5:30 am Zombies

Workout of the Day

Hang Power Snatch

3-3-3-3-3

then,

4 rounds, each for distance:

Two hand plate pinch carry, 45/25 lbs

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We Have a Shot

For any of you interested in doing the team competition. Let me(Buddy) know so we can start doing skill work together during open gym hours. I believe we can make it to regionals with a team, there are only a few skills holding us back from having a legit squad. I see us defending the affiliate cup in the next 3-5 years.

On February 22nd, the team competition starts with the Open. All of a team’s members must register on the Games site. The team captain then must set up a team account and add the members of their team.

For the first time ever, affiliates may have more than one team. Once the Open begins, however, athletes cannot be added or moved between teams.

Team athletes will complete the five Open workouts like individual competitors. If an athlete chooses to register with a team, the athlete can still compete in the individual competition at the Regional level, if they qualify. A team’s top three male and female scores in the week’s workout will contribute to the team’s standings.

At the conclusion of the Open, the top 30 teams in each Region will advance to Regionals. A team’s Regional roster must draw from the group of athletes that represented it during the Open. Teams are comprised of three men and three women.

Over the course of three days, six team members will complete workouts together. Sometimes, only two members will do the workout, sometimes four, sometimes all six. No more than three teams will advance to the CrossFit Games Affiliate Cup.

-Buddy

 Workout of the Day

“Nutts”

For time:
10 Handstand push-ups
250 pound Deadlift, 15 reps
25 Box jumps, 30 inch box
50 Pull-ups
100 Wallball shots, 20 pounds, 10′
200 Double-unders
Run 400 meters with a 45lb plate

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Loading the Bar

If you look at the picture above the weight loading might stand out.  There is a set of metal small plates, that are then covered by larger bumper plates on the outside.  I know that some people are VERY picky about their bar loading and would never let this happen.  I’m also pretty sure that I might be the cause of some of your neurotic loading habits.  I used to be extremely picky.  I wanted the weights on each side to match exactly.  Even the brand of weight mattered.  The metal ones on the outside HAD to face in, that made them lighter.

In the past 5 months or so I’ve decided that I didn’t care.  Training at California Strength from time to time has really changed a lot about my outlook on lifting weights.  The athletes there are the best in the nation (literally) and don’t care what is on the bar.  As long as the weight is even on each side, it doesn’t matter.  When the guy next to you makes a unofficial national record lift with mismatched plates, it changes your perspective.  All of a sudden, nothing really matters except you and your actions.  My new attitude is that it doesn’t matter, make the lift anyway.  You can use a 45 lb plate on one side, four10 lbs plates and a two 2.5 lbs plates on the other.

What are your bar loading habits?  Any reason why?

-Danny

 Workout of the Day

Back Squat

5 x 3

*Same weight across all sets

then,

AMRAP 8 minutes:

5 burpees

5 pull-ups

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Need a little pain in your life?

I am not sure how many people are familiar with them but there are some brutal WOD’s out there called Painstorms. For years now there has been a new Painstorm released on the 1st of each month. Back when Buddy was a student in my PE class, we would get together after school and hit these on a daily basis. We would go through and look for the ones that looked absolutely horrible and then go attack them. Looking back on it, I am not sure why we thought this was so great to do multiple times in a week because now it just sounds terrible. I was thinking though, that I would kind of like to get back into the habit of hitting these once a month. I was also thinking that these WOD’s could be a good idea for members to come hit during open gym. Maybe we could save a section of the whiteboard for the monthly Painstorm and members can write their score as they complete it during the month. Here is the painstorm for this month. Check it out and maybe give it a try.
The Feb Painstorm, courtesy of CrossFit Northeast England:

AMRAP 30min:

3 squat clean to overhead, 135lb
6 knees to elbows
100m sprint (50m out, 50m back)
Rest 45 secs

30 minute cap includes rest and work time

-Nick

Open Gym 8:30-10:00 am

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UCSF Scientists Declare War on Sugar

“Lustig has written and talked extensively about the role he believes sugar has played in driving up rates of chronic illness such as heart disease and diabetes. Excessive sugar, he argues, alters people’s biochemistry, making them more vulnerable to metabolic conditions that lead to illness, while at the same time making people crave sweets even more.”

Why bench press is a functional strength movement…watch the straight arm at 0:08 into the video and the replays at 1:28 and 1:50.

Workout of the Day

Three rounds for time;
- 800m run
- 25 deadlifts 135/95
- 50 abmat sit-ups

Why Strength is a Good Thing

Strength is probably the most useful, most respected, and most feared element of fitness. There are many misconceptions about being strong. I asked my daughter Jen the other day as she was on her way to CrossFit if her roommate ever tried CrossFit.  She said “No she’s afraid of getting bulky from lifting weights”. This a very common belief I hear many times from people that have never done any strength conditioning. Others may think that if you are strong you are muscle-bound and slow. These ideas are all fallacies as strength is simply the ability to move the body under load and is expressed as an ability to generate force across a spectrum of movements.

Normally when people talk about the value of strength it is usually in the context of sport. Stronger is always better, the concept is easy to see in sports like Football, MMA, Boxing, etc. But strength is also relevant to endurance where it has been shown repeatedly that making endurance athletes stronger increases time to exhaustion (they can run farther) and decreases running event time (they can run faster). Sean Sanders one of our members is a good example when he ran the California International Marathon in Sacramento. Before Sean tried CrossFit his training regime for marathons was just running.

But strength has also long been known as a contributor to quality of life. When someone gets stronger they feel better about their ability to participate in life and its challenges, because they can do more they can engage in life’s activity more aggressively.  Example; we have 3 teams competing in the Sac-Town Throwdown next weekend. Two Master teams and one Open Div. team!

Master Team 1 – Terri, Kim, Gregg and Kirk.
Master Team 2 –  Joan O., Charm , Sammy and Kenny.
Open Div. Team  - Buddy, Moses, Karina and Leah.

I can’t tell you how stoked I am to go watch them all.  If you can make it, come out and root them on. Details are on the link above.

- Terry

Fact…if you are in the top 3^rd of of the population in terms of strength, you are less likely to die from all causes (disease, accidents etc.)…British Medical Journal.

Open Gym 3:00-7:00 pm

Come by and choose from these (not so) specific options:

1. Make up a workout you missed

2. Choose a workout off the leader boards

3. Complete the workout of the day

4. Work on your weakness

5. Keep Buddy company

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Volunteers for Sac Town Throwdown

Dead Throwdown Athletes, Volunteers and Spectators

We have about 50 volunteers right now, and we need 50 more to make this event actually happen.  Everything else in in place, but we NEED you!  Many of you are already volunteering or participating, but I am hoping you will help me rally some support by encouraging friends to lend a hand.

Saturday is going to be the equivalent of running 4 normal size CF competitions all at once!  I appreciate and understand that it is a its a tough day for a free meal and a t-shirt, but we really need you all to make this happen.  We will only need 30 people on Sunday, so you can plan to sit back and watch the finals for free if you volunteer for Saturday.

There will be no fees or meetings for judges prior to the event as previously mentioned, we just need bodies to put yellow shirts on and keep our athletes running through the well oiled machine.  Also, the more volunteers we get, the more the volunteers will get to enjoy the day.

Please do what you can to rally support.  If you already bought a spectator ticket, we can refund you or apply it to someone else.

Click here to register as a volunteer

 Workout of the Day

Bench Press

3 x 5

*Use the same weight across all sets

then,

15-12-9 reps for time:

Thrusters, 135/95 lbs

Strict pull-ups

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My Paleo Kitchen…yesterday!

Breakfast:

Banana Pancakes ~

Recipe from Marks Daily Apple

TBs of vanilla,

cinnamon and a pinch of baking soda.

Result = fluffy pancakes the kids devoured.

Topped with pure maple syrup for kids or

2 Tbs. apple butter (no sugar added)

Lunch:

Elk burger lettuce boats ~

I make this once each week alternating between Mexican and Italian spices.

Topped with fresh tomatoes or fresh salsa

Dinner:

Shrimp Bisque Soup ~

Spaghetti squash with fresh pesto and tomatoes

Avocado

Recipes from: Paleo Comfort Foods

The Bisque soup is rich and filling paired with the fresh pesto…delish

*Post e-mail to comments and I will send you recipes.

-Janna

 Workout of the Day

Snatch Balance

1-1-1-1-1-1-1

then,

muscle up skill work

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Force the Body to Adapt

Too often I hear people say “I think I could have done a little more” when discussing strength training.  The other day during heavy thrusters I told the 5:30 am class that they could not claim to be finished finding their one rep maximum if they had not failed on an attempt.  This may not be the best method for all lifts, but for one like the thruster that’s pretty safe (when you fail the bar just falls in front of you) it’s a decent way to establish a true max.  Again, I don’t think this is ALWAYS the best way to go.  However, if taking proper precautions, is a good method.

It really bothers me when people walk away thinking they could have done more.  Why didn’t you then?  Are you scared?  If so, of what?  If you lift scared, then you’ll never get even close to your true potential.  You have to attack the weights.  Your body doesn’t want to get strong.  Your body wants to take the path of least resistance.  Building muscle is hard work, and requires a lot of energy.  Your body would much rather sit around and conserve that energy for an emergency (being chased by a bear for example).  You have to force the body to adapt.  Don’t lift scared, lift confident.

Go attack the weights, go for big lifts, and get strong.

 Workout of the Day

As Many Rounds in 10 minutes as possible:

10 kb snatch, 53/35 lbs

10 burpees

5 hang power cleans, 135/95 lbs

then:

Max Effort 500 m row

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List 3 reasons you do CrossFit, if you have time write how is our program different than other gyms?

For me it’s the community, the competition, and the lingo

1. Some of the coolest, most dedicated people I know are here at our box

2. People come to compete, it’s not like a pick up game where some guys are only going 70% When I walk up to the door and I see that CrossFit Excel Logo I’m ready for battle. It’s on baby!

3. Gotta love the CF lingo

-Buddy

Open Gym 8:30-10:00 am

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Read this if you do the Dew

This is a great story.  I saw it a few different places, here’s a link to the story.

Basically, Pepsi Co. claims that it would be impossible for a mouse to be in a soda…because it would dissolve before can is opened.