WOD

How many times have you walked into the gym thinking about how you are supposed to pull off the workout ? I know that sometimes I will look at a rep scheme or a weight that I is Rx’d and I think to myself: “Well that’s going to be a challenge.” It is not  a surprise that working out takes time and effort but it also takes time and dedication to learning how to develop the skills needed. There are amazing benefits of lifting weights that you need can reap just by getting over the mental thought process and embracing  the challenge  !

First off remember YOUR personal goals. Not the goal of the person next to you or how you rank on the score board, but think of what you need to do to do your very best. The goal of weight lifting is to improve performance, so set long-term goals and then break them into attainable goals that you can work on dialy. When you repeat a workout you’re comfortable with, try to improve on your last experience in some way. That can mean doing one more rep than last time, adding a bit more weight, or decreasing the rest periods between sets. All of that adds up in the end to create more results and will help you benefit from the lifting session.

Lifting makes you stronger physically AND mentally! The focus and determination needed to accomplish a really good workout not only increase your physical power, but mentally and emotionally it gives you confidence and makes you feel unstoppable. You really need to dig deep sometimes and find your inner strength to pull off some lifts. Sure it takes physical strength but you have to believe that you are able and capable of doing it. Lifting weights also keeps you young!! Not only physically looking younger, but mentally as well. Especially for women lifting is important because it helps preserve bone density while improving muscle mass, strength, and balance.

Constantly varied movements like we do in CrossFit keep the body guessing and this is great for building muscle and strength. Muscle burns more calories at rest so having MORE muscle will be the key part to a healthy metabolism at rest! You want to have lean muscle mass and in order to get that you need to keep challenging and pushing your limits and boundaries. As you get stronger, look for changes in your shape, not bodyweight.  I can’t express enough how the number on the scale might not go down much, but your body composition can change as a result of adding more muscle, and losing body fat! Losing inches is MORE important than losing weight on the scale. You should be only using a scale to measure your food not YOU!

Lifting weights benefits more than just the body; it also strengthens the mind, and that’s something everyone can get on board with. So go get yourself to the gym. Challenge your body which challenges your mind and see yourself as a powerful being with a ton of capabilities !

 

Being able to properly execute the overhead squat is a technique that takes time along with some balancing skills. When performing an overhead squat it’s important to remember that it’s about balance and not speed until you are proficient at this movement pattern. Learning how to set up for this movement is important as well as how to execute it with proper form.

First is the set up. By using the rack, you will be able to find an overhead squat max or just do multiple sets for reps without having to worry about snatching the weight overhead. You need to keep your shoulders tight in the starting position as you prepare to push press or jerk the bar into position for the overhead squat. As you dip your legs, your torso stays tight and upright throughout the motion. You want to try to avoid rounding your shoulders forward which causes everything to collapse and maintaining a tight position is very difficult.

Once the bar is in the overhead position, you now need to be aware of your elbows and the direction they are facing. Roll the elbows forward with external rotation when in the overhead position. The movement is then initiated by pushing the hips back and squatting. Remember it’s about balance and not speed. Your goal is to maintain a neutral body position by keeping the torso upright and pressing the weight into your heels. From here you must break parallel and keep your eyes on the horizon. A mistake or error some people make is looking down at the ground which then causes the body to collapse forward.

 

 

http://https://youtu.be/5mAouXJ5vBI

 

Reference

http://vids.wodnation.net/video/ctqs49tlzy6d?utm_content=buffer9ea2a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

We have all heard,” You are what you eat!” which leads me to believe that what you consume in food is critical to how your body functions and how it looks. You don’t want your food to be fast, easy and cheap because those meals will do nothing for your body and performance. There has been studies done to prove that what you put into your body directly corresponds to how you look on the outside. Adult acne can become an issue but it can be directly related to your diet. However there are some major tips that you can incorporate into your meals that can help you to avoid breakouts and help your body run more effectively !

Choose low-glycemic, unprocessed foods. The glycemic index measures how fast your blood sugar rises after eating a certain food. The more rapidly a food is converted into glucose, the more insulin is secreted into the blood. Eating lower glycemic foods will help reduce the number and severity of acne breakouts by helping hormones to stay balanced and reducing inflammation.

Add omega-3 into your diet. Especially as an athlete, you will want this healthy fat incorporated into your diet. You can take a supplement or find it in flax, chia seed, salmon, and avocado. If you are supplementing you should aim for 2000 milligrams a day. You can also add in zinc to your supplementation. By adding 15-30 milligrams of zinc daily may help reduce acne. Be careful not to take too much, as zinc can displace iron and copper from the body. Zinc also reduces inflammation and in some studies proved to be as effective as oral antibiotics.

