Living Life Better Team Challenge
We are 3 days away from the start of the Living Life Better Team Challenge. Just a reminder that the kick-off meeting is this Sunday, January 7 at 3pm at the gym. We decided to send out an email to everyone, because we don’t see all of you each day and wanted to get out some information as to what this challenge is all about!
Due to the way we have designed this, it will take this week to have all the exact guidelines and logistics worked out. Rest assured that by the end of the kick-off meeting you will have everything you need to get started.
We have decided to make this a team challenge to add a new element and make it a little more exciting. One of the best things about these challenges is the support you get from other participants, similar to doing a CrossFit workout in a group. It is easier to push yourself when you know there are others doing the same thing with you. We think the team aspect of this will only add to it. As with anything in life, you will only get out of this challenge what you put in. Your results will be directly related to your effort and commitment.
We will be giving out a pair of new CrossFit shoes to an individual winner at the end, however, throughout the challenge you will be earning points as a team! The winning team will also get Centripetal T-Shirts! You will earn points for eating according to your personal plan, points for completing workouts that week, points for sleeping and drinking water. There will also be bonus points along the way that you can earn for your team!
This first email will attempt to explain the design of the nutrition portion of this challenge. This is the part most people are concerned with and the part where people normally need to do the most work. This is also consequently the area people will benefit the most from. There are two main variables to diet, and your health is directly impacted by each one: quantity and quality of food.
In some past challenges we have focused entirely on quality of food, i.e. strict paleo diet. Typically when someone is eating a poor quality food, we don’t even need to look at the quantity, just switch to good quality whole foods and they will see some great results. With a challenge like this the main goal is to create new lifestyle habits that will last long after the challenge is over. We have found that going cold turkey and jumping into a strict Paleo diet isn’t always best for everyone after the challenge ends. In addition, there are some other great food choices that are eliminated by the Paleo diet and can be beneficial to many people.
Diet and nutrition is an individual thing, it takes experimenting and tweaking to find the absolute best way for you, your lifestyle, and your goals. By focusing on your macronutrients, especially the balance of carbs and protein, you can see excellent results in both improved body composition and performance at the gym.
With this challenge, our goal is to find an approach to diet and nutrition that will work for each person and help create a solid foundation that can be modified, tweaked, and experimented with long after the challenge. For some this will mean setting guidelines that focus first on quantity of food (counting macros) and for some this will mean first focusing on the quality of food (Paleo). Based on this, we will be offering two nutrition options for the challenge. A Paleo option and a macro option.
For both the Paleo and Macro option, it will be helpful to set up some info to allow you to better track your food. We will be finding calorie and macro counts for people in both diet options and encourage using MyFitnessPal to track your food. We will also be taking measurements and pictures at the start of the challenge. If you would like to set up any of this ahead of the kick-off meeting please email Diana at diana@centripetalcrossfit.com or shelby@centripetalcrossfit.com and we will arrange a meeting to get you set up with your measurements and nutrition plan. We can also set this stuff up at the kick-off.
If you have any other questions please send them our way. Email is the best method to send questions. This way we have a record of them and can make sure we update everyone on issues that may be unclear.
Shelby and Diana
shelby@centripetalcrossfit.com or diana@centripetalcrossfit.com
See you in the gym!
Coaching Team
