Here is an eye opening presentation on sugar from Robert Lustig MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics.  I first saw it about 2 weeks ago on the CrossFit Oakland comment section, and have since seen it on the Diablo CrossFit and CrossFit Oakland main page.  The reason I mention this is because it brings me great pride to be involved in a community that truly cares for the health and well-being of it’s members.  CrossFit clearly isn’t just a bunch of meatheads that just push barbells and do pullups.

The video is 90 minutes, so break it up in a couple of parts, or wait until you get to work next week and are having a case of the Mondays.  Seriously, this video is worth watching, the quality of information shared in this presentation is something you would have to pay big bucks for, and/or endure 4 years of school at UCSF.

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Thursday’s WOD:
compare to:   4.1.09    5.13.09    9.8.09 

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes:

10 Wall Balls
10 Summo Deadlift High Pull
10 Burpees
10 Medball Cleans

results:

Despite what you may want to believe, when you crave pizza, ice cream, pasta, or soft drinks, it’s not because your body needs it.  Here are a few examples:

Crave?                                 You need this.              Eat this instead.
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chocolate                                         Magnesium                             nuts, seeds, legumes, fruits

soda/carbonated drinks            Calcium                                    greens, broccoli, cheese

Check out the full list here.

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Wednesday’s WOD:

A.) Overhead Squats
9-9-7-7-5-5

B.)
500m Row
10 Overhead Squats
15 Situps
10 Overhead Squats
15 Situps

results:

Some of the morning class during their workout, “Walking Grace”,  this past weekend.  30 Clean & Jerks performed at some point along the 403 meter run loop.

Statistical Fact of the Day:  147 people who just read this post are wishing their 24 hour fitness gym would trade in some of their mirrors for an outdoor running loop.

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Tuesday’s WOD:

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Thrusters
KB Swings
Pullups

results:

Last Friday, Bernie from the Biggest Loser stopped by CrossFit Sweat Shop in Walnut Creek.  This was his first ever CrossFit workout, and he totally slayed it!!  5 Rounds of 400m row, immediately followed by a 403m run.  A pretty grueling workout for anyone, but Bernie turned in some awesome times for each round.  Excellent work Bernie, you truly are an inspiration!

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Monday’s WOD:

“Fatback Cindy”

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes:

3 Back Squats
5 Pullups
10 Pushups

results:

*Big props to Jennifer.  With just one day of rest from the Masters Event, she came in and did this workout and did ALL the pullups unnassisted.  That’s a total of 60 pullups.  Nice work Jennifer!

CrossFit Sweat Shop Masters Event:  Walnut Creek, CA.  October 24th 2009

The two videos below are a hilarious take on the Masters Event as seen and produced by some spectators from CFO (CrossFit Oakland)

Part 2

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Friday’s WOD:

5 Rounds

400m Row
403m Run

REST 4 minutes between rounds

results:

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Sunday’s WOD:

“Walking Grace”

-Barbell must be carried (anyway) one lap on the 403m loop
-Must perform 30 Clean & Jerks w/ barbell

you may break the C&J’s anyway you like and do them before, after, and/or during the 403m walk.

results:

 Dean Woerner, of Diablo CrossFit, deadlifting during WOD#3 in today’s Masters Competition

Awesome job by everyone today!  Full details, including pictures and videos will be posted soon.  Big props to Kevin Suttmoeller from CrossFit Redding who took 1st place, then split his prize money ($300) 3 ways with 2nd and 3rd place.  That was big. 

