Tuesday 4/12/16... Cardio - Run, wall balls, ground to overhead, slam balls

Warm up: 4 rounds
     10 lunges
     10 pvc pass throughs


WOD:
Run 400
21 Wallballs
21 plate ground to overhead (or bar gtoh)
21 slamballs

Run 400
15 Wallballs
15 plate ground to overhead (or bar)
15 slamballs

Run 400
9 Wallballs
9 plate ground to overhead (or bar)
9 slamballs

from Dr Axe:

Natural Ways to Increase HDL Cholesterol

Your genes do play a role in determining how much HDL your body makes and the proportion of different subtypes. Your genes are obviously already decided for you and out of your control, but your lifestyle choices are in your control. Here are some of the best, and even some easy, ways that you can get those HDL cholesterol numbers up:

1. Don’t Smoke

As is always the case, smoking only makes health problems worse, and that includes HDL levels. Studies show that cigarette smoking adversely affects HDL by lowering its level, which further increases your risk for developing coronary heart disease. So if you smoke, you’re already increasing your risk for heart problems. (1)

2. Exercise More

To maintain a healthy body, you should exercise on a daily basis. If you want another specific reason to start exercising or increase your frequency of exercise, it’s your HDL levels. Increased physical activity directly helps raise your HDL cholesterol — just another one of the many benefits of exercise. Vigorous exercise is the best choice for boosting HDL, but any additional exercise is better than none. (2)

3. Decrease Body Weight

If you’re currently overweight, by losing even a few pounds can improve your HDL cholesterol. For every six pounds of weight you lose, your HDL can increase by 1 milligram per deciliter. (3) That’s means you want to lose weight, and if you’re extremely overweight, getting your HDL cholesterol levels in order is another reason to treat obesity.

4. Eat Healthier Fats

To improve your HDL level and your overall cholesterol, you definitely want to avoid trans fats, which are commonly found in hard margarines, baked goods and fried fast foods. Conversely, you want to consume more healthy fats like those found in avocado, olive oil, nuts and salmon. Why? Healthy fats help balance out the LDL cholesterol by lowering it and increasing HDL cholesterol thus promoting a healthier heart. (4)

5. Reduce Refined Carbs

A diet high in refined carbohydrates like white bread, sugar, etc., has a negative effect on your HDL level, so by reducing your intake of these types of carbohydrates you can improve your HDL. (5) Opt for high-quality, healthier carbs like those found in sprouted breads and fruit.

6. Keep Alcohol Consumption Moderate 

Overdoing it on alcohol consumption has never helped anyone’s general status and especially not that person’s health status. If you consume alcohol, always do it in moderation.

In fact, moderate alcohol consumption has actually been linked with higher levels of HDL cholesterol. (6) Moderate consumption for healthy adults is one alcoholic drink per day for women of all ages and men over 65 and up to two drinks per day for mean 65 and under. Organic red wine is a smart choice, but don’t start drinking just to improve HDL levels because overdoing does much more harm than good — both for cholesterol levels and your overall health.

7. Increase Niacin Intake

Niacin is a B vitamin that your body uses to turn food into energy. It also helps keep your digestive system, nervous system, skin, hair and eyes healthy. Most people get enough niacin or B3 from their diets, but niacin is often taken in prescription-strength doses to treat low HDL levels. Niacin supplementation can can raise HDL cholesterol by more than 30 percent. (7)

Niacin can be taken at lower doses rather than prescription levels, but supplementation can cause unwanted niacin side effects, especially when taking at high dosages. Some negative results of taking niacin include experience flushing, an uncomfortable feeling of heat, itching or tingling in the skin. Other side effects can include gastrointestinal, muscle and liver problems.

When it comes to niacin, a safer bet is to aim to add more to your daily diet. The top 10 niacin-rich foods include turkey, chicken breast, peanuts, mushrooms, liver, tuna, green peas, grass-fed beef, sunflower seeds and avocado. Try having more of these tasty, high-niacin food items for a natural HDL boost!

8. Consider Your Prescriptions

Could one of your current prescriptions be a cause of your low HDL levels? Possibly! Medications such as anabolic steroids, beta blockers, benzodiazepines and progestins can depress HDL levels. If you take any of these medications, I suggest talking to your doctor and considering if there is anything you can do that could take the place of your current prescription.

As you now know with HDL, a lot of times you personally can do a lot to positively impact your health without popping a questionable pill that might help one problem but cause another.