Tomorrow is the big day, the SoCal Sectionals are finally upon us and the 1st 2 WOD’s have been announced.  This will be an exciting event whether you are new to Crossfit or a Long Time Crossfitter.  Attending will really show you how wonderful the Crossfit community is and how dedicated they are to all athletes.

If that is not enough of a reason, show up to cheer our own Jon, Remy, and Slaughter as they compete.  We all know they will put their heart and soul into competing and making all of us proud.

Good Luck Jon, Remy and Slaughter we will be cheering for you!

Front squats YAY!

It’s competition time bi***es.

I’m going to have a little rant here about competition, both the good and the bad! Competitions are part of humanity dating back to the Colosseum where people cut each others heads off for the cheer of the crowd. While the brutality of that life style sounds harsh nowadays, back then life was much more harsh so it was acceptable. Our Colosseum is Drake Stadium at UCLA, and it starts tomorrow. Competition is apparent in all sport, and is something which can drive us, or something we become obsessed with. Some aren’t that competitive, and to that I say to each their own!

Crossfit started out as a program to increase the health and physical abilities of everyone across broad time and modal domains, no matter where their starting point is. I think this is huge, and in my opinion the best part about Crossfit. As the world of CF has gained momentum, a tested ground had to be created, as with anything like world class futbol (soccer), the NFL, the NHL, the MLS, and the Olympics. As these competitions have grown in the CF world, sometimes people feel pressured to compete. However, the competition is something you must desire. I’ve known a lot of people who are unhappy without the testing and comparing of themselves to others, and some which are the opposite. Either way, we are all happy for having you in the CFSB family!.  If you do CF as your “sport” and it is your goal to win the 2010 Crossfit Games, you’re 6′7″ and use CF as a way to stay in shape between volleyball seasons (nice job on the rower Matt, I’ll catch you someday!) or your goal is simply to loose 10 pounds and be able to run a mile without feeling like you’re going to die, it doesn’t matter. We are all proud of each other for using CF as a means to their own goals. After all, it’s about what you want, not what others want for you! Remember always the reason you come to the gym, whatever that may be

That being said, it is competition time b****es… And Drake stadium is going to be the testing grounds for human performance. In 24 hours there will be rock solid bodies lined up to test their physical and mental limits against one another. Dirt, blood, sweat, muscle, concrete, and metal. These are our means of power output and work capacity. This is our own individual test to see if we can cope; our realization of how far we have come.

Alabama Sectionals

I encourage all to come out and watch the event if you have the time. For both days it is a 2 for 1 purchase of 50 bucks. So find a friend and grab 25 bucks each and head to UCLA. The trainer gang will be headed there with coolers, a pop up tent, and a few chairs, so if you want to join the party, bring some snacks, some drinks to share, and a lawn chair. Keep your eyes open for Jon, Remy, and Slaughter(for Greg), and bring your screaming lungs because we’ll all need it.

Here is some info for the event if you’re interested. And if you need a buddy to split the cost with, post to the comments that you’re looking or write it up on the white board, there is probably somebody else looking as well!

Bring on the pain storm.

Check out these movies from sectionals this year.

Arnold Classic

Leah Polaski

WOD 3/12/2010

A. Split Squat 3-3-3

B. 7 Rounds
3 Kettlebell Snatches (Right Arm)
3 Kettlebell Overhead Squats (Right Arm)
3 Kettlebell Clean & Jerks (Right Arm)
3 Kettlebell Overhead Lunges (Right Arm and each leg)
3 Kettlebell Snatches (Left Arm)
3 Kettlebell Overhead Squats (Left Arm)
3 Kettlebell Clean & Jerks (Left Arm)
3 Kettlebell Overhead Lunges (Left Arm and each leg)

Sandbaggers

We are not a gym.

We don’t have elipticals, mirrors or oversized TVs playing America’s Next Top Model reruns. There are no machines for people to pretend to work out on as they text and check Facebook updates. We don’t sacrifice our clients’ safety just because dropping weight is loud. We emphasize technique and full range of motion versus lifing an irresponsible amount of weight. Our Mondays are not chest and tris days and our Wednesdays are not back and bis day. We hate each other because one of us took the other’s weights. Read more »

Every now and then I enjoy reading the paleo and nutrition blogosphere’s version of tabloids and op-ed to read various perspectives on and incarnations of ‘paleo’ nutrition. Often the nickname “Grok” is used in this community to refer to our quintessential Paleolithic ancestor. I found a recent post with a quote I liked: “…do you enjoy Christmas because it’s fun, family, warmth,…it’s all socially healthy — or do you really believe in Santa Claus…like…literally? Well, ‘Grok’ is just the paleo version of Santa Claus… We’re getting the benefit of a mythology we’ve created for our own convenience.”

(If you’re lost at this point, check out this video “Paleo In A Nutshell”, the CFSB Nutrition handout or the nutrition pages).

Living like Grok is part of a ‘paleo’ lifestyle construct. It’s one that is rooted in scientific findings, is evidence-based indicates will achieve longevity and high performance. Eating whole, natural foods, doing functional exercise, sleeping well, and perhaps intermittent fasting are just a fraction of the things Grok did (or a fraction of the time spent) in any given week, but these represent the main Grok-like activies that we can get the most use out of.

It’s largely up to individuals to implement those activities. A key theme in the big picture in this effort is that these new lifestyle habits (eating differently, drinking less, sleeping more, exercising differently) often appear to conflict with a modern lifestyle in some ways. While I enjoy playing ‘bad cop’ in the nutrition talks (Forrest plays ‘good cop’), I’m well aware of (and have experienced) how slow lifestyle transitions can be. Convenience is a major factor when priorities other than eating/sleeping well fill your your plate.

Here’s a list of some of the best paleo convenience foods with my notes. Add yours to the comments; I’ll compile them all later the Nutrition section of the website. Also, check out the Paleo Challenge update note at the bottom!

DIY Nutritious Paleo Convenience Foods

• Jerky (beef, turkey, fish, etc.): Most store brands are relatively high in sodium. Whole foods has some great tuna and salmon jerky; Trader Joe’s has buffalo, beef and turkey jerky that are lower in sodium that most brands; you can also order some of Remy’s home-made kind (very low sodium).
• Sardines: No, seriously! Trader Joe’s brand in olive oil are TASTY (better than tuna!) – not bad sodium content, very high in omega-3 fatty acids.
• Hard boiled eggs: Trader Joe’s makes a prepackaged version if you’re really short on time. I think they come out to $0.80/egg (?)
• Dried raisins, blueberries: Raisins’ sugars are mostly glucose, rather than fructose (muy bueno); berries are lower glycemic load and higher nutrient density than most other dried fruit, but still pack a sugary punch per oz.
• Nuts: Buy raw when possible for better fatty acid profile; organic benefits are mainly social/environmental (worker safety, bee extinction from pesticides). Best: walnuts, mac nuts.

Pre-prepared Paleo Convenience Meals

• Paleo Brands “Paleo Gourmet”: Newly launched line of paleo meals endorsed by Robb Wolf. In my opinion: needs more green vegetables in these for adequate nutrients for caloric load.
• Paleo Kits: This is excellent jerky and nuts; add some vegetables to this to complete.

Restaurants

• Sabra (Lebanese restaurant across the street from CFSB on PCH): I’m going to talk to the owner about a special ‘paleo’ option so we don’t have to have a detailed discussion each time on subbing out rice/pita/hummus. Shall we have it be called “The CFSB Special”? Any better ideas?
• Anywhere: Ask the chef to make you something tasty that just has meat and lots of vegetables. Go bunless, skip the beans and processed stuff — rice, tortilla, noodles, ask for extra veggies and meat instead.

Bars, Shakes, Stimulants

• Larabars: If you cannot get your hands on real food, this is an option. It is now in protein, so supplement with meat or jerky.
• Whey isolate or egg white protein: Use for mass gain post-workout or if absolutely necessary as meal replacement. Avoid ones that use casein.

Cheats & Treats

• Paleo Treats: A quote from their ‘Wisdom’ page: ”We stay away from salt and preservatives, drink a shot-glass of fish oil a day, and we’re waiting for the rest of the world to start eating like paleo-humans not fat plastic processing machines.”

A few blogs to add to your RSS for recipes and good reading:

• http://robbwolf.com/ – excellent podcasts and general and CrossFit-specific nutrition
• http://eatmovethrive.blogspot.com/ – recipes
• http://www.marksdailyapple.com/ – great recipes and perspective pieces
• http://www.sonofgrok.com/ – recipes
• http://mypaleokitchen.blogspot.com/ – recipes

The Paleo Challenge is almost over! Next week will be ‘after’ pictures and final benchmarks. I love the accountability people are feeling about their diet (“I thought of you, Remy, as I turned down the pre-meal breadbasket”) as a result of seeing results and feeling better, and I enjoy being given a hard time about how long it took me to hunt/gather my post workout meal. More of you are bringing PWO food, talking about your food discoveries, and how much better you feel eating unprocessed foods, taking fish oil, and getting more sleep. You’re inspiring new generations of crossfitters at CFSB who you work out with every day. I’m not too worried that most of you will continue eating/living this way post-Challenge and that the rest of you will try again or join in for the first time with the next Paleo Challenge (set to start in April).

This week’s recipe is from Mark’s Daily Apple: cocoa-coconut balls… mmmmmmmm. Have one of these with a hunk of jerky between lunch and your afternoon CrossFit and see what happens

WOD 3/10/2010

A. Max L-Sit Hold x 3

B. 500M Row Max Effort

C. 6 Rounds
6 Front Squats
9 Ball Slams
12 Push-Ups
* Front squats start from the ground

D. Optional:
Snatch Pull 2-2-2
Hang Power Snatch 3-3-3
Jerk 2-2-2

CrossFit Rugby

A. Hang Power Clean 3-3-3
Front Squat 3-3-3

B.For Time:
50-40-30-20-10
Suicide Run (just one per round)
Kettlebell Swings
Knees to Elbows
Jumping Back Squats

CrossFit On-Ramp

A. Tabata Plank Hold

B. AMRAP 12
7 Wall ball
7 V-Ups
7 Push Press

Simon shows off his CrossFit conditioning on the field.

Remember the first time you watched Star Wars and you were amazed by the special effects and you wondered how they could even film something so awesome. Flash forward to present time and compare those special effects with a movie like Avatar¹. Now compare some of your best WODs today with when you first started doing CrossFit. On paper, they look totally different, but if you remember back to your first WOD, it was just as hard (if not harder) than your workouts today. Read more »

If you want to run correctly, take your shoes off. Head out for a short jog maybe 50-100 meters (make sure there is no broken glass or sharp objects to hurt your precious footsies). Does it hurt your heels, knees, hips, or back? If so, you are probably running incorrectly. From a young age we are taught to heel strike with every step. The running industry has made billions selling shoes designed to absorb the shock of heel strike running. Nike is full of air and Asics is gellin’, but your knees are still swellin’.
When you run without shoes, heel strikes are very painful. Our heels have little to no natural cushion, and are not made to take the force of a blunt hit to the ground…much less recurring hits during a run or jog. If we can live through our heel pain, we will eventually notice pain moving up through our other joints. Think ankle, knee, hips and back. One or all of your joints have to absorb the shock you are inflicting with every step.
From a physics standpoint, heel strike running doesn’t make sense either. Why would you try to increase the speed of a forward moving object by placing something in front of it? Try rolling a ball forward. Now place something in front of the ball. What happens? The ball stops. When we run incorrectly, landing with our heels in front of our bodies, we are momentarily putting on the brakes and slowing our forward momentum. We then have to push off again to regain speed.

So now what? When you run without shoes, you are forced to run on the balls of your feet. The balls of our feet are naturally padded, and our arches are designed to give and spring with each step. When you run, do so on the balls of your feet. Don’t get over zealous and run up on your toes. Allow your foot to land on the ground directly underneath your body. Make sure you hit between mid to fore foot and allow your heel to barely kiss the ground. Don’t think of pushing off with each step. Your goal is to leave your foot on the ground as little as possible. Concentrate on pulling your foot up and off the ground immediately. To clarify, run in place. Nobody pushes off the ground when you run in place. You pull, pull, pull. Now try pushing off with each step: I bet you look funny and feel even funnier. You want to pull your foot off the ground as you run.
Your speed is depicted by the angle of your body leaning forward. You don’t want to fall on your face right? The lean is your entire body angle. Don’t lean forward from the hip. If you want to speed up, lean forward. If you want to slow down, keep a more up right angle.
This technique is extremely helpful on tough up hill runs and painful, knee-biting down hill runs. It’s called the Pose method, and takes so much pain out of running. Watch these two videos for a good intro explanation:

Pose Part 1

Pose Part 2

WOD 3/8/2010

A. Overhead Squat 1RM

B. For Time:
400M Sandbag Run
20 Sandbag Squats
300M Sandbag Run
30 Sandbag Squats
200M Sandbag Run
40 Sand Bag Squats

C. Optional Oly Lifts:
Hang clean 3-3-3
Front Squat 3-3-3
Jerk 2-2-2

CrossFit Rugby

A. Back Squat 4-4-4
Thruster 4-4-4

B. For time:
21-18-15-12
400M Medball Run
Thrusters
Pull-Ups
Sit-Ups

Bread, everyone seems to love it and it is available everywhere. First thing to your table at the beginning of your meal, and how many of you have been in a rush to get some food, whether it be lunch, dinner or breakfast and been able to find something without some sort of bread (pita, tortilla count).

One of my favorite sites with a ton of nutrition information is Whole9 from Melissa Urban.  Below is an excerpt from their “Grain Manifesto”

We’re continuing our “manifesto” series (refer back to dairy and peanuts for earlier offerings) with the one topic most likely to spur controversy – grains. Our Whole30 program doesn’t include grains of any kind – no breads, cereals, pasta, rice, not even fake grains like quinoa or gluten-free substitutes. We’re about to tell you why. (Note, we are well aware that this information may run counter to everything you’ve ever been told by your parents, doctors, personal trainers, government agencies and TV advertisements. For that, however, we make no apologies… because all the people who have been selling you Whole Grains for Health all these years have been just. Plain. Wrong. We understand if this makes you kind of angry. It makes us angry too.. but that’s a topic for another post.)

Click on the link for more!

Superman has his workout nutrition in check. Do you?

I’ve gotten a couple questions recently about food and maximizing recovery before and after workouts.

Questions have included:

• What should I eat before a workout?
• How much should i eat before a workout?
• How long before a workout should i eat?
• Ohh Slaughter, why are you drinking Milk?
• What are these Zico drinks, man they taste good!!

So lets break down the science of whats going on in the body before and after a workout. The workout we will classify as the stimulus. Pre stimulus it is important to have hormone levels balanced, and energy needs to be ready to be utilized. The way to accomplish this to eat a meal before your workout. This meal needs to be balanced. Let me repeat that. NEEDS TO BE BALANCED. ->> It needs to have protein, carbs, and fats. The questions of when and how much to eat are more variable and person dependent.

Pre-workout is Prime-time-dizzle

If I workout in the morning, I’ll eat something around a 4 block meal, 1 hour before a workout. This is because #1) it’s breakfast time, i haven’t eaten in like 8 hours, and I’m friggin hungry! #2) I don’t have a lot of time after a morning workout to make breakfast and eat it. #3) I don’t get an upset stomach with something around a 4 block meal (this would be like 1/2 an avocado, 4 eggs, and a grapefruit with a cup of blueberries). Some people have a much harder time dealing with a large amount of food pre-workout.

Here are some quick recommendations for pre-workout foodZ!

• 1 block meal 15 minutes pre-workout (example is slice of turkey breast, 1/2 apple, 3 almonds)
• 2 block meal 45 minutes – 60 minutes pre-workout (example is 2 oz jerky, 1/2 grapefruit, 4 full walnuts)
• 3 block meal 1 hour – 1.5 hours pre-workout ( example is 3 oz cooked chicken breast, large kale salad with some avocado.

Bob is the uber-dog of awesomeness

Post workout is the shiznat-didlio-snapdazzle-time

Post-stimulus the chemical levels in the body have changed. This is true whether your female or male, tall or short, can or can’t do double unders. Intense exercise such as Crossfit workouts cause an increase in growth hormone. When nutrition is taken into account correctly post-workout, the hormone levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) are elevated for an extended period of time.Post workout the body has a sensitivity to insulin, basically what has happened is you have depleted the energy levels (glycogen) of the muscles, and the cells are saying FEED ME!!!! When you have some carbohydrates post workout, it raises insulin levels, and stores those carbohydrates into the muscles to be used in the future. This can drastically decrease recovery times. Ever notice when you drink a Zico you feel pretty refreshed about 15-30 minutes after compared to directly post workout?

I want you to further this effect and cause elevated levels of insulin-like growth factor as well. Elevated levels of IGF-1 will signal the body to build lean muscle mass, burn body fat, and develop neurological pathways. (All good things!) To accomplish this, it’s simple. Add in some protein. There are several kinds, Whey protein, casein protein, whey protein, or a mix of several. Stay away from Soy protein please.

Heres some guidelines for post workout nutrition (This should be taken almost immediately after a workout). These are guidelines from my own experiences, as well as influence from OPT, Rob Wolf, and other nutritionists.

• Over 200 pounds: 40 grams protein
• 170-200 pounds: 35 grams protein
• 140-180 pounds: 30 grams protein
• 110-140 pounds: 20 grams protein
• Over 25% bodyfat: 10 grams carbohydrates
• 20-25% bodyfat: 15 grams carbohydrates
• 15-20% bodyfat: 20 grams carbohydrates
• 10-15% bodyfat: 30 grams carbohydrates
• 5-10% bodyfat: 35 grams carbohydrates

Fat comes into play also here, a little bit of fat is good, and plenty OK to have after a workout, but keep it to limited amounts. Fat slows absorption in the intestines and digestion in the stomach, and i want those nutrients on a super rocket into your muscles! If you’re going to have a Zico, bring a little portable protein powder to have with it. It will make a pretty significant difference in your adaptations to the speed and strength training of Crossfit. Cheers all!

WOD 2/12/2010

A. Hang Snatch 2-2-2

B. 1000M Row
21-18-15-12-9
Ring Dips
Wallball

Next Slaughter will show us the Courtney kettlebell swing.

It’s a simple question that we ask you each day you come in. Sometimes you answer with “I feel great” to “I’m a little sore” to “My <insert body part here> kinda hurts when I do this”. We ask you how you feel because we are trying to gauge a few things.

• Is our programming affective? – If your hands are torn and your legs are preparing mutiny on the rest of your body, then we probably shouldn’t have you do Fran that day. We program to where you will be able to come in four to five times a week and experience maximum gains with minimal injury.
• Do we have to scale the workout? – Sometimes we just tweak something and have to take it easy, but still come to CrossFit. Quite the conundrum. If your knee is sore, we can scale the workout so you will still be able to gain the benefit of the WOD without further injuring yourself.
• Can we help with any problems? – Maybe you’re tired from lack of sleep or ate a dozen donuts the night before (I almost had to do that the other night) or have a tight IT band and need to roll out. We’ll help be the motivation to get you back on the fitness wagon.

Don’t think it’s whining to tell us if something hurts or you are feeling tired. We are here to help. That doesn’t mean that we are going to tell you what you want to hear either. We care about your health and fitness, not so much about your feelings. Our goal is to make you more fit as quickly and efficiently as possible (or as quickly as you are willing).

Which brings me to another point. We ask those questions because we care. Why are we called coaches? Because we help coach you through all aspects of fitness and are truly vested in your success. We don’t just tell you to get on a treadmill for 45 minutes and keep your heart rate up. We don’t count your reps for you (unless we think you’re cheating) and tell you to rest when you’re tired. We don’t help you move a pin on the fly machine. If you want that you can save some cash and just go to 24 Hour Fitness. I’ll even make you an appointment. Coaches are here to make sure you accomplish your goals as quickly as possible. Simple.

So next time we ask you how you’re doing, make sure to give us full disclosure. It’s the one time in the day you really can tell someone how you’re doing. If you don’t believe me, then the next time someone asks you “How are you doing?” just answer with “Well I feel ok but it hurts when I jerk [do the jerk motion a few times] but not when I snatch [do the snatch movement a few times…from the ground of course] and sometimes when I pop up from a burpee [do a burpee pausing at the part that hurts]. See? Right here. Overall I think I’ll be ok to do Fran today. So how are you doing?” See what their reaction is.

WOD 3/4/2010

A. AMRAP 2 Min x 2
Jumping Backsquat
2 minutes rest

B. 3 Rounds
30 Kettlebell Swings
10 Manmakers
300M Run

Your primary source of vitamin D

Vitamin D is extremely important, and unfortunately it’s estimated that at least three quarters of Americans are deficient. You might be thinking: “Oh that’s a big surprise Remy. When are you going to write a post on something the SAD (Standard American Diet) has done right?” The answer to your question is probably never, but in the case of vitamin D, I won’t be harping on refined carbohydrate or low quality oils so much. I’m going to suggest that you might need more unprotected… guess what?

Sun exposure! (get your mind out of the gutter), and possibly take a supplement. Read more »