There are some things that we do every single day at Roots – like meeting at the whiteboard to talk through the workout or going through a proper warm-up. While in some ways mundane, it lays the foundation for the environment in which we train and is an integral part of our class vibe. The same could be said for our list of Shop Etiquette – this list makes expectations clear, holds us each accountable to our community, and aides in the daily operations of the shop. We wanted to take a moment to review our etiquette list. Now, I know what some of you are thinking, “Oh shit, was it me? Did I not do one of the things on this list? Is this post about me?!?!” The answer is simple – no. We share this list periodically because it reflects our culture here at Roots and rereading it helps...Read more

I’ve been trying out the ketogenic diet since February. For those not familiar with the ketogenic diet it is a very low carbohydrate diet with moderate protein and lots of fat. I’ve known of it in the past but never gave it a real effort, and as of lately was hearing a lot about it being involved in cancer treatments. No, I don’t have cancer, but think about that – reversing cancer through dietary changes! CrossFit did a great writeup of it in Cancer, Carbs and Controversy. The idea is to limit carbohydrate intake to the point that insulin and blood sugar levels are very low thereby allowing the body to create and burn ketones for energy. It turns out that unlike other cells in our bodies, cancerous cells cannot use ketones for energy but need glucose, so a ketogenic diet starves the cancer cells into remission. I was very...Read more

The conversation is all too familiar to the coaching staff. An athlete returns to the shop after a period away, say 1-2 weeks, and a coach asks them, “where have you been?” The athlete replies that they haven’t been in because they suffered a tweak – inside or outside the shop – and they didn’t want to be a burden by coming to class. We’ve heard a lot of variations to the athlete’s why I didn’t come to class statement – not knowing how to modify for injury, not wanting to take a disproportionate amount of the coach’s time, not wanting to scale or modify around the injury, or not wanting to stand out to the rest of the class, to name a few. We wanted to take this opportunity to set a few things straight. First of all, it’s 100% encouraged for you to come to class when you...Read more

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] Ali and Stefanie broke down the Spring 2017 Food Challenge at Wednesday night’s chalk talk. One key component to this habit based challenge to eat a vegetable at breakfast. Why did we include that? Because the old adage that breakfast is the most important meal of the day has a lot of truth. How we start our day has a tremendous impact on how we act and react to situations in the rest of our day. Start the day off well and your chances of success are greatly improved. Don’t believe us? Think about it from the opposite end of the spectrum. When was the last time you woke up with a severe hangover and felt like you were set up for a great day? It just doesn’t happen. Don’t start your day with a food hangover. As you sit here reading this post are you happy with...Read more

[et_pb_section transparent_background=”off” allow_player_pause=”off” inner_shadow=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”off” custom_width_px=”1080px” custom_width_percent=”80%” make_equal=”off” use_custom_gutter=”off” fullwidth=”off” specialty=”off” admin_label=”section” disabled=”off”][et_pb_row make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”off” custom_width_px=”1080px” custom_width_percent=”80%” use_custom_gutter=”off” gutter_width=”3″ allow_player_pause=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on” make_equal=”off” parallax_1=”off” parallax_method_1=”on” parallax_2=”off” parallax_method_2=”on” parallax_3=”off” parallax_method_3=”on” parallax_4=”off” parallax_method_4=”on” admin_label=”row” disabled=”off”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ disabled=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” admin_label=”Text” use_border_color=”off” border_style=”solid” disabled=”off”] The Roots Spring Food Challenge starts on Monday, April 17th. This is a 5 week challenge with a focus on sound nutrition and creating healthy habits around food AND lifestyle. The challenge was created upon 12 “habits” that we feel are important to healthy eating AND healthy living. You’ll create a 13th habit for yourself. While it is not a “Paleo” or “Zone” challenge, there will be familiar food quality themes (eat your veggies!) and quantity guidelines. Additionally, we have created a mindfulness component around eating. If you find yourself often eating in the car or at the computer, this challenge is...Read more