October 2010

I came across an article about stretching in the Real Simple magazine when I was visiting my doctor this week (I probably would never read this magazine otherwise).  This article makes some pretty big claims about the benefits of stretching and how it is possible to increase flexibility.  Normally, I would not have thought anything about it, except that recently I listened to this edition of To The Best Of Our Knowledge.  In segment 2 of this radio program, Gretchen Reynolds, a writer for the New York Times, is interviewed.  She cites some pretty interesting studies about stretching that greatly diminish the value of flexibility training.  (If you have time, this episode is pretty neat.  It covers barefoot running, exercise myths, all sorts of fun stuff.)  

As a trainer, I have spent a lot of time studying material that states that flexibility training brings the muscles back to their original length, reduces the risk of injury, can make you stronger, and will increase your recovery.  Possibly, these were assumptions that no one had actually tested until now.

I am left wondering, is stretching worth the time?  Has anyone noticed a difference from adding stretching into their program or taking it out?   Post experiences to comments.

(For the record, it is pretty clear from all sources that static stretching before you exercise is a bad idea.  I am referring to static stretching after you work out, for the purposes of maintaining and increasing flexibility.)

I wonder if TAD needs more protein?

(Thanks to Stacy M for passing along this article)

The LA Times recently published an article on protein intake (or the lack thereof) and the necessity of protein powder (or the lack thereof) for weightlifting:  http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/27/health/la-he-fitness-protein-powder-20100927

The author of the article, James Fell, does a nice job of polling multiple sources to answer the questions central to the article:

• Is supplementation with protein powder necessary?
• How much protein do we need on a daily basis?

There are two studies referenced that suggest that weightlifters don't require any additional protein supplementation, and that .8 grams per kilogram of bodyweight is fine (but 1.0 to 1.2 grams per kg of bodyweight for endurance athletes).

On the other hand, one nutritional consultant who works with professional athletes suggests the number should be closer to somewhere between 1.4 and 1.7 grams per kg of bodyweight.  He claimed that there is nothing special about protein powder, but that it can be used as a convenience.

The other sports nutritionist interviewed didn't make a specific protein recommendation in terms of quantity, but suggests that all protein come from whole food sources.

For our part, we generally recommend that protein come from whole food sources whenever possible, but protein powder can work in post-workout situations or in a pinch.  Protein powder shouldn't be the linchpin of your diet, for sure.  As to quantity, that will vary depending on your goals.

So where do you stand?  What do you do for your protein intake?

Brandon cracking himself up...

I am happy to announce that our athlete spotlight this week is none other than Brandon B!  Brandon is a familiar face around the evening and weekend classes at CFO and at pretty much every competition in which CFO participates.  He is the official Team Captain of CrossFit Oakland's competitive crew and has attended every CrossFit Games held since the beginning of time.

As an athlete, Brandon can always be counted on to give his best.  You know he is always pushing for that extra rep before he ever needs to be asked.  Dig deep?  Dark place?  Brandon invented the dark place.  He has a practical, no-nonsense approach to CrossFit, nutrition and competition.  He is extremely hard on himself and has taught us all a few new profanities while missing on his 500th double under or 300lb Clean & Jerk.  But he has also taught us what it is like to win (even vicariously) at the 'sport' we all love.

We all know Brandon can always be counted on to be smart, funny and shirtless, but he is also kind, supportive, encouraging and a great father, husband, brother and friend.  I honestly don't know what CFO would be like without him, so it is good to hear he likes us too.

Legal Disclaimer: The Athlete Spotlight answers are the opinions of Brandon Banks and do not reflect the thoughts or opinions of either CrossFit Oakland, its owner(s), or employees.

Post your most profound thoughts on Brandon to comments.

1. In high school, I intercepted Tom Brady.  Yes, that Tom Brady (http://thesportshernia.typepad.com/blog/2008/02/the-nfl-combine.html). I pretty much own that guy.
2.  I played football in college. 
3.  In 2002, my law school softball team took 2^nd place in the Santa Clara University Intramural Softball League. 

1.    I hate muscle-ups and handstand push-ups.  I find no practical value in those movements. If you’re good at those movements, you likely work on a bridge that won’t be finished for another sixteen years, your girlfriend doesn’t allow you to consume milk or gluten, or you have an unhealthy infatuation with performance of the day. 
2.  People yelling at me when I’m working out.  Trust me, I’m going as fast as I can.  If I could do another rep, I would.  I do, however, want to take this time to apologize to Papa Brad.  On multiple occasions, I have yelled at Papa Brad to stop yelling at me during a workout.  I can’t believe that I have yelled at the nicest guy in the gym.  His nickname is Papa Brad for Christ’s sake. 
3.  I’m still not sure why Mike won’t let me run a warm-up.  I’m not exaggerating when I say that I conduct the best warm-ups of anybody I know.  I guarantee that if I led the warm-up, everyone would achieve personal records in part A and part B of any given wod.  This is particularly true if parts A and B have never, previously, been programmed.  Seriously, how many more shoulder dislocates can one man do?

1.  One of my favorite parts about cfo is being able to witness all the successful couples working out together.  It’s so moving to see couples like Tamara and Audra, Lau and Journey, and Moses and Maria all working out together, achieving their fitness goals as one happy unit.  Thank you for the inspiration.   
2. CFO is uniquely bay area. There are so many people from different walks of life that train at the gym.  Where else can you do the perfect stretch next a knife wielding libertarian from Illinois, who has a penchant for dating Asian chicks on match.com, or an unemployed army veteran, who relies on his girlfriend’s salary while waiting for your dad to give him a job as a firefighter?
3. I really, really love working out at CFO.  I love all the people.  Everyone is amazing.  I love watching people compete during wild metabolic workouts.  I love watching people hit PRs on various strength moves.  And I love hanging out and talking with such a distinct and accomplished group of people before and after hellish workouts.  I have met life long friends as a result of being a member at CrossFit Oakland.  Thank you, CFO. 

Candace landing a heavy split jerk during last week's contest. More pictures from the event are available on Zenfolio.

Before we delve into more discussions regarding the squat, I wanted to touch on the idea of competition. The act of competing is a powerful stimulus and one that has been recently underutilized by many at CrossFit Oakland. I realize that we train against the clock in almost every workout, but an organized competition against others, either singly, or as part of a team is something that everyone should experience, and preferably experience on a regular basis.

Several people mentioned that they wanted to be part of the recent Weekend Warrior Series, yet did not sign up. This is unfortunate. There is nothing that provides the motivation to train hard and meet goals like a competition. Having a date where you need to step up to the bar and put forth a maximal effort is uniquely powerful. Even those that do not think of themselves as competitive by nature feel butterflies in their stomachs before the starting buzzer sounds. When things start to hurt, the knowledge that others are counting on you to bring the suffering to a speedier end is highly motivating.

Many are reluctant to compete because they feel inadequate to the task, or that their fitness levels do not warrant display in public. This is a weak argument. While it is cliché to suggest that doing your best is all that matters, it is also true. The benefits that accrue from competition come primarily from besting yourself, not besting your opponent.

If you have not availed yourself of an athletic competition, it is time to set a goal. Whether you want to try your hand at CrossFit, Olympic Weightlifting, Powerlifting, Running, or whatever other sport you can think of, choosing to compete will result in increased focus during training and provide unusual satisfaction and enjoyment.

CrossFit Oakland has a history of bringing large groups of people to competitions. Ask any of the participants if they enjoyed the experience and the answer will be, almost without exception, "yes." It is time to further that tradition. There will be competitions in the coming months. Make plans to be a part of them and reap the benefits.
 

Concept2 Commercial from CrossFitHQ

I came across the video above on the CrossFit Sweat Shop blog and thought I'd re-post it here.  I think the video does a great job of capturing those internal conversations we have with ourselves during tough workouts.  In most cases, the ability to push through a tough workout is mental, and the ability to silence the negative voices that might be running through your head during those tough workouts is often times more important than the workout result itself.

Sometimes you gotta dig deep to get through the workout.

Freddy is smiling because his gym is clean & safe

In our continuing efforts to provide a clean and safe environment for all of our valued clients, CFO has decided to address the following: 

• We will no longer be placing tape on the pull-up bars.  Besides leaving behind a nasty residue when removed, tape clings to pieces and parts of you that you might leave behind after a tough WOD.  We realize that the bars may be slippery to some and will provide grips as well as chalk.  In addition, we are playing around with a coating that will go on some of the bars to make them less slick.
• Every week (on Sundays) a cleaning company comes through and cleans and disinfects our bathrooms and floors.  Our training staff has volunteered to freshen up the place (this includes everything from emptying trash to cleaning toilets) between cleanings and that is pretty amazing if you ask me.  BIG thank you to our staff.
• Our climbing ropes are due for a wash and should be taken and down and cleaned sometime in the next week or so.  That might mean a temporary halt to WODs including rope climbs, but hopefully we will all survive.
• CFO has an AED device on-site and all training staff are CPR/AED certified.  In addition, we almost always have medical personnel attended our group classes, but that is really beside the point.  

What about you?  What can you do to make the gym a cleaner and safer place?  I know you are all dying to know how you can contribute.  Well, if you really want to clean toilets, the rubber gloves and sponges can be found in the bathrooms, but if not:

• Please just make sure you pack out what you pack in: Trash goes in the big trash can with a lid or the wastebaskets in the bathrooms.  Please be especially conscious of used tape, band-aids and other hygienically unsound bits.  
• Reuse (clearly label) or recycle your water bottles.  Half-full water bottles left around the gym are just so wrong in so many ways.
• Use of footwear in the shower is highly recommended and remember to take your towels home with you to launder.  If you make a mess in the bathroom (it happens), remember the sponges and other supplies should be right there for your use.
• If you do happen to shed bodily fluids on the equipment that you did not intend to share, we beg you to wipe it down.  There are disinfecting wipes in the changing room.  At least let the trainer on duty know so that we can take care of it.

Post helpful thoughts and/or suggestions regarding gym health and safety to comments.  Complaints should be emailed directly to complaints@crossfitoakland.com.

Michelle and Connie beginning the post-workout recovery process

Two big reminders for tomorrow (Saturday, October 16):

Free Community Day Workout

We'll be holding a free Community Day workout tomorrow from 11am to 12pm.  This is a great opportunity for you to get your feet wet, so to speak.  Friends and family are most welcome.  Just show up and get your workout on!

No Strength Saturday Class

TomC, strength training guru, is currently out of town.  As a result, his Strength Saturday class will be canceled tomorrow.  Strength Saturday will resume next Saturday, October 23 at 4pm.

Robb Wolf on his new book, The Paleo Solution

Many of you are already familiar with Robb Wolf via his blog and podcasts.  Some of you have even been to his Paleo Solution Seminar.

What you may not know is that Robb recently published a book, The Paleo Solution, that first went on sale about a month ago.  And it's been doing great!  It's been in the Amazon Top 100 since initial publication (it got as high as the top 30).

I'm still working my way through the book (Connie will no doubt give a full review in the near future), but have nothing but praise for it thus far.  Robb does a wonderful job of making the geeky science stuff understandable and throwing in a ton of humor along the way (who knew the paleo diet was so rich in comic material?).

If you're at all curious about the benefits, applicability, and practicality of the paleo diet, I highly recommend giving The Paleo Solution a read.

And if you have read it, let us know what you think.

Lance getting after a 275# deadlift at Aromas

Lance will be 46 years young tomorrow (don't worry; no birthday workout is in the works).  Let's wish our favorite CFO chef-athlete extraordinaire birthday wishes in comments.

Happy Birthday, Lance!

JP, CFOer and Self-Defense Maestro

We have three upcoming events to highlight.

Sayoc NorCal Self & Family Protection Seminar

Reminder:  JP (Associate Instructor, Sayoc Kali), along with his instructor, Ricardo Kayanan (Master Rank instructor, Sayoc Kali), will be holding a self & family protection seminar this Saturday, October 23, from 11am to 1pm.

This seminar is tailored to those who have no previous martial arts experience! The goal is to provide each individual and/or couple with a better understanding of the reality... of protecting themselves, and a framework they can use to get on the SAME PAGE regarding safety.

For more info on the seminar, and to register for it, go here:  http://sayocnorcal.com/announcements/crossfit-oakland-sayoc-norcal-seminar/

CFO Makes it to Weekend Warrior Series Playoffs!

For those of you who've been following Team CFO's progress in the Weekend Warrior Series, you'll be pleased to know that our team qualified for the playoffs, which will take place on Saturday, October 30.  The playoffs will take place at CrossFit San Carlos, and there will be three workouts done in a single-elimination format (meaning that if you lose, you're out; if you win, you continue on to the next workout). 

The first workout starts around 7:30am (yep, an early wake-up call, for sure).  The event will run until around 4:30pm.

It would be awesome if we could get some home-town fans over there to support the team!

Second Annual Fran-Off

It's that time again, Fran-Off time!  For those of you who were a part of the first Fran-Off last year (either as participants or as fans), you'll remember what a blast it was.  Just like last year, Nabil will be hosting the competition at CrossFit Sweat Shop, right down the road from us in Walnut Creek.  Fran-Off will go down on Saturday, November 13, beginning at 10am.

