Zach pressing out on Cinco de Bear

MBS at the Tough Mudder

Tod on the Slip-N-Slide at the Tough Mudder

Samba Soccer on the Prowler

Samba Soccer girls work on agility

Camrynn deadlifts at MBS CrossFit kids
 

MBS Kids; Wednesday, June 22nd

MBS Adults and Kids Class

Last week we had our first Adult and Kids Class and it was a blast. While our Mom's and Dad's were doing ring pull ups, ball slams, and sprints, Coaches Leah and Dan were putting the little guys through an obstacle course and a mini “Cindy.” We ended the session with the “Knot Game,” which the kids probably would have gotten out of if not for the adults!

We will be doing it all over again tonight at 5pm. Bring your kids, ages 6 to 18 and we'll fit them into a workout. Let's team up to provide your kids with the same opportunity of health and fitness that you get every day. This class is free for all MBS members.

Check out our MBS CrossFit Kids website.

Leah at the 2011 Southwest Regional Games

What I Hear from People and in my Head
By: Leah H

Normally, I laboriously research information to write something that has a professional and legitimate opinion. I decided to simply write my own opinion. So here is my attempt to editorialize my nerdy, research ways. There are a couple things I hear a lot from other people and in my own head.

1. “I have to be in shape to start CrossFit.”

This one I never really thought because I was sheltered from B.A. gyms like MBS. I was simply following a program online, and it was working. Also, I was alone.  I didn’t have the pressure of comparing myself to pro athletes, like Dan, Ab Doctors like Rich, or genetic freaks like Pat and Sean.  (If you think genes don’t play a role I will direct you to Dave Tallman. I rest my case.) So, I empathize with the curious pre-CrossFitter who wants to feel confident before coming to the gym. And at the same time, that is utter and complete nonsense. My justifications:

- CrossFit is fun. Who gives a crap if you suck? When’s the last time you enjoyed exercise so much?

- Community. People were made to interact with each other. Critics say we’re cultish. I say we’re human. Running on a treadmill with an ipod in your ear while watching T.V. is not human. I might even argue aerobics is not very human. But that’s another article.

 - Universal scalability. There is not a single workout that can’t be modified to meet you where you are at. Period. If you have a problem with modifying, you have a problem with ego. And possibly a problem with patience. That is also another article.

2. “CrossFit will make me bulky.”

This is for the ladies. That is exactly what I thought when I watched some of those videos online 3 years ago. But point 1.1 got the best of me. I can’t stop what I love doing for aesthetic reasons. I won’t lie and say I haven’t struggled with this myself. What I’ve realized is that I am part of an elite, counterculture that moves against the current of media, modern medical science, and most sports and conditioning authorities. So, I am most likely not going to look like a woman who is paying attention to what members of those communities are saying.  I eat and move to thrive, not to mimic what our culture tells me, i.e. Hollywood, Shape magazine, Dr. Oz, or the FDA.

I have also noticed that CrossFit does not transform every body into a particular shape. What I see are people functional at their most powerful level whether they “look” like what we perceive as fit or not. People are brainwashed by a constant bombardment of images that are merely caricatures of reality. Meanwhile, CrossFitters are becoming more who WE were made to be, not what anyone else was made to be.  Look around our gym. We aren’t all morphing into a cookie cutter image of fitness. We are simply getting stronger, faster, healthier, and happier. We’re in a battle against the mediocre and photo shopped, and that motivates me.

Tough Mudder Report

On Saturday morning 28 MBSer's headed out on the Tough Mudder course at Beaver Creek Resort. The group split up into a fast group and a slow group from the beginning. Matt Johnson, aka, MJ or Mighty Mouse and Stuart Laswell set the pace finishing the course in just under 2 hours. The rest of the team did a great job waiting for each other and helping each other out. Tough Mudder was described by a few as a really long WOD, though not terribly taxing for CrossFitters!

Worst Obstacle; Swimming under 3 rows of barrels in freezing water.

Favorite Obstacle; The monkey bars.

Funniest Obstacle; Slip-N-Slide.

Check out MJ running through “Shock Therapy” (at 18 seconds)

Tad and Radbert Come to MBS

So, last week we hired Scott Nickell to shoot a video for CrossFit. He brought his entourage with him and this is what they came up with.
This may not be what we're looking for, but it was a great intro to Scott's sermon on Running at Flatirons Community Church this past weekend. 

Saturday Classes

This morning's classes will be on our normal schedule today with classes at 9am and 10am. Please feel free to bring friends and family to try out MBS CrossFit.

Samba Soccer Team

Welcome Westminster AFC Soccer

We would like to officially welcome our newest athletes to MBS; the ladies from Westminster AFC Samba Soccer club. The girls have been training with Leah and Dan for a week and a half now and have adapted nicely to the Hanger. Yesterday, we introduced Samba to the Clean and Jerk and they showed amazing athletic ability by learning the movement and completing “Grace” in one session. The team also began a nutrition challenge yesterday. The girls have one week to collect as many points as possible by eating good, quality food. Whoever has the most point's wins!

Tough Mudder Crew in training

Team MBS Takes on Tough Mudder

This Saturday, Team MBS will be sending 28 brave souls to Beaver Creek to take on the Tough Mudder. The 9 mile course is covered with 25 different obstacles, some of which include 12 foot walls, mud pits, under water tunnels, cargo nets, electroshock therapy, ice water, and snow. Most people are expected to finish the course in about 2.5 hours, but we are expecting our athletes to crush the course and the competition; this is just another training day for our crew!

Team MBS will be at the starting line bright and early on Saturday morning getting ready to tear it up. Tough Mudder officials will have to do their best to hold our crew back until their start time at 10:00am.

If you'd like to go up and join the MBS supporters, you can give Shirley a call at 303-880-5728. Whether you're cheering or racing, it should be a blast!

Photo from Aaron Siegel

Acute vs Chronic Injuries

In the event that you suffer from an injury, many times not cause from working out, but rather from an unexpected event; here is some information you may find helpful in determining what to do and how to respond to your injury. 

Acute Injury

For example a sprained ankle or fractured hand, occur suddenly during activity.

Signs of an acute injury include:
- sudden, severe pain
- swelling
- inability to place weight on a lower limb
- extreme tenderness in an upper limb
- inability to move a joint through full range of motion
- extreme limb weakness
- visible dislocation / break of a bone

Chronic Injury

Chronic injuries usually result from overusing one area of the body while playing a sport or exercising over a long period, or repetitive movements on the job.

Signs of a chronic injury include:
- pain when performing activities
- a dull ache when at rest
- swelling

Systemic Red Flags –Signs of Internal injury not musculoskeletal related:

- Insidious onset with no known mechanism of injury
- Symptoms out of proportion of injury
- No decrease in symptoms with change in position
- Recent or current fever, chills, night sweats or pain, infection, unexplained weight loss, and nausea.
- Bilateral symptoms
- Severe weakness, numbness, tingling, or burning.

Response to Injury:

- Severe injury; bleeding, severe pain, inability to weight bear, non-stop pain seek Urgent Help or see your doctor ASAP!

Musculoskeletal or Soft Tissue Injury (ie: sprain, strain, muscle pull, etc.)

RICE – For the first few days after injury

Rest
- Important due to inflammatory response which causes bruising, swelling, and pain to protect from further injury
Ice
- Causes vasoconstriction of blood vessels to prevent further inflammation
- Recommend Ice cup to involved area x 5 min several times per day
Compression
- To decrease edema. Don’t wrap too tight & wrap from distal to proximal (farthest away toward midline).  Tingling means too tight!
Elevation above heart
- Allows for control of edema

Once healing has begun, pain and swelling have decreased its time to mobilize
- Light massage to decrease scar tissue formation and increase circulation to aide in healing
- Gentle stretching through full range of motion
- Avoid painful movements
- Modify WODs as needed
- Carefully build back up your strength

If none of this works, see your doctor!
To make an appointment for a musculoskeletal Injury please contact:

Mary Finck, DPT
(505) 400-3234 - Dolm32v@aol.com

Our MBS Cheerleaders during the Tough Mudder Training run

KIDS AND ADULTS CLASSES

Starting today you can bring your kids to our 5pm class. We will be offering this class every Wednesday at 5pm as a way to introduce kids to CrossFit. Coaches Dan and Leah will provide a class for kid's ages 6-18, while you workout. This class is free for all MBS members.

Let's team up to provide your kids with the same opportunity of health and fitness that you get every day.

If you are a MBS Kids regular, feel free to join in and get a great workout!

Check out our MBSCrossFit Kids website!

Performance: Why Your Spine Is The Key
By Dr. Michelle, I Get It Chiropractics

Sitting up straight like mom always used to nag has more to do with your performance and overall health than you can ever imagine.  Maybe if instead of saying sit up straight she would have explained the relationship between the structural (bone) and functional (organ) systems in the body and that poor posture creates weaker muscles, decreases oxygen to your brain, shuts down nerve supply to every organ in your body which decreases digestion, decreases circulation, slows down elimination, causes fatigue, reduces coordination, increases your chance of getting injured, having headaches or low back pain. Maybe then you would have listened. Maybe. Read more…

Tough Mudder Training

We had a great turn out for our Tough Mudder Training on Saturday. About 30 athletes went through a 90 minute course that tested their fitness and team work skills. Everyone did a great job! Here are a few photos from Saturday's obstacle course.

KIDS AND ADULTS CLASSES

When: Wednesdays at 5:00

Where: MBS

Cost: Free for MBS members.

What: Bring your kids to class with you! Coaches Dan and Leah will provide a class for kids age 6-18, while you workout! MBS Kids regulars? Jump in! Come as you always do. We'll make sure you get a good workout in.

Why?: Because it's awesome to provide the same opportunity of health and fitness that our clients have to your kids. WE want to team up with you to make it happen!

Shannon rocking the handstand walks! Also a big thank you and congrats to both Shannon and her husband FireMike for two years of kicking-ass at MBS! Thanks for being a part of our family…and we hope to have you for many more years to come!

The Tough Mudder training run is this morning.

Group warmup will begin promptly at 9:00 AM.

There will be a 9:00 AM class only. The 10:00 AM class is cancelled.

Both groups (9:00 AM WOD and TM training run individuals) will warmup together at 9:00 and begin the workout shortly thereafter. The rest will be explained in class. This is going to be an awesome time!

Jacob is celebrating his birthday today. Being one of the most consistent athletes in the gym, we have seen him make incredible progress over the past year. Not only will you find him doing nearly every WOD as prescribed, but he will frequently have one of the fastest times on the whiteboard - especially when it's a running WOD. Happy Birthday Jacob!!

Cliff flying through the rings…

Carolina taking the high road…

MBS CrossFit  is hosting an Adult/Child/Infant CPR certification
with AED (Automated External Defibrillation) and First Aid.

Saturday, July 16th, 2011 starting at 2:00 pm.

The class will run approx. 3-4 hours.

This is a 2 year certification, and the cost is $35.00 per person.

To register for this course please send an email to Patrick Burke (patrick@mbscrossfit.com).

We will accept cash or a check on the morning of the course.

The team celebrating Leah's final overhead squat and being the first team of the day to finish the team 250's workout.

To look or not to look, that is the question. The only thing more difficult than doing the 100's workout last Saturday, was overcoming my fear of the workout before it ever started. This pre-workout anxiety was absolutely increased by having known the workout three weeks earlier. If I would've been told what the workout was Saturday morning, I'm sure I would've been “crap, that sucks”, but I wouldn't have been able to avoid it and wouldn't have been so afraid of it. After doing the workout, of course it did suck, but I realized it wasn't as bad as I expected and it could've been much worse.

How about you? Do you look at the website for the workout of the day? Or, do you avoid looking and getting pre-workout jitters? Post to comments!!!

CELEBRATE THIS WEEKEND BY RUNNING WITH US IN THE TOUGH MUDDER TRAINING RUN SATURDAY MORNING. RUN STARTS AT 9:00 AM. MORE INFO TO THE RIGHT!!

Jay working out in a pretty shirt in our St. Judes fundraiser earlier this year. Happy Birthday Jay!!

A New Form of Hazing

As many of you are preparing for the Tough Mudder in a couple weeks, a 9-mile hellish obstacle course full of mud, water pits, 12-foot walls, and slippery slopes held at Beaver Creek resort, we decided to help prepare you for your journey by doing a make-shift tough-as-nuts hazing session this Saturday at 9:00 AM.

I am doing everything I can to pull this all together on fairly short notice, but here is what we have so far:

What: A preparation workout for all those doing the Tough Mudder or anyone that has too much time on their hands Saturday morning.

When: This Saturday from 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM

Where: The roughly 3.5-mile course will begin at MBS and make it's way through parking lots, grass hills, and parks located around the Interlocken business park.

Who: MBS members, friends, family, and enemies. All are required to have a signed MBS Liability Waiver.

Whether or not you are doing the Tough Mudder, you can participate in this event/workout. Be prepared to get wet and dirty. Bring a towel to dry off afterward. There will still be a Saturday workout of the day at 9:00 AM.

If you can participate, shoot me an email at patrick@mbscrossfit.com. I need a headcount NLT Thursday.