Are you having "No Progress?"

Think of your journey into a healthier, happier, better moving you much like building a house. If the foundation of your house is cobbled together, has cracks in it, and is deteriorating then you are starting from a place of weakness. Why then would you spend lots of money and time building that beautiful kitchen you always wanted, and that master bedroom that has amazing views when in a few years the whole thing is going to collapse? You wouldn’t right?

We all want to rush to the end of the project. We want everything yesterday. If there was only a magic pill that would do that… The truth is that all levels of health and fitness are a process you have to be patient with. That is how getting healthier, stronger, and leaner works. You have to start with the right building blocks.

Are you having "No Progress?"Stage 1: Groundwork
We start with a lot of personal attention. Which means teaching you how to move correctly. When to fire the right muscles and how so as to keep you safe and move in an effective way. This is done in an individual basis, or in a small group of other people just like you. So you never feel self conscious that you don’t belong, or are holding people back. We want to help you get to that place that you want to be. That takes time, patience, and understanding.Are you having "No Progress?"

Stage 2: Framing
If you can’t squat, hinge, push, pull, or plank why would you try to load up a bar full of weights, or swing a kettlebell the size of your head through the air on your first day? That is just silly. Here at Contemporary Athlete, everything is a process of learning, then applying that knowledge. Making strides forward. Then learning some new things. This can happen in a larger class where you can have the support of others, and develop along side a small group of peers in a similar place that you are.

Are you having "No Progress?"Stage 3: Roofing
The barbell is like a PHD program. It removes a whole lot of ability to move. So until you are an exceptional mover we won’t use a barbell. We have them, we use them, but not until you are ready. If we are being completely honest, some people don’t ever want to or need to use one in order to get to your personal fitness goals. That being said you should always be preparing for that day because it makes you feel, move, and look better.

 

Coffee + Training = Gains (The unknown facts to unlocking your gym potential.)

My coffee addiction has a workout problem. Or some variable of that statement is appropriate for this post. I recently found myself sitting in the office drinking a pot of Death Wish Coffee for the better part of 5 hours the other day. Working incessantly on a very exciting, but necessary overhaul of the Contemporary Athlete website. As this community grows and changes I find myself taking occasional observatory steps back so as to see if this crazy awesome ship is traveling in the direction I would like it to; and if not how do I correct that.

Soooooooo a short story long, COFFEE, I love it. It is good for you. (So is a glass of red wine but that is for another post) I drink my coffee generally as a dark roast, black, in a 12 oz. cup. All in all, boring, uncomplicated and I am pretty sure makes me a sociopath. (Thanks random Facebook post)

 

Quick disclaimer: I am not a certified nutritionist, dietitian, or anything of the like (yet) so this is strictly my OPINION, based on my personal food intake and a ridiculous amount of reading.

 

So here are couple quick things:

 

  • Potential for Genius! (Ok not quite) but an earth shattering effect, coffee is a stimulant. It has caffeine in it. Which blocks a neurotransmitter inhibitor called Adenosine. By stopping this inhibitor it increases neuronal firing and releases dopamine and norepinephrine. Also it is proven through controlled experimentation that caffeine improves mood, reaction time, memory, and general cognitive function.

 

  • Superhero strength and skinny! (<- A freaking gold plated unicorn says what?) It raises your metabolism and the oxidation of fatty acids. This is due to it being a stimulant and the effect it has on the central nervous system. It has been proven through different meta-analyses that it increases exercise performance by an average of 11-12% this is due to it’s affects on several biological mechanisms, one of them being the mobilization of fatty acids from fat tissue.

 

  • Type II Diabetes can suck a doughnut! (But, but, can I still have a doughnut? NO, no you cannot) in observational studies, coffee is frequently associated with a lower risk of diabetes. The range of this is anywhere from 25% to as high as 65%. A recent review article I read with close to half a million participants showed that with every extra cup of coffee people had, it lowered their risk by 7%.

 

  • If Mayan gods are doing it… (The Mayan people originally made Coffee as a soup, or porridge. They also ate people’s hearts [<- I think, that could be a lie though…]) Many of the nutrients in coffee beans make it into the drink.

 

  1. 11% of the RDA for Riboflavin (Vitamin B2).
  2. 6% of RDA for Pantothenic Acid (Vitamin B5).
  3. 2% of the RDA for Niacin (Vitamin B3) and Thiamine (B1).
  4. 3% of the RDA for Potassium and Manganese.

