WOD CHICKS

For as long as I can recall I’ve struggled with acne.  As a pre-teen I felt like I had more pimples than anyone I knew, but then don’t we all feel that way when we are 12 or 13?!  I believed some crazy wives tale that said I would out grow my pimples.  While many people do out grow them, I was not so fortunate.  Over the years I tried all the different remedies from over the counter creams to visits with a dermatologist, prescribed oral medication and prescription strength topical cream.  I tried all the top TV advertised programs, but I still felt like a greasy bumpy pizza face!  I thought there would never be a time that I didn’t fight this battle.  However, over the last couple of years I have noticed dramatic improvements in my skin!  I attribute these changes to a couple of things.  First, the dry Southern California climate (living in the humid mid-western US for 3 years brought on some of the worst acne!) But there is another more scientifically based reason my acne has improved.  The second reason I discovered after a couple of times through a 24 Day Paleo Challenge, and starting to follow a Paleo Diet on a regular basis. I noticed that my skin would FREAK out after cheat or reward meals.  So maybe there is some link between what you put IN your face and what ends up ON your face!  Turns out, there is!

Increased Insulin + Specific Hormones = Increased Acne

Diet has been scientifically linked to improved skin clarity, tone and overall health.  You can research it on your own and find out all the technical details but here’s the skinny. A diet full of sugar, complex carbohydrates and foods with high glycemic indexes cause spikes in insulin, and insulin spikes are linked to ACNE!  Another food source linked to acne is DAIRY.  There are hormones in dairy that have also been linked to acne.

It narrows down to this:

2 food sources to avoid if you want clearer healthier skin DAIRY and SUGAR.

Just my luck, I found a diet that does just this, the Paleo Diet.

Wouldn’t you know it; the diet that is going to get you in the best shape of your life is also going to get you the best skin of your life!!

I’ve never been one to make New Year’s Resolutions, and I don’t really plan on starting this year.  However, my Pastor spoke this week about the importance of taking the time reflect on and answer 3 questions as the New Year approaches.  (1)  Where have you come from? (2) Where are you now? (3) Where are you going?  These questions can be applied to all parts of your life, personal, professional, spiritual, health and fitness. 

I’m going to use this blog as an opportunity to answer these 3 questions about my life with Crossfit.

(1) Where have you come from? – 2011 for me was the year I found Crossfit.  I had been searching for a consistent way to maintain a healthy weight and stop yo-yoing.  I learned to love the Sport of Fitness and was happy to watch CrossFit Awaken grow.

(2)  Where are you now? – 2012 has been a year of growth and commitment.  As an athlete I have grown and had at least 2 major accomplishments: doing Fran prescribed and competing in my first competition.  I have also grown in my knowledge as a Crossfitter as I completed my Level 1 Certification and started training at CFA.

(3)  Where are you going? – 2013 has so many opportunities! As it starts next week I can see that it will also be another year of growth and commitment, but it will also be a year to shape and refine.  As I get my Crossfit Kids Certification and start a kids program at CFA, I will be helping to shape the future of our sport, The Sport of Fitness.  At the same time I will be working to shape my future and refine my skills as an athlete.  2013 will be the year of The MUSCLE UP!

As you start the 2013, take some time to reflect on these 3 questions. 

May God Bless you and bring you happiness, joy and peace in the New Year.

Let’s face it, I love food.  Salty, sweet, savory, spicy…you name it I love it.  The Holiday Season is always a huge challenge to me (as it probably is to most of us).  This year I am going to try a few things differently to make sure I am able to still fit in my pants at the end of the season.

1^st – Make Sure I Have Options.

If I have the choice between a handful of pistachios or a handful of caramel popcorn from a holiday tin I’m pretty sure I will be able to make the better choice.  In past years I have not consciously stocked my house with good choices.  So this year I will be checking to make sure my fridge has plenty of celery and almond butter so I can resist the chocolate dipped pretzels.

2^nd – Maintain Not Gain

It is not realistic to try to lose weight during the Holiday Season, so this year I am going to simply try to maintain.  Every day that I have a cheat I will make sure I am either getting into the box, or doing something active on my own.

3^rd – Little to No Guilt

When I slip up and have 3 or 4 cookies instead of 1, I am not going to beat myself up.  When I get down on myself for eating poorly I often fall into a bad cycle of eating even worse.  I think to myself “Well, you’ve already had 4 cookies your whole day is shot! Why not have 12 more cookies!!!”  This year I am going to take it a little easier on myself and allow for a little mess ups.

4^th – Find an Accountability Partner

Getting in to the box is a MUST! 4 days a week for sure during the Holidays.  So I’m going to find someone to hold me accountable for those 4 days and someone I can hold accountable as well.

5^th – Start Fresh Every Day

Along with the idea of No Guilt, I am not going to let my mistakes from a previous day transfer over to the next day.  Each new day is a chance to make good choices!

I don’t plan on ending my love affair with food anytime soon. However, I do plan to take control and wear the pants in the relationship.  I am not going to let food determine what size pants I wear, I am going to decide that!!

I posted the following controversial picture on my page a few weeks ago and got a little flack for it. The comments that followed the posting on CrossFit’s page were crazy. Some people loving it, some people hating it. I actually had a whole prego rant typed up about people giving prego girls a hard time for working out. But instead, not trying to offend anyone I deleted it. So even better I found this follow up article from CrossFit about the picture. Knowledge is power people!! – Danielle

When a picture of Rachel Steadman swinging a 36-lb. kettlebell at seven months pregnant appeared on CrossFit.com, it attracted hundreds of comments — both positive and negative.

Steadman — co-owner of CrossFit 3D in Manchester, England, with husband, Karl — posed for the photograph when she was expecting her second child. Freddie was born in September.

“I wanted an image to remember this special time in my life and to celebrate the joy of being pregnant and healthy,” she says.

The photographer also took a shot of Steadman holding her 2-year-old daughter, Ellie, aloft.

“This is my favorite photograph. It was so wonderful to be able to pick up Ellie so easily at that stage of my pregnancy, and it is a testament to how fit and healthy CrossFit keeps me,” she says. “Ellie probably weighed about the same as the kettlebell and I haven’t received any detrimental comment(s) about that one.”

While Steadman says she understands there are mixed feelings about women training during and after pregnancy, she adds that she doesn’t believe in treating pregnant women with kid gloves.

“Every woman and every pregnancy (is) different and I would not suggest that everyone trains as much or in the same way I did,” she explains. “It depends totally on the fitness, abilities and health of the individual.”

Steadman’s picture received more than 550 comments on CrossFit.com and Facebook combined. Although some said it was beautiful and inspiring, others argued a pregnant Steadman swinging a kettlebell was detrimental to her unborn child.

“I understand that people have strong views on the pros and cons of exercising when pregnant and I accept these. However, I was quite upset and offended by the suggestion of one commenter that I should be ‘brought up on child abuse charges,’” Steadman says. “I believe that by remaining fit and healthy, I will be able to be a better mother to my children.”

Nine-Month WODs

When Steadman was expecting her first child, she and Karl were in the process of establishing their affiliate. Likewise, she was unable to train for nearly three months.

“Although unloading all the equipment and painting the place probably counted as exercise,” she adds.

When 3D opened in February 2010, Steadman was six months pregnant and able to do some scaled training right up until a week before Ellie was born.

“I found that pull-ups stretched my bump, so (I) gave those up after eight months and squats started to feel uncomfortable (at) about the same time,” she explains. “I had to stop Olympic lifting quite early due to (the) shape of (my) bump.”

After Ellie arrived, it took Steadman more than a year to get back to full training.

“I was breastfeeding Ellie and that ruled out running and heavy met-cons for me as I was quite sore,” she says. “That, along with the sleep deprivation you experience with a baby, I felt my confidence take a real knock.”

But when Steadman stopped breastfeeding Ellie, she got back to a full training schedule, programmed by Karl, and saw her confidence and performance improve. She qualified for a U.K. competition and repeatedly recorded PRs in met-cons and strength training.

“When I found out I was pregnant with Freddie, I was probably the fittest I had ever been in life,” Steadman says.

Regular visits to her doctor confirmed this as the physician gave her the OK to continue training.

But as time went on, Steadman found some skills and exercises either more difficult or downright impossible.

“I could do strict muscle-ups before pregnancy, but during it I couldn’t manage them,” she explains. “And unassisted pull-ups and dips became harder. Scaling became necessary and for the last few weeks I stuck to band-assisted strict pull-ups, for example. I felt happy doing cleans and snatches and even overhead squats, but I stopped running and jumping quite early on.”

Her husband, she notes, made sure her technique didn’t deteriorate.

“He trusted me to make my own choices about how things felt,” Steadman says. “He knows I wouldn’t do anything that didn’t feel right.”

Still, the approach would be different with clients, she emphasizes.

