best fitness blogs

http://www.gymjunkies.com/best-fitness-blogs/

great thread

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_boxing_fighting_mma_combat/the_case_against_crossfit_?id=2569090&pageNo=2

This one deals with the argument of CrossFit being a "superior training program". I agree that it is not the end all of training, nor the best thing to do for specificity, but damn if it doesn't do a good job of getting to a certain level of fitness (see: GPP). It's the Jack of All Trades, master of none... but we'll see how the program evolves.

The Truth About CrossFit

by Chris Shugart for T-Nation.com. Thanks to Dwinson for the heads up!

"The Truth About CrossFit"

"Was I in the right place?" I asked myself for the second time that day.

The little street near Southern Methodist University in Dallas was an incongruous blend of old houses and new bars teeming with college kids. It was 9 p.m. and the sun had set, making it impossible for me to read the street numbers. Finally I pulled over next to a bar called The Green Elephant to look at my directions again.

And that's when I saw them, a handful of men and women lunging down a long corridor holding Olympic bars over their heads. A well-built young man held a timer and appeared to be either encouraging them or yelling at them.

I'd finally found CrossFit Dallas Central, one of 650 CrossFit affiliate gyms.

Later I learned that the athletes — which included members of the SMU lacrosse team — were performing what the owner of the facility called a "single-movement mindfuck." This group was on their 28th minute of overhead walking lunges, the only exercise in that day's workout. The record was 400 meters in 20 minutes flat. The sweat poured.

Earlier that day, at 6:45 a.m., I'd had the same experience, driving around an industrial-warehouse district in Plano looking for building numbers in the dark. That time, instead of lunging lacrosse players, I was clued in by a man running by my truck wearing a weighted vest. I followed.

Ripping the vest off, he walked through a door with me close behind. CrossFit Plano was small but well-equipped with the standard markers of the "CF" gym: bumper plates, Olympic bars, kettlebells, dumbbells, gymnastic rings, climbing ropes, tractor tires, bands, Concept II rowers, medicine balls, pull-up bars.

The runner dashed into the next room and began to do kipping pull-ups. I learned later he was doing "Murph": a one-mile run in a vest followed by 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 body-weight squats, and another one-mile run, all done against the clock.

This "WOD," or Workout of the Day, was named after a Navy Lieutenant and CrossFit enthusiast killed in Afghanistan. Most other WODs are given girl names, like they used to do with hurricanes.

I was there to learn the truth about CrossFit, the training phenomenon dubbed "one of the fastest-growing fitness movements on the planet" by the Business News Network. Later, I'd do interviews with CF fans and critics, make phone calls, and read everything I could find online. But I'd start by driving to Dallas and doing CrossFit ... twice in one day.

This is what I learned. This, as I see it, is the truth about some of the most controversial aspects of CrossFit.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE!

Post-Workout Nutrition

from Robb Wolf's site:

Jason had a great question that I receive fairly frequently:

Jason Arp
Jason@crossfitaddiction.com

Hey Robb I’ve been zoning for a little over a month now, body comp has never been better, I have no problems with energy throughout the day and I continue to PR on most things but performance has not taken off like you say it should. I feel like I’m losing strength, as weird as it sounds, even though I continue to PR a little I can feel strength decreasing (i.e. some exercise just aren’t as smooth and I’m hitting muscle failure quicker than I was a few months ago). I’ve read 42 Ways and most of your diet stuff on here. I know about moving most of your carbs to the PWO meal and moving the fat from the PWO and spread it out the rest the day (I’m sure you’re tired of explaining that alot). But I’m not sure what exactly in detail I should include in my PWO meal (other than yams and apples that you mentioned in 42 Ways). I feel that the PWO meal is very important bc I think recovery is the most important aspect of training. If it’s not too much trouble could you go into a little detail about exactly what foods are good to put into PWO and why? I greatly apprectiate it.

There are two things that need to be tackled here, the first is PWO food recommendations, the second is the strength issue.

PWO Meal

The idea of a PWO meal containing carbs (and protein) is to take advantage of a period of time in which the muscles are particularly insulin sensitiveve. We can fly nutrients into the muscle “under the radar” via a mechanism called “non insulin mediated glucose transport”. Amino acids are also taken in during this time and may play a synergistic role in both glycogen repletion but also decreasing inflammation that accompanies hard training. Said another way, you recover from exertion faster. So, what should ya eat? We actually want a starchy carb as our primary carb. Yams and sweet potatoes are great options as they are also highly nutritious. Fruit should be used sparingly in this meal if one is focused on optimized glycogen repletion as fructose refills liver glycogen first, and once liver glycogen is full we up-regulate the lipogenic activity of the liver and start down the road towards fat gain and insulin resistance.

I know James Fitzgerald (OPT) has used a mixture of mashed sweet potato and apple sauce for PWO meal…getting just a bit of hepatic (liver) glycogen repletion with the lions share going to the muscles. Sprinkle some cinnamon on top to enhance insulin sensitivity and you are set. Why do the mixture? Perhaps James will chime in on this but for me a simple answer would be palatability and taste. If you just received an ass-kicking, stuffing food down your pie-hole may not be that appealing. Something yummy could certainly make that easier.

Why not shakes? I’ve not found them to be superior to solid food, I have noticed they make people fat. A new paper just came out comparing milk & cereal (shitty food) to a PWO shake (also shitty food) and the milk+cereal beat the shake with regards to glycogen repletion. Go figure. I’d wager salmon and sweet potatoes would be even better…not likely to see that study!

