The Eclipse is coming!! Monday marks the celestial event of a Full Solar Eclipse where the moon will pass in front of the Suns path creating a FULL sun block for about 90 minutes. As a space watcher this is pretty cool event. But that is not all that is on my mind. The Ultimate Hawaiian Trail Run is approaching which means that a lot of top CrossFit athletes will be here on Kauai getting absolutely smoked by the Sun ! (They spend too much time in the gym and are quite pasty).
So in celebration of everything that is sunlight I wanted to remind you all of the 3 most important health benefits that we get from the sun. And when I say important... I mean Vital!
1) Im going to lead off with the most important and really the most all encompassing benefit and that is VITAMIN D synthesis. Now Vitamin D is not a typical Vitamin like you would find in a piece of fruit, Vitamin D is actually a Hormone, and a steroid hormone at that.
At a whopping 3,000 genes in your body, Vitamin D effects exactly 3,000 of them! When Vitamin D acts on Genes the process is called 'expression'. So from Cells all the to organs are allowed to 'express' in beneficial ways when Vitamin D is provided.
Lets take Cancer for instance. Vitamin D has been shown to lower the instance of cancer and prevent growth of existing cancer.
-cells are able to police themselves and kill off bad cells that lead to cancer
-organ cells, in lungs and stomach for instance, are allowed to diversify their make up which prevents cancerous cells from duplicating.
-blood vessels are made stronger which allow for proper nutrient delivery and immune system function and thus cancer prevention
The sun is THE way we can help our bodies produce Vitamin D and prevent disease and optimize health . Getting some full body sunlight daily is how you can do it.
2) Sunlight helps lower Cholesterol and Stress. Cholesterol or 'lipoproteins' can be either stored or turned into energy or hormones which we NEED in our lives. In the linked study above, researchers found that sex hormones were increased in those individuals who received a regular dose of sunlight. The increase in these hormones also coincided with a steroid hormone that increases bone and muscle strength!
Stress is a killer, everyone knows that. Simply getting out in the sun has been shown to decrease stress levels (cortisol hormone) and increase testosterone. So kick your office worker buddies and tell them to get the hell out of their chairs and take a walk outside, their bodies and the workplace are better off for it!
3) Sunlight increases your performance as an athlete. In THIS link, researchers concluded that through sun exposure, individuals were shown to increase oxygen levels in their blood without supplemental exercise. While it comes down to Vitamin D benefits which I have given above, this is really good news for all athletes in training.
CrossFit and other training methods are awesome but if you are spending 90% of the time training indoors, you are missing out on a large piece of physical adaptation. Getting outside in the sun builds blood vessels strong and creates physiology which is prone to oxygen uptake. As we athletes know, O2 is pretty damn important.. especially during the round of 9's in Fran, right!!??
So as we approach the solar eclipse lets rejoice in the celestial occurrence because it is damn cool but lets also be happy when it passes and we get blasted in the face with sun light. Our distant neighbor and father of all life is truly giving us what we need to stay healthy and thrive. Get outside, train, enjoy and marvel at the world. Comprehensive training demands that we look for all natural methods to keep climbing the ladder to greatness. Train safe, love often, and keep pushing . E
Programming Notes 8/21-8/25
8/21
Baseline:
Partner Warm Up
400m Run Together
2X Each
P1-10 Squat Therapy on Wall
P2- 25 High Knee Jump Rope
2X Each
P1- 10 Push Ups
P2- 10 Ring Rows
Squat Flow- Hang Squat, Internal Rotation, Hip Bridge, Lunge W/ Ankle Rotation, PNF, Squat W/ T Spine Rotation
Pull Up Prep:
2X
10 Kip Swing
5 Negative Pull Ups
10 Kipping Chest To bar (scale to banded C2B)
WOD:
“Heartbreak Kid”
3X
10 Front Squat 155/105
20 Chest TO Bar Pull Ups (scale accordingly but do not scale C2B)
50 Double Under
**Compare to 2/16/17
8/22
Baseline:
Lat band Mobility/ Bully Stretch/ Scapula Distraction
Kettle Bell Warm up:
W/ Light KB
12@ Each
Head Circles 'L'
Head Circles 'R'
Trunk Rotations
Up right Rows
Press 'L'
Press 'R'
Romanian Deadlift
Squat Up and overs (outside right foot, up and over to outside left foot)
Single Leg Deadlift
Goblet Squat
Lateral Lunges
Windmill 'L'
Windmill 'R'
Sit Ups
Snatch 'L'
Snatch 'R'
Squat Jumps
Gymnastic Strength :
Exposure #7 of 8
Weighted Pull Ups
3X5
12-9-6
Ring Dips
Pistol Squats
WOD;
12-9-6-3-6-9-12
Kettlebell Snatch 53/35
Burpee
8/23
Baseline:
3X
250m Row
15 Parallette Pass Thru
:45 Handstand Hold
Shoulder Prep:
2 Sets, 10 Reps Per set
Alternate between in TEMPO (1,1,2) fashion ;
-alternating single arm Dumbbell Bench Press
-alternating single arm Dumbbell Strict Press
WOD;
Partner WOD
20 Min AMRAP
P1- 300/250m Row
P2- 8 Dumbbell Push Press/ 10 Overhead Dumbbell Lunge 50/35
*alternate positions
8/24
Baseline:
2X:30 @ each
-Jumping Jacks
-Barbell Good Mornings
-Banded Hip Activation
-Lateral Squat Jumps
-Deadbug Contralateral Reach
*Spend 6 Minutes covering Deadlift positioning, make it perfect
WOD:
Deadlift every 2min on the Minute
1- 6@ 65%
2-5@70%
3- 4@80%
4-4 @ 80%
5- 3@85 %
6- 3@ 85%
7- 2 @ 90%
8- 2 @90%
9- 1 @ 95%
10- 1 @102%
8/25
Baseline:
Spend 5 Minutes Rolling Out Calves and Hip Capsule
10@
Elbow To Instep Lunge
Inch Worm
Duck Walk
Side Plank Knee To Elbow (Both Sides)
Narrow Foot Position Squat
reverse Lunges
2X Man Climbers
Push Ups
Burpee Tuck Jumps
Single Leg Strength:
Back Rack Reverse Lunge
*Exposure 7 of 8
3X4
-go heavier than previous attempts
-rest :90 between sets
WOD:
3 Rounds For Time
400m Run
15 Thrusters 115/75
9 Box Jump Overs
