CrossFit Athens

Happy 4th of July!

Bring WATER

The water cooler has a leak in it. It drained 5 gallons onto the floor. 

Gym Will Close at 7pm today!

Open Gym at the gym, 10-12.

Who's In Charge

First! A few quick announcements.

• Tomorrow's Open Gym will be an Open House from 10am-11am! That means FREE to all who want to come. Bring a friend; kidnap them if you have to. They'll thank you for it!
• Open House will be at Bishop Park. Click the link if you don't know where to go. (It's really easy!)


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• I apologize to those who showed up at the gym yesterday. I left because nobody signed up. PLEASE utilize the on-line sign up found here. (Click on the yellow icon). It lets me know when you're coming so that I don't waste my time sitting around wondering if anyone will show up.

Now, for the article:

Who’s in charge here?

I was recently talking to one of our members and one of the things we talked about was her ‘inner demon’. Not sure if that is the appropriate term or not - but whatever it is. This is the voice in your head telling you to pick up that bar when you aren’t 100% sure you’ll get it off the ground. Or to jump on the bar even if you not sure you’re going to get your chin high enough.

I found this conversation somewhat funny because just A few days back I received this email from one of our members. Everybody probably has a method to their madness…This is Jim’s. Continue Reading

Today's WOD

" heh heh heh heh . . . . . ."

Come Get Some!

Diet Research Gone Bad

(A great post from my buddy Dave Soucy of The Truth about Diets)

Did you catch the latest diet study news that came out a week or so ago?

 

The National Institutes of Health funded a study called "Preventing Overweight Using Novel Dietary Strategies" or POUNDS LOST. Very catchy. Apparently science is better when attached to a cute acronym.  

 

They certainly needed something going for them, because the conclusions the researchers drew from this study are so simplistic and asinine that I really thought my head was going to explode when I read them.  

 

But I’ll get to that in a moment. First, here is the premise of the study.   Basically they took a group of 811 obese people, split them to four subgroups, and assigned a different type of diet to each subgroup.  

 

The target nutrient compositions of the four diets were: 

• Low-fat, average protein: 20 percent fat, 15 percent protein, 65 percent carbohydrate
• Low-fat, high protein: 20 percent fat, 25 percent protein, 55 percent carbohydrate
• High-fat, average protein: 40 percent fat, 15 percent protein, 45 percent carbohydrate
• High-fat, high-protein: 40 percent fat, 25 percent protein, 35 percent carbohydrate

The first point I’d make here is that I don’t agree that 25% protein would qualify as "high protein".

 

The second point I’d make is that, despite the catchy name of the study, there is absolutely nothing "Novel" about these dietary strategies. Macronutrient manipulation isn’t novel. Ornish, Atkins, South Beach, etc. are all diets based on macronutrient manipulation. But, as long as we have a catchy acronym, who cares, right?

 

Anyway, the results of the study showed that, regardless of whichever "novel" approach the participants followed, they all lost about the same amount of weight after 6 months and 2 years.

 

At 6 months, the average weight loss was 13 lbs, and at 2 years it was only 9 lbs.

 

Based on this, the researchers concluded that macronutrient manipulation wasn’t important and that all you should worry about is focusing your "weight loss approaches on reducing caloric intake rather than any particular proportions of fat, protein or carbohydrate."

 

The abject stupidity of this boggles my mind. Where do I begin?

 

Well, how about with the fact that they made no distinction on body composition and only looked at weight loss. So, a subject could have lost 15 lbs of muscle mass and gained 6 lbs of fat, but the study would just look at that as a successful 9 lb weight loss.

 

Next, if you take a group of 811 OBESE people and they only average a 9 lb weight loss over the course of 2 YEARS regardless of which diet they were on, you’re right, the diets pretty much worked the same. That is, THEY ALL SUCKED!

 

9 lbs in 2 years?? Are you kidding me? And, after month 6, they actually started gaining back the weight they lost.

 

Hellloooo.

 

If someone is on a diet for 24 months, and they gain weight from months 7 through 24, well, I don’t think your diet is really working so well, do you?

 

Here’s the conclusion that my independent review of the study came to:

"Research shows that simply counting calories and not learning how to eat right sucks if you truly want to lose weight and get healthy." Dave Soucy, 3/09.

 

To further that point, research shows that a loss of 10% of body weight will help reduce risk factors for heart disease and other medical conditions. In this study, only 15% of the participants achieved a 10% weight loss!

 

Let me do the math for you. That means that out of 811 people, over the course of 2 years, 690 of them did NOT achieve the 10% loss needed to reduce those risk factors. Unbelievable.

 

Okay, here are a couple of takeaways for you. One, the news media reports on new diet studies just about every day, and just about every day the news media gets the story wrong.

 

Don’t just blindly take what some reporter (who most likely knows nothing about fitness and weight loss) spits out as fact. You need to really read through the details to get to the truth of the matter.

 

And two, if you’re obese and want to lose a little bit of weight and start gaining it back again in 6 months, just go ahead and cut some calories. It doesn’t matter what you eat, just cut some cals.

 

But, if you really want to lose fat, improve your health, look and feel better, and not start regaining the weight in 6 months, then admit to yourself that you need to learn to eat right, get the proper nutrients on a daily basis, exercise and stay away from lame researchers from the National Institutes of Health.

Kentucky Fried Fat Loss?

This has been all over the news. Kentucky Fried Chicken is trying something new…
Kentucky GRILLED Chicken.

This is taken right from a press release off their website:

“The introduction of Kentucky Grilled Chicken is a defining moment in our brand’s storied history,” said KFC President Roger Eaton. “KGC is the latest menu innovation that showcases our commitment to meeting our customers’ ever-changing needs while staying true to the standards of high quality and great taste pioneered by Colonel Sanders. This product will transform the industry.”

Well, at least they’re trying.

Or is it too late? Are they just doing this so they don’t get sued some day for their role in the obesity epidemic?

What do YOU think about the new “KGC”?

Jenn's 23rd Birthday WOD

Nothing like spending a little birthday time with your friends at the gym.


Jenn Chandler's 23rd Birthday from CrossFit Athens on Vimeo.

Nick Destroying the Back Squat

We talk a lot about strength playing an important role in longevity and quality of life. Well, it also plays a huge role on the football field! Check North Oconee's soon to be linebacker as he hit's a huge PR on the back squat. (The music is not exactly work/family safe).

Nick Sandberg Back Squat 200 for 5 from CrossFit Athens on Vimeo.

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