I know what you’re thinking! It just snowed, why am I worried about becoming acclimated to the heat now? The truth is it can take up to a month to fully acclimate to the summer months. In Colorado our spring and summers tend to be gradual, which is a good thing. We want to avoid trying to acclimate on the first 90 degree day! For firefighters, acclimating to the heat can be quite a process; and to do so safely and effectively, we must understand what is going on. I found a fantastic explanation of heat acclimatization for firefighters on fitforduty.org. The link for the article is posted below. I will do my best to paraphrase, but I highly recommend you read the whole article.

We all know our bodies deal with heat in a specific way; the most commonly known way is through sweating.  Our bodies sweat, the sweat evaporates and we cool off. Another method the body cools, involves the blood flow through the skin. This type of regulation involves conduction, convection, and radiation.  Blood flow assists in regulating heat. Increased heat calls for increased blood flow. Increased blood flow is stressful on the cardiovascular system; especially when we mix in heat, dehydration and the need to burn fuel. Combine this with being bundled up like a five year old in huge snow storm; you have a recipe for illness.

So what do we do to combat this? In simple terms- we must adapt to heat, reducing the strain on our bodies; all while maintaining work capacity, our comfort levels and ensuring that we don’t hurt ourselves in the process. Chief Lambert, author of fitforduty.org puts it this way,

“Heat acclimatization is the body adapting to heat and work stressors; it does this by increasing blood volume, reducing heart rate, redirecting blood to the skin, prioritizing water use toward sweat, and reducing salt excretion. This all starts to occur with repeated heat exposures that are sufficiently stressful to elevate body temperature and provoke perfuse sweating. Resting in the heat, with physical activity limited to that required for existence, results in only partial acclimatization. Physical exercise in the heat is required to achieve optimal heat acclimatization for that exercise intensity in a given hot environment.”

So this brings me back to my original question, why start now? Heat acclimatization can take time. A gradual increase in exposure over time will allow for a better acclimation, common sense- right?  Maybe not.  According to the chief, you start to lose acclimatization after about a week and must maintain or it will be gone in 3 weeks. Drinking alcohol to excess and limiting water intake will speed this up. It’s no secret that water intake is important in regulating heat, but did you know that being acclimated will increase fluid loss? In order to fight dehydration, one must continually consume water. Tea, coffee, and soda do not count! Lambert has some great recommendations on heat acclimatization strategies. Check it out here, grab your crew, and get started!

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Photo courtesy moyerphotos via Flickr

Steve @ NerdFitness.com has a really cool website with some real good content that is really fun to read. Sometimes it helps to read a different style to get remotivated.   Here’s one of his recent articles that applies to all of us right now wrapping up our Body Pod Challenge.

You did it.

Months and months (or even years and years) of hard work, proper habit building, smarter food choices, and quality exercising habits have lead you to reaching your goal weight and size!

First and foremost, congratulate yourself!  DING! You’ve leveled up.  Feel free to pat yourself on the back, post your message in the Woot Room, and look in the mirror with pride: you rescued the princess, defeated Ganon, saved Hyrule.

Now, once you reach this goal, you’re probably wondering what the next steps are. Keep reading his post here…

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Photo courtesy Humbert15 via Flickr

If you’ve got an unhealthy relationship with the scale, the only way to get back to a good place is to ditch it altogether. Donate it to Goodwill, recycle it or take it out back and give it a proper beat-down, Office Space-style. Because the sooner you ditch the idea that the scale is your ultimate measure of success, the healthier and happier you’ll be...Continue reading Whole 9′s article “5 Reasons to Break Up With Your Scale” here

1. Scale weight fluctuates wildly.

2. Scale weight says nothing of health.

3. The scale blinds you to real results.

4. The scale keeps you stuck on food.

5. The scale maintains control of your self-esteem.

Read more here of Whole 9′s “5 Reasons to Break Up With Your Scale”

Photo courtesy of puuikibeach via Flickr

Let’s face it peoples, eating right takes constant work and willpower.  We live in a society that constantly tempts the tastebuds.  If we let our guard down and show a weakness the enemy attacks and the next thing we know we’re in a sugar coma face down in a tub of Moo Llennium Crunch!  Sounds like the devil doesn’t it?

Much like fighting spiritual warfare and consuming yourself with the Holy, nutritional warfare requires us to consume ourselves with food knowledge and daily motivation.  It’s hard to fall into a plate of cookies if you are constantly reminding yourself of the rewards of eating right.

Try this for a couple weeks…Every day spend 10 minutes reading something about eating good healthy food.  See what being a student of nutrition will do for your daily willpower.

A great place to start is Whole 9′s Resource page. It’s just loaded with knowledge that motivates, pick one a day and read through it to keep your mind and will strong to eat healthy.  The Whole 9 Blog page also has great posts and motivational success stories,

Start with one of my all time favorites…”The Carrot Train To Crazytown“.  Partly because of the awesome title, and partly because its sooo true.

The Voodoo Floss Band is an essential performance tool and should be a staple in the gym bag of every athlete looking to improve range, restore joint mechanics, or unglue matted down or previously injured tissue.  Compression tack and flossing (Voodoo Flossing) works on many levels; including re-perfusing tissues that have become stiff or gone cold after injury, and by compressing swelling out of tissues and joints.

Because the Voodoo band can be used while actually performing the movement the athlete is trying to change, its effect on sliding surface and restoration and tissue mobilization is unmatched.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A52FC49G7Yw

get Voodoo Floss bands here… two for $24. @ Rogue Fitness

Here’s the best resources we have available for doing basic maintenance on yourself…visit K-Star and MobilityWOD.com for more of everything…use the SEARCH box. Enjoy, and remember, numbness is no bueno.

The Elbow…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dgbCDtqdlI

The Knee (patella femoral)…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RYMV0salw8

The Ankle…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drTxhTcvLgU

The Shoulder…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWNirIqaDPk

Perfusion & Circulation…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lDmMxVZtmY

Make your own compression band from a bike innertube…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weXE10IztZU

A-Shift Battalion Chief Jim Drummond is down to 10 shifts before retiring.  Watch this short interview as he talks about his health and fitness history, what he’s doing now and why.  He’s an inspiration to work out with at Crossfit Parker.  Awesome to see a firefighter with mere days left on the job still putting in the effort for his health and fitness, both on shift and into the next stage of his life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYToXB–v1I

Awesome treat to curb a craving.  Thanks to Eric Szabo, Ben O’Brien and Heidi Simon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69xK1xL9QrQ

 ”Paleo Nut Candy”

1/3 cup Honey (I’ve also been adding a little real maple syrup lately)
1/3 cup Coconut oil
1 tsp Nutmeg
1 tsp Cinnamon
5 cups of mixed nuts (I like to use salted nuts)
Anything else you want (raisins, coconut flakes, cranberries, dried cherries, etc.)

1.        Pre-heat oven 325

2.       Heat honey, oil,  nutmeg and cinnamon in sauce pan until it just starts to simmer.

3.       In a bowl, pour sauce over mixed nuts

4.       Mix nuts to cover with honey/oil

5.       Spread on a baking sheet and bake at 325 for 20 minutes.  I put wax paper or tinfoil on the cookie sheet to help with clean up.  (don’t wash bowl, set aside and use to let the nut mixture cool after they come out of the oven)

6.       Remove and let cool. 

7.       Mix in extras

8.       EAT

“When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, “I used everything you gave me.” Erma Bombeck

Great article post from Crossfit Northlake in Charlotte, NC… “What’s Your Motivation”   Your motivation needs to be a very personal decision and needs to be fueled by your own choice in life to get healthy, strong and fit… Read More HERE…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66t0CHAzHfc

And how about this BeastMode…watching this race and listening to the commentary with a little Intro XX playing in the background…

it’s hard not to like distance running every once in a while

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgdFrUjKppQ

We’re not encouraging everyone to head out to the bay and start practicing your handstands, but for some it’s a nice challenge and a way to change up your routine.  Check this out and if you need a little jumpstart, start inverting.  Remember, regularly practice and train at new sports!  Thal gives us a quick intro here…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cEIlck8UJQ

To go further, research into Carl Paoli’s Gymnastics WOD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaFP7FJ7ZSM

Rafting handstand photo from Crossfit Telluride

Wow! For some of us, this may be exactly the tool that changes our eating habits forever.  Spend 5 minutes and look over her program and see if it’s something worth a try.  The idea is simple: 1. Weekly, shop for 20 Fresh ingredients (aah, the name makes sense). 2. Once a week spend an hour prepping the entire weeks dinners.  3. Cook it.  Each complete meal takes less than 30 minutes to prepare and features simple recipes that the whole family can create together.  No more boxed mac-n-cheese or canned soup casseroles.  Visit the Fresh 20 website here…

Once a week they put up a new five day menu, easy to follow and use.  A couple other nice tweaks the Fresh 20 offers are a six week work lunch plan and gluten free menu’s options.  The weekly menu’s can be accessed for $5/month, awesome.  And if you prefer more of the old fashioned cookbook, they have that coming out this month too…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SOVd82vgIc

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