It’s time to kick things up a notch! Starting in 2011 Alchemy CrossFit is committed to contributing 1% of all revenues to charity. Check our newsletter for quarterly polls were we will ask you, our members and our community, to help us chose which charity to donate to.

And Good Luck to Ryan “6-Pack” Lapadat on his quest to set Guiness world records and raise funds for kids hospital

Check him out or donate to the cause

http://6packlapadat.com/

You’ll see Ryan hanging out in the corner of the gym deadlifting for hours at a time – He’s not crazy (well he might be…) he’s getting ready for another World Record attempt July 15th/16th In Hamilton.

Dynamic stretching

By Monica Mark
Staff Reporter

Play almost any sport at any level and chances are you will be called to stretch beforehand. The typical routine is well-known and widespread: Reach for your toes, hold the stretch for 10 or 15 or 30 seconds, release and move on to another muscle. It warms you up, limbers you up and gets you ready for tough competition, right? Not at all, according to the results of a recent study by kinesiology researchers

Here are some problems with Sugar:

1. It has zero nutritional value – zilch – nada – zip
2. It displaces other foods that actually have nutritional value
3. It spikes blood sugar levels and therefore insulin
4. By spiking Insulin it disturbs the rest of the bodies hormone balance
5. It leads to an increased likelihood of obesity (it makes you fat and tired – no good)
6. It leads to energy crashes – get all pumped up on sugar – crash 20 minutes later – eat more sugar, etc, etc…

Here are some words to avoid on your food labels (although even better would be food without labels – like fresh produce, meats, etc and making your own home cooked non-processed food):

• Sugar
• Sucrose
• Fructose
• Glucose
• Sucralose
• Corn Syrop (probably the WORST offender)
• Sugar alcholols
• basically anything ending in a …ose

So the basic rule of thumb is eat REAL food not processed “food”, read nutritional labels, and avoid the really bad choices like Pop (at approx 12-13 tablespoons of sugar per can). Remember to keep your meals balanced – 30% Protein, 30% Good Fats, 40% favorable Carbs.

Sugar = Bad!

What Happens when you drink COKE

Enjoy! (just not with a coke…)

Last article I wrote a bit about Intensity – and how it is vital – but that proper mechanics, consistently demonstrated were the foundation that intensity must be built on. Now, when you start adding intensity you will get sore, your body will adapt, you will get stronger, faster, more agile, etc. In other words, you will improve the 10 physical skills, and in so doing your overall fitness. However, these changes, for the most part, don’t happen in the gym, during your workout. They occur as you recover. There are a few essential components to recovery, and these apply whether you are recovering from a workout, or from an acute injury.

Rest: Without rest you can not and will not recover. Your body has a finite amount of resources available. If you don’t give yourself time to recharge, when you are not further breaking down muscle tissues and depleting glycogen and glucose stores, you will eventually crash – first by plateauing, and then by actually seeing a decrease in your performance. Practically this means take at least 1 day off of training every week – the more you train, and the longer you have been training, the more you can train every week – but you always need some rest. Rest does not need to be sitting on the couch doing nothing. Active rest is actually superior for recovery. Go for a hike, play pick up basketball, do some skill work, find something active and fun. Fun is essential here – mental and emotional fatigue can be as detrimental to your performance as physical fatigue.

Sleep: Contrary to popular opinion you need sleep. You will not function at a high level while running on 3-5 hours a night. Sleep, especially REM sleep, is the most efficient time for your body to rebuild and replenish. If you short yourself on sleep, your performance will suffer – there are no exceptions. That doesn’t mean you won’t be able to do what you normally do, workout, etc – just that you are performing at a sub-optimal level. HERE is a short article on some of the health effects of lack of sleep.

Food: Proper nutrition is another key to efficient recovery. It makes sense – you wouldn’t try to fuel a race car with contaminated gas – eating poorly is the same thing. We recommend the Zone as far as nutritional plans go. Each meal should consist of 40% Carbohydrates (complex carbs such as veggies are best), 30% Protein, and 30% good Fats. What I have seen going over members nutrition logs is that people chronically under-ingest protein. Check out this article from the CrossFit Journal for more info and a sample meal plan.

Water: You would be hard pressed to drink too much water. I have never met anyone who could drink even remotely enough water to be harmful, but I’ve met hundreds of people who are chronically dehydrated. Water makes up the largest proportion of our cells, and is essential to proper digestion, cooling, and energy production. It is very possible to lose 2 or more pounds of water in a workout (about a liter). You need to replace it to ensure proper and efficient recovery. Also, thirst is not a good gauge of your hydration status – by the time you are thirsty during a workout it is too late. You need to drink water on a consistent basis so you come into the workout hydrated, and rehydrate afterwords.

There are also a few things that can greatly aid in your recovery efforts.

Ice: Ice is the single most effective way to decrease inflammation – it has negligible side effects, unlike NSAID’s (non steroidal anti-inflammatory meds such as IBUPROFEN for example). It is cheap, readily available, and has been used for centuries if not millenia. If something hurts -ICE it. 10 minutes on with at least 20 minutes off. HERE is an interesting article on the use of ice for therapy and recovery.

Stretching/Mobility Work: Moving your sore muscles through their natural range of motion is essential to reducing the amount and duration of muscle soreness. Stretching will not prevent or reduce DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) but the increased blood flow from active mobility work will help. Stretching after exercise is essential to maintain and/or increase the joints range of motion. For example, if you are sore from heavy squats, go for a walk and do some air squats, if you’re sore from push ups, do some arm circles, walk vigorously with your arms, and do some wall or knee push ups.

Massage/ART: Massage can help loosen tight muscles, aid in relaxing muscles, increase your body awareness, and encourage and increase blood flow which helps remove lactic acid and other waste products. ART (a soft tissue technique) can help break up scar tissue and adhesions, allowing your muscles to function as intended.

Remember, if you have any questions, ask us – we are here to help you meet and exceed your goals!

Now, to really get the most out of your training you have to follow a system (in our case CrossFit) because without a system you’re just wasting your time. SO lets talk about an important part of the CrossFit System – Intensity. Intensity is awesome – it is where the magic is, it is where you will see the exceptional results we all desire, BUT it will also hurt you and set you back if you don’t progress wisely. I know there is a huge desire and incentive to get the fastest time, lift the most weight – whatever. but to do so at the expense of proper mechanics will seriously impede you in the long term.

Start with MECHANICS. Do the movements properly, do them through full range of motion, with proper posture and form. Master your fundamentals – I guarantee that none of us have truly mastered all the fundamentals – there is always room to improve. Once you are able to CONSISTENTLY perform a movement with proper MECHANICS then, and only then are you ready to increase the INTENSITY.

This DOES NOT mean be a huge slacker. just because you are working on mechanics and consistency does not mean you should not be working hard – if anything getting proper mechanics takes MORE not less effort. Scale your workouts to fit your current level – If you don’t know how ask us, that’s why we are here. If you are not clear on an exercise -if you struggle with something – GET OUR HELP. We will spend as much time as you are willing to invest in order to ensure you learn and improve. Challenge yourself to improve every moment of every day. DO NOT BE CONTENT WITH MEDIOCRITY. I have never heard of anyone saying at the end of their life – “I wish I hadn’t been as good at something as I was..”

When you walk in the door – Bring a Positive Mental Attitude and BE AWESOME! you all are.

Slackline.com

WikiHow’s Article

Currently no one has made the full length (the record is missing by 1 step) come on in and try your luck.