January 2009

Here is some food for thought for participants and non-participants alike.

The Objective:
The purpose of the 30-day challenge is not put forth an impossible task, rather it is to engage you in mindful eating. Eating mindfully means to eat for your health rather than for mere pleasure. “I ate it because it tastes good” is not the best approach to making food choices. Eating this way is detrimental to your health, often leading to poor body composition and at its most extreme, diseases such as type-2 diabetes and obesity. Refined sugars and processed foods fall into this category and it is these foods that more often than not stand in the way of your well-being. Unfortunately, these foods can be incredibly addictive and difficult to avoid. Admittedly, stopping cold turkey may not be the most effective approach for everyone and can actually be counterproductive. I encourage you to focus not on what you are giving up, but instead on what you are getting by eliminating sugar. You are regaining control of your health. My intention is not to get you to suck it up, but to get you to look at your food choices through a new, more critical lens. By the end of the month, I hope that you will be able to identify your own unhealthy habits/food addictions and learn how to replace them with more nutritionally sound ones.

Why sugar?
Sugar is a tough one. It seems like one of the most common issues I see among my clients, and I have struggled with it myself. While there are many harmful effects of eating refined sugar, one of the worst is the blood sugar imbalances it creates. Sugar causes a sharp blood sugar spike that may give you an immediate rush but will leave you feeling drained shortly after. Aside from calories, it provides the body with no nourishment because it is void of any of vitamins and minerals that your body needs. By eliminating or minimizing your consumption of sugar you can stabilize hormone levels, which will help to improve your mood and energy. Begin by forgoing the quick fixes of sugary processed foods and learn to satisfy that sweet craving with nutrient dense whole foods. The following is a list of food substitutions:

Healthy Alternatives:

Ketchup: Salsa
Salad dressing: Olive oil & Vinegar
Jelly/Jam (on toast): Butter & Cinnamon on toast
Ice Cream: Plain yogurt/chilled Coconut Milk w/Berries
Cookies & Candy: Sliced Apples w/ Almond/Peanut butter
Soda/Energy drinks: unsweetened Coffee or Tea
Protein bars: Fuel 2 go bars + protein (meat, dairy)
Cereals: Steel cut oats w/ Cinnamon and Almonds
Deli Meats: Whole Chicken meat (home cooked)

* Healthy Alternatives in italics

Become Informed:
One of the best things you can do for yourself is to learn how to read food labels. All packaged foods are required to disclose ingredients- this is your RIGHT, so take advantage of it! In an ideal world this wouldn't be an issue, instead we'd be make all of our foods from scratch, but this is far from reality for many. If you are someone who purchases a lot of packaged or prepared foods, pay especially close attention to the ingredients listed on the back of the label. Even foods that at first glance appear to be sugar-free (e.g. meats, dairy, and tomato sauce) may contain some form of sugar. Sadly, the food industry takes advantage of consumers by making fancy labels using words such as “natural”, “high fiber”, “good source of...” to get people to believe that it is a healthy choice. Don't fall victim to the all the hype. Here are some ingredients to look out for:

Common sugar names:
barley malt
beet sugar
brown sugar
buttered syrup
cane-juice crystals
caramel
carob syrup
corn-syrup solids
dextran
dextrose
diastase
diastatic malt
ethyl maltol
evaporated cane juice
fructose
fruit juice concentrate
glucose
golden syrup
high-fructose corn syrup
invert sugar
lactose
malt syrup
maltodextrin
maltose
mannitol
molasses
raw sugar
refiner's syrup
sorbitol
sorghum syrup
sucrose
turbinade sugar
(Marcum, Radha. "Labeling Sugar." Delicious Living. February 2008: p. 30).

Good luck to everyone! What has been the most revealing food so far? Post to comments.

Beginning tomorrow, we will be offering Open Gym Hours from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday. This is an opportunity for you to come in and make up a WOD, do some strength work, or work a skill. Please keep in mind that the open gym will not be coached, though we are always around and happy to answer questions. If attendance is strong, we may roll this out five days a week, so stay tuned.

*****PRATHER RANCH PURCHASE*******
We have put up a sign up on the white board. Please get your name up there no later than January 9th if you want to be included in the purchase. Checks can be made out to CrossFit Oakland in the amount of $220 for a 40lb box of meat.

