Genevieve

Three years ago, I was preparing for Regionals, pulling two-­a-­days and eating for all sorts of Gainz (carb back loading, it was awesome). I woke up thinking about training, and went to bed recapping the day of training. Life was awesome, I really didn’t have many worries besides staying healthy, working out, coaching and prepping meals…er eating Chipotle.

I was living a life perfect for maintaining my health and pursuing fitness the best way I knew how. My perspective was narrow, and because of this, I was the narrow­minded jerk. I didn’t understand why other athletes and members didn’t have time for the gym, meal prepping, or exercise generally.

Fast forward to today and I’m lucky if I get to do 3 workouts or classes in a week. My fitness is no longer measured by my Fran time, in fact I don’t really measure my fitness at all. I’m not any less in love with CrossFit, and I’m not over continuing to pursue fitness competitively, but circumstances have changed.

A year ago, I started Must B Nutty, a grain­free Mexican food company with my sister Veronica Garza. Since then, my life has been turned upside down; I now wake up at 6am daily (Wes knows this isn’t normal). I honestly don’t know how any of you parents out there have kids and maintain sanity. While I’m still trying to figure out how to make a busy life fit into maintaining my health and fitness, I’ve found these 5 things to be very helpful in making sure I can make the most out of the gym:

1. Prioritize your time​­ – I learned this from my good friend, mentor and CFA member David Kline. I now make sure and schedule a time slot in my calendar reserved for the gym. When I prioritize this and put it in my gmail calendar, it just makes it that much easier to wake up at 6am and workout with the crazies (Jillian, Dayna, “Janss” ­ wifey, Bradley, Page, LaShitz, TOW Matt, Lane, Steven, Jose and Mr. T) at 6:30.

2. Be Intentional -​­ This applies to many different things. For me it means that I have to be intentional about showing up and listening to the coaches.

3. Become a morning person -­ ​I know not all of us can be morning people. Believe me, I used to hate waking up any earlier than 8am. Now it’s become a habit and if I can get a workout in before e­mails come flooding in, life is better. I can control when my day starts, but rarely when it ends.

4. Sleep well, eat right -​­ I’m a big believer in controlling what you can. For me this means getting the best sleep possible and eating as well as I can (insert Must B Nutty shameless plug here). I can’t always plan or meal prep, but I make the best decisions I can within my control. First sleep, then eat quality foods. Not always simple, but refer back to #2 (Be Intentional).

5. HAVE FUN ­ ​Most of our lives are filled with stress, and the exercise we do adds more stress (Refer to Train Adapt Evolve for good nuggets on this). Therefore, I suggest while you’re at the gym you should work hard and HAVE FUN. You’re surrounded by a community that will lift you up on bad days and cheer you on for showing up. Make friends with the other members, and make the most out of your time. Smile always.

These 5 tips are what I’ve used to help me get into the gym more often and make the most out of my time. I’d love to hear of any tips you folks out there have on how you get it done.

Show up, work hard, have fun, and sleep well.

– Coach Miguel Garza

At the beginning of the school year I wore a cute, sleeveless dress. One of my boys (athletic little fellow that does not have a filter) came up to me with a confused look on his face. He half stated, half questioned, “Ms. Mag, you have muscles?” I laughed out loud, and simply replied, “Yes Matthew. Girls can have muscles you know.” This sparked a 10 minute conversation among my students. As I listened to their conversation about girls and muscles, it made me realize that young girls are still being raised to think that strong is something that boys are, and skinny and weak is what girls should be.

It happens when I go to HEB too. I am just minding my own business, picking out the best head of broccoli and I feel it. Someone staring. Some stop and ask, “Do you lift weights?” In my head I am screaming… Good lord people! It is ok for women to lift weights and have muscles. But, instead I tell them a little bit about CrossFit and encourage them to try it sometime. And then, as I walk away, I flex my hamstrings .

So, has our society truly embracing the whole, Strong is sexy thing?

CrossFit has fully embraced it. At my CrossFit box, I am surrounded by women of all ages, at all different levels of athleticism, deadlifting more than their body weight, doing pushups and pull ups, or flipping tires that are bigger than a small car. We have women that have never dreamed they would be doing some of the things they are doing, like ring muscle ups or handstand pushups, or competing in an Olympic lifting meet. Some of them walk in carrying a baby on one hip or with a toddler in tow. This makes me smile because I know that these kids are growing up in an environment where it is ok for women to be strong and fit. They will grow up with the mentality that it is normal for girls to throw around weights with the boys.

Women are meant to be strong and live loudly and fully.  We are meant to embrace our innate beauty and be confident in our strengths and gifts.  We are each unique.  We are each meaningful.  We are each a gift. We are each blessed with one body, one chance at making each second of this beautiful existence count.   Being healthy, both physically and mentally, allows us to live a fully present life.

Being healthy means engaging in activities that make you happy and make your heart sing.  It means moving your body with joy at what it is capable of.  It means rejoicing at being strong enough to lift your child, to carry your groceries, to protect yourself in a parking garage, to have the energy to chase the waves on the beach, to feel good in your swimsuit, to swing the tennis racket or the golf club, to avoid aging in pain and living your last years in a hospital bed.

It is impossible to ignore the connection between what pop-culture has deemed beautiful and feminine (i.e. thin and weak) and women’s reluctance to lift weight and increase their strength, thus protecting their most valuable asset: their health. It makes me think back to the conversation that my students had, and how 10 little girls realized for the first time that they could be strong.

When something like CrossFit comes along, something that promotes women being strong and healthy and alive and vibrant and capable, it needs to be commended and praised.  It should be lauded for its contribution to fighting against the obesity epidemic in the United States, for publicizing strength and muscles and physical fitness.

Let’s “all” redefine the phrase “like a girl,” to stand for something strong and powerful.

 -Stacey Magnesio

Join us on Thursday, April 23rd @ 6:30 pm as we welcome Dr. Marc Bubbs! He will be giving a free presentation on his book The Paleo Project!

Dr. Marc Bubbs is a Naturopathic Doctor and Strength & Conditioning coach based in Toronto. He specializes in Sports Medicine and is the Nutrition Lead for the Canadian Men’s National Basketball Team. Dr. Bubbs is a renowned speaker and regular contributor to Loren Cordain’s PaleoDiet.com blog, PaleoHacks.com and Paleo Magazine. His book ‘The Paleo Project’ was released this month and he is visiting several crossfit boxes across North America as part of a promotional tour, as well as speaking at this year’s Paleo FX conference.

Dr. Bubbs will be presenting an interactive talk based on his book, which will help members of all levels individualize their nutrition and achieve their performance potential. In the talk Dr. Bubbs discusses:

• How to personalize the Paleo diet to upgrade performance and accelerate recovery
• The key hormones involved in creating an anabolic environment
• Benchmarks for achieving macronutrient intake
• How dietary insufficiencies can lead to symptoms of overtraining

He also covers the most common questions asked by athletes, such as:

• Should I supplement with whey isolate, grass-fed whey, or rice protein?
• Is drinking milk a good choice?
• How do I know if I’m consuming enough calories to support recovery?
• What are the best supplements I can take to improve performance?

Time is a Valuable Thing (cont.) >>> {Part 1}

Ever heard the phrase, “Time is money” , or “A dollar saved is a dollar earned”? I’m sure you have, and if you have not…you should consider spending few more hours with the old-timers in your life. Quite often, they spew good tidbits of information, no matter how cliche. Here, we can apply these phrases within the context of protein consumption.

Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. Traditionally, this is how we divvy up the bulk of our calories throughout the day. Similarly, in regards to nutrient timing, we are going to divide nutrient intake into 3 subdivisions:
+ Energy Phase
+ Anabolic Phase
+ Growth/Recovery Phase

In each of these three phases, one phase will bleed over into another while transitioning into that next phase.

The energy phase’s main goal is supply fuel to drive muscle contraction during your workout. Having the right mix of nutrients, namely carbohydrates and amino acids, will spare your muscle glycogen and help with muscular endurance as you exercise.

The growth/recovery phase is the longest of the three phases. You can expect this phase to start about 1-2 hrs post workout and continue on until our next workout.  During this phase and with plenty of healthy calories, our muscle enzymes help increase the size of our muscle fibers and the number of contractile proteins. It is during this time that we also restore our muscle glycogen which was spent in the workout, and will be needed going back into the energy phase.

Now, I went out of order so that we could finish with the anabolic phase. This is where we can save some money! And it is so simple once you understand timing. The micro-processes that happen at the cellular might be a bit more complex, but lucky for us, what we need to know to save money isn’t difficult.

Immediately after completing a workout, our muscle cells are exceptionally sensitive to the positive effects of insulin. Without any intervention, we have a window of up to forty-five minutes before our body starts to cycle over into the next phase (growth). This intervention comes in the form of…..Protein! Yeah yeah, you’ve all heard that before. But how many times have you not had a protein shake (or chocolate milk for some of you) sitting in the fridge at the gym waiting to start your recovery party right away? All too often, I say.  I see it all the time. I see you buy your protein, or have it one day and not the next. This window continues to shrink and we  continue to miss the benefits. Studies have shown that optimal potential for anabolic activity is 15-30 minutes post exercise. Our bodies even become insulin resistant several hours after workouts. So understanding this window, you can intervene and jump-start the repair of your damaged muscle proteins and begin to replace and stock-up your muscle glycogen stores.

Now remember, my purpose here isn’t persuade you to buy this protein or that brand. My purpose is to educate and hopefully save you money if you do take supplemental protein. Get the most bang for your buck, and remember to bring that shaker with you! Don’t wait until you get home and have to cook dinner to start your recovery. With Austin traffic, your anabolic window most likely go bye-bye before you turn your oven or stove on. Also, you should think of this recovery shake as an appetizer to get you home….not as a meal replacement.

-Coach Tim