 Coach Leslie enjoying a glass of champagne on the day she got the keys to the warehouse in July 2014 True Spirit Complete Fitness10 years ago when we decided to open True Spirit CrossFit & Yoga, we wanted to get back to the true spirit of CrossFit. Back then there was an explosion of CrossFit gyms in the Gallatin Valley and we didn't agree with the predominant go hard or go home mentality. We saw people getting hurt, getting burnt out and generally just going too hard too soon.
For us, the true spirit of CrossFit is skill development and progression. This means mechanics (technique) first, consistency (practice) next, intensity (going hard) last. It also means infinite scalability and personal training in a small group setting. We love knowing exactly what you all want to achieve and scaling (sometimes up!), modifying, and tailoring each workout for you. Where you are in your body changes every day, and we get that. That's why we always say, "We'll meet you where you're at today." The CrossFit environment has changed over 10 years and so has our place in it. This year we we forced to downsize into our original space. This shift allowed us to re-evaluate what kind of CrossFit gym we want to be. We talked with our coaches, many of you and each other. We've decided that being an official CrossFit affiliate is no longer important to us. What is important to us is continuing to provide an excellent coached environment so that YOU have the best hour of your day and you achieve the fitness you deserve and desire. We have officially ended relationship with CrossFit as an affiliate. What have we become? The same thing we've always been, a small locally owned business that is committed to providing a safe, welcome and inclusive space where folks can get strong. We are a Bozeman gym filled with a community of folks who love to discover our own true spirit through training hard, playing in the mountains and having fun. Our new name, True Spirit Complete Fitness, TSCF, reflects the broader view of physical and mental fitness that we develop through our training. Coach Leslie has been programming the workouts of the day for the last 10 years and she will continue to program for the gym. She will continue to write a regular blog. From our perspective nothing changes inside the gym. The only change is our name. Please feel free to reach out to Coach Leslie or any of our amazing coaches with questions about our nominal change.
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 Sled drags are on the menu today True Spirit Complete Fitness10 years ago when we decided to open True Spirit CrossFit & Yoga, we wanted to get back to the true spirit of CrossFit. Back then there was an explosion of CrossFit gyms in the Gallatin Valley and we didn't agree with the predominant go hard or go home mentality. We saw people getting hurt, getting burnt out and generally just going too hard too soon.
For us, the true spirit of CrossFit is skill development and progression. This means mechanics (technique) first, consistency (practice) next, intensity (going hard) last. It also means infinite scalability and personal training in a small group setting. We love knowing exactly what you all want to achieve and scaling (sometimes up!), modifying, and tailoring each workout for you. Where you are in your body changes every day, and we get that. That's why we always say, "We'll meet you where you're at today." The CrossFit environment has changed over 10 years and so has our place in it. This year we we forced to downsize into our original space. This shift allowed us to re-evaluate what kind of CrossFit gym we want to be. We talked with our coaches, many of you and each other. We've decided that being an official CrossFit affiliate is no longer important to us. What is important to us s continuing to provide an excellent coached environment so that YOU have the best hour of your day and you achieve the fitness you deserve and desire. We will transition out of being a CrossFit affiliate by the end of July. What will we become? The same thing we've always been, a small locally owned business that is committed to providing a safe. welcome and inclusive space where folks can get strong. We are a Bozeman gym filled with a community of folks who love to discover our own true spirit through training hard, playing in the mountains and having fun. Our new name, True Spirit Complete Fitness, TSCF, reflects the broader view of physical and mental fitness that we develop through our training. Coach Leslie has been programming the workouts of the day for the last 10 years and she will continue to program for the gym. She will continue to write a regular blog. From our perspective nothing changes inside the gym. The only change is our name. Please feel free to reach out to Coach Leslie or any of our amazing coaches with questions about our nominal change.  Push-ups are on the menu today One of the things I love about how we train is that no matter how long you've been doing it, there's always a higher level skill towards which you can practice. You can finally hold downward facing dog for a minute? Terrific! Now it's time to lean off a box and hold yourself in a supported handstand. You can do that? Awesome, now it's time to develop your kick-up skills. You can kick up and hold against the wall? Fantastic! Now, it's time to develop your free handstand and handstand walking skills.
No matter where you are in your fitness journey, you can find new challenges once you master the basics. If you rush forward into a skill for which you have not progressed through the basics, you will certainly walk out the door frustrated and perhaps injured. I have played many sports in my life gymnastics, soccer, softball, rowing, springboard diving, and now the sport of fitness. Each sport has taught me the importance of progressions and drills for skill development. You wouldn't think a sport like rowing has drills and progressions, but it does! I learned to row in a huge barge that was super stable. My rowing coach could walk down the middle and correct our technique. Once we mastered rowing the barge then we started rowing a heavy wide shell. Once we could row in that, then we moved into a sleek and fast fiberglass shell. But, if we had tried rowing in the racing shell first we certainly would have flipped. Flipping over in the recently thawed Potomac River is not recommended! What skills do you want to develop? Where are you in your progressions to higher level movements? Share with us in the comments. 
Meg is recently 60 and fitter than most folks I know.
Why BMI is Bullshit
I started CrossFit in March 2010. The past 14 years of CrossFit have provided me with one of the most fun, challenging and rewarding athletic endeavors in which I have participated. CrossFit introduced me to obstacle course racing (I have completed 4 races), Olympic Weightlifting (I was the 2019 World Champion in my age and weight class, and the Tactical Games.
In the past 14 years my body has changed DRAMATICALLY! ​But do you know what hasn't changed in the past 13 years? My Body Mass Index. Body Mass Index is the mathematical relationship between your weight and height. You can find your BMI by going to your Weigh Ins page of your BTWB app. It's calculated for you every time we take your weight and measurements during our quarterly check-ins. The BMI is a controversial statistic and its critics argue that since it does not measure body fat it's not useful. I agree with this criticism. BMI is a diagnostic tool that insurance companies and health care providers use and it tells us NOTHING about how healthy we are. A story from NPR Life Kit describes the history of BMI: The body mass index was created by a 19th-century Belgian statistician named Adolphe Quetelet. It was built as a tool to assess weight distribution across populations and was based on his idea of "the ideal man," using a small sampling of the size and measurements of white, male Scottish and French soldiers.
If you are a Scottish or French male soldier then BMI ​might tell you something. But if you're not, it's a totally worthless measurement. It also has a link to the Nazi's. How gross is that? The BMI measurement was used by the Nazi's for their disgusting Eugenics program. You can read about that here.
So what is a better measurement to help us understand our health? Body composition measurements using tools like the BODPOD or a electronic body composition scan can give us much more detailed insight into our health. These tests will tell us our body fat percentage, and the electronic body scan can also show muscle gains over time. It can even break the data down into specific body parts such as trunk, legs and arms. As part of their How to Thrive As you Age: The Science and Secrets of Longevity, National Public Radio recently did a deep dive into the ease and efficacy of body composition scans. Body fat percentage is a better predictor of health. According to the NPR story: The American College of Sport Medicine sets fitness categories for body fat based on age and gender, but there isn’t not an agreed upon target for what’s considered ideal. Using the ACSM standards, most Americans could be classified in the “poor fitness†category, as the average body fat among adults in the U.S. is 33%. The U.S. military considers the optimal body fat for military fitness to be between 10% and 20% for young men and up to 25% for middle-aged men. Women typically have more body fat, with an ideal range from 15% to 30% for young women and up to 38% for middle-aged women.
Fortunately for us, Montana State University Nutrition Research Laboratory conducts body composition using BODPOD and electronic body scan testing to the public and MSU community for a small fee.
To learn more about these tests and how they can help you thrive as you age, listen to the short 3-min audio from NPR. |
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