WOOHOOOO! It's #foodiefriday and today I'm sharing some special recipe for Thanksgiving. Last year I share an entire macro-friendly Thanksgiving menu from Renaissance Periodization. This year Working Against Gravity has offered up a bunch of delicious macro-friendly Thanksgiving recipes. Since life is short, I'm sharing dessert first:) Once you click on the image below you'll also see links for apple cranberry crisp, roast turkey, smokey potato salad and many more. Happy eating!
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Lessons from The Tactical Games National ChampionshipsI competed in The Tactical Games National Championships Nov 4-6 in Texas. As with all competitions, I had some fantastic successes and some brutal failures. I fervently believe that we learn more from our failures than from our successes and TTG National Championships provided me with many, many learning opportunities. I will explore some of these lessons over the next few weeks in this Mental Toughness Thursday blog. LESSON 1: ASSUME SOMETHING WILL BE OFF WITH EQUIPMENT AFTER AIR TRAVEL The first misstep in Texas happened when I took possession of my rifle case after our flights. It was nearly impossible to open the case because of the incredible vacuum seal created during travel. The top and bottom of the cases were completely concaved. The vacuum was so powerful that it took a LOT of force to break the seal and open the case. We inspected the rifle and nothing appeared damaged. I did not treat the vacuum issue seriously and just assumed the scope was not impacted. See Lesson 1. I had an opportunity to confirm zero at the event venue, the Texas Shooting Academy, on Thursday. I did put some rounds downrange, but I did not actually confirm zero. I was intimidated. Everyone else was prepared for this process and I was clearly not. Lacking targets, staple gun, shooting bags, etc. I just faked my way through this. ROOKIE MOVE!! I noticed all my shots were to the right, but I was shooting at 50 yards and I often pull right. So I just chalked it up to competition nerves. I did not make any adjustments to my scope and just moved on. If I had a do-over I would have asked someone for targets. I would have confirmed zero at 100 yards. I would have made adjustments to my scope. LESSON 2: ALWAYS CONFIRM ZERO WHEN SHOOTING IN A NEW PLACE The first indicator that something wasn’t right was after Stage 2, Silly Strongman. I was the last to finish the battle and ended up placing 6th. I didn’t pay attention to my miss penalties because I assumed my placing was because I finished last. I never saw my rifle target so I had no idea where any of my shots landed (at about 100 yards). I ended up with 300 penalty points. I just chalked it up to competition nerves and lack of physical ability. LESSON 3: TRUST YOUR TRAINING AND ABILITY AND VERIFY THAT EQUIPMENT IS WORKING PROPERLY The first day wasn't all failures however. I completed 4 stages that day and I placed 2nd and 4th in 2 of them. My 2nd place finish was in the Power Sprint at Rattler CrossFit. This was a fitness only stage and it played to my strengths. We had 2 mins to accumulate 24 calories on the ski erg, 2 mins to accumulate 34 calories on the bike erg, and 2 mins to accumulate 40 calories on the rowing erg. I got time-capped at 36 calories on the row erg, and it was good enough for second! Another success was the 2-gun van stage. I didn’t know it when I finished, but I placed fourth. I was hitting 12-inch steel targets at 200 yards. I heard the steel ring and that made me happy. Again, the only misses on that stage were the small steel targets. Easy to miss at 200? Yes, but not actually for me. Another bright spot was the long run. I knew I would place last in this stage. I just focused on what success looked like for me and tried to have as much fun as possible running through the beautiful oak and juniper woodland of the Texas Hill Country. Five miles of rolling hills in the rain really wasn't that bad. It was hard and I kinda liked it.
In fact, that motto helped me survive the first day and all the things that went wrong on day 2 and 3. I will share those stories and lessons learned with you in my next Mental Toughness Thursday blog. I have written previously about the importance of winter Vitamin D supplementation. Despite its importance, it’s estimated that anywhere from 30% to 80% of the U.S. population is vitamin D insufficient. A nutrient insufficiency differs from a deficiency in that a deficiency causes a disease, in the case of Vitamin D a deficiency causes rickets and osteomalacia. Vitamin D insufficiency doesn't cause a disease, but neither does it promote optimal health.
