The Saturday WOD crew. By all accounts the workout was insane. While we were out killing it where were you? In bed?! Time to rexamine what your priorities are.

How about this weather!? Wow. This is by far my favorite time of the year. I love that most of the tourists have gone home. The June gloom is nowhere to be found and its sunshine all day. Waves are consistent. Water temps are steady in the high 60′s. You just cannot ask for much more. The WOD on Saturday was so much fun. Thousand steps was a perfect location for us. Two teams complete 3 rounds of: 200m swim, 50 burpees, 50 dumbell thrusters and finally a run up to the top of the stairs and back down. (217 total stairs). Afterwards we all went to Madison Square Garden Cafe for brunch.  We will be doing beach wods for the remainder of this month. Put down the beer and get down there with us! Sleeping in is for the lazy and undisciplined.

This week is going to be insane. Cant wait to get started. Lets start things off right.

WOD

How many times in 10 minutes can you put 135#/95# starting from the ground to locked out above your head? (Inter 115#/65#, Novice, 95#, 45#)

Then

10 sets of:

10 CTB pullups

10 Double Unders

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Lysanne far left hanging with some of the girls post workout.

This is a sad day for Orange Coast CrossFit. One of our female athletes has been diagnosed with breast cancer. I will let Lysanne tell us in her own words whats going on. Your extended family of OCC is here for you Lysanne! We will fight and beat this together. You will emerge from this an even stronger woman.

“Hey all you crossfitters: A little bump in the road for me!!! I was diagnosed with an early stage of breast cancer. I am only 36 years old…this was a complete shock. Fortunately, the doc suggests a double mastectomy without chemotherapy. I am pretty lucky!! I can’t tell you how much I want to be working out with you all. Coming back with that fierce vengeance…so watch out!!!!”

A few words from your family.

Lysanne,

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Are you sore after some of our workouts? Do you eat only grass fed meat? Do you want to get stronger? Do you want to take off that layer of fat on you stomach?

I cannot stress this enough. You need to supplement with Fish Oil. How much? .5 grams per 10 pounds of bodyweight. I weigh 200# that means I need 10 grams of Omega 3s per day. How many is 10 grams. The Kirklands brand from Costco is one of the most pure varieties out there and thats the one I take. Make sure to keep it in the fridge and take it with food. (Its perishable) Each capsule contains 1000 mg but only 300mg is Omega 3. You want to only look at the Omega 3. The rest is well… fishy parts. So to get 10 grams I need to swallow about 33 capsules. I take take 30 caps as its a nice round number. 10 with each meal. Sound like alot? Well it is alot of capsules but it is not alot of Omega 3s. Why do we need Omega 3? Because not long ago all of our meat used to feed in the wild off of grass. As nature intended. But now we feed our beef/chicken/pork/farmed fish (yes I said fish) grain and corn. Grass contains high levels of good fats/Omega 3s. Grain and corn do not. So we are Omega 3 deficient. Big time! Omega 3s contribute to:

One they left off here which is most beneficial for us CrossFitters and the type of intense training that we do. That side effect is: reduced muscle soreness. Since I have upped my fish oil quota to 10 grams I have had very little soreness. Virtually none.So go buy the fish oil and start taking em. Not one a day either. Thats like working out once a month and thinking that will take you to the promised land. No. Sorry. Ain’t gonna cut it. Man up. Take the oil at the required dose and report back to me in two weeks how little soreness you have after your WODs.You guys dont need crazy supplements. Nature gives us everything that we need in our food. If you are following a mostly Paleo diet you do not need anything else besides the oil. Dont be a bodybuilding meat head. We dont have mirrors in the gym for a reason. I dont want this crazy creatine, zyamine, HGH, NOXPLOD, crap in my gym. We are athletes not lab rats. Remember world class fitness begins with eating meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and NO sugar. One of the beautiful things that brought me to CrossFit was the pureness that surrounded their philosophy. Anyone who reads Greg Glassmans What is Fitness or World Class Fitness in 100 words can see this. CrossFit started as a garage gym because we were fed up with the inadequacy of the Globo gym and our best athletes are fed at the local farmers market. NOT GNC.

WOD

“Fight Gone Bad” CrossFit LA variation

90,60,30 Second Rounds

Then:

Pullup contest. Max strict pullups no kip.

*Remember workout on saturday is on the beach.

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The winners of the “Totally Cindy Challenge” are:

Men: 1st place: Blake Alterama, 2nd place Jason Lankow.

Women: 1st place: Mackenzie Kampa, 2nd place Punky Candon.

It was a close call between all four of these contenders. Jason had the greatest overall CrossFit Total improvement with 245#! WTF!?

The top overall male was Zac Mchugh and for the gals it was Mackenzie. Congrats to our winners and to everyone that competed. Stay tuned for the next challenge. It will be another girl benchmark.

