Masters Training To Whip Me Into My Place: Crossfit

In Crossfit, you are considered a Master based on your age. 35 years and up means your workouts might be catered a little differently than the standard WOD (workout of the day). In other words, they are modified for masters by a minuscule amount. This means I am two years away from the downhill... I felt like hugging random strangers when I saw my old Crossfit gym (Front Range Crossfit) was starting a new training program - Masters-only training on Saturdays (for age 30+ only). This meant I could have someone push me past my limits and be surrounded by 30 year olds+ while doing it. Yep. Sign me up. 

We had two coaches for class. One was Scott Olson, 1st place Crossfit Games Masters winner and Rhonda who both drilled me some spot-on coaching advise.  To start us off, Scott prepped us with the outline for the 2 hour training. He said double unders would be in our WODs, plus rowing practice. I actually stopped listening (and breathing) when he said double unders because I was hit in the gut with intense fear.

Double Unders and I have a history. And while I have recently been able to link some of them- my double unders are a complete debacle. Luckily, I wasn't the only one who had a double under dilemma, so I wasn't holding anyone back. Instead, I realized that, self-respect be damned, it was the perfect class for me because I got to improve my skills! I ended up getting more double under links than I ever have (IN MY WHOLE LIFE!) And just to brag a little bit, Scott told me that I am extremely close to becoming very efficient at double unders. And to think I almost peed my pants for nothing!

Masters Training Class Schedule:

• Warming up
• Rowing technique - Jon Kissick Team US Rowing to critique our rowing skills
• Double Under and thrusters instruction
• WOD #1 - 5 KB thrusters - 10 Double Unders - 150 Meter Run -
  EMOM (every min on the min.) 12 Min.
• Rest/Recover
• WOD #2 - 300Meter Row, 20 Double Unders, 10 Barbell Thrusters (95# male-65# female)
  4 Rounds on the 6:00 Interval

Double Under Fail. Look where the rope is

If you are asking yourself what a double under is, let me explain briefly. It's where you are jumping rope and you have the rope come under your feet twice while you only jump up once. So it's a fast rope movement with a high, slow jump. It requires practice, patience and coordination. I am completely convinced there has been a conspiracy against me being able to link them. One of the best things Scott taught us is that you want to make your double unders so effortless that when they are in a workout, they become a rest period for you. This is exactly what I want, I am done with them leaving me exhausted.

Current Double Under face

The rowing critique was helpful, it's my second time taking a class from Jon Kissick and I think he's full of amazing information. Jon rowed for the US Rowing team and even won a gold medal...Totally famous. My form was brought up a lot in class for all different mistakes but I enjoyed applying better methods and seeing the improvements on my rowing screen. Here's what I remember:

1. My food pads need to be at #2 station because my knees were coming over my toes (I have super flexible hamys- thanks Yoga!)
2. I was not leaning forward enough on the front end, need to wind all the way to 11:00 (like I'm about to pull a heavy load)
3. I was pulling back on the rower before my legs fully finished their pull. This gives me less power because I start using littler muscles like my back instead of my legs
4. I was retracting after the pull, and allowing my knees to bend before the bar. I need to bar to go past my knees before I bend my knees

So many fun tricks and manipulations to help you row better! It's so thrilling to see notable improvements in a skill set.  I saw huge drop offs in my split time when I hinged forward more so I was elated to see that.

Common rowing errors video here!

Our last WOD completely KILLED me:

300 Meter Row

20 Double Unders

10 Barbell Thrusters (95# male-65# female)
4 Rounds on the 6:00 Interval

 4 Rounds of this shenanigans was insane. It reminded me that I'm made of steel and I haven't been pushing myself hard enough in the gym to value that steel-made self. I Love you Crossfit. Back to the story, I finished each round between the high 2:00 min mark and low 3:00 min mark. I think officially my last time was 3:12min. which was my worst time, I can easily blame the exhaustion. I was able to do the thrusters unbroken and I rowed in 1:58/500m splits but the double unders were what slowed my roll. Hopefully not for long, Double Unders are beginning to become my bitch. Considering all the whip marks I have received from double unders, it's about time I take control back from the rope!

Stay tuned for more training!

The Hormonal Games, Your Troubleshooter. Part 6 of Making Your Meat Suit Habitable

Making Your Meat Suit Habitable, Part 6...Hormonal Games 

Our hormones are like an orchestra; intended to play beautiful music together, but things can get wacky when one trumpet tries to go solo and the other instruments try to cover him, ending in a musical disaster. Be aware that hormones need to all play together to the same sheet music, with the same conductor, in the same room, on the same night. You absolutely CAN NOT man-handle one hormone without instigating changes to another.

When your hormones are out of sync, you could suffer from depression, brain fog and other less-than-exciting emotions, plus you are more apt to...drum roll please... store fat. The great part is you can lovingly (and naturally) down play hormones we need less of while offering some TLC to the hormones we want more of. Let's work to orchestrate your masterpiece.

The holy grail of your body fat storage: THE BODY FAT MAP, FOUND HERE:

Want to know what hormones your body needs help with? 

Check out the body fat storage map

Not who you want conducting your hormones. I like the guy in the middle's expression

Making Your Meat Suit Habitable part 1  - Setting the Wheels in Motion
Making Your Meat Suit Habitable part 2 - Your Liver
Making Your Meat Suit Habitable part 3 - Body Fat Map
Making Your Meat Suit Habitable part 4 - Exercise

THYROID. Ya, I Got A Dud.

NAME: THYROID
BODY FAT AREA: ARMPITS/AXILLARY AREA
ACCOMPLICES: MAJOR PLAYER WITH ALL YOUR HORMONES

Disorderly thyroids are all around us. There are low and high functioning ones, goiters and Hashimotos (which is the majority of low thyroid cases.) If you don't know already, Hashimotos is where your body treats your thyroid hormone as poison (and yep, I got that one!) Blame the rebel in me, but I actually resisted taking any medication for my thyroid for a full year. It was finally when I was so tired my bedtime was as soon as I got home from work. Plus, I was seriously considering shaving my head because I barely had any hair on it.


Your thyroid regulates a large portion of your bodily functions and being born with a dud initially made me feel victimized to no end. Instead of letting the victim mentality wage an ugly war on my control, I instead decided to do everything I could to help my thyroid naturally. Besides that, I also pop a thyroid compound pill every morning, 30 minutes before breakfast, and try to eat sushi and seaweed more often and get natural morning sunlight. I have proven I am in control of my weight but I do think sometimes I have to work a little harder than some. That's OK, I know it's worth it to me and that others have to work even harder than I do. In life, you work with what you're given and try to make it damn good.
 






How to Help Your Thyroid Naturally

1. Get outside in the morning and look in the direction of the sun, not directly at it. Do this for 15 minutes daily
2. Sprinkle kelp on salads and or use it as a salt replacement
3. Go Gluten free. That stuff is NOT your thyroid's friend
4. Heavy on the proteins, they will send the thyroid hormone to necessary body parts
5. Cook your calciferous veggies - broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and the like need to be cooked. Raw can interfere with thyroid function
6. Eat salmon, tuna, eggs, broccoli
7. Avoid soy - this is in almost all processed foods if you check the labels you will see eating crap foods is destroying your thyroid function thus your ability to lose weight

What I have learned is that if your thyroid is not functioning where it should your other hormones will not either. They are interplay off each other. It's like a party, how one person can come in and dominate the room with positive, lively energy. Or their nemesis can come in and bring down the mood of the room. Thyroid controls so much, so treat it well because you don't want to try to lose weight, feel good, or have hair without your thyroid.

The Testosterone Level of a Teenage Boy. Yes, Please.

NAME: TESTOSTERONE
ALLIES: DHEA

In Jillian Michael's Book Master Your Metabolism, one of the best parts is when Jillian compares herself to her thinner friend based on their hormonal tests. Her friend's hormone levels show she is high in testosterone. Now, I can spot this testosterone-heavy body type out in a crowd any day. I'm not thinking of the overly bulky body builder! Instead, its the perfectly thin girl who can eat anything she wants and doesn't know what it feels like to put on jeans and have your thighs and lovehandles bulge out. Sometimes it's to skinny girl's demise, because this high-testosterone girl tends to be lacking in organic curves, but often she's "that girl" the other gals envy for her effortlessly skinny self. Her blood result will usually show high testosterone, so you wanna get yourself some of this, and I'm here to help.

For the guys, the heavy in testosterone male will look like this, maybe. And rest assured, these boobs are muscle not moob-fat. But high testosterone males will also have ample facial hair, lots of energy, and be motivated, be extra motivated to hit the gym. Women are by nature more attracted to guys with high levels of testosterone because it's a sign of health. Did I get your attention now?

In both males and females, testosterone will help you to
- Build muscle
- Have a smaller waist
- Have confidence, like you own "it"!
- Have an active libido (sign me up!)
- Increase attrativeness to females


What does LOW TESTOSTERONE (Boo...) looks like:
1. Beer belly
2. No motivation
3. Moobs
4. Depression
5. Reduced sex drive
6. Loss of body hair
7. Reduced muscle
8. Increased body fat

Causes of Low Testosterone: (some were surprising to me so I wanted to share)

• Vasectomy
• Aging - damit.
• Radiation treatment
• Too much body fat. This is a cycle. obesity causes low testosterone and the other way also
• Steroids
• Estrogen dominance or testosterone converting to estrogen
• Lack of exercise
• Stress
• Diabetes or insulin resistance
• Alcohol
• Narcotics
• Exposure to pesticides and toxins

Image from Anti Aging Clinics

And now folks, for the goodies!

Here's how you can increase your testosterone naturally:

• Sleep! Deep sleep, in a dark, cool room. Watch the YouTube Video below for proof
• Intense exercise, fast and hard. And lift heavy weights (done and done!)
• Take zinc citrate, and Vitamin B 
• Eat lean red meat (grass fed preferred!) Red meat +burly men go hand in hand in my mind
• Eat a low inflammation diet and lose weight. You can do both by adopting the paleo diet
• Stop eating sugar. This is important with ALL things good for your body but specifically for Testosterone wellness
• Increase your healthy fats (avocado, olive oil, coconut, nuts) don't be scared of saturated fats, that's an old school way of thinking, instead get educated on their benefits
• Magnesium oil. I love this stuff to help me recover quickly and I can spray directly onto sore muscles, plus it helps you sleep well
• Wonder Woman pose
• Masturbate and/or have a lot of sex (saved the best for last)

High Testosterone symptoms here! 

Best of luck to us all!

Low DHEA. Oh Hell No.

NAME: DHEA
ACCOMPLICES: TESTOSTERONE
BODY FAT STORAGE AREA: TRICEP AREA

DHEA is the building block of very important hormones, so you don't want to mess with it. Men manufacture testosterone and DHEA in their reproductive glands which helps them to have facial hair, have a sex drive, and keep up their energy. Sadly, both testosterone and DHEA decline with age so it means we have to work a little harder to keep these hormones pumping. DHEA is important because it converts to testosterone.

Testosterone, for women, is produced by the adrenal glands, which means if you are chronically stressed out, you are not producing enough DHEA. This rule applies to both males and females- cortisol can reduce DHEA which can thus reduce your body's access to testosterone, yuck. This hormone is simple. If you want to increase your DHEA (I do, because I don't like flabby arms) then you need to increase your testosterone. You also need to work on your stress levels. It always comes back around to cortisol, doesn't it.

Another tricky part of your hormonal orchestra is when testosterone begins to convert to estrogen within the body. This tends to happen when you are gaining weight. This is not a good place to be. The best way to prevent testosterone converting to estrogen? Stay away from flour and sugar, mostly at night time. Also ensure you have enough zinc in your system.

Sallymatterson.com

SIGNS OF TOO LITTLE DHEA/TESTOSTERONE:
1. Anxiety
2. Depression
3. Moobs
4. Being unmotivated
5. Fatty tricep area

Increase DHEA Naturally:
1. Detox the liver- mostly for females
2. Increase Testosterone by lifting heavy weights, eating more protein
3. Stress Management by sleeping more, walking, meditating
4. Control your insulin with a proper, real-foods diet: Paleo/Mediterranean. No Sugar. No Flour.
5. Consider taking ginseng and zinc

Reference:
http://www.sallymatterson.com.au/blogs/flabby-triceps-boosting-dhea-levels-could-be-your-secret-to-losing-body-fat

http://roccoperez.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/the-biosignature-explanation-for-gaining-fat-on-the-arms-for-women-and-men/

Low Progesterone. But High Hopes. We've Got This!

NAME: PROGESTERONE
ALLIES: ESTROGEN
BODY FAT STORAGE AREA: HIPS/BUTT/HAMYS

While I was in the middle of writing this blog post, I had my own hormone levels checked for several yucky symptoms (moody, bloating, and gaining weight in hips/butt) that I couldn't ignore. Can't argue with the objective facts, the results showed my progesterone level is 'very low'. Where the normal range is from 1.7-27.0, this girl's progesterone level came in at .4. Bummer dude.

I had an ah-ha moment thinking this explains why I have more "junk in the trunk" than I should, The hubby didn't sound very enthusiastic of me losing my All-About-That-Bass booty. But here goes! 

All About That Bass, No Treble

Progesterone does not work alone. Progesterone and estrogen are a power couple. Progesterone for a woman helps regulate her monthly cycle, and protect a new pregnancy. However, if a woman is not ovulating, then she doesn't produce progesterone and there is too much estrogen roaming around solo. (I suspect estrogen is looking for progesterone at the time and feeling lost, humph). A drop in Progesterone is also what contributes to carb city central, when you are craving that dessert (chocolate?) right before you start your next period. Now you know who to point your finger at, its your hormones.

Men also manufacture progesterone and use it for a healthy brain, heart and bones. Their levels would likely be more stable since their levels are not dependent on ovulating. But we all need progesterone for the same reason, to rid ourselves of excess estrogen. Without enough progesterone, we tend to be off balance. It also goes both ways, we can have too little Progesterone because we are estrogen dominant. 

Signs of Progesterone imbalance:

• Belly fat/ Fat storage to hips/booty/hamstrings
• Carb cravings
• Dry skin
• Extreme PMS
• Hair loss
• Heavy periods
• Missed periods
• High blood sugar
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• PCOS
• Anxiety & nervousness
• Reduced facial hair in men

Causes of Low Progesterone:

1. Anovulation (woman not ovulating) Don't know if you are? Read here

2. Too much stress!

3. Hypothyroidism 

4. Too much body fat

5. Birth control pills

6. Smoking/pollution/Toxins

Natural ways to Balance Progesterone:

1. Acupuncture 

2. Manage your stress with meditation, yoga, deep breathing, etc.

3. Progesterone cream
4. Royal Maca or Vitex are known to balance hormones
5. Vitamin B6
6. Magnesium
7. Evening Primrose Oil
8. Decrease sugar
9. Increase fiber
10. Nix the Alcohol and caffeine to help the liver detox the hormones

Making Your Meat Suit Habitable part 1  - Setting the Wheels in MotionMaking Your Meat Suit Habitable part 2 - Your Liver
Making Your Meat Suit Habitable part 3 - Body Fat Map
Making Your Meat Suit Habitable part 4 - Exercise
Making Your Meat Suit Habitable part 5 - Human Growth Hormone

References:
http://natural-fertility-info.com/progesterone-fertility-guide
Master Your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels (Book)