Health & Fitness

Yoga in the Park with Girls in the Game

Posted on August 4, 2014 by Guest Blogger in Health & Fitness Leave a comment

by Suzie Crotchrot

Earlier last week, some members of the Chicago Outfit teamed up with our yoga sponsor, Indigo Studios, and joined Girls in the Game for some afternoon yoga in the park. photo 1

Established in 1995, Girls in the Game is a nonprofit youth organization that provides and promotes sports and fitness opportunities, nutrition and health education, and leadership development to enhance the overall health and well-being of young women. The Chicago Outfit supports Girls in the Game as one of our chosen bout charities, to whom a portion of our proceeds from a home bout is donated. This is our second season working with Girls in the Game.

We arrived to a picture perfect day at Union Park, where the sun and wind were in balanced harmony, setting an appropriate tone for our exercise. After introducing ourselves, we all sat and began our session. I was pleasantly surprised by how attentive and polite all of the participants were, because I have personally found that trying to lead a group of teens is comparable to herding kittens in a yarn factory. Not the case here — everyone happily participated and challenged themselves with no complaints, getting the most out of our workout.
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So What’s the Deal with Crossfit Anyway?

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Guest Blogger in Health & Fitness Leave a comment

I’ve been going to Chicago Elite Fitness, a Veteran owned and operated gym in Bucktown, since May 2012. You may or may not have heard of it. “Boxes” and Crossfit gyms are popping up left and right. Crossfit is a “functional movements that are constantly varied at high intensity.” Which basically means every time you step into the gym you’ll be getting a different experience from the day prior.

The consistency you can rely on is you will have a warm up, a strength movement and depending on the gym…or the day you’ll have an Olympic lifting skill that you will work on. And of course the WOD…What is that? WOD stands for “Work Out of The Day”…which is if you like getting your butt kicked? This is where you get it!

The WOD and Olympic lifting are probably the most challenging yet rewarding parts of Crossfit for me personally. I’m still working on my Cleans and Snatches. But it feels so good to get the movement down and then watch your strength go up over the months of working on it.

Same goes with the WOD. Coaches will design a work out to fit what’s been going on that week, including what skills you were previously working on.

So let’s say you came into the gym and your coach had you warm up with some box jumps, sit ups and then double unders (those are a pain to learn at first… unless you were one of those “OG” jump rope queens on the block)

Then your strength might be something like dead lifts or squats. Lifting to a percentage of your max lifting effort aka a “PR”. Certain weeks you move up to your “PR”.

Your skill might be something like working on a snatch or a ring dip, which when more advanced would be a “muscle up”. (insanely hard…go ahead google that.)

You’d probably end up doing “Elizabeth” or “Cindy” that day.

Elizabeth

21 – 15 – 9 Reps

135lb Clean

Ring Dips

Cindy

(AMRAP..as many rounds as possible) in 20 Minutes

5 Pull Ups

10 Push Ups

15 Squats

These timings of reps and rounds really help create the challenge of keeping your endurance up. And as the coaches say working on your “athleticism”.

I personally enjoy Crossfit. Minus it becoming a “cult” thing. It’s right up my alley.

Every day is a different challenge and I get to compete with other people on many skill levels…hmm sort of reminds me of???…Roller Derby?

Yes. You can over do it. Yes, you can hurt yourself and over train. But as long as you are smart and know your limits you should be just fine. I recommend this to anyone visits a gym regularly. I personally don’t think this kind of work out is for people who just started becoming active. Though after a little bit of time, it’s worth a try. I started after years of working out at a regular gym and getting bored of the same routine. I wanted to get stronger and have better endurance for Roller Derby. Well I’ve been a steady Crossfitter since May 2012…We’ll see if it’s been worth my extra time. This will be my second season with the Outfit. I’ve really been kicking my butt the past year to get better at this sport. Even started eating like a horse…the healthiest of horses of course…also one that likes chicken? But I’ll save that for another blog.

Signing off as the work out/health nerd on the Chicago Outfit

-Maimy Winehouse


Exercise: Practice and Beyond

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Hellevator in Health & Fitness, Uncategorized Leave a comment

It is hard to believe that tomorrow evening is The Outfit’s home opener! Eager fans will pack into the Windy City Fieldhouse to watch the exciting double header. First, the Outfit’s Shade Brigade is going up against Iowa City’s Old Capital City Rollers. The headlining game will be the Outfit’s Syndicate vs. the Houston All-Stars. Spectators will be amazed at the athletic abilities of the skaters, as I was as an audience member in years past. In my rookie year I’ve come to discover that derby skaters are true athletes. In order to become a great derby athlete, one needs to work hard off of the track, too.

Practice attendance is obviously the most important part of honing the skills necessary to become an effective player. But many teammates go about and beyond that, and as of late a lot of us have been discussing our personal fitness regimens. A portion of us have decided to join Fitocracy, a social networking site where you can track your workouts and earn points based on them. It is a great way to motivate myself to exercise, plus I can see what kind of workouts my friends are doing to keep in shape. Members of the coaching committee have also started optional jogging sessions for members a half hour before the start of practice twice a week. In addition, The Outfit is lucky enough to have work out sessions an hour a week with personal trainer Heidi fromChicago’s Orange Shoe Fitness.

While not everyone is a fan of jogging or can have sessions with a trainer, there is so much training that can be done at home, too. I know that I do not have the time or money to join a gym, but that does not mean that I can’t get a great workout at home. Not too long ago, I ordered the Roller Derby Workout DVD. Released by the Heart Attacks of the Angel City Derby Girls, the workout is divided into 5 sections: flexibility, abs, legs, buns and balance. These are vital workouts for skaters, but I’ve also done this workout with non-derby friends who loved how toned it made them feel afterward. You can order a copy of the DVD at http://www.rollerderbyworkout.com/index.html.

Following the release of the DVD, a Roller Derby Workout posted a series of off-skates workouts on Facebook as part of an annual workout challenge. They are a great way to exercise outside of practice, require no extra equipment and can be done in your own living room. Here is one of my off-skates workouts (NOTE all the how-to videos are pretty tacky, but they are important to watch in order to make sure you are using the correct form, which helps prevent injury):

Part One

20 Mountain Climbers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO5KVEoEbo420

20 Supermans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i1pMWF-bvw&feature=related

10 Pushups
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh00_rniF8E

45 second plank

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSHjTRCQxIw&feature=fvwrel

Repeat 5 times

Part Two
10 Burpees

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MGljX4bbps

10 Star Jumps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPFtd4K-khA

10 Pushups
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh00_rniF8E

Repeat 3 times

*IMPORTANT* For those of you who do not workout regularly, don’t strain yourself through these exercises. It takes practice in order to work up to this level. Using the correct form is most important, so if you can only do 2 correct push-ups at a time that’s fine. Do what you can, drink a lot of water and rest when you feel like you need to.

It takes a lot of time and work to become a roller derby athlete. Working out in addition to attending practices is a big contributing factor. Not only does it increase overall endurance and agility, it also decreases the likelihood of injury. Plus, the endorphin release during exercise makes one feel good all around. Personally, I feel that I have a long way to go before I become a roller derby athlete…but exercising outside of practice will help make it a little easier to get there.