So You Like To Weigh Yourself Eh?

STOP!!!


The topic of weighing yourself comes up much too often at CrossFit Kingston. "I want to lose 'xx' pounds of weight". "I stepped on the scale this morning and I weigh more than I did yesterday. Did I eat too much? Am I not training enough?" Those are just some of the questions I've encountered in my time coaching. My reply every time is that you do not, I repeat, DO NOT need to weigh yourself. Especially every day. Your weight fluctuates daily. Unless you're going to box, compete in an Olympic weightlifting or powerlifting meet where you need to make a certain weight or you are doing a workout that requires you to lift weight at a percentage of your body weight, there is no need to step on that scale. Hide your scale. Throw it away!

Transitioning To Paleo

Some people at CFK have asked me about transitioning from a Western-type diet to a Paleolithic/Primal way of eating. I found this article from Straight To The Bar on how to transition to the Paleolithic style of eating. Enjoy!

I won’t go into detail on what the Paleo diet is, since that’s covered elsewhere. This article is about how to transition to it rather than what it is. However, it is worth briefly pointing out that there are a number of variants that loosely fall under the banner of Hunter Gatherer / Ancestral / Paleolithic / Primal living. The differences, where they exist, are pretty subtle and certainly not worth worrying about if you are planning to transition from some other eating plan to this one.

New To Real Foods

So... You have finally decided to change your eating habits and focus on real, whole foods. Good for you. That is a step in the right direction to decrease any long-term illness (hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, auto-immune diseases, etc). There are so many websites and "diets" that really push their style of eating. Is it confusing? Damn straight. I have tinkered with my diet so many times over the past couple of years and finally found what works for me. I don't follow Paleo because I consume dairy and sprinkle some maple syrup and honey (raw if I can find it) every now and then on some stuff. But two things I do avoid is grains and stuff with added sugar. Only because they make me feel like crap after consuming them. I know I mentioned that I have a little maple syrup and honey but they do contain some nutritional benefits whereas table sugar, artificial sweeteners, and anything ending with -ose are nutritionally void.


In order to make things easier for you when it comes to selecting the right foods to consume, Nourished Kitchen has 10 simple steps to follow to steer you in the right direction. Check it out here!

Are They Worth It?

Are the supplements you are taking working for the reasons you think they should? Or do you take the supplements just because "my doctor told me so" or "I heard it on the news"?


Below is a screen capture of the website that contains information as to which supplements are good for which condition.

To find out which supplements are good for a certain condition, click here to check out the bubbles. When you click on the bubble, it will direct you to scientific studies that will support the finding as to why the selected supplement will work, or won't be beneficial, for 'X' condition.

Here is the continuation from Part 1.

So in Part 1 we discussed the body's composition with regards to water. Also, dehydration and how it can affect performance.

Many people detest the taste of water. Or even the lack of taste. A very easy solution to this problem... slice up some fruit and let it sit in the water container. Pour yourself a glass of water and enjoy! Another way is to enjoy a cup of tea. Some people are concerned with the caffeine content in some teas because caffeine has been found to exert diuretic effects. But it has been proven that the diuretic effect has little impact on the excretion of water.

Water (Part 1)

I apologize about the delay between posts. Other than laziness, I don't really have a valid excuse.


Here is a post I did well over a year ago. I am reposting it due to the hot, humid weather we have encountered over the past couple of days. And now that summer is coming upon us, it is vitally important to stay well hydrated before, during, and after working out.







Water is an important substance that is required for pretty much everything done in the human body. It allows for chemical reactions to occur, lubrication, nutrient & vitamin delivery (in the form of digestion), waste disposal, heat dispersion, and temperature regulation.

The adult human body is composed of 45 - 60% water. The brain is made up of over 80% water. Muscle is composed of 80% water whereas fat is only 20%. As a result, the lower a person's body fat percentage, the higher the percentage of water.

Food Is Not Optional

I had a conversation with an athlete recently about concerns of abdominal fat and how to get rid of it. I gave my answer of:

• you can't isolate a particular body area to remove fat from (unless you look into liposuction - NOT RECOMMENDED)
• performing high intensity workouts along with a clean diet will allow the body to start burning fat to be used as energy

Then I was asked about running and getting rid of abdominal fat. My jaw clenched for a second:

• running is a great exercise to keep the heart rate elevated and experience the feeling of "runners high", like you accomplished something great
• any type of moderate intensity, long-distance running causes a hormone in the body, cortisol, to be released
• leads to a breakdown of muscle protein (that's why distance runners are skinny and possess no muscle mass) - NOT GOOD FOR OUR INTENTIONS
• with prolonged cortisol secretion, the adrenal glands become exhausted and weak resulting in adrenal fatigue
• can lead to increased body fat, depression, and other symptoms
• so, if you're going to run, do sprint intervals

Afterwards, I remembered a great post the I had read with regards to how important nutrition is whether you are exercising or not. Click here for the site or continue on for the article: