Mmm Paleo

PaleoRx 2014 started yesterday!

Registration continues through the end of the week, so if you've been on the fence now's your chance! Fix your nutrition. Improve performance. Change your life.

• More info: http://paleorxchallenge.com/
• Register here: http://paleorx2014.foundationcrossfit.com/get-registered/

--
Volume Week Tuesday 4/29

STRENGTH

deadlift 5x3

Go heavier than last week and rest exactly 90 seconds between sets.

CONDITIONING

as many reps as possible in 25 minutes:
70 double unders
60 burpees
50 deadlifts, 61/45kg
40 strict pullups
30 box jumps, 30/24"
ME clusters (full clean + thruster), 61/45kg

Compare and contrast to 18MAR2014, 06MAR2014. Post time to whiteboard/the Cody app.

--

New videos on our YouTube channel!

--

PaleoRx 2014 Details

Plan to hear about this over and over!

Nutrition is important to reaching your goals. Depending on what those goals are determine which paths you can take. As those who continually test work capacity, rest, and recovery, we definitely want to consider how the types of fuel you feed yourself determine how you look, feel, and perform.

For those who are just getting into exercise, those wanting to change body composition (see: lower body fat), improve energy and clarity, and perform better, we suggest the Paleo diet.

If I may quote World Class Fitness in 100 words:

Eat meat and vegetables, seeds and nuts, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that support exercise but not bodyfat.

The paleo diet is simple, but let's remember: simple does not necessarily mean easy.

Instead of focusing on what to rid yourself of, we want you to fill yourself up with more of the good stuff: real foods consisting of quality proteins, fresh leafy greens, monosaturated fats, a handful of fruits, and other vegetables not called carrot, celery, and onion.

Let's try to reset our health through cleaner eating. The challenge starts on Monday, April 28th and ends Sunday, May 25th for a total of four weeks.

click to enlarge!

Registration opens this Saturday and stays open for about a week. Registration is $30 and includes a limited-edition t-shirt.

If you are interested in a more in depth conversation as to what the challenge entails, attend our casual PaleoRx meeting this Saturday April 19th at 12pm, at FCF.

See you all there!

Check out some of our previous nutrition challenges:

• PaleoRx: Eat Real Food (2013)
• Eat Better to Live Better (2012)
• PaleoRx (2011)
• The Summer Bodies Challenge: Look Good Naked (2010)

----

Upcoming Events:

• Friday 5/16 through Sunday 5/18 - CrossFit Games NW Regionals.
• Friday 5/16 - CrossFit Total Nights at CFSLU. 5pm to 8pm.
• Saturday 5/24 - Weightlifting Total at CFSLU. 9am to 11am. 
• Saturday 5/24 - Track Time Trials at TBD. 12pm to 2pm.
• Sunday 5/26 - VERSUS IV: The Reckoning. 10am to 2pm.
• Monday 5/27 - Memorial Day Murph

----
WOD for Max Week Thursday 4/17

ACTIVE RECOVERY

So with the back squats, 100 pullups/30 muscle-ups, sumo deadlifts, hanging leg raises, 1 mile kettlebell rack, and FIGHT GONE BETTER you might be a little beat up.

Come in today for some heavy loaded carries as well as sleds, then test a 1 mile run time trial. Be sure to have proper gear for running in the rain if the weather turns.

Post to whiteboard/the Cody app.

----

----

What's the Best Strategy for Box Jumps?

Bobby B's box jump

With all the strategy/tips that have popped up online for the CrossFit Games Open, most people have more success with the step-up over the box jump, but what about the classic FGB-style workouts?

The actual box jump has been the default (and describes the actual action), but comes with the risk of missing the box, "shinning", swinging your hand into the box, and some injuries to the back, knee, and lower leg (foot, achilles, calf, tib ant, etc.) Think of sports like basketball where there is a high volume of jumping and landing, but form isn't paramount. Along with other reasons, we see injuries to the foot, ankle, and knee. Search around and you can find some great discussions about RGIII's and Kobe's mechanics and why they were both injured.

I was a proponent of the actual jump (since that's what it's called!), but find that the step-up is more efficient, safer, and scores better over longer sets. The box jump is great and can be used if your mechanics are strong, but the risks outweigh the rewards in longer conditioning pieces.

• Perfecting the Box Jump w/ Dr. Kelly Starrett and Carl Paoli - CrossFit Journal
• Exercises You Should Be Doing (Better): Box Jumps - Tony Gentilcore
• Efficiency Tips with Matt Chan - CrossFit Journal
• Step Down If You Like Your Achilles - Tabata Times
• How To Improve Your Box Jumps - The Rx Review

We will introduce a jumping cycle in the middle of summer to build the proper capacities (not just technique, but strength, mechanics, tissue-strength, and more).

What do you think?

----

Upcoming Events:

• Friday 5/16 through Sunday 5/18 - CrossFit Games NW Regionals.
• Friday 5/16 - CrossFit Total Nights at CFSLU. 5pm to 8pm.
• Saturday 5/24 - Weightlifting Total at CFSLU. 9am to 11am. 
• Saturday 5/24 - Track Time Trials at TBD. 12pm to 2pm.
• Sunday 5/26 - VERSUS IV: The Reckoning. 10am to 2pm.
• Monday 5/27 - Memorial Day Murph

----
WOD for Max Week Wednesday 4/16

STRENGTH

push press 7x3. rest exactly 90 seconds between sets.

CONDITIONING

"FIGHT GONE BETTER"

3 rounds for max total reps. 1-minute stations of:
- wall ball, 20/14#
- power snatch, 35/25kg
- box jump, 24/20"
- row (calories)

Post score to whiteboard/the Cody app.

----

PaleoRx 2014: Get It Right, Get It Tight

It’s that time of year for our annual gym wide nutrition challenge! Let's try to reset our health through cleaner eating and check how it affects our performance. This starts on Monday, April 28th and ends Sunday, May 25th for a total of four weeks.

click to embiggen!

The purpose of this challenge is to get you to commit to eating clean for a full four weeks. Its goals: feel better, recover better, rest better, and have a better sense of what you are (or were) eating to nourish your body. You might: change size(s) in clothing, lose weight, gain weight, get frustrated, get excited, become a ‘professional’ chef and/or food photographer. ;)

Registration opens this Saturday, April 19th and closes Friday, April 25th. Registration is $30. If you are interested in a more in depth conversation as to what the challenge entails, attend our casual PaleoRx meeting this Saturday April 19th at 12pm, at FCF.

See you all there!

----

PaleoRx 2013: Deload Week

Jared, Josh, Raul, Leah, Sunnie's back, and Blair

What a great turnout for this past weekend's PaleoRx Iron Chef challenge. So many people brought so many tasty dishes, it was hard to just "taste" them... we went in a finished off all the plates!

A huge thank you to Sarah M for spearheading this challenge, and for Gina P for setting up our event fun!

Remember for those who finished the PaleoRx challenge up until this point, you'll be deloading this week and slowly starting to incorporate other things back into your diet. Take it nice and slow and pay attention to what foods affect you in certain ways.

----
WOD for Skills Week Monday 5/20

STRENGTH

back squat 3x5 (go heavier than last time)

CONDITIONING

for time:
21 power cleans, 61/45kg
42 hand-release pushups
15 power cleans, 61/45kg
30 hand-release pushups
9 power cleans, 61/45kg
18 hand-release pushups

Post times to whiteboard/comments/Cody.

----
Your Practical Guide For Dental Decisions - Whole 9 Life

A lot of folks out there are seeking the optimum diet and the ultimate exercise program in the name of health and longevity. Often, however, these same people have completely neglected their teeth. 

You might as well have eaten that bagel and decided to lift light weights like Gweneth Paltrow. 

Let’s be real! Your mouth is the beginning of your digestive tract, and as you keep your gut healthy, you must also keep the top end (your mouth) healthy as well. As easy as it is to get “leaky gut syndrome,” you can also get a sort of “leaky mouth syndrome” as well.  In dental speak we call this periodontal disease.

Read more below!

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

----

PaleoRx 2013: The Last Week

And it's also max week!

Wrap-up party is THIS SATURDAY!

----
WOD for Max Week Monday 5/13

STRENGTH

establish a back squat 1RM within 15 minutes

CONDITIONING

21-18-15-12-9 reps for time:
power snatch, 35/20kg
toes-to-bar

Compare to 08APR2013. Post max squat and time to whiteboard.

----

----

Kipping T2B

For more of our movement library, check out our YouTube channel! ----
WOD for Thursday 5/2

5 rounds for time:
100m suitcase walk, L
100m suitcase walk, R
15 burpees
15 toes-to-bar

For a spicier workout, try circular t2b. Post time to whiteboard/comments.

----
PaleoRx Mini-Challenge #2: Eat Breakfast!

See if you can make a meal the with following macronutrient ratio! Check out the details here!

----

Paleo Burger to Help Out Lifelong AIDS Alliance!

Blue Moon's Paleo Burger

Dining Out for Life is this Thursday and Blue Moon Burgers has a paleo burger. AND they're donating 30% to the Lifelong AIDS Alliance! (via Cheryl C)

• Mini-Challenge #1 - PaleoRx
• Journal your food log here

----
WOD for Max Week Wednesday 4/24

STRENGTH

establish within 20 minutes:
deadlift 5RM

CONDITIONING

as many reps as possible in 7 minutes:
wall ball, 20" to 10'/14# to 9'

Post results to whiteboard/comments.

----
Element of Health: Food As Fuel - PaleoRx

----

It's Back

We have our next nutrition challenge starting in less than two weeks!

PaleoRx 2013 will be a challenge to tweak the way we fuel our bodies. Nutrition is the foundation to performance. If you eat like crap, you'll feel like crap. Our goal is to instill better habits.

Nutrition can a touchy subject, sometimes escalating the seriousness of politics or religion. This Saturday at 10am we'll meet for an Informational Session at CrossFit SLU. We'll discuss the finer points of the challenge and help to prepare for success. We will summarize everything and release the info on the blog after.

This challenge is open to anyone willing to participate and change their lives and CrossFit performance.

----
WOD for Wednesday 4/10

STRENGTH

deadlift 5x5

CONDITIONING

for time:
800m run
50 dips
800m run
50 dips
800m run

Post results to whiteboard.

----
SISU!

----

Download the PDF of the PaleoRx Week 3 Newsletter!

Compliance winners this week are Helene and Darcia who win some incredible Pyrex sets!

----

WOD

for max load:
1RM split jerk

compare to 02MAY2011.

Post results to comments!

----

----

Dinner & Sleep

Want to win something?


Mini-Challenge #4: BEST DINNER RECIPE!

Bison and Kale courtesy Steve Paleo

This week's challenge is simple. Give us your best dinner main-dish recipe that you've created this week. (If you want to include a side dish or other items, feel free to.) This means you actually have to make it, not just post a recipe you've found off the internet!

How to participate:

• Create or look up a new Paleo main-dish dinner recipe. It can be original or a slight tweak of an existing recipe. These recipes must be new and not already posted.
• Provide recipe and directions.
• Take a photo of your masterpiece to prove you actually made it!

Recipes due this coming Monday at 2pm! Prizes will be awarded to ALL that follow the instructions and submit!

----

WOD

The "SF CRIPPLER"

for time:
30 back squats, 100/60kg
1000m row

Use whichever squat style you prefer.

Post results to comments!

----

Why sleep?

It seems like a simple question, but the answer is both complex and unanswered.   So lets break down what we do know.

Two basic processes make us sleep.  The first is our circadian drive that keeps the master time for our body.  In simple terms, the circadian clock is our body’s watch that tells us what time of day it is.

The second is our homeostatic drive that is our stopwatch for how long we have been awake.  When you wake up in the morning your homeostatic drive to sleep is at zero and counts up from there until you go to sleep again.

Our circadian drive to be awake fluctuates across our 24-hour day, with the least wake pressure during the night and the most wake drive during daylight hours.  In contrast, our homeostatic sleep pressure builds from the time we wake up until we sleep again.

Below is a diagram depicting how the sleep process (S; homeostatic pressure) and circadian process (C) are thought to work together under normal conditions.  Process S steadily rises from waking until you go to sleep and then falls.  Process C naturally oscillates across the 24 hour period helping us to both fall asleep at night and wake us up in the morning.  When these two independent process are coordinate they work to help us sleep.  For example, we naturally fall asleep when our circadian pressure to be awake is low and our homeostatic pressure for sleep is high.  Waking up naturally is a combination of circadian timing that it is time to wake up, as well as homeostatic pressure being relieved from the night of sleep.

Have you ever pulled an all nighter?  During an all nighter our homeostatic pressure continues to build because we don’t relieve it by sleeping.  But the next day, assuming we can’t sleep until the following evening, our circadian drive kicks in.  By 10am-12pm you probably felt relatively alert, although sleepy.  That is your circadian drive overriding the homeostatic pressure to sleep by exerting its own time of day pressure to tell your body ‘Daytime! Time to be up’.

Read more on the PaleoRx website!

----

New merchandise!

Our new summer edition FCF tshirts are in! Get your tri-blend apparel at the gym now!

Enjoy everything you love about the fit, feel and durability of a vintage T-shirt, in a brand new version.

• Tri-Blend (50% Polyester / 25% Cotton / 25% Rayon) construction
• Polyester retains shape and elasticity; Cotton lends both comfort and durability; addition of Rayon makes for a unique texture and drapes against the body for a slimming look
• Durable rib neckband
• Fits slimmer than the Teal, Army and Eggplant run of shirts!
• "BE EPIC" printed in large on the back!

- $20 for coffee tees and tanks

- $20 for athletic blue tees and tanks
- We accept cash, check or we can charge your accounts

Get yours before we're all out again!

----

Attention! If your name is:

• Juli F
• Gary E
• Bryan D
• Todd G
• Amy C
• Rebecca S
• Mark G 

You have been selected as winners as part of the PaleoRx registration mini-challenge. (Every 15th registration is a winner!) Your prize: a free summer edition t-shirt or tank top! Thanks for participating in the PaleoRx Challenge, and we look forward to awarding many more mini-challenge winners in the coming weeks!

Registration is LIVE

We're just putting the finishing touches on the Nutrition Challenge!

If you plan to participate in the challenge that starts this coming Monday, REGISTER HERE NOW. And think about the Goals you would like to achieve in the next six weeks. We will be asking for detailed Goals!

For starters, here are some of the basic details.

Prior to the challenge:

• Register online. $30 enables eligibility to win prizes throughout the challenge, as well as getting your very own limited-edition Paleo RX t-shirt!
• Take a "Before" picture. You can do this on your own or at the box. It will only be seen by you and by judges.
• Participate in some benchmark WODs at the beginning and end of the challenge to gauge improvement.

During the challenge:

• EAT REAL FOOD!
• Log your daily food intake and scores.
• Motivate each other to eat better, go farther, push harder, laugh, smile, etc.
• Win prizes for eating according to our guidelines, and winning our weekly mini-challenges!

At the conclusion of the challenge:

• Take an "After" picture and compare it to the "Before"- see and feel the difference.
• Repeat the benchmark workouts.
• Feel awesome that you made it and accomplished much.
• Have your rad body ready just in time for the summer solstice on June 17th

Questions, comments and concerns about the challenge? Email challenge@foundationcrossfit.com!

----

WOD

"OOPS."

for time:
10 chest-to-bar pullup
20 wall climbs
3 laps around the block
40 knees-to-elbows
50 jumping pullups
60 lunges
7 hills
80 lunges
90 box jumps, 24/18"
100 squats

SupeRx = 10 muscle-ups and 20 wall climb handstand pushups.

Post results to comments.

----

Navy SEALs Hardcore Workout - The Daily Beast

The workout methodology described within sounds eerily familiar, no? We train for life, not fads.

----