How convenient that I come home to find that the CrossFit main page has that exact topic in their post for Thursday’s WOD. So rather than reinvent the wheel I will just post what they had to say on the matter. (Don’t worry, I pay for the privilege)

Aligning the hips, shoulders and barbell over the base of support (left image) is stronger than with exaggerated lumbar extension (right image).

Maybe we should set up a CrossFit Redmond night so we can all try something new.

This week is 21-15-9 week and an opportunity for more benchmark WODs. We are going to see how a simple rep scheme can be used in different ways to produce different stimulus (aka pain) and how effective each of these similar, yet different, events will be.

For our strength program we are on week #4 and you should all have your 1 rep maxes (or equivalent 3 or 5 rep sets) and these need to be entered into the spreadsheet so we can hit week #1. A bunch of you are still flailing around trying to use the charts and figure out what your max number is for each lift. This spreadsheet will take care of that for you. Type four numbers and you have the whole month planned out. If you prefer the chart system, that’s fine but please write your numbers down so we don’t have to compute them every day.

A question came up a little while ago. Why do we focus on strength so much? I think it’s a great question and deserves a thoughtful answer. So here goes.

· Being strong, and getting stronger, empowers you to do the things you want to do better. Whether you need to walk up several flights of stairs, pick up a box or run a long race, having strength will make you better prepared for the task.

· Time lifting is one of the best opportunities for everyone to talk about and focus on their form. We squat a lot because the squatting movement is vital to our lifestyle and is a basic exercise that just has to be done and done correctly. We use heavy weights and discuss the important parts of the lifts (back position, knee position) and the finer points (hips back sooner, toe in a little more, squeeze your shoulder blades) so you know the movements well.

· It makes conditioning “easier”. When we do the 21-15-9 WODs this week there will be 45 of each exercise. Thrusters, deadlifts, cleans, pull-ups, dips… these will all be done at lighter weights but will be very hard to complete. When you have locked in your form with strength training you are stronger to complete the lift and your form is correct which will make you more efficient while under duress. If you can’t squat, doing Fran with PVC pipe can be a complete knee destroying disaster.

· These are just the training aspects. Lifting heavy things is great for your increased bone health, adding lean muscle mass, your metabolism and fat burning, reduced risk of injury, stronger ligaments and tendon and you get mentally tough under the barbell.

Train hard this week!

A classic of Debra during a CF Total. She uses much more weight these days. You can thank her for the 21-15-9 week!

The gold standard is two minutes non-stop. Cara and Karrie will show you how it’s done.

FIGHT GONE BAD 5 – Sept 25th at SnoRidge CrossFit
Strength Training – 5-3-1 Calc Sheet (download for your folder)

At the risk of getting in trouble, I thought I would show you the extent of the effort we make to assure you have the best workout experience possible.

There is nothing worse than rings that are (even a little!) out of level.

I’m think I’m in trouble!

You may have noticed we changed up our strength training a bit. I have really been impressed with some of the max effort sets in the first two weeks. We get a break from max sets for a couple weeks but there will still be plenty of heavy lifting to be done.

Under the Weekly WOD sheet I have a link to a spreadsheet that will plan the next several weeks for you. Keep using THE SAME max you used for calculations the past couple weeks. If you think you should add weight next week ask me about it. Your trainers will be miserly and stingy with your increases so unless you are getting 15-20 reps in you max set don’t expect to increase your max number.

Download this file and enter your numbers. If you keep this spreadsheet in your folder you won’t have to think about calculating your weights and can just get your work done.

Keep training hard!

Have you seen these things. They are pretty obnoxious.

· Livestrong
· Wounded Warrior Project
· CrossFit Foundation

Again this year we will be traveling to SnoRidge CrossFit to participate with several other gyms in the wickedly fun fundraising event. We will be running larger waves of athletes this year and plan for the event to be outside. Pray for sun, an ironic request today, and please support an athlete and/or participate in the WOD.  We had a blast last year and this year will be even more fun.

Tina took a trip down to Reno and had an opportunity to get in a hike as well as visit CrossFit Initiative. Below are a couple pics from her hike.

THRUSTERS: Squat below parallel and stand to full extension with the bar pressed to full arm extension. Think butt below knees and you should be OK for the squat. Stand fully upright with straight arms and the barbell over your ears.

PULL-UPS: Pull-ups will get their own post soon. The standard in CrossFit is and always has been that you start at the bottom fully extended and pull so your chin is over the bar. I look at it from the side and so see this in two dimensions. Height is only one element. You chin needs to be higher off the ground than the bar but then you need to move towards the bar so your chin is actually directly over the bar. That’s the one element of this video we cannot confirm.

Enjoy

Fructose and fat cells from Science Daily

Fructose, a sugar widely used in soft drinks and processed foods, often gets some of the blame for the widespread rise in obesity. Now a laboratory study has found that when fructose is present as children’s fat cells mature, it makes more of these cells mature into fat cells in belly fat and less able to respond to insulin in both belly fat and fat located below the skin.

Fructose and cancer cells from CBSNews.com

The study, conducted by scientists at UCLA, found that pancreatic cancer cells grew faster when “fed” with fructose. Study author Dr. Anthony Heaney, associate professor of medicine and neurosurgery at the university’s cancer center, said it was likely that fructose would also speed the growth of other cancers as well.
“The bottom line is the modern diet contains a lot of refined sugar including fructose and it’s a hidden danger implicated in a lot of modern diseases, such as obesity, diabetes and fatty liver,”

If you have not purchased the Primal Blueprint, please do so now and read it. I ordered 5 copies that will be available for checkout soon if you can’t pony up. Find the book at Amazon for very cheap.

One of the other folks at the WOD (lots of 95/65lb thrusters and rope climbs) was Andrea and today I will introduce you to Andrea’s website ‘LivinPaleo’ where you can find great recipes that conform to dietary standards that are right in line with what I encourage you to live by. One of the biggest challenges in changing to a healthy diet is breaking the old habits of meal preparation and Andrea can certainly give you a few ideas (and link to other great sites) that will help you make you dinner table more healthy and more interesting.

So please check out Andrea’s site and let he know what you think of her ideas.

Brushetta Chicken from LivinPaleo