Hard cast ankle braces. Knee bands. Ice packs. Wrist braces. These are what I saw at the last few youth sporting events I went to. Fifteen year olds completely geared out to prevent injury or to coverup a reoccurring one. Here are the stats on injuries and success among multi-sport and sport-specific athletes.


Statistics on injury rates in single sport vs multi-sport athletes.

• In one study of high school athletes in Wisconsin single sport athletes were noted as 60% more likely to sustain injuries than athletes who play more than one sport. Of those injuries 51% were ligament strains/tears and 20% going to tendinitis.
• Another study showed single sport athletes were 15% more likely to report multiple injuries keeping them out of athletics on average of 15 weeks a year. On top of that, they found that athletes training 28 hours or more per week on one sport were pre-high school age were more than 30% more likely to report an injury AND were only 1% more likely to get recruited for a college sport.
• From 1998-2010 percent of total UCL surgeries (Tommy John) being in adolescents rose from 11% to 44%.

Success amongst multi-sport athletes.

• Less than two percent of high school athletes receive college scholarships.
• More than 95% of Super Bowl 52 players were multi-sport athletes in high school.
• Among high school coaches 98% said they prefer athletes who play multiple sports.
• Twenty-nine of the 32 first round NFL draft picks played more than one sport in high school.
• Notable HOF level athletes that played more than one sport in high school and/or college: Russell Wilson, Julius Peppers, Lolo Jones, Marion Jones, Kenny Lofton....among so many others.

Being a sport-specific athlete isn’t inherently bad. They do not have a money-back-guarantee to get injured but they need more work than the same motion. If a high or younger athlete only wants to play one sport they NEED (not should or it would help) to be trained in a broad, inclusive fitness. Whether it’s personal training or in a group fitness class, those kids need strength work, they need running technique, they need increased body awareness beyond their sport.


The human body is not meant to repetitively do the same motion. Throwing a ball, running in a straight line, jump max effort, swing a club. All of these movements are fine, encouraged, but when focused exclusively on lead to the statistics previously listed, particularly in a developing teen and pre-teen. Inclusive and broad movements are necessary to be healthy and better athletes. Inclusive meaning, multi-joint encompassing. Movements that challenge multiple muscle groups and multiple joints to achieve the range of motion. Broad meaning using the entire spectrum of human movement.


What this means for young athletes and parents: FIND A STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING COACH. Find a coach that teaches quality movement, has a background in athletics, uses multiple tools (barbells, bands, etc) and can explain what they do and why.

The Importance of Sleep in Health and Cognition

“The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast.”
-Macbeth


In the passage above, Shakespeare’s Macbeth extols the virtues of sleep when he believes he has been cursed to never sleep again. He notes the restorative properties of sleep to both mind and body, and 600 years on, modern science supports this intuitive view of sleep as the “chief nourisher in life’s feast.”
While scientists haven’t quite landed on a single theory of why we sleep, the functions of sleep are clear and two-fold; to repair and restore the body, and to synthesize and store new learning and memories.
The vast physiologic repair that occurs during sleep spans immune function, appetite regulation, muscle repair, and the release of metabolic and reproductive hormones. In one experiment, rats who were totally sleep deprived for just over a month completely lost their immune function and died. The role of sleep in cognition has also been shown to have immense impact, particularly on cognitive performance, insight and creativity, mood and emotional stability, and even regulation of pain.
Most men require 7-8 hours of sleep each night, while most women should aim for 8-9 hours. This number generally shrinks in the second half of life. Without it, we are not only tired but sick, overweight, emotionally unstable, mentally cloudy, and we feel more pain.
Good sleep is a staple of health, with arguably greater influence than eating well and exercise. But it eludes many, with 1 in 3 Americans getting insufficient sleep and most of those clocking in at under 6 hours a night. With 70 million Americans reporting sleep deprivation in 2014, the CDC labeled it a public health epidemic.
Major contributors to sleep deprivation are time demands, like caring for children, working from home, or simply time-consuming habits like TV or social media at night. But disorders like anxiety or depression are also common perpetrators of insomnia in the average American. Here are a few, evidence-backed steps to take to help you get better sleep.

1. Whether it is an earlier bedtime or a later wake-up call, carving out 7-9 hours a night is the first step. I set a notification on my phone to remind me to start getting ready for bed.
2. Sleep hygiene is underrated and crucial to both falling and staying asleep. In the hour before bed, avoid all screens and electronics, including TV, computers, and cell phones. That means no scrolling social media and no bingeing the latest serial killer documentary right before bed! Constructive bedtime routine activities could include conversation, reading, journaling, stretching, meditation or prayer, etc. Ensure your bedroom is as dark as possible. In my experience, this is the most difficult change as it requires letting go of destructive habits and building better ones. Like all change, start small—say, just 15 minutes of electronic-free time before bed. It’s hard to create this space in your daily routine, but it is the single most evidence-based recommendation for treating insomnia.
3. Meditation, especially mindfulness-based meditation, has amassed impressive evidence for its utility in improving quality of life in a number of areas, including sleep. If falling asleep is difficult for you, try 5-10 minutes of mindful meditation before bed. I use the Calm app, but there are many other free or subscription-based resources that can guide you through forming this new skill.
4. No supplement or medication is a silver bullet, but both can be helpful in the quest for a good night’s rest. Start with melatonin—your body’s natural hormonal signal that it’s time to sleep. A good starting dose is 3-5mg taken 60-90 minutes before bed (it takes this long to start working in your system). Gradually build your dose if you don’t notice a difference at first (and make sure you are practicing good sleep hygiene). Another over-the-counter supplement worth trying is L-thianine, which has a longer half life than melatonin, and may help you stay asleep longer. Antihistamines can work in a pinch, but aren’t a long term solution. Consult your health care provider with questions about these or other supplements, and let them know about your insomnia as they may suggest non-habit forming prescription medication that can help when you’ve exhausted other options.
5. If the underlying perpetrator of your insomnia is anxiety or depression, as it is for many people, the steps above are still a great starting point. But there’s no substitute for getting effective treatment for your mental health. That includes counseling, social support, coping techniques, and sometimes, prescription medication. Psychology Today is a great place to find for a mental health professional that fits your needs and preferences.
6. If you find yourself still struggling with insomnia, poor quality sleep, or chronic fatigue, it’s time to visit your health care provider to rule out medical causes. Sleep apnea is a common culprit here, afflicting more than 30% of Americans.

I know from personal experience how destructive insomnia and sleep deprivation can be. Everything suggested here stems from a wide body of evidence and are practices I’ve adopted in my own life to great effect. Be encouraged that better sleep is possible! Good luck, and sweet dreams.

Today’s nutrition plan we’re going to cover is Renaissance Periodization (RP)! RP is a company that offers templates and 1-on-1 nutrition plans. They are a calorie and macro-centered plan that give exact amounts of food to eat at certain times. I have not done it personally but have collected information from a number of people that saw success from following it. As always, not every plan is for everybody. My goal is to introduce these as different options.


Notes on each persons answers. Every single persons first response was “it works” followed by other pros like energy, lots of food, didn’t feel hungry. But like every diet some peoples cons were different. In fact, one person specifically said it wasn’t sustainable for them long term and another person listed sustainability as a pro. So here are their pros and cons list.


Person A
Pros
-It works
-Easy to follow
-I was never hungry
-More energy, slept better, felt healthier
-Like having meals prepped and ready
Cons
-Difficult to weigh and measure food


Person B
Pros
-It works
-Increased energy and performance
-Looked good naked
-Lowered blood pressure and cholesterol
Cons
-At first, hard to eat that much
-Lots of prep time and planning
-Hard to maintain for life
General
-Can’t look at it as a finish line or it wont last. It’s not “just make it three months”...


Person C
Pros
-It works
-Sustainable
-Real food
-Not hungry, ie in a caloric deficit without feeling like it
Cons
-Labor intensive
-Each cut gets progressively harder until you adapt
-If you don’t like vegetables, it’s not for you
-Limited fruit

For more info go to: ​https://renaissanceperiodization.com/faq

Burnout can be the most challenging part of your journey. Whether its career related or relating to your personal fitness. It can sometimes feel like you have the weight of everything and everyone on your shoulders. This weight you may feel can be a huge struggle in trying to get ahead.
 
Sometimes it’s important to reflect on and remind ourselves why we traveled down this road in the first place because it’s easy to forget when we’re frazzled. Being content, being happy, takes time and sometimes we need to push aside the stress that we are feeling to see the good in our everyday lives.

I’ve been there, and have spun around all kinds of ideas on how I could escape burnout in my own life. A few helpful tips that I have found to help with Burnout.
​

1. Journaling- Write it down! I always find it easier for me to retain and reference things that I write down. Write down things like, what drives you? Write down goals (daily, weekly, monthly). It’s easy to forget the why. Or maybe we don’t always have a why that really resonated or stuck with us. Let the “why” fuel you.
2. If you could control the next 7 days, what would your days look like? - Draw out 7 boxes, these boxes represent the 7 days of the week. Fill in line by line, hour by hour, what the perfect days looks like. Sometimes ambition can lead to overbooking, which then leads to burnout. Monday’s can be completely jam-packed and over scheduled, leading to a burned out Tuesday. As equally this could lead to an over-packed Wednesday. Be kind to yourself when you plan out your perfect 7 days! You are in control of yourself.
3. Schedule Recovery Time- Root cause of Burnout, overwhelm. Give yourself planned recovery time in your schedule. This will allow you to take a step back and not take the stress from the task before into the next. Stress has a funny way of snowballing if not dealt with. Go outside, take a walk, read a book, and so on.
4. Ask for help and Find Support- Its okay to lean on those close to you or ask for help when the load is heavy to carry. Having a support system is so important when avoiding burnout
5. Invest in Yourself- Adding in something new to your mundane routine can help with burnout. Personally, relating to personal fitness- I apply this tip when I participate in Spin Class instead of the doing the CrossFit class that day. It breaks up the monotony.

 
“Self-care is a deliberate choice to gift yourself with people, places, things, events, and opportunities that recharge our personal battery and promote whole Health-Body, mind, and Spirit.” –Laurie Buchanan, PHD

- Coach Morgan Ross
​

The Open is over, spring is upon us and we need a new challenge. We are introducing the 2019 Goals Challenge! In the next two weeks we want you to write down 2-3 THREE month goals and 2-3 SIX month goals (more on what they should be later). This week do some “tests” so that we can retest in three months and again in six months. These will serve as a guide for you all in your fitness and for us as to what we all need/want to work on. 

What should your goals be? They CAN be anything you want to get better at, struggle with or any generic movement or workout. They MUST be specific and measurable (ie specific weight, time, score, rep count, etc). They SHOULD be realistic. You could set the goal of snatching 300 pounds and while that is specific and measurable it probably isn’t realistic. If you aren’t sure if a goal is realistic for the time frame laid out, ask a coach their thoughts on it. They do NOT have to be movements or workouts during test week but that does make it convenient for you.

Once you have them, share them on your social media by May 5. This way everybody can draw inspiration and hold each other accountable! August 5-9 retest and check our three month goals and will do the same with our six month goals November 4-8 (this might be during the open so we will see about adjustments as we get closer)!

Examples could look like this (hypothetical situation for a mythical character named Arya) but don’t let this limit you:
3 month goal 1 - Back Squat: 200# (current: 190)
3 month goal 2 - Pull-ups: 3 strict unbroken (current: 1)
3 month goal 3 - 1 mile run: sub 8:00 (current: 8:24)
6 month goal 1 - Clean & Jerk: 135 (current: 120)
6 month goal 2 - Strict Handstand Push-up: 1 (current: 2 to an abmat)

To help everybody reach goals we will be offering three extra programs to help jumpstart some movements and strength. We will have these printed out at the gym for everybody to follow. These will be structured like the pull-up program and they are: muscle-ups, handstand push-ups and generic barbell. These will also get emailed out later this week. And lastly, to help we highly encourage tracking your nutrition (MyFitnessPal app is great) and sticking to a plan (RP, zone, etc). The baseline of CrossFit methodology (and specifically D5) is nutrition for a reason. “You can’t out train a bad diet”.

Get ready!!

-Coach Spencer