Lean and Mean Nutrition Challenge
The Shinobi Challenge, aka the Lean and Mean Nutrition Challenge started on October 3 and will run for 3 months. We want it to be a slower, more gradual process so that these healthy habits can be used your entire life.
Team Update
Last week I listed some nutrient rich superfoods that you should think about incorporating into your meals. This week I want to you to consider the macronutrient component of food. Food can be categorized into either protein, carbohydrate, or fat.
Proteins examples are red meat, chicken, fish, or eggs. Vegetarian examples of food with high protein are lentils, quinoa, or blackbeans, but note that these foods are primarily carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates examples are vegetables, fruit, and starches such as rice and potatoes.
Fat examples are nuts, seeds and oils.
It is important to eat food in each of these categories in every meal. As you make better choices, we can refine the amounts and percentages of food in each category. If your breakfast is a couple of eggs with coffee, you would be lacking carbohydrates in that meal.
Personal Update
Eating was on track but with a lower body injury and feeling under the weather, my workout volume and intensity suffered this week. Hoping to get back on the workouts next week.
-Harvey
This is where we recap the the picture or video that got the most views, likes, or comments of the week. Dave on the rope garnered the most likes this week.
JD accomplished her goal of a sub 2 hour half marathon this past Sunday in the WFPS half marathon!
Ashley completed her very first full marathon in PEI this past weekend!
We are proud of these two in their accomplishments this week. They have been training hard all year and we are pleased to see them achieve their goals.
JD and Ashley
Lean and Mean Nutrition Challenge
The Shinobi Challenge, aka the Lean and Mean Nutrition Challenge started on October 3 and will run for 3 months. We want it to be a slower, more gradual process so that these healthy habits can be used your entire life.
Team Woo Update
I just wanted to remind everyone that the challenge isn’t meant for you to starve yourself. The first thing we should be looking at is to make sure you are getting enough essential vitamins and nutrients. Most of us are already deficient in at least one nutrient. For example, in our winter months, the absent of sunlight we can be deficient in vitamin D.
To make sure you are eating the foods with a variety of nutrients, try some of the super foods below. Note this list is not an exhaustive list and you shouldn’t be only eating these foods. If you are on a specialized diet (vegan, paleo, etc), ignore whatever doesn’t fit into your diet.
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Salmon
Chia
Ginger
Eggs
Quinoa
Blueberries
Kale
Garlic
Spinach
Almonds
Beets
Oatmeal
Legumes
Olive oil
Green Tea
Personal Update
No weight lost this week and that wasn’t my main goal. As you recall I lost 3 pounds last week just from not eating junk processed sugar and I don’t really eat much of it anyways. My focus is on body composition which is to loose fat and gain muscle so the weight on the scale isn’t of primary concern. I started to add lemon and apple cider vinegar mixed into my water in my morning ritual. I’ll provide updates on how this goes in the weeks to come.
I was a bit sore this week but managed to hit a heavy snatch in on Friday. 5 pounds off of my record and a weight I’ve lifted only a few times in the past.
Congrats to Chloe for getting her first rope climb at the Thanksgiving Day team WOD on Monday!
Chloe at the top
-Harvey
This is where we recap the the picture or video that got the most views, likes, or comments of the week. Workout BFFs featuring Anesa and Jose was the hit of the week.
Lean and Mean Nutrition Challenge
The Shinobi Challenge, aka the Lean and Mean Nutrition Challenge started on October 3 and will run for 3 months. We want it to be a slower, more gradual process so that these healthy habits can be used your entire life.
Team Woo Update
Questionnaires were filled out and measurements were taken. My team was tasked to journal their food intake for the week.
Personal Update
I know there is a trade off between ideal nutrition choices and lifestyle balances. On one extreme, I could eat everything perfectly and decline all social offering of food and parties, but that wouldn’t be very fun at all. Like many people, I have periods where I make poor nutrition choices and periods where I make good nutrition choices and for me this depends on what goals I have at the moment. If I’m prepping for a competition where there are weight classes involved, my eating would be really strict. If I were trying to get stronger and gain weight, I would be less strict on my food choices. Over the years I have experimented on myself and have seen myself on both extremes.
This time, I am focusing firstly, on being lean (losing body fat) and secondly, building strength. I like to gradually tweak a variable here and there until I reach my goal. I know its a long processes and the results will come in time. For this first week, I cut out bread and processed sugar. Every morning I would chug 500 ml of water right after I woke up. I have lost 3 pounds this week. I did use maple syrup as a sweetener, and like I said this is a gradual process. If I wasn’t making progress this week, I would consider cutting out the maple syrup for the next week. In the coming weeks I will attempt to get 8 hours of sleep every night.
I had a few Thanksgiving meals over the weekend. This meant over eating and enjoying life. I don’t eat like that every day and a cheat meal once in a while is needed.
-Harvey
This is where we recap the the picture or video that got the most views, likes, or comments of the week. Tire flips featuring coach Suavek.
The Shinobi Challenge, aka the Lean and Mean Nutrition Challenge kicks off October 3, which is tomorrow. As mentioned previously, this is not a 30 day challenge. Month long challenges usually don’t provide any long lasting change. We will be doing this for 3 months. We want it to be a slower, more gradual process so that these healthy habits can be used your entire life.
If you haven’t filled out the questionnaire, please grab a form in the lobby and get it back to us ASAP.
Here was one of the questions received this week.
Question: Will I get to choose my own goals?
Answer: Yes. Of course! There is no sense in having a goal that doesn’t resonate with you. Each person will have different priorities and perspectives of what they want to get out of this. As coaches, we will guide you in choosing goals that are realistic and achievable. Your homework is to figure out what want from this challenge and why you want it.
