Given the current popularity of grappling and the UFC, many people have heard the term “tapping out” but don’t really understand the greater importance of it.  Tapping out comes from Brazilian Jiujitsu and is literally tapping your opponent’s body as a means of letting them know that you know that you aren’t able to get out of the position that you are in and that they have won.  It also signifies that you know that staying in the position that you are in can immediately lead to you sustaining serious damage.  What does this mean to us as CrossFitters?  As beginning grapplers, we were taught “Tap today, train tomorrow”.  To all beginning CrossFitters, we advocate the same principle.  Go as hard as you can for as long as you can – but know your own limits.  Be honest with yourself about whether your ego is picking your weights for you!  Train hard, train smart and make sure that you can come back and train again tomorrow.

Workout of the Day
“Candy”

5 Rounds for Time
20 Pull ups
40 Push ups
60 squats

If you’re working out with the intensity that we described yesterday, it’s inevitable to develop some body pain.  Many people then reach for the bottle of Tylenol or worse, an opiate based painkiller such as Oxycontin and Vicodin.  The side effects and potential addictive aftermath of the continued use of these over-the-counter and prescriptive pain medications is a devastating problem for a number of Americans.   Are there natural pain remedies that don’t have the same side effects or addictive nature?  Yes there are.  The acupressure point shown in the picture above is arguably the best pain relieving point on the body.  You can locate it by squeezing your thumb against the pointer finger on the same hand – and pressing on the highest portion of the soft mound that is created. Applying firm pressure to the described location for 30-second intervals will drastically help reduce the pain of headaches, injuries or post workout soreness.  Give it a try and see what you think!

Workout of the Day:
100 Overhead Squats for Time
Men – 95#
Women – 65#

Websters defines intensity in the following ways:
-great energy, strength, concentration, vehemence, etc., as of activity, thought, or feeling.
-a high degree of emotional excitement; depth of feeling

People ask us all the time, “Just how hard should I be going during my workout?”  Our answer is simple.  Your concentration should be on getting yourself right to the “edge of the cliff” intensity-wise, but not going over it.  Does it ever happen where people go out too hard or pick a weight that’s a little bit heavier than they should have?  Absolutely.  Is this the end of the world?  Absolutely not.   The only way to find out where your limit lies is to occasionally blow right past it.  The worst thing that’s going to happen is that you’ll meet our newly crafted friend in the picture. (Thanks to CFLA’s Alyssa Dazet for our gym-warming gift!)  The goal of our workouts here is not to have you falling over that cliff, but to get as close to it as possible as often as possible – and to stay there as long as possible.  Push yourselves hard, but play smart.

Workout of the Day:
4 Rounds for Time of -
400 M Run
40 Overhead Squats  (45#)
25 Burpees

As you can see from the photo, CrossFit Pacific Coast is now completely functional!  We still have a weekend’s worth of interior decorating to do, but this puppy’s good to go. Next week we’re starting to hold our intro’s – the free one hour session that EVERYONE who joins CPC goes through first.  What’s the point of the intro, you ask.  Well, as many of you already know, accurately defining CrossFit can be a challenge to do over the phone – and what we do here isn’t for everybody.  We use this hour to thoroughly explain and give a tangible example of what you can expect to experience with us as a CrossFitter and a CPC student.   The intro is free, should only take an hour, and of course, has a workout built into it. Give us a call today to schedule your intro and take your next step towards elite fitness!

Workout of the Day:
3-3-3-3-3
Shoulder Press

Followed by AMRAP 15 min of:
20 sit-ups
15 push-ups
10 jump lunges

CNN had a great article up a few days back with some absolutely stunning news in it!!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/06/08/fab.abs.tips/index.html

“Nutritionists say a set of awesome abs takes more than just doing sit-ups. “New research shows that what you are eating may be just as important as your workout,” says Katherine Tallmadge, author of “Diet Simple” and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.

What you are eating may be just as important as your workout!  Wow, this flies in the face of all of the “old research” that must have proved that your diet played absolutely no role in how you look and feel.  As CrossFitters, we understand the value of our diet and understand that it definitely plays a role in our overall health and fitness that is equally important as our daily efforts in the gym.  Take a moment to think about the foods that you are eating on a daily basis and ask yourself if there are healthier alternatives to any aspects of it.  We advise all of our clients to spend 2 weeks writing down all of the foods that they eat – and how they feel afterwards.  This is a great tool for getting a clear picture about what you are taking in and how it effects you.  Most people simply state, “I eat pretty clean”  and leave it at that.  However, doing this exercise will allow you to see (in your own handwriting, no less) exactly what your diet looks like and allow you to take your health and fitness to a new level.  Try it for 2 weeks and let us know how it goes!

Workout of the Day:
Requiem for a Squat (or Squat Ladder)
Perform 1 squat with a 45 pound bar in 1 minute.  Rest for the remainder of the minute.
(If you don’t have access to a bar, 2 airsquats can be substituted for every bar squat)
Perform 2 squats in the 2nd minute.  Rest  for the remainder of the minute.
Perform 3 squats in the 3rd minute.  Rest for the remainder of the minute.

Continue on until you can no longer perform the required amount of squats in the minute. 
Once you miss the mark for that minute, the workout is over.

One of the most interesting and applicable aspects of Chinese Medicine that is often left out of Western Medicine – is the benefit that we can get from the foods we eat on a daily basis.   Enter the cucumber.  The cucumber is a perfect summer food as it is cooling in nature, counteracts toxins in the body, quenches thirst, moistens the lungs for dry hacking coughs, purifies the skin and acts as a digestive aid!  You can apply the juice of the cucumber to relieve burns, especially sunburn or drink the juice to help treat kidney and bladder infections.  The cucumber ladies and gentlemen is awesome.

Workout of the Day:
Max reps in 10 minutes of:
1 arm kettlebell snatches.

Everybody has their own definition of what the Red Zone is when it comes to Crossfit.  Personally, I like to think of it as the point in my workout where my body is screaming for me to stop but the “Inner Eric” tells the body to shut up and keep going.  Others (our friend Andy Petranek) like to envision it as walking as close to a cliff as possible without falling off the edge.  Once you’ve been there, you know exactly what I’m talking about.  This is what we strive for at CPC from every workout.  The more often you hit the Red Zone, the more drastic results you will get.  Keep pushing…don’t stop…don’t EVER give up.  What’s your reward for getting into the Red Zone?  Well…the “post WOD moment of Zen!”

Workout of The Day:
Max reps in 10 minutes of:
Muscle-Up
Ground-to-Shoulder (Male: 185#, Female: 105#)