Jin, feeling “Jin and Tonic’d” 30-minutes post “Barbara”on 8/5/10. While contemplating why in the world he showed up to the Sweat Shop that day, he also regrets not having a recovery meal on hand before heading to work.

Whether you are training for CrossFit competitions, or to simply stay in shape, your recovery must be done right nutritionally and timely in order to accomplish your desired results. Many of you still inquire about when and what you should eat right after a workout. For the average CrossFitter, the simple rule of thumb is to replenish immediately after the workout and to eat “real” food as opposed to other sources. For the competitive athlete, the guidelines are slightly different in catering for longer, and more intense training sessions. Here’s an excerpt from Paleo-Creator, Loren Cordain’s book “The Paleo-Diet for Athletes” with a more in-depth explanation on the goals of each stage of recovery.

On eating 30-minutes post exercise:
At no other time in your entire day is your body as receptive as it is now to nutrient intake. Research shows that the restocking of the muscles’ carbohydrate stores is 2-3 times as rapid immediately after exercise as it is a few hours later. In the same way, other research reveals that the repair of muscles damaged is more effective if protein is consumed immediately after exercise. Don’t delay. Being refueling as soon as possible after you cool down.

Read full excerpt here.

Be advised: Many people mistake this 30-minute “warning” as some sort of alert to eat as much sugar and carbs as they can. Yes, missing the “window” all together can be detrimental, but so is using this window to eat 3 glazed donuts, frozen yogurt, and a happy meal.

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Legitness of the Week

Josh joins Bill’s “Double Day” club and crushes Wednesday’s “Pistols” WOD twice! His one day pistol total = 132!
Nabil raises the Sweat Shop “Consecutive Double Unders” record to 110!!

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Friday’s WOD:

WOD #1
4 Rounds:
9 Front Squats (155#/105#)
21 Box Jumps
2 Rope Climbs
9 Handstand Pushups

WOD #2

4 Rounds:
18 Thrusters
18 Box Jumps
12 Pullups

results:

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Thursday’s WOD:

3 Rounds

500m Row
40 KB Swings
30 Pushups
20 Pullups
10 Burpees

*3-minute rest between rounds*

results:

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Don’t forget to check out the spoiler for tomorrow’s workouts here.
Be ready to work!!!

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Mark Sisson, of ‘Mark’s Daily Apple‘ and author of ‘The Primal Blueprint’ -  At 57 years old, Mark is definitely worthy of Day 4 of “Shirtless Dudes Featured on the Sweat Shop Blog”

Mark’s cookbook, which is all about cooking with all-natural, paleo ingredients, recently received an award for most unhealthy cookbook of 2010.  Check it out the post here.

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Wednesday’s WOD:

As many rounds as possible in 15 minutes:

5 Power Cleans
5ea. Pistols
25 Double Unders

results:

When done in a workout with rope climbs that are taxing on grip, relatively heavy Hang Squat Cleans force athletes to move quickly underneath and receive the bar at the bottom of the squat, versus pulling high with the arms.  CJ, JB, and Brandon, 3 dudes for Day 3 of “Shirtless Dudes Featured on the Sweat Shop Blog”

The two main types of cleans we do in CrossFit workouts are Power Cleans, and Squat Cleans.  Each has a different purpose and application when used in a workout.  It’s important to not only understand how to do each of them, but also what they are used for as the two can sometimes get blended together, which can have an adverse effect on our technique.  When performing a Power Clean the hips will not fall below parallel after the bar is received on the shoulders.  Also, when performing a Power Clean there should be no more descent after receiving the bar, this is what I mean when I give the cue, “HARD LANDING!!”

Check out this video from Again Faster that goes into further detail.
Meeting the Bar

**REMINDER**
New Year’s Eve  – 6am, 7am, 8:15am class only.  No 5:30pm class
New Year’s Day – regular schedule – 9am & 10am

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Tuesday’s WOD:

A.) Weighted Ring Dips
5-5-5-5-5

B.) 5 Rounds
10 Deadlifts or 2 Power Cleans (205/135)
10 Wall Balls
10 Box Jumps

results:

Aaron is a good example of someone that began CrossFit with an excellent foundation of strength.  This post also marks Day 2 of “Shirtless Dudes Featured on the Sweat Shop Blog”

In April of 2009, when Aaron started CrossFit, his cardio-respiratory endurance, as well as muscular endurance and stamina were all low, really low.  However, within a few short months he was crushing workouts that he had previously had trouble even finishing.  Aside from his excellent work ethic, this was due mainly to the foundation of strength he had developed over many years leading up to when he began CrossFit.  A great deal of Aaron’s workouts consisted of squats, deadlifts, pullups and presses.  He didn’t workout to “tone up”, or to “get cut”, or to “bulk up”, he lifted heavy weights to get strong.  In the beginning, even CrossFit workouts that included light weights would be quite challenging for Aaron.  However, as his muscular endurance and stamina improved, he was able to fully express the strong foundation of strength that he had developed over many years of training.  He is now able to push his body at extremely high work and power output levels, and because of this, his body has transformed in a positive way.  As for the guys that are scared they will lose all their strength when they start doing CrossFit, or to the girls that think they are going to get big from lifting heavy weights, Aaron is proof positive that this is not the case… last week he deadlifted 543lbs. at a body weight of 178!

My main point for all of this is that in order to improve your health and fitness, strength is a key component.  If it’s a struggle for you to do a few pushups, or you find yourself limited to 35lb. thrusters because the bar feels heavy, it’s not your endurance you need to work on.  Increasing your strength will allow you to move more weight during the workouts and thus make the workouts exponentially more effective.  Lastly, most people don’t come into CrossFit with years of strength training like Aaron, fortunately that is exactly what our strength workouts are for.  Therefore, if you come in and see workouts like Front Squats 3-3-3-3-3, or Strict Press 1-1-1-1-1, know that these workouts are an essential component to improving your overall fitness, as well as improving your Fran, Helen, or Nancy time.

Check out a great article from Bill Starr, Building the Base of the Strength Pyramid.

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Monday’s WOD:

A.) 2 minute Box Jump Challenge

B.) Strict Press
3-3-3-3-3

C.) 30 KB Swings (70/44)
5 Rounds of Cindy (5 Pullups, 10 Pushups, 15 Squats)
80 Double Unders

results:

2010 NorCal Sectionals – John can’t get enough of the russian shower, and I can’t get enough of this picture

Just about everyone that has worked out at the Sweat Shop has likely experienced it.  You finish a workout and for quite sometime after your body is noticeably warmer than before.  This can even last for a few hours after completing a workout.  For the longest time people have believed that after exercising, the body continues to burn calories at a much higher rate than before.  Recent studies have shown that simply is not the case.  These studies focused primarily on body temperature during and after exercise, and it’s relationship to caloric expenditure, with the findings demonstrating no increased caloric expenditure post exercise.  I feel like this is an excellent example of the complexity the surrounds weight loss or gain.  Rather than a simple equation of calories in, versus calories out, the hormones in our body certainly must have a greater effect on our weight and body composition.  Anyone who has ever given 100% during a workout, while watching how slowly the calorie count ticks away on the rower, surely must agree that there is much more to the once thought of simple equation of calories in versus calories out.

Here is an excerpt from New York Times article:

The effect is very dependent on how hard you exercise. “If you go out for a walk, your temperature does not go up much,” Dr. Charkoudian said, but if you run hard for an hour or so, you can have what seems like a fever, a temperature of 100 degrees or so.

It’s an effect that Glenn Kenny, a professor in the School of Human Kinetics, Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Ottawa, spent years investigating. He built a million-dollar machine — the only one in the world, he says — that can measure minute-by-minute changes in the body’s heat loss.

It looks like a giant can. The subject sits inside and, if exercise is being tested, pedals a recumbent bicycle. The device can detect the amount of heat dissipated by the subject’s body at every moment of exercise and at every moment of post-exercise rest under different conditions — warmer or cooler air temperatures, more or less humidity.

Read full article here.

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Friday’s WOD:

9:00AM

800m Run
15 Squat Clean to Overhead (115/75)
15 Pullups

403m Run
12 Squat Clean to Overhead
12 Pullups

200m Run
9 Squat Clean to Overhead
9 Pullups

__________

10:00AM

A.) Back Squat
5-5-5-5-5

B.) 3 Rounds, 2  1/2 minutes to complete:

each round begins with 200m run, then:
Muscle Ups for REPS (Round 1)
Handstand Pushups for REPS (Round 2)
Double Unders for REPS (Round 3)

*constantly running clock
*4 Double Unders count as 1 rep

results:

This Saturday, New Year’s Day, there will be regular class schedule, 9:00am & 10:00am.  Unlike other days during the week, the workouts are being announced now.

