E-WOD Issue #2

Curious Takeaways From the Real Coaches Summit, Training vs Testing, Vitamin D, and Rx Athletes

Welcome to the second edition of E-WOD, our once-weekly newsletter. 

Judging by the feedback from your replies to issue #1, E-WOD seems to be a winner.

Great news because these are really fun to write. 

Today when you get to the end of E-WOD today you'll probably notice two signatures at the sign-off...

My wife Dani is co-authoring the E-WOD with me. Dani runs JBC and has a lot to share in the health and business realms, and she's a mom who trains and is constantly seeking ways to improve health. Dani's always bringing me the latest health hacks that I've never heard about (just wait til I write about what she has me doing in the privacy of our back patio).

So now...

-she will have a place to talk about them
-you're going to realize just how weird we are

Let’s dive in.

x x x 

      ^ this.

THE WARM UP | TRAINING VS TESTING...DO YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE?

By Jason Brown

Somewhere along the lines, these two became synonymous, except they're not. 

Put simply, training is what we do for an event (the test.) 

This can come in many shapes and forms. 

For example, you'd train to perform your best at a powerlifting meet,
but this doesn't mean you'd test your squat, bench, and deadlift every single week. 

You’d train various aspects of strength like explosive strength & maximal strength-
as well as repeated effort work to bring up limiting muscle groups. 

Another example that you may not think of this way is trying to look your best for beach season (the test). 

Leading up until beach season you'd 'train' by:
getting more strict your nutrition, going into a calorie deficit, and maybe using more hypertrophy methods like 6-12-25 in your training...
but this certainly isn't what you'd do year round. 

The training in this case is what gets you to the 'test' of looking your best.

In CrossFit many train for the annual CrossFit Open (the test.)
This doesn't mean they should solely perform Open workouts year round. 

A better way would be training to get strong and more well-conditioned,
with Open 'tests' peppered into the training to see where your fitness is and if you’ve improved.

Training should seek to improve the qualities of fitness you need to improve at your 'event' (the 'test.') 

If you're like me and training to look good and feel good year round,
then 'testing' yourself every so often- every 16 weeks or so- is perfectly fine, but it doesn’t need to happen weekly. 

Instead, track things like HRV, resting HR and progress photos to keep you accountable. 

Moral of the story: 

If your training is all testing, you negate important drivers of progress like progressive overload.
Training on the other hand encompasses both auto-regulation and progressive overload-- a recipe for improvement. 

 

THE MAIN LIFT | CURIOUS REVELATIONS FROM THE REAL COACHES SUMMIT IN VEGAS

By Jason Brown

Traveling stresses me out.

If I had it my way I'd rarely leave New Hampshire.

But I'm realizing that presenting (and thus, traveling) is an essential part of my mission which is to be a beacon of authenticity in the fitness industry.
And honestly, the Real Coaches Summit in Las Vegas last week was so much better than I could have imagined.

Here's what I took away...

1. Live events are the BEST way to become a better coach.

Is it because of the awesome information you learn? Yes, but that aspect of it pales in comparison to the connections you make. These connections are what push us to become better, they help spawn new ideas, and most importantly foster collaborations. These collaborations are where amazing things happen. If you're a coach and you shy away from in-person events, make it a priority to get to one - I promise you that you will not regret it.

"Your network is your net worth"

2. Real coaches are open to criticism and being vulnerable.

I did a live exercise as part of my presentation, which wasn't something I planned ahead of time. To be honest, I was a bit nervous to do this because it's only something I've done virtually but the coaches in my certification love these exercises so I thought what the hell. I was amazed by how many of the coaches went headlong into the exercise and raised their hands to provide their feedback. I thought it might be crickets when I asked for their feedback, but I was 100% wrong. How open these coaches were to feedback and their willingness to put themselves out there was incredible. If you're not willing to to risk sucking, you'll never be great.

3. I've met life-long friends at live events.

People who 'get' the way I am and can relate to me on many levels. In my everyday life, most don't understand me or even what I do for work so this is a breath of fresh air to not have to explain myself and know that people fully understand where I'm coming from and who I am as a person. This particular event was full of real-deal coaches, ones that care about coaching (imagine that!). I felt at home.

4. Every time I speak I realize just how important my message is. I often hear speakers say that they felt a calling to speak on a stage and I'll be honest I've never felt that calling, but every event I've been to reaffirms why I'm there...people need to hear training truth, period. There were two speakers out of the other 13 whose presentations covered the topics of aerobic conditioning, simple over complex, and longevity. It also just happened that attendees seemed to get the most out of those talks. 

I've been talking about this stuff for so long that I forget that for many these concepts are new. 

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that whether I feel like it or not, I'll be speaking at many events for the forseeable future.
And I'd appreciate any leads on great conferences you hear of. 

THE PUMP | VITAMIN D SUNLAMP

By Dani Brown

A few years ago I stumbled upon the Instagram page of a doctor with somewhat alternative methods of health.

Every morning this woman would get up before the sun, take to the Arizona foothills behind her home,
turn on a livestream, and hike 3-5 miles, while educating her followers on various topics of the sun like
sunscreen, sunglasses, morning light, etc.

She was a huge proponent of morning light and just light in general. And then one day she stopped my scroll...
she was tanning in her kitchen.

Tanning?

The lamp she was using was called the Sperti Vitamin D Sunlamp.

I had never heard of such a thing.

For years Jason and I had supplemented Vitamin D, using brands like Thorne or Standard Process.

And typically a double dose in the winter months to ward off seasonal depression-- darkness at 4:30pm no thank you.

But I had never heard of supplementing with a lamp.

After doing some research, I was influenced. We bought a Sperti and have used it most every day since.

So what is it and does it work?

The Sperti lamp is the only FDA-approved class II medical device that has been proven to increase vitamin D levels naturally.
The difference between the Vitamin D sunlamp is that this thing has much more UVB rays-
the ones that promote VD production than your typical tanning bed.

There's definitely enough UVB in this lamp to produce vitamin D!

In fact, Sperti conducted their own study to get FDA approval.

Check this out.

In this study, 5 participants with skin types 2 and 3 were irradiated for 5 minutes, 3x per week for four weeks.
At the end of the study all 5 subjects had an average increase in vitamin d levels of 47.5%.

Not bad!

And since you can use the lamp much more frequently than study participants did these results can definitely be improved upon.

Here's our little guy listening to a meditation while getting his sunlamp on 😊

The benefits of Vitamin D?

-Boosts bone health by enhancing calcium and phosphorus absorption
-Supports immune function and cancer prevention
-Lowers risk of heart disease
-Improves mood (my personal favorite)
-Assists in weight loss
-Increases muscle strength
-Prevents Type I Diabetes
-Associated with improved mortality rates aka longevity
-Improves oral health
-Reduces inflammation, important for people who train regularly
-Crucial for pregnancy and fetal development
-Important in both hormone production and regulation
-Essential for muscle function and repair
-Enhances cognitive function
-Supports lung health
-and improves your skin and eye health!!

...basically a wizard of a hormone (D is considered a hormone).

Personally I prefer actual early morning sunlight but we aren't that lucky in New England so the Sperti is a great sub during the dark winter months.

The bonus is that because it's UVB rays, you will get a slight tan with regular use.

No complaints from this Irish lad.

Sperti has increased in price quite a bit since JB and I purchased but they run excellent sales all year so be sure to check the site during holidays.

Let us know if you grab one! 

THE COOL DOWN | THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

This week on YouTube we had two of the greats up for review, Wenning & Boyle; both were really interesting to dive into.

And on this week's pod I rant about what's more important to prioritize: results or fun?

My answer may surprise you...

>> Watch Now: Programming Review: Mike Boyle's Adult Performance

>> COMING SOON: Programming Review: Matt Wenning's Conjugate Program 

>> Listen Now: Ep 38 - The Relationship Between FUN and Getting RESULTS with Training

COACHES NOTES | NEW SUB LAUNCHING 3/31

We do have a brand new subscription launching over on TrainHeroic at the end of this month...

It's called 🔥Rx Athlete🔥: a combination of full-body training and CrossFit style metcons.

The training schedule is as follows:
Monday: FBT Heavy Emphasis, accessory work, Anaerobic conditioning, core work
Tuesday: Mixed Aerobic Work
Wednesday: FBT Power Emphasis, accessory work, high-intensity aerobic piece, core work.
Thursday: Mixed Aerobic Work
Friday: FBT Heavy, accessory work, GPP conditioning.
Saturday: Skill EMOM + Sled AMRAP. This is an optional training day.
Sunday: Optional Active Recovery

--> Session length: 60-75 minutes, including warmup & cooldown.

This is a very serious program and I would recommend having a background in CrossFit...if so and you’ve been looking for intelligent training that includes metcons while still using a well-thought-out framework, this is it!

--> Pricing: there will be a free trial and the price will be $26/month for the first 100 people (you'll keep this price until you cancel) and $29/month thereafter.

We will be sending the link out on Easter Sunday, and training begins on Monday, April 1. 

Thanks for reading this week's E-WOD fam. 

We will leave you with one question to ponder this week: 

"What am I willing to struggle for?"

See you next week and remember, results are king! 

JB + DB