Kells Blogpost - Why Challenge Yourself?

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OK, CFK beasts…going a little deep and personal over the next couple of blog posts, so please bear with me if things go a little heavy in the CFK blogosphere. As we start this challenge, I find myself looking around at people stepping outside of their comfort zones, committing to something that will make them better…and I feel proud and inspired.

I thought I would share an experience I had back in 2012, when I decided to do a personal challenge based on the suggestion of a mentor. The challenge was basically a 10 day gauntlet of no sugar, caffeine, or alcohol, no media of any kind and a few other things. If you’re interested in the particulars (and have a few minutes to kill at the cubicle or in the restroom!!), the complete details of the challenge can be found here:

http://www.brassringfitness.com/2011/03/14/the-agoge-challenge/comment-page-1/

It was called the Agoge challenge, based on the approach that the Spartan society took to living back in the day. The goal of the challenge was to simplify your life for a few days, to look inward, and to sacrifice in the name of personal improvement.

Part of the challenge called for a journaling of the experience, and the reason I am sharing this with you is that I just revisited my entries from the Agoge. It was pretty cool to look at my thoughts during this thing from back then, and the timing is pretty good given the CrossFit Kells challenge upon which we are now embarking. For the food part of this challenge, I basically just ate bread, eggs, chicken, broccoli and almonds for 10 days. This was during a time when I LIVED for my lahhhhge iced regulahhh from Dunks in the morning, crushed a heaping bowl of granola before bed every night, and consistently took down Hawaiian pizzas from Duxbury Pizza. To say I went through sugar withdrawals is an understatement!

Part of the goal of this challenge was to not talk about the challenge, which I did not. The goal was an inward focus, not an outward one. But seeing our Kells community getting fired up for our own challenge, and seeing some folks nervous about committing to this given their diet and lifestyle routines, I thought it might be beneficial to a few of you to share my experience.

Here are a few bullets from my journaling over the course of those 10 days. As we go through our challenge this month, I highly recommend writing down parts of your experience for your own reference. It will make the experience a richer one for you, and it will also be interesting to look back on it at some point in the future.  

 

“Agoge – July 2012”

Days 2&3

“Now that I’ve been eating the same diet for a few days, seems to be an interesting effect. There’s a feeling of fatigue that is relatively constant…wondering if that is a manifestation of the lack of sugar that I am used to? Will be interesting to see if this continues. Given this feeling, there has already been thoughts from that “other side” casting doubt on this challenge. “Why do this to yourself? What will this prove? What will change?” These questions were also posed after seeing/smelling pizza, cookies, and thinking about that next iced coffee. The answer is this….why do it? Because I want to. Because I can. Because the concept that character is built thorough sacrifice and doing things that are hard is an important one. I still have a lot to prove to myself…to challenge myself with”

“Who would know if I quit? I would”

“Of course I want to kick back with a bowl of granola and watch a movie; not happening”

“As you work through UM, start to journal and document more. There is something about putting it in writing that makes the experience more real and enriching.”

“As for Agoge…keep going strong. Today there were certainly questions and doubts cast….don’t listen. Yes, it’s hard and will get harder. That’s why you’re doing it. These are the building blocks for the strengthening of character…do not cheapen that buy quitting. You owe it to yourself and (your future self) to stay the course, suck it up… embrace the suck”

“The hardest part seems to be the fatigue feeling and the food cravings. But there is no question you’re getting enough sleep, so that “fatigue” is your body lying to you.  You’re fueling your body with enough nutrients…keep at it keep at it keep at it. It will be worth it”

 

Day 5

“There did not seem to be ANY of the fatigue today…very interested to know if that was the body’s reaction to no sugar – do some research on this. So, close of day five and still going strong (despite the temptation to go to the beach and have a bunch of beers). It looks like the fatigue issue has passed”

 

Day 6

“Pretty good energy throughout the work day, just a few moments of the fatigue feeling here and there. Body seems to be catching up to the diet. No question getting leaner…165 lbs on waking up this morning. Too thin” (I forgot about this part…165! I looked like I was about to blow away into the Atlantic Ocean if a stiff breeze came)

 

Days 7 & 8

“Strong couple of days, holding strong on the Agoge. Still 5AM wake-up every day; yesterday situps, meditation, and a ball-busting crossfit wod. Interesting part about yesterday was a back/forth going on in the mind. This challenge has had elements of fatigue in it throughout, be it physical or mental. Yesterday, the quitter voice was begging not to go to the gym after work. Rationalizing, justifying, etc….but the strength voice won. Glad I went”

 

  

That's it, guys…just a few simple entries to share. The rest went a little TOO deep and probably best saved for some kind of couch session! But the point is this…doing these little challenges and proving something to ourselves is an important exercise. Doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks…are you doing this for YOU, and how are you going to feel when you’re done?

You just have to have the right “WHY”…which, by the way, is the topic of our next blog.

What is your “WHY”? 

We are going to explore this, as well as offer a challenge to only a few of you that will unquestionably be life-altering…

Good luck this month.

-Mike

Kells Blogpost: Sugar-Free Trunk-Junk

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Bums.

We all have them. They’re quite functional, very important to our strength and movement capabilities, and can be a lot of fun to look at. AND…they will be a big part of the next CrossFit Kells challenge.  

Beginning May 4th, we are going to spend 30 days targeting our arses in two ways:

1)   We are going to lunge. Every day.

2)   We are going to remove BAD sugar from our diets

Let’s start with #1…

Why the lunge? Because it’s a phenomenal builder of our posterior chain, which is the most influential muscle group in the body. Think hamstrings, hips, back and obliques.. This movement is excellent medicine for our hips, our connective tissues and our balance.

We talk about hip extension every week, as well as the concept of “core-to-extremity”…a fancy way of describing the process of recruiting power from the strongest parts of our body (legs, hips, butt) and transferring it to the weaker ones (shoulders, biceps, triceps, etc). A strong posterior chain directly contributes to powerful hip extension, and therefore improves our core-to-extremity capacity.

The strength of your posterior chain significantly impacts not only your athletic prowess, but also your ability to physically navigate your life…jumping, running, pushing, pulling, sitting, standing, doing the tango…everything. The bad news? The majority of us spend WAY too much time sitting on our trunk-junk every day.

This is bad.

Whether we are driving, sitting at our desks, flying on a plane, or sitting on the couch crushing seasons of Breaking Bad, we are pretty much turning our butts into our feet….this is a problem. Sitting has become the new smoking.

CrossFit attacks the posterior chain via movements like KB swings and deadlifts. And for the month of May, the Kells will continue that focus by utilizing the lunge. The lunge is THE most beneficial exercise we can do to strengthen our hamstrings…and it will WITHOUT QUESTION make your butt feel like you’ve been shot with a cannon.

Here is what this part of the challenge will look like:

·      Each day for 30 days you will perform walking lunges (no additional weight, just body weight) until failure. “Failure” here will be defined as a break of more than 5 seconds between strides. Your daily goal will be to take at least TWO more steps (one for each leg) than you did the previous day

·      The beauty of the lunge is that you can literally do it anywhere, so no excuses. At the gym, in the house, or at the office? Do walking lunges. Confined to a prison cell? Do standing lunges…no excuses

·      This is an every day challenge. When you are on a rest day from the gym, be sure to warm-up for 5-10 minutes before doing your lunges

·      You absolutely must foam-roll your glutes, quads, hammys, back and calves after you lunge. This doesn’t have to be every day, but it does have to be often. This is not an easy challenge (hence the “challenge” part). You will be sore as hell on many days….again your glutes will feel like they were stabbed with a letter-opener. Expect this and plan for it; foam rolling will help

 

#quadzilla

#quadzilla

 

Part TWO of the challenge will involve SUGAR…specifically, getting it OUT of your diet. To refresh your memory, re-read the Kells Blogpost from March on the evils of too much sugar in your diet:

http://www.crossfitkells.com/wodblog/2015/3/24/the-real-american-sniper

More specifically, we are targeting ADDED sugar. Naturally occurring sugars in fruits, vegetables and other whole foods are acceptable and recommended. Added sugars, however, are off limits. This includes refined sugar, natural sweeteners and artificial sweeteners.

 

GUIDELINES:

Foods that have added sugar of any kind are not allowed.  You might be surprised to learn that sugar has many names and is often disguised in the ingredient lists. You may have noticed many foods now advertise as having No High Fructose Corn Syrup. What manufactures don’t promote is that in place of the corn syrup is likely another form of sugar.  Reading the fine print on ingredient labels is absolutely necessary for this challenge, and a habit that we should all have. As part of the challenge we will be providing you with a list of 50 different names used for sugar.  

 

No added natural sugars or sweeteners of any kind, to include: honey, molasses, stevia, agave nectar, coconut palm sugar, xylitol, maple syrup, etc..  This is important in order to start to enjoy the real taste of foods.

No added refined sugars (white sugar, corn syrup, brown sugar)

No added artificial sweeteners (Truvia, Splenda, Nutrasweet, etc.)

Basically, if it has added sugar or sweeteners, of any kind, do not eat it.

You ARE allowed to have one protein shake per day. While the protein powder you use is up to your discretion, we recommend the following: SFH, About Time and Gameplan

Note:  Again, when we say no sugar, we mean no added sugar. There will be naturally occurring sugars in milk, plain yogurt, fresh vegetables and fruit, and that’s okay. The idea is to give up ADDED sugars that are in most all processed foods. So when you read a nutrition label, look at the actual list of ingredients, NOT the percentage of sugar per serving (unless you must do so for medical reasons).

Make the challenge easier by doing the following:

Drink at least 6 (12 ounce) glasses of plain water each day, or 2.2 liters.

Consider drinking one nutrient-dense smoothie each day

Eat FruitFruit contains plenty of natural sugars and is also an important part of any healthy eating plan.  The possibilities are only as limited as your local grocery store.  Also, fruit is a great way of naturally getting the sugar you might be craving and will help make this challenge successful.

Duration:The challenge goes for one whole month – 5/4 to 6/4

We will also provide you with a list of suggested items to get at the grocery store. These items will keep things tasty, healthy and variable.

Questions & Answers:

Q: The label on my bread says that it has 6 grams of sugar but the ingredients don’t mention any kind of sugar. Which do I follow?

A: Look at the ingredients for added sugars. Most all foods have naturally occurring sugars, even vegetables and dairy. Naturally occurring sugars are acceptable; they’re healthy.

Q: What if I slip?

A: Don’t look back, the past can’t be undone. Continue on with the challenge.

Q: Will I go through withdrawals?

A: More than likely you will experience some withdrawals. Sugar is very addictive and you will likely experience some side effects. It is possible to experience headaches, weakness and irritability. It will pass and typically takes 2-4 days to get through this phase. Please do not commit any crimes in a sugar-withdrawal rage during this phase, as it may impact your participation in the rest of the challenge.

ALL Kells members are strongly encouraged to participate in this challenge. You WILL improve your squat and your Olympic lifts after this challenge; you WILL get leaner; you WILL feel better. And since we are encouraging 100% participation within our community, you will also have plenty of support. 

Sign up for the challenge at the gym, or send me a note. We will provide more information on scoring and prizes (of course there are prizes!!!) this week.

So there it is! We’re lunging, we’re dropping sugar, and our posteriors will all be starring in the next Beyonce music video when June rolls around….done and done.

-Mike