Hello all,
Thank you for your support over the last two months. It has been great to see you all pushing through your training through all the bugs going around the city.
A few events have marked the last two months – namely the MegaWOD and competitions that our athletes have taken part in. We would like to congratulate each and everyone of you who have decided to do a comp! Such great ways to meet the rest of the CrossFit community in Perth and test yourselves! Between our 4 walls, we have seen a lot of progress. Gymnastics and weightlifting classes are paying off and have resulted in some significant progress in weights and skills!
After a very long winter, the warmer and longer days, bright mornings and balmy evenings are finally here. Hopefully the shift in weather will inspire you to start your day with a training session, drink more water, less caffeine, experiment with more salads in the kitchen and sleep early. We cannot emphasize enough on how big an impact nutrition has on the way we look and perform . No matter if you are training hard 4 times at the box, if you do not sort out your nutrition or your rest, you will not lose those stubborn kilos or maximise your recovery. Do not wait for tomorrow to make a change.
Source: Pinterest
Here are 10 tips to help you along the way if you have been struggling or need to adopt a healthier lifestyle:
- Start your day with yoga stretches that will invigorate your body. The Sun Salutation is known to get the blood flowing and stretch all the major muscles.
- Smoothies are a quick and easy way to create a breakfast to go that contains the perfect balance of protein, healthy fats and micro-nutrients along the fruit fibre that juicing removes. Try this recipe: fill your blender with 1/2 avocado, 4/5 cup of unsweetened almond milk, a handful of spinach, a handful of frozen berries, a small cube of ginger and 1 tsp barley gross powder to kick-start your day. Add maca root powder for an extra energy boost.
- If you are not training, do not have a big meal. Have a light lunch and dinner as your body does not need more calories.
- Drink at least 2L of water a day. Staying hydrated will help to improve your mental alertness and mood as well as increasing the efficiency of your immune and digestive systems.
- Snack better by having snacks that contain a good balance of fibre and natural fats that will stimulate your body without the speedy highs and sluggish lows caused by sugar and caffeine: beat the afternoon slump by spreading a teaspoon of your favorite nut butter on two oatcakes and eat them with a glass of water. The butter’s fat content should keep you feeling full while the oats give your brain a much-needed glucose top up to revitalize your body and mind.
- Avoid / cut down on sugar /artificial sweeteners and caffeine as much as you can.
- Join the meat-free Monday club. By incorporating just one veggie-friendly day into your week if you’re a big meat eater can help decrease your risk of heart disease, cancer and stroke.
- Be more positive. By paying attention to the good things in life, we help the brain create positive neural pathways. Everyone has an inbuilt negativity bias: our brain concentrates more on the negative stuff that happens to us than the positive. To counter this, we need to focus on the positive things and stay with them for at least 10-20 seconds so that the brain can turn them into neural pathways.
- Get a nature fix. Studies have shown that looking at trees and grass can have a soothing effect. People who can see greenery from their windows recover faster in hospitals and perform better in school. If you cannot get to the park for a jaunt (proven stress-buster), consider a minute long gaze out of the window or look at a woodsy photo – especially effective in the late afternoon when your attention starts to fall off.
- Be present. Set mobiles aside at dinner time and at least one hour before bed time.
SEPTEMBER PBs
Congratulations everybody on your achievements!
OCTOBER PBs
MEMBER OF THE MONTH – CLAUDIA AVELAR
Claudia is one of our 5pmers and she is stronger than what she thinks, she pushes hard in class and always has a smile on her face!
Thank you Claudia for sharing some photos of your journey – you have done incredibly well to get to where you are today and we are proud of you!
Claudia and her usual 5pm crew
- Can you tell us a bit more about yourself?
My name is Claudia and I’m 35 years old, and crazy Brazilian girl. I like spend my time with my family and friends. I love summer and I love go to the beach spend some hour reading some books and listening to the music. At the moment, I’m working in International Airport and I spend long hours working.
- Who and what inspires you?
I always had my parents as inspiration. Both my parents always tried to give the best to us. Teaching me to choose the best decisions and were always on my side.
- Can you cook and what are your favourite dishes?