We are officially one month in for the Paleo Challenge which means we are half way there. We have got one more month guys to really dial in everything. I know that the after photos of many of you are going to be drastic. It will be exciting to see who comes out on top.

WOD

1 round for time:
800 m Run
40 Pick it up and put it overhead (men105, women 75#)
800 m Run

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I want to say first off how stoked I am to have my two coaches Zac and Mike working with me here at OCCF. These guys really are great trainers and lead by example.  Both guys hit 1,000 on their CrossFit Total with Zac hitting 24 on Cindy and Mike hitting 20. They both bring great energy, expertise and leadership here to our box and allow me to work  more on the behind the scenes administrative stuff that makes this place run smoothly. Thank you guys for being such great coaches I could not do it without you!

This Saturday we will be running the workout down in South Laguna Beach at a place called Thousand Steps Beach. Not sure of the exact WOD but it could include a bit of swimming ,dumbell thrusters, and of course stair climbing. One things for sure it will be an ass kicker! Post to comments if you plan on coming.

The Totally Cindy Challenge winners have been wittled down to four people. I will announce the winners on tomorrows blog.

Guys/girls I dont mind sharing my books and training aids but please when you take something home please remember to bring it back. We are missing the Every Second Counts DVD, POSE running DVD and book. Please bring them back to the gym so that other athletes can view them.

WOD

5 Rounds for time of:

20 Barbell Forward Lunges

(Take bar out of rack, step back a few feet and then perform alternating forward lunges each returning back to the original start position. Back knee must touch ground on each rep. 10 reps each leg then return to rack. There is no time component here. Increase weight on each set.)

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BoyWonder finishing Cindy with 27 rounds. I think if he paced himself better he could get to 30. Legit for an 18 yr old who has been with us since May 1st. Kid brings it each and every WOD.

When I talk about machines in here I am referring to guys and girls that come in and absolutely lay every fucking thing they have in there pocket out there on the gym floor. What makes these guys tick? What makes them able to put it into that next gear when most of us are stuck in third. Studs. Studettes. (If that’s not a word it should be.) Inspirations for everyone around them. Its a sneaking suspicion but I think those same guys and girls also live life with that same bravado. Never bother knocking but would rather tear the door off its hinges.

I looked at a group photo of  some of my athletes and it dawned on me how widely varied everyone’s background and occupations were. Nurse, lawyer, fireman, pilot, teacher, loan officer, accountant, computer engineer, banker, financier, hair stylist, entrepreneur, etc. The one thing they had in common was CrossFit. But deeper than that everyone of them was a success. To come in and compete in our workouts day after day requires a level of commitment that few posses. We have in our gym our drop ins and our looky loos of course those with still one foot in and one foot out. Our core patrons however the guys and girls that are in here on a 3x a week plus regimen share common threads. Driven to succeed in their life and career. Individuals which I want to share a cold one with and talk story.

If an hour a day 3-5 times a week can make me fit can that same amount of time make me a better person. If I did not spend that hour CrossFitting what would I be doing? Is the happy hour at El Torito with my coworkers really worth it? You don’t choose your coworkers. Dont let their mediocracy drag you down. When Joe from the water cooler calls you a health nut. Do you call him a couch potato? Probably not. There are many opportunities to give in and settle for less than. Every time I do I kick myself. Its hard to take the high road but its always worth it. I know that eating Paleo can be tough especially when you are out to eat. But stick with it. Your worth it and it gets easier I promise.

Not everyone makes it on Broadway. Not eveyone makes it past Navy SEAL training. Not everyone makes it to the Majors. Not everyone runs there own business. Not everyone can put themselves through the shear physical and mental anguish that we CrossFitters experience on a daily basis.  There are barriers to get whats worth getting in life and none of them are usually very easy. Getting in really good shape is hard. That’s why hardly anyone is.

You will have your knicks and bruises and aches and pains. You will need to listen to your body and know when to push and when to back off. The most important thing however is to know that this is a ultra marathon and not a sprint. Most of you have been CrossFitting for less than six months. Many of you less than that. Expect too much too soon from your body and you are setting up for a crash and burn. Ramp up the weight slowly, work on getting the full range of motion, and hammer your technique. Remember that you are better than yesterday and half as good as tommorow. You will be Machines each and every one of you in a very short time. Be patient.

WOD

The workout on .com today is a WOD I did many moons ago when we were still at the NAC. You will like this one.

Complete as many rounds as possible 20 minutes of:
95 pound Thruster, 5 reps
95 pound Hang Powercleans, 7 reps
95 pound Sumo Deadlift High-pull, 10 reps

*Girls use 65# Rxd, Intermediate 75#/55# Novice 65#/45# Anything less is turtle.

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