Category: Free Inquiry

This week I will be talking about the benefits of taking creatine supplements for muscle growth. 

Creatine is a supplement that is recommended to be taken slightly before or after a workout. It is a supplement that promotes the production of ATP through increasing your muscles’ phosphocreatine stores. During exercising your body is breaking down ATP. ATP is your body’s energy current, it is the molecule that your cells feed off of for energy and all basic functions to live. ATP does not resynthesize at the same speed that your body uses it; so in order to perform at maximum intensity your body uses the extra creatine to help produce more ATP. This fuels your muscles and prepares them better for high intensity training. So overall, using creatine allows for the potential of increasing muscle growth and strength as you have more energy for more explosive resistance training. 

Not only does creatine then give you more energy for better workouts but is also said that increases muscle mass. This is done through increasing the formation of protein that helps rebuild muscle fibers to make them stronger. Creatine also adds water retention in the muscles to make them appear larger more quickly. This also means you will gain weight. Drinking lots of water while taking creatine is very important. Without water taking excessive amounts of creatine can cause muscle cramping which can be very painful. 

Creatine is something our body produces naturally, it can be found in foods such as salmon, beef and pork. Since it is produced naturally it is not categorized as a steroid!

Info taken from https://examine.com/supplements/creatine/

This week I would like to talk about Tia-Clair Toomey, an Australian CrossFit champion who have won the games 4 years in a row and also competed in the 2016 Olympics for weightlifting. She first got into fitness through track and field. She is also the co-owner of her new company ‘Nobull’, through this company she sells weightlifting gear, athletic clothing, shoes etc.

I began to follow Tia’s social media and really starting following her progress and goals about three months ago. I really look up to her not only because of her strength but her determination. She trains extremely hard, works towards goals and sets the bar extraordinarily high for other CrossFit athletes.  She came 14th in the Olympics after only training as a serious weightlifter for 18 months and is also the only athlete to have competed in the Olympics as well the CrossFit games within the same year. Her mindset is unlike any other athlete. She trains with her husband/coach along with the top male athlete in CrossFit, Mat Fraser. It takes a very strong person to even make it to the games but to come out first 4 years in a row is huge!

Information gathered from: https://games.crossfit.com/athlete/163097

Hello! In this weeks blog on the topic of CrossFit I will be delving into the world of nutrients and diet. Here we will examine the CrossFit diet pyramid and what each step of this pyramid entails.

First you must lay out your goal. You need to find whether you should be bulking or cutting, where you body fat percentage is and whether you are trying to increase performance or focus more on body aesthetic. Most people find themselves struggling to decide whether they need to work primarily on muscle gain or fat loss and how to do these things. It is difficult for people who are looking to bulk up to understand that gaining a bit of fat is a necessary step in achieving muscle gain, this fat can later be cut out leaving behind only muscle. So once you work on the adherence of you diet plan, which is the first and most important step in the pyramid, we can move on to looking at macro nutrients.

Macro nutrients are composed of protein, carbohydrates and fat. Protein is needed to build  and maintain muscle. It is also necessary to help your muscles recover and be built back stronger and better. We look at carbs and fat as body fuel. Many fad diets such as keto which very popular currently, leans towards one or the other, instead it is more beneficial to have a balanced intake of both fats and carbs.

The next step in this pyramid is micro nutrients, so looking at water, vegetable and fruit intake. Of course all of this is varied depending on the persons age, weight, physically activity etc. Some may sweat more than others, therefore, need to re-gain that water through increased micro intake allowing for minerals and nutrients to be replaced in the body. Personally, when I complete an intensive workout where I sweat immensely I sprinkle some Himalayan salts into my water to replace those minerals that I lost.

Next will be timing, most athletes feel the need to take a protein drink within the 30 minute window after they’ve worked out for the protein to be most effective. However, this is not necessarily the case, it is important that amino acids which are the building blocks of protein must be present in your bloodstream at the time you’re working out so that muscle mass is not broken down and your body has what it needs to begin the recovery process. But this can simply be accomplished through eating 2-3 proper meals a day where a sufficient amount of protein is present.

Last we have supplements, overall supps make a very small difference in performance and muscle maintenance. They are more so that you are getting the vitamins you need that that you’re not getting from eating fruits and vegetables. Since supps are at the top of the pyramid, they are the least important, and if you do not have a strong base which means meeting all the other steps supps are even less important.

Overall CrossFit diet plans can be quite grueling but understanding the basic concept of having a healthy diet is the first step. I learned a lot about the importance of macros and micros from research for this blog post and am intent on cleaning up my diet to make sure my body is getting what it needs to build the most muscles mass it can.

Here is a link to a CrossFit diet plan video that explains the pyramid in further detail!

The finals of the 2020 Reebok Crossfit games are looming closer. The events are to take place on October 23rd through the 25th in Northern California. This competition is made up of the top 5 men and women; these games will determine the fittest man and women on earth. The events of this years finals have not yet been made public. In this blog post I would like to discuss the history of the sport and whether or not it will continue to grow in popularity.

Crossfit was officially established in 2000 by Glassman and Lauren Genai. It all started in the mid nineties when Glassman, a gymnast, found that he was able to grow stronger and better than his teammate by incorporating dumbbell and barbell movements into his usual calisthenics workouts. The main aspect of Crossfit were to enhance 10 key physical qualities: “cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance and accuracy” (The Box, 2017). This was to better overall performance and strength within athletes for a variety of workout such as cycling, running, climbing, gymnastics, etc. What makes Crossfit different from just working out is that Crossfit is done within a community. This community supports and encourages other athletes no matter what. It is not individualistic but done more in a group setting, this community all share the same goal which is to build the best versions of themselves through doing these intensive workouts. The future of Crossfit is extremely bright, the winnings of the Crossfit games have increased from only $1000 to both the fittest women and man in 2007 to a million dollars by 2020 after being sponsored by Rebook. The popularity of this newish type of athletics is hugely increasing with Crossfit gyms opening up worldwide. Athletes give their all into their high intensity training to be rewarded with strength and a more positive outlook on the world of fitness and overall health.

This is my final image created by using all the images above in PowerPoint to create one visual presentation.

Works Cited

TheBox. “Origins of CrossFit.” The Box, 9 Oct. 2012, www.theboxmag.com/crossfit-training/origins-of-crossfit-9629.Michan, Daniel. “A Brief History of CrossFit.” Hang Loose Coffee, www.hangloose.coffee/blogs/articles/a-brief-history-of-crossfit.

This week I had the chance to see everyone else’s topic for their free inquiry project, it was very interesting to see what sort of things are of interest to other people that I have never even thought of. In this blog post I would like to look at what it takes to become a CrossFit athlete. I was able to learn and find out about the following using resources such as YouTube and Instagram TV. The motivation that goes into the training of athletes is almost incomparable to most things. There is one coach in the CrossFit world that said training as a CrossFit athlete is basically like having a mental illness. It is constantly pushing yourself to the absolute maximum as well as pushing the extremes of your body’s physical and mental capabilities while also enjoying it. It is to have one clear and focused goal; to become stronger. You must be absolutely obsessed with goal or you will never be motivated enough to workout everyday in such a way that world class CrossFit athletes do. Most athletes make extreme sacrifices in areas of having a stable job, diet and social life. The dedication that it takes to pursue this goal makes it as though training is their full time job which is crazy as they don’t necessary get paid to train. I think that what separates CrossFit athletes from the general population is the obsession with being stronger. This then allows them to make these sacrifices in order to gain strength. To these athletes, the benefits from gaining that extra sliver of strength to potentially winning over a competitor is worth every cost and sacrifice that they must make. The rigorous training schedules, diets and lifestyles that these athletes bind themselves to is almost unimaginable.

Tia Toomey is the currently the fittest women in the world, she is originally from Australia.

Last week there was an exciting event taking place in the Crossfit world. The 2020 Rebook Crossfit game, which began in 2007, aim to determine the fittest man and women in the world. This year a combination of online and in-person events will take place. 30 men and women from 16 different countries will compete for this title. On September 18th, stage one of the games began and the top 5 men and women to compete at stage 2 were determined. The prize for the top man and women is a whooping  $1.3 million USD. Stage one of the games included events such as thrusters, chest to bar pull ups, 1 rep max front squat, deadlift and handstand pushups.

For my inquiry project I would like to focus on sports, specifically Crossfit. I am not certain that I will move in this direction for my project as we have just began to orchestrate ideas for this assignment. I will make blog posts containing different areas of crossfit and describing the pros and cons of each activity associated with the area are. I will also find relevant photos to visually enhance my posts as well as provide a visual of what I am describing. Through this project, I hope to further my knowledge of design, finding resources and documenting through the use of technology.