CrossFit South Bay | Hermosa Beach, CA

Our Mira Costa varsity basketball team warms up so I can teach them how to dougie

Your world has shrunk down to a 1 foot square focusing on that bar you have to pick up. You hear music and people yelling. You put your hands on your knees to catch your breath and sweat drips off the tip of your nose. Your muscles and lungs feel like they are filled with acid. You want to quit…or die…or both. You push harder because you’re almost done. You yell “TIME!” and fall to the ground. Welcome to metabolic conditioning.

This is the timed, or met-con, portion of our workout. The main goal is to keep the intensity or power output as high as possible. Technically we can throw any combination of movements and Read more »

Wes eats muscleups for breakfast.

Paleo Challengers are in Week 3 and some of you are seriously kicking some ass, losing inches, crushing PR’s, and eating some seriously awesome food. Every Paleo Challenge group and every new ancestral-eater struggles with many of the same things.  I’ve heard some great stories from Challengers so far about their adventures with Tupperware, managing friends’ and coworkers’ peer snack- and drink-pressure.

Then there’s the sometimes unpleasant learning process of how their old comfort foods are a slow death sentence and reinforcement when it pays them some wicked revenge after a cheat meal with them. How about dealing with fat-phobia generated from years of media and food pyramid messaging and finally eating the *whole* avocado/egg, cooking generously with coconut oil/milk, and eating more than two strips of saturated-fat-filled bacon?

Then, of course, there’s the growing realization of how creepy a grocery stores is as you more rarely take your old route through the aisles; it’s like peering through a display in museum of illness-inducing snacks and sick people, seemingly carefree, picking wheat thins, soydogs, low-fat dairyesque products, and frozen meat concoctions off of shelves.

So when the Challengers responded with topic requests for this week’s post to be on ‘snacks’, I sensed yet another test of whether they could find a shortcut in the whole “meat, vegetables, quality fats, moderate nuts and fruit” gig.

Dang. Somebody's gonna need a snack in a second...

Understandably: eating this way requires a little thought, minimal preparation, and at least a little planning — a.k.a. time — of which we all find ourselves never having enough of. This leaves many people feeling rushed, burdened by an extra requirement in the day. Whether you eat regular meals, graze, or fast and feast, eating an ancestral diet means eating whole, real foods… period.

So, my smart-allec answer is that snackified paleo foods are going to look a lot like unsnackified paleo foods. My non-smart-allec answer is the foods considered ‘paleo’ as part of this challenge are those that achieve for us improved vitamin/mineral status, improved insulin sensitivity, reduced states of inflammation, fat metabolism. If sustained, this gets us long-term benefits like resolution of disease states, reduced risk for diet-related disease, a longer life, reduced body fat, performance gains, etc.

Foods that tend to qualify as snacks by the grocery store definition tend to work in the opposite direction, even in snacky quantities. Even snacks that seem quite paleo such as nut butters and dried fruit, tend to be 1) processed and 2) concentrated. Processing takes raw nutrient-dense ingredients from a whole state containing vitamin/mineral levels several times greater than their snacky version, to a concentrated low-nutrient and high-glycemic load (dried fruit) or high-omega-6 load (nut butters / easy-to-eat-by-the pound trail mix) version of their not-so-abundant-yet-nutrient-dense-found-in-nature counterparts.

The answer I know some were looking for to “snack ideas?” is a Remy-approved bar, or a trail mix that you could free-for-all on. There are some products and snack-like paleo items that are less concerning than others, but I don’t want to waste your time or mine on fooling yourself into thinking such things are sustainable snacking solutions. The truth is, the best paleo snacks are snack-sized paleo foods.

Snackin' on... nope not gonna say it.

I challenge you, as part of the Challenge, to try to shift your perspective. Food makes up a great deal of what determines your health and quality of life for the rest of your days, so it should take up some of your time each day. From an evolutionary perspective, even the minimal time spent is far less time than paleolithic man would have spent on hunting/gathering. Present-day caveman spends most of his hours hunting/gathering a paycheck to be spent on more things and activities outside basic needs that don’t contribute to your fitness. So look at the few hours you spend on food, exercise, and related tasks as necessary — we evolved to survive moving about (not sitting down all day), eating foods found in nature (not pasta and cookies), playing and moving, and sleeping a lot more than we do now.

• Make your egg/DLG/meat quiches in cupcake tins and take a few to go for breakfast or as snacks
• When you cook meat/veggies in batches (which should be often to save time!), store them in small tupperwares to grab and keep in your bag and snack on
• When you make DIY condiments, store them in small tupperwares to take with you as dips/dressings for snacking on veg’s/fruits
• Truly paleo portable snackies: Avocados, shredded coconut, jerky, hard-boiled eggs
• Sardines in olive oil + bag-o-spinach M-M-m-m-m
• Nuts – very high concentration of omega-6 in most nuts (here’s a good overview from MDA); best choice: macnuts (cheapest at Sprouts/TJ’s) / macnut butter (at Whole Foods).
• Dried fruit – very high-glycemic load; most have added sugar nowadays and many have low-quality oils added (canola, vegetable). Plus, this will make you hungry after the insulin/sugar spike, so use at your own risk.

If you’re looking for more quick recipes or something cheap and on the go, check out these past posts which contain great ideas:

• Links in Remy’s Paleo Shopping List
• CFSB Nutrition posts
• “Paleo & Poor? Score.”
• “Fat!”, “Pro!”, “CHO!”
• Convenience

Here are some paleo-esque snacks/companies:

• Paleo Kits
• Paleo Treats – high-GL, pretty much paleo, delish
• Larabars – somewhat high glycemic load (dried fruit + nut bars) but good in a pinch
• Kind bars – has added sugar in some bars, and low-quality oils in some

Here’s a seriously delicious recent portable pretty-much-paleo recipe I adapted to make even more whole-food based from CFSCC’s “Eat This” post:

Paleoesque Blueberry Muffins

1-2 muffin tins*
1 C coconut flour (Whole Foods) or 1/2 C coconut, 1/2 C almond flour (Sprouts)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 C coconut oil
6-8 eggs*
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. sea salt (optional)
1-2 C fresh or frozen blueberries*

Blend together liquids, stir in dry stuff. *Fold in blueberries (amount is up to you — if you go up to 2 C, add a couple eggs). Grease w/coconut oil (no muffin cups necessary unless you want them), fill muffins tins about 3/4 full. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 17-19 minutes. Makes 12-16 muffins. Enjoy alone or with mashed strawberries or raspberries.

Workout of the Day 9/1/2010

A. Romanian Deadlift 5-5-5

B.

“Tabata Something Else”

Complete 32 intervals of 20 seconds of work followed by ten seconds of rest where the first 8 intervals are pull-ups, the second 8 are push-ups, the third 8 intervals are sit-ups, and finally, the last 8 intervals are squats. There is no rest between exercises.

Post total reps from all 32 intervals to whiteboard.

Charlene's daughter, Katie (left), practices to be just like mommy one day

When I started CrossFit a few years ago, I was drawn in by the allure of completing some crazy workout with hundreds of reps that would leave me gasping for air. Who cared if I had to modify most of the movements and my form was terrible? I was doing CrossFit and it was badass, so by proxy I was badass. I was more of a dumbass. At least I was half right.

Why dedicate time to strength and skill? Don’t we get stronger just by doing CrossFit?

First of all, CrossFit is strength, but it also is other attributes. We like to focus on strength because it is our foundation. Increasing strength allows us to do more work faster which translates to a higher power output (intensity). The higher intensity is the cause and effect of becoming more fit. For most of you just starting CrossFit, you are realizing that it takes an average of about 4 – 6 months just to build up enough strength to do the majority of the workouts. Once you have the base strength, the intensity of the workouts shoot way up because you are finally able to keep form and not let certain strength deficiencies or weakness in your kinetic chain dictate your biomechanics. True, you could get stronger just by doing the met-con portion of the workouts, but it would take a lot longer and you would plateau pretty quickly. Post to follow on why picking up heavy stuff is good for you.

Lynell training to choke out Sergio one more time. Not that she needs to.

A little history on our strength training.

Back in the old days we used to designate Wednesdays to be our strength day to work on a lift. We would dedicate an entire class to an Olympic or power lift. The benefit to this was that coaches had more time to work through the nuances of each lift and athletes had plenty of time to work on technique and plenty of rest to build up to their maximum lift or go for a PR. The downside to this style of programming was that athletes were only getting to work on each different lift once a week in an untimed environment. This meant you could go over a month without ever working on an overhead squat or power clean, but would have to do them in a timed workout. This was not optimal for our athletes’ form, technique or strength.

Kevin just making ring dips look easy.

The evolution.

We adapted to the current style of programming where we break the WOD up into a strength portion and conditioning portion. This allows our athletes to get the touches on all the different lifts in an untimed environment while also getting them to lift heavier weights than they would normally use in a met-con. We have noticed the learning curve of our athletes shortened by over half the time as it took before to become proficient in the Olympic and power lifts. We have also noticed a dramatic improvement in the met-con weights and times while seeing a reduction in injuries.

Oh Ashley, if your sorority sisters could see you now. "YEA-AH Kappa!"

Strength philosophy

We adopted our philosophy on the strength portion from a few different sources. I have to give some credit to Dutch Lowy and CJ Martin of CrossFit Invictus in San Diego. The bulk of our style of programming originated from their philosophy and has been modified for the athletes in our gym. I also have to mention Greg Everett of Catalyst Athletics for putting out the Performance Menu, which is a wealth of knowledge on pure strength training. Our strength training is organized with the following goals in mind:

• Efficiently and effectively build the strength of our athletes
• Compliment the met-con
• Keep intensity high
• Create PRs

That's right Libby, you hold that big heavy bar down. Good girl.

Our athletes could get stronger just by doing any random Oly or power lift every day, but we try to make it as efficient as possible. The rep schemes are also meant to systematically build strength over different time periods. The lifts can be classified as hip or knee dominant or as a vertical press and also power (slow) or dynamic (fast). The rep schemes stay relatively low and the weights high because we generally see the opposite in our met-cons. The week’s strength programming will have the variety of all different lifts meaning you will see some slow, some fast, some knee dominant and some hip dominant. The programming is designed like this so you won’t burn out one specific type of movement and should be fresh to give max effort in the lift of the day.

I could go into way more detail about strength training and how to effectively build strength in athletes, but we have to save some material for later blog posts right? Post questions and thoughts to comments.

Workout of the Day 8/31/2010

A. Max Double Unders in 3 minutes

B. Untimed Strength WOD

Back Squat
1-10-1-20-1-30

Perform your sets of 1 at about 85% of your 1 rep max. Choose a weight for your back squat that you will be able to perform the higher rep sets unbroken. If you break the round, rerack and finish out the set.

Jerk or Split Jerk
5-5-5-3-3-3-2-2-1-1

Rest approximately 1 minute between sets. Go for max loads on each lift.

You will have 30-40 minutes to complete both of these lifts. Make sure you move quickly through the sets.

Dan getting above the net. It must be the sweet CFSB boardies

Last weekend was the first volleyball tournament that I’ve played in almost two years. I had a big reality check as I felt like all my shots were off, passes were not in the right spots and sets were less than satisfactory. After a year of not playing, it was obvious that I have some work to do. My partner, Mark Bell, played great but I couldn’t carry my weight on the team. We played again on Sunday morning for about 4 hours as well. Looking back on it, about 8 hours of competitive doubles volleyball might have been a little much since I just started getting on the sand 2 months ago.

I started doing CrossFit a few years ago because I wanted a conditioning program to supplement playing beach volleyball. Today I love both equally, but realize that I have to choose my battles wisely. As I write this on a lazy Sunday night, I can barely walk because my legs are so sore and crampy. My knees and hips are achy and my ego is bruised. Big thanks to one of our soon to be newest graduate of PT school, Missy, for helping me release my spasming hips (or as Wes likes to call it, “booty lock”) and for stretching my cramping hamstrings. That definitely reminded me of the importance of stretching and myofascial release. Sucks getting old.

The moral of the story is that CrossFit kept the majority of my conditioning up. There is no substitute for having sand legs and the only way to get them is by running and jumping in the sand. Where CrossFit helped me is that after a year of not being in the sand, I didn’t really loose a step or any explosiveness in my jump. Now the sand definitely made things harder, but I recovered a lot faster because that’s what CrossFit trains you to do. Unfortunately all of my skills have gone to shit, but that comes back with practice. If you are using CrossFit as a supplement to a sport (which I highly recommend), then you should see a pretty dramatic improvement once your body adjusts to the intensity of training. Hopefully, I’ll be able to walk tomorrow to come and open up the gym.

Post similar stories to comments.

Workout of the Day 8/30/2010

A. Power Clean 2-2-2-2

B. 12-9-6-3-6-9-12
Cluster (clean to a thruster) 95/65
Pull-Up
100M Sprint

Compare to 4/20/2010

In many of the activities we participate in as CrossFit athletes, our grip strength can be a major advantage or set back. Cleans, the Snatch and Deadlift are a few that come to mind immediately. It is absolutely critical that these movements have a secure grip and maintain it through the entire range of motion.

The single leg hook grip...

The preferred grip of most athletes is called the traditional grip, where the thumb raps over the index and middle finger. This grip position (white comfy) is highly susceptible to fatigue. The “Hook Grip” is a technique developed many moons ago by Weightlifters to prevent or delay the fatigue that causes your grip to fail. In this post I wanted to briefly cover the hook grip, provide some basic instruction on how to incorporate it, and finally encourage you all to give it a try in your next lifting session.

The correct hook grip method is:

Start by stretching the thumb and index finger as far apart as you can so that the skin between the two fingers is tight. With the elbow in a straight and locked position press the skin between the thumb and index finger against the bar. The result of this action will cause the two fingers to move together and your grip to tighten. With pressure still being applied to the bar wrap the thumb around the bar. Reach your index and middle finder over the bar, grabbing the bar and thumb at the same time. Your grip should now be locked in the hook position.

This grip should only be used in “pull” phases of your lifts. When the bar rotates your thumb should automatically come unlocked and leave the bar resting in the traditional grip position. The first few times you attemp this grip, its probably going to cause some discomfort. But the same could be said with just about everything you do in CrossFit

Adding this technique to your lifts has been shown to add anywhere to 2%-10% additional load to your lifts. Another great benifit to using it during a WOD is that it will dramatically reduce the level of fatique that carries over to other movements like the Kettlebell swing, pull ups, muscle ups, etc.

See what a hook grip can do for you?

Workout of the Day 8/27/2010

A. 3 Hill sprints – Holding fastest time + or – 2 seconds. Use the walk back down the hill as your rest.

B. AMRAP 12
21 double unders
15 slam balls (30/20)
9 push press or jerk (135/85)

Laura, how low can you go? how low CAN you go?

We have to look at the warm-up in relation to our workout like we look at foreplay in relation to sex (or squishy as Matty Stewart likes to call it). The warm-up will allow us to push harder thus keeping the intensity higher while minimizing the chance of injury. Most of us sit or are sedentary for the majority of the day. Our muscles, joints and tendons need to be prepared to meet the intense demands of our workouts.

The warm-up is often an overlooked area in most programs. You are encouraged to come early every day and grab a foam roller and/or lacrosse ball and start working on the sore and tight muscles. Also use this time to practice those troublesome double unders or kipping pull-ups or handstand push-ups. Think of this time as not only your warm-up, but as your time to get better at the things you are bad at.

Self Myofascial Release

This is where we exchange pleasantries with the foam roller and lacrosse ball. SMR helps break up adhesions on our muscles. These knots are formed from the constant breaking down and building up of muscle fibers. Over time this leads to tightness, inflexibility and immobility. By doing this before the workout, our muscles become more elastic and pliable. These healthy muscles will be less susceptible to injury and more tolerant to fatigue.

Dynamic Warm-Up and Prehab

The warm-ups are designed to prepare your bodies for the same movements as the workout. The coaches also use this time to watch how you move so they can address any poor movement before we start the stopwatch. The warm-up here can also be used to address your specific trouble areas whether it be tight hip flexors or a previous injury.

Prehab is the practice of strengthening some of the smaller, supportive muscles to help prevent injuries. We train at high intensity and utilize multiple muscle groups where we are pushing, pulling, running and jumping. By practicing some prehab, we are able to help reduce injury and address any personal muscle imbalances.

Lastly, use the warm-up to address areas of improvement. This is your time to practice certain movements at light weight and work at doing them with near perfect form. Shira did a great job at making double unders a part of her warm-up every day and went from barely being able to do one to doing 75 in a row (probably more by now).

Workout of the Day 8/26/2010

A. Gymnastics Skill Work. If you have muscle ups, you have the option to do 30 muscle ups for time.

B. 21-15-9
Pull-Ups
Box Jumps (30/24)
Push-Ups
Kettlebell Swings (2/1.5)

Thanks for everyone’s awesome feedback on Kala’s guest post last week to kick off the Paleo Challenge. The Challenge is heating up — the food logs are inspiring with all sorts of meat, healthy fats and veggies galore. The Week 1 retention rate is high and so is morale. Using my tips and guidelines, doing independent research to learn more, and planning meals seem to be proving themselves as a solid approach. I’ve gotten some awesome questions and discussion over the last week and can’t wait to see how the next five pan out. Here’s a post that’s been in high demand – the topic of cooking with herbs and spices.

For many of you cooking is no big deal – you have a handful of solid recipes that taste great that you cook efficiently. For others, if it so happened that you might have to cook for yourself, your Mac & Cheese (meat & veggies now that you’ve wised up) needed only the help of Mrs. Dash or Spike. Those doing the Challenge from the latter group face an additional set of challenges. In addition to the cooking learning curve, conditioning your tastebuds to actually taste spices and herbs presents another challenge if you’re used to eating out. The high levels of salts and sugars in their many formats in packaged foods and in most restaurant seasonings make it more challenging to adjust to eating foods seasoned mostly with herbs and spices.

What follows is a crash course in meal planning and cooking paleo for flavor.  Also, check out the grocery shopping spreadsheet I made to help.

Regan, Louie and Stefanie have cooking parties where they make their food in batches for the week

At the store

1. At the meat department or the Gourmet On Wheels Cart or Lindner Bison tents at the farmer’s market:

Eyeball an amount of one type of meat that you’d eat in one meal and multiply by two so you can have leftovers for lunch the next day. Multiply that by the number of people you’re feeding. There’s dinner and the next day’s lunch. Do it again for another type of meat for as many days of this as you plan to cook for in a time where the meat won’t go bad in the fridge.

1 Dinner + 1 Lunch Protein = (2 meals’-worth meat) x (# people feeding)

If you’re cooking for yourself only, this will come out to 8-16oz meat depending on your size.

Staple meats: grassfed whole variety cuts (fatty and lean) of meat/organs, eggs, fish/seafood

2. Stroll over to the veggie section:

You’re going to want to pick at least one DLG, a starchy vegetable, and some helper veggies and herbs. DLGs have the largest spectrum of vitamins & minerals; starchy vegs you want to have on hand for your post workout meal. Helper veggies and herbs make it all taste good and complete the vitamin/mineral spectrum. One small bunch of DLGs will last you about two meals. Keep squash, sweet potato, zucchini, carrots, or parsnips on hand and bake/cook in bulk to have for post-workout carbohydrate.

Staple DLGs: kale, bok choy, chard, spinach, collards, broccoli rabe/rapini, broccoli, brussel sprouts

Other greens that are quite flavorful: mustard greens, dandelion greens, watercress (best fresh), arugula, sprouts

Staple fat-sources: Avocado – we are lucky to live in a place that these are perfect and abundant for most of the year – eat up! Coconut (see #3)

Staple helper veggies: onions, green onions, chives, garlic, mushrooms, fennel, lemon/lime

Staple fresh herbs and spices: basil, cilantro, Italian/flat-leaf parsley, ginger root, dill

3. A brief trip to the aisles once in a while

Somewhere among the 15+ rows of incarnations of processed corn, soy, grain, peanut, and sugar, you’ll find an aisle or two that contain a few items of use to someone not interested in diabetes, autoimmune or heart diseases.  In most grocery stores, crammed between the sugar and the flour you’ll find the dried herb and spice section, and somewhere else probably an Asian section where you’ll find coconut milk in a can that has not been de-fatted like the So Delicious brand in the cartons. At Whole Foods or Sprouts, you’ll find coconut and grapeseed oil in the oil section, but not at most other grocery stores. If you find yourself overwhelmed, get these staples and then, another time soon, pay a visit to Penzey’s on Hawthorne & Torrance (see #4). If you want to try these first without paying for entire bottles, visit Sprouts (PCH & Anza) where you can pick the amount you buy from their bulk bins spice section.

Dried spices and herb staples: oregano, basil, cumin, thyme, rosemary, cinnamon, nutmeg, curry; if you didn’t buy them fresh: garlic, ginger, parsley, dill.

Canned/jarred staples: coconut milk (avoid those with several additives; best and cheapest is Chakoh @ Fresh & Easy), coconut and grapeseed oil (for cooking), olive oil (not for cooking), sardines (packed in olive oil), kalamata olives, lemon juice (or buy fresh), balsamic vinegar, tomato paste, vanilla extract (read the ingredients to make sure it’s not just vanilla flavoring + alcohol)

Here are some really great groupings I use often in cooking meat and veggies:

• Italian: Oregano + basil + rosemary or sage or thyme + lemon juice/zest – good for chicken, veggie stirfry for egg scramble
• Middle eastern: parsley + garlic + cinnamon + nutmeg + sumac (optional) – great for beef and lamb
• Thai: ginger + garlic + basil + cilantro + mint + lime (add coconut milk) <– these are also great fresh mixed into a spinach salad
• Indian: Garam masala + garlic + curry powder + ground cardamom
• Tex Mex: Cumin + chili powder + oregano + basil + garlic (add tomato paste)
• Mediterranean: Dill + mint + tarragon + garlic

Other ideas from the aisles:

• Glassware (plastic ware if you rather)
• Water bottle
• Ice cube tray for making coconut milk ice cubes (coffee creamer; use for a coconut/cinnamon/vanilla shake)

4. Penzey’s wonderland

Pay a visit to Penzey’s on the SW corner of Hawthorne & Torrance, a store dedicated to seasonings where you can sniff every herb, spice and seasoning mix before buying. While there are a few loaded with sugar and salt, there are some truly exquisite herb mixes that will teach you a great deal about cooking just by using them. Their selection of cinnamon varieties will blow your mind. The first time I went I took paper and pad and wrote down the ingredients of some of the mixes that smelled best and created a cheaper version. For most mixes, it’s cheaper and tastier to use fresh versions of the ingredients. Now for these mixes, I buy the dried herbs and spices in bulk from Smart & Final and Costco. For other mixes with more rare spices and herbs, it’s cheaper and easier to buy Penzey’s mix.

Penzey’s mixes I recommend: Garam Masala, Tuscan Sunset, Sate, Turkish

At Home

1. Pick your herbs and meat – tips:

• Google searches: meat + recipe or meat + bake or meat + grill or meat + flavoring (Greek/Indian, etc.)
• Marinating is always better; use something acidic (lemon, apple cider vinegar, balsamic, lime) in the marinade to help penetrate the meat
• Cut slits in the meat to insert fresh/dried herbs; stuff poultry skin with garlic, veggies, herbs
• Don’t throw out broth after cooking! That’s where many minerals go – drink up or save for a soup stock or to pour over steamed veggies.

2. Pick your herbs and veggies — formula and rules of thumb:

• Sautee the tougher veggies in oil for 5 mins (e.g. onions, mushrooms, peppers or broccoli), add dried herbs/spices for 1-2 mins, add softer veggies and fresh herbs (e.g. kale, garlic and basil), cover and let wilt for 1-3 mins. If you’re cooking larger batches you might need a little water to create steam to wilt a lot of DLGs. In addition to the leftovers you’ll have for lunch, try to make a little extra to add to your scramble in the morning, or make some extra herb/spice mix to set aside for your omelet and bacon.
• For squash and sweet potatoes, bake at 400 for 50+ mins until very soft and mushy.
• For fresh veggie recipes, make a salad with fresh or dried herbs, pepper, balsamic and enjoy with a can of sardines packed in olive oil or alone with some olive oil and avocado.
• A good estimate for amount of dried spice for a 2-serving amount of meat or vegetables is that it shouldn’t be more than about 2 Tbsp total depending on the spice (powder vs leaves). You can experiment with ratios as you go or google recipes that have these combos or a couple ingredients that you have (ex: meat + DLG + mint + garlic + dill + recipe). This blog has plenty of recipes and links, too.
• Another good rule of thumb is don’t add more than 3-4 spices/herbs to a dish (exception are Indian, Thai dishes).
• Don’t throw out broth! That’s where many minerals go – drink up or save for a soup stock.

3. Pack your lunch then and there for the next day and prep breakfast so you don’t have to in the morning.

Other resources:

Multilingual herb index in case you’re shopping at an ethnic store http://www.apinchof.com/herbindex1071.html

I love APinchOf.com’s What is this? Q&A series

Finally, I can’t imagine what you’d think I did to poor Tonto in the banner picture if you hadn’t seen the move Dune (spice). Sorry if I scare anyone

Workout of the Day 8/25/2010

A. Power Clean 5-5-5

Lauren thinks running the hill is like a Mentos commercial

CrossFit by definition is constantly varied functional movement performed at high intensity across broad times at modal domains. Technically, we could just pull exercises out of a hat and assign numbers to them, say “3, 2, 1, Go!” and call it CrossFit. It would probably be varied and you would probably get a workout from it, but in the long run it wouldn’t be beneficial, safe or efficient at increasing your level of fitness.

There are many different philosophies behind programming and there really isn’t a right or wrong. We program to increase the work capacity of the athletes at CFSB. We monitor the progress, strength, ability and excitement of the athletes we see on a daily basis. We have a holistic view on fitness that includes aspects other than just CrossFit. We provide nutrition counseling and mobility workshops. Our athletes religiously practice myofascial release, mobility and pre-hab techniques. Our coaches have been trained to identify biomechanical deficiencies to prevent injuries before they happen.

Our programming is designed with the following in mind:

• Quickly and efficiently increase the work capacity and strength of our athletes.
• Workouts are planned a month in advance and benchmarks are planned on a quarterly basis.
• We modify certain workouts throughout the month depending on how our athletes feeling.
• The workouts are generally balanced to keep the intensity (power output) high and risk of injury low. These two are sometimes inversely related so it has to be a fine balancing act.
• Most WODs will contain a push and a pull.
• On average our WODs will last between 10 – 20 minutes but we venture in the 5 minute and 30+ minute WODs as well.
• WODs have to be programmed with certain equipment and space requirements in mind. This usually isn’t a problem but doing a WOD like Linda can be difficult.
• Monthly, the movements are somewhat balanced to insure we are getting plenty of heavy, light, long and short workouts in.
• WODs have to be fun and exciting otherwise you wouldn’t do them. Technically we could program in a couplet every single day and you would get fitter, but would be bored to death.
• Each WOD is scalable and our athletes are capable of doing any version

Our methodology of programming is always evolving. There are different camps such as CrossFit Endurance, CrossFit Football, CrossFit Gymnastics and CrossFit Strength Bias. We delve into all of these methodologies as well as some of James Fitzgerald’s (AKA OPT) and Dutch Lowy’s programming style.

Part two of the Programming posts will be on the dynamic warm-up portion of the WOD. Post feedback and questions to comments.

Workout of the Day 8/24/2010

A. Front Squat 1 Rep Max

B. 4 Rounds For Max Reps
1 Min Ring Dips
30 Seconds rest
1 Min Front Squat (95/65)
30 Seconds of rest
1 Min knees to elbows
30 Seconds rest

*Keep total rep count and you do not need to split up the rep count by exercise. If you have trouble counting, have the coach record your reps per round and add them up at the end.

Every experienced and inexperienced Crossfitter has goals whether they realize it or not.  Experienced: you have the next fastest Fran time you want to hit or a certain weight you want to get on your Snatch.  Inexperienced: you want to improve your form or get that illusive kipping pullup.  These goals are great to have and are extremely helpful to improve your performance.  But can you accomplish your goal within 2 months, and did you write them down??   No, well then you need some short term goals, and they should be written down.

There is a completely packed goal board at CFSB, but maybe they are are long-term goals or your name wouldn’t fit on the completely packed board.  That is OK, its the short term goals that keep you from getting bored.  Especially if you are trying to continually improve, make 2-week goals that are skill related: 1 second longer handstand, 5 consecutive double unders.

Chad reaching for his goals

By writing down your goals, and keeping them handy (your CFSB log book cover is a great place), you know what to work on every day, whether wall squats as a warm-up or adding an extra stretching session every day.

Every person at CFSB should have some goals to accomplish in the next 6 weeks, and should write them down, especially if you aren’t doing the Paleo Challenge.  You just did “Helen” and the “Air Force WOD”, which one did you struggle on??  If you struggled on a movement in the “Air Force WOD” like the overhead squats, you should do it every day as a warm-up, building up the weight.  If you used the the green band on the pullups in Helen, try to only use a blue band or get a couple kipping pullups in the next 6 weeks and do a “Helen” closer to Rx’ed in 6 weeks.

They have goals. Do you?

Goals don’t have to be WOD related… maybe you want to touch your toes, avoid those donuts at work, or get more than 7 hours of sleep a night, anything you want to improve is a good goal.  So write it down, work on it at least every couple days, and in 6 weeks, see how you did!!

Workout of the Day 8/23/2010

A. Press 2-2-2

2 20M sprints in between each set. Build up to max speed and taper off the last 10M

B. 10 Snatch (Power or squat) 135/95
3 Rounds of Cindy
10 Snatch
3 Rounds of Cindy
10 Snatch

Throughout the CrossFit community there is an age old debate, are supplements okay to take and still abide by the natural lifestyle that CrossFit endorses?

Ready for the answer? The answer is… I don’t know.

Not the answer you expected huh? Every one’s definition of maintaining a health lifestyle is different, hence every-one’s view on supplements is different. Knowing this I thought I would lay out the three top supplements on the market today. They have been researched for some time now to increase your levels of strength, power and endurance. The great thing is about these supplements is they are also found in natural food sources. So if popping pills isn’t part of your health creed I also want you to know where you can find it through real dietary sources as well.

Creatine – I’m sure you have head about this well known supplement, it has become one of the most used supplements on the market today. It has been reported that up to 20% of all collegiate athletes are taking or have taken Creatine at one point to increase their athletic performance.

Creatine is found naturally in our body sitting around in skeletal muscle. When the body performs work Creatine is used to replenish your stores of ATP. ATP is the primary source of energy for muscle contraction. The more Creatine you have stored up the faster you can recover and the more work you can perform. Its recommended that to obtain maximal benefit from Creatine supplementation, you should consume roughly 5g/day.

Normally, dietary creatine is obtained from the consumption of meat, fish, and other animal products (Table 1). A half pound of raw meat contains approximately 1 g of creatine. I hope your all hungry!

Beta-alanine – is a nonessential amino acid that is common in many foods that we eat, such as chicken. Beta-alanine is not much of an ergogenic aid by itself. However, when it enters the muscle cell, it becomes the rate-limiting substrate to carnosine synthesis.

Carnosine synthesis is part of the buffering process that occurs when your body starts to produce lactate under exercise conditions. This increase buffing could lead to increase training volume and total work performed under repeat bouts. It is suggested that 2.4 to 6.2 g/day is sufficient for Beta-alanine supplementation.

Similar to Creatine, Beta-alanine can be cound in high protein foods: poultry, beef .

Speaking of Beef, is that Matt and Vinny back there?

Caffeine – One of the most consumed drugs in the world, caffeine has been a staple for energy drink addicts. Caffeine ingestion has been show to have a whole host of benefits. For all you 6:00am’ers Caffeine has been shown to dramatically reduce the amount of time it takes for athletes to reach preserved exhaustion levels in the morning hours. It has been shown that 3 to 9 mg/kg have reproducible improvements like: increased resting metabolism, increased stroke volume, heightened neurological activity and so on.

Perhaps one of the most researched Natural sources of caffeine is Guarana. The guarana plant is actually part of the maple family, but while its cousins have sweet sap, the guarana has a high-powered berry with twice the caffeine content of a coffee bean.

Is that caffeine in your shaker or are you just happy to see me?

The information provided is not meant to persuade or coheres anyone into supplementing. The recommended amount labeled above are from pier reviewed journals and are not meant to serve as prescriptions. If you interested in supplementing its always best to discuss with a doctor before hand.

Workout of the Day 8/20/2010

A. 500M Row max effort x 2

B. 21-15-9
Slam Ball (30/20)
Pull-Up
Power Snatch (95/65)