CrossFit Undeniable

A Premier CrossFit and Training Facility in Westminster, Colorado

Coach’s Notes

Death and Diabetes in the City of Angels

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Let’s say that no one was overweight, no one had diabetes today, and we wanted to create a world that guaranteed that half of us were on a path to diabetes. What would we do?

Well, we’d probably put junk food on every corner. Cut the cost of those foods so it’s cheaper than fresh fruits and vegetables. Implant soda in every commercial…make sure it’s marketed by attractive people having fun. Cut spending on physical education in schools.

You get the idea…we would do many of the same things we’re already doing today.

That’s the opening to Death and Diabetes in the City of Angels, a new, short documentary by Jay Vera and CrossFit.com detailing the food options available around low-income areas in Los Angeles.

East Los Angeles is a food desert, meaning the options for healthy food are hard to come by. Instead, residents fill up on chips, soda, and other sugary foods.

If you’re interested in health and longevity, it’s definitely worth a watch. Video embedded below, or you can check it out on YouTube here.

What Happens When You Miss a Goal?

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We’re over halfway through 2018. Isn’t that crazy? The year is flying by.

I thought about that the other day as I was reflecting over the fitness goals I set for the year. I don’t set New Year’s resolutions or anything like that, but around January 1st, I do try to sit down and think of some weights and times I’d like to hit or skills I’d like to learn.

On this year’s list:

  • Master handstand walking
  • Complete “DT” Rx
  • Snatch #155

Solid looking list right? If I hit all of those, I’d be feeling pretty good, particularly since they all involve my personal weakness – overhead lifting.

Here’s the problem them – I haven’t really made dedicated progress on any of them!

Sure, I’ve been making progress just by attending regular classes. One beauty of CrossFit is you end up building strength and endurance naturally through varied movements. I’m talking about though about focused time before or after class to improve on a specific aspect of my fitness.

Since, we’re over halfway through 2018, I thought it might be a good idea to reevalute those goals and take stock of what’s really important. Maybe you’d like to do the same. Then, we can hold each other accountable throughout the rest of the year.

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The (Potential) Upside of Skipping Breakfast

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Remember when six (or even eight) small meals throughout the day was the golden standard for a proper diet?

In college, I was all in. I would spend half an hour each morning prepping tupperware with small portions to graze on throughout the day. I thought I was doing everything right – some oatmeal and eggs in the morning, piece of fruit and protein shake mid-morning, chicken and rice for lunch, etc. I felt like I was constantly eating!

This idea of grazing throughout the day (we’ll call it “nutrient timing”) seemed to make sense on paper. For one, it seemed like an obvious way to curb cravings and prevent binging on those donuts in the copy room.

One other supposed benefit of spreading out your meals was to increase metabolism. If we think of metabolism as this inner “fire” of sorts, burning fuel to provide energy, the more we stoke the fire, the hotter it’ll get right? If we eat smaller meals throughout the day, the thinking went, we’ll “rev up” our metabolism so we burn more calories at all times.

It turns out that smaller meals throughout the day might not have as big of an impact as one would hope. The Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition even published a study suggesting that nutrient timing is largely a matter of personal preference and offers little benefit for metabolism and weight loss.

So, if you don’t have to eat every few hours for optimal health, what if we explored the other side of the spectrum? Instead of eating throughout the day, what if we (gasp) skipped breakfast and ate fewer meals in total?

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Review: The Magic Pill Documentary

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The Yolngu people, an Indigenous tribe in Australia, has a deep culture around food. Like many other communities, their customs and traditions around cooking were passed down from generation to generation. Their diet revolved mainly around meats, fish, and locally-source ingredients.

That all changed in the 1980s.

Eventually, the Yolngu people were exposed to a more Western way of life, largely sedentary with an increased amount of refined foods in their diet.

Prior to this exposure to refined foods and reduced activity, the Yolngu people were enjoying excellent health with little to no appearance of chronic disease. They died from…old age. Now, they find themselves in the midst of a health crisis. Diabetes and other chronic diseases are extremely prevalent. They’re dying from disease, not old age.

Hope for Health, an Australian-based organization, hopes to reverse the situation of the Yolngu people, bringing them back to their roots of locally-sourced food, eliminating chronic disease, and greatly improving quality of life. The organization and their efforts formed the intro story for The Magic Pill, a documentary currently free on Netflix. The documentary, created by celebrity chef Pete Evans, champions the benefits of the ketogenic diet, a diet high in fat, low in carbohydrates, for treating autism, asthma, cancer, and many chronic diseases.

What exactly is the ketogenic diet and why does The Magic Pill claim it has such vast health benefits? Let’s find out.
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Summer Field Day, How to Win a Free Month at CFU, and More!

