The original CrossFit gym in Santa Cruz, CA. The birthplace of the best fitness system ever developed. Sadly its no longer there.

There is greater potential for serious strength and conditioning in a two-car garage than nearly all commercial health clubs or “gyms€. Many of our friends have long ago given up on the hope that their local gym will surrender the bodybuilding model to incorporate serious athletic training and started over at home with great success.

Coach Glassman (CrossFit founder)

Check out this clip of Jocelyn Secondi kicking some serious ass. Yes girls to get “toned” you must move weight heavier than the 4# pink dumbells collecting dust under your bed. Ms. Secondi showing how its done.

WOD

Press 

5-5-5-3-3-3

Posted in Main Posts | 5 Comments »

There are a few changes to the schedule. Because of our growth we have found it necessary to create a new class which we are calling Level 1. We have found that this is the best way to ramp up novices to CrossFit group classes as well as keep the continuity for our experienced CrossFitters.  Level 1 will be for all of those that have just completed the Elements Workshop. The Level 1 class will be a progressive and steady progression of workouts without throwing novices into the “deep end” before they are ready. CrossFits Mantra is mechanics, consistency, then intensity. Having a novice jump right into the intensity of our Level 2/3 WODs without first establishing mechanics and consistency is doing them a disservice. I believe this to be the best way to advance the fitness and welfare of our athletes.

Monday, Wednesday, Friday there will be a Level 1 class at 6:30am and 6:30pm and Saturday at 9am.  A Level 1 athlete will only be able to attend a Level 1 class. Advancement to Level 2/3 group workouts will be at the discretion of both trainer and member. A Level 2/3 athlete can attend either class. If you are unsure as to what level you fall into please contact us. Please note the workouts listed on this blog each day are those of our Level 2/3 members and all weights and lifts are designed for the advanced level athlete yet can be scaled back to meet the needs of nearly everyone. In other words “don’t be scared if your new to this we wont just throw you into the lions den.” You can and will receive constant coaching and supervision. 

Chip touched on something in the comments yesterday that was I want to elaborate on here. He said I quote, “Jake: In spite of your abbreviated stay, you have added much to OCC and at a key time in the life cycle of our gym [Justin it's ours too].” Yes it is true Orange Coast CrossFit may be mine in the eyes of the city but in reality it is as much “your gym” as it is mine. I would like to think of us a Collective or co-op of sorts. This is and always has been “our gym”, an open source model that is dependent on free flowing ideas and direct involvement of its members.

There are three metabolic pathways that provide the energy for all human action. These “metabolic engines€ are known as the phosphagen pathway, the glycolytic pathway, and the oxidative pathway.The first, the phosphagen, dominates the highest-powered activities, those that last less than about ten seconds. The second pathway, the glycolytic, dominates moderate-powered activities, those that last up to several minutes. These are the “anaerobic€ pathways. The third pathway, the oxidative, dominates low-powered activities, those that last in excess of several minutes. This is the aerobic pathway.

Total fitness, the fitness that CrossFit promotes and develops, requires competency and training in each of these three pathways or engines. Balancing the effects of these three pathways largely determines the how and why of the metabolic conditioning or “cardio€ that we do at CrossFit.

Favoring one or two pathways to the exclusion of the others and not recognizing the impact of excessive training in the oxidative pathway are arguably the two most common faults in fitness training. Time domain matching of task or sport to training is the first step to effective, legitimate strength and conditioning.

Ok so we have put alot of time into working the metcon WODs. Getting out of the glycotic realm and working the phosphagen pathway. That means maximum effort WODs ME for short. ME is what makes CrossFit different from just really high intensity interval training. Performing ME with the same focus and ferocity that we attack the interval type workouts is key to the success of our athletes in this gym. Yes its true they are not as fun as the Fran, Helen, Murph etc. but they are just as important.

WOD

Front Squat 

5-5-5-3-3-3

Posted in Main Posts | 7 Comments »

We are very sad to see our good friend and all around bad ass Jake Lay leave. Jake is off for Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia where he will be trained as an officer and a helicopter pilot. Although he was only here for such a short time he managed to break or set nearly every record in the gym. (Emphasize nearly. ) Not just a phenomenal athlete Jake is the kind of soft spoken guy that lets his actions do the talking. His great energy and presence in the gym will be sorely missed. From everyone here at Orange Coast CrossFit we wish you the best of luck and know you will kick some serious ass. Stay safe and keep in touch brother. Hooooyaaaa!!

We will be having one group WOD in the evening. It will start at 6pm. Please pm me if you cant make this and we will acomodate. After there will be drinks, and cake to send Big Jake off in style.

WOD

In teams of two complete the following.

6 Rounds of:

200 m Run

20 Pullups (chest to bar)

30 Burpees

40 Kb swings

60 WallBalls

The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

Go get em.

JMF

Posted in Main Posts | 20 Comments »

There’s but one way to determine the efficacy of a fitness protocol: pit that system against a second system and test them both against the standards of a third. By this standard CrossFit has no peer.

-Greg Glassman (CrossFit Founder)

I know I posted this video before but it just met the mood I was in tonight. 

WOD

In honor of USAF SSgt Travis L. Griffin, 28, who was killed April 3, 2008 in the Rasheed district of Baghdad by an IED strike to his vehicle. Travis is survived by his son Elijah.

“Griff”

• Run 800 meters
• Run 400 meters backwards
• Run 800 meters
• Run 400 meters backwards

Posted in Main Posts | 1 Comment »

Eva, Jolie, and Annie. CrossFit legends and yes guys they are way fitter than you.

Only one evening class today at 5:00 pm. Make note. Thanks for understanding. 

Also we will be leaving the gym on Saturday morning after the workout. Plan to be at the gym with your gear and be ready to leave at 10am. 

Here is a link to the photos of the house that we are staying at.  http://www.vrbo.com/225551

Here is a quick check list of things I am hiking with. 

• Camelback with extra bladder or 2L bottle of water (both mixed with Gatorade diluted)
• 8 Zone bars
• Sunblock (small tube), chapstick
• running shoes
• Gaiters
• synthetic socks
• Tylenol
• running shorts
• long sleeve shirt
• hat
• sunglasses
• trekking poles

No more no less. Light is the key here. We will be going 0 to 10,800 ft. in about 10-12 hours of hiking. I have done this hike four times before and its legit.

Jake emailed me this late and I thought you guys would enjoy it. 

During Special Operations selection training, you’re subjected to a brutal series of physical and mental tests. Depending on the program and the time of year, between 60 and 90 percent of candidates won’t finish. Fun stuff.

Posted in Main Posts | 12 Comments »

Hammer time!

Brian meeting pukie early on.

First off I want to welcome two new members to the Orange Coast CrossFit family. First off is Matt Hammer. Hammer is a financial analyst  and a cool cat that happens to live within spitting distance of my house. He is a runner and wanted to improve his run times and become stronger and more powerful all around. He is at the right place.

Second we have Brian Bottalico. Brian is an aspiring firefighter and an avid surfer who is about to enter the fire academy. In his line of work fitness is part of his job title. Being fit can mean the difference of life or death. We are stoked to have both of these guys flying the OCCF banner.

Do you ever notice that after a particulary hard WOD you feel sore the next day but really sore the day after. This is called delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMS. Here is a description.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness

If you are getting this there are a few things to do to prevent it. 

First. Take 1 tablespoon of Cod Liver Oil a day. I have talked at length on this subject before. If you are new to our site please do a search using the search function on the left nav. bar for previous posts. Some great material. Basically if your not supplementing with CLO you are doing a diservice to your training.

Second. Contast showers. I started fooling around with this a few weeks ago and am liking what I feel. Im doing the following. 

3 minutes hot. 1 minute cold.

2 minutes hot. 1 minute cold. 

1 minute hot. 1 minute cold.

Always end on cold. When I say cold im talking turn the knob all the  way to the left. Its not easy but as we like to say nothing worth doing ever is. Try it for yourself and report back on the results. Im curious. 

Third. Foam rolling. I have ordered five 6″ foam rollers that we will use for self myofascial release. Should have gotten these months ago. Sorry guys. These will be part of our cool down post WOD. Mandatory. 

Fourth. Drink a gallon of water a day. Fill one up in the morning, keep drinking till its empty. This I have done in the past and have slacked off on since we moved in to the new gym. Not anymore. 

Fifth. Get at least 7 hours of sleep a night. Everyone says eight. I say yeah if you dont run a gym or have a real job, wife, kids, etc. 7 works for me. I get more when I can. Less than 7 however and im dragging. Do yourself a favor and read this book. http://www.amazon.com/Lights-Out-Sleep-Sugar-Survival/dp/0671038680. Its great and I now sleep with a black tshirt over my eyes. 

Sixth. Get outside feel some real terra firma under your feet or water under your board and realize that your time here is limited. Make the most of it. Money helps but the best times of my life were when I had very little and was doing things that required none. 

WOD

Rest Day. If you missed a day this week come in and make it up. Iwill be here. Or drop in and pick my brain on a particular issue weather it involves CrossFit or if there is a swell in the water.

Posted in Main Posts | 8 Comments »

Man Child post WOD. Saying welcome CrossFit style.

Yes you can put this picture up when you are the sole owner of a small private gym. This is the feeling that you get when you complete a WOD. Like your on top of the world. Think this feeling of accomplishment and bravado doesnt stay with you when you leave the gym. Think again. Everyone shows there enthusiasm in different ways. Man Child wanted to show me how long his digits were. Pretty small for how big he is. Hmmm….

