Why I'm not _ _ _ _ _ Fit!

When it comes to exercise, people tend to have their niche depending on what they enjoy. There's yoga, pilates, Tai Chi, Zumba, running, swimming, bodybuilding, metabolic conditioning, strongman training and infinite other types of exercise people tend to do, depending on taste. Everyone seems to navigate towards what they are best at or what seems to fit their goals, which is a good thing. If your goal is to gain weight, you probably shouldn't train like a distance runner.  And if you want to be able to swim across the Mississippi River, Arnold's workouts probably won't help you much.


I can make cases for or against almost any type of exercise. However, my thought tends to be that if you enjoy it and your body enjoys it, then by all means, do it!


Another form of training to add to this list of types of exercise is CrossFit, or as I'll call it in this article, CF.  This is a form of "metabolic conditioning" where different exercises like olympic lifts, gymnastics, strongman exercises, running, carries, and other types of exercises are all performed for time. Even though CF has been around since 1995, it has recently been gaining popularity over the past few years, going from 13 affiliated gyms in 2005 to 3,400 in 2012. With Reebok now sponsoring the CF games, a challenge of the "fittest" in the world, more people are going to be opened up to the world of Crossfit...as it is already on ESPN.


In the same way that I can argue for or against almost any type of exercise or workout, the feeling is the same with CF....only MUCH stronger.


If any of you follow my posts on Facebook, you've more than likely seen me make (atleast) one negative remark about CrossFit. Is it because I hate CF? No. In fact, if CF only made a few small changes then there'd be a possibility that I'd consider becoming an affiliate. I mean, when the CF community is growing so fast and everybody wants to do it, why not hop on the train and pretty much be guaranteed business, right?


Here's a list of reasons why I haven't joined the CF community and why there's a good chance I never will.


Reason #1 - Greg Glassman is, well, Greg Glassman - This is the reason that I will never be able to affiliate myself with CrossFit. If the latter points all changed, CF would be much better. However, this is one that will always remain. CF was founded by Greg Glassman, a man who has made more ridiculous claims than probably any politician ever has. The problem? Rarely, if ever, do any of his crazy claims about CF come true. Brian MacKenzie, the founder of CF endurance, has followed Glassman's steps in claiming CF can do more than it can. Here's a link called "CrossFit" The White Papers" that gives some detail into some of the comical claims made by these two, as well as other information regarding the ridiculousness of the CF pioneers.. And while I understand anyone can put anything online, I've spent some time looking into a lot of these points and found every one I looked at to be true.


CrossFit: The White Papers


Reason #2 - CrossFit or NotFit - One thing I love about CF that you may not see in other gyms is that the people actually work hard.  True CFers don't quit.  In CF, you have to work hard, or you'll get left behind. When everyone in the gym is going full speed and there's one who's barely working, it's noticed. This means that if you go to a CF gym, be guaranteed that you will work and you'll get your money's worth. Sadly, this can't be said of other gyms where one does one set of 10 reps on a particular exercise, then talks to their workout partner for 5 minutes about what they did last weekend before they exercise again.


A problem I have with the CF mindset is that many (and it seems to be getting better) people in the CF world think it's their way or no way. It appears that a lot of people who train the CF way are beginning to understand that the same destination can be reached by multiple paths.  However, some still think CF is the only way to get in shape.  When the founders claim they can increase your deadlift by 300 lbs and at the same time help you run a marathon, I can see why people think CF helps you get better at anything, no matter what you try. The truth is, this isn't the case.


Reason #3 - Technique, or lack thereof - The number one goal in exercise should be to avoid getting hurt. Yes, even more important than losing weight or getting bigger. If you rupture a disc or tear a ligament, you will be much slower at reaching any other goals. Although there's a risk for injury with any type of exercise, the risk of getting injured with CF exercises is much higher because of the intensity of the workouts.


As someone who loves exercise, I believe HIGHLY in good technique, or as close to perfect form as possible. Technique can literally make you or break you.


