Citizens of the FitZone Nation are to organize into teams of 5. Teams will continually perform reps of exercises (below) in unison until each individual member has sprinted/run to East wall of the parking lot and back. This will be done while the other members of the team are pounding out reps. Upon returning to from the sprint/run the runner will continue with reps of the exercises while the next runner(s) goes. The exercises are as follow:
high sumos 25# f/35# m push ups jumping pullups situps burpees
No team finishes alone.
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Down here at the FitZone nation we strive to be honest and truthful in everything we do. We do this even when it is inconvenient, embarrassing or un-politically correct to do so. It is just who we are and what we represent.
It is with this in mind that I make the following decree:
From this day forward, let the offending bulges below, be called exactly what they are...
post reps for each movement to comments (where appropriate) please login to see movement demos.
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There is something to be said for the conjecture that Americans eat too many carbs.
We do.
I'm like you. I love a good piece of french bread. I love my pancakes. I love my donuts. In fact, if it is sweet, starchy, syrupy and/or covered in chocolate - I'm generally of the opinion, if one is good, then TWO is better.
This doesn't mean I should eat them. At least, not regularly.
The thing is: America is in very poor state of health. Statistics show that Americans spend more money than any other country when it comes to health care spending. In fact, we spend more than the top 5 healthiest countries combined. You'd think this would mean we would be the healthiest of the developed countries.
We aren't even in the hunt.
Upon last check, I found we aren't even in the top 30! According to one published study, I found America is 33rd healthiest of the top developed countries. If this is true...
We are sucking it up, people!
Most diseases are on the rise. This is especially true of the top 3 killers of Americans (heart disease, diabetes, cancer). Obesity just overtook smoking as the top "preventable" killer. Arthritis is on the rise. Osteoporosis is on the rise. Alzheimer is on the rise. The list goes on and on. Do we know what is at the heart of this?
Some of us do.
I am convinced our poor diet habits (especially refined food and carbohydrates) are at the root of all that ails us. Combine this with our completely defunct activity habits and our higher than at any time in human history, stress levels and you have the perfect cocktail of death and disease. IMHO, even those who are exercising are doing it wrong if they ever hope to achieve "optimal health" as is the goal of the FZN.
Many doctors would have us believe that advanced science and technology can save us from our destructive path of ill health. Even now, scientists and technologists labor to find new, never before thought of, machines and drugs to help us undo what we seem to refuse to do for ourselves.
Here comes the point...
The point is that we already have this machine (our body) AND the drugs (processes inside our bodies) which are far more efficient at producing the changes we all strive for.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and make this proclamation:
"Science will NEVER find or build a drug, make a machine, create an appliance, develop a surgical method, or even dink around with our DNA in a way that will be healthier, safer, faster acting or more effective than what we already know about creating positive lasting changes to your health."
The sooner we embrace this fact, the sooner we can all get on with living a more fulfilling lifestyle. Only then, can we begin to go about the work of bringing this improved lifestyle to those whom we love. I needn't say this but it bears repeating. Those whom we love and have charge over, are much more diseased at a much younger age than when we began to become less healthy.
The math goes like this for our younger generations; We are the most diseased and least physically capable humans in the history of earth. Multiply that exponentially by our young ones who are starting their poor habits earlier with less of an example than we had. Then, factor in several generations of more of the same - and you have a pretty good case for the annihilation of the human species.
Too dramatic? Maybe, but I think it is conceivable.
Our only hope is to get back to basics. How far back? How would the paleolithic strike you? I wouldn't advocate living entirely like paleo man, especially with my penchant for some of the nicer things in life, ie. electricity, transportation, shelter and etc. But I would surely recommend that we shape our active lives and eating habits to reflect this time in human history.
The thing to realize is that paleo man was outfitted and built for survival on a level that our bodies are still programmed for today. Unless I have missed something from my anthropological studies, modern man hasn't changed in terms of biology since our ancestors evolved from their smaller brained more primitive neanderthal roots, to our more advanced cro-magnon selves. If I am right about this, it only stands to reason that the physical and nutritional needs of the body of paleo man are exaclty similar to those of our modern selves. Wouldn't it make sense that we emulate this lifestyle to some extent?
Look, I'm no raving lunatic. I'm not suggesting we all start peddling rock cars to our jobs at Mr. Slates quarry. I like modern civilization as much as the next guy. I just realize as with most things, moving forward sometimes takes a good hard look back.
For more on paleo living and eating click here. Or, just stay tuned. It's doubtful you have read my last post on this subject. :)
The sprints yesterday were FRICKIN awesome! Good work all. Measurements have been even better. Julie lost over 5 inches! Matt lost 18 lbs (we are checking to make sure the scale was right)! Frank and Marissa are killing it. They get the couples award - so far. All in ONE week!
Some highlight pics of the day...
It was pretty chilly this morning at the 0545. Theirs was all starts and stops. I'll bet these are the most sore tomorrow! Looks like someone had noodles the night before...
The 0630 had over 45 people in it. We had folks running on the sidewalk! Tough group.
0715 group was competitive!
0930 had wheels!
The nooners were out for blood. Look at the far left, Liz has PERFECT form on her take off...I wouldn't have wanted to run against ANYONE in this group.
Ashton got the most applause of the day.
The 5:45 pm did IT in the rain, baby! Hell yes!
Kenzee (middle left) turfed it at the end of this run. I knew someone would today! Glad it was her. She could use some scuffing up to counter those good looks.
perform a 40 yd dash every minute on the minute for 20 min.
-Beginners (have been exercising 0-3 months) run 50% of max speed -Intermediates (have been exercising vigorously 3-6 months) run 75% of max speed -Advanced (have been exercising vigorously 6+ months) run 100% of max speed
Post results to comments
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You may have noticed a bunch of us wearing those funny looking foot gloves around the gym. I get a lot of questions about them. Here is my best answer for why I use them:
I am philosophically against running, lifting, jumping, walking, etc. in overly cushioned and supportive footwear made by man, when God already did a great job designing the human foot to do all of those things.
Doesn't it make sense that if God had thought it was best for us to have a 2 inch padded heal with extra arch support and more stable mid-sole to prevent supination, he'd have just designed that into the human foot in the first place?
I think that the makers of these ultra high tech, cushioned and supportive shoes have done more to mess up the anatomy of the human foot than ANY exercise ever HAS or WILL.
Think about it, when you elevate the heel of your foot...what must that do to your center of gravity? Now take that a step further. Once your center of gravity is off, even slightly, how does that change the mechanics and the stress points of your gait?
It changes them DRAMATICALLY.
ANY changes to your gait, change the stress points of joints, tissues and bone. How would these changes affect these new points of stress?
NEGATIVELY.
Is it any wonder why most, if not ALL, runners and exercisers who wear these types of cushioned shoes constantly are dealing with foot, knee, back and neck problems? Why wouldn't they? Their body's have had to compensate to be able to handle the new and added stresses which are completely unnatural and foreign to our original make-up.
These days shoe companies are wising up. They are looking to elite athletes to find ways of preventing injuries. Guess what they are finding?
The greatest runners prefer to run bare foot. The greatest lifters are more successful in non-cushioned shoes.
In fact there are studies being done across the world which are extolling the benefits of barefoot running and etc. Here is the abstract of an interesting one:
By Michael Warburton
Gateway
Physiotherapy, Capalaba, Queensland, Australia 4157. Email
Reviewers:Caroline Burge,
School of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane 4006, Australia;Larry M Feinman, Mountain
Chiropractic, Lafayette, Colorado 80026, USA;Ian Shrier, Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Community Studies,
SMBD-Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec H3T 1E2, Canada
Running
barefoot is associated with a substantially lower prevalence of acute
injuries of the ankle and chronic injuries of the lower leg in developing
countries, but well-designed studies of the effects of barefoot and shod
running on injury are lacking. Laboratory studies show that the energy cost
of running is reduced by about 4% when the feet are not shod. In spite of
these apparent benefits, barefoot running is rare in competition, and there
are no published controlled trials of the effects of running barefoot on
simulated or real competitive performance. To read the entire study click here.
Here is an interesting article on a book I am hanker'in to read.
We are a little ahead of the curve on this one. Science will catch on, but it wont be for a while. There is no money in it. Nobody is going to make money by telling folks to kick off their shoes and go barefoot. And most people are too caught up in "what they know" to even give this serious thought.
I hope you'll give it some serious thought.
I do not require shoes in my facility. That being written, if you go barefoot, you do so at your own peril. I wear those "foot gloves" to simultaneously protect my feet while preserving the benefits of going barefoot. Many wear very flat shoes with solid soles. Both are fine, and in my opinion, better for you.
You should know - going barefoot takes some working up to. You can't just throw your old cushioned shoes away and expect everything to be hunky/dory. It takes a while to toughen up your feet. Going barefoot should be done in stages and worked into gradually.
Ever wonder what your foot looks like under the stress of lifting heavy weights - as we do at the FZN? Below is a pretty cool video with some slow motion shots of people weightlifting with different types of shoes. Notice how much stress the cushioned shoe places the lifter in.
Note: I do not advocate this type of shoe which is advertised here. I don't think they are important to your health and fitness success. However, I have no doubt they would offer advantages to heavy weightlifters under certain circumstances.
This is one of our FZN benchmark workouts. Track your time very carefully so that next month when we do it again, you will have an accurate measure of your improved fitness.
Outstanding week, all. We are very excited with the progress and increased fitness that we have seen already. Keep hitting those meal plans - HARD!
Thank you all for your efforts. We know that the first week is hell, but I promise it is all downhill from here.
Hope you have a very nice memorial day weekend.
On this day let us all pause to remember that we are the land of the free, because of the brave.
For those who are serving; for those who have served; and for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms - we honor you.
Liz and Kat pound the "Time of the Day" for females @ just over 3 min. The thing is that they used 95 lbs instead of 65 lbs as rx'd! Only 2 others - Meg and Lizz went heavy like that...
Here are some others who were feeling today's workout...
em was down, but not out...
caught Matt in mid-burpee. He looks so happy!
Nikki pulled a 3:15! Chick is feeling it!
This workout even got Nicole to bow down!
First week of the challenge! Things are going well. I have to snap a lot of pics like this because, there won't be many of them in the future! Fun day and I believe a fun time was had by all!
