I am nearly finished with our Fall Check-ins and I am so excited by what I'm hearing from almost everyone. It seems our gym is filled with happy people who care more about consistency, community and effort rather than perfection, ego and outcomes. I can tell you that hearing our athletes say that they want to focus on consistency before all else makes us Coaches want to do backflips! Consistency always trumps perfection. Consistency is more than just the daily grind. It's realizing that one missed gym day, one non-macro balanced meal, one too many beers, or a crappy night of sleep is not going to derail you and send you down the, "Oh What the Hell" rabbit hole.
Consistency is making a series of small decisions that continue to push the needle in the direction of your goal. Consistency is knowing that you can always make a different choice for your next meal, your next day, your next anything! Consistency creates momentum and momentum creates motivation. Lots of people erroneously believe that motivation must precede success. It's actually the other way around. Success creates motivation. Think about it, when you are starting something new, a small success feels so good that you want to continue. This is true for everything in life. All you need is one small win, then another, then another, string together a bunch of consistent small wins and you're on your way baby! Sure the perfect day is alluring and something for which we all occasionally strive. However, you're much more likely to achieve that perfect day after you've achieved a string of 80% consistent days. If you have not yet scheduled your Fall Check-in with me, What Are you Waiting For? Get on it and schedule your Check-in. I'm only conducting Fall Check-ins in November and our next Check-in will be in January. Click the blue button below to schedule your Check-in now!
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The Covid-19 pandemic is one of the greatest obstacles of our lifetime. Collectively, we are experiencing grief, anxiety, boredom, anger, sadness, and uncertainty. Never before in our lives have ALL OF US gone through this together. Individually we may have overcome more challenging times. Together, we are experiencing a vast array of emotions.
Now, more than ever, we need to be open and honest about our mental health. While we are still supposed to be physically distance from each other; please, let's be sure we are not socially distant. Reach out to your friends, family, gym buddies and make sure they know you care. If you feel lonely, reach out to me. One of the things I absolutely know to be true is that working out improves my mental health. While I have personally been through more difficult times than the Covid-19 pandemic, (pretty sure nothing will ever top being in a war), I have had many down days during the past 8 months. Worry about the future of True Spirit CrossFit, uncertainty about what I would do if we had to close, and anxiety about how we will make it through the year. These feelings and emotions feel like the weight of the world on my shoulders. Every time that I feel like I won't be able to surface out of the dark hole of despair I start moving my body. I literally start with an inchworm. Then I do another inchworm. After about 4 inchworms I feel my body start to respond to movement. Then I know I can do the WOD. Doing the workout of the day always, and I mean ALWAYS, brings me up. I have never, ever regretted doing a workout. I have only regretted when I don't. I hope you feel the same as I do. Working out, attending classes, being around like-minded people are things I rely upon to keep me happy and mentally healthy during these uncertain times. Jeremy LeFeber - Why do You Do CrossFit?What was your life like before you started training with True Spirit CrossFit?
