Kells Blogpost - Sugar-Free Junk Trunk
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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
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