CrossFit Michiana

Is This Your Year?

Indecision

With the new year and the infamous pain in the ass, b.s. “New Year Resolutions” just around the corner (21 days away), let me give you a little insight into this little topic of indecision.

in·de·ci·sion  

NOUN:

Reluctance or an inability to make up one's mind; irresolution.

Every gym owner, fitness trainer, fitness buff, or life coach looking to make their name in this line of life changing work chomps at the bit this time of year. 

 

Why?

 

Simple because every “Sally Couch Potato” & “Joe 6 Pack” (beer that is) decides that this is finally the year they get themselves turned around.  And this is coming from experience dealing with so many people; they only believe this because they are told to believe it by the media associated with these resolution practices.

 

Indecision does not only deal with our fitness goals, but with life in general.  As I sit here at 7:00

a..m and write this I think back over the course of my life and realize how little  patience I’ve had for indecision.  It is the most frustrating when I see the absolute best in someone and they do and will not.  Because I will lay it all on the line in a heart beat for someone, especially when I see their potential, and they procrastinate or stay in a indecisive mindset. It’s literally like tearing my heart out of my chest when I see this.

So, my delima is trying to figure out how a regular shmoe like myself, coming from my background, can do a better job at bringing out the best in someone everyone.  The answer is simple, “Stop trying so hard!”  Getting out of the P.D. was so easy once I realized you can not help someone until they are ready to help themselves.  Until then you’re pissing in the wind.

 

If you are “sitting on the fence” about a decision which will make your life better, healthier and/or more enjoyable, THEN GET OFF THE FENCE AND MAKE A CHOICE!!!!  You sitting on my fence does nothing but slow myself and the athletes moving past me down.     

 

I have a good friend who owns a CrossFit Gym in Ann Arbor and every year he CLOSES enrollment in January for this very reason.  It compromises his philosophy and the dedication to his athletes by allowing a “Resoluter” to come into the gym, stay for a month and realize they were not serious and disappear back on to their couches.  It ruins the very hard work that all of us affiliates put in to developing a community in our gyms. 

With the new year comes a new website and more opportunities for everyone to excel and become the best possible you.  If you are ready then you will get the attention of 5 of the best trainers in the area and will be pushed to your breaking point. 

 

If you are not ready then you are not ready and don’t come-a-callin’!!

Crossfit Saved My Life Today - Literally

Back in the summer we had a young lady new to CrossFit Michiana email me about how she had heard about CrossFit and wanted to give it a try.  Lauren, a N.D. Law Student, came in and I can recall one of her first workouts like it just happened......

...it was a clear summer afternoon.  Blue skies, warm and no breeze.  The workout was finishing up and I was outside by the overhead door leading to the blue room.  I was ranting on to a couple poor souls about nutrition (Shelly and G if I recall correctly), when I noticed Lauren out of the corner of my eye squatting to the left of me.  The look on her face said it all, "I need help!!"

Seeing her discouraged and ready to quit look, I turned from soap box mode to coach mode and helped her get through the mental anguish from the ungodly amount of squats.  Lauren, and I apologize for saying this, literally looked like she was mentally and physically abused.  Something every CrossFitter, especially a newcomer has been through.  She made it and lived to fight another day.

Last Wednesday I received the following email from Lauren.  Originally I was going to edit this because the language gets quite colorful, however the integrity of the emotion of what just happened to her would be compromised.  Keep in mind that everything from her "incident" - to her typing this email all happened within 4 hours of her 7:30 a.m. workout.  This is truly remarkable!!

"Dear Jim and Carole,

In a previous life I was a horse trainer at an Olympic stable in California. One of my vestiges of that past is my beautiful mare, Maggie, who has an unbelievable pedigree and is extremely well-trained. She's huge (about 1300 pounds and 16'3 hands tall) and black and fabulous, and this morning she almost killed me.

After Crossfit this morning I went to the barn to check in on Maggie, and she was fine. So I decided to go for a bareback trail ride and hopped on her in my sweatpants, baggy green sweatshirt, and my Uggs.  It wasn't too cold, so I didn't put on gloves or a hat and my confidence in my riding abilities led me to not put on a helmet. (I haven't fallen off in over 3 years.)Turns out that no saddle and no helmet is not smart.

She walks around fine until we get away from the barn to the far side of a flat field. I'm not really paying attention and just enjoying the pretty white scenery. Suddenly a dog on an invisible fence comes tearing out from behind a shed, barking. (The last time a dog ran at Maggie, I ended up in the hospital with 7 stitches in my face and she had 24 in her ass where the dog bit her.) She's terrified of dogs, spins, rears, and somehow manages to literally back out from underneath my ass. I fly face first over her head into the frozen ground. Tuck chin. Land on my head, roll to my back, but my right arm, due to my baggy sweatshirt and the angle of my fall, is wrapped up in my reins. Shit. Before I can untangle it, Maggie spooks, turns and starts to run as fast as she can the mile back to the barn, me in tow. Double Shit. I can't get my arm free, but her hind feet are coming towards my abs. Pull knees to elbows. Her front feet are flying towards my face. Pull chin up to hand.Now I'm airborne, as I've pulled myself to her face and she's lifting her face to escape the pressure. Holy Shit.  I land like a waterskier and pull as hard as I can. Squat-drive through heels. I managed to rip her off-balance and she slows to a canter, but doesn't stop and my arm still isn't free from the tension. I'm gonna die. Grab the reins with my left hand and sprint like hell to keep up while trying to untangle my arm. Have you ever had to footrace a g*damn horse? After about 50 yards, Maggie manages to pull herself together and stops. My friend at the barn saw the whole episode and came running out across the field screaming "Oh my God!! Are you okay? I thought you broke your neck! Where the hell is your helmet? How the hell did you do that?"

All of this happened in about 10 seconds and I obviously didn't consciously think "tuck your chin so you don't break your neck on the fall" and "drive through your heels so you don't faceplant when she pulls you." My body just did it without any conscious thought at all. Now I truly understand the functionality of Crossfit.

My Point:

God Bless Handstand Practice!
God Bless Knees to Elbows!
God Bless Strict Pullups!
God Bless Weighted Squats!
God Bless 400m Runs!
God Bless Callouses!

God Bless the Trainers at Crossfit Michiana who kick my ass every morning so that, even when I do the stupidest shit alive, I still don't manage to kill myself!

Thank you. You saved my life this morning. I should be dead or severely injured. If this happened four months ago, I would have broken my neck on the fall, been dragged until the horse decided to stop, and stomped on numerous times in the process.

From now on, I'm wearing my damn helmet.

Lauren"

 

It has been a true honor in watching Lauren go from wanting to walk out the door after body weight squats to her now performing the workouts as prescribed.  Keep it up Lauren, someday you'll stand in a courtroom, look over at your adversary and laugh as you are now mentally and physically strong.

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Athlete Spotlight

A True Athlete

Back in April Brian came to me looking to get in shape.  He had heard about CrossFit through his wife Shelly and Giovana and decided to give it a try. One of the most amazing aspects about Brian is how he has literally transformed over the months in front of his fellow CrossFitters.  As you will read he could not do a single push up.  Now, 6 months later he completed Wednesdays push up progression (210 push ups) all in perfect military form.

When I first showed Carole Brian's email he sent to me back on the 9th of this month, we both joked at how we did not think Brian would continue just from shear frustration.  Thankfully he proved both of us wrong. 

Brian, as a friend and a fellow CrossFitter, I am very proud of what you have done and continue to do.  I would watch you struggle with your push ups in the "early days" and you would never give up.  Everyone knows how I feel about saying, "I can't", but Brian really couldn't at that time.  

Let's hear from Brian:

 

"Crossfit Michiana has re-structured my life.  I did not exercise prior to April when I first came to crossfit through Shelly and Giovanna.  Needless to say, I am hooked!  I do not miss a workout at the gym unless I am out of town.  The greatest non-physical aspect has been the discipline and time management it has put into my life.  It is amazing how I never had time to exercise, and now I will not miss a session if I can help it.

The discipline to exercise has also been noticed by my two oldest sons, 5 and 3.  They will ask if I worked out today and what exercises did I do.  For Shelly and I, it has forced us to work more closely together on our daily routine so that both of us can go to the gym, but also so that we get done what we need to get done at home.

Physically and mentally, I have never felt better!  I have seen amazing progress in 4 months.  The increase in muscle tone and strength have been incredible.  In April, I could barely do 10 pushups, Russian twists with 10 lbs., jumping pull-ups, DB snatch with 15 lbs., push press with 40 lbs.,  thrusters with 40 lbs., and the list goes on. 

Now I can do 30+ real push-ups without stopping, Russian twists with 35lbs., DB snatch with 30lbs., push press with 95lbs., thrusters with 75lbs (working on 95), and most recently Kip pull-ups (I have the badges of honor to prove it). 

Mentally, I feel absolutely better about myself because I am taking better care of myself and can see my self transforming on a monthly basis.  Nutrionally, I have not completely converted.  However, I am eating much better.  I do not skip breakfast and I eat many smaller portions throughout the day.  Fruits and vegetables are a bigger part of my diet than they have ever been.  After 6 months, I intend to get my cholesterol checked to see what impact CrossFit has had on my previous level of 240.

Crossfit has improved my self image, confidence and attitude not to mention my relationship with Shelly."

Thanks Jim,

Brian Smith

 

Now From April 9th.

 

"I told you I was going to get my Cholesterol checked after 6 months to see  if Crossfit would have an impact.  The results are in...I was at 261 in  February and it is now 184!!  The only changes that have been made are starting Crossfit and working toward a more zone oriented diet.  To think I  could have made that dramatic of an impact since April is unbelieveable.  I  was hoping for a 40-50 point reduction and blew right past that.

Just goes to show what a lot of hard work can do.  I really thought I was  headed for medication even though you would have looked at me in April and  maybe said no way.

Thanks for all the support and encouragement along the way."

Brian Smith

This is why I gave up 9.5 years in a "safe/stable" career.  This is about helping people.  People who are now or will soon be drug free and have a higher qaulity of life because they are not being sold crap!.  Keep up the great work Brian.  Many will benefit from the progress you make daily.

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You Are Beautiful

You Are Beautiful

 

Recently I was sent a link from a very good article from Again Faster entitled “You Are Beautiful”.  Just like many of the other CrossFit affiliates, we have a larger community base of women as opposed to men.  This is why sharing this article is so important to me.

 

Some of you will recognize the Angel in the picture above.  When I first seen it, I felt every emotion I could possibly feel.  Keep in mind this picture was not photo-shopped at all.  Jen sent me this picture when Gabrielle was feeling a little ill.  

 

As you can see she literally looks like an Angel in this picture.  When we named her, we wanted her name to have meaning.  Gabrielle originated from the Hebrew language and means “Hero of God”.  In this picture she surely looks like a hero of God.  And she is my precious little Angel!

 

When you read the following article, think of little Gabby and all of the other girls growing up with the pressures society will put on them.

“If I were feeling a little more lawless, I’d gather all the copies of Cosmo and Seventeen, douse them in kerosene, and strike a match.  I’d throw in reams of print ads from Calvin Klein and watch with delight as Kate Moss’ stick-thin image was reduced to carbon.  I’d add copies of Shape and Runner’s World until the flames reached toward the heavens, and then I’d crank call the editorial desk at Muscle and Fitness until they stopped publishing pictures of women on steroids.

I’d get the master tapes of America’s Next Top Model and dub over them with “Nasty Girls”, broadcasting the results on every television station in America.  I’d skywrite “CrossFit.com” across the Boston skyline, and gently admonish the hoards of long distance runners trotting along the Charles River—with a bullhorn.

I’d take every woman with mass media-induced ideals of beauty, and I’d show them what it really means to be beautiful.  

Beautiful women are strong and powerful.  They are athletes, capable of every feat under the sun.  They have muscles, borne of hard work and sweat.  They gauge their self-worth through accomplishments, not by the numbers on the bathroom scale.  They understand that muscle weighs more than fat, and they love the fact that designer jeans don’t fit over their well-developed quads.  

They know that high repetitions using light weights is a path to mediocrity, and “toning” is a complete and utter myth.  They refuse to succumb to the marketers that prey on insecurity, leaving the pre-packaged diet dinners and fat-burning pills on the shelf to pass their expiration date.

Beautiful women train with intensity.  The derive self-image from the quality of their work and their ability to excel.  They don’t wear makeup to the gym, and they wouldn’t be caught dead with a vinyl pink dumbbell.  They move iron, they do pull-ups, they jump, sprint, punch, and kick, and they use the elliptical machine—as a place to hang their jump rope.  

They spend their weekends in sport, climbing walls, winning races, and running rivers.  They laugh as they sprint circles around the unschooled, turning the image-obsessed into benchwarmers.  Beautiful women don’t care if they’re soaked in sweat and covered in dirt, if their nails are chipped or their hair out of place.  They care only about quality of life.  

Beautiful women are happy, healthy, and strong, and they’re right there beside me, tossing conventional beauty on the ever-growing flames of what used to be. 

Be beautiful.”

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Athlete Spotlight

 

 

 

Paige pictured above while only able to perform a modified push up without taking her chest all the way to the floor.

Back around June I had the pleasure of meeting Paige for the very first time.  She came in with her sister Lisa, who is the wife of the coach for Penn Rugby.  Paige walked in through the door that June morning, as she still does everyday, with a smile on her face from ear to ear.  Full of a great attitude and a desire to succeed, she came in everyday to work out with a "Never Say Quit" spirit.  With each workout she would push herself, and with a little competitive nudge from her sister, would excel in that day's workout.  

We first assessed her body fat and girth measurements back on June 27th 2008 as we do with everyone new to the gym.  She weighed in at 161 lbs. and a body fat percentage of twice of what a healthy women's percentage should be.

On October 16th 2008 we ran her through the same assessment and here is what she accomplished in 4 short months:

Started 161 lbs.

Currently 153 lbs.

Body Fat 22.7%

Lost 8 inches

Started at 56.5 lbs. of body fat and 104.5 lbs. of lean weight

Currently at 34.8 lbs. of body fat and 118.1 lbs. of lean weight

Meaning, she lost 8 pounds and dropped 22 lbs. of body fat in 4 months.  The most amazing thing about this scenario, she admittingly had not been strict with her nutrition.  Imagine where she would be if she had.  

Nonetheless, she deserves to be in the spotlight.  This is an awesome example of setting a goal and doing what you have to in order to achieve it. 

Great job Paige!!  You are an inspiration to many.  No more running box jumps, push ups on your knees and soon you will be kipping.  Keep it up.    

Nutrition Seminar at the Gym October 7th @ 7:00 p.m.

Why The Number 160 Is Significant

 

160 pounds of sugar is what the Average American consumes per year.  If you would like to get an idea on how much sugar this is, the next time you are in a grocery store, take all the 5 pound bags of sugar off the shelf and stack them on the floor.  Just tell the manager you are working on an experiment showing why America is so fat!! Chances are there will not be 32 on the shelf, but you will get a good idea of how much sugar we consume.  And if that is not bad enough, there are at least 41 different names for sugar.  This makes reading food labels an eye opening experience as well.

 

When we spike blood sugar from consuming as little as 1 teaspoon serving (4 grams of carbohydrates) of sugar, we alter the 2 main hormones essential to fat loss….insulin and glucagon.

 

The first and most common hormone manufactured by the pancreas is insulin.  It is a hormone which transports sugars from the bloodstream into muscles and into the liver.  The pancreas will manufacture insulin based on the body's need at that moment.

 

The second and much lesser known of the two is called glucagon.  The easiest way to remember the roles of each of these hormones is to look at insulin as a storage hormone.   Glucagon on the other hand is a release hormone.  Simplistically, glucagon is the hormone that allows you to release fat, and in order to burn it you first have to release it from the adipose cell (fat cell) where it's comfortably resting.

 

Any time you ingest a simple sugar (as in ice cream, pop, candy, sports drinks….) or refined carbohydrates (as in a waffle cone) you send your blood sugar trough the roof! That means for the moment you have high blood sugar which stimulates the pancreatic hormonal shift.

 

Insulin is cranked out at an elevated level, and in order to compensate for that insulin rush, glucagon production is diminished. That means, if you consume simple sugars and refined carbs, you're doing a pretty good job of locking in fat. 

 

If you're burning more calories than you take in, but limit fat release, your body is likely to begin to breakdown muscle tissue to use amino acids as an energy source. When you break down muscle, you slow metabolism. Muscle is the physical location where fat is burned, so when you contribute to muscle loss and its inevitable metabolic slowdown, you literally cripple the body's fat burning machine.

 

On October 7th at 6:30 p.m. we will be holding a nutrition seminar at the gym covering this topic as well as how to read food labels as well as everything about the Zone.  This seminar is open to everyone and is $20 to attend.  We are limiting the number of seats to make sure everyone walks out of this seminar empowered and with the most complete understanding on how to eat to supplement their workouts.

 

As you can see, below are a couple of diagrams showing what role insulin and glucagon plays in your metabolism.  Though a little steep for some, it is only geared at giving you a baisc understanding of what is going on inside your body when you eat.

 

I doubt that there is another hormone that has so many and wide-ranging actions as insulin.  It is the major actor in control of carbohydrate, lipid and protein metabolism.  These are well-discussed in all good medical biochemistry texts, and are summarized in the following figure, modified from Clinical Biochemistry, Gaw et al.  Insulin signals a state of energy abundance, and activates glucose uptake, metabolism and storage as glycogen in muscle and fat tissue.  These organs make up most of the body's mass.  At the same time, insulin restrains processes that release stored energy; lipolysis and ketogenesis, glycogenolysis, proteolysis and gluconeogenesis.   Insulin is necessary for uptake of amino acids to tissues and for protein synthesis.   Insulin is THE central actor in homeostasis; the stabilization of the internal milieu.

I have previously pointed out  that insulin and glucagon act together to balance metabolism  In general we can say that insulin favors anabolic reactions; glucagon, catabolic reactions.  Put more simply, insulin favors storing energy and production of proteins while glucagon activates release of stored energy in the form of glucose or fatty acids.  The actions of these two hormones on individual metabolic processes are summarized in the following table:

Metabolic Actions of Insulin and Glucagon
Fatty acid uptake and release  in fat.	Insulin	Stimulates synthesis of triglycerides (TG) from free fatty acids (FFA); inhibits release of FFA from TG.
	Glucagon	Stimulates release of FFA from TG.
Liver glycogen	Insulin	Increases synthesis and thereby glucose uptake and storage.
	Glucagon	Stimulates glycogenolysis and glucose release.
Liver gluconeogenesis	Insulin	Inhibits, saves amino acids.
	Glucagon	Stimulates, glucose synthesized and  released.
Glucose uptake, skeletal muscle	Insulin	Stimulates uptake, storage as glycogen and use in energy metabolism.
	Glucagon	No receptors, no effect.
Glycogen, skeletal muscle	Insulin	Stimulates synthesis.
	Glucagon	No receptors, no effect.
Amino acid uptake	Insulin	Stimulates and is necessary for protein synthesis.
	Glucagon	No receptors, no effect.
Brain (hypothalamus)	Insulin	Reduces hunger.
	Glucagon	No effect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who Does CrossFit and Where

Amanda brought in her sister-in-law a while back after she found out her brother, Dave, who lives in Arizona does CrossFit in their back yard.  I told them I would post some pictures with him wearing our shirt.  Here is the email she sent me:

Hi Jim,

"Hope these pictures forward ok.  This is my brother in Pheonix with the shirt you gave us.  He has his gym in his backyard - no roof or floor needed there - just fans!   He follows the main crossfit website WOD - on tuesday they did there max deadlifts - he texted he did 342lbs.  Not bad!  Anyway Jim, don't get any ideas about the cement ball and have a great weekend."

 

 

 

This is "Old School" fitness at its finest.  Nice job Dave.

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CrossFit Made It To Beijing

 

Gold medalist Erin Cafaro tells how CrossFit helped her gain the competitive edge.  Here's her Gold Medal Story.

The top 10 things I learned at my CrossFit Certification that I can’t wait to pass on to my fellow CrossFitters:

1.       That CrossFit is varied functional movements executed at high intensity.

2.       That power is intensity.

3.       That at CrossFit we don’t want to make you just good at something we want to make you good at everything.

4.       Your fitness is in its entirety – your whole life!

5.       Technique and intensity are one and the same.

6.       If you can do more than you did the time before than you are stronger.

7.       We focus on technique the way we do so we can increase intensity.

8.       We can push you to the point of losing technique but intensity will make you better.

9.       Experience and experiment what we can do to make you better.

10.   And my favorite, everyone has room for improvement.  There is always a way to make yourself better. 

This brings me to the reason for this post:

As I sat through my lectures at the CrossFit Certification the same word kept coming to the forefront – INTENSITY!  It didn’t matter who was giving the lecture, I listened to several different people talk about several different things and the same word kept appearing. 

So I looked up intensity: 

The state or quality of being intense; intenseness; extreme degree; as, intensity of heat, cold, mental application, passion, etc.

What would CrossFit be without intensity?  What would your workout be like if we didn’t push you to finish those last 10 reps when you are so tired you can’t see straight?  When you can’t count anymore yourself because your mind is too consumed with protecting your body?  When you truly believe you can’t go on but we manage to push you to the next level? What would you do without intensity?  Now, they also told me that technique and intensity are one and the same!  So what would your workout be like if your squat wasn’t below parallel, if your push-up wasn’t full range of motion?  What would it be like if you did crunches? Would you get the same results? 

INTENSITY AND TECHNIQUE ARE ONE AND THE SAME

So I sat and I listened and I came home and used Jim as my test dummy.  I wanted to know if I taught him proper technique on something he had never done before would he be able to do it.  I spent approximately 5-10 minutes last week teaching Jim proper technique on the muscle up.  I know that Jim did not have his muscle up and that he didn’t think he had what it took to do it.  Within minutes after teaching Jim “technique” he did his first muscle up.  So we added intensity, I knew he had more.  Watch the video clip below and see Jim get three muscle ups in a row – this all happening within minutes of learning proper technique of a particular motion. 

Now, I do want all of you to know that I do not have my muscle up- but like they said “there is always room for improvement”!  So I will leave you with my final thought:  We all have something that we want to accomplish in the gym…getting your kip, getting below parallel in your squat, getting full range of motion on your push-up.  You will never get there without adding intensity to your workout.  Always push yourself to do better than you did yesterday and the technique will fall into place and the intensity will follow- after all they go hand in hand.  Please post comments to congratulate Jim on his first three muscle ups!

Carole

A Little of Boot Camp