eStore 
Posted by Becca Borawski :
Wednesday, Apr 18, 2012
If you walk out the front door of the gym, turn to the right, then right again into the alley, and you walk about a hundred feet north, you’ll see the right-hand wall recedes a bit, revealing parking places, and a short wood fence against the wall, ostensibly to keep cars from bumping it. The wood is a little above knee height, the perfect height to sit on and lean your back against the wall. A slightly uncomfortable , but solid perch.
This is where I used to sit and cry.
The workouts sometimes exhausted me and took down the bit of strength, the little wall that kept the inner voice out of my head and my head out of the dark place. And for me, in the dark place, the inner voice had only one thing to say – “I’m not good enough.”
I’m not good enough to do this workout right, to do this relationship right, to do this job right. When the physical exertion wore down my better judgments, “not good enough” took over and made me cry.
Maybe you have a thing your voice says or a place you go. Maybe your dark place happens right there in the gym, inside your head, or it snaps at others, or throws the bar down at the floor.
It’s okay to have a dark place. It’s okay to get mad and okay to cry. But know it’s not you and don’t invite it to stay. Open your eyes; let in the light. See it for what it is – the momentary tantrum of a two year old, the self-pity of a thirty-something, ego, insecurity, fear. Any way it appears, it’s not real and it’s not you.
Have your crying place, but don’t let it have you
Today's Workout
5 rounds
9 squat cleans (135/95)
12 pullups
Posted by Andy Petranek :
Tuesday, Apr 17, 2012
I'm NOT a political activist. In fact, I'm usually the first one to run for the hills when there is someone outside of Whole Foods waiting to nab me for a signature as I walk by to my car. However, when I found out about this bill, it struck me as so absurd that we a) actually need a bill to tell us to do this, and b) that we're not already doing it, I became enrolled in doing something about it. The bill (in California at this point) and petition for our Nation's government is to support the mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods. How is it possible that this is NOT mandatory? How is it possible that a company like Monsanto has been allowed to genetically modify foods and NOT tell anyone about it?! It seems so in keeping with who WE are as a community, that to do anything but support this legislations seems ludicrous.
All it takes is a few moments of your time... If you'd like to see more informative labels on the foods you purchase, please click on the link above and add your signature to the list to petition the Obama Administration. If you are a registered California voter, please add your name and signature to the list we have going at CFLA. We have to get these signatures in before the end of this week, so please don't delay!
Today's Workout
Complete as many rounds as possible in 13 minutes of:
10 sec. L-sit
10 Arch Rocks
5 Handstand Push ups
Posted by Andy Petranek :
Monday, Apr 16, 2012
I've been "resting" now for eleven days. Isn't that enough? I mean really... how long does it take to recover and get over being sick. Shouldn't 11 days be plenty... I've had plenty of sleep, plenty of water, plenty of food, and plenty of rest... so why wouldn't eleven days be enough? I'm ready to get back to my regularly scheduled programming. I've got plans, and resting more isn't one of them. Who is planning this thing anyway? Don't even try to tell me there is someone else in charge. You mean there might be other plans than the ones that I have already made for myself? What do you mean, "surrender?" Eh, screw it... you wouldn't understand anyway.
Today's Workout
Deadlift - heavy triples
3-3-3-3-3
-------------------
500 m row
Rest 3 minutes
500 m row
Posted by Andy Petranek :
Friday, Apr 13, 2012
I'm going to make a bold claim. I'll bet that you can't do 150 single jump-rope jumps in 1 minute. Does that seem like a lot? If it does then you're not a skilled jump roper. And why is this so important? And why a post a second day in a row about jumping rope? Well, jumping rope is a skill that we use in CrossFit that assists us with hand/eye coordination, rebounding, elasticity, speed, quickness and agility. It is one of the best things we've got for incorporating all those things... and most of you hardly ever practice, and when you do, you're not building your speed. Why not? It's one of the easiest skills we have to practice. Do you have your own rope? Do you take it out and practice on your own... for like 10-15 minutes at a time? Do you set an intention for your practice, like learning a new skill, or do you just plod along, doing it the same way you always do? Do you specifically work on building your speed running in place? Did you know that the better you get with multiple patterns, running in place, squat jumping, smokin' joes, cross overs, and other jumping patterns, the easier double unders get?
Today's "cookie" is single unders in 2 minutes. A good number in each 2 minute interval is 350-400 singles. If you're hovering at 150 or less, you know you have a skill that you should be working on every day. Post your best 2 minute effort in comments.
Practice
Today's Workout
Max Effort Box Squat - work up to a heavy single
-------------------
“Cookie”
3 rounds, for reps
Max Reps of Single Unders in 2-minutes
-rest 1-minute
Posted by michael stanwyck :
Thursday, Apr 12, 2012
Almost 2 1/2 years ago, I wrote this post about Nina, then one of our newer members. Given that this is a week about declarations, I felt it might be apropos to revisit this. You will see that in that early post Nina made an audacious declaration. She said, in spite of ALL evidence to the contrary, that she was going to get on the leader board for double unders. If you had to have picked a list of 3 people back then who you would have said didn't stand a chance of that, Nina would have been on that list. There was no reason to believe. The funny thing about belief is that it's not necessary to have in order to start anything. What is necessary? A declaration. And that is what Nina had. "This will be so," she said. All that was left was action to take, and take it she did. Her action wasn't based on what she couldn't do, but on what she envisioned.
How did this end? Well right now Nina is 3rd on the leader board with 89 double unders and climbing. How many you got?
What's up next for Nina?
Today's Workout
5 Rounds, for time
800m run
15 (Ring) dips
Posted by Becca Borawski :
Wednesday, Apr 11, 2012
Some of you may recall a few weeks ago I wrote about my latest food adventure/experiment/plan - going mostly raw. This meant switching to eating raw, steamed, or slow-cooked fish and/or meats. In practical terms, what this looked like for the first week or so was switching from having eaten fish approximately two-dozen times total in the course of my life to eating fish nearly daily (since it's so easy to steam, eat raw in the form of sushi, etc.). I refused to eat fish most of my life because I thought it was gross. Like, really gross. I finally ate tilapia a few times in the last couple years (it was suggested to me as a good "starter fish") and I ate sushi for the first time last November and actually enjoyed it. But, it still was only a couple-few times per year that I ate fish until a couple weeks ago.
So, it turns out I'm allergic to fish.
Or at least some sort of fish. We're not entirely sure yet. But I had a pretty ridiculous reaction after a few days of eating it and managed to get my system so out of whack that I was covered from head to toe in red bumps for a solid week and broke out in itchiness at the simple act of eating, fish or not. Turns out that just eating provokes a low-level immune response in your body (it IS the ingestion of foreign substances after all) and I became acutely aware of this response since my immune system was on high-power 24/7. After washing all fabrics and clothing, ceasing the consumption of anything remotely related to a fish, and MUCH Benadryl I am almost back to normal.
On the plus side, my skin (prior to the whole "hives" part) had a glow and smoothness to it that was entirely new and that I attribute to the raw foods and veggies I have been eating. So, now I am going to focus on boiling/poaching/steaming chicken and slow cooking red meats. Once the allergic reaction is totally gone, I'm going to try some sushi and see what happens. I have a sneaking suspicion that it is one particular type of fish I am allergic to, so it's just a matter of rooting it out.
In the end, it was a good reminder that experiments are just that - experiments - and just because you want something to turn out a certain way, doesn't mean it will. And your body needs and deserves to be treated as the unique piece of artistry it is, no matter what you read in a science journal, heard from a friend, or decided to test on yourself.
But I really hope I can still eat sushi.
Today's Workout
10-minute Time Trial on Rower
-rest 1-minute
As many rounds as possible, in 10 minutes:
3 Burpees
6 Thrusters (95/65)
9 Box Jumps
-rest 1-minute
10-minute Time Trial on Rower
