Announcements

The holidays are quickly approaching, and should be a welcomed, happy time. But with more hectic schedules and traveling plans, we often get pulled out of our daily routines. Not always a bad thing…but we need to have a good approach so that we don’t spiral out of control with our “to-do’s” and put our health on the back-burner.

“How often should I workout? How hard should I push myself? How often can I/should I have a “cheat” meal? If I ate x,y, and z…is it ok if I put this or that condiment on it for flavor? I missed my workouts on Monday and Tuesday because I was cramming for an exam and slamming Red Bulls for two days, do you think it would be a good idea to workout for 3 hours as hard as I can to make-up for that?”

These are sample questions that many folks have, and the answer isn’t always straight-forward (aside from maybe…don’t only consume Red Bull for 2 days). There are several variables that can affect the answers for different individuals. But never-mind the detailed, individual answers to those questions right now. What about the self-induced stress that may be accumulating each week, over something as little as “everything I ate this week was clean, but I put Sriracha on my chicken breast….and that has sugar in it.”

Yes, minimizing sugar is an important part of a responsible, healthy diet. However, if you are overworked and under-recovered (in life, not just the gym) and you add extra stress to your mind/body about every little thing…you may be doing yourself a disservice.

Below is a snippet from an article the American Psychological Association posted about stress: revised 2013

“When stress starts interfering with your ability to live a normal life for an extended period, it becomes even more dangerous. The longer the stress lasts, the worse it is for both your mind and body. You might feel fatigued, unable to concentrate or irritable for no good reason, for example. But chronic stress causes wear and tear on your body, too.

Stress can make existing problems worse. In one study, for example, about half the participants saw improvements in chronic headaches after learning how to stop the stress-producing habit of “catastrophizing,” or constantly thinking negative thoughts about their pain. Chronic stress may also cause disease, either because of changes in your body or the overeating, smoking and other bad habits people use to cope with stress. Job strain — high demands coupled with low decision-making latitude — is associated with increased risk of coronary disease, for example. Other forms of chronic stress, such as depression and low levels of social support, have also been implicated in increased cardiovascular risk. And once you’re sick, stress can also make it harder to recover. One analysis of past studies, for instance, suggests that cardiac patients with so-called “Type D” personalities — characterized by chronic distress — face higher risks of bad outcomes. “

Research shows that activities like yoga, as well as breathing and other relaxation exercises not only help reduce stress, but also boost immune functioning. The ‘ole adage “sick and tired of being sick and tired” seems to ring a bell regarding the above. If you stress your mind worrying about too many little things, for an extended period of time, then chances are you will adversely affect your health and quality of life. Your brain won’t be firing on all cylinders, thus you will not sleep well, or produce the needed amount of certain hormones that help keep you functioning above the mere survival status. Coincedently, those same folks that seem to always stress, then in turn will naturally begin to stress about how their health is declining, turning circles…chasing their own tail.

We need to have a plan, to act as our guide. But if things don’t go perfectly, because life just happened, let it go! Take a step back…breathe…reassess…refocus….recommit. Dont just say “screw it” and ride the trainwreck all the way to Howthehelldidigetheresville. Develop a new plan of attack or tweak the current plan a bit and give it a shot.

If you don’t have some sort of routine to unplug and unwind, I suggest now as the perfect time to contemplate adding some simple de-stressing strategies to your life. There are many ways to do this, and the APA offers a few.

-Coach Tim

The CrossFit Austin Difference

There are ton’s of option for people out  there when it comes to their fitness, but we like to think we encompass the most complete solution. A quick disclaimer we’re big believers that any exercise is good exercise. Doing something is always better than doing nothing. So in today’s article will look at some different options out there and some reason why we feel like we’re doing things better.

Yoga:
Yoga is great. For some things. Namely for mobility and recovery. And there’s nothing wrong with a glorified stretching workout. The older you get, the harder it is to maintain functional mobility, so if yoga helps you do that, that’s great. But that’s all it is: Stretching and balance. Maybe a bit of coordination, although you’re probably moving too slow to truly challenge coordination. Yoga doesn’t get you strong, and yoga doesn’t improve your cardiovascular endurance, speed, stamina or power.  In reality it’s a great supplement to a training program but not a great stand alone program to get you fit.

Running and Cycling:
The obvious here is that both are great for cardiovascular endurance and stamina, but do a poor job developing  strength (especially upper body strength), power, speed, coordination, flexibility etc… Both are one dimensional and lend themselves to some  “overuse” movement issues. Lots of runners we work with struggle to maintain a full range of motion in their ankles and hip, that can lead to overuse injuries in the IT-Bands, knees, calves, achilles. High volume cycling lends to an overdevelopment of the quads and creates poor posture in the upper and lower back. 

Generic “High Intensity” Training:
With the growth of CrossFit there has been a number of entities that have tried to replicate the “intensity” aspect of CrossFit. Companies like Orange Theory, Soulcycle, and other HITT training programs all tend to focus solely on the cardiovascular endurance and stamina aspect of fitness. In this type of training there is always going to be some short terms results, and working hard always makes you feel great. However for long term results strength development, improve mobility and movement quality, and smart variation of “intensity’ is the answer.

What do we better?

We will provide you with broad, useful fitness for life. We want carrying four bags of groceries up three flights of stairs to be a piece of cake. We care about helping you maintain your mobility as you age, and about ensuring you can go skiing or hiking for an entire day when you’re 20 and 65. We want you to be the fittest person on your softball team at 40, and the person who is still living independently at 85.

The nuts and bolts of our of our program will improve all the skills needed to live a long, fit, healthy life: Strength, speed, power, cardiovascular endurance, stamina, flexibility, coordination, agility, stamina and balance. But the real reason it works is the implementation of that program which is two fold.

Coach for life
We don’t throw our new clients right into the fire. We meet you where you’re at and work with you on your individual strengths and weaknesses to keep you safe and injury-free so you can continuously become more fit and healthy.

With us, you will have a personal coach for life to help manage your health and fitness and as well as individualize our program to your specific needs. Our coaches are well trained and some of the most qualified experts in the fitness industry. And it also means your coach is a career coach and his or her professional success is tied to how successful you are at achieving your fitness goals.

Community-based
We’re not just a gym. We’re close friends who socialize together, both in and out of the gym. It’s a perfect community in which to raise your kids—where they grow up witnessing people who care about being fit and healthy for life. (And if you’re single, there’s a good chance you’ll have better luck here than on the latest dating website.)

In other words, corny as it might sound, you’ll have fun. That’s important because above all else “fitness” is a habit.  Ingraining this habit into your life is allot easier when you have a great support system around you and you actually enjoy what you’re doing!