time to developing our mobility. Functional movement uses more than one joint and muscle group and is movement we do "naturally." Squatting, overhead pressing, pulling, pushing. throwing, running, walking, rowing, are all movements we naturally do. In fact, we start off in life with the ability to squat below parallel, raise our hands overhead, and do all manner of movements uninhibited. As we age we stop playing, stop moving, and develop movement limitations that prevent us from doing all the things we were born to do. We spend 8-10 minutes at the beginning of every class working on mobility and flexibility. We stretch our muscles to improve flexibility, and use bands to change our joint position to improve mobility. At the end of class we use foam rollers, lacrosse balls and other implements to work on the physical structure of our muscles to improve our mobility. We do this work on our tissues after we workout because that is when they're warm and are best able to be physically changed post-workout. Flexibility is a physical trait that is improved through regular training. While, we regularly train to improve our flexibility in class, to truly improve flexibility it takes daily training. A few minutes in the morning, a short mid morning stretch, a post lunch flexibility session, and pre-bed calming stretches can improve your flexibility. Want to touch your toes, which is normal range of motion, you need to work at it daily. Mobility can also be improved through regular training and practice. Sometimes it just takes focus and concentration to improve your position and alignment. Spend the time improving your functional movement and watch the rest of your sports, e.g golf, skiing, climbing, etc. improve. J-Bo: Why do You do CrossFit?What was your fitness, CrossFit, or yoga "life" like before you started training with True Spirit CrossFit & Yoga.
I had an active lifestyle on my goat farm and enjoyed running, although that was mostly a spring-fall activity. I had done a boot camp class but left the gym and was looking for a winter option to maintain some fitness during the colder months. What brought you to True Spirit CrossFit & Yoga in the first place? My friend, Ralph, from DC was LOVING CrossFit and he was a huge motivator. I also had some local friends who enjoyed the workouts, so I was curious and thought I'd learn more. What was your first impression? Has that changed? I was a bit intimidated by the weight lifting and the RX versions. It took a while, over a year, to let that go and not feel badly when my work outs were not RX What was the first thing fun or positive thing you experienced while training with us? My pull up was pretty exciting, and some of the lifting I surprise myself. Are you working on any special CrossFit related skill now? Linking my pull ups How has you life changed since training with TSCF? Can you go on longer hikes, do you have more energy, you are happier and have increased vitality. I feel that my workouts are more consistent throughout the year and I am happy with my upper body strength which has improved. I am maintaining my goal of top 1/3 in age group for most races and feel confident doing all my farm chores. What's your favorite True Spirit CrossFit memory? It was super fun to have my DC friend Ralph join a WOD while he was visiting here. |
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