We don't do anything but hang out on Saturday mornings...

If you’re still on the fence about whether to participate in the Paleo Challenge or not, please read THIS article. I made the point last week that the way in which we are eating is killing us. It’s an inflammatory statement, however I also believe that it is 100% true, and the numbers in the article make it hard to believe otherwise. Note that these particular statistics are geared towards obesity, but our challenge goes far beyond body fat and/or weight. We all know plenty of people who are skinny, who are also very sick. What we’re really after with this challenge is health.

Here’re some highlights of the article:

• More than 50,000,000 Americans eat fast food daily (National Restaurant Association)
• Eating fast food frequently doubles your risk for obesity and type 2 diabetes (Lancet, 2004)
• The “Western Diet” is described as high in dietary cholesterol, saturated fat, salt, and sugar with insufficient dietary fiber from plants. This translates to fewer ‘phytochemicals’-healthy substances that help protect the heart and ward off cancer.
• Studies show that this “Western diet” significantly raises the risk of coronary heart disease, colon cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, and more.
• More than 24 percent of adults drink one or more sugary sodas a day: these adults are 27 percent more likely to be overweight compared to soda-abstainers. (yet we don’t hear Michelle Obama, who often has big ass microphones in front of her and is supposedly on a “mission” asking adults to stop giving their kids soda, now do we? – tb)
• On average each American drinks 597 cans of soda a year, or about 7,264 ounces. That’s about 90,000 calories. Cut the soda; reduce calories equivalent to about 26 pounds per year.
• Women, who gain more than 20 pounds from age 18 to midlife double their risk for post-menopausal breast cancer, compared healthy weight-maintainers.
• Eighty to 90 percent of newly diagnosed diabetics (adults and children) have type 2 diabetes, and more than 80 percent are overweight or obese.

Those statistics are scary, and they should be. They are also the reality of the country that we all live in. They are the accumulated effects of how we eat and how we live. Period.

Eric and I aren’t putting this challenge on because we need extra work to do this month; we’re not putting it on so everybody looks great at The Valentine’s Day Massacre (we don’ let unattractive people join CPC, so you’re all good to go) we’re doing this because we continue to believe in the power of grassroots change and the overwhelming power of personal experience. This is the reason we did the juice fast ourselves before recommending it to other people and why we don’t listen very well to “health professionals” who have no hands on experience around the subject they preach. (yes, I realize that we preach a lot around here)

Guess what gang, all month long you’re going to be inundated with people’s opinions.  Some folks will tell you that you’re doing a great thing and should be proud, some will tell you that you’re a fool and “Paleo” is just a fad. Paleo may be a fad, but good health should never be one.

Eating real food, food that promotes health as opposed to promoting disease, whatever name you want to give to that, is hopefully here for good. We don’t like to think of ourselves just doing a Paleo challenge though, what we’re doing is taking complete responsibility for our own personal dietary choices, if only for 30 days.  Read that again.

For most of us, this will be the first time that we hold a mirror up to our own mouths every time that we eat. See here’s the kicker, the above statistical situation is partly lobbyist’s fault, partly the food industry’s fault, partly the pharmaceutical industry’s fault, partly the medical establishment’s fault, but who’s actually to blame at the end of the day?  All of those listed industries can be as evil and malicious and awful as we make them out to be (or not), yet as far as I know, they’ve never force fed anyone.

If we could have it our way, every single American would eat this way for a month.  Just one month out of their lives. Can you imagine the level of change that such an act would bring about? If every single American had the conscious experience of living in a body that is just 30 days healthier than the one they currently have – there would be an uprising.

Think of this coming challenge as a way for you, a living, breathing human being, to develop a new relationship with food with no marketing, or societal influence attached. It’s just you, your body and your food.

In Food Matters, one of the interviewees talks about how many epidemics we have here in the US…an obesity epidemic, a heart disease epidemic, a drug epidemic, etc.  The best line in the whole film, in my opinion, is when he finishes by saying that he wants nothing more than to see an epidemic of good health here in the U.S. We agree.

