WOD 100212

Deadlift 5-5-5

Press 5-5-5

3 rounds for max effort:
Max Rep Ring Dip;
if you can do more than 10, add weight.

Post loads and reps to comments.

Riam 10 pound vest, feet elevated ring push-ups

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Social Climbing at GWPC 6-9PM.

This is the last occurrence of this event: I am considering starting up alternating social climbing/social bouldering at GWPC, 7PM Mondays after class. Please post thoughts on this to comments.

Attendance has been rather sparse lately: please post to comments if you are planning on coming so that one lonesome person does not show up and be belay-less.

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

Social Climbing at BIW 6-9PM.

Attendance has been rather sparse lately: please post to comments if you are planning on coming so that one lonesome person does not show up and be belay-less.

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

Social Climbing at BIW 6-9PM.

Attendance has been rather sparse lately: please post to comments if you are planning on coming so that one lonesome person does not show up and be belay-less.

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

CrossFit Level One Certification, CF North Santa Cruz. Apollonia Helm and Gita Dombrowski are now CF L1 Trainers. Apollonia also has CF Gymnastics Certification.

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Social Climbing at GWPC 6-9PM.

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

Social Climbing at BIW 6-9PM.

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

Skins: highly reccomended.

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Social Climbing at GWPC 6-9PM.

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

Andrea, Brooke and Polly compete at Bad Girl Open

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Social Climbing at BIW 6-9PM.

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

Social Climbing at GWPC 6-9PM.

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

Sage Burgener

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Social Climbing at BIW 6-9PM.

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

Social Climbing at GWPC 6-9PM.

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.
Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

Climbing in Kalymnos, Greece.

Social Climbing at BIW 6-9PM.

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

After-Action Report for 090913 WOD

This one was excellent, a keeper. Interestingly it came to me pretty much fully-formed. I was about to post FGB as the workout, and *poof* this one appeared. I wonder if that is what happens to Coach G.?

Serious, serious kudos to Dave F. - He rocked this really hard (223 RX) and did not even look stressed for the first half or so. Raph was inspiring on this one too, he left no-thing on the table! Jim "sold out" and still nearly beat me. Cheryl finally found 10, or maybe 11, on her personal WOD volume knob. Maybe she needs hubby Jim, Athlete-Climber-Lawyer-RouteSetter, to coach her. Brooke killed it too, but Polly equaled her score while skipping two exercises due to wounded-ness!

If I did not mention you, don't get your panties and/or boxers in a bunch. You will notice how I did not even mention my own performance (which would have been closer to Dave F's with a little gaming no doubt. *cough*).

We will definitely be adding this to the roster of benchmarks WODs, but it needs a name. Ideas?

Social Climbing at GWPC 6-9PM (since the gym was closed last week, it seems that this should be next in the rotation, correct me if I am confused).

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

FGB IV Details to follow, please check back tomorrow.

090817

Social Climbing at GWPC 6-9PM

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

Unless there is massive outcry I am changing social climbing to a GWPC venue. It seems to work better for a variety of reasons, not least is proximity to our actual box.

090817

6PM

Track workout in Berkeley: 4X400 Meter Sprints

6 pm. we will choose between the king school track and the Clark Kerr track, depending on the state of renovation at Kerr. Daniel will recon and let us know if it a go.

Social Climbing at GWPC 6-9PM

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

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Body Fat Testing at Ironworks tomorrow. Call Ironworks for details. (510) 981-9900

The Body Fat Test Clinic

The only Hi-Tech Mobile Body-Fat Testing clinic anywhere.

We've
incorporated the most current technology available in our Hydrostatic
Tank. We provide a heated/air conditioned environment with private
changing booths and trained technicians to assist you. The water is
heated, filtered, and very clean. Check out MTV 'Daddy's Girls' episode 6 to see it in action. The segment is about 1/2 through episode: http://www.mtv.com/global/music/videos/popout/?id=1604289

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/27/DDFM18K35E.DTL#ixzz0MTl3mSBw

 

 

Social Climbing at BIW 6-9PM

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

 

Social Climbing at GWPC 6-9PM

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

Torquemada Box Jumps.

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I don't know if Social Climbing is happening. Post-Affiliate Cup training folks might be a tad spun down. Talk amongst yourselves.

We started our affiliate cup training today, it was great.

We have huge respect for local bad-asses, CrossFit Oakland, who consistently destroy in competitions, and we were surprised to see that that they put their cutting edge methods out there for all to see. You better believe we are going to take advantage of their generosity in staying true to the open-source fitness model and start doing this as well! We had a hell of a "core" workout today with these amazing fitness tools!

From CFO:

New Swiss Ball Class Starting Tomorrow!