Female Results:

1st Allison Belger - TJ’s Gym
2nd Holly Casaus - Diablo CrossFit
3rd Sandra Ross - CrossFit Redding
4th Patricia Elliot - TJ’s Gym
5th Lones Stern Banks - CrossFit Sweat Shop
6th Jennifer Behm - CrossFit Sweat Shop
7th Lisa Smith - TJ’s Gym
8th Lorraine King - Silicon Valley
9th Leigh Costain - CrossFit Oakland
10th Robin Barnato - TJ’s Gym

Best Run Time:  Allison Belger 23:08
Best Clean:  Holly Casaus 133#
Best WOD #3 Time:  Allison Belger 5:20

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Men’s Results:

1st Kevin Suttmoeller - CrossFit Redding
2nd David Sally - CrossFit Oakland
3rd Greg Lombardo - San Jose Police
4th James Garvin - Speed Strength Training Roseville 
5th Terry Dickman - CrossFit Excel
6th Steve Downey - CrossFit Oakland
7th Robert Parrish - CrossFit Sweat Shop
8th Greg Saunders - Hollister
9th Max Lewin - CrossFit East Bay
10th Dean Woerner - Diablo CrossFit
11th Peter Dapkus - CrossFit Oakland
12th Mike Banks - CrossFit Sweat Shop
13th Brian Roach - CrossFit Oakland
14th Lee Tannenbaum - Catalysts Athletics
15th Maris Goldsborough - CrossFit Solano
16th Jim Dick - CrossFit Sweat Shop

Best Run Time:  Dean Woerner 22:22
Best Clean:  David Sally & Terry Dickman 235#
Best WOD#3 Time:  Kevin Suttmoeller 5:21

Does your periodontist do deadlifts?  If not, you should find a new one.  Eric Tsai, a periodontist here in Walnut Creek, says CrossFit has helped him to sustain longer during extended surgical procedures.  I know if I were undergoing a long surgery, I would much rather have a doctor that can run 1 mile then do 100 pullups, 200 pushups, 300 squats and then run another mile, all in one hour’s time…. rather than some doc that goes on the elliptical for 20 minutes 3x/week.  That’s just one more thing to add to the list of benefits from CrossFit… making your daily work easier.

Good luck to all the masters that will be competing in Saturday’s event at the Sweat Shop!

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Thursday’s WOD:

400m Row
403m Run
15 Overhead Squats
15 Pullups
10 Ring Dips
15 Burpees
15 Knees to Elbow
15 KB Swings
15ea. Walking Lunge
15 Pullups
403m Run

results:

Quick and easy, and seriously satisfying, this turkey burger served over mixed greens with sweet potato fries is a delicious alternative to the traditional burger and fries.  Since turkey doesn’t have much fat you need to add a few ingredients to keep it moist and give it a great flavor.  Saute some shallots and a bit of parsley.  Peel and finely chop a granny smith apple, 1/2 a fresh lemon squeezed, along with a bit of lemon zest, some mango chutney and salt and pepper to taste.  Mix all those ingredients with the ground meat, form into patties, and cook for a few minutes on each side.  For the sweet potato fries, thinly slice the potatoes, drizzle in olive oil, salt, pepper, chili powder, and rosemary.  Bake in the oven for about 35-45 minutes, or until slightly crispy.  Skip the burger bun, it only robs the burger of it’s flavor.  Enjoy!

**REMINDER** There will be NO classes on Saturday October 24th.  There WILL however be ONE class on Sunday October 25th at 9:30am.

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Wednesday’s WOD:

Deadlift
5-5-5-5-5

*immediately after each set of deadlifts, perform one set of max reps weighted pushups with 10-45lbs.

rest as needed before moving on to next set

results:

Two members of CrossFit Sweat Shop, Nathan and Carolyn, received their CrossFit Level 1 certification last week in Yosemite.  While they were there they hiked up Half Dome, and took this ridiculous shot.  Congratulations guys!

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Masters Update

The list of participants is growing, and they are not only coming from Bay Area CrossFit gyms, but all over Northern California!  Here are the CrossFit cities in attendance so far:

Walnut Creek
Pleasant Hill
Lafayette
Danville
Martinez
San Francisco
Oakland
Richmond
Berkeley
Vacaville
Fairfield
San Jose
San Rafael
Manteca
Corte Madera
Roseville
Redding
Larkspur
Los Altos
Fresno
Hollister

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Tuesday’s WOD:

4 Rounds

10 Hang Squat Cleans
2 Rope Ascents (or ring modification)
20 Box Jumps

results:

Ok people, the Masters Event is right around the corner and we have a few updates:

• Jon Lucchesi, manager of Lululemon Walnut Creek, and CrossFit Sweat Shop member is offering Lululemon apparrel to the 1st place male and female finisher.
• Workout # 2 is no longer a Squat Clean, rather, simply a Clean.  Athletes are not required to pass through a full front squat.  The barbell must still start on the ground, and finish in the rack position while standing fully upright.
• The field is limited at 45 participants, and is currently more than half full.  If you want to compete this weekend you should register now.

**Sweat Shop members please note there will be no classes on Saturday October 24th.  There WILL however be ONE class on Sunday October 25th at 9:30am**

 Big thanks to Susie for tipping me off to this!  Medals4Mettle is a great organization that collects medals of all kinds (marathon, triathlon, etc.) and distributes them to people who have displayed courage in dealing with disease, handicap, and other challenges.  If you’ve run any races in the past, check your closet to see if you have any medals lying around.  There will be a collection box at the gym that I’ve already got going with several of my medals.  Let’s see if we can fill that sucker up!

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Friday’s WOD:

400m Row, then:

4 Rounds

10 Clean & Jerks
10 Ring Dips
10 Double Unders

finish with (1) 403m run

results: 

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Saturday’s WOD:

“Murph”

1 Mile Run
100 Pullups
200 Pushups
300 Squats
1 Mile Run

*Start with 1 mile run, finish with 1 mile run.  Pullups, pushups, squats can be partitioned however you choose.*

results:

The CrossFit Sweat Shop Masters Event is ONLY open to men and women ages 40 and up. Here are the details:

Date: Saturday October 24th

Time: Registration 9am
Athletes Briefing 9:30am
Workouts begin 10:00am

Location: CrossFit Sweat Shop - 1401 Autocenter Dr., Walnut Creek, CA 94597

Entry Fee: $35 (online registration closes Thursday 10/22/09 at midnight)

Late Registration: $50 (day of competition)

Field Limit: 45 participants TOTAL

Prize: 1st Place Male $300
1st Place Female $300
*Prize money WILL increase if field reaches capacity.

Workout #1 Run:  Distance will be between 800 meters and 4 miles

Workout #2  Squat Clean 1RM (3 attempts.  Only the single best successful lift counts.  Order that athletes begin workout #2 will be determined by their run placement.  Those that finish last on the run will start first on the Squat Cleans.)

Workout #3  (12 minute limit)

3 Rounds

9 Deadlifts (women 135#/men 225#)
12 Burpees
15 Wall Balls (women 14#/men 20#)

Scoring:

Max Load from Workout #2 divided by the sum times of Workout #1 & Workout #3 
This method was chosen over awarding points for what place an athlete finishes each workout to encourage max effort on each and every workout.

*Registration is filling up and therefore “day of” registration may not be available by Saturday*

Mike S. recently took a little hunting trip into the Canadian wilderness.  While there he managed to kill a wild caribou.  This caribou grazed off the land, lived free range and literally several hundred miles from civilization… you can’t get a more pure form of protein than this.  And if you think that hunting is inhumane, yet you purchase meat from the grocery store, even if it is Whole Foods in Walnut Creek… you should probably watch this.

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Wednesday’s WOD:

5 Rounds

15 KB Swings
15 Wall Balls
15 Box Jumps

results:

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Tuesday’s WOD:

A.) “Tabata Something Else”

As many reps as possible
20 seconds of work
10 seconds of rest
8 Sets of each movement before moving on to the next

Pullups
Pushups
Situps
Squats

B.) (1) 500m Row

results:

CrossFit truly is for everyone.  However, due to it’s recent explosion in popularity, the competitions have become quite exclusive.  And rightfully so, competitions to determine the fittest humans will absolutely exclude the majority of the population.  However, there is an ever growing  population of extraordinarily fit individuals that should still be able to enjoy the excitement of c0mpetitions.