The PWO window is most potent immediately after a WO and drops off to about 50% efficacy by 30 min, and pretty much back to baseline by an hour. If you train at night, just try to get that meal in immediately after training and keep an eye out for fat gain around the mid-section. If thyis happens, dial back your carbs.

Strength

There is a reality that getting really lean will decrease your absolute strength. We loose a bit of intramuscular fat that improves leverage and it just tends to take a little off the top end of things like squats and DL’s. You can still have great absolute strength and your relative strength will greatly improve…but if you are leanign out you almost inevitabley will see those top-end numbers come dwon a bit as compared to running just a bit heavier. Also, I’m assuming you are ramped up to a 5x fat, athlete’s Zone diet.

Five Worst Dietary Transgressions

from The Modern Forager:

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine told me that my “body hates me” because I don’t generally eat pastured chicken. Because of the amount of food that I eat to support my body weight and activity level, it would be very expensive for me to eat $2/lb chicken everyday. So I grab antibiotic- and hormone-free chicken from the local grocery store at $.69-.99/lb on sale (wait until it’s about a week from going out of date, then stock up the freezer). While the chickens are fed grains, they are not pumped up on hormones. I can shore up the poor omega-3:omega-6 ratio with some extra fish oil, which I do.

In light of that conversation, I want to touch on what I consider to be dietary indiscretions that will make your body hate you.

READ MORE!

10 Marathon Tips

Active.com's The Gear Junkie: 10 Tips to Make It Through a Marathon

'Tis the season to run your legs off. Each autumn, from St. Paul to Seattle, tens of thousands of runners wrap up a year of training with a 26.2-mile run. I ran my requisite annual marathon this past weekend, pacing at just under eight-minute miles in the Twin Cities Marathon to pull my best personal time to date at 3 hours, 27 minutes. Here are 10 quick tips--some highly personal, some quite unorthodox--on the gear, running techniques and nutrition I use to make it from the start line through 26.2 miles and to the end.

READ MORE!

CFT

There's a CrossFit Total tomorrow at Local's Gym again.

Am I ready to compete? Will I not scratch multiple times again?

I hope so...

i suck

i will be moving and writing at this blog from this point on.

time to organize everything and get on track. the last post really put me onto time management.

Time Management

I don't know why I didn't check this out when I first saw news of this. Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnagie Mellon University in Pennsylvania who was diagnosed with terminal cancer.



Here is the entire 1 hour 16 minute speech.

Tabata Sucks!

Only when you're feeling like crap, hot as hell and lacking sleep.

I was waaaaaay off my PR of 67 today. I scored a 44.

I started with pushups. Probably should've done squats since it's my strong point. Ripped my left hand on the pullups, blisters on my right AND I came out of the gate waaaay too strong (first round=22) only to mess myself up physically and mentally during the last set (1). Boo!

Is there a reason it's so much harder for me to function in heat? I was raised in Washington so I love and thrive in the colder weather. This was like when I was down in Vegas- I had to pause throughout my workout because I was gasping for air. Taking shirts off don't do much there.

I also made a mix for today's "Tabata This!" that you can download here. It's more hip hop, of course.

)=

I've neglected this site for too long. My laptop crashed a while back and I've been busy with running the Foundation CrossFit blog to put anything in here. I'll get back on this, I hope.

Quick updates:

• I'm on my 6th week of the 20-rep squat program. I'm currently at 210lbs for twenty reps. It is some hard stuff. I'll be finishing up on my 10th week 09Sep08, the day before my 23rd birthday.
• I was on a roll of PR's for a while. I have since hit some workouts and have not outperformed myself. It's ok though, I'm really satified with my progress. I need to figure out a proper programming.. I've only been going on a truely random template, making sure I don't repeat too many things.
  
• My nutrition took a big fall. Enough said. I'll get to cleaning it up AFTER September. It's my birthday month and I'm going to party. The way I see it is I'm waaaaay healthier than most of peers. In high school and post-high school I didn't NOTHING. I didn't develop any bad habits. I have taken plenty of complete sobriety breaks. I don't go crazy, but I'm going to enjoy it while I'm young. Nothing crazy, but you only live once.
  

Gymagery

dope site: http://gymagery.blogspot.com/

Yo

So I did the Reset and lost 4 lbs. I feel a little more energetic and maybe that combined with the butterfly kips have helped me make personal bests in 5+ workouts. Sucky part is that I moved and am currently not eating as healthy as I can/should be.

Tonight I decided to completely re-do the 20 Rep Squat program because I slacked over and over and would miss weeks and try to make it up in weight which would mentally make me fail. SO I'm now doing "20-REP TUESDAYS". Every Tuesday my workout will be a 20-rep squat day, hopefully with a 5lbs increase every week until September 9th (the day before my 23rd birthday).

That gives me 10 weeks (including today) to stay accountable. By the 9th I should be squatting 235lbs for 20 reps, meaning my 1RM should be around 350lbs. And by then my deadlift should be over 400lbs. Both would put me between Advanced and Elite Levels of Strength according to this. It's going to be awesome.

After 30 minutes or so after doing the squats I decided to join the class in doing a CrossFit benchmark WOD

"ANGIE"
100 pullups
100 pushups
100 situps
100 squats

14:29 (PR by 2:30)

YEAAAAA. Laid the f*(& out!

And you know when you've ripped too much when a callus rips only to reveal another callus!

This was dope. No blood, no pain.

Do full squats!

many professionals in the industry advise against full squats

millions of people all over the world disagree.

"Partial squats are never good. They neglect the hips and hamstrings. When an athlete stops above parallel, his knee joints are forced to halt the downward momentum, but once the athlete goes below parallel that stress is transfered to the more powerful group in the hips, hamstrings, and adductors. Full squats keep all these muscle groups proportionately strong."

Bill Starr - Strength Coach John Hopkins University Sept. 1997

Frantastic

How many times do you think people have used that post title?

Anywho, I PR'ed today by 61 seconds.

"FRAN"
21-15-9 reps for time:
thrusters, 95lbs
pullups

4:23

Yeaaaaa.. And I just recovered from a brutal workout the other week. Why'd I PR again? Maybe it's because I'm on my first day of my 5-day Reset! I forgot to take pictures of myself as a "beforehand" so I'll hopefully remember it tomorrow morning.

Today:
Morning - AM Multivitamins, Strawberry Shake
Mid Morn - Iced Lemon Bar
Lunch - Vanilla Shake, 15oz can of Lite Sliced Peaches, Braeburn Apple, 5oz Black Forest Ham
Afternoon - Peanut Butter Bar
Dinner - Chocolate Shake + Hard Boiled Eggs (2)
Evening Snack - TenX Blast Antioxidant Bar, PM Multivitamins + Episodes 4 & 5 of Battlestar Galactica: Season 3

Easy as pie.

Nutrition 101: The One Rule to Remember (from the Modern Forager):

EAT REAL FOOD.

Let’s keep it simple: Eat real foods, preferably in their natural state. I think it’s pretty easy to figure out what is “food” and what isn’t. A few things to remember:

• Food grows and dies. It isn’t created.
• Food rots, wilts, and becomes generally unappetizing, typically rather quickly.
• Food doesn’t need an ingredient label (and probably isn’t in a package either).
• Food doesn’t have celebrity endorsements.
• Food doesn’t make health claims.

Let’s give some foods this simple test and see if we should eat them:

• Broccoli - Most certainly a real food
• Steak - Deliciously real food, straight off the cow
• Oreo cookies - Hold while I read the ingredients. Are you serious?
• Eggs - Bingo
• Walnuts - Check
• Spaghetti - I don’t recall seeing a spaghetti tree on my last hike
• Pop-Tarts - Just seeing if you’re paying attention
• Pasteurized/Homogenized Milk - Nope, not in its natural state
• Raw Milk - Yep, real food, naturally

----

It's so easy, but today's society wants to make it so difficult. Stop playing into the hype! Real food will put you into the best state in your life.

The preparation begins

I've become so ridiculously busy in the past couple of weeks, but because of that I'm going to go through with my Reset next week (starting Monday). Most people do it to lose weight. I don't need or intend to do that. My reasons are to clean my system out. Detox. I'm tired of being tired. Not smiling and being bubbly. It sucks especially when you need to be on top of you game because people look to you as a role model and for advice. I don't want to be a hypocrite. I guess, if anything, this just shows that EVERYONE (including the people you admire) slip up and need to restrategize and freshen up their gameplans.



One of the most important things with nutrition is getting the right amount of vitamins and minerals in your body. Ideally, you'd want to get that through the foods you eat. WE DO NOT EAT "HEALTHY". I'm guilty as well. Most of you know I'm not a huge supplement person (when compared to most meatheads whose daily meal plans look like a science experiment), but I do take some important ones:

1. Multi-vitamin. We don't get everything. Even when eating Zone/Paleo, I felt I didn't get everything that I should've. Maybe it was what groceries I had. Regardless, I caught up with everything else in that little pill.


2. Protein. This was my "quick meal". The best post-workout nutrition. Why? Because the body doesn't have to break it down as much, therefore the body absorbs it quickly and you really reap the benefits from exercise. Also, if I didn't eat (if i was hungry or not), this is something I could put down to keep "fueling my fire" (brownie points if you know what I'm talking about!)


3. Fish Oil. Healthy fats, peoples. Fats don't make you fat. Processed carbs, too many grains (!), bad fats (trans, LDLs, VLDLs), and lack of activity make you fat. Healthy oils such as this help protect cells (small picture) which of course help everything else function properly as well: joints, heart, brain, eyes, etc.

So those are my three. My good three. You can take everything else, but it's really about taking care of the body. We're so quick to help FIX things when the become a problem. We need to start PREVENTING it. Degenerative diseases are the #1 killer of people today.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

So you have the weekend to make the choice and I would love for some more people to join along the adventure with me. Let's be a team!

Slacking... big time.

In the past month I've done really, really well with my workouts.

I've also done really, really well with slipping up when it comes to nutrition.

And so, in the ever-raging battle that is life I am going to partake in an adventure that will fix my ass up (figuratively/literally). I've done something similar in the past with so-so results, but I have a feeling this will be 100x better. It's also going to help with other aspects of my health: sleep & rest, energy levels and, most importantly, attitude.

Watch me and this blog; pictures and daily updates to come to track my progress and keep me accountable. If this works for me, I'm going to recommend that my clients and friends try this out too.

Here we go! (c) Mario

Yaay Burpees! (c) Coach Burgener

50 burpees for time:
2:48

I was going to then complete the 100 burpee challenge, but I quit. )= Haven't been in the right mindset lately and it's really getting to me.

----

Scott wrote up an awesome article about the origin of one of my favorite sites/blogs:

"What does "Modern Forager" mean? How did I come up with that name?"

My First CFT

Earlier today at Local's Gym, the local affiliates had a CrossFit Total Meet. The turnout wasn't that big, so we only really needed one rack. Coach Dave and Jesse ran the meet. Good times!

My technical total was 775 lbs and I weighed in at 145 lbs. I missed some lifts OOPS

Thanks to Dwinson for the picture edit.

Squat 275 - 295 - 305 (miss: stuck in bottom)
Press 135 (miss: toe lift) - 140 (miss: stuck) - 140 (miss: stuck)
Deadlift 315 - 325 - 345 (miss: toe lift)

Deadlift starting position

I have to stop lifting my toes up. I was wearing Converse Chuck Taylors if you were wondering.

833 is the goal according to this ranking chart in the CrossFit FAQ.

Jello Legs

Yesterday Mikey and I did some MetCon because I needed to rest today in preparation for tomorrow's heavy lifts.

"Cindy"
amrap in 20 min:
5 pullups
10 pushups
15 squats

23 rds + 5, 10, 2 (PR)

Now I can't walk properly, my chest is tight and I can't raise my arms. This. Is. Awesome. In other news, the new May issues of the CrossFit Journal and the Performance Menu are out!

"Recognize that there is a benefit to not getting everything you want"
- Jason Dougherty, CFJ May 2008

I haven't been righteous with my nutrition lately

Mikey and i each ate a Gordito's Grande Burrito last night.

Jesse from Local's told me NOT to stay strictly on that 20-rep squat program.. so I did some other heavy lifts!

Press
6-6-3-3-1-1-1

125 - missed 5th lift - 130 - 130 - 135 - 135 - 140 (NEW PR)

yeaaaa

So ready to do my own total this weekend. I'm heading in early and doing my stuff and then staying to judge and cheer folk on. I'm hoping to get a 290 lbs squat, 140 lbs press and a 325 deadlift (CFT = 755 @ 145 lbs)

Baskin Robbins 31 cent scoop night! CHEAT NIGHT FOR ME!

The Quest for 315

I have a goal to squat 315 lbs by the last week of June.


The other day Dwinson and I were chatting online and he sent me a link to some training program about a 20-rep squat program. The main gist of it (as I understand) is that you get your 10-rep max on the bar and do ten reps. Then one more. Then another. Then another until you get to 20. They're also known as breathing squats because you end up breathing more and more in between reps. It is more of mental challenge than anything, but it separates the boys from the men.

Yesterday I tried it out, without knowing any of my maxes (because I've never attempted anything other than a 1RM). I ended up doing my real 20-rep set with 185 lbs. It was hard and I definitely became slower in those later reps and was screaming like a mofo, but I could've gone and done 10+ reps if I wanted to. I'm a little sore in the legs and glutes today, but I'm going to attempt a bigger one tonight with Adrian. If I do the math correctly it should go like this:

Starting today, I have 10 weeks until the last week of June/first week of July to hit a 1RM of 315 lbs. Let's say that the normal programming with this method calls for 6 weeks of training. If I do these workouts 3x/week then I should have 18 workouts ahead of me. If I am adding 5 lbs per workout then I will be moving a complete 90 lbs within those six weeks. If I start off the program with 195 lbs then by the end of the six weeks I should be squatting 285 lbs. Would four weeks be enough for me to jump another 30 lbs? I think that would be attainable given that I survive the first six weeks training mostly with the 20-rep squats. Apparently this program also builds a lot of mass. Hopefully I stay around where I'm currently at. I don't wanna outgrow my clothes and/or look funnier (short guy, big body)

Further Reading:

• 20-Rep Squat Routine [CrossFit.com Message Boards]
  
• 20-Rep Squats: The Brutal Path to Massive Gains! [Bodybuilding.com]
• Super Squats (Book Excerpt) [Dave Draper]
  
• High Rep Squats [Dave Draper]

Didn't know my legs could do that much

Crazy, fun workouts are just how I like working out. Nate, Marc and myself went up to Lynnwood for the Hooverball Tourney, except the turnout didn't go as planned SO we were still able to "Surrender Our Sweat" with an extreme WOD

From Jesse Ward, Clan Cheiftan of Local's Gym:

Have like a "Choose your own workout", kinda like "Those Choose Your Own Adventure" books. It could be so rad. You can rest as you decide where to go next…..

Set 1:

# 1: 5 Rounds of "Chelsea". If you complete in under 5 minutes go to workout #5 if you complete in longer than 5 minutes go to workout #6.

# 2: Go to workout #6

# 3: Work up to a max military press. If under m:100 w:60 go to workout #7 between m:101-149 w:61-79 go to workout #8 if above go to #9

# 4: Perform 30 Suitcase Deadlifts with m:20kg w:12kg each side and proceed to workout #7

# 5: "Tabata" Squats if your lowest interval is below 10 go to workout #2 if it’s higher than 10 go to workout #3

# 6: Row 1000m and do 25 Push-Ups. Proceed to workout #4

# 7: Perform 1 Rounds of "Michael". If using rowing instead of running proceed to workout #10. If time under 8 minutes proceed to workout #11, if over #12.

# 8: Proceed to workout #6

# 9: Perform 1 Round of "Lynne" If your score under 10 proceed to workout # 6 is between 11 and 20 proceed to workout # 11 if over 21 proceed to luckey # 13.

# 10: Perform 3 Rounds of "Chipper" Proceed to workout # 14.

# 11: Find your maximum weight for 3 reps on front squats. Proceed to workout #14.

# 12: Perform 21-15-9 of 20" Box Jumps and Knees to Elbows proceed to workout #14.

# 13: Perform "Grace" proceed to workout # 14.

# 14: Race 500m, see who wins !!! Celebrate

Jesse, Nate and one of Jesse's members did #1, 6, 4, 7, 12, 14

Marc and myself went through #1, 5, 3, 8, 6, 4, 7, 11, 14

Brutal enjoyment, especially seeing as I just became better (minus the stuffy/runny nose)

Feeling Better

For someone who warns people about needed to rest properly and blah blah blah about overtraining I AM A HYPOCRITE.

I was pretty sick for a while. I'm pretty sure it was a viral thing. I became better as soon as I dedicated a day of not doing anything. Weird how that works..

----

I did "Fran" yesterday with no weight because I have a pretty taxing week ahead of me. (GET IT?! OOOH!)

"Fran"
21-15-9 reps for time
thruster, 45 lbs
pullups

2:48

Now if only when I bring it back up to its prescribed weight of 95 lbs and keep that time I'd be really good..

Was Going to Write Something Similar

from the Local's Gym / Lynnwood CrossFit blog:

What do you do on Weekends?

I had quite an interesting talk with a member today about how his "friends" were routinely derailing his attempts at fitness. How they wanted to party (which means staying up until 4:00am and getting drunk) and would be quite obnoxious to him when he says "no".

An example of "partying" which I loathe in all forms, quit while you’re young, get ahead.

So that got me really thinking, I wondered if this was a common thread? Do lots of my friends who workout here deal with this same derision from their other "friends", be it semi-monthly bunco parties or "having" to go with friends for a drink to celebrate a promotion or whatever.

Friend:

1. A person whom one knows, likes, and trusts.
2. A person whom one knows; an acquaintance.
3. A person with whom one is allied in a struggle or cause; a comrade.
4. One who supports, sympathizes with, or patronizes a group, cause, or movement: friends of the clean air movement.

Are your "friends" supporting, sympathizing or patronizing you? Are they allied with you in your struggles? Or do they hold you back? Do they pressure you into curtailing plans to make yourself better?

Write a list, do this exercise. I suggest you remove people from your life who aren’t your friends. These people likely only serve themselves and waste your time, money and energy.

I’d like to get a discussion going, so please post back with comments, thoughts, reflections, cancellation letters

Thanks,
Jesse

----

After successfully teaching Dwinson how to do a muscle-up and missing out on Ipanema due to maintenance, we met up with Mike in Bellevue where I proceeded to take down 12 plates at Sushiland. Damn. Not good.

Not well

I'm still hacking which means I should be resting and not working out.

I did 30 muscle-ups for time in my sleep last night if that counts for anything..

----

Ch-ch-ch-check it out- Brendan Gilliam's blog!

"It never ceases to amaze me how full of #?!% the fitness industry is. I don't want to talk about the ones who are obviously full of it, like the infomercial dorks trying to sell their piece of crap machines and dvds that are only good for laughing at. I want to talk a little about the guys who are actually highly regarded as elite strength coaches to the pros, and charge like $250 dollars an hour to get their time. They write books and articles for major fitness sites. They charge obscene amounts of money for them to speak at a seminar for a few hours. They claim to be the real deals of the industry, the no BS guys who have lived in the trenches for the last 15 years AND have like 20 different different letters after their names."

Along with being one of CrossFit's posterchildren, he owns and runs CrossFit North Santa Cruz, home of this badass wall painting:

Update: End of March

After this past Saturday's RAINSTORM (or FIGHTSTORM as Adrian dubbed it) and scoring a 326, I ended up doing JT at 3am later that evening because I was awake and needed to release that energy.

Dwinson and I resting after box jumps

"JT"
21-15-9 reps for time:
HSPU
Ring Dips
Pushups

10:17

Sunday was a rest day. I was contemplating doing yoga and/or taking a nap when Tammy called me up and asked if I wanted to go to Banya 5 with her, Adrian and John. I took that call as a sign to relax and enjoy the spa. If you've never been before, Banya 5 is a "Russian-style Turkish bath house", which essentially has plenty of hot/cold modalities to refresh the body and spirit. Check it out sometime. I have half-off passes as well. Saw some familiar faces there and enjoyed some tea. I would do the contrast modalities- wet heat, cold plunge, dry heat, cold plunge, warm bath, cold plunge, repeat.

Two to three hours later we were all hungry and Tammy decided upon Snoose Junction Pizza in Ballard. We shared a Mushroom/Sausage/Ricotta pie. Good stuff. (It's the weekend. I can eat it)

Yesterday those three and myself did heavy squats:

Front Squat
5-5-5-3-3-3-1-1-1

135-145-155-160-165-170-185-205-215

I definitely could've gone heavier for everything, but slow and steady wins the race. That, and we were all sharing the same rack. I'm going to do some O-lifts today after training some folk

Massive superset

Went up to Local's Gym/Lynnwood CrossFit with Adrian to workout with Jesse. Those two dudes decided upon Lynne. Warmed up and got to it in order of lightest to heaviest (YAY!)

"Lynne"
5 rds for max reps, no time component
Bench Press, BW
Pullups

Jesse 91, 245lbs
Adrian 113, 215lbs
Andrew 161, 145lbs

Completely felt "the pump" afterwards, sans sweat.

FOOD.

I took a chicken breast and cooked it all the way through and then set it aside. I then added some peppers into the pan with olive oil until they started melting. Once that happened, I put the chicken back in and covered the entire thing with El Pato, a mexican enchilada sauce. Covered and cooked on med/low heat for about 25 minutes. Great stuff. Idea comes from Rob Wolf (Recipe 1 & Recipe 2).


Next one is a simple salad: romaine, tomato, turkey bacon, sausage and a lemon-olive oil dressing:


The next day started with my breakfast of "Grilled Grasshoppers". Spinach, onion, ground beef, olive oil and some eggs.



Lastly here is another breakfast: Asparagus, carrot, garlic, eggs, and turkey bacon!


These are my Zone/Paleo meals.

The Climb

I beat my time from last year! I took my mp3 player up the stairs this year with a mix i made to give me status updates as I ran/walked up. Our team took 43rd!

Part of my team at the "Team Photo Area"

Next year I hope to run up even faster. Hopefully my cv will be up to par.

Heavy deads

OH! MY BACK! Yesterday..

Deadlift
5-5-5-3-3-3-1-1-1

Andrew 225, 230, 235, 245, 255, 280, 290, 305, 325 (New PR)
Elizabeth 65, x, x, 75, 85, 85.5, x, x, x
Nate 95, 115, 135, 145, 145, 155, 170, 185x, 180
Tammy 65, 85, 95, 115, 125, 135, 145, 155x, 150

x = missed lift/no lift

I did Elizabeth (11:16, 115lbs) the day prior to the deadlifting. I woke up this morning with my right SCM/upper trap very uncomfortable. Then my back gave. Oh the joys of CrossFit.

Big Climb is on Sunday! Yet, I still need to register. If (WHEN!) I do, Nate and I will be battling to see who finishes fastest. Loser pays for the others lunch that day. GET READY NATE- I'LL BE HUNGRY!

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Any requests for some tabata interval music? Next I'm going to try to make a Fight Gone Bad Mix..

Roxanne + Tabata This music

My baby's back!

Roxanne
21-15-9 reps for time:
pullups
burpees
kb swings, 20kg
box jumps, 20"
push press, 95 lbs

Andrew 13:53
Adrian 16:12
Tammy 16:26

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Here is a "Tabata This" alternative mix I made

• Foo Fighters - All My Life
• Queens of the Stone Age - 3's & 7's
• Jimmy Eat World - Pain
• Incubus - Light Grenades
• System of a Down - Chop Suey!

ENJOY: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CFP4ACN1

Let me know what you think and give me music suggestions so I can cut up some more

Food as a drug

Marc:

This video of Nicole shows what I was explaining to you in a more organized/less A.D.D.-like manner.

Helen

Breakfast:

Eggs, little bit of milk, splash of EVOO, onion, garlic, spinach and red bell pepper.

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HELEN

3 rds for time: 400m run 21 kb swings 12 pullups

Tiff 19:25, 25lbs db
Sam 20:41, 8kg kb
Andrew 21:12, 24kg kb
Mike 22:26, 16kg kb

followed by a good old stretching session!

Congrats Mikey

for his first ANGIE as Rx'ed

for time:
100 pullups
100 pushups
100 situps
100 squats

Andrew 16:59 (PR by 1:02)
Mike 25:07

post your times to COMMENTS fools!

Stair Climb

Speaking of which (AHEM!) that was the workout we did today! We went to UW and used the area surrounding some of the tennis courts near the IMA

3 rds for time:
10 stair accensions
10 burpees

Andrew 14:37
Tammy 15:03
Mike 15:17
Nate 16:28
Sheena 17:20

Great jobs guys

Friends

I'm constantly trying to get my friends to workout with me- not only because I do it for a living, but because I care about the well-being of others, ESPECIALLY of ones I truly care about.

So today I was finally able to get some friends to come try CrossFit out. We (of course) started skill-work with the basic squat, moved onto the plank and midline stabilization, pushups, situps, and finally pullups.

THE LADIES

amrap in 10 min:
5 pullups
10 situps
15 squats

Sam 5
Sheena 8 rds
Tiff 9 rds +5, 8

and then THE DUDES

amrap in 10 min:
5 pullups
10 pushups
15 squats

Andrew 14 rds + 5, 10, 14
Marc 11 rds + 5, 3
Mike 8 rds + 5, 4

Wonderful stuff. Grabbed some ingredients, headed back to my place and we all enjoyed some Muscle Milk shakes.

ps
I ripped my left hand!

(kinda) Zoning

This past weekend Adrian and I drove 13 hours down to CFHQ for our first certification. Good times, learned a lot. We did FGB. My score was 245 as Rx'ed. The next day I didn't feel sore or anything. We did the med ball clean/burpee WOD. My reps were CLEAN and sexy, but it completely wrecked me and I feel like I have some minor rhabdo (!). Here's hoping that I recover tomorrow because I'm walking with a gangster limp. BTW, Tosh is gangster. He did at least 4 workouts in about a 24 hour span, probably PR'ing in most if not all of them.

This past week I've been attempting to get onto the Zone/Paleo diet. I've some good reading material- CrossFit Journal #21, A Week In the Zone, a vast number of blogs (Modern Forager, Robb Wolf, Scott Hagnas, etc) and some random cookbooks.

Yesterday I made this delightful dinner, inspired by a recipe from Robb Wolf.

my version:
1/2 lbs ground beef
3 chicken sausage links
1 bag stir-fry veggies
1/4 c marinara
1/4 c salsa


and then for today's dinner I made a salad from the remaining sausages along with some romaine lettuce, beefhouse tomato and a drizzle of olive oil.. and some freshly ground pepper!


I'm in need of Costco trip. Hopefully sooner than later. Getting of the crack is proving more difficult than previously thought.

Focus.

Oh, fitness blog! I have shunned thee and for that I am saddened.

Well, here's to new beginnings.

TO DO:
1. Blog my workouts here, daily
2. Also, read at least 10 pages of a book daily
3. Watch my nutrition closely and not to fall off (I'm attempting to Zone). CUT SUGAR!
4. CFWU and 10 minutes of stretching randomly throughout the day, regardless if I'm training or not
5. Pick up on the running!
6. Sleep more often, and on time
7. Budget everything
8. Stay focused.

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JACKIE
rd 1 completed at 7:48
rd 2 completed at 16:52
rd 3 completed at 29:38

I almost saw Pukie thrice.

Adrian didn't workout the other day

and he had a beer before noon.

(Wed)
The dudes and I did the 75 OHS, 95lbs WOD (75 reps done in as few sets as possible). Mike used 45lbs. He got 5 rds and both John and I got 4 rds as rx'ed.

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Today Sheena and I ran Greenlake. I tried what I've learned of POSE method thus far. The run was great- my knee didn't hurt (as much) and we finished in a very decent time. We both took one break during the run (due to a cramp and my knee uncomfortability) but it was dope. My calfs are done for. I didn't get DOMS. It was more like Immediate Onset Muscle Soreness. I walk like an old injured man.

Good times ahead though.

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I think I'm going to take a page from Skip Chase of Mt. Baker CrossFit (WA stand up!) and have my clients agree to allow me to come by at any point unannounced to check their fridges and pantries. Sugar is some bad stuff that I've also been trying to cut myself.

My back

Is murdering me.. and it's only been just over 12 hours since I did this little ditty:

21 deadlifts, 225lbs
42 pullups
15 deadlifts, 225lbs, dropped to 135 after the first 10 reps
30 pullups
9 deadlifts, 135lbs
18 pullups

12:11

I wasn't feeling strong during those deadlifts, but then again I haven't been paying attention to my heavy lifting for a while. This coupled with some terrible food choices this past week and lack of sleep (my buddy Dan is having some serious sleeping problems as well) aren't helping my health. I'm finding myself being a 'Debbie Downer' and it's not fun.

[article] UK & US Love Their Fast Food

from the Modern Forager:

Organic Consumers latest newsletter included this article: Who Loves Junk Food the Most: U.K., USA, or Canada?

From the newsletter:

44 percent of Americans agreed with the statement while only 19 percent of the French agreed.

And taking the grand prize (from the article):

Forty five percent of UK respondents agreed with the statement ‘I like the taste of fast food too much to give it up’.

Wow! 44% and 45% respectively! That is an unreal percentage of people that cannot give up fast food due to the taste. It’s even more amazing to me because fast food isn’t all that tasty. It’s mainly a combination of salt, sugar, and a crispy texture - very one-dimensional food. It hits the spot if you’re so hungry, you’re going to gnaw your arm (or someone else’s arm) off, but I certainly wouldn’t consider it “tasty food”.

So congratulations Britain. You have unseated the USA as the most fast food loving nation, though only by a small percentage. Notice that the French don’t appreciate fast food quite as much, though it’s still 1 in 5. I suppose that’s the result of a rich food tradition that the United States doesn’t have.

Read more.

Unhealthy

It's 2 o'clock in the morning and I'm completely awake.

Not only that, but I just cooked some Alfredo. It's homemade and fresh from scratch, but it's all CHO and it's night. For whatever reason I was feenin for it.

Ah. I need focus for this week.

RAINSTORM II

This Saturday I'll be holding RAINSTORM II at 11am at my gym.

It's free so come out for some metabolism-raising, fun times- and bring a friend!

No Bueno

not feeling strong at all right now.

did "Mary" earlier and i was hesitant with the pullups. i finished with 9 rds. i thought i'd have at least 12 done.

that's what 2 weeks of unhealthy food and alcohol will do to a body

an excerpt

"Eating alone will not keep a man well; he must also take exercise. For food and exercise, while possessing opposite qualities, yet work together to produce health... And it is necessary, as it appears, to discern the power of various exercise, both natural exercises and artificial, to know which of them tends to increase flesh and which to lessen it; and not only this, but also to proportion exercise to bulk food, to the constitution of the patient, to the age of the individual..."

Regimen - Hippocrates

yay insomnia

i hate you!

note to self:

buy new running shoes and start studying the POSE Method of running and ChiRunning

5k's all day!

Here's to the Big Climb! Team Foundation Fitness is about to own this

Ross E. the Beast

one of my fitness heroes, Ross Enamait, put up a new training article and video up on his training website.

The Homemade Wheel



Free movement exercises are much better for midline stabilization than machines. F*ck an Ab Lounge or any other crunch machines.

STEP YOUR FITNESS GAME UP!

Personal Record!

I completely destroyed my last PR of 8:47 with CrossFit's 'Diane' WOD yesterday

Diane
21-15-9 reps for time:
225 lbs Deadlift
HSPU

5:00

I'm both shocked and stoked about it. Feels good either way though.

I also wanted to share this article...

Myostatin Drugs 4x > Steroids, Without Harmful Side Effects?



GET BIG! GET BIG! GET BIG!

from my CF Boards thread

i'm a bit late on starting this properly, but i thought hey! new year, new log! let's see if i can't stay on schedule.

as of 2008 0101 i am a 22 year old Filipino/Spanish male standing at 5'5", weighing in at 140 lbs (63.6kg). i don't eat poorly, but it's not that great either. (that statement is based on what my peers eat)

according to a Bod Pod test in late December 2007 my BF% is 6.7% meaning i carry 9.4 lbs of fat with a lean tissue weight of 130.6. the Bod Pod also concluded that my BMR is 1561. given that i have an "Active" activity level, then my BMR goes up to 2716. if i set my macronutrient ratios to 40/30/30 (CHO/Pro/Fat, respectively) then i should be eating

CHO 1086cal / 272g
Pro 815cal / 204g
Fat 815cal / 91g

i take a daily Centrum multi and a fish oil pill. on days i feel my immune system is weak (i carry stress and seem to get sick in the throat/neck area most) i will take anywhere from 500mg to 2000mg, which was recommended to me by a "wellness specialist".

sleep is my biggest "limit" (i don't like the word "weakness"). it's very hard for me to keep a set schedule. i am currently attempting to reset my circadian rhythm.

my occupation is being a personal trainer for my gym Foundation Fitness / Rain City CrossFit.

[ MORE HERE ]

Grand Opening Results

The grand opening of Foundation Fitness/ Rain City CrossFit was a complete success. Although everyone who RSVP'ed didn't show up, others were there to fill the spots, eat the pizza and drink the beers.

My demo workout, which I shall dub 'Kill Grip'



3rds for time:
20 KB Swings, 16 kg
15 Pullups
10 C&J, 95lbs
5 HSPU

(the official version will be 5rds, 20kg kb, and hspu will be with the parallettes)



Afterwards we held an inagural workout which I have named 'Roxanne'

21-15-9 reps for time:
Pullups
Burpees
KB Swing, 20kg
Box Jumps, 20"
Push Press, 95lbs




I am very excited for the rest of the year. Foundation Fitness is now my full-time job and I can't wait to build our rep as a gym!

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On the 7th Tammy, Mike, and myself did the hero wod 'Josh'.

For Time:
21 OHS, 95lbs
42 Pullups
15 OHS, 95lbs
30 Pullups
9 OHS, 95lbs
18 Pullups

Andrew 9:53
Tammy 15:?? M (45lbs, jumping)
Mike 10:07 M (45lbs, jumping)

i tore my hands up pretty nicely as well. didn't hurt so much at first because i didn't notice them, but during my cool down i looked at my hands and noticed the tears. the only other time i've ever torn was in high school gymnastics. i'm surprised that within my first year of CrossFit it didn't tear me up sooner!

----

Saturday there will be a CrossFit Total at Level 4 CrossFit Seattle. We will help run the event and hopefully I'll be able to compete as well!

Too bad I didn't prepare )=

Results will be posted Saturday night. Stay posted!

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Here's a video of Cyril Raffaelli, a trickster/traucer/stuntman/martial artist. You may recognize his face. Click his name to see his profile on IMDB



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Finally, here's an article about making your own vanilla extract!

3/4 Ain't Bad

Last night I was determined to work out even if I had a coffee date with an old schoolmate (hi Kate!)

Sheena, Mike and myself warmed up, played with the C2 a bit and then went through some skills. Weird thing is we all finished our respective workouts at (nearly) the same time.

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10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 rep rds for time:
Push Press, 45lbs
KB SDLHP, 1 pood
KB Swings, 1 pood

Mike 10:30

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21-15-9 rep rds for time:
DB Push Press, 30lbs
KB SDLHP, 8kg
KB Goblet Squat, 8kg
KB Swing, 8kg

Sheena 10:30

----

10-Min KB Swing Test (CF Style)

Andrew 208, 16kg

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I still want to workout today. Maybe after the Seahawks game because I'm gonna have some people over.

GO HAWKS!

That's my landlord's name

we finally got a C2 in the gym

"Christine"
500m Row
12 BW Deadlifts
21 Box Jumps, 25"

12:40, 145lbs deadlift

Happy New Year!

WELCOME 2008! What fun will we have this year?

from one of my favorite sites, Modern Forager:

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Ten Things To Remember In The New Year

January 2nd, 2008 Scott Kustes

Given that the calendar just ticked over to January 1st, 2008, there are a lot of resolutions to eat better and lose weight. Here are ten things to remember as you embark on your health journey.

1. Junk food doesn’t exist; there is junk and there is food.
2. Similarly, real food has no nutrition label. Food products have nutrition labels.
3. If a label tells you how healthful the product inside is, it’s probably not. Don’t be deceived by marketing.
4. Sugar is detrimental to your body in more ways than you can count.
5. Organic/natural junk is still junk. Thirty grams of sugar from honey is not more healthful than 30g of sugar from other sources.
6. If you are wondering if you should eat more vegetables, the answer is yes. I don’t care how many you eat, you should probably eat more.
7. Similarly, you should probably sleep more. Turn off the TV and go to bed. Given the quality of most TV programming, you aren’t going to miss anything of importance.
8. Don’t let “I can’t afford organic” keep you from eating enough produce. Organic vegetables are best. However, eating conventional is better than not eating produce at all.
9. You’re human and you will eat something too sugary and too carby. Don’t stress; just get back on the wagon.
10. And finally: health is a lifelong journey, not a quick-fix. Find something you can stick with.

Anybody have any to add?

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Read more.

SEE YOU ALL AT THE FOUNDATION FITNESS GRAND OPENING!

SPD = Seattle Police Department?

Grant & myself went through our own strength training

Squat 5-4-3-3-3
Press 5-5-3-3-3
Deadlift 5-5-3-3-3

185lbs - 205lbs - 225 lbs - 250lbs - 255lbs
95lbs - 110lbs - 115lbs - 120lbs - 130lbs
225lbs - 285lbs - 315lbs - 320lbs - 320 lbs

Grant's back was still recovering from Elizabeth so he couldn't go on with the deadlifts (the eccentric phase was killing his back)