Memorable Mudder Moments

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In June of 2011, I received a text from my brother that had the link for the Tough Mudder event on it asking me to check it out. I said I was down for it, but couldn’t get any other family members to commit. The race was going to be in February 2012. I remember texting Amy Van Cleve that I wanted to do the Tough Mudder. We both half-joked that we should do the event and then promptly went about our lives.

When Amy decided in May 2012 to train a group of athletes for the Tough Mudder Race in 2013, I was excited and a little fearful. Having done other events, I knew that I would just have to go through the training and be as prepared as I could be for the event.

I spoke with a co-worker who had done the race in 2012 and he shared some pictures of his team going through the obstacles.

The only obstacle that took my breath away was the 15 feet jump off a platform into water ( the “Walk the Plank” obstacle.) I sent Amy these pictures and suggestedWalk-the-Plank-Obstacle that she share them with the group that would be going through the training. She opted not to share the pictures since she didn’t want people to get preconceived ideas about the obstacles.

She knew what we were up against…we did not fit the mold for the participants that usually join the race (we were predominantly 40-60 year old women..not 25 year old stud muffins.) I knew we could accomplish this event, especially with Amy carefully watching us every step of the way and making sure we stayed uninjured.

We began training in October 2012 for the race in February 2013. The requirement from Amy was that we be enrolled in AVC Elite group training Monday and Wednesday sessions and she would add a Saturday training day.  We were on our own to run two to three days a week to get the base conditioning in. I can’t even guess how many hours we put in from October 2012 to event day on February 23, 2013 but needless to say there were a lot of hours involved.

Agility Training with TiresAmy worked predominantly on our endurance in the Saturday training sessions.  The basic training session was warm-up, run, cardio exercises, run some more, and yet more cardio exercises. Towards the end of our training we were up to 13 miles in total with 20 or more obstacles lasting 4 hours.

In addition to endurance, Amy placed an emphasis on proper running with your weight balanced underneath you, 180 steps per minute strides, proper arm movement and no over-striding.  She constantly emphasized hydration, proper nutrition, proper sleep, all components that made us the best condition that we could be in.  Not to say that I couldn’t have run more or had better nutrition but her constant reminders were always there making sure that we were giving it our all.

The training sessions all run together but the memories that come to the forefront for me are the following:

  • Mudder Team TrainingFirst training session running, doing 2 minute cardio exercises, and walk/running up and down Kong with Kettlebells
  • Training session at Mountain View High School where the temperature was 20 degrees and we had frost on our running shoes
  • Carrying a telephone pole across Mountain View practice fields to utilize it for the Twinkle Toes obstacle
  • Crawling through John’s tarped-covered “Trench Warfare” obstacle
  • Training sessions in which you looked at your watch and realized that you were two hours into training and you still had a minimum of an hour to go
  • Jumping into Amy’s pool in January to get ready for the Arctic Enema obstacle
  • The look of horror on some of my teammates faces as Amy described some of the obstacles we would be encountering in the race (planning meeting at the Monastery)

The spirit of camaraderie in our training was unparalleled.  When someone achieved an obstacle that they hadn’t previously been able to do, the entire group cheered.  When someone had an injury, (and there were plenty of them) the entire group rallied around that individual.  We had such a fantastic collection of personalities all melding together to conquer this achievement.

Most everyone on the team had an obstacle or a fear that they would need to overcome to complete the entire Tough Mudder event. We didn’t dwell on the obstacles we weren’t going to try…we would simply try every one and if we couldn’t get it done after a couple of attempts, we would move on.

Finally it was race day… The 15 of us showed up at the training facility at Ellsworth and Guadalupe. After an inspirational speech by Sean Corvelle (boo-rah), and we were off for 12 miles of running and 21 obstacles.

Mudder Memories from MargieWe had an amazing group of friends and family there to support and cheer us on. They couldn’t have done more for us than cheering us on at each obstacle.  Big Kudos to Helen, who trained with us through every Saturday session, and took amazing videos and pictures of the all the FUN we were having.

The actual race itself is a blur, with the hardest obstacles for me being the Berlin Walls and Everest.  Everything else was doable. I was definitely fatigued during the race, but felt I had the endurance to complete it. We stuck together as a team and although it took us a bit longer because of that, we were there for each other the whole way.

