Live Healthier and Perform Better with More Vitamin D

0 CommentsFriday • August 6, 2010 • by cfprovidence

By CFP Coach Judah Boulet

85% to 95% of the population is deficient in Vitamin D which is essential for optimal health and athletic performance (Arch Intern Med.2007; 167: 1709-1710).  The main reason we are deficient is because we do not get enough sunlight by wearing clothes and living inside most of our lives.  Alternatively to sunbathing, a Vitamin D supplement has proven to work just as well.

How much sun do I need?
For most fair skinned people like me, 20 minutes of full body sun exposure a day would get me a nice healthy dose of Vitamin D.  However, no one wants to see that.  Darker skinned individuals are even more Vitamin D deficient and need even longer sun exposure, at least 3-6 times as much.  Partial body exposure would require longer sun exposure for the exposed parts.

Where do we get vitamin D from currently?
Through our diets we can get it from fish or fortified dairy; however, the amounts in those food sources do not adequately fulfill our needs.  We can also absorb vitamin D from being outside in the sun.  However, most of us work indoors, and when we do go outside for extended times, we lather up in sunscreen protecting us from the UVB rays which make vitamin D in our bodies.  So, as you can see we are all Vitamin D deficient.

Why does it matter?
- Vitamin D is essential for optimal athletic performance, the Russians figured this out in the 50’s and 60’s
- Vitamin D has a positive affect on body fat mass and insulin sensitivity
- Vitamin D is necessary for strong bones.  There are also some studies which link it to decrease osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and decreased fractures in post-menopausal women.
- Vitamin D improves the immune system.  Studies have shown that people with Vitamin D deficiency are more likely to get upper respiratory infections, especially viral infections like influenza and the common cold.
- Vitamin D is associated with the decreased risk of at least 15 different types of cancers such as colorectal, breast, ovarian, and pancreatic.  The reason is most likely from the above immune system modulation.
- Vitamin D is found to decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease.  Why?  First off, Vitamin D is synthesized from cholesterol.  If you are Vitamin D deficient, your body will make more cholesterol to try to increase the Vitamin D levels.  This causes LDL levels to rise (it carries cholesterol to the skin) and HDL levels to decrease, because the cholesterol does not need to be removed from the skin and other tissues, while it is there trying to be converted to Vitamin D.
- Vitamin D improves mental health.  Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to depression and seasonal affective disorder
- Anecdotal evidence that it enhances quality of sleep.
- Vitamin D decreases silent inflammation within the vasculature

What can I do?
So, you are probably deficient.  Optimally, you can ask your doctor for a blood test to determine your current vitamin D levels.  However, outside of walking around naked 365 days a year for 20-30 minutes a day, you can take a supplement.  There have been recommendations that you take 10,000 IU’s a day for 4-5 weeks to increase your bodies levels, and after that loading phase, decrease to 5000 IU’s a day.  If you want to be on the safe side, supplement with 2000 IU’s a day.  Along with this you want to make sure your diet is providing 1000 mg of calcium and 400 mg of Magnesium a day.  It is very difficult to overdose on Vitamin D.  Studies have been done with patients taking 10,000 IU’s a day for 6 months without any toxicity issues.

On a personal note, I started taking Vitamin D on June 28 this year.  I started with 10,000 IU’s a day for two weeks, and have since cut it down to 6000 IU’s per day.  I have felt entirely different and have noticed improvements in mental status, sleep, and performance.

Note:  Supplementation with Vitamin D was something I was unaware of the importance of until I took the new CrossFit Nutrition certification.  A registered dietician, Jeremy Mullins, ran the certification, and stressed the importance of this supplement.  Since coming back I have researched its importance.  By going to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed and typing in Vitamin D and any topic of interest I mentioned above, you will be referenced to an abundance of scientific literature.

Contact Judah Boulet with any questions or come to our Nutrition Workshop on September 11, 2010 from 11am to 12:30pm.

CFP is extremely selective about promoting supplements.  If you would like to order Vitamin D online, we suggest using Paleotrition:  http://www.paleotrition.com/Vitamin_D_p/vds060.htm

For 10% off all Paleotrition products enter the following code:  m29t

CrossFit versus P90X versus Insanity

0 CommentsThursday • August 5, 2010 • by cfprovidence

Written By CFP Coach James Needham

“The biggest difference is the support and motivation from CrossFit’s community can not be replicated with a DVD.”

If you have not yet heard of the P90X and/or the INSANITY DVDs I am sure it is just a matter of time. Hopefully by the end of this article you will have a good understanding as to their differences AND yes, even their similarities.

The P90X & INSANITY infomercials are convincing and do a good job of promoting their product. I even purchased P90X, only to in time get tired of the routine and eventually discovered CrossFit Providence (CFP).

• CrossFit has athletes working out using the most efficient, effective exercises available. Gymnastics, weightlifting, sprinting, powerlifting, & kettlebells, are but a few of the activities you may come across. CrossFit’s specialty is not specializing.
• P90X is described as a home fitness training system that contains 12 workout DVDs, programmed for 90 days.
• INSANITY is described as a 60 day program that comes with 10 workout discs containing Plyometrics drills on top of intervals of strength, power, resistance, and ab / core training moves. No equipment or weights are used.

The benefit of P90X and, INSANITY is that they do incorporate some whole-body movements, expose the user to new horizons like Yoga and Martial Arts and criticize the current trend in fitness towards machines. Both programs are scalable.  They also believe that just “going through the motions” will not stimulate results and that the results ultimately come from intensity.

Even though P90X and INSANITY are similar to CrossFit in these ways there are some major drawbacks to point out.

The biggest difference is the support and motivation from CrossFit’s community can not be replicated with a DVD. It’s an open-source group, where anyone is free to post anything related to the workout of the day (WOD).  There are hundreds of thousands doing Crossfit across the world, in basements, garages, parks, and gyms.  Members and Coaches (hundreds of thousands worldwide) bring individual expertise to the table and that adds to everyone’s experience.

With CrossFit you are accountable when you walk through the door.  The DVDs won’t come alive and start encouraging you like a CFP Coach. Since my first workout at CrossFit Providence I have not even had a second thought to “just push play” on my DVD player to re-visit P90X.  The main difference that I noticed is that what I “experience” at CrossFit Providence is what I “saw” on the P90X videos.  A coach walking around watching everyone’s form, individuals performing different levels of the same exercise, everyone cheering each other on, making small talk, etc.

Crossfit, being open-source, is free and constantly improving based on shared empirical evidence, where as P90X and INSANITY are limited by there DVD design. Safety, efficacy, and efficiency are the three most important and interdependent facets of CrossFit and are supported by measurable, observable, repeatable facts; i.e., data.  This approach is called “evidence-based fitness.” The CrossFit methodology depends on full disclosure of methods, results, and criticisms, shared through the Internet (Coach Greg Glassman).

CrossFit uses the most efficient/effective exercises available. You will never see an “isolation” exercise much less an entire workout dedicated to just one body part. By using compound movements CrossFit strengthens your body the way it is suppose to be strengthened, as 1 machine not a collection of parts. To work the body one muscle at a time or even one group of muscles at a time now seems to me like such an ineffective waist of time.

CrossFit feels like a sport. Harnessing the natural camaraderie, competition, and fun of sport yields an intensity that cannot be matched by other means. (Coach Glassman). Where P90X and INSANITY targets physique improvement solely, that result comes as a byproduct of an improved fitness level with CrossFit.

CrossFit has the element of surprise. Constantly changing workouts help Crossfitters put out their maximal effort every day, because they don’t know what’s coming next.  It makes it a lot tougher than saving your energy for days that feature your favorite exercises, and thereby only consistently improving your strengths.

CrossFit is fun. Knowing that tomorrow is ‘Yoga Day’ didn’t do much to excite me on the third time through the P90X DVDs.  How many P90X folks are up at midnight on the P90X website, chatting to others about ‘Chest and Triceps’ day tomorrow?  Few. At Crossfit.com?  Trust me THOUSANDS are constantly hitting ‘refresh’ to see the WOD before they go to sleep.

The bottom line is this: While P90X and INSANITY may help only the self-motivated individual achieve actual results; CrossFit is an ever growing living program offering a more practical workout with support from a highly motivated community.

