Yvonne’s Mom, Ingrid, is 84 years old and just started CrossFit at Standard Strength!
This is one of those personal victories for Yvonne and me that took many years of persuasion and cajoling. Ingrid was a hair dresser for 50+ years and led a very active life until her retirement about 8 years ago. Recent health issues and a nasty fall in her condo have taken a toll on her, so she finally agreed to private coaching sessions with Coach Todd Hogan at Standard Strength CrossFit in Campbell. She’s only a week in so far, but she’s loving it (and her coach) – and according to Yvonne’s sister: “her spirit has improved!” Looking forward to her progress. Goal: join the Standard Strength Legends class!
“Fall in love with the process and the results will follow.”
Bradley Whitford
THE SEASON OF EATING (AND, WE ALL KNOW WHAT TO DO)
We’re heading into that time of year when the food gets richer, the gatherings get bigger, and the temptation to “start fresh in January” grows stronger. Halloween candy, Thanksgiving feasts, holiday parties, and family dinners—it all adds up fast. But with a little awareness and discipline, we can enjoy the season and stay on track with our fitness goals. We ALL know what to do – but, actually doing it can be hard. Here’s some tips and a challenge to help you stay on track through the season of eating:
Start by being proactive now. Tighten up your nutrition during the week so you have some flexibility on special occasions. Here’s a few suggestions for nutrition control for the season (and beyond, frankly):
- Remove temptations: clean out your cabinets & countertops
- Try advanced meal prepping for the week – pick a day to prep and stick with it
- Prioritize protein at every meal
- Implement the one/two rule for alcohol: one or two drinks once or twice a week ONLY.
- Take 2 walks a day – even if it’s only 10 minutes. Best results: first thing in the morning, and last thing at night.
- Prioritize workouts even when life gets busy.
This is also a great time to experiment with intermittent fasting—simply delaying your first meal a few hours or limiting your eating window (for example, 12 p.m.–8 p.m.) can help reduce overall calorie intake, improve energy, and give your digestive system a break. Check out this discussion on fasting with world-renowned cardiologist Dr. Pradip Jamnadas.
The goal isn’t perfection—it’s awareness and consistency. Enjoy the celebrations, just don’t let a few indulgent days turn into a two-month slide. We train hard to live well all year long, and a little discipline now will make January a whole lot easier.
#itsup2us
INTERMITTENT FASTING CHALLENGE – Yvonne and I have had good success with Intermittent Fasting (IF) or Time Restricted Eating (TRE) for calorie and food quality management. Intermittent fasting has been used by many nutritional experts for fat loss, and overall health improvement – across a broad spectrum of markers, including sleep, workout recovery, cholesterol, triglycerides, inflammation, etc. Modern living has made calorie dense foods readily available to us 24 hours a day – in contrast to our genetic heritage which is based upon brief periods of calorie intake and long periods of fasting. IF and TRE can increase your energy while reducing your body fat content.
The Challenge: every week from now until the end of the year, I’ll post a fasting challenge that will begin with some simple time restrictions and will finish with some longer (and safe) challenges. Log your results for the week on Friday on the the Diablo App: IF CHALLENGE. Black coffee, tea and water are OK.
- IF CHALLENGE WEEK 1 (Oct 16-23): Complete 2 days of “16/8” – 16 hours of 0 calories, and 8 hours for eating.
Important, during your 8 hours of eating, prioritize protein and healthy foods.
SAVE THE DATES!!
Saturday, October 18: Amazing Grace at Diablo. This is Diablo’s annual charity event. We program the CrossFit classic workout “Grace” – 30 Clean & Jerks (#95/135) and collect donations for a local charity. We’ve raised tens of thousands of dollars for Cancer organizations, Rescue Shelters and other groups. Last year, we raised almost $6,000 for Hurricane Helene relief for 3 North Carolina CrossFit gyms.
Saturday, November 1: Fall Classic USAW Olympic Lifting Event at Diablo. Coach Corey is leading the effort on our annual Oly competition officially sanctioned by the USAW. Diablo will have more than 10 athletes trying to qualify for the next American Nationals.
Thursday, November 27: Turkey Trot – Diablo’s annual anti-5k event at Hidden Lakes Park in Martinez. We set up an awesome trail run & obstacle challenge course and more than 100 members come with family and friends to walk or run the course – a great start to a great Thanksgiving day.
Friday, December 12th: Diablo’s Annual Holiday Party at the Back Forty Restaurant in Pleasant Hill. Our annual holiday parties are an epic gathering of the community – where we come together to celebrate another great year and recognize the winner of our annual Tom Jones Award.
NOV 1: DIABLO STRONG FALL CLASSIC
Diablo Strong’s Annual USAW Sanctioned Weightlifting Competition a qualifying event for the American Open Nationals Weightlifting competition! Visit our Fall Classic website for more information, registration links and our new Fall Classic gear!
CROSSFIT GAMES THROWBACK – DIABLO’S INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATION!
2019 was a special year for International Athletes at the CrossFit Games. For the first time ever, CrossFit invited the Open National Champion of every country in the world to the CrossFit Games. THREE of those athletes were Diablo members: Coach Alessandra Pichelli (9x Games athlete) represented Italy (where her family lived for many years), Coach Lara Erlank represented her home country of Namibia, where she we born. And, Payam Saljoughian, Diablo member and competition team Coach, proudly represented his home country, Iran.
CrossFit held a parade of Nations for all of the Games athletes – who walked out onto the field under their country flags. It was a very proud and emotional moment for the athletes and fans – and Diablo CrossFit. Cool story: the athletes received quite a few direct messages of support and pride from other CrossFit athletes and fans in their home countries.
PROGRAMMING ** THIS WEEK **
- Mon: C&J Complex. Primary Strength: Squat Cleans
- Tue: Pull-ups, Lunges, Dubs: 5RFT – 15 Pull-ups, 12 DB FR Lunges, 40 Dubs
- Wed: Secondary Strength – Snatch. Metcon: Row & Situps
- Thu: Run-Push-up-Squat-Press – Amrap 8-6-4m (3m Rest): Buy-in-200m Run, then 15 Push-ups, 12 FS, 9 PP #75/115
- Fri: Bike-Rope-Sandbag: 5RFT- 10/15c Bike, 2 Rope Climbs, 7/10c Bike 200m SB Carry
- Sat: GRACE! CrossFit Benchmark – 30 Clean & Jerks for time: #95/135
- Sun: Ring Muscle Ups. Metcon: EMOM (1m Rest)x5- DB Burpee Box Step Ups
CRAIG’S LIST: Staying on the nutrition management topic this week! Insulin resistance is an important topic EVERYONE should know about – for ourselves, our parents and for our children:
YouTube: Dr. Rhonda Patrick with Dr. Ben Bikman: How To Reverse Insulin Resistance Through Diet, Exercise & Sleep – Insulin resistance is at the foundation of almost EVERY major chronic disease, especially cardiovascular diseases and dementia. Dr. Bikman presents the evidence so well and talks about the best ways to reverse the course.
Make it an awesome week!
Craig