“Every woman is different,” Steadman says. “We would insist that they have the approval of their doctor and recommend scaling from the outset as we would not want to open ourselves up to litigation if they have an accident or injury.”

CrossFitting during at least part of both pregnancies kept her in the best possible shape and in no way was unsafe, she stresses. Steadman points to Heather Bergeron, Annie Sakamoto and Tanya Wagner as inspiring CrossFitters who trained while pregnant.

Her advice to pregnant CrossFitters is simple.

“I tell them three things,” she says. “Don’t do anything you haven’t done before, always train within your capabilities and, in summary, if it doesn’t feel right, stop.”

Wether we want to admit it or not I know that most of the girls in the Box deal with this during a WOD with Double Unders!!( because of the rush to the bathroom before the WOD). SO here are a few tricks from our wonderful mobility wod expert Kelly Starret.

Baby Mommas, Double Unders, Bladder Control and a little bit of pee pee

Hey MWodies,

Happy new year and welcome back to the Mwod 2012.  I’ve just landed after traveling to Australia with the family and it’s time to wind this show back up!

Today’s episode is really geared towards everyone, but it is a special homage to all of those baby mommas and athletes out there that experience the dreaded pee-drops that happen during intense jumping or force production episodes.  We tend to not talk directly about the pelvic floor too much in exercise (besides always yelling sphincter to belly button before you get tight),  but if you understand how the the trunk creates stiffness at all, then you are certainly aware of how this lower muscular system creates  the floor to your diaphragm roof.  As we’ve always maintained on mobilitywod, position is king.  If you recall, poor mechanics and set ups can cause a whole host of neuromuscular shut down that we call positional inhibition.  Well, the same is true of the pelvic floor.  In the Movement and Mobility trainer course, we perform a demo that illustrates how poor spinal positioning literally forces people to breath up in their necks not effectively with their diaphragms.  Well, the lower pelvic floor diaphragm doesn’t behave any differently.  Set your spinal position first (butt sets position, abs brace position) by getting neutral, set your abs, take a big breath, and then brace into extension like it’s your job.  I suspect that traditionally, we’ve had to talk about pelvic floor dysfunction a bit more when we’ve worked with athletes that aren’t regularly handling large loads.   For example, we tend to see much more attention to the details of bracing and bracing sequencing under the high tensions developed in squatting and deadlifting.  Interestingly, we tend to see the dreaded pee leak occur most often in “lower” intensity exercises like jump roping, that require much less bracing to successfully (albeit not optimally) completed.  I’m sure that the pelvic floor masters out there would also agree that there is an additional component of duration/endurance in these tasks as well.  Besides, most coaches obsess about lifting spinal mechanics with barbells, but spontaneously go spine-awareness blind and unconscious when their athletes start jumping, running, or perform any sort of mundane conditioning.

Today’s Mwod stars one of my Australian colleagues that specializes in retraining and rebuilding the pelvic floors of athletes and non-athlets like.

As one of my friends says, practice doesn’t make perfect, practice makes permanent.  Reinforcing poor pelvic positioning and sequencing in “basic” movements will set the stage for greater loss of spinal stability and pressures  when the stakes get higher.  Load ordering matters. Position matters.  Bring some new awareness to your sphincter and see what happens to your deadlift. And Double under.

Box Jumps are a CrossFit staple and are a great way to develop the explosive power needed for heavy lifting.  For some reason, box jumps are one of our biggest mental battles.  I have found this is true more with women than with men.  What is it about a box of wood that intimidates us girls??

I wish I had a magic wand to wave over all the women I have seen struggle with box jumps, but this is one of those “practice makes perfect” kinds of things.  Here’s my advice to any woman who finds herself standing in front of a box thinking “NO WAY!”

During the WOD

• Don’t think.  As with most CF movements the more we think about it, the less we can execute.  So when you step up to the box, clear your mind of all thoughts.  Just Jump.
• Be sure you have stretched and are warm.  Tight hamstrings and quads are not going to allow you to have the range of motion you need to get on top of the box.
• Keep your feet apart and your knees out.  These are tips that your coach should point out, and they will also help with range of motion.
• Protect yourself.  If you know that the WOD is going to have box jumps, wear tall socks or long pants.  RockTape sells some Shin protectors designed specifically for Crossfitters.  Or take a page from my book and buy some regular soccer shin guards.  After busting up my shins on 4 different occasions I developed a fear of box jumps.  I bought myself a pair of soccer shin guards and was able to get back up on the box!

Before or After WOD

• Work on mobility.  Being able to comfortably get into a full depth squat is going to help you be able to properly box jump.  So take time after you WOD or at home on a rest day to stretch out those hamstrings!
• Practice, Practice, Practice! Anywhere and everywhere.  Walking into the grocery store, don’t step up on to the curb, JUMP.  Find a staircase and JUMP!  Every time you are in the box get a 12” box and JUMP.
• Set yourself a GOAL.
• Keep Trying. Never Give Up.

The thing that has been the most helpful for me has been clearing my mind.

JUST JUMP!

Ladies stop being afraid to get stronger! So many women think that by lifting heavy they will get bulky! Not the case! Check out this video of sexy looking ladies from California Strength and Conditioning doing their oly lifts. Lets get the girls in our box proud to be strong. An all girls OLy Lifting seminar will be coming to CFA soon!

This last 24 day challenge has been one of the more difficult ones for me to get through.  I don’t know if it is because of the activities going on around me, the Halloween candy everywhere, or just being a girl! 

I don’t know about you, but I think that PMS and Paleo are two things that don’t work so well together.  My body craves carbohydrates more during that time of the month than any other time.  I am also more sensitive to changes in my blood sugar.  There are times that I need sugar and I need it NOW!  When these moments hit it can be a real test of will-power to make sure I reach for Paleo friendly carbohydrates.  I thought I might share with you a few “tricks” I use to help me get through 2 of the toughest cravings I have.

• Sugar cravings – This is my biggest challenge.  I have a huge sweet-tooth.  One thing I do a lot of is smell sugary treats.  For example, I had a family BBQ last week and someone brought a package of Soft Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I buried my nose inside the package and took a big whiff!  It might sound silly, but hey it works for me!  When just smelling something isn’t enough and I feel ready to fall off the wagon, I will reach for my Progenex Protein and make a small shake.

• Alcohol – I know this may not apply to everyone, but when I am PMSing or have had a really rough day I find it hard to say NO to a glass of wine, a cold beer or a fruity cocktail.  This week in particular has been a big struggle because I have had JURY duty!  I think that could make anyone fall off the wagon!  My savior during the challenge has been Martinelli’s Sparkling Apple Cider.  100% Apple Juice = 100% Paleo.  The carbonation mixed with the sweetness is enough to get me through to another day.  I like to drink it from a wine glass so that I feel like it is a “real” drink.  This week, after a long day in the courtroom, I kicked my “Paleo Cocktail” up a notch.  I put a little fresh squeezed pomegranate juice in my Martinelli’s and served it to myself in a margarita glass.  It worked like a charm!

~Debbie

What tricks do you use to get through?? Please share in the comments! We would love to hear them.

While reading How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer, a book about the neuroscience behind decision making, I came across an interesting section about conflict within our own brain.  

The brain has different parts that deal with different things.  One part of your brain deals with the feelings of certainty while other parts deal more rationally with evidence.  These differing parts can be at odds with each other and cause us to make decisions that, when looking back on them, may not seem rational.

Often times when we are WODing or lifting we are certain that we can’t do something.  This certainty, as Lehrer points out, can actually lead our brain to a bias that can affect decisions and outcomes.

Basically, when we are certain of something our certainty acts as a sort of filter.  For example, let’s say you are getting ready to try a one rep max deadlift and you have been training and working hard toward improving this new lift.  If you approach the new lift with the certainty that you are not going to be able to lift it, the part of your brain that controls the thoughts of certainty drown out and filter out the parts of your brain that control the thoughts and evidence that you can.  You are unable to think about the fact that you have been working hard and training sufficiently to reach that new lift, because the certainty part of your brain is screaming out “You CAN’T”

As Lehrer states:

“The only way to counteract the bias for certainty is to encourage some inner dissonance.  We must force ourselves to think about the information we don’t want to think about, to pay attention to the data that disturbs our entrenched beliefs.  When we start censoring our minds, turning off those brain areas that contradict our assumptions, we end up ignoring relevant evident.” – (pg. 217, How We Decide)

So quite literally, if you say you can’t, you can’t. 

Now let’s look at this from the other side, the positive side.  If you approach the lift with the certainty that you can lift it, your brain may drown out and filter out any other parts of your brain that might try to present evidence that you can’t. 

