Eat Clean and Get Lean in 2018!

Happy New Year to our CrossFit Equality family!

Before we discuss eating clean and getting lean in 2018, if you haven’t heard, this year marks the 5^th year the box has been open and we are celebrating the momentous occasion with a 5 Year Anniversary party! Mark you calendars and bring your whole family on January 20^th. Please RSVP HERE.

Now, who want’s to eat clean & get lean in 2018? I know I do but I can’t do it alone and I certainly can’t do it without setting SMART goals.

What are SMART goals you ask? You can learn all about them in a previous blog post that you can find HERE. Setting SMART goals is the most effective way to achieve the results you want! Whether it’s losing weight, getting stronger, building muscle, burning fat or just feeling better establishing exactly how you are going to get there and by when is key.

And if you need help with your SMART goals schedule a FREE 15 minute goal setting session with me, I’d be glad to help!

Or kick the accountability up a notch by signing up for Coach Courtney’s 2018 Nutrition Challenge. You can find out all the details HERE! If you need the coupon code for the discount (which expires January 10^th) shoot me an email at info@crossfitequality.com Don’t wait to sign up..there’s only 30 spots and pricing goes up after January 10th!

To your health!

Coach Ann

Eat More Fiber – Says Coach Courtney!

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What is fiber? Fiber is the part of plant foods that our bodies cannot digest or absorb. Fiber can be found in fruits, beans, lentils, vegetables, peas, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. Additionally, there are two types of dietary fiber, both of which provide benefits to the human body. Soluble fiber is derived from fruit, some vegetables, oats, beans, peas, lentils and barley. When soluble fiber is mixed with liquids, it becomes a gel-like substance which helps control blood sugar and lowers cholesterol. Insoluble fiber comes from fruits, grains, and vegetables. This type of fiber adds bulk, helps food pass through the gastrointestinal tract, prevents constipation and acts like a brush to clean out the colon. In addition to the cardiovascular, digestive and blood sugar benefits, fiber can help with weight management. High fiber foods tend to be more filling than low fiber foods so you are more likely to eat less and stay satiated longer.

It is recommended to consume between 25 and 38 grams of fiber per day depending on age, sex, and lifestyle. Unfortunately, most people only consume about half of the recommended amount. Here are some suggestions to help you get more fiber in your daily diet:

· Eat vegetables, nuts, seeds, and unpeeled whole fruit. Examples of high fiber foods include: artichoke hearts, avocado, peas, spinach, sweet potato, black beans, kidney beans, lentils, ground flaxseed, almonds, apples, pears, mangos, prunes, and raspberries.

· Consume unprocessed foods as much as possible. Food processing typically removes a lot of natural fiber .

· Try recipes with beans, peas, barley, lentils, quinoa, bulgur or brown rice.

· Have nuts, seeds, raw veggies, or fruit for snacks instead of chips or candy.

· Spread your fiber rich foods throughout the day.

· Drink plenty of water, at least 80 ounces per day or half your body weight in ounces per day .

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Top 5 Tips to Not Blowing Your Diet at a Party! – Coach Courtney

How many of y’all have totally blown your diet at a party, get together, or vacation weekend? It is something that I personally struggle with and I know many people struggle with sticking to their healthy lifestyle when too many temptations arise. Below are 5 tips to help you survive a party without blowing all your hard work during the week

