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Reverse lunges offer several advantages over forward lunges. One advantage is that they place less stress on the knee joint. This is because the movement of the reverse lunge emphasizes the use of the glutes and hamstring muscles, rather than the quadriceps. This can be beneficial for individuals who have knee pain or are recovering from a knee injury.

Another advantage of reverse lunges is that they can help to improve balance and stability. When performing a reverse lunge, the front leg is stationary, which requires the individual to maintain balance on one leg. This can help to improve overall balance and stability, which can carry over to other exercises and activities.

Finally, reverse lunges can also help to improve hip mobility. The movement of the reverse lunge requires the hip to move through a greater range of motion than a forward lunge. This can help to improve the flexibility and mobility of the hip joint, which can be beneficial for overall mobility and movement patterns.

Overall, reverse lunges offer advantages over forward lunges in terms of knee stress, balance and stability, and hip mobility. These benefits make reverse lunges an excellent option for individuals looking to improve their lower body strength, stability and mobility.

-Matt Kirkendall, Owner/Head Coach

So many of us think that the most important part of recovery outside of the gym is a rest day.  While this is important, one of the most important things you need is consistent SLEEP! If you’re a parent, you know how important it is to keep your child on their sleep schedule.  However, it’s just as important for us adults.

Lack of sleep will leave you cranky, tired, stressed, and forgetting things. Sleep is where the body repairs itself. If many of us tracked our sleep, we would notice that we don’t get enough and it isn’t until we are off schedule, one might start to see a change in their performance in the gym.  Something that used to be light, might now feel heavy.  Speed on runs or the rower might start to slow down. 

Is your sleep consistent? Many of us would probably answer no. One needs to have consistent sleep so that we hit all four stages of sleep. Sleep stages are important because they allow your brain and body to recuperate and develop.  Failure to get enough deep sleep and REM sleep over time can impact your physical and mental health. A few years ago, I started tracking my sleep on my WHOOP Band and it’s been crazy to see how stress, eating late, alcohol, sickness, and staying up late to watch one more episode of a show impacts the four stages of my cycle.

No, you don’t need to run out and get something that tracks your sleep cycles. What you might want to consider is tracking your sleep for a month by noticing the changes in how you feel inside and outside the gym.   Here are a few ideas to consider for the next month.

-Be ACTIVE by coming to class or staying on a routine while traveling.
-Stay HYDRATED throughout the day, but watch your water intake too close to bed.
-Avoid late afternoon CAFFEINE intake as it can stay in your system for up to four hours.
-Limit EATING too late into the night as digesting food is a very active process.
-Going to bed and waking up at a CONSISTENT time, yes that means even on the weekend within about 30 minutes of your weekly routine.
-Limit your ALCOHOL intake. I know you just inserted an eye roll here, but I challenge you for two weeks to see how much of a difference it makes with your quality of sleep. 

As we move into fall and winter.  A consistent sleep schedule can keep us feeling good inside and outside the gym.

-Erica Erickson, Group Fitness Coach

This past week our family of six took to the ski slopes for our first skiing spring break.  Within the first hour, I was wishing we were on the beach.  I quickly realized our younger twins needed a RESET.  So off we went into the lodge, boots off, gloves off, and enjoyed the people watching. Second day we hit the bunny hill. I had some hope that the day would get better once our littles warmed up.  Nope, after about 90 minutes, it was time for a lunch RESET.

It was during this second RESET,  I thought it’s like taking on nutrition.  The first time I started working with Kari, I was blown away by how much I learned.  She taught me how I wasn’t eating enough and we learned how my body doesn’t process fat well.  I learned that I didn’t have a good balance of carbs, protein, and fat, hence why I felt tired even with a good night’s sleep.  I also found out how much different my body felt by eliminating some foods or ensuring some food were only in moderation.  I did a RESET with her once I began my marathon training. There is no way I would’ve been able to fuel my body appropriately without her HELP.  Another year later, I needed another RESET.  This time my goal was to get back on track after a year of back pain, stress, COVID fatigue, and recognizing I purely needed some Accountability.

So many feel that nutrition is only about trying to lose weight.  Well I have to disagree! For some of us, it is about learning how to have a healthy relationship with food, or for the individuals that need help with event or race training.  It’s for the individuals that want to gain muscle and feel strong inside and outside the gym.  It’s also for the individuals that feel like they have hit a plateau. Many of us need a RESET when we aren’t seeing the results we are hoping to see in the gym.

