Friday, December 31, 2010
Happy New Year!
I look forward to another incredible year for Centurion CrossFit Fort Hood – from the certs we have lined up in the spring, to having athletes compete at Sectionals, watching this years Games, having our own sanctioned CrossFit competition – the possibilities are endless; the one thing I do know, is it will be a great ride!
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Wednesday
Back Squat
Shoulder Press
Power Clean
Warm up with 50% of your 1 rep max then use 85% of your 1 rep max for your final lift of each.
Tuesday 28 December 2010
5 Rounds for Time:
8 Chest to Bar Pullups
8 Ring Dips
10 Overhead Squat (95/65)
10 Toes to Bar
15 Situps
CF Endurance WOD ( 3 hours later):
choose ONE of the following sports for a
20 minute AMRAP
SWIM: 50m, rest 30 sec
BIKE: 1/4 mile, rest 30 sec
ROW: 200m, rest 30 sec
complete as many rounds as possible in the 20 minutes, rest periods included.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
MONDAY 27 Dec
For the Long Weekend
1. "Invisible Fran" 21-15-9 of Air Squats and Pushups for time
2. Run 800m, 50 Air Squats, 3 Rounds for time
3. "Michael" 3 Rounds of 800m run, 50 back ext (sub good mornings) & 50 situps
4. Sprint 100 m, Walk 100 m: 10 rounds for time
5. 100 Burpees for time or 150 Burpees for Time
6. Run a mile (or two if you'd like), doing 10 pushups on the minute every minute.
7. Prison Rules: 20 Burpees, walk 15 feet, 19 Burpees, walk 15 feet, 18....down to 1 burpee.
8. 150 Pushups for time. Push until you cannot maintain form, then rest by running 400 meters before continuing to execute pushups with proper form. Repeat the run as necessary.
and don't forget two of my favorites:
9. "Griff"
Run 800 m
Run 400 m Backward
Run 800 m
Run 400 m Backward
10. For time: 400 m Walking Lunge
Note: Don't forget your warm up, cool down, and mobility exercises!
Merry Christmas!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Wednesday 22 December
DEADLIFTS:
5-5-5-5-5
Rest 5-10 minutes, then:
12 minute AMRAP:
20 GHD's or Situps
15 Kettlebell Swings (55/35)
10 Pushups
Monday, December 20, 2010
Holiday Hours/Changes
The Functional Fitness Gym will be open from 1100-2100 Monday - Wednesday and closed Thursday-Sunday for this week and next (December 20-31).
Class times are:
Ladies' at 1100 Mon-Wed
1200 and 1730 CrossFit Mon-Wed
NOTE:
**There will be no CrossFit Kids Class during these two weeks.
** Foundations will be held Monday 20 Dec and Monday 27 Dec from 1100-1300.
We will resume our normal schedule the first week of January 2011.
Happy Holidays!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Monday
9 Deadlifts (135/95)
6 Power Cleans
3 Squat Cleans to Overhead AKA a "Cluster"
This workout is to be done with the same weight throughout.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
FRIDAY
.....oh, you'll have to come WOD tomorrow to receive your "gift".
Remember to come in Christmas spirit!!!!
Your Kid's School Lunch Sucks!
Year of mystery meat: Blogger eats school lunch every day http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/
Blame it on the bagel dog
If not for that sad excuse for an entree, the blogger known as Mrs. Q might never have gotten so disgusted with school lunches that she decided to show the world how bad they are. She never would have eaten, photographed and blogged about 160 elementary-school lunches — one per school day for the past year. She never would have attracted the attention of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and food activist Marian Nestle.
And Mrs. Q (who hides her identity to protect her job) might have gone on thinking that school lunch is “just food.” Instead, she told TODAYshow.com, “I have learned that food is personal, food is life, food is health.”
She has eaten more Salisbury steak and chicken nuggets than any adult should have to endure — and chronicled the culinary highs and lows on her blog, Fed Up With School Lunch. Her experience has pushed her into the spotlight, made her an activist, and totally transformed the way her family eats.
The fatal bagel dog
But back to that bagel dog: Mrs. Q, who works at a Chicago-area public school, forgot her lunch one day, so she bought the bagel dog at the cafeteria. She figured: How bad can it be?
Turns out: Really bad.
“It was this massive amount of dough covering a hot dog, plus tater tots and a fruit cup. And I thought, ‘This is it?’ ” Mrs. Q recalled.
She looked at her students, most of whom rely on government-subsidized free lunches at school. The bagel dog that turned her stomach would be, for many, the best meal of their day.
That December, she got the idea for the blog. Her husband told her she was crazy; they have a young son who seemed to be constantly sick, and the last thing she needed to add to her plate was a daily food blog.
Mrs. Q agreed — and yet, she couldn’t shake the idea.
“I thought, someone needs to know about this,” she told TODAYshow.com. “You know when you have a thought and it just simmers in your head?”
The year of eating dangerously
So on the first day of school last January, she made her way to the cafeteria with the kids. Since that day, her commitment to eat lunch there every day has been tested by the prepackaged peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich that literally made her sick; by the monotony of processed, spongy meat patties; and by fears of being found out and losing her job.
Mrs. Q had blogged before — a personal blog that was read by an audience of two: her mom and her sister. But two weeks after she started the lunch blog, a mention by famed food writer and activist Marion Nestle prompted her traffic to soar into the hundreds, and then the thousands.
“That was really, really terrifying,” she said.
But she stuck with the blog. Day after day, patty after patty, she ate and she blogged, and began to find her voice: Her initial just-the-facts descriptions of gross meals evolved into funny stories about the kids at school and personal musings about food. She learned to drink the juice from the bottom of her fruit cup, just as the kids did. She learned to love cafeteria pizza; then she got sick of it; then she loved it again.
Mrs. Q learned to love cafeteria pizza — sometimes. Her blog readers followed along raptly. And then one called her the poster child for school lunch reform.
Mrs. Q hadn’t even realized there was a school lunch reform movement: She describes herself as a don’t-rock-the-boat, follow-the-rules kind of person. But her experiment was causing her to question the rules of school lunches: What is in these chicken nuggets, anyway? Why serve chocolate milk instead of regular milk? Why don’t kids get more time to eat? Is a certain student’s short attention span due to poor nutrition?
Slowly but surely, she came to believe she had a moral imperative to try to make school lunches better.
“I’ve turned into a person I wouldn’t have recognized a year ago,” she said. “It has really made me think that food is so vital to kids. I don’t think people realize how important the school lunch is to these children.”
Food for thought
Mrs. Q’s blog benefited from good political timing: School lunches have been in the spotlight as Congress debated reauthorizing the Child Nutrition Act. The law, signed by President Obama on Monday, will add 6 cents to school lunch reimbursements and will expand eligibility for free and reduced-price lunches for kids — not as much as lunch-reform supporters hoped for, but still hailed as a victory by many in the movement.
Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University and author of “What To Eat,” was pleasantly surprised this week to hear that Mrs. Q had stuck with her school lunch blog.
“Good for her,” Nestle told TODAYshow.com. “I thought she was courageous to take this on.” However, she added, “If this is what it takes to convince people that food has something to do with health or even feeling better, we nutritionists have our work cut out.”
Mrs. Q almost didn’t do the lunch blog because of concerns it would take too much time away from her son, now 2, who suffered from chronic ear infections and colds when she started the project. But, ironically, he’s been the one to benefit most. As she wrote and thought more about food, and communicated with commenters on her blog, she realized her son’s health problems might be related to what he was eating. She cut out gluten and dairy from his diet, and his health improved dramatically. ..“I wouldn’t have made those connections if I had not done this blog. I’ve seen a complete change in my son,” she said.
She and her husband are eating differently, too: “I would never have thought of feeding my family quinoa. It sounded too hippie. Now I like it.”
Mrs. Q is eagerly looking forward to bringing her lunch from home when school starts up again — she says she’ll never eat another chicken nugget in her life. But she does plan to keep blogging.
After a year of school lunches, it seems, both she and her audience are still hungry for more.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Thursday
3-3-2-2-1-1
Rest
21-15-9
Box jumps (24/20)
Wall Balls (20/14)
KB Swings (55/35)
200m Run
If you are recovering from......say a SHIN injury.....do step ups vs jumps and row 250m vs run.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Wednesday
21 Squat Cleans (95/65)
42 Back extensions*
15 Squat Cleans (95/65)
30 Back Extensions*
9 Squat Cleans (95/65)
18 Back Extensions*
*Sub: Good mornings 45#
Monday, December 13, 2010
Tuesday
3-3-2-2-1-1
Rest 5-10 minutes
"Nancy"
5 Rounds for time:
400m run
15 Overhead squats (95/65)
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Monday December 13, 2010
5 Rounds of:
25 Kettlebell Swings (#55/35)
7 Push Press (#135/95)
30 Double Unders
Saturday, December 11, 2010
4 Truths of Centurion CrossFit Fort Hood
- Humans are more important than hardware.
- Quality is better than quantity.
- Special Operations Forces cannot be massed produced.
- Competant Special Operations Forces cannot be created after emergencies occur.
At Centurion CrossFit Fort Hood there are also 4 Truths:
- Quality is better than quantity.
- Capable CrossFit trainers cannot be massed produced.
- Proper CrossFit kit is an enhancer but not a limitation in
programming. - Experience wins over theory.
I cannot recall if I posted this previously but it's an article about our Fight Gone Bad event here in Iraq: http://sportsgrants.org/blog/archives/176
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Friday
"Mr Joshua"
5 rounds for time:
400m Run
30 GHD Sit ups
15 Deadlifts (250/175)
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Thursday
Front Squats
3-3-3-3-3
Rest 5-10
For time
7 Rounds:
7 Thrusters (75/55)
7 Pull ups
7 Burpees
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Wednesday
"DEUS EX MACHINA"
400m run or row
30 Wall Balls (20/14)
15 Pullups
400m run or row
30 Box jumps (24/20)
15 KB swings (55/35)
400m run or row
30 Wall Balls
15 Pullups
400m run or row
30 Box jumps
15 KB Swings
Monday, December 6, 2010
Tuesday
Onto the WOD...
Backsquat
3-3-2-2-1-1
Rest 5-10 minutes
AMRAP in 12 minutes
5 Push Press (half your body weight)
10 Push-ups
15 GHD Sit ups or Knees to Elbows
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Monday
50 Double Unders
10 Burpees
40 Double Unders
10 Burpees
30 Double Unders
10 Burpees
20 Double Unders
10 Burpees
10 Double Unders
10 Burpees
Gary Taubes' Blog
Gary Taubes, author of Good Calories, Bad Calories has a blog now! If you want excellent, unbiased, nutrition information based on science, Gary Taubes is your man. His new book, Why We Get Fat will be published on 28 Dec and it will be worth reading.
Click the blog title to go to his blog and the link has also been added to our nutrition page links.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Affiliate Update
Centurion CrossFitters,
I just wanted to take a moment to get everyone caught up on happenings at the affiliate.
For those of you seeking some additional skills, we have the following certs lined up:
CrossFit Endurance Cert: This cert will be April 16th & 17th – for detailed info, go to: http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/specialty_certs.html and click the “Endurance” tab at the top. The cost is $595 but military personnel receive a $100 discount. The link to register is at the top left of the blog
Goal Setting and Positive Self Talk Seminar: This seminar will be 30 April – for detailed info, go to: http://crossfitamundson.com/?page_id=1827 this seminar is free!!
Olympic Weightlifting Certification: I am still coordinating with Coach B regarding the date for this cert; we are shooting for sometime in the spring. For detailed info, go to: http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/specialty_certs.html and click the “Olympic Lifting” tap at the top of the page
Movement and Mobility Certification: I am currently coordinating with Kelly and Juliet Starrett for this cert. Kelly is booked through April and is awaiting the dates for Regionals and the CrossFit Games to be announced before scheduling beyond April. Once they are announced, he will begin scheduling again and we are in the queue.
CrossFit Level 1 Cert: I am currently talking to Dave Castro at CFHQ regarding hosting a Level 1. We will announce the date, once it’s been finalized. I am shooting for late spring.
Reebok partnership/sponsorship of CrossFit, the CrossFit Games and CrossFit athletes –
Some of you may have heard about this already but if not, here is what I know regarding this development:
On November 13th at the CrossFit Endurance workshop, Greg Glassman announced a 10-year deal between CrossFit HQ and Reebok (which is owned by Adidas); I have heard that this is a $150 million deal. Please see the embedded video above. Here are some addition details of this announcement.
Did Reebok buy CrossFit? No. This is a partnership and CrossFit retains brand control. Our affiliate is not going to suddenly become a Reebok CrossFit affiliate. From my perspective, this is an outstanding development and will only lead to great things for our community. The deal was made with Reebok because they are CrossFitters and love CrossFit. When CrossFit blows up nationally and now you don't have to try to explain to your neighbors, family, and friends what you do, and you're suddenly not the voice crying in the night with that "whacky" fitness cult, but you're one of the early adopters of THE fitness paradigm.
For the Games, the athletes, and us as spectators, this is awesome thing. The Games will now have $1 million in prize money, the ability to use the venue in any manner; build whatever is required to ensure the WODs continue to test the limits of fitness. This will also hasten a major TV deal bringing even more attention to the Games, CrossFit, affiliates and healthy lifestyles – this can only benefit the community.
The below is from Jimi Letchford from CFHQ regarding the deal:
1. Affiliates that Reebok supports will be owner/operators just like the rest of us.
Reebok's goal is to put a box adjacent to all their major offices (starting outside the U.S.) where CrossFit boxes are not thick:
1. Germany
2. Netherlands
3. India
4. UK
5. Spain
6. Japan
7. Chile
8. France
9. Italy
10. South Korea
11. Sweden
12. Russia
13. Poland
14. Mexico
15. China
The intent is to immerse their employees in a CrossFit lifestyle. Reebok understands that they can't be an authentic fitness brand unless they truly know what we do day-to-day. (NOTE: The only difference with these boxes will be a crossfitreebokcityname.com URL. They will be owned/operated by regular applicants. Not Reebok.)
Reebok's Execs are CrossFitters. The last thing they want to do is effect the Affiliate Community in a negative way. They are VERY sensitive to this situation. Their intent is to add value to everything that Affiliates are currently doing in their respective regions.
Reebok is NOT looking to get into the box-building business. To reiterate from above, there is no revenue in these boxes for them because of the owner/operator relationship of the actual Affiliate.
As an Affiliate, I'm excited about the visibility Reebok will bring to what we do every day. We all know that the more people know about CrossFit, the better we all do. "A Rising Tide Lifts All Ships."
The CrossFit Games:
The Games season is fast approaching and here is what I know so far:
The Games will once again be held at the Home Depot Center in LA. With Rebook’s involvement you can expect the venue to be used to its maximum! We plan to drive out there and attend in person this year so if you want to road trip with us, let us know!
Sectionals will be done via video submission. I know this takes some of the fun and spirit out of Sectionals but there is a potential solution. Dave and I were talking and he suggested we just have our own “Sectionals” at the box. So everyone that wants to compete for a slot comes out one day, we are all set up with video cameras and timers and they hit the WODs with our own crowd supporting them. We could also look at seeing if CrossFit Cedar Park and CrossFit Cen Tex would like to join us – let me know what you think.
Online qualification begins in March and will run for 6 weekends; much like Sectionals last year.
The Affiliate Team:
In order for us to field an affiliate team all individuals wishing to be on the team will have to compete in the online qualifiers to qualify their team for Regionals. What does this mean? It means that we have to bust our ass during the online qualifier WODs and hope our times are good enough that we can field an affiliate team. I truly believe we have the athletes to field at least one team. Once we have qualified, we will go to Regionals at GSX CrossFit in Fort Worth and compete for a slot to the Games.
Since the online qualifiers begin in March, I have contacted ACEP and see if they can begin working with prospective athletes in January – details to follow.
I have already begun thinking about the programming for Games preparation and will begin working it this weekend. I will put together 8+ weeks for the Games athletes that will be similar to last year’s but with a few tweaks. Between now and then, establish all your 1 rep maxes on lifts and know them, as a great deal of strength training will be based on percentages of that number.
Please post thoughts, ideas, etc to the comments on this post and don’t hesitate to email me!
Don
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Friday
Already everyone, grab your ugliest Christmas sweater and clear your calendar for a WOD on December 17th!!!! It doesn't have to be a sweater....a Christmas hat, socks, long underwear, etc. will do. Let's make this WOD super tacky and festive!!!!
Now onto Friday's WOD.....
In 10 minutes: Find your one rep max of Clean and Jerk
Rest 5-10 Minutes
AMRAP in 12 minutes:
7 Clusters* (95/65)
7 GHD Sit ups or Knees to Elbows
*Cluster is a combination of a squat clean (off the floor) into a thruster. The bar must touch the floor between each rep. Enjoy!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Thursday
Now onto the WOD....
AMRAP in 20 minutes:
5 Push Press (135/95)
10 Pull ups
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
HOLIDAY SCHEDULE
Class Schedule (20 Dec-30 Dec)
1100 Ladies CrossFit
1200 CrossFit
1300 CrossFit Kids on Tuesday and Thursday
1730 CrossFit
Foundations Class will be held on Monday 20 December and Monday 27 December from 1100-1300. Stop by the gym to sign up or email: victoria.wolford@us.army.mil.
Harvey Gym hours will be from 0800-1900 Mon-Wed, 10-1800 on Thursdays and Closed on 24 and 31 December. Any questions? Please email Victoria at the email address above.
WEDNESDAY 1 DECEMBER 2010
For Time:
Row 2000 meters*
21 Overhead Squats (115/85)
12 Burpees
Row 1000 meters
15 OHS
9 Burpees
Row 500 meters
9 OHS
6 Burpees
* If you don't have access to a rower, substitute running: 500 m Row = 400 m Run
CrossFit Manifesto
From the CrossFit main page, 1 Jan 2004 -
Regimens built from functional exercises at high intensity and constantly varied structure -
- Produce a superior cardiorespiratory adaptation
- Are essential to fitness and health
- Constitute the most effective rehabilitation from injury
- Comprise the only truly safe protocols
- Elicit an inordinate neuroendocrine response
- Are singularly unique in developing core strength
- Yeild unparalleled general physical preparedness or fitness
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
TUESDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2010
20 Minute AMRAP:
200m Run
21 Sumo Deadlift High Pull (95/65)
15 Pullups
MONDAY 29 November 2010
Today's WOD:
Three Rounds for Time:
15 foot rope climb, 5 ascents
21 Ring Dips
50 Squats
At Harvey Gym, substitute 15 pullups in place of the rope climbs
FRIDAY 26 November
In between your shopping sprees, the gym will be open from 1000-1700:
Overhead Squats:
3-3-3-3-3
Rest 5 minutes, then:
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Ring Dips
Burpees
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
If you lack specific equipment needed for the wod below, feel free to substitute what you can (ie. run instead of row, HSPU's...etc. Almost every bodyweight exercise can be done at home.)
"TABATA THIS!"
20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest (4 min. ea. round)
Tabata Row (or run), Rest 1 minute
Tabata Squat, Rest 1 minute
Tabata Pull-up, Rest 1 minute
Tabata Push-up, Rest 1 minute
Tabata Situp, Rest 1 minute
Have fun!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Thanksgiving Holiday Gym Hours
Thursday, 25 November, the gym will be CLOSED for Thanksgiving.
Friday, 26 November, the gym will be OPEN from 1000-1700 (standard training holiday hours). We will NOT have a Foundations Class this Friday, but the 1200 class will still be conducted.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Monday, November 22, 2010
Tuesday
Shoulder Press
3-3-3-3-3
Rest 5 Minutes
For time:
7 Rounds
7 Overhead Squats (115/85)
7 Burpees
Looks delish! Enjoy, my fine fellow CrossFitters!!!
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
Nutrition Seminar!!
Our nutrition seminar will be this Saturday from 12:00 - 2:00. Just meet at the box and we will walk over to the classroom.
Your input will be invaluable; we are test driving this and want it to be beneficial to all our athletes so please give us some feedback and ask lots of questions - we want as much interaction as possible.
Once the seminar is over, will will have a short but fun team WOD outside so bring your water and workout clothes!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Friday
Friday's WOD.....
Clean and Jerk (Push or Split)
3-3-3-3-3
Rest 5-10 minutes
AMRAP in 5 minutes of
5 Clusters (95/65).....think Clean + Thruster
10 GHD or Knees to Elbows
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Thursday
For time:
"G.I. Jane"
100 Burpee Pull Ups
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Wednesday
"Nasty Girls"
For time:
3 Rounds
50 Air Squats
7 Muscle Ups*
10 Hang Power Cleans
*If you do not have a MU yet the ratio is 3:3 pullups and dips. The athlete MUST only do THREE reps at a time. Ex: 3 pullups+3 dips= 1st Muscle up, 3 pullups + 3 dips= 2nd muscle up, etc. All 21 pullups and dips WILL NOT be performed together.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Tuesday
3-3-3-3-3
Rest 5 Minutes
AMRAP in 7 minutes:
10 Back squats (95/65)
10 Overhead Lunges (45/25)
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Monday
5 Rounds
5 Deadlifts (135/95)
5 Hang Power Cleans
5 Front Squats
5 Push Press
**The entire WOD will be done with the SAME weight, scale as needed**
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Friday
The only WOD will be at Harvey at 12:00.
Foundations class will be at the Wellness center from 11-1.
