Dare to Fail. Dare to learn!

Check out my blog post about how important it is to sometimes step back and focus on details!

Click here to read "Fail Please"!

 

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Darkest Before the Dawn...

*originally posted on 01.18.12 on www.ChalkandChi.com

I watched a little bit of The Biggest Loser last night and, lo and behold, a Reebok-CrossFit commercial pops up telling me that the "sport of fitness has arrived." I'm pretty excited! I would love to see a snowball effect of everyone getting more serious about their workouts, then eating better, then eating even cleaner (organic and grassfed), then Kellogg's will turn to making un-grain cereals in order to stay afloat fiscally. The world will be a better and healthier place! Oh what beauty!

But it's always darkest before the dawn. Due to the awesome nature of CrossFit everyone will jump on the band wagon this year. It will be very easy for it to become a buzzword meaning "workouts that will kill you." Let me say this though, CrossFit is NOT a BOOTCAMP. Your coach needs to know how to arrange movement types, speeds, and loads in order to elicit a very particular response from YOUR cardio-respiratory, neurological, physical and mental systems.

CrossFit is NOT a Bootcamp:

• It's not just any ol' hard workout of 20 of these, 20 of those and some tire flips. 
• It's not doing 5 days in a row of 45minute painstorms involving hundreds of reps.
• It's not a full hour of activity for activity's sake without focus on specific form and someone just yelling "GO! FASTER!" at you.
• It's not lifting a million pounds any way possible just because it's hard.
• It's not numbing out and forgetting what you did by the time you get home.

CrossFit is brilliant and scientific:

• It IS hard: the workout will reveal your weaknesses instead of just being an onslaught of $hit to do.
• It IS a method in which you take the time to find the current holes in your training and FIX them before moving on...this does NOT make the workouts easier!
• It IS intelligently programming your week, your month and your year of workouts to create a positive training stimulus by varying loads, intensity, and tasks.
• It IS learning. Learning how to do work safely and correctly because strength will only get you so far. FORM and determination will take you over the moon.

All this was highlighted in a video that circulated on Facebook in which an IFBB Physique pro does a so-called CrossFit workout. Her workout consisted of:

3-5 Rounds
20 reps of bench press (bodyweight),
20 reps of back squats (bodyweight),
20 reps of clean and press (half-bodyweight)

I hate to say this but it's stupid. It's a stupid workout. This is a great example of a hard workout but NOT a CrossFit workout. *You can see how NOT to CrossFit by watching this video. Using these same 3 movements, a CrossFit workout would be MORE likely to look like this:

3 Rounds
9 reps bench (half bodyweight)
12 reps clean and jerk (bodyweight)
15 reps back squat (one and a half times bodyweight)

Look at the two versions again and see if you can't see why the latter would be a more effective strength training stimulus. Even still, the rep scheme in combination with the weights makes this an advanced strength-endurance workout for an advanced CROSSFIT ATHLETE. The latter version has a rhythm and a pattern. The movement that uses the smallest muscle groups gets the lightest weight (respectively) and the least amount of reps to enable the athlete to keep moving and effectively tire the shoulders for the next movement. The next movement is an Olympic lift that, when performed correctly, will engage the legs in an explosive movement in order to help the arms get the weight safely overhead and locked out. The third movement then uses the heaviest weight which will again tire the core and legs making the second round of clean and jerks (heavily reliant on core strength and explosive power through legs/hips) more difficult.

YOUR safety and health is paramount as we head into this bright new world of CrossFitting popularity. I urge to please please please...continue to be picky about who you let coach you!

CrossFit boxes will be opening everywhere and many towns already have several. Go try them all out and see which one makes you feel like:

1) you're learning something
2) you're a valued part of a team
3) you're effectively getting work done
4) you're getting better each week!
If you feel that your workouts are constantly crushing you and/or you aren't able to describe the movements to a family member or friend (ie you aren't learning anything) then please find another place or trainer to visit! While workouts will be hard, you should not feel like you've been hit by a bus repeatedly for weeks. Don't get me wrong, maybe your coach is super nice or is really cute. But if they don't know how to safely and effectively get you from Point A to Point B you can keep them on your Christmas card mailing list but break free and find another place to go!

Best wishes!

Michelle

FREE Fitness Meet Up Group!

I've started The Somers Primal Health Fitness Group on MeetUp! Click here to sign up (free) so you can get info and updates. This group is open for everyone that wants to take part!


Here's why I chose to start this group: I've noticed throughout my years of personal training is that there is a dearth of knowledge out there regarding foundational movements. Misconceptions abound about essential movements such as squats and pushups. MOST of my clients need to be re-trained, that is if anyone ever bothered to teach them in the first place at all! That's where I come in!

I believe that EVERYONE can and SHOULD learn these functional exercises in order to increase their quality of life. If you are thinking "but I can't do that because..." then email me before you decide for CERTAIN you can't do this! When I say everyone I mean it. Let me put it this way, learning to squat properly is ESSENTIAL in order to be able to use the toilet. If you can do that, then you can do this! Knee trouble, back trouble, shoulder trouble...everyone can do something. You just need to know HOW!

Okay, so instead you're thinking "but I'm healthy & fit and this group is too basic for me." Nope! I'll address your needs also! Let's make sure your basic forms are good and solid, strengthen your posterior chain, increase flexibility, tweak your diet: everyone can use some guidance. Heck, I rely on my own coach to make sure I'm constantly improving too! If you can do bodyweight exercises, let's change up the weight or speed.

Method:
Each MeetUp we will go over a different movement or topic. Come to each one, or pick and choose. These MeetUps are FREE to attend, so please bring a friend! You are always free to take part as much or as little as you feel comfortable.

• I will always do warmup/cool down stretches and drills.

At "Clinics" we will specifically address:

• the basics of a movement/ topic from a how-to
• how to increase the difficulty of a movement (ie proper back squat techniques..there's more than one!)
• how to incorporate it into your workout.
• how to scale a movement based on your particular needs/concerns/injuries etc

Once you have the basics down, crazy things happen...don't worry, I'll title those "crazy workouts" as such so you know what to expect!

I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to teach you how to increase the quality of your lives through increased quality of movement! I look forward to meeting you soon Thanks again!
~Michelle

Yum, Food!

Who doesn't love a good meal right? Fueling your body properly is an essential component to your health and fitness goals. Eat too much = not good. Eat too little = not good. Eating low quality/low nutrient foods = very not good. Planning your food for the day is SO important when you are trying to stick to a particular eating plan. I leave the house in the morning with my food bag. I have my breakfast, a packed lunch, a post-workout drink if I'm working out that day, and my water. This way I never end up starving and in a predicament with a Wendy's drive-through. 

Yes, I eat my breakfast on the go. No that isn't ideal, but it's working for me at the moment. I do also have several clients that also find themselves eating breakfast at the office. This can get pricey and can put you in a bad spot because most of America thinks breakfast should be sugary or bread based foods (cereal, bagels, muffins, doughnuts, breakfast sandwiches, oatmeal, french toast etc etc etc). So what can you do? Try these Omelette Muffins from MarksDailyApple.com. Super easy and fast to prepare, make a bunch and keep in the fridge. Take 4 of them (or so, depending on your dietary needs) with you to work and voila! A nutritious breakfast made with real food that didn't cost you a bazillion bucks and a date with Coronary Artery Disease! Hurray! :-)

Metamorphosis

*Originally written by Michelle Connelly for ChalkandChi.com

There was once a time I didn't really feel I was very special or remarkable in any way. I felt like my body was too pudgy to be attractive and I felt that I wasn't particularly pretty or charming. I wasn't very healthy let alone being any kind of strong. Now, I look back on that image I once held of myself and laugh. I laugh because it isn't even close to true. It wasn't true then and it isn't true now, nor will it ever BE true. I laugh at the astonishing ignorance of all of those statements yet how they have guided the course of my life. But for all the sadness I inflicted upon myself with those self-sabotaging beliefs, the scars help form the woman I am today. I am transformed.

I was finishing up my senior year of college at the University of Maine when everything changed. I remember walking across campus to get to class when suddenly I choked up and began to sob uncontrollably. Right there on the quad in front of the library. Huge tears and choking sobs I couldn't contain came rolling out and at the time I swear to you I had NO idea why. This would happen almost every day and I came close to missing an entire month of classes before I sought help. Together with my therapist's help, I began to deal with all the sadness and confusion of my youth (daughter of an alcoholic father) that was literally crying to get out and dealt with. Years of turmoil, both repressed and suppressed, were fighting their way to the surface of my consciousness. Most days I had a very hard time sitting still for any length of time; I was always antsy and agitated from a mind gone wild.

So one day I went for a run.

Mind you, I had NEVER gone for a run. I got about fifty feet that first time I think. Then I walked for a while. My body started to relax now that it had an outlet for the pent up energy and my mind started to feel on track. Then I ran again, then walked. So on and so on. I can still recall the first time I ran the entire one mile stretch of the road I lived on. I had been so lost in thought that I hadn't realized I ran the whole way. I started jumping up and down and cheering out loud for myself: it was a complete rush like I'd never experience before! Soon after that I began running more, doing 5k races and even joining a gym. Thus my new "fit" life was born.

So when was it that I was transformed? Was it the moment that I first stepped out the door to go for a run? Or maybe it was when I had my first session with a personal trainer and thought, "holy shit this is the job for me!" I like to think it was every time I made a healthy choice. Every time I chose to go for a run in the woods with the sole purpose of getting emotions out (I'd run so hard I couldn't suppress anything anymore and I'd end up bawling). Every time I chose to eat a healthy meal. Every time I chose to throw away any negative self talk I transformed a little more.

Nowadays I'm a completely changed woman. But I don't look that different then I did back then, I'm still recognizable as myself. It's been ten years of progress and this whole time I've been slowly changing. My metamorphosis wasn't literally me turning INTO a different person. A butterfly isn't born overnight, it is through a long series of smaller changes that this amazing little critter eventually changes from an egg into a butterfly. Instead little by little, it was the relationship between my body and my mind that changed.

I am no longer that same scared little self-saboteur I once was. I no longer bully my own self just because the world feels out of control. I have learned that all of it, all of the power, is within me. All I have to do is be me, accept me and let the phenomenal symbiosis of mind and body crush any trouble that gets in my way! Of course sometimes I still get scared but now I use that fear as a motivator. When I feel fear I know it's a road sign telling me I'm getting close to the edge of my comfort zone. And that edge is EXACTLY where I need to be so that I can do the most good for myself and for the world.

So every time I chose to go for a run, every time I chose to deal with my problems, every time I chose to run a little faster a little longer, every time I choose not to put the barbell down, and every single time I choose not to give up I am giving myself bigger and brighter wings.

I would LOVE to hear your stories of transformation! I will be compiling them and putting together a series of motivational stories! Please please email them to me at galadriel1_@hotmail.com!

Much love,

Michelle