Here’s A-Train with some thoughts on CrossFit and the military.  Enjoy!

CrossFit has long been a friend of the military – army captains and marine corps use it in their training, the program itself names workouts after deceased troops and military personal everywhere love and endorse the grueling workouts.  But now a new team of medical researchers evaluating programs for military performance has told the recruits, “You’re probably not fit enough for CrossFit.”   This research stems from the recent growing occurrences of puking, fainting and serious injuries.   Research director Col. Francis O’Connor states “People are doing too much, too soon, too fast. Participants in high-intensity programs need baseline strength and flexibility, and they simply aren’t prepared.”  This coincides with a time when thirty-five percent of U.S. military-aged youth are unfit to serve due to health problems which basically stem from lagging fitness levels (REPORT).  O’Connor himself will admit “Certainly, we are addressing a perceived lack of fitness among recruits”
But really is CrossFit TOO HARD for the military?  What do you think is the crux of this matter?  Post thoughts to comments.  Click HERE for more information on this matter.

Today’s Workout:
10 Minutes of Pistol Skill Practice
Overhead Squats:
10-3-10-3-10-3
Followed by:
Tabata Burpees (oh snap!)

After gently coaching Enzo to a victory ("PICK IT UP ENZO!!") Coach Butler celebrates!

Have at it!  (best caption wins a free delicious bottle of water, possibly unopened,  from us)

Today’s Workout:
With a partner complete the two rounds of the following workout:
Partnered teams will spend 2 minutes at each station.  One person will work for the first minute and then rest while their partner works for the second minute.
- Row for combined calories
- Pull Ups
- Box Jumps (24″/20″)
- Russian KB Swings (swing to chest height)
- Push Ups  (Chest to the floor)

Jeb Corliss wing-suit demo from Jeb Corliss on Vimeo.

The motto of my old gym, CFLA was “I do the impossible”.  It’s a great motto and something that we get to see lived out on a daily basis as CrossFit coaches.  When I saw this video posted by Andy P. on Facebook, my first thought was, “Holy crap, that’s impossible!”  I’ve been skydiving once and thought it was awesome, but can’t imagine doing anything like this.  Anyone else get goosebumps from watching this video? 

Today’s Workout:
Split Jerks
3-3-3-1-1-1
Followed by:
”Death By 10 Meters” aka “10 Meters of Fun, Yay!”
Run 10 meters in the first minute.  Rest for the remainder of the minute.
Run 20 meters in the second minute.  Rest for the remainder of the minute.
Etc.

Check out this ARTICLE that CNN posted yesterday and let me know what you think.  I’ve long been a fan of both Herschel Walker and MMA, but what really caught my attention was this paragraph, “Sometimes, Walker doesn’t have an appetite and will go through seven hours of wrestling, kickboxing, sparring and practicing jujitsu without having eaten for three or four days.”
“It’s just unbelievable,” said Mendez, who trains Walker at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California. “He shouldn’t be able to do what he’s doing. I don’t think it’s possible to eat as little as possible and work out the way he does. There’s no way. He’s an unbelievable athlete.”

What do you think folks?  Is this an exaggeration or do you believe that he maintains that level of training on what appears to be zero caloric intake.  Do tell.

Today’s Workout: (to be completed only if you’ve eaten this week)
Front and Back roll skill work.
Followed by:  5-5-5-5-5 Back Squats

Last year's team WOD: Grab a leg and push like hell!

We know that it’s a tad early to be announcing this, but since it’s one of the highlights of the year (second only the greatest Christmas Party in Santa Barbara) we’re giving everyone plenty of head’s up.

On Saturday November 13^th, our great friends at CrossFit Ventura are throwing their annual Team Competition or “Battle of the Boxes”!  This is ridiculously fun day of team workouts and we want to head down there with a strong showing.  The teams will be made up of 4 members, 2 men and 2 women and each team MUST have a team name.  (Due to recent events that CNN has reported, I am relinquishing my monopoly on the usage of the team names made up of Kelly McGillis’s anatomy, so feel free.  That being said, Team “Shakira’s New Blond Baby” may dominate in November.  Yes, I’m serious.)

If you’ve ever thought about competing in a CrossFit event, this is a great starter competition.  There are 3 other people on your team so if you make a mistake you’ll have someone to cover your back!  There will be colorful outfits, hilariousness, ridiculousness and a little bit of hard work – sounds like a great day to me!

Today’s Workout:
3 x Max Effort Supine Chin Ups
Followed by:
AMRAP 15 Min
16 KB Clean and Jerks
8 Knees to Elbows

Congratulations Andy Wood on your pint sized new addition!

Hey folks, here’s Baker with a great post on role models.  Enjoy.

Role Models
I think we can all agree that having a role model generally helps to make us a little bit better in one aspect or another. I personally have several people that I admire, for different reasons. It’s those differences that I seek to better within myself in order to make me a more well rounded individual. Famous Poet and Historian Friedrich von Schiller once said that, “Emulation is a noble and just passion, full of appreciation.” Role models encourage the rest of us to be healthier, happier and more productive.
Being a role model, in my mind, is perhaps even more important then having one yourself. If any of you have children of your own or even siblings, nieces or nephews, then you have no doubt been a role model to someone else and you may not have even been aware of it. It’s, at the same time, an enormous compliment and a huge responsibility. However, being a role model can be very rewarding, knowing that you’ve contributed something of value to another person that they might pass on to someone else. It also assists you in bettering yourself, making you take stock of your own actions and determining if you would approve of someone else doing the same thing.
What role models do you have and why? Are you a role model to someone else? What is it that makes them look up to you?

Today’s Workout:
Push Press 3-3-3-3-3
Followed by 3 Rounds for time of:
20 Burpee Pullups
30 Double Unders

The Muscles from Brussels wants you to be more flexible - and so do we!

If you haven’t heard of Kelly Starrett and his great website www.mobilitywod.blogspot.com , then we have failed you.  Kelly is a brilliant physical therapist, CrossFit Coach and a comedian in his own right.  His website will give you a ten minute daily routine to increase your flexibility (Dahl, Malzone, Claw, Migs, Troy, Randimal) and change the way that you prepare for a workout, warm down from a workout and walk through the world in your own body.  Check this website every single day for an entertaining view into mobility.  Do it.  Do it now.

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

Jen with perfect overhead squat form!

One of the great CrossFit Affiliate owner quandaries, that plagues us all, stems around just when are we to release the workout of the day?  Some gyms won’t post the day’s workout until the day after that it’s been done.  Some gyms won’t post the day’s workout until after their 5:30pm class has begun and some gyms, like ours, post them the morning of.  The late release of the workout is an attempt to stave off cherry picking by the athletes and stick true to CrossFit’s notion of “the unknown and unknowable”.  I’ve personally trained under both systems – knowing what the workout was for the day – and showing up blind and feel that there’s merit to both.

When Eric and I were first contemplating this question, we both felt that our athletes would be empowered enough to show up on a schedule that worked best with their lives, not that worked best with the workouts that they thought were the easiest.  So we ask you, our athletes, this question.  Do you like having the workout of the day posted in the early a.m. or would you rather not know until you walked in the door of what it might be?  Please post to comments and let us know your preference and why.  Gracias!

Today’s Workout:
POSE practice 10min
Followed by:
4 Rounds for time of:
20 DB Pushup Row (not on the rower)
50 situps

Rest can be your best friend, both after the WOD and beyond.

Last week my workout log looked like this: Mon – surfing, Tues – surfing, Wed – surfing twice, Thurs – surfing, Friday – off, Saturday – off, Sunday – off.  Why you ask?  Well the week before I had an interesting thing happen.  I was wrestling up at Paragon and about halfway through my last roll with one of the guys, I had the thought, “I really really want to go home, I do not want to be here.”  Interesting huh?  Afterwards I was sitting in the locker room thinking about what the heck was going on and thought over the previous 10 days.  They’d included regular CF workouts, jiujitsu workouts, multiple double workout days, a full weekend gymnastics seminar, Fight Gone Bad, a speech contest, a full day CEU class and a lot of outside work.  In essence, I hadn’t had a day off of working out or high activity and was clearly overtrained.  My elbow hurt, my knee hurt, my neck hurt, my wrists hurt, I was cranky (this is still up for debate, I think that I was just “correct” more often than usual – clearly not my fault), wasn’t sleeping, didn’t have much of an appetite and was literally dragging myself to workouts.  I tell you this to give you a concrete example of what NOT to do!  I screwed up and let myself skip out on some much needed rest days and decided that a week of light surfing was about all that I could handle physically, mentally and emotionally.

Please know folks, that as much as we love seeing you all every day – if you are exhibiting any of the following symptoms please come talk to us – and be prepared to hear, “first you need to take a week or so off”.  Remember, just like during a workout – rest is a weapon in your arsenal.  Use it wisely. 

1)     Aches, pains and injuries that are increasing in intensity and aren’t responding to therapies
2)     Emotional mood swings
3)     Frequent colds
4)     Insomnia or a racing mind at night
5)     A strong desire to not workout
6)     Reduced libido
7)     Frequent headaches 

Today’s Workout:
Handstand Practice – 10min. 
15-12-9  
Deadlift  275#/165#
Dumbbell  Thrusters 35#/20#. 
Followed by a 2min Cumulative L-Sit

Ok, this guy makes 1-arm pull ups look ridiculously easy!  Who’s going to the be the first CPC’er to match this feat?

Today’s Double Armed Workout:
5-5-5  Front Squats
Followed by:
25/50 Pull Ups/Double Unders
20/40
15/30
10/20
5/10
For time of course.