Spartan Race

As most of you know Team MBG had a great time at the Spartan Race last weekend. What made it so great? We did a race that absolutely challenged each and every one of us both mentally and physically. It is in many ways a test to evaluate how you live your life. Is your training and nutrition adequate enough to enable you to survive? Is it advanced enough to let you strive? Will you give in and take the easy way out or push yourself outside of your comfort zone (Cliff Jump)? All of these questions can be answered in the time it takes you to complete this race. Sixteen MBG'ers started the race and 16 finished. I was very proud of all of them. Proud because each and every one overcame something to complete this race. A past injury, fear, not bowing out and remaining committed to their training. To me it shows how effective our training actually is. I already know how tough you all are because I see it in every workout you do. This race allowed you to apply it to a real world scenario and see it for yourselves! Let's not let this be the highlight but only the beginning on which we build. Never stop challenging yourself. We had a great summer together and I look forward to seeing what this next year will bring.

Farms 2 Forks Immersion

Karen and I had a great experience last weekend. We traveled to the farm of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn in upstate New York and attended a weekend long Immersion into whole food, plant based nutrition. It was made up of two twelve hour days that contained lectures from some of the most prominent leaders in the field of whole food, plant based nutrition. We also were provided with nutritious, healthy, plant strong meals and snacks throughout the day. The event was sold out with about 450 people in attendance. There were people of all ages and all walks of life. Some overweight, some fit, some in the middle but all shared the common goal of learning how to create a healthier self through the foods we eat. There was a positive energy in the air the entire weekend. I would like to share a key point concerning calorie density which I feel to be extremely important. Calorie density refers to the amount of calories in a given weight of food. Certain foods contain more calories per pound than others and this is a good indicator to the possibility of over-consumption. A pound of grapes contains approximately between 300-320 calories. Take the water out and they become raisins. A pound of raisins contains 1,356 calories. If you were hungry you could probably sit there and eat a pound of each. It's not difficult to see the difference. Because the grapes had the water removed they can be considered processed. Ninety percent of the carbohydrates consumed in America are from refined, processed sources. I used the same food source as a example to show what a simple process of removing water can do to a natural whole food. Here is the thing, we generally consume the same amount of food in weight per day. Can you see the importance of avoiding calorie dense foods and how consuming them can lead to weight gain? Foods that are whole food, plant based are nutrient dense with little exceptions. Therefore you can consume large amounts and not worry about high caloric intakes. They will fill you up and more importantly provide you with the nutrients that are required for optimal health. Nuts and seeds are a whole food but they are also calorie dense so be careful when you choose to snack on them. They are also high in fat which most Americans already get to much of in their diets. If you have the opportunity to attend one of these next summer I would highly recommend it! Jimmy

At the conclusion of the last cycle I had a nagging calf injury that I tweaked during a "Sgt. Ryan" workout. I rushed to do the workout and did not warm up properly and strained my calf as a result during the workout. It bothered me for the rest of the cycle whenever I did jump rope doubles and was starting to bother me during our Sunday night runs. I decided to try something new during our recovery week. I visited Kerri Kuhlsen and had my first acupuncture treatment. Kerri, a fellow MBG'er, was able to pinpoint the area immediately and gave me a treatment. As my kids chuckled, Kerri proceeded to place the needles in various parts of my calf. My daughter thought it would be cool to take a picture so I included it in the post. It was a weird sensation as the needles were placed. I could literally feel the muscle moving around. It was a good feeling and it was exactly the area that was giving me a problem. Kerri explained that I would be sore and to rest it a day followed by stretching and rolling it out. I experienced some pretty intense soreness for about two days. I made sure I was properly hydrated, stretched and used a roller to treat it on my own the next couple of days. Three days after the treatment I decided to engage in a light run. The calf was sore but was not altering my stride like it was prior. The fourth day I continued the stretching and rolling it out. The fifth day I ran again and the soreness was drastically reduced. I decided to increase my distance and my pace on the sixth day after the treatment. I am happy to say I felt great. I could barely notice that anything was ever wrong. I could have ignored it all together and for sure it would have lead me to a greater problem. It is important for all of us to listen to the feedback our body provides us everyday. It will let us know when something is wrong but it is up to us to address it. The point I am making is to take advantage of our recovery week to heal your body. This will aid you in maintaining a high level of performance. Remember, nagging injuries become serious injuries if we allow them.

It's been a while since I posted and I am going to try and stay consistent going forward. There's been a lot going on and I neglected the blog a little. As you all know we just finished our Spring/Summer training cycle. I feel it was the best yet. We had the appropriate variety, teamwork and challenges to enable our fitness to increase over these eight weeks. We concluded this cycle with a 3 1/2 hour Monkey Bar Gymnasium Warrior Boot Camp Challenge. This was the first time we did this and it was a blast. We busted our behinds for over three hours and loved every minute of it. It will definitely be something that we do throughout the year. This cycle also saw another successful whole food, plant based recipe swap. As always the food was delicious! As we enter our recovery week tomorrow it is important that you allow your body to heal. The focus of this weeks workouts will be to restore the body by resting and working on mobility. Try to get your rest this week. Drink plenty of water and eat strong foods. If you are a person who likes to run than maybe this week just walk and focus on your breathing. Let your body rest! Maybe take the time to go and see our very own Kerri Kuhlsen for a acupuncture session or Michele Fitzgibbons for some massage therapy. Whatever you choose to do allow your body to heal so that we can crank it up once again next Monday for the start of our new cycle! Jimmy