Rainier CrossFit

Play ball

Dez looks bored...

 

 

Play Ball

I’ve never been a girlie girl.

I grew up on 3 wheelers (remember those?) uneven parallel bars, and horses. I was more at home at motorcycle races than afternoon teas.

I don’t think I ever wore pink.

I think I remember scoring touchdowns during the family football games at the ranch on Thanksgiving Day. I’m pretty sure it was because the boys all let me, the only girl, run by them.

But never-the-less, I remember being part of that once a year football game. It was on a lop-sided, dusty hill, just down from the barns that once held livestock but at the time were full of farming equipment.

Why the trip down memory lane, you ask?

Because my backyard, Thanksgiving Day football game was to the Superbowl what everyday in a CrossFit gym is to the CrossFit Games.

It seems that CrossFit has become all about the Games.

But the Games is the Superbowl. Once a year on a sparkly stage, a select few of the top people get to go out and compete to be number one.

It’s cool to watch and know that “hey, thrusters suck for them, too. I know what that feels like”.

But the truth is, CrossFit is way more of the backyard football game than the Superbowl.

Everyone can play. You don’t even have to be very good at it, you just have to try hard. You have to show up and take the ball and run toward your goal line. Sometimes your big brother will stop you. Sometimes, your dad will grab him so you can run by.

Everyday in a CrossFit gym it’s not about who wins the Games, it’s about who shows up with the ball.

Everyday in a CrossFit gym, it’s about what you can do to be better, stronger, healthier, and happier than you were yesterday.

What are you going to do in your CrossFit gym today?

 

play footsie

Joe and Sean get it on... L-sit style. (Sean laughed, Joe won, of course!)

Have fun with this.

The gym isn't supposed to be one more thing on your to-do list. It shouldn't drain your time or suck your life away. You have work for that. And in-laws.

This is your time to relax, enjoy, focus. ON YOU. One hour (roughly) for you. 

Be serious during that PR deadlift attempt. Don't crack that super great joke in the middle of someone's snatch while standing directly in front of them. (Major etiquette breach there)

Do smile. Talk with your friends. Rehash your day to get rid of it for good. Let it out. Share successes. Clap.

Don't take everything so seriously. This is your gym, play here.

teacher, student, or both?

 

A day, a week, a month goes by. Maybe we make some progress, learn a new song or find some used cat carries on Craigslist. But the big, fat, audacious goal, it's still out there, looming, no closer now than it was when we started. And then the car needs new tires or a fourth Hunger Games is discovered in a used bookstore somewhere in Vienna. We take a week off from thinking about our goal, just a small vacation from our classroom. We watch television at night instead of practice. We order pizza instead of cook.

It all seems innocent enough, until we muster up the energy to snap the lights back on and we see the student, exhausted, frustrated, embarrassed. He's lost in a sea of expectations and sinking. And the teacher, sitting there, still staring and waiting.

And that's when it should hit us: The teacher has no idea what he's doing.

We've spent so much time being taught we're never shown how to teach. We think scribbling our goals up on the board is enough, but it's not even close.

Without acknowledging this duality, that we are both student and teacher, it's easy to think ourselves a failure and find the goal unattainable. Expecting to learn anything complex without some self-imposed structure is like expecting the pretty girl with the barbed wire neck tattoo to be emotionally stable. You could do it. But you'll be disappointed.

Left now to our own devices, left with no teacher to determine the course of our study, we must commit ourselves to becoming our own most effective educator.

We must first understand the difference between our big, stupid, audacious goal and the collection of subgoals hitchhiking on the road to success. We must make ourselves pay attention to them.

Read: The Boundary Between Boredom and Anxiety by our friend Patrick at Again Faster.

Is it summer yet?

It appears we may see the sun a little this week. Guess that means we're running...

Brilliant but simple-  "STEP 1.What are your goal(s) STEP 2.What are your behavior(s) STEP 3.Do your behavior(s) match your goals."  Apply this to your life in and out of the gym and what do you come up with? (Thanks to Coach Rut for this)

We have a very busy summer planned, be sure to scroll through the calendar on the right, it will give you hints about what's coming up!

We're also CHANGING AFTERNOON HOURS starting next week, Monday July 2nd.  We will open at 3:30pm Monday through Friday.

 

 

not good pillows

Nic - also known as NorthWest Kettlebell Athletics teaches here 4 times a week and his kettlebell bootcamp classes are free to RCF members! He's here from 9-11am Tuesday and Thursday mornings and 6-7pm Monday and Wednesaday nights. If you have a kettlebell skill you'd like to hone or just need a little change for a while, call on Nic. If you're not an RCF member and you're looking for a kettlebell bootcamp class, call Nic at 253-376-5084.