-Harvey
This is where we recap the the picture or video that got the most views, likes, or comments of the week. “Mechanics, Consistency, Then Intensity” featuring Coach Rich looking like he is going to go into battle against a door frame.
-The Shinobi nutrition challenge will be starting October 3. Coach Rich will be posting details this week. Mark your calendars.
-Crossfit Winnipeg is hosting CF24 on October 22. CF24 is a national event which embraces integration, education and celebration of Special Olympic Athletes. This is a team event. See this page for more details.
-For those who are looking to compete, Prairie Crossfit is hosting a competition on November 5 for individuals. Here is are the details:
This competition is explicitly aimed at those who may be new to the scene or athletes who usually scale workouts and are not necessarily keen on competing next to seasoned, hardcore elite. It is geared towards the new CrossFitter or one that may be interested in trying a competition for the first time or just enjoy competing in scaled competitions. We want to let athletes have the experience of preparing for something, having goals with a deadline and feeling the jitters of “321 go” that so many of us have been doing for years.
Details:
What: Prairie CrossFit Fall Throwdown
When: Nov 5, 2016
Where: Prairie CrossFit
Who: Novice CrossFitters (new to the sport)
Or CrossFitters who aren’t at the RX level yet
Novice and Scaled Divisions
Cost: $90
Registration date: Sept 20 – 10am
Link to register will be on this page
-Harvey
This is where we recap the the picture or video that got the most views, likes, or comments of the week. “Tire Flip” featuring Ashley.
This week we saw the return of the jump switch lunges and saw how sore these can be on our legs. On Wednesday we had a long 20 minute anaerobic conditioning session where we concentrated on pacing. On Friday we saw a workout where lactic acid build up was present and we tried to recover as much as possible in the 2 minute rest interval.
In preparation for the upcoming food challenge, I’m sharing one of my favourite recipes. I’ve made the banana bread version but now I see the Civilized Caveman has come up with a banana bread donut version. If anyone wants to give it a shot, you can find it here. Just remember that although these are healthier versions, these are still just treats and should be eaten in moderation.
-Harvey
This is where we recap the the picture or video that got the most views, likes, or comments of the week. “Jump!” shows agility and height mid jump.
With September here we officially start fall. Labour Day Monday we will have a team workout at 10am.
Stay tuned for our upcoming nutrition challenge. Coach Rich will have more details soon.
You may have seen a few new faces at Shinobi recently. In the evening classes we have Bryn and Lindsey starting with us. They were introduced to us by Chloe.
Left to right: Bryn and Lindsey
-Harvey
This is where we recap the the picture or video that got the most views, likes, or comments of the week. “Success and Nothing Less” shows the mindset of our athletes.
This week we are going to answer a question from one of our new members.
Question: I’ve just started and this is challenging. Does it ever get easier?
Answer: This is a common question we receive. When you first start out you don’t know the movements. You are sore for days. Power snatch. Hang clean. Hollow rocks. You think we made up terms during a weekend of partying.
We understand. We were once new to this too. But in a short time you start improving. You start lifting more weight. Your times get faster and you notice yourself looking better.
You’ll hear Coach Rich often say that it doesn’t get easier. In fact, it can get harder. The stronger and faster you get, the more you can push yourself to places where you never thought were possible. This isn’t easy. If this was easy then everyone would be rocking six pack abs with no effort what so ever.
It is always going to be hard. You are making improvements, but most importantly, you are getting better. That is the ultimate result.
For those of you who are visual learners, we created this for you:
And if this ever gets easy for you, then we will hammer it into you that you need to TRY HARDER.
-Harvey
This is where we recap the the picture or video that got the most views, likes, or comments of the week. “I am Shinobi” shows how we stand strong and brave no matter what happens.
This week we will mix it up a bit. Instead of the usual format, we present this week’s wrap up in a photo essay.
“Just keep going” – Kyle fighting for every rep
“I can and I will” – Jose strong overhead
“Believe in yourself” – Chris pondering during rest
“Believe you can and you are half way there” – Meet kettlebell swing
“Be strong” – Anesa handstand
“On good days I workout, on bad days I workout HARDER” – David overhead squat
“I cannot change yesterday, but I can change today” – Jem doing burpees
“Don’t just set goals. HUNT THEM” – Suavek’s fierce and ferocious look of intensity
“Be someone you would be proud to know” – Jorden setting up to lift
“I don’t make excuses, I make results” – Anesa with weight overhead
“What will you achieve today?” – Team Shinobi Saturday
-Harvey
You may have seen a few new faces at Shinobi recently. In the evening classes we have Bryn and Lindsey starting with us. They were introduced to us by Chloe.
In the mornings we have David starting with us. He is a father and has a black belt in Kendo.
David split jerk
If you haven’t seen it already, we have posted our July photos on our Facebook page
-Harvey
This is where we recap the the picture or video that got the most views, likes, or comments of the week. “This is Shinobi Fitness” showcases how our athletes train.
We’ve mentioned before that consistency is key to achieving fitness goals. With this week being a condensed week due to the long weekend, we were pleased to see Kevin come in for his scheduled three times a week. It would have been easy to just skip a day or two this week but, Kevin made the commitment to himself to train, even if it meant having to come three days in a row this week.
Along with consistency, Kevin has been working on his mobility. We see Kevin spending extra time stretching and mobilizing and is starting to see results. He has also been perfecting the technique on his lifts and training his pacing on his workouts.
Coach’s Comment – “I’ve talked to Kevin about consistency… and this is the first time I’ve seen him come three days back to back to back” -Coach Suavek
Kevin push press
Shinobi Performance of the Week is sponsored by Ninja Wraps