For time:
3 Rounds
15 Hang Power Cleans (135/95)
15 Burpees
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Veteran's Day
On Veterans Day 2008, Centurion CrossFit Fort Hood had its first post on its blog and went active as a CrossFit affiliate. Below is that same post. It is just as relevant now.
I honor of Veterans Day, we will be taking the day off from training. Your WOD instead will be to find a veteran and thank them for their service to this great nation - 3, 2, 1....GO!
In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…"
The original concept for the celebration was for a day observed with parades and public meetings and a brief suspension of business beginning at 11 a.m.
The United States Congress officially recognized the end of World War I when it passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926.An Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday - - a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as "Armistice Day."
Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I, but in 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the Nation’s history; after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting in its place the word "Veterans." With the approval of this legislation (Public Law 380) on June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.
Later that same year, on October 8th, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first "Veterans Day Proclamation" which stated: "In order to insure proper and widespread observance of this anniversary, all veterans, all veterans' organizations, and the entire citizenry will wish to join hands in the common purpose. Toward this end, I am designating the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs as Chairman of a Veterans Day National Committee, which shall include such other persons as the Chairman may select, and which will coordinate at the national level necessary planning for the observance. I am also requesting the heads of all departments and agencies of the Executive branch of the Government to assist the National Committee in every way possible." (Click here for the full text of the proclamation.)
On that same day, the President sent a letter to the Honorable Harvey V. Higley, Administrator of Veterans' Affairs (VA), designating him as Chairman of the Veterans Day National Committee. (Click here for the text of President Eisenhower’s letter.)
In 1958, the White House advised VA's General Counsel that the 1954 designation of the VA Administrator as Chairman of the Veterans Day National Committee applied to all subsequent VA Administrators. Since March 1989 when VA was elevated to a cabinet level department, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs has served as the committee's chairman.
The Uniforms Holiday Bill (Public Law 90-363 (82 Stat. 250)) was signed on June 28, 1968, and was intended to insure three-day weekends for Federal employees by celebrating four national holidays on Mondays: Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Columbus Day. It was thought that these extended weekends would encourage travel, recreational and cultural activities and stimulate greater industrial and commercial production. Many states did not agree with this decision and continued to celebrate the holidays on their original dates.
The first Veterans Day under the new law was observed with much confusion on October 25, 1971. It was quite apparent that the commemoration of this day was a matter of historic and patriotic significance to a great number of our citizens, and so on September 20th, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed Public Law 94-97 (89 Stat. 479), which returned the annual observance of Veterans Day to its original date of November 11, beginning in 1978. This action supported the desires of the overwhelming majority of state legislatures, all major veterans service organizations and the American people.
Veterans Day continues to be observed on November 11, regardless of what day of the week on which it falls. The restoration of the observance of Veterans Day to November 11 not only preserves the historical significance of the date, but helps focus attention on the important purpose of Veterans Day: A celebration to honor America's veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.
Thursday
For time:
150 Burpees
No folks, I don't make this stuff up! This is an honest to God WOD, promise. Now go and burpee away!!!! Post your times to the comments below.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Wednesday
5 Rounds
25 Kettlebell swings (2 pood/1.5 pood)
25 GHD Sit Ups*
25 Back Extensions*
25 Knees to Elbows
* Subs for GHD and Back Extensions: Sit Ups and Good Mornings
Monday, November 8, 2010
Study finds worst fast food meals for kids
Dairy Queen, Taco Bell and KFC among the worst when it comes to nutrition
Despite promises from fast-food chains to change the way they market their meals to children, kids now see more ads for fast food than ever, researchers say.
And once children are in a restaurant, unhealthy foods overshadow healthy ones on the menu. In most cases, unhealthy foods such as french fries automatically come as sides with a meal, rather than the more healthy options, such as apples, that are shown in commercials.
The researchers would like to see healthy foods and beverages become the default options for kids' meals, and would like fast-food advertising aimed at children to be regulated in ways that make a real impact, said study researcher Marlene Schwartz, the deputy director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University.
Such attention to fast-food content and advertising is important considering that every day, about one-third of American children are eating a fast-food meal, she said.
Sad news: Happy Meal ban won't stop kid obesity.."It’s a huge source of meals for kids, and that’s why we feel they need to be really looked at more carefully."
Advertising to kids
In recent years, fast-food restaurants such as McDonald's have pledged to advertise more foods that are "better for you" to children under 12, abiding by their pledge to uphold Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative launched in 2006 by the Council of Better Business Bureaus.
But the researchers found the volume of fast-food ads children are seeing is increasing. And often, children are exposed to ads during TV programs, such as "American Idol," not considered to be kids' shows. These ads are not subject to any special regulation.
In 2009, preschoolers saw 21 percent more ads for McDonald's and 9 percent more for Burger King than in 2007, the researchers said. Preschoolers now watch three fast-food ads per day on average, and children ages 6 to 11 see three-and-a-half on average, they said.
Ads aimed at preschoolers focus on building brand loyalty rather than touting healthy foods, the researchers said. Websites such as McDonalds’ Ronald.com are specifically targeted to preschoolers. The researchers used data from The Nielsen Company, comScore, Inc. and Arbitron Inc. to measure children's exposure to fast-food ads and marketing.
This advertising is proving effective in getting kids into restaurants. Online surveys found 40 percent of kids ages 2 to 11 ask their parents to take them to McDonald’s at least once a week, and 84 percent of parents report giving in to this request at least once a week, the researchers said.
And while some argue parents should learn to refuse their children's desires for fast food, "As a society, do we think it’s a good idea for unhealthy products to be marketed directly to children, and constantly put parents in a position of having to say no?" Schwartz said.
"What parents really need is for restaurants to really support their efforts to have their kids eat healthy foods, not undermine them by going directly to the children," she told MyHealthNewsDaily.
Inside the restaurant
The study also found that on fast-food menus, healthy options are relegated to the sidelines.
When researchers went into 250 fast-food restaurants across the country, they found that 86 percent of the time, french fires were served with kids' meals, and 55 percent of the time, soft drinks were served, rather than healthier options such as apple slices or milk.
They also examined the calories, sugar, fat and sodium content of thousands of kids' meal combinations in 12 of the largest fast-food chains in the U.S.
Out of the 3,039 possible combinations, only 12 met standards set by the Institute of Medicine for school lunches for preschoolers, and only 15 met the standards for older kids. Most meals also contained at least half of the maximum recommended daily amount of sodium.
The best meal combination, in terms of meeting nutrition criteria, was the Subway Veggie Delite sandwich with wheat bread and no cheese, a side of apple slices and apple juice as a drink, the researchers said. This meal has 285 calories, and 295 milligrams of sodium.
In contrast, the worst meal nutritionally was KFC's popcorn chicken with a biscuit as a side dish, soda as a beverage and string cheese as a snack. This meal contains 840 calories and 1,610 milligrams of sodium.
All of the 15 healthiest meal combinations came from either Subway or Burger King, the study said. The worst 21 combinations came from Taco Bell, Wendy's, McDonald's, Sonic, KFC, Burger King and Dairy Queen.
While meals at other, non-fast-food restaurants may frequently exceed calorie and sodium recommendations for children as well, these restaurants do not market to children as heavily as fast-food restaurants do, Schwartz said. And children more often eat at fast-food restaurants than traditional, sit-down restaurants, possibly because the latter are more expensive, she said.
The study will be presented today at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting in Denver.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Friday
20 Deadlifts (275lbs/185) /Run 400m
20 KB swings (2pood/1.5pood) /Run 400m
20 Overhead Squats (115lbs/85) /Run 400m
20 Burpees /Run 400m
20 Pullups (Chest to Bar) /Run 400m
20 Box jumps (24") /Run 400m
20 DB Squat Cleans (45lbs each/25) /Run 400m
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Thursday
Thursday:
Deadlift at 80% of your max
3-3-3-3-3
Rest 5 minutes
5 rounds for time:
15 Deadlifts (135/95)
15 Burpees
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
Tuesday
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 of:
Box Step Ups (Box 20-18M/15W)
Renegade Man-Makers (35/20)
Beginners do 5-4-3-2-1 with scaled weight and box height.
Reminder!!! Friday's Memorial Lumberjack WOD will be at 9 and 10:30 ONLY! There will be NO 12:00 due to the memorial service that day.
And please, please bear with us through our evening scheduling dilemmas....we are working to fix this issue.
Growing Pains
We no longer have a 8:00am class or a 6:30pm class but we are now offering 12:00 and 5:30 M-F at Harvey gym in addition to the Functional Fitness Center.
Tonight's class (5:30 at FFC) WILL NOT have a trainer available, we apologize in advance. Please feel free to leave an ICE comment on the MWR web page, we want to know how this effects you. You may attend the 5:30 at Harvey which will be lead by Amy.
One more thing, Friday's Memorial Lumberjack WOD will be at 9:00 and 10:30, there will be NO 12:00 class due to the Memorial ceremony at 1:00. There will also be NO FOUNDATIONS class Friday as well.
Thank you for understanding!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Monday
300m Row
15 Wall balls (20/14)
200m Run
*Beginners: 3 rounds
**Skill: Pistols AKA One-leg squats
Thursday, October 28, 2010
FRIDAY
COSTUME WOD
"Monster Mash"
40 KBS, 40 Deadlifts
(55/35) (185/125)
200m Run
30 KBS, 30 DL
200m Run
20 KBS, 20 DL
200m Run
10 KBS, 10 DL
200m Run
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Thursday
"300"
25 Pullups
50 Deadlifts (135/95)
50 Push ups
50 Box Jumps (24/20)
50 Floor Wipers
50 1-arm KB Clean and
Press
25 Pullups
Skill: KB Clean and Floor Wipers
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Tuesday
So, are you thinking about taking a stab at Sectionals this spring? Here's WOD from our very own South Central Sectionals. 15 Thrusters (95/65) |
100m Run |
50 1-arm KBS |
100m Run |
50 KBS |
100m Run |
100 Double Unders |
Run back to start |
15 Snatch Rest 5-10 minutes |
"Tabata Tuesday" |
1. Burpees |
2. MBC *Skill* |
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Friday!!!
CrossFit Baseball |
10 SDHP (55.35 KB) |
Run to 1st |
10 Squats |
Run to 2nd |
10 Box Jumps |
Run to 3rd |
10 Burpees *9am class will have a special WOD :) |
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
What Do You Lack? Probably Vitamin D
Vitamin D promises to be the most talked-about and written-about supplement of the decade. While studies continue to refine optimal blood levels and recommended dietary amounts, the fact remains that a huge part of the population — from robust newborns to the frail elderly, and many others in between — are deficient in this essential nutrient.
Tony Cenicola/The New York Times
If the findings of existing clinical trials hold up in future research, the potential consequences of this deficiency are likely to go far beyond inadequate bone development and excessive bone loss that can result in falls and fractures. Every tissue in the body, including the brain, heart, muscles and immune system, has receptors for vitamin D, meaning that this nutrient is needed at proper levels for these tissues to function well.
Studies indicate that the effects of a vitamin D deficiency include an elevated risk of developing (and dying from) cancers of the colon, breast and prostate; high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease; osteoarthritis; and immune-system abnormalities that can result in infections and autoimmune disorders like multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.
Most people in the modern world have lifestyles that prevent them from acquiring the levels of vitamin D that evolution intended us to have. The sun’s ultraviolet-B rays absorbed through the skin are the body’s main source of this nutrient. Early humans evolved near the equator, where sun exposure is intense year round, and minimally clothed people spent most of the day outdoors.
“As a species, we do not get as much sun exposure as we used to, and dietary sources of vitamin D are minimal,” Dr. Edward Giovannucci, nutrition researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health, wrote in The Archives of Internal Medicine. Previtamin D forms in sun-exposed skin, and 10 to 15 percent of the previtamin is immediately converted to vitamin D, the form found in supplements. Vitamin D, in turn, is changed in the liver to 25-hydroxyvitamin D, the main circulating form. Finally, the kidneys convert 25-hydroxyvitamin D into the nutrient’s biologically active form, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, also known as vitamin D hormone.
A person’s vitamin D level is measured in the blood as 25-hydroxyvitamin D, considered the best indicator of sufficiency. A recent study showed that maximum bone density is achieved when the blood serum level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D reaches 40 nanograms per milliliter or more.
“Throughout most of human evolution,” Dr. Giovannucci wrote, “when the vitamin D system was developing, the ‘natural’ level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D was probably around 50 nanograms per milliliter or higher. In modern societies, few people attain such high levels.”
A Common Deficiency
Although more foods today are supplemented with vitamin D, experts say it is rarely possible to consume adequate amounts through foods. The main dietary sources are wild-caught oily fish (salmon, mackerel, bluefish, and canned tuna) and fortified milk and baby formula, cereal and orange juice.
People in colder regions form their year’s supply of natural vitamin D in summer, when ultraviolet-B rays are most direct. But the less sun exposure, the darker a person’s skin and the more sunscreen used, the less previtamin D is formed and the lower the serum levels of the vitamin. People who are sun-phobic, babies who are exclusively breast-fed, the elderly and those living in nursing homes are particularly at risk of a serious vitamin D deficiency.
Dr. Michael Holick of Boston University, a leading expert on vitamin D and author of “The Vitamin D Solution” (Hudson Street Press, 2010), said in an interview, “We want everyone to be above 30 nanograms per milliliter, but currently in the United States, Caucasians average 18 to 22 nanograms and African-Americans average 13 to 15 nanograms.” African-American women are 10 times as likely to have levels at or below 15 nanograms as white women, the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found.
Such low levels could account for the high incidence of several chronic diseases in this country, Dr. Holick maintains. For example, he said, in the Northeast, where sun exposure is reduced and vitamin D levels consequently are lower, cancer rates are higher than in the South. Likewise, rates of high blood pressure, heart disease, and prostate cancer are higher among dark-skinned Americans than among whites.
The rising incidence of Type 1 diabetes may be due, in part, to the current practice of protecting the young from sun exposure. When newborn infants in Finland were given 2,000 international units a day, Type 1 diabetes fell by 88 percent, Dr. Holick said.