The newest fitness tool at CFO

We've been looking for a new way to take our brand of fitness to the next level. And we're excited to announce that beginning tomorrow at 10am, we'll be rolling out a new Swiss Ball class. We're really looking forward to changing up our programming a bit, and feel that this will give us an edge heading into this year's CrossFit Games.

With Coach Glassman already proclaiming that there will be movements that have never been contested in previous Games that will be contested this year, we have to be prepared. The exercise programming options for swiss (sic) balls are nearly limitless. We have enough high-intensity, varied programming options to keep even the most advanced athlete busy for years. For many, the development of advanced swiss (sic) ball skills will be a three- to five-year odyssey.

Discuss how you'll integrate swiss (sic) ball skills and drills into your daily CF programming.

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Social Climbing at GWPC 6-9PM

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

Polly overheads 135X3 @ BW of 125. Don't call her "Pee-Wee" unless you have a proportionally better lift.

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Social Climbing at BIW 6-9PM

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

Moving For Time.

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Social Climbing at GWPC 6-9PM

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

Check out the comments for this video. While many of them are very rude (and/or funny) in typical YouTube fashion, the many reasons for not using a Swiss Ball (not to mention doing arm curls) are enumerated (occasionally concisely) therein.

For instance:

• Balancing on a ball is a non-transferable skill, not a generalizable athletic activity.
• Using a ball (or anything) to disrupt stability reduces force generation.
• Compound loaded exercises (Squat, etc.) produce more trunk (core) activation.
• On unstable surfaces, the legs take over the load from the trunk.
• Some ball work (like the above video) are accidents waiting to happen.

And my personal favorite:

"Wow...just...wow.

Doing bicep curls of any sort is bad enough, but bringing a ball into the movement? That's like p**sing into an ocean of p**s..."

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Social Climbing at BIW 6-9PM

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

Polly On Her Coffee Run Photo: Tom Campitelli

It's Time to Make a Coffee Run

By GINA KOLATA

WELDON JOHNSON first tried caffeine as a performance enhancer in 1998. He was not a coffee drinker but had heard that caffeine could make him run faster. So he
went to a convenience store before a race and drank a cup of coffee.

For the first time in his life, he ran 10 kilometers in less than 30 minutes.

"I remember being really wired before the race," he said in an e-mail message. "My body was shaking."

From then on, he was a convert.

Mr. Johnson, a founder of LetsRun.com,
would avoid caffeine, even in soft drinks, for a few weeks before he
competed in a race, wanting to have the full stimulant effect.

"It may have been a huge placebo effect, but I swore by it," Mr.

Johnson said. "Having a cup of coffee exactly one hour before the race
was part of my routine."

Or maybe it was not a placebo effect.

Caffeine, it turns out, actually works. And it is legal, one of the
few performance enhancers that is not banned by the World Anti-Doping
Agency.

So even as sports stars from baseball players to cyclists to

sprinters are pilloried for using performance enhancing drugs, one of
the best studied performance enhancers is fine for them or anyone else
to use. And it is right there in a cup of coffee or a can of soda.

Exercise physiologists have studied caffeine's effects in nearly

every iteration: Does it help sprinters? Marathon runners? Cyclists?
Rowers? Swimmers? Athletes whose sports involve stopping and starting
like tennis players? The answers are yes and yes and yes and yes.

Starting as long ago as 1978, researchers have been publishing caffeine studies. And in study after study, they concluded that caffeine actually does improve performance.

In fact, some experts, like Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky of McMaster University
in Canada, are just incredulous that anyone could even ask if caffeine
has a performance effect.

"There is so much data on this that it's unbelievable," he said.

"It's just unequivocal that caffeine improves performance. It's been
shown in well-respected labs in multiple places around the world."

The only new questions were how it exerts its effects and how little caffeine is needed to get an effect.

For many years, researchers thought the sole reason people could
exercise harder and longer after using caffeine was that the compound
helped muscles use fat as a fuel, sparing the glycogen stored in
muscles and increasing endurance. But there were several hints that
something else was going on. For example, caffeine improved performance
even in short intense bursts of exercise when endurance is not an issue.

Now, Dr. Tarnopolsky and others report that caffeine increases the power output of muscles by releasing calcium that is stored in muscle. The effect can enable athletes to keep going longer

or to go faster in the same length of time. Caffeine also affects the
brain's sensation of exhaustion, that feeling that it's time to stop,
you can't go on any more. That may be one way it improves endurance,
Dr. Tarnopolsky said.

The performance improvement in controlled laboratory settings can be

20 to 25 percent, Dr. Tarnopolsky said. But in the real world,
including all comers, the improvement may average about 5 percent,
still significant if you want to get your best time or even win a race.

