For those of you who’ve participated in the Whole Life Challenge with us before, things are going to look a bit different this time.

For starters, this challenge is 12 weeks long vs the regular 6 weeks. Hence, the name “The Journey.”

While the 7 daily habits are still in place (nutrition, sleep, exercise, mobility, hydration, reflection, and well-being) the focus is not so much on the points and trying to be perfect every day.

Rather, we are focusing on finding some regularity in our lives, connecting on a different level and supporting each other in creating and maintaining healthy habits without beating ourselves up when our days don’t go as planned.

Even the daily habits are adapting a bit based on our current situation. Our grocery shopping trips and for some, even the availability of certain things has changed so the nutrition portion of the challenge is gaining a bit of flexibility to accommodate. You’ll also see some of the well being practices tailored to suit our current lives.

While this is scheduled for 12 weeks, you have some freedom within that. You can go all in, choose to use this as a check in for yourself where you’re on for 2 and off for 2? Maybe you choose 1 of the 7 habits to put your energy into for each week and just cycle through. It’s really up to you. Registration will remain open for the first 6 weeks so you can join at any time up to that half way point.

We’re aiming to take the pressure off by also incorporating a weekly meal plan for anyone interested. We plan to alternate each week between a Nutrivore diet and a Plant Based diet so there is something for everyone!

The point is, this 12 week journey is meant to help us dial into ourselves, create some structure where we are lacking, but also allow the grace we need to make progress in a time like this. And we can’t forget about the accountability and connection that so many of us need! We hope you’ll consider joining us. We’ve run several of the 6 week cycles over the years and I take something new from it each time. We’re really excited to see how “The Journey” plays out.

Lastly, this challenge isn’t JUST for our members. We’re hosting a team, but if there’s someone else in your house hold, or even across the country that you would like to invite to join us, please do! Just use the link that connects directly to our team.

As always, feel free to reach out to me with question and we look forward to this adventure with you!

JOIN OUR TEAM

WHAT IS THE JOURNEY?

Starting on April 11, we’ll be opening up our first 12-week Journey. This will be different from our traditional Challenges. We’ll be approaching community, accountability and growth from an entirely new perspective.

A MORE RELEVANT EXPERIENCE
The conditions around us aren’t always ideal. We’ve updated some of the 7 Daily Habits to help you make the best decisions you can in a dynamic environment. No matter what is happening around us, we are always on the Journey and it’s important to stay engaged with what is important, regardless of the circumstances.

A STRONG COMMUNITY
Growing an ongoing community of people who are committed to long-term growth, supporting each other, and being prepared in body and mind for what the world places at our doorstep.

ACCOUNTABILITY
As a daily opportunity to continuously shape ourselves into the people we’re committed to being.

LONG-TERM GROWTH
The 12-week Journey allows you more time to experiment with the 7 Daily Habits and the best way to incorporate them effectively into your life.

COME AND GO
The extended timeframe gives you the flexibility to take the Journey at your own pace. A couple of days missed or to focus on one or two important things doesn’t eat up a large chunk of your time in it. Maybe you work 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off? Or focus on 1 habit for all 12 while cycling your focus on the other 6 habits through the duration. There are so many ways you can play this.

A NEW WAY OF THINKING
Rather than a “Challenge” where you aim for the best score possible or you’re “on” or “off” the wagon, the Journey invites you to take this time to connect, be committed in a new way, settle in, experiment, drill down on individual habits, learn, and grown on your own personal journey

READ MORE about this online challenge HERE

Happy Wednesday! I think everyone is on the same page with the fact that it’s tough to keep track on the days. Hopefully, everyone caught last week’s post. If not, the first point was to establish a schedule. Our days look very different now and you don’t have to have a super strict schedule, but setting up some timelines for yourself and a few healthy boundaries is always a good idea!

Another thing that’s helped me tremendously is hopping in on the live classes all the coaches are running! Not only do I get to move my body, but I get to check in with all the coaches and our community members that are logging in too. It helps to bring me into a normal cycle and keeps me sane!

Luckily for us, our eating habits haven’t changed a whole lot. Like I mentioned last week, it took us a little bit to get the hang of our “new normal” and we were not eating much because we were so busy, but we’ve really been making a better effort to sit down and eat together.

When the grocery stores were hit hard, we bought a bunch of the Force of Nature meat at the gym. Honestly, other than chicken and fish, that’s what we use anyway! We are always stocked up on sweet potatoes and the rest of it is pretty normal fair for us too so this recipe came together very quickly and easily!

