Need for rest

It's that time of year again, and I gotta say I'm looking forward to taking a couple weeks off over Christmas holidays. That's a half-lie, since I'll probably still do an easy workout every couple of days (let's be honest, CrossFit is an addiction!), but I'm not going to worry about completing every workout that comes up on CrossFit.com, or feel guilty about relaxing for 3 days straight. If you look at periodization models for athletes, you'll notice they incorporate 4-6 weeks of rest within a one year training cycle. When was the last time you took a week off? I had a week off this summer, but since then I've been training 5-6 days per week. I can tell that my body needs a rest. I'm starting to wake up stiff in the morning, I'm feeling aches and pains all over my body, and I don't have a lot of push during my workouts because I'm always sore from the previous few days. The point I'm trying to make is that we can't perform at our best 100% of the time, so when the gym shuts down over Christmas take it as an opportunity to recharge for 2010.

Be Beautiful

Beautiful women are strong and powerful. They are athletes, capable of every feat under the sun. They have muscles, borne of hard work and sweat. They gauge their self-worth through accomplishments, not by the numbers on the bathroom scale. They understand that muscle weighs more than fat, and they love the fact that designer jeans don’t fit over their well-developed quads.

They know that high repetitions using light weights is a path to mediocrity, and “toning” is a complete and utter myth. They refuse to succumb to the marketers that prey on insecurity, leaving the pre-packaged diet dinners and fat-burning pills on the shelf to pass their expiration date.

Beautiful women train with intensity. The derive self-image from the quality of their work and their ability to excel. They don’t wear makeup to the gym, and they wouldn’t be caught dead with a vinyl pink dumbbell. They move iron, they do pull-ups, they jump, sprint, punch, and kick, and they use the elliptical machine—as a place to hang their jump rope.

They spend their weekends in sport, climbing walls, winning races, and running rivers. They laugh as they sprint circles around the unschooled, turning the image-obsessed into benchwarmers. Beautiful women don’t care if they’re soaked in sweat and covered in dirt, if their nails are chipped or their hair out of place. They care only about quality of life.

Beautiful women are happy, healthy, and strong, and they’re right there beside me, tossing conventional beauty on the ever-growing flames of what used to be.

Be beautiful.

-Jon Gilson