Cross Fit 2012 Highlights

Cross Fit games of 2012 Highlights

Additional video on what are the Cross Fit Games.

Fit-Bit

This little device is called the Fit-Bit. It is actually a great way to get healthy. One of my best friends uses it and she is in love with all of its features.

For more info Click Here and more similar devices Click Here

A summary of what a Fit-Bit does:

Get fit. Sleep better. All in the One™

THE ONE™ WIRELESS ACTIVITY & SLEEP TRACKER

If you want to turn fitness into a lifestyle, the One™ is for you. For starters, it never rests. During the day, it tracks your steps, distance, calories burned, and stairs climbed. Come nightfall, it measures your sleep cycle, helps you learn how to sleep better, and wakes you in the morning. The One™ motivates you to reach your goals by bringing greater fitness into your life – seamlessly, socially, 24 hours a day.

CrossFit Bodies

Just imagine... if these bodies were the norm. What would extraordinary be?

Pendethalon

Pendethalon

Deadlift

Hang clean or Power clean

Hang Snatch

Another Olympic Lift

Thrusters. 

Love what you do.

What If exercise was for fun again. I feel like CrossFit has become too much about how you look, and not enough about feeling healthy and strong. Why cant working out be fun. "Fit is the new skinny" but only because I would rather be healthy than flex in the mirror constantly.

http://greatist.com/fitness/21-most-incredible-themed-races

These races are exactly what I am talking about.

Moderation

I believe there are two evils of fitness. One: Not making it a priority. Two: Making it your ONLY priority.

I believe that, not only is the Paleo/ CrossFit life unhealthy for your body (physically), It is mentally not good for you. Some would argue, and I agree, that looking fit and feeling strong is the biggest confidence booster you could have. I also agree with the fact that getting through the workouts takes an extraordinary amount of mental strength to not give up. I want to make it clear that I AGREE with both of these principles, but to expand, I feel that these ideas only eradicate one evil of fitness (not valuing it). But when what you eat, how many reps you did and how big your squat-max is becomes all that you think about, is what CrossFitters/Paleo Dieters get very wrong.


In other words, when it gets to a point that all a person can think of is what they are eating... I don't believe that, that is actually living.

I know that not all people who live this lifestyle are so extreme. Some just embrace the good parts, and that is why I embrace the term "Moderation", but it is very real that some people take it much too far.

For example here are some CrossFit mottos (Sorted in my opinion into "good" and "bad"):

Inspiring:
-Being challenged is inevitable. Being defeated is optional.
-Fit is the new Skinny.
-The best way to predict the future is to create it.

(I will add more later.) And to these I say Hoorah! Personally I think fit is much more beautiful than skinny.

Questionable:
-If your workout doesn't scare you, it's not good enough.
-Live. Eat. Breath. CrossFit.
-Forging the Elite.
-Top breeders choose CrossFit.
-CrossFit is mightier than the sword.

In response to these I will reiterate a theme from Ancient Greek myth.
"Hubris breeds Tyranny."

Cross Fit games 2013

The two winners from the 2012 games were BOTH repeat champions. That is unheard of.

ANNIE THORISDOTTIR

For the women.
and

RICH FRONING

Here are there Athlete profiles.
http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/11435
http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/18588

There are five regular workouts that test the athletes (Included in profile):

(They are named)

Fran

Helen

Grace

Flight gone bad

Filthy 50

They are also judged on their 400m sprint and 5k run.

I also discovered a lot more information about the games themselves. For one, starting last year there was an "open audition" to get into the games. Basically athletes complete a series of workouts (one workout for each of the five weeks of open tryouts) and submit a video of their workout which is given a point total and the highest totals then compete in qualifying rounds. (Each workout is named, or rather numbered this year it is 13.# so week three's workout is 13.3)
The top athletes from open are devided into three regions and compete in a three-day workout to advance.
Once the athletes get through the qualifying rounds they move on to the actual games,Reebok CrossFit Games, in California at the Home Depot Center. No one is ever sure what will take place in the actual games, and their is always an element of surprise designed to test overall strength and athletic ability as well as just performing workouts. (Ex. obstacle course, triathlon etc...) As the official website of the games says, "A key element to a fair test of fitness is the unknown and unknowable. Athletes cannot train for what they do not know."


The winners are given the title of Fittest on Earth. (Proclaimed by CrossFitters.) The cross fitters say, "Make no mistake — the CrossFit Games are designed to test, not train fitness."

Meal 3. Banana Bread

Recipe borrowed from http://theshiksa.com/2012/06/13/greek-yogurt-banana-nut-bread/

INGREDIENTS

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed (1 lb.)
• 1 cup Greek yogurt (whole, 2% or nonfat)
• 1 tsp vanilla

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Dash of cloves
• Dash of nutmeg
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• Nonstick cooking oil spray

YOU WILL ALSO NEED

• Electric mixer, large mixing bowl, medium mixing bowl, small mixing bowl, spatula, 2 medium loaf pans (8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches each)

Total Time: 1 Hour 15 Minutes

Servings: 16

Kosher Key: Dairy
Bake: 44-55 min at 325. Turn once in the oven

Read more at http://theshiksa.com/2012/06/13/greek-yogurt-banana-nut-bread/#EyWz8Ghv7h8b1GCI.99 

Athletes Know

I can't tell you how aggravated I get every. single. time. I see the latest and greatest diet fads. All of these things (pills, diet plans, and other supplements) that claim they are the easy way to lose weight and keep it off.

NEWS FLASH!

There is NO easy way to lose weight and get your dream body. Athletic bodies are at the top of the fitness pyramid, and because fit is becoming the new skinny in our society I believe the general population strives to have "the athlete physic". Well...

If you want to look like an athlete, you're going to have to work like one!

To be truly fit you HAVE to hit the weight room. Here is a typical workout.

Cardio (Conditioning):

15-30 mins of cardio... (And I don't mean level 1 on the elliptical or reading while you pedal a bike.)

There should be sweat dripping off of you when you're done.

Example. 

10 sets of different ladder drills (1 foot in, 2 feet in, Speed skaters, Ali-Shuffle...Etc)

AND 5 sets of 1 minute hurdles

AND 2 rounds of 10 tempo sprints to half court or 20-meters with 10-20 sec rest time between sprints.

These exercises burn your unwanted fat and increase your energy.

Lift:

Hang clean (4 sets of 4 reps.)

Front squat  (4 sets of 4 reps.)

Front pull downs (3 sets of 8 reps.)

DB Bench press (3 sets of 8 reps.)

Calf raises (3 sets of 30 reps.)

Medicine ball slams (3 sets of 10 reps. 12-15lbs balls.)

Core:

Using the same med ball, do the following twice.

30 seconds of MB twists.

30 seconds of MB toe touches.

30 seconds leg lifts.

30 seconds butterfly kicks.

1 minute bridge with knees bent. 

Total, it should take a minimum of one hour and 30 minutes.

(I will compare this to the workouts on women's body building bible.) But here is some motivation to understand why we must work out.

How bad do you want it?

Now, I might add that this is not the kind of workout that someone with a LARGE amount of weight to lose. This is for the people with a few extra pounds that they want to get off and keep off. The Olympic Lifts (Hang clean and squat) may see a little outrageous but they are lifts that will make you stronger and therefore more toned. In other words build muscle lose fat. I believe Jillian Michaels and the Cross Fit gurus would agree with me. 

The Biggest Loser Rules

I feel like the Biggest Loser trainers have proven over and over that their methods work. I am going to start putting up my own workout plans soon, and I will talk about my experience with exercise. But until then I want to go through Bob Harpers rules. 

1. I completely agree with but often forget about. Apparently this makes you feel your fullness faster. According to the Biggest Looser program your brian does not tell you that you are full until about 5-10 min after you are actually full so that is why people over eat.

2. Like I said we DON'T think about what we drink enough.

3 & 4. ;) hate to say I told you so!

7,8 & 9. These are somethings I will research more. They are quiet interesting.

10-20. These are all things that starting this week I PERSONALLY will research by committing to following these rules as part of what I will give up for lent! Im very excited. 

Carb diets... What?

I attended a nutritional meeting that our Illinois Wesleyan University Athletic Department sponsored for all of the sports teams. Since this meeting was supposed to be geared just to the volleyball players I was VERY hopeful that I would be getting a good amount of useful information. But in reality all I learned was that our school likes to waste money on things.

The old woman was probably very knowledgeable, but her presentation was terrible and A LOT of her facts were flawed. She preached a diet plan that included CARBS, CARBS, CARBS! At first I was excited because bread and pasta are some of my favorite foods in the world, but then she said that carbs should make up 2/3 of your plate.... Thats when I knew she was bat-sh&* crazy. This simply make no sense. She brought out processed and sugary foods ( I mean Mini-wheats... really?!), and said they would be good foods for us to eat.

The only good piece of information we got was when I asked her what she thought of the Paleo Diet and like me she said she disagreed with it. She said that what we shouldn't be completely cutting whole food groups out of our diets. She said that what we should watch for is "bio-engineered" wheat. According to her, scientists found a way to make wheat ready for harvest faster, in order to meet high demands, and in doing so the wheat is shorter and more compacted when its harvest. This is the where the "gluten-free" craze came from, because many people are allergic to that.


Other interesting facts:
She also told us that anything with Nutrition Facts on the back is FDA related but that Supplement Facts are not regulated at all. I found this interesting because I had never noticed a difference before.

She also said that 40% of female athletes at IWU binge drink. (But then countered that statistic just two slides later by saying most females will have at least 4 drinks a week... that is not binge drinking by any means.) Though I have no idea where she got these statistics I still find them interesting.


My conclusion:
Carbs are important for your diet and should be a part of most meals that you eat BUT there are good carbs and bad carbs. For example fruits and veggies are carbs! And you should never eat any bread unless it is whole wheat.
Also the amount of carbs you should eat should directly correlate with how much working out you do. In season we athletes absolutely must eat more carbs but off season we should be more careful.

Stumbled upon this while researching. We don't think about this enough.

Meal 2

(The picture was taken before they went into the oven.)
Since this week I am researching bread here is my favorite snack or quick meal. True to college kid fashion this is a 10$ meal tops and it takes less than ten minutes to make.

All of the ingredients are pictured above:
English muffin (whole wheat)
pizza sauce spread
mozzarella cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 and put them in for about 8 minutes.
and....Presto!! Healthy pizza in just minutes.

The Meat-a-tarian

While I was at Subway one time I found myself behind a strange gentleman who called himself a "Meat-a-tarian"(like the opposite of a vegetarian). He would only eat meat, cheese, and bread. Never any veggies or even lettuce on his sandwich. So naturally he and I all argued about how unhealthy his life style is for about a half-hour. By the end of it I distinctly remember calling him a caveman. Only a few months later the Paleo Diet became mainstream and the main point of the diet is eating, "foods from the food groups that our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have thrived on during the Paleolithic era, or Stone Age.Learn More...". So essentially a caveman diet. And while some swear by this method and the Cross Fit workouts do seem to work, I find many problems with it. 
First, since the average age that "our ancestors" lived to was about 30-years-old, why then would eating like them give you a long healthy life? Personally I think that the logic behind this entire diet is flawed. But there is a lot of research backing the diet and so I will dissect it for bits and pieces that I think might be true. I'll start with meat.

Before freshman year volleyball season started our head coach Kim, a Paleo believer, laid out a diet for us that was a version of Paleo. She preached moderation. Limit your bread in take, don't eat anything fried and always get your meat grilled, were some of the rules we had to follow. I understood most of the rules and I did not argue of course, but there was one rule that I simply could not follow and that was no bacon! But thank god, at the start of my sophomore year her rule changed. She said that as she looked into it more, bacon can actually be the best thing to eat in the morning because the protein fuels your body for the rest of the day. 
I also talked to our trainer recently about the topic of meat. His entire job revolves around eating healthy and staying active, and when I asked him what he thought about bacon he said, "Delicious, I love it." He also had no problems with the meat and said that as long as you are an active person your body will absorb the protein as energy and burn off the fat.
Protein is also what makes you feel full after you eat, and so you wont snack or pig out later. 

So my conclusion is that meat is an essential part of our diets. I think that meat of all kinds is good for you, BUT IN MODERATION. Being a meat-a-tarian is a bad idea and I will stand by that. I agree with the Paleo method on this one but there are many things that I will always disagree with and next week I will research bread. 

Here are some other articles I looked at this week that helped me come to this conclusion. 
http://www.lifesupplemented.org/articles/healthy_diet/benefits_of_lean_meat.htm

http://www.helpguide.org/life/healthy_diet_fats.htm

January 26, 2013

Today in my very limited dorm kitchen I made lettuce wraps! I wanted to make something healthy, cheap, and filling! Along with limited resources to cook I also have a limited knowledge as to what is healthy so before I start my research into exactly what is healthy I wanted to start with a sort of base line. I will test this meal (and what I would consider a pretty average American knowledge of healthy foods) against the research that I will start. I think that this meal would pass the Paleo test but that is where I will start.


Grocery List:
Chicken tenderloins (6-8)
Thick-cut Bacon
Mixed vegetables medley (Mushrooms, sweet onions, sweet peppers, and cucumbers)
Vegetable oil
Taco Mix (Or any spice blend, I used taco and A1 chicken mix.)
Romanian lettuce hearts

How I cooked it:
First step:
Veggie Marinade: I used a simple marinade and I put it the mixed veggies into a bag with only a tiny bit of vegetable oil( I didn't measure i just guessed.) and part of the Taco Mix.
Chicken Marinade: I sliced the chicken a bit so that the mix would set in since I didn't have time to marinade over night. The I added vegetable oil and water and the A1 mix. ( Shaken up in a ziplock baggie.)
Second step:
Started the bacon first and once that was done I dumped most (But not all of the bacon grease and started the veggies in the same pan.
I used a George Forman to cook the chicken when I was about done with the bacon and the chicken was ready quick.
Last step:
All that was left to do was wash the lettuce and combine the ingredients! Yumm


I want to look into the oil and the animal fats to see if this could actually be unhealthy.