From the Open to Regionals

The toughest open workouts to date are finally over, next stop in the Crossfit Games path is Regionals. So how many advance to Regionals you ask? A whopping 48 men, 48 women and top 30 teams in each region are invited to compete in their respective Regional competition. The regional consists of four different weekends in which all the regions will compete. The dates are May 9-11, 16-18, 23-25, and 30-1st. Each region will have a weekend just for them consisting of 7 different rigorous workouts that will be posted each day with three events Friday, two on Saturday, and two on Sunday.

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There are seven scored events per division (men and women). There will be no cuts. All individuals will compete in all seven events (barring disqualification or failure to complete any minimum work requirements). Scoring is the same as the Open. At each event, athletes’ performances are ranked, and there is one point per place awarded (one for 1st, two for 2nd, etc.). Athletes with the lowest overall points win. The top three athletes from most regions will be invited to the Games with the following exceptions: Two athletes from each of the Canadian regions, and one athlete each from Asia, Africa and Latin America.

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Let’s just say these aren’t the easiest of workouts. Starts out with “Jackie”: 1000 meter row into 50 reps of 45lb thruster and finish with 30 pull-ups. Event 3 is what blows my mind; 30 burpee muscle-ups (HAHA let me work on a half of one first). Event 4 seems to be the hardest of the group with; 100 Wall-balls, 100 Chest to bar pull-ups, 100 one-legged squats, and 100 dumbbell snatches with 75lbs (wow I’m exhausted just reading it all). Well good luck to all of those competing in regionals. Maybe one day I will be there…..eh probably not. How could I ever compete with the man himself Rich Froning. Go hit the gym, maybe YOU will be in the Games one day. Have a great night.

Cheat Days

The most common question when it comes to diets….do you have cheat meals? You will get many different answers when it comes to this because it’s a subject that is up in the air and can go either way. Some say cheat days are good, some say they are bad. Now I am no doctor so don’t quote me on this but, I think cheat meals are necessary and should be incorporated with everyone’s diet a few times a month.
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I think were all familiar with this lovely picture to the left. The oh so healthy..carb free…sugar free..fat free…In N Out 🙂 This actually happened to be my cheat meal last weekend, consisted of 2 double-doubles with animal style fries and a chocolate/vanilla shake (yep pulled the combo). Not familair with animal style? Check out the secret menu it’s a goodie.

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What a wonderful chart, I couldn’t say it any better myself. You should have fun and have a great cheat meal. Cheat meals are meant to be apart of your diet journey, satisfy yourself. The whole purpose of a cheat meal is to give yourself something to look forward to, so that you don’t feel the overwhelming intensity of “NEVER”, but you are being reasonable. You must reward yourself for all the hard work and meal prepping you do. There is no better feeling than waking up and not worrying about making that same chicken and vegetables mean and just ordering a pizza. On the other hand, your tastes and digestion changes with a clean eating lifestyle. So when you do indulge on that certain cheat meal it may not taste as good (so it doesn’t seem worth it), or it also may cause a digestive upset (I have witnessed this one), so that even if you enjoyed the taste, it may not be worth it to have again. Overtime you may even choose to have smaller portions of your cheat meal and not order the whole menu and consume as much to the point where you feel sick.

All in all, cheat meals should be apart of every diet. You work too hard to not treat yourself a few days out of the month. Just don’t get too crazy with it, limit yourself to 1-2 a week at most. To me, weekends should be the days to do them. Now go on out and hit the In-n-Out drive thru, you won’t regret it. If you want to see more pros and cons, Raw has a great article on the pros and cons that come with cheat days. Go have a cheat meal…then hit the gym the following Monday….and REPEAT weekly. You won’t regret it. Have a great day.

Critics Will Always Arise w/ CrossFit

The CrossFit community continues to grow worldwide with 150,000 people who signed up to compete in the CrossFit Games this year. Over 100,000 more than last years number. But yet, there are thousands and thousands out there that continue to bash on the sport that is CrossFit. I guess the best we can do as a community is continue to serve as a positive example for all those haters. We can continue to improve our health and fitness on a fundamental level and demonstrate CrossFit’s effectiveness. We can encourage others to join us on a better path to health and support them when they choose to do something else. So, what are some of the reasons why people may dislike CrossFit?

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One major aspect that people may say they don’t like is that it’s too intense. But really, if it was easy everyone would do it. People may say that the trainers push members in class to death but in all reality, they are pushing them to be better athletes, better people. The motivation you get from a coach is what helps you finish a workout. Would you want your trainer saying, “oh it’s fine you look tired you don’t need to finish that last set or, you worked hard enough you can just stop now?” Heck no you wouldn’t, you pay for that motivation and if you half-ass a workout then why are you even there participating. I guess fitness to many people is moderate output with very limited toughness or strain? You may not be able to do the original workout and that’s fine, you can scale it. Any coach at any CrossFit box will help you scale the workout prior to it beginning which will still provide you with a high intensity workout like no other. They won’t make you feel uncomfortable, they will encourage you, it’s called a challenge. Only you know your limits, the coaches are just there to help teach the movements and help you.

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Then of course the “IT’s TOO EXPENSIVE EXCUSE.” You pay for what you get. I could easily spend $135 in one weekend so why not invest in something that will make you a healthier and fitter person. Do you know how much it costs for personal training? ALOTTTT more than a monthly membership at a CrossFit gym and your pretty much getting the same thing out of it. A certified coach to teach you movements and push you and others through a competitive group workout. Yep, sounds good to me. I was already paying $30 a month @ 24hrfitness, what’s an extra $100 for a more personal, more in your face workout. I said that I would try it for a month and see what I thought and, let’s just say I am still doing it.

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You can even do certain workouts outside, either make of your own or follow ones online. Yes, most gyms post the WODs online so you don’t even need to go the class you can just do it on your own time. CrossFit is a perfect example. Today’s workout online consisted of:
10 rounds of:
1 minute of rowing
Rest 15 seconds
30 seconds of push-ups
Rest 15 seconds
Tons and tons of sites post workouts online for you to follow, though you may not have that same drive since your not doing it in a competitive atmosphere you can still track your time and post results to see how you hold up against the rest of the people that are doing the same thing. Go in and try a CrossFit Box out….eat clean….make some gains… Have a great night.

Community Saturday

Every Saturday is open house at my gym, Double Edge. Soooo, feel free to drop in to our 8am or 9am class! Anyone is welcome whether you are a first timer or you are a member who wants to bring in family and friends. A healthy community is a strong community! Our slogan is fitness founded on community and by walking in on any given day you will see that. The picture to the left seems like just another CrossFit class but, it’s not. Today, the coaches switched things up and had a little fun with it. Something that works great for community day so all that who is not members…would want to be members, I know I had a lot of fun and WOW, what a workout. Rather than the usual; warm-up, strength, and WOD, the coaches pretty much had us make the workout and choose our own path to almost passing out. I am sharing this because I think it is something that all gyms should do at some point in time, great way to spice things up and have some fun.

First, he gathered us all in a circle and told us we had 30 seconds to think of different Crossfit movements and he would randomly call on us. The first person asked responded with Overhead Squats (not the easiest movement that’s for sure), picking a number between 10-15 was then asked…12 the answer. The next person answered with pull-ups and the number 6, followed by medicine ball slams and picking the number 15. Last, the coach asked for a number between 8-12…8 was the answer. The workout was as follows:
8 Min AMRAP
12 OH Squats
6 Pull-Ups
15 Med Ball Slams (20-40lbs)

The second after we finished the workout he called us all back over to the front…if you couldn’t guess already, we weren’t finished. He asked one of the girls up front to choose a body movement (no weight/barbells), Burpees was the response. Instead of asking us for another movement, the our coach picked 3 people to pick 3 numbers between 10-15. The results of these random numbers made up for the following workout from hell.
13 Rounds:
15 Seconds o/ most burpees you can do (fell in range of 4-7)
10 Sec Rest

At this moment I was soaked with sweat. The first 2 rounds I got 6 and 7, I then never made it back up that high. I was ready to be done after this but NOPE, that wasn’t the case. ANOTHERRR WOD was to be made. Laughter began as we gathered once again, knowing that this last one will really kick our butt. I have never had more fun while suffering before in my life. The last workout that was put together was by far the hardest to me. The movements that were shouted out by the various people in class consisted of DU’s (Double Jump Rope), box jumps, and push-ups. The coach added a few numbers together that were given to him and made up the following:
15 Min AMRAP (As many Rounds Possible “for those that didn’t click on prior link”):
13 DUs
6 Box Jumps
14 Push-Ups

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Yep, let’s just say that was how the ground looked when I finished the 3-in-1 workout. This was the first time we have done something like this and I hope it happens more often because it really was a lot of fun. I think it is a great way to get people to join our CrossFit gym. Community days just got even better in my book. So those of you in the Reno area, what do you have planned next Saturday? If your available at 8 or 9 come on down and join us. Hit the gym, drink a protein shake, make some gains, and stay tuned for more. Have a good night.

No Gym? No Problem!

The great thing about CrossFit is that you can find so many different workouts online and do them on your own. Of course you can’t do each and every workout as is because there is some equipment you don’t have access to (unless you buy on your own of course). For example, I attend Double Edge but I am also a member at 24hr fitness and I found the workout today online that my gym posts which consisted of back squats for the strength portion, and the WOD was as follows: 5 Pull Ups, 10 Push Ups, 15 Air squats, as many rounds possible in 20 minutes. This is one example of the, OH SO MANY workouts that you could do on your own. Many can even be accomplished outside with little equipment. The CrossFit WOD Generator is another one of the many sites that produces different daily workouts for you to see. Today’s workout on the site consisted of 75 Thrusters @ 95lbs, 7 push ups at the top of each minute, and a 3K run at the end. Obviously if you don’t have a bar for thrusters you can scale it or if you have a gym membership to a regular gym then just use one of their bars and move to an open area. Air squats or burpees would be options to substitute thrusters for.

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Perfect example to the left, no boxes? No Problem! You also see lots of workouts with tires, this is a great object to invest in, or even find one for free. I know that some workouts can not be done but you get what I am saying. Worst case you can pay for a few items of equipment (kettlebell, jump-rope, barbell, and a few weights) or just scale it to what works for you. Regardless of what you do, you will still be lying on the ground upon finishing. Not only will it be great workout, but it will also be at a time that is convenient for you but. Not to mention the tons of money you will save since CrossFit gyms can be a bit pricy, $130 for me.

CrossFit “Forging Elite Fitness,” is a great site to start off on. Not only does it offer workouts and eating tips, but it also has a FAQ page which discusses different substitutes for certain workouts that either are too advanced for you, or lack of equipment (genius I know). I think all of these websites are great ideas and should for sure be utilized if your not able to make it to a CrossFit gym due to time constraints or money. So give it a shot, try some on your own, have fun with it. I know that I plan to do a few on weekends when I can’t go to my gym. I plan on looking at a few different ones online and combining what I feel that I could do with the lack of equipment I have. Follow for more, have a great day.
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No bar? No Problem…. Just grab a log. Always remember, have fun with it, and be safe.

The Paleo Lifestlye!

Nutrition, a very important part in the sport that is, CrossFit. With nutrition comes a type of diet that I am sure you have all heard about, Paleo. You couldn’t have a conversation with a CrossFitter for 20 minutes without hearing the word Paleo come up. If it’s not Paleo then it’s “The Zone Diet,” which I will cover in later blogs. Paleo comes from the word Paleolithic (prehistoric period of human history). The name was coined from the Greek meaning Stone Age in which the period was characterized by the use of chipped stone tools to catch food. Food… what kind of food does the Paleo Diet consist of? Easy, pretty much anything a caveman could of ate, nothing processed. It’s an effort to eat like we use to back in the day. If it doesn’t swim, fly, walk, have green color, or grow in the ground you SHOULDN’T be consuming it– beef, poultry, fish, nuts, leafy greens, fibrous veggies, and seeds are the GOODS. So easy a caveman can do it.

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We existed as a species 150,000 years ago, the agricultural revolution didn’t happen until 10,000 years ago, which means we had 140,000 years without grains. So, we were forced to learn to thrive as a species without grains (or else we wouldn’t be here). The Paleo Diet is considered a lifestyle change because lets be for real, who likes to count calories or weigh their foods every time. Counting calories isn’t even considered equal, is 400 calories of chips the same as 400 calories of vegetables? UMMM NO. Some critics call it a fad diet , but lets be honest, Paleo is here to stay.

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The hardest part about Paleo for me has been the no grains. I have always eaten brown rice with my meals. Also, the dairy part as well because I grew up eating yogurt and drinking milk with my breakfast. Now, I have leaned towards almond milk which I absolutely love and I have brown rice and quinoa with some of my meals still. So, I guess you can say I’m not “strict-strict” paleo, maybe around 80% because I also have my cheat meals on the weekends. I never have eaten sweet potatoes until just recently, way better for you than regular potatoes because your avoiding those unnecessary starches and substituting it for unprocessed carbs. Our bodies weren’t designed for massive dairy consumption and that’s why animal don’t consume milk past infancy, and Hunter-gatherers didn’t lug cows around with them while traveling.

When it comes to the meats we want them GRASS-Fed rather than grain fed. Vegetables of course are great for you (unless they are fried,duh). When using oil think NATURAL, coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil, etc. You get your sugars from fruit and fruits are GREAT carbs just make sure you limit intake if your trying to lose weight. My go to snack is almonds, they are high in calories and better than snacking on Hot Cheetos. I also eat sweet potatoes for lunch after a workout to replenish my glycogen levels, as should you. Think about the following:
OUR genes are 99% the same as our caveman ancestors and grains were NEVER a part of their diet, so why should it be apart of our everyday consumption.

Going out to eat can be tough, just think about this; a normal breakfast in the US consists of bagels, muffins, toast, cereal, or donuts. NONE of those things have any nutritional value and are loaded with useless carbs and calories, not nutritious at all. Go for something along the lines of a few eggs with broccoli, some avocado , and a handful of almonds. BOOM EASY AS THAT. Paleo can be done with careful planning and will-power, if I can do it then so can you. Try it for 30 days and you will see a change in your body and if your like me, and can’t 100% throw away grains or another item, then just work on minimizing those foods and you will see your body adjust (FOR THE BETTER). More things on Paleo to come…Now as always, GO HIT THE GYM. Until next time, have a great day.

The Reebok CrossFit Games

The CrossFit Games are the world’s premier test to find the “Fittest on Earth,” these games have been around since 2007. How popular is it you ask? Well, according to Forbes the CrossFit Games have become “one of the fastest growing sports in America.” Last year at this time there was a total of about 5,000 affiliates, today that number is around 10,000. Reason I am choosing to talk about the games in todays blog is because today is the day that the first workout (14.1) of five is released to the public. Yes, you heard right, the workouts are not posted prior for all to see. If you knew what to train for then how would you be all around fit, exactly. The Games give you a year to train for anything and everything, and I mean ANYTHING.

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The Games are broken up into three stages; the Open (for anyone and everyone), Regionals, and lastly,the 2014 Reebok CrossFit games. Each week for five weeks a new workout is posted, those individuals that signed up and paid the fee will have until the following Monday to record the workout and post online for all to see allowing you to see how you compare with others. Any questions and concerns can be answered by the comprehensive CrossFit Games Rule Book. Not everyone qualifies for the second stage as I’m sure you already knew that. The regionals consist of a three-day live competitions which could open up a spot into the games. Out of all those that sign-up, only the top 100 (50 Men, 50 Women) advance. It’s a grueling test, see for yourself…

Since I am new to CrossFit with only about a month under my belt I am choosing to not participate this year. One thing that helped solidify my decision was by looking at last years open workouts…WOW!!!! Workout 13.3 was as follows:

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 12 minutes of:
150 Wall balls (20 lbs to 10′ target)
90 Double-unders
30 Muscle-ups

No SHOT!!! Currently, I can throw a few double-unders in with a single jump rope but because my form is far from great it takes a lot of energy out of me for doubles (as if I would even have energy after 150 wall balls). Then next is 30 muscle-ups??!! Um yea, let me work on one first. This was just one of the intense workouts, the others are just as difficult. By seeing these I knew that I have a long way to go but hopefully by next year I will progress enough to give it a shot.

If you think you have what it takes to be the fittest on earth then go and sign up right now!! The first workout (14.1) will be posted in an hour. Best of luck to those competing and a huge shout out to those competing at my gym – Double Edge, kill it. Now go make some gains!!

My Experience

Good afternoon, so far on this blog site I have discussed CrossFit in general (e.g. history/overview), stats, the community aspect, and the pros and cons of switching to CrossFit: “the sport of fitness.” Today I will be going a different route by giving you a firsthand look of what I have experienced so far with one month of CrossFit under my belt at Double Edge. Let’s just say it hasn’t been easy in anyway, and has challenged me to push my body to extremes I never would have done on my own.

Double Edge has been a one of a kind experience for me. There slogan, “fitness founded on community ,” is really seen during any typical class. In my last blog I explained how great the culture aspect of CrossFit really is and how it plays such a huge role in your time at the gym. When I am there I’m around people with the same interests, challenging yourself to be a better person. Like I said before, I wouldn’t of finished half of the workouts if it wasn’t for the others in the class as well as the instructors pushing me, believing in me. Below is a picture from my class today, as you can see the classes are small making for a more personalized experience, almost like having your own personal trainer.

The class today consisted of a Warm Up;
3 Rounds:
200 Meter Row
40 Singles Jump Rope or 20 Double Unders
15 Push Ups

Strength Segment:
8×3 Deadlift @75% Every 1:15

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1 Round (4 Minute Time Cap)
30 Burpees
50 V-Ups
90 Second Break
10 Minutes:
30/30 Sprints Either Machine
My deadlift was only 235..this number will go up!!! I also rowed a total of 1610 Calories with the 30 seconds on/off at the end of 10 minutes. The hardest part of the workout for me was the V-Ups because this takes core strength, which I don’t have much of yet but as I said before, I will get better in time.
To view all of the past weeks workout, click me.

I use to only workout 2-3 body parts a day (e.g chest/tri, back/bi, shoulders/forearms/traps) and really thought that I was getting a good workout.. BOY was I wrong. 97% of the time I would skip legs days so when I started CrossFit you could only imagine how sore I was. I could barely get in and out of my car the first few weeks and it hurt to make any kind of movement. I can’t even remember the last time I took a bath.. Until I started Crossfit. Now, Epsom bath salts is my best friend due to my muscles always being sore. I use the salt 2-3 times a week and once you start Crossfit, you will see why. Waking up sore somewhat makes me happy because I know that I am working hard, and I know that progress will come. Right now let’s just say I can bench more that I can squat…which is NEVER NEVER a good thing. I keep a binder of all my numbers from the various workouts so I can track my results overtime and develop PR’s (Personal Records). I love waking up not knowing what’s in store for me until I get to the gym, this keeps it fun. I try going to the 7am classes since killing myself that early leaves plenty of time for day to get better because face it, this will be the worst thing you do all day so why not get it done early?

As I said before, the workout is posted as you show up to the gym on the TV which is usually accompanied by some “were dead” sayings by others but of course we laugh it off and get down to business. I have really became close with the 7am class and really look forward to going every morning, as will you. If it was easy everyone would do it, original I know. Try some of these on your own if you can… Thanks for reading

My back squats were at 185/195…WEAK I know. My chest-to-bar pull-ups weren’t terrible nor did I need a band to help, which is a good start. Any workout you do that is 20 min AS MANY REPS POSSIBLE is TOUGH so Good Luck with that.

The Warm-Up (3 Rounds: 8 Burpees/12Cal on Rower) alone killed me so I knew that the WOD would leave my limping for the door at the end.
This 10 Minute AMRAP consisted of
5 Heavy DB Lunges Each Leg (GoodLuck walking the next day)
Advanced/8 Toes to Bar
Basic/ 8 Knees to Elbow.