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I thought I had better post something significant and special for my 100th post!!! So here it is…

There are many reasons why I love Instagram so much. Among those reasons is the fantastic photography, and the positive community it continues to build creating exposure and connections across all industries. While many accounts are simply an ‘eye party’, a majority don’t have much purpose other than showing a person’s life in pictures (and a lot of the time, a sh*t load of ‘selfies’)! However, there are exceptions to this – Those who are doing amazingly selfless things in their life and really giving back, using Instagram as a platform to promote their cause… Given I have an obsession with dogs and their welfare,  one person’s account really touched me. Her story and plight is freaking amazing!

I stumbled across Jimena Hoyos‘ account a while ago. She takes some cool dog shots, but the coolest part is the story and meaning behind each dogs’ photo…

Jimena is a Colombian native (Bogota) who had grown up in a fairly lawless society where there was an over population of dogs, strays were almost an epidemic, and their was a prevalence of cruelty and neglect to both owned and stray dogs. Jimena left Colombia to act in America but returned frequently, and each time she came home, she would see the problem growing. She started taking pics of the dogs just for herself, and then one day decided that she needed to take action. Jimena fabricated a food dispenser (holding up to 40kgs of dry food) and installed it in the street to feed some of the homeless dogs. It was a success and so in order to continue to make and install more, Jimena came up with the genius and creative idea of making frames for her pictures out of scrap materials that replicated the environment they came from and then auctioning the pieces (you can see her work HERE). All proceeds went into her newly created charity, called ‘Gozques’ (meaning mongrel / mutt in Spanish). You can watch Jimena’s (and Gozques) story HERE.

So, after following each other for a while on Instagram, we decided to do a little collaboration. I was to edit one of Jimena’s pics… I asked her to choose her saddest, most meaningful photo and my challenge was to transform it into something that would make it even more meaningful, yet not a painful memory anymore. Jimena gave me a pic of an elderly dog… Jimena couldn’t even bring herself to tell me his story and so I knew it must have meant a great deal to her…

SO, drum-roll… Here he is – The before and after. I hope I did him and his story justice?!

Jimena’s pic:

 

My edit:

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This is why I let the wife go first… Chivalry isn’t dead…

www.myfoodreligion.com 

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Rogue athlete from Raw Strength and Conditioning, Jessica Coughlan, making advanced movements look like child’s play…

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I was privileged to be asked by Revie of CrossFit Babes Miami to shoot their first Games Day… It comprised ‘Babes’ athletes only, and was a showcase of how far these ladies have come in their training and also gave them a taste of competitive CrossFit. And, it didn’t disappoint (for many reasons)! Cracking venue, weather, coaches, support staff/volunteers/judges, a demo by pocket rocket Jessica Coughlan (Rogue Athlete, placing 6th at the 2013 CrossFit Regionals – Australia), and great stalls by ASN and Thea Doyle. Overall, it was testament to Revie and Clayton’s hard work, professionalism and dedication to their clients. Here’s a little sneak peek at the day (I haven’t included too many individual shots as I wanted Revie to be able to post them for the box, herself – trust me, there are MANY more!):

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My new ‘Feature Athlete’ post is up… It’s one for the ladies out there who are curious about the protocols around training during and post pregnancy, and an insight into the life of a true athlete, switched on ‘glam-azon’, proud wife and doting mum… Lily Cosgrove. Read it >>HERE<<…

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Lily Cosgrove… Again Faster development athlete, CrossFit HQ Staff, coach and co-owner of CrossFit Mitchelton, and inspiration to new Mums across the CrossFit community… Is my next Feature Athlete! Watch this space for the interview and pics… Here is a teaser from a fun session I did with Lily and Maxxy on Wednesday:

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“Welcome to my home… Nice balaclava you are wearing! Let me show you where the television, Mum’s best jewellery, and Dad’s camera gear is… Don’t worry about locking up on the way out… I guard this place”.

 

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Yesterday I asked a few questions around training, training modalities and recovery, and wanted to lead into a little blurb on where people make some mistakes and end up suffering adverse symptoms from over-training, or just never reach their goals…

Step 1. Work out what it is you want to achieve… That being said, it needs to be realistic. Yes, it’s possible to become a ‘hybrid’ athlete and excel in many modalities (such as explosive type movements such as olympic lifting, while being able to punch our a decent half marathon time as well); however, if you were realistic about it, you would probably need to decide on which it is you want to train for and look to be at the pointy end of either, not both. Everyone should consider:

a. Am I genetically (taking training/conditioning influence out of the equation) more of a fast-twitch beast (bigger bellied muscle anatomy, able to move weight fast, explosive and able to sprint, but sh*thouse when it come to distance running/activities)? or

b. Am I a slow-twitch gazelle that is great at the longer stuff, but not so great when it comes to shifting loads fast?

I will cover muscle anatomy in my next post (and how you can influence your make-up, to a degree)…

Step 2. Ensure you are getting the required recovery… And, what is going to ensure that is a 1000 and 1 invariables! The main ones to focus on that will ensure biggest bang for your buck are:

a. Sleep – Not enough and you will ensure your cortisol levels are raised, which in turn inhibits testosterone production, which in turn lowers your protein synthesis… Get where I’m going?!

b. Stress – Mental and physical have the same effect, and the physical includes exercise/activity… It’s a stressor. Both, if done in excess – to what level you tolerate is an individual thing – will lead to the aforementioned symptoms, but chuck in inflammation and oxidative stress as well!

c. Lack of calories – Calorie deficiency will screw you over! You need to let go of the notion that restricting calories will help you shift body fat! You may lose weight initially, yet most will be a loss of muscle mass, and you will be signalling to your body that you are in ‘starvation mode’; so anabolic processes then become catabolic, ie. your body eats itself. You need to dial in how much you need to consume to sustain the activities you undertake. Sometimes over training can simply mean you are under eating!

d. Training infrequency – Get into a pattern with your training. Yes, factor adequate rest, but over-resting can be just as detrimental to your recovery as under-resting. You need to ensure your body is adapting, on a cellular level, neurally, muscularly… If you rest too much, you never get the benefit of developing resilience to training stressors on those systems and so you never improve. The term is progressive overload…

Step 3. Get help with it all… For those of you Brisbane-based, get in to see who I consider to be the best coaches in town (speaking without bias), Phil and Lil’ Cosgrove at CrossFit Mitchelton. 

There are MANY more, but they are the main ones. More tomorrow! Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday as much as Astro and Shan, below:

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Rest Day…

Maxxy wants you to ponder a few questions on your rest day and we can come back to them tomorrow:

1. “How do your rate your recovery”?

2. “What are you training for”?

3. “Are you being productive or counter-productive with your training modalities and volumes of each”?

To be continued…

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CrossFit Mitchelton… It’s like a muscle car that at first glance you are impressed, but then when you look closer you are completely blown away at the craftsmanship of it all, and you can see the blood, sweat and (I won’t say tears as none of the coaches seem to have tear ducts)… that have gone into its continual evolution. #againfaster