So on the last day of our ski trip, I realized it was the RESETS that got our younger twins skiing three straight hours on our last day.  I ask you this, if you did a Nutrition REST, where do you think you might be in the next three months?  Race PR?  Better sleep?  Less illness? More energy? Muscle Gain?  Choosing to do a nutrition REST, is an investment in all the hard work you do day in and day out when you walk into the gym and/or train for your upcoming race/event.

-Erica Erickson, Group Fitness Coach

Coaches ask you to ensure you show up on time, because we know how important it is for you
to warm up your body before we jump into both strength and the WOD. Sometimes the warmup
feels like a mini workout, but here are the main reasons why we do the warmups that we do.
Warming up is important to increase the body temperature which will be helpful to warm up our
muscles. Sometimes the warmup will be longer or shorter, it will depend on if we have strength
training or jumping right into a workout. The warm up allows you as an athlete to see how the
body is feeling, and it allows your coach to see how you’re moving. If you’re coming off an
injury, it allows everyone to see how the body is feeling, and ensure we adjust the movement
prior to moving along in the workout.
Many times your warm up will incorporate some of the movements we will be completing during
the workout. It allows you as an athlete to practice it and allow coaches to see how you’re
moving. If necessary it gives us time to help you practice or find a new movement to ensure
you don’t hurt yourself.
Last but not least, warming up gets you mentally ready for what is coming your way in both the
strength training and also workout. Warming up protects you from injury!! As an athlete, you
need to take the warm up as seriously as how much weight you put on your barbell. So give
yourself that extra five minutes to ensure your ready when class starts and be focused on giving
your body the time it needs to fully warm up and crush your daily workout.

-Erica Erickson, Group Fitness Coach

Confession: Last week I ditched working out seven days in a row. Why? It
was cold out, it was dark and I was visiting family. So many of us struggle
when the weather gets cold outside, but honestly, it’s during these times that
we need to stick to our routine. Don’t worry this is a judgement FREE zone! If
you too recently fell out of your workout routine, here are 5 tips to help keep
you going so the winter’s dark skies and cold temperatures don’t steal your
fitness groove.
1. Jump back in, but give yourself grace as it might be a little hard at first.
The first step is starting again and making yourself a priority again.
The more you put off getting back into your routine, the harder it is to
get back into activity later, which becomes a vicious circle.
2. Get your workout stuff ready the night before. You are less likely to
cancel when you know everything is already set out.
3. Remind yourself how much a workout does for your mood and soul.
Did you know that research shows that exercise can help boost your
mood and even alleviate long-term depression. This is even more
important during the winter. Many times it's the steps to the car that
are the hardest one. Once you back out of the driveway there is no
looking back, you are committed!
4. Still struggling to get yourself into the gym, find a workout buddy or
tell a coach that you need some accountability. Having a workout
buddy helps us get to class as the guilt of knowing someone is waiting
for you will keep you from hitting the delete button.
5. Remind yourself of why you started. Sometimes we need to reevaluate
our goals. Maybe your goal was to lose 5 pounds, now that you have
reached that goal, set a new one so that you have that extra push to
help you keep yourself motivated.

Yes, our beds feel so comfy when it’s cold and dark outside, but remind
yourself that once you get five minutes into the warm up, you will be
complaining it's too hot and your mood will be boosted.

-Erica Erickson, Group Fitness Coach

Have you ever wondered why so many coaches sound like a broken record when explaining the
metcon? You might hear a lot of, “go lighter, go faster”. This is intentional. As coaches, we want
you to get the desired stimulus of the workout (and subsequent benefits). While the strength
portions are programmed for athletes to add weight and work towards those heavy stimuli, the
metcon is all about speed and intensity. Intensity in CrossFit is directly relatable to power. So,
during many metcons we are looking to create a higher power output. Power is defined as
(force x distance)/time. For most metcons, the distance is preset so the only factors that can be
controlled by an athlete are the force (weight you are lifting) or the time (how long it takes to
do the programmed work). Because time is in the denominator, you will create more
power–mathematically speaking– by dividing by a smaller number or doing the work faster. If
you add more force, i.e., more weight, then the numerator gets larger, but the time is also likely
going to get longer, which may cancel out the net increase in power due to the added weight.
In fact, the end result may be no increase in power at all. So, next time you are wondering what
weight to use to use for the metcon, consider asking yourself how you will generate the most
power.
Sources:
http://journal.crossfit.com/2009/03/intensity-and-its-role-in-fitness.tpl
https://www.crossfit.com/essentials/defining-crossfit-part-2-intensity

-Ani Monroe, Group Fitness Coach