The current recommended intake of vitamin D, established by the Institute of Medicine, is 200 I.U. a day from birth to age 50 (including pregnant women); 400 for adults aged 50 to 70; and 600 for those older than 70. While a revision upward of these amounts is in the works, most experts expect it will err on the low side. Dr. Holick, among others, recommends a daily supplement of 1,000 to 2,000 units for all sun-deprived individuals, pregnant and lactating women, and adults older than 50. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that breast-fed infants receive a daily supplement of 400 units until they are weaned and consuming a quart or more each day of fortified milk or formula.
Given appropriate sun exposure in summer, it is possible to meet the body’s yearlong need for vitamin D. But so many factors influence the rate of vitamin D formation in skin that it is difficult to establish a universal public health recommendation. Asked for a general recommendation, Dr. Holick suggests going outside in summer unprotected by sunscreen (except for the face, which should always be protected) wearing minimal clothing from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. two or three times a week for 5 to 10 minutes.
Slathering skin with sunscreen with an SPF of 30 will reduce exposure to ultraviolet-B rays by 95 to 98 percent. But if you make enough vitamin D in your skin in summer, it can meet the body’s needs for the rest of the year, Dr. Holick said.
Can You Get Too Much?
If acquired naturally through skin, the body’s supply of vitamin D has a built-in cutoff. When enough is made, further exposure to sunlight will destroy any excess. Not so when the source is an ingested supplement, which goes directly to the liver.
Symptoms of vitamin D toxicity include nausea, vomiting, poor appetite, constipation, weakness and weight loss, as well as dangerous amounts of calcium that can result in kidney stones, confusion and abnormal heart rhythms.
But both Dr. Giovannucci and Dr. Holick say it is very hard to reach such toxic levels. Healthy adults have taken 10,000 I.U. a day for six months or longer with no adverse effects. People with a serious vitamin D deficiency are often prescribed weekly doses of 50,000 units until the problem is corrected. To minimize the risk of any long-term toxicity, these experts recommend that adults take a daily supplement of 1,000 to 2,000 units.
Wednesday
Oh look! More barbells and burpees...guess we thought you didn't get enough today! Enjoy! Squat Clean |
1-1-1-1-1 |
10 Rounds: |
1 Squat Clean (95/65) |
2 Front Squats |
3 Thrusters |
4 Push Jerks |
5 Burpees over bar |
Monday, October 18, 2010
Tuesday
10 Rounds: |
10 Ground to overhead |
(95/65) |
5 Burpees |
"Tabata Tuesday" |
1 Wallballs (20/14) |
2. Double Unders |
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Monday
1. Bring your Oly's if you have 'em.
2. Bring your RUNNING shoes!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
FRIDAY!!! WAHOO!!!
Challenge Friday
5 min: Push Jerk (65/45)
rest 2 min
4 min: Row for meters
rest 1:30
3 min: Burpees
rest 1 min
2 min: KBS
rest 30 sec
1 min: Rope climb
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Thursday
"Party with the girls" Men - 95# Women - 65# | ||
Grace – 30 Clean and Jerks | ||
Angie – 20 Pullups – 20 Pushups – 20 Situps – 20 Squats | ||
Nancy – 400m Run, 21 OHS | ||
Helen – 400 m Run – 21 Swings(55/35) – 12 Pullups | ||
Fran – 21 Thrusters – 21 Pullups | ||
Diane – 21 Deadlifts 21 HSPU | ||
Elizabeth – 21 Squat Cleans 21 Ring Dips | ||
Isabelle – 30 Snatches |
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Wednesday
Push Jerk
1-1-1-1-1
15 rounds:
20 sec sprint: 40 sec rest
Good article: http://www.science20.com/florilegium/why_fat_people_dont_lose_weight_diet_delusion
Who says science journalism is dying when it seems to be gloating about slaying one sacred cow after another: chiropractic, homoeopathy and now... dieting.
The internet is bursting to the seams with weight loss programs, slimming advice, nutrition counselling, fitness regimes, low fat, low carb, low salt, low sugar, low motivation diets. It's enough to drive one to drink, except that it would also make you fatter...or would it?
The diet industry has been around long enough to see that it sells hopes and mirages - and makes a ton of cash doing so - yet none of these diets can claim long-lasting success. It seemed like just a matter of time for someone to shout out that the Emperor has no clothes and that dieting is a huge waste of time and energy. Being overweight has nothing to do with eating too much, it has nothing to do with exercising, it also has nothing to do with calories!
Gary Taubes has dissected the weight-loss industry in his book called The Diet Delusion (in the UK) and Good Calories, Bad Calories (in the USA). If you haven't read the book and want to speed learn about all the false claims made by nutritionists then I suggest watching his video. It's about an hour long and includes a split screen with Taubes in one and the obligatory Powerpoint in another. It isn't light-weight!
If even that strikes you as too long then David Colquhoun has kindly copied out Taubes' 10 point synopsis.
1. Dietary fat, whether saturated or not, is not a cause of obesity, heart disease, or any other chronic disease of civilization
2. The problem is the carbohydrates in the diet, their effect on insulin secretion, and thus the hormonal regulation of homeostasis – the entire harmonic ensemble of the human body. The more easily digestible and refined the carbohydrates, the greater the effect on our health, weight, and well-being.
3. Sugars – sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup specifically – are particularly harmful, probably because the combination of fructose and glucose simultaneously elevates insulin levels while overloading the liver with carbohydrates.
4. Through their direct effect on insulin and blood sugar, refined carbohydrates, starches, and sugars are the dietary cause of coronary heart disease and diabetes. They are the most likely dietary causes of cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and the other chronic diseases of civilization.
5. Obesity is a disorder of excess fat accumulation, not overeating, and not sedentary behaviour.
6. Consuming excess calories does not cause us to grow fatter, any more than it causes a child to grow taller. Expending more energy than we consume does not lead to long-term weight loss; it leads to hunger.
7. Fattening and obesity are caused by an imbalance – a disequilibrium – in the hormonal regulation of adipose tissue and fat metabolism. Fat synthesis and storage exceed the mobilization of fat from the adipose tissue and its subsequent oxidation. We become leaner when the hormonal regulation of the fat tissue reverses this balance.
8. Insulin is the primary regulator of fat storage. When insulin levels are elevated – either chronically or after a meal – we accumulate fat in our fat tissue. When insulin levels fall, we release fat from our fat tissue and use it for fuel.
9. By stimulating insulin secretion, carbohydrates make us fat and ultimately cause obesity. The fewer carbohydrates we consume, the leaner we will be.
10. By driving fat accumulation, carbohydrates also increase hunger and decrease the amount of energy we expend in metabolism and physical activity.”
Apart from the information Taubes has put together, what he really hates about the weight-loss industry is the widespread lack of real scientific research with random samples and all the checks and balances that you don't find in an advertising campaign.
In which case, what other industries can we debunk and throw on the scrapheap of human follies? Pharmaceuticals anyone?
Monday, October 11, 2010
Tuesday
3 Rounds:
10 DL (2 KB @ 55/35)
10 SDHP
10 KBS
5 R arm swing
5 L arm swing
"Tabata Tuesday"
1. Squats
2. Ring Dips
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Thursday
"Chipper Thursday"
200m Run
25 Push Press (95/65)
400m Run
30 SDHP (95/65)
800m Run
50 OH Walking lunges
(45/25)
400m Run
30 SDHP (95/65)
200m Run
25 Push Press (95/65)
You SUCK as a Man
I thought I would post something intellectual.....
Great post from: http://www.briansekula.com/blog/2010/10/04/you-suck-as-a-man/
You SUCK as a Man
By bsekula, on October 4th, 2010
And it’s embarrassing.
Editor’s note: This post contains what some might consider offensive language or a serious assault on manhood (yours or others). If you find any of the aforementioned potentially offensive, do not read this post. Remaining in denial or being uninformed is better than being exposed (and if it keeps you from getting in trouble with the wife, all the better). Instead, go here, here or here. If those don’t work for you, try this for comfort. It’s likely part of your current problem.
If you’re a man and have bigger boobs than your wife or wear pants with a waist size bigger than the length, you suck. No exceptions.
It’s the only conclusion that can be drawn – the introduction of the “sucking man” has led to a decrease in stature, an increase in estrogen and a softness you cannot deny. Prehistoric men were not soft or fat (neither was your grandpa). No, their boobs weren’t bigger than their wife’s (like yours). No, they didn’t wear 44×32 inch pants (seriously?). No, they weren’t vegetarians. No, and most assuredly, they didn’t jump on an elliptical four or five days a week.
And without question, while most of your body is big – the man-boobs mean your “manhood” is shrinking – it also means your brain is small and getting smaller.
Sorry, but…
You suck for many reasons, stature, dietary, lifestyle. Regardless, in nature’s view, you’re expendable. That soft, cushy body, those man-boobs and low testosterone mean you can’t and shouldn’t reproduce. It means you’re turning into a woman. When this happens in nature, you no longer matter. You’re here to reproduce and be a man. The good news is you don’t have to wait in line at the vasectomy clinic.
Why you suck.
Tendon insertions reveal prehistoric man (and probably your grandpa) as having serious muscle. They were lean, mean fighting machines – able to kill and eat. And avoid danger. In today’s times, you don’t have to kill or avoid danger. All you HAVE to do is eat. The elliptical part is voluntary, not to mention a waste of time. And nothing in your life counts as danger, unless you’re afraid of your wife because she’s more of a man than you, which just makes my point stronger.
Back to that tendon insertion thing. The bones of men “who do not suck” are thicker and stronger at KEY skeletal muscle insertions, like in the thighs and hamstrings, chest and back, which means they had serious muscle mass. Where are your bones thicker? In the hips and low back, which means you’ve got serious baggage yanking on them all day. It also means…
You suck because your life (and everything else about you) is soft. You get up early; tired because your sleep habits are horrible. Stumble through a shower, brushing your teeth and the bagel (if you eat breakfast) and coffee. Don’t forget statins, metformin and Lisinopril. You fight traffic or take public transport to your job where you sit behind a desk for hours, pretending to work. Lunch is a sandwich and a bag of chips. Don’t forget the diet coke and cookie for dessert.
However you make your way home, you either stop off at the gym to abuse an elliptical, run your kids all over the place or go home for a “lite” dinner, chicken and pasta, maybe a glass of wine, and ice cream for dessert. Then you make your way to the chair, where you doze and nod until 10:30 or 11 before going to bed for more crappy sleep.
Rinse and repeat.
Is it any wonder you suck?
A bunch of You cants…
You can’t stop sucking when anything more vigorous than abusing an elliptical causes serious injury. Like a sprint or squat jump. The likelihood either of these rips a hamstring or pops a tendon is high. Too high.
You can’t stop sucking when the only way you could do 10 pushups is by finishing the last 8 in the modified position, like a girl – remember, you’re turning into a woman. Should I elaborate?
You can’t stop sucking when you eat low-fat, no protein, and whole grains (any grains, really), like pasta, wheat bread and Cheerios. Or snack wells. Or M&M’s. Those food groups jack with your manliness, bind up testosterone, increase body fat and reduce muscle tissue (not to mention a bunch of other things). The elliptical doesn’t help here, either. Can you say Cortisol?
You can’t be a man and eat like a gorilla – either quality (vegetarian) or quantity. Relatively speaking, herbivores have small brains and large digestive tracks. Carnivores have large brains and smaller digestive tracks. Why? It can get technical, what with the Expensive Tissue Hypothesis and all, but suffice to say, you and a gorilla have more in common than you care to admit (*ahem*). Your brain is shrinking and your gut is expanding – it needs more room to digest all the crap your shoving down there.
You can’t stop sucking by going to a restaurant and ordering from the “lite” menu. That’s code for low-fat, which means two ounces of chicken breast and three pounds of pasta. No thank you.
You can’t stop sucking when victory in your suburban life is beating some guy off the line at a 4-way stop. This is like the pushup thing, no explanation needed.
You can’t stop sucking when you’re a douchebag. There is no way to justify your doucheyness. And no matter what you change in the “How to” list below, if the douchebag remains, you still suck.
You can’t stop sucking when you drink “lite beer” because it has fewer calories. Beer is made with wheat. And wheat sucks.
You can’t stop sucking when your 5’ 5” and have little man’s disease. This just sucks. Really. You’re more like a gnat than anything else. NEXT!
You can’t …
There isn’t enough space on the interwebs to hold all the reasons. As a man, you suck and it’s embarrassing.
How to stop sucking in 4 easy steps.
Can you ever stop sucking? Maybe. For your sake, I hope it’s not a lost cause.
Here is my very own “How to stop sucking” list. Even if you don’t completely stop sucking, you’ll embarrass me and others who don’t suck a little less, which is bigger than winning a race at the 4-way stop sign.
1. Things you can’t change.
You can’t change your height. Being shorter than average doesn’t mean you’ll completely suck forever. Just partially, unless you can’t shake that “little man’s disease” syndrome. You can’t change your age either, but age has little to do with you sucking. Seriously. Just consider it a confounding variable. See Exhibit A, your grandpa. Who at 80 could wipe the floor with you.
2. Crank up the intensity
Ditch the elliptical. It just sucks. Besides, no self-respecting male that doesn’t suck would be caught dead on one. One or two days per week, crank up the intensity. Do something hard and intense. Get out of your comfort zone. Run some sprints. Do some jump squats or burpees. Go to the park, put out markers and do agility drills. Do real pushups. Go until you can’t go anymore and then do a few more next time.
Go for a nice, leisure, SLOW walk 2 or 3 days per week (more if you’d like). This is more about keeping the sensitivity of your metabolic hormones than caloric expenditure. Remember, back in the day, a walk, at the very least, was a requirement before any food or drink could be consumed. Note: stumbling to the shower or kitchen does not count.
3. Ditch the fake foods
Eat some meat – real meat, like steak, pork, chicken or seafood. Grass-fed, pasture-raised is always preferable. But starting with these at the grocery store is better than what you’ve been doing. And please, ditch the pasta, bagels, chips, breads, most fruits and 99.9% of foods that come in plastic bags or cardboard boxes. They’re inflammatory, they ruin your digestive system and they’re full of hormone disrupters.
They are not good for you, I don’t care what your wife, the food guide pyramid, the guy from CSPI, Dr. Oz, Kelly Brownell, some know it all down the street, “weight loss” programs sending food to your home or counting points say. Even when you don’t suck, they aren’t good for you.
Take all that fake food and throw it away. Don’t eat it. Instead, put the meat on your plate and replace the stuff you’ve thrown out with vegetables – preferably the above ground variety.
And quit drinking beer. Drink some wine or liquor, like scotch on the rocks.
No more gorilla like tendencies for you.
4. Get some discipline
I’m talking about discipline in your diet and exercise program, and a couple of other areas, which have contributed to your current condition.
Follow the three steps above for food and exercise.
The other part, sleep. Go to bed earlier. Turn off the lights, TV, computer and cell phone. It can wait until tomorrow. Sports Center is not that important.
Make sure your room is completely dark and a little cool. Shoot for eight hours. Soon, you won’t be stumbling to the shower or kitchen.
What’s next?
So there you have it. My simple, 4-step process to being a less sucky man. How will you know when you’ve made it? A couple of things to look for…are your man-boobs disappearing? Is the waist of your pants getting smaller than the length of your legs? Can you do more than 10 regular push-ups? Have you stopped abusing the elliptical? Do you have less in common with a gorilla than when you started? You know the drill.
Report back here in 30 days. We all want to see your results.
Sorry if it hurt. Someone needed to say it.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Wednesday
Great job on the rope climbs today! That WOD is no joke. Push Press |
1-1-1-1-1 |
Rest 5-10 minutes |
For time: |
800m Run |
25 Double unders |
400m Run |
50 DU |
200m Run |
75 DU |
Want to lose weight? Get some sleep
Getting too little sleep might prevent dieters from losing as much body fat as they otherwise would have, a small study suggests.
The findings, published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, add to evidence that sleep habits play a role in weight regulation. They also suggest that people embarking on a weight-loss plan may want to make sure they are catching enough shut-eye each night, researchers say.
The study included 10 overweight men and women who lived in a sleep lab for two separate two-week periods. During both, they were kept on the same calorie-restricted diet; but for one period, the participants slept for 8.5 hours per night, while during the other, they got 5.5 hours.
Researchers found that the dieters lost the same amount of weight under both conditions -- just under 7 pounds, on average. But during the sleep-restricted period, they mainly lost muscle rather than fat.
When participants got 8.5 hours of sleep, more than half of their weight loss came from shedding fat; when they got 5.5 of sleep, only one-quarter of their weight loss came from fat -- translating to a 55 percent reduction in fat loss.
Instead, the majority of people's weight loss during the sleep-restricted period came from lean body tissue, which refers to muscle and any other body tissue that is not fat.
"So they lost the same amount of weight, but the composition was different," said senior researcher Dr. Plamen Penev, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago.
Successful dieters always shed a certain amount of muscle, Penev noted in an interview, but ideally one wants to limit that loss in favor of shedding excess body fat. Insufficient sleep, the current findings suggest, might interfere with that.
The study has a number of limitations. Besides its small size, it also looked only at short-term weight loss. More research is needed to see how sleep duration might affect dieters' body composition over time, Penev said.
It's also unclear how well these findings from a tightly controlled sleep-lab setting might translate to the "real world," according to Penev.
Still, the findings do add to a body of research linking sleep habits to body weight. A number of studies have found that self-described "short sleepers" -- typically defined as those who get less than 6 hours of sleep each night -- tend to weigh more or gain more weight over time than people who get seven to eight hours of sleep per night.
Those studies do not, however, prove that sleep differences are the reason for the weight differences. Small sleep-lab studies such as the current one help researchers zero in on the effects of sleep itself.
Lab studies have suggested, for example, that sleep loss may alter people's levels of the "hunger hormones" leptin and ghrelin. Leptin is secreted by fat cells; low blood levels of the hormone promote hunger, while increases tell the brain that body is full and encourage calorie burning. Ghrelin is secreted by the stomach to boost appetite.
In their study, Penev and his colleagues found that under the sleep-restricted condition, participants reported greater hunger during the day compared with the 8-hour sleep condition -- even though they consumed the same number of calories during both periods. They also had higher blood levels of acylated ghrelin, one form of the appetite-boosting hormone.
This, Penev said, raises the question of whether, outside the tight control of the lab, the sleep-deprived dieters would have eaten more.
"The study suggests that if you are trying to lose weight by restricting your calories, it may be more difficult if you are sleep deprived," Dr. Shahrad Taheri, of the University of Birmingham in the UK, told Reuters Health in an email.
As for how much sleep is enough, "I don't think at this stage we can recommend a specific number of hours of sleep, as sleep is very individualized," said Taheri, who co-authored an editorial published with the study.
"But what we can do," Taheri added, "is pay more attention to our daily routines of eating, physical activity, and also sleep."
Penev agreed that there is no one-size-fits-all prescription for sleep. He suggested that people try to notice how much sleep they generally need to feel refreshed the next morning; for some people that may be 6 hours, for others it may be 8.
Both Penev and Taheri said that more studies are needed in real-world settings. According to Penev, a study might, for instance, follow patients at a weight-loss clinic to see how their typical sleep habits correlate with their weight-loss success.
As for why fewer hours in bed may cause the body to preferentially lose muscle over fat, Penev said he and his colleagues can only theorize. Their guess is that the extra waking hours increase the need for glucose (sugar) in the brain and other parts of the nervous system -- and they get that extra fuel from breaking down muscle.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Tuesday
1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1 |
Rope Climbs |
15 burpees between |
rope climb sets *Sub for rope climb: 3 modified rope climbs for each rope climb or 5 ring rows for every rope climb* |
"Tabata Tuesday" |
1. Box jumps |
2. Row for calories |
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Monday
1-1-1-1-1
Rest 5-10 minutes
"Helen"
3 Rounds:
400m run
21 KBS (1.5/1 pood)
12 Pullups
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Friday
"Challenge Friday" |
5 min: Back squat (65/45) |
rest 2 min |
4 min: Pull ups |
rest 1:30 min |
3 min: Sit ups |
rest 1 min |
2 min: Lunges |
rest 30 sec |
1 min: Push ups |
Tell us how we're doing!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Thursday
"Jennifer"
50 Box Jumps (24/20)
5 Rope Climbs
50 KTE
50 DB Cleans (35/20)
50 KBS (1.5/1 pood)
50 Burpees
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Wednesday
1-1-1-1-1
Rest 5-10 minutes
50 OH lunges w/ med ball (20/14)
25 MBC
*Ball drop penalty:
3 MB burpees
Tuesday
For time:
21-15-9
Thrusters (95/65)
Burpees
Followed by "Tabata Tuesday"
1. Knees to elbows
2. Kettlebell swings
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Monday
That's right folks, we're not going to tell you what Monday's are from now on....no more cherry pickin!!!!
What I will tell you is BRING YOUR JUMP ROPE!!!!!! $5 at the WW PX!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Fight Gone Bad in Iraq
We had a great turnout and a ton of energy!! You will be able to see the inital pics today on our Centurion CrossFit Forward blog - more pics and video coming, including a feature on AFN!
We also managed to get 4, long time CCF-FH CrossFitters together in a war zone for the WOD.
Also, total raised by athletes there at Fort Hood and here in Iraq is $9,657.00 - way to go and thank you for your efforts!!
Have fun and set some PRs!! I want to see the socks too!
FIGHT GONE BAD
I encourage our athletes to wear long socks today...it's a tradition for the girls.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Friday
For Friday...let's have some fun! HOOVER BALL!!!!
For Harvey:
"Cindy"
AMRAP in 20 minutes:
5 pullups
10 push ups
15 sqauts