Monthly Archives: December 2010

Bob owning the weight overhead.

MBS will be open for REGULAR training today and tomorrow. The first workout of 2011 has been chosen by your ugly sweater winner R.J. Join us at 10:00 am tomorrow.

One of Santa's elfs found his way to CrossFit.

Fish oil is the top recommended supplement advocated by Robb Wolf. You can calculate an estimated daily dose of the fishy compounds by using the Fish Oil Calculator at Whole 9. Make sure to enter your bodyweight and fish oil factor to properly figure out how many pills you should be taking.

Rich does the J-hook method, while Sam and Jeremy use the S-wrap method to climb the ropes.

Doing More Than the WOD

by Dan F.

For a lot of CrossFitters, doing more than just the Workout of the Day (WOD) may be tempting. Weather you feel like because you scaled the weight you didn’t get enough out of the workout, or your trying to drop the extra pounds you gained from the holiday season, doubling up on a second WOD is not always the answer.

 CrossFit workouts are designed to cripple an elite athlete. Most WODs are programmed so that only a handful of athletes at the gym can properly complete them as prescribed. By “properly complete them,” I mean move at a realistic pace so that your muscular, cardiovascular and neurological systems are all taxed to a fairly equal degree. If you finish a workout where you’ve completely fatigued your muscular system, but your heart rate didn’t reach 120 bpm it probably means the weight was a little to heavy for you and you were moving to slow. Scaling or modifying movements to your ability is crucial in your development. It allows you to develop your technique, complete the workout at a productive pace, and will protect you from possible injury. Between the athletes and the coaches at MBS it is important that everyone is scaling to their own abilities.

 For most new CrossFitters, technique may be a reason for a lack of work output. A lack of technique will affect your intensity and with out intensity you may feel like you missed out on your workout. The battle coaches and athletes have between technique and intensity is a very common issue. Technique is drilled into every CrossFitter since day one and as much as we want every athlete to experience what a CrossFit workout is really like, Coaches have to be very careful when releasing this potent ingredient. As a beginner, intensity takes a back seat to technique and only when your technique is sound can intensity over take technique. At this point you as an athlete are trying to perform a balancing act between technique and intensity to produce the greatest work output. We as coaches are striving for your technique to be 100%, but we know that in order for you to reach your max work capacity you need to sacrifice a little technique. Ideally, we are looking for 100% intensity and we will be satisfied with 85% technique. This combination allows each athlete to reach their work capacity each workout without the risk of injury and the concern of bad form.

 Work with your coaches to ensure you are ready to increase your intensity and when you do, don’t be afraid to go to that “dark place” during your workout. It may hurt for a minute or two, but it’s where the results are. The only difference between your workout and someone else’s, is what you put into it. If done properly, there should never be a need to add a second workout.

 If you have some time and energy before or after a WOD, here are a few things you can do to get more out of your workouts:

• Instead of doing an extra workout, practice, practice, practice! The more comfortable you get with the CrossFit movements, the sooner you’ll be able to add intensity to your workout with out the fear of injury.
• Take advantage of all the in house clinics MBS is going to put on in the New Year!
• A little a day will go along way! Don’t kill yourself trying to perfect the snatch in one day. Practice your weaknesses a little everyday and you’ll get the hang of it.
• Enjoy our community and cheer on your peers; we’re here to help you get the most out of your workout!

Check out all the great handstand photos we've collected over the past year. There are a ton of awesome places that you have visited and planted a handstand in. Well, let's keep this thing going. We challenge you to send us more pictures of all the 'ordinary' places you can demonstrate your Cross-Fitness. At work in your cubicle, at home, in the grocery strore, the options are limitless. You are only limited by what your mind can't think of!

A few of the guys from the 6am crew sporting their sweet “ugly Christmas sweaters”.

The winner of the 2010 MBS Ugly Christmas Sweater is pictured above, can you guess who it is?

Yep, a big congrats goes out to RJ for gracing us with his presence in this awesome sweater! Notice in the first picture Santa is riding his bike, then in the second picture somehow Santa took a spill and all of the presents are thrown everywhere (in addition, check out Santa's sexy legs, who knew)! It has been rumored thatRJ's wife Michelle who also works out at the 6 am class has the matching female version! I look forward to next year so I can see them side by side! RJ gets to pick the first weekday WOD we do in 2011, so next Monday when you are cursing the workout, make it your motivation to go out and get a sweater for next year!

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas from all the Coaches at MBS Crossfit. We wish you and your family all the best during the holiday season and in the New Year.

The Burden of 2 Pounds - Karen Ramirez

The other day we had a workout that included 100 kipping pull ups, 100 push ups, and 200 air squats. It got me thinking. Let’s say over the holiday months I gain 2 pounds of unwanted fat. During 100 pull ups means I would lift an extra 200 pounds. In a regular push up you lift very roughly 65% of your body weight. So for 100 push ups at 2 pounds that is another 130 pounds. Air squats. I read that you can figure out how much you lift in an air squat by putting your scale on a chair and sitting on it with your feet on the ground. (Your full body weight would only be lifted if you jumped off the ground). For me that worked out to be about 85%. So 85% of 2 pounds lifted 200 times is 340 more pounds.

That means a gain of just 2 pounds of fat would be an extra 330# to lift with my arms and 340# to lift with my legs for a total of 670# extra in a 20 minute workout! That’s 75# more than my CrossFit Total! (1 rep max on squat, press, and deadlift). Imagine how an extra 5 or 10 or 20 would translate! In workouts, in sports, even just in daily life. Hours and hours of walking around, getting in and out of chairs, going up and down the stairs. Your feet and your back taking the extra beating day in and day out from carrying extra weight around that serves no purpose other than maybe to help you float.

Just something to think about when I am reaching for those cookies at Christmas.

MBS CrossFit Holiday Hours

We are closed for the rest of the holiday weekend. We hope you have a wonderful time with your family and friends and we look foward to seeing you on Monday, December 27th.

Aaron working on his squat - weight on heels, knees out, chest up!

12 Days of Christmas is Today

Don't miss out on the 12 Days of Christmas WOD today, it's going to be a blast! Wear your Ugly Sweater and bring along some Christmas tunes to jam to.
Judging for the Ugliest Sweater will be at the Noon and 5pm workouts. Winner get to pick the first workout for 2011.

MBS Holiday Hours

MBS will be Closed on Friday, December 24th and Saturday, December 25th. We will have a normal class schedule starting on Monday, December 27th and continuing through the New Year. Happy Holidays!

 The Lunch Crew doing some pre-wod mobility work courtesy of MobilityWOD.com

 

Ugly Christmas Sweater WOD

Dust off those nasty Ugly Christmas sweaters because it's that time of year again. The MBS Ugly Christmas Sweater workout is finally here. Judging for the Best Ugly Sweater will take place during tomorrows noon and 5pm classes.
Ugliest sweater winner gets to decide the first MBS workout of 2011!

MBS Holiday Hours

MBS will be Closed on Friday, December 24th and Saturday, December 25th. We will have a normal class schedule starting on Monday, December 27th and continuing through the New Year. Happy Holidays!

Matt M. hitting the double unders.

MBS Girls Night Out

The MBS Girls Holiday party is tonight at CB & Potts. They are doing cocktails and a white elephant gift exchange at 7:30 PM.

MBS Holiday Hours

MBS will be Closed on Friday, December 24th and Saturday, December 25th. We will have a normal class schedule starting on Monday, December 27th and continuing through the New Year. Happy Holidays!

Consistency can be very difficult to accomplish in the busy, over stimulated, and under rested American lifestyle.  Having consistency is important because it creates routine, which creates habit, which creates lifestyle. Rather than making fitness something you fit in, make being fit who you are. Yes, it is hard to maintain a consistent workout schedule with all the commitments you may have: job, school, travel, spouse, children, pets, hobbies, and the occasional, unforeseen disaster or two.  But physical health and well being is one of the most valuable and influential pieces of our human existence. Without a well functioning and conditioned body, the job, the kids, the damaged roof, the flat tire will be more difficult to deal with. Moreover, research shows that exercise makes you smarter. In his book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, Dr. John Ratey posits that exercise produces brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein that builds and maintains brain cell circuitry. So why wouldn’t you make exercise a priority? Your body and mind carry you through your daily life, so you ought to be ready for whatever this world is going to dish out.

Furthermore, the constantly varied nature of CrossFit means that if you miss a lot of wods, you may be missing a lot of certain exercises. If you come to the gym consistently you will undoubtedly hit the ten general physical skills of fitness (http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ-trial.pdf, p. 4). If not, some of those areas will suffer. So if you don’t oly lift for a month because you haven’t been coming in regularly, Grace is going to hurt and will more likely cause injury.  You will also not recover as quickly, making it harder to get back into the gym a day or two after a hard workout.

 So what is consistent? CrossFit prescribes a 3 day on 1 day off or 5 day on 2 day off commitment for proper work and recovery. The former will require a little bit of work on your part, but the latter is covered with our available class schedule. There are enough classes at MBS to get you really close to that prescription. Unlike the typical globo gym, where a normal routine can last upwards of two hours, we get you warm, mobilized, and worked within an hour. And most of you would probably say that this method has been effective.  If you can’t get into our gym at least 3-5 days a week, get something done at home. Here are a bunch of “no gym wods” if you need to squeeze something in between soccer games, traveling, or whatever else may be eating up your time. No gym? No excuses!

Here are some other tips:

-Go for a run. All you need are shoes and some pavement. Work on that 1 mile, 5k, or 10k time when you can’t get to MBS. The dogs could use it anyway.

-Use your local parks. If you can’t get to the gym, find a park with some monkey bars and get on those pull-ups! The kids could use it anyway.

- Get creative! Get some of your own equipment to have on-hand for situations like that: gymnastics rings, abmat, jumprope, pvc pipe, and a kettlebell, are a few essentials.

-Find a friend.  Be known! Create some accountability where people can call you out when you are slacking. Also, friends are good motivators when you’re not looking forward to what Fran is going to do to you later. You’ll go because they’ll get you through it.

-Make goals. You’re less likely to miss wods, no matter how busy you are, if you have specific goals in mind. Set dates that you want to hit those goals.

-Use a logbook! When you see what you’ve gained by being consistent, there ain’t nothing that’s going to stop you from getting into the gym regularly.

-Suck it up. Don’t cherry pick workouts and don’t miss. CrossFit is not easy, but it is effective, so don’t waste your time hitting one or two workouts to your liking every week. Get your butt in here! You will always feel better afterwards. Eventually.

There will be a WOD at 9 am today.

The snatch clinic will be held from 10-11am.

Coaches Sean & Rich will help you become more efficient & effective in the snatch.

Mrs. CrossFitter's Song to Santa

Santa baby, just slip some running & weightlifting shoes under the tree, for me
Been an awful good girl
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa baby, forgot to mention one little thing, some MBS gear
It can be found right here
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight
Hurry down the chimney tonight
Hurry … tonight

I've posted this video before, but it's worth reposting. Its a short, playful look at the principles of the paleo/primal diet we talk about at MBS. He has two other videos, Part 2: Exercise, and Part 3: Sunshine. Check them out and post thoughts to comments.

MBS Upcoming Events

Olympic Lifting Snatch Clinic - Join us Saturday from 9:00 to 11:00 to work on the Olympic snatch. We will be breaking into several groups to give instruction to the different ability levels. Expect to work on PVC or empty barbells the first part, then move to power assistance exercises (movements besides the snatch) that help build strength and flexibility for the snatch. You will get a ton of reps…working towards that 10,000 mark!

MBS Girls Holiday Party - Join the women of MBS for some cocktails and a white elephant gift exchange at CB & Pots Tuesday, December 21st. What could go wrong there?

Ugly Sweater WOD - Don't wait until the last minute to find your best ugly sweater. We will be throwing them on for our 12 Days of Christmas workout on the 23rd. Best ugly sweater gets to name the first workout of 2011. Ugly sweater judging WODs are the noon and 5:00 PM workouts.

Carissa with a great position overhead.

CrossFit Benefits: Less time spent in the mirror

It might just be the effects of marriage setting in already, but I am realizing I spend far less time in the mirror lately. Several years ago before I started CrossFit, I spent hours in the gym every week trying to “define” and “sculpt” muscles. I was working on isolation machines that touted they benefited specific muscles - hamstring machine, the pec deck, and the lat pulldown. As I pushed and pulled on these machines, I felt the burn in each target area. Then, after hitting my muscles, I went to burn the lungs on the treadmill. It was a machine that worked my running. As a sidenote, a buddy once commented on me hitting the treadmill. He asked why I just didn't go outside and run. The best answer I could think of at the time was that running outside was not the same as running on the treadmill. I didn't tell him my answer because as I thought it out in my head I realized how ridiculous that sounded! After hitting my workouts, I would shower up and continue to feel the pump in my worked areas long after the workout.

Needless to say, the side-effect of working all these muscles led me to the mirror constantly assessing how I was progressing. The mirror was the ultimate judge - the mirror didn't lie. I don't know how much time I spent in the mirror on an average day, but I know it was too much. When I woke up, before and after the shower, every bathroom break, and any other time I passed by a mirror or dark piece of glass along my way, I was sure to take a glance and judge. Besides the mirror, there weren't many other ways to see my progress. I know that I probably moved up in weight on some exercise machines - one or two pins lower on the leg extension, or from a #6 on the peck deck to a #8. These indicators of fitness were far from realistic, as I was constantly suffering from back pain and shoulder injuries.

Dear Santa,

I have been really good this year! I am a member at this great gym where I am constantly challenged to be the best I can. In 2010 I have made drastic improvements to my health and look forward to exceeding my goals in the coming year. Since I have been so busy being healthy I forgot to send you my wish list, so I hope an email will suffice this year:

Weighlifting shoes $95 @ Rogue - These will help me hit PR's on all of my lifts

Vibram Five Fingers $85 @ Jax - With these I can learn to tread lightly on the balls of my feet

Food Dehydrator with Jerky Gun $72 @ Amazon - I would love to be able to make my own Paleo jerky and dried fruits & veggies

Grass Fed Beef $20 & up - US Wellness Meats - This company provides the best grass fed meat money can buy!

The Paleo Diet Solution by Robb Wolf $17 @ Amazon - I know that the Paleo diet works, now I want to know why and how to take it to the next level.

Paleo Cookbooks $48 @ paleocookbook.com - I would love some new Paleo recipies, so I can stay primal!

Skins Compression Tights $120 @ Skins - These will help speed up my recovery and look cool.

Jump rope $14 @ BuyJumpRopes.net - I need to work on my double unders and having my very own jump rope would be a start.

But more than anything else I would love to see some new MBS gear under my tree:

MBS Sherpa Hoodie $50 @ MBS CrossFit - This jacket will keep me warm and the black on black design is SO me!

MBS Zip Hoodie $35 @ MBS CrossFit - Although this will not be quite as warm, it will do the job, I love the small MBS logo.

New MBS T-shirt $20 @ MBS CrossFit - The new gray shirt is so cool, I've gotta have it!