Team AVC MuddersThanks Tough Mudder team!  You guys are the absolute best. You guys are the toughest Mudders I know…thanks for helping me cross this off my bucket list…

Memorable moments:

  • Kendall completing the monkey bars…go Kendall!
  • Cynthia jumping off “Walk the Plan” the 15 foot platform…conquering one of her fears
  • Patti getting through the obstacle Trench Warfare which can be horrible for claustrophobic people
  • My whole team working together to get up Everest…thanks, team

After a couple of months had passed since the Tough Mudder event, the daughter of one of my friends did the Mid-Atlantic Tough Mudder where one of the participants drowned.  I realize that many accidents happen especially in such a difficult event, but I sincerely feel that Amy trained us to prepare for the race and we were the most prepared we could have been.

Thanks, Coach Amy, and I can’t wait to do the next Tough Mudder event!
~Margie

What will you check off your bucket list this year?  Rim-to-Rim at the Grand Canyon? Tough Mudder? Ironman? An Ultra Trail Event?  What ever your fitness goals, AVC Elite Training can help you achieve them. Contact Amy today and let’s get to work!

3 Steps to Permanent Fat Loss

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If you’re like most of us, you know the common weight loss mistakes. Perhaps you had to learn them the hard way like many.

Are you tired of failing to achieve your weight loss goals? Then you’ve come to the right place. Below are the three steps required to achieve the permanent fat loss you desire.

Step 1: Nourish Your Body; Eat Real Food

Eat Real FoodReal food is not stuff that doesn’t look like anything in nature. It’s not sweetened drinks. Real food doesn’t come in boxes or cans whose ingredients can’t be pronounced. Real food does not use artificial colors, sweeteners, texturizers, or preservatives.

Real foods include fresh fruits, vegetables, lean meats and poultry, fish, whole grains and good fats. When you eat real foods like these, your body can be nourished like it needs to be.

When you’re nourished, wonderful things can happen, including:

  • You get full faster
  • You eat less overall
  • You eat fewer calories since the foods you’re eating are inherently lower in calories than the pizza, burgers, fries, chips or whatever other nutritionally dead foods you may have eaten in the past.
  • You feel satisfied and fuller longer so your chances of hankering around the refrigerator for a late night snack have just been slashed.

All of which mean: You Iose weight and keep it off.  And you are extending your life by eating REAL food, not processed foods that are loaded with nothing but junk!

Step 2: Eat More Frequently

One of the biggest mistakes a person can make is going hours on end without eating. Not only does this slow down the metabolism (again, think starvation mode), it causes a severe drop in blood sugar causing “fog brain”  and fatigue.

Long gaps between eating can make you feel down right miserable, making it difficult to function throughout the day and doing nothing for weight loss. Slowing your metabolism induces fat storage rather then fat loss.

Step 3: Exercise

Exercise is absolutely imperative in maintaining a healthy weight and for overall health. We live in an extremely sedentary world sitting in front of computers, our phones, watching TV, etc. Sitting for hours day in and day out is killing us. It leads to not just weight gain, but to diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.

less-fat-more-muscleAnd the older we get the more we need to move. Lean tissue continues to decrease with age and that lean tissue is our metabolism. You lose that having minimal muscle and those pounds will continue to pack on!  The message is simple, you have got to move.

Find a training program that you will stick with and gives you results.  Make sure you are working up a sweat and not just going through the motions of a workout.  It is important to push yourself and challenge yourself – safely of course!

Achieve sustainable success and create healthy lifestyle habits that will not throw your body into a tailspin by destroying your metabolism and make you sick later on. (Fad diets, poor eating habits and no exercise, will ALL do this.) Stop sabotaging yourself and avoid the enduring negative consequences that can follow.

Simply eat clean and train smart. Your body will love you for it in more ways then one.

4 Common Weight Loss Mistakes

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Have you ever tried – and failed – to lose weight?  You are not alone.

Weight Loss MistakesBut the good news is that you can achieve the weight loss you desire in three simple steps. And equally important to maintaining a healthy weight is avoiding common traps we all face. Explore these four common weight loss mistakes and you’ll be prepared to embrace the three steps to long-lasting fat loss I’ll cover following.

Mistake #1: Calorie restriction

When you restrict calories by eating next to nothing, fasting or using liquid/juice diets, you might initially take off some pounds. But then your body catches on to your game.
Then you go into starvation mode in order to preserve your fat stores in case no more food is coming for a while. As a result, your fat burning metabolism slows WAY down to keep you alive on less food.

This means you start losing less or no weight at all even though you are eating next to nothing. Plus, when you stop severely restricting calories and eat your “old way” again, your body will burn even FEWER calories than it did before because you slowed down your metabolic rate. So you put the weight back on and then some.

Mistake #2: Fad diets

Same thing applies when you eliminate food groups from your diet, use meal replacement bars or shakes (like Slim Fast) or try to trick your brain into thinking you’re full (e.g. Sensa).

Your body is smart and knows that it needs complete nourishment. That means proteins, whole grains, veggies, fruits and good fats.

If it doesn’t get everything it needs, the starvation mode is triggered as previously discussed. It doesn’t matter if “shakes” you drink have a bunch of vitamins added to them. Your body knows the difference between synthetic nutrients and those that come naturally from food.

Our bodies are designed to best use nutrients as they occur in a complete, real food. Anything less than that will make your body feel as though it’s not nourished properly…and leave you feeling hungry all the time.

Mistake #3: Just Eat LessJust Eat Less

When someone who eats large meals or always has seconds and thirds tries to simply to cut back and eat less, they’re pretty much miserable. Eventually they start sneaking a little more, then a little more, and soon they’re right back where they started.

Or they eat try to eat their dinner on a luncheon-sized plate…but pile it 6 inches high! Or they might successfully eat less at meals but cave into snacking later on, which completely negates any calorie savings they may have achieved by eating a smaller dinner.

Some people even take the dramatic approach of having gastric bypass surgery–so your portions are automatically “controlled” because your stomach is a fraction of its original size. Sadly, the success rate of this about 2% rarely working and can be downright dangerous.

Mistake #4: Meal plans

Some diets take the work out of meal preparation and planning by having you buy their pre-packaged meals and foods. This can be VERY costly and often are processed foods to boot..bad news!

As long as you stick to eating their prescribed meals, you will probably take in fewer calories and Iose weight. But as soon as you’re “on your own” again, guess what happens? Yup, the weight comes right back on!

So what can you do if you desire to lose and keep weight off both safely and effectively?  Stay tuned as next I’ll share the three steps to permanent fat loss.

Why Jumping Rope Makes You a Better Athlete

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5 Reasons Why You Should Jump Rope

Jumping rope is great for all athletes. From the recreational athlete to the athlete involved in sports that rely on vertical explosiveness (think running, basketball, volleyball, etc.) Jumping rope is a highly effective skill that will enhance the athlete’s training – and therefore the athlete’s performance – for the following five key reasons.

1. Lower Body Recruitment

As the name jump rope implies, the muscles that get recruited in a major way are the calves and hamstrings receiving repetitive cJump rope postureontractions and springing of these muscles throughout the movement. Training these muscles through “roping,” will not only make you stronger, but will also help you become more efficient, and in turn will decrease the possibility for injury.

Jumping rope also works the muscles in the upper part of the legs – the quadriceps and the glutes, keeping your body’s anterior and posterior muscularly balanced.

Added bonus: These are largest muscles in the body being worked which means calories get incinerated big time!

2.  Wrist and Forearm Flexibility

Wrist, hand and forearm issues seem to becoming more and more prevalent due to constant repetitive motions whether from daily work, cell phones, texting, or extended hours of keyboard work on the computer. Jumping rope is a form of fitness that stimulates flexibility, dexterity and strength in these areas of the body. Jumping rope when using correct form and technique, requires spinning the rope around the body using your wrists and forearms. This will allow you to whip the rope around yourself very quickly. It is the repetition of this motion which strengthens your forearms, wrists and hands and will help prevent injury or other issues such as carpal tunnel syndrome.

3. Abs and Core Stabilizers

jump-rope-workout-ab-tonerYour abdominal muscles are worked the entire time you are jumping rope as they act to balance and stabilize the rest of your body. The stronger your core, the better your balance, coordination and stability will be.

A strong core equals a better athlete. The next time you are jumping rope, focus on keeping your abs tight to not only encourage proper form and technique, but to give yourself an extra benefit from your training discovering just how core intense jumping rope truly is!

4.  Biceps, Triceps, Chest & Back Sculpting

When you become skilled at jumping rope your arm muscles, chest and back are also highly recruited. You will begin to feel your triceps and biceps burn as you progress into a more advanced jump rope workout. “Jumping Rope Tall,” means maintaining good posture, opening up the chest while elongating the back and spine. This requires practice and awareness the entire time you are roping which also requires strength. If it is sculpted arms you’re looking for, grab a rope and start jumping.

5. Heart Health

The longer and more frequently you jump rope, the better cardiovascular exercise jumping rope becomes. Boxers and MMA fighters have implemented jumping rope into their training for over a century to strengthen their heart and lungs.

Jumping rope increases stamina and endurance which compliments anyone’s training for whatever reason, sport or overall health and fitness. It is easy to tire out while jumping rope when you first begin, but like anything else, ease into it aiming for short intervals to start, and gradually increasing your duration, cadence and frequency as you become more skilled and in better overall physical condition.

Get Jumping

Jumping rope will work every muscle throughout your entire body, while improving your cardiovascular fitness. Jump rope in arzionaIn addition, it is a skill that improves coordination and agility. All you need is a rope, a little patience, some determination, and a towel to mop up the sweat!

Now you have it…..the 5 reasons why The AVC Elite Training crew jumps rope. Come jump with us!

Detox and Cleansing Diets: Healthy or Dangerous?

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There’s a lot of buzz lately about detoxifying and/or cleansing the body in regards to weight loss. Is this weight loss worth the risk? What is actually happening when a detoxification or cleansing diet is implemented in trying to achieve weight loss?

What is Detoxing and/or Cleansing?

Detox dietDetoxing and/or cleansing diets are diets consisting of basically juices, herbal teas and/or raw foods ingesting very few daily calories. The concept is that by only consuming these things the body will shed toxins and will function better, have better mental clarity and most of all…..lose weight!

Be aware that much of detoxification and cleansing theories are backed by people wanting to make money, pushing products that are not FDA approved nor backed by valid research of efficacy.

Claims of Clarity

Reports of mental clarity, intensified creativity and heightened concentration are only backed by anecdotal evidence. These reports in actuality are explainable by the very notion that one is paying attention to what one is consuming and making prudent and judicious choices therefore the “heightened mental awareness or clarity.”

Weight Loss – with Side Effects

What is actually happening when detox or cleansing diets are used for weight loss?

  • The scale may go down, but in a very unsafe manner.
  • Detoxification diets are very low in calories so the body will go into a conversion mode, meaning calories are burned more SLOWLY.
  • Calories that are consumed will be stored primarily as fat as the body perceives starvation through such drastic caloric restriction. This will send the body into a downward spiral towards “survival mode” as the body clings to every calorie that is consumed not knowing when it will be nourished or fed again.
  • Weight loss is primarily water weight and not true “fat loss”
  • Muscle wasting will ensue destroying lean tissue which in turn destroys metabolism.
  • No amount of exercise can counter the loss of lean tissue as it can only be sustained through the combination of BOTH proper nutrition and exercise.
  • Malnutrition occurs by restricting nutrient dense foods and worse entire food groups.
  • Lack of nutrients and severe calorie restriction will also compromise the immune system making the body more vulnerable to illness.
  • Lack of energy with possible bouts of dizziness, nausea, and headaches will result.
  • Inability to execute exercise to its fullest and most efficiently due to having no fuel in the machine.
  • Glycogen stores are on empty making exercise pretty much a miserable experience.  And, making the body more susceptible in getting hurt or worse yet…injured!

The Reality of Weight Loss Gimmicks

Juice CleanseThese detox and cleansing diets are short term weight loss gimmicks which do nothing to promote healthy life long nutritional habits while wreaking havoc on the body’s metabolism preventing it from running strong and efficiently for a lifetime.

The bottom line is that the human body is one of the most complex machines on earth.  The fact that its sustainability has been going on for centuries is evidence that our bodies have evolved to perfection in many ways.

Keep healthy and strong. Ditch the detoxification, cleansing and fad diets.