 

Coffee is the largest source of antioxidants in the western diet; this outranks both fruits and veggies.

 

Last thing I have to say though. Great facts here but… once you start filling it with 37 sugars, or artificial sweeteners, a half a gallon of milk or creamer, you have then eradicated all that awesomeness with a whole bunch of not goodness.

Client Profile – John Cutting: "Finding time for a fitness adventure"

(aka 2 years of Contemporary Athlete)

Before CA – Way back when

Raising kids, daily lap swimming and watching sports can take up a lot of one’s day and even make one believes finding time for anything else seem unlikely.  However, in the grand scheme of things, staying healthy should be high up on your list of daily priorities.  As a parent this became painfully evident while watching my son rehab his way through a sports-related back injury.  The upside to his journey into and out of competitive soccer was his decision to be a health and wellness major in college.

CA 101 – The early months

Based on my son’s incessant pleading and logical arguments to do something else other than swim laps, I drank his youthful Kool-Aid and entered the world of CA.  Overcoming the fear to walk into CA was step one and step two was participating in my first CA session.  Crawling, stretching, box pushing, running, twisting, jumping, squatting, inch worming, rowing, and burpees are not life threatening but they sure do make you question the logic behind completing steps one and two.  If sore muscles and creaking joints are a sign of doing good work then I must have a perfect record.  CA humbles you but it doesn’t knock you down.  Everyone shares the same fun!

John Cutting: Finding time for my real life adventure into fitness"

CA – The middle months

Some might say that drinking the Kool-Aid is easy and buying into the whole exercise regime isn’t rocket science and they might be correct.  However, most of the fitness advertising touting a perfectly sculpted body through the use of this device or doing that exercise routine fails to mention that without a personal commitment you likely won’t achieve anything beyond a growing sense of frustration.  Perceptible change isn’t achieved overnight but with continued work and CA helping me I can attest that it does happen.

 

John Cutting: Finding time for my real life adventure into fitness"

CA Today – Believe

Although a medical issue created a three month gap in my routine, not returning to CA did not enter my mind.  One problem with an exercise routine is not really knowing how long it will take before you start feeling fitter and looking better.  Hearing those encouraging words during sets of burpees or kilometers of rowing made me a believer in the CA experience.

John Cutting: Finding time for my real life adventure into fitness"

CA Tomorrow – keep doing it

If life is just another terminal disease, you can either let it slowly kill you or you can get out of your chair and do something positive for yourself.  I am about to turn 62 and my CA adventure is certainly not over.  I survived the early months, the middle months, today and I will be there tomorrow!

Patience is the answer

Training is a lot like life.  In both, the roads towards progress and success are full of obstacles. Most of the time patience is the answer.

In life this could mean a surprise company move, being laid off, even the death of a pet or a loved one.

In training, there are often weeks filled with injuries and accidents that prevent you from optimal training.  There are often months spent at a plateau, perhaps even in conjunction with those life events that all conspire keep you away from the gym for longer than you’d like.

One thing that will keep you going is understanding and practicing patience.

The dictionary definition of patience is “The capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.”

It is important to understand that health is a lifetime commitment and fitness is a lifelong work in progress.

In between mastering new movements or hitting new PRs there will be times when you get discouraged by a perceived lack of progress.  You will get knocked down and scraped up.  You will get caught at or called in to work, but the only way to guarantee you’ll stop making progress is if you stop working.

As long as you keep putting one foot in front of the other, you will be further along than if you quit and stop moving altogether.  Sometimes you get slowed down, or get thrown off track, or hit bad weather, but you keep going.  The only way to make sure you keep on the right track is to keep going.

Practicing patience means recognizing that you won’t be able to walk in to the gym each day and absolutely crush everything you do.

Practicing patience means accepting that sometimes things will come up, and when they do, you do the best you can until you can resume working the way the way you’d like to.

Practicing patience means seeing the bigger picture.  You will experience ups and downs, you just have to keep going.

Work hard, roll with the speed bumps, treat obstacles as opportunities, and learn from every experience

Patience has power, and learning to use it will help you keep moving forward.

The Holi-daze of Fitness: It is too good to be true

Beware of easy.

I wish there was some magic pill.  I wish there was some miracle product.

I wish there was some neat little package you could receive in the mail that would be the answer to all of your health and fitness “problems”.

I wish there was, because I’d be first in line to buy it, or first in line to sell it.

