Winning The Mental Game

Article by: Ryne Milner

Every day we come to the gym to train our bodies so we become stronger, faster and more physically fit.  We pour sweat, rip hands and sometimes even give up our lunch in order to continue to pursue a healthy life.  Most days we leave the gym sore and drenched in sweat feeling great about what we just did.  However, there are other days where things just don’t click and we don’t achieve everything that we wanted to.  When we go to the gym we are not just working our bodies but also our minds.  The mental side of fitness is often neglected and ignored but can be a powerful tool in our belt or a giant brick wall that is standing between you and your goals.  Our attitudes and the way we talk to ourselves play a vital role in our performance while at the box.

For many athletes, self-talk is a make or break factor on the field or in the gym.  Self-talk is simply the conversation that is going on inside your head.  There is an old cliché in sports that goes, “Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right.”  While it is an old, used cliché, the lesson remains spot on.  The way we perceive our own abilities inside of our head goes a long way towards the way we perform.  Now I am not saying that I am going to walk in to the gym tomorrow and hit a 600-pound bench press just because I think I can.  But when you are attempting a ten-pound PR on your back squat, negative self-talk can be absolutely crippling.  Have a strong conviction inside yourself and believe that you will get the job done!

So how do we fix it?  We can practice and train the way we think just like we train our bodies.  Be conscious of the thoughts that are bouncing around in your head while you are at the gym.  Don’t allow yourself to use words like hope to or want to.  Replace those words with absolutes.  ‘I am going to pick that weight up and put it over my head.’  ‘I am going to pull my chin over that bar.’  If we begin to think about what is going to happen when you fail, you will fail more times than not.  If you catch yourself using negative self-talk, take a step back, a deep breath and change the story in your head.  Replace it with positive thoughts and vibes.  This doesn’t only apply to when you are at the gym.  This can be practiced in your everyday life.  If you struggle with negative self-talk when you are at the gym, there is a strong chance that it carries over into other parts of your life.  Begin replacing those negative thoughts with positive statements!!!

A great tool to help you battle negative self-talk and negative thoughts is through visualization.  When I was in college I was a baseball pitcher.  When you are a starting pitcher in baseball you only get to pitch once per week.  Visualization became a huge tool for me to continue to hone my craft.  In between starts I would visualize what it was going to be like during my next start down to the very last detail.  I played out different situations in my head and see myself executing exactly how I wanted to.  By the time that the game came around it felt like I had already played that game 100 times.  Similarly, we cannot train at the gym all day long.  For most of us, we only get an hour a day to spend working on all of our lifts and skills.  If you want to improve on those lifts and skills, visualize yourself performing those movements perfectly.  This can be done in the first person or the third person.  Picture everything down to the last detail.  See the gym and the rig.  Hear your friends talking in the background.  See yourself walk up to that bar and perform that lift with perfect form and confidence.  By the time you get to the bar to perform that new PR weight, in your mind you will have hit that lift countless times.  This will give you a great wave of confidence as you go and grab the bar.  I can do this, I have done it many times before.

For as much fun as we have at the gym, mastering the skills needed to be a high level Crossfitter is very challenging.  Getting strong and learning new skills is hard enough on their own, let alone when you are battling with yourself in your head.  Strengthen your belief in yourself and all of your goals in the gym will be within your reach.  See it happen in your head and then go and do it!

“To Hydrate or not to Hydrate,” is that really the question?

Article by: Paul C. Tijerina, Nutritional Therapist & SuperHuman Life Coach.  For more information about Paul, visit http://www.paulctijerina.com.  

A great resource and one of the foundational books I read early on in my career was by Fereydoon Batmanghelidj “Your Body’s Many Cries for Water” http://amzn.to/1RFKJvA where the author links many modern degenerative disease and health issues to lack of hydration, quality issues, and so on.

We all know hydration is important, but. . .

Most people consume massive amounts of teas, coffees, sodas, and flavored drinks with real, natural, and artificial flavors.  MOST people are completely divorced from drinking water as their primary source of hydration.  And even when they know they should, they have a hard time making the switch.

Water is the most important nutrient in the body:

  • you can go 8 weeks with out food, but only days without water.
  • water makes up roughly 60% of our total body mass.
  • it is found in all tissues.
  • most of the volume of cells is water.

Water is the most common nutritional deficiency in the American population.

If the body’s water content drops by as little as 2%, it will cause fatigue.  a drop of 10% will cause significant health problems:

  • crazy digestive issues including low stomach acid and constipation.
  • cardiovascular issues
  • immune system depression
  • musculoskeletal problems (movement and coordination)

a loss of greater than 10% can cause death.

Early signs of dehydration

  • fatigue
  • anxiety
  • irritability
  • depression
  • cravings
  • cramps
  • headaches

Mature signs of dehydration

  • heartburn
  • joint pain
  • back Pain
  • migraines
  • fibromyalgia
  • constipation
  • colitis

Roles and benefits of hydration

  • improves oxygen delivery to cells
  • enables cellular hydration
  • removes wastes and flushes toxins
  • transports nutrients
  • prevents tissues from sticking
  • moistens oxygen for easier breathing
  • lubricates joints
  • improves cell-to-cell communication
  • cushions bones and joints
  • absorbs shocks to joints and organs
  • maintains normal electrical properties of cells
  • regulates body temperature
  • empowers the body’s natural healing process

As athletes, many of these roles are absolutely crucial!

Where our body gets water

The body can produce about 8% of its daily water needs through metabolic processes.  the remaining 92% must be ingested through the foods we eat and the beverages we drink.

  • 8% metabolic water
  • 28% ingested foods
  • 64% ingested liquids

Where our body loses water

Even though the amount and distribution of water are regulated within the body, water is not stored, anywhere. Therefore, we must consume water daily to stay healthy.  here is where we lose our water:

  • 4% GI tract
  • 12% lungs
  • 24% skin
  • 60% kidneys

My water consumption guidelines

Over the long-term, we recommend drinking to thirst.  but to first get to where you can instinctively drink to thirst, you need to “prime” your body’s hydration with our standard hydration goal:

  • body weight / 2 = ounces per day
  • maximum 1 gallon per day

This is a great starting point for most people, and a great long-term goal, although over time you don’t have to be as neurotic about it.  Give yourself a solid 6 months of using this goal before drinking to thirst. As a dedicated athlete, understand, your water demands will be more than the average person!  Therefore, abiding by these guidelines is going to be even more crucial than someone who does not work out 🙂

Mineralized hydration

Most of the fluids in your body are not water.  your body must convert clean water that you drink into the other fluids that it needs, such as mucus, saliva, interstitial fluid, tissue fluid, digestive juices, and so on.  Therefore, we like to give the body water with nutrients:

  • pinch of unrefined Himalayan sea salt
  • few drops of a product we love called Concentrace http://amzn.to/1Uqn5dm
  • infused with various other things such as fruits and herbs which can give it flavor and nutrients

As a dedicated athlete, we are blowing through nutrients as we work out.  replenishing these nutrients with mineralized water is extremely beneficial.  in fact, I would say it’s even more important to rehydrate after a workout than it is to worry about getting a post-workout meal in.  rehydration is going to help with protein synthesis, and restore many of the metabolic and healing processes that get interrupted or damaged during workouts.

About bottled water: Tap water is crap water.  However, bottled water is not much better:

  • water is bottled at a remote location.  the bottle requires massive amounts of petroleum and natural gas to make.  it’s then driven or shipped using more fuel and inefficiencies.
  • when you buy bottled water you’re not just buying water, you’re paying for all the chemical inputs as well.
  • bottled water, no matter how clean the water is, leaches chemicals into the water.

The most healthy and cost-effective way to drink water is to filter it yourself, or get it from a filtering station.

Multipure Drinking Water Systems utilize proprietary solid carbon block filters to reduce contaminants that affect appearance, taste, and most important, quality of water.

  • they do not waste water (like RO’s)
  • they do not require electricity
  • they do not add anything
  • they do not take away beneficial minerals

Multipure vs bottled water:

  • Multipure reduces aesthetic and health concern contaminants – much bottled water is not much better than tap water.
  • Multipure reduces the waste from disposable plastic bottles.
  • Multipure filters are much more cost effective.
type of water cost per gallon
imported bottled $3.84
domestic “purified” bottled $2.23
home delivery bottled $1.71
water vending machine $0.25
Multipure $0.09

 

For more information and to receive a discount, please message support@paulctijerina.com and reference Multipure.

Reverse Osmosis drinking water systems remove toxins by foreign water thru a semi permeable membrane, which allows only water to pass through, but not certain impurities or contaminates.  RO systems produce extremely clean water, but can be a little more expensive and difficult to install.  You can purchase RO systems at places like Home Depot or even on Amazon such as this model here http://amzn.to/1TeMHIJ.

