Living Life as Rx’d

There was a point in time when our diet and exercise did not kill us.

The contemporary notion of “work more and eat less for optimal health,” is not compatible with our genetic makeup. 100,000 generations before us have lived strong, healthy lives without having to waste hours every day running on a treadmill, or counting their calories. Survival was the number one priority and our health and fitness were a byproduct of our daily activity and natural diet. What happened?
Human history changed forever with the shift away from the hunter-gatherer lifestyle to one based off of agriculture, about 10,000 years ago. Many people could be fed by the work of only a few, and as a consequence, human productivity increased greatly but physical activity started to taper off. We no longer received the physical activity of yesteryear from foraging and hunting for our food. Fast forward to modern day America, where the majority of work is done behind the desk with a computer, requiring little to no physical exertion. Couple that with the fact that our food is far from fresh and the majority of it comes in the form of highly refined grains, and it’s no wonder you see the uptick in modern diseases. How can we reverse this?

Live life as Rx’d!

Until recently, life on earth was relatively short and brutal in a much more hostile environment. Despite its many dangers, life was generally spent free of illness and chronic injury. The philosophy of living life as Rx’d (prescribed) takes cues from our past and highlights four areas of our lives that we can modify to increase our health, athletic performance, and longevity.

Exercise
Keep workouts short, intense and varied. Practice and train functional, compound movements: squats, dead lifts, presses, cleans, and snatches. Master the body weight movements: pull ups, push ups, hand stands, sit ups, throws, holds, and rope climbs. Run, jump, swim, row and climb, hard and fast. Combine these exercises in as many combinations as creativity allows. Routine is the enemy, keep your body guessing.

Nutrition
Eat real food. If the food you’re consuming won’t perish soon and doesn’t come in its natural form, you probably shouldn’t be eating it. Similar to your exercise, keep your nutrition sources varied. Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar. Keep intake levels at that which will support performance but not body fat.

Play
The concept of playing gets lost after we grow out of childhood. Play games, learn new sports, hike, walk, run, swim and bike. Get outside and enjoy some sun light. Do it out of pure enjoyment, and invite others to join you. It will give you a sense of accomplishment, help relieve stress, and make connections with new friends and old. You will stay young at heart and keep your mind sharp into old age.

Rest
Exercise breaks our bodies down. In order to become stronger, it is important we give ourselves enough time to rebuild. Too much exercise can have adverse effects on our health and performance. Just as our muscles need time to recuperate, so do our minds. In our “always on” culture, rarely do we find time to sit back and rest mentally. Make it a point to spend a part of each day letting your mind wander without the distraction of a t.v., cell phone or computer.

At CrossFit Southwest we help facilitate living life as Rx’d. Our coaches teach you how to use and move your body safely and efficiently. We provide you with the tools to optimize your health and performance through nutrition. We have an unrivaled community of fun, active, and driven individuals who are always trying new things and supporting each other in and out of the gym. Your goals and performance are carefully tracked to ensure our program is of the highest quality.

Try CrossFit Southwest, and see what it means to live life as Rx’d!