The MTN RDY community shares more than a love for adventure and athleticism. We share a thirst for knowledge.
At the stroke of midnight on November 4th, the clock on most of your “smart” devices immediately fell back one hour without any effort on your part. Your body, however, did not synchronize with the recent time change quite as seamlessly. The internal clock within the human body does not reprogram itself very quickly; implying that the time shift in the fall and the spring can influence your performance (and furthermore, your health) in unexpected ways.
Microchange is more simple and sustainable than macrochange - however, it is often overlooked. Why distinguish between the two, is not all change the same? Yes, and no. A focused athlete who idealizes the accomplishment of competition or setting new personal bests is putting themself through a long-term process of physical change. However, there are smaller, "microchanges" that often go overlooked. These small, sustainable, and impactful rituals could help encourage the larger "macrochange"
This is a piece depicting how clients can “miss the point”. Clients state their goals, wishes, or desired outcomes, but do not realize that reaching those goals requires consistent practice of smaller items. The idea that needs to be conveyed is that improvement is a practice and a process. It's not something you do twice a week, but something you do every day. A paradigm shift from goals being abstract to PRACTICE ORIENTED SKILLS is the catalyst for behavior change. Much of the inspiration for this comes from the book, Talent Code by Dan Coyle.
Training outdoors throughout the winter can be a challenge to our mental and physical capacity on many levels. The days are shorter. Our bodies crave the long sunny days of spring and summer. Finding the motivation to get outdoors on dark winter days is hard enough. Add in the temperature factor and many of us retreat to the indoor life of treadmills and trainers. Would you spend more time outside if you could prepare your body for the extremes of winter?
Athletes will spend months preparing for their event(s). But what is often missed is the nutrition program that goes alongside their training. I am here to say don’t wait until the week or even day before your event to try and hone in on your nutrition. It is important to create an overall nutrition plan that begins the first day of training and continues well after completion of your last event. This concept is called Nutrition Periodization.
Mental fortitude is built on many qualities, for me, the most essential being passion, the source of my emotions and drive. Discovering goals to direct my passions toward enables focus and commitment. They provide fuel to overcome obstacles and hardship. I strive to understand the factors that enhance my passions and those that diminish them. I channel my thoughts and actions toward the positive and away from the negative.
Let’s face it, with our hectic schedules we are eating out more often. It’s fine to indulge once in a while when dining out, but if you are eating out more than once a week, the “empty” calories can add up quickly. It’s easy to eat a whole day’s worth of calories in just one meal out. The good news is there areplenty of healthy ways to order that allow you to indulge responsibly.
When anyone compliments my skiing, I want to hug them and cry. Sometimes I just give the hug and pause until the frog in my throat retreats. Nothing frees up — or focuses — every cell in my body like leaning into a nice, fast turn. Nothing pairs free-wheeling giddiness with the immediate necessity of reading and evaluating a backcountry snowpack.
I’m not talking nature’s four seasons, I’m talking as an athletic performance season. As athletes we are really good at training and over training and less likely to take breaks for fear of detraining or decreasing our training benefits. We all know that recovery is just as important as training itself. So how much is too much? Or, how much is enough?
As an endurance athlete, you’ve likely have experienced the simple physics that body weight can have on performance. The concept seems simple: the more or less you weigh, the more or less energy it takes to ride, run, ski, etc. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy to achieve, let alone to know what weight is best for your body, your gender, your goals, etc. The purpuse of this quick article is to help YOU determine your ideal power:weight (P:W) so you can feel strong without putting yourself at risk of being malnourished.
To be competitive in endurance sports, athletes must maintain intense exercise schedules. The extensive training programs that you get with MTNRDY demand high energy and nutrient intakes. These energy needs are measured in the units we know, and maybe dread: the calorie, defined as amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 °C. This seems like a simple definition for something so complex. So, how do we know how much energy we need?
One of my favorite artists is Chuck Close. Chuck is known for his photorealism and massive scale portraits. Even after he has a spinal artery collapse in 1988, he continued to paint and inspire. After recently watching the "Chuck Close: A Portrait in Progress." documentary it really got me thinking about the process and what it means in order to get to where you want to get.
"Everyone can choose their own path, but what we chose is going after creating an honor to the fitness coach. We believe that will be the path that will be one thing that we can hold onto and control. That will make me sleep well at night knowing I am going after the face of fitness by going through the coach and making them change their language. We have to tell coaches to have fulfillment long term which eventually changes the language and fitness landscape."
- James Fitzgerald
Discover how extraordinary you really are.
