So it’s the Holiday Season … and you may be receiving some unexpected gifts if you aren’t careful.  A new pair of love handles might be a gift coming you’re way if you go overboard with the Holiday Parties, dinners, and family get togethers.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying to not celebrate but just don’t throw away 12 months of hard work for one month.  If you choose to party a few days in a row learn from our vets (Andre, Kos, Olga, Walsh, and the ring leader Philip) …come in anyway.  I watched several members suffer their way through the Filthy Fifty but they all got it done!  Now if you are seriously hung over then do not come in because your body and mushy brain need to recover.

December/January can be sneaky because we wear more layers than usual but we both know that it doesn’t last long!  Be sure to get your WoDs in this Holiday season.

WoD

A1.Back Squat 5-5-5-5-5

Rest :10

A2. Ring Dips AMRAP x5

Rest 3:00 bw sets

B. ”Grace”

30 Clean and Jerks for time (135/95)

ThrowDown competitors

Same as group, then spend 10 minutes post wod working on one of your goats.

Tags: Corona Del Mar, Costa Mesa, CrossFit, gym, Irvine, Justin Flynn, kiki dickson, Newport Beach, OC CrossFit, OCC, Orange County CrossFit, personal trainer, workout
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Our good friend Lamarr Smith of CrossFit Next Level Performance…looking a lil soft. You would never train with a fat trainer right? So come on Lamarr!! lay off the sweets and get into the gym! You gotta set an example for your members.

Two years ago I opened the door to this place because I wanted to have a place to create elite fitness. Not just drop a few pounds, that’s what LA Boxing is for. But a place to develop a fitness that is extraordinary and absolute. We have that. Orange Coast CrossFit is equipped with every tool needed to complete every single CrossFit workout as Rxd. That means that we can deliver the CrossFit programming pure to our athlete’s without substitutions. At OCC we are PURE CrossFit and I am very proud of this.

So why Fitness? Why spend all this time on improving our the physical domain. Coach Glassman says that the gym is a “testing ground for improving the will” and I agree with him. He goes on to say that, “CrossFitters see physical education as a primary vehicle for teaching virtues essential for achievement. For us, the world of physical challenge and achievement have become metaphors for harvesting life’s riches and battling its plagues…For CrossFitters, highly developed human performance is art and personal participation in these art, at all skill levels, is a transcendent experience.”

Here is the full article here. One that I printed out a few years back and have been drawn back to many times. Check it out!

WoD

A. Power clean 5-5-5 (keep hands on the bar at all times, no more than a 2 second pause at the floor. This is not 5 singles!)

B. Complete as many rounds as possible in 12 minutes of:
400 meter run
5 Deadlifts

(Deadlift weight is up to each athlete. Go as heavy as you can. Aim for 4+ rounds. Below are some of the top CrossFit athletes results for todays wod.)

Rob Orlando 405lbs, 5 rounds + 3 deads.
Tim Burke 405lbs, 5 rounds + 300m.
Pat Sherwood 405lbs, 5 rounds + 100m.
Kevin Montoya 345-415lbs, 5 rounds.
Rebecca Voigt 285lbs, nearly 5 rounds.
E.C. Synkowski 195lbs, 4 rounds + 300m.
Dave Lipson 500lbs, 4 rounds.

Tags: Corona Del Mar, Costa Mesa, CrossFit, gym, Irvine, Justin Flynn, kiki dickson, Newport Beach, OC CrossFit, OCC, Orange County CrossFit, personal trainer, workout
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These past couple weeks we’ve been getting the “What should I eat?” question.  What we put into our bodies is extremely important and directly correlates with our output.  If we put peanut butter into a brand new vehicle, that thing isn’t going anywhere!  Same goes for our bodies…if we’re eating fast food and things that never go bad, like twinkies, then we are in trouble!  Think about it, if there is something that has been sitting on the shelf for six months and still has 5 more years of shelf life, how can we expect our bodies to process that?  Almost everything we eat should be able to go bad and/or die.  CrossFit has kept it simple with the following:

What Should I Eat?
“In plain language, base your diet on garden vegetables, especially greens, lean meats, nuts and seeds, little starch, and no sugar. That’s about as simple as we can get. Many have observed that keeping your grocery cart to the perimeter of the grocery store while avoiding the aisles is a great way to protect your health. Food is perishable. The stuff with long shelf life is all suspect. If you follow these simple guidelines you will benefit from nearly all that can be achieved through nutrition.”

