River checking on Malzone - post Badger.

  Who loved Paleo?!! (crickets..crickets)  Miguel?!  Personally I got a lot out of this month and hope that you all did as well.  First and foremost, I learned that on my own, I never would have stuck to anything close to the Paleo Diet for any longer than 2 days.  This speaks again to the power of our community and the positive influence that we have on each other.  Kudos for that! 
  I definitely learned that life without hot sauce is no fun and I’m adding it back in, in droves, starting today.  I also learned that life without bread, tortillas, sugar, caffeine, ice cream (this one was tough) and all the other crap I would snack on is completely doable.  The power of momentum rang true for me in that once we got underway, the first week was hell, the second week wasn’t so bad, I felt great at times during week three and at the time of writing this (10-30-09) I still feel good but miss certain things like chips and salsa and red wine.
   As I said on Friday, my plan from here on out is to continue eating according to the Paleo Diet for 80% or so of my meals.  Two buffalo burgers with eggs and an avocado is a great Paleo dinner that I plan on eating more of.  If the lovely ladies of CFV keep bringing in Paleo muffins, I’ll never eat a regular muffin again!  All in all, I’m really glad that we did this challenge and that we can now all speak more from our own experience when talking to people who are interested in eating a healthier diet.
  Eric and I are really proud of you all for stepping outside of your comfort zones yet again and giving this challenge your time, energy and focus - and most importantly for doing it together and supporting each other.   Thank you all for that. 
  We’d also love to hear all of your emotional reactions to the month – the good, the bad and the ugly.  Did you miss the foods, or the feelings that come with certain foods?  I know personally that I didn’t want to drink a beer until the first day that I realized that I couldn’t have one!  How did it feel to be on a restricted diet?  Did it last for the whole month?  How did your friends and family react?  Other people outside of our gym may read this and get useful information from your stories.  Do tell.

 Today’s Post Halloween Workout:
AMRAP 20 –
3 Knees to Elbows
6 Box Jumps
9 Burpees

Station 1 Firefighters, please meet our friend Mr. Tabata!

Last Tuesday Eric and I had awesome opportunity to head down to Fire Station 1 and run a bunch of the firefighters through some basic CrossFit exercises!  Who better to develop an increase in functional strength, cardiovascular endurance, balance and flexibility than those people who put their lives on the line for us everyday.  The firefighters that showed up got to experience the joys of Tabata sit ups, and a whole bunch of burpees, squats and push ups!  We’d love to say that one of them got to give Pukie a ride-a-long, but we’ll have to wait until we’re there again to pull that off.  Congrats to Jeremy, Olga, Kell, Brandon, Joe, and Rich for making it through your very first CrossFit workout! 

Today’s Workout:
5K Run for time.
(Yep, we all knew it was coming eventually)

We have to start making these workouts harder - Savannah and her Mom Debra with way too much smiling going on!

“Humans were built to move.  We evolved under conditions that required daily intense physical activity, and that hard-earned genotype is still ours today.  The modern sedentary lifestyle leads to the inactivation of the genes related to fitness and performance, attributes that were once critical for survival and are still critical for the correct, healthy expression of the genotype.  The genes are still there, they just aren’t doing anything because the body is not stressed enough to cause a physiological adaptation requiring their activation.   Heart, lungs, muscles, bones, brain, all operate far below the level at which they are still intended to function, and at which they function best.  Those among us who are sedentary suffer the consequences.”  Mark Rippetoe “Practical Programming for Strength Training” 

Today’s Workout:
AMRAP 20 Minutes:
5 Thrusters (95#/65#)
5 Pull Ups

Forging Elite Fitness In Paradise!

Save the date folks – Saturday, November 14^th is not only our POSE seminar, but immediately following we’re all going to head up to newly opened CrossFit Goodland (www.crossfitgoodland.com) and help our ex-intern Nick Conn celebrate his Grand Opening!!  Another sister gym right around the corner only helps to solidify the CrossFit sweep of the Central Coast.  Between CrossFit Ventura, CF Santa Barbara, CPC, and now CrossFit Goodland – we’re set to have some epic gym showdowns, some amazing joint adventures and all kinds of mischievous fun!
Nick, congratulations on opening up your own box.  We couldn’t have been happier to have you training with us and are looking forward to watching you build something great of your own.  Our support is always here for you if you need.  November 14^th – CrossFit Goodland – 5718 Hollister Ave, A-2 Goleta, be there! 

Today’s Workout:
“Annie”
For Time:
50 – 40 – 30 – 20 – 10
Double Unders
Sit ups

CPC now has our own official gang sign! Thanks Shoham!

It’s been a big 2 weeks here at CPC folks!  Not only did we have our first gloriously successful 5K run, but we’ve also had some serious kipping going on!  Like Roger Bannister before her, Kjersti started the ball rolling with her first kipping pull up a little while back.  This has now lead to Lisa E. getting her first kipping pull up and not to be outdone, the guys stepped up with Brent, Justin and Sam getting kipping pull ups of their own!  Christina is just a step away after last night’s workout and I’m sure she will be busting out a few of her own very soon.  The kipping pull up is a huge milestone here at CrossFit as it allows you to perform the majority of the workouts in a much faster manner, and takes a combination of coordination and strength to do correctly.  Congratulations to all of you new kippers! 

Today’s Workout:
Tabata Push ups – 8 Rounds
800 M Run
Tabata Sit ups – 8 Rounds
800 M Run
Tabata Squats – 8 Rounds
800 M Run

Justin and Baker deep into our Saturday morning game of tag!

FYI – “Spears, spikes and tridents serve to skewer a zombie, keeping it out of reach but not necessarily scoring a kill.  The chance of an eye-socket stab is possible, but remote.  The medieval European halberd (an ax-spear hybrid) may serve as a chopping weapon but, again, requires great amounts of skill and practice to accomplish a decapitating blow.  Other than using them as bludgeons, or keeping your attacker at a distance, these weapons serve little purpose.” – The Zombie Survival Guide (generously provided by CFV’s Jaala Thibault)
There you have it folks.  Don’t rely on spears, spikes and tridents. Duh,

Today’s Workout:
“Nancy”
5 Rounds for Time:
400 M Run
15 Overhead Squats (95#/65#)

Back Anatomy - learn it, love it.

The latissimus dorsi muscles (also known as the lats) are the largest muscles of the back. Being large, fan-shaped muscles, they are able to provide force in a wide range of body positions, e.g. leaning back to straight vertical and all points in between. The lats are attached to the upper end of the humerus with fibers running down in a fan down the vertebral column and pelvic girdle.
The trapezius (trap) muscle is a long, trapezoid-shaped muscle that runs down the upper section of the spinal cord, originating at the base of the skull and attaching down in the middle to lower back.  The angles of the trapezius fibers provide pull in three different directions: up, down and in towards the centerline of the body.
The function of the lats is to pull the arm down towards the pelvis. When the arm is fixed (e.g. during a chin-up), the lats serve to bring the body up towards the arm. It is the same basic movement but with the directions reversed. The lats also function to stabilize the torso during many movements, including the flat bench press.
The functions of the trapezius muscle include scapular elevation (shrugging up), scapular adduction (drawing the shoulder blades together) and scapular depression (pulling the shoulder blades down).

Now you know!

Today’s Workout:
1-1-1-1-1 Weighted Pull ups
Followed by 150 Burpees for Time.

Hug a veteran today. Do it.

One of the coolest things about our job is getting to meet people from all walks of life.  As you can tell from our New Student wall, we have a member in 60’s down to one in her teens.  We have a Ph.D student, firemen, teachers and the like.  We also have two members that have served in our military.  Although Fritz only drops in from time to time when he’s in the country, Sam Reyes has been an active member of our community for a while now, and both he and Fritz are prior members of the Marine Corps.  Today is the day that we can all take a moment, put our political ideas to the side and be thankful that there are men and women who have put their own lives on hold and entered our military.  CrossFit honors the fallen with workouts in their name, but today we will honor all of our military – both active members and prior members.  Ladies and Gentlemen, we thank you for your service today and always!

Today’s Workout:
Chose your own Hero Workout Part II

Justin focusing hard on his overhead squats!

Do you remember that first introductory meeting that you had with either Eric or I?  Do you remember the feeling you got when we explained the Baseline workout?  Most of you looked mildly panicked…especially when we got to the part about doing 10 pull ups!  Well, the time has come to redo the Baselines and see exactly how much progress you’ve made since you joined.  For some of you it has only been a few days or just a few weeks, however I would be willing to bet that you’ve learned a trick or two that will get you through this workout faster than before.  Every class will have an opportunity to do the baseline as part of their warm up next week.  Get yourselves ready – next week is Baseline Week!  

Today’s Workout:
Shoulder Press
3-3-2-2-1-1-1