When it comes to nutrition, staying in the Zone is a key component.  Ideally, you want your meals to be as close to the Zone ratio as possible, 40% Carbs/ 30% Protein / 30% Fat.   

Yogurts come in all shapes and sizes, and most vary in nutritional content.  Depending on what you add to your yogurt, choosing the right one is important if you want to stay in the Zone.  Look for a yogurt (preferably organic) that is high in protein so that when you add fresh fruit to your yogurt it doesn’t create a meal that is too high in carbohydrate.  For comparison, I’ve also included the nutritional information for Yoplait flavored yogurt.  By itself it is already WAY out of balance, add some granola, toast, a glass of OJ, or a bagel to this and you are well on your way to an unhealthy insulin spike. 

As a side note, ALL of the yogurts listed below have roughly the same calorie count… it’s just a matter of where the calories are coming from.

Information on plain yogurt is for serving size of 1 cup (8oz.)

Mountain High: Plain (Whole Milk)
Carbs 17
Protein 11
Fat  8
Ratio = 37/24/39

Trader Joe’s European Style Plain Whole Milk
Carbs 14
Protein 12
Fat 7
Ratio = 34/29/37

Trader Joe’s Greek Style Lowfat Plain 2%
Carbs 9
Protein 24
Fat 3
Ratio = 23/60/17

Fage Total 2%
Carb 9
Protein 19
Fat 4.5
Ratio = 23/50/27

Information for Yopait yogurt is for one container (only 6oz.)

Yoplait Flavored Yogurt

Carbs 33 (sugars 27!)
Protein 5
Fat 1.5
Ratio = 80/12/8

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Thursday’s WOD:

compare to 4/6/09

4 Rounds:

15 Deadlifts
403 meter run
15 Ring Dips

results:

Props to Sarah G. who increased her deadlift weight by 20 lbs. on this workout, compared to the last time she did it, AND was still able to better her time by about 30 seconds!

How many times have you come up with an excuse for not making it into the gym.  This video, compliments of CrossFit NE Georgia, speaks for itself.

On a side note, post to comments whether you would prefer me wear khaki pants and a golf shirt while coaching… or if boardshorts and sandals are o.k.

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Wednesday’s WOD:

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes:

10 Wall Balls
10 Knees to Elbow
5 ea. Single Arm KB Walking Lunge
8 Ring Rows

click here for results

In teaching the muscle up these last few weeks, I’ve seen the importance in developing some pulling power from a horizontal position, thus the ring rows.  A muscle up tutorial video may be in order, but don’t hold your breathe.  Rumor has it a female is VERY close to getting the first muslce up at the Sweat Shop by a female.

Also, big performance props out to Jackson M. for crushing his first workout at the Sweat Shop.  With just a few reps short of 12 rounds, Jackson came in 3rd place overall for the day.  And he’s just an 8th grader!

Start your morning out right.  Skip the cereal, toast, bagels, or even oatmeal.  Take some plain yogurt, add some fruit, then top with some crumbled nuts to achieve the crunchy texture you would normally get from granola.  Choosing the right yogurt is key as some have very little protein.  In the coming days I’ll break down various yogurt options, but for now stick with whole milk or 2% plain yogurt.  Greek style yogurt will often have a bit more protein and fewer carbs.

Ingredients:

1 cup of 2% Fage Greek Yogurt
1/4 cup of frozen mango chunks
1/4 cup of blueberries
1/3 cup of blackberries
1/4 cup of pecans

Nutritional Information:

Calories  346
Protein  19
Carbs  27
Fat 18

Click here for more information on why grains are bad for you.

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Tuesday’s WOD:

Row 500 meters

then 4 Rounds of:
8 Clean & Jerks
10 Pullups
15 Wall Balls
20 Situps

finish with (1) 200 meter run

results:

Here are 5 reasons why you should limit your alcohol consumption if you are even remotely serious about making any changes to your fitness and/or body composition.  And although this was written for body builders, the same physiological principles apply to those of us who are working out for functional fitness.

Click here for the  5 reasons why alcohol is keeping you from your goals.

Thanks to CrossFit Football for providing the link.

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Monday’s WOD

403m Run
50 Squats
10 Pushups

300m Run
40 Squats
20 Pushups

200m Run
30 Squats
30 Pushups

200m Run
20 Squats
40 Pushups

300m Run
10 Squats
50 Pushups

403m Run

results:

Few things are cooler than hitting a new PR on your dead lift and walking away with your spinal cord still attached to your pelvis.  And nothing can ruin that high more than watching some guy use the squat rack to hit his 15th set of bicep curls because he doesn’t want to pick the 65 lb. bar from the ground. Another thing that can ruin your high after deadlifting 2.5x your body weight, is taking a shower at your gym where the only option of soap is some generic, unisex scented soap, that was designed to be as unoffensive as possible to both sexes, but that very process has made it extremely undesireable to either gender!   That’s why now that the shower at CrossFit Sweat Shop is up and running you’ll find an assortment of name brand cleaning options that best fit your needs.

Pictured above are two of the men’s soap options: Old Spice Red Zone Double Impact is for guys who are serious about getting clean. The back of the container even describes one of the features, “Advanced Cleaning – removes the toughest dirt…” Clearly this soap isn’t for your average dirt. And when you squeeze some out of it’s container you’ll see that it resembles laundry detergent, only much thicker and more concentrated. This stuff is so strong, some guys have reported it helps to even clean their driving record and credit history!

Axe Snake Peel has attitude written all over it!  When you think of warrior plants, you think of the cactus…right?  Snake Peel contains cactus oil… it doesn’t get much more manly than that!   Snake Peel is also about confidence.  The type of confidence it takes to pull an all-nighter at the bar when you’ve got your biggest presentation of the year at 7am the next morning.  Or perhaps you’re at a local CrossFit competition, the rules of the workout state you must take 155lbs. from ground to overhead “any way possible”, for 30 reps.  While the entire field of competitors performs a clean and jerk, there is that one guy who knocks out 30 snatches at 155lbs.  Check his gym bag… it’s not steriods, its not fish oil…. it’s Snake Peel.

Don’t worry ladies, women’s soaps are also available.

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Friday’s WOD:

3 Burpees, 6 Pullups, 9 Thursters = 1 Cycle
After completing 3 cycles run (1) 403 meter.  This completes 1 Round.
Workout consists of 3 Rounds

(6am class performed 4 rounds… afterwards I decided the 4th round caused a large drop in intensity… all other classes performed 3 Rounds)

results:

Saturday’s WOD:

As many rounds as possible in 15 minutes:

8 Summo Deadlift High Pulls (Rx’d weight: men 115#, women 75#)
10 Pushups
15 KB Swings (Rx’d weight: men 53#, women 35#)
5ea. Single Arm KB Push Press (Rx’d weight: men 53#, women 35#)

results:

CrossFit Sweat Shop will be open on Memorial Day for one class only, 9:30am. 

It’s a great opportunity to bring friends or family that use work as an excuse as to why they can’t workout with you!

Also, Diablo CrossFit has invited any and all Sweat Shop members to their Paleo Potluck Barbeque, on Memorial Day from 11am-2pm.  Diablo CrossFit is located just a few minutes from the Sweat Shop in Pleasant Hill.  I would highly encourage anyone who can make it to go, they have a really nice gym, they are a great group of people, and it’s a great opportunity to taste some delicious Paleo foods.  Kids are welcome and there may even be a workout that goes down.  Check out their blog here.

Muscle up fever continues at the Sweat Shop.  Enrique got his first muscle up yesterday.  Video coming soon.  Also performance props to Nathan for taking the top spot on the leader board for the 500 meter row with a time of 1:30.5    Nathan was able to get this time even after a workout that had a couple of thrusters in it.  Nice work!

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Thursday’s WOD:

Dead Lift
5-5-5-5-5

Ring Dips (weighted if possible)
5-5-5-5-5

Now that Aaron is finally reclaiming some respectable numbers on his dead lift, let’s talk sushi catering.  I recently had lunch at Aaron’s house and was amazed as I watched him assemble these delicious sushi rolls.  Aaron (Hiroshi as he is called by his grandmother) is a sushi chef at Ozumo, and has even designed a roll that is featured on their menu.  Aside from being a sushi chef at arguably one of San Francisco and Oakland’s finest sushi restuarants, Aaron also does sushi catering for events of all sizes.  All the ingredients are fresh, the sauces are made by Aaron, and the fish is picked up the day of and broken down by Aaron himself. 

Aaron’s creativity and flexibility is off the charts!  I simply told him I like fresh cilantro and fresh basil, 10 minutes later we were enjoying the amazing rolls pictured above.

Picture one:
“The Zone Roll” – Cucumber Wrap

Inside: Spicy Tuna, Carrot, Daikon

Top: Maguro (Yellow Fin Tuna), Avocado, Cilantro

Sauce: Chili Aioli and Teriyaki Sauce

 

Picture two on the right side:

Basil Roll

Inside: Real Snow Crab, Avocado, Cucumber

Top: Maguro (Yellow Fin Tuna), Mango, Basil

Sauce: Creamy Teriyaki

For catering details you can contact Aaron at:

 hiroshiscatering@gmail.com

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Wednesday’s WOD:

start with (1) 403 meter run

 

then 5 Rounds of:

6 Front Squats

8 Pullups

10 Knees to Elbow

12 Box Jumps

 

finish with (1) 403 meter run

 

results:

Goat (göt) – an exercise that you are very bad at, dislike, and usually try to avoid whenever possible.

Everybody has them.  Some people do whatever they can to avoid them, others face their weaknesses and overcome them.  In order to develop a complete “fitness portfolio”, identifying your weaknesses is the first step. 

Fortunately, the CrossFit training program is constantly varied and not only encompasses a huge variety of exercises, but also addresses different energy systems (ATP-PC, Glycolytic (Anaerobic), Aerobic), in conjunction with different muscular strength demands.  Therefore, by following a CrossFit training program, you will likely address your “goat” on a semi-regular basis.  This is very likely to be much better than what you would be doing on your own.  Think back to before you began CrossFit (or for those that aren’t members, take a look at your current training program), when you would decide what type of exercises you are going to do each day,  it would usually involve things that you are good at and enjoy very much.  However, this approach may not be very beneficial, if achieving higher levels of fitness is one of your goals.

Identify your weaknesses, then face them head on.  Start by posting your goat(s) to the comments section.

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Tuesday’s WOD:

12 Wall Ball
24 Ring Rows
24 Weighted Pushups
12 Overhead Squats

18 Wall Ball
18 Ring Rows
18 Weighted Pushups
18 Overhead Squats

24 Wall Ball
12 Ring Rows
12 Weighted Pushups
24 Overhead Squats

results:

 The Dead Lift is king.  Without a proper dead lift you can’t properly perform a clean from the floor.  It also happens to be one of, if not the most functional movements of all.  If you have to pick something heavy off the ground, your form should look as close to this as the object you are lifting shape and size will allow for.  Done properly the dead lift will strengthen the posterior chain of muslces like no single other movement.  This includes strengthening your low back to avoid possible injury while lifting something in day-to-day activities.  Your low back consists of muscles just like other parts of the body, and if worked more than normal, they too will get sore.  Therefore, a sore low back after doing dead lifts isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  However, doing this exercise incorrectly can certainly lead to unnecessary low back discomfort.  Watch the video several times as to pick up on each of the errors.  Do some dead lifts.  Watch the video again.   Get a PR on your dead lift.  Watch the video again.

Saturday’s WOD:

4 and 5 person teams must first run 1 mile while carrying one 20# medicine ball amongst the entire team.  Everyone must carry the ball at some point during the run.  Upon returning, each team member must complete the following on their own:

5 ROUNDS

6ea. Single Arm KB Squat
8 Ring Dips
20 Situps
10 Overhead Squats

The team of Mike B., Lones, Lauren, and John.  Had the fastest average time of 21:45. 

Monday’s WOD:

“Helen”

3 Rounds

403 meter run
21 KB Swings (Rx’d weight for men/women: 53/35)
12 Pullups

results:

Here is a tasty dish that was made completely free of electricity.

Rosemary Grilled Chicken
Grilled Pork Tenderloin
Mixed Greens Salad
Grilled Asparagus
Grilled Red Pepper

This past weekend, while my parents were visiting from Atlanta, I was fortunate enough to experience a little of Murphy’s Law. Saturday evening, while getting ready to prepare dinner, the power in my apartment went out. Not too big of a deal, I just moved the ingredients outside, where there was more light, prepared the items and placed them on the grill to cook. About 8 minutes into the process when I went to check on the grilled items, I realized the propane had ran out. No big deal, a propane refill will only take a minute. Unfortunately the gate to my apartment complex was not operating due to the power being out. After a 10 minute wait the maintenance guy came and disassembled part of the gate. By the time I got back and finished cooking the meat it was so dark in my apartment that had to move my table outside so that we could have enough light to eat. Sure we could have just given up right away and gone out to eat, but we didn’t. The moral of the story? 1.) Healthy eating takes a little bit of work, but is well worth it. 2.) If you live in a 4,000 sq/ft home in Contra Costa County, stop running your AC 24/7 when it gets really hot… you’re causing my power to go out!

Saturday’s WOD:

I’ll list it on tomorrow’s post…. but just imagine what it would feel like to carry a 2 year old child for a mile, then try to change the toner in your laser printer while an anger badger nips at your feet, and your head feels like Blue Bomber when he malfunctions and Red Rocker gets a 46 punch combo, uncontested.

Post thoughts to comments section, or don’t.

Check out this video of a break dancing toddler. Aside from it being a really cool video of a 2 year old doing some amazing stuff (0:50 in the video is just ridiculous!), we as adults can also learn something from it. Notice how many times the boy fails while attempting various moves. Also notice how these failures don’t set him back one bit! When learning any new skill, failure is a necessary and inevitable part of the learning process. Each time we fail we learn.