If you’re still on the fence about doing this challenge and accepting the role that food plays in your health, jump off of it. The only caveat is that you have to chose which side you want to land on. Ours? Or the rest of the country’s?

Today’s Workout:

”Black Jack”
7 Rounds for Time of:
7 Pull Ups
7 Burpees
7 Push Press (95#/65#)

Hopefully everyone enjoyed yesterday’s guest blog post, here’s the continuation with more tips from Sam!

6)      Work on your strengths.  It may sound weird to say it and I obviously don’t mean to exclude working on your weaknesses but it’s true.  When I started out I was a bit overwhelmed by all the movements until I figured out that I was good at butterfly pull ups.  I practiced until I became really good – at that point I knew that I could do well in WOD if that came up.  Confidence matters and it usually comes in small increments when you are starting out – getting one or two movements under your belt really helps.

7)      Go to other gyms.  Don’t worry, you are not cheating on CPC.  I have found that when I travel to other boxes usually two things happen – one, I learn something new: a new stretch, a new way of thinking about a move etc.  Two, I realize that I really like the way my gym is run and how they program.  Hitting up some different boxes will give you some perspective what works best for you.

8)      Buy your own jump rope.  Most gyms will have ropes hanging on a wall.  They will be in varying states of their useful life and feature lengths of gigantic, medium and impossibly short.  I can say with almost total certainty that none of those lengths are your perfect length.  For $15, buy a rope, and play around with various lengths until you find the right length for you.  I found that my perfect length was way shorter than how it arrived – I cut about a foot off.  Double unders are about timing and feel – buy your own rope, give yourself some consistency when you train -  it is well worth the investment.

9)      Write stuff down.  Seriously, after every WOD take one minute to write down what the WOD was, time/rounds, how you felt, and things to work on next time it comes up.  My first year of Crossfit I neglected to record any of my WODs.  That is basically over 150 data points of tips and insights specifically tailored to me that are gone – oops.

10)      Most importantly, enjoy Crossfit and all the great things that come with it.  Because of its structure and programming Crossfit tends to attract competitive people.  Everyone is always gunning to add a few pounds to their one rep max or to shave a few seconds off their last time.  I have found that I perform my best when I put all of those concerns about PRs aside.  All I try to focus on is enjoying the hour I spend in the gym and doing the best that I can on that day.  Interestingly enough, even with this attitude, I am still hitting some of my best results – funny how that works.

Today’s Workout:
Hang Power Cleans:
2-2-2-2-2
Jerks:
2-2-2-2-2

Advanced:
Full Squat Clean and Jerks
1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Everyone finishes off with a nice easy…
500 M Row for time

Need a cab? Call Rockstar!

Eric was the first one of my friends that I got hooked on CrossFit. I bugged the ever-loving crap out of him to try it, sent him texts with my times and weights and was obnoxious until he took the plunge. Thankfully for all of us he did.

Next to be converted into the cult of elite fitness was one of my best friends from home – Sam. Sam is a borderline genius, posts in our workout forum and someone from whom I seek council on a regular basis. He in turn, hangs out with me strictly for amusement.

(Just to give you some insight, when Sam and his attorney girlfriend take long roadtrips, they occupy themselves with “logic puzzles”…I try to see how many times I can pass gas and suppress my giggles before Ali notices and yells at me.)

As an ex Division-1 lacrosse player for Brown, Sam is now also one hell of a CrossFitter at CrossFit King of Prussia in Philadelphia.  This year, instead of sending my regular Christmas subscription to some kind of alternative adult periodical, which I sheepishly have to tell the mail lady every month I didn’t buy for myself, Sam has put together some guest blogs that we’re going to be posting here.

Ladies and gentlemen…Sam Brewer:

In the spirit of the holidays and all of the top 10 lists that come along with wrapping up 2011 I thought I would share my top 10 Crossfit tips list.  They are tips, tricks and suggestions that I have realized over the last three plus years of doing Crossfit WODs – they have really improved my performance and I hope some of these help other people like they have helped me.  Here’re the first five:

1)     Hand care is critical.  When I first started doing Crossfit I didn’t understand how important it is to keep calluses to a minimum.  It took a few months and countless tears before I figured out that calluses are to be avoided like the plague – trim, sand, cut, scrape, whatever works to make those nasty bumps disappear.  If I had my way, my hands would be as soft as a baby’s, just bigger, more manly looking and way stronger.

