Some New Things We’ve Been Doing

Here’s a short video showing some of the new things we’ve introduced.

There are Ring Push Ups, Weighted Sled Drags and Hurdle Jumps – all as much fun as each other!!

Take a quick look…

All The Pieces of the Puzzle

I saw the above picture over at Coach Rut’s blog and it made me smile

The number of people who think that exercise will solve all their problems is astounding.  Sadly, they are mistaken.

Exercise is just one piece of the puzzle – if you treat your body like shit the rest of the time then your health will not get any better!

Eat properly, stop polluting your body, get enough sleep and de-stress – these are just some of the things that make up a healthy lifestyle.

You need to be doing the right stuff outside the gym to maximise your gains and this is why we offer a holistic service to keep you on track.  If you don’t already train with us and you think you need some help, drop us a line.  If you do already train at CFW and you think there are some areas you need to focus on, then ask for some support.

Recovery Energy

Photo by claudiogennari

I’m big on recovery.

I give my recovery the same priority as my workouts.

Why?

Because my recovery ability sucks. Really sucks.

I can literally take myself from feeling amazing to the land of overtraining in the space of a few days and knock myself out of action for a week if I’m not careful.

Despite this I have had some pretty good results with my strength and conditioning reaching a 2.5xBW Deadlift and getting within spitting distance of a bodyweight Overhead Press and 2xBW Squat.  The only reason for this is a sound recovery plan.

In a previous post I talked about the basics of recovery but I wanted to throw out a more conceptual way to think of this stuff.

Yin and Yang… Crossfit WestCo Style

CrossFit Kettlebell Certification in Bath, Somerset

CrossFit Bath are hosting a CrossFit Kettlebell Cert with none other than Jeff Martone on the 6th & 7th June.

CrossFit Games European Qualifier

The European Qualifier starts today at CrossFit Northern Ireland.

Good Luck to everyone taking part.

Go here for updates

Sleep, Daylight, Fitness & Health

Plymouth Daylight Hours

 Sleep is your friend.

And it’s a friend I’m willing to bet you don’t see enough of.

Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar and Survival is one of the most influential books in my nutritional and lifestyle philosophy.  The gist is that we are designed to live in sync with nature and her seasonal shifts. 

Seasonal Sync

Think about it.  In nature the season would dictate what food was available (see the Seasonal Food Calendar blog entry).  The season would also dictate how much daylight there was, how much sleep we got and hence our activity levels. 

Summer would mean lots of light for finding a mate (so that the child would be born in spring and hence miss the winter hardship) and lots of carbs for putting on fat ready for winter.  Winter would spell a lack of carbs and less daylight.  Less daylight and colder temperatures would mean less carbs, more sleep and leaning out ready for spring/summer again.

Where We’re Going Wrong

What happens today is that Carbs are available all year round in devasatingly refined forms, light bulbs mean that WE control daylight and our sleep patterns completely out of kilter with the season.

This is not good. 

As far as our bodies are concerned it’s permanent summer!!  Long days of light mean we crave Carbs – is it any wonder?! Our bodies are trying to fatten us up for winter!

If you look at the chart above, the blue line is the changing number of hours of daylight throughout the year.

There’s a pretty dramatic shift from 8 hours mid-Winter to 16+ hours mid-Summer.

The Solution (More Than Just Sky+)

The upshot of this is that from mid-September to mid-April, you should be getting ATLEAST 9-10 hours sleep per night and eating a low-carb diet.  As summer rolls around, stay up late and increase carbs.

9-10 hours sounds like a lot, but in reality it’s going to be at 10pm and getting up at 7am – not that unreasonable. 

If you’re worried about missing stuff on TV, get SKY+.  If you’re just channel surfing, then go to bed – or read a book (late night reading will make you sleepy, trust me)

Oh yeah, and that should be in a PITCH BLACK room with any blinking, flashing clocks or lights covered.  This will ensure your body releases the right hormones to optimise recovery and health.

Sooner or later, we’ll discuss a little more how to optimise sleep itself, but for now, go black out your windows and get some shut-eye.

ChrisCFW

Seasonal Food Calendar

Eating Paleo is a great place to start, but getting further into things you might want to start looking into what foods you should be eating at what time of year.

