Outdoors = Active
5th grade students at the Santa Cruz County Outdoor Science SchoolOn May 9th I will be participating in the 2009 Human Race in Santa Cruz to benefit theEvery Child Outdoors Foundation.
Every Child Outdoors is a 501(c)3 non-profit
organization that is partnering with the Santa Cruz County Outdoor Science
School. The mission of E.C.O is to provide outdoor science school tuition grants to
schools in lower income communities. We want to make it possible for EVERY
child to spend time outdoors hiking, exploring and building connections with our natural world
regardless of financial barriers. To check out the Santa Cruz County Outdoor Science School (my day job) click here. The Every Child Outdoors website will be coming soon!
Do you
remember playing outside when you were a kid? Freedom, running, exploring? How
much did that shape who you are? How important were those experiences to shape
you as an athlete today? Many kids in our community never get the opportunity
to explore safely outside. By supporting Every Child Outdoors we are giving
this opportunity to those that need it most.
How will CrossFit Santa Cruz help?
We are
putting together a CrossFit Santa Cruz Championship Team to support E.C.O. On race day we will REPRESENT CrossFit Santa Cruz with our T-Shirts
and RUN for Every Child Outdoors. The race is about 7 kilometers long, starts
and ends at Natural Bridges and runs along Westcliff Drive. BBQ and festivities
after the race. The 7K will be the WOD for the day.
Anyone can
join the team. The commitments include; participating in the race/event on May
9th and/or raising money and awareness for Every Child Outdoors (and CrossFit Santa
Cruz). Of course, even if you can't participate in the race, you can still help
out by spreading the word and/or raising money! The TOP TWO CFSC athletes who
raise the MOST money will receive a FREE month membership to the
gym. There will be other prizes too.
Other Details:
-To join the CFSC Championship Team CLICK HERE. You will receive information on how to sign up.
-Pledge forms are available at the gym
-For more details or if you have questions email me at hmacdougall@santacruz.k12.ca.us
-If you can't join the Championship Team but would like to give something you can DONATE here (Click on "Sponsor Participant" and enter my name, Heather MacDougall).
Thank you to everyone who helps support our efforts to get every child outdoors!
-Heather Mac
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Workout:
Snatch Grip Deadlift
3-3-3-3-3
Coffee
Americans drink 400 million cups of coffee per day, and my grossly subjective over-assumption is that CrossFit athletes make up at least half of that consumption. While some do opt for tea or non caffeinated beverages, my guess is they are the minority. Why do so many of us who follow Zone and/or Paleo diets, which discourage or prohibit caffeine, make an exception for coffee? Because it can increase your Fran time! Or if your me, it's because it's my personal form of crack (besides the Twilight books and chocolate).
Although there are many studies suggesting that coffee inhibits nutrient absorption, increases stress, spikes blood sugar, increases insulin resistance, raises risk for cardiovascular disease, arthritis and spontaneous combustion, there is no denying it's effect on athletic performance, especially after reading this article in The New York Times. "Caffeine increases the power output of muscles by releasing calcium that is stored in muscle. The effect can enable athletes to keep going longer or to go faster in the same length of time. Caffeine also affects the brain’s sensation of exhaustion, that feeling that it’s time to stop, you can’t go on any more. That may be one way it improves endurance."
When it comes to coffee or caffeine does the good outweigh the bad, or is it vice versa?
-Hannah
Workout:
Run 5k
Signature
Crossfit is a strength and conditioning program that isgeneral and all-inclusive by design. At the heart of the program you will find some of its core values including intensity, power, and technique. These same values are also at the heart of many sports and are critical focal points to an individual’s progress as an athlete. At Crossfit, a lot of time is spent learning technique to perform moves with safety and efficacy and through this learning process we become more and more in touch with our body as a whole. We discover or maybe even rediscover how our bodies are meant to move and find how each piece of our body is connected to the rest of our body. Many so called “athletes” are often surprised at how much they weren’t aware of as they go through Crossfit workouts that often demand our most focused energy.
-Jesse "Baz"
Workout:
A Special Birthday Workout for Kristy A.
3 Rounds for time of:
31 Overhead Squat; empty bar
31 Hip extensions
31 GHD sit-ups
Go Faster
One of the cornerstones of the CrossFit program is high intensity. We have found that putting your name on the white board and pulling out the stop watch will push athletes to a higher level of intensity that without. Another great way to motivate individuals to go faster is to put them into competing teams. Last week we witnessed some inspiring displays of intensity by athletes giving their all in an effort to not disappoint their comrades.
What type of workout makes you go the hardest? Post thoughts to comments.
Some CrossFit achievements come easy, while others seem impossible. Patience and due diligence will most often pay in the end. Watch Dave get his first Muscle up. 7 years in the making!!!
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Athlete Achievements
Dave C's Muscle Up
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Workout:
20 inch box jumps, 50 reps
95 pound shoulder press, 21 reps
20 inch box jumps, 50 reps
95 pound push press, 21 reps
20 inch box jumps, 50 reps
95 pound push jerk, 21 reps
Virtuosity
Fundamentals, Virtuosity, and Mastery
An Open Letter to CrossFit Trainers
CrossFit Journal August 2005
Greg Glassman
In gymnastics, completing a routine without error will not get you a perfect score, the 10.0—only a 9.7. To get the last three tenths of a point, you must demonstrate “risk, originality, and virtuosity” as well as make no mistakes in execution of the routine.
Risk is simply executing a movement that is likely to be missed or botched; originality is a movement or combination of movements unique to the athlete—a move or sequence not seen before. Understandably, novice gymnasts love to demonstrate risk and originality, for both are dramatic, fun, and awe inspiring—especially among the athletes themselves, although audiences are less likely to be aware when either is demonstrated.
Virtuosity, though, is a different beast altogether.
Why Food?
In October of 2002 "What is Fitness" was published in the CrossFit Journal. Below are two excerpts.
"Nutrition plays a critical role in your fitness. Proper nutrition can amplify or diminish the effect of your training efforts. Effective nutrition is moderate in protein, carbohydrate, and fat. Forget about the fad high carbohydrate, low fat, and low protein diet. 70% carbohydrate, 20% protein, and 10% fat may work for your rabbit, but it won’t do anything for you except increase your risk of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease or leave you weak and sickly. Balanced macronutrient and healthy nutrition looks more like 40% carbohydrate, 30 % protein, and 30% fat. Dr. Barry Sears’ Zone Diet (http://www.drsears.com/) still offers the greatest precision, efficacy, and health benefit of any clearly defined protocol."
"Done right, fitness provides a great margin of protection against the ravages of time and disease. Where you find otherwise examine the fitness protocol, especially diet. Fitness is and should be “super-wellness.” Sickness, wellness, and fitness are measures of the same entity. A fitness regimen that doesn’t support health is not CrossFit."
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Workout: Sprint Heavy Chesty Partner Helen
200 meter run
2 pood Kettlebell swing, 12 reps
9 Chest to Bar Pull-ups
Each partner completes 1 round and rest while the other works for a total of 4 rounds
Measurable-Repeatable-Results
At CrossFit Santa Cruz we truly believe that CrossFit is for anyone. Not everyone, but anyone who is concerned about their health and believes in hard work. Anybody who can put their ego aside and simply try, will have great success and most likely become hooked. One great thing about CrossFit is that you don't have do believe that it works, it just works.
Rob has been coming to CrossFit twice a week for a while. During the month of March he decided to sign up for a month of a 5 on 2 off cycle. The results are obvious and noticed by all. During the 1300 meter repeats Rob ran his fastest mile run in 25 years, not once, but four times. He has lost 12 pounds and just completed his first RX'd Fran with time of 7:20. He is one of many success stories in the gym.
What are your CrossFit stats? Does CrossFit work? Post thoughts to comments.
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Athlete Achievement
Amelia's First Pull-up
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The Governor
Scientists and athletes have always thought that your muscles tire because they reach some kind of physical limit. Ether they run out of fuel, or they drown in toxic by-products. However, The Central Governor Theory of Tim Noakes an exercise physiologist, argues that fatigue is an emotional response that begins in the brain that creates distressing sensations that you interpret as muscle fatigue. It has been long thought that the lactic acid by product of exercise and its build up is the cause of fatigue. I first heard about this when I attended a seminar at CrossFit LA a year ago. The speaker (forgot his name) had a volunteer hold a dumbbell out in front of him for as long as he could with one arm. His time was 30 sec. and then had him to try to hold the dumbbell with the other arm longer. I think he got 40 sec the second time, but this proved to us that body was holding back.
It is called The Central Governor Theory for the idea that there is a central governor that regulates or reduces neural activation to our working muscles to protect us from hypoxia or oxygen suffocation to any of our vital organs and cells Don't worry though, we have a really good regulation system that will stop us far from that point. This clip relates to this well. Post thoughts to comments.
-Dave
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WOD Video
"Fran"
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Workout: a Max Fit USA WOD
In 2 person teams:
One rows 250m
One throws wall ball shots
Continue to switch between stations until each person reaches 100 wall balls.
or
30 Muscle-up for time.
Max?
Getting better requires effort. No one gets better at CrossFit unless they really try. Just showing up and getting sweaty is not enough. Hoping to get better is not good enough. Consistent, focused attention to the details is required. Day in and day out we must concern ourselves with the unpleasant chinks in our armor. That being said, we are simply looking for a very small amount of change daily, to affect a large change months and years from now. So no matter where we are trying to get to, the road is covered in small steps not giant leaps.
Workout: A Max Fit USA WOD
Back Squat (M=225lb/W=155lb)
Perform 3 reps on the minute for 15 minutes.
Complete 2 push-ups on the minute, increasing each minute until failure. Minute one, two push-ups. Minute two, four push-ups, so on. Score is highest completed round.