Don’t arrive hungry! This first one almost sounds counterintuitive because you know there will be plenty to eat at the party. However, think about this scenario – have you ever gone grocery shopping on an empty stomach and totally came home with a ton of junk food you normally wouldn’t buy? It’s the same concept for arriving at a party famished. If you eat before arriving at the party, you control the menu, and you are more likely to stay disciplined around the not-so-healthy options!
Bring a healthy dish to share! If you are going to a party with people that do not share your nutritional and fitness goals, let’s face it, you make get teased a little bit about bringing a healthy dish. However, bringing a healthy dish to a party is important for a couple reasons. First, because you brought something healthy, you know if you get hungry, you have a healthy option. And second, you are setting a good example for the rest of the guests and who knows, just bringing a healthy option and sharing your nutritional knowledge, you may have a positive impact on someone else’s lifestyle. Great options for a healthy dish to bring are: fruit and veggie trays (stay away from the dressings and dips), salad, lean protein to grill, etc.
Don’t hang around the food table! When you hang around the food table, more than likely you will mindlessly snack on all the delicious food items, even if you are full! It is the same premise on how it’s possible to finish a whole bag of chips of tub of ice cream while watching TV – we become distracted while conversing with our friends at the party and mindlessly eat as a social activity. And trust me, grazing on the snacks will add up quick! My suggestion is to grab one small plate (because you’ve already ate before arriving to the party as Tip#1 suggests right?) and stick with the healthiest options possible and THEN LEAVE THE FOOD TABLE IMMEDIATELY!
Drink wisely! Regardless of whether or not you are going to indulge in an adult beverage, it is important to stay hydrated because the summer time heat in Texas is no joke! This is especially important if you are drinking alcohol because alcohol has a diuretic effect on the body which means your body loses more fluid than normal. There are a couple ways we can combat some of the negative effect s of alcohol so you can enjoy yourself responsibly at your summer time events. First, switch off between one alcoholic drink and one bottle of water. This will help you stay hydrated on those hot summer days! Second, stick with light beers and for you liquor connoisseurs out there, stick with low sugar mixers like regular and flavored sparkling water or a simple garnish of lemon or lime. Dark beers and mixers like sodas and fruit juices all add extra carbs and calories. For example, most pina colada recipes are over 200 calories per drink! And finally, plan ahead and limit yourself to a specified number of alcoholic beverages that you bring with you to the party and use your will power to stick with that pre-planned limit!
Get Moving! Don’t just sit at a table for the entire party. Get up, move around, and socialize with other guests because isn’t that the reason we go to parties – to socialize with others? Examples of how to get moving at parties: go swimming, play outdoor games like cornhole or ladder golf, have a dance off or bring CrossFit into it and do synchronized burpees! OK maybe no one will want to do synchronized burpees but the idea is to get moving instead of being sedentary at table which is what most people do all day during the week at the office!

Looking for a Good Rack? – by Coach Jeremy

As Coaches, one of the common issues we have noticed is athletes that have trouble maintaining a good front rack position with a barbell. First we need to talk about what your coach is looking for in a good front rack position.

Front Rack Position:

The barbell must be supported directly by the body so the arms are not doing anything to directly hold the bar. The shoulders need to be elevated slightly and pushed forward to create a shelf. The bar should sit securely in the channel between the top of the shoulders and the throat. The hands should be loosely wrapped as fully around the barbell as possible with the grip spaced wide enough so the hands are not between the barbell and athlete’s body. The priority is to keep the barbell in the channel between the shoulders and throat, then raise the elbows as high as possible without changing the shoulder position. In other words, stop lifting the elbows if the barbell starts to move out of the channel.

Improving Front Rack Position:

There can be any number of reasons why you might struggle with an optimal front rack position so let’s look at a few ways we might improve yours.

1) Tight Triceps – try a banded tricep stretch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix5hXPPh8xQ

Also you can roll out your triceps with a lacrosse ball or foam roller

2) Thoracic Position – What are we talking about here? This is the middle to upper part of your back that tends to round forward in the bottom of the front squat. Here is a great article with many different ways to help improve thoracic positioning: https://redefiningstrength.com/thoracic-extension-exercises-thoracic-bridge/

3) Wrists – Here is a video that shows some of the similar items above but also targets wrists: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g2Ad20aEB0

Remember, it takes time and work to improve positioning so take a few minutes before or after class to work through some issues. Try to work toward a full grip as much as possible when working with a barbell. Keep in mind a quick Personal Training session can help diagnose some problems and get you set on the right path.

Balanced Snacks

Snacking is an effective way to fit extra nutrients into your diet and prevent overeating at mealtime. Pair a carbohydrate like, fruits or, low glycemic vegetables with protein foods like nuts for the most balanced snack.

PRO TIP:
Try ½ apple with hard boiled egg or two turkey and hummus rolls ups!

Confused about nutrition? Need accountability? We are here to help. Check out our nutrition services HERE or CONTACT US for more information!

How to Train Your Abs!

Determination Breeds Success

I’m often asked to help people lose weight. While I enjoy helping others reach their goal it requires a lot of hardwork and dedication by the client.

I am a prime example of that. In October 2015 I decided that I wanted to lose weight before a big beach vacation in July of 2016. I am not going to lie, it was tough, but I managed to lose almost 20 pounds and reduce my body fat quite a bit.

I went through ups and downs and still continue to this day to have the same struggles as many of you do: eating out, too many adult beverages and staying hydrated.

In the end though the success all comes down to 3 things: 1) proper nutrition 2) self dicipline and 3) determination.

If you need help and accountability with your nutrition read about our services HERE! or CONTACT ME and we will find the right program to help you reach your goals!

Avoiding Yo-Yo Weight Loss by Coach Brooke

-by Coach Brooke P.

How do we avoid yo-yo weightloss?

Do you find yourself struggling to stick to a healthy diet? It is not uncommon to see ourselves start out strong and completely dedicated to eating only the “best” foods with no cheating and then a few weeks later we realize we’re back to our old ways with no change to our body. How did this happen? It has been my experience that I would let myself indulge once and then use that as somewhat of an excuse to make less-than-great decisions the rest of the day. A day turned into three days in a row, and then a week. Before I knew it, I was back to a sugary Starbucks drink a day thinking, “I should get back to eating healthy.” So how do we avoid this? How do we not only stick to eating healthy, but make sure we keep the weight off that we worked so hard to lose in the first place?

When we make the decision to change our diet in hopes of losing weight, we want to be sure we are making sustainable changes. The Paleo Diet is great and has helped many people in their weightloss journey (including our own members!), but if you decide you’re suddenly going to go full out, 100% Paleo all the time, is that really sustainable for you? Would you be able to completely remove bread from your life for an extended period of time starting right now? For a month, six months, a year? How about chocolate? Dairy? Peanuts? This is extreme, but I use this example to say that your “lifestyle change” does not necessarily have to be all at once.

My freshman year of college, I gave up soda for a six week challenge with some friends just because I knew it was not the healthiest option and I drank about a ton of Coke a week. Lucky for me, it stuck once the challenge was over. I regularly reached for water or tea instead. The next year, I switched from regular dairy milk to almond milk because I didn’t like the way dairy milk made my body feel. A few months later, I switched from all white bread all the time (seriously, ALL the time) to wheat bread, and then eventually whole wheat, then whole grain, and now Ezekiel bread. I soon found myself choosing grilled chicken over fried chicken. I switched from Frosted Flakes or a giant bagel for breakfast for convenience to eggs and turkey bacon or oatmeal. I slowly stopped going to Whataburger and Cane’s and found myself instead cooking ground turkey and broccoli or eating a hearty and healthy burrito bowl from Chipotle. The best part is, these are all changes that have stuck with me for 5-6 years now! I don’t typically find myself craving sweets like I used to and when I do, I eat that cheesecake or that cookie because I know one indulgence isn’t going to throw me off of this lifestyle I have built for myself. These are sustainable changes I made over time that have provided me with results that I am very pleased with.

So take a look at your daily diet. I challenge you to find and make room for healthier alternatives in your meals, whether it be getting a non-pasta meal at the Italian restaurant or skipping the mayonnaise on your sandwich, or even drinking a glass of water with your meal instead of a sugary drink. Small, sustainable changes can help ease the pain so many of us associate with a “diet,” because it’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle change!

If you are not sure where to start, check out our Nutrition Services or sign up for our 28 day Battle of the Boxes Nutrition Challenge today!

06.29.15 Monday

STRENGTH:
BackSquat
70%x3, 80%x3, 90%x3 or more
Last round, as many reps as possible
Cycle 3, Week 2

WOD:
4 Rounds for Time:
500 m row (sub 400 m run if rowers are full)
15 Shoulder to OH (115/85#)

AP: 4 x 10 Hollow Body Rocks
_________________________________________________________________________
6:00am BootCamp

3-6-9-12-15
DB Thrusters (35/25#)
Pull Ups/Ring Rows
*200m Row between each set (4x)

AP:
4 Rounds
30 sec hollow body holds
30 sec flutter kicks

QOD: What’s a good book you would recommend for some summer reading?