The CrossFit Sweat Shop Masters Event is ONLY open to men and women ages 40 and up.  Here are the details:

Date:  Saturday October 24th

Time:  Registration 9am
                Athletes Briefing 9:30am
                Workouts begin 10:00am

Location:  CrossFit Sweat Shop - 1401 Autocenter Dr., Walnut Creek, CA 94597

Entry Fee:  $35 (online registration closes Thursday 10/22/09 at midnight)

Late Registration:  $50 (day of competition)

Field Limit:  45 participants TOTAL

Prize:  1st Place Male $300
               1st Place Female $300
*Prize money WILL increase if field reaches capacity.

Workout #1 Run
Workout #2 Strength Event
Workout #3Metcon

Complete details of each of the workouts, as well as the scoring system, will be released soon.

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Monday’s WOD:

A.) Front Squats
5-5-5-5-5

B.) 2 Rounds
8 Squat Cleans
10 Pushups

then (1) 403m run

results:

Rob Medsger with excellent overhead squat form

CrossFit Sweat Shop is not only home to people of all ages and fitness levels from Walnut Creek and the surronding areas, it’s also a gym that many personal trainers hold a memberships at.  The level of instruction, combined with the supportive group environment make CrossFit Sweat Shop the ideal gym for beginners, as well as those that fitness is their career!  I myself, before opening the Sweat Shop in Walnut Creek, was the Sports Performance Director for Velocity Sports Performance in Concord, and also worked at another top gym in Walnut Creek.  And although I lived less than 2 miles from each of the gyms I worked at, I paid for a membership at CrossFit Oakland, and would drive there several times a week because of the superior instruction, and the supportive and challenging environment.

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Friday’s WOD:

4 Rounds

403m Run
15 Deadlifts
20 KB Swings

results:

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Saturday’s WOD:

4 Rounds

10 Hang Power Snatch
5 Overhead Squat
10 Pushups
1 Rope Ascent (or SA ring row modification)

results:

Lastly, I just wanted to say how proud I am of EVERYONE that trained on Saturday.  Most people had little to no experience with the Snatch, but after the skill development portion of the class everyone did an awesome job maintaining excellent technique during a short, but challenging workout.  It’s sessions like that, that get me so excited and remind me how thankful I am to be involved with such an inspiring group of people.  Thanks everyone, keep up the great work!!

This is awesome.  The corn industry is obviously concerned about people educating themselves on the health risks of high fructose corn syrup.  They developed an ad campaign and a site to try and tame people’s concerns about the dangers of high fructose corn syrup.  The campaign trys to exploit the fact that people are hearing that HFCS is bad, but most average americans can’t explain why it’s bad.  A repeated theme in the campaign is that it, (HFCS) is natural because it comes from corn… so it is fine.  Corn may be natural, however, the processes that creates HFCS is by no means natural or happens in “nature”.  Add to that the fact that corn is in so many food products, is a genetically modified crop, and gets hit with lots of pesticides and you’ve got a product you may want to reconsider ingesting.

Check out the ad campaign here.

Don’t be one of the uneducated idiots played by the actors in the ad campaign.  A study published earlier this year from the University of California Berkeley showed that compared to glucose, fructose had the following effects.

1) Four-fold greater intra-abdominal fat accumulation

2) 13.9% increase in LDL cholesterol, doubled Apoprotein B

3) 44.9% increase in small LDL, 3-fold more than glucose

4) Increased postprandial triglycerides 99.2%.

Other studies have shown that fructose:

–Increases uric acid–No longer is red meat the cause for increased uric acid; fructose has taken its place. Uric acid may act as an independent coronary risk factor and increases high blood pressure and kidney disease.

–Induces insulin resistance, the situation that creates diabetes

–Increases glycation (fructose linked to proteins) and protein cross-linking, processes that underlie atherosclerosis, liver disease, and cataracts.
http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com

If you want to learn more, the study is published in it’s entirety here.

