Livestrong Challenge - CrossFit Central Style

This weekend is the annual Livestrong Challenge in Austin! The challenge is Livestrong's signature fundraising event and as Willy (pictured above) put it "it's only our busiest week of the year". Most of the employees in the LAF Boot Camp will be too busy behind the scenes and putting on the show this weekend to actually participate in any of the events. So, Crystal and I brought the Livestrong Challenge (Double C's style of course!) to the class a bit early!

The participants for weekend's events will choose to complete a 5k run, 10mile, 20mile, 45mile, 64mile, OR 90mile bike ride.
In honor of these events, here is what the LAF crew today chose* the following workout:

5 paint brushes
run lap
10 DB push press
run lap
20 table tops
run lap
45 sprawls
run lap
65 overhead squats (team effort)
run lap
90 DB swings (team effort)
run lap

*I had 12 exercises for them to pull from a bag at random and the workout above reflects the movements pulled for the bag of choices

Congratulations to everyone who completed this challenge today and GOOD LUCK to everyone participating in the Livestrong Challenge this weekend.

CrossFit Central and the Young Execs of Austin!

On Saturday, CrossFit Central hosted a workout for members of Young Execs of Austin. This is a great group of individuals who are dedicated to enriching the lives of Austin's young professionals via Connection - Engagement - and Wellness.
The WOD: teams of 4
400m run
100 pull ups
150 KB swings
200 push press
250 ab mat sit ups
Check out all the photos HERE!
Also, check out some photos from last week's workout at Livestrong - LAF!

Livestrong: Lance Armstrong Foundation

In June, Jeremy and I hosted a trial run with several employees at LAF and thankfully they invited CrossFit Central back this month to host a program as part of their Corporate Wellness initiatives. Today, just like the other CrossFit Central boot camps and indoor classes, I put the crew above thru a benchmark workout! While I thought they were gonna throw the medicine balls at me during the test - afterward, I could see the sense of accomplishment on many of their faces! It feels good to push yourself beyond your everyday limits. I can't wait to see this group progress over the next month. Thanks to Dylan, Betty, Brenda, Yvonne, Lindsey, Kelsey, Mona, and Haley for a great start to the month!

Lack of Sleep: what really happens to your body?

Blessed Chaos is a term I borrowed from my client, Laura, to describe the 3-2-1 GO GO GO GO lifestyle that I and so many of you live! Recently my life has been "full speed ahead"- Up at 5am every morning and weekends out of town or booked with events! The next two months hold a great deal of excitement for me: opening CrossFit Central at RunTex, launching new CrossFit Central ventures (Lance Armstrong Foundation and CFC endurance programs), Jack's Generic Triathlon and The Austin Triathlon - OH YEAH, did I mention my wedding Oct 2nd with all the parties and planning that entails!? All good things happening and I wouldn't have it any other way. However, it is in times like the these that one of the most essential needs gets neglected: SLEEP! After three weeks of seeing 5 am and 11pm combined with three weekends of travel, my workouts started to suffer, my productivity started to slump, and I noticed just a hint of a sore throat and body aches. All of these are lack of sleep symptoms. My body is telling me to slow down and rest! I will listen!
Humans on average need around 8 hours of sleep a night to recover from the day's activities. Sleep is an anabolic, or building, process and restores the body's energy supplies that the day's events depleted. We cannot maximize our mental or physical capacity if we do not allow time for the restoration and rebuilding to occur.
How it's supposed to work:
Our body is naturally set to a 24 hour sleep/wake cycle - the Circadian Cycle. We were programmed to rise and set with the sun and two major hormones were also set to follow this cycle: growth hormone and cortisol. During sleep our body releases growth hormone allowing the body to do it's repair work. On the other hand, cortisol is released with light simulation -and levels are high during the morning and scheduled to be lowest from 6pm to 6am. The growth hormone restore your body at night and cortisol regulates metabolism and insulin response during the day.
What really happens:
Modern life meddles with this process because we are constantly stimulated by light bulbs, tv's and computer screens prompting an "it's morning" response and causing a release of more cortisol and keeping us up late! To make up for the lack of sleep we drink coffee and often eat a muffin or other snack full of simple sugars or high fructose corn syrup. Well, white sugar and caffeine stimulate the adrenal glands to release even more cortisol. Since cortisol dictates how our body metabolizes fat, protein, and carbs we do not function well after the caffeine and sugar wears off. Now we have deprived ourselves of precious sleep (and growth hormone)needed for tissue repair, mental alertness and we've pumped body full of the stress hormone.
The Result:
In the end, if we do not make time for adequate sleep we set our physiology up to work against us! Instead of being productive, active, and mentally alert - we may start to feed our body with processed foods, "crashing" during meetings, and skipping workouts.

That said - it's 9:27pm and I am headed back to Fort Hood at 7am for day 2 of my CrossFit Level 1 Certification......so, GOODNIGHT! Take care of your body and it will take care of you.

Livestrong: Lance Armstrong Foundation

That's me with Superstars, Mona and Bailey! This week I had the pleasure of working with these ladies and about 15 other employees from Livestrong- Lance Armstrong's Foundation. The pressure was on (but they made it fun!!) as CrossFit Central offered two 'trial classes' to the Livestrong crew! These employees are lucky enough to work for an organization that realizes the value of physical fitness and work-life balance. Corporate wellness programs are becoming more and more important in the workplace. Ask any of the participants from the classes at LAF this week and you'll hear that this was not only a tough workout and a lot of fun - but it was also a great team building experience. Thanks to Mona, Bailey and all the Livestrong employees who welcomed CrossFit Central this week!