Author: John Stammerman

5 Factors of Health

2020: Your Fittest Year Yet

5 areas worth looking at to make a plan for the healthiest version of yourself.

5 areas worth looking at to make a plan for the healthiest version of yourself.

The New Year gives us a fresh start, a chance to evaluate the year behind us, take the lessons, and craft a vision for the year ahead.

In terms of our health and fitness, it is also an opportunity to begin the work of letting go of habits that no longer serve us and creating new ones that will move us towards the vision we have of our fittest selves, living our healthiest lives.

We want to share some knowledge with you called the 5 Factors for Health. There are 5 areas worth looking at to make a plan for our healthiest year yet.

Let’s take stock of where things are at in each category, define what we have control over in terms of changing it, and make a plan of attack. Breaking bad habits and creating healthy new ones starts one small step at a time, and with brutal honesty about how we sabotage ourselves.

The 5 Factors of Health:

  • Sleep
  • Nutrition
  • Exercise
  • Relationships
  • Mindset

Here’s to an amazing 2020 and the start of an incredible fitness journey!

Health, Motivation

Theoretical hierarchy for the development of an athlete

Way back in the 2002 publication “What Is Fitness?” CrossFit suggested a theoretical hierarchy for the development of an athlete. This hierarchy starts with nutrition and moves to metabolic conditioning, gymnastics, weightlifting, and finally, sport. Our progression largely reflects foundational dependence, skill, and, to some degree, a general theory of development.

Theoretical hierarchy for development

Nutrition is the foundation of the pyramid. The quality and constituent elements of an athlete’s diet influence metabolism and therefore the molecular foundations of muscle, bone, and the nervous system.

The second level of the pyramid relates to cardiovascular sufficiency. Without effective metabolic conditioning, an athlete will fatigue prematurely. 

Moving up the pyramid, the third level — gymnastics — focuses on an athlete’s spatial awareness and body control. Before attempting to control an external object (barbell, ball, opponent, etc.), an athlete should first possess the strength, flexibility, coordination, balance, and agility to move his or her own body through many different body positions and movement combinations with sound mechanics and confidence.

The fourth level considers the control of external objects — e.g., weightlifting and throwing. The capacities built at the metabolic conditioning and gymnastics levels can next be applied to an object beyond the confines of the athlete’s own body. 

With this foundation developed, the athlete can then safely and easily focus general physical preparedness on the specialized tasks required of specific sports. Read more at CrossFit.com.

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Health

Carb Restriction as a Sustainable Diabetes Treatment

Dr. Sarah Hallberg made several career pivots—all fueled by her anger at unscientific and harmful practices perpetuated by the medical community—before becoming Medical Director at Virta Health. In this talk, delivered on Dec. 15, 2018, at a CrossFit Health event at CrossFit Headquarters, Hallberg speaks about some of those unscientific and harmful practices, specifically those pertaining to the management of obesity and Type 2 diabetes (T2D). She outlines the physiological problems inherent in treating T2D with insulin, the benefits of treating the disease with a carb-restrictive diet, and the data from a recent Virta Health study that demonstrates the positive effects of carb restriction.