But there’s not.

This time of year you will be bombarded with all kinds of information for health products.  There will be all kinds of things you suddenly need, or never knew you needed.

There will be all kinds of advertisements for weight loss pills; there will be infomercials with groundbreaking fitness products; there will be a magazine covers with seductively sweet secrets; there will be gurus with their patented solutions, there will be panels of experts discussing the latest supplement; there will be a celebrity with their current endorsement; there will be companies saying that they have finally found “it”.

Everyone is trying to sell you something.  There is nothing wrong with that.  Everyone is trying to make some money, or make a living.  It is possible, and likely, that some of them genuinely care.

The problem is that many of them don’t.  For the most part, they are more interested in their bottom line, not your health and fitness.

 

As Jon Goodman recently stated, is that “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”  Something to keep in mind whenever you encounter any information source that sells fitness equipment, supplements, or preaches one specific dietary or training approach.”  Of course their way is the right way; it’s their only way.

 

They bank on your desperation.  They count on you having tried other fixes.  Their strategy is playing up and playing on your “failures”.  Their punchlines are the false promises and failed results of other similar products.  They push you into picking up your phone or entering your credit card information one more time.

The substance of their advertisements stem from past promises, not miraculous breakthroughs.  Their science is sketchy, their methods unsubstantiated.  Their positions are nebulous, their premise negative.

“Are you sick and tired of… are you fed up… are you done with… are you ready for… have you heard about… then you have to…”

You’ve tried this, you’ve tried that, and they haven’t worked, now here’s mine.

It’s a cycle founded and fueled by failure and misinformation.  It keeps you coming back for more.

How can that fail?

Ultimately, there is a simple solution.  The magic pill does exist.

However the real solution is not a sexy one to market, and the pill is not an easy one to swallow.

 

  • You’re going to have to work.
  • You’re going to have to make some changes.
  • You’re going to have to be uncomfortable.
  • You’re going to have to set some real, timely, actionable, and appropriate goals.
  • You’re going to have to follow a program that aligns itself with that goal(s).
  • You’re going to have to exercise consistently.
  • You’re going to have to improve the quality of what you put in your body.
  • You’re going to have to focus on the quality of your sleep.
  • You’re going to have to ask yourself and answer some tough questions.
  • You’re going to have to take a good look at your lifestyle.
  • You’re going to have to commit to long-term improvement.
  • You’re going to have to be patient.
  • You’re going to have to work harder.

None of those statements are sexy.  None of those are particularly marketable.  None of those look good in a television commercial.

You can’t buy them packaged in a pretty little box.  I wish you could.  I would buy it in bulk, and mark it up heavily.

But, all of those statements are effective, tried and true.  They may not be what you want to hear, but they are what you need to do.

Yes, you can do it.

Yes, it is worth it.

Commit to making small changes that will add up over time.  For example, commit to exercising consistently before worrying about what the best workout plan is.  Put down or don’t buy the bag of snacks before worrying about what your daily optimal protein or fat or carbohydrate intake should be.

Health and fitness is not a final destination.  There are no shortcuts.  There is no short-term, easy path to achieving what you want to achieve or looking how you want to look.

 

If you need help, find a trainer or coach who knows a thing or two and will help hold you accountable.  Reach out to those who’ve been there or are going through it now.

Especially this time of year, beware of the easy way out.  If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

The Perfect Push-up

The perfect push-up is an upper-body focused exercise with full-body benefits.

There are many variations, but being able to perform the standard push-up is an important ability to have in your fitness toolbox. Whether you’re fairly experienced or just starting out, you can always benefit from increasing your knowledge of the movement, and a lot of practice, practice, practice.

Here we’ll be breaking down the push-up, going over the setup, technique, and major muscles involved. There will also be ways to help you get started, and cues to help make them even better.

We’ll keep it all short, simple, and (hopefully) practical. Then, get after it. The best way to get better at push-ups…is to do push-ups!

 

The Setup: Position yourself on the ground with:

  • Arms straight, with elbows and wrists directly below or just wider than your shoulders.
    1. Think as if you were standing up with both arms forward, and trying to push someone’s car out of your parking space.
  • Press your palms and fingers into the floor.
    1. “Grip the ground”. This helps engage more muscles in your arms and shoulders, and take some of the strain off of your wrists.
  • Legs straight out and close together, toes down.
  • Head straight, so that your neck is not arched up or curved down.
    1. Your gaze is towards the floor, just ahead of your hands.
  • Contract your glutes, quads, and abdominals. One way to help is take a big breath out, trying to make everything tight while doing so.
    1. Think squeeze your cheeks, engage your legs, and tighten your abs as if Superman was about to punch you in the gut.