Go to a CF gym and you'll probably see bad technique...lots of it.  Is it because CF trainers don't care about technique?  I don't think so.  Is it because they don't know what good technique looks like?  Maybe, but I wouldn't go that far either.  I mean, they do learn a little about technique when they are getting certified.  I would argue that most simply don't understand the importance of good technique.  This seems to hold true for many trainers, regardless of what type of gym they're in.



The reason exercises have certain techniques is because all exercises have biomechanical advantages and disadvantages. Each muscle in the body is designed to aid in different movements, although all of them are connected together to move the body as a whole. When technique is lost in exercise or movement, other muscles take over and do jobs they weren't originally designed for. Repeat broken technique enough times and the body will eventually let you know.



CrossFit workouts are typically timed, and you perform as many reps of different exercises as possible in the allotted time. One thing to know about olympic lifting is that there's a tremendous amount of technique involved in the lifts. For instance, a snatch, which is an olympic lift, requires tremendous shoulder mobility, scapular stability, thoracic spine mobility, core stability, hip mobility, etc... If any of these qualities are lacking, the snatch will not be done properly because other parts of the body will have to compensate in order to perform the lift.


Just last week, WOD 12.2 was released and CFers had to perform as many snatches as possible in 10 minutes. This is a disaster waiting to happen. Because of the amount of sitting we do in America, most people don't have the mobility/stability to perform one snatch correctly, much less do it for 10 minutes. Here's a video comparing an olympic lifter performing a snatch and a CFer doing WOD 12.2.


I guarantee you this guy has never worried how many of these lifts he can get in a number of minutes. Instead, he's worried about mastering his technique, moving up in weight and setting world records.

A CFer doing 10 minutes of snatches (you can fast-foward to 6 minutes where he's halfway through... don't expect it to look anything like the guy in the video above...in fact, it will look more like a clean and jerk and less like a snatch as the workout progresses). I wonder why he keeps rubbing his back?

Reason #4 - Programming, or lack thereof - Previously, the abbreviation WOD was mentioned. This stands for "Workout of the Day" and it is what the CF programs are built upon. Every day, CFers get on the CF website and there is a WOD posted. This is what EVERY CrossFit gym in America is doing that day. If you're lucky, there will be a progression/regression of the workout given by your trainer based upon your skill level, but regardless, this is the workout you're doing.  My problem with this is there's no individuality.  Low back specialists do not give everyone the same exercises regardless of the injury.  Every shoulder injury gets (or should get) different rehab.  When you take your car to the mechanic, you want the mechanic to work on your car by giving you what you need, not by getting the same thing he gave the other car that just pulled out of the bay.  Why is it that every person in a CF gym does the same workout?  Without a certain program, there's no consistency.  Everything is randomly drawn up and used.  This is not always a bad thing, but when nothing is constant, nothing can be measured.


If you're a couch potato or someone who's never worked out before and you do a CF workout, you will get stronger, faster, leaner, more endurance, etc... If you run marathons and jump to CF, you will get stronger and bigger, but have less endurance. If you're a bodybuilder and switch to CF, you will get more endurance and possibly lose/gain muscle mass/strength, depending on the lifts you were doing previously. If you compete as an olympic lifter and jump to CF, you will lose your ability to be great at olympic lifting, but you'll probably get better at gymnastics. With the randomization of the WODs and lack of consistency, you will be good at everything but not great at anything. In fitness, you'll be the jack of all trades, but master of none.


So these are the reasons I don't do CrossFit. Reason #1 is why I will never support the CrossFit industry financially, no matter how cool or effective I think their workouts are. The other reasons are all able to be changed. If CrossFit simply screened all their clients before they started exercising and if safer, yet effective exercises were chosen when performed for time, then I'd think much better of it.


If your goal is to simply be fit and you don't care about being the strongest, fastest, or biggest, then CrossFit may be for you. It will definitely get you fit. Their workouts are tough and brutal. Search YouTube for CrossFit videos and you'll find loads of them that will inspire you to work hard.


Now that you see my opinions and thoughts on CrossFit, I encourage you to make your own. Not only for CrossFit, but for every type of exercise. Don't just do something because someone else told you to or because you think something looks cool. Do something because it makes you feel better about yourself and because it helps you in the rest of your time spent outside the gym. Find something that helps you and molds you into how you want to be. If that's CrossFit, then by all means, get up and go do your WOD (the right way)....NOW!

The Face of Healthy Eating

Being three weeks and three days into 2012, I am curious as to how many are still holding onto their New Year's resolutions.  People make numerous resolutions, but one of the most common seems to be making changes towards a healthier lifestyle, either through exercise, diet, or both.  January tends to be an extremely busy month for any gym and I'm sure there are more "healthy" foods are in homes this month more than any other.  Having not blogged in several months, I figured now would be a good time to post some thoughts about healthy foods in hopes to help individuals understand what healthy food looks like.

I often get the question, "Is (insert random food here) good for me?"  If only I had a dollar for every time I got asked that.  This post is an attempt to hopefully clear up some of those questions about the "health status" of foods.

Perhaps the easiest way to determine the health of food is to not think if the food is healthy or if it isn't, but rather to determine how healthy the food is.  Look at the health of foods on a spectrum and not just a "healthy food/ not healthy food".  With so many food choices, it's not all black and white.  It's actually closer to a scale of gray.  When looking at food like this, we can determine how healthy we actually want to be and which foods will fit this lifestyle.

On the healthiest end of the spectrum, I would take Michael Pollan's advice and say to "Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much".  It really is that simple.  We often try to make eating healthy much more complicated than it really is.  If you want to be the healthiest you can be, take this advice, apply it, and know that you are making the best choices possible for yourself in terms of healthy eating.  By eating this way, not certainly, but it's probable that you'll stay clear of numerous health problems, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease.  I guarantee you won't have a problem with obesity either.  Since health is often defined as the absence of disease, I would consider this the healthiest way to eat.  As Americans, where we run into problems with this is it's not always convenient.  As a society that's constantly on the run, it's hard to follow this lifestyle because it takes time to actually cook and prepare the foods and most people just don't eat at home anymore.  Now I don't suspect everyone will go clear their pantries and only go buy plants every few days and eat them, so I will try to help give some realistic suggestions on how to eat healthier.

Here are some thoughts to help you make the best possible decisions when it comes to eating:

1) Eat food.  Like I mentioned above, if you have to ask if a food is healthy, know that it's probably not the best choice.  Nobody ever asks if broccoli is healthy and no one ever asks if squash is healthy.  However, people sometimes ask if peanut butter is healthy.  Do I consider peanut butter unhealthy? No, but when comparing it to broccoli or squash, it may not be the healthiest choice.  The more natural the food is (or less processed), the better.  The healthiest foods typically won't have food labels on them.  If a food does have a label, take a look at the ingredients.  If those ingredients include a long list of unpronounceable words that sound like something that should be in your shampoo, then it's probably not healthy.  Typically, the more unpronounceable ingredients in a food, the more processed/ less natural it is. 

2) Eat vegetables.  Vegetables = plants.  We already know this is the healthiest way to eat.  The more vegetables/ less other food we can eat, the healthier we'll be.
3) Consume REAL meat.  If you've read my post about 30 days as vegetarian, you'll understand what I mean about eating real meat.  Most meat we find today in our grocery stores and supermarkets are from animals that were all filled with hormones and steroids, antibiotics, and corn, which is all unnatural to animals.  Watch Food Inc. if you want to learn more about this.  By eating real meat, what I mean is to find local meat that is preferably grass-fed and raised naturally.  This insures you're getting the best quality.  There are much greater nutrients in these animals because they graze on green grass all day instead of corn.  If we want to do our best to eat healthy, then we need to make sure the animals we are eating are healthy.

