EARLY BIRDS

We now have a 6am class scheduled Monday through Thursday, so let's review our schedule:

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday:

• 6am
• 9am
• 12pm
• 5:30pm
• 6:30pm

Fridays are "open gym" schedules. Talk to me during the week for details.

YOU MUST RSVP FOR THE CLASS YOU PLAN TO ATTEND AT LEAST 4 HOURS IN ADVANCE. CALL, TEXT OR EMAIL ANDREW.

Triple Extension

It's the body position that most Olympic Lifters and CrossFitters must strike when performing the clean and the snatch. It is defined as full extension of the ankles, knees and hips plus a HUGE shrug of the shoulders. The driving force behind the elevation and upward momentum of the bar (or dumbbells, kettlebells, sandbags, keg, small animals and children, etc). Jump and land, my friends. Jump and land.

Yesterday's 6:30pm class pictured above KILLED IT yesterday. Beautiful (if immature) hang power snatches. There's a bit of arm pull that's happening, but it's because y'all don't trust yourselves and are jumping aggresively enough. It's okay though. You'll get better. We'll all get better!

----

Today's 6am class was a hit. It will be added to the schedule now! Thank Heidi when you see her.

The boss is back in Seattle!

just for the weekend. And guess what?! We're going to keep going with the $125/unlimited classes special for the month of July as well. Lucky you.

WE WILL HAVE A CLASS FRIDAY MORNING @ 6am for you early birds. I'll add the class if the demand is really there.

I want to congratulate each and every one of you who's been so dedicated to building this gym up as well as building your strength and conditioning. Back squats, front squats, overhead squats, push presses, hang power snatches, ring rows- you do it all. Shannon, Max, Paolo, Andrew V. and, of course, we can't forget Winnie. You guys are (unfortunately) becoming the face of the gym..

(That was a joke.)

But really, let's spread the word around Cap Hill. They NEED to know what CrossFit is. They NEED to be in here working with us.

----

Article of the Day:

"FUTURE SELVES"

by Patrick Cummings

I was leaning against the windows of the Walgreens, waiting for the 66 bus to come and bring me to the gym. Evening rush hour was slowing everything down. A young guy was pacing the sidewalk nearby, asking every second or third person if they might donate money to save the children, or the whales, or the trees.

She was a quarter of the way across the street before I saw her. When she stepped off the curb, I’m sure she had the light. But now, as she pushed her walker, the light was changing and a stream of cars could do nothing but watch and wait. Part of me wanted to go over, pick up the old lady and carry her the rest of the way. Every step was progress, but barely.

I admired her persistence, sad that it took her five full minutes to cross the street. I thought it wasn’t as sad as if she couldn’t make it at all, and I thought about a conversation I’d had recently.

I was sitting beneath the judge’s tent at the Northeast Qualifiers, in a beach chair real low to the pavement. A hundred yards away, barbells and bumper plates crashed to the ground. I could hear the pull-up bars shake under the momentum of kips. Rafael lowered himself into the seat next to me.

I don’t remember how we got to talking about it, but eventually he mentioned his father. He said there was no way his father could get in and out of a chair like the ones we were in. He said, “I love my father, but I don’t want to end up like him.”

READ MORE ...

Why yes it does.

FRONT:

BACK:

By popular vote, this will be the new slogan on the back of our first batch of t-shirts. We will be selling two versions -- one with and one without the slogan on the back.

GET YOURS!

----

Good work learning the new stuff being thrown at you. You are all an amazing bunch!

The crew of the "Happy Motherf*ckin' 24th!" WOD

Attack Cardio!

Attack Cardio with Vinnie Jones from Vinnie Jones

This Saturday!

Mr. 1st Place NW Qualifier 2009 is asking Foundation CrossFit if anyone wants to get in on this special fundraising workout on Saturday down at Rainier CrossFit. Let's not be lame. If you don't want to participate in the WOD at least leave a donation at the gym that I can drop off!

When: 20 June 2009

Time: 10 am

Where: Rainier Crossfit (5403 Milwaukee Avenue East, Suite B Puyallup, WA 98372)

Workout:

In teams of 4:

Run 400m

400 shoulder to press (65# women, 95# men)

Run 400m

800 squats

Run 400m

8 rope climbs (2 ladder climbs will equal 1 rope climb)

Run 400m

Each team will be given 2 "jerry" cans that they will carry throughout the workout. A maximum of 2 teams members can do a exercise at a time and the team can not move on to the next exercise until all the repetitions are completed. The "jerry" cans must also not touch the ground at any time during the workout. A 8 burpee penalty will be assessed to each team member each time the "jerry" can touches the ground. Burpees will be done at the end of the workout before "time" is called.

Cost: $8 per person ($32 per team) - all proceeds go to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation (http://www.specialops.org/)

You all want to make our presence more known, right? This is one we can! We have an amazing CrossFit community here in Washington because we all support each other and help one another out. Let's show Cali that we don't f*ck around.

----

We're still taking pre-orders for shirts at the gym. Bring payment in asap to make sure you get one from the first shipment!

• $18 (tax included) for a black tee with our logo on the front.
• $23 (tax included) for a black tee with out logo on the front and a quote on the back.
• $15 for getting our logo printed on your own article of clothing.

We're also selling jerky at the gym now. $2.50 gets you 1.5oz of low-fat protein.

----

17 burpees today! Buy-in is at 153. Daaaaang.

I've also decided that we will only use the day of the month (ie: June 29th = 29, July 14th = 14, August 3rd = 3) for our burpee count and the buy-ins reset each month. Make sense? I hope so- I've had a lot of coffee this morning...

Want one?

FREE for everyone who signs up on our 3-month introductory package! You may also purchase them individually at the gym.

3-MONTH INTRODUCTORY SPECIAL:

GET YOURS!

Brewing something new

Hope you guys had a good weekend!

NO 9am or 12pm class tomorrow (Monday the 15th)! 5:30pm and 6:30pm still on!

REMEMBER TO RSVP TO ANY CLASS YOU PLAN TO ATTEND.

This weekend!

There will be NO Saturday class (June 13th) due to the UW Graduation. Congrats to all the FCFers ending their collegiate careers!

----

We're now taking Foundation CrossFit t-shirt pre-orders! They will be black shirts with the above logo. $18 for the logo in the front. $23 for a logo in the front and a quote on the back. Cash only. Picture mock-ups soon!

----

AOD:

"Are Plastics Safe?" by Mark's Daily Apple

----

At home workout for this weekend:

for time:

enjoy the sun (with a chance of showers)

Don't forget to protect your skin!

No squats today

I promise. Come back to the gym.

DIY training tools

We need to make a bunch of parallettes, a couple of slosh pipes and some sandbags. Maybe even some of these bad boys:

----

It's Beach Body Burpee Bonanza Day 8. Today's buy-in is 36. Better catch up and stay with the dates because the buy in is going to officially be ridiculous soon.

----

Cream vs. Coffee Mate. Vinegar and Oil vs. Fat Free Dressing. Real meat vs. Boca Burgers (and such). Fitness Spotlight breaks down another edition of Real Food vs. Fake Foods.

Introductions

We just finished up with a CrossFit info + workout session. Newcomers are always welcome!

The workout was done at Bobby Morris playfield and it was good times with all the bystanders staring like "What the hell..."

as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of:

5 situps

10 pushups

15 squats

Joe 13 rds + 5, 10

Roz 10 rds + 5

Pam 13 rds + 5, 10

Laura 7 rds + 5, 3

Ricky 11 rds + 5, 10, 14

Jeanelle 7 rds

Tony 14 rds + 1

John 12 rds + 5, 10

Winnie 10 rds + 5, 6

Ek 10 rds + 3

Bryan 11 rds + 5

AJ 8 rds + 5, 10, 4

Plinette 11  rds

Al 8 rds + 5, 5

Kim 8 rds + 5, 10

Melissa 8 rds + 5, 10

Mikey 12 rds + 5, 1

Hope y'all had a blast and will be back in the gym soon!

CrossFit in the Seattle Times

The northwest represent!

CrossFit becomes an international fitness phenom with its brutal online workouts

By Maureen O'Hagan

...

And there's Andrew Bueno. He recently opened his own CrossFit affiliate gym on Capitol Hill, but he was a personal trainer at Gold's Gym when he fell in love with it. Setting out to lure new clients, he began using his lunch breaks as a sort of demonstration project.

"I would do my CrossFit workout to almost show off. It was almost like, drop your jaw in amazement as I do these kettlebell swings," he recalls. "I would start grunting. You're seeing this amazing sweat going on. Then I'm lying on the ground, steaming, gasping for air.

"Some people were like, 'That looks brutal. Can I try?' "

CROSSFIT, IT should be clear by now, can be habit-forming. Even though the WODs usually take less than 20 minutes, there is a tendency for mission-creep. Afficionados spend hours studying the Web site. They post their WOD stats and compete — virtually — with other users.

Read the rest of the article here.

Be sure to leave some comments on the online article. Print edition comes out this Sunday! Pick some up and start showing them off to everyone.

In the hole

Back tight, elbows and chest up, weight in the heels.

Backsquats ftw.

----

Tomorrow is Day 5 of the BEACH BODY BURPEE BONANZA. Buy-in is now at 15 burpees.

FCF's BEACH BODY BURPEE BONANZA

aka The Stay Right Through Summer Challenge.

Starting June 1st until September 1st (2009) Foundation CrossFit will be challenging people to do burpees throughout the summer.

What is a burpee? Well there's no equipment needed- just your body and some room to move.

1. Start in a completely standing position
2. Squat down to put your hands on the ground
3. Kick your feet back so that you are in a plank position (aka the top of a pushup)
4. Do a pushup (you can modify it if you don't possess the strength and do it from your knees!)
5. Jump your feet back in so that you're in the same position as Step 2.
6. Stand up so you're in the same position as Step 1.
7. Jump up at least 6 inches above your highest reach and clap overhead.

Rinse, wash, repeat.



On Day 1 (June 1st) you do one burpee. Day 2 (June 2nd) you do two. Three burpees on Day 3, four on Day 4 and so on and so forth. We will continue to do them until September 1st.

You didn't even need to start on Day 1! You can "buy in" by doing whatever the total burpees from the start was, so for example today is June 4th. You can buy in for ten total burpees (Day 1 + Day 2 + Day 3 + Day 4 = 10). Get it? I'll be posting Day count and Buy-In amount here.

As Max would say: YAY BURPEES! GET YOU SOME.

Dear Strategists

Funny that I had lunch with Ron of King CrossFit yesterday and we discussed how CrossFit trainers actually train which then led into people who strategize each and every CrossFit workout. Low and behold I catch up on San Fransisco CrossFit's blog and Adrian Bozman writes about the same thing!

"Quality"

Much discussion is given about the best way to 'game' certain workouts. With the rise in popularity of events such as the CrossFit Games (and the popularity of CrossFit in general), many people seem to be equating 'best workout' with 'best strategy for a particular workout', instead of best effort put forth on a particular workout.

Let's look at a very basic example, the CF workout 'Helen', which is done for total time:

400m Run
21 Kettlebell Swings
12 Pullups
Repeat 3x

If competition was important to me and I absolutely had to beat Kelly and Angel (it's an ego thing...), I would be reluctant to go too hard on the running as I am a total hack runner. By dogging it on the run, I'll remain relatively fresh for the things I'm already good at, most likely resulting in a lower overall time. This is great if my goal is to beat Kelly and Angel. This is not so great if my goal includes not being lame at things I'm already lame enough at.

Now, knowing that I am a hack runner, what physical improvements to my running do I receive from being a big baby on the run (Hint: lower total time/better score does not always equal direct physical benefit)? How do I expect to become better at running hard and recovering if I never subject myself to that at the very time I should be...in Training! 

And there lies a bit of a disconnect in many people's training. The gaming of workouts has become standard practice for many of us despite the fact that we have no desire to be 'Best CFer On Earth'. Instead, the focus should be 'How can I bring my weak points up?'. The answer is to put forth the best effort possible on the things you are not good at, even if it means you blow up later on. That's what practice is for. Does it really matter if you struggle in training? Will your world end if you don't finish first, but you really give it your all on something that is difficult for you? My guess is that you will find the final product to be much more capable and complete if the stopwatch or scorecard is not your only reference while training. 

Personally, I find that when I start worrying too much about the number on the timer for too many workouts, I train myself out of the ability to put forth a truly max effort: My body (and mind) has been conditioned to hold back for fear of what's next. The timer hides my quality of effort on the things I am reluctant to push. Lately some 'quality of effort' workouts have been turning this tide around. These workouts all include plenty of rest between efforts and each effort is the best I can put forth in that moment. Things like:

-How far can I carry/drag/push that thing?
-How far up the hill at Buena Vista park can I sprint (not run) before I have to stop?
-How many reps can I get (think back squats etc) before I have to rack the bar?
-How many pushups can I make Angel do with a 100lb Sandbag on his back (answer: a lot) 



Now, if competition is your thing and gameday is looming, obviously you do what you need to do inside the rules of competition to maximize your showing. I'm not suggesting that anyone who is gaming or strategizing a workout is not putting forth a good effort, but don't let this mindset invade every aspect of your training. There is a reason that high level athletes of all stripe do not care about winning at every single practice or training camp. They are too busy trying to get better.

The stopwatch is a useful tool, but it is also blind to the quality of the individual effort.



-Adrian 'Faster-Isn't-Always-Better' Bozman

The best example I can think of is when we do "Tabata This!". Everyone who's done the WOD multiple times no longer pushes themselves to the limit- the only people who do are the newbies! The new people are the ones seeing benefit from the intervals, not the veterans. Tabata is defined as "20 seconds of work", but people stop as soon as they hit their number, and have 5 or so seconds left until the rest interval is called. We DO want to see the same number across the board, but ONLY if you're pushing yourself 99% of the time. The same things goes for "Fight Gone Bad" (but that's another story). STOP SANDBAGGING! To increase our work capacity over broad times and modal domains, we have to push it. Really focus, push it to the limit and go further every time. For those previously mentioned workouts, people become too concerned with the numbers and scores and times... I want you to think of failing forward.

"No struggle, no progress"

Remember no 5:30pm or 6:30pm class tonight!

My sister is graduating from college!

So instead I want those who were planning to attend class to go outside and run a 5k (3.1 miles) for time. If can get to Greenlake, run the outside loop.

*EDIT: I didn't know that today is National Running Day. Lucky you! Go run that 5k under 30 minutes. Try staying on the balls of your feet- no heel striking. POSE running ftw!

We're taking pre-orders for t-shirts! The front will display something similar to our business cards.

Do three burpees today. Just three.

----

AOD:

from crossfitoneworld.com:

***************
"Eggs and Bacon"
by freddy c.

What do you eat in the morning? There are so many different ways that people like to start off their day when it comes to breakfast. When I was on the Zone, one of my favorite breakfast meals was some eggs, cheese, and ham in a pita pocket coupled with an apple. I know of a hardcore Crossfitter/Zoner whose breakfast was two Zone bars every morning. Some folks like to eat oatmeal. People are into yogurt with fruit or granola or both. And don't lie to me here... who doesn't love a giant bowl of frosted flakes with milk? They're Greeeaaaat! (Tony the Tiger kicks ass!)

There are just so many breakfast choices out there! The day starts with breakfast. The meal can set the mood for your entire day. A little something to think about before you pick from all those delicious choices. Did you know that eating can make you hungry? Here's the skinny (or the fat if you want to look at it that way). Insulin makes us hungry, particularly for carbohydrates. (Read more here) The more carbohydrates you ingest, the more insulin you produce, and then the more hungry you get. Your purpose for eating is to get full, but in a short time you are feeling hungry again. Your body is craving more carbs! I know this is true for a fact from personal experience. The days that I eat carbs with breakfast jack me up! I am starving again within a few hours. Not only that, I am totally craving more carb loaded meals (bread, french fries, pasta, etc). On days I stick to protein and fats only for breakfast, I stave off that hunger feeling for much longer. Plus, I don't get those crazy carb cravings. I can stick to better choices throughout the day.

So what do you do? Especially, you folks that are Zoning and are totally freaked out about eating the perfectly balanced meal every time grub passes your lips. Nutrition Guru Robb Wolf talks about this issue during the Crossfit Nutrition Certification. You can tweak the Zone, and for those of us not Zoning, take heed to this advice. EAT PROTEINS AND FATS ONLY AT BREAKFAST! The carbs that you skip at breakfast can be added to your post workout snack when your body is best served by those carbs. True, you are not getting the balanced meal that a true Zone seeks for every meal, but in the long run you will be better served performance wise by this little tweak in your diet regimen.

Chosing better at breakfast will dictate how you eat all day long. One of my favorite breakfast meals is four eggs and bacon or sausage (or both) with avocado slices and tomato slices. I am not one to follow any diet totally hardcore. Sometimes, I'll add a half order of french toast and/or hashbrowns to my breakfast. Sometimes I am pressed for time and I will order that bacon breakfast sandwich at Starbucks with my venti black coffee. On anyday that I load those carbs into my breakfast, I ALWAYS have that feeling that I am hungry shortly after eating. Plus, I end up eating more garbage throughout the day to satisfy the cravings that just don't stop. The good news? You are only one meal away from getting yourself back on track.

What do you eat for breakfast? Post your experiences to comments.

***************

What DO you eat for breakfast? I posted this because I eat protein and fat for breakfast- anywhere from 3 to 5 eggs cooked in butter or olive oil. I'll also eat some meat if any is available. Bacon = mmmm.

Y'all know what a "meat cookie" is? (=

Announcing...

THERE WILL BE NO 5:30pm or 6:30pm class tomorrow, Wednesday the 3rd. A workout will be posted for you to do tomorrow morning if you cannot attend any of the earlier classes.

The "GET RIGHT FOR SUMMER CHALLENGE" is over and many have seen tremendous results. Some have seen small changes, but positives ones nonetheless. Others have seen little to no change whatsoever. To the latter portion, we are still here for you. The difference between those who met their goals (and made new ones along the way) and those who didn't was training. They were inside the gym with their fitness comrades and a trainer. An outside eye is what keeps us moving in workouts, prevents bad habits from forming, and motivates us to push ourselves further and harder than we could on our own. Sometimes the fact that you know someone is watching is good enough to get you on your way.

With that said I'm proud to announce our next challenge (you didn't we WEREN'T going to have one, did you?!):

THE BEACH BODY BURPEE BONANZA

aka The Stay Right Through Summer Challenge

Come into the gym for more details. Big thanks to Shannon for coming up with the name! 

If you haven't been in to our new box yet, shoot me an email to schedule an orientation to try us out for a week free.

If you plan on joining our operation, we have some nice discounts for those coming in this month:

3-MONTH INTRODUCTORY SPECIAL - Prepay for 3 months and be the first to receive a free FCF t-shirt when our shipment arrives!

INTRODUCTORY PRICING - Our soft-opening rate for a month of unlimited CrossFit classes.

----

Our goal is to increase work capacity across broad time and modal domains. That means moving large loads long distances quickly. Kind of like this:

DANG.