Try to avoid a lot of dairy in your diet. Dairy products tend to cause inflammation and throw off hormone balance. Good substitutes are almond, coconut and flax milk. Choose the unsweetened varieties which have about 30 calories per 8 oz servings. Some people can tolerate small amounts of dairy or in different varieties such as cottage cheese or plain greek yogurt.

Drink enough water so that your urine is clear. Water flushes out toxins and hydrates your skin from the inside out.

Control your stress ! As hard as this might be, avoiding stressful situations can help you reduce acne. Your body reacts to the stress whether it’s physical or mental stress it responds the same as in flight or fight. If you can’t change your situation, you can always choose to change how you perceive and handle it. Positive thinking, deep breathing and getting a minimum of seven hours of sleep nightly is essential. Stress causes the adrenal glands to produce corticosteroids, which can cause acne.

By keeping these tips in mind, you will be able to see changes in your skin as well as how well your body is starting to function. You will be giving the body the essential elements it needs and you will feel better from the inside out !

Do you know what body type you have ? Did you know that your body type can help you determine what types of workouts and how to eat to improve your physical performance? It’s true that when you think of body type you can start to think of the different categories that people fall into. Being able to identify what type of category you fall under, you can then start to develop a plan to exercise and eat for that performance to enhance your personal physique !
Physique characteristics can thus be linked to metabolic differences between individuals. Once someone establishes their body type, they can then adjust nutrient intake to maximize body composition and health related goals.There are three general categories of body types (somatotypes): ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph. It is very rare that you will fit perfectly into just one category as you will have characteristics from each but you can mainly identify yourself into one.

 

Ectomorph:

Naturally thin, smaller bone structure and faster metabolism. Think of a typical endurance athlete. This body type is linked to a fast metabolic rate and a high carbohydrate tolerance. This group generally does best with more carbohydrates in the diet, along with a moderate protein and lower fat intake. A nutrient distribution for this body type might be around 55% carbs, 25% protein, and 20% fat.

 

Mesomorph

More of an athletic body and have a considerable amount of lean mass. Many explosive athletes like wrestlers and gymnasts fit this body type. Mesomorphs tend to be testosterone and growth hormone dominant. This profile leads to a predisposition for muscle gain and the maintenance of a lower body fat.  It is easy to build muscle and lose fat if needed but it also works in the opposite and you can gain weight quickly as well. Maintaining a consistent  workout plan and eating pattern is the best to maintain your results. Mesomorphs typically do best on a mixed diet, consisting of balanced carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. A macronutrient split of 40% carbohydrate, 30% protein, and 30% fat can work well.

 

Endomorph

This body type has the best of both world, a combination of muscle and fat. Understanding that this body type is strong but holds a little extra fat is important when fitting in food combinations. Endomorphs typically do best on a higher fat and protein intake with carbohydrate intake being controlled and properly timed such as after exercise. A nutrient distribution for this body type might be around 25% carbs, 35% protein, and 40% fat.  Just think higher fats and protein, lower carbs.

 

If you can identify with one of these categories you can then start to detail your meals, workouts, and lifestyle around these recommendations.  Your body is like a science project that you need to keep changing and adapting to make it more efficient and work at an optimal performance. But if you  look at the big picture for all “body types,” you’ll find that mixing it up in the gym benefits all physiques. These are just a few tips  that can really work for your body type but don’t forget that everyone can benefit from lifting with intensity, fueling your body and mixing it up during your workouts.

 

 

One word that causes the cringe face: “Smashing” as it is a term used to help break up the myfascial tissues that are tight in your muscles. The use of foam rollers, lacrosse balls, and PVC pipes are more common than ever and many athletes use these tools to take a swing at treating their own pain and dysfunction.

One thing that people need to learn about myfasical release is how to do it properly and what you are really doing. Sure taking a foam roller and finding a tight point is easy enough but do you really know what is happening when you feel that discomfort spot? Fascia is the basic term used to describe the connective tissues of the body. This tissue is an amazing creation of nature that fulfills many structural and chemical functions of mammals and is largely responsible for the huge freedom of movement possessed by human beings in particular. Collagen is the primary structure of fascia. Collagen protein is designed to primarily resist tensile stress and is the stuff of skin, tendons, and ligaments, as well as the coverings of muscle tissues and their different constituent parts.

Our collagen changes fiber density and arrangement based on structural stress, genetic make up, and tissue memory.  Fibroblasts which are the cells that make collagen actually exhibit the propensity to remember their function. In a healthy musculoskeletal system the fascia supports free movement of our muscles and bones through the huge variety of shapes that we see in sport, performance art, and life. When this tissue becomes dysfunctional it is a force to be reckoned with and can be a great cause of movement restriction and pain.

 

So if you are feeling discomfort and pain you might be feeling mal-alignment of tissue due to trauma and injury, poor motor patterns, and emotional distress.Many times dysfunctional areas of fascia are referred to as knots, ropes, gristle, adhesions, and scar tissues. If you feel any discomfort or pain you want to be aware of the following issues that might call for more attention!