CrossFit is Humbling

1 CommentTuesday • August 3, 2010 • by cfprovidence

By CFP Coach Judah Boulet

“It is tough to realize you need to scale, especially if you are chock full of hormones and have an ‘if he/she can do it, so can I’ attitude.”

Even after 18 months of dedicated training, every day I am still humbled, as workouts of the day (WODs) appear which I know I cannot perform as prescribed (RX’d). I have come to accept scaling is okay.  There is a much greater chance I will avoid injury by not pushing myself to RX a workout I know I cannot.  In the long run, I will finish all the workouts and make more gains than I would have, had I struggled to lift more than I could.

This reality of “scaling” was not clear to me during my first few months of CrossFit.  To feel competitive with everyone else at CrossFit Providence, I wanted to RX, or try to RX everything that came my way.  In the process, I tried to do some far too heavy technical lifts and ended up with a shoulder injury which took months to go away.

There is no shame in scaling. When I finally realized this I took weight off the bar, and worked on technique to move less weight faster.  The result?  More gains, much faster.  It is tough to realize you need to scale, especially if you are chock full of hormones and have an “if he/she can do it, so can I!” attitude.  It takes a serious gut check, but CrossFit is humbling and egos need to be left at the door.

The Science:

So why scale? By scaling weight, you actually will generate more power thereby increasing work capacity, or the maximum amount of work a person can perform.  Increasing work capacity is the overall goal of CrossFit. Simply put:  move less weight, at faster speeds, and increase fitness (work capacity).  What does all this mean? Basic physics explains all of this.

Luckily I teach Physics! The two concepts we need to understand are Power and Work. Work is equal to Force times distance. The weight of something times how far it is moved. So if I move a 10 pound dumbbell 10 feet, the work is 100. Power is the amount of work done divided by time.  Using the example from above, if moving that 10 pound dumbbell 10 feet took 2 seconds, my power is 50.

Let’s relate this to scaling. I come into the box and the workout is Fran. Fran Rx’d for guys is 95 pound thrusters, in a rep scheme of 21-15-9. Let’s just look at the first set of 21. If I was to Rx the workout, I need to move 95 pounds from a front squat position to overhead, a distance of approximately 5 feet, 21 times. My work therefore is 95 pounds x 5 feet x 21 reps, for a total of 9975. Say it takes me 2 minutes (120 seconds) to accomplish this set, because 95 pound thrusters are heavy for me. My Power is 83 for that set. Not bad,

But what if I scaled to a weight more appropriate? Suppose I used 65 pounds instead of the Rx’d weight.  65 pounds x 5 feet x 21 reps gives me 6825 amount of work. Less work, however, I can accomplish this task in 1 minute (60 sec). 6825/60 gives me a power of ~114, 37% more Power output.

Another example is Grace, 30 Clean and Jerks @ 135 lbs. Last time I did Grace it took me 5 minutes, as I Rx’d it.  Looking back I probably should have scaled. Let’s look at the math!

(30 x 135 x 7 feet)/300 seconds = 94.5 Power

If I had scaled the weight to 95 pounds and finished in 3 minutes?

(30 x 95 x 7 feet)/180 seconds= 111 Power

Less weight, but more power, means greater fitness outcomes.  Amazing! Numbers do not lie.

The next time a WOD appears where your ego is saying Rx it, but your gut is saying, if I do this weight it will take me forever, drop the weight, move the lower weight faster, and make more gains!

Note:  To keep things simple, the concepts applied here are entirely accurate, however, science typically uses the metric system which involves a series of conversions I did not want to perform, or units which are unfamiliar in US Equivalents.  This was done to avoid confusion in the take home message.

A Thank You from Kelly Carse

4 CommentsTuesday • July 20, 2010 • by cfprovidence

WOW!!! What a great box to come home to!!! I felt you all with me every single moment….I wanted to share so much with you.  It was truly amazing.  We are all so lucky to be part of such a fantastic community like crossfit.  I am coming home with a million ideas in my head of things to do in the gym and seeing all the WODs posted at CFP over the past couple of days gets me so excited!!  I can’t thank you all enough for helping me get to the games and I do hope that one day, I can return the favor.  You all are the best!!!!

A special thanks to Julie, my crossfit mate, as the Aussies would say, for holding my hand and taking this ride with me…and to my sisters, Cindy and B for all their incredible advice, pictures and support!

Another special thanks to Lori-Ann and her team at USMT for getting me through that painful time when I needed their care and attention….you were really there for me!!!

To Mike, Josh and Chris…you have inspired many with what you have built and I was extremely honored to have been there with “Providence Crossfit” blazed across my chest (shirt by Dawn D, Buyathread)

Love,

Kelly

Northeast Regional 2010 Wrap-Up

2 CommentsFriday • June 18, 2010 • by cfprovidence

Wow! What a great weekend in upstate New York for a gathering of the best Crossfitters that the Northeast has to offer!  CrossFit Providence and our sister gym CrossFit Newport both performed spectacularly throughout the entire weekend, and the individual performances by the female and male competitors were inspiring and something to behold (including someone you might see around the box).

First up on Friday, was the Masters division featuring our own Kelly Carse who competed in a triplet featuring double-unders, kettlebell swings and pull-ups arranged in ‘Helen’ fashion.  The ladies bravely battled through with Kelly being the only lady to finish the workout in the allotted 15 minute time limit!  Next up for the ladies, after a break, was the 1 rep max thruster event where 10 minutes was given to find a 1 rep max. Kelly again was able to finish in the top 3, amongst some very strong ladies.

Next on the schedule, and the last event of the opening day of the qualifier was the 1^st affiliate WOD, a 12 minute jaunt in which teams of 4 (2 ladies, 2 men) had to complete 40 Snatches at 115/75# per gender, and then perform as many handstand push-ups as possible in the remaining time. CrossFit Newport excelled, taking 4^rd place in the event with strong performances from Dawn Ditano, Holly, Dan Blackmon and Gino. The CFP team of DawnMarie, Julie Giorgi, Gym and Josh competed strongly as well in a true team effort.

Saturday morning began bright and early with the final Master’s event on tap, Chest to bar Cindy (5 chest to bar pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats) Kelly again turned in an outstanding performance to take 2nd place in the event, to earn the overall top ladies masters spot of the weekend, and 5^th overall to this point in the nation! All of the masters ladies/men were inspiring, and you could tell there was genuine affection for one another and the amazing things they were doing, some at nearly 70 years old!

The affiliate events then resumed with a partner workout consisting of a 4K row, and 100 reps each of cleans, box jumps, C2B pull-ups, sumo high pulls, and burpees!  Both CFP and CFN were able to finish the workout in the allotted 20 minute time limit, no easy task!  This workout featured the debuts of Kristen Fraza and Nick Freischlag for the CFP team, and Megan and Judah Boulet for CFN.  The highlight of the day on the individual side was a 300lb 3RM clean and jerk from Rob Orlando of Hybrid Athletics in Stamford, CT!

Sunday was hot.  This provided the teams with an additional element to battle, as if the programming wasn’t enough!  The final WOD, which was revealed the night before, was a station WOD consisting of 30 reps of deadlifts, burpees, kettlebell swings and box jumps.  Each athlete had to complete each station and no one could move until all reps were completed by all athletes. Then each athlete had to push a weighted prowler sled 200 ft, and if all that is not enough, one team member had to wear a 20lb weighted vest the entire time! Again, CFP and CFN were strong competitors, CFN clocked in a top 10 time, while CFP missed the cutoff time in dramatic fashion just coming up short on the final sled push while the crowd roared encouragement.  James Needham and Dan Blackmon were the ‘lucky’ two to have the honor of the 20lb vest.

In the end, as was said on the message board, CrossFit truly was the winner.  There was an affiliate ‘tent city’ which made the grounds feel like a big Crossfit carnival!  You could have spent the entire day just walking around and meeting other athletes and fans from all over New England and New York, while seeing some truly amazing, inspiring performances. Big thanks goes out to Jim Giorgi for providing the tent for us and to all of you that came out to support us this weekend including Cristi, Mary, Jim and all of Cynergy CrossFit who made for a loud CFP/CFN cheering section!  Sectionals are only 10 months away, train hard!