Now pause, hold here, and check yourself.

Your body should be in, or close to a straight line starting from your ankles, up your back, along your neck, and through the top of your head.

Your hands are engaged and gripping the ground, toes are planted, and everything in between (legs, hips, abs, shoulders) is tight and ready.

This is the “up” position.

Your body is now all straightened out, locked in, and good to go.

 

The Motion:

  • Break from your elbows, and begin lowering your body towards the floor. Your legs, hips, and chest all move together.
    1. Keep everything from the setup nice and tight. Control your movement.
    2. Arms and elbows in close by your body. Think “arms glues to your sides”.
    3. Breathe in (inhale) as you lower down.
  • Bring your chest to, or as close to the ground as possible.
    1. “Graze the ground” or stop just above it.
    2. This is the “down” position.
  • Reach the bottom point, push back up.
    1. Breathe out (exhale) as you push up. Use your breath to help keep your abs tight, and get into a rhythm.
    2. Think “push the floor away from you”.
  • Push yourself back to the starting “up” position.

There is it, one badass push-up! Now reset, and keep going.

Modification:

What if the Floor is (too much): Raise yourself up, elevate your hands

If you’re at home or the gym.

  • Use a wall, side of a bed, back of a couch, armrest, chair, stairs…
  • Use a box, bench, or a barbell set in the squat rack. Adjust the hooks to the right height, set your body in position, and push away.

Wherever you are, just work your way down towards the floor as your strength improves.

Major Movers: Chest, arms, shoulders

  • Pectoralis major (your chest)
  • Triceps brachii (back of your arms)
  • Anterior deltoids (front of your shoulder)

Also Working: Everything else

  • Core
  • Hips
  • Legs

There you have it, the push-up.

Use these steps to help you get that first push-up, and try out these cues to make your push-ups even more effective.

You need to make your body do what you want it to do. Get yourself set up, and practice, practice, practice.

They’ll get better. You’ll get stronger.

One last thing, if when you are done fixing your form for the better and you are looking for more from your fitness we are only a call or email away. If you are not yet one of our bad-ass clients then call or email now to set up the first workout at the last gym you will ever need.
Don’t believe me? Read these…

 

Mind Your Movement: The Plank

Mind Your Movement: The Plank
By: Ian Cutting

The plank is an incredibly effective full body exercise. Planks force you to contract every muscle you have, creating high levels of tension. This tension helps you build body awareness and stability.
They require total body engagement, and emphasize core and hip stability. This translates into improved performance in many other exercises, such as push-ups, pull-ups, squats, and kettlebell swings.
Learning how to plank correctly will improve your abilities both in and out of the gym, and they are far more than a contest to see how long you can stay propped up on your elbows.

Enter the “hard-style” plank.

So planks require engagement, create tension, build stability, and increase awareness, but what does all of that training jargon even mean? More importantly, how do you planks and how can all of that help you? Well, let’s keep it simple, practical, and break them down so they can help you build yourself up.
The Setup: Make your way to the floor, with your…

 

1) Forearms on the ground, with elbow directly below shoulders.
a. Elbows bent at 90°.
b. There is a straight line from your shoulders, through your elbows, to the floor.

2) Legs extend straight out behind you, and are close together.
a. Toes are down.
b. Knees raised up off the floor.

3) Back and hips are straight, level.
a. Hips are not arrow /\ shaped, pointed up towards the ceiling.
b. Back is not U shaped, sagging down towards the floor.

 

This is the setup. Now, let’s get to all of that fun engagement and muscles and stuff we talked about earlier.
A true, hard-style plank means that every muscle is tight, preventing anything that might knock into you from pushing you around. Your body is a true plank, locked into one solid, immovable position. Here’s how it goes.

The Exercise: You’re all setup. Let’s plank.

1) Squeeze your glutes and core, with everything you’ve got.
a. “Squeeze your cheeks”. Think of your butt eating your shorts.
b. “Rock-solid abs”. Tighten, brace yourself, as if someone was about to punch you in the gut (which, you know, someone might).

 

2) Squeeze your legs, with everything you’ve got.
a. Tighten you thighs (quads and hamstrings), and lower legs (calves)
b. Straighten, squeeze.