“If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.”
-Thomas Watson, Sr

“Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”
-Winston Churchill

Thursday’s WOD:

Begin w/ 400 meter row,

then 4 Rounds of:
10 Clean and Jerks
15 Situps
10 Pullups
15 Box Jumps

finish w/ 400 meter row

Friday’s WOD:

Dead Lifts
5-5-5-5-5

Push Jerks
5-5-5-5-5

Performance props out to:

Lones for a dead lift of 165×5, which is well over her body weight!

Lauren for getting a new PR on the 500 meter row, and reclaiming the Sweat Shop women’s record, now set at 1:45:7

Aaron for hitting a dead lift of 365×5, just two weeks or so after a serious auto accident!

Have a great weekend, don’t forget your SPF.

Muscle Up fever has stricken the Sweat Shop.  Yesterday, John M. got his first muscle up, as well as the first muscle up performed at CrossFit Sweat Shop!  In doing so, John was awarded a free month for being the first male to get a muscle up.  And as I’ve experienced in the past, just a few minutes after John achieved his muscle up, Don also got his first muscle up!  Great work guys!  There still haven’t been any women to get a muscle up so a free month is still up for the ladies!

Post props to John and Don to the comments section… they deserve it!

Wednesday’s WOD:

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes:

10 Wall Balls
10 Summo-Dead Lift High Pulls
10 Burpees
10 Medball Cleans

count complete rounds and any partial rounds
compare your results to 4/1/09, when we performed this workout last

results:

Two weekends ago, while competing in the Nor Cal qualifiers, I had what you would call a “cheat day(s)”.  My reason for sharing this is not to boast, but to demonstrate that if you eat really good 95% of the time, it’s ok to cheat every now and again.  Because I’ve learned to enjoy many healthy food items, I rarely crave most junk food items.  However, on this particular weekend, the combination of little preparation to ensure I had my normal food items, going much longer than I normally do between meals, and the junk food items being readily available, all combined in just the right combination for an apocalyptic binge that I haven’t experienced since the days of cutting weight for wrestling.

During the course of two days, IN ADDITION TO my normal meals, of which I would consider healthy food items, I also had:

12 Large homemade chocolate chip cookies (3 of which were devoured in a cookie sandwich: one cookie in the middle, sandwiched between two more cookies!… completely eaten during a 40 second elevator ride!)  Pure deliciousness!

2 Cokes (while waiting for dinner on Saturday night.  first time I’ve had any in a couple of years.  Bubbles, sugar, and caffeine… what a fantastic combo!

8 Sausages (salty, greasy, and made with mysterious animal parts… scrumptious!!)

2 bowls of ice cream (one of them was topped with some of the chocolate chip cookies listed above)  Amazing! 

I was rewarded with a splitting headache on Sunday, and a strong feeling of nausea after completing the workout.  My point is, even with two days of horrible eating habits I didn’t gain any measurable weight… the reason for this is the other 95% of the time is healthy eating.  Another effect of binge junk food eating (if done sporadically enough) is that the negative feedback you get after eating it (i.e. you feel like crap), is a good reinforcement tool for eating healthy.  The KEY here is that you have to be eating really healthy to notice the difference, Subway, fat free Yoplait yogurt, and Jamba Juice smoothies is not considered healthy eating.

Post your guilty pleasures to the comment section.  (Food related only please.)

Tuesday’s WOD:

2 Rounds:

400 meter row
20 KB Swings
10 Knees to Elbow
15 Wall Balls
Run 403 meters
20 KB Swings
10 Knees to Elbow
15 Wall Ball

results:

 On Saturday, CrossFit Sweat Shop (Don, John and myself) came in 2nd place out of 24 teams competing in the Affiliate Throwdown at CrossFit San Francisco!  The four person team required a female and since we were missing our female we picked up Christine from CrossFit Oakland who had just finished doing the workout with her team a few minutes earlier!!  Christine more than held her own while doing the workout for the second time.  Our 2nd place finish was just 20 seconds behind the firebreathing team from CrossFit Oakland.

The workout required each team to pull a sled load with 135lbs. about 1/3 of a mile down Mason Street.  A heavy metal post also had to be carried and could not touch the ground or be carried on the shoulder at any point during the workout.  Upon reaching the turn around point, each team member had to complete 30 burpees, still, the post could not touch the ground.  After all team members completed the 30 burpees, we then had to drag the sled and carry the post all the way back to the start.  Our time was 11:41

Thanks again for your help Christine!!

pictures from the event can be found here

Monday’s WOD:

“Fran”
21-15-9
Thrusters & Pullups (Rx’d weight is 95# for men, 65# for women)

results: