Name that squatter.
Name that squatter.

1 round of:

Bod pod for percent

Post numbers to comments if you'd like.

Remember we will be closed for working out tomorrow and open from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. for Bod pod and other tests.

Jarrett on the b-day WOD
We had a great turn out for the Paleo lecture. Thanks to everyone who showed up.

10 Minutes Handstand Push-ups

5 Minutes Squats

2 minutes Pullups

1 minute push-ups

Total reps for all exercises.

Reminder there will be no classes or work outs this weekend. We are open Saturday from 8-All test are finished, strictly for the Bodpod. We won't be doing the WOD. We will not be open Sunday. You would be well advised to take this weekend as a rest weekend.

For the Bodpod:

Avoid eating a meal two hours beforehand

Avoid exercising two hours before hand

Don't uses caffeine two hours before the appointment

Men should wear single layer compression shorts (like bike shorts with no padding) or speedo type swimsuits.

Women should wear spandex-type swimsuit, or Single-layer compression shorts and sports bra (NO padding or wires).

-Paul Siegel

Daily Nutrition Links:
The Definitive Guide to Dairy - From Mark Sisson, Author of The Primal Blueprint
Calories in the USA(via AnaerobicInc) - Interactive charting of consumption between 1970 and 2007

We miss ya Sheri.

Back Squat

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

Sheri Hofherr, one of our Crossfit family is going into the Hospital tomorrow for a double mastectomy. We want to wish her the best with her surgery and recovery and ask you all to keep her in your thougths and prayers tomorrow. She tells us that she intends on being back in the gym as soon as she can. And that she wants to get her pullup soon. To her this is only a hurdle to be overcome.
-Paul Siegel

Paleo Update

Thanks to everyone who came out the lecture last night. I enjoyed it, and I hope you did as well. For those who couldn't make it, we were unable to videotape as the camera didn't work but you can see the slides by going here: http://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AVhbYzUU-UW8ZGdocmtndDZfMzVoazI4c3djaw&hl=en If you click the mouth in the bottom right corner, it will open the speaker notes which I will go back and update with more details in the coming week. So there are probably about a thousand things I forgot to hit upon in the lecture, so I will be doing some guest blog posts in the coming weeks on nutrition, and providing lots of links to data and such that people have asked for. Also, I invite you to tell us what you have been eating, or have any ideas when it comes to Keys to Success and Common Pitfalls in the comments. My first is: Plan ahead. Take the time at the beginning of the week to figure out what you will be eating all week, and possibly cook a bunch of food to have around the house. Grilling a couple pounds of chicken breast on Sundays, and boiling maybe a half dozen eggs really helped me stay on course.
- J

Grumpy old man hour at CFSS.
Paul " Bean Dip" Seigel squatting like a true professional.

CFHQ

Rest Day

-or-

3 Rounds of:

400m. Run

21 DB Swings, 55/40lbs.

24" Box Jumps, 15 reps

-or-

Say "Happy Birthday" to Karin, Becky, and Amy with this little nugget of birthday love.

3 Rounds of:

30 DB Swings, 55/40lbs.

30 GHD Sit-ups

30 Burpee-Box Jumps, 20"

800m. Run

-or-

Make-up Day

When we first started thinking about this challenge I realized I needed to educate myself, so I went out to buy a few books. When I arrived at the diet section I was presented an overwhelming number of options, hundreds of books all purposing to do the same thing. How was I to tell good from bad. And I thought wouldn't it be great if someone would just tell me what I was supposed to eat and then maybe the why.

Luckily for you Jonathan will be doing that very thing at 7 p.m. tonight. He'll be presenting a lecture and then a Q&A afterwards. Paleo snacks may be provided.

-Paul "Bean Dip" Siegel

Awesome job on thrusters, Tyler.
Ryan and Roger racing on the rowers.

Clean 1 rep max

Bench Press 1 rep max

Overhead Squat 1 rep max

Clean is from the ground, power or squat.

We will treat this like Total, with a 3 attempt limit at each lift. Work steadily through each lift with enough rest to ensure good reps. And make sure to finish to keep an eye on the clock so you finish in time.

Met-cons hurt. There I've said it. Fran, FGB, really any workout that you huff and puff for in some way will always cause a little bit (or a lot) of pain. That's the dirty little secret of crossfit, that at some point we except and understand that to improve ourselves (whether for sport, or for life) we must endure the pain, even come to embrace it. We must endure torn hands, "Fran Cough" (which in actuality are burst micro-blood vessels in the throat normally only seen in race horses) and pain in all it's myriad and diverse forms.

And we understand that this will make us better. It may not be macho to admit it, but I enjoy the workouts after it's done more than when I'm doing it, or getting ready to do it. Yet still I come back everyday-and you do too.

What does that say about you, about us? Perhaps it is evidence of a lingering insanity. Instead I would argue that simply coming through our doors everyday (with the expectation of everything we discussed above) is evidence of a fortitude beyond measure. And that is something to be truly proud of.

L to R Eric, Roger, Vilas, Amy, Jason, Craig, Carl, Blake in the Red, and Nara on the end.
Amy turning downhill on the 800m. Excellent work!

5 rounds for time of:

500m Row

135 lbs. Thruster, 7 reps

Re-cap of Saturday's meeting:

We'll discuss the two separate contests. The first we'll discuss is the nutrition contest. This judging is done purely in body fat lost. We are pushing the Paleo diet but this is by no means the only diet you can do. We think it is the most effective and the diet that you can carry on doing after the contest. Your first test is on January 30th and then again on March 13th. Cost is $35 for each time. On the 30th there will be no workout and we will be closed that Sunday. Sign up here. If you have questions about Paleo come on the evening of the 27th for Jonathan's lecture. I've also put up some good links on the sideboard to the right of the daily blog posts. If you've got any good resources let us know about them.

The second test is more akin to the "Cherry" test and re-test we do with the on-ramp. Everyone will be doing 4 workouts starting on the week of February 1st. THE FIRST PERFORMANCE TEST, FROM FEB. 1 TO FEB. 5, IS MANDATORY FOR EVERYONE. WE WANT TO HAVE A BASELINE FOR EVERYONE. We know what the four workouts are and we won't tell you till a day or two before hand. So you can stop asking us. Everyone will retest after approximately 43 days. Now if you think you can have the best improvement relative to your own time then it is $20 to compete. I will not attempt to describe the formula here, and hopefully Jonathan will chime in with a description.

We would strongly recommend that everyone get at least the first Bodpod test. We would also recommend everyone try the performance competition especially if you've needed some push in here to really succeed. $20 is not a lot of money but it is enough to motivate anyone.

If you have any questions post to comments, email Nate or ask us in the gym.

-Paul "Eagle's Perch" Siegel

Kiersten with the effect of double unders
400 lbs. deadlift 3 women. Will it go?

No worries. Even after 150 hip extensions.

CFHQ

Rest Day

-or-

CFSS WOD

Gut Check Challenge info meeting at 11 am-12 p.m.

We'll be discussing both the contests so come with any questions you have about that. We'll also have our sign-up sheet for the Bodpod. So you can do that before or after the meeting. If you can't make the meeting we'll recap everything on here on Monday.

Sunday class at 11:00

Nate really going after that PR on the snatch, but falling seriously short in the moon bounce. Those 5 year olds can be some tough competition. 6 a.m. class from the 100 Burpee Pullups WOD. These guys and gals are consistent, intense and fun. (L to R) Georgia, Jarrett, Curtis, David, Chris (?)
Amber notched a 3:00 pr on her re-Cherry last night! 11:28 to 8:28.

Three rounds for time of:

50 Double Unders

50 Back Extension

Many of you have expressed how much you love the foam roller, I too am enamoured with this simple yet very effective tool. For some time, and a good bit of pain, you can increase range of motion, decrease soreness, improve muscle efficiency and general increase overall well being. What the foam roller does, the lacrosse ball simply amplifies and adds too. Add in a healthy dose of stretching and movement dysfunction should be very limited.

And here's the tough love: you have to put in your time. And I can't tell you how long to spend. But a 10 second pass is not sufficient. You need to stay on the roller, in the stretch, or with the ball for as long as it takes to feel change. Has the pain, range of motion or whatever stopped, gotten better or gotten worse? Can't tell? Get back on there and hang out till something gets better or you can't stand the pain.

Much of what we do as coaches is diagnosing limits and accommodating these faults. These range from simple inexperience to more complicated physical faults often involving past injuries. However if simple inflexibility is your limiting factor than you should be actively and aggressively fixing this. It will hurt, but it will also be better for you.

-Paul Siegel

Wade midway through a jerk. Nate's creative photography

Yay Burpees!

3 rounds for time of:

135 Clean and Jerk, 10 reps

30 GHD sit-ups

Some details about the Bodpod:

Go here to schedule an appointment and to pay. You must sign up with them and in here with us.

In order to make your test as successful as possible please follow the following directions:

Avoid exercising 2 hours before the tests.

Avoid eating a meal 2 hours before the tests.

Avoid the use of stimulants such as caffeine at least 2 hours before your tests.

Men should wear single-layer compression shorts (without padding) or Form-fitting Speedo© or Lycra© / spandex-type swimsuit.

Women should wear spandex-type swimsuit, or Single-layer compression shorts and sports bra (NO padding or wires).

We're going to do our best to provide privacy for those of you taking the Bodpod test.

Last Thursday Dinner before the Gut Check Challenge. Teela Taqueria. 7 p.m.

Christopher the chalk burglar.
Mike on deadlifts and Paul on inquisitive look. Nice job both of you guys.

100 Burpee Pullups for time

Ideally Pullup bar is 1 foot above standing reach

Usually I will confine myself to technical recommendations or common motivation. However for this post I will leave my comfortable bailiwick for ruminations for which I am singularly ill equipped but one I have attempted to write again and again. If I err or offend it is neither my intent or desire.

The three most common complaints we get from women in the gym are as follows (in no particularly order):

1. "I can't lift this weight, do a pull up..."

2. "I don't want to get all big and muscle-y..."

3. "I think I still have a few more pounds to lose."

The last one is by far the most common, although we hear the others a fair bit as well. Rather than approach each of these as symptom of a distinct neurosis I believe these to be a systemic reaction to societal pressure. What I mean by these is that these three reactions can all be traced to negative body images and ideas. These concepts are further re-enforced in popular culture through literature, film and other media. This filters down to fitness and beyond.

What we do in Crossfit is so out of touch with the normal working out "recommended" to women as to be almost unrecognizable to the common globo-gym goer, especially if she was not an athlete. No routine for abs that can be done in 5 minutes ? No useless 50 minute spin on the ellipitcal? No counting calories down to each grape? Treasonous!

Yet here you are.

Crossfit women have callused hands from pull-ups, holding bare metal and working on the floor, scraped shins from deadlifts and bruised collar bones from cleans, and who fight through every workout like it's a battle rather than a jazzercise class! Crossfit women love being strong, Crossfit women appreciate the challenge of a new movement or new workout, Crossfit women recognize that they are beautiful and confident. And we wouldn't have it any other way.

If any of y'all have anything to add please post to comments.

-Paul Siegel

CFHQ

Rest Day

-or-

CFSS

"Fight Gone Bad"

3 rounds of:

1 minute Wallball (reps)

1 minute Sumo Deadlift Highpull 75 lbs. (Reps)

1 minutes Box Jumo 20" (Reps)

1 minute Pushpress 75 lbs (Reps)

1 minute Rowing (Calories)

In this workout you move from one of 5 stations after one minute of work. After 5 stations there is a one minute rest. Repeat for 3 rounds. Scoring is based on total reps for each movement and calories on the rower in all 3 rounds.

Diet Tips and Tricks:

One of the best things Nate had me do when I first started my diet was to write everything I ate down. The accountability of that small note book was an omnipresent check on my diet. Knowing that I would have to look back, and show Nate, my transgressions was a huge help in getting on the right track. Plus it allowed me to look back and see where I had erred and what I had done right. It also allowed Nate to see the same things. We are more than happy to help anyone with diet but we need something to look ate, some record of what you ate. If you're doing Paleo we don't really need weight and measures but if you're doing Zone or otherwise we'll need numbers as well as type of food.

In the decidely liberitarian bent that is Crossfit we've not specified a diet for the Gut Check. We will recommend the Paleo diet because we think it's the best. But we are not forcing anyone to do that specific diet. Do whatever works best for you. However, if you come to us looking for advice we're most likely going to offer you the paleo take on it.

Newb, Ryan, giving us a thumbs up on box jumps.
Who is getting yelled at in this picture for bad form?

Deadlifts

3-3-3-3-3

Dates to Save for the Gut Check Challenge:

January 23 Gut Check Challenge Info Meeting at 11 a.m.- 12 p.m.

January 27th 7 p.m. Paleo Lecture and Q&A

January 30th Bodpod testing

February 1st Performance test starts run through February 5th

March 13th 2nd Bodpod test/ Body Fat challenge ends.

March 15th through 19th Final Performance testing

Deadlifts anyone?

Walk it out.

With a continuously running clock, squat for 60 seconds. Subtract the number of

squats completed from 60, and do that many pull-ups in

minute two. In minute three, squat again, subtracting the number

completed from 60. Do that number of push-ups in minute four. Minute

five is squatting again, and minute six pull-ups.

The pattern is squats, pull-ups, squats, push-ups, squats, pull-ups, etc.

The goal is to stay within the workout's formula for as long as possible.

Don't do more than 60 squats in any round.

In any case, stay moving for 12 minutes.

Dates to Save for the Gut Check Challenge:

January 23 Gut Check Challenge Info Meeting at 11 a.m.- 12 p.m.

January 27th Paleo Lecture and Q&A

January 30th Bodpod testing

February 1st Performance test starts run through February 5th

March 13th 2nd Bodpod test/ Body Fat challenge ends.

March 15th through 19th Final Performance testing

Sunday class is canceled.

Nara and Becky doing yesterday WOD RX, freakin' badass.

Chace improving his work capacity across "board" time and modal demains.

CFHQ

Rest Day

-or-

CFSS WOD

3 rounds for time of:

15 Deadlift (55% of 1rm)

20 Double Unders

25 Situps

400m run

"Iron"

by Henry Rollins

I believe that the definition of definition is reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself.

Completely.

When I was young I had no sense of myself. All I was, was a product of all the fear and humiliation I suffered. Fear of my parents. The humiliation of teachers calling me "garbage can" and telling me I'd be mowing lawns for a living. And the very real terror of my fellow students. I was threatened and beaten up for the color of my skin and my size. I was skinny and clumsy, and when others would tease me I didn't run home crying, wondering why. I knew all too well. I was there to be antagonized. In sports I was laughed at. A spaz. I was pretty good at boxing but only because the rage that filled my every waking moment made me wild and unpredictable. I fought with some strange fury. The other boys thought I was crazy.

I hated myself all the time. As stupid at it seems now, I wanted to talk like them, dress like them, carry myself with the ease of knowing that I wasn't going to get pounded in the hallway between classes. Years passed and I learned to keep it all inside. I only talked to a few boys in my grade. Other losers. Some of them are to this day the greatest people I have ever known. Hang out with a guy who has had his head flushed down a toilet a few times, treat him with respect, and you'll find a faithful friend forever. But even with friends, school sucked. Teachers gave me hard time. I didn't think much of them either.

Then came Mr. Pepperman, my advisor. He was a powerfully built Vietnam veteran, and he was scary. No one ever talked out of turn in his class. Once one kid did and Mr. P. lifted him off the ground and pinned him to the blackboard. Mr. P. could see that I was in bad shape, and one Friday in October he asked me if I had ever worked out with weights. I told him no. He told me that I was going to take some of the money that I had saved and buy a hundred-pound set of weights at Sears. As I left his office, I started to think of things I would say to him on Monday when he asked about the weights that I was not going to buy. Still, it made me feel special. My father never really got that close to caring. On Saturday I bought the weights, but I couldn't even drag them to my mom's car. An attendant laughed at me as he put them on a dolly.

Monday came and I was called into Mr. P.'s office after school. He said that he was going to show me how to work out. He was going to put me on a program and start hitting me in the solar plexus in the hallway when I wasn't looking. When I could take the punch we would know that we were getting somewhere. At no time was I to look at myself in the mirror or tell anyone at school what I was doing. In the gym he showed me ten basic exercises. I paid more attention than I ever did in any of my classes. I didn't want to blow it. I went home that night and started right in.

Weeks passed, and every once in a while Mr. P. would give me a shot and drop me in the hallway, sending my books flying. The other students didn't know what to think. More weeks passed, and I was steadily adding new weights to the bar. I could sense the power inside my body growing. I could feel it.

Right before Christmas break I was walking to class, and from out of nowhere Mr. Pepperman appeared and gave me a shot in the chest. I laughed and kept going. He said I could look at myself now. I got home and ran to the bathroom and pulled off my shirt. I saw a body, not just the shell that housed my stomach and my heart. My biceps bulged. My chest had definition. I felt strong. It was the first time I can remember having a sense of myself. I had done something and no one could ever take it away. You couldn't say shit to me.

It took me years to fully appreciate the value of the lessons I have learned from the Iron. I used to think that it was my adversary, that I was trying to lift that which does not want to be lifted. I was wrong. When the Iron doesn't want to come off the mat, it's the kindest thing it can do for you. If it flew up and went through the ceiling, it wouldn't teach you anything. That's the way the Iron talks to you. It tells you that the material you work with is that which you will come to resemble. That which you work against will always work against you.

It wasn't until my late twenties that I learned that by working out I had given myself a great gift. I learned that nothing good comes without work and a certain amount of pain. When I finish a set that leaves me shaking, I know more about myself. When something gets bad, I know it can't be as bad as that workout.

I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me: pain is not my enemy; it is my call to greatness. But when dealing with the Iron, one must be careful to interpret the pain correctly. Most injuries involving the Iron come from ego. I once spent a few weeks lifting weight that my body wasn't ready for and spent a few months not picking up anything heavier than a fork. Try to lift what you're not prepared to and the Iron will teach you a little lesson in restraint and self-control.

I have never met a truly strong person who didn't have self-respect. I think a lot of inwardly and outwardly directed contempt passes itself off as self-respect: the idea of raising yourself by stepping on someone's shoulders instead of doing it yourself. When I see guys working out for cosmetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the worst way, as cartoon characters, billboards for imbalance and insecurity. Strength reveals itself through character. It is the difference between bouncers who get off strong-arming people and Mr. Pepperman.

Muscle mass does not always equal strength. Strength is kindness and sensitivity. Strength is understanding that your power is both physical and emotional. That it comes from the body and the mind. And the heart.

Yukio Mishima said that he could not entertain the idea of romance if he was not strong. Romance is such a strong and overwhelming passion, a weakened body cannot sustain it for long. I have some of my most romantic thoughts when I am with the Iron. Once I was in love with a woman. I thought about her the most when the pain from a workout was racing through my body.

Everything in me wanted her. So much so that sex was only a fraction of my total desire. It was the single most intense love I have ever felt, but she lived far away and I didn't see her very often. Working out was a healthy way of dealing with the loneliness. To this day, when I work out I usually listen to ballads.

I prefer to work out alone. It enables me to concentrate on the lessons that the Iron has for me. Learning about what you're made of is always time well spent, and I have found no better teacher. The Iron had taught me how to live. Life is capable of driving you out of your mind. The way it all comes down these days, it's some kind of miracle if you're not insane. People have become separated from their bodies. They are no longer whole.

I see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban homes. They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly. And they behave badly. Their egos run wild; they become motivated by that which will eventually give them a massive stroke. They need the Iron Mind.

Through the years, I have combined meditation, action, and the Iron into a single strength. I believe that when the body is strong, the mind thinks strong thoughts. Time spent away from the Iron makes my mind degenerate. I wallow in a thick depression. My body shuts down my mind.

The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it's impossible to turn back.

The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you're a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.

-Paul Siegel

Blake rockin day-6 of the onramp
Noah on today's soiree

Three rounds for time of:

Walk on hands, 100 feet
Hold handstand against wall for two minutes
15 Handstand push-ups

Post total time to comments MINUS the six minutes of static handstands.

This WOD on paper looks like a 2% WOD, as in 2% of the population can do it. But remember Crossfit is infinitely scalable, there will always be a level everyone can do. Be brave and be ready to be upside down.

Here is an excellent introduction to Paleo. If you've got general questions about Paleo checkhere to see if it answers any questions. If you've already moved towards a Paleo diet and are looking for some idea for meals here is an excellent resource. Here is a shopping list to support the Paleo diet. If you never strayed from fast food and pizza, print it out and bring it to the supermarket with you. Thanks to Chad for pointing these out!

Around Passover Jews around the world must cleanse their house of what is called chametz. Technical speaking chametz is one of Five grains or one of these five grains that has been combined with water and let stand for more than 18 minutes. But the minutiae of Halakha are neither here nor there, the important part is that they have removed all grains from the house. Once we begin our Paleo challenge you would be well advised to do much the same thing, either eat or remove anything with grains in it, or do as the Jews do and burn it. Out of sight out of mind, and out of temptation. Perhaps a complete purge is more than you bargained for or your significant other/children/roommates will allow, than a quarantine of everything forbidden on Paleo will make it easier to identify and avoid. This is just one of the little tricks that will make the transition to Paleo easier.

N.B. Thursday Night Dinner will be at the Tacomac in the Prado just across I-285 on Roswell road Join us around 7 p.m. there for some good food and good times. Sorry for the late announcement.

-Paul Siegel

What the F*#! Curtis!
New On-Ramper, Adam.

"Lynne"

Five rounds for Max reps:

Bodyweight Bench Press

Pullups

So as expected there have been some question with the Gut Check Challenge (GCC):

1. Is 45 days enough? Yes. Most paleo lock down are 30 days. Most of you will see results in around two weeks. However the variable is how closely you adhere to the diet principles you follow. Those of you who eat strictest will see the best results.

2. It will be $35 per test session for the Bodpod. This may seem a bit pricey but is on the low end for truly accurate body fat analysis. You'll have to sign up ahead of time with us and with the Bodpod. We'll have more info on this in the coming days.

Some of our newbs hanging with Becky. From left to right- Ryan, Jon and Amber.
Carol rockin' her own Sandy Springs CrossFit apparel.

Three rounds for time of:

50m walking lunge
100m Standing Broad Jump

200m Run

We are Proudly Announcing

First Annual Crossfit Sandy Springs Gut Check Challenge!

Starts on Feb. 1st through March 13th

The challenge will have three winners: One overall winner, one winner in most body fat lost and one winner in most performance gained

The performance segment will start on the week of January 25 and will consist of 4 workouts. One will be a heavy lift or lifts, one will be an endurance workout, two will be metcons: one mixed domain and one body weight. We will re-test these the week of March 8th.

For the fat loss challenge we have the Bod pod coming out on January 30th and again on the 13th. The winner here is simply the person who loses the most percentage of body fat as measured by the Bod pod. For those of you concerned with what too eat, and you should be, Jonathan will be giving a lecture on January 27th at 7 p.m., we'll record it and post that here.

The overall winner will be the person with the best combined placing in both the fat lost and performance improvements. For example if a person gets fifth in fat loss and forth in performance than their score will be 9, if this is the lowest score they win the overall prize.

There will be a fee for the Bod pod and a mandatory ante of $20 out of which the winners' prize will come. You don't have to have your body fat taken, but we would highly recommend it, and if you don't you won't be in contention for either the overall or fat loss prize.

We'll have more details in the coming days, if you have questions ask any of us or post to comments.

Nara and Jason finishing up the On-Ramp with style.
Isa on thrusters.

CFHQ

Rest Day

-or-

CFSS

75 Squats

400m. Run

3 rounds of:

25 hip Extensions

15 Knees to Elbows

10 Burpees

400.m Run

75 Squats

We've talked to most of you about the Paleo diet promoted by Loren Cordain. For your rest day reading take a gander at this article from Emory's own Dr. S. Boyd Eaton which inspired the whole Paleo diet. Dr. Cordain also has a book about Paleo, called aptly enough "The Paleo Diet". If neither of those options look at all appealing check out this blog post. Prepare to need this information in the coming weeks.

Some of our 10 o'clockers after Fran yesterday.
The aftermath of Fran. Great job everyone.

Push Jerk

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

"Fran"

21-15-9

95 lbs. Thruster

Pull ups

Life is about progression; advancement from one moment to the next. We must always move forward. This is also true in Crossfit.

Most everyone has some scaling when they first start, I know I did and still do! However the very term "scaling" implies that there are places to advance and skills to be gained. These advances aren't easy. That first workout when you switch from a green band to a blue band is tough. And you will be sore. But it is an advancement.

The goal is ultimately to be able to do everything as prescribed by CFHQ. But this is an arbitrary standard, your goal should be self created. Whether it's your first strict pullup ('cause we want to have one of those before we get into kipping pullups) or push-ups off your knees or a full depth Overhead Squat. You need to be advancing, however slowly, towards that goal. As always ask any of us how to get there.

-Paul Siegel

Sunday class is at 11:00

Mother and son team, Kat and Jon, racing through the first 500m. of the "Chubby Ribeye".
Chad on the back end of the same workout. Great job everyone.

Power Clean

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

Let's talk about muted hip function, particularly relevant for today's movement: Power Clean. Muted hip becomes important in the landing position of the power clean. Ideally that position would look like an above parallel air or front squat. A solid and significantly stable position from which to stand all the way up. However what often goes wrong in this is that the hip shoots forward so that a straight line drawn from the knee goes through the hip and to the shoulders. This puts in an inordinate amount of stress on the knees particular the bottom of the patella. How to fix this? Make sure when you land you land on your heels. And stick your butt out. This position strikes a great balance between the anterior and posterior chain as well as being safe for all your joints. Add a stable midline into the equation and you're golden.

Atlanta Renegades rugby player Blake Johnson hitting (D-4) of the CFSS onramp program.

Pauly messin up "Elizabeth" yesterday.

Chad crushing through the last peice of "Chubby Ribeye"

CFHQ

Rest Day

-or-

CFSS

"The Chubby Ribeye"

Row 500 meters

30 burpees

30 DB push press (80lbs.)

30 goblet squats (70lbs.)

30 pullups

30 box jumps (20 in.)

200 ft. overhead walking lunges (45lbs.)

Scaling is an alchemical science. By that I mean that it is more of an art than a science. In scaling there are ultimately only two variables we can work with: reps and weight. Take yesterdays WOD for example. Total reps for that is 250 wallballs at 20 lbs. and 125 pullups. Anyway you slice its a lot of reps. The goal with this workout was muscular fatigue, shown by having to break up the wallball, and around a 20-25 minute time to completion.

To scale this we'll pick a number of reps based primarily on a given person's perceived abilities and strength. After this we'll look at the intent of the workout, whether the point is to power through or to reach muscular exhaustion and have to rest. Since we don't design the workouts we often have to guess at the intent, something we're pretty good at. So yesterdays WOD could have been scaled to around 150-175 reps of 14 or 20 lbs. Wallball with 100-75 pullups depending of course on the individual. Ideally this scaling would enable an average crossfitter to achieve the same time as a fire breather who does it as prescribed (RX).

However there is one variable which we have no control over is your intensity. You can go as hard or as easy as you want, truly. We'd obviously prefer if you went as hard as you could. That's the whole key to the system, that's the whole point. Can you be going faster with the workouts we give you?

Becky and Carl. We're never really sure how Becky gets so much chalk on her during a WOD. An impressive performance none the less.
Coach J, muscle up badass

5 rounds for time of:

50 Wallball Shots 20 lbs/14 lbs.

25 Pullups

Just a quick reminder We're trying to do a family style dinner on Thursdays at one of Sandy Springs many fine establishments. This week is Teela Taqueria, home to delicious Taco's and cheap margarita's (which can be made Paleo!) we'll leave at 7 p.m. sharp from the gym. So come to Thursday six o'clock class if you'd like or meet us there.

Which brings me to today's discussion point: Crossfit is Community. Our particular brand of fitness attracts a certain sort of person and these people inevitably enjoy much the same type of things and enjoy talking about them. And community grows from there. What other gym have you been to where people hang out and actually talk after their workouts are done? Where else can you proudly display Noah's hand print on Karin's butt? Certainly not at your local globo-gym. Nor much of anywhere else I imagine.

Perhaps it is not that we are like minded in our pursuit of fitness but rather it is the camaraderie that only shared suffering can build and foster. It might be the respect that this camaraderie engenders. Or it might be because y'all are just so cool. Either way come meet and eat this Thursday. Even if you haven't been in in a long while.

-Paul Siegel