CrossFit Liberate

by Coach Kelly Moates

It’s the holiday season (Andy Williams style). The place where health and wellness go to die. Let’s talk about some of the feelings you may experience. There’s shame, guilt, hatred (for yourself and the person that brought the food you can’t pass up), stress and anxiety, and all the things. This stems from a lack of control, either real or perceived. You and I struggle with the same things – we can’t pass up the holiday feast. We struggle to get a workout in when we’re traveling. And then the inevitable happens, we enter that internal, often negative, dialogue with ourselves that is beyond unhealthy.

It doesn’t make the holidays sound enjoyable or a season we want to enter but let me offer some tips as we dive into the turkey and fixins’. We are average, and I mean that in the best way. We workout to stay fit, be healthy, move well, feel good, etc.

Our Staff RD Sara Sheridan wrote an awesome blog, posted a couple weeks back, about how to approach eating this season so I’ll only focus on the movement piece. Some movement is always better than none. Doing said movement before the eating commences is also a much better strategy than thinking you’ll get it done after. It does not have to be a lot and it doesn’t have to be everyday but you do need to plan ahead. Try not to lose control of your time. Missing a few days will NOT be the end but you’ll certainly feel better sneaking in a quick workout when time permits.

Just as Sara outlined our relationship with food, we want to form a healthy relationship with our workouts. Don’t despise them or feel anxious about getting it done. When time permits and the mood strikes, get your sweat on! The end of this post includes some convenient and zero-equipment workouts to try while you’re at home or traveling.

Lastly, drop the negativity this year. Embrace the energy of the holiday season. According to a Harvard Health study, your longevity and emotional well-being are linked to feelings of celebration. These next six weeks are fun and exciting and stressing yourself out about eating too much or working out too little is piling on to the already unhealthy atmosphere. Review the previous blog posts, as some will be relevant to this time of year. Find a reasonable goal and stick with it this year. Something that allows for both indulgences and healthy routine. It’s been a good year, you’ve earned it.

Cheers!

*WORKOUT OPTIONS FROM CFL COACHES*

EMOM style- 10-20 min
Movement one (air squats)
Movement two (push ups)
Movement three (situps)
Each minute you will perform either a set number of reps or decide to work for a set time frame. Similar to our classes, be done with your work with at least fifteen seconds of rest each minute.

AMRAP style- 10-20 min
This is very similar but instead of a new movement each minute you just need to define a set number of reps and move continuously for the selected time frame. Much like the workout “Cindy”
Ex. 5 push ups, 10 squats, 15 sit ups for 12 minutes.

Running-
If you are visiting a new place, try going for a run and make it more about sight seeing than heart rate. Just keep moving.

Named Wods
‘Annie’
‘Cindy’

Wod #1
Ten rounds of 10 push ups, 10 sit ups, 10 air squats

Wod #2
100 burpees for time

Wod #3
4 rounds for time of 400m run + 50 air squats