Happy Thanksgiving!!! Pass the turkey, please.

Get your goals done today and meet with one of your coaches this week to work out a plan to address them.  The Cash Out is always there to work on these and if you need help, we are always here for you.  They can be exercise oriented, nutrition, rest and recovery, flexibility/mobility or motivational.  Think about what you need and what is most important to you.

The Thanksgiving Turkey Trot 5k run/walk is this Thursday at 8 am.  We will be starting RIGHT AT 8 am.  I will have the gym open by 7:30 am to give you plenty of warm up time.  I just looked at the weather forecast and surprisingly it appears we may have a dry 40 degree morning.  Sounds like shorts and tank top weather.  This is open to nonmembers too.  Bring them along and have them join us in giving thanks for all we have.

The gym will be closed Nov 25-27, Fri, Sat and Sun after Thanksgiving.

We are scheduling a Christmas White Elephant get together on Thursday December 15 at 6:30 at Snow Peak Brewery.  We did this last year and had a great time.  Bring a gift of $10 to share and we will celebrate together.  Save the date NOW as things get hectic during December.

Looking forward we will have the gym open in December right up to Saturday December 24 at 8am (12 Days of Christmas WOD).  The gym will be closed from Dec 25th to Jan 1 and opening back up Monday January 2.  The first week of January we will have the Battle of the Boxes WOD available to raise funds for Everydaywarrior.com  Get signed up for this by December 4th to be able to get the t-shirt too.  Go do it right now.  It’s $40 for participating plus the shirt and all the proceeds go to help CrossFitters battling cancer.

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I read this editorial this week and it touched a nerve for me.  We need to do as much to help support each other as we can.  Please read on

It’s Complicated- from Recreation Management magazine

We humans have a tendency to compartmentalize. We’re not always good at seeing the big picture, whether it’s on the micro-level of the health of our own bodies or the macro-level of the health of our entire home planet.

It’s something I ponder regularly, and some recent research published in Health Psychology reinforced my thinking, nudging me to share my thoughts here.

For the study, titled “Self-Compassion and Subclinical Cardiovascular Disease Among Midlife Women,” authors Rebecca Thurston, Megan Fritz, Yuefang Chang, Emma Barinas Mitchell and Pauline Maki sought to determine the impact of self-compassion on physical health. They define self-compassion as “a positive psychological construct characterized by extending compassion toward oneself, often during periods of suffering.”

They determined that women with high degrees of self-compassion had lower IMT thickness. Intima-media thickness (IMT) can indicate your risk for heart disease and stroke. Those with lower IMT thickness are at lower risk—and on the other side of that coin, higher thickness equals higher risk.

So, a little bit of kindness toward oneself could mean lower risk for heart health issues. What’s more, self-compassion’s impact held even when the research team accounted for other risk factors for cardiovascular disease, like insulin resistance and obesity. I don’t think I’m the only one wondering how much self-compassion is lacking in people struggling with these kinds of chronic issues.

To me, the research shines a bright light on the importance of a macro-level view of health. Our culture tends to overemphasize the importance of “diet and exercise” for maintaining health, while vastly understating the importance of things like proper rest, good mental health and human connection.

Eating a wide range of nutritious foods and moving our bodies are important steps to take for our health—but how much can these healthy habits help us if we continually ignore our need for sleep? How much self-loathing does it take to undermine the metaphorical daily apple?

Many of you put in daily effort to boost the health of your communities by providing healthy physical and recreational activities. You offer fitness programming and opportunities for people of all ages to get active and connect with one another. You invest in and develop infrastructure that makes it easier for people to take care of their bodies. But I’m wondering … do you keep the whole health of your community in mind? (I’m guessing that many of you do.) And I’m curious to know if there are ways to help grow people’s self-compassion at the same time we’re encouraging them to get their blood pumping.

I have no answers, but it seems as though the continuing work toward greater inclusiveness and diversity goes hand-in-hand with these ideas, and I’m hopeful that we are approaching a new era—when we find ways to embrace and grow a more complicated, holistic view of the relationship between our bodies, minds and communities.

Take Care,

Emily Tipping
Editorial Director,
Recreation Management
[email protected]

Keep a good thought for yourself  and be aware of others who need help, too.

Participate with others in some positive activity

Reach out to help yourself and to help others.

Dean

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Schedule this week-   Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday ONLY, 5am, 6am, 4:30 pm, 5:30 pm.  THURSDAY TURKEY TROT at 8 am SHARP, gym open at 7:30 to warm up

WODS this Week- FRONT SQUAT, Row/Box jump duet, HELEN, TURKEY TROT 5K RUN/WALK

This week’s Paleo Recipe is…………

Roasted Broccoli and Brussels Sprouts