The Crossfit Open

Article by: Ryne Milner

Once again it is time for the competitive season of CrossFit to kick off. Every February, the CrossFit games kick off with an international event called the Crossfit Open. This year the open kicks off on February 25 and runs all the way through March 28. The CrossFit Open is the first qualifying stage in the CrossFit games. Every man or women who has claimed the title of ‘fittest on earth,’ first had to battle their way through the Open and earn their spot at regionals. Each week, CrossFit will have a live announcement show in which they will lay out the format for that week’s workout. They then pit accomplished Crossfitters against each other in a head to head matchup to demonstrate the workout in front of a live crowd going nuts. From there the rest of the CrossFit world has until Monday morning to post their scores online.

“But I’m not going to the games, why should I do the Open?” The open is not just for Rich Froning. You do not need to be a regional qualifier to take part in the Open. There are many different reasons for which the open is worth your time and effort. The most important part of the open is very simple: Fun! The Open is a terrific community bonding experience. The whole gym goes into the workout together, supporting one another and pushing each other past what we think are our limits. It’s a time to attack a grueling workout with your friends, have a great time and hopefully post an awesome score. The workouts will be challenging and test both your body and mind, but you will leave with that euphoric feeling of accomplishment and pride.

The Open is very beneficial to a Crossfitter of any level because it will provide you with a snapshot of your fitness at this moment in time. The Open will give you direct data on exactly where you are at with your fitness. For veterans of the Open, this will provide a chance to compare with the previous year and find where you improved. This competition is a great motivation supplier when you are grinding through a tough workout or if you are struggling with your nutrition. Knowing that the Open is on the horizon can provide a great spark to your training. If you find that your scores did not improve or weren’t where you hoped they would be, the Open can be a great reality check. Have you been lacking intensity in your workout or discipline in your diet? The Open can be a great reminder or a kick in the butt when you need it.

The open is also for those of you who are brand new to CrossFit. The scores will provide you with a great baseline of your fitness and show you where your strengths and weaknesses are. We often see a large amount of PR’s or first gymnastic movements achieved due to the competitive environment that the Open brings. There will be both an RX workout and a scaled down version so there should be no fear of not being able to perform what is asked. Hopefully the Open continues to spark your passion for your health and fitness and provides you with motivation for the journey ahead.

Whether you are Rich Froning or in your first year of CrossFit, the Open is for you! So have fun with it and we will see you at the Combine for this year’s Open!

RX

Article by: Ryne Milner

When the next day’s workout is published on Wodify, you will commonly see the letters Rx. This simply indicates which weight or movement standard is prescribed by the programmer. Most commonly, programs are written with the elite athlete in mind. From there the workout can be scaled down to meet the fitness level of each individual athlete. The goal for most athletes is to be able to complete each workout Rx and push that magical blue button. However, it is the duty of the coaching staff to ensure that you only Rx a workout if you prove that you are capable of completing it safely. So when should I Rx? When should I scale?

The number one factor in determining whether or not to Rx a workout is safety. Many athletes will try to perform a workout Rx even though the load is too heavy for their current ability level. This can lead to major injuries that will set us back in our training. Just because you have hit a certain lift at the prescribed weight once or twice does not mean that you are ready to use that weight within a workout. As fatigue sets in, our bodies begin to look for any way possible to get that weight up. The athlete will put themselves in unsafe positions such as rounding their back or jerking the weight around to try and get the bar up. This is very dangerous and can lead to injuries. It is the coaches’ responsibility to decide where the athlete is at and if it is in the athlete’s best interest to Rx the workout. It is the athlete’s responsibility to take that advice and make a safe decision. Pushing the blue button is not worth an injury.

The same applies for gymnastics. If you do not have the proper form and technique to perform a certain movement, then you again are putting yourself at risk. If you do not have the requisite strength and form to perform a movement properly, we need to spend more time practicing our progressions and skills. It is vital that we go back and perfect the basics before moving on to more advanced movements or heavier loads on the bar. We do not want to form bad habits. It is so important to look at your fitness with the long term view. If we first master the basics, the rest will follow. It may take a little longer then you hoped but your movements will be stronger, safer and technically more efficient.

Another factor to consider is the type of response we are hoping to illicit with the workout. We can look to a classic CrossFit workout to explain this. Let’s look at Grace, which calls for 30 clean and jerks for time. Even though we are performing one of the Olympic lifts, we are not just looking to build strength. The goal of Grace is to illicit an aerobic response while we are performing the lifts. So if we are doing one rep and then resting for a full minute before trying another, we will not be hitting the metabolic pathway that we are intending to. Instead we should lower the weight and move quicker through the workout in order to get the type of physical response that we are looking for. You may be frustrated on that day but it will be much more beneficial for you in the long run.

While we certainly encourage our athletes to work towards being able to Rx all of the workouts, we want to first make sure that we can accomplish that goal in a safe manner. Keep working those progressions, getting stronger and trust the process one day at a time!