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Misty Pony dressed up as a leopard for Halloween. She had us all fooled. She did tell me she was just a *little* jealous that no one brought her some clydesdale boots.
Happy Halloween!
Hell hath no fury like a 6 year old who doesn't get to dress up and go trick-or-treating. RCF is CLOSED tonight.
Tomorrow we trick or treat!!
Group: "Awwww" Sorry, no Zercher squats today.
We are open normal hours tomorrow morning- On Ramp too but we are CLOSED tomorrow afternoon and evening. No CrossFit, No On Ramp, No Baseball.
In order for these dishes to work for others, Miller says, people have to be mindful of the traditional style of cooking and the quality of the ingredients. The best pork in Okinawa, for example, subsisted on nutrient-rich sweet potatoes instead of commercially grown grain. Similarly, flour tortillas won't impart the same nutritional benefit of the Tarahumaras' fiber-rich corn tortillas treated with nutrient-enhancing lime.
Such disparities explain why following an Americanized version of the traditional diets won't work. One of Miller's patients, for instance, reported eating a Mediterranean diet, but she often dined on fattening pizza and cheese ravioli instead of dishes like a tomato and feta sandwich or lentil stew.
We're open this morning for our regularly scheduled Saturday Suck (Hero style) and then we'll be spouting a pumpkin patch complete with treats for our RCF families. An opportunity to bring the kiddos, hang out, scoop some pumpkin guts and catch up with your favorite CrossFit friends. Come spend an hour or 2, from 11:30(ish) to 1:30(ish) expressing your artistic side. (Which probably won't be as good as Cheryl's- above. sorry )
Today is brought to you by the letter A, C, and K. Thank you to our Ambassadors Alyssa, Corina, and Krist for planning this fun day for us!
Testing out possible combinations for Rainier CF's Strongest Man and Woman 6 happening here on Nov 12th. Have we released the workouts yet? Not as of this writing but check here: www.mtrainiersstrongest.com
Bacon lovers unite! Anything that starts like this MUST be good:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Line baking dish with bacon
Bake until crispy golden dilicious. Drain grease.
Who will be the first to try Bacon Lover's Dream Pie from Fast Paleo and report back?
Remember- Pumpkin Carving is tomorrow- 11:30 ish at RCF!
Emily *almost* gets her second muscle-up. Her new MU is camera-shy, apparently.
How'd you sleep last night? Are you thinking you're *almost* ready for a new mattress? Maybe not...
"MY older son asked for an iPhone for his bar mitzvah. My younger son, Gabriel, will be celebrating his in about a month and wants a Tempur-Pedic mattress.
This may not be as odd as it sounds. Gabriel has been interested in mattresses for a long time, and we bought him a new one a few years ago when he complained his old one was lumpy and he couldn’t sleep.
But somehow, it wasn’t enough. Although to me he seems to sleep just fine, he is convinced that the perfect mattress will make his nights blissful.
In this, he is not alone. Judging just by the many commercials and advertisements, there are a lot of Americans out there looking to buy a great night’s sleep. Companies offer a heady array of mattresses, sleeping pills and even soothing noise machines to usher us into the land of nod.
But is this a case, like losing weight, where the quick and easy (if not necessarily cheap) option is not a solution?
According to James Wyatt, director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Rush University Medical Center, people who have sleep problems actually need to be divided into two broad categories — those who have sleep disorders and those who don’t sleep enough."
Read: Not Feeling Rested? Don’t Blame the Mattress
By the way, Emily's first Muscle-up was beautiful, it just wasn't caught on film.
Ahh, toes to bar. The movement itself isn't as puzzling as the "How do I link them together without the extra swing in the middle?"
Here's one trick: rather than just lifting your toes to the bar, use the glide to get your shoulders travelling in front of and behind the bar. Notice how far behind the bar Kyle's shoulders are- use that momentum to your advantage in not only getting your toes to the bar but in also finding that rhythm that makes T2B go by more quickly.
Want to practice the pacing? Do V ups. As you lower back to the floor your hands and feet should land at the same time. If one hits before the other it will translate into an "off" rhythm and you'll struggle to string these together without that extra little swing between reps.
A whole row of hotness and Casey looks bored. Oh to grow up here...
So we just finished 6 weeks of "Cut the Crap". It's not strict Paleo but "Paleo you can live with". Here's a list of 5 mistakes that people make when adopting Paleo eating that could curb the weight loss that usually comes with Paleo eating. DId you make any of these mistakes?
Top 5 Most Common Paleo Weight Loss Mistakes from Grass Fed Girl.
On Saturday at noon-ish we're carving pumpkins at RCF. Have you RSVP'd? We need to know how many kiddos because we'll be planting a pumpkin patch for the kids to choose a pumpkin. If the weather cooperates, we'll have Misty Pony, too! RSVP on the community board in the gym.
It's Monday morning. Have you decided how your week is going to go? You have choices (but don't choose lawnmowers, they'll make your butt sore)
McDonalds is hoping some apples will help you decide to motor on over to their drive thru. My kids love the apples- more than the fries.
Eating Healthy: Whose Choice Should It Be?
On a recent visit to McDonald's, Christie Coleman, a mother of two boys, was surprised to find that her kids' Happy Meals included fewer french fries and something new: apple slices.
Coleman says her boys are extremely picky eaters, so she was not happy with the change.
"When they do want to eat, they will eat all of their fries, and I don't think that they should get 15 or 20 less fries because McDonald's thinks that they need to eat apples as well," she says.
When it announced the new Happy Meal, McDonald's said it was aiming "to help customers, especially children and families, make nutrition-minded choices for their daily lifestyles."
Coleman thinks her choice is being taken away.
Can people make the right decisions when it comes to what they eat, or should restaurants and institutions do their part to help people make better food choices?
Margaret gets her deadlift on.
Get your coffee- your Sunday reading is lengthy today but worth it. Some of you have seen this already.
"It's usually the father who teaches the son. But when the boy is a fraggle he ends up teaching his father - about strength, and courage, and the bone-deep meaning of love."
Read: Me and the X Man by Paul Solotaroff in Mens Journal.
Rainier CrossFit's Strongest Man and Woman 6 to benefit FRAXA is coming on November 12th.
do not jump rope, do not collect $200.
Can you do it? It's Saturday, try hard.
Katy and Dawn are quickly approaching their one year anniversary with RCF. Where are you in your "career" here? Do you remember your first WOD?
Let's continue the supplement conversation:
from the NYT: More Evidence Against Vitamin Use
Two new studies add to the growing body of evidence that taking extra doses of vitamins can do more harm than good.
A study of vitamin E and selenium use among 35,000 men found that the vitamin users had a slightly higher risk of developing prostate cancer, according to a report published Tuesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association. A separate study of 38,000 women in Iowa found a higher risk of dying during a 19-year period among older women who used multivitamins and other supplements compared with women who did not, according to a new report in The Archives of Internal Medicine.
The findings are the latest in a series of disappointing research results showing that high doses of vitamins are not helpful in warding off disease.
“You go back 15 or 20 years, and there were thoughts that antioxidants of all sorts might be useful,” said Dr. Eric Klein, a Cleveland Clinic physician and national study coordinator for the prostate cancer and vitamin E study. “There really is not any compelling evidence that taking these dietary supplements above and beyond a normal dietary intake is helpful in any way, and this is evidence that it could be harmful.”
Among the women in the Iowa study, about 63 percent used supplements at the start of the study, but that number had grown to 85 percent by 2004. Use of multivitamins, vitamin B6, folic acid, iron, magnesium, zinc and copper were all associated with increased risk of death. The findings translate to a 2.4 percent increase in absolute risk for multivitamin users, a 4 percent increase associated with vitamin B6, a 5.9 percent increase for folic acid, and increases of 3 to 4 percent in risk for those taking supplements of iron, folic acid, magnesium and zinc.
“Based on existing evidence, we see little justification for the general and widespread use of dietary supplements,” the authors wrote.
Everyone needs vitamins, which are essential nutrients that the body can’t produce on its own. But in the past few years, several high-quality studies have failed to show that high doses of vitamins, at least in pill form, help prevent chronic disease or prolong life.
It's true we don't lead a cool down or even suggest one. You know what's sore and what part of you needs some attention. Spend the time taking care of yourself. Your body will thank you (tomorrow) We can guide you.
Do you need a supplement?
Two studies released this week provide additional evidence that vitamin supplements are potentially harmful and, at the very least, do no good.
This depressing news comes from the Iowa Women's Health Study. Older women in the study who took supplements ranging from multivitamins to high doses of single nutrients had a greater risk of dying than those who did not.
Equally depressing are the results of a trial of high-dose vitamin E and selenium versus prostate cancer. It found higher rates of the cancer among men taking vitamin E (selenium was somewhat protective). In this trial, it was so obvious that the supplements did not protect against prostate cancer that the investigators ended it before its scheduled date of completion.
USA Today interviewed me and Dr. Jeffrey Blumberg (Tufts University) about our interpretations of these trials.
I think that the main conclusion to be drawn from this research is that supplements do not make healthy people healthier. They may not cause harm at high doses, but they appear not to do good.
I don't take them and I don't recommend them -- except to people who have diagnosed nutrient deficiencies or other problems handling nutrients.
Dr. Blumberg, in contrast, thinks multivitamins constitute a useful nutrition insurance policy and everybody should be taking them.
read: The Problem With Supplements from Marion Nestle, author of Food Politics. More from her tomorrow...
Steve is wearing one of my favorite shirts of all times.
So lets continue yesterdays conversation about your "core" shall we?
You can bet you stabilize your midline in preparation for catching the wallball.
Vern Gambetta talks systematic athletic development.
Train core strength before extremity strength. The Core is an integrated functional unit consisting of the Lumbo-Pelvic-Hip Complex, the Thoracic and Cervical Spine. It is a Muscular Corset that lends integrity and support to the body. The Core is where all movement is modulated. The core works as an integrated functional unit that accelerates, decelerates, and dynamically stabilizes the body during movement. All movement is relayed through the core. The core is in effect a swivel joint between the hips and the shoulders which:
1) Allows the entire body to accelerate the limbs
2) Allows the entire body to decelerate the limbs
3) Allows the entire body to support a limb.
In order to truly understand core function in the context of function of the whole body we must shift our focus away from individual muscles to integrated movements. Focus on the Transverse Abdominis and the Internal Obliques as key core muscles is fallacious thinking because the brain does not recognize individual muscles; those muscles are two muscles among many that contribute to efficient core function. The brain recognizes patterns of movement, which consist of the individual muscles working in harmony to produce movement. It is unreasonable to think that two muscles could play such an important role that they are more important than any other muscles. According to McGill: “The muscular and motor control system must satisfy requirements to sustain postures, create movements, brace against sudden motion or unexpected forces, build pressure and assist challenged breathing, all while ensuring sufficient stability. Virtually all muscles play a role in ensuring stability, but their importance at any point in time is determined by the unique combination of the demands just listed.” (McGill Pp 144)
Holly farmers walks with 80#s per hand.
We talk "core" a lot. Strengthen the core. Stabilize the midline. Sure, Ok, yeah. So HOW?? As it is our core's job to hold us still and transfer power, we hold still. When we walk, when we squat, when we run. Always.
Think of your core as a cylinder.
The walls of the cylinder are made up of your abs, your obliques, your low back. The top is your diaphragm. The bottom is your pelvic floor. The walls support your spine. The top is secured by taking and holding a deep breathe. The bottom is secured by a Kegel. (think pulling in NOT pushing out)
Holly's stabilizing her core like a mad woman.
Oh, and a "dell" is a small, usually wooded, valley. It has nothing to do with Farmers walks :)
Kurtis gets the pleasure of rolling Evan's calves. Sure, he beats all of us at most everything but we can get even.
Hey 6AMers- or morning peeps in general- Do you eat breakfast before your WOD? Have you tried it if you don't? Here's a rowers story on how eating before a workout helped her.
read: How Early-Morning Eating Changed My Training
That first week, I felt quite unenthusiastic about eating so much food so early in the morning. I forced myself to do so anyhow. And then a funny thing happened. I began waking up hungry. Every morning, I looked forward to that pre-5 a.m. meal.
Even more interesting, the increase in early morning eating did not reduce my hunger later on in the day. If anything, I wanted more food. Indeed, a subsequent visit to Seattle Performance Medicine showed I was actually losing weight. My three breakfasts had boosted my metabolism so much, I needed to eat more food the rest of the day.
I also observed a change in my strength during crew practices. Though I'd never noticed feeling drained and tired by the end when I wasn't eating beforehand, the food addition told me otherwise. I'd been operating with a half empty tank, especially during those final race pieces or power strokes of the day. With my small early morning breakfast, I gained the energy to compete for much longer.
These days, I eat as soon as I rise from bed, regardless of the hour or what my plans are for working out. I'm simply hungry. I've asked a number of other athletes and crew team members about their own fueling habits, and I've found a large number follow my former habits. They wait until after early practice, reasoning that they aren't that hungry and can last until 7 a.m. without a meal.
Just give early morning eating a test run, I encourage them. It may make the difference between a half speed workout and a fully energized session. And, like me, they may discover the true joy of three breakfasts.
Now that the matching shoes have arrived Corina is back.
Here's your Sunday reading:
THE Dallas Cowboys just got “pinked.”
And not just the Cowboys. The entire Cowboys Stadium here. Pink is everywhere: around the goalposts, in the crowd, on the players’ cleats, towels and wristbands.
In case you haven’t noticed, October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, when the entire nation gets painted pink. This is also when “pink” becomes more than a color: It becomes, for better or worse, a verb.
In marketing circles, “to pink” means to link a brand or a product or even the entire National Football League to one of the most successful charity campaigns of all time. Like it or not — and some people don’t like it at all — the pinking of America has become a multibillion-dollar business, a marketing, merchandising and fund-raising opportunity that is almost unrivaled in scope. There are pink-ribbon car tires, pink-ribbon clogs, pink eyelash curlers — the list goes on.
Down on the 50-yard line on this early October day is Nancy G. Brinker, the chief executive who has done more than any other to create what might be called Pink Inc. With a C.E.O.’s eye, Ms. Brinker has turned her foundation, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, into a juggernaut. She has tied this nonprofit to hundreds of for-profit brands and spread its message far and wide with “Race for the Cure” foot races. She has, in effect, invested to maximize returns. Over the years, Komen has raised many billions of dollars to urge women to get mammograms, as well as for treatment and research.
“It’s a democratization of a disease,” Ms. Brinker, who is the Cowboys’ honorary captain for the day, says just before the coin toss. “It’s drilling down into the deepest pockets of America.”
The story of Komen is, as much as anything, a story of savvy marketing. Ms. Brinker has rebranded an entire disease by putting an upbeat spin on fighting it. Her foundation generated about $420 million in the 2010 fiscal year alone. Perhaps more than any other nonprofit organization, Komen shapes the national conversation about breast cancer.
If you’re feeling hopeful about the strides being made against this disease, rather than frustrated by the lack of progress, that may well reflect Komen’s handiwork. If you think women should be concerned about developing breast cancer, that’s often Komen’s message, too. And if you think mammography is the best answer at the moment, that, again, is the Komen mantra.
Like Big Oil, Big Food and Big Pharma, Big Pink has its share of critics. Some patient advocates complain that Komen and other pink-ribbon charities sugarcoat breast cancer, which kills about 40,000 American women and 450 men annually. Others complain that pink marketing, despite the many millions it raises for charities, is just another way to move merchandise and that it exploits cancer by turning it into an excuse to go shopping. And some pink-theme products have no relationship with any charities at all. (Consumers should check before buying.)
Continue reading: Welcome, Fans, to the Pinking of America from the NYT
Sean gets muscle-ups #1 and 2. Welcome to the club!
Rainier CrossFit's Strongest Man and Woman 6 is in 4 weeks. You may have noticed the beginnings of the silent auction and beer garden.
This is, as always, a fundraiser for FRAXA, the Fragile X Research Foundation. Fragile X affects Casey, our lives, and our community everyday in the form of an 11 year old boy. He struggles with the some of the most basic things- speech, friendship, learning. FRAXA funds research that is already helping Casey and may someday cure him.
We count on you guys to help us make this fundraiser successful. (So far we've raised over $40,000) If you can donate an item to the silent auction or can hit up a friend who can, we'd sure appreciate it. Of course this is first and foremost a fundraiser so cash is always good and event sponsorships are available. There are brochures that explain the event and the charity on the counter, feel free to take as many as you'd like. For product donation, in-kind gift receipts are available. Donations to RCF's SMW6 are tax deductible through FRAXA's 501(c)3.
This years fundraising has been kicked off by a $5000 donation from the CrossFit Foundation. Words from the Foundation: "Josh Murphy on our board suggested that we make your strongman event the first event that we commit to supporting on a regular basis. For this year in November, we would like to give you a $5,000 donation for you to use in either putting on the event or as a direct donation to the charity, we can even write separate checks for each purpose if you wish. We think you do great work for a very worthy cause and are delighted to be able to support it in this way."
DId you read that? the first event that we commit to supporting on a regular basis. Wow.
We want to thank The CrossFit Foundation for their $5000 donation to FRAXA.
We also want to thank MillerCoors for kicking off our silent auction and beer garden with mini fridges, snowboards, ipods, BEER! and so much more.
Please help us if you can- volunteer sign-ups will be up in the next few days and thats another super important way you can help. Of course, you could also compete....
Jenn makes it to the apogee of the rope.
Do We Glorify Extreme Sleep Deprivation?
Athletes in this race and other ultra-sport endurance competitions face any number of dangers related to accidents and injuries. It is important to acknowledge another very real danger to these competitors: lack of sleep. There's a tendency in our culture to applaud our ability to function without sleep, but the ability to force yourself to go without sleep is really nothing to celebrate. The consequences and risks of this kind of extreme sleep deprivation are serious:
Obviously this ultra-cycling race is an extreme example of sleep deprivation and the dangers that accompany it. But you don't need to be an endurance athlete to face dangers to your physical and mental health because of a lack of sleep. Sleep deprivation is linked to a wide range of health problems, including:
Obesity: There is significant evidence that sleep-deprived people consume more calories and higher amounts of fat in their daily diets.
Diabetes: One study showed that five hours of sleep and sedentary lifestyle habits brought people to a pre-diabetic level in a matter of two weeks.
Cardiovascular problems: Research has shown that sleeping five hours or less per night is associated with a 39 percent increase in heart disease.
Migraines: Lack of sleep has been associated with these headaches and also with chronic pain.
Sexual and reproductive problems: Sleep loss can lead to problems with both infertility and erectile dysfunction.
Cancer: The link between cancer and sleep loss is still being explored, but there's evidence to indicate that sleep may play a role.
These sleep-related health problems can and do develop over time, but it doesn't take an extended period of sleep deprivation to begin to elevate your risk. A single night of sleep loss causes the body to release toxins that increase the risks of cancer and heart disease.
Remember, chronic sleep deprivation doesn't come only as a result of insomnia. You can shortchange yourself on sleep night after night, without being fully aware of the problem. Here are some signs that may indicate you're not getting enough sleep:
We can get away with just about anything in here....
The one thing we don't allow- read on for a great explanation from Kidsvt
My brother Shane is funny, outgoing, social, caring and kind. He appreciates the smallest gestures — receiving a postcard, being invited to a party, being asked to help make dinner. He never thinks twice about showing his love; recently he took my husband's hand and placed it on his heart.
But cognitively speaking, Shane, who has cerebral palsy, is what we once called "mentally retarded." Through no fault of his own, his cognitive abilities are quite low. He can't do simple math, he can't read, he can't write, save for an approximation of his name. He has severe physical limitations as well — he can't walk, he can't really use his right hand, and his speech is impaired.
He and the millions of other individuals with intellectual disabilities already struggle with so many things. Why, then, is it so common to hear people using their plight as a derogatory term for when something is messed up? I'm hearing it more and more lately, even from elementary school-aged kids. The word "retarded" has become pervasive as a putdown. It's in songs (Black Eyed Peas' "Let's Get Retarded"). It's on TV. When Lady Gaga was asked if her new song was a ripoff of a Madonna song, she called the comparison "retarded." Apparently, "Born This Way" applies to everyone except people with disabilities. (She has since apologized.)
When people use that word, I don't think they mean to attack those who are intellectually disabled. I know many otherwise kind and thoughtful people who use the R-word out of habit.
As with any habit, the best way to break it is to nip it in the bud, or, better yet, stop it before it starts. I'm not out to be the language police, and I don't mean to sound preachy; I have certainly used language I shouldn't have used. But in honor of my brother, and kids and adults like him, I want to ask you, as parents, to talk with your kids about the R-word. Ask them to consider what using it really means.
When you call something "retarded," you're taking a word that describes people who have been given limited opportunities in life, the least amount of independence, the least amount of normalcy, and you're using that word to say something is ... stupid.
When you use the word "retarded" as a putdown, you're saying something is so awful, so stupid, that it's as bad as my brother. Like, my brother is the ultimate low. Your computer isn't working? You might say, "This thing is so retarded!" You might as well be saying, "This thing is such a bad piece of equipment, it's like Shane!" When your teacher makes you angry, and you say, "He's so retarded," you could be saying, "He's so horrible, he's Shane."
When you stop and think about it, it's easy to understand why the R-word is hurtful. You can help your kids make the connection by talking about it in the same way you talk about insults based on race, gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation
There's been a lot that Shane hasn't been able to do during his lifetime. But he has made a lasting impression on friends, family and even strangers, showing them that those with disabilities have an immense capacity for love, acceptance and friendship. There's nothing stupid about that.
You can find teaching resources, and sign the pledge to stop using the R-word, at r-word.org.
Can you see the similarities? Weight in the heels, knee over ankle, hips pushed back, low back flat. Theres a slight difference in forward inclination of the torso (Kristi is pullup up, Emily is fighting the downward pull of the KB and there is a difference in chin position although neither of todays models have a neutral cervical spine)
I could find this very same position in the air squat, box, jump, snatch, thruster--- the majority of our movements. This verticle shin, weight back, posterior chain acivating position is not only critical to CrossFit it's the basis of hip strength building movements that we rely upon for athletics.
Power comes from the big musculature of the hip. We transfer it through a rigid core and into a mobile yet strong upper extremity.
Most sports (lawn bowling comes to mind as an exception) begin with power generation at the hip. It's because of this hip that we care so much about where your butt is.
The serving size of a pole squat is just far enough away that you don't eat the pole or break your nose at the bottom position.
Sure, you've done it. You laughed at a serving size.
The Problem with Serving Sizes - from NYT
According to its label, a pint of Häagen-Dazs ice cream contains four servings. But when was the last time you measured out a fourth of a container of Cookies & Cream, then put the rest away for another day?
For many people, the reality is that much of a pint can easily vanish in one sitting. A large package of Cool Ranch Doritos lists a single serving as one ounce, or roughly 12 chips, but it’s hard to imagine keeping count of every last chip as you dig into a bag. And while 160 calories and two grams of saturated fat may sound like a small price to pay for a serving of Oreo cookies, keep in mind that technically speaking, a serving is a paltry three cookies.
In the face of mounting criticism, the Food and Drug Administration has been under pressure for years to force food makers to include more realistic serving-size information on their labels. The agency regulates the serving sizes that can be listed on packages by providing food makers with detailed guidelines to follow, which list the amounts of a specific food that a person would “customarily consume” in a typical sitting. But critics say these so-called reference amounts are often laughably small because they’re based in part on surveys of eating behavior that were carried out in the 1970s, when Americans ate less food and portions had not been supersized
What will you begin this week? More importantly- what will you FINISH?
There are 37 hours worth of unfinished work on your desk at any given time.
There are 42 hours of oppportunity for you to get your WOD on this week.
Everyone has the same 168 hours this week. How will you use yours?
Happy Monday!
(yes, we're open normal hours even thought we celebrate Columbus Day like it's 1999--- OK, not really)
I'd love to know how much weight we collectively threw overhead yesterday- if you're a woman who used 95 pounds you lifted 2850# and if you're a guy who used 135 you lifted 4050#.
Even if you lifted less than that, you did it 30 times and for a good cause. You rock.
I want to thank our friends at CrossFit Infusion, CrossFit Puyallup, CrossFit 138, Tacoma Strength, and a few guests from JBLM who joined us. We had 49 times on the board (check Facebook, the results are there) and we may have missed a few people. To date we've raised $1236 from our little corner of the world. Our efforts will help fund life saving diagnostics for women who maybe wouldn't get a chance at detection otherwise. I know it felt like 30 clean and jerks, but it was really paying for someones chance to live. You guys - our community - did well yesterday.
So proud of you. Thank you.
Mothers, daughters, Aunts, friends--- no one is immune from the effects of a breast cancer diagnosis.
So today we do Amazing Grace -- our little part of a much bigger event. October is breast cancer awareness month and we will help fund screenings for low income and uninsured women through a charity called Mammograms in Action. The event is called Barbells for Boobs. I read somewhere (although I can't find it now) that the money raised from last years event resulted in 9 cases of breast cancer found.
Wear your pink and bring a donation (or donate online). Throw some weight overhead. Support a great cause. Have fun!
From Susan G Komen- here's a list of breast cancer risk factors:
Welcome back, Big Sam. Everyone's favorite little brother to pick on makes his glorious return. (You know we only pick on the ones we like, right?)
And since we're talking about boobs:
Have you signed up for Barbells for Boobs? You can register for Saturdays "Amamzing Grace" here: http://www.barbellsforboobs.com/event-registration/?regevent_action=register&event_id=283
If you haven't registered online you can still join us and participate! The WOD on Saturday will be Grace- 30 clean and jerks for time, scaled up or down to your ablility. Just show up and we'll add you to a group. Donations (in any amount) will be accepted on site and sent to Mammograms in Action.
First heat will start at 10am, gym will open at 9:30. PINK is encouraged!
Only Megan gets to row and talk. The rest of you get legs-body-arms!
Seeing a lot of minimalist shoes in here, less five fingers now thats it wet and cool and lots of new ones just coming on the market. Interesting study done with barefoot (minimals) lady runners. Wonder if they were running outside or on treadmills since your gait is different
Are Barefoot Shoes Really Better?
Barefoot running may be trendy, but for scores of runners who train on urban streets or rocky trails, running without foot cover isn’t an option. As a result, many runners have switched to minimalist sports shoes that add a thin layer of protection without detracting from the feeling of running barefoot.
But do minimalist running shoes really reduce wear and tear on a runner’s body?
The American Council on Exercise, a nonprofit group that reports on fitness, recently sponsored a small study to learn more about the popular footwear. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, asked 16 women, all healthy recreational joggers ages 19 to 25, to spend two weeks getting used to running in the Vibram FiveFingers, a snug, glovelike shoe that weighs less than five ounces. The women were advised to use the shoes, the best-selling brand of barefoot sports shoes, three times a week for up to 20 minutes a day.
The women then returned to the lab, where researchers analyzed their form, foot-strike patterns and the force at which they hit the ground under three different running conditions — with regular running shoes, barefoot and while wearing the Vibram FiveFingers.
The researchers found that half of the women who switched to barefoot running or minimalist sports shoes failed to adjust their form, resulting in more wear and tear on their bodies, not less.
The study showed that when the women were wearing traditional running shoes, they all used a rear-foot strike, meaning they landed predominantly on their heels. But when the women switched to barefoot running or the Vibram FiveFingers, only half of them adjusted their form, as recommended, to a forefoot strike pattern, which entails landing mainly on the ball of the foot. The other half of the women kept the same form whether running barefoot, in Vibrams or in their cushy running shoes — landing first on their heels as they propelled themselves along.
How active is your mom? Have you had any luck getting her into a CF gym? If you have, how??
Exercise: In Women, Training for a Sharper Mind
Older women who did an hour or two of strength training exercises each week had improved cognitive function a year later, scoring higher on tests of the brain processes responsible for planning and executing tasks, a new study has found.
Researchers in British Columbia randomly assigned 155 women ages 65 to 75 either to strength training with dumbbells and weight machines once or twice a week, or to a comparison group doing balance and toning exercises.
A year later, the women who did strength training had improved their performance on tests of so-called executive function by 10.9 percent to 12.6 percent, while those assigned to balance and toning exercises experienced a slight deterioration — 0.5 percent. The improvements in the strength training group included an enhanced ability to make decisions, resolve conflicts and focus on subjects without being distracted by competing stimuli.
Older women are generally less likely than others to do strength training, even though it can promote bone health and counteract muscle loss, said Teresa Liu-Ambrose, a researcher at the Center for Hip Health and Mobility at Vancouver General Hospital and the lead author of the paper, which appears in the Jan. 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
I'll probably get in trouble for the picture but Alicia's a bad@ss, we all know it, and I have the pictures to prove it.
Words to fire you up, Part one
A collection of words from past CrossFit Lisbeth posts:
You can beat me. But not defeat me.
So, it’s time to stop playing “Little Suzie was a good girl and gets a treat” and start playing “Little Suzie wants 20 f***ing pull-ups.”
Adjust your own attitude. Weave your own hope. Life will get better when you get better.
Do what tightens your throat and drops your heart into your stomach: it’s the only way to find out what you’ve really got.
Throw yourself right on the damn line again, pain and scars and all.
Because once you truly experience the power of the barbell, you can’t ever go back.
CrossFit is a drug, like they say. If I was cut off from it, I really don’t know what I would do. At this point, I am willing to throw rocks through car windows and steal spare change in order to feed my habit. I am an addict. Ragged calluses are my track marks.
What are you afraid of? Just admit it . . . and free yourself. No one gives your fears any power but you.
For an hour a day, you get to take all of society’s polite expectations and old baggage and haunts of years gone by and throw that sh** in the corner.
So, yell at your barbell if you need to. Glare at it, scowl at it, get good and mad at it. Drop it, manhandle it, call it bad names.
Be brave. Choose better. And change. Even if your life is seriously f***ed, you will have to save yourself.
You already know in your heart what you are and who you are. What you might not know is what you could truly become.
Get your goals on the board- you have 27 days....
but don't set the bar down- that results in 10 bent-over rows.
I think this was Dan's slowest 400m e-v-e-r.
How to Raise an Athlete -- and Why You Should
As a result of being an athlete, I learned coordination, leadership, team spirit, physical strength, and interpersonal skills. I learned how to cope with loss, frustration, and sheer exhaustion. I was taught to respect my coaches, support my team members, and challenge myself.
In fact, sports taught me lessons and skills I would not have easily learned elsewhere. Besides, being an athlete was fun.
That's why I was saddened to read that, according to the National Alliance for Sports, 20 million kids register each year for youth hockey, football, baseball, soccer, and other competitive sports, but about 70 percent of these kids quit playing these league sports by age 13 -- and never play them again. The number one reason they quit, says Michael Pfahl, executive director of the National Youth Sports Coaches Association, "is that it stopped being fun."
Research finds that when children participate in sports, it helps them learn coordination, leadership skills, how to work in a group, cope with frustration, acquire physical strength, and develop communication skills. Studies even show that participation in organized sports delays the age of first sexual intercourse for girls. With information like this and the fact that I have two young adolescent children (aged 14 and 17), I began to wonder, how can we as parents help our children have fun being athletic? Here are some guidelines.
“ Wherever you fly, you’ll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest
Except when you don’t.
Because sometimes, you won’t.”
~ from Oh the Places You’ll Go! By Dr. Seuss
Sometimes you won’t.
As much as you wish it and want it and train for it, sometimes that bar won’t break off the floor. That snatch won’t have any “speed through the middle” and the squat that goes down won’t come back up.
Your time won’t be the best on the board or in the book. It may not even compare to the last time you did this very same girl. Well, we can’t PR all the time.
You heard it, we can’t PR all the time. Sometimes the littlest victory can take months or years to achieve.
That doesn’t mean we quit trying, place our goals on the back burner and hope for the best. It may mean we change our attack plan.
Want a bigger deadlift? How’s your grip strength? Muscle-ups got you stuck? How many strict chest-to-bar pull-ups can you do? Are overhead squats your kryptonite? How much time do you spend on shoulder and upper thoracic mobility?
Sure, sometimes a new strategy may be what you need. Other times, you just need a different day.
Today may not be your day. Yes, I said that, too.
Everyone has on off day. In the gym, at work, at home. I give you permission to write off a bad day as just that – a day.
Just know that you’ll be back tomorrow, to attack again. A day only lasts 24 hours before a new one begins.
See you tomorrow.
Does your L sit look like this? If it doesn't then practice will help you.
Practice does not make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.
Vince Lombardi
There is a blue Sept/ October goals board on the bathroom door. Think about what you need to practice, set a goal for yourself, and write it there. Every achieved goal will be eligible to win a free month of training. Let's get cracking - the CF Opens start in 20 weeks.