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Thursday’s WOD:

A.) Overhead Squats
7-7-7

B.) 100 Burpees
*every minute perform 3 strict pullups (or most challenging pullup variation you are capable of)

results:

Catalyst Athletics down in Sunnyvale has a great website that among other things, includes some delicous and healthy recipes.  This chicken apples salad is quick, easy, and taste great.  Below are the ingredients.  Check out the website here.

Time:  25 minutes

• 6 oz chicken
• 6 cups shredded cabbage
• 1/2 Grannysmith apple
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• olive oil
• sea salt and pepper to taste
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Wednesday’s WOD:

7 minutes to complete:

(1) 403m Run
Max Reps Body Weight Bench Press (or pushups)
Max Pullups

REPEAT for 4 Rounds

results:

Aside from getting you in great shape.  CrossFit can very likely save your life.  Lifting weights isn’t just for guys trying to get buff and stare at themselves in the mirror.  Check out this story of a woman who was attacked in her house.

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Tuesday’s WOD:

Round 1:

3 minutes to perform 350 meter row, then as many reps as possible of the following exercises, 1 set at a time w/ 90 seconds rest b/t sets:

1.) Pushups
2.) Wall Balls
3.) Knees to Elbow
4.) Box Jumps

Round 2:

Same format, only 90 seconds to complete 200 meter row

results:

Nick and Jake (ages 9), prepare to do battle on the rower.

Whether you are a child or an adult, everyone is able to train quite a bit harder when they train alongside others.  That is just one of the principals that makes training at a CrossFit gym so effective.  A study was just released that proves this theory.

ScienceDaily (Sep. 28, 2009) — A study of Oxford rowers has shown that members of a team who exercised together were able to tolerate twice as much pain as when they trained on their own.

Read the full article here.

Another opportunity to train alongside others, and for a great cause, is a 5K fun run/walk put on by the United Mt. Diablo Ahtletic Foundation.  As many of you likely know, funding was cut for the athletic programs of many Walnut Creek, Concord and Pleasant Hill schools, including:  Clayton Valley, College Park, Mt. Diablo, Concord, Northgate, and Ygnacio Valley high schools.  The 5K, being held at 9am on October 18th at Newhall Community Park will help raise money to fund the programs at these schools.  Flyers for the 5K are available at CrossFit Sweat Shop, or you can download the registration form here.

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Monday’s WOD:

A.) 3 minutes to complete 15 Burpees and 15 Squats, then as many reps as possible of Push Jerks.  REST 2 minutes, REPEAT 3 rounds.

B.) 3 minutes to complete 15 Box Jumps and 15 Pushups, then as many reps as possible of Deadlifts.  REST 2 minutes, REPEAT 3 rounds.

results:

CrossFit Sweat Shop’s members don’t just drag themselves into the gym two to three times per week.  Many of them get out there an take advantage of their increasing fitness levels by competing in various events.  Pictured above are Doug, Carolyn, and Nathan, just before finishing an 8 hour adventure race in Tahoe a few weeks back.

Congratulations to the following Sweat Shop members and friends who just completed the San Jose Rock & Roll 1/2 Marathon:

• Jon
• Krista
• Ollie
• Lisa
• Carolyn
• Darcy

I apologize if I missed anyone else.

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Friday’s WOD:

A.) Overhead Squats
5-5-5-5-5

B.) 2 Rounds

15 Overhead Squats
403m Run

results:
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Saturday’s WOD:

A.) Broad jump from the gym to the fence in as few a jumps as possible

B.) # of broad jumps determines how many reps you do of each of the following exercises:

3 Rounds

Deadlifts
KB Swings
Box Jumps
Wall Balls
Knees to Elbow
Burpees

results:

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Sunday’s Challenge Workout:

Lake Anza Workout

followed by,

“Elizabeth”

Since the workouts were of different lengths, Aaron developed an formula to measure the results, and declare an overall winner.  Basically, least amount of corn wins.

I took a quick picture at the top of the ridge, the turn around point for the run.  As you can see Aaron is on his way back down, and Nathan is already half down.  I was in last.

results: