Volume one of the CrossFit Sweat Shop Survival Guide is now available.  If you haven’t already received it, pick it up the next time you are in the gym.  It contains lots of useful information regarding CrossFit and CrossFit Sweat Shop that will make your workout experience more enjoyable and worthwhile.

 Today’s WOD

Back Squat 5-5-5-5-5

Shoulder Press 5-5-5-5-5

excerpt from the Survival Guide regarding strength…
“Increasing your strength is critical to your overall fitness, well being, as well as your general, and specific work capacities.  Metabolic conditioning workouts are great for increasing your cardio-respiratory, as well as muscle endurance.  There are also some strength gains that can take place even during these workouts that contain little to no rest.  However, by having some days that we focus just on strength (lifting heavier weight, with much more rest between sets) we will then be able to increase our power output (work much harder, burn more calories, however you want to look at it) on the metcon workouts.  Increasing your absolute strength will also allow you to be more confident in your daily life knowing that you are far more capable than before.”

Above:  James Barber, former VSP coach, demonstrates his explosive power.  Below:  Nabil Langkilde moves explosively to get out of the way of some athletes performing an acceleration drill.

Sports Performance training classes will soon be available at CrossFit Sweat Shop.  These classes are for all aged athletes and are designed to increase their explosivness, thus improving their speed, agility, acceleration and rotational power.  Regardless of what sport an athlete plays, an increase in explosive power will always have a positive effect on their athletic performance. 

Please note:  THIS IS NOT CrossFit for kids.  This is a program I’ve helped to develop over the last 7 years and most recently as the former Sports Performance Director of Velocity Sports Performance in Concord.  There will be some aspects of metabolic conditioning, but the majority of the program is comprised of strength training in the form of olympic lifting, in addition to plyometrics, and advanced agility drills.  Explosive training is not geared towards increasing the size of the muscle.  Granted muscle hypertrophy is likely, the goal and product of this program is making muscles more powerful/explosive/”fast twitch”, at their given size. Lifting weights, as done in most high school weight rooms is not only a poor use of time, it can actually be detrimental to an athlete’s performance due to lack of supervision, and misinformation that results in most athletes performing body building type exercises.  If you or your athlete is not on a program specifically designed to increase their explosivness, there is a large gap in their training regimen.

Click below to watch a video demonstration of explosivness.

jb_jump_low_res

Feel free to read an article I wrote for a local newspaper several years back regarding strength training for youth athletes.   (in the article “crunches” should read “situps”….bad editor! … also my photo in the article clearly demonstrates the effects of a carbohydrate rich diet!)

Below are the links, a link for each page.

http://www.claytonpioneer.com/PDFS/page%2013%2006%2003.pdf

http://www.claytonpioneer.com/PDFS/page%2015%2006%2003.pdf

Tuesday’s WOD:

250m Row, then 2 Rounds of:
15 DB Clean and Jerks
15 KTE’s from rings
10 Burpees
20 Walking lunges

rest 3 minutes then repeat begining w/ 250m row

The weather is getting nice again, if you have a grill use it!  If you don’t, you should be ashamed of yourself.  It doesn’t get much easier than this dish, here’s what we’ve got:

8oz. of fresh mahi mahi
1/2 canteloupe
1/2 avocado
1 cup of mix veggies (broccoli and carrots)

Pre-heat your grill.  Drizzle olive oil on the fish, then season it with salt, lemon pepper, and perhaps a little minced garlic.  Wrap the veggies in some foil with a little bit of water along with some salt and pepper.  Turn the heat down to medium, then put the fish and veggies on the grill.  Depending on the thickness, about 5 minutes on each side and the fish is done, the veggies will still have quite a bit of crunch to them at this point (which isn’t a bad thing), leave them on a few minutes longer if desire them a little softer.  While the fish and veggies cook, slice an avocado and the cantaloupe.  This meal takes 20 minutes or less, start to finish, and the biggest clean up is the “brain matter” from the cantaloupe.

Nutritional Info

(remember, this is not an exact amount, I ONLY factor in the protein from the fish, the carbs from the fruits and veggies, and the fat from the avocado!  This is because these are what each of these foods primarily contain, yes there is a little protein in the avocado and there is a little fat in the mahi, but you’ll drive yourself crazy if you try and count each nutrient from each food… determine if the food is primarily protein, fat, or carb, then count only that nutrient)

Protein 53
Carbs 35
Fat 13

If you notice, most of my meals aren’t in exact Zone proportions (7 grams of protein for every 9 grams of carbohydrate).  Personally I’ve found that a reduction in carbs and an increase in fat (plant source) keeps my energy higher, keeps me feeling full longer, and keeps my insulin levels more consistent (avoiding the surges and crashes that make you feel lathargic shortly after a meal), which in turn has resulted in a decrease in body fat.  I can attribute this in part to my diet because relative to when I would train for triathlons, I was eating very high amounts of carbs and doing between 2 and 6 hours of cardio a day.  Now I don’t do any long cardio sessions, only short high intensity CrossFit workouts, and my body fat has dropped by several percentage points.  I would recommend starting with exact Zone proportions, then start tweaking a little to find what works best for you.

Today’s WOD

4 Rounds

15 Deadlifts
403 meter run
15 ring dips 

So far Rob P. has the fastest time for the men, and Lones has the fastest time for the women at the Rx’d dead lift weight.

Clearly our workouts are much cooler than most people’s.  While others run indoors, ride stationary bikes that lead to no where, and churn away on an eliptical machine that is so boreing their attention must be diverted with multiple televisions, headphones, and magazines, we at the Sweat Shop often take advantage of the phenominal weather that we are blessed with in the East Bay!  Get outside, breathe the fresh air, revel in the sound of your own breathing, as well as those around you… it’s the sound of you getting in shape… and trust me, it sounds much better than that Rhianna song that is being played for the 637th time at your gym!

Thursday’s WOD:

5 Rounds

250 meter run
12 Dumbbell Cleans
200 meter row
8 thrusters

Best male and best female times were seperated by only a few seconds!

Sarah G. 20:45
Mike S. 20:56
 

Friday’s WOD:

“Defend This”

5 Rounds

5 Push Jerks
10 Pullups
15 Kettlebell Swings

designed by Brandon B., prescribed weight for men is 185# for the push jerks, and 53# for the kettlebell swings.

*Reminder*

CrossFit Sweat Shop now has Saturday morning class at 9:30am. 

*****UPDATE****

Rob P., along with other members of CrossFit Sweat Shop will be doing the Brickyard Race in Martinez on Sunday April 5th.  It’s a quick and scenic 4 mile run with proceeds going to local schools and the East Bay Park District.  Race day registration is $25.  Details can be found on the website:

http://www.geocities.com/brickyardrace/

Have a great weekend!

Classes have begun at the new CrossFit Sweat Shop.  Today’s workout is a challenging metcon that will test you mentally as well as physically:

Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes of the following:

10 Wall Balls (men 20#, women 14#)
10 Summo Dead Lift Hi-Pulls
10 Burpees
10 Medicine Ball Cleans (men 20#, women 14#)

There have been some great numbers posted so far for both the women and the men.  I’ll post the best scores later this afternoon when all classes have been completed.

**Results from Day One at the new Sweat Shop**

Rob P. completed the most rounds for the men with 8 rounds plus 5 wall balls, and Sarah G. had the most for the females at 7 rounds plus 10 Hi-Pulls.