In times of uncertainty, we seek comfort.  Right now our lives have been dramatically impacted by circumstances well outside our control.  Many of us could use a bit of comfort right now.  And if you’re like me, one of the places you find comfort is food.

That’s not a bad thing.  Lots of families are enjoying preparing home cooked meals together.  Our Empower Cooking Club is sharing fun recipes with one another.  The trick is understanding which comfort foods nurture our health.

With so much outside our control at the present moment, what we choose to eat is one of the few things we still have complete control over.  And lucky us, it is one of the things that will make the greatest impact on our health and fitness.

I’ve included a Crossfit seminar on nutrition, the base of the fitness pyramid.  But I’ve also provided some clips from legendary health and fitness guru Jack Lalanne to underscore the fact that Crossfit isn’t proposing anything revolutionary or new.  For those of us brainwashed in the 70’s and 80’s by the “Fat is Bad” campaign and that terrible food pyramid, I want you to realize that this crappy advice was not and has never been the norm.  CrossFit has not launched a nutrition revolution but simply returned us to what health and fitness experts have known and advised from the dawn of time.  Not convinced, crack a book.  Journalist Gary Taubes’ book good Calories, Bad Calories summarizes the actual nutritional studies behind the media headlines.  He reports on the actual findings and the political/economic agendas of the people in power who chose to ignore or twist those findings to their own end to your detriment and mine.  It’s a scandal that has resulted in a health crisis epidemic that has already killed millions worldwide and has made our society fat, diabetic and very sick!

Jack Lalanne would have told it to you straight.  In his absence, CrossFit is speaking up today.  And the players who profit from your poor health and mine have lined up to try to stifle Crossfit’s message.  Big Sugar and Big Cola have been busted several times already for their involvement in paying off health researchers, regulators and government officials but their pockets are deep and they haven’t stopped lobbying to put a gag order on their outspoken critics.

The death rate of COVID doesn’t even come close to the insidious health impact of bad nutritional policy.  The obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other modern lifestyle diseases that we live with today were not always our fate.  We’ve simply made a wrong turn in the way we conduct our lives.  Our normal WAS NOT our grandparents’ normal.  It was not Jack Lalanne’s normal.  Road Warrior shared a Bruce Cockburn quote that applies to this as it does to so many things: “The problem with normal is it always gets worse.”  Take a step back.  Get your nutrition under control.  And reclaim the health that is your birth right.  create new habits that serve you better.  Today, while you’re locked up in self-isolation, is the perfect day to start!  Make this quarantine set back a big step forward for your health and nutrition!

Wednesday Workout

Warm Up
Required: 1 dumbbell or DB alternative
1 min DB goblet Squats
30/30 sec DB Shoulder Press R/L (if DB too heavy, do Push Presses)
1 min DB Front Rack Lunges
30/30 sec DB Thrusters R/L
30/30 sec DB Overhead Lunges R/L
30/30 sec DB Front Squat R/L
30/30 sec DB OHS R/L

Tech
200m Run: less than 60 seconds.  10 burpees or 60 seconds skipping or running in place or jumping jacks may be reasonable substitutions.
DB OHS:  Intended to be done with 1 DB alternating arms each round (right arm odd rounds, left arm even rounds).  If you cannot recall which arm you used last round, the weight is too light!  Select a weight you can complete 10 OHS in a row with in round one.  Double DB OHS may be used if only light DB’s available or you wish to make WOD more challenging.  Any reasonable DB alternatives may be employed.  I used a pillow case stuffed with 2 sacks of rice, Gymkata likes a backpack full of text books and Sprite is known to use a cat although this runs the risk of claws, teeth and PETA activists at your door!

WOD
10 Rounds:
200m Run
10 DB OHS @35/50#

Cool Down:
Shoulder shrugs rolling forward and backward
Overhead arm Raises
Samson Lunge Hold
Squat Hold
Quad Stretch
Downward Dog