I understand your access to certain things may be limited in this time, but this recipe would be great with ground beef or venison too. Use what you can get your hands on and feel free to message me with any questions about substitutions!

ELK STUFFED SWEET POTATOES

INGREDIENTS
1 lb Elk (or ground meat of your liking)
1 large shallot – sliced thin and roughly chopped
2 medium sweet potatoes – baked (I used the instant pot)
1/4 cup golden raisins
2-3 handfuls fresh baby spinach
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1 TBSP Tarragon
Crumbled goat cheese to top
Salt & Pepper to taste
Oil for cooking – I used grapeseed

DIRECTIONS

Cook your potatoes with whatever method you prefer. While they are cooking, slice and rough chop a large shallot.

Heat a skillet over medium high heat and add a dash of oil. Add the meat. Season lightly with salt and pepper and cook until browned. Drain any excess liquid from the skillet and then add the shallot, raisins, tarragon, and cinnamon and cook until the meat is cooked through and shallots are softened. In the last minute or so, add the spinach and mix in until lightly wilted and bright green. Taste and adjust seasoning to preference.

When your potatoes are finished, let them cool until you can handle them. Slice open and use a fork to gently fluff the flesh. Spoon the elk mixture into the potato and top with some crumbled goat cheese!

I served this with Brussels sprouts roasted with sliced garlic and topped with sea salt and a drizzle of honey.

All finished in about 30 minutes! Enjoy!

The world is very far from normal right now… Everyone’s lives have been completely turned upside down. Many are still going into work as essentials and risking their own health for the sake of others. Many are home without any work because their establishments were forced to shut down. Many are scrambling to figure out how to make “working from home” a viable and productive option. None of this is how we saw 2020 going and none of it is ideal, but try to remember that it’s only temporary.

No matter which category you fall into, I’m willing to bet that your normal diet/food schedule has also taken a hit. For us, we’ve been so wildly busy trying to take our business online that we’ve hardly been taking in enough calories to support the long days we’re working. With the restaurants unable to do business, some of you who rely on going out to lunch on your break may be struggling to find a new normal, and I’ve heard from MANY who are home all day, whether or not they are working from home, are finding themselves binging more than just Netflix.

So, how many times throughout your day have you found yourself at the fridge or the pantry? Eating can very quickly become a way to cope with boredom or anxiety. Without structure, that habit can take hold and hang with you even once your days go back to normal.

I was going to post a recipe today, but I decided to save it and just talk about some things that can help you stay on track during this time. I understand that your grocery shopping probably looks a little different too with all the folks stock piling. It’s difficult to get some things right now, so just do the best you can and be kind to yourself about it.

Establish a schedule

This is important for all of us. If you’re still going in or working from home, you’re likely working longer days, but it’s so important that you line our time for yourself to sit down and eat. Read that again. Sit. Down. And. Eat. Not only are you doing what your body needs to make it through the day, but by scheduling time for your meals you’ll give yourself a little break from the madness to breathe and rest. Even if it’s quick, don’t stand or walk and eat. Sit down, have your meal, and allow yourself a moment to collect.

If you’re one of those hanging out in front of the refrigerator (or pantry), you need a schedule too. You probably need a schedule even more so because now you’re just looking for things to fill your time. Take this even further and try to create a “new normal” schedule for yourself each day. Set your alarm and get up at the same time. Set your meals. Schedule time to go outside and walk or exercise. Schedule time to veg out a bit (but don’t go overboard). Plan time for reading or finally learning how to do that thing you’ve always wanted to learn. Schedule time for chores… whatever it is!

For all of you though, set a time for each meal and stick to it as closely as possible.

Continue to Plan/Prep – or – Start Planning/Prepping!

If you are used to doing a weekend meal prep and having meals available throughout the week, don’t stop that now! You can probably minimize it a bit if you do find yourself with more time to cook throughout the week, but don’t stop entirely. Having a plan of what you’ll be eating throughout the week sets you up to stay on track!