2)     Chalk probably hurts more than helps.  Yes, I use chalk but typically only during a real sweat hog of a WOD where your hands look like you just got out of the pool.  Other than that, I rarely use it.  Scientific fact: chalk causes your hands to tear.  It is probably equal to calluses in deserving blame for messing up your paws.  Think of chalk like the force, use it wisely.

3)     Buy a wrist watch with a timer.  Pacing on runs is critical – if you aren’t timing your efforts you are missing out on one of the easiest ways to improve your time during WODs.  Runs are by far the best place to slack off in a WOD – you are all alone, Traver and Eric aren’t yelling at you and with no clock in view it’s tough to get a sense of pace.  After you buy your watch, figure out your times for 400m at i) an all out sprint ii) a fast but doable pace that you would see in a ~ 10 minute WOD iii) a medium pace for 20+ minute WOD.  Once you have those times in your head you will always know if you are slacking – the watch doesn’t lie!

4)     Always use the C2 rower with the little chart function.  Not only does this little thing give you something to look at while you are inflicting pain on yourself, it also is filled with important information on your stroke form.  I’m not a big rower but I’ve been told that a smooth curve is ideal – anything too jerky and your form is off.

5)     Know who you should be chasing – and conversely who should be chasing   you.  I find it always helpful to key how I am doing mid WOD off of a couple people.  Some of them are Crossfit ninjas and I’m always chasing them.  If I am getting smoked by a few people who usually finish behind me, I know I need to pick it up.

Check in tomorrow to see tips 6-10!

Today’s Workout:
1 Round for Time:
400 M Run
50 Wall Balls
400 M Farmer’s Carry
50 Wall Balls
400 M Run

Thank you to those who took last week’s post seriously and put some time in making yourself more elitely educated around the topic of nutrition. It really does help to have an understanding of what you’re trying to achieve for the month as well as some of the processes that your body is going to go through during it.

Let’s talk about three easy ways that Eric and I strongly believe will help you prepare for the challenge on Saturday.

1)     Begin talking to people that have done one of our Paleo challenges before.

Talk to your coaches and your community folks, that’s why we all do this together. This month the power that exists from being a part of a health-oriented community will become even more apparent and should be felt by everyone – no one is doing this alone.

Hearing other people’s experiences; what they went through, how long it lasted, how they felt afterwards, how they got through the cravings for all things doughy and sugary, (like donuts, which are f-ing awesome, but equally evil) will help you relate to what you’re going through yourself.

Lean on the OG, they’ve been here the longest and are wise in the ways of the world.

2)     Begin accumulating recipes. Today.

Truth be told, about a week into our first challenge a few years back, I thought that Paleo meant “living on salad with no dressing and eating Lara bars.” Fortunately for me, Lindsay Klipping got concerned about Eric and my well-being and dropped off a weekly Tupperware container filled with enough Paleo goodness to keep us alive for the following 7 days.

It wasn’t until we actually had a few recipes under our belts (FYI, Eric can cook whole meals because he’s Italian, like Mr. Pesci. Rispetto.) and realized that there were actually Paleo meals that we enjoyed, that things got easier for us.

The earlier you can enjoy what you’re eating and can enjoy it to the point of saying, “Wow, I like the paleo version of pancakes better than the non paleo version of pancakes” the better you’re going to be.

I still have meals that we figured out during the first challenge that I enjoy now.  This is big.

3)     Begin getting everything that you do not want to eat during the challenge out of your house. NOW.

This is also VERY IMPORTANT! There’s sort of a general rule about food I believe holds true, especially during challenges – “If it’s not in your kitchen, and you don’t buy it, and no one gives it to you, and it doesn’t manifest itself in your presence magically, then it’s going to be hard for you to eat it.”

Deep I know, but also very true. This is definitely the week to throw out, donate, and/or ask your neighbor to hold onto or eat yourself – everything that you don’t want to eat after next week.

