Thursday, 09.02.10: Mmmmmm... Bacon!

In the movie "City Slickers" Jack Palance plays cowboy who is as tough as a pair of old boots.  When he suddenly dies of a heart attack  everyone on the ranch is shocked.  Daniel Stern's character explains his death with conventional wisdom.  "He ate bacon with every meal.  You can't do that!" It's a funny line in the movie, but his humor is not true.  Bacon too often is blamed for the ills of flour and sugar...not to mention other obvious factors such as smoking, alcohol, and lack of exercise.

In the book "Good Calories, Bad Calories" Gary Taubes talks about the effects of carbohydrates and sugar (mostly bad), and the effects of fat (mostly good).  Taubes thoroughly explains how HDL lowers the risk of heart disease, and LDL cholesterol raises the risk of heart disease.  He uses , for an example, the heart healthy benefits of eating a porterhouse steak.  "After broiling this steak will reduce to almost equal parts fat and protein.  51% of the fat is monounsaturated. "  Monounsaturated fat is reported to both raise HDL and lower LDL cholesterol, both helping to reduce risk of heart disease.  

Taubes further notes "Saturated fat consititutes 45% of the total fat, but a third of that is stearic acid, which will increase HDL cholesterol while having no effect on LDL."  This would also help to reduce the risk of heart disease.

"The remaining 4% of the fat is polyunsaturated, which lowers LDL cholesterol but has no meaningful affect on HDL.  In sum, perhaps as much as 70% of the fat content of a porterhouse steak will improve the relative levels of LDL and HDL cholesterol, compared with what they woulde be if carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, or pasta were consumed.  The remaining30 percent will raise LDL cholesterol, but will also raise HDL cholesterol and will have an iinsignificant effect, if any, on the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL.  All of this suggests that eating a porterhouse steak in lieu of bread or potatoes would actually reduce heart disease risk, although virtually no nutritional authority will say so publicly.  The same is true for lard and bacon!"

Wednesday, 09.01.10: What are you training for?

"The Crew" before our weighted Ruck March in support of Lacey who is leaving for boot camp in a couple weeks!  Lacey used CrossFit to earn herself a near perfect score on her PT test!

My favorite part of meeting new people and introducing them to CrossFit is hearing about what they are training for.  There are a lot of people with aspirations to run a marathon.  I think a lot of competitive people find running and marathons a good outlet after they lose the structure of team sports in high school and college.  Some people are training for things and they don’t even know it.  They are training to be better husbands and fathers, wives and mothers.  So that when they wake up in the morning to their hectic routine they can approach it with energy and confidence.  Some are training to save someone’s life someday.  They can’t be sure of when they will be needed but they want to be prepared.  Some are training to maintain strength and mobility as they age.  In what ways are you using CrossFit?  What races or games do you have coming up?  What physical tests are you training for? What challenges are made easier by doing CrossFit?

Tuesday, 08.31.10: In here, "IT" doesn't matter

When you walk into the big gray doors here, you may notice that all of your "stuff" goes away. All of your work problems, family problems, girlfriend/boyfriend problems, that guy who flicked you off while you were driving this morning, everything has a tendency to just drift away for that one hour. You are left with focusing on the present and this very moment.

When you set yourself up for a Snatch or starting your first round of Fight Gone Bad, I can almost guarantee you that those problems are the last thing on your mind. When you are done, you are left with a feeling of exhilaration. Knowing you got yourself through the fire of a CrossFit workout, you can't believe what you've accomplished. Sometimes, if you really stand back and see what you've accomplished, it's moving. For me, CrossFit is the way I let my problems go and be okay with the way things are. What's it for you!?

Scott "Panda Express" Lush finds solace and inner peace while being in a handstand!