I miss my family and I have many memories of my family especially when the weekends arrives because always the weekends we get together to cook, sing and talk. That’s how I learned to cook.
- What has CrossFit done for you?
I started CrossFit 2 years ago, I remember this time I was overweight and unhappy with my body. One day I met Ana (Lopes) and she talked about CrossFit.
I like the idea at the time so I decided to have a go. My first 6 months, I lost 20Kg. And I started to feel better again not only physically, but mentally healthy I feel stronger. CrossFit definitely changed my life. I like go to the box, talking with my Fibrefam.
- What is your favourite WOD? Burpees or Chin Ups?
I like any WOD except running. I prefer doing 100 burpees than run or chin ups. Ok I can do chin ups but I need orange band. Kkkkk.
- What do you like most about CrossFit Fibre?
CrossFit is part of my life and I can’t do it without my CrossFit and my new family.
When Claudia first started CrossFit
Claudia 6 months into CrossFit
MEGAWOD – Who/ What did you want to be when you grow up?
Our MegaWOD was a lot of fun with many of you dressed up for the occasion. We had Survivor Debbie, Dani as Richie, the 9.30am girls as Dani and Bjorn as a rockstar wannabe! This event is for fun and to get together, giving you the chance to work out with someone new. A well deserved feast of roast meat and vegetables was had after to seal the night!
FRANTIC DAY OUT III
FDO III saw 5 of our athletes compete with some of the best in WA! Keith, Dani, Kade, Britt and Lauren did us so proud!
A special mention to our 2 new Beginner girls Britt and Lauren who did their first comp and placed in the Top 10!
Comps will test you at all levels and is a good reality check on how well you know your own body, how you fuel yourself and also how prepared you are for the unknown.
AN ATHLETE’S AND COACH’S GUIDE TO BE COMPETITION READY
by Coach Danielle Sherwood
One of the best parts of competing in a CrossFit competition is the week that follows comp day. You are riding the endorphin high, proud that all of your hard work has paid off, amazed at what you have achieved and, in the case of 3vs3, you have forged a bond with your team that lasts a lifetime.
So what advice can I give those who are inspired to team up and train for their first CrossFit competition?
Pre Comp
Step one, increase your training. Easy to say, not so easy to commit too. Adding an extra half hour, a class, open gym time will massively help you on your path for competition preparedness.
Two. Embrace the Suck. Work on what is hardest for you and make it become enjoyable. Part of this is training, increasing the time you spend nailing those skills and part of this is attitude. Hate burpees? Guess what you are going to work on until they become efficient? Even spending 15 mins after class on one skill per day adds up.
Three. Start examining your sleep and nutrition. Are you getting enough sleep to recover not only from your training but your life? Get to bed 30mins earlier, Stop eating shit. Feed the machine you are becoming with the right kind of fuel, carbs for recovery, lean proteins and healthy fats. You get the idea.
Four is the most important to competition success. Find your ATeam.
The people you decide to team up with need to bring out the very best in you. They push you to your limit, to get one more rep, to hold on to that god damn bar. In the training phase your team is there to motivate you but also there to pull your ass back into line when you get off track. These people should share your drive, your focus and your goals.
You need to know how each other works. What are your strengths, their strengths? How do you pace a team work out? The team that trains together can understand and communicate this without discussion. So important on game day.
The Big Day
You made it! You have worked hard and now the time has come to test yourself. What makes for a stress free and successful competition?
I cant stress this enough, Get your head in the Game. Focus on the task at hand and don’t be distracted but petty upsets. You have put in the work and cant get any fitter at this moment than you are. Start your day as relaxed as you can, remind yourself of why you signed up and what your goal is.
Limit the negative self talk –actually put a bloody lid on it completely. Keep your head up, chest up and kick ass.
Stay focused. Don’t spend your Wod worrying about who is ahead of you or what the guy in the next lane is doing. You cannot control your opponent; seconds watching them are seconds wasted. This is what we call being in the zone.
Speaking of seconds wasted, Resist the chalk or the water bottle. Most competition Wods are sub 10mins, you can go this long without needing a break. Something to work on in your pre-competition training.
Find your pace, is the wod sub3 mins? Go full retard, balls out, 100%. Safe in the knowledge that you will get a rest. Something longer? Find out where your team can push and where to keep the work rate at 80-90%. Again, things learnt in the box pre comp.
I am absolutely so excited to see what the next 3vs3 season brings as it seems like there will be a Fibre invasion, hopefully we will see our first Fibre Rx Team (Im looking at you, fellas). Time to start thinking about what you can do to be the fittest, strongest version of you and find your A team.
TRAINING WITH AN INJURY
by Owner & Head Coach Bjorn Voon
We are never 100%. We would love to be all the time, but if we wait until we are 100% before we can start training again, our gains and results may slowly slip away and revert back to ground zero again. Do not allow this frustrating occurrence hinder your progress.
Injuries are defined in many ways and each have different recovery times depending on the severity and also numerous other external factors like your age, lifestyle, sleep hours, occupation and rehabilitation. The quicker you align all those factors to give your injury optimal chance of recovery, the less time you will stay on the side lines streaming live feeds. The intention is to continue to move unloaded and also without any pain. Proceed to increase the weights should there be no pain.
When it comes to training in the box, you will still be able to get away with training with an injury, depending on what has been done after all you still have other limbs and other muscles that you can focus on. All exercises can be modified or scaled to suit to ensure you will still get a similar stimulus as intended by your programming.
A percentage of our members are still training with us even though they are carrying an injury. This is not a sign of “toughness” or “bad-assness”, just a more positive and pro-active approach towards recovery.
Some options to keep you moving are the rowers, Airdynes and Ski Ergs. These machines are low impact and will keep your heart racing. Find out from your physiotherapist what range of movements you are allowed. If you have no idea about this, get your coach to get in touch with them. We have no problems getting in touch and speaking with them with regards to your rehab plans.
Our coaches here at Fibre have been trained to deal with numerous training options for anyone who has an injury. We believe in pain-free movement and we have plenty of options and scaling options to suit.
Some quick tips to get you on the recovery train faster than normal:
- Eat high quality foods. Your macros and micros are important to your recovery. Eat well and you will see faster recovery than if you ate processed or fast foods. No sugar, no processed carbohydrates or polyunsaturated oils.
- Sleep 8 hours a day. Sleep is the best thing you can do to recover. Your body recovers and rebuilds during this sleep time. Cut down on it and you will on your recovery too.
- Stay moving. Being a couch potato will not speed up your recovery process. Find another part of your body to train. Get in touch with your coach to determine what can be done.
WORDS FROM THE HEART
by Mietta Aubertin
CrossFit has given me so much.
Not only has it given me a place where I feel I belong but also life long friendships which I am truly grateful for.
It has helped me in ways I would never have though, I am the strongest I have ever been inside & outside.
It has taught me that I can achieve anything if I truly believe I can do it and want it badly enough.
It has given Josh and I a place where we can cheer each other on and urge one another to be better than we were the day before.
It has given me a deep routed love for exercising which I have never felt before.
It is constantly expanding my comfort zone, as terrifying as this is the feeling of getting a new PB makes it all worth it.
I have so many women around me who inspire me and show me what is possible.
And I am well on my way to carving the body I have so long desired. Through the pain, the sweat, the doubt, the tears, the blood & the fear there is always light & a sense of achievement.
So if you have been part of my CrossFit journey, thank you for making it a memorable & incredible one!!
This video pretty much sums it up.
OUT OF THE BOX SERIES: Bell Rapids Hike
Our first out of the box event this summer will be on the 20th November 2016 at 7am! RSVP on the FB event page or email us to let us know if you are coming! It is awesome to do something new and get out there. Partners, friends and fam welcome to join. We are doing the goat walk which is a 3km walk.
FIBRE 3RD BIRTHDAY PARTY
The venue and date have been saved: 3 December 2016 at Frisk Small Bar. More details on FB and email! Thank you to all those who have RSVPd! It is promising to be a big night! We cannot wait to celebrate another year with you all – Fibre would not be the same without each and everyone of you.
See you all at the box for a wonderful November ahead!