We’ve found that most people, ourselves included, love to spend the day and night before (and right after) the challenges gorging themselves on crap that they wouldn’t eat otherwise.

Although there is some kind of pseudo ceremonial aspect to doing this, it makes the first 3 days of the challenge a lot more disruptive than they have to be since not only are we adjusting to cleaner eating habits, but we’re also sweating out Yellow #5 from the Skittles. Don’t do this – trust us.

Please make no mistake about it, you will be tempted to grab a beer if it’s just stuck in the back of the fridge.  You will be tempted to eat the leftover tortillas that you left in the cabinet.  This will happen. It won’t be on day 1 or day 3, but inevitably, you’re going to come home late, not have anything cooked, be tired and cranky and that’s when it happens.

Make it easy on yourselves and simply remove the non- Paleo temptations now before hunger and fatigue turn them into something that you wake up fantasizing about – like chocolate donuts and Shakira.

Today’s Workout:
Weighted Pull Ups
5-3-2-2-1-1
Followed by:
AMRAP 12
10 Turkish Get Ups ( you only do these once as a buy in)
Then
10 KB Swings
10 Burpee Box Jumps

Ok, you’re in.  You’re scared, but you’re in. This will be your first Paleo Challenge and you’re moderately sure that you’re going to starve to death (you won’t) and the month will be a living hell (you’re half right).

So what the heck should you do between now and January 14^th? There are a lot action steps that you can take to give yourself the best shot at success in the challenge.

The first and most important step is to begin to educate yourself.  Suffering for the sake of suffering is called “torture”.  Suffering now for a future benefit that you understand clearly is 1) much easier and 2) something that you’ll actually see to the end. We call this “adulthood”.

We listed a bunch of resources on yesterday’s post for people to read through and use throughout.  Did you open them? Read them? Take notes on them?  If not, please go back and do so. We will be providing a lot of education and further resources as the month goes on, but we’re not going to be there in your kitchen at midnight when you’re two weeks into the challenge and thinking about throwing in the towel.  (if one of us is there at that hour, please call me immediately)

The more clearly you understand the WHY behind what you are doing, the easier the HOW will be for the whole month – so get out there and start reading, start watching YouTube videos about the direct connection between food and sickness.

Food Inc., Food Matters and Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead are three great ones.

Educate yourselves as much as possible for the next 10 days and the following 30 will go far more smoothly.

Here’s a guest blog  that I wrote up for Be Food Smart a few months back talking about Eric and my experience with our first Paleo Challenge.  Enjoy.

Today’s Workout:

3 Rounds for Time of:
10 Power Cleans (135#/95#)
20 Competition Push Ups (hands come all the off of the floor at the bottom position)
1 Minute Rest
400 M Run
1 Minute Rest

Let’s talk about the Paleo Challenge folks! Here’s the rundown. This year we’re starting out a little bit differently than in the past since our goal is also to get this knowledge out into the public.

Anyone who has been around a CrossFit gym for more than a year knows someone in that gym that has had amazing experiences by cleaning up how they eat. Anyone who has had an amazing experience by cleaning up their diet more likely than not also has family members and friends who are now eating better themselves.

THAT IS WHY YOU SHOULD DO THIS!

Yes, this is a great way to lose weight. Yes, this is a great way to increase your performances in the gym and out of it. But, what we’re really after here is health.

There are hundreds of books and documentaries about people making positive dietary changes and then subsequently experiencing “miraculous” life changes. Chronic “incurable” diseases clear up, depression lifts, crippling arthritis reverses itself and on and on.

What most people don’t realize or won’t accept is that we are one of the sickest countries in the world and this is, almost exclusively, due to the way that we eat. The way that Americans eat is making us sick, keeping us sick and then eventually killing us.  Read that sentence again and take it to heart. That reason is why we do these challenges and why we’re doing our best to get the message out in Santa Barbara.

So, onward. This year, we are starting things off with a Paleo Seminar led by Eric and I on Friday January 13^th at 6pm. It will take the place of the Friday night class and run about an hour.  It’s completely free for any CPC’er and we’d love to see you there.  We’ll cover what the diet entails, why it works, and how to be successful for the month while you’re on it.

Saturday January 14^th, starting at 9:30am and going until 5:00pm we will have a hydrostatic body fat dunk tank parked at the gym doing body fat testing. The dunk tank will return on Feb 10^th for a follow up(the day before the CFV competition) so that you can see the actual results of a month of clean eating. The price for CPC’ers is $85 for the two tests.  There is no “one test only” option. There are also informational pamphlets on our display case for more info on the test.

The sign up sheet for the test is up on the wall at CPC and sign ups are in 10-minute increments through out the day. The two dates listed above are the only two opportunities to come in a see where you’re at.

Melissa Byers came up with the following 7 guidelines and we’re going to follow them as well.  They are as follows:

(Here’s an article that Melissa wrote about her whole Paleo experience )

1.  Eat real food – meat, eggs, vegetables, nuts, seeds, fruit, oils (like EVOO or coconut). Eat foods with very few ingredients, all pronounceable ingredients, or better yet, no ingredients listed at all because they’re fresh and natural.

2.  Do not eat dairy. This includes butter, cheese (hard and soft), yogurt (even Greek) and milk (including cream in your coffee).

3.  Do not eat grains. This includes bread, rice, pasta, corn (I count corn as a grain), oatmeal, and all of those gluten-free pseudo-grains. That’s not real food, right?

4. Do not eat legumes. This includes beans of all kinds, lentils, and peanuts. (No peanut butter, kids.)

5. Do not eat sugars of any kind, real or artificial. No maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, Splenda, Truvia, Stevia, etc.

6. Do not eat processed foods. This includes protein shakes, processed bars (like Zone bars), dairy-free creamers, etc.

7. Do not drink alcohol, in any form.

Everyone will start each day with 7 points.  If you break one of the above guidelines then deduct a point for yourself.  So if you have a piece of cheese, that’s a  (-1).  However, if you have a glass of some sort of peanut vodka, that’s a (-2), -1 for the peanuts and –1 for the alcohol.  In the interest of keeping things simple, if you’re going to eat one piece of cheese or 20 of them, it’s still a (-1) deduction, so go to town.

At the end of each day, log into your nutrition log (on the website’s forum) and give yourself a score for that day or tally them up and give yourself a score for the week.  Feel free to write in how you are feeling performance-wise and otherwise as well.  Reading about each other’s experiences will only serve to help.

Here’s also another fun article that Melissa wrote about her “fuck off” foods.  These are basically non-paleo items that she needed to keep in her diet in order to stay completely sane.  She uses a graph to explain how often she thought she could consume them and is pretty entertaining reading.

Ari Schmidt, who most of your know as Baker’s handler, did a great blog write up yesterday combining her own trepidation along with some solid insight from Jeff (that’s “Baker” for those of you who thought that was his first name. True story.) to really put together a great blog post about the upcoming challenge.  Enjoy that right below.

http://entertain-eat-drink-bemerry.blogspot.com/2012/01/hello-paleo.html  (Sorry, it wouldn’t hyperlink for some reason)

Some other good resources:

www.whole9life.com

www.deflame.com

www.paleomama.com

www.robbwolf.com

www.thepaleodiet.com

www.everydaypaleo.com

I know that dietary changes are a pain in the ass; Eric and I have put ourselves through a number of them over the years.  However, and let me be very clear about this, the benefits that you will see years and years and years down the road, both in yourselves and in those close to you make a month of discomfort seem like a drop in the bucket.

Ask anyone who’s done this and felt better, but then seen a family member completely turn his or her life around, if it was worth it. Eric and I both have a ton of friends and relatives who were on the path to an early and miserable death who are completely different human beings now. Why? Because they got sick of hearing us talk about how good we felt and gave it a try themselves.

Participate in this challenge, do it and take it seriously, the quality of your life and those around you is waiting to rise exponentially!

Today’s Workout:

Front Squats 3-3-3-3-3
Followed by:
50-40-30-20-10
Sit Ups
Box Jumps (24”/20”)

Great news – our super awesome (and getting older by the day, especially Colin) friends at West Coast Strength & Conditioning or CrossFit Ventura are throwing another one of their competitions in February! Welcome to the Valentine’s Day Massacre a coed team competition – that means that each team will be made up of one man and one woman for those of you still wondering.

What do you know? The competition also coincides with the last day of our Paleo Challenge – Feb 11^th – so all of us should be in lean, mean, fighting shape by the time we storm into CFV.

Ali and I are entered (poor Ali is going to get yelled at), KJ and Fielding are entered (poor KJ is going to get yelled at), Eric and Marcela are entered (poor Eric is going to get yelled at too…and possibly eaten) and we hope to see ALL CPC’ers, regardless of experience levels entering this competition.

CrossFit Ventura has thrown comps since we moved up here and they have it down to a science.  The heats start on time, the event runs extremely smoothly, everything is clearly explained….AND….since we know people there, this is a very friendly environment to get your feet wet.

There’s nothing like committing to your first competition, it sets the stage for weeks of hard training and nerves, but there is nothing even close to the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction that you’re going to walk away with at the end of the day.  The camaraderie at all CrossFit competitions is amazing and with this group of people it’s even better. There literally is no better place to step up the competition plate and swing your “yep, I’m so nervous I’m going to pee myself” bat than down in Ventura, you’ll get nothing but love and support from everyone in attendance.

Please follow this LINK and get yourself signed up. We’re going to have a spot on the whiteboard for names of people without partners and look forward to bringing a huge team to CFV!

Today’s Workout:
Bench Press:
5-5-5-5-5

AMREP 5 – Handstand Push Ups
AMREP 4 – Medball Cleans
AMREP 3 – Toes to Bar
AMREP 2 – Burpees
AMREP 1 – Jump Lunges

No rest in between AMREPS, just keep moving!

Check out our own James Ballantyne doing Parkour around town!  Anyone else have a video themselves engaged in a stupid human trick from the break?  Email it to us and let us know!

Today’s Workout:
3 Rounds for Time:
21 Overhead Squats (95#/65#)
15 Kettlebell Swings
9 Deadhang Pullups

Welcome back everyone! Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back. We hope that you had a great break, ate more than you should
have, (we know that you drank more than you should have…but we don’t judge. except KJ.) and enjoyed some time with your loved ones.

Ali and I went up to Mammoth and wished there was more snow, Malzone and Marcela went to Tahoe and wished there was more snow-  but rumor has it that for a few CPC’er – all of their wishes came true as love floated down like snowflakes all around them! (damn that was like, elite smooth)

Congratulations to the future Mr. and Mrs. Otsen and the future Mr. and Mrs. Vernon!  (pours a splash of O.E. onto the floor for Ots and Brett) A big CPC group hug to all four of you!

Well folks, the year is underway.  We’ve got a lot of really cool stuff in store for you, starting with the completion of the above space. Sandy has been hard at work over the break and we’re hoping for a March 1^st opening date.  We’ll keep you posted as the
progress continues with a definite date. You’ll also know we’re getting close when the workout of the day reads:

Carry as much equipment as you can for .8 miles. For time. Please. Thank you. A lot.

Until then it’s back to business as usual for the year. We’ll be starting the Paleo Challenge on January 15^th since that was the earliest we could get the bodyfat dunktank. Personally, after a week of living on some of the most deliciously inflammatory foods on earth, I’m starting early and am starting my transition back into healthy eating today. We also felt like this was a great way for people to gear up for the challenge as opposed to having to start Monday morning when we all have to return to a week of getting back into the swing of things.

Train smart this week folks,  the year is long and most of us are going to be coming off an unhealthy break so ease yourselves back in. Start to clean up your diets, make sure that you’re rolling out and getting some mobility and yoga in and don’t be afraid to ice anything that has hurt in the past.

Welcome back again.

tb/em

Today’s Workout:
3-3-3-3-3
Deadlift

Followed by AMRAP 10
150 M Row
30 Double Unders
10 Ring Dips

Today’s Workout:
1 Mile Tabata Run

With a stopwatch, run a mile.  Stop every 20 seconds for 10 seconds.