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Hope, as defined by Wikipedia, is an optimistic attitude of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes related to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large.
I have written a few times about how hope is not a plan. Hope is what we get to feel after we've put some effort and action towards our desired outcome. Hope is what we get to feel after we've made the sacrifices, the difficult choices, after we've done the hard work. I am thinking about this today because tomorrow I compete in the Masters National Olympic Weightlifting Championships in Salt Lake City. I am thinking about the months of training I have completed to prepare me for this meet. Am I hopeful? Yes, because I have an expectation of a good outcome based upon all of the training events. According to Beyond the Whiteboard I have logged over 85 training days and 172 hours of training since November. Hope is important because it's an optimistic attitude, and our attitude can have profound impact on our desired outcome. Our optimistic attitude is created by a series of actions we've taken to put us on the path toward our desired outcome. We should be optimistic after we've made the sacrifices, the difficult choices, after we've done the hard work. We should have hope that what we want is achievable. I have worked very hard and what I want is totally achievable. I have achieved new personal records in my last training cycle and I'm very excited to attempt those PRs again on a National stage. I hope you also have a big goal towards which you are working. It is a fantastic feeling to be on the precipice of a big event being fully confident and hopeful that all of your hard work will culminate in a few moments of extraordinary effort. I hope you have fun with today's workout.
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 I have written previously about the Myth of the Perfect Human Diet. There is not one perfect human diet. There are many styles of eating and the perfect human diet is the one that makes you feel good, look good, function well and is sustainable. No matter if you're keto, paleo, vegetarian, vegan, or whatever, the common theme to all of these styles of eating is that you eat real food. Eat food that had a face or is harvested from the ground. Limit food that comes in a bottle, an or box. Focus on foods that don't have commercials:-) Or just follow these simple food rules. Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much. If you're still unsure where to start you can watch the latest #wellnesswednesday episode of Live with Laini and Leslie. Enjoy! Brian Flikkema, Why do You Do CrossFit?What was your fitness, CrossFit, or yoga "life" like before you started training with True Spirit CrossFit & Yoga.
I had no idea about CrossFit, besides only crazy people did it. My fitness journey had only just begun. For all of my life I hated sports and fitness. If I needed to go more than a block, I drove. But then life gave me a little lesson that time can't be taken for granted. So I decided I needed to start hiking everywhere I could before life would take away the option. Then I realized I couldn't get as far as I wanted to so I started running. That was all in the two years prior to joining TSCF. What brought you to True Spirit CrossFit & Yoga in the first place? For me it was an honest chance of luck. My friend Skip had been trying to get me to come for a long time. I probably never would have walked through the door except I won a free Foundations class Leslie donated to a local non-profit. It's probably the only reason I ever gave it a try, and I have never looked back What was your first impression? Has that changed? At first, I thought you were all crazy. I couldn't do a pushup or a pull-up, so I didn't think I would ever be able to keep up. I remember watching what everyone else was doing, and getting frustrated, even wanting to give up. Has it changed? Absolutely. Now I know we are all crazy! And I know now that everyone can keep up. Truly the only person you are "competing" with is yourself. Everyone else is just motivation to push past what you did before. What was the first thing fun or positive thing you experienced while training with us? There have been so many, I'm not sure I could point to one thing. The first Murph, the first time I Rx'd a workout. The motivation and training of the coaches. That first bar muscle up. Oh, and looking in the mirror or comparing before and after photos. It's subtle at first, but give it time and effort and the change can be dramatic! Are you working on any special CrossFit related skill now? The main skills I am working on are muscle ups and double unders. But for the summer my #1 goal will be running, and more running. How has your life changed since training with TSCF? It's a night and day difference. Most importantly, I'm more confident in my own body. It's helped me reduce my stress, helped me gain a healthier life balance, and has helped relax my anxiety and depression. Oh, and I sleep better too. Fitness wise there is no comparison. The fact my running speed increased by over a 2 minute mile just by adding CrossFit is a perfect example. What's your favorite True Spirit CrossFit memory? Well, my memory sucks and there are so many to sift through over the last two year. I think most recently it would be between volunteering at the Festuvus games, or one of the larger events like baseline or Murph. Those just add that little extra on top to make it extra special.  The Myth: You need to Run to Get into Shape or Improve your CardioA few Monday's ago I addressed the myth that if you want to lose weight you need to to more cardio, and more cardio for most people means a long slow run. When most people consider what they need to do "to get into shape," they mostly think about doing long slow runs. The long slow run has a tight grip on the misbelief that it is the best way to lose weight and get into shape.
Don't get me wrong, a long slow run has its place in a well round and varied fitness program. We regularly program 5 and 10k runs for the gym (Sweet Pea, Huffing for Stuffing, Run to the Pub.) It's also great for mental health. A long slow run can help you get into a mental state where you can either solve all of your problem, or completely forget about them. However, the long slow run will not, exclusively, make you lose weight or get into shape. What helps you do both of those things? You guessed it, high intensity interval training (exactly like the kind we're doing today.) High intensity interval training (HIIT) in the running world can be sprints, running up hills, running with weight (sandbags, medballs, or sleds), or surging during a longer run (running at a steady state and incorporating faster intervals at a specific time or distance into the run.) High intensity interval training taps into your anaerobic metabolic system and promotes muscular endurance as well as power. High intensity interval training can help you run longer runs faster, and can help you have energy for a kick at the finish of a long run. High intensity interval training helps you develop power and speed, both of which help you in sports such as skiing and cycling. The long slow run (or LSD) only works on ONE metabolic system, the aerobic one, whereas HIIT works your TWO anaerobic systems in addition to your aerobic one. This means you work ALL of your metabolic systems thereby getting you in shape faster. It also means you build muscle (through the anaerobic systems) which means you expend more energy thereby helping you lose weight. Muscle has a larger metabolic energy requirement than fat. The more muscle you have the more calories you burn. So the next time your well meaning friend, co-worker, or family member mentions to you that they need to get into shape so they're going to start running, you can help guide them toward a better way. Certainly running is a natural (after all, we were born to run) and inexpensive (you just need some shoes) way to get into shape and lose weight, but we can do it better by incorporating some HIIT. Good luck! |
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