 

3) Squeeze your back, chest, shoulders, and arms, with everything you’ve got.
a. Keep your neck and face relaxed.
b. Everything from your fingertips to your toes is now tight and on fire.
c. Breathe normally.

 

Hold this position, with your arms, shoulders, back, core, hips, and legs all tight.
And last but not least, to finish bracing and locking yourself in.

 

4) Try to “pull the floor together”.
a. Pull your elbows towards your toes.
b. Pull your toes towards your elbows.
c. Picture yourself crinkling, folding up the floor beneath you.

 

The plank creates full body tension by forcing you to contract every muscle you’ve got.
Planks alone are an effective exercise and are important to have in your training toolbox.
The principles of a plank (core engaged, glutes tight…) will also help you perform other exercises.
So from now on when are planking focus, and force your body to work. Set up in the correct alignment, squeeze everything you’ve got, and don’t forget to breathe.

If done properly, you shouldn’t be able think about anything other than not passing out, much less be able to hold a conversation.

Wicked Simple Weight loss

It’s as easy as basic math: 3-2=1 Awesome you!

I’m going to tell you how simple it is to shed that unwanted weight. (This doesn’t mean it won’t take effort). Weight loss is simple. By creating a deficit in your daily calories, weight loss is inevitable.

I hear all of these when talking with new clients about weight loss.

  1. Gimmicky diets
  2. Interwebs information that eating 1200 or less calories every day is how to get rid of fat fast (thats a myth)
  3. $100’s of dollars spent every month on supplements is gonna do it.
  4. You need to workout harder to burn all those “extra” calories
  5. Any or all of these things sound familiar?

Yeah, it’s all the same BS the product marketers keep putting out that confuse you into buying some BS stuff that doesn’t work.

Step 1: Calm down and be patient. Weight Loss Takes Time.

It took time to put on fat, get out of shape, and become discouraged. If you think you can get rid of it overnight you are mistaken. Therefore the “quick fat loss” mentality leaves you highly likely to gain it all back and then some. As a result this is why “dieting” doesn’t work.

Here is why this happens. You’re in a hurry. Which forces you to buy into fad diets that are not sustainable. It doesn’t give you the time to develop the habits that let you maintain loss for the long term.

Step 2: Eat real food.

You need to eat less food but start by eating real food. Stay away from shakes, pill, and any quick fix. Start with some carrots, and fruit. (Veggies, grains, meat, plants with high protein, good fats, and water, lots of water.) Frequently the desire to starve yourself thin is what you think will work. Really it will make your body hang on extra hard to that extra energy you are carrying around, because your brain will always protect you, from you.

Step 3: How fast can I lose?

We should probably discuss how fast you should be expecting to lose fat. This depends on how much fat you have to lose. The greater your starting levels of body fat are the faster you can expect to lose. Granted the leaner you start, a slower rate of loss will be best to minimize muscle and strength loss.

A caloric deficit, is important. It just has to be the right amount for you.

With that in mind: set fat loss targets between 0.5 – 1% of your total bodyweight per week. The benefit of using percentages is the rate of loss automatically scales with your bodyweight. Here is a great example.

  • If a person weighs 250 lbs. They can expect to lose~1.25 -2.5lbs per week.
  • On the contrary someone who weighs 160 lbs, will aim to lose ~0.8 – 1.6lbs per week.

Step 4: Measurable results or your just guessing.

For long term success you need to make adjustments to your calorie intake. This sounds complicated, but it really isn’t. Weight loss comes with consistency.  Tracking helps you see how consistent you’ve been.

You need data to track changes.

By weighing yourself daily, in the morning, after using the bathroom and before eating breakfast.

This is important if you want your most accurate weight. Track for a week! Then find the average weigh-in for the week.

I hate tracking! So why the weekly average?

Your weight will change daily. Don’t try to figure it out it is completely normal that’s why you take a lot of data. Use these basic math skills: Add days 1-7 then divide by 7.

Weekly weight loss expectations

chart credit: Physiqonomics

I borrowed this table to show how this works. It’s 3 weeks of tracking. The key notes to take is that there is day to day changes, and then at the end of the week obviously it is trending down! Which is the goal for most people.

Here are a few other ways we want to track, and they are all things that we do here at CA.