For those of you working really long days, having something that you can just pop in the microwave or take out and eat will take a lot of pressure off of you. Yes, it’s a bit of a time commitment on the weekend, but then you’re set for when your scheduled meal times come up 🙂

When I prep for myself and Tim, I’ll choose 2-3 recipes that I’m going to make for alternating lunches and then I plan to make fresh dinners that will provide left overs a few times a week. Breakfast, I usually keep pretty simple and we’ll have 1 or 2 alternating options. Point is, I choose the majority of what we will eat before I go to the grocery store. This keeps me from spending time during the week trying to figure out what to make for dinner AND it keeps me from just picking at stuff in the fridge. Plan it, prep it!

If you’re interested in learning more about my meal planning/prepping just shoot me a message 🙂

Keep Track

This is useful for my busy bees and my bored bears… And, there are several things you can track during this time. If you’re really trying to be in depth and track things like macros and calories there are plenty of resources out there. MyFitnessPal is an app I’d recommend for anyone.

You can track WHAT you’re eating. Again, this can be done in MyFitnessPal or just in a notebook. Try to make notes for yourself with quantities. They don’t have to be exact, but you can use things like “a palm sized piece of chicken breast” and that will help you see how much you’re eating. Take a look at the end of the day and see what it looks like. Did you eat enough? Did you eat too much? Did you get enough veggies in? Find some balance by looking at what your intake is.

Another thing that will help you be more mindful about how many trips you’re taking to the fridge is to have a notebook or whiteboard or something beside it and put a tally mark on it EVERY time you go! What does that look like at the end of the day? If you have double digits on that tally, you need to slow your roll! Take a moment while you’re making that tally mark to reflect on why you’re there and make a decision. Are you there for one of your scheduled meals? Are you peering into the pantry and contemplating life while you eat another spoonful of peanut butter? While you’re there, go ahead and just grab a drink of water because most of us don’t get enough of that in anyway!

In fact, when in doubt, stop and drink some water. That’s pretty good advice for all of us in any situation.

If you need some guidance during this time, shoot me or your CFL a note and let’s talk about food!

Stay safe, y’all and take care of yourselves!

-G

To Our CrossFit Austin Family,

Well, we got the word… unfortunately we are unable to offer services within our facility at this time, however, we are not out of options!

We have been working around the clock the last few days to transition to an online platform until we are able to reopen the doors!

Now is not the time to stop doing the things that have kept you healthy and active so join us on this journey and we promise we’ll keep things fun and engaging!

Don’t forget about our pillars! CFA || Community * Fitness * ADVENTURE

For today –
We will not be running open gym or evening class times.

We will be at the gym until 6:30 pm this evening as we clean and prepare for this TEMPORARY transition.

Please come by, say hello, and gather anything you have left at the gym. Depending on the circumstances, we will try to offer one more option to do this again later in the week.

We are allowing current members to check out either a dumbbell or a kettlebell to use at home until we are able to return to normal operations. If you are interested in checking out a piece of equipment, come on up! If you want to shoot us a message prior to making the trip to see if we have what you want available, please feel free to respond to this email or shoot Gen a message and we’ll let you know what’s available.

We have protein and Force of Nature in stock still if you don’t want to brave the store 😉 We also have Puori Vitamin D if you are concerned that you might not be able to get out in the sunshine!

For tonight –

If you were planning to come to class tonight, Coach Aaron put together a DB version of this workout at home which can also be done with a single kettlebell if you have one!

CLICK HERE

If you don’t have dumbbells or kettlebells, here is another version that requires nada!

A – Spend 10:00 practicing hand balancing – Frog stands, handstands, shoulder taps, handstand walks, etc..

B – In 8:00 Minutes – 2 min jump rope or jumping jacks, then AMRAP in the remaining time –

12 push ups with shoulder taps
12 air squats
24 sit ups

1:00 rest, then repeat 8 min cycle again!

For tomorrow –
We will put out programming for a home workout so you guys can still move your bodies if you so choose, but we will be taking the day to settle in, collect our thoughts, and organize the next step of our transition to online coaching! We may not have a very speedy response if you message us tomorrow, but rest assured we will return messages ASAP.

For the future –
First of all, remember that this is only temporary. Take a deep breath and hang in there with us.

We have a lot of fun plans for conferencing people in to do “group” classes online where we can see, hear, and “hang out” with each other via the internet!

We are also lining up some challenges to continue to keep you guys accountable and engaged (and not bored and stir crazy) as we navigate this ADVENTURE!

Many of you have hybrid sessions you haven’t used yet. We have options for that as well! Your lovely coaches will (some already have!) reach out to you to chat about ways we can continue to guide you toward your goals. Again, the internet has great tools for us to continue to work 1-on-1 with you. We even have some ideas for Heidi to schedule “hands off massage” sessions.