Sugar is probably the hardest thing to kick as it is practically in EVERYTHING!  Dr. David Reuben, author of Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Nutrition says, “…white refined sugar-is not a food. It is a pure chemical extracted from plant sources, purer in fact than cocaine, which it resembles in many ways. Its true name is sucrose and its chemical formula is C12H22O11.

It has 12 carbon atoms, 22 hydrogen atoms, 11 oxygen atoms, and absolutely nothing else to offer.” …The chemical formula for cocaine is C17H21NO4. Sugar’s formula again is C12H22O11. For all practical purposes, the difference is that sugar is missing the “N”, or nitrogen atom. …Refining means to make “pure” by a process of extraction or separation. Sugars are refined by taking a natural food, which contains a high percentage of sugar, and then removing all elements of that food until only the sugar remains. Studies show that “sugar” is just as habit-forming as any narcotic; and its use, misuse, and abuse is our nation’s number one disaster.

We know that glucose and vitamin C have similar chemical structures, so what happens when the sugar levels go up? They compete for one another upon entering the cells. And the thing that mediates the entry of glucose into the cells is the same thing that mediates the entry of vitamin C into the cells. If there is more glucose around, there is going to be less vitamin C allowed into the cell. It doesn’t take much: a blood sugar value of 120 reduces the phagocytic index by 75%. So when you eat sugar, think of your immune system slowing down to a crawl.

Here are a few helpful articles.

The Reclassification of Sugar as a Drug

Juice as bad as soda

This article gives a decent list of names for sugar on ingredients lists.  Disclaimer: Not a fan a stevia or any other “wonder” subsitute! Nor do I think “taking it slow” is the best idea because there will never be an easy time to “quit”.  Some good explanations under the comments sections why sugar substitutes are not okay!

Also on a side note, just because something says all natural or organic does not mean it is good for you.  I once had a friend who ate a ton of cookies from Trader Joe’s all the time.  She thought because they were all natural and organic that they were a-okay…NOT.

What are your thoughts?  Also any tips, such as recipes, for the newbs who are just starting out? – post to comments

WoD

Press 1-1-1-1

Push Press 1-1-1-1

Split Jerk 1-1-1-1

Tags: Corona Del Mar, Costa Mesa, CrossFit, gym, Irvine, Justin Flynn, kiki dickson, Newport Beach, OC CrossFit, OCC, Orange County CrossFit, personal trainer, workout
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Max Fernandez showing great speed under the bar. If you think, “Drive yourself down, dont drive the bar up”, you will add #s to your jerks.

This mornings classes will be with Derek Fay who comes to us from CrossFit Brea. He will be helping out with the Wednesday and Thursday morning classes while we gear up for the OC Throwdown. Derek has been coaching CrossFit for the last three years, including an internship with Josh Everett at the University of Riverside.

Announcements:

~This Saturday there will not be a 10am class.  9am will be the time to catch a WoD and then at 10am we’re having another Back to Basics workshop!  Muscle Ups, Handstand Push-Ups, Kipping and Butterfly Pull-Ups will all be a part of the hour long workshop.  Afterwards head to the CrossFit Expo.  For info on the Expo look on our calendar located to the right.

~November 20th we will be head to CrossFit South County along with NLP to continue the rotation and get in an awesome WoD!!  Be sure to save the date as we’d love to see you there!

~We’ve got a sweet design for our new tanks, t-shirts, and sweatshirts.  We’d like to get an idea of who would like what and which sizes.  Feel free to post to comments or let us know when we see you at the box.

WoD

A. 3 Rounds of

20 Burpees

20 Chest to bar pullups

Rest 5:00

B. 3 Rounds of

350m Row

18x Ring Dips

Tags: Corona Del Mar, Costa Mesa, CrossFit, gym, Irvine, Justin Flynn, kiki dickson, Newport Beach, OC CrossFit, OCC, Orange County CrossFit, personal trainer, workout
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OCC, NLP, and CF South County come together for a friendly CrossFit match.

Mobility

We all know how much mobility can effect our lifting and overall performance, but often don’t know how to address the problems we run across. I have been searching for GOOD info to guide me.  Well, I finally found it – CrossFit specific too.  Kelley Starrett [owner of Crossfit SF], is a DPT and the source of the best info I have run across has  a great “mobility WOD” blog.  Now its not just a few [too few] lectures, but daily movements focusing on specific areas and ‘issues’. There is great lift specific stuff here, great for pre WOD work as well as ‘extra curricular’. You can check out this excellent site here.

