No matter how you try sometimes one small wrong movement, can result in injury. Crossfit or no crossfit it’s inevitable if you are constantly challenging yourself.

To minimise injury ensure you include mobility practices and myofascial release in your weekly routine. I can guarantee you will get your bang for your buck in terms of improved health and performance. Check out this article from Tabata Times. “A research at Memorial University of Newfoundland showed that a mere two minutes of foam rolling led to an 8-10% increase in the range of motion”.

Below are 2 starter videos focusing on a common area, the shoulders. All you need is a lacrosse or cricket ball to get started. Remember when thinking about the shoulders it’s not literally just the shoulders. The human body is all connected. Your issue may be in the neck.  I would always recommend seeing a Physio as soon as possible. Early detection and addressing the issue before it gets worst, is always the best.

For more myofascial release exercises and mobility refer to Mobility WOD.

The Fear Of “Bulkiness” and CrossFit.

If you prefer the picture on the right, then you can stop reading now.

“Crossfit does not make you bulky”

The good thing is, now that I have been doing it for 6 months I can be a walking example. A friend asked me today, but why aren’t you big? She seemed surprised.  Well for your information, it actually takes a lot to get BIG. At the Box (crossfit gym) we do too much repetition to GET BIG. Those who are big, make an objective to get big. They train and eat to be so (eg. Extra supplements and strengthening exercises outside the WOD). For normal people like you and me who aren’t training all day long or eating like crazy, it’s virtually impossible. Sure my butt’s gone bigger however that’s because according to my other half, I used to have a flat butt

For the record my other half has actually gone from a size Medium to a Small for T-shirts.  He dragon boated for  over 10 years.  If you are ever familiar with dragon boating it’s all about upper body strength.  All DB people have huge shoulders. Hope I don’t offend or have any DB readers out there With crossfit, your strength and weaknesses will balanced out. My other half now has stronger core and leg muscles. His shoulders and arms have more definition, yet he is less bulky. Crossfit enables you to do this as it based on functional movements. That is, all exercises always use multiple muscles (eg. Burpees – Usage of core, shoulders and legs, Overhead squats uses the entire body etc).  Our weights are kept at a minimum since you may be doing 100 reps as opposed to 10.  In actual fact people who come from a global gym background have known to reduce their weights in order to complete a WOD.  In crossfit if you are too bulky you lose flexibility and agility. What this ultimately mean is:

LOSS of flexibility or agility = LOSS of PERFORMANCE

Remember our definition of what healthy or fitness is:

1. Agility
2. Flexibility
3. Speed
4. Power
5. Endurance
6. Cardio
7. Balance
8. Coordination
9. Stamina
10. Accuracy

Six month after my first crossfit class I still think this makes sense and is much healthier for you.

“Everyday movements for everyday living”.

If you haven’t read my reflection of crossfit after the first 2 months click here.  What was written is still valid.

• Part 3 – 3 Ps – Personal, Passionate and present. Write things that is personal and passionate to you that you can do now.
• Part 4 – Detect | Diffuse | Defense – 60% of most instances happens in the detect and diffuse phase.
• Part 5 – Be the Trojan horse. If you look like you are going to attack, the attacker will be on alert. Be aware of your body language.

My take though is to escape or run if you can. If not, resort to these defense techniques.

For more videos click here.

Sleep Infographic

Via: YourLocalSecurity.com

So people, do you still think Crossfit makes you look big? She looks totally hot to me

Be ready for your New Year’s resolution. Eat healthier and your body will love you.  First the basic things to replace in your pantry are:

• For Cooking – Replace Olive Oil with coconut oil or Ghee. I prefer coconut oil for all their added benefits. See Part 1 – Why Coconut oil?
• Salt – Replace Table Salt with Himalayan Salt or Celtic Salt.
• Replace white sugar with Coconut sugar or Rapadura Sugar.

EAT WHOLE FOODs | MINIMISE SUGAR INTAKE | AVOID PROCESSED FOODS

The Paleo Diet – An infographic by the team at DrVita.com