Today's the beginning of Week #2 (of 8) of this year's CruzFit Challenge, and our 2015 program is off to a great start. With another week of registration still to go, we already have over 600 teams and 1800 participants signed up to take the CruzFit challenge.
There's some great info for you in this week's newsletter, so please take a few minutes to read through this entire email. First, we just want to answer a few common questions we've been getting.
Q: "Where do we enter our minutes in the exercise-tracker file?" A: Each exercise-tracker file should have 5 separate worksheets, 1 for the team and 4 for each individual member, accessible via the tabs at the bottom of the page. The default "Team Tracker" worksheet is just a summary of your team's progress. Exercise-minutes should be entered in each individual team-member's worksheet, in the separate yellow cells for each individual day of the program.
Q: "Why doesn't my team appear in the leaderboard spreadsheets online?" A: If your team doesn't appear in the leaderboard spreadsheet it's because either your team captain hasn't yet "shared" it with our FitLife email address, or we simply haven't yet had time to manually link your team's file to the leaderboard file (it's not an automated process, and can take us between a few hours and a day to get to it). We'll do our best to add it as soon as we can after it's been "shared" with us.
Q: "Why can't I enter more than 90-minutes per day in the exercise-tracker?" A: One of the rules of CruzFit is that you're only allowed to record a max of 90-minutes each day (you're welcomed and encouraged to DO more, but only 90-min of it will count towards the challenge). We do this in order to encourage FREQUENCY of exercise rather than just volume. Otherwise some people would complete the program in the first week, or by just doing 1-2 long workouts each week, without necessarily developing the habits of exercise frequency we're trying to promote.
Q: "Why is my/my team's '%-complete' inaccurate or not appearing in our file or in the leaderboard?" A: Your team's and each individual's "%-complete" is calculated using your "challenge-level" and the goal number of minutes attached to it. If you or your teammates haven't selected a challenge-level (done in your individual exercise-tracker worksheet) then the %-complete can't be calculated (you can't make progress towards a goal you don't have).
One other reminder:
Please DON'T enter minutes EARLY!
Not only does this go against the spirit of the challenge, but it also prevents you from developing the very beneficial habit of journaling your exercise on a daily basis. Additionally, making your entries early renders our leaderboards inaccurate and somewhat obsolete, which takes a lot of the fun out of CruzFit. So please wait until AFTER you've finished your exercise to log it. Thanks!
CRUZFIT FITNESS FREEBIE #2:
Free Nutrition Workshop (& Prizes!)
This Wednesday afternoon, from 12:10pm-12:55pm in the OPERS Activities Room, we'll be offering a free nutrition class/workshop on the topic of "Fueling for an Active Lifestyle". The class will be taught by the UCSC Health Center's own registered dietitian, Nancy Jackson, RD. Healthy refreshments and snacks will be provided, as well as the opportunity to win some great prizes for your attendance. Intended prizes include:
- After-Class Raffle = Whole Foods Gift Cards ($20-$40 value)
FITNESS TIP #2:
Keep Fitness Fresh & Spicy with VARIETY!
So many different ways to exercise, so little time!
In order to tap into your body's amazing ability to adapt and survive by improvimg fitness, you need to periodically challenge your body in new and more demanding ways. An easy way to remember the 4 main ways you can add VARIETY to your exercise program is the...
F.I.T.T. principle:
Every few weeks, try making a change to your fitness routine by altering 1-2 of these parameters:
- FREQUENCY. Try changing the number of workouts or activites you perform each week. If you typically exericse twice a week, try adding a third day of activity into your routine.
- INTENSITY. Try performing your exercise at slightly higher level of intensity or effort. You can guage your intensity subjectivly by how hard it feels, or you can use objective forms of measurement like a heart-rate monitor (most of the cardio machines in the Wellness Center already have this integrated into them) or a stopwatch (try walking/running the same route in a little shorter time).
- TIME. Try increasing the duration of your activity by 10-20%. If your normal workout is a 30-minute swim, try adding an extra 5-minutes at the end.
- TYPE. (This one is the MOST FUN to alter!) Try doing a different kind of activity. As this year's CruzFit logo alludes to, there is a huge diversity of fitness and recreational activities at your fingertips her at UCSC and throughout Santa Cruz. Building up a large repertuar of exercise options keeps fitness fun and exciting, and decreases the temptation to skip workouts because of boredom, poor weather, or lack of access to equipment or facilities.
So, challenge yourself to add some variety to your exericse this week by altering one of these areas of your exercise routine. Use the FITT principle to get fit, CruzFit!
Check out these links for some great options for new TYPES of activities available to you right here at UCSC:
Make sure you start tracking your daily exercise in your Exercise-Tracker in Google Docs. If you don't yet have one, talk to your team captain, who was given instructions on how to create and share it with you. (If you're a team captain and you didn't receive your instructions for creating the Exercise-Tracker file, please email us to request we re-send it to you.)
3) FAQ's
Check out the FAQ pages in the CruzFit Section of our FitLife Website for answers to all your questions about CruzFit!
4) INVITE YOUR FRIENDS
It's not too late for them to form a team and participate. Team registration will remain open until Friday, Jan. 30th, so tell them not to delay. The more people who participate, the more fun the program will be, and the healthier your UCSC community will be!
UCSC FitLife, UCSC Employee Wellness, Physicians Medical Group, Whole Foods Market, The Print Gallery
College 8 Senate, College 9 Senate, College 10 Senate, Cowell College Senate, Crown College Senate, Merrill Student Government, Oakes College Senate, Stevenson Student Council
FitLife is a program of the Office of P.E., Recreation, & Sports (OPERS)
