The idea behind the fall challenge was to jump start the beginning of fall with a strong push and regain momentum following the summer. The
summer months, full of distractions, vacations, and kids being out of school are challenging months to maintain habits. Knowing that we all
start the year off with a bang, hold momentum through the spring, the summer ends up being a slow down for most. The purpose of this challenge
was to get everyone back on track, with a goal to end the year better off. The challenge was a mere 30 days, however significant progress can
be made in short time with the right ingredients.
Exercise: Daily intense workouts or multiple medium workouts. Boxing class will check off many of these workouts, but I also suggest
adding in running, biking, or long rucks.
Diet: We need to eat LESS quantity, but higher quality calories. Our bodies should be in balance with the energy we put in vs the energy
we put out. For this challenge, I wanted everyone to be in a significant deficit but still hit daily protein goal of 1gram per 1lb of body weight.
The diet was simple, any protein source, veggies, and fruit, and that’s it. Black coffee and tea, water, and nothing else.
Alcohol: It obviously has no place in high performance sports and especially challenges like this. The group cut all booze for the month
of September, no exceptions.
We will have special gifts for the winners of the competition, but realize the TRUE reward is learning what you can achieve in such a short period,
and discovering how much BETTER you feel with this type of focus. Remember, it is your responsibility to put your own oxygen mask on prior to
helping others.
Class Attendance Winner: Abby Hall with an impressive 43! Honorable mention to Felix and Billy for hitting 33 and 37, amazing work.
Overall Winners: Not only completing the class challenge but also losing significant body weight while also gaining muscle mass, a very
difficult thing to accomplish.
Ramsey Abarca and Matt Kindy
Honorable mention to Billy Garretsen, who made an impressive body composition change and also was the member who convinced me to put on this fall
challenge. Billy also donated several 100-dollar alamo gift cards for the winners, thank you Billy!
Also wanted to shout out Deanna Garza, John Baker, Zac Albright, and Brett Regan for outstanding work this past month. Keep up the solid work
everyone, the FULL fight camp coming Jan 1 2025!
In ancient civilizations, life changed with the seasons. For thousands of years, humans have lived with this seasonal reality. Its deep connection
with our lives exists to this day, locked deep in our biological makeup. Winter was a time to recover and sharpen tools, store food, and make
shelter preparations. Spring, a time to plant seeds and prepare the land. The summer focused on the protection and nourishment of the crop. And
finally, the fall, the harvest of the land. How does the changing of the seasons affect our lifestyles, mood, and habits? Have we altered acclaimed
psychologist Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs? What, if any, affect does the falling leaves, death, and rebirth of the seasons have on our physical
bodies? Should we be letting go of part of ourselves and pruning?
Maslow famously stated that our physiological needs were the biological component of our survival as humans.
Looking at this image, are we meeting our basic physiological needs? A large portion of the country struggles with obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular
disease, and a myriad of other conditions linked with the above. Maslow, born in 1908, lived through multiple World Wars and the Great Depression,
could never have foreseen that over- nourishment would eventually replace hunger on the physiological needs chart… however, in our age, it certainly
has. If we are living our lives in poor health, plagued with disease and lurking illness, can we truly expect to handle the various other steps on this
pyramid of needs? I’ll phrase that differently because it’s so important. How much better could we be doing in all other aspects of this chart if our
most basic needs are 100% met? We are obviously dealing with a public health crisis, which our current public health system has not been able to handle.
In the past, public health institutes had great success bringing public awareness, and example being the dangers of smoking.
Unfortunately, this current battle against engineered food and densely caloric foods has left our society in a disastrous downward spiral. Additionally,
our time spent outdoors laboring, as we did for thousands of years, is now limited to select jobs with most people rarely engaging in enough physical activity.
I have been pondering this issue for the past 20 years, doing my best to understand some of the root causes. Physical exercise is finally getting the credit
it deserves. Studies have shown with crystal clarity the life changing benefits of intense exercise. Also, I believe most people understand our food supply
has changed, and we need to do a better job sourcing and cooking for ourselves to get a grip on how much nourishment we take in every day. So, what then is
the problem? Why aren’t more people exercising and eating properly? This is a complex problem, but I’ll do my best to explain what I have seen work, and
what most people end up trying.
First, let’s take another look at Maslow’s chart. Safety, no longer a primary issue for most people in our current world, probably needs to move up the chart
and social needs take its place on the hierarchy. Our current lives are disconnected, working remote and stuck on a computer many hours of the day, which has
consequences. Often, when people attempt to get in shape, they choose an anti-social way of exercising that further distances them from this primary need.
The extremely dull monotony of this type of exercise devours the soul and makes disciplined daily exercise an impossibility for most who attempt it. So, what
about group exercise? This has proven to be a much more effective way to get people moving. However, the exercise class can also have a monotonous nature to it.
And, while there are other people participating in class, is it social? No. Nobody talks in group yoga or Pilates classes, and most HITT classes are to scattered
for people to strike up meaningful chats. In my experience, people learning skills and sports that require communication and other people, who are challenging
themselves and bettering themselves, are clearly getting the most benefit from exercise and social interaction.
Witnessing this change in people while running mixed martial arts gyms and boxing gyms has led me to this belief. The problem we run into is changing public
opinion. When most older people get a poor health diagnosis from their primary care physician, they don’t think about alternative ways to get in shape or value
the group dynamic when making this difficult change. Unfortunately, they end up at a basic health club stuck in some cardio theater. We need your help to push
public opinion for the better. We need to encourage people to pick up hobbies and activities that promote physical health, social bonding, and help reduce the
stress of life.
Now that it’s fall and the changing of the seasons is now in full effect, what changes are you going to make? I would push for yearly goal to improve body
composition. In order to measure this, I would suggest 2-3 dexa scans a year to track exactly what’s happening in your body. The dexa scan reveals several
critically important metrics for prolonged healthy living. Total body lean muscle mass and total body fat are important, but where your body fat is located is
VERY important. Visceral fat, fat that accumulates inside the body cavity around vital organs is extremely toxic and can lead to an early death sentence. Last
year during fight camp, almost all participants cut their visceral body fat by 50% in only 2 months of work. Throughout the course of the year, we are looking
to build up/preserve our lean muscle mass while drastically reducing body fat. In the process, our intense boxing workouts will also help build bone density.
Bone density, measured on the dexa scan, is critical for aging and injury prevention. Boxing, which requires students to spring around on their toes, is perfect
impact and stability training for strong bones and stable bodies. A big aspect of the fall challenge for me was to help people during this seasonal transition.
If we start the year off with fight camp creating solid habits, they will maintain through the spring and hold the line through the difficult summer months.
Then with a refresh during the fall, hopefully the year will end up being a net positive as far as health metrics are concerned.
Each year, we need to be faster, stronger, and have improved overall body composition. By doing this, we can slow the aging process and avoid many illnesses and
diseases. If you enjoy sports and physical activities, this will also ensure long term enjoyment throughout your life. Another way to look at it is like saving
money and compounding interest, it doesn’t matter how much money you save throughout the year if you blow it all in the summer. The idea being to have more money
in your savings account each year, you must continue to save and not spend it all just because you have it. Our bodies are no different. At the end of each year,
we need to be better off than the year prior. This can be achieved at any age. Studies have shown that even in your 70-80’s, our max heart rate can still be
increased with intense exercise. Sticking with the analogy, the psychological weight of being in debt is crushing, even the smallest unforeseen expenses can create
massive stress and increase the debt. The more debt we acquire, the harder it becomes to dig ourselves out. The same can be said for carrying excess body weight,
except with our bodies, there is no way to declare bankruptcy and start over.
The equinox, which is Latin for equal night, was a celebrated time of year as both the day and night were in perfect balance. Let’s use this time to set balance
in our lives. Learn to go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. Balance your diet with your physical output, prioritize eating healthy foods, we aren’t
children anymore, you don’t need to eat for celebration or entertainment. Learn to incorporate rigorous exercise into your daily habits or come to class and allow
me to push you. Personally, this is my favorite time of year, the weather is perfect, Holidays are on the horizon, and I get to see you fine folks every day.