In this time, we ask you to continue to support your coaches and this community that we call our family by trusting us in the process.  We fully believe that we can and will provide value to you.

Stay tuned for more details! We’ll continue to keep you in the loop! Please keep an eye on the members FB group, your email, and www.crossfitaustin.com/blog for further updates!

In the pursuit of health,

Tim & Gen
Big Love <3

It always blows my mind how much places charge for a piece of bread with smashed avocado…. I mean, I know avocados can be a little pricey at times, but what I’m about to share with you would easily go for like $15 at a fancy pants brunch place. Have I paid it before? Yes… I have. But, you can have the same fancy pants breakfast/brunch at home with like 10 minutes of effort.

I did not choose to throw a fried egg on top this time, but next time I make it I probably will because everything is better with an egg on it!

Whether it’s a staycation or a Tuesday morning, pamper yourself with a breakfast that is full of goodies and will fuel you for the day ahead!

INGREDIENTS
Whole grain bread (I chose a 15 grain)
2 Large avocados
1 Package Wild Smoked Salmon – sliced (choose an unseasoned option)
Fresh dill
1 tsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic – minced
Radishes – thinly sliced
Small sweet tomatoes – quartered
Salt & pepper to taste

*Optional – fried egg

INSTRUCTIONS

Toast your bread! Toast to your liking.

In a small bowl, add the avocados, lemon juice, garlic, and some salt & pepper. Mash together until you reach the consistency you like and the ingredients are well mixed.

Spread the mixture onto your toast. Top with slices of smoked salmon, radishes, tomatoes, & small sprigs of fresh dill. Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice and a small sprinkle of black pepper.

IT’S THAT EASY! These flavors were so fresh and the colors were gorgeous! Don’t want to make it yourself? Give me $15 and I got you 😉

My fitness journey began at a very young age, beginning with sports. My parents
exposed me to many extracurricular activities as early as elementary school, where I began to fall in love with human performance. Of course, as a young boy, I didn’t see it as human performance but rather, more of a time to play. My first exposure to organized sports began with playing on my first tee-ball team around the age of 5 (cute pic on the right) and my love for sports only grew from there.

Growing up, I quickly recognized that I shared a love for most sports and desired to be involved in as many as I could. From basketball and track throughout middle school, to baseball and ultimate Frisbee in high school, I always found a way to use my fitness and athleticism. I eventually decided that I would focus most of my attention on baseball in high school. That’s where I had my first taste of weight training, where it gave me the opportunity to enhance my abilities on the field. Little did I know that I would actually begin to fall in love with the science behind why we were lifting weights and its benefits not only as an athlete but as an individual.

Three months prior to my senior baseball season, I fractured my distal fibula and had to run around in a cast and with crutches. Because I knew it would hinder me from practicing hard before the start of the season, I was very discouraged. Regardless, I kept my chin up, drank my milk, and did what I could to make sure I would still perform for my team by the time we started. It was during that process that I was reassured in my decision in pursuing a degree in healthcare.

After graduation, I made my way to good ol’ Lubbock, Texas where I attended Texas
Tech University (wreck em’). I pursed a degree in Kinesiology (with a Pre-PT track) because I
knew I wanted to work in the field of physical therapy. It was there that I found the sport of
Crossfit and where I met some awesome people that encouraged me to pursue physical
therapy. Among those people in the Crossfit community were a professor with his PhD. in
exercise science, and a DPT who taught me a lot about the profession. I eventually interned at
several PT clinics but the one that had the biggest influence on me was Lubbock Sports Rehab
that was connected to the D1 sports facility. That experience helped affirm my passion and
desire to work with athletes and sports rehab.

Once I earned my four-year bachelor’s degree, I moved back home to begin the very
long process of apply to PT schools. After a small waiting period, I was finally accepted to the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences and moved to Austin, Texas. I quickly became a member of Crossfit Austin and eventually became a “Coach For Life”. It has been such a blessing being a part of a genuine coaching staff that actually cares about their members. I have seen a ton of development being a part of this crew. It’s allowed me to practice my professional skills with clients and has helped me develop that “coach’s eye” while assessing movement. I have seen a ton of growth in my life and I am FIRED UP to continue my development as a coach, athlete, and hopeful physical therapist!