February 2007

gymjones.com

THE 300

Anyone up to see this CrossFit-powered movie?

It took Scott (who happens to be on an impressive fitness trajectory) approximately seven days to go from zero to super-crisp kipper! Now the sky's the limit and his first muscle-up is not far in the distance. Excellent work Scott, your gains are inspiring!

Post your kipping status/experience/advice to comments.

Carlo Cardilli February 2007
Weight 180 lbs
Deadlift 310 lbs
Squat 255 lbs

Carlo Cardilli May 2006
Body Weight 202 lbs
Deadlift 225 lbs
Squat 185 lbs

Post your CrossFit testimonials to comments.

Our adult playground is open for business.

Post ideas for fun tricks and workouts incorporating them.

For ideas check this out: Monkey Bar Gym

and this: More Monkey Bar Gym

During most WODs you will hear us make reference to core stability and the importance of initiating movement from a stable trunk or "core" as we are so fond of calling it.

..."belly button to the spine"
..."tight core"
..."tighten it up"
..."initiate X movment from the center of your body"

Familiar sounding, eh? We thought it would be useful to give you a bit more information to give context to the shouting.

The core, consists of all the muscles in your abdominal and lower back areas. This includes all the abdominal muscles (rectus abdominus, internal and external obliques, transverse abdominus and intercostals) as well as the muscles associated with the spine (the erector spinae group) and the hip flexors (iliacus and psoas, collectively known as the iliopsoas).

These muscles all work in harmony to provide stabilization for your body and to transfer power from the legs to the upper body and vice versa. The core muscles also function to keep your insides in, where they belong!

Weak core muscles contribute to all kinds of problems in the body, the most prevalent of which is lower back pain. By strengthening the muscles that help support the spine and improve posture, you can dramatically decrease the symptoms of lower back pain.

In other words, if your core is weak, nothing else can be strong.

check out this amazing use of core strength:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxahEjt6dG4

Looks like there's a nice little post on us on the Community Blog from the National Site.

CFO's new box.

You're probably sick of the pictures of the new place, but too bad. Our place is just too cool to do anything else other than show it off!

And we have 5 new Vulcan II Racks to go with our five new lifting pods on the way!

How do I get into the new CrossFit space?

1. Get your very own gate opener ($15 deposit).
2. Walk in through the partially open gate.
3. Ring the doorbell at least 3 times to be sure it's been heard (located to the left of the gate if you are facing the building).
4. Call our direct number 510-595-9348.
5. Last resort: bang like crazy on the side of the warehouse!

Athletes Embrace Size, Rejecting Stereotypes

By JERÉ LONGMAN

Published: February 8, 2007

NORMAN, Okla., Feb. 5 — The University of Oklahoma tells women’s basketball fans a lot about Courtney Paris, the Sooners’ 6-foot-4 center. They know that she ranks third in the country in scoring, second in rebounding and that her dream job is to be a novelist. That her best friend is her identical twin and teammate, Ashley Paris, and that her father, Bubba Paris, won three Super Bowls as a lineman for the San Francisco 49ers.

Deborah Cannon/Associated Press


Courtney Paris is one of the top scorers and rebounders in the country.

But one piece of information about Paris is not made public by the university: her weight.
The weights of male athletes are widely publicized by college teams, but 35 years after passage of the gender-equity legislation known as Title IX, and 25 seasons after the National Collegiate Athletic Association began sponsoring women’s basketball, the weights of amateur female athletes are almost never published, in basketball or any other sport.

Even as women are embracing their size and power, projecting the notion that a wide body can be a fit body, the idea of weighing female athletes is under vigorous debate. Some colleges weigh their basketball players regularly to guard against rapid weight loss or gain. Some weigh them infrequently, others not at all.

“It’s a sensitivity about eating disorders,” said Jody Conradt, the Hall of Fame coach who has led the Texas Longhorns for three decades. “We’re dealing with a population that is vulnerable because it’s a Type A personality, driven, the people that want to be perfectionists.”

Female athletes still face the same enormous societal pressures that other women face to remain thin and to possess a body type that many find unrealistic, especially for sports. Some experts believe athletes feel even greater pressure, given the assumption — also debatable — that they can improve performance by lowering their weight and percentage of body fat. Thus, many become vulnerable to what is called the female athlete triad: eating disorders, interrupted menstruation and osteoporosis.

The N.C.A.A. recommends that women not be weighed on a regular basis, said Dr. Ron A. Thompson, a psychologist and eating-disorder therapist in Bloomington, Ind., who consults with the collegiate association. He said he opposed making weights public and the practice of weighing female athletes. Lining athletes up for weigh-ins is a form of “public degradation,” Thompson said.

“Weighing doesn’t accomplish anything, and it can cause undue anxiety and even trigger unhealthy weight-loss practices,” Thompson wrote in an e-mail message.
The touchy issue of weight received prominent attention recently when the professional tennis star Serena Williams faced questions about supposedly being out of shape before the Australian Open. After she won the tournament, she faced criticism for appearing to weigh more than a listed 135 pounds.

This video illustrates the concept of full body tension as it relates to the bench press.

CrossFit Oakland will be offering a F.U.E.L seminar (Feeding You Energy For Life) on Saturday, May 26th from 12 to 2:00p.m.. Lunch will be provided!

The costs are as follows:
$60.00 for CFO Members and Affiliate Members
$75.00 for non-CFO Members

Please RSVP no later than May 21st to reserve a space
You can also sign up on the white board at CFO

We will be offering information on changing body composition (both weight gain and loss) and the appropriate micronutrient and macronutrient ratios to facilitate increased athletic performance.

There will be no “diet” or faddish ideas discussed: we will provide you with sensible, balanced and scientifically sound concepts for lifetime fitness and health. However, as you might expect from CrossFit, there will be some ideas that fly in the face of conventional wisdom, and are light-years ahead of conventional thinking about food.

Some of the topics we will cover:

Strategies for healthy eating in the real world
Foraging in the urban jungle
How to eat “in the Zone”
Fat is not the enemy
Real World Eats
The real deal on carbs
Real women eat real food
Top Fuel eating for serious athletes
Adult Beverages 101
Paleo/Zone (the ultimate fuel for athletes)
Hormonal effects of food
Disease prevention with food

RSVP here: info@crossfitoakland.com