CrossFit Rockwall

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! No 6:30pm class tonight!

Make-up Day! 

If you missed a workout this week, now is your chance to do it! If you've hit all four, then do something active that you enjoy...like taking your kids trick or treating!

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Enjoy your extra hour of sleep this weekend. Just by turning back the clock and sleeping an extra hour, you can reduce your chances of a heart attack. The New England Journal of Medicine has published a study that discovered "people had slightly fewer heart attacks on the Monday after they set their clocks back in the fall and slightly more heart attacks in the days after they set their clocks ahead in the spring." I can't think of a better reason than that to to use that extra hour to sleep! Read more here...

"Elizabeth"

21-15-9 reps of:
Clean, 135 lbs (guys)/85 lbs (gals)
Ring dips

Post time to comments.

Beginner/Intermediate: Scale cleans and ring dips to your ability.

Click here if you think this looks too hard

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My Pyramid Plan...would make me chronically ill, fat and in a horrible mood all the time. After yesterdays post (the dietary trends in America this year), I decided to see what "my pyramid" would look like, according to the USDA (and hence, every registered dietitian on the planet). Here's a summary, with my comments in parentheses:

This plan is a 2400 calorie food pattern. (Although not crazy high, I actually only eat about 2,000 calories a day)

8 oz (I don't think I have to say how irritating it is that they want me to eat grain. I refuse.) 3 cups (I eat 3 cups of veggies at each meal.) 2 cups (This is actually right on the money. So far, they're 1 for 3...) 3 cups (This is only slightly less irritating than the grain recommendation. I don't eat dairy, and here's a good article that explains my stance a little bit.) 6.5 oz (Minus the beans, and double the ounces would be better.) Aim for 7 tsp of oils a day (7 TEASPOONS???? Are you kidding? Do they think I'm a mouse?)

Conclusion: Barry Sears, Michael Eades, and Loren Cordain each know way more than all the PhD's in Washington. Curious what your pyramid would look like? Check out MyPyramid.gov (but, please, don't take it seriously).

AMRAP 20 minutes:
Run 100 meters
10 Pull-ups
25 AbMat Sit-ups

Beginner: Run 100 meters,  5 pull-ups (scaled as needed) and 15 sit-ups each round.

Intermediate: Scale pull-ups as needed.

Click here if you think this looks too hard

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The America Dietetic Association recently surveyed Americans to find out about their diet and exercise habits. Here's what they said, with my comments in parentheses:

• Whole grains: 56% say they're eating more (tricked by the marketing ploy that whole grains are "healthy")
• Vegetables: Half of participants say they're eating more vegetables (this is great!)
• Fruits: 48% say they're eating more fruit
• Low-fat foods: 48% say they're eating more low-fat foods (read "more high-sugar foods"... tricked by marketing ploys again)
• Omega-3 fatty acids: 38% say they've boosted their consumption (or at least think they have)
• Trans fat: 56% say they've cut back on foods containing trans fat (again...or at least they think so)
• Beef: 41% say they're eating less beef (this is stupid)
• Pork: 33% report eating less pork (this is stupid too)
• Dairy: 23% say they've cut back (this is actually smart!)
• Low-sugar foods: 20% say they've cut back (this makes perfect sense...they replaced the "low-sugar" foods with "high-sugar", aka "low-fat", foods)

And here are the Top Excuses for Not Eating Better

• 79% say they're satisfied with the way they eat. (which is funny, because 67% of them are overweight)
• 73% say they don't want to give up the foods they like. (obviously...but it's sad that they won't even give up foods they like to save their own lives)
• 54% say it takes too much time to keep track of their diet. (but how much time do they spend watching TV?)
• 52% say they need more practical tips for healthy eating. (it takes 0.23 seconds to Google "practical tips for eating healthy", and you get 337,000 helpful web pages)
• 41% say they don't know or understand diet and nutrition guidelines. (which is good, because the guidelines are wrong)

Here's the article this information came from.

Squat clean 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

Beginner: Work on your technique with a lighter weight.

Post loads to comments.

Here's a video from crossfit.com to check out if you're not sure what a clean is: [wmv][mov]

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The first treatment recommended to patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis is medication or monthly injections. Newly making the list is the recommendation to eat a gluten-free, vegan diet. A gluten-free diet is GREAT advice. Especially for anyone suffering from any autoimmune disease, such as Rheumatoid Arthritis (also great for some thyroid problems, Lupus, and MS). However, as for the vegan, part...if you don't already know my opinion on meat, here it is: eat it. The reason the people in their study did so well on the vegan diet is because 1) they cut out gluten, and 2) they previously ate traditionally-raised, grain-fed meat. If the participants had switched to grass-fed meats, I'm confident they would have seen even better results. What else can you do for RA? Add krill oil to your diet, which is a great anti-inflammatory.

AMRAP 20 minutes:
Max pull-ups
50 Steps walking lunge

Beginner: AMRAP 10 minutes. Scale pull-ups as needed. Do 25 steps walking lunge each round.

Intermediate: Scale pull-ups as needed. Do 35 steps walking lunge each round.

Post total number of pull-ups to comments.

Click here if you think this looks too hard

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Check out Robb Wolf's new FAQ section on his website. There is great info on the Zone, Paleo, Gluten and Celiac. This is a seriously valuable resource. Read all you can!

 Rest Day!

In teams of 2, rotate through the following 3 stations, completing as many reps as possible in the time  limit. Only one team member may be working at a time.

Ring Dips (scaled as needed)
Double Unders (or 4 Single Unders for each Double)
Box jumps, 12-24" wall

Round 1: 3 minutes at each station
Round 2: 2 minutes at each station
Round 3: 1 minute at each station

Rest exactly one minute between rounds. Keep track of how many reps you and your partner get at each station.

Teams:

George & Rod

Andy & Mike

Sara & Ashley

Amy & Mary

Every did awesome and got a ton of reps in! Great job and thanks, Rod, for bringing a couple of your CrossFitters out to work out with us!

4 rounds, each for time of:
500 meter row
25 Ring dips

Rest approximately 2 minutes in between each round.

Beginner: Do 15 ring dips, scaled as needed.

Intermediate: Do 20 ring dips, scaled as needed.

No rower? Run 400 meters instead.

Click here if you think this looks too hard

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I hope there some nerds out there who find this equally interesting: Inkjet printers may make the first human heart. "The idea is for the printer to jet out thousands of cells per second -- rather than ink droplets -- and to build them up into a three-dimensional organ". The scientist behind this, Dr. Nakamura, has already succeeded in building a tube with living cells that has double walls with two different kinds of cells, similar to the three-layer structure in human blood vessels. These "printed" organs would be superior to their mechanical counterparts that cannot generate energy by themselves, make hormones or fight infection.

Push Press 3-3-3-3-3 reps

Beginner: Use light weight and work on technique.

Here's a great explanation from crossfit.com on the Push Press:
Learning to Push Press...[wmv][mov]

Click here if you think this looks too hard

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Another reason women make absolutely no sense - now they want fat injections. I'm not kidding. Clinical trials are underway to reseach the safety of using fat injections to augment women's breasts. The down side is that there is a size limit and it could hinder breast cancer detectment, but the up side is they will be more "natural" than implants. I know...that doesn't make sense either. You can read more about it here. 

Run 5k

-or-

"Michael"

Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters*
50 Back Extensions
50 Sit-ups

*I can be bribed to let you row instead.

Beginner: Jog or walk 400 meters (or for 2 minutes if you don't know the distance) and do sets of 25 sit-ups and back extensions/good mornings.

Intermediate: Jog 600 meters (or for 3.5 minutes if you don't know the distance) and do sets of 35 sit-ups and back extensions/good mornings.

Post time and modifications to comments.

Compare to September 17, 2008

Click here if you think this looks too hard

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If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.

Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Nazi minister of propaganda

Is this what happened with the high-carb, low-fat diet craze? How about the myths about cholesterol? And maybe the fat-burning zone shenanigans? What do you think?

Ten rounds for time of:
12 Burpees
12 Pull-ups

Beginner: Complete 10 rounds of 4 burpees and 4 pull-ups, modified as needed.

Intermediate: Complete 10 rounds of 8 burpees and 8 pull-ups, modified as needed.

Post time to comments.

Click here if you think this looks too hard

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Someone was asking me about coconut oil the other day. Coconut oil is great, and Scott at Modern Forager has an informative article on this oil as well as other tropical oils. Don't let the saturated fat in coconut oil scare you off - this makes it a very stable oil. Coconut oil is actually antibacterial, which means it will help kill the bad bacteria in your gut (you don't want to suddenly start eating a lot of it or you could experience some unpleasant, though not dangerous or unhealthy, side effects). Coconut oil also stimulates thyroid and metabolism. Coconut oil is rich in butyric, lauric and myristic acids, which are being used to treat cancer and infection. So, mix it up a little and set the olive oil aside every now and then. Be careful of grocery store products, which may refined, bleached or deoderized. Check your local health food store or try this great product I found online from Sunfood Nutrition , although the shipping is a little high so you might want to stock up!

Complete as many rounds as possible 20 minutes of:
5 Thrusters
7 Hang Power cleans
10 Sumo Deadlift High-pull
Guys use 95 lbs, Gals use 65 lbs

Beginner: Reduce time to 10 minutes and scale weight to your ability.

Intermediate: Scale weight to your ability. Use a similar weight to what you use on "Fran".

Post rounds completed to comments.

Click here if you think this looks too hard

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Robb Wolf's high-carb conspiracy theory:

"High carb diets are responsible for everything from cancer to depression to heart disease.  Here’s the premise: The government recommends a grain based diet. The result? We all get fat, sick and depressed, we are put on statins and antidepressants while waiting for gastric bypass…it’s just sooo damn JUICY! Unfortunately for us, this is no conspiracy, it’s a fact. Our Government, including our esteemed institutions of higher learning, is in cahoots and trying to kill us. Eh, oh well! What’s life without a few challenges, no?"

Rest Day!

Team Filthy Fifties

X rounds, for time (where X equals the number of team members minus one, X>1):
50 Box jump, 24 inch wall (beginners use 10-20" wall)
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood (beginners use 15 or 20 lbs)
50 Steps Walking Lunge
50 Knees to elbows (beginners can do knees to waist or chest)
50 Push press, 20-25 lb dumbbells (beginners use 10 or 15 lbs)
50 Good Mornings
50 Wall ball shots, 10 lb ball
50 Burpees
50 Double unders (beginners do 200 singles)

The exercises can be done in any order, by any team member. Beginners reps count double, so they only have to complete 25 reps of each. If you're going this alone, just go through once in any order you wish (beginners do 25 reps of each exercise).

Results:

Mike, Stacey, Ashley & Mary 29:21

Here are some more sweet pictures