9:00am – CrossFit Total
1 Rep Max Back Squat
1 Rep Max Shoulder Press
1 Rep Max Deadlift

10:00am – “Murph”
1 Mile Run
100 Pullups
200 Pushups
300 Squats
1 Mile Run

*pullups, pushups, and squats can be partitioned how ever you like*

Check out CrossFit Sweat Shop’s holiday photo featured on the CrossFit.com affiliate blog.

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Legitness of the Week

Deadlift PR’s
Charlie 305×5
Katherine 135×5
Jessica 200×5
Josh 365×5
Tammy 205×5
Nancy 125×5
Valerie 130×5
Monica 135×5
Joe W. 315×5
Al 325×5

Aaron 543×1 Deadlift @ body weight of 178lbs. – SWEAT SHOP RECORD!
Christin 3 unassisted pullups!
De La Salle Soccer notches two wins over nationally ranked teams – Bullard & Alisal

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Thursday’s WOD:

A.) Deadlift
5-5-5-5-5

B.) “Grip-a-licious”
200m Run
1 Rope Climb
25 Knees to Elbow
200m DB Farmer’s Walk
Accumulate 60 seconds of towel hang
*perform 7 burpees each time you drop from towel

results:

Crystal McReynolds – CrossFit Central

Here is an excerpt from a great post on breaking out of the idea the women should be skinny like a rail and without muscle.

I resisted the larger weights. I didn’t mind sweating, but I’d read in Self and Fitness and all of the other magazines with the cayenne pepper maple syrup diets and concave-bellied glamazons that in order to tone, you must do high repetitions of light weights. Sure, it was obscenely boring to lift 10-pound dumb bells over my head six hundred and twenty times, but that’s why my iPod existed, to relieve the mind numbing boredom.

Anyway, we discovered Crossfit moments before I might have thrown myself in a ditch in frustration and boredom. I totally enjoyed flinging wall balls and jumping on boxes and firing mad kettlebells in the air. But I worried about the heavy backsquats, the push press that might turn my arms into huge quivering beasts of flesh.

“I’m worried I’m bulking up,” I whispered to Corey after my first week of cleaning 100 pounds, back squatting almost 200.

Read full post here.

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Wednesday’s WOD:

5 Rounds
2 1/2 minutes each round to complete:

250m Row
12 Wall Balls
Burpees for REPS

REST 2 minutes between rounds

results:

http://www.blogher.com/warped-beauty-standards-and-embracing-buff

I saw this clip a while ago on NBC. Although the staff and people that eat at this place are entertaining, it’s astonishing how fixated people are to unhealthy food. Even more intriguing, is that the restaurant has warning signs that their food may kill you…. and yet people continue to eat it. I’m sure many of you have had arguments around why people eat unhealthy. The most common excuses I hear are income and culture. When I see this clip, however, I feel people just don’t want to be told what to eat and do it out of rebellion….

What do you guys think? Is eating a “Quadruple Bypass Burger” in your culture or heritage?

Post thoughts to the comments section.

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Tuesday’s WOD:

4 Rounds

Perform as many rounds as possible in 4 minutes:
12 KB Swings
10 Box Jumps
8 Pushups
6 KB Squats

*2-minute rest between rounds*

results:

Congrats to those that completed “Linda” this past Sunday.  Like most of the CrossFit girl workouts, she’s a real sweetie once you get to know her!

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Monday’s WOD:

A.) Thruster
1-1-1-1-1

B.) “Fran”
21-15-9
Thrusters (95/65)
Pullups

results:

Google has just release a new feature that is pretty cool, to say the least.  Body Browser allows you to view 3D models of the human body, and even peel back the anatomical layers.  Check out this post for more details.  Or, if you prefer a low-tech alternative, The Anatomy Coloring Book is a relatively simple, yet extremely informative book that helps readers understand the layers and complexity of the human body; it’s also one of the few books from college I found useful enough to hold onto.

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Sunday’s WOD:

“Linda”
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

Deadlift (1.5x bodyweight)
Bench Press (1x bodyweight)
Clean (0.75x bodyweight)

results:

________________

Saturday’s WOD:

9:00am

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Thruster
Knee to Elbow
Burpee

_________

10:00am

A.) Bench Press
5-5-5-5-5

B.) 10-8-6-4-2
Towel Pullup
DB Squat Clean to Overhead (45/25)

results:

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Friday’s WOD:

“Fight Gone Bad!”

