As a CrossFit athlete and coach, performance is important to me. While we cannot control the WODs that Coach Luke posts, we can control how prepared we are mentally and physically for the challenge in front of us. A big part of this preparation is rest and recovery. I have noticed recently that an increased work load both at work and at the gym have led to less sleep over the past few weeks, something I’m sure many of you can relate to.
I found a great article that discusses the importance of sleep and provides a few strategies for improved (sleep) performance. The author quotes 2 studies that that suggest that inadequate sleep has a negative impact on cognitive functioning, mood, and reaction time and the residual effects of chronic sleep loss are not made-up with a good night of “extra” sleep. The author then provides the following suggestions:
1) Allow for pre-sleep readiness.
2) Be consistent with your sleep patterns.
3) Clear your mind.
Yoga at its essence is a moving meditation designed to help a practitioner use their breath to become fully present in the moment. That sounds awesome but what the heck does that really mean? For me it’s a constant struggle to really understand and live this concept as I am sure it is for most drawn to the fast paced, competitive and constantly changing nature of CrossFit. In my life, being fully present is the struggle to observe, accept and appreciate where I am without any judgment.
In CrossFit it is my reminder that every WOD is a new moment and chance to leave everything else at the gym door and give all I have today in this moment while accepting where I am physically and mentally for those 10-25 minutes. The chance to compare time or reps will be there always be there. Injury, soreness and fatigue will be there. Without a doubt a new WOD will be there tomorrow. But during this WOD today and in this yoga practice today I can just work on being fully present. Coach K.K
CrossFit Scottsdale Yoga (WOD) Workout Ofthe Day
10 minute (AMRAP)As Many Rounds As Possible
20 wall balls
10 toes to bar
Team Awesomeness: Logged 56 miles after class in the month of January. Sara and Erin AKA Roar and Harkey tore up the pavement and sealed the victory for the 3 days/3 nights stay in Kaanapali, Maui. “Roar” also stamped her mark in the streets earning the Co- athlete of the month for January. Sara is a CrossFit Scottsdale Ambassador, she is always early and always stays late to work on skills and can double under with the big boys. Take a few minutes to get to know her and she will be a lifelong friend. ”Thank you for your Hard’nup attitude, I love it” Coach
Calling my fellow CrossFitters, joining CrossFit is one of the best decisions you have ever made, the second will be to come out on Saturday 1/30 and let me share with you how to rocket into Fat Loss Success. I will be hosting a Free Fat Loss Workshop at 11:30am.
If you have 5, 15, or 20 pounds you just can’t get rid of no matter how hard you try, this is for you. I will give you my Body Balance Diet 21 day Fat Loss Grocery List, meal ideas and more. This is the perfect food and exercise marriage, it works, plain and simple. I’m also going to mix you up the best Protein Shake you have ever tasted!
Join us for the WOD at 10am and stay for some fun. Bring a note pad and pen. Check out my web site and blog
“So I have to share this with you. I went to CrossFit St. Louis today with my friend and afterwards, I kept thinking how much I like our CrossFit better, including the way you run the classes. I was telling my friend that I was considering moving back to St. louis but I really love my CrossFit Scottsdale and don’t think I can leave it. At that point, she did tell me I need to get some serious psychological help. But really, you guys are doing such an awesome job at welcoming people, helping us to collaborate, learning team work, and really pushing us to our max potential. I have gone to 3 different CrossFit affiliates now and have to say you guys seriously have the best ran school of “Elite Fitness.” I’m not just saying that either, I really believe it! I keep telling my friends in St. Louis that they have to come to my CrossFit class! It’s way better. LOL Okay, I’m a psycho, I know. but I wanted to share my opinion with you.”
It’s exactly a year ago this week I discovered Coach Luke & CrossFit Scottsdale. What a reason to celebrate 2009 and set some even greater goals for 2010, I’m sure many of you feel the same way! Over the last year I have been with you enjoying one of many WOD’s, challenges, and events thanks for being such a great community. This year I also completed my CrossFit Level 1 Certification and along with Coach Tiffany my CrossFit Nutrition Certification.
Many of you may not know that I am a Diet Coach, I have helped many people get to their desired body weight and sustain it without going on any kind of radical eating program or crash diet. With the New Year just ahead I would love to have any of you that are looking for a Balanced Eating program to be a part of my team. Check out www.thebodybalancediet.com to learn more and become one of my fans. Much like CrossFit Scottsdale we have a community of people winning together, we do weekly live conference calls where I will give you the knowledge to understand what getting to your ideal body weight looks and feels like. I have partnered with Coach Luke and promote CrossFit exclusively to my clients who are all across North America.
I have put together a special package for you. My clients typically choose one of my 2 options to join for a sign up fee and then an ongoing monthly commitment but for anyone from CrossFit that joins us, there is simply a one time fee of $199 with no ongoing fees. That provides you access to everything in our members area for an entire year.
So if you have 10, 20, 30 or more lbs you want to lose and keep off and have said 2010 is the year for you to be your personal best, let’s help you do that together. Below is a video of me on Fox 10 giving tips on how to overcome a diet plateau.
Congratulations…
Brian K, Katie K, Angie, Doug and Skip for sucessfully completing the Level I H.Q CrossFit certification. These 5 student have learned the ability to perform the 9 basic movements. They are also leaders in class so please feel free to ask them to check your depth on your front squats.
Humility is an interesting feeling. Humility generally comes when you are at the top of your game, when you strut gets longer, your shoulders get taller, and your head gets bigger…then you fall.
Get Comfortable at being Uncomfortable…
In Crossfit you don’t ever know what your WOD is going to be. In life you don’t always know what your day is going to bring. You MUST be well rounded to be fully prepared; you must become good across varied times and with different exercises. (Crossfit says train at High Intensity across broad times and modal domains.)
The end of that sentence above is…because that is the only way you will continue to improve. CrossFit is about constantly varying functional movements. If you are strong and comfortable with clean and jerks your going to want to do that exercise all the time because you know your good at it, and your Grace time is probably going to be pretty stellar. How much are you going to get from that? When you train what your good or harder with what you good at you improve less overall than when you train what your bad at. Work what your bad at, less comfortable with, and get better as a whole crossfitter; as a person in life. Are you comfortable?
Humility knocked me on my ass…
I was humbled by my good friend Brian Kunitzer. BK took the Level II test last night and was focused, practiced, prepared and encouraging all the while. There is absolutely no way Brian could have passed this test three months ago…he couldn’t do pull-ups and he certainly couldn’t do 50 of them in 4 minutes after a 14 minute two mile run. You can watch him working his ass off in every class he participates in, and it showed. He couldn’t do pull-ups, so he trained to get better at them, all the while improving in every aspect of his workouts.
I was humbled by Matt Blanton who not long ago broke his foot and still came to the Level II, rowed 3200 meters, did all 50 pull-ups, completed the overhead squats and clean and jerks and when he knew he wouldn’t pass, did all 50 burpees side by side with BK. Congrats Matt, hell of an effort and great example.
I was humbled by the test, I was humbled by overhead squats and clean and jerks, and I my overconfidence was humbled by my failure. The day I failed Level II was when I stopped trying to make myself better each and every day and it showed at game time.
The next challenge…
When an athlete becomes complacent in what they are doing they will most surely lose. When a person becomes complacent in life they will most surely fail. Be satisfied with what you have accomplished and celebrate your achievement. Then work to better you performance and yourself everyday. That is MY December Crossfit Scottsdale challenge, and I challenge YOU to join.
Congratulations to Brian Kunitzer, the only Level II student. I am truly proud of you and your Level II achievement last night and I am thankful for your friendship. I continue to learn from you each day and hopefully for many years to come.
-By Brian Kunitzer (CrossFit Scottsdale Ambassador)
“Sport plays a wonderful role in fitness. Sport is the application of fitness in a fantastic atmosphere of competition and mastery… Sport in many respects more closely mimics the demands of nature than does our training. We encourage and expect our athletes to engage in regular sports efforts in addition to all of their strength and conditioning work.”
The above quote was taken from page 8 of the second issue of the CrossFit Journal. This quote was on my mind Saturday both during and after the CrossFit Scottsdale (CFS) community potluck at Northsight Park.
Saturday was a great day all around. The weather was perfect, the food was delicious, and all of the CFS students who showed up brought their usual great attitudes. (Who would have thought that 20 extremely competitive people could play a football game without any major arguments or shoving matches). However, on Saturday night I realized that I have been so caught up in my personal and professional life that I have largely ignored the top of the CrossFit pyramid. Growing up I was always playing sports and going to the gym was simply an extension of whatever sport I was playing or training for. I still go the gym 4 days a week so why is it that I had not played a football game in over a year and I had not played a basketball game in over 4 years?
Judging from the comments I heard on Saturday I know I am not the only one who has ignored the top of the pyramid. We are in much better shape today than we were when we started CrossFit. We run faster. We jump higher. We lift heavier weights. The next challenge (and I encourage all of you to join me) will be to apply the new me to the football field, the basketball court, or whatever sport I am fortunate enough to participate in. Because of CrossFit I feel like a better athlete, now it is time to get out there and prove that I am!
Join CityCenter of CityNorth for Free Fitness Friday's with CrossFit Scottsdale. Bring a great attitude and get ready to jump start your fitness routine.
9:30am at Fountain Court across from Mojo Yogurt.
Level 1 Test for the White Band at CrossFit Scottsdale
08/12/2010 - 06:30 PM
Come one come all…if you are ready to move into the next stage of your training and want to wear the white band join us on Friday evening at 6:00pm for the L1 test…if you want to see what it’s all about, come and cheer your teammates on. Please be sure to bring your Success Journal so that a Coach can mark off what you pass/fail and your times. To qualify, your baseline time must be under 5:15 (men) and 6:30 (women) at the intermediate level. You will only be allowed one attempt at each exercise.
Free Class at Lululemon Sat 11am
08/14/2010 - 11:00 AM
Free CrossFit class at the Lululemon Showroom at the Borgada 6166 N Scottsdale Rd, Scottsdale. All fitness levels and ages welcome.
Food as Fuel Class at CrossFit Scottsdale
08/14/2010 - 12:00 PM
new students....or those that just want to brush up and get back on track with their eating habits. Learn what to eat, when to eat and how to do it for optimum results. We will be reviewing the ins and outs of the zone and paleo diet. Plus tips and tricks to make eating optimally a lot easier.
CrossFit Scottsdale Connections Networking Luncheon hosted by Calistro Bistro
08/17/2010 - 12:00 PM
Come network with your fellow CrossFit Scottsdale students and learn their professions and see how we can all help eachother with business. The next CrossFit Scottsdale Connections Luncheon will be held at Calistro Bistro hosted by Devin Walsh at 18221 N. Pima Road #140, Scottsdale, AZ.
If you are interested in joining, please rsvp to Ashley; ashley@crossfitscottsdale.com
Free CrossFit Class at CityNorth
08/20/2010 - 09:30 AM
Join CityCenter of CityNorth for Free Fitness Friday's with CrossFit Scottsdale. Bring a great attitude and get ready to jump start your fitness routine.
9:30am at Fountain Court across from Mojo Yogurt.
CrossFit Scottsdale Anniversary Party!
08/20/2010 - 06:30 PM
time Flies when you're having fun and getting fit! Hors d'ouvres and beverages, lululemon athletica fashion show, CrossFit and CrossFit Kids Workout demos, Raffle, Live Music and Team Awards! Come join us in this GREAT celebration of success. Thank you to all of our amazing students for making this possible. Friends and Family are welcome!
Back to School Meals with Chef Rachel Albert
08/27/2010 - 06:30 PM
Eating healthy meals doesn’t have to take endless hours of labor. If you know where to shop, what to buy, and how to cook with multiple meals in mind, you can pull together great meals for the whole family with leftovers to spare. Chef Rachel will show you how to simplify meal planning with satisfying salads, easy protein dishes, dressings, and mix and match menu ideas. Wheat free, gluten free, dairy free cooking demonstration.
Menu
Curried Chicken Salad with Grapes & Nuts
Steak Salad with Roasted Vegetables, Avocado & Lime Dressing
Baby Greens with Toasted Pecans & Poppy Seed Pineapple Drizzle with Turkey Breast
The Everlasting Salad
Homemade Beef & Bison Jerky
Toasted Nuts with Herbs & Spices
Food as Fuel Class at CrossFit Scottsdale
08/30/2010 - 07:00 PM
new students....or those that just want to brush up and get back on track with their eating habits. Learn what to eat, when to eat and how to do it for optimum results. We will be reviewing the ins and outs of the zone and paleo diet. Plus tips and tricks to make eating optimally a lot easier.
Here's to the Heroes
09/11/2010 - 08:00 AM
CrossFit Scottsdale will be having its 2nd Annual Here's to the Hereos WOD event on Saturday September 11th in honor of our Heroes from 9/11. Come train for FREE alongside soldiers from Luke Air Force base, National Guard, Scottsdale police and Fire fighters. Classes will be at 8am, 9am, 10am and 12pm. Be sure to RSVP now as space is limited!
CrossFit Scottsdale Connections Networking Luncheon hosted by The Tousley Team
09/21/2010 - 12:00 PM
Come network with your fellow CrossFit Scottsdale students and learn their professions and see how we can all help eachother with business. The next CrossFit Scottsdale Connections Luncheon will be hosted by Devra and Carol Tousley, our preferred residential real estate team. Details and location to follow!
If you are interested in joining, please rsvp to Ashley; ashley@crossfitscottsdale.com
CrossFit Scottsdale Connections Networking Luncheon hosted by Perry Chrisler of Concierge Communications
10/19/2010 - 12:00 PM
Come network with your fellow CrossFit Scottsdale students and learn their professions and see how we can all help eachother with business. This month's CrossFit Scottsdale Connections Luncheon will be hosted by Perry Chrisler of Concierge Communications. The meeting will take place at Telesphere 9237 E. Via De Ventura, Suite 250, Scottsdale, AZ 85258.
If you are interested in joining, please rsvp to Ashley; ashley@crossfitscottsdale.com
Having gone to at least 5 different affiliates with my travels I 100% agree with Jill. Crossfit Scottsdale is ...