My fitness was pretty non-existent before I started CrossFit at TSCF. My perception of CrossFit was that it involved a lot of high intensity and high impact exercises. Although I was familiar with many of the exercises commonly used in CrossFit, I also knew that I would struggle with many of them. What brought you to True Spirit CrossFit in the first place? I asked my wife for a CrossFit membership for my birthday, because I was looking to jump start my fitness, as I was simply languishing in my current routine of not going to the gym with any regularity. Matt Conner arranged the introduction to Leslie and TSCF. What was your first impression? Has that changed? My first impression was that there is a fair amount of physical diversity at TSCF and the coaches really embraced the unique needs of each participant. I continue to work toward getting more RX workouts, but I have a ways to go. I continue to appreciate the coaches' attention to my progress and providing me with support and instruction so that I can continue to get more RX work outs. What was the first thing fun or positive thing you experienced while training with us? I don't know if I have a singular experience, I just enjoy the camaraderie of the lunch time crew. It's a good blend of focus, fitness and fun. I feel that I am making progress and am closing in on my 100th workout. Are you working on any special CrossFit related skill now? I am working on my kip and my deadlifts. I also need to get more flexible in my hips and shoulders. How has you life changed since training with TSCF? My fitness has increased substantially, but I still have a work to do on my endurance. What's your favorite True Spirit CrossFit memory? Getting through the 1/2 marathon row and getting my first ring muscle up. Now I just need to get double unders!! Myth: Food cravings are our body's way of telling us that we need certain nutrients.If today's myth were true, you would crave peas, tuna, oysters, spinach, and Swiss cheese since these foods are high in zinc, omega 3 fatty acids and Vitamin D. These three micronutrients are the most commonly inadequate in our diet. Cravings for pizza, ice cream, chips, chocolate, fries, bacon, cheeseburgers are all learned behaviors. Before we dive into today's myth let's first use some common language. Cravings are a state of heightened eating motivation that is directed at a specific food. Hunger is a nonspecific motivation for calorie-containing food in general. It's important not to interchange the two. If you're really hungry, you'll be willing to eat fish and steamed broccoli. If you're not, you're most likely craving something based upon a learned response to it. Cravings follow a predictable pattern of cue, routine, reward. Our brains are hard-wired for specific physiological and psychological needs such as water, social support, physical comfort, sex, and of course, food. When we successfully acquire one of those things our brain releases dopamine. Dopamine is an incredibly powerful feel-good biochemical that we instantly want more of. We form an association, a cue, that the thing we just ate, drank, touched, or had sex with is what makes us feel so good. Of course, we don't know that we feel so good because of the dopamine release. We just want more of the thing. Every time we get it we get more dopamine which reinforces the thing and thus our routine is created. Let's explore a real world craving example of pizza. In the very primal part of our brain, pizza is an outstanding source of calories from delicious fat, carbs and perhaps protein. As you eat it your brain releases dopamine and also catalogs all of the smells, sights, and tastes of the pizza. The association becomes so strong that all you need now is a reminder of the pizza and you'll start salivating and craving it. You experience this when you see a pizza commercial on TV or when someone suggests going out to Bridger Brewery after Friday night's workout. You start salivating and obsessing about pizza. This is because the last time you ate it your brain released one of the most addictive chemicals on earth into your blood stream. Here's an illustration of how this works from the smart folks at Examine.com. Since we're all unique snowflakes some of us crave salty things and some of us crave sweet things. But none of us crave healthy things. That's because cravings are a hold-over from ancient times when highly-palatable high caloric food wasn't available 24 hours of the day. Back when we had to hunt, gather and travel for miles and miles just to get something calorically dense our brains rewarded us. It motivated us to find that amazing food source again. Now, all we have to do is call and it will be delivered to our front door.
Chocolate and sugar cravings are even more interesting because of the addition of another highly addictive biochemical called theobromine. Theobromine is a stimulant that accentuates fat and sugar’s natural ability to spike dopamine signaling. That's why sugar cravings are the hardest to control. Some research suggests that sugar is the most addictive drug on the planet, more so than crack, cocaine, meth and heroine. Good luck controlling that craving! Since cravings are driven by sensory cues (sight and smell) the most straightforward way to control cravings is to avoid exposing yourself to those cues. If temptation is not around you can more easily avoid it. Clear out your freezer, fridge and pantry and "it's out of sight out of mind." This time of year, the Winter holidays eating season, is a particularly challenging time because we are surrounded by beautiful and wonderful smelling food. We are missing family and togetherness. Eating "comfort food" is a way we feel connected to traditions, emotions, and all the other things we're craving. It's ok to feel this way. Try to establish a plan for this season. Perhaps you eat only homemade things and nothing store bought, or eat just ONE piece, or take 20 mins to eat the thing you crave. These strategies can help you navigate all of the temptations about to come our way. In the meantime, the next time you see a social media post about how cravings are our body's way of telling us that we need certain nutrients you can confidently call "bullshit." There's a LOT of silly bullshit on social media and I want you help you identify it. Do you have a myth you want me to explore? Tell me in the comments. |
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