@FitnessHeroics.

Just when you thought you were on top of the newest shoes from CrossFit with the Nano 5.0, Reebok came out with yet another shoe that is sure to grab your attention: The CrossFit Compete!

• Breathable and stretchable mesh upper provides lightweight fit
• MonoMesh protection inserts guard against shredding and improve bite during rope climbs
• Internal FitFrame provides stability, glove-like fit and non-slip tongue
• Antimicrobial Ortholite® sockliner fights odor and provides cushioning
• Ultra-soft, shock-absorbing foam midsole helps reduce impacts
• Metasplit flex grooves enable foot splay while full outsole groove pattern provides  gecko like-grip

The shoe has a very close resemblance to the CrossFit Nano 5.0, with the Kevlar combat cage that gives you comfort and support throughout any WOD along with the stable sole and heel wrap, these shoes might just top the Nano 5.0’s! If you are like me and just love shoes, check them out on our Rouge link on our website  http://fitnessheroics.com/memberships/ found under the Sign Me Up sign !

When you think of CrossFit you might also associate that with eating Paleo. You hear this term often with the CrossFit community. Eating like our ancestors once did and incorporating foods like meat, veggies, fruits, little starch, nuts and seeds. Along with the elimination of grains, dairy, sugar and legumes. Sure eating this way seems like it would pose a lot of benefits to your health and help you understand eating clean and closest to nature but that was 10,000 years ago and not in the modern world of agriculture. If you look back into the paleolithic era there are things that just don’t add up quite right.

If you ask someone about being Paleo they will tell you they eat a lot of meat. However, meat was not the first source of food that was available to people. Don’t forget, they couldn’t just go to the store to buy it, they had to hunt it and finding food everyday was not the norm. This is why a HUGE meat consumption is not necessary. Looking back in history, we have no known anatomical, physiological, or even genetic adaptations for intensive meat consumption. But we do have adaptations for plant consumption. Carnivores make their own vitamin C. but humans (omnivores) have to eat plants to obtain vitamin C because our digestive tract is longer than carnivores. As omnivores, we don’t even have the specialized teeth that carnivores have for shredding meat. In other words, while we can digest meat, our bodies have adapted more to a plant-based diet.

The second thing that many people overlook is avoidance of grains and legumes. This is far from how they ate because food that you can pick or learn to harvest was the main source of nutrition. Stone-grinding tools from 30,000 years ago which is a long time before the onset of agriculture, some 20,000 years ago have been found from northeastern Europe to the central Mediterranean, like a mortar and pestle used to grind up seeds and grains. These were used for eating grain based foods. Measurements from the micro-fossilized tooth plaque or dental calculus of paleolithic people show grains including barley, legumes, and tubers. In fact, archaeologists found there was an abundance of plant remains. Now if you look at Paleo, there are many foods like coconut flour brownies which I don’t think were on the menu for the Paleo era!

The foods you know currently are absolutely nothing like the wild foods of 10,000 years ago. In fact, you wouldn’t recognize those wild foods as being edible or palatable because since that time they have been altered genetically and bred to be more easily consumed, tastier, and without toxins. We have radically changed these foods through farming to suit our needs. So in other words it’s unattainable to eat like our ancestors did. Do you really know where your food is coming from ? Where did that meat in the case come from and how long ago was it hunted? Are you getting the best and freshest veggies and fruits?he size of domestic vegetables and fruits are completely different to those in the wild. Most of the vegetables as we know them didn’t even exist. Most of our fruits and vegetables we currently know are actually human inventions common like a cotton candy grape ?? It is simply impossible to even remotely eat like our ancestors in the world we live in today. Don’t be fooled by the label “gluten free” because junk is junk and it’s just reprocessed with other ingredients to make it gluten free but full of sugar, salt and additives.

So, when we look to evolutionary science we learn a great deal about the reality of the “paleo” diet, and thanks to that science there are some great take-aways we can use to improve our health.

• There is no one correct diet. There is only the right one for you that pushes your health indicators in the right direction. You won’t read that often because it doesn’t sell books and make money. From evolutionary science  diverse eating is key to health, and eating foods from different species is also important for our health. If you look at many of our processed foods on our supermarket shelves, they generally are of only three species -corn, wheat, and soy. Eat as large a variety of foods as possible to be healthy.
• Eat foods that are in season. Eating foods that are fresh, in season, and ripe means our foods have the highest nutritional value and the most health benefit.
• Eat foods with only one ingredient, and with their fiber, roughage, and skin. Even the parts of the food you can’t or don’t digest so well are important. Fiber regulates the speed of the food traveling through your body, it slows down the release of sugars, and feeds the good bacteria in your gut. Yet, most people don’t get enough in their diets.

Think about all what you are eating, the value of the nutritional content and the quality of the food! Don’t be fooled by the hype but get educated !

Did you know that your breathing is a very important part of your training? Learning how to manage your breath in exercise as well as in meditation can have a great overall impact on your body and mind.

STOP everything that you are doing and just find some time to just be quiet. You cannot reach your potential as an athlete or as a person if your mind and breath are unfit. Nothing is more important than breath, so you MUST train it just like you train your body. As you get better at keeping control over your breath, your ability to maintain focus and presence in any situation also improves. You can learn to keep control in stressful situations and learn how to maintain clarity !
Use your belly breath! This is the basic technique of breathing which is calming for your body.

1. Put your hand on your belly.
2. Push it out by drawing in a deep breath through your nostrils.
3. Exhale fully, pushing the hand in towards your spine. Get all the air out.
4. Repeat three times.
5. Do it all again, only this time, focus on physically expanding the belly, then the lower chest, then the upper chest as you breath in deeply.

Master your breathing during performance or after !

1. Breath in deep into the nose. You know the technique now…
2. You will still keep a pace, let’s say 5 seconds to start. But now you’re going to also add a 5 second pause at the end of your inhalation.
3. Hold that breath for 5 seconds. Just let the moment hang there. Still your mind and body. Be nothing for just the moment.
4. Exhale for a smooth and controlled 5 count.
5. After pushing the last bits of air from your lungs, be still once more. Again, 5 seconds of stillness and presence.

Be mindful and practice this with intention. You will fuel your body better. You will make better decisions. You will be able to maintain presence and focus, not matter how stressful the situation might be. In short, it won’t be long before you become a better, higher functioning person.

Reference:
http://daily.barbellshrugged.com/breathing-meditation-techniquewod/

For everyone in the CrossFit community you have 2 things on your mind: Rx’ing workouts and lifting heavy ! Of course there are those days that come by that your ego slaps you down a few notches because you “thought” you could handle the WOD and then boom your on your butt gasping for air ! All you want to do is be a WOD ninja workout after workout, posting your score to the whiteboard and seeing your strength, mobility and endurance on the uprise!!! BUT then there’s a few people cutting corners or going overboard with his training and risking injury  in the process. Mistakes are prevalent in every training discipline, and CrossFit is no exception. Here are some major ones to try to avoid !

Kipping WITHOUT a foundation of strict skills ! Of course kipping is faster and more efficient especially when doing the Fran WOD however if you don’t have a strict pullup you are just trying to create a movement pattern based on muscles that are not fully developed yet. By learning the kip before a strict movement you are risking injury because your muscles are not fully ready for the workload that you are trying to place on them. You should be able to do at least five strict pull-ups before doing kipping pull-ups or muscle-ups as part of a workout THEN learn how to kip !

Stop cherry picking the WOD’s ! Part of the reason CrossFit works is because its varied. With that being said, if you chose what you like, chances are your working the same movements because you like them. Sure no one likes to struggle through a workout but those are the ones that you NEED to be going to! Consistency is key and picking workouts that you like all the time and not working movements that need help is the opposite of being consistent!

Don’t just show up, you need to be there 100%! Part of the reason results are not as fast as people want them to be are because they are just showing up to class and not fully going at it 100%!! If you’re just going through the motions, you’re not really doing CrossFit. We teach you how to move better, how to get stronger and how to be a more mobile human being so that you can do things outside of the gym for a long time. You need to be ready and prepared, bottom line. Biggest thing is showing up on time, getting mobilized and ready for class.If you’re rushing the workout and rushing to leave, you’re going to get hurt. You need to be ready and prepared, bottom line, or you’re never going to be successful.

Over-training occurs in every discipline, from powerlifting to bodybuilding, as well as training for sport or endurance. But the results are pretty much all the same: decreased performance and increased injury risk. Your training is as only as good as your recovery!So how much is too much? Unfortunately, there’s no black-and-white answer to that question; what constitutes over=training varies from person to person.Very few people have a fitness level to do that, however. For some athletes, it’s perfectly appropriate to train three times a day, six days a week. You need to recognize the signs of over-training: increased muscle soreness following a workout; a general feeling of extreme fatigue during the day; mood swings and irritability; not hitting your usual marks on WODs (decreased performance); and elevated resting heart rate first thing in the morning, which is an indicator typically monitored more by more experienced athletes.

Too much competition can be a bad thing, you need to be training as well! Competition is at the very heart of CrossFit. Pushing yourself to beat a personal record on a benchmark WOD or simply wanting to “hold your own” with others training alongside you at your gym produces results that would be next to impossible to achieve in a noncompetitive environment. But when every workout is a competition in which the only goal is to do X amount of work in less time or more work in X minutes, you’re missing out on some key training adaptations. You need to be doing accessory.work. Slow down a little. focus on form, it’s the only way to improve movements in terms of flexibility, skill level and mastering proper form, especially in areas of weakness.

No rep yourself if your form is bad or you didn’t go the full range of motion! Hold yourself to a higher standard and be accountable for your workout. Sure you might have to get a lower score but in the end you are working on YOU and not for the distinction on the whiteboard.  Also, don’t be a prisoner to the whiteboard; understand its purpose, its there to track progress!!

Last but not least, scale the WOD appropriately ! When deciding whether to scale down on a particular workout, determine what an appropriate time or work output should be.Don’t just finish the workout finish it while achieving the type of response you’re supposed to get out of it.As you build strength and power output, you can work your way up. It takes maturity to take a step back, but you really need to check your ego at the door.