Some of you are quite good at recording your workout data in your logbooks, some of you are a little more lax in that department.
Keeping track of your data is your responsibility, without it you have no idea if you are on the right path. You won't know if you are making the progress you want/need. You won't know what weight your work sets are at today. (I can only remember the work set weights, for all the lifts, for so many people :P )
Everyone is given a logbook, and we have the big board. Keep track of everything in your books, when you set a new personal record update it on the big board and put it in the PR section of your logbook.
Not only is a neat to be able to go back and track progress, but it is necessary if you want to make the most of your progress.
What brought this on? Well the other day Attila was looking through his logbook and noticed that he has been coming to CrossFit Kelowna for one year now! (well it was yesterday, but he's not in on Wednesdays).
From Attila's first day, he squatted 105 for 5 reps that day, now he's up over 300 for 5!
So, in honour of that, we will do the workout that we did on his very first day.
Workout of the day: 1 Round of "Michael" for time: Run 800m 50 Back Extensions 50 Sit-ups
Above: Various scalings on HSPU. Down to some plates, the floor, some pads... get progressively lower and lower!
Watching Canada AM this morning, they had their nutritionist on to talk about nutrition to fuel your new running program that they are providing people with information on starting. I have a really REALLY hard time getting behind any fitness program that recommends this diet...
For days leading up to a longer run you are supposed to eat large amounts of pasta, thick crust pizza, boat loads of rice... She recommends gummy bears to fuel your performance during the run...
Are you serious?! Does this sound to anybody, like a healthy endeavor? And don't even get me started on the detrimental effects of training for hours every day in the oxidative pathway... (We all know what oxidation does to things right? Rusts/rots them)
How about, instead of eating a terrible diet of pizza and gummy bears, oxidizing the shit out of your body for hours every day... You find a program that actually makes sense as something that will make you healthy. Eat meat, eat fat, cut the grains out and get stronger and faster.
If there is ever a time when you NEED to run for an hour or more... I'm sure you can slog through it. Especially because if you ever HAD to odds are your life would be in danger and you'd have enough motivation to make it happen. ;)
Workout of the day: 3 rounds for time of: 60' Bear Crawl 15 Push-ups 120' Overhead Walking Lunge (45/25 plates) 20 Situps
Above: Ivar hits a milestone and gets a nice PR on the deadlift, pulling 405lbs!
By Cameron MacLellan
I had an opportunity this weekend to do some strongman training. A new friend of mine, Tony Tomra pulled a trailer full of his personal equipment down to a parking lot in Vernon and turned it into our training ground. Strongman promoter Robin Wright also joined in on the fun, and that dude is strong!
We rolled through log clean and press, farmers walk, yoke walk, tire flip, truck pull, and atlas stones. Log clean and press was done with one of two logs, a 70 lb or a 195 lb log, both with attachments for plates. Truck pull was done with a F250 with a horse trailer attached. Atlas stones were 165lbs, 190lbs, 210lbs, and 265lbs with a 49” platform. All in all it was a great day and lots of weight was moved in a short amount of time.
There is a competition in Kamloops on June 19th. I will be attending, if anyone would like more information or would like to sign up, I will post info at the gym.
Above: Sean after knocking almost 3 minutes off his "Grace" time!
How about another recipe Friday? For those of you missing tasty breakfast sandwiches, here is a recipe that is pretty much paleo (has some cheese in it) and is quite delicious.
Muffins: * 1 egg * 1/3 cup olive oil * 2/3 cup milk or coconut milk * 1 cup coconut flour * 1/2 cup arrowroot powder * 1/2 cup grated cheese (optional) * 1/2 teaspoon of salt (or more to taste)
Throw everything in a blender and blend till smooth. Pour into greased muffin tins or tins lined with papers (for easy clean up). Should make 12.
Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes. Use 2 to make 1 sandwich.
I baked the bacon in the oven with the muffins and cooked the eggs in the microwave in custard cups. Be sure to puncture the yolks and cover so they don't explode everywhere.
So tasty!
Workout of the day: "Atrium of Pain" 2 rounds for time of: 25 Squats 20 Situps 15 Pushups 10 Pullups Run 800m
We will be having another go at starting up "Strength Club". This will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4:00PM. If you are already coming to the 5:30PM class on those days we will just consider it as part of the "come early/stay late" to practice things. If you don't normally come those days, or want to do CrossFit on other days we can discuss what it'll take to join these classes.
What is it? It is a linear progression of strength training following the principles in Starting Strength.
Tuesday will be: Back Squat 3x5, Press 3x5, Power Clean 5x3
Thursday will be: Back Squat 3x5, Bench Press 3x5, Deadlift 1x5
You start out fairly light, somewhere around 60% of your max, and every session you add 5-10lbs to each lift for the work sets. It will feel easy for the first few weeks, but trust me, it will get hard, and it will get heavy. I started doing this about 2 months ago and am almost up to setting a new 1RM back squat for 3 sets of 5...
If you want to start getting stronger faster, or just get some more time under the bar and practice with these movements, this will be the time and place to do so.
Workout of the day: "Grace" for time: 30 Clean and Jerks (135/95)
Above: Beth, first Rx'd "Helen". Rox, first "Helen" ever.
Why is it that things like fruits, vegetables, leans meats, etc, are considered "health food" and everything else is just "food". Shouldn't real food be the only thing considered as food, and everything else be considered "fake" or "unhealthy" or "insert negative description" food?
If I have my way it would be... What are your thought on this?
Workout of the day: "Fight Gone Bad" 3 rounds for max reps, 1 minute per station, 1 minute rest between rounds Wallballs SDHP Box Jump Push Press Row (calories)
I agree with pretty much everything this article has to say, except right at the end where it recommends a diet high in whole grains, as you know we follow paleo/primal eating guidelines and are against grain consumption.
"Linda Bacon, Ph.D, dreads swimsuit season, but not because she has anything against the beach.
Instead, the California-based nutritionist fears what the season brings: scores of otherwise health-conscious citizens who subject themselves to deprivation diets (like the Master Cleanse) or intense exercise regimens, often in blazing hot weather, to look slimmer in revealing clothes.
Many unwittingly end up harming their health -- and possibly even their hearts.
Thinking of trying a lemonade fast or cabbage soup diet? Here's what to keep in mind if fitting into your skinny jeans or your Speedo is high on your summer agenda.
Crash diets may harm your heart
Cardiologist Isadore Rosenfeld, MD, a professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, in New York City, and author of the forthcoming "Doctor of the Heart: A Life in Medicine," opposes crash diets (less than 1,200 calories a day) and detox plans like the Master Cleanse.
The Master Cleanse involves consuming a mixture of water, lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper -- and nothing else -- for several days.
He says these very low-calorie regimens are based on the false theory that the body needs help eliminating waste. Research suggests rapid weight loss can slow your metabolism, leading to future weight gain, and deprive your body of essential nutrients. What's more, crash diets can weaken your immune system and increase your risk of dehydration, heart palpitations, and cardiac stress.
"A crash diet once won't hurt your heart," Dr. Rosenfeld says. "But crash dieting repeatedly increases the risk of heart attacks."
Bacon adds that long-term calorie-cutting can eventually lead to heart muscle loss. "Yo-yo dieting can also damage your blood vessels. All that shrinking and growing causes micro tears that create a setup for atherosclerosis and other types of heart disease," she says."
Workout of the day: For time: Sprint 200m 12 Hang Power Cleans (155/110) 12 Knee-to-Elbows 9 Hang Power Cleans (155/110) 9 Knee-to-Elbows 6 Hang Power Cleans (155/110) 6 Knee-to-Elbows Sprint 200m
Which do you feel is more important? Is a 50/50 mix the best? I can devise all sorts of hypothetical situations in which a strong guy is needed, or a fast guy, or a perfect mix...
Do you think a strong person would benefit more from conditioning work? Getting faster and getting his stamina and endurance up?
How about an endurance athlete focusing on getting much stronger?
What if you are as strong as you are conditioned? Should you focus or carry on with what you've been doing?
Or is the short answer "it depends on your goals"? I'm sure this is the real answer, but I am curious as to what you all think. Or is the best answer "Work at whatever you're weakest at and make it a strength"?
Discuss!
Workout of the day: "Helen" 3 rounds for time: Run 400m 21 KB Swings 12 Pull-ups
No I'm not talking about Prowlers. (although they are a great tool for pushing) I am talking about "it", your limits, your boundaries, your comfort zone...
Most of you are comfortable pushing it on the Metcons. Getting closer to the edge than last time. Taking seconds or minutes off your times. Striving to get unassisted pull-ups, or full weights...
But one place I don't see everyone pushing it is during the strength training.
Some or most of you are great, and you push to add weight to the bar at every session. That is the goal. Every time you do your 3x5 lift, you should be striving to add more weight to the bar than last time. It's true that every day can't be a PR, but you don't need to be going for huge PRs. Even if it's just 1.5lbs more than last time, it is still more.
I've had some long posts about basic linear progression programs and the way they work. So here is a quick review.
Start at a sub-maximal weight (~60% of 1RM). If you don't know what your 1 rep max is, keep adding weight and doing sets of 5 reps until the bar speed slows down. You will know when this happens, it won't be grinding out but merely just slowing and turning into some work. When you get to that point, keep the weight there and do 2 more sets of 5. Next time that lift comes around, add 5-10 pounds (depending on what lift it is) and do your 3 sets of 5. Over time, you will pass your previous 1RM doing 3 sets of 5.
This takes a great deal of mental and intestinal fortitude after a few weeks when the weights get high.
Get comfortable being under the bar, and enjoy getting stronger. It will be more helpful than you can imagine.
Workout of the day: 5 rounds for time: 10 Ring Dips 10 Pull-ups Sprint 50m out Sprint 50m back
Late post today so I will just repost something off 70s Big. Some of you have been asking me about this anyway, and these guys are who I go to for my info on the subject... heh.
A properly tightened belt will augment all of this pressure build up.
The tightness of the belt essentially decreases the volume of the lower
torso just a little bit. We all know, or should know, that when the
volume is decreased with the same amount of air in the container, the
pressure will increase. But, more importantly than the change in volume
is that the tightness forces and allows the abdominal muscles to
contract harder into the belt. More contracting by the abdominal muscles
with a smaller container means more pressure, thus more support, thus
more strength. This is good for getting stronger, and as I’ve said
before, if someone aims to get strong and doesn’t wear a belt,
they are a fucking idiot.
Now, this whole “belt wearing” process has both acute and chronic
affects. It irritates the shit out of me how fanboys around the internet
will ask, “How many pounds/kilos will be added to my lifts if I wear a
belt?” It doesn’t work quite like that. Yes, the acute affect of the
belt is more pressure which leads to a stronger torso in that bout of
lifting, but wearing a belt must be learned, and the belt is more useful
for it’s chronic affect. Since the belt aids in strengthening the
trunk, the squat/press/deadlift will be increased by wearing it over
time. It will be increased so much that your new strength attained by
wearing the belt will be higher than the strength you would have gained
without the belt. Yes, you will get more strong more efficiently when
wearing a belt.
Workout of the day: "The Chief" 5 rounds of: AMRAP in 3 minutes of: 3 Power Cleans (135/95) 6 Pushups 9 Air Squats
Rest 1 minute between AMRAPS. This is 3 minutes on, 1 minute off x5. Your 3 minutes on are spent doing as many rounds as possible of the 3-6-9 triplet.
Above: Lisa overhead walking lunges with 45lbs plate.
Some of you are still a little confused as to some of the terminology of the lifts. I hope this will maybe clear things up a little.
Really there are only different versions of the Olympic lifts, those being the Clean, Jerk and Snatch.
The Clean is caught at the shoulders, in the rack position. The Jerk starts at the shoulder in the rack position and is caught overhead in a slightly wider then shoulder (press) grip. The Snatch is caught overhead in a wide (overhead squat) grip.
Now, there are some modifiers for these lifts. I will start with the modifiers for the Clean and the Snatch.
No Modifier: It is assumed that the Clean and Snatch start on the floor, and are caught in a full depth squat. Hang: If it is modified by hang, it means the lift starts with the bar at the hang position, basically the top of a deadlift, waist height, at arms length. Squat: If Squat is added, this means you have to catch it in a full squat, whether you need to or not. Power: This means you catch it in a shallow (not full squat) landing position. Technically anything above parallel is considered power.
You can combine these terms to get things like Hang Squat Snatch. This starts at the hang, caught overhead in a full squat. Power Clean starts at the floor and is caught in a shallow landing position, at the shoulders in the rack position.
Make sense?
Now for the Jerk. There are really only 2 Jerks, one of which has 2 names...
Power Jerk: This is a Jerk that is caught in the same stance as a Power Clean/Snatch, feet are still side by side in a squat width, and caught in a shallow dip. Push Jerk: Same as Power Jerk. Split Jerk: Caught overhead, feet are split front and back into a lunge stance. Back knee can not touch the floor. Benefit of the Split Jerk is that you get the same side to side stability as a Push Jerk, but you get greater depth and front to back stability.
The Split Jerk is typically used at heavier weights, but the Push Jerk has a faster cycle time. Most people will be best at one or the other, but it is good to train both anyway.
I hope that clears up some of the terminology of the Olympic Lifts and their modifiers.
Workout of the day: #88 8 rounds for time of: Sprint 100m 8 KB Swings (32/24) 5 Pull-ups
There's a lot of things that will benefit with a little bit of focus.
You will get stronger faster if you focus more on strength and let your long distance endurance take a back seat for a while.
You will gain muscle mass faster if you aren't also concerned about keeping your body fat in the single digits...
You will get down to a 4 minute mile easier if you aren't also trying to keep an 800lbs deadlift.
Now this isn't to say that you can't get stronger, faster, leaner, and more muscle mass at the same time, you can. Just it'll just take longer to do it all at once. CrossFit is the perfect tool for this. This is also why we have separate strength training and conditioning pieces every class. If you aren't in a hurry, or don't have a specific target date (like a competition or something) then it doesn't matter if it takes longer, you will make progress everywhere all the time. This is also why we have separate strength training and conditioning pieces every class.
But most importantly, you can make excuses or you can make progress. Here you certainly can't do both at once.
Workout of the day: "Jackie" Row 1000m 50 Thrusters @45 30 Pull-ups
Above: Mike going chest to bar (my timing with the camera was poor)
My parents came out to help us with some yard renos over the past week and I would like share some lessons learned from the experience.
First one is that instant gratification is relative. Eat a tasty treat and you are immediately gratified. You spend a few days working in the yard and you accomplish something that immediately gratifies you. You spend a few months eating clean and training hard and you accomplish a change that is gratifying. I guess what I'm saying is that it shouldn't be instant, but immediate gratification or something... The amount of gratification and satisfaction is proportional to how long it takes to achieve it.
Next one is how important diet is. My parents don't train like we do, but they eat paleo like we do. And since going paleo sometime in January they have dropped a combined total of 70+ pounds. My dad used to sweat like crazy when working on projects like building a new fence, or digging post holes and the like. When things would screw up, or we'd hit some unexpected road blocks, expletives would fly, but since going paleo frustrations have dropped and patience is up. Kind of an unexpected result from going paleo. Is it because work is easier now so when things go wrong it's no big deal? Who knows...
Last one, taking care of all the little things will typically take care of the big stuff. If all you focus on is the big items (ie:front yard, lose 80 pounds, etc) it will seem insurmountable and will most likely prevent you from even getting started. Much too daunting. But if you take care of all the little tasks that go into making the big item, you will be shocked at how easy, and how quickly you can achieve that insurmountable task.
Workout of the day: 3 rounds for time of: 10 Squat Snatches 15 Burpees 20 Bench Hops**
**For the bench hops, jump sideways over a bench. If you are not leaning on the bench and are just straight jumping over it, each jump is 1 rep. If you plant your hands on the bench, then jumping your feet over and back is 1 rep.
Do you have tight hamstrings? If you are anything like me the answer is probably yes. The next logical question is what are you currently doing about it? Again if you are like me not enough. A quick stretch during the pre warm up is not adequate maintenance on such a vital muscle group. The hamstrings are both a hip extensor (they help extend the thigh, or open the hip) and a lower leg flexor (they bend the knee). The important piece of information here is that the hamstrings cross both the knee and the hip. Hamstrings are two-joint muscles. This means that tight hamstrings will affect the knee and also the hip and back. With tight hamstrings the quads are forced to make up for the lack of flexibility by rotating the hips. During squats this can be seen as our strong lumbar arch reverses sooner than it ideally would. Creating weak position and a mechanical disadvantage. Rowing tight hamstrings translate into an inefficient stroke, as our muscles are forced to work in opposition. In addition tightness in the hamstrings can cause chronic knee and or back pain as the spine and knees are pulled out of alignment. In short tight hamstrings make use less useful and less efficient, exactly the opposite of Crossfit’s goals.
Assessment
Test one: 1) Lie on the floor with your face facing the ceiling. 2) Have a partner raise up one of your legs - that you keep knee locked and straight. 3) The minute your non-raised legs off the ground while your partner is raising your leg you fail. 4) For normal people 60-80 degrees is average, but we should be shooting for a much higher degree of flexibility
Test two: 1) sit on the edge of a table with a good natural lumbar curve 2) Extend one leg ( good hamstring flexibility will allow you to fully extend your leg without loss of the lumbar curve) 3) Try agin with the other leg, and then both. 4) If you have to round your back to fully extend your legs you have tight hamstrings.
Corrective measures Now that we have determined that we are inflexible and are giving away efficiency we can fairly easily correct it. Laying flat on your back on a firm surface place the towel or rope under the arch of the foot and begin pulling the leg upward toward the chest until you feel stretching in the hamstring. Do this stretch with a straight and bent leg, holding for 60-90 seconds per position. Repeat for the other leg.
Another effective stretch can be performed from a seated position by lifting your legs until you feel the hamstring tighten. Its fine and normal to feel the quads engage. Lift upward at 25% effort for 5 seconds and relax suddenly. Lift again this time there should be a little more range of motion again holding for 5 seconds. Repeat this cycle 5-6 times per leg.
Be accountable doing these stretches a couple times a week will not be enough to get the flexibility we desire. So perform these stretches a few times a day everyday and you should see a significant uptick in flexibility and performance.
Workout of the day: AMRAP in 15 minutes: 2 Full Squat Box Jumps @~70% max Sprint 100m 8 HSPU
For the box jumps, it is a full air squat jump. Focus on violently and fully exploding open at the hips. Aim to clear the top of the box by as much as you can, landing softly on top. Maximum explosiveness and jump height landing on a sub-maximal box, that's the idea here.
The Turkish Getup (TGU) is a great movement you will never see me put in a conditioning workout... the reason being is that it isn't something that can be done fast at a useful weight. But for warm-ups and just general skill/strength building it is an awesome movement!
To do a TGU, you start by laying on the ground with a kettlebell pressed to arms length above you. If it is in your right hand, your right foot comes up to your butt, drive over onto your opposite hip and elbow. Then press yourself up to a seated position. Lift your hip off the ground and pull your left (straight) leg back underneath you, straighten your torso into a kneeling/lunge position, and stand up. To go back down do it the same movements in reverse.
Rope climbing is a neat skill. It is not nearly as hard as you think once you learn to set solid anchors with the feet.
Please watch the video below to learn all about our favourite anchor, The Lock. There are others, but they all involve switching over to the lock at the top for a nice easy descent, so might as well just rock it from the bottom.
Workout of the day: 3 rounds for time of: 30 Weighted Lunges 20 Knees-to-elbows 10 Burpees
Above: Nigel Post-WOD... looks about right. Way to go Nige!
Just because it's made of paleo ingredients does not mean you can crush pounds of this and expect weight loss to continue... there is still sugar in it, there is a lot of calories in it... I know it's not as simple as calories in and calories out, but if you are adding 4000 calories of this bad boy a day, it won't help any weight loss/fat loss goals!
And with that out of the way... paleo chocolate, just in time for Easter treats!
Equal parts cocoa powder and coconut oil. Add some agave nectar to taste. Form into shapes or molds and put in fridge/freezer to set up.
Easy peasy. Might want to soften the coconut oil to make it easier to mix.
Workout of the day: 21-15-9 Push-ups (chest to deck) Step-ups (each leg) @75/55lbs Pull-ups (chest-to-bar)
We will be open as per usual tomorrow, Saturday and Monday. There is a Foundations class this Saturday at noon as well.
Any Easter treats you plan on indulging in? Something seasonal you might be thinking of taking advantage of?
Workout of the day: Ultimate Girl Fight AKA "The Gauntlet" 30 minute time limit to complete the following: "Jackie" Row 1000m 50 Thrusters @45lbs 30 Pullups
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