History of the Tabata Interval

Credit for this simple and powerful training method belongs to its namesake, Dr. Izumi Tabata and a team of researchers from the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Japan. Their groundbreaking 1996 study, published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise, provided documented evidence concerning the dramatic physiological benefits of high-intensity intermittent training. After just 6 weeks of testing, Dr. Tabata noted a 28% increase in anaerobic capacity in his subjects, along with a 14% increase in their ability to consume oxygen (V02Max). These results were witnessed in already physically fit athletes. The conclusion was that just four minutes of Tabata interval training could do more to boost aerobic and anaerobic capacity than an hour of endurance exercise.

Although Dr. Tabata used a mechanically braked exercise cycle machine, you can apply this protocol to almost any exercise. For example, a basic Tabata workout can be performed with sit-ups. The more muscles used the better, so use full knees-bent sit-ups. Sit-up non-stop for 20-second intervals, followed by 10 seconds of rest. Repeat for a total of 8 cycles.

New photos up in the gallery. Check em out!

WoD

“In Yo Face Tabata”

For the following movements perform :20 work followed immediately by :10 rest for 8 rounds. Score is the lowest number of reps per movement, and time for the final 400m run.

Front Squat (75/45) Must hold bar in rack position for entire time.

Rest 1:00

V ups

Rest 1:00

SDLHP (75/45)

Rest 2:00

Push Press (75/45)

Rest 1:00

Double Unders

…..then go right into a 400m run

Tags: Corona Del Mar, Costa Mesa, CrossFit, gym, Irvine, Justin Flynn, kiki dickson, Newport Beach, OC CrossFit, OCC, Orange County CrossFit, personal trainer, workout
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THERE IS NO 10 AM class tomorrow, November 6th. There will be only one class at 8:30am. If you are competing in the OCC vs. NLP Box Battle we will be meeting at the box at 9:15 am and driving down to Lake Forest carpool style. Anyone and everyone is welcome to come workout or just watch, Should be sick!!

Here’s the thing that makes life so interesting… the theory of evolution claims only the strong shall survive and maybe so. … maybe so.  But the theory of competition says, “Just because they’re the strong doesn’t mean they can’t get their asses kicked!”  That’s right! See, what every long shot, come from behind, underdog will tell you is this, “The other guy may in fact be the favorite, the odds may be stacked against you, fair enough, but what the odds don’t know is this isn’t a math test, this is a completely different kind of test. One where passion has a funny way of trumping logic.”  So, before you step up to the starting line, before the whistle blows and the clock starts ticking…just remember out here the results don’t always add up!  No matter what the stats may say, and the experts may think, and the commentators may have predicted, when the race is on, all bets are off!  Don’t be surprised if somebody decides to flip the script and take a pass on yelling uncle!  And then suddenly as the old saying goes… we’ve got ourselves a game!

Announcements-

~This Saturday we’re headed to NLP for some fun!  Come along to get in a team WoD or at least cheer on your friends!

~November 13th @ 11am we will hold part II of our Back to Basics program.  Muscle-Ups, Handstand Push-Ups, and of course the kipping/butterfly pull-up.  The workshop is free to our members.

~For the first time, a CrossFit “State of the Community” panel will be held to shed light on the direction of the future of CrossFit. This all takes place on November 13th from 8-4pm. The panel will feature CF leaders such as Greg Glassman, Dave Castro, Mike Burgener, Jimi Letchford, Greg Amundson, MacKenzie, Josh Everett and Kelly Starrett. The CrossFit Journal is also an in-kind host of the event. Fitness, Health, Nutrition, Elite athletes, Workouts, Shopping (some of the most innovative fitness designs and products will be on display). And a beer garden…does it get any better? Click here for more info.

WoD

A1. Back Squat 5-5-5-5

Rest :20

A2. Ring Dips Amrap x4

Rest 3:00

B. 3 rounds for time all out:
35 double unders
25 push ups
15 CTB pullups

Tags: Corona Del Mar, Costa Mesa, CrossFit, gym, Irvine, Justin Flynn, kiki dickson, Newport Beach, OC CrossFit, OCC, Orange County CrossFit, personal trainer, workout
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