Sugar is the Devil…

Yep that’s right Sugar is evil.  It will mess you up, hinder your recovery, and let you down just when you need energy.  Sadly the average North American eats 21 tablespoons!!! of added sugar each day.  That’s 3 times the upper limit set by the American Heart and Stroke Foundation, and way – way – more than anyone needs to consume.

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!

Mechanics – Consistency – THEN Intensity

We have had an absolutely amazing, outstanding, exceptional first month!  Thank you to all our members who make up our great community here at Alchemy CrossFit Hamilton.  You all continue to amaze me with your dedication, support for each other, and desire to thrive and help each other thrive!  You are all really committed to building your extraordinary.

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.