Measurements

Weigh-ins are only one piece of the puzzle and they are going to fluctuate. So having other things to compare those numbers too is important. I have quite literally seen people lose 10’s of inches and the scale not shift a lb. Weight loss isn’t always about losing pounds, its about losing inches.

Progress Photos

You look at the same person everyday. Keeping weekly progress photos will also provide objective data for you to base your weight loss changes on. This just gives you healthy perspective.

Step 5: Give it time to work!

Your body needs time to adjust. Give it that time ideally a minimum 4 weeks!! Then you can start to tweak what you are doing in order to see constant progress.

HERE IS THE SUMMARY!

  1. Eat real food.
  2. track daily then average at the end of the week
  3. adjust at the end of 4 weeks based on what you tracked
  4. Patience
  5. Be patient!
  6. Still confused by the last two? PATIENCE!!!!

Now if you still need help. We are more than happy to take you on as a client here at the CA, all of our coaches are more than qualified to work with you on your goals, and we even have one of the best nutritionists in the area on staff! Get in touch with us here.

The Road Least Traveled

“It’s easy till you own it.”

 The best advice I have ever gotten was, “Protect the CA no matter what. That community is special and that is its super power. People will come and go but you are at the heart of it. You are what brought them all here. Protect it.”

I very recently stood at the top of a hill, on tired legs, coppery taste in my mouth, and a bright blue sky in front of me. It was a crisp day out near Bennington, Vermont, the fall harvest surrounding me on all sides. As I looked out at the scenery, cool air kissing the sweat of my skin, tears were streaming down my face. Everything hurt and the sleepless nights and emotional roller coast I have recently been on had me shot to hell.

I’m happy to see September of 2015 disappear into the fucking far off distance, much like all the miles I put in just running in the countryside. Not knowing where I parked my truck or how to get back to it. I just wanted to run. So I did. Owning your own business is a glorious pursuit of suffering. I meet people and they think it’s all daisies and rainbows and freaking unicorns because I have the middle of the day “off” or I get to “set my hours” or it must be “fun, like teaching recess.” But it’s not. It’s about as far from that as you can get.

This may sound like a rant, and maybe it is, but it’s also something more. This business is personal. You spend your time playing movement specialist, strength coach, mentor, therapist, food guru, educator, relationship developer, weekend/evening janitor, cheerleader, and then at the end of it ask people to pay you for all of that.  It’s always too “expensive” and you get to carry that guilt around with you all day/week/month/year. Sometimes it doesn’t work out and you have to part ways. You lose them to the next big fad or their “friend started doing X great thing and I think… I’m gonna go do that. Thanks though!”

The days roll together, you get up when its dark, you leave when it’s dark, you program classes and sessions until you hear your alarm go off telling you to go back to the CA. You adjust for clients’ injuries or they go MIA and set your meticulously developed plan back 4 months. Your lack of “time” drives your friends away, or they give up on you, your relationships implode (or explode), and sometimes you take a flame thrower to your life (I mean who really needs clean laundry or food anyway?)

Because it’s PERSONAL and you want to HELP people, you show compassion. You discount memberships, let them float to keep clients making progress during tough times, and you dig into your own pocket to keep the lights on.  All while watching your bank account cross into the red. Then you swallow what’s left of your pride and do your best not to brutalize somebody the next time you see them with that golden glow. You know the one, the one you have after getting home from that vacation they took. That vacation you just saw being posted on Facebook. The one with the amazing sunsets at the beach, while drinking a fruity cocktail with their feet in the sand (mmmm sunsets, I’m pretty sure if I saw the sun I would catch fire at this point).

As the owner you get to hear about that great race they had this past weekend or the places that they are going to next month. Or that fat piece of cake they just shoveled into their face that fucked up their macros. You know the one from Cheesecake Factory that they are going to complain about when they didn’t lose any weight this week and how it’s your fault. The workouts apparently aren’t hard enough or the weights are too heavy, etc.

“That community is your super power and you must protect it at all costs.”

Those fucking words lead all your decisions. “No, I can’t go out to dinner. I have no money because I had to buy another medicine ball.” “No, I can’t do that wicked awesome race with you. I haven’t really slept in 4 days and I can sleep in till 6:30am tomorrow. Oh and I’m broke because I just put my last $20 in my gas tank to get me to work.” “No, I don’t want to go stand at another race like a freaking asshat and watch people pass by me like I don’t exist.”

As I stood at the top of that hill crying about all of that loss, and feeling sorry for myself for the first and last time in 3 years, I made some hard decisions about the future of the CA.  And with that, I felt the ease and warmth of unburden wash over me. I felt better, lighter. The sky looked bluer and I could see the apples on the trees from the farm below, which looked fantastically tasty. I thought “I’m going to go down there and eat one of those damned apples and sit on my ass for 5 minutes.”

With all of that said, the CA has a new CFO, and I can now get back to doing what I do best, what we here in the CA do best. Making stronger, faster, grinders. Billing, marketing, and sales are all up to somebody else. Somebody better equipped to deal with them.

“Protect the CA no matter what. That community is special and that is its super power. People will come and go but you are at the heart of it. You are what brought them all here. Protect it.”

-Dave

CA & 9 Miles East Sports Nutrition

Contemporary Athlete & 9 Miles East Sports Nutrition

If you’ve been training at CA during any point in the last year, you’ve definitely heard the name “9 Miles East” more than a few times.  All those times you walked in and saw brightly colored coolers stacked by the door, or saw someone with their head buried in the 9 Miles cooler looking to choose their dinner for the night.  Their name has become pretty popular amongst the CA community and there’s a damn good reason why.

They’re bridging that gap we all struggle to overcome – making eating healthy easy, delicious, and convenient.  Adam Costello, director of the Sports Nutrition program for 9 Miles East, was kind enough to take this opportunity to further explain the ins and outs of what their subscription has to offer.

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You’re training hard and spending a lot of time at Contemporary Athlete. Good! You should be!  Maintaining a regular training schedule is one of the best ways to stay healthy and feel great.  Keep doing what you’re doing but don’t forget about fueling your body with highly nutritious, healthy food.  This is where 9 Miles East comes in.

Train hard at CA and pick up your post-workout meal from the 9 Miles East fridge or go all in with our Sports Nutrition Subscription.  Nothing compliments your training better.  Don’t worry about trudging back and forth through supermarket isles or carving out time to cook a healthy meal when you have so many other important things vying for your attention.  Let 9 Miles East Farm help you.

We’re a 29-acre vegetable farm in Schuylerville, NY.  We grow veggies, cook them in our commercial kitchen, add high quality ingredients we can’t grow, and deliver them to busy folks in the Capital Region.  We have 15 different varieties of our GO Box meals along with a growing number of healthy soups, stews, and hot entree options. Our meals are a strategic mix of macronutrients that will help you fuel properly for a training session and recover quickly.  We want to help you achieve your athletic goals! 

You can purchase individual meals directly from the cooler in CA.  Grab your meal, swipe your credit card, and enjoy! It’s that easy.  Interested in having 9 Miles East Farm help you eat healthy throughout the week?  Sign up for the Four Week Sports Nutrition Subscription.  Each week you’ll receive a cooler delivered to CA filled with 5 meals:

1 GO Box – A bed of baby greens topped with a grain like quinoa, veggies from the farm, high protein toppings like sunflower seeds or roasted almonds, and our side dressing

2 GO Box Pros – GO Boxes with high-quality chicken                      

1 GO Basket – A to-go box stuffed with a grain, roasted veggies from the farm, and chicken.  Heat   the GO Basket up in a skillet or microwave

1 Soup or Stew – Healthy, hearty, and made with ingredients from our farm and others around the area

$45 each week, delivery included

We want to make it easy for you to enjoy healthy, local food.  You can check out our website (http://www.9mileseast.com/) for more information about the farm and what we offer.  You can sign up for the Sports Nutrition subscription on our square space (https://squareup.com/market/9-miles-east-farm-llc).  If you have any questions or ideas about how we can improve our service please don’t hesitate to call or email Adam Costello (518-810-3731 OR [email protected]).

 

Special Limited Offer

9 Miles East Farm is offering 50% off for the first week of their 6-week Contemporary Athlete Sports Nutrition Program that will be offered with the CA Ninja 101 program registration.  That’s just $22.50 for 5 meals during your first week of subscription ($4.50/meal).

Ninja 101 is a $564 value being offered for just $349.  Make sure to sign-up ASAP and get this fantastic bundle at a reduced cost.  Training designed for you, food prepared for and delivered to you.  You just have to sign-up, show up, and eat up!

 

And don’t forget!  9 Miles East is hosting us for another farm dinner on Sunday October 11th at 5pm so make sure to sign-up on front desk!  Only 20 slots are open, $20 a person.  See the farm firsthand and try some more of the amazing food they have to offer!