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Last Winter, we ran a holiday bingo competition that was a huge hit. We’re bringing it back with some summer flair starting in July! Even better, we’re giving the winner a free month at CrossFit Undeniable.

In addition to Summer Bingo, we have a few other new events coming up in July including:

Read on to find out all the details including how you can win a free month or get 50% knocked off your September membership!

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The Ins and Outs of Building Injury-Free Shoulders

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This past Saturday, we had our Bulletproof Shoulders workshop led by Physical Therapist James Heighway and Coach Marissa Palmer. Thanks to everyone that attended! Here’s a summary of the information with a full video at the very bottom. We posted all of our upcoming events here if you’re interested in attending the next one!

Here’s a not-so-fun fact: In 2006, 7.5 million individuals went to the doctor for shoulder pain. That’s a lot of people.

The kicker: 4.1 million of these were for rotator cuff injuries.

Your rotator cuff is a series of muscles surrounding your shoulder joint that give it strength and stability. Your shoulder is referred to as a ball and socket joint. The “ball” of your upper arm (humerus) fits into a  shallow cavity on your shoulder blade (technically called the glenoid fossa).

On one hand, this ball and socket nature of the shoulder joint is exceptionally helpful. It’s the reason we have such a huge range of motion. Unlike say your knee, which can only move in one primary plane of motion, your shoulder joint can move in all planes of motion.

On the other hand, this range of motion also means that the shoulder joint isn’t very stable. In place of the bone-on-bone stability, we have a range of muscles, tendons, and ligaments keeping the joint together. The rotator cuff muscles provide much of this support. They also are by far the most commonly injured piece of the shoulder anatomy.

Maintaining balanced and strong rotator cuff muscles is key to building injury-free shoulders. Today, we’re going to dive into the rotator cuff in detail, learning some specific functions and strengthening exercises to stay healthy.

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You (Yes, You!) Should Try a Competition

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Virtually every weekend, we have athletes representing CrossFit Undeniable outside of the gym.

We’ve had athletes at the Spring Fling at West Metro CrossFit, Tacos and Tequila at Backcountry CrossFit, and Triple Threat down at Cherry Creek. We’ve also had athletes take on Ragnar Trail in Snowmass, CO, Revel at Mt. Charleston Marathon, and the Colfax Marathon (both on a relay team and individual). And, that’s all in the last two months!

The beauty of CrossFit is that it prepares you to take your fitness outside the gym. Whether that’s running around the playground with your kids, hiking a 14’er with friends, or kayaking on the lake, you can be confident you have the strength and fitness to get it done. Endurance events and CrossFit competitions both provide another proving ground of sorts to put your fitness to use in a fun environment.

In the upcoming months, we’ll have teams at:

I’m going to issue a small challenge – if you have ever thought about doing a competition of any kind, you should sign up (pick one of the above!)! Here’s a few reasons why.

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The Importance of Intensity

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Last Monday, the CrossFit workout for our main classes looked pretty simple:

15 Squat Cleans (135lbs/95lbs)
21 Calorie Row

That’s it. Just one round. Two movements. No crazy descending or ascending rep scheme. No AMRAP in a certain time. In the grand scheme of CrossFit, the weights were even relatively light.

Seeing it on the board was one thing. Going through it? That was a different story. Since it was so simple, you didn’t have an excuse not to sprint, to give it your all and go unbroken on the squat cleans. I finished feeling gassed, and the expressions of everyone else hinted that I wasn’t the only one.

Intensity plays a crucial role in CrossFit, and as we’ll discuss today, it’s an important factor in pushing your health and fitness.

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New Class Times, Events, and Workshops (Oh My!)

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We had a great turnout for our Memorial Day Murph/Grand Re-opening a few weeks back! We had over 40 athletes complete Murph, and we all celebrated with delicious food after the workout (thanks to Cathy and Gaby!). Photos are up on Facebook (thanks Troy!) if you want to see a few shots from the day.

Today, we wanted to take a few minutes to share some new events we have on the calendar along with new class times we’ll be adding to the schedule starting next week (Monday, 6/11).

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The Upsides of Scaling

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“Did you Rx it?”

Fewer phrases have simultaneously created as much pride and frustration within the world of CrossFit. With each workout having a designated working weight or movement standard, the overwhelming desire to complete a workout “as prescribed” has consumed us all at one point or another.

On one hand, the Rx standard creates a goal to strive for. Every time I’m forced to scale handstand walks or back off the weight on a clean and jerk, I’m reminded just how back I want to hit the standard for those movements.

On the other hand, “Rx above all else” creates an unhealthy mindset that ultimately can sabotage an individual workout either causing you to break form or drastically reduce the intensity.

Today, let’s talk about the ideas behind “as prescribed,” when they help and when they hurt. Let’s also talk about when scaling is a smarter option.

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