Tomorrow is the day that seemed so far away —  the end of the challenge!

Stop and take that in — what will that mean for you?

Over the past 4 weeks, many of you are living a new way. You view food differently.  You are aware of the choices you are making and realize that you have to adapt based on choice.  You have learned a lot by reading labels. And in the process you dropped a few pounds, and feel stronger.

NOW comes the hardest part; the actual Real Food Wellness challenge is over.   I wonder what will happen when you don’t have to log your points. Who is going to be watching you? Who will you report to?

Maybe you can decide to extend the challenge through winter and  ask for the help of family & friends and email points to each other – or maybe you have had enough.

My hope for you is this – to continue to be present when making choices, so you can make the right decision based on the situation. And keep remembering how living a Whole Life — with exercise, nutrition, focus, community, inspiration and fun — made a huge impact in 4 short weeks!

I hope you found these 4 weeks helpful  — I would love to get some feedback on the challenge overall – what worked, what didn’t – what was missing, what would you change – so that the next time we offer it, we can be better and do better!

See you tomorrow at 9A!

A change in behavior can often have ripple effects that you didn’t even consider when starting out. Let’s take your exercise commitment – those of you that have kids – have you noticed how it has changed your kids’ perspective? Or maybe it’s your spouse who has begun to take notice of nutritional information or exercise trends?

Here are a few examples from our group that I have noticed:

• Angela’s kids are helping prepare healthy meals for the family to eat.
• Dawn’s son is joining her for the morning workouts and cheering her on!
• Rebecca’s (Foxy) son and daughter are getting up regularly at 5A to workout at HB.

It’s amazing what changing something about yourself  does to the world around you? Good or bad. When you start to get discouraged or veer off course in the days, weeks, months to come – I want you to think about how what you do can spark a change in your family.

So let’s talk about Saturday:  Your final workout is Saturday 9A. I will bring the index cards that had your original information.

• We will repeat the same workout we did at the beginning.
• Take measurements
• High Five one another because we did it!

In a few weeks (date TBD), we will be having a potluck at the gym where we each will bring something we discovered, created, made during the challenge to share and we can find out who won the challenge!!

Holy Smokes — We are at the final countdown!  There are only 3 days left in the Challenge!  Can you remember back to day 1?  The thought of the end of the four weeks was daunting… For me – I have gone through different stages  — excited, invigorated, fun, easy, hard, frustrating, boring, challenging.  And now that we are days away form completing it, I am thinking about what a huge achievement this has for all of us!

I only know about the changes that I’ve heard about and can see when our paths cross at the gym, and just hearing about those are enough for me to be amazed.  I can’t imagine what has happened that I will never even know about. Pounds and inches lost, habits changed, friendships created, people’s health forever altered, and lives transformed.

Each and every one of you, no matter how you tell yourself this went, is a different person for having put yourself in this game.  You have gotten yourself trained, like it or not, in being control of every aspect of your life.

This doesn’t mean that you’ll always make choices easily, but you are on the track now to be present and in command of the choices you make! You now have proof that it absolutely can go the way you say it should go. You have tasted victory in the choices you have made and knowing you have the freedom to steer it in whatever direction you choose.

Remember,this awareness and training is a SKILL that needs to be put to use each and every day or it gets atrophy, just like your muscles. Slack off too much — you will have to work hard to get back on track but you do have the “muscle memory” when it comes to these skills too!

What’s next for you? How has your life changed in ways you expected and ways you could never have imagined?

“It’s a lifestyle – train like there’s no finish line.”

Over these four weeks you have taken on the habit of making sure you get in at least 20 minutes of exercise every day.  Some of you may have been wondering “if I work out so hard on the other days, what difference do these 20 minutes on my ‘rest days’ matter?”

The primary factor for me, and the reason we included this rule, is that it keeps your mind attuned to fitness as a daily habit.  It’s not a 2 or 3 day a week thing. It’s not a fix, it’s a lifestyle. Our bodies will benefit from that intense effort we put in during the workouts we are doing in the gym, but we are meant to move.  It is time for people to get in the habit of thinking of themselves as movers and not as sedentary creatures.

As it turns out, even 10 minutes a day may be a bigger deal than just moving.  According to this article in USA Today from last year, an informal study done by a team of doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital demonstrated that the effects of 10 minutes of brisk exercise has metabolic effects that last for almost an hour after you are finished.  You may scoff, thinking that this must only be good for the vast legions of unhealthy or sedentary people out there.  However, they also found that the better shape you are in, the more impressive these effects are.

The doctors studied a few different types of individuals and in a group of 70 people they found that the brief exercise produced several different types of metabolites — some that burned calories and processed fat, some that decreased cellular stress, and others that improved blood sugar. These metabolites hung around for much longer than they expected, up to a full hour, even when that exercise only lasted those brief 10 minutes. The doctors were excited by these initial findings, and plan to study further.

Just think, you can change your destiny in as little as 10 minutes a day. It goes to show, it really is the little things that move you forward.  The small efforts, the attention to detail, the seemingly insignificant choices. It may not take as much as you once thought.

Eat right, move, stretch, pick up something heavy every day. Repeat.

We cannot escape that our bodies function only when they are used the way they are designed.  We are designed to move. Our systems respond positively to our movement. Movement keeps us healthy, young, and energized.  Remember how much fun it was as a kid just to move? I can think of no better reason to do it every day.

Log your Bonus points today if you earned them…

I’m going to let you in on a secret …

All of the skills that you practiced, strengthened and developed  during this challenge — accountability, daily action, community effort – can be transferred to other things in your life. How many of you did things you never thought they’d do because there were points involved? What about the tangible reward you knew was coming? For how many of you did the energy of the other challenges who had similar goals help you stick with it? Did making it all a game have anything to do with your success?

I can tell you right now, all of these elements can be carried through to anything else that you want to accomplish.  Take those goals that you declared and put together a group of people who have similar goals to play a game with! Make it worth something — reward yourself for doing what you said you’d do over time.  Give yourself actions you can take daily or weekly and be accountable to other people for completing them. You can have anything you want if you create a structure around it. It may take time, it may take sacrifice, but if we’ve proven anything, we’ve proven the the unmovable mountain can move with the right attitude, structure, and community.

It’s Friday — we are going to be heading into our FINAL week of the challenge – What is the challenge for next week?

Remember what the first week felt like? You were excited! You wanted to follow all the rules. It really felt like this was going to be easy. Then, just like an 4+ round workout, you found that the first 2 rounds were in no way a representation of how it was going to feel. Well, this week’s challenge is all about gettin’ back that lovin’ feeling.

Week 4 Challenge: Feels Like the First Time. Your challenge this week is to get a perfect score.

No special rules to follow — just play the challenge like it’s the very first week!

———

Now, let’s hear from one of my favorite people, Christmas Abbott who talks about inspiration…

Inspiration. Like humans, it comes in all shapes, sizes, forms, and avenues.

It’s not always about the end product but the experience of attempting, the feeling of success and failure, the warmth of heart and pride of self.

My biggest inspiration is to see it passed on to another. With that, I hope and am confident that one person will inspire another person. This starts a chain reaction of motivation, inspiration, and perseverance of life and love; which is, nothing short of amazing.

As a coach you can train your eyes, read and understand the mechanics, even learn how to adjust your personality to fit the athlete but the passion cannot be taught, it is created.

Inspiration is simply belief, the belief that anything is possible.

– Christmas Abbott

2011 CF Games Athlete
CFHQ Coach
LV1 Seminar Team

A few housekeeping items:

• Remember, if you participated in the sleep challenge and got 7 hours each and every day, give yourself 2 points! You deserve it.
• Clarification on what Active Recovery means: This does not mean no movement at all for that day. It means some light exercise – walk, an easy row, a light jog.  Here’s a good definition from another CF site: Active Recovery doesn’t mean just sitting on your butt.  Getting that blood flowing, even at extremely low levels of intensity, can enhance and speed recovery, and even eliminate DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness).  Ever hit a WOD hard, then jump in your car are drive 5 hours?  Remember how sore you were?  Active recovery can eliminate that.  This can entail anything from therapeutic massage to foam rolling to an easy 2k row.  Move, even a little, for better recovery.

One of my favorite CF athletes of all time is Jeremy Kinnick – a nice guy, great athlete and always happy to help others out. I have learned a lot from him. Below, he shares why he thinks “Everything Counts”…

There are so many lessons that I have learned through my many years of Crossfit from coaching athletes, to training myself and preparing for the Crossfit Games. I am a big believer in the idea that everything counts. From how we eat and sleep to how we think and treat people. Our past accomplishments are very important and make us who we are today but we can’t dwell on what we have done good or bad. So while everything that we do matters it doesn’t mean we are stuck and can’t change and it sure as heck doesn’t mean we can’t start our journey to being “better” right now. Every choice we make is a chance to fix a wrong turn or continue heading in the right direction.

I am not sure where this attitude of finishing strong came from for me. Whether it was from my amazing parents or just a culmination of experiences or part of my personality but no matter what I do I focus on finishing strong. Whether its a workout, a project, or a challenge my goal is to finish strong. No matter how many times you cheated on your eating or slowed down during the workout if you finish out the workout as hard as you can you will have won and that feeling of accomplishment will carry over to whatever comes next for you. Having successful past experiences to draw from will enable and assist you in future endeavors. I hope this plays a role in encouraging you…

-Jeremy Kinnick: Games Veteran and Father
http://www.crossfitkinnick.com

• 2013 4th place finish at the 2013 SoCal regionals
• 2012 CrossFit Games Finals: 31st Place
• 2012 SoCal Regional Qualifier: 3rd Place
• 2011 CrossFit Games Finals: 40th Place
• 2011 SoCal Regional Qualifier: 3rd Place
• 2010 Southwest Regional Qualifier: 8th Place
• 2009 CrossFit Games Finals: 29th Place
• 2008 CrossFit Games Finals: 77th Place