Post to comments.

Congrats to Candace for setting the current standard on the women's side for muscle-ups.

We caught her on video yesterday evening knocking off nine. Double digits can't be too far away.

Crossfit's First Fitness Standard
There are ten recognized general physical skills. They are cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy, balance, and accuracy. You are as fit as you are competent in each of these ten skills. A regimen develops fitness to the extent that it improves each of these ten skills. -- CrossFit Journal #2

The 10 General Physical Skills
1. Cardiovascular/respiratory endurance - The ability of body systems to gather, process, and deliver oxygen.
2. Stamina - The ability of body systems to process, deliver, store, and utilize energy.
3. Strength - The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply force.
4. Flexibility - the ability to maximize the range of motion at a given joint.
5. Power - The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply maximum force in minimum time.
6. Speed - The ability to minimize the time cycle of a repeated movement.
7. Coordination - The ability to combine several distinct movement patterns into a singular distinct movement.
8. Agility - The ability to minimize transition time from one movement pattern to another.
9. Balance - The ability to control the placement of the bodies center of gravity in relation to its support base.
10. Accuracy - The ability to control movement in a given direction or at a given intensity.

In the spirit of New Year reflections, post the skills you would like help improving to comments.

We have CrossFit Unlimited, CrossFit Santa Clara, and Diablo CrossFit interested in doing some team workouts with us.

By a show of hands in comments, who's interested?

Our seniors class is a committed bunch of folks who show up come rain or shine three times a week and take on all kinds of crazy WODs. Today, we started with the usual mobility exercises, some balance work, farmer's walks, squats and push-ups to prepare for a variation on "Tabata This" which consisted of; ball slams, dumbell push presses, and abmat sit ups. Once we finished with that and everyone had gathered themselves, we moved on to do some strength work via deadlifts.

There were PRs all around, but one in particular that really stood out. Sean S, got himself a PR of 220 pounds on his final set of a 5x3! Sean is getting downright beastly, and we look forward to many more strength gains in the next year from him and everyone else in the Seniors Class!

Plan on doing CrossFit when your a senior? Post to comments.

Recently, the health benefits of Omega-3s have garnered much of the public's attention. The food industry has been riding the wave of its popularity by slapping labels on their products that display its Omega-3 content. These days, its seems that even Twinkies and Doritos are claiming to be good sources of Omega-3 fatty acids. So, what is all the hype about and why are all the health experts going gaga over this stuff?

It's About Balance
Omega-3s, along with Omega-6s, are long chain fatty acids that are comprised of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms. These fatty acids are known as EFAs or essential fatty acids, meaning your body cannot synthesize these types of fats, therefore you HAVE to get them from you diet. Both EFA's are polyunsaturated and tend to be liquid at room temperature. Alpha linolenic acid (ALA), Eicosapentanoic acid (EPA), and Docosahexanoic acid (DHA) are all Omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids. And the three sources of Omega-6s are Linoleic acid (LA), Gamma Linolenic acid (GLA), and Arachidonic acid (ALA). The healthy ratio of n-6 to n-3 is at most 3:1 (if not a little lower like 2:1). Sadly, the standard American diet ratio is somewhere between 20:1 and 40:1. This isn't necessarily because Americans are under consuming Omega-3s but a result of our overconsumption of Omega 6s. This is due in part because of the tremendous amounts of corn, soy and grains in our diet, as well as the diet of the animals we eat. An imbalance such as this can cause an overproduction of the inflammatory hormone Prostaglandin E2, the precursor to an array of degrading health conditions.

Benefits of Omega-3s
-Necessary for brain development and function. The brain is composed of 60% fat.
-Keeps blood thinner and healthier
-Building block of cell membranes
-Helps increase metabolic rate
-Reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke
-Reduces inflammation
-Lowers blood cholesterol & triglycerides

Foods Rich in Omega-3s
1. Grass-fed, organic meat
Animals that are pasture raised will have higher levels of DHA & EPA. Make sure that it is organic because toxins such as pesticides, herbicides and hormones are stored in animal fat. This is great news for those of you who are part of the Prather Ranch cow share!
2. Walnuts and seeds such as flax, hemp, pumpkin, and chia
3. Cold water fish (salmon, sardines, and mackerels)
4. Flaxseed oil and Fish oil (good source of EPA & DHA)
5. Green, leafy vegetables (very minimal)

From the Recipe Exchange at Bauman College:
"Mood Elevating Pesto"
3 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons walnuts
1 tablespoon flax meal
2 cups basil
1/3 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons flaxseed oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (grated)
This is a delicious pesto packed full of Omega-3 Fatty Acids!

Post thoughts to comments.

We had the camera out a couple of days ago and managed to capture a few pictures of the 9am class doing the 10-round WOD of 3 weighted pull-ups, 5 strict pull-ups, and 7 kipping pull-ups.

Strong work, 9am crew!

(Next time I'll figure out how to add some music.)

We have been watching our stack of CFO ("SMOKE YOU LIKE CHEAP CRACK", "MESS YOU UP", "DANGEROUS") T-shirts slowly dwindle down to a small pile of odd sizes, and have decided it's time for a new batch of CFO shirts!

We are looking to you all to help us come up with a saying, a slogan, or a design idea that represents CFO and that we can all be proud to wear! Best design gets a free t-shirt and the sublime warm and fuzzy feeling that comes from having your creative wordsmithing donned on the backs of hundreds of CrossFitters everywhere!

Here are some ideas to get the creative juices flowing:

FOR THE CYNICS (CROSSFIT NYC)

THE LAWLESS (WICHITA FALLS):

THE SARCOMERE BUILDERS (WICHITA FALLS):

THE CULTURAL REFERENCE (PIONEER VALLEY CROSSFIT):

THE NO-BULL, TELL IT LIKE IT IS (CROSSFIT NYC):

Post it to comments or send it to us at : info@crossfitoakland.com

A classic illustration from the old days of CrossFit.com

Last year I wrote a blog piece on a phenomenon known as muted hip function. It's what happens to the guy on the right in the photo above.

(I encourage you to read that piece if you haven't yet done so.)

After coaching a number of people through the power clean workout and seeing some people catch the power cleans in this position every so often, I thought it might be a good picture to run again, so that the concept is clear in everyone's mind.

Although the quick lifts will expose muted hip function in a rather glaring way, it's the other moves you may not think of, such as push presses, where bad movement patterns can be set and embedded.

Nothing good will come of muting your hip's power. Be cognizant of proper mechanics and positioning in every move that involves the trunk and lower body. You'll have better performances to show for it and a healthier body to boot.

Our beef will be delivered on Friday, January 16 at 6p.m.! Please get your checks into CFO in the amount of $231.60 for your forty pounds of deeeeeeeeelicious grass-fed/grass-finished certified organic beef!

How does Prather raise its beef? http://www.pratherranch.com/conditions.php
Praise to Oakland's Patron Saint of Beef, Scott Vermiere in comments.

Patrick, Stavros, Tyler, Jeremy, and Tamara after a workout this afternoon at CFO

Some of the guys from Diablo CF were in today for a friendly visit and a workout. Jeremy and I go way back; in fact, we were some of the first Bay Area CrossFitters to train at the original CFHQ gym in Santa Cruz, so it was nice to catch up with him.

In addition, we're planning on putting together a team workout for all comers at Diablo CrossFit's new gym on Saturday, January 24. We're still hammering out the final details, but other CFers from CrossFit Unlimited and CrossFit Santa Clara have gotten on board, too, so it should be a great time. And as with any CF workout, there will be scaled versions of the workout as well.

Let's get a headcount of team-workout participants in comments.

Lest you thought "Who's your daddy?" (WYD) had run its course, fear not. Not to be outdone, Brandon stepped up and took the WYD challenge. For those of you just now getting up to speed on WYD, it's a challenge where someone can yell out, at random, any exercise he or she wants and you have to do it. You go until they tell you to move on to the next thing. WYD goes on for five minutes and those who do WYD are expected to go all-out for those five minutes.

The video pretty much says it all.

And a Happy New Year to all!

So what kind of letter grade does Brandon get?

Thanks to MJJ for turning me on to Animoto, (http://animoto.com/) CFO videos will NEVER be the same!

Post your opinions and thoughts about New Year's resolutions to comments.