Lones during the 2011 CrossFit Open

Congrats again to all of you that did CrossFit Open Workout 12.3.  Many (including myself) are still walking around with sore calves.  Last weeks top male performance was from Rikus, and top female performance was from Rene.  Also important to note, quietly staying near the top of her division is Lones.  At age 58, she is currently ranked 23rd in the world for her age group!  Keep in mind top 20 in each masters group goes straight to the Games!  No pressure Lones 

Workout #4 gets announced this Wednesday at 5pm.  Go to the Games site and start clicking refresh now.

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Monday’s WOD:

“Nancy”

5 Rounds
403m Run
15 Overhead Squats 95/65

If you were one of the lucky few that received fresh fish from Aaron recently, you’ve probably already tasted the amazing quality of the fish.  While it’s not necessary with the salmon, the skin on the snapper should be lightly scored before cooking.  This will keep the fish nice and flat rather than bowing as the skin cooks and shrinks.

Prather Ranch Beef will be delivered this Wednesday evening at 6pm.  Be sure and pick it up no later than 7pm.

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Saturday’s WOD:

8:30am

800m Run
18 DB Squat Clean Thruster
50 Situps
50 Double Unders
15 Burpees
800m Run
18 DB Squat Clean Thruster

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10:30am

A.) Snatch Balance
2-2-2-2-2

B.) As many rounds as possible in 8 minutes:

2 Muscle Ups
4 Squat Cleans 185/120
8 KB Swings 70/44
100m Run

Don and John in true form, a few weeks ago.

While this Saturday night is the start of daylight savings time where we’ll be changing our clocks one hour forward, there are some things that never change.

Don and John in true form, a few years ago.

Don’t forget, endurance workout again this Sunday, 2pm at the Sweat Shop.

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Wednesday’s WOD:

2 Reps of Bear Complex on the minute for 5 minutes
immediately followed by
5 Rounds
5 Burpees
10 Toes to Bar
25 Double Unders

REST 1 minute then,
2 Reps of Bear Complex on the minute for 5 minutes

Pictured above, all things bad.

Here is a really important article for anyone that eats food.  Written by a heart doctor, it explains quite clearly what is going on in the body when we eat sugar, refined carbs, or other things that are foreign to our body or cause an insulin spike.

Excerpt

We physicians with all our training, knowledge and authority often acquire a rather large ego that tends to make it difficult to admit we are wrong. So, here it is. I freely admit to being wrong. As a heart surgeon with 25 years experience, having performed over 5,000 open-heart surgeries, today is my day to right the wrong with medical and scientific fact.

I trained for many years with other prominent physicians labelled “opinion makers.” Bombarded with scientific literature, continually attending education seminars, we opinion makers insisted heart disease resulted from the simple fact of elevated blood cholesterol.

The only accepted therapy was prescribing medications to lower cholesterol and a diet that severely restricted fat intake. The latter of course we insisted would lower cholesterol and heart disease. Deviations from these recommendations were considered heresy and could quite possibly result in malpractice.

It Is Not Working!

These recommendations are no longer scientifically or morally defensible. The discovery a few years ago that inflammation in the artery wall is the real cause of heart disease is slowly leading to a paradigm shift in how heart disease and other chronic ailments will be treated.

The long-established dietary recommendations have created epidemics of obesity and diabetes, the consequences of which dwarf any historical plague in terms of mortality, human suffering and dire economic consequences.

Despite the fact that 25% of the population takes expensive statin medications and despite the fact we have reduced the fat content of our diets, more Americans will die this year of heart disease than ever before.

Statistics from the American Heart Association show that 75 million Americans currently suffer from heart disease, 20 million have diabetes and 57 million have pre-diabetes. These disorders are affecting younger and younger people in greater numbers every year.

Simply stated, without inflammation being present in the body, there is no way that cholesterol would accumulate in the wall of the blood vessel and cause heart disease and strokes. Without inflammation, cholesterol would move freely throughout the body as nature intended. It is inflammation that causes cholesterol to become trapped.

Inflammation is not complicated — it is quite simply your body’s natural defence to a foreign invader such as a bacteria, toxin or virus. The cycle of inflammation is perfect in how it protects your body from these bacterial and viral invaders. However, if we chronically expose the body to injury by toxins or foods the human body was never designed to process,a condition occurs called chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is just as harmful as acute inflammation is beneficial.

What thoughtful person would willfully expose himself repeatedly to foods or other substances that are known to cause injury to the body? Well, smokers perhaps, but at least they made that choice willfully.

The rest of us have simply followed the recommended mainstream diet that is low in fat and high in polyunsaturated fats and carbohydrates, not knowing we were causing repeated injury to our blood vessels. This repeated injury creates chronic inflammation leading to heart disease, stroke, diabetes and obesity.

Let me repeat that: The injury and inflammation in our blood vessels is caused by the low fat diet recommended for years by mainstream medicine.

Read full article here.

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Tuesday’s WOD:

A.) Snatch Grip Deadlift
3-3-3-3-33

B.) Weighted Pushup
2-2-2-2-2

C.) Alternating Tabata
Pullups
Wall Balls

Rich Froning – 2011 CrossFit Games Winner

A recent post from CrossFit Medina that puts things in perspective:

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Monday’s WOD:

A.) Front Squat
3-3-3-3-3

B.) 3 Rounds
8 Handstand Pushups
200m Double Plate Carry 45/25
30 Air Squats

results:

Now that many more of you have had a chance to perform the snatch, this is a great time to review this video, especially if you were unable to complete any reps at a particular weight because you were not pulling yourself under the bar.

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Saturday’s WOD:

8:30 & 9:30am

6 minute clock:
403m Run
then max rounds
12 Deadlifts 165/115
12 Pushups
12 Toes to Bar

REST 90 seconds

5 minute clock:
200m Run
then max rounds
9 KB Swings 70/44
9 Box Jumps

REST 90 seconds

4 minute clock:
100m Run
then max rounds
6 Front Squats 165/115
6 Burpees

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10:30am

“Helen”
3 Rounds
403m Run
21 KB Swings 53/35
12 Pullups

Fitness to Admir is running through mud, electric wires, swimming in ice, and hanging on monkey bars.

I found this really inspiring post last night on CrossFit Anywhere’s blog. The post is written by elite CrossFitter Blair Morrison, on what fitness should be to everyone; a choice.  Although I am not a top CrossFit athlete, I was able to see eye to eye on almost all of his points.

From the post:

Fitness is…

Choice.

It doesn’t happen by accident.

This concept is important to grasp in a number of ways.

First, everything is a choice. Life is volitional, thus every bit of its foundation is also so. Every second, in every circumstance, you are making choices that will affect your life and your fitness. The genetic canvas is always the same—no series of choices, made or unmade, will alter that essence. But the physical particulars that you see, weigh, and measure are the result of a lifetime of definite choices. Framing things this way is both extremely empowering and a bit scary. It means that the physical you is not pre-determined, that you have a measure of control over the way you interact with the world around you and the way in which you’re going to age. It also means that you are ultimately responsible for the course your life takes, that you have the ability to screw things up, and often will.

Second, every choice has value and they are all accumulating. The previous affects the present, the present will determine the future. Take a 50-year old man (call him individual A) that has adult onset diabetes, hypertension, and a history of joint problems. Not so uncommon these days. Rewind his life and remove every piece of candy, bread, and processed sugar he ever ate. Add nothing else, take nothing else away, and imagine the impact that would have on his current state of health.

Finally, it’s not necessarily the choice we make that’s important as much as the reason we make it. For example, the decision to eat cake because it’s your kid’s birthday party isn’t going to make a difference in your body’s ability to process sugar. Eating cake because you can’t control your craving for chocolate eventually will. Skipping a workout because your body is depleted isn’t going to keep you from hitting PRs. Skipping a workout because you’re too lazy to get up in the morning eventually will.

 Read full post here.

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Legitness of the Week

- Bill goes double day on Thursday!
- Jen B. reps out her first ever chest to bar pullups on Friday’s WOD!

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Friday’s WOD:

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

results:

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Thursday’s WOD:

A.) Back Squat
5-4-3-2-1

B.)  12-9-6
Pushups
Box Jumps
DB Thruster 45#/30#

results:

If you eat eggs, they should be from pastured chickens.  Check out a local CSA, Soul Food Farm, here.

This Saturday at 10:30am we will be doing CrossFit Open Workout #2,

Regular CrossFit Classes still on for 8:30am & 9:30am

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Wednesday’s WOD:

A.) 2 Clean & Jerks on the minute for 15 minutes

B.) 3 minutes Max Row Calories
2 minutes Max Wall Balls
1 minute Max Box Jumps

results:

Week 1 of the CrossFit Open is done!  I must say I’m very impressed, and proud of all the Sweat Shop members that are participating in the Open this year.  We had a total of 38 people that did workout #1, a few actually did it twice.  Aaron C. did it a second time in his home using the video submission and increased his score by 1 rep.  For the Masters age 50-54, Charlie currently sits in 28th, in the world!  Of our Sweat Shop members, Rikus had the top score at 116, and Helen had the top score for the females at 113.  Workout #2 gets announced today at 5pm!

Here is a recap of Week 1 from the CrossFit Games site.

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Tuesday’s WOD:

800m Run
then 5 Rounds of:
5 Deadlift 275/195
5ea. Pistols
25 Double Unders

then finish with (1) 800m Run

results:

With so many paleo recipe websites these days, coupled with the ease and accessibility of the internet, there is no reason for anyone to claim they can’t eat paleo because they wouldn’t know what to cook.  A Google search of “paleo recipes” turned up this great site, Paleo Diet Lifestyle, and in seconds I found this delicious looking recipe for a stuffed pork tenderloin.  The popularity of the paleo diet and ease of the internet also allowed me to complete a post in less than 5 minutes!

*Prather Ranch meat money due by Monday March 5th.  Delivery is currently scheduled for Wednesday March 14th.**

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Monday’s WOD:

4 Rounds
10 Overhead Squats
10 Back Squats (no rack)
10 Power Cleans

Rx’d Men body weight
Rx’d Women 70% body weight

results:

 Rene during the final workout of the SacTown Throwdown

Rene’s first Endurance/Tough Mudder training session will be this Sunday, 2pm at the Sweat Shop.  This will be a great opportunity for anyone looking to improve their endurance and/or those that will be doing the Tough Mudder, or any other endurance type of events in the future.  The session is for any Sweat Shop member, regardless of whether or not you are signed up for the Tough Mudder.

This will NOT be an Open Gym hour to work on whatever you like, nor will it be a time to do the CrossFit Open workout.

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Saturday’s WOD:

8:30 & 9:30am

400m Run
10-9-8
Deadlifts
Pushups

300m Run
7-6-5
Deadlifts
Pushups

200m Run
4-3-2-1
Deadlifts
Pushups

Rx’d – Bodyweight

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10:30am

A.) Overhead Squat
3-3-3-3-3

B.)
Every 2 minutes complete
100m Sprint
5 Clean & Jerk 155/105
15 Box Jumps

REPEAT for 4 Rounds

results:

Jason during last year’s Open.

For all those competing in the CrossFit Games Open, remember that you must submit your score online. Once you submit your score, we will confirm it and you will then be placed in the rankings. Submit your scores here. Last year, there were some difficulties with those who waited until the last minute and some scores didn’t get counted. You have until Sunday! If you are unable to make it into the Sweat Shop for the workouts, you may either get validated by another nearby gym or you can make a video and submit it. Here are the video instructions. Congrats to all those who have already completed the first workout. Seven minutes of burpees can’t be fun!

**Don’t forget that there will be an open gym session this Sunday at 11:15am. No set workout, no one coaching, just get in a workout if you like**
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 Legitness of the Week

 - Christian goes beast mode on Thursday’s WOD!
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Friday’s WOD:

A.)  2 Squat Cleans on the minute for 15 minutes

B.) 21-15-9
Ground to Overhead (95#/65#)
Ring Dips

results:

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Thursday’s WOD:

5 Rounds

15 Wall Balls
12 Pullups
10 Burpees
200m Run

results:

Rikus does a great job of turning off all the voices in his head, so that he can push himself to his absolute limit.  Only problem is that sometimes that “voice” is actually James or myself, yelling at him to stop doing something with such horrible form.

Check out this post from CrossFit West Santa Cruz:

The human body is truly a remarkable thing. We are all capable of amazing feats of strength and endurance when certain demands are put upon us. We’ve all heard incredible stories of survival where someone was capable of doing something that normally would seem impossible. So, if each one of us has some level of superpower within, then why can the end of a particularly hard workout feel like it will surely bring us to an early grave? Why do those last nine thrusters of “Fran” feel so hard? Why does that last 400m seem so slow? Or why does stopping 10 seconds before the end of an AMRAP seem like a good idea because the feeling of doing one more rep would surely kill you? It’s simple. This is the point during every workout the mind and the body experiences a mini civil war and it is up to you as to which side is going to win.

Read full post here.

There will be an open gym session this Sunday at 11:15am, no set workout, no one coaching, just get in a workout if you like.

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Wednesday’s WOD:

A.) Deadlift
3-3-3-3-3

Strict Press
3-3-3-3

B.) 3 1/2 minutes to complete 403m Run
Max Reps Box Jumps

2 1/2 minutes to complete 200m Ryn
Max Reps Muscle Ups and/or Handstand Pushups

1 1/2 minutes to complete 70m Run
Max Reps Burpees

results:

During last year’s Fittest of the Sierra’s

Registration has opened for the 2012 Fittest of the Sierra’s.  Last year was lots of fun and this year they’ve even added a Master’s age group, so the older generation of Sweat Shoppers can join us!  While we probably won’t be able to do any skiing or snowboarding the day before, like we did last year, it will certainly still be a fun weekend.  The event will be taking place June 16th at South Tahoe CrossFit.

For more info and to register, click here.

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Tuesday’s WOD:

A.) 2 Snatches on the minute for 15 minutes

B.) “GBO”
1 Round
1 minute each exercise, max reps:
Double Unders
KB Swings 70/44
Air Squats
Situps
Plate Thrusters 45/25
Burpees onto plate

results: