BBQ Social

On Saturday May 30th, we will have a BBQ Social at CFSJ. I'll supply the BBQ, you supply the food and drinks. 2:30 PM FOLLOWING THE O-LIFT CLASS

Gone but hardly forgotten

With great respect to the four fallen Oakland officers, San Mateo Co. Sheriffs are doing a fundraiser for the families of the Oakland four. Ben Hand SMCS and long time CFSJ family member is organizing. He gave me a shirt to wear as advertisement, but since I don't always see you at 5am, I figured that I'd post. The info about order and the pics of the shirts is to the left. The following is the meaning.

About Your Memorial T-shirt
The Front:
The helmet and swords represent the 300 Spartans who faced a much larger Persian army at Thermopylae in 480 BC. (Our great thanks to Brad H. at www.milspecmonkey.com for allowing us to use the Mil-Spec Monkey Spartan helmet and sword image.)

The words beneath the swords are pronounced, mo'lon la've, and they mean, "Come and get them." Legend has it that the leader of the 300 Spartans, King Leonidas, responded with these words when the Persian army asked that he and his Spartans lay down their weapons.

These things combined are meant to show how a brave and committed few can do so much for those they have sworn to protect.

The Back:
The wheel with wings is a symbol used to identify motorcycle officers across the country. Sergeant Dunakin and Officer Hege were both assigned to motors, an assignment we hear they both loved.

The Japanese calligraphy is the character for Samurai which means to serve. Sergeant Romans and Sergeant Sakai were both SWAT team members. Romans and Sakai used their unique martial skills to serve the citizens of Oakland as modern day Samurai.

(Thanks very much to Drew and Manny at www.westcoastdesignz.com for their help and hard work on producing these shirts.)

Wear your new shirt with pride and never forget our beloved Fallen Four.


Ben can't handle small orders, so let me know if you want one (or more) and I'll organize. They are no longer in the news, but their families still need our help.

test

rack position

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y9w_9EsKFM

Check out the front rack position everytime these lifters have the bar racked.  The shoulders form a perfect shelf for the bar to rest in order for the legs to drive as hard as possible with no bar movement except straight up.  In the front squat or landing position elbow orientation is up.  In the Jerk rack elbows are near vertical for a near vertical bar path.  

Nor Cal Qualifier

Compared to the throw-downs, this was a 9.0 on the richter scale. The energy was intense, and the athletes were top-notch. How many times have you looked back at last year's Games wods and thought "I could do that" or done a wod that someone smoked, and compared your time with the same thought of "coulda been me"? Well when your reps are being counted and form being checked...not so easy. Big props to all that participated. (I stood on the side lines thinking, "there is no way I could even come close", but maybe next year.

Nutrition

I know that we talk a lot about nutrition and zoning, but I thought this might be helpful.  A couple of things to watch for:  1.  look at the amount of powder that comes out of his cup compared to what went in, and 2.  what are those vitamins?  I am switching.

That's all folks.

Thursday night is the last elite class.  (I guess that means that we all passed.)  Any way, the .com is the filthy fifty.  We could do it rx'd or kick up something spicy (go heavy and real pull ups).  After we could all hit dinner in downtown Campbell.  I'm bringing an extra shirt and some cash.  See you @ 7.

CFSJ Affiliate Cup Team

Is anyone interested in doing this? We have been doing well at the local throwdowns and I think that we could do pretty well in this competition. CF Oakland won it last year and we weren't too far behind them in one of the throwdowns. We would need a team of 4-6 people, two must be female. Registration is the first week of June and cost $200 per team. The competition is the same weekend as the games in Aromas. The Affiliate competition is Friday, July 10th with the top five teams competing on Sunday. Hopefully Eric and/or V can qualify for the games but if they don't we could have a good team with them on it, plus we'd be at the games!

I just put this out there to see what the interest is and depending on that we can get something going.

Every Second Counts

Friday May 1st Rio Theater Santa Cruz, Ca 7:15 PM is opening night for the Every Second Counts Crossfit Movie.  Maybe this is where we should hold our elite class.

2 pood KB Fund

Jeremy had a good idea.  He started a 2pood KB fund.  If you would like to contribute put the money in the top left desk drawer.  Play It Again Sports has 2 poods.  As soon as we have enough cash I can run down to pick it up.  

Erik

The Elite class and other things on my mind

The elite class will be tomorrow at 4pm.  I think when V gets back, it will also be on Sat. at 1:30. and then back to Thurs. night. at 7.  I am all for the camaraderie and the challenge, but some of the 7 pm's suck.  Lets see how the 4 pm goes.  Nothing seems to work for everyone.

So the other thing that I am back on is the form issue.  I think that we owe it to everone to correct form.  An easy task when someone is not locking knees out on GHD sit-ups in the warm up, not so easy to get the balls to say it when they are not locking out on their thrusters or fully extending on the bottom of the pull-ups on a sub 5 minute (3 for some) Fran.  But the truth of the matter is that shitty pull-ups (insert anything) helps perfect shitty pull-ups.  We are building capacity for everything.  I can't say that Harj was my favorite person yelling at me to get my pull-ups legit on the day that I went sub 10 on Helen (a big deal for me), but I was glad that she stopped them from getting worse.   The harder that I I try now, the better that I will be pulling myself up a rock, or whatever.  The true test of what our Fran, Helen, Nancy times mean is when we kick ass at other things.

Lastly, what the hell is up with the pull-up bar.  Are the AM classes the only ones that complain about them.  A couple of times we have had ing dips and pull ups in a WOD and had to wait while someone else was working.  PLEASE COMPLAIN. 

Ps. Sorry about the picture.  It was just to stupid not to post.  It is from the gymnastics studio at the end of the building.  All I know is that if my kid went their, they would not go in that way.

Crossfit Santa Clara Throwdown

If you were there, then you know it was a lot of fun.  If not, you need to come to the next one.  Our own team of Jeromy, Erik, Sid and Ashley took 3rd (out of 20).  Legit.  Who were they beat by...Kahlipa (go figure).  Here is the link to the CFSC site to see what the wod was.  The pictures are up here.

Wish 'em luck

I know that this blog was set up to communicate about our CF elite class and the CF throwdowns, but there are some in our family that are going to get the Ju-Jitsu on. I know that Fiona and James are heading down south this weekend for the Pan-Am's. Let's think good thoughts and wish them luck.

CFSJ Picking up Women

So who's gonna be competing in the Santa Clara Throwdown? For those of you that are inexperienced in the O-lifts or weaker in the strength area, Saturday is Lifting Day. Come out at 1:30 and get some practice in. Also, our Elite team lacks female competitors; please try to encourage some female fire breathers to participate. April 4th @ Santa Clara CF.

Kicking ass and taking names

I am really proud to be a part of a box that goes out and tears it up.  I am disappointed that I wasn't there, so would someone post and put up some pictures? 

Ps. So there is some footage of you guys throwing it down.  The video is from CFO and it is on the CFSV website.  You can see our team in the background.

CFO throwdown

Okay, so this is a day late and a dollar short, but here what happened at the CFO throwdown.  First, they are definitely a bunch of heavy lifters.  There was a lot of great competition, and the air really got us going.  We had two teams, Erik H., Caleb and Grace T on one team, and Brian F., Niraj and myself on another.  The workout was team: 100 185# cleans, 100 135# push jerks and 100 burpees.  All of us scaled,  Erik's team went 155# and we went 135#.  All of us thought, at the end, that we could have gone heavier.  The competition does that to you.  It really pushes what you think you can do (although we all left saying that we were glad we kept to the weight we did and didn't leave with any injuries).  There were definitely some people that had no business lifting the weight they did (horrid form), but that is what competition does to you.

So get in on the next ones.  CF Silicon Valley on the 7th of March and CF Diablo on the 14th.  (I won't be in town for either.)

Niraj linked some really great photos:

Flickr

Picturetrail

Flickr2

Friday and Saturday class is cancelled

We never got a key and that was the final thing.  Sorry if you don't get this.  See you next week.

Is anyone going to Friday nigh practice

Let me know, because I think I am covering the class.  Texting would be the best way 408-656-7007.

Lance

Elite Team Practice

Is anyone available to cover the practices times this week? Friday 7pm and Saturday whenever (since I won't be here). I'll give you my key to open and close the place. I'll leave a workout plan. And what's up with people not showing up to practice? Do these times work or would another time work? Please post to comments.

Great Job Team SJ

I just wanted to send a shout out to all you BAD ASSES that competed at the CFO Throwdown. GREAT JOB! It is difficult to overcome that mindfuck sometimes. I think most of you were surprised in your own abilities. It's a crazy thing when all that energy is flowing around you, adrenaline starts pumping, and people start cheering. Competition is awesome. Congratulations to the Elite team and a special CONGRATS to Brian Forte, Grace Thai, and Caleb for bringing in the big guns. Way to go! I hope that experience helped you become more confident in yourselves and your abilities. Keep up the good work everyone. For those of you out injured, be patient with recovery. It takes time to heal. Next throwdown will be at Silicon Valley; hopefully we can start hyping it up to get some SJ folks out to cheer us on. Please post to comments your own experience with this one.

For Tomorrow

If any one is reading this, we need people.  Don't let the weight intimidate.  We can scale, but we need people to compete.  I am leaving from CFSJ @9:30-9:45.  Either see you there or call me 408-656-7007

CF Oakland Throwdown

I don't know if many people have had a chance to check out the CF oakland website for the WOD but it is a little crazy. It will definitely put us through our paces. (Eat your Wheaties.) We should carpool. I know that I'll be staying a little later to hit a restaurant in Oaktown after, so if you have no reason to get back soon, give me a call for a ride 408-656-7007.

The workout will involve 3-person teams. For scoring purposes, results will only count if there's at least one woman on the team. This doesn't mean that all comers won't be welcome (they most definitely will be), it just means you won't be in the running if you compete with an all-male team.

The Workout:

For Time:

100 power cleans @ 185#/115# (floor to shoulder)
100 push jerks @ 135#/95# (shoulder to overhead)

Followed by 100 burpees

The Rules:

1. During the barbell lifts, only two people can be going at once (one person will always be resting).
2. During burpees, only one person can be going at once (two people will always be resting).
3. The burpees cannot be started until both of the barbell exercises are complete (100 reps of power cleans and push jerks are done with).
4. Teams can divide up the reps for each exercise however they see fit. Everyone on the team must do at least one rep of each of the exercises for their score to count.

The descriptions we've chosen for the barbell lifts can only loosely be called power clean and push jerk. For all intents and purposes, for a rep to count for the clean, you have to move the barbell from the floor to racked on your shoulders, with legs and hips fully extended. For a rep to count for the jerk, you have to move the barbell from your shoulders to overhead, with a portion of the ear visible in front of the shoulder, and with arms, legs, and hips fully extended.

This means you can power clean the barbell; you can deadlift and reverse curl it, you can do whatever you need to. It means you can shoulder press the weight overhead, you can push press, push jerk, or split jerk it. Obviously, more efficient technique will be rewarded, but the choice is yours. You simply have to meet the standards for the movement for a rep to count.

Click on the "Continue reading..." link below to see photos of the bottom position and top position for the three movements that will be contested this Saturday (power clean, push jerk, and burpee). These are the movement standards for the competition. Read them, study them, know them.

And one more note: Scaling of the workout will be allowed.

Upcoming events

Sat Feb 21: CrossFit Oakland
Sat Mar 14: Diablo CrossFit
Sat Apr 4: CrossFit Santa Clara
Sat May 9: CrossFit San Francisco
Sat May 30: CrossFit One World

Each competition is governed by house rules, meaning that the hosting Affiliate gym gets to come up with the workout.

The workout CFO is putting together on Saturday, Feb 21 will be posted on the CFO blog two days prior to the day of competition, Thursday, Feb 19. The only thing that CFO will let out of the bag at this point is that the competition will involve three-person teams, ideally two males and one female.

Please Post if you plan on attending or not to comments.

Practice will be Friday ONLY this week.

CrossFit Strenth Bias

I'm not sure if any of you subscribe to the Journal, but I came across this great article the other day. Lately we've been talking a lot about strength development and how strength helps complete a lot of the WOD's in shorter times. Bingo, who regularly posts on the main site as an admin, and a few others have been testing various workout methods to greatly improve strength and at the same time maintain or improve Met-Con abilities. They've spent the past 5 years, if I recall correctly, honing in on a program they feel will deliver these results. 

Take a look at this article and let me know what you think. I'd like to try a couple of cycles to see what happens. Of course after my achilles fully heals, but nonetheless, I'd like to try it out. 

Let me know if you don't have a subscription to the Journal & I'll email you the article. 

Feedback...thoughts?

Buck Furpees

Damn, this being sick crap really has its limits (duh).  By the time I get better I'll probably have 700 burpees to do.  Too far along to give up, but this challenge is really making hard to recover between workouts.  I did Fiona's workout on Weds and had real trouble getting through 21 push ups.  My shoulders felt like I had pikes in them.  Maybe we should think twice before doing this crap again???  It really takes the variance out of a work out when you are doing the same movement for days in a row.

It is good to hear that Jason is doing well and I know that we look forward to seeing you back soon.  Take it easy.

Lastly, I came across this video on youtube.  Some of the strongest deadlifters are not the biggest.

On the road to recovery

Well, I thought I'd let people know how I'm doing. The surgery went well and the pain preceding the surgery was minimal. The pain post surgery is far worse. I quickly realized that Vicodin doesn't work well, so I'm now on Dervocet...much better pain killer for me. I've pretty much been on my back these last few days with my leg elevated. I have a follow up appointment Tuesday and begin PT the following week. The pain is decreasing and I'm trying to wait as long as possible before taking the meds, so I can get off of them ASAP. The hardest part so far is being still, lying on my back doing little to nothing. I hope once PT begins I can start doing some simple exercises, but we'll see what the doc and therapist say. Either way, I'm trying to be as patient as possible so I can return as quickly as possible. 

I'd like to thank everyone for their kind words and messages...I really appreciate you. 

Jason

NO class on saturday.

Elite class is 7 on fri. and 1:30 on sat

What time is practice this week?

The Fishgame, Superbowl and nothing new

Hey, just something that I noticed.  It seemed that on everyone's site (except ours) there were tons of posts on the fishgame @ Oneworld.  I actually stopped by after a school function I had to attend, and by all accounts none of the big posters (i.e. Santa Clara, Silicon Valley, Los Gatos) went.  The usuals (Diablo, Unlimited) were there, but definitely not the turn out I thought.  Maybe its just people actually have lives outside of crossfit.  Damn.

Congrats to all the Steeler fans.  See you all this week.  Jason, hope the surgery goes well, our thoughts are with you.  Let us know if you need help.

BTW my knuckle-headed friend Jon from Oneworld said that he would put a team from his box against anyone.  (When I reminded him that we invited and they turned down he shut it.)  I think there might be a challenge coming up.  (And I saw their board.  Our names would be all over that thing.) 

Down but not Out!!

I just wanted to write a quick post...sometimes injuries can be prevented and other times they're freak accidents. Mine is probably a combination of the two. As most of you know, last night I went down hard. I first thought someone hit my heel or ankle with a bat. Not the case and I soon realized I sustained some sort of injury. My worst fears were realized this afternoon when I visited an orthopedic surgeon. He quickly assessed that I have a fully ruptured Achilles tendon. Ouch...well, actually, there's not much pain when neutral, just very limited mobility and strength. I'm having surgery Tuesday morning and will take all of next week off. My full recovery time should last around 6 weeks. And in most of that time I hope to continue x-fit w/ modified workouts. I think I'm going to improve on my ring dips, pull ups and sit ups at the very least.

Does anyone out there have experience with this type of injury and recovery?

Get Well Soon

A "get well soon" shout out to one of our fellow Elite crew members will be out for a couple of weeks with an injury. With people starting to go down or tweak joints, it makes me think about how much time MOST of us DONT spend STRETCHING (Actively/Statically) to help with tight muscles. Some manual therapy might be just what the doctor ordered to work out some kinks in the muscles that some of you constantly complain about. Take the time to do some Foam Rolling, or get a massage to knead out those adhesions in the muscles. After all, FLEXIBILITY is the ugly stepsister of FITNESS. GET WELL SOON JASON.

tough or stupid

Figured I take the opportunity while I am sick to bring up what I am sure a lot of us go through when we get sick.  So much of what we do is training ourselves to push through thresholds, and the old school with aerobic excercise is that sometimes it can increase endorphins which...blah, blah, blah.  Any way, Crossfit can make us sick when we feel well, but the idea of missing a training day sucks.  I have usually pushed through it, but now I got a minor lesson about listening to my body.  I did the 7 x 1 thrusters yesterday when I felt just kinda shitty, and now I am mostly out. I am sure that I could have come tonight and pushed through (good excuse for shitty times), but I thought my 100 temp would probably get worse.  But, damn it kept having to tell myself to not go.  I have seen a couple of posts on the subject on the main site discussion board.  I ramble.  Hope practice was good, and I hope that I am right on the rest (although I did my f'ing burpees, 6 at a time.)

"Fringe Athletes"

There is a near universal misconception that long distance athletes are fitter that their short distance counterparts. The triathlete, cyclist, and marathoner are often regarded as among the fittest athletes on earth. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The endurance athlete has trained long past any cardiovascular health benefit and has lost ground in strength, speed, and power, typically does nothing for coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy and possesses little more than average flexibility. This is hardly the stuff of elite athleticism. The CrossFit athlete, remember, has trained and practiced for optimal physical competence in all ten physical skills (cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, flexibility, strength, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy). The excessive aerobic volume of the endurance athlete’s training has cost him in speed, power, and strength to the point where his athletic competency has been compromised. No triathlete is in ideal shape to wrestle, box, pole-vault, sprint, play any ball sport, fight fires, or do police work. Each of these requires a fitness level far beyond the needs of the endurance athlete. None of this suggests that being a marathoner, triathlete or other endurance athlete is a bad thing; just don’t believe that training as a long distance athlete gives you the fitness that is prerequisite to many sports. CrossFit considers the Sumo Wrestler, triathlete, marathoner, and power lifter to be "fringe athletes" in that their fitness demands are so specialized as to be inconsistent with the adaptations that give maximum competency at all physical challenges. Elite strength and conditioning is a compromise between each of the ten physical adaptations. Endurance athletes do not balance that compromise.

What's the point

I really hope these posts are not becoming bullshit, but I was noticing something in class the other day. Someone surprised me in the WOD by not finishing the movements (i.e. when you don't fully squat or stand or come all the way up on a sit up or go all the way down on a push up). I always get the idea to say something, but I rarely do, unless it is someone that I know absolutely wants the feedback. Any way, I was going to say something, and probably should have because I think that we get so hooked on the time we do a WOD in we forget about the two components of power. There is a good blog about it on the CFSF site. Maybe our job as friends should be to become the obnoxious asshole that says down or up farther (or "this is first week, don't even try the clean and press workouts.) Even if it is a trainer because time don't mean shit, if the rest of the work isn't done.

I am sure that there are plenty of times that my weighted squats need to go deeper (and don't get me started on my pull ups), but by all means, let me know my stuff is turning to shit (because I'll change my shoes and that'll fix the problem).

Strength

It's part of the benefit that we get from crossfit, and seeing that Jason got 275# on an OH squat I've been trying to make myself feel better, but strength is a huge key.  However, I was checking out Freddy Camacho's post on his Oneworld site (check out the Jan. 24th post).  He talks about augmenting his X-Fit Wods with what seems like some long, standard weightlifting sessions (10x3 benchpress?).  I know that strength is the key, but is there a point of doing non-x-fit shit to be able to do x-fit???  Don't get me wrong, I would love to put up the numbers of Jason, or V, or Jeromy, or, hell, that little kid that hangs out while his dad does Harj's intro class, but is x-fit the means or the end?  (I'll be interested in hearing what you think as you all have other stuff to do in the day to pay the bills...or if anyone reads this.)

Logsitall

I am sure that you have all heard about this, but Logsitall is a pretty cool site that acts as your log book.  It goes by named workout and .com daily workout.  You can see how you rank against other people, but most importantly, you see how you've improved against yourself.  (After all, this is where the real competition is.)  Any way, the part I like most about is you can track the non-named wods pretty easily.

Also, I am getting on the Jeromy kick with new shoes.  I think the weights break down the cross trainers too quickly, and I am not sure the air soles are helpful.  Any way, has anyone picked  a pair of shoes that they like as all around.  Not ready to go in for lifting shoes.  I saw a couple of post for pumas (with the thin soles).

Passing on the info from V that practice is thurs @ 7 and Sat @ 1:30.

CFSJ/CFSV challenge

Damn, it was a good day for all.  Lots of SJ folks came out.  I think there were more people who probably wished they were doing the WOD.  275# deadlifts are no joke.  Great job to all.  Tim, Dom and Niraj who crashed that WOD (coming in first), and big admiration for Rueben, who did not stop.  Thanks to the SV crew for putting it on.  Check out the pics here 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63761380@NOO/?saved=1

(sorry, Sheila's camera went dead during the first round.)

The Blog Looks Good

Thanks for taking the time to set up the Blog Lance, it looks great!

CFSV challenge

If anyone is checking this, who is going to the challenge at CFSV?  

A couple things on the Zone

So I am sure that after Christina's talk you all went out and got Paleo food, figured out your blocks and ... Anyway, some of the things to think about when switching to this:

1. Any change sucks.  crossfit sucked at the beginning, and now?  Give it a try.  The easiest way is just figuring out the blocks for what you are eating.  Do that for a week, then try bringing what you eat in line with what your recommended blocks are.  This way, if you go over your recommended blocks, you won't be as hard on yourself.  It takes time getting the diet right.

2. Bars and drinks are good but do little to fill you up.  A 16 block diet would be 5 bars.  Try surviving on that crap for 14 hours.  Raw vegetables suck, and I came from being a vegetarian.  A happy medium.  The only way you'll get used to this is if you feel full.  Plus the bars have more sugar than we need.  There are lots of ways to get your blocks.  

3. Unless you have a really tight diet to begin with, or you are a glutton for punishment, don't start with Paleo.  It is way too limiting and very hard to do unless you are able to be around your house all day.  Try getting a Paleo meal when you are at work and forgot your lunch.

All in all, remember, you will feel better.

Hopefully this will be useful

I started this because I thought that it would be easier than texting, posting on our main site, etc.  We can use this to communicate class times, share resources, help out with Zone ideas, whatever.  Share it with whoever.  Like I said, I thought this would be easier that posting comments under the random pics on the CSFJ site.