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Posted by michael stanwyck :
Thursday, Apr 05, 2012
It's easy and exciting to get caught up in the competition side of CrossFit, especially now around the Open and the Games, and to want to test yourself every time you come in and work out. Training, however, is not about testing all the time. What's the difference? When you train you are not maxing out. You are not in the ugly struggle. You are working hard, stretching yourself and maintaining focus and purpose beyond the clock. You're working on something specific. Intensity is there, but your goal is not to fall apart. Testing is about looking for your absolute limit, you may put yourself at risk of not making it to the end in a test.
Think about the workouts where you've made it hard before you even start. Where you wonder if you're going to make it all the way through. When the deadlifts or pull-ups just get worse and worse throughout the workout. That may be fine if you want to test, but it's not good training every time you come in. It actually won't get you where you are going faster. Inside of intensity and working hard, when you are training, you can realistically shoot for looking almost as good at the end of the workout as you did at the beginning. Training won't take you to absolute failure or absolute breakdown in form.
Notice that we don't do the tests (one-rep maxes or full-out sprints) all the time to get faster. We train, then test. To prepare for the tests you work below your maximum. Go hard, but stay in control. Consider that the next time you come in. You can test on any given day, during whatever workout you want. You just want to know the difference. And you want to be willing to turn your attention from the clock to a purpose that you create that takes you beyond just that fleeting moment you are in class.
Today's Workout
"Grace"
30 Clean & Jerks (135/95)
for time
Posted by Becca Borawski :
Wednesday, Apr 04, 2012
I mentioned here on the blog in passing last week that one thing I've learned over the last six months is the purpose I've been training with for the last...oh, ten to twelve years is no longer suitable for my actual goals and the rest of my life. I've come up against a series of injuries and chronic situations that if I continue to train as I've always trained, will continue to bother me as they have been bothering me, or in fact, might get worse.
I talked with my yoga instructor at length about it a while back. I told her it's hard for me to dial things down and still feel like I accomplished something. I'm used to (literally) destroying myself in a workout. So as a result I end up going too hard, even when I don't think I am, injuring myself, and then having to take a break. And then repeat that cycle...for the last nine months.
My yoga teacher drew me a picture of a thermometer and asked me to imagine my range of 0-10 in terms of workout intensity on the thermometer. She suggested it wasn't that I needed to scale back my workouts, but that I needed to shift my entire scale of 1-10 to a different place on the thermometer. That my old "7" was maybe my new "9" and therefore shouldn't be visited as often. And maybe my new "7" was like my old "5," but instead of beating myself up over "only" working out at a 5-pace, what I really needed to do was recalibrate and let my 7 be my new 7.
Maybe it's silly, or simple, but that kinda blew my mind.
What I needed was to reexamine the situation and see recalibrating not as letting myself off the hook, or failing to be what I "used" to be or am "supposed" to be, but instead see it as taking care of myself for who I am right now.
I plan for this vessel, my body, to last a really darn long time. I need to start acting that way.
Today's Workout
"Helen"
3 rounds, for time
400m run
21 Kettlebell Swings (24/16)
12 Pull-ups
Posted by Andy Petranek :
Tuesday, Apr 03, 2012
What if you were to actually do everything you told yourself that you wanted to do to improve your life? Would it even be possible? When I think of the laundry list of things that I think would lead to a better life for me, it would mean significantly less time for personal time, work, and any sort of social life. And when I got to thinking about it, I wondered, when I make a laundry list of all these things, is it any wonder that I don't do ANY of them? I don't think so. So what I've found that works best for me, is boiling my list down to ONE SINGLE thing. I don't try to prioritize or decide which is most important. Rather, I listen to my intuition and make a gut decision... and I make a commitment to that ONE thing... and put all my attention on that over the course of 3-4 weeks. Not only does this help me to accomplish that one thing, it helps me develop self-trust. So that my psyche starts to trust me when I say I'm going to do something. I may not be perfect, but I set myself up for as much success as I can this way. For me, my ONE thing for the next 21-28 days is 5 minutes of meditation each day.
If you had to boil YOUR list down to just ONE thing for the next month, what would it be? Share in comments.
Today's Workout
2 Rounds of "Barbara"
20 Pull Ups
30 Push Ups
40 Sit Ups
50 Squats
- no rest between rounds
Posted by Andy Petranek :
Monday, Apr 02, 2012
It's the start of the first week of the 2nd Quarter, and you know what that means? It's CFLA's Quarterly Check-In week. During the first 15-20 minutes of every class this week, we'll be taking you through our quarterly check-in process. This is your opportunity to look back over your accomplishments from last quarter (so come prepared with your quarterly check-in forms from last quarter), and to look forward to this quarter, with an opportunity to set positive intentions and goals.
This week is also an opportunity to check in with some of the notorious CrossFit Girl, Hero or Games WODs, as well as the CFLA Base Line. To gage your progress in growth and development, we recommend that you establish your base-line in all these workouts and repeat each regularly. Today, oh joy, "Fran", in all her glory!
Alisa - here's a shot to show to your newborn, Fiona, when she gets a little older! Mommy in action. Congratulations!
Today's Workout
"Fran"
21-15-9 rep rounds for time of:
Thrusters (95/65)
Pull Ups
Posted by Andy Petranek :
Friday, Mar 30, 2012
Should physical training be limited to just your body? What about your mind? Remember my post from a couple weeks ago about CrossFit Math? In athletics, we work a lot with neurological improvements... decreasing the speed at which sensory neurons sense things (touch, proprioception, balance, etc), send a signal to your brain, which sends a signal to motor nerves which tell muscles to move. This improves reaction time and helps you learn to do complex movements quickly and sequentially (like the snatch). But what if there were a way to work on this outside of the gym, where you could specifically work on things like speed, mental acuity, memory, attention, etc.
Well, there is... and it's a website called Lumosity.com. I've been a member now for about three months and have consistently improved my scores on all my tests since then. I spend very little time on it, yet feel it is helping to keep me fresh and on top of my game. If you've been and have gone through enough of it to get your Brain Profile, post it in comments. My profile is below:
Overall 899
Speed 746
Memory 955
Attention 843
Flexibility 852
Problem Solving 1102
Pete & Alyssa get OVER the bar - their FIRST Bar Muscle Ups!
Today's Workout
Complete three rounds:
As many reps as possible in 6 minutes of:
3 Burpees
6 Sit-ups
9 Squats
- Rest 2-minutes between rounds.
- Start the next round exactly where you left off in your previous round.
Posted by michael stanwyck :
Thursday, Mar 29, 2012
Last week we started a really exciting new program with a brand new partner, Estancia Beef. As a result of our new relationship we can bring exclusively to members of the CFLA community great deals on some really fantastic grass-fed meat -- delivered right to the gym!
Any way you cut it, grass-fed beef is healthier for you and the planet than CAFO, grain-fed beef. Aside from being fed a diet that includes corn, soy, spent brewery and distiller's grain, candy (including wrappers), citrus pulp and peanut shells, CAFO cows live among the sick and the dying, with no healthy separation between their living area and their waste. Their nutritional profiles are completely different, as well. CAFO beef is not only high in omega-6, but missing almost any trace of omega-3. Trying to avoid soy? If you are eating feedlot beef raised on soy you are still exposing yourself to high levels of soy estrogen when you eat their meat.
Grass-fed beef is rich in vitamins B, beta-carotene, E and K along with minerals like magnesium, calcium and selenium. The cattle just ate healthier food -- the food it was designed for. Grass-fed animals eat a huge variety of grasses, with a wide variety of nutrients. You are what you eat and so are they. Did the animal you are eating consume healthy, vital and varied pasture-land or did it eat genetically modified soy and corn raised in fallow land replete with petroleum fertilizer?
For those of you who have purchased our beef or those of you considering it, I have provided 2 videos today. One of them explains how to cut up some of the simple primal cuts you will see, like rib-eye or New York steak. The second demonstrates how to take apart and cut up the top sirloin, a "multi-layered" piece of meat.
Happy eating!
Today's Workout
Complete As Many Rounds As Possible in 12 minutes of
100 Double Unders
10 Handstand Push-ups