As I think back on my own workouts I can think of one particular incident where this inner conflict occurred.  After taking a pretty nasty fall from a pull up rig, it took me about 3 weeks to get the courage to get back on the pull up bar.  If I had stood there telling myself with certainty that I CAN’T do it, I would probably have ignored all of the evidence that I would be successful.  I approached the bar, not with certainty that I could do it, but with an open mind.  Because of that I was able to focus on relevant evidence; evidence such as the fact that when I fell my hands were ripped and this time my hands were healed, and that when I fell it was after 98 pull ups and my body was tired but this time my body was rested and fresh. 

Let’s use this inner conflict for good, let’s really look at the evidence of our hard work and training and start telling ourselves with CERTAINTY that I CAN!!!

~Debbie Campbell

Strong is the new skinny

In my humble opinion, as a fitness professional who’s been in the industry for over 12 years is that for women, skinny is out and strong is in.

Ronda Rousey - Strikeforce MMA Champion

…And this isn’t just my opinion.  More and more I’ve seen our entire culture change to embrace strong women.  I think this is partly due to people becoming more educated as to why a muscular body, not a skinny body, is not only beneficial in terms of strength but also sexier.

It’s true that for some time women thought of becoming “bulky” or “muscular” as “gross” and men were turned off by it too.  But there was a reason for this.  In the 70’s and 80’s, weight-lifting women began to appear in magazines and on the bodybuilding scene…and these women took steroids.

Women on steroids scared most ladies away from weights

You’ve seen these women before.  Giant, monstrous and vainy.  Ugh…gross!  Although there is a certain beauty about a ripped chick for the simple fact that it’s an amazing sight of raw strength and power, it’s kinda like the feeling you get when looking at a female pitt bull.  You can appreciate the beauty in the massive size of the muscles, but you wouldn’t necessarily want to take one home with you!  (By the way, this is not a shot at pitbulls…I love those dogs!)

So as a reaction to seeing women on steroids, most of us looked at those ripped, vainy women and said “Yuck!  That’s nasty!” and turned our heads in disgust.

From then on most men said they NEVER wanted a “buffed” woman and most women said they never wanted to get “Bulky”.  That’s basically what I call the “Anti-Bulky” women’s movement.

ENTER THE NEW ERA – STRONG IS THE NEW SKINNY

Looking back, we can now see that there were 3 major drawbacks to women from our society taking such a hard stance on NOT gaining muscle.  The big 3 drawbacks were:

1. Women can’t get big and vainy without steroids, but because women were so afraid to get “bulky” they just stuck with cardio training which never really transforms the body like strength training can…and cardio can actually burn off muscle lowering a woman’s metabolism!

Even with seemingly thin women at closer inspection we could notice they had flabby underarms, no butt and had no muscle tone.

Personal trainers even have an industry term for this!  They call this thin, overly fat person “skinny fat” and the term is accurate in that although the person may appear skinny, their bodyfat % could be well over 30%!!

2. After women turn about 34 years old, they lose 1/2 a pound of muscle per year as they age. This is disastrous to a woman’s metabolism since each pound of muscle can burn between 20 – 50 calories per day!  It’s no wonder that women who don’t strength train have bodies that just “self destruct” after menopause!  There was no muscle base to keep the metabolism up!!

3. The last drawback was the cultural drawback of holding skinny women up on a pedestal as the “ideal look”.

Personally, I believe that ALL body types can be sexy  and the beauty always depends on the eye of the beholder, but for the most part a cultural shift happened in the 70‘s and 80‘s that gave rise to the skinny woman and it’s prevailed for at least 30 years now.

This shift arrived after the days of Marylyn Monroe when Hollywood cultivated and exploited the skinny girl look to the public.

If you want more proof, just look at a vintage Playboy magazines.  There were NO skinny women in those magazines AT ALL!!  Did they exist?  Of course!  But both men and the popular culture at that time wanted a thicker, full-bodied and volumtous woman over a skinny chick with no real curves.  Once again, all body types are beautiful, but that’s the point of view that popular culture had taken.

So now because of becoming more educated on muscle and metabolism, because of strong and sexy women taking the spotlight in Hollywood movies, and because of the popularity of things like Crossfit, Tough Mudder, Bootcamp training and the like it has been culturally acceptable…no, culturally DESIRABLE to become a women who’s muscles show.

To say it plainly, MUSCLES ON WOMEN ARE SEXY and in our time women’s muscles are here to stay.

They are not “bulky” and they do not look manly AT ALL.  On the contrary every woman now aspires to have the true, toned look of muscles that show and the confidence and strength that comes with it.  It can only be a good thing for the men and women in our culture and for the healthy self-esteem of our children as a result of this holds incredibly promising implications.

- from www.fitforlifesolutions.com