3 Rounds
as many reps as possible
1 minute at each station
rest 1 minute after completing entire round

Wall Balls
Summo Deadlift High Pull
Box Jump
Push Press
Row for Calories

results:

Nathan doing pullups at Civic Park in Walnut Creek during one of CrossFit Sweat Shop’s park workouts, back in the early days.  The picture has nothing to do with the post, I just like posting pictures of our friend Nathan of CrossFit Adventure.

There will be a special 10am session this Sunday at the Sweat Shop.  The workout will be:

“Linda”
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 REPS for time of:
Deadlift (1.5x bodyweight)
Bench Press (1x bodyweight)
Clean (0.75x bodyweight)

It’s an advanced workout that also takes a long time to administer, hence the special Sunday session.

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Christmas & New Year Schedule

Friday 12/24  9am & 10am classes only
Saturday 12/25  CLOSED

Friday 12/31   6am, 7am & 8:15am classes only
Saturday 1/1   9am & 10am classes

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Legitness of the Week

Front Squat PR’s
Tammy 145×3
Ellie 130×3
Aaron 295×1

Overhead Squat PR’s
Joe S. 55×5
John P. 75×5
Charlie 145×5
Stephanie 55×5
Donna D. 95×3
Chris G. 155×3
Katherine 40×5
Bill 80×5
Mike S. 125×5
Jessica 115×5
Joel 125×5
Cassie 70×5
Patrick 100×5
Tammy 105×5
Melaney 65×5
Brandon 135×5
J.B. 205×5
Joe W. 115×5
Jin 155×5

Back Squat PR’s
Lones 190×3
Donna C. 165×3
Stephanie 85×3
Patrick 280×1
Melaney 115×3
John Mont. 215×3
Kasi 140×3
Justin 255×3
Heejin 95×3
Boie 275×3
Tom 165×3
Nik 275×3
Dustin 135×3
Jin 250×3

Patrick MUSCLE UP!!!

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Thursday’s WOD:

“Nasty Girls”

3 Rounds

50 Squats
7 Muscle Ups
10 Hang Power Clean (Rx’d 135#/95#)

results:

My recent delivery of locally-grown, organic fruits and veggies.

For most folks, the hardest part about eating healthier is the burden of having to make repeated weekly trips to the grocery store.  Even more burdensome, having to survive to trip through the “Tenderloin” also known as the Walnut Creek Whole Foods parking lot. For those of you who still struggle with this, check out Farm Fresh to You. Farm Fresh to You is an Community Supported Agricultural (CSA) group that delivers organic, in-season fruits, veggies, and nuts grown from their farm, straight to your doorstep.

Although there are several CSA’s in the Bay Area, Farm Fresh is unique in that it allows you to:

• Pick and choose which fruits and veggies you want included or excluded in your delivery (simply online)
• Choose from various quantities of food in your delivery
• Choose the delivery frequency that fits you best: weekly, every other week, every 3rd or every 4th week delivery.

Farm Fresh also requires no commitment. Try it out once to see if you like it. I’ve been happy with my deliveries thus far. It makes eating healthier much easier and cooking way more exciting!!

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** Don’t forget to sign up for the upcoming grass-fed beef delivery from Prather Ranch. 1 Large box is $240. Delivery will be sometime in mid January.**

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Wednesday’s WOD:

A.) Back Squats
3-3-3-3-3

B.) 3 sets of max effort Muscle ups or Ring Dips

C.)
400m Row
403m Run
100 Double Unders

results:

Check out this video with CrossFit founder Greg Glassman speaking about the recent partnership of CrosFit and Reebok.  What type of impact do you think this will have on the CrossFit community?  Postive, negative or no significant impact?  Or do you feel like regardless of the changes in the global CrossFit community, what is most important is the community that is created and maintained at CrossFit Sweat Shop?  Post to comments your thoughts.

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Tuesday’s WOD:

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

B.) 500m Row
40 Box Jumps
30 Knees to Elbow
20 KB Swings
10 Burpees

results:

Mike eats grass fed, free range meat that is humanely killed, he even takes portrait with his meal.

Why is grass fed and free range so important?  Check out the benefits here.

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Monday’s WOD:

“Barbara”

5 Rounds

20 Pullups
30 Pushups
40 Situps
50 Squats

REST 3 minutes between rounds

results: