Sunday, November 30, 2008

The 2008 Seattle Marathon


Good Luck to all the participants of the 2008 Seattle Marathon this year. Especially all the CrossFitters!

VIEW THE MAP HERE [PDF]

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UPDATE!

Here are some of this years runners:

the brothers McHugh

Keith and Sheena of Wellness One Bellevue

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving

The crew here would like to give thanks for health, CrossFit, our community, our members and especially our nutrition! (;

Enjoy your weekend and we'll see you next week!

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How to Survive Turkey Day
by Modern Forager.com

Well, [tomorrow] is Thanksgiving Day here in the United States, so that means time to stuff ourselves silly, watch NFL football, and listen to Uncle Larry tell that you joke for the thirty-fifth time. So first of all, Happy Thanksgiving. I’m posting this today so you have a chance to digest (har har!) it before the big day arrives. I don’t know about you all, but I probably won’t be on the computer much tomorrow.

And now here’s my Thanksgiving Survival Guide:

Wake Up With A Workout
Thanksgiving festivities start early for some of us. Lucky for me, my first event isn’t until 2pm, so I have plenty of time to get up and get some exercise in. Regardless of when the first meal is, get up and get in a nice hard workout. I’ll be getting out and sprinting. Maybe a CrossFit workout is your poison of choice. Or perhaps an interval workout.

Whatever you choose, get up and do something. It will get your body burning calories and open those muscles up for refueling glycogen from the carbs that Thanksgiving menus tend to be full of. You’re basically mitigating the damage up front with a workout.

Get Plenty of Protein
Be sure to load up on the turkey, ham, goose, duck, lamb, beef, or whatever proteins are available. Protein will help fill you up and tends to come with fat that will also signal your brain to stop eating. If nothing else, the space that the turkey is occupying can’t be occupied by mashed potatoes. Don’t forget to eat a few deviled eggs, mainly because they are darn tasty, but also because eggs are good for you.

Vegetables Are Your Friend
Thanksgiving menus don’t really tend to be loaded with non-starchy vegetables or at least not vegetables that aren’t smothered in cream or cheese sauces. Oh, you’ll find plenty of mashed potatoes, potatoes au gratin, creamed green beans, broccoli casseroles, and other such fare. But if you see a relish tray or a salad, load up on some raw vegetables. There are probably some regular green beans hanging out somewhere too, perhaps the delicious kind made with real bacon.

Eat Some Of What You Want
I will guarantee you that along with lots of turkey, the following foods will end up in my belly: Mom’s sweet potatoes, a slice of pumpkin pie, and a roll or two loaded with butter. And possibly something else that I wouldn’t normally eat. And that’s A-OK. This is only one day. Eat the foods you wait for all year. You don’t have to eat 4 servings of everything to enjoy it either. It typically only takes a small serving to satisfy your jonesing for something.

Don’t Stuff Yourself
There’s nothing enjoyable about being unable to move after eating. Eat until you’re satisfied. Then get up and go do something else. If you have to visit multiple families, pick out specific dishes at each place that are your favorites and focus on those. For instance, maybe Mom makes the world’s greatest potato salad, while Granny has the best stuffing. Skip the sub-par stuffing and have some of Granny’s. Avoid the not-so-good potato salad and have a bit of Mom’s (that’s a shout-out to Mom and her World’s Greatest Potato Salad…seriously, people that don’t like potato salad like my Mom’s).

Step Away From The Kitchen and No One Gets Hurt
If you stand around all that food and chit-chat, you’re going to keep eating. It’s that simple. The mammalian brain is geared to eat when food is present. After all, we never know when our next meal will be, in the whole hunter-gatherer sense. So move along. You might find something better to do than continuing to stuff your face.

Enjoy The Time With Family And Friends
So what do you do after you’ve eaten your fill? Find a way to enjoy the company you’re keeping. They are your family after all. Play pool, throw a football, get out a board game, play some cards, or go for a walk. Once the small talk has run its course and you have little left to talk about, turn on football for some familial bonding that requires little talking…you have Tennessee/Detroit at 12:30, Seattle/Dallas at 4:15, and Arizona/Philadelphia at 8:15.

Leave The Leftovers
So you’ve succeeded at not stuffing yourself, not falling into a carb-induced coma, and even got a bit of quality time with beloved cousins, aunts, uncles, and others. What now? No doubt the host of dinner is going to have care packages ready for everyone so they don’t end up with 2 weeks worth of turkey sandwiches. But remember…we were trying to minimize the damage of most of this overly carby food in the first place. So make sure you get out the door without an armload of leftovers. If the food isn’t available at your house, you obviously can’t eat it.

Get Back On The Wagon
It’s unlikely that you’re going to stick to your typical daily fare on Thanksgiving. It’s unlikely that your relatives are going to use coconut oil or lard for cooking and have a bottle of olive oil sitting next to the salad for dressing (though you could ask for olive oil). However, it’s not that difficult to enjoy the day, enjoy some off-diet foods, and still make it to Black Friday with your waistband fitting. Just get back on the wagon on Friday and you’re not likely to do any damage. Remember: it’s only one day. Don’t get too crazy, but don’t deprive yourself of things you’ll enjoy either.

I figure with the amount of food typically eaten on Thanksgiving, a full-day fast on Friday will do me good.

And you’re on your own to deal with Aunt Edna.

What other tips do you have for dodging the Thanksgiving bullet and escaping without completely undoing all of your hard work?

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Nice snatch

Yesterday's SOD (Skill of the Day) was the snatch. The snatch requires strength, flexibility, balance, speed and power. Nothing builds more power than moving a heavy weight across a distance in a very short time. HEY! That's the definition of the Olympic lifts, as well as numerous other exercises. This video is basically all you need to know [WMV]. If only it were that easy.

Instead class learned the Burgener Warm-Up. After getting form down with pvc, everyone moved up to the bars. Practicing proper technique with weight lead us to the WOD:

30 Power Snatches, for time

Everyone performed well. It was more "for form" than "for time". We perform overhead squats, walks, snatch balances and snatch-grip deadlifts for this exercise. Great job everyone.


Foundation CrossFit: John's first snatches from ABueno on Vimeo.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Going overhead

Nate putting the bar up

from The CrossFit Journal:

The press is the oldest barbell exercise in the gym. As with many old things, its value often goes underappreciated.

Picking up a weight and pushing it overhead is so basic a movement that one suspects some sort of DNA-type explanation for it. Children can be observed doing this to show off for their buddies. Preliterate civilizations in Borneo probably have a name for picking up logs from endangered rain forest trees and then putting them overhead, completely unaware of the threat this poses to the planet. I'm quite sure the first thing ever done with a barbell was a standing press, because it is the logical thing to do with a barbell.

Fifty years ago, if a fellow physical culturist wanted to know how strong you were, the question would have been, "How much can you press?" It was reckoned that a man should be able to press his bodyweight. Since not many women had at that time figured out they weren't going to get big ol' ugly muscles from lifting weights (Abbye "Pudgy" Stockton being a very important and gorgeous exception), these ancient people would probably not have known that a woman should be able to press two thirds of her body weight. Of course these numbers can apply only to people who actually train the lift. Most people don't. They bench press instead.

Download the PDF by clicking here.

Become a subscriber to the CrossFit Journal (an amazing tool for anyone interested in Health & Fitness) by clicking here.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Heave!


As I've demonstrated before most of y'all, there are many ways to prepare your body and mind before a heavy lift. Focusing, grunting. "The Rhino". Squat tuck jumps. The environment you're in is usually blasting some aggressive music and comrades cheering and coaching you on. Like everything else, you're working for yourself but not by yourself. Maybe FCF has it wrong. Maybe you need silence for your intense workouts. Read this article to see another style of training:

Silence for Intense Workouts by Parth Shah, StraitToTheBar.com

Let's try it out sometime.

Friday, November 21, 2008

It's coming.

The long, lost shoe article I promised is coming soon. Like, this coming week. Speaking of which...

CLASSES THIS COMING WEEK!
  • Monday - 8am, 6pm, 7pm
  • Tuesday - 8am, 6pm, 7pm
  • Wednesday - 7:30am, 6pm, 7pm
  • Thursday - Thanksgiving so no class
  • Friday - no classes
As always please RSVP with Andrew by email, text or a call to (360) 908.9862.

