Started as a maverick gym in Santa Cruz, CrossFit has spread worldwide, becoming the principal strength & conditioning program for police academies and tactical op's teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, & hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide. Why? Because CrossFit works...FAST.
CrossFit delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. CrossFit's specialty is not specializing. Daily life, like many sports and professions, (and even combat) requires broad levels of fitness. CrossFit's program is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience. The needs of Olympic athletes and our grandparents differ by degree not kind.
Click Here and Here for two great articles if you think CrossFit is too hard for you or beyond your ability.
To find out more about the principles and belief behind CrossFit, click here.
You may literally have to add it to your to-do list, but scheduling a good night's sleep could be one of the smartest health priorities you set. It's not just daytime drowsiness you risk when shortchanging yourself on your seven to eight hours. Possible health consequences of getting too little or poor sleep can involve the cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, and nervous systems. In addition to letting life get in the way of good sleep, between 50 and 70 million Americans suffer from a chronic sleep disorder—insomnia or sleep apnea, say—that affects daily functioning and impinges on health. Consider the research . . .
Donna hitting the 8' mark during her fight gone bad wall ball.
Workout:
Workout: "Elevation"
In 20 minutes, try to accumulate as many feet of "Elevation" as possible using the following exercises. Next to each exercise is the number we used for distance at the SHED. If you are doing this at on your own, you may change the values to what you have to work with. We also gave two different scores based upon height (over 6 foot is on the left, under 6 foot is on the right).
Rope Climb: 6 foot and up = 11 / 6 foot and under = 12
Muscle Up (bar or rings): 5 / 4
Pull Up: 2.5 / 2
Ring Dip: 2 / 1.5
Box Jump (same for both heights): big box = 3, med box = 2, small box = 1
Step ups (same for both heights): big box = 1.5, med box = 1, small box = 0.5
Post total number of "Feet" accumulated in the 20 minutes.
. . .For those wondering what role testosterone plays in the body, here are just a few of the irritations brought about by this hormone: enhanced libido, increased energy, increased production of red blood cells and protection against osteoporosis. And who would want all of that stuff? Not me! Read on to learn the ways you can make sure you keep your testosterone levels as low as possible, ensuring a lack of sex drive and low energy levels. . .
Some people have noticed the 5:30 evening class filling up. Don't worry! That is why we have classes at 6:30 AND 7:30! These classes tend to have much more space.
Professor Tim Jacob, an expert in smell and taste at Cardiff University, said: "Smell is the only sense that doesn't 'sleep'. Information continues to reach the limbic system of the brain and that includes the hippocampus, or memory area and the amygdala, that is involved with emotional response.
(And conversely, "Stinky" partners might explain why some people have bad dreams. -jj)
Jimmy and Brian dominating with the 20lb weight vests.
Workout:
5 rounds:
1 minute max reps weighted pull ups (20lb vest or 45lb dumbell)
1 minute max reps OHS (65lb or 115lb)
200m sprint timed
1 minute rest
Add up total reps for the pull ups and OHS, add up all the seconds from the sprints. Divide reps by seconds for score. Post total reps, total seconds, and score to comments.
Another key study finding is that men with more robust rest/activity rhythms had much lower mortality rates. Having greater levels of activity during the day and/or lower levels of activity during the night (better sleep quality) are characteristics of robust rhythms.
According to the results, when bedtimes were restricted to five-and-a-half hours study subjects consumed more energy from snacks. The carbohydrate content of ingested snacks also increased for this group.
The authors concluded that factors such as longer exposure to an environment with unlimited access to food and changes in reward seeking and motivation may underlie the increased consumption of snacks associated with recurrent bedtime curtailment.
The researchers found that bright light lessened cognitive deterioration by a relative 5 percent, reduced depressive symptoms by a relative 19 percent and diminished the gradual increase in functional limitations by a relative 53 percent.
Melatonin reduced the time to fall asleep by a relative 19 percent and increased total sleep duration by 6 percent, but adversely affected caregiver ratings of withdrawn behavior and mood expressions. The addition of bright light improved the adverse effect on mood. In combination with bright light, melatonin reduced aggressive behavior by a relative 9 percent.
The sleep loss caused a 23 to 24 percent increase in hunger, Spiegel said, translating into an extra 350 to 500 kilocalories a day, "which for a young sedentary adult of normal weight could lead to a major amount of added weight." . . .
Each extra hour of sleep cuts a child's risk of becoming overweight or obese by nine percent, according to an analysis of epidemiological studies by researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
By contrast, children who got the least sleep had a 92 percent higher chance of being overweight or obese than children who slept enough, said the study published in the journal Obesity.
Today is Monday and I am feeling particularly sleep deprived. On that note, here are some recent studies relating sleep, health and longevity.
Nighttime light linked to cancer
" The findings of the study, which combined satellite images with local breast cancer statistics, support the theory that too much light at night raises the risk of breast cancer by interfering with the production of melatonin, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
The researchers found the breast cancer rate in areas with average night lighting to be 37 percent higher than in communities with the lowest amount of light. "
Daytime Dozing Stroke Warning
"These included while watching TV, sitting and talking to someone, sitting quietly after a lunch without alcohol and stopping briefly in traffic while driving.
The risk of stroke over the next two years was 2.6 times greater for people who reported "some dozing" compared to those with no dozing.
Among those who reported "significant dozing" the risk was 4.5 times higher.
Previous research has shown that people who suffer from sleep apnoea - short periods when breathing stops during sleep - have an increased stroke risk.
It could be that daytime sleepiness is a sign of sleeping poorly at night because of sleep apnoea.
Every year around 150,000 people in the UK have a stroke. "
Sleepers blood pressure at risk from jet noise
"Volunteers' blood pressure increased after exposure to a noise louder than 35 decibels - whether it came from overhead aircraft, or snoring."
"Aircraft noise caused an average increase in systolic blood pressure of 6.2 mmHg and an average increase in diastolic blood pressure of 7.4 mmHg."
"The researchers have calculated that for every extra 10 decibels of aircraft noise the risk of hypertension is increased by 14%."
There is no such thing as a good night's sleep
"Those who changed their sleep habits by cutting the time in bed from 7 to 5 or less hours were 1.7 times more likely to die, and twice as likely to die from cardiovascular problems."
Early rising no good for the heart: study says
"You can use those weekends to get some recovery sleep," she said. "It does seem to be, that certainly for your cognition and memory and reaction time, all those things can recover quite quickly, but you have to give yourself that good opportunity for sleep."
500m row
5 right, 5 left kettlebell power cleans and strict press (1.5pood - or 55lb dumbell)
Then set your goals for 2008. Some of the most popular accomplishments chosen at The Shed are:
Strength:
CrossFit Total (CFT) of 1000+ lbs
15 overhead squats with bodyweight
Gymnasics:
3 consecutive muscle ups
40 or 50 (or more) consecutive pull ups
L sit times of 1min+
Metacon:
Sub 3 minute Fran
Fight Gone Bad scores of well over 300
Murph as Rx'ed in sub 45 minute times
After the "micro wod" dedicate some time to working on one (or more)of your goals.
The clock is ticking.
Post Micro WOD time and goal practiced to comments.
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Video: CrossFit intensity. Coach Glassman discusses intensity with clips from a certification seminar at CrossFit One World (if you look closely you can see DCF trainer Brian getting some during FGB).
Jorgy shows the proper squat. Feet flat. Chest up and out. Abs tight. Lower back taught and arched. Use a Dynamax ball to guage your depth if needed. And, extend your hips and stand up at the top! We are watching. (20lb weight vest optional).
UPDATE: LUCA'S MUY THAI BOXING AT 6:30 TONIGHT. ALL ARE WELCOME!!
Girls Of The Day
The Dreaded "Fran"
There is no workout as simple and fast that causes more "wod dread" than Fran...
Three rounds, 21-15- and 9 reps, for time of:
95 pound Thruster
Pull-ups
Jackie
1000 Meter Row
50 Thrusters 45#
30 Pull-Ups