Pain is often defined as unpleasant sensation accompanied by the tendency to withdraw and/or a reactive regional tension. These tensions can sometimes express themselves as trigger points. Trigger points are defined as an area of dysfunction refers sensation to another area of the body. This often happens in predictable patterns, but not always.

Inability of skin (epidermis) to slide over subcutaneous tissues. Not only can this cause a disruption of long-term chemical processes in the area, but restriction like this can contribute immensely to inefficient gross movement patterns and cause joints to move off axis and contractile tissues to work much harder to attain the ranges of motion crucial to sport. Many times this leads to inflammatory responses in tissues that are over stressed, and if left unchecked can result in excessive calcium and fat deposits.

Dense areas of tissue.These prevent full expression of range of motion and keep neighboring tissues from sliding past one another. When dysfunctional these areas are often gristly, hard, and do not move well.

Many athletes experience these issues when training. Don’t get discouraged but be aware of what your body is doing and how you can eliminate these issues by using different techniques to release the tension. Try out the following techniques and see which ones are the best to benefit your muscles in the long run !

 

Tack and stretch can be used along with the pressure wave in order to encourage broad motion to deep layers of tissue. Once we have a good sense of pressure on the tissue, we move through the range motion that is restricted and encourage new range through repetition, not force. Remember fascia is designed to transmit force so applying too much force can bypass the area you’re targeting. Don’t move so far through range that you lose your pressure on the tissue. If the restriction stops you from achieving the full movement pattern you’re working on, then stop at the point of restriction and repeat.

The VooDoo Floss band allows for athletes to tack down stiff tissues like the tack and floss but here we’re able to move through full-range movement patterns and use fewer correlates. The tack and floss technique will only allow you to bend and extend being able to perform a full range-of-motion of the corresponding movment is possible with the band. Therefore, we can practice the exact (or closer to the exact) movement we are trying improve. This way we create a strong neurological relationship while simultaneously addressing tissue motion.

 

How can you tell if doing these techniques are helping you with your mobility and getting into the affected area?

Always do a test and retest. Perform a movement prior to self-treating and then perform the exact same movement after. This we way we have a comparison to see if we are making real change. Take a picture and compare them side by side to see if there is a difference in movement patterns.

Some things to look for past appearance are:

• Pain reduction
• Feeling of ease and smoothness in motion
• Increased range of motion
• Reduced inflammation

It is important whenever we are deciding to use self myofascial release tools that we always maintain context and ask the important question why did this tissue become this way? Your body is a system of systems and there is no one cure-all answer to any problem. So, we can best support any mobility work we do by optimizing movement patterns and preventing problems from occurring in the first place. You should always be working towards healthy movement patterns that decrease the risk of injury throughout your body!

Did you ever notice when training that you favor one side over the other ?  This is a common issue that occurs a lot when you are weight training if you are not training unilaterally. In order to ensure there is proper balance among the muscle groups, adding in unilateral training can help you become stronger and equally balanced on both sides of your body. When it comes to weight training, your goal is to have both sides equally as strong as one another.

The total strength of both of your limbs used together is actually less than the sum of the strength of the individual limbs. While this seems strange studies have confirmed this phenomenon of “bilateral deficit”. Everyone has a weak and strong side. If you take notice to it when training you will see that your body works more effectively with certain exercises on certain sides. There can be as high as 25% difference in strength from one side to the other . Bilateral training allows your dominant side to compensate for your weaker side, hiding imbalances that could later cause injury.  This is why unilateral exercises allow you to train away these asymmetries.

When doing  exercises that train your body in sections, start with the weaker side. Once that side hits  fatigue, then repeat on the stronger side with the same number of reps.While you won’t be working to fatigue on the stronger side, you’ll be bringing the weaker side up to meet it, enabling you to strengthen both sides equally as you go forward.

Doing unilateral exercises are great for working into that core stability. Unilateral exercises keep you off balance, which causes you to recruit the deep stabilizing muscles of the body to engage and pull you back to center. Developing these core muscles is important for developing balance and stability, protecting your spine, and cultivating integrated, functional strength.

If you take a second to think of all the things you do that require you to work unilaterally outside of the gym you will find that you perform a lot of daily activities using one side over the other. Think of things like grocery shopping, play sports outside or even just carrying odd objects. You force that training without knowing it. Adding in training that taxes your muscle from each side as individual movement patterns can help create stability throughout your body.

When you have the chance to train, choose exercises that force you to use separate sides such as kettlebell thrusters, one arm rows or even pistols. You will learn what movements your body has been neglecting and where the missing pieces are to your training.  Train through the tough spots of lagging muscle groups and you will see how much easier it will be to accomplish lifts that require both side recruitment!