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble micronutrient that promotes calcium absorption, it also modulates cell growth, neuromuscular and immune function and reduces inflammation. There's a growing body of scientific analysis that is suggesting Vitamin D has an important influence on COVID-19 symptom severity. Last year, in the scientific journal Nature a group of researchers published a study of vitamin D level among asymptomatic and critically ill COVID-19 patients. The researchers compared people with asymptomatic infections to people with severe infections: 97 percent of people in the severe group had vitamin D deficiency vs. 33 percent in the asymptomatic group. The fatality rate was seven times higher in the low vitamin D group (21 percent vs. 3 percent). All of these studies (there are over a dozen of them now) are observational studies that are correlative and don't prove a causal relationship between vitamin D deficiency and COVID-19 severity. However, the strength of the relationship might justify the inclusion of recommending vitamin D supplementation in public health advice. I advocate vitamin D supplementation in the winter because : Vitamin D is incredibly safe when taken at appropriate doses (up to 8,000 IU/d). Vitamin D insufficiency is widespread in the industrialized world. It’s estimated that anywhere from 30% to 80% of the U.S. population is vitamin D insufficient. Vitamin D is relatively cheap. Vitamin D is readily available without a prescription. The benefits of correcting vitamin D insufficiency are well established. We might now add to this list that vitamin D could reduce the severity of COVID-19 symptoms. Of course, we can't out-supplement an unhealthy diet or lifestyle. So make sure you continue to eat whole unprocessed foods. drinks lots of water, and get daily exercise. Charlene does "earthquake" or "bamboo" presses in Coach Nick's 9am class. He incorporates these instability presses in his warm-ups to increase shoulder stability and strength. They are never done for speed or with high loads. The instability of the bar and hanging weights requires the shoulders to use little stabilizing muscles in addition to the big sexy ones to move the weight. These type of warm-up protocols help reduce injury and improve overall shoulder health and function. Myth: CrossFit is DangerousThere's nothing quite like owning a business and having people tell you that the very thing to which I have devoted my energy and passion is dangerous and "not for them." I don't know how or why CrossFit earned such a negative perception for so many people. Of course, the myth that it's dangerous is primarily held by those who haven't tried CrossFit.
What most folks fail to realize is that CrossFit is a sport. Yes, it's exercise. Yes, it's a fitness program. However, it was born during the big cross-training wave that swept across the fitness industry in the mid 1990s. Greg Glassman, and a small committed cadre of folks in Santa Cruz, figured out that if they borrowed all of the best training methods from sports like rowing, football, track and field, gymnastics, wrestling, boxing, Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting, volleyball, soccer, skiing, etc., and put them together in a constantly varied high intensity workout, that they would have a very potent strength and conditioning program. What is exactly the definition of CrossFit: Constantly varied high intensity functional movement. And, it is the sport of fitness. Most folks think of joining a gym as a fitness pursuit, and gyms like Access, Fuel, Orange Theory, and group classes like Pure Barre, and Les Miles are focused on a particular type of fitness. However, CrossFit, being a sport, is focused on a broader definition of fitness and therefore uses a broader quiver of movements. If you've never been an athlete, you might never have been exposed to plyometrics, interval training, sprints, weightlifting, or worked on physical skills such as agility, balance, coordination, speed and power. All of these movements and skills have a learning curve and those who don't respect the learning curve can get themselves into trouble. This is why we prioritize practice over performance. I have been an athlete all my life. I started in tumbling classes when I was a toddler, moved onto the parallel bars and balance beam when I was in grade school, started rowing in high school and even dabbled in spring-board diving. I have cut-open my head on the diving board, broken my ribs while rowing in college, seriously injured both ankles in a rappelling fall in the Marine Corps, and I have never injured myself during my 8 years of practicing CrossFit. I have been so sore I had trouble going down stairs, but sore muscles are not an injury. The difference between injury and soreness might be a point where most folks go sideways in their misbelief in the dangers of CrossFit. If you've never pushed yourself in the pursuit of physical achievement, you might not know the pain and euphoria of the metabolic by-products on high-intensity movement. I have met many people who, after deadlifting or squatting, or running very, very hard, describe the pain in their muscles and ask me if I think they've "tweaked" something. Nope, what you're feeling is called hard work, and it's a common by product of CrossFit. Now, that's not to say some people don't get injured. But, I have witnessed more people getting injured in the summer recreation soccer, volleyball and softball leagues in Bozeman than I ever have in my 10 years as a CrossFit Coach. I have seen more muscles torn, more ankles twisted and more ligaments shredded by folks in rec. league, and yet, oddly enough, no one is shouting and waving their hands about the dangers of the Bozeman recreation leagues. CrossFit is the most effective program around for getting you stronger, faster, and fitter for a full and active life. Our Coaches are experts in modifying and adapting the movements to suit anyone's current fitness level and range of motion. Want to do something dangerous? Sit on your ass and don't move your body. But, if you still don't believe me, read this article. See you in class! |
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