(We tease Nic that he sleeps with Kettlebells but they don't make good pillows.)

and rest

On Ramp! This is last week together before we turn you loose. You're the 27th group we've run through our 'beginners" program so many of the people currently in the gym started exactly the way you're starting now. Over the summer, the On Ramp curriculum is due for a revision and we'll offer two more On Ramp classes in the fall to round out our year. The beginner is becoming a rare breed around here as we start less and less new people and focus on improving the health and fitness of our current members.

Instead of Sunday reading today, I want to share a video about an enduring relationship and long- awaited for answers. "The wife of a World War II soldier waited for more than 68 years for solid proof that her husband is either dead or alive. Then she learned the stunning truth in Normandy, France. Steve Hartman reports."

Watch it here: CBS News, Sunday Morning

five-seven-five

Introducing our new Ambassadors! Please welcome Carol, Elo, Ezra, Jenn, and Sandy.

We're going to kick off their ambassador-dom with:

A contest Haiku
A meat prize is on the line
Your best CrossFit prose.

or-

An ode to the bar
you make me better, stronger
let's meet again soon

or-

two one one five nine
thrusters and pull-ups are hard
Sean pukes in the ditch

 

Official rules: Official entries must be written on the whiteboard to be considered for the Grand Prize. You may offer up your words here (in comments) or on Facebook for fun. The contest period runs from Monday June 25th to Monday July 2nd. The Ambassadors will choose the winner. Flattery is encouraged. Picking on Sean is encouraged. The Haiku must in some way involve CrossFit, RCF, or the ambassadors. The Grand Prize is a $25 GC to B and E Meats. (the meat crack place)

**Haiku's are short, non rhyming "poems" that follow a 5-7-5 syllable structure**

tumbling gone wrong

How do you bail from a handstand-gone-bad? Have you *actually* tried it?

What's the one thing that scares you most in the gym? For a lot of you, I think it's being upside down.

What do you see?

I see 5 really great things about Emily's position here. (And one, pretty obvious, not so great thing).  Knowing that she's just caught a power clean, what is Emily doing *right*?

ouch

Brian makes burpees look painful

Is it time for a deload?

If you're sore, tired, sick, blah, and still sore it might just be time for a deload week.

See, here's the thing. We beat ourselves up in the name of geeting stronger, faster, fitter. But what we actually do in the gym is tear ourselves apart. Literally. We get stronger, faster, and fitter as we RECOVER from the stimulus we just heaped on ourselves. Without recovery there is no progress.

That is why every day, 2-a-days, and constant met-cons don't get us closer to our goals. What you do outside of the gym can make or break what you work so hard for in the gym.

Take a break.

For some, a de-load week is requires as frequently as every 6 weeks. It doesn't mean sit on the couch and eat bonbons. It means back off. Play. Focus. Relax.

The easiest way to "deload" is to decrease the load, duration, and intensity of our workouts. Do half the weight, at half the speed, for half the reps. Don't use a clock. Go for *perfect* form. 

Then spend some time kicking up into a handstand, holding an L sit, or working on ring dips. How's your pistol? Does your push-up need work?  There's certainly time for some focus work on the things you suck at.

No, a deload week isn't a week off. It is a week off from your typical training week. It can save your body, your mind, and lead to some new PR's -- and who doesn't want that?

If you think you might be ready for a deload week, talk to us and we'll make it happen.

get moving

If you're like me you're probably sick of the CD's that have been in the most recent rotation. If you have something you'd like to bring in, we'll gladly play it. Just make sure that it's, for the most part, family freindly or at least light on the language since it's a rare moment that we don't have young ears in the gym!

How much or a role does music play in your workout? Do you like it loud or do you even hear it?

**Just a reminder-- please don't park in front of the 2 bay doors or the man-door of the building across from us, under the "13720" sign.  There is another business there and we don't want to take his parking!**  The spaces from the middle to the far end of that building, across from our pull-up bars, are fine for RCF parking!

start all over

Last week ended with a lot of this.

Food for thought on this Monday:

Why the Calorie Approach to Weight Loss Doesn’t Work: Calories are Stupid

 

A calorie-based weight loss system doesn't work for two principle reasons. First, the different macronutrients  produce different hormone responses that directly influence the metabolic rate and whether the body is in a fat burning or storing mode.

Second, the amount of calories—known as the thermic effect of food— required for the body to break down different foods varies greatly. For a simple example, your body burns significantly more calories digesting a meal of animal protein and fibrous leafy greens than a meal of carbs such as pasta with tomato sauce. Even fewer calories are required to digest processed foods like cookies, white bread, or potato chips.

 

Dad's day

Casey like's lots of plates on his bar-- and a little help from dad.

You can learn a lot about yourself from being a dad. Read this dad's story:

What I Know About Fatherhood Now That I Have A Son On The Autism Spectrum

I have always prided myself on my ability to go it alone, but this journey -- which at times seems very isolating -- has taught me just how much I truly, deeply need the help and support of others. It has been quite humbling. That's why one of the most surprising aspects of this experience has been the reaction, and lack thereof, of close friends. People I believed would be there for us have faded into the background for reasons I can't quite ascertain. Perhaps our situation makes them uncomfortable; perhaps they're fearful we might need too much; perhaps they are simply busy with their own hectic lives. Whatever the case, the sting remains. Equally surprising, however, has been the reaction of other friends -- some old, some new -- who have come forward to offer their support in remarkable and wondrous ways. Their acceptance of us in general, and of Colin in particular, has been a salvation of sorts. Never a joiner, I've come to learn the value of community and the importance of asking for help.

 

Happy Father's Day to the dad's in my family: Dad (Rick), Matt, Elmer, Mike, Tom, Adam, Taylor and of course, Kurtis. Happy Father's day, also, to the dad's in our gym family - of which there are all together too many of you to name!

The Saturday Suck

I have a special kind of SS planned for today!

I typically save the reading for Sunday's but I have something for Fathers Day tomorrow so here's a little reading a day early.

Starbucks has this concept called "the third place" - it's not home and it's not work --- it where you WANT to hang out. Where you go to relax. Neighborhood bars have filled this role for deacdes. Now it's CrossFit's turn to step into that role.

Why a Good Bar Is Essential to Sustainable Communities

We shouldn’t romanticize third spaces as only being about brightly lit cafes, pedestrianized streets, and the local public library. Bars work in their scruffy way by offering a place to get away from an overcrowded apartment or a squalid loft or a grimy job. They are a place where someone with little to spare can go for a change of pace ...

The goal of a bar patron is to enjoy the primary benefit of any decent third space: a place to linger. I’m still looking for someone to generate a ‘lingering index’ so that we can measure the impact of just plain old hanging out – but that’s really at the heart of place-making, and we shouldn’t forget it.

 

Shoes matter

It's well known that using your feet is the key to multiple, successful rope climbs. Shoes with plastic molded outer arches make gripping the rope with your feet difficult. Yes, shoes can make the difference in a rope climb.

 

Choosing a Sugar Substitute

White. Pink. Blue. Yellow.

On restaurant tables everywhere, the colors of the sweetener packets instantly identify the contents.

Sugar. Saccharin. Aspartame. Sucralose.

Reaching for one to pour into a cup of coffee or tea can sometimes feel like sweetener roulette, with the swirl of confusing, conflicting assertions about which are safe and which are not.

 

The F.D.A. places the three main artificial sweeteners available today in the same category: “generally recognized as safe.” The manufacturers cite multitudes of health studies to back up that assertion.

 

(choose none. Just sayin')

get bent

or bendy. meant to say bendy.

I mentioned it on Facebook yesterday "If there's one thing I'm completely impressed with it's your dedication to mobility and recovery lately. I see lots of stretching, foam rolling, lacrosse ball-ing and mobility work going on. You guys are getting downright BENDY and it's AWESOME to see. A joint that can freely move through a range of motion will not only be less prone to injury but it will be more efficient during movement. For example - front squats SUCK WAY LESS when you're not fighting for high elbows the whole time."

For those of you who may not follow us on FB, I though you guys should also hear how impressed we are with your dedication to yourselves, your recovery, and your improvement as a CrossFit Athlete. Whatever - YES YOU ARE a CrossFit athlete.

RCF's Strongest Man and Woman SEVEN

Our 7th Annual Strongest Man and Woman contest has been announced! On Saturday September 22nd the regions strongest CrossFitters will push, pull, carry and lift their support for Fragile X Research in our 7th Annual Rainier CrossFit's Strongest Man and Woman contest at Rainier CrossFit in Sumner.

Online payment is now available to save your spot. Registration paperwork will be online soon.

Check http://www.mtrainiersstrongest.com/ for event updates!

Make faces

Sorry Kim, but how could I pass up a face like Tims?

Go ahead and make faces. And noises. Groan with displeasure when you see thrusters. Squeal with glee when you see skin the cats. It's all ok (and quite frankly, expected) here. 

We're a vocal bunch. Encouagement, coaching, music. It's all loud. There's no expectations of polite tennis conversation and golf claps here. Make some noise, jump for joy. Scream, yell, cheer. 

Let it out. Noise welcome here.

mix it up

"Hope" gave everybody a little bit of everything.

And now science says thats OK

Mixing Weight Training and Aerobics

“It appears that you can set up a workout regimen that happens to be convenient for you,” in terms of how and when you shuffle the endurance and resistance elements, says Dr. Phillips, “and you’re not going to get less training response.”

Best of all, Dr. Phillips’s study suggests that you can potentially do less of each form of exercise when you combine them and still gain considerable benefits. “In our study, the men were doing only 50 percent as much” cycling and weight training in the combined session as during the specialized workouts, he points out. “But their muscles couldn’t tell the difference.”

 

Breakfast bar

Melissa mid clean & jerk. Notice her elbows are *slightly* in front of the bar which is the prefered place for elbows right before the dip-drive-overhead movement of the jerk.

This week the new group of On Rampers will start to think about breakfast - as we all should. Here's the breakfast part of one of my favorite sites: PaleOMG : http://paleomg.com/category/breakfast/

Hope

Yesterday we welcomed our friends for Lynnwood CrossFit and we completed 3 rounds for Hope.

CrossFit's goal for this workout was to raise 1.7 million dollars - one days operating costs for St Jude Childrens Research Hospital. When all the pennies are counted it looks like we'll have exceeded that goal!

A few things on tap for this week: OnRamp eneters week 2 and the diet discussion begins. Drew fights his 3rd pro fight on Saturday at the Snoqualmie Casino. (if you're going and you'd like a red "Drew's Crew" t-shirt let me know on Monday and I'll see what we can pull off by Friday. Our kids have their last full week of school before summer begins (by that I mean vacation, not weather).

The Warrior Dash that was scheduled for Bonney Lake in September has been cancelled. Let me know if you guys are interested in doing the July one - the 21st or 22nd - in North Bend and we can get signed up as a group for that one. There is also the Dirty Dash south of Tacoma on August 4th. We're hosting a Level 1 seminar that weekend so we'll be closed. I have free tickets for a team of 5 for5 that one if you're interested!

STRONGMAN!!

Rainier CrossFit's Strongest Man and Woman 7 will happen On Saturday September 22nd, 2012.

Events will include atlas stones, yokes, something odd overhead, and ??  Events TBA.

make it a combo

Yesterdays "toe-to-bar-pull-ups" really challenged your rythym. It was a combo of one toes-to-bar, followed by a pullup, toes-to-bar, then pull-up.

Who doesn't love meat from the grill? Check out this site for how-to's and recipes for your summer bbq. (if summer ever atually gets here) http://www.adamperrylang.com/ (Thanks Heika!)

Remember that on Satuday we have CrossFit for Hope at 10am and Taco Tuesday at the house!

 

180

Cheryl at mile 35 of the Rainier2Ruston 50 mile.

Just after I did yesterdays post about all of the cool things RCF can give a person, I run across this. 180degrees. (there are a couple of F*bombs but we're all adults)

It's Not All Hugs And Kumbaya from CrossFit Lisbeth

It’s not all hugs and kumbaya.

CrossFit has a wonderful community component. A fantastic, supportive environment where people cheer each other on and the last place finisher gets applause too. That’s something that’s missing in our everyday lives and so we yearn for it, and we cling to it in CrossFit.

And sometimes we almost suffocate ourselves with that air. We forget that CrossFit has an overriding edge, a toughness, a “holy-shit-I’m-not-sure-I-can-do-this” soul.

See, CrossFit is not all hugs and kumbaya. It’s not all high fives and feel-good videos.

CrossFit is hard. CrossFit is painful. CrossFit — true CrossFit — is not something that any normal, well-balanced person would run towards.

“Pain? Yeah!” “Feeling like I’m going to throw up? Awesome!” “Torture myself for 20 minutes? Whoot! I’ve been wanting to do that ALL DAY LONG.”

If you met people who said those things on the street, you’d run. Or you should. Or else you’re just as fucked-up as the pain lovers.

And maybe we are fucked-up — I’m not discounting that possibility. But what I’m pretty darn sure of is that most of us go into that pain because we want, we need, we crave the results of that pain. We crave the physical effects and the emotional stability that results from CrossFit.

We may not really fully understand the why, but we know the what: after CrossFit, we feel better.

But don’t mistake that it’s all hugs and high fives. This is some crazy shit we put ourselves through. Some hard pain, some dark times. But the light at the end is amazing …

 

The first day

Ring push-ups are NOT part of the first day plan!

Welcome to all of our new faces beginning our 27th offering of On Ramp!

Most of my posts are inspired by conversations we have in the gym. I had a chance to think about all of the great things you can get at Rainier CrossFit. A short and incomplete list:

• Cardiovascular Endurance
• Respiratory Endurance
• Stamina
• Strength
• Flexibility
• Power
• Speed
• Coordination
• Agility
• Accuracy
• Balance
• Friendship
• Camaraderie
• Community
• Physical support
• Emotional support
• Tenacity
• Grace
• Self Confidence
• Fat loss
• Muscle Gain
• A shoulder to cry on
• Unbelievable highs
• A second home
• A best friend
• A cheering section
• Personal Bests
• Muscle definition
• A faster mile
• Less painful joints
• Better sleep
• A really good sports bra recommendation
• Honest feedback
• Sound nutritional guidelines
• A great margarita!!
• Better posture
• High fives
• Laughter
• Fitness
• Strongman training
• A bigger comfort zone
• Physical challenge 
• accomplishemnt
• coaching
• encouragement
• enthusiasm
• experience
• variety

 

 

Like you're angry

That's how you have to hit the tire.

Your Sunday reading, from the LA Times:

Sounding the sugar alarms

The anti-sugar brigade features some of the biggest names in nutrition, including Harvard's Dr. Walter Willett and Yale's Kelly Brownell. But the de facto leader is Dr. Robert Lustig, professor of clinical pediatrics at UC San Francisco. His 2009 lecture "Sugar: The Bitter Truth" has snagged more than 2 million views on YouTube so far. He upped the ante in February with an article that called for new taxes on added sugar and age limits for certain sweet treats. To top it off, he declared on an April 1 episode of "60 Minutes" that added sugar was a "toxic" substance that has "created a public health crisis."

Lustig says that sweets in processed food — whether it's high-fructose corn syrup in a soda or cane sugar in a candy bar — are the leading cause of metabolic syndrome, a dangerous collection of complications that includes high blood sugar, high blood pressure and decreased sensitivity toinsulin. By some estimates, the syndrome more than doubles the risk of heart attack or stroke. And that's bad news, because about 1 in 4 U.S. adults — including many sugar junkies who look lean and fit — already have the syndrome. "Everyone needs to be aware of the danger," he says.

 

CrossFit for HOPE

In one week, on Saturday June 9th, we'll join CrossFit's worldwide in this years fundraiser, CrossFit for Hope.

Out goal as a gym is to raise $1700, 1/1000 of the daily operating cost of St Jude. CrossFit hopes to raise the 1.7 million it takes to run a day there. We've raised $800 so far.

The workout will be a FGB style that includes burpees, power snatches, box jumps, thrusters, and chest-to-bar pull-ups.  

If you're planning on coming, please do 2 things: register at http://hope.crossfit.com/ and choose "Rainier CrossFit" as your affiliate. That way you'll show up on out "team".  RSVP on our Facebook event page so we know you're coming. It's free to participate, donate if you wish, ask for donations if you want to. They aren't required.

We'll be open normal Saturday hours on the 9th - open at 9:30 and we'll run waves of HOPE at 10, 10:30 and 11am if we need a third.

 

Then we'll have tacos and tequila at the house :)

been a while

since we've had Dan AND Sandy on the website. 

Sandy runs the Rainier to Rustion 50K on Saturday. Cheryl will join in (a little more on the *INSANE* side) by doing the 50 MILE R2R. Join us in wishing them fast feet and a fun day. (luv ya, Cheryl, even if you are CRAZY!)

Whats the one thing you've always thought about doing but never actually signed up for? What's stopping you?

I don't typically post the workout here but today we're doing "Gator" Danny S writes: 
" I'd like to invite you to participate in a hero WOD on 26 MAY 12. In memory of SPC Gathercole (2/75 Ranger BN)...me, several members of my old platoon, and Humphreys Crossfit, will do "Gator" at 26 0001Z MAY 12. Since all of us are scattered in various time zones around the world, we will 3-2-1 Go at midnight zulu. That will be 4pm on the 25th of May (Friday) for you guys there in WA. Sorry for the short notice...if you have something already planned no worries. Miss you all!"

I had to appologize to Danny that we couldn't join them  in "Gator" last Saturday because of Regionals but we'll be joining them - in spirit- today.

Gator- U.S. Army Specialist Christopher "Gator" Gathercole, 21, of Santa Rosa, California, assigned to 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, based in Fort Lewis, Washington, was killed by enemy fire on May 26, 2008, in Ghazni, Afghanistan. He is survived by his brother Edward, sisters Jennifer Daly and Sarah Ferrell, father Edward Gathercole, and mother Catherine Haines.

Thank you Gator. Today we honor you.