4) Avoid health claims.  If a food has to put health claims in large writing on the front of a box to prove how healthy it is, it's probably not the healthiest choice.  Also, low-fat doesn't always mean healthier option.  Often times, these can be less healthy because when the fat is taken out, it is processed with more sugar or sodium to help the flavor.

5) Eat to live.  Don't live to eat.  Understanding this is the most important part of eating healthy.  Food (especially carbs) is a fuel to give us energy.  Therefore, if all we typically do is sit at a desk all day and then come home to sit on the couch and watch our favorite tv shows, we probably don't need too much energy and should eat less (again...especially carbs).  If we are extremely active, this gives us the luxury of eating more to fuel our body.

These are just a few simple ideas to hopefully help put healthy foods into perspective.

So next time you're standing in the isle of a store debating how healthy a food is, be honest with yourself and compare it to plants or vegetables.  This could help you make smarter decisions about how you fuel your body. 

30 Days as a Vegetarian

It's 10:36 p.m. on August 16th, which means in less than an hour and a half, I will be able to eat meat again.  You see, for the last 30 days I have been living like a vegetarian.  If any of you knew how much meat I usually eat, you'd know this has been a pretty large task.

On July 17th, I was at home on the computer watching TEDtalks videos online.  I clicked on a video where a a guy by the name of Matt Cutts suggested to try something new for 30 days.  You can either take something away for 30 days or add something new, but the point is to stick to it and see what you learn in those 30 days.  If you want to watch the video, go to www.ted.com and search for Matt Cutts (there's an abundance of great videos on there so try not to get addicted like I did when I first discovered this awesome site).  I had just finished watching another video about our food system in America, agribusiness and the way it is affecting the health of us as a nation.  So after I watched the inspirational video by Matt Cutts, I decided cutting out meat was what I was going to do for the next 30 days.  So with no plan at all, the following day, I didn't eat meat and won't again for atleast another hour.

You see, I don't think consuming meat is bad at all and in no way am I a vegetarian.  We have eaten meat for thousands of years and our bodies are made to eat meat.  I just have problems the way most of us Americans eat meat, and it's extremely difficult for us to control.  If you want to know more about this, I suggest watching Food, Inc.  You can either purchase it on itunes or watch it section by section on youtube. It will definitely change the way you view food forever.  If you do watch it, you will either love me or hate me after it is over, because it is inevitable that you will learn things and your eyes will be opened. Some will wish they hadn't watched though.  Just a warning.

People have asked me throughout the last 30 days why I am not eating meat, so here it goes.

1) I love challenges.  I love to challenge myself and set short-term goals to see how long it takes me to accomplish them and if I am disciplined enough to do so.  Last summer, I tried the velocity diet.  I failed miserably.  The diet is to not eat for 28 days.  You figure out how many calories your body needs in a day, then consume all those calories from protein shakes made primarily made of casein protein and flax.  You also take fish oil and I added almond butter to them, but the point is to not eat food.  It was definitely the toughest challege I've done.  I only made it to day 7 because I lost roughly 10 lbs the first 7 days and decided I did not want to lose anymore so I quit doing it.  Those 7 days were extremely difficult and who knows, maybe one day I will give the velocity diet a try again.

2) The types of meat we eat in the year 2011 is not the same meat humans ate pre World War II.  Paul McCartney said that if slaughter houses had glass walls, then everyone would be vegetarian.  The food industry has changed drastically in the last few decades which has made a huge impact on our health.  McDonalds is the biggest purchaser of ground beef and because they want their hamburgers everywhere to taste the exact same, they change the way the beef is produced.  In the 1970's, the top 5 beef packers controlled around 25% of the market.  Today, the top 4 beef packers control over 80%.  This means the majority of the meat we eat comes from the same factories.  This is corporate farming, or agribusiness.  

