Noah, Jarrett and Curtis in the middle of "Vilas". I re-wrote this sentence 5 times and there is no way not to make it awkward sounding. So, yeah.

Georgia rolling on the 20" box.

Turn your volume down and wait till the very end.

(Chace has informed me this is from a movie. Way to kill the magic.-PAS)

CFHQ

Rest Day

-or-

Make Up Day

-or-

CFSS WOD

My father is a wonderful baker. He can turn out an excellent carrot cake but his talents extend far and wide, especially in this holiday season. This past weekend we made fruitcakes and stollen, a German yeast bread with candied fruits. These delectable treats sit out on the counter, permeating the air with delicious smells. Am I strong enough to not eat these treats? No, no way in hell. I'm going to have more than one slice and I'm going to enjoy it. What you may ask does this have to do with Crossfit, performance nutrition and leading a successful life?

Part of enjoying life is making sure that you take some time away from dieting, working out and daily stress. Enjoy time with your family, eat the fruitcake and don't worry about the calories. The holidays are a busy time of the year and sometimes its hard to get into the gym; workout if you can, when you can. Most importantly don't get to caught up if you slip up or don't make it to the gym. It is nothing to dwell on.

-Paul Siegel

Kiersten in the middle of yesterdays workout.

Ray, of our on-rampers, working through Day 3. Ray and Blake are champion powerlifters and coming along quite well in the on ramp. Most on-rampers wouldn't have done this workout with 165 lbs. on the bar. Nice form, Ray!

Squat Clean

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

squat cleans are as much technique based as they are strength based. Sure you can muscle some heavy weight up there (well I can't but some of you can) but ultimately with sterling technique you'll be able to move more weight easier. Squat Clean start in a position similar to the dead lift, lifted slowly to the hang and then exploded upwards. When the bar reaches it apogee, ideally at this point the lifter dives under the bar and catches at the rock bottom of the squat with a tight core. At this point the lifter racks the bar on her shoulders like in a front squat. Stand up. Now you've down a squat clean.

A few nutrition tips:

If you're trying to do paleo now is a great season to stock up on nuts and various other essentials Grocers put out bulk nuts for baking now which can be frozen quite easily. I bought a pound each of walnuts, pecans and almonds for $13. Any other time of the year, and outside Costco, it would have been much more than that.

Speaking of, Costco can be a paleo-ites mecca. I highly recommend the flash frozen salmon, tilapia and other fish. This works great for singles or families. Each filet is individually vacuum sealed and frozen. Toss 'em in a sink of cold water they'll defrost in an hour or two. Perfect to be doused with any number of marinades, rubs and spices. Much of the same can be said for any of the quantities of meat that can be found at costco. Knowing how to freeze and/or process foods can save you quite a bit of money.

Speaking of cuts of meat, I'm going to recommend a spiral cut ham. For around $25 you can get at least 7 pounds of healthy, relatively lean meat. It works for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Not that I'd recommend it for all meals but you know there it is. Stock your larder with healthy foods and you'll be forced to eat healthy food.

Another great find in Costco is that it has pretty decent fruit and vegetables in quantities that boggle the mind ("3 lbs. of Asparagus, well sure"). This and your local supermarket may be the only place you can really find fresh fruit and vegtables in the winter, but make sure to check out your neighborhood for a farmer's market or farm stans. I have no science to prove it, but local food grown to a local schedule instead of push processed in hot house 1000 miles away has got to better for you. If anything I'm pretty sure it taste better. And often it is cheaper (tax free!) than it commercial relatives. Eat with the season, eat locally, eat healthy.

-Paul Siegel

Name those squatters!

Who is picture A?
Who is picture B?
Who is picture C?

21 Pull-ups

21 Handstand Push-ups

18 Pull-ups

18 Handstand Push-ups

15 Pull-ups

15 Handstand Push-ups

12 Pull-ups

12 Handstand Push-ups

9 Pull-ups

9 Handstand Push-ups

6 Pull-ups

6 Handstand Push-ups

3 Pull-ups

3 Handstand Push-ups

Handstand push-ups are "nose to floor" and pull-ups are "strict" or non-kipping.

Yesterday I mentioned specialization. This is often a word considered to be anathema in Crossfit-land, powerlifters are seen as muscle bound specialists, marathoners as weak. (not my words-PAS). I think that this line of thinking is false and insulting to the specialist. Anyone who can run 26.2 miles has my admiration. Same goes from any person who can squat, bench and deadlift really heavy. Even if we don't want to do what these people do we need to learn their ways, what tools they use and how they get to were they are. Which is why encourage the use of weighlifting shoes, belts and knee sleeves. Why we vary our running distance and intensities. Crossfit is a novel combination of old elements gleaned from experts in their field. Don't take my word for it, empower yourself to learn the techniques, do the research and read everything you can get your hands on and you're interested in. Crossfit is open source, you show us a better way to get as fit and we'll implement it.

Those of you who have been doing Crossfit for awhile undoubtedly have a favorite element. Why not explore this element more in depth? Perhaps you're interested in rowing, why not get out on the water?. Or you really like the power or olympic lifting we do. We know excellent resources to get more in depth for both of those. One part of the crossfit prescription is to learn and play new sports. So, have you? You have created this great foundation of metabolic condition, strength and endurance, go put it to use.

-Paul Siegel

Krissi (upside down) and Mari going through some front lever drills.

Mackenzie doing Day 4 of the On-ramp.

Back Squat

3-3-3-3-3

A great workout to get strong with. Remember that HQ isn't looking for a 3 rep max, but rather a 3RM for the day. Lift as heavy as you can for the day.

One of the poorly understood aspects behind Crossfit is the physiological response elicited by the stressors (WOD) Crossfit prescribes. With constantly varied time and modal domains it is nigh on impossible to accurately test improvements from one workout to the next. With a singular modality sport such as rowing or weightlifitng an input exhibits a certain output and the variables are so simple that a coach can accurately predict what worked and what didn't. They can then replicate this stressor and see if it keeps working. This is impossible in Crossfit.

Yesterday we did "Helen". The combination of stressors leading up to this (looking back two weeks or so) will have to be accurately replicated for another test of "Helen". Or for that test to be considered scientifically relevant. But what we see is that there are far too many inputs to accurately define one as causing the specific desired output. Next time we see "Helen" it is very likely that the workouts leading up to it will not be the same, indeed that is the hallmarks of Crossfit. Can we then consider this a true test of "Helen" or just our "Helen" for the day? It is this variability that precludes scientific testing, instead we must rely on anecdotal evidence as to the efficency of Crossfit.

And the anecdotal evidence says it works. How many of you hit a PR on Total? Or some improvement in weight moved and distances covered faster in one of the many workouts we've done? Rather than consider Crossfit as a mix of stressors, we must consider the program (the unique mix of constantly varied functional movement at high intensity performed across broad time and modal demains) as a single stressor. In this we lose scientific specifics, but gain an answer to our general question "What works?": Trust the program, but do all of it. Don't skip the heavy days and don't skip the distance days. Everyone loves a kick ass metcon, but a lot of the real work happens in those distance and strength days. Who knows you might like the specific work more.

-Paul Siegel

CFHQ

Rest Day

-or-

Make Up Day

-or-

CFSS WOD

I've been trying to get the blog up as soon as the Mainsite WOD is posted. Usually around 9 p.m. the night before. This can get a bit confusing, but as long as you ignore the date above the post it should make sense. And if you get confused you can refer to the mainsite for clarification.

Today's post comes to us from Robb Wolf, the excommunicated nutrition guru. Wolf has been a strong proponent of the Paleo diet and runs an excellent website. Here he talks about sleep:

"Each year I do a collective “humping of the knees” to get folks to improve their sleep quality. I usually kick that off by recommending the book Lights Out! Sleep, Sugar and Survival. I LOVE this book. Most folks either love it or hate it but the information is amazing and continues to be validated. Shift work has been on the CDC list of known carcinogens for quite some time. Right next to cigarettes and paint thinner.

Sleep deprivation mimics many elements of the aging process. One could make the argument that how you feel when you are sleep deprived is likely how you will feel if you are both diabetic and old (sleep deprivation dramatically impacts insulin sensitivity). Improved sleep time and quality will help you: Lean out, avoid depression, autoimmunity, heart disease…it might even help you be a better athlete. This is a very interesting article for me in that coaches simply tried a schedule more conducive to better sleep and they saw immediate performance improvements in their players. They also dumped the AM shootaround session and saw improvements. More down time, less junk “mileage”.

We have not worked with a ton of high level athletes but we have trained a few, and to good success. Something I have noticed with these folks is my job is less about motivating or pushing these people. They tend to arrive HIGHLY motivated. More than anything else I get the sense I save these folks from themselves. They will literally work themselves to death.

For the rest of us just trying to be healthy and live well the message is still there. Quality training, sleep and food really matters."

Smart words from a smart man. If your intensity is dialed in and your nutrition is solid but your still not seeing results check if you're getting adequate recovery.

-Paul Siegel

Sassy has returned. Good to have you back Jen, we missed ya'.
Vilas getting ready for the 2012 olympics.
Nina being ever so graceful performing some ring push-ups.

Twenty minutes as many rounds as possible of:

500m. Row

25 Turkish Get-ups with 60lbs.

Sorry for the late notice. Sunday class is at 11.

"Crossfit Total"

Back Squat, 1 rep

Press, 1 rep

Deadlift, 1 rep

The lifter will have three attempts to lift the most weight for each lift. Work steadily but make sure to get enough rest. This does not include warmup sets.

Take a look at the video above. Notice his head position. He's looking approximately 6 feet in front of him. This puts his spine in a neutral position. Forget looking up at the ceiling you're only setting yourself up for injury. I draw a smiley face on the floor to keep me focused Keep your cervical spine neutral and in line with your thoracic, lumbar and sacral spine. It tensions the back from the neck and makes his back much stronger than if he was looking up. Another way he tensions his back is by adjusting his hamstring tension. By moving his hips up and down he locates the best place to pull from. The thing we want in a deadlift is to have a strong midline, by having our backs in a strong, neutral (not hyperextended) position we can achieve the best performance.

It is also a quick set-up he doesn't take a lot of time finding the best position from the time he gets his grip it's no more than 5 seconds till he's pulling. I will note that he's suited but the process is much the same for a raw deadlift, see below. Andy Bolton has never had a back injury in training or pulling these massive weights mainly through excellent mechanics and super strong midline.

Complete 5 rounds of:

Lower from inverted hang with straight body and legs 7 reps

15 Ring Push ups

Work slowly and methodically aiming for perfect reps.

This workout is a bit strange-think of it more of a gymnastic's practice session and less of huff and puff metcon. Gymnastics is the control of one's body in space, this workout will emphasize that.

Wanted to bring a new blog to y'alls attention. My favorite part of Crossfit is the heavy lifts. There is nothing I love more than setting a new PR in something heavy. It would be all I do if Nate would let me. 70's Big is dedicated to just this sort of endeavour. Justin Lascek is one of Coach Rippetoe's minions and an incredible strong man. He gained this strength two ways: Lifting heavy in an intelligent planned way and eating a ton of stuff. Like 6000 to 8000 calories a day. A gallon of whole milk a day, a lot of meat. There is nothing zone, paleo or otherwise about eating for lifting heavy stuff. Coach Rip, and Coach Lascek, specialized in taking weak little men and turning them into big strong men. If you'd like to be big and strong you'd be well advised to follow the protocol and advice laid out within.

The Crossfit Games are coming up. Georgia Sectionals will be February 27-28.

The Browns hitting their 5k's on the Erg.
Big D(on) having flashbacks to his basketball days.

Zach, with Eric in the background, charging through Day 4 of the On-ramp.

CFHQ

Rest Day

or

CFSS

"Cleaning Karin"

100

Medball clean-to-Wall ball

(20lbs.-14lbs.)

Rest days are an interesting beast. We, as trainers, try and prepare a workout that will be good but not so good as to affect the mainsite WOD the next day. It's a careful balancing act. Look for a future blog about scaling and workout creation.

Rest days are also an excellent chance to do skill or mobility work. Hamstrings tight? Grab a foam roller, a strap or a partner and get to work. Need some help with double unders, snatches or anything else? We're more than happy to help. Have a goal you're not reaching? Don't even have a goal, talk to your trainers for help.

Newest On-Ramp graduate, Santosh fighting through the last set of sit-ups for yesterdays W.O.D.
Make sure to say hey to our greenest On-Ramper, Craig.

Run 5k

Make sure to sign up for T-shirts and Hoodies if you haven't yet. The signup for this round of will come down on Friday. If you don't get your order in in the next two days, you'll have to wait till the next round.

Some of you may say "What's the big deal? It's a t-shirt." But it is much more than that. When you wear it you represent us, it shows you're proud to train this way, a way that is counter to what every fitness magazine and FDA recommendation says. It is a badge of honor. There are no requirements to wear a crossfit shirt, as I assumed when I first started doing crossfit. You don't have to meet Pukie or deadlift twice your bodyweight. Be proud of how you work out.