Seasonal eating is a great thing to try and get you head around and is something that our Paleolithic ancestors would have to have done without a choice.

There are several key benefits to seasonal eating, the main ones being:

• Variety – its easy to fall into the same patterns of eating and get bored.  This forces you to learn to cook new things.
• Natural rotation diet – eating the same thing day-in, day-out can lead to food intolerances.  Eating seasonally ensures you mix things up to avoid this.
• Macronutrient ratios naturally syncronised – we’re designed to put on fat for winter and lean out for spring/summer.  Seasonal eating means that your insulin levels and body composition is always within safe limits as the dense carbs that cause insulin issues are only available for a few short months.
• Fresher foods – if its in-season, your local farmers can supply it so you can get super-fresh produce (check out your local farmer’s market).

Here’s a great calendar of seasonal foods for you to use as a reference point.  This was originally from http://www.sustnable.org.uk/1_act5a.htm 

Take a look at the patterns of when fruits are around, when green leafy veg are dominant and when root vegetables come into play – fascinating stuff.

Now, I’m not saying that you can only eat the stuff on the list below, because there are obviously some omissions.  As a guide however to the kinds of stuff you should be basing your diet on, its a good start.

It’s also  a good guide to what you can expect to find at your local farmers market each season.

SEASONAL FOOD CALENDAR
Month	Fruit & vegetables	Fish & meat
January	Cabbage, cauliflower, celeriac, forced rhubarb (forced to do what?), leeks, parsnips, turnip, shallots, squash	goose, lobster, scallops
February	Cabbage, cauliflower, celeriac, chard, chicory, forced rhubarb, kohlrabi, leeks, parsnips, spinach, swede, turnip	mussels, halibut, guinea fowl, lobster
March	Beetroot, cabbage, cauliflower, leeks, mint, mooli, parsley, broccoli, radishes, rhubarb, sorrel	sardines (fresh ones!), lobster
April	Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, morel mushrooms, wild garlic, radishes, rhubarb, carrots, kale, watercress, spinach, rosemary flowers	spring lamb, cockles
May	Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, gooseberries, parsley, mint, broad beans, rhubarb, new carrots, samphire, asparagus	sea bass, lemon sole, sardines, duck, sea trout
June	carrots, cherries, elderflowers, lettuce, strawberries, peppers, asparagus, redcurrants, peas, rhubarb, gooseberries, tayberries, tomatoes, courgettes, broad beans	welsh lamb, crab, salmon, grey mullet
July	carrots, gooseberries, strawberries, spinach, tomatoes, watercress, loganberries, sage, cauliflower, aubergine, fennel, asparagus, cabbage, celery, cherries, lettuce, mangetout, nectarines, new potatoes, oyster mushrooms, peas, peaches, radish, raspberries, rhubarb, tomatoes, French beans	Trout, pilchards, clams, pike, pigeon
August	carrots, gooseberries, lettuce, loganberries, raspberries, strawberries, cauliflower, aubergines, nectarines, peaches, peppers, courgettes, rhubarb, sweetcorn, greengages, basil, peas, pears, apples, French beans, tomatoes	crayfish, hare, skate, john dory (that’s a fish)
September	apples, aubergines, blackberries, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, cucumber, damsons, elderberries, figs, French beans, grapes, kale, lettuce, melons mushrooms, nectarines, onions, peppers, parsnips, peas, peaches, pears, potatoes, pumpkin, raspberries, rhubarb, spinach, sweetcorn, tomatoes	duck, venison, oysters, sea bass, grouse, mussels, partridge, wood pigeon, brown trout
October	apples, aubergines, beetroot, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, courgettes, grapes, lettuce, marrow, mushrooms, parsnips, potatoes, squash, tomatoes,  watercress	guinea fowl, partridge, mussels, grouse, oysters
November	cabbage, pumpkin, swede, cauliflower, potatoes, parsnips, pears, leeks, quinces, chestnuts, cranberries, beetroot	grouse, goose
December	Celery, cabbage, red cabbage, cauliflower, celeriac, pumpkin, beetroot, turnips, parsnips, sprouts, pears, swede	wild duck, goose, sea bass, turkey