- Tuesday, March 19th, 2013
- by Jesse
To build on our conversation last week where we discussed fitness at 102, we bring to you another source of inspiration. The gentleman in this video at 60 puts in more time and effort towards his fitness than most of us do/did in our 20's/30's. 700 push-ups and 10 sets of pull-ups/dips...5 days/week. We are not telling you to go out and start a regimen up like this by any means. We are sure that this gentleman started somewhere small just as each of us did when we walked into the gym for the first time. However, we would like to highlight that even at the ripe young age of 60 and with very little equipment, one can still maintain a healthy level of physical activity.
Sabrina says, "No excuses...get after it!"
- Monday, March 18th, 2013
- by Jesse
It's been 4 weeks, can you believe it ?!?!? When we started this Whole Life Challenge, everyone was probably thinking, "GEEEZ, how am I going to make it 8 weeks with such strict guidelines?" Well, WLC'ers...you're halfway there! And with that comes a new Lifestyle Category - Mindfulness. Check out this great resource. According to Professor Mark Williams (2011), Oxford University, "Mindfulness is a translation of a word that simply means awareness. It's a direct, intuitive knowing of what you are doing while you are doing it. It's knowing what's going on inside your mind and body, and what's going on in the outside world as well." This is one of the tougher lifestyle categories because it truly requires 100% of your time and thought process. We come to the gym on a weekly basis to train our bodies, but when do we ever train our minds? Now is the time to do that. There is no right or wrong way to practice mindfulness. Just ensure that whenever you are practicing, you are focusing solely on/in the present moment.
Out with the old...in with the new!
- Friday, March 15th, 2013
- by Carol
Come on in and do the 13.2 Open WOD today! Bring a friend! Our Bring-A-Friend days are this week and end on Saturday...share the love!
This Sunday, we will hike the Cascades and then head over to The Palisades for some Paleo eats! Join the event here...if you are only eating at the Palisades, please comment below so that we can get an accurate number for Shaena. Details: 10:30am carpool from CFBB, meet at the Cascades @ 11:30am in the parking lot, $3.00 cash per car, hike to waterfall and enjoy then head to The Palisades and meet up around 3:15pm for food and beverages!
From the Cascades to The Palisades:
Stay on Cascade Drive
CROSS OVER 460
LEFT at stop sign
IMMEDIATE U-turn Right on to River Road
That road will turn into Rocky Hollow & go about 2.5 miles
LEFT at stop sign (Guinea Mountain Rd)
Dead end into Restaurant
Paleo Beef Jerky: from Against All Grain
1 pound london broil steak or flank steak (ask the butcher for a very lean piece)
¼ cup coconut aminos*
¾ teaspoon all natural liquid smoke** - leave out for WLC...you don't really need it!
¾ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
¼ teaspoon garlic salt
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
dash of cayenne pepper*
- Thursday, March 14th, 2013
- by amy
Here's an article on a one-hundred-two year old man who works out regularly, and he started only three years ago! I can speak from second hand experience ~ my father has been exercising regularly for about fifteen years. He's eighty-one years old, and prior to his lung cancer diagnosis, many people walking down the street, including physicians, could not believe his age, he looked so good! I guess it's that exercise, (somewhat) healthy eating, and for my dad, a gin martini every day!!
Maybe this is a future class at CrossFit Blacksburg ...
“If I had to do only one thing for the frail older person, it would clearly be weightlifting exercises, and not any other form of exercise,” said Maria Fiatarone Singh, a professor at the University of Sydney School of Medicine, who has been studying the value of strength exercises for the elderly for the past quarter of a century.
In 1988, Singh and her colleagues put older people who were in nursing homes on an “intense” (for them) resistance program and soon doubled and tripled their strength. In 2003, another of her studies showed that a year of weightlifting after a hip fracture — one of the most debilitating injuries of the very old — reduced nursing home admissions and mortality by more than 80 percent compared with other therapies. In 2012, a program of balance exercises and strength training significantly reduced falls among older people, according to another of her studies.
I love it! Why is what we do at CrossFit Blacksburg so important? Because it improves your life, making it better. Better Than Yesterday!
CrossFit Blacksburg on the road!
- Wednesday, March 13th, 2013
- by amy
According to the National Sleep Foundation, the average adult needs seven to nine hours of sleep each night - I bet most of you don't get that much sleep.
I learned during my first semester in college that I just don't function well with little sleep. Staying up all night, cramming for that sociology exam didn't help my grade one bit! And while I wasn't doing too well in class, I was probably pretty clumsy, forgetful, and cranky.
While short term sleep deprivation doesn't have lasting effects (yeah, it stinks when the baby is up all night, we get that!), even just seven nights of six hours or less of sleep can have some serious effects, including altering genes!
Check out this article from the Huffington Post. Yes, I know it's not the Journal of the American Medical Association, however it's a quick read with some good points.
Now, go to sleep early tonight!
The Wonder Twins, sleeping whenever we can!
- Tuesday, March 12th, 2013
- by Carol
From Cassidy...
Join us this Sunday, March 17th, for a hiking/lunch outing! We are heading to the Cascades in Pembroke for a family friendly hiking event, then sitting down to eat at The Palisades in Eggleston. All are welcome, so bring the kids/parents/friends/roommates, etc. as we get out and enjoy some of the best this area has to offer.
If you want to carpool, then meet at the box at 10:30 am on Sunday. Otherwise, we will meet up as a group at 11:30 am in the Cascades parking lot. It is $3 cash to park, per car, so be prepared!
Once we complete the hike, we'll head to The Palisades in Eggleston, where you can use your Valentine's Day gift certificate and enjoy a delicious meal. They are even preparing a few special dishes just for us (and the Whole Life Challenge!). We plan to arrive at the Palisades to eat around 3:15 pm.
There is a Facebook event group already starting for this outing, so get on the Facebook page as well!
Questions? Ask Carol, Cassidy, Heather LaFon or Shaena Muldoon. Should be a great way to ring in St. Patrick's Day!
- Monday, March 11th, 2013
- by neil
As many of you know, I’ve been dealing with a knee injury for a while now. Here’s the story:
I first injured it last June doing the Junk Yard Dog warm-up – what should have been a simple jump and land. But on the landing, the instant sharp pain let me know something was not quite right.
My training since then has been very intermittent. My knee would start to feel better, almost normal, until something would set it off again. In September, warming up for the Whole Life Challenge WOD, same sharp pain showed up, this time from running. My in-house medical staff (Amy) and the PT I was seeing for my shoulder (another story!) both agreed it was a medial meniscus injury. Went to see an orthopedic Dr. who recommended letting it rest and see what happened.
About six weeks later, I reinjured it again in South Carolina running. I was able to go on an Appalachian Trail hike in early November, and get through the Holidays. But after reinjuring the knee twice at home in February, it was time to take further action.
An MRI revealed that it was indeed, in the Dr.’s words, “A big ‘ol tear!” The tear turned out to be even bigger than he thought. When he did the surgery, he ended up having to remove 50% of the medial meniscus, which is apparently a lot!
Now I am three days post-op, the swelling is going down and there has been no real pain. I’ve been limiting the range of motion, using lots of cold compression therapy, and keeping it elevated. Following orders!
Reflecting back on the whole process, I missed a lot of opportunities in my training. Whenever I was hurt, I would train little, if at all. And even when my knee started to feel better, I didn’t plan out what it is I was going to do. That lack of planning has left me where I am now – with a lot of work to do. Yes, I would still have work to do on my injured leg, but I neglected the rest of me as well. Stay tuned, and I will post occasional updates on my rehab – which means I will be working a plan.
If you find yourself with an injury, the best advice I can give you is to develop a plan for dealing with it while minimizing the loss of previous gains. Ask your coaches for help, there are a variety of options available to you to develop your plan.
Thanks for all the healing wishes, and I look forward to training with you all again soon.
- Friday, March 8th, 2013
- by Carol
Spring forward this Sunday...take care of yourselves and read up on how to counter the effects here! Getting extra sleep is vital even though our days offer more daylight...now is time that our circadian rhythms suffer...
Happy Friday and the start of the Open!...burpees and snatch, anyone?
Ingredients: From Paleomg
1 pound chorizo
0.5 pounds ground beef
½ of a whole pineapple
1 sweet potato or yam, thinly sliced
2 avocados
juice of ½ a lime
juice of ½ a lemon
pinch of cayenne pepper
salt and pepper, to taste
2-3 tablespoons of coconut oil
2 tablespoons bacon fat
- Thursday, March 7th, 2013
- by amy
I stumbled upon this article from GoKaleo the other day, and while it is only pertinent to about 50% of our population, it's still very interesting. Of course we all know that men's and women's bodies are different (duh!), but this explains on of the many reasons why. Here's a snippet:
Listen folks. Cellulite is not a ‘problem’. It is not a flaw. Cellulite is a normal function of the way women’s bodies store fat. 80-90% of women have cellulite to some degree. Lean women have cellulite, healthy women have cellulite, vegan women have cellulite, paleo women have cellulite, celebrities have cellulite, body builders have cellulite, bikini models have cellulite, women in isolated cultures who still live a hunter-gatherer lifestyle have cellulite, women with access to unlimited amounts of plastic surgery have cellulite. Most of the women reading this have cellulite. You’re not flawed. You’re normal.
It's pretty insightful - I dig the anatomical explanation. Now if we can just get the emotional/psychological aspect straightened out, we'd all be just fine!
- Wednesday, March 6th, 2013
- by amy
Title: Myfascial Madness
When: Saturday, March 23, 3:30-5:00 pm
How much: $20 for CFBBers, $30 for non-members
What it isn't: a WLC event
What it is: This workshop offers some innovative, fun, and powerful partner assisted techniques to release some of the common myofascial holding patterns that do not serve us well. Our focus will be shoulders, ribs, hips, and thighs; areas where we commonly over-recruit large muscles to achieve stability (stability normally comes from smaller muscle groups.) Consequently we become "tight", losing mobility in these areas as our fascia thickens and hardens in response.
Our fascia, or "connective tissue," acts as glue holding our bones, muscles, and organs together, supporting and protecting them yet also allowing for efficient movement. "Myofascia" refers to our muscles and fascia-contractile fibers of muscle embedded in our fascia.
Who: Chris Pohowsky is a Certified Rolfer® and has been practicing and teaching Myofascial Release techniques since 2005. He has a full time practice in Blacksburg helping clients with a wide variety of musculoskeletal issues including postural habits, range of motion challenges, repetitive stress syndrome, long term pain patterns, and recovery from injury and surgery.
I have personally known Chris for over 15 years, and he has always impressed me with his dedication to fitness and movement. He is very passionate in his quest to make people move with pain-free efficiency.
Call to action: You can reserve your spot by emailing info@crossfitblacksburg.com. Move quickly, as space is limited, and is filling up quickly. You can get more information at our Facebook event page as well.
