800m Repeats

Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
Rest 2 minutes

Today’s article comes form Crossfit Fenway, and it’s all about Integrity.  Have you ever “no-repped” yourself?

Recently I was working out alone, something I don’t do all that often these days.  It included wall ball, knees to elbows, and kettlebell swings.  Several times during the workout I found myself calling “no rep” on myself.  Why did I do this?  No one was around, the only thing I was competing with was the clock, and what I was experiencing felt like a low grade form of torture.  I did it because integrity is important to me.  When I write down a time, a number of reps, or a weight, even if it’s just in my personal journal, I want it to be legit.  I want to know that everything I did was held to the highest movement standards possible, and I want all of you to do the same.

All of your coaches do their best to keep an eye on you, but we honestly cannot watch every rep of everyone’s workout.  Miss the wall ball target?  No rep yourself.  Hit your armpit instead of your elbow?  No rep yourself.  When you cheat range of motion you’re only cheating yourself.  This is important to remember if you have aspirations of competing in CrossFit.  The last thing you want to do is show up on game day and have your reps not count.

Integrity both personal, as well as of the data we’re generating matters a great deal to me, and I want it to matter to you too.  People will die for points, especially when in direct competition with one another.  Don’t let your desire to “win” get in the way of the high level of character I know you all have, or interfere with your primary goal here, improved fitness.

Big thanks to Andre for letting us use his equipment for a little while!

Rest Day

Rest Day

or

Sunday’s class will start at 10.

L-Pullups/Pistols

For time:
21 L-pull-ups
20 One legged squats, alternating legs
18 L-pull-ups
16 One legged squats, alternating legs
15 L-pull-ups
12 One legged squats, alternating legs
12 L-pull-ups
8 One legged squats, alternating legs

Kevin Montoya 9:13, Kristan Clever 13:21, Pam Eamranond 21:56, Rebecca Voigt 27:11.

Happy Bday Bex & Karin!

Snatch 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

Jake Rubash 247lbs, Josh Everett 245lbs, Michael Giardina 243lbs, Brandon Pastorek 243lbs, Brandon Phillips 235lbs, Rob Miller 225lbs, Kristan Clever 155lbs, Katie Hogan 155lbs, Rebecca Voigt 120lbs.

A Tribute To Jack LaLanne

From 70sbig.com
Jack LaLanne is the godfather of fitness. Over a career that spanned over 75 years he was a popular bodybuilder, an entrepreneur, an inventor, a fitness and nutrition expert, and a ballsy public performer (he was still towing 70 row boats while shackled and hand-cuffed at age 70). He died Monday at age 96. What was the secret of his longevity?
“Clean thoughts and dirty girls.”

LaLanne was a long-time proponent of regular exercise and proper nutrition. It’s a mantra he would repeat and live throughout his entire life. He also was one of the early voices speaking out for the use of lifting weights, yet he received a lot of criticism.
“People thought I was a charlatan and a nut. The doctors were against me—they said that working out with weights would give people heart attacks and they would lose their sex drive.”

Jack also never ate processed foods and only ate whole foods. Ironically, he thought organic food was pretty lame (the federal government labeling something as “organic” doesn’t mean shit, by the way…most products are hardly different — if at all — from their non-organic counter parts):
“It’s [organic food] a bunch of bull,” he said. “How do you know what’s really organic? Today, there’s all these impurities in the water and the air. The water for the fruits and vegetables has junk in it. If you get enough vitamins and minerals out of normal food and whole grains, and you get enough proteins and exercise (that’s the key), then nature builds up a tolerance to all of these things. It’s survival of the fittest. You can’t have everything perfect, that’s impossible, but the fit survive.”

There was one constant throughout Jack’s life: training and exercise. He attacked it with a consistent voracity that is hard to comprehend (given the number of years he did it):
“I train like I’m training for the Olympics or for a Mr. America contest, the way I’ve always trained my whole life. You see, life is a battlefield. Life is survival of the fittest. How many healthy people do you know? How many happy people do you know? Think about it. People work at dying, they don’t work at living. My workout is my obligation to life. It’s my tranquilizer. It’s part of the way I tell the truth — and telling the truth is what’s kept me going all these years.”

Jack LaLanne may have past away, but his lessons will live on with us. A person should be strong and make it a habit to habitually exercise and eat well. Everything else in life is irrelevant because your wealth is dependent on your health.

“I don’t care how old I live; I just want to be LIVING while I am living!”