In the past 30 days of me being a vegetarian, there's been two huge meat recalls.  From March 1st - August 1st, 77 people from 26 states had reported being infected with Salmonella found in ground turkey.  This turkey came from only 4 separate farms.  More recently, 60,000 lbs of ground beef here in the southeast has been recalled because of the bacteria E. coli.  When meat is produced in mass quantities, animals eat a diet that is primarily based on corn, which their stomachs have trouble digesting. Much of the animals we consume were created to eat grass, so when they eat something their stomachs can't handle, they get sick.  Just like humans.  These animals are also injected with hormones and steroids so they will grow larger, faster.  This way the farms can produce more animals, grow them, kill them, then sell them to make money.  The faster the farm sells animals, the more money they make and the more food we get to eat.  It's a win/win situation, right?

Here are just a few interesting facts about America and meat.

I) Americans alone kill 10,000,000,000 (yes, that's billion) animals a year for food.  That's a lot considering we only have a little over 300 million people in our country.  If we were to connect each of these animals, they'd go to the moon and back 5 times.

II) After energy production, livestock is the second highest contributor to atmosphere altering gases.  If you like to recycle and save the planet, maybe you should consider your food choices as well.

III) More than 1/2 the antibiotics in America are admitted to animals, not humans.  When animals are raised in the conditions they are, they are given a ridiculous amount of antibiotics to keep them from dying.

3) I wanted to try new food.  When cutting out meat, which was a major portion of my dietary intake, I had to find other stuff to eat.  I tried several new vegetables, pretty much doubled my fruit intake, and also tried tofu (I will be completely ok if I never have to eat it again). 

So those are a few reasons why I decided to not eat meat for 30 days.

Something great I find through these challenges set for time are that I break out of the box and try new things.  We often get trapped doing the same routine over and over.  When we do this, I believe there's a lot of life that is missed.  Even something so simple as cutting out meat caused me to try different foods over the past 30 days, which I may not have ever done had it not been for this challenge.

I challenge each of you to try something for 30 days.  You can either add something to your life or take something away.  Whether it be walking a mile every day, losing 5 or 10 lbs, writing a book, taking away Facebook, or simply smiling and saying "hi" to someone for 30 days.  I think you'll be surprised at what you learn and what habits you pick up along the way.

Set a goal, be strong, achieve it!

DOES YOUR BEHAVIOR MATCH YOUR GOALS?

"Look at your goals.  Look at your behavior.  Does your behavior match your goals?"  I first heard this quote while reading Never Let Go, by Dan John.  It's one that stays in the back of my mind all the time, especially if I need some motivation.  Not only can it be used in health and exercise, but it can be carried over into whatever you are doing in life.  Since this is a fitness blog and I'm not a counselor, I'll keep this post about fitness.

One of the most common fitness goals for people (especially this time of year) seems to be weight loss. In late spring and early summer (oh....and January 1st), everyone seems to blow up the Facebook/Twitter/whatever other social networking site you are a part of's news feed with statuses about their fitness goals relating to losing weight.  Then, a few months later, these people appear the same as when they started.

I've been there.

In college, I wanted to be HUGE, like the pictures of guys you see on the muscle magazines at Wal Mart.  Well.....obviously....that never happened.  Could it be partly because my genome or my lack of performance enhancers?  Possibly.  Or could it be that I didn't want it bad enough? Yea...more than likely.  In order to gain weight for a mostly ectomorphic (typically classified with long, thin bones) body type like mine, it usually takes a gross amount of calories and the right type of training....aka HARD WORK.  Did I want to be huge?  Of course.  Did I want to do the things that needed to be done in order to be huge?  Apparently not bad enough.

This failure of achieving what we want seems to happen way too often in fitness.  Could it be that our goals are too high or unrealistic? Possibly, but it's likely because the goals we desire don't match our behaviors.  Below are a few common fitness goals paired with one way to help meet them.

1) If your goal is to lose weight....learn how to close your mouth.  Of course, there could be more to it than this, but I guarantee it will benefit the majority of us.
2) If your goal is to gain muscle mass....don't spend all your time in the gym doing bench press and bicep curls. There are roughly 600-800 muscles in the human body, so why do we spend 75% of our time in the gym focusing on less than 10% of them?

3) If your goal is to be healthy....eat more fruits and vegetables.  Common sense.
4) If your goal is for your kids to be healthy....don't feed them Lucky Charms or Frosted Flakes for breakfast every morning.  Look on the ingredients list for Frosted Flakes and you'll see that sugar is the second most prominent ingredient.  If we want our kids to have a longer lifespan than us, then find another alternative.

5) If your goal is to move well into old age....move well now.  In the world of computers, television sitcoms and video games, we are often stuck in one position for too much time.  This causes tight/weak muscles, which leads to bad posture, which leads to bad movement.

Setting goals is easy.  Meeting goals takes discipline, perseverance, and persistency.

Here's a guy who had one goal and did everything he could to reach it.....

So......how bad do you REALLY want to reach your goals?

THE PURPOSE OF THE FITNESS BLOG

Well, today I am doing something that I've never done and never thought I'd do....write a blog.  It doesn't make any sense for me to blog because in order to blog, you have to possess writing skills as well as computer skills, and if any of you have ever read any of my English papers, you would know I am not a writer.  That being said, I'm also not great with computers.  However, I feel like I have a lot to say and if just one person gets something from any of my blog posts that I write, then I guess this blog has some worth.

When trying to decide what to make my first blog post about, I struggled.  I had many different thoughts in  mind that I could share, but which one was appropriate for a first post was not so easy.  Then it hit me....I need to introduce the blog.  Who's going to want to read something when they don't know what it's about? It's like driving your mom's mini-van in high school and trying to get your friends to ride with you in it..more than likely, you won't go anywhere.

The purpose of this blog is to write about topics relating to health, fitness, and nutrition (some other random posts may be thrown in from time to time as well.)  Just like with anything, I knew I needed to have some goals in mind in order for this blog to actually go anywhere.  I want to have goals for you and goals for me, so I can make the most out of everything that I write about.

Here are a short list of goals (in no particular order) that I hope to achieve through this blog.

1) SHARE - The entire reason I wanted to create this blog was to share things on my mind relating to health/fitness/nutrition.  I want to share information because the health/fitness world is growing now more than ever.  With obesity and preventable diseases increasing drastically in the past few decades, people are finally starting to think about their health, and with good reason.  So my ultimate goal is to help you, the reader, atleast be conscious of decisions you make in life that could affect the health of you and your children.

2) LEARN - In order for me to share what little bit of knowledge that I may have, I must continually learn.  With the increasing number of people who say they are concerned with their health, there is an increased number of people making a profession out of it.  This is great, because it means that the research availability is growing (although for many issues, scientists are only beginning to scratch the surface).  I hope to be able to post some new research, so that we both can learn.  Lastly, I hope to be able to learn how to write (as I'm sure many of you can already tell that I need to).

3) THINK- If there was one thing that I learned in grad school while studying exercise physiology, it was the ability to think.  My professors did a good job of not just slamming information down my throat, but teaching me to think about what I learned.  The ability to think is beyond important in the world of fitness.  I'm all for prescribed exercise and doing certain exercise programs that professionals have created.  I think that beginners, as well as "experts", should have other professional trainers train them once in awhile.  However, I believe that everyone that exercises should know atleast a small amount of exercise science.  There are so many different types of fitness programs (CrossFit, Zumba, Boot Camps, Pilates, Tai Chi, Yoga, etc....), many people get lost in the chaos.  Knowing the basics of exercise science will help you determine what type of program is right for you (as well as help you from wasting precious time).

With these basic goals in mind, I plan to blog weekly (if not more) with posts that will hopefully help you and me learn new things and also to help you THINK.

Feel free to leave a comment about topics that you want to hear about.  After all, this blog is for you!