A couple days ago, I did Cindy with Dai, Christie and some friends at Fitness Town. I hadn't done Cindy in over a year and wanted to get 20 rounds. I was close and pr'd but didn't quite get there.
Score = 18 rounds + 9 reps
Today, I tested my 1RM in the back squat. My previous record was 265lbs. I thought 275 would be good but I hit it easily, so I went for 295. That went up slower but I still made it so I decided to try and break 300 and put on an extra 5# per side. 305 seemed like it took forever to go up but after about 3 full seconds in the concentric phase, I got it! Woo hoo! Hitting 300 was one of my goals I set for myself after the regionals, so it looks like I can cross that off!
So the 2011 Reebok Crossfit Games are officially over! What did we learn this weekend? Here are some of my thoughts
- I predicted 4 out of the top 5 women and I was really close to putting Rebecca Voigt in 5th which would've made me 5 for 5. I predicted 2 of the top 5 men. I predicted both winners (Annie and Rich). I predicted that Crossfit New England would be one of the two teams that could possibly win. Bottom line - I'm the Nostradamous of Crossfit
- Too bad Mikko Salo was out so early. It was such a tragedy. For him to finish that first workout from having his eardrum blown out shows great courage. If he had competed, I don't think he could've beat Rich but he would definitely have top 5 potential.
- Big Congratulations to Crossfit Taranis (3rd place team) and Angie Pye (10th place women), for representing BC!
- Rich and Annie have a legitimate chance of repeating next year being the first 2 repeat champs. I haven't felt like this for the past winners ever.
- The only man who has a chance at giving Rich a run for his money is Josh Bridges. He is LEGIT. In fact, IMO, he was the most impressive this weekend.
- I thought the programming for this year's games was the best programming ever. It truly spanned broad time and modal domains. I felt that it truly represented the fittest man and women in the world. The only error they made was the softball throw, they should have put a shotput throw in place, it would have been a better representation of upper body power/core to extremity power. Softball throw was too biased to those with that skill already.
Hello fellow crossfit dudes and dudettes! The 2011 Reebok Crossfit Games are upon us! In T-Minus 1 day, approximately 50 men and 50 women, along with 40 some-odd teams will battle it out for the claim to be the fittest man, woman, and team in the world!
With the announcement of the individual 1st event which includes a swimming portion, and the 2nd and 5th events which includes multiple skills tests, the programming for this year's games are off to a fantastic start! This year's Games has the potential to be the best test of fitness out of all the prior games. With that in mind, it's time for some predictions. You can't have a competition without some predictions from Phatty himself.
Teams:
I believe it's going to be a battle between Crossfit Invictus and Crossfit New England. (I know, not really going out on a limb here). My underdog pick is Crossfit Taranis from Victoria, BC to crack the top 10. BC represent! Woot! woot!
Individual Women's:
1. "Iceland" Annie Thorisdottir - this is a last second change, but I believe Annie is prime to take it this year upsetting Kristin Clever's chance to be the first repeat champ.
2. Kristin Clever - It's going to be close between Kristin and Annie the whole weekend but there can only be one winner!
3. Samantha Briggs
4. Julie Foucher
5. Michelle Kinney
This year's Camille award aka relative newcomer darkhorse to make a name for herself: Angie Pye
Individual Men's:
1. Rich Froning Jr. - no need to explain this choice
2. Mikko Salo - ditto
3. Dan Bailey - He has some weaknesses ie. gymnastics so he could fall, but I think his strengths will pull him up
4. Ben Smith - I like this pick here because not many people have him in the top 5
5. Chris Spealler - hard to choose between Speal, Austin, and Josh Bridges here but Speal has the experience and best overall skillset out of any athlete
This year's Austin Malleolo award aka relative newcomer darkhorse who nobody is talking about: Joseph Weigel
How are the Canadians gonna do? Those 2 guys from Eastern Canada are gonna be near the bottom, Lukas Parker has a chance to crack the top 15-20. Jeremy Meredith will end up 20-25. Both very respectable showings!
p.s. I think either Mikko Salo or Matt Chan will take event 1. See y'all tomorrow!
Crossfit Power Rankings are based by the most recent performance by the athletes in past Games, Regionals, and the Open. More weight is given to the bigger the stage of the performance.
Men:
1. Rich Froning Jr. 2. Graham Holmberg 3. Chris Spealler 4. Matt Chan 5. Mikko Salo 6. Dan Bailey 7. Austin Malleolo 8. Ben Smith 9. Jason Khalipa 10. Josh Bridges 11. Daniel Tyminski 12. Joseph Weigel 13. Nathaniel Schrader 14. Philip Kniep 15. David Stowe 16. Mikko Aronpaa 17. Patrick Burke 18. Gabe Subry 19. Pat Barber 20. Nick Uranker
Patty's Great post, informative and concise on gluten. See original here.
Ok bear with me here….I might get some terms a bit off and some dates have a tolerance, but I am going to paraphrase why Gluten sucks so bad for your health.
After hanging with my old pal Robb Wolf for 4 days it has become apparent that there is a chemical war going on between our bodies and the nature of grains to defend themselves.
Now Robby correct me where I have Pattersonized this too far. (see comments section)
In short: It is not the fat that is trying to kill us…..nor are the high glycemic foods 100% the culprit, nor is it necessarily sugar or starch.
The worst part of our diet comes from grains and more specifically a protein in them called gluten.
Here is how it all started: We have evolved for over 4 million years. We have subsisted on a hunter gatherer diet consisting of game meats, fish, seasonal fruits and vegetables, nuts and tubers. It has only been the past 5,000 years or so that grains were introduced into our diet. Cultures that switched to grain as a major source of nutrition shrunk by over 6 inches and lost over 25lbs of lean body mass.
The tallest people on earth in the late 19th century were plains indians (5 ‘ 11″ average ht) who lived on a hunter gatherer diet. By contrast the average height of a US calvary man was 5’4″. Also Hunter Gathers showed no sign of Cv disease, type II diabetes, various cancers, Alzheimer’s and a host of other gnarly diseases that are killing us in record numbers.
The difference……grains
Why? Think of the goal of every living thing on earth………..especially think Tbear.
It’s goal is to procreate. Now also recognize that every living thing has some sort of mechanism to defend itself from being killed so it can pas on its genes (Try to get the remote from Tbear when there are females present and you shall see)
Clams have shells, roses thorns, snakes have venom (Tbear has skinny wrists, but watch out for the elbows). Grains have gluten and its purpose is to beak down your gut and kill you.
Stop eating gluten (none….zip….zilch) for 30 days and see what happens. Talk to Tbear or check Robb’s site for what to eat in combination with zero gluten.
So Week 2 of the Crossfit Games Regionals we had the Mid-Atlantic, Norcal, Canada East, and Europe. In my opinion probably the most competitive of all the regionals. This weekend's regionals had everyone talking about one guy, A.J. Moore.
Mid-Atlantic
- A.J. Moore finished 1, 2, 2, 30, 2, 6. His 30th place finish in the 100s workout (it should be officially called that) is definitely an outlier. Apparently he had 59 missed reps on his kettlebell swings during this workout and there is video evidence of this. You be the judge.
My 2 cents: Sure, some of them shouldn't have counted but given the context of the situation, as a judge, you need to balance being strict but also give some leeway according to how your other fellow judges are judging the other athletes. If the other judges are being more lenient and letting things slide, you should back off a bit also. I can understand 10 no-reps, maybe even 20. But 60 no-reps when you have to do 100 total? I think that's a little too harsh.
- There is now a campaign to get A.J. Moore to the Games, and deservedly so cause he would be a beast in Cali.
- Ben Smith won the last 3 workouts, look out for him. Current prediction: Definitely top 10
Norcal
- Maybe the most stacked regional of all the regionals. We have 5 athletes in this regionals who were in last year's games and they finished 1-5, duh.
- Jason Khalipa dominated the weekend
- Neal Maddox gets to go to the Games because Khalipa gets a free pass for being a previous Games champ.
- Too bad, Big Dawg, Joey Warren just missed out. If he was in any other regional, he woulda made it
- On the girl's side, big ups for 30 some-odd year old Annie Sakamoto for qualifying. Old School.
Canada East
- I don't think any of the men who qualified will be big contenders this year. They should've combined Canada as one regional again this year. It would've been interesting to see how that would have turned out with 4 guys qualifying. I haven't checked the numbers but all 4 guys potentially could've been from out west.
- Camille (F'n hottest badass chick in Crossfit) Leblanc-Bazinet completely annihilated the competition. She won every event except for a third place finish in the last workout which she probably could also have won if she wanted to. She is a force to be reckoned with. At this rate, wouldn't be surprised to see a top 5 finish from her at the Games.
Europe
- Outstanding performances for Tuomas Vainio but he can't do muscle ups well so that's his Achilles heal
- The other Mikko needs an extra year to be truly competitive.
- Annie dominated to nobody's surprise and it will be damn fun to watