Jimmy Miranda surprised us all on Thursday during the 4:30 class when, after a little bit of skill work he not only got, but just floated two muscle-ups smoothly over the rings without any trouble. If anything he almost had more power than he could handle on the first one, nearly over-shooting the catch on the dip. Fortunately, we caught the 2nd attempt on video. See for yourself:
Pretty cool way to celebrate his 54th Birthday. Awesome work, Jimmy!
It’s hard to believe how delicious this rich chocolate pudding tastes, how easy it is to make and that it’s completely Paleo. Need I say more?
Ingredients
Peel avocados and banana. Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth and creamy. Adjust as needed for sweetness. Chill and serve.
Optional add-ins: 1/4 tsp cinnamon, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, 1 tps instant coffee (dilute in a tsp of water before adding to blender)
Recently, we’ve moved some equipment around and as we continue to expand and bring in new people, it’s easy for little things to get missed. This is just a reminder of friendly practices before, during and after your workout.
We use different tools, but it's the same idea. Don't let our gym look like this!
Keeping things organized. Some days, we have CrossFit classes back-to-back for six hours. It’s a pain in the butt for later classes to get set up if the earlier classes don’t put their stuff away properly. This includes stacking the bumper plates neatly in their correct places (written on the wall), keeping the kettlebells organized, and stacking the dumbbells in an orderly manner on the shelf (written on the shelf). Also, if you’re going to use a weight to anchor your pet, please put the weight back before you leave. And finally, if you have to record your numbers on the floor with chalk, please wipe up after yourself when you’re done.
Use the Chalk Bucket Correctly. Nobody likes inhaling half a pound of chalk dust when they’re gasping for air during a workout. So, please apply the chalk, then clap your hands inside the bucket. Also, it’s very helpful if you avoid knocking the chalk bucket to the ground.
Encourage Your Classmates. Most of you are pretty good about this. If you finish early, it’s polite to cheer on the people who are still working– even if you’re cheering between gasps. You can also feel free to encourage others while you’re working.
Edit: I forgot to add this before, but it’s along the same lines as everything else: Use the Heaviest Weights Available. I don’t mean, try to go as prescribed, I mean be as efficient with the bumper plates as you can be, especially if it’s a big class. You can make 100kg by putting eight 10kg plates on a 20kg bar, but if there’s anybody weaker than you in the class they’re going to have a tough time scaling because you’re using all the lighter plates. Be courteous to the classmates who might not be as strong as you by reserving the lighter plates and bars for them. Again, not a big deal if there’s only one or two people in the class, but I’ve seen a few issues with this in those busy Saturday morning classes.
Just remember: this isn’t big box gym, it’s a community.
First to exit the water, 2010 CrossFit Games
We oftentimes struggle for success. Unfortunately we are often our own biggest hindrance to success. There is all this stuff we have bouncing around in our heads. Past wrongs, past failures, self-confidence issues, fear can all severely limit our chances of success.
A quote from Henry Ford “If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.”
This quote is clearly not 100% accurate, but does demonstrate how much our own belief in something can affect the outcome. Look at the history of sport. How many times has there been a perceptive barrier on an accomplishment that once broken, is then repeated by countless individuals? It is that idea of striving for the improbable, and fully believing that it can be done that will allow for it to be done.
Once you have decided that you are incapable of something you have strongly influenced whether or not you are capable. I have seen many people state that they can not do something, then deliberately (whether consciously or not) screw up their attempts. This self-defeatest mindset has to be turned around. It will limit you in the gym, and in every area of your life.
Frustration and anger at failure must also be watched. If you find yourself getting angry because you don’t perform as well as you think you should have, or fail a skill or lift, step back and calm yourself. You can direct the frustration to help you succeed, but in most cases your elevated stress level is going to interfere with success and improvement. You must understand that you are not the performance. A failure or poor performance does not diminish your value. It is an opportunity to learn and move forward. Allowing these things to get at you will reduce your rate of improvement. We have had a few cases (most often having to do with double unders) of athletes walking out on a workout. There comes a time when you may repeatedly fail at something. It may even be something you normally can do. Even so, it doesn’t matter, and letting frustration eat at you is not going to improve the situation. It may be time to step back and try something else. It may be time to laugh it off and keep pounding at it. This depends on your state of mind. If you can refocus, keep calm and work through, then get on with it. If you find your well being diminishing rapidly, step away and reassess. Finding a different approach may be in order. Your coaches are here to help you with this, but if you get yourself into a negative mindset then there is nothing a coach can do to help.
You will fail a lot here. If you are moving forward you will experience failure. If your coach asks you to try something it is because they truly believe you have a chance of success. You must believe that yourself. How many things have we asked you to do that felt impossible the first time (or 100th time) that you can now do? Ring supports, free standing handstands, heavy cleans/snatches/deadlifts/etc, running speed, pull ups, muscle ups. At one time you couldn’t do any of this. Maybe you still can’t. So keep working at it and you will one day succeed.
I’ll end this with another Henry Ford quote “I am looking for a lot of men (and women) who have an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done.”
This Friday marks the autumnal equinox and despite the current warm weather, I have a sublimely delicious recipe that is sure to get you in the autumn spirit. I just got this easy-to-make soup recipe from my sister-in-law in Connecticut where the New England foliage is already starting to match the vivid fiery hues of this lovely soup. Even though it still feels like summer in our part of the States, what better way to welcome the changing of the seasons than by cooking up a healthy bowl of fall-colored comfort!
Ingredients
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan or soup pot over medium low heat. Add diced onion and sauté stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, add the garlic and ginger and sauté another 5 minutes until onion is translucent. Add stock to pot along with carrots. Turn heat up to high and bring to just barely a boil at which point reduce the heat again to medium low, cover partially and simmer for about 30 minutes or until carrots are completely tender. Add cinnamon. Purée mixture with an immersion blender or in batches in regular blender. If doing the latter, return to pot to re-heat. Add salt to taste if necessary. Serve hot. For an extra rich soup, stir in a spoonful of ghee to bowl before serving. Relax and enjoy!
As has been noted in the comments already, a huge thanks to Rich L. for coordinating for FGB VI. He has been a huge fundraiser himself every year that he has been involved, and this year he stepped up to coordinate the event. I felt completely comfortable with him keeping us all in the loop and running event day. We have more media from the event. Be sure to check it all out.
Pics
Video
Working hard for good causes
Some final numbers. Our final total raised for Fight Gone Bad is $10,449. This is literally double what we raised last year. I missed event day, but have heard a lot of stories. PRs were set. New people were introduced to our way of training and life. A lot of people had a lot of fun.
I’m so proud of you all. It is great to know that our little gym tends to do well in events where the primary motivation is giving. I love the generosity of our community.
So, you may be wondering the result of the handstand world record attempt. USAG set out to break the world record for simultaneous handstands. The previous record was 2,500 set in the lead up to world championships. The attempt today absolutely crushed the old record. 20, 478 individuals did handstands across the country at 1pm Eastern time. Our gym contributed 43 to that number. 39 were on site at the gym, two were in a parking garage, and another two were at camp. Congratulations, we are now members of a world record holding group!
Hey Crew,
Just a reminder that Fight Gone Bad 6 is coming up this Saturday Sept. 17th. This event is open to the public so feel free to invite your friends. Fight Gone Bad is an awesome CrossFit workout as well as a yearly fundraiser and this Saturday we are doing both. This year’s FGB benefits: the “Special Operations Warrior Foundation”, providing college scholarships for the children of deceased special operations officers, the “CrossFit Foundation” and “Infant Swimming Resource®” mission to teach children and infants water survival skills, and the “Camp Patriot” organization, which takes disabled veterans on outdoor adventures. To top it all off, you can get a great workout, so come join us and invite your friends. Whether or not you can make it, you can also sponsor one of our athletes by looking us up on the Fight Gone Bad website and clicking on “Donate”, searching by “Team”, then the appropriate Country, Province, and “Team” field (CrossFit Marin) and subsequently picking the athlete that you’d like to sponsor.
Also, this Saturday is National Gymnastics Day and USAG is organizing an attempt to break the world record for the most simultaneous handstands held worldwide. That will be at 10am, so warm up those wrists and get ready!
See you all Saturday,
-Amadraeus
I’m sure many of us in our travels to Tahoe have gone out to get a run in and found it to be quite a bit more difficult than it is down here at sea level. I was in Yosemite last week and there were some elite Ironman triathletes who were training by running the Half Dome hike. This is a total round trip of about 18 miles and goes from 4,000 feet in elevation at the base up to 9,000 at the peak. I could actually feel the air getting thinner as we approached the top and could only imagine how fit those guys had to be to run that route. This weekend, I’ll be taking on another elevation challenge with the Tough Mudder up at Squaw Valley. Up there, the base elevation will be 6,200 feet and will involve a substantial vertical ascent for the run. This got me to thinking, exactly what is restricting performance when you run at altitude and by how much does it restrict you?
One of the key measures to look at is VO2 Max. VO2 Max represents the maximum capacity of the body to transport and use oxygen in the cells. Since oxygen is the lifeblood of the cells during aerobic activity, this measure is considered one of the gold standards of aerobic fitness. Another important measure, lactate threshold, occurs when blood lactate starts to accumulate above resting levels and lactate clearance can no longer keep up with lactate production. One way to look at it is that VO2 max is your total aerobic potential, while lactate threshold determines how much of that potential you’re currently tapping.
At elevation, we see a much lower oxygen saturation in the air than at sea level. At 6,000 feet elevation, the saturation is about 94% compared to 98% at sea level. Your body will try to compensate by building more red blood cells to uptake oxygen over time by secreting more of a hormone called erythropotein (EPO). EPO may sound familiar due to it’s prominence in blood doping scandals with elite cyclists. They take EPO to stimulate an overabundance of red blood cells, which can artificially raise their VO2 Max. It’s important to note that you won’t see benefits from the red blood cell increase unless you arrive at altitude at least a week before you run since the new cells won’t reach the blood stream until then.
Because of the lower oxygen saturation in the air, we lose about 10-12% of our VO2 Max at 6,000 feet and 12-15% at 7,500 feet according to running doc Dr. Jack Daniels. He does also mention that running economy is actually improved by the lower air resistance at altitude, which will only result in a net loss of 6% VO2 Max at 6,000 feet. So what does this add up to? In a short race of 800-1500 meters, the difference would be negligible, but if you run a 10k, you could potentially lose 2-4 minutes off your time.
I’m always looking for something fun to do with zucchini, especially at the end of summer when they seem to be everywhere! Marinated zucchini makes a wonderful side dish or topping to an arugula salad with the marinade as a dressing.
Ingredients
Wash zucchini and slice as thinly as you can (peeler or cheese slicer works well). Sprinkle with salt – preferably sea or kosher – and let sit 15 to 30 minutes. In the meantime, set a small skillet on medium heat. Add cumin seeds and stir until they start to pop and are lightly browned. Set aside. Rinse zucchini thoroughly and pat dry. Toss all ingredients together in an airtight container, cover, shake well and refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours. Remove garlic clove before serving.