Fran-Off is a 2-person team competition where teams will go head-to-head in Fran (21-15-9 reps of thrusters and pull-ups).  The winning team gets to split the $2,000 cash prize.

For more information, go to the blog:  http://franoff.blogspot.com/

Or visit the Fran-Off Facebook Page.

I am posting this picture to show you that we all start with the ability to squat perfectly.  We lose this ability because we spend too much time sitting in chairs, get injured, simply don't take our joints through full range of motion, and numerous other reasons mainly due to the non-physical lifestyle that we lead.  

This is why you should take on the mobility challenge.  The goal of this challenge is to take 4-10 minutes a day learning about your body and start taking care of it.  We all should be able to sit down in a squat ("ass to ankles" as K-Star puts it) for 5 minutes comfortably, be able to straighten our arms overhead without overarching the back, or lower into a dip without the shoulders rotating forward.  Whatever your issue is, you will discover it during the challenge and then be able to work on it so that you can become stronger, ache free, and a better athlete.

As you may or may not know, Kelly Starrett posts a "mobility wod" every day.  Each wod has a different focus and takes 4-10 minutes to complete.  On his blog, there is a video demonstration of each wod.

For our challenge, I thought we would start at the beginning of the Mobility Wod-- August 22nd--and go for 30 days.

Each day in November, you will do the mobility wod for the day.  We will have it listed on the white board, or you can simply go to his blog to check it out.

CFO will be sponsoring the prize for the challenge--a trip to Kelly Starrett!  We will be performing several flexibility tests at the beginning of the month which we will then retest at the end of the month.  The person who has made the most progress on the flexibility tests will win the prize.   (I see your point, Brad; possibly the winner of the prize should be the person who has made the least progress.)

We will be having a  kick-off meeting next Sunday, October 31, at 11am, right after the last group class, to test everyone.  This is a great opportunity to go through some basic flexibility tests and find what you need to work on.  You can also wear your costume!  (If you cannot make the meeting, you can still enter the challenge.  Contact me for testing details.)

Get some sleep!

TomC has written several times on the importance of sleep in order to spur progress and make strength gains on his Friday night strength posts.  Yet a good night's sleep is important for any type of training you do.  Simply put, if you don't sleep, you'll cease making progress.  Yes, there are exceptions to every rule, but sooner or later, your progress will stall if you're not getting enough sleep.

And even if you don't care about your performance in the gym, lack of sleep has recently been implicated in loss of lean body mass (muscle), which you should definitely care about, especially as you age. 

Here's an example of one such study:  http://www.annals.org/content/153/7/435.abstract

Now, there are some definite issues with the study, namely that the diet protocol was a caloric restricted one, but it was the same for both groups, with the only difference being that one group slept 5.5 hours a night and the other group slept 8.5 hours a night.  The result:  the low-sleep group was unable to lose as much fat as the high-sleep group, and in addition, the low-sleep group lost more muscle mass than the high-sleep group.

(As a side note, I have issues with caloric restriction as a means for fat loss; see Good Calories, Bad Calories for a far more elaborate explanation than anything I could offer up.  I have a copy of the book if anyone would like to borrow it, in fact.)

So the answer is simple, get at least 8 hours of sleep a night, and even more during winter months when it's darker longer.

Don't Forget About Naps

And if you have problems getting a full night's sleep, try napping during the day to catch up on some quality sleep.  Below is an interesting article on napping (methods, benefits, etc.).  It's chock full of interesting facts and has the added bonus of having a drawing of a really scary-looking man passed out on a couch (thanks to Nicole for passing it along).

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/naps/

Joey at the bottom of a pull-up

Some of you may have noticed the pull-up bar section closest to the roll-up door has been treated with a tackier surface (it's a simple spray-on solution that dries in about a day).  We plan on rolling out that solution in the very near future to more of the pull-ups in order to help with pull-up bar slippage (but without resorting to tape).

That being said, there was recently an outstanding and free CrossFit Journal article published on preventing rips and tears when doing pull-ups.  In short, it comes down to how you grip the bar (the less palm on the bar, the better).  The author of the article makes a very important distinction between a training grip (used most of the time) and a competition grip (used far less frequently).

I strongly encourage you to read the full article here (chock full of pictures of how to hold the pull-up bar):

http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ_Larsson_Handcare.pdf