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.
I have explored the negative health effects of too much sitting. For some of us, a standing work station is unrealistic or the nature of our job requires a seated position. There's good news for all of us obligatory sitters! A mere 5 min walking break every 30 mins can offset the negative health impacts of prolonged sitting. Researcher Keith Diaz of Columbia University Medical Center and his colleagues, "found that a five minute walk every half-hour was able to offset a lot of the harms of sitting." People who moved five minutes every half-hour, saw blood sugar spikes after a meal reduced by almost 60%, according to his study. Another researcher, Kathleen Janz, professor emeritus at the University of Iowa, says that "people were in a better mood because they took those breaks." WHAT'S THAT!?! Short 5 min walking breaks can improve our blood sugar, improve our metabolic profile AND improve our mental health? Sign me up! Many of us get our CDC recommended weekly 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity via CrossFit classes. However, we may find ourselves sitting the rest of the day. No matter what we do for an hour in the gym, it's the remaining 23 hours of our day that can cause so many other issues. If sitting is something you find yourself doing for more than 30 mins, get up and move for just 5 mins. You'll feel better AND you'll be happier:) Win! Win! Click on the link below to listen to the entire 4:24 min story on NPR. You can do this during one of your 5 min walking breaks today!
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Debbie is an Age-Group Quarterfinalist!Firebreather = 1. One who faces the triumphs and tribulations of great physical opposition with an indomitable spirit. 2. An optimistic energy associated with the heart of an athlete.
Debbie is a firebreather who had a goal this year. At our New Year Check-in she shared with me that she wanted to make the 2024 Age Group Quarterfinals. Debbie has been doing CrossFit since 2014. She started when she was 57! She is one of our strongest athletes and when she told me she wanted to make Age Group Quarterfinals I knew she could do it. Debbie is a regular in our 9am class. At 67 years young she is not the oldest in that class! She inspires everyone, young and old, to show up and do the work. Debbie finished strong in the last 2 CrossFit Opens, the first step for everyone to get to the CrossFit Games, but life threw a few punches at her that prevented her from progressing to the next level. She knew this would be her year. Not only is she in excellent condition, the CrossFit Games expanded the field of qualifying athletes to the top 25% worldwide. When that news was released she knew this year was her year! At our Check-in we came up with a plan to make sure she would be in her best form for the Open. It didn't include extra workouts or skill work. Debbie did a 75Hard challenge starting in January with a commitment to sobriety, a diet of whole unprocessed foods, and daily rucking and GOWOD mobility. She didn't need to work on anything extra. She just needed to eat well and keep her body moving well which her daily GOWOD practice provided. The daily rucking was a low intensity activity that gave her plenty of Zone 2 training and active recovery from 4 days a week of CrossFit training. Her Age Group Quarterfinal workouts were released last Wednesday, April 17. She had to submit scores for workouts 1 & 2 by Saturday, April 20 at 5pm and workouts 3 & 4 by Monday, April 22 by 5pm. Debbie regularly does CrossFit 4 days a week, but her training temp is 1 on and 1 off. Now she had to do 2 cycles of 2 on and 1 off! She was nervous, and she absolutely crushed it! Workout 1 included barbell snatches, rowing, and weighted step-ups to a 20 inch box. Well, 20 inches is darn near half her height. Those step-ups were HIGH and she did SO MANY! Her extraordinary effort earned her a top 200 finish IN THE WORLD! Workout 2 included wall balls and box jumps to a 20 inch box! Debbie had not done 20 inch box jumps since she was in her 50s. She did 35 box jumps! She did enough box jumps to place 199th IN THE WORLD for this workout! Workout 3 started with handstand push-ups and toes to bar. When she practiced on Friday she was unable to kick up into a handstand. When she did the workout on Monday she got FIVE handstand push-ups! We won't know for a few days how she finished in this workout, however it doesn't matter. Debbie went from none to FIVE! What an absolute personal best and total victory! Workout 4 was a difficult clean and jerk ladder at 65#, 75#, 85# and 95# pounds in a 10 min time limit. Debbie did all 10 of the 65, all 10 of the 75, and then after all that got one 85# clean and jerk! That weight is almost 75% of her bodyweight! Again, we don't know yet where this tremendous effort will land her, but to get that weight after all those other reps is incredible! Once Workouts 1 & 2 were verified she found herself in the top 250 IN THE WORLD! If her amazing efforts in Workouts 3 & 4 keep her there she will be moving on to the SEMIFINALS! WAY TO GO DEBBIE! Be sure to give Debbie a hearty, "WAY TO GO!" when you next see her. She is proof that you can be a firebreather at any age! Pat Tillman Hero WorkoutWe remember Patrick Tillman, whose end of watch was 20 years ago today. Tillman was a Arizona Cardinals football player who left the National Football League and enlisted in the United States Army in May 2002. He joined the Army Rangers and served multiple tours in combat before he was killed in the mountains of Afghanistan. He was a recipient of the Silver Star, the third highest honor in the military, and a Purple Heart. Pat is survived by his wife Marie. He is also remembered through the foundation named in his honor.
Founded in 2004, the Pat Tillman Foundation invests in military veterans and their spouses through academic scholarships – building a diverse community of leaders committed to service to others. The scholars chosen show extraordinary academic and leadership potential, a true sense of vocation, and a deep commitment to create positive change through their work in the fields of medicine, law, business, education and the arts. You can learn more about Pat Tillman in the book, Where Men Win Glory, by Jon Krakauer. Eat Your Veggies!
All week I have been exploring Low Energy Availability and Optimal Energy Availability. It's important that we eat to support our training. The ideal fuel for training requires protein and carbohydrates and fat. Carbohydrates have been demonized for far too long. Do you know what are the best sources of carbs? Fruits and veggies! That's one of the reasons I promote the 800g way of eating. Getting most of your carbs from fruits and veggies, rather than processed carbs is a game changer! Everyone needs to eat more veggies! Check out this post below from Dr. Stacy Sims on the importance of carbs in preventing LEA and fueling your training.
To help you eat ALL of the wonderful fruits and vegetables roast them on a sheet pan. Sheet pan meal prep is SO EASY and is a great way to eat the rainbow. Roast up a giant mix of potatoes, sweet potatoes, beets, broccoli, cauliflower and eat will some delicious grilled protein and you've got an easy weeknight dinner. Prep it all on Sunday and you've got lunch for the week.
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