For years, researchers believed that you needed about 5 to 6

milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of body weight. An 80-kilogram, or
176-pound man, for example, would need about 400 milligrams of
caffeine, or 20 ounces of coffee.

Now, Louise M. Burke, the head of sports nutrition

department of the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, reports
that athletes get the full caffeine effect with as little as 1
milligram of caffeine per kilogram of body weight. Instead of 20 ounces
of coffee, a 176-pound man could drink 4 ounces of coffee, or about two
12-ounce cans of Coke.

It's also possible to get diminishing returns.

Terry Graham, chairman of the Department of Human Health and
Nutritional Sciences of the University of Guelph in Canada, found that
at 9 milligrams per kilogram, athletes actually did worse.

Many athletes and coaches are not caffeine fans. Mr. Johnson said he

has tried to spread the word and gets frustrated when runners don't use
caffeine -- so much so, he said, that when he sees the team his brother
coaches at Cornell, he thinks, why aren't they all going to Starbucks?

Mike Perry, a friend who is a sculler who has competed nationally

and internationally, said that, with one exception, the rowers he knew
did not use caffeine.

"People would have psychological issues with using it," he said.

"They would see it as against the spirit of the law, even though it's
not against the law."

Still, Mr. Perry wondered whether caffeine would help him. When he

retired from rowing last July, he decided to do a randomized, blinded,
placebo-controlled experiment on himself.

He noticed that the 200-milligram caffeine pills look exactly like vitamin C

pills, allowing him to code the pills so that he would not know which
one he had taken. For eight months he tested himself once a week,
taking two pills an hour before working out on a rowing machine. Then
he worked as hard as he could for an hour, recording the results, also
recording his guess about whether the pills he took contained caffeine.
Mr. Perry, who also is a runner, said that an hour on the rowing
machine is the equivalent of an hour of very fast running on the road.

When he finished his study and broke the code late last month, he

was astonished to see how much the caffeine had affected him. He was
stronger -- his power output was 3 percent greater -- and faster. In
fact, he said the average speed for his tests when he used caffeine was
faster than his fastest speed when he was not using caffeine.

He also guessed right most of the time about whether the pills he

took were caffeine or vitamin C. Mr. Perry said he is now sorry that he
never used caffeine when he was competing. "It would have been a pretty
harmless way to do better," he said.

Others, including my son Stefan, disagree. I urged Stefan to try caffeine and he did. Once.

He took a caffeine pill before a track workout that involved
running a mile very quickly, resting briefly, and running a mile again,
repeatedly. Like Mr. Johnson, he was wired and shaking. But, Stefan
said, he could not recover between miles. His heart was pounding and
just would not slow down. He said he has no desire to experience that
again.

Then there is the problem my running partner Jen Davis and I have.

We love coffee and probably have caffeine in our blood all the time
except during the middle of the night (it lasts for hours).

SO would we do better if we weaned ourselves from caffeine and then took a pill or two before a race?
 
I asked Dr. Tarnopolsky. It turns out, he said, that you get

habituated to two of caffeine's effects right away. Caffeine can make
you urinate, but only if you are not used to it.

"Athletes do not get dehydrated from caffeine," he added, "contrary to popular myth."

And caffeine does increase the heart rate and blood pressure
in people who are not regular uses. "But after three or four days, that
potentially negative effect is gone," Dr. Tarnopolsky said.

The beneficial effects on exercise, though, remain. Even if you are

a regular coffee drinker, if you have a cup of coffee before a workout
or a race, you will do better, Dr. Tarnopolsky said. "There is no
question about it," he added.

He puts the caffeine research to use when he trains and competes.

Dr. Tarnopolsky is an elite triathlete, ski orienteer and trail runner
who has competed at national and international levels. And, he said, he
loves coffee: "I love the smell. I love the taste. It's heaven."

And before a race? He always has a cup.

Social Climbing at GWPC 6-9PM

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

Social Climbing at BIW 6-9PM

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

Social Climbing at BIW 6-9PM

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

CrossFit offshoot Ross Enamait's RossTraining video. Check out the ham strength @ 00:47!

4PM - 9PM GWPC

Social Climbing at GWPC

Come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

Elaine 1st Muscle-Up Jan 2009

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Please post your interest in the following CFEB Field Trips:

• Climbing @ Diablo Rock Gym (Concord)
• Climbing/Hiking @ Zion National Park in June (Utah)
• Skydiving
• Paintball

6PM - 9PM Ironworks

Social Climbing at Ironworks

Hosted by Daniel and Rebecca: come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

Polly 1.5P KB Swing

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Best Athletes, Jan 2009:

Women, Polly

Men James C.

January 2009 Firebreather Throwdown

WOD 1: 100 KB Swing 2.0/1.5P
WOD 2: 100 KB Hang Clean 1.5/1.0P
WOD 3: 100 KB Hang Snatch 1.5/1.0P
WOD 4: 50 Double-Under
25 Kettlebell Swing, 2P/1.5P
50 Double-Under
25 Kettlebell Clean & Jerk 1.5P/1.0P
50 Double-Under
25 Kettlebell Snatch 1.5P/1.0P
WOD 5: 3 Rounds
70 Squats
21 KB Swing 2P/1.5P
12 Pull-ups (Men C2B)

Winners:
Women: Polly 45:08 total
Men: James C. 41:36 total

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Social Climbing at GWPC

Hosted by Daniel and Rebecca:
come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great
opportunity to learn to toprope: you don't need to own equipment, but
there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

6PM - 9PM Ironworks

Social Climbing at Ironworks

Hosted by Daniel and Rebecca: come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to top-rope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

I will probably be bouldering if anyone wants to do that instead.

Post routes completed or attempted to comments.

How Long, Not Long!

650325

Speech in , Montgomery, Alabama after the incident on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Bloody Sunday. A horrified nation watched the reality of the vicious racists dominating the Southern US as ABC television interrupted a Nazi war crimes documentary, "Judgment in Nuremberg", to show footage of the violence in Selma. This was the culmination of the Civil Rights struggle of the 1960s that resulted in President Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act, and signaled the end of segregation and state-sponsored terrorism in the Southern USA.

Last Speech

680403

Chillingly prescient last speech less than 24 hours before being assassinated.

"I Have A Dream"

630828

Famous "Dream" speech. If you have only heard the brief snippet commonly played, listen to the whole thing. Rep. John Lewis, in his semial book on the Civil Rights struggle, "Walking With the Wind", says that Mahalia Jackson, sensing that the speech was falling short, told King "Tell them about the dream". This would be at about 12:10, and you may be able to hear her in the background saying "Yes"! as he begins.

The Dream becomes reality?.

"For too long, our nation has tolerated the insidious form of discrimination against this group of Americans, who have worked as hard as any other group, paid their taxes like everyone else, and yet have been denied equal protection under the law...I believe that freedom and justice cannot be parceled out in pieces to suit political convenience. My husband, Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." On another occasion he said, "I have worked too long and hard against segregated public accommodations to end up segregating my moral concern. Justice is indivisible." Like Martin, I don't believe you can stand for freedom for one group of people and deny it to others".

Coretta Scott King on Gay Rights

Bayard Rustin, openly gay organizer of the "March on Washington"

Post thoughts on how far we have come and how far we have to go to comments.

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6PM - ? GWPC

Social Climbing at GWPC

Hosted by Daniel and Rebecca:
come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great
opportunity to learn to toprope: you don't need to own equipment, but
there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.

Here are the final rules of the game for the 30 day no sugar challenge:

1. All participants must sign up by posting to comments in this entry by 11:59 Jan 4th. Challenge starts at Midnight on Jan 5th and ends at Midnight on Feb. 4th. Your name will be added to the tracking board on the main page.

2. You may not use sweeteners of any kind. No honey, molasses, sucrose, fructose, stevia, etc. etc. NOTHING!

3. For the purpose of this challenge ALL artificial sweeteners are also forbidden ( e.g. Splenda, Sweet N' Low, Equal). This includes "sugar-free" foods and diet drinks.

4. Read LABELS. Any food whatsoever that contains sugar or sweetener of ANY KIND is not allowed.

5. Only consume sugar that is found naturally in foods such as fruit.

6. If you drink adult beverages, only pure spirits (vodka, whiskey, rum, etc.) and wine are allowed. No desert wine, or any other alcoholic beverage made with added sugar, such as Schnapps, or residual unconverted sugar, such as beer.

7. Post your failure or success to CFEB message board daily, or if someone wants to make an email list or other way to track this be my guest. The winner will be the person with the most consecutive days completed. The runner-up will be the person with the most overall days completed. This may be the same person or persons. Everyone will start with a "C" next to their number on day 1 (to be posted day 2). If you fall off the wagon, you lose your "C" but you might still win: you could always resort to finding out people's weaknesses and tempting them. Mine are chocolate and whiskey sours.

***Special, very ironic, prize for those who complete all 30 days!!!***

Who's in? Post to comments.

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6PM - ? GWPC

Social Climbing at GWPC

Hosted by Daniel and Rebecca: come climb with the CFEB crew. If you don't know how this is a great opportunity to learn to toprope: you don't need to own equipment, but there is a nominal fee for harness and shoe rental.