3 Rounds for time
  15 Power Cleans
  15 Jerks
  15 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls

BURPEE CHALLENGE: Day 86
Burpees to Date: 3,655
Burpees to Go: 1,395

“Grace”
  30 Clean & Jerks for time
  Men 135lbs, Women 95lbs  

    
BURPEE CHALLENGE: Day 85
Burpees to Date: 3,570
Burpees to Go: 1,480

It’s cold! Part of being truly fit is being ready to go no matter what the weather. Life WILL throw us a curveball and in all likelihood it will happen under less than perfect conditions. Whether that means you are physically limited, are in an extreme environment or caught off guard, there are times that call for you to excel against all odds. If that is what we are up against then we should put ourselves in uncomfortable conditions to train from time to time.

So. Let it snow (let it snow, let it snow).

If we get a nice snowstorm, I plan to challenge you to perform “Grace” outside on the frozen turf, in the snow. It will be cold, I will be taping and when you are finished, it will be awesome. And since I can’t ask you to something I won’t do, I’ll load my bar up and get some too.

3 Rounds for time
  30 Push-ups
  40 Sit-ups
  50 Kettlebell Swings
   

BURPEE CHALLENGE: Day 84
Burpees to Date: 3,486

Modern Forager: Why Worry About The Little Things When The Big Things Aren’t In Place?

Should you worry about whether your cookie is made with high-fructose corn syrup or whether you are sleeping 8 hours per night?
Which is better: counting calories or just eating quality food?
Should you worry about what plastic your bottle is made of if the beverage in the bottle is a sugar-bomb?
Is the type of workout you do more important than just getting up and getting started with something active even if it’s not the world’s best workout? [link]

December 15, 2008

 
21-15-9
  Dumbbell Cleans
  Dumbbell Push-ups (chest hits ground)
  Back Extensions
  GHD Sit-ups

 
BURPEE CHALLENGE: Day 83
Burpees to Date: 3,403

 
ARTICLE: LDL Cholesterol: “Bad” Cholesterol, or Bad Science?

The concept that LDL is “bad cholesterol” is a simplistic and scientifically untenable hypothesis.
The inordinate focus on cholesterol, a perfectly natural substance that performs many crucial functions in the body, has taken and continues to take valuable resources and attention away from factors more closely related to heart disease. Independent-thinking practitioners must look at the readily available evidence for themselves, instead of relying on the continual stream of anticholesterol propaganda emanating from “health authorities.” By doing so, they will quickly realize that the
LDL hypothesis is aggressively promoted for reasons other than public health.

Anthony Colpo, Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons Volume 10 Number 3 Fall 2005

Read the Full Article

 

December 13, 2008

For time:
  25 One arm snatch, left
  25 Medball Cleans
  25 Push-ups
  25 Squats
  Run 400m
  25 Squats
  25 Push-ups
  25 Medball Cleans
  25 One arm snatch, right

BURPEE CHALLENGE: Day 81
Burpees to Date: 3,240

All your abs are belong to us!

Violently fire your hip flexors, maintain a rigid spine and create an unbelievable about of force. And absolutely nuke your abs.

Back and Hip Extensions (video). By themselves and in combination, the back extension and hip extension teach you to create enormous force while keeping your spine rigid and upon completion of your effort, returning to your starting posture. Think of the starting position of any movement you do in rapid succession. Returning efficiently and rapidly to your starting position is important not just for putting up a fast time, but more importantly for your safety. Rip off a set of back extensions with bad form and your will know it.

Glute Ham Developing Sit-up (video). This ain’t no crunch. The secret to the GHD sit-up is the lack of “trunk flexion”. The best and most functional use of the of the trunk (aka the core) is in stabilization. The GDH Sit-up uses the abs to stabilize under the incredible force generated by the hip flexors. I know some of you will wonder if you are actually working your abs, but you’ll understand the morning after. You never forget your first time.
ARTICLE: CrossFit Journal #38, The Glute Ham Developer Sit-up

Our experience with athletes and static hip flexion work like the L sit and more dynamic exercises like the GHD sit-up have led us to several conclusions:

     1. The hip flexors’ purchase and strength suggest their importance to functional movement. One expert calculated that they are capable of generating many times the force that the abs can. To think that muscles with that much mechanical advantage should not be used to that advantage is ridiculous.
     2. Most modern athletes are hip flexion weak and it affects most performance.
     3. Weak hip flexors assure weak abs-especially weak lower abs-and no amount of crunches can compensate. (It seems that every gym has an abs class instructor who has a prominent lower abdominal pooch. Ask her to hold one knee up while standing on the other leg and to resist your pushing the knee downward with a couple of fingers. It’s easy to push the knee down, and it shouldn’t be).
     4. Without static contraction/stabilization exercises, the abs never learn to perform their most critical, functional, role-midline stabilization.

December 12, 2008

3 Rounds for time
  25 Box Jumps
  15 Sumo deadlift high pulls, 95/65

BURPEE CHALLENGE: Day 80
Burpees to date: 3,160

Great work on the short/intense WODs this week. Everyone has really thrown themselves at the workouts and times have been impressive. Is this stuff addicting or what?

Our next challenge is taking shape and is going to be a great opportunity to improve your nutrition habits. Start getting ready by reading the articles I have listed on the right and keep an eye on the daily posts too as I will be posting more and more nutrition related information. Nutrition is the key to getting the results you want. Intense, varied, functional exercise is a part of it too, but without nailing your diet and cutting the crap you are holding yourself back.

Sugar. It’s a killer. Maybe not in the way smoking or anthrax are, but as it relates to your health, the stuff is toxic and wrecks all sorts of havoc on your system. Are you addicted to sugar? I’m sure you’re not. You can quit anytime you want. Right?

ARTICLE: Study Suggests Sugar May Be Addictive (Really? I’m shocked, SHOCKED!))
ARTICLE: CrossFit Journal #21 – Zone Meal Plans

Our recommendation to “eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar” is adequate to the task of preventing the scourges of diet-induced disease, but more accurate and precise prescription is necessary to optimize physical performance.

Finely tuned, a good diet will increase energy, sense of well being and acumen, while simultaneously flensing fat and packing on muscles. When properly composed the right dieet can nudge every important quantifiable marker for health in the right direction.

Diet is critical to optimizing human functin and our clinical experience leads us to believe that Barry Sears’ “Zone Diet” closely models optimal nutrition.

CrossFit’s best performers are Zone eaters. When our second tier athletes commit to “strict” adherence to the Zone parameters, they generaly become top tier performers quickly. It seems that the Zone diet accelerates and amplifies the effects of the CrossFit regimen.