The NEW Tess Brown!

Have you seen Tess in the gym lately? Holy crap is she killing it or what?!?!?! Tess is one of our many bright spots in the gym, always with a smile on her face. It is easy to tell why too!

 For those of you that don't know who Tess is, you may know who "Bill Brown's wife" is...put 2 and 2 together.

" I gained 30 lbs while I was pregnant and lost about 10 before starting at CFNA. I started elements when he was 7 weeks old and am now down the other 20 lbs plus a little more and still going.

 Weight is just a number.. soo.. 180 at 9 months preg.. and now 149.. officially smaller than my pre-baby self. And I'm pretty sure a whole lot stronger thanks to you guys. :). I think my goal is 135.. we will see what happens."

We are SO proud of you Tess! You are the perfect example of what exercise, PROPER nutrition (Schedule your appointment here :) - shameless plug), and a good attitude can do.

The next time you see Tess in the gym, or anywhere, give her a high five. She's more than earned it.

Supplement Seminar

August 31, 7:30pm at CrossFit New Albany

  I will be hosting a supplement seminar to those that wish to attend. This is HIGHLY recommended for those who have met with me about nutrition in the past. I will be going over what some of the bare minimum needs are in terms of supplementation. Additionally, I will be going over certain supplements that can help you in your training needs.

  Supplements are commonly used for the wrong things. Supplements are designed to AID what you are already doing, NOT replace.  Many people think that if they take certain supplements that they don't need to train or eat properly. I hope you know that this is false information.  Combined with proper training and nutrition, the right supplements can help you get to that level of fitness you have always wanted to be at.

  If you have any questions about the seminar, please feel free to contact me.  This seminar does not cost you anything ($70 value!), I am simply asking that you make a donation to Mammograms in Action. 

 See you all on the 31st!

Have you met Justin Murphy?

                   November, 2010                                   June, 2011 

 I would like to introduce you to a very good friend of mine, Justin Murphy. Justin is a member at CrossFit New Albany. Aside from being possibly the world's nicest person, Justin is an amazing asset to the gym. Justin first walked through the doors of CFNA in December of 2010, coming to a free "Invite your friends" Saturday morning class. While the workout was brutal (what good Saturday WODs aren't?), afterwards Justin came up to the trainer saying "This is what I need."

Justin's work ethic has never been a matter of question inside the walls of the box, this dude gets after it!
Like many fellow CrossFitters, the first few workouts can be very, well, humbling. Justin first started at CrossFit weighing 230 lbs, with a BP of 140/90. He had been on medication prescribed by his doctor for both blood pressure, and high cholesterol.

 Justin saw CrossFit as a way to add longevity to his life. He quickly found himself wanting more and more of the workouts. Soon after joining, Justin and I had a nutritional consult. He realized that no matter how hard he worked in the gym, his efforts would be fully used unless he got his eating right. We started Justin on an eating plan based on the Zone Diet, by Dr. Barry Sears. The weight quickly started dropping. We also had him add a high quality Fish Oil to his daily routine. This was to help him recover from workout to workout, and fill in for some of the essential fat that may have been missing from his diet.

Around April, Justin and I met again. His performance was up, he was feeling better and looking awesome. But we knew there was still more that we could do. We switched Justin to more of a Paleo based nutritional plan, whereas the gym was partaking in a 30-day Paleo challenge.

Here comes just some of the good stuff :) Not only did Justin take 2nd in the Paleo Challenge (today he is weighing in at a svelt 205 lbs), he also took second place in one of the Bod-Pod readings that many o our gym members were partaking in also!

It gets even better. Today, Justin was finishing his workout and approached me and simply said "Thank you." I was confused as to what the thanks was for. Then he told me "Went to the doctor today. He said that I no longer need to be on blood pressure or cholesterol medication. I can't tell you enough how much this means to me, so thanks."

I couldn't be more proud of Justin. Today he is weighing in at 205 lbs, with a BP of 128/72.

If you haven't had a chance to meet Justin, you're missing out. He adds more to our gym than we could have ever hoped for. He is a family member of CrossFit New Albany, and we are extremely excited to be a part of his. Congratulations, Justin!

Weekend Re-Cap

Wow, what a weekend! Congrats to Rich and Annie on being crowned the Fittest on the Planet! It was amazing to see not only these two athletes, but all of the competitors give 100% of themselves to the workouts. Again, big congrats to these two.

I had a great opportunity to talk to many of the athletes while at the games. Many things were unique about each individual, but the sense of community that was present was unbelievable.  You don't find in sports where opponents are cheering each other on. Not only would an athlete cheer on his/her fellow CrossFitter once they finished a workout, but they were rooting for each other DURING the workout! Amazing.

 It was extremely interesting to talk to the athletes about what they do outside of the gym. Many have regular day-to-day jobs: Firemen, teachers, nursing students, PhD programs, and obviously, gym owners. The fact that these guys/gals still manage to train the way they do is inspiring. That inspiration is obvious in how it has carried over in everyone else's life as well. For those of you that train at our box, have you noticed the intensity this week? It's INSANE! That desire to be an elite, next level athlete is more real than people realize. Let's keep this going! Now is the perfect time to turn up the intensity, and more importantly, dial in your NUTRITION.

Speaking with the athletes at the games, almost all of them agreed that nutrition was more as if not more important than training. "Working out is the easy part" is what Nick Uranker, 3rd place at the Central East Regional and 2011 Games Competitor, told me. "When you workout, you can just block out everything for 15 minutes. Even if you're working out 3 or 4 times a day. You're eating the rest of the day, everyday. The hard part is making sure you're getting enough vegetables in."

I couldn't agree more. This is where supplementation comes in for many of the athletes. The understanding that Phytonutrients are important was a common theme. Phytonutrients are nutrients derived from plant material that have been shown to be necessary for sustaining human life. Phytochemicals are non-nutritive plant chemicals that contain protective, disease-preventing, compounds. Their role in plants is to protect plants from disease, injuries, insects, drought, excessive heat, ultraviolet rays, and poisons or pollutants in the air or soil. They form part of the plants immune system (http://www.glyconutrientsreference.com/whatarephytonutrients.php)


So, how do we get Phytonutrients? Well, unless you plan on eating an obnoxious amount of fruits and vegetables (and by obnoxious I mean by the pound), you need to look into god, high-quality, natural supplements. Many of you know that I take the Multi Double-X, want to know why?!?!?! Not only is it an all natural, pharmaceutical-grade multi vitamin, multi mineral, but it is also a PHYTONUTRIENT (make some sense?). Over the next month, I will be talking more about Phytonutrients, and ways that you can make your life better. After all, what's the point of putting in all that work if you're not getting 100% in return?