________
Afterword
I want to point out that LaLanne opened the first gym in America. He would eventually expand this franchise into over 200 gyms in a time when “going to the gym” seemed foreign. Jack had a TV show for over 30 years that talked about the fundamentals of fitness; hard work and consistency. However, in the 1980s the aerobics boom created the “fast results” mantra that still permeates fitness culture today. LaLanne was pushed out of the spot light because his techniques and advice weren’t sexy or appealing. It’s unfortunate because society’s marketing requirements changed, and Jack LaLanne was left in the dust despite his sound advice and solid track record.

Eventually he would sign this franchise over to Bally Total Fitness. I think this was the right move for Jack, but unfortunately the “gym business” shifted into the falsehood that “bringing people into your gym means you earn money”, instead of Jack’s notion that “bringing people into your gym will allow them to learn how to become fit and healthy”. Jack did create the first gym franchise in America, yet he aimed at helping people (as evidenced by his advocacy throughout his career that lasts twice as long as most American’s lives). Unfortunately the industry shifted away from fundamental concepts like “putting the work in” and “making good decisions”. Instead, that industry aims for contracts, commitments, and cheap marketing techniques. A gym owners true goal is to make money on their investment instead of creating a quality investment that makes money. This is what spurned the horrendously shitty fitness industry that constantly jumps on the bandwagons of fast results, fancy bells and whistles, and obscure rationalization (i.e. muscles don’t get fucking “confused”).

If we learn anything from Jack, it’s that the fundamentals will always be superior to anything the fitness industry can provide. Hard work. Consistency. Good eating choices. These will prevail over anything the industry can throw at us. Yet it isn’t enough for us to know this and mock the industry. Take this fundamental knowledge and gently help your friends and family from the cave of shadows to real knowledge. Just make sure they understand that it won’t be easy. Nothing really is, even if you’re Jack LaLanne.

Run/Burpees/Dumbbell Row

Five rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
20 Burpees
15 Two-hand dumbbell Bent over row, 50 pounds each

Josh Everett 16:01, Kevin Montoya 16:29, Austin Malleolo 17:08, Lance Cantu 17:40, Kristan Clever 17:45 (35lb), Jeremy Thiel 17:48, Brandon Pastorek 18:17, Rebecca Voigt 18:20 (35lb), Katie Hogan 19:59 (35lb)

Crossfit goes bodybuilding? Kinda, just wait till you fill your hamstrings after those bent over rows.

I want to keep exploring the element of fear in our crossfitting lives. So with that in mind, I’ve got a few questions for you all:

Has a WOD ever kept you up at night? Was it excitement, fear or something else that kept you up? How do you control your emotions going into a particular hard WOD?

Rest Day

or

Crossfit Paragon Home Brew!

Have you made it to the new place yet? What’s your favorite part of the new gym?

GAMES INFO:

The CrossFit Games Open is a six-week competition that will begin Tuesday, March 15th at 17:00 PDT. This competition is the first step in qualifying for the 2011 CrossFit Games. Each week, one event will be announced each Tuesday, and everyone has until the following Sunday at 17:00 PDT to complete the event and record their scores.

There are two ways to compete:

1. Compete at a Registered Affiliate: Attend a workout session at a registered affiliate and submit your score for the affiliate to validate.

2. Compete Anywhere: Perform the workout as prescribed anywhere you can or want, and videotape it. Submit your score and upload your video.

We are developing a comprehensive website to handle the technical requirements of the worldwide Open. That website will go live the week before the competition. It will have robust registration, scoring, and reporting capabilities. If you’re an affiliate, you will have the opportunity to Opt-In each week. There will be a few criteria that you must abide by, but generally you will have a lot of freedom over how and when you host the competition.

Complete details are coming soon!

Paragon

3rds (with 1 min rest btn rounds)
1min DB thrusters (35/25)
1min Hang Power cleans (95/65)
1min GHD sit ups
1min KB swings (55/35
1min burpees

A fortuitous workout perhaps…perhaps.

We are now at 3907 Green Industrial Way. Please allow yourself plenty of time to get to our new location.

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Moving the Gym

Moving at 8 a.m. until it’s done….

Last CFSS Workout!

Rest Day

or

Last CFSS Home BREW!

Are you going to miss the smokers, the odd water on the bathroom floor or the too small space? We think not! Come see our Sandy Springs location off in style, expect something unusual and distinctly our own.

GHD/Push Jerk

Five rounds of:
20 GHD Sit-ups
5 Push jerk

Michelle Kinney 5:52 with 115lbs, Kim Malz 6:41 with 115lbs, Michelle Benedict 7:01 with 105lbs, Kristan Clever 8:55 with 160lbs, Rob Orlando9:07 with 230lbs, Rebecca Voigt 10:58 with 155lbs.

For realsies this time:

We’re moving.

8 a.m. Saturday at Sandy Springs hauling everything to Paragon until it’s done. If you have a truck you are especially welcome.

Food after at Paragon.