Rainier CrossFit

the girls

Carrie and her hamstrings in zen mode. Which has nothing to do with this next part.

THE most unlikely source pointed me to this website which compares "the bounce" allowed by various brands of sports bras.  (Maybe it's not unlikely at all- maybe it's a guy thing.)

Anyway, the "correct" foundations are critical to support and comfort during much of what we do. Think running, double unders, box jumps.  LIttle to no support can be painful and embarrassing in the short term, and can lead to stretching of the Coopers ligaments over the long haul.

So HerRoom.com has videos showing some of the most popular sports bras in action. This might be a good starting place if you're looking for some new support for your girls.

(some of the favorites around here are from Lululemon but the Enell works awesome, too.)

You can call her Grandma

Did you know Elo has a granddaughter? Yesterdays post, the one about inner strength- Elo has it. Quiet, confident, inner strength. (And out-er too. She's unstoppable)

Check out the 12 lessons Santa should learn: apparently he should wear a helmet and shave his beard.

After 30 days of the harried holiday shopping season, for many of us, even those who don't celebrate Christmas, December 25 is a welcome reprieve from the madness. The stores finally close up as families come inside for a day off work.

But for one man, the real work is just beginning. We're looking at you, Santa.

That's right -- Santa Claus is coming to town. And while he spends most of the year enjoying a flexible work schedule, monitoring naughty-and-nice behaviors around the world (on what we can only imagine is a freelance basis), everything revs up in December.

To be honest, we're a little concerned about Santa's health (that belly fat! that all nighter! those cookies!). And, especially since we're not sure what North Pole health insurance policies are like, we think it's time for an intervention. Here, 12 things that really have us worried about Santa's health.

 

Take it with you

Sharon on the dunes in Morocco.

(Guys- go find something else, this isn't for you today)

Take it with you.

You've had it inside all along. This quiet strength. The one that says to that creepy guy in the parking lot at night "I'd kick you ass if you tried anything." This strength that seemingly seeps from your pores.

It's physical strength, emotional strength. More importantly it's confidence in that strength.

Confidence that says "I work hard, I deserve good things. I am worthy of the good things that happen to me. In fact, I make them happen. I don't sit around and wait for shining armor, I get up on that damn horse and ride it myself."

Some people will cower in the wake of your strength. Others will bask in your glow and they themselves will begin to shine. Share your strength.

"A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle" says James Keller.  

Embrace your strength. Let it shine through. I see it in all of you.

Take it with you.

Hi Mom!

We want our kids to SEE mom and/or dad working hard. Modelling wanted behavior is one way we can influence our kids actions.

Of course, we need kids to do that.

You've seen Megan--- she's still working out and is due with baby #1 on December 4th.  We have a little betting pool going.  Buy in: wipes = 2 squares or 10 diapers = 2 squares.  Bring in diapers or wipes (or both) and put them in the red bucket.  Claim your correct number of squares by writing your initials in them in pink or blue.  You have to choose 3 things:  the baby's birth date, it's weight, and it's gender.  Winner will get RCF gear and bragging rights. Brian and Megan will get a truckload of diapers and wipes (they'll need them)

Megan's baby shower will happen after the baby is born.

The other new baby in the gym is the little girl black lab puppy who, as of this writing, is still nameless.  The offer still satnds- name the puppy and I'll buy you an RCF hoodie. Right now I'm leaning toward Ember.

RCF Closes early tonight - at 6pm instead of 7 - for Girls Night In.

RCF is closed Saturday as we host a CF Level One Seminar. Welcome to our weekend guests!

she's back

Photographic proof that Dawn has returned!

Spending more time in the kitchen? The fall weather is conducive to cooking and a sound nutrition plan practically requires it.

4 Ways To Keep Your Kitchen Greener And Healthier

I just plain love food.

To me, it's so much more than fuel that keeps us going. For one thing, it's so sensual: Choosing, cooking and eating appeals to all the senses -- taste, obviously, but also sight, smell, touch, even sound. It's also communal, the moment when family, and sometimes friends, gather and visit. We pause. We talk. We argue. We laugh.

So, let's talk about this important aspect of our lives. As you know, there are real health hazards to be found in the kitchen. But they can be prevented simply and naturally. You just have to know where to start and how to keep bacteria, microbes and toxic chemicals at bay.

We'll take a look at the top priorities -- from the food you buy, to preparation techniques, to the kitchen products you use.

Paleo mistakes?

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.

one year

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.

 

looking good

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

What a group!

 
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.

Barbells for Boobs!

 
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:

Age

Being female

Inherited genetic mutations

Family history of breast, ovarian or prostate cancer

Breast density on mammogram

Benign breast conditions (benign breast disease, hyperplasia)

Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS)

Personal history of cancer (including invasive breast cancer, DCIS, Hodgkin's disease and other cancers)

Radiation treatment (radiation exposure)

Childbearing (age at first birth and number of children)

Blood estrogen levels

Age at first period

Age at menopause

Drinking alcohol

Ashkenazi Jewish heritage

Body weight and weight gain

Birth control pill use

Height

Socioeconomic status

Postmenopausal hormone use

Breastfeeding

Blood androgen levels

Bone density

Light at night and shift work

Exercise (physical activity)

Breast cancer risk factors table

easy target

 
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! 

Our mom's need CrossFit

 
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.

Go after it.

 
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....

sweet as sugar

 
Hey James- your mom's gonna kick your a$$

From my current read: Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival :

"Working late in bright lights after dark, or watching David Letterman, or checking late-night E-mail, even for just half an hour, all register as the long days of summer to your inner environmental controls.  This means that your brain will force you to seek energy for storage by eating sugar.  Sugar (carbohydrates) is the only path to insulin release; insulin's job is to store excess carbohydrate as fat and cholesterol so you have something to live on when summer's over

The abdominal fat pad common in insulin-resistance, high-cholesterol heart patients and Type II diabetics would, in another time and place, have served to keep internal organs warm and would have been utilized as energy during normal famine (winter). Increased intake of carbohydrates (sugar) is always dumped into increased cholesterol production, too, because the carbs lower the freezing temperature of the cell membrane. In the real world, you'd never have access to that much sugar unless it was summer. You don't live in the real world.

The next time your doctor says your cholesterol is too high and you should cut back on the fat and exercise more, tell him he's mistaken. Tell him you're not sick, you just going to hibernate and you don't want to freeze. He might laugh."

 

So here's the deal with sugar and it's sweet counterparts. Sugar causes the pancreas to secrete insulin. Insulin is the hormone of fat storage. Good for bears and cave-people going into the winter. Not so good for us with our constant food supply.   Fat and protein don't cause the release of insulin. Therefore little carbs --> little insulin--> stored energy but lots o' carbs --> too much insulin --> too much stored energy or CHUB.

There's a laundry list of scary other things that go along with sugar and you can Google those if you want- start with metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. That should keep you busy for a while.

sibling rivalry

 
Courtney and Kelsey- always fighting each other for the daily "W".

Fragile X gets some press in the mainstream media:

The Never Empty Nest  - Children with Fragile X Syndrome - Good Housekeeping

I once asked her what advice she would give a mom who had just found out that her child had been diagnosed with Fragile X. "I would tell her that you have a child who will never hate, argue, or disappoint you, and whose love is unconditional," she replied. "At night, when we tuck the boys in, you see how much love they have in them. Matt, at his greatest comfort level when you lie down with him, confirms the plans for the next day, then tells you that he loves you and to get out. Sean lies in his bed, eyes closed but not really asleep, with no pillows — a Sean rule — and you kiss him good night and tell him you love him. Without opening his eyes, he smiles. That's what matters."

energy to spare

 
Lisa has plenty.

Primal Energy bars from MDA

You know the drill. You slept late, your son misplaced his lunchbox, the cat threw up in the flowers. You’re already 10 minutes late for work and there’s nary a minute to scarf down a breakfast, let alone one that a caveman would approve of!

Enter the protein bar – it’s individually packaged, it’s relatively affordable, and you can easily eat it in the car while you’re doing your hair in the rear view mirror and practicing your presentation for later this afternoon – in essence, it’s the ultimate grab-and-go food.

However, there is a downside. In many cases, these protein bars contain ingredients and chemicals that very few people – bar the odd organic chemist or real nutrition expert – can pronounce and still fewer would actually want to ingest.

The solution? It’s time to put your chef hat on, because the only way you’re going to find an energy bar that is Primal and palatable is if you do a little D.I.Y… (and trust us, it’s really not that hard!).

Ingredients:

1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup pecans
1/4 cup almond or sesame seed meal
1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup almond butter
1/4 cup coconut oil (check your local health food store)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp of raw honey
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries or blueberries

Method:

1. On a cookie sheet, toast nuts and shredded coconut until golden brown (you may need to shake the tray once or twice to make sure they cook evenly).
2. Once toasted, pour mixture into a food processor and pulse until nuts are chopped and the mixture becomes coarsely ground.
3. In a mixing bowl, melt coconut oil and almond butter (about 20 seconds). Remove from microwave and stir until smooth.
4. Add vanilla extract, honey and sea salt. Mix thoroughly.
5. Fold in nut mixture and almond (or sesame seed) meal until mixed thoroughly.
6. Fold in blueberries/cranberries.
7. Press mixture into an 8 by 4 loaf pan.
8. Refrigerate for 20 minutes or until firm.
9. Cut “loaf” width wise. Should make 6 good-sized bars.
10. Enjoy! (or, if you don’t plan to eat immediately, you can store the bars in the refrigerator, covered loosely with a paper towel and plastic wrap.

a nice, straight line

 
Sweet-as-sugar (right Chuck?) Kelsey finds out that ring-rows done in a strict plank position are harder than they look.

5 Reasons High Fructose Corn Syrup Will Kill You

If you can't convince them, confuse them.
--Harry Truman

The current media debate about the benefits (or lack of harm) of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in our diet misses the obvious. The average American increased their consumption of HFCS (mostly from sugar sweetened drinks and processed food) from zero to over 60 pounds per person per year. During that time period, obesity rates have more than tripled and diabetes incidence has increased more than seven fold. Not perhaps the only cause, but a fact that cannot be ignored.

Doubt and confusion are the currency of deception, and they sow the seeds of complacency. These are used skillfully through massive print and television advertising campaigns by the Corn Refiners Association's attempt to dispel the "myth" that HFCS is harmful and assert through the opinion of "medical and nutrition experts" that it is no different than cane sugar. It is a "natural" product that is a healthy part of our diet when used in moderation.

Except for one problem. When used in moderation it is a major cause of heart disease, obesity, cancer, dementia, liver failure, tooth decay and more.

gymnasts

 
Kristi and Jackie make handstands look good (and easy) Some of you, not so much.

Speaking of sweet - here's 50 names for sugar that you may not have heard: they include "malt barley", "ethyl maltol", and "panocha"

And if you need more - Americans, on average, consume 1/3 pound of sugar a day (fact or crap?) Fact. Check out Fuel as RX: There's Sugar In That?!?!

 

Yes, she can

 
Kriste works on perfecti her MU.

I case you want to blame your ADHD for that time you left your bar out:

Over 5 million children ages four to 17 have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the United States, and close to 3 million of those children take medication for their symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control. But a new study reported in The Lancet last month found that with a restricted diet alone, many children experienced a significant reduction in symptoms. The study's lead author, Dr. Lidy Pelsser of the ADHD Research Center in the Netherlands, said in an interview with NPR, "The teachers thought it was so strange that the diet would change the behavior of the child as thoroughly as they saw it. It was a miracle, the teachers said."

Dr. Pessler's study is the first to conclusively say that diet is implicated in ADHD. In the NPR interview, Dr. Pessler did not mince words, "Food is the main cause of ADHD," she said adding, "After the diet, they were just normal children with normal behavior. They were no longer more easily distracted, they were no more forgetful, there were no more temper-tantrums." The study found that in 64 percent of children with ADHD, the symptoms were caused by food. "It's a hypersensitivity reaction to food," Pessler said.

Read: ADHD: It's the food, Stupid.

passing through

 
It was good to see James again before he heads to his first station in S. Korea

RCF GIRLS NIGHT OUT!!!

We're planning a girls night out for all of the RCF Ladies, just dinner, drinks, laughter, the usual. We're all set for Thursday April 14th. We need a headcount so we can make reservations for this HUGE group. If you'd like to join us, we'd love for you to come!  Please RSVP here or on our facebook page by Tuesday the 5th. (thats in 2 days - hurry!)

them r muscles

 
 
Hey Katy, bet you've never seen this side before!  YEAH girl - way to get STRONG!!!

"healthy" and "natural" are the new phrases that sell foods.

You all know what I say - horse shit is natural, too but I wouldn't eat it.

And Pepsi, says The Wall Street Journal, is converting most of its products—but not Doritos or Cheetos—to all-natural ingredients. Doritos and Cheetos, in case you wondered, are:

harder to retool and are marketed to teens and other consumers who might be turned off if told the chips were all natural. As well, going all natural risks highlighting the artificial ingredients that were in the chips before.

What's going on here? Processed food makers must be in trouble. "Healthy" and "natural" are the only things selling these days.

But isn't a "healthy" processed snack food an oxymoron? They can tweak and tweak the contents, but these products will still be heavily processed.

Too much evidence now concludes that marketing a product as "healthy" or "natural" makes people think it has no calories.

And as I keep saying, just because a processed food is a little bit less bad than it used to be doesn't necessarily make it a good choice.

Read: Are Walmart, PepsiCo and Campbells in trouble?

That's what a PR looks like!

 
It was the big smile that followed this goofy "for the camera" picture that captured the PRIDE and sheer GLEE of a new deadlift PR. Congrats, Sharon!

How Western Diets are Making the World Sick from NPR

In an essay published last November in Canada's Maisonneuve journal, physician Kevin Patterson described his experiences working as an internist-intensivist at the Canadian Combat Surgical Hospital in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

One detail he noticed: The Afghan soldiers, police and civilians he treated in Kandahar had radically different bodies from those of the Canadians he took care of back home.

"Typical Afghan civilians and soldiers would have been 140 pounds or so as adults. And when we operated on them, what we were aware of was the absence of any fat or any adipose tissue underneath the skin," Patterson says. "Of course, when we operated on Canadians or Americans or Europeans, what was normal was to have most of the organs encased in fat. It had a visceral potency to it when you could see it directly there."

gaining

 

I came to CrossFit to lose weight..baby weight to be exact. If the ultimate goal of weight loss is to have the scale read a smaller number I will have to say that I have failed. The scale is no smaller than when I started 2 and 1/2 years ago.

I have never been a big fan of failure and I don’t enjoy doing things I am not good at. Enter CrossFit! What a humbling experience and an amazing one. But I got to thinking and it’s not what I have lost but what I have gained by stumbling upon Rainier CrossFit that I feel compelled to write you two a thank-you.

• I have gained a community, a support group, friends, a home away from home, a family. I have met some of the most compassionate, caring, hardworking individuals I have ever met in my life
• I have lifted amounts of weight I never thought were possible for me
• I have PR’d in almost everything I have done at Cross Fit…even running my least favorite activity on earth
• I have realized that I am strong
• I know now that I’m “worth it” and I will not settle for anything less
• I have self esteem and confidence in myself
• I want to help others get better…not beat others times
• I am able to teach my child the world of fitness and healthy eating
• I have bruises, rope burns, and scratches all over my body…I love them as they are reminder of how far I’ve come
• I would do anything for the Rainier CF community and I know I would get the same in return
• I feel like I belong to a team
• I am addicted to Cross Fit
• I now have one ass instead of two  

I have gained far more than I have lost and I’ll have to say I’m pretty damn happy with that result!

Thank-you ,

Alicia

stand on your hands

 
While seemingly simple- there's a lot of do's and don'ts to standing on your hands. If you're not comfortable upside down, ask us to show you the basics of the handstand.

As if we need more reasons to eat a little dark chocolate everyday:

For one, chocolate is a plentiful source of antioxidants. These are substances that reduce the ongoing cellular and arterial damage caused by oxidative reactions.

You may have heard of a type of antioxidants called polyphenols. These are protective chemicals found in plant foods such as red wine and green tea. Chocolate, it turns out, is particularly rich in polyphenols. According to researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, the same antioxidant properties found in red wine that protect against heart disease are also found in comparable quantities in chocolate.

How does chocolate help to prevent heart disease? The oxidation of LDL cholesterol is considered a major factor in the promotion of coronary disease. When this waxy substance oxidizes, it tends to stick to artery walls, increasing the risk of a heart attack or stroke. But chocolate to the rescue! The polyphenols in chocolate inhibit oxidation of LDL cholesterol.

And there's more. One of the causes of atherosclerosis is blood platelets clumping together, a process called aggregation. The polyphenols in chocolate inhibit this clumping, reducing the risks of atherosclerosis.

High blood pressure is a well known risk factor for heart disease. It is also one of the most common causes of kidney failure, and a significant contributor to many kinds of dementia and cognitive impairment. Studies have shown that consuming a small bar of dark chocolate daily can reduce blood pressure in people with mild hypertension.

Why are people with risk factors for heart disease sometimes told to take a baby aspirin every day? The reason is that aspirin thins the blood and reduces the likelihood of clots forming (clots play a key role in many heart attacks and strokes). Research performed at the department of nutrition at the University of California, Davis, found that chocolate thins the blood and performs the same anti-clotting activity as aspirin. "Our work supports the concept that the chronic consumption of cocoa may be associated with improved cardiovascular health," said UC Davis researcher Carl Keen.

Read: Chocolate's startling health benefits. Or **eff** the reading and go eat some chocolate.

The Hulk likes deadlifts

 
Please don't anger the big green guy with missed reps or improper form, we'd hate for him to have to come down off that wall.

Speaking of "hulky", let's revisit the "I don't want to get all big and look like a man" myth that many women believe.

From Oakland County CrossFit:

Appearance can't change unless performance does, and the performance changes are what we quantify and what we program.   Your appearance when fit is almost entirely a function of your genetics, which are expressed at their best only when your training is at it's highest level, and this level is only obtainable from a program based on an improvement in your performance in the gym.   To top it off the best improvements in the gym occur when participating in a program that looks more like performance athletics (i.e. CrossFit) that one that looks like waving your arms or legs around on a machine.

More Unfortunate Truths:

• Your muscles cannot get longer without some rather radical orthopedic surgery.
• Muscles don't get leaner ..... you do!
• There is no such thing as "firming & toning".  There is only stronger and weaker.
• The vast majority of women cannot get large, masculine muscles from weight training.  If it were that easy, I would have them!
• Women who do look like men have taken some rather drastic steps in that direction that have little to do with their exercise program.
• Women who claim to be afraid to train hard because they "always bulk up too much" are often already pretty bulky, or "skinny fat" (thin but weak and de-conditioned) and have found another excise to continue life sitting on their butts.
• Only people willing to work to the point of discomfort on a regular basis using effective means to produce that discomfort will actually look like they have been other-than-comfortable most of the time.
• You can thank the muscle magazines for these persistent misconceptions, along with the natural tendency of all normal humans to see reasons to avoid hard physical exertion.