NEW EVENTS ADDED TO THE CALENDAR! Check them out!

CrossFit Bellevue & Foundation CrossFit

Holiday season is upon us- it's going to be difficult to stay up with your workouts and especially difficult to stay up with your nutrition. Remember your goals and stick to them!

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RAINSTORM (free workout) tomorrow @ 11am!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Jason's turn

In a fit of jealousy aimed at Mikey, last night Jason grabbed the rings with a proper false-grip and muscled his way up to the FOUNDATION FITNESS MUSCLE-UP CLUB. He then proceeded to drop-kick Mikey into a pit 300-style:

Congratulations on your first muscle-up Jason!

Who's next?!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Adrian's "Grace" (27SEP08)

Video addiction!

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We did Fight Gone Bad this day, but Adrian busted out a quick "Grace"


Foundation CrossFit: Adrian pre-"Grace" from ABueno on Vimeo.


Foundation CrossFit: Adrian does "Grace" from ABueno on Vimeo.

His time was 3:40, which wasn't a PR. He's going to get under 3:16 soon.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Congrats dude


A big congratulations to Mikey for finally getting his long overdue muscle-up!

HIS FACE OF AGONY!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

OOH-RAH!

The other day was the Marines Corps' 233rd birthday. With Linda's help we created the WOD for the day:

"233"
for time:
25 pullups
25 thrusters
25 duel kettlebell sumo deadlift high-pull
25 knees-to-elbows
25 kettlebell swings
25 overhead squats, 45lbs
25 calories on the rower
25 ring dips
33 burpees


The fastest time was 11-odd minutes. How fast can you get through this?

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Odd-object cleans


In our style of training we have something called the "CrossFit 9", a series of movements that are the foundation to being proficient and effective in moving and using our bodies. The first series is "standing up": squat, front squat and overhead squat. The second is "going overhead": press, push press and push jerk. The final series is "getting it off the ground": deadlift, sumo deadlift high-pull and medicine ball clean.

Last night we reviewed the third series and worked mostly on the medicine ball clean. The real-world application of this movement is that of taking something off of the ground and safely (and effectively) getting it to the shoulders for support. From then it's carrying the object elsewhere or placing it onto something.

Repitition is key so they did 40 odd-object cleans for time.

Jason 3:24, 16kg kettlebell
Max 4:50, 8lbs dynamax
Tony 3:10, 20kg kettlebell
Linda 3:18, 20lbs medicine ball

Then after two minutes, they were given new objects:

Jason 2:14, 30lbs dumbbell
Max 3:05, 8lbs dynamax
Tony 2:14, 16kg kettlebell
Linda 2:03, 15lbs dumbbell

Monday, November 10, 2008

Nike- shame on you!


Arien O'Connor ran the Nike's Women Marathon and had the fastest time, but wasn't rewarded 1st place because she wasn't in the "Elite" category.

Rival company Reebok came out of and awarded her a bunch of stuff with a trophy with the inscription "Winner and Heroine of Non-Elite Runners Everywhere"

BURN!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Ordering t-shirts

We're now taking orders for t-shirts. To view the styles, sizes and prices available click here. If you are interested in purchasing a t-shirt, contact Tammy (tammy@foundationcrossfit.com) with details on the style and size you want. T-shirts can be paid for with cash or check.

If you have already paid for a t-shirt, please contact Tammy and let her know what size you ordered.


More pictures coming soon!

Sunday, November 2, 2008

This Tuesday


EDIT!

I just realized that the Banya 5/Evening Magazine event is scheduled for NEXT WEEK on Tuesday the 11th. Sorry for the inconvenience.

and then if you're available and free between 12pm and 3pm, Banya 5 will be open and free to anyone wanting to come in! King 5's Evening Magazine will be doing a story so Banya's management has decided to open up its doors to everyone!


Banya 5 (official site)
located in the South Lake Union (map)

271 9th Ave N.
Seattle, WA 98109

(206) 262.1234
Recognize the voice?

info@banya5.com