Check Jon Gilsons article on enduring through our percieved problems with life and CrossFit http://www.againfaster.com/articles/starting-over.html

Healing through excercise? Who knew. http://www.stumptuous.com/jorg-blech-healing-through-exercise

WOD

I asked Jake what WOD he wanted to see before he left. This was it. Show us how its done brother. Hoooyaaaaaa!!

“Fight Gone Bad!“

Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 20 pound ball, 10 ft target (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 75 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump, 20€³ box (Reps)
Push-press, 75 pounds (Reps)
Row (Calories)

In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute.The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. On call of “rotate€, the athletes must move to next station immediately for best score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.

Dont tell me about it. Just get it done.

JMF

Posted in Main Posts | 4 Comments »

This time one of them is actually a fireman. Guess which one it is.

Memorial Day is coming soon and CrossFit Orange County would like to host the OC Affiliate Gathering at OCFA Headquarters. The event is the 3rd annual Trevor Win’E Memorial Day CrossFit Challenge. There are CrossFit Affiliate gyms across the country signed up to do this event at their gym, and we can come together and join forces to support the US military personnel by donating Cooling vests (www.mistngo.com). 

http://crossfitorangecounty.typepad.com/trevor_wine_memorial_2009/ Event website.
http://www.trevorwine.com/ His story.

Please come out and support this good cause with us

Each four member team entry donates one cooling vest (and it can be donated to anyone of your choice). Each vest will be adorned with a CrossFit Pukie patch (or any other patch you supply to us). You do not need to register online just come down and register at the event. Or just show up and support the other teams and affiliates.

This is going to be a big event and we want your participation. There will be Fire Dept. teams, USMC teams, and affiliate teams. We will supply food and water. Sorry, no brew at this gathering due to it being Orange County Fire Headquarters. It will begin at 0900 with opening ceremonies, then we will kick off the team workouts at 0930. We will be going until noon. Please email my your RSVP and we will do the rest. The more teams the better (each team donates one cooling vest)!

WOD

Ten rounds for time of:
3 Weighted Pull-ups, 45 pounds
5 Strict Pull-ups
7 Kipping Pull-up

For weighted pull-ups place a 45 pound dumbbell between the legs above crossed ankles and jettison the dumbbell after third rep and continue with strict pull-ups and then the kipping pull-ups. Coming off the bar or going to ground constitutes termination of a set.

Post time and number of sets to completion.

Posted in Main Posts | 2 Comments »

 

 

The boys preparing to enter the gladiator pit.

First off I want to say a huge Congrats to Man Child and AJ for winning the Gold Medal at the California State USRowing Southwest Junior Championship!! Thats my boys. you guys are killing in and out of the water. Cannot wait for the photos.

So another day another dollar. Hope you all enjoyed your weekend with mom. Now its back to the drawing board for me. Got to make this the place to work out in Orange County. The best way to do that is by making you guys fit as f#ck! When your fit people around you are going to want to get on board. Everyone is looking for the magic pill and guess what we have it.  Who is going to commit to getting in here at least 3x this week? 

Talking about commitment there are a few events  coming up which I need your support. First off we have the Trevor WinE memorial challange on Memorial Day. We have our team of 4 and need as many of our members to come out and show support for Orange Coast CrossFit. Check the event sections for more details. 

Second up we have the Sage Burgener Olympic Lifting clinic on June 20th. The seminar will be from 9-3pm here at our gym and cover both the clean and jerk as well as the snatch. Both of which are extremley important to the development of y0u guys as athletes. We are limited to 15 people and there are only eight slots left. Please reserve your spot before its too late. Contact us for more details. 

Third we are doing a big hike this weekend on Sunday. It is called the Cactus to Clouds and is considered by many to be the toughest one day hike in all the continental U.S. It starts in Palm Springs and climbs over 10,500 ft. to the top of Mt. San Jacinto. It is the single largest elevation gain of any day hike in North America. I have done this hike about 4-5 times before and each time it kicks my ass. It is quite literally 6 miles straight uphill on a never ending stairstepper. Truly CrossFit style   Its also beautiful as you climb out of the desert up into high desert and finally into alpine country. Another great thing about this hike is there is no downhill hiking required. To come back you just hop on the Palm Springs Tram and in 15 minutes your back at the car.  We will be going out there on Saturday night and camping as we will need to start hiking around 5:00 am to get off the desert floor before it gets too hot. Trust me you do not want to start the hike any later than that. Heat stroke is a major possibility. Leave a comment if your in. RSVP with me as soon as you can so we can figure out transport.

http://www.backpacker.com/may_2005_feature_hardest_dayhikes/destinations/8485?page=3

WOD

“Grace”

30 Clean and Jerks for time. (135#m, 95#w)

Posted in Main Posts | 13 Comments »