Blackhawk Fitness

Blackhawk Fitness 6-Week Paleo Diet Challenge

Lose weight for the New Year!

Join Blackhawk Fitness for the 6 Week Paleo Diet Challenge – learn how to go back to our “roots” and eat the way our ancestors do – the way we were built to eat!

“There are races of people who are all slim, who are stronger and faster than us. They all have straight teeth and perfect eyesight. Arthritis, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, depression, schizophrenia and cancer are absolute rarities for them. These people are the last 84 tribes of hunter-gatherers in the world. They share a secret that is over 2 million years old. Their secret is their diet- a diet that has changed little from that of the first humans 2 million years ago, and their predecessors up to 7 million years ago. Theirs is the diet that man evolved on, the diet that is coded for in our genes. It has some major differences to the diet of "civilization". You are in for a few big surprises.” ~Dr. Ben Balzer, Family Physician and Dietary Counselor

With readily available modern foods, The Paleo Diet mimics the types of foods every single person on the planet ate prior to the Agricultural Revolution (a mere 500 generations ago). These foods (fresh fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and seafood) are high in the beneficial nutrients (soluble fiber, antioxidant vitamins, phytochemicals, omega-3 and monounsaturated fats, and low-glycemic carbohydrates) that promote good health and are low in the foods and nutrients (refined sugars and grains, saturated and trans fats, salt, high-glycemic carbohydrates, and processed foods) that frequently may cause weight gain, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and numerous other health problems. The Paleo Diet encourages dieters to replace dairy and grain products with fresh fruits and vegetables -- foods that are more nutritious than whole grains or dairy products.

For more information on the Paleo Diet, read this article - http://www.earth360.com/diet_paleodiet_balzer.html

Join Blackhawk Fitness in this 6 Week challenge that will show you how, with a little determination, you can eat healthy, eat a LOT of food, and genuinely look, feel, and live BETTER. All it takes is support from your friends at Blackhawk Fitness and in 6 weeks we absolutely GUARANTEE significant weight loss, more endurance, faster metabolism, better sex drive, and many other significant improvements such as reduced inflammation and even lowering hypertension!

At the beginning of the challenge, you’ll go through a basic workout and weigh-in. We’ll record your “status” before beginning the Paleo Diet.

For 6 weeks, you’ll record what you eat and score yourself on your day-to-day progress (from 0 to 4).

Each week you meet with a Blackhawk Fitness trainer to weigh-in and ask any questions or discuss any issues.

At the end of the 6 week period, we will run through the exact same basic workout and weigh-in as we did at the beginning of the Paleo Challenge. Assuming you’ve followed the diet plan, you will definitely see improvement in one, if not both areas.

Continue on the diet plan for as long as you see fit, and as long as you continue to make gains/see results.

DO NOT EAT *

· Grains

· Beans

· Potatoes

· Dairy products

· Sugar

· Salt

DO EAT:

· Meat, chicken and fish

· Eggs

· Fruit

· Vegetables

· Nuts

· Berries

*See the end of this blog for more specifics on what you should and should not eat

2-for-1: Bring a non-Blackhawk Fitness client into the Paleo Challenge with you and you both enter for just $20.00!

The Basic Workout will be three events - Monday, January 4th during regular Blackhawk Fitness gym hours:

1) AFAP (As Far As Possible) – 5 min Rowing Machine

2) AMAP (As Many As Possible) – 2 min Burpee

3) AMAP (As Many As Possible) – 2 min Kettlebell Swing (35lbs Men / 18lbs Women)

Weigh-In (No Shirt Men / Sports-Top Women) - Monday, January 4th during regular Blackhawk Fitness gym hours

Repeat the Basic Workout and weigh-in.

Food Scoring: 0-4 points based on Paleo compliance (honor system)

4 points: 100% Paleo;

3 points: 99% compliance – maybe cheated w/ some peanuts, hummus or cream in coffee;

2 points: 90-98% compliance – small amount of “not real food.” Maybe you had a full Paleo day but had a beer, and/or a dinner roll.;

1 point: 80-89% compliant – Most of the day was Paleo but you had few slices of pizza, a sandwich, soda or bag of popcorn.

0 points – you had a bad day!! More than one processed meal, dessert or a few slices of pizza.

1 extra point for attending Crossfit ICT.
.75 extra point for attending Blackhawk Fitness Boot Camp

.5 point for working out during that day – ran or exercised at the YMCA or other gym.

.5 point for additional workout during the day – swim at lunch, bike in the evening, etc.*

*1.5 MAXIMUM points per day

The winner will be based on percentage of overall improvement. For example if you improve your row distance from 200m to 300m, that is a 50% increase. your 1 mile run decreases from 8 minutes to 6 minutes, you add an additional 25%, giving you 75%, so on and so on. The winners will be chosen based on greatest improvement in their physique, not necessarily best physique.

Photo: front, side and back;

Measurements: Body weight, waist circumference, and body fat.

The winners will be determined by:

Measurement Percentage Improvements: weight, waist and body fat*

Plus Percentage Performance Improvements*

Plus Food / Workout Scoring

*Percentages presented as POINTS for adding. So 50% decrease in waist size would be 50 points. NOTE: Percentages can go over 100%

1st Place – Cash Prize – A running tally of the Cash Prize will be posted on the website – Minimum Cash Prize - $100 AND the winner will have a WOD (Workout of the Day) named after them at Blackhawk Fitness

2nd Place – Massage – A One Hour Gift Certificate to Medizenal Therapy Massage

3rd Place – Food – $20 Gift Certificate to Doc Greens to continue on the Paleo Diet path!

Paleo Diet Challenge Entry Form viewable/downloadable/printable at http://www.BHFIT.com under the BLOG section.

Please see full documentation for a better list!

Eat none of the following:

DO Eat the following:

Acceptable items IN MODERATION:

• Coffee (1 cup per day)
• Honey (No more than 1 serving in a meal per day)

At Blackhawk Fitness here in Wichita, KS, a good squat is so critical to so many exercises we do, it is vital to have a “good looking” squat before you really beginning tearing into the workouts. I say “here at Blackhawk”, but in reality, a good squat is the foundation of just about any physical activity in which you have to reach down, lift something, or engage the hamstrings in any way.

Good for BFHIT, great for LIFE.

The first question is: “Why is a good squat so important?”

The answer is two parts and both pertain to overall performance. First, if you have a poor squat technique, you are limiting your potential. If the knees are coming forward of your feet when you squat, you are limiting the ABILITY of your hamstrings to help you in the lift when you come back up. We’re not just talking about weights here, either. We are talking about picking up that bag of dog food, lifting the baby, lugging the grass clippings, etc. I mean, let’s face it, THAT’S WHAT CROSSFIT IS MEANT TO TRAIN – Functional Fitness.

Not only are you able to run that 5k at a drop of the hat, but house work, chores, and physical labor in general are just easier!

You wouldn’t let someone tell you to do a bench press with one hand, nor would you expect to be told to type up a paper with a computer, but without word processing software. Sure you might be able to do both of those ill-equipped, but why would you? So WHY would you limit yourself with a half-assed squat?

Picture a rubber-band. When you hold a rubber-band without pulling it, there is NO FORCE there, no power. It just sits, inert. However, when you pull the rubber-band tight, there is obvious resistance and pull by the band to get back to its relaxed state. The same is true of your hamstrings! Doing an improper squat, by letting the knees swing forward of the toes, you are not tightening the rubber-band. Your hamstring is inert.

By getting into the proper position, by positioning the knees and tibia correctly, you are automatically engaging the hamstrings; tightening that rubber-band that is going to assist you in the work you’re doing.

It’s just that simple.

SECOND, and perhaps more important for people with pain in their knees or knee injuries, the proper squat doesn’t apply a shearing force to the knee joint! When squats are done poorly, the pressure of the body is driven into the knee joint for support. The meniscus (the shock absorber in the knee) and your ligaments will take that pressure for a long time. However, that doesn’t eliminate the fact that you are putting undue pressure and incredible force on a joint that isn’t meant to work in that manner. That is just in everyday motion too! Now we’re talking about doing a crappy squat AND adding WEIGHT to it!

Finally the meniscus just decides it’s had enough and it tears. If you aren’t going to do the motion correctly, it can only accommodate you for so long before breaking.

Enter the hamstring. Not surprisingly, there is a muscle cluster in each leg MEANT to compensate for this type of motion! The hamstring, when a squat is done correctly, removes that force from the knee and, thus eliminates the shearing force that wants to tear your meniscus. Ta-da!

By focusing on keeping the tib/fib upright in EVERY squat or lunge, you are telling your body to engage the hamstring for support versus using the knee as that bridge for support. When I say every squat, I mean it. You should be working towards keeping your knees behind your toes, your body rocked back on your heels in every semblance of a squat you do. You may not be able to achieve a 100% vertical  tibia every time (specifically in lifts like the overhead squat or snatch), but striving for that goal will improve performance and reduce the likelihood of injury.

So there you have it. The reason why a good squat is so critical to performance.

GET FIT!
 Chief Everhart

Blackhawk Fitness

Wichita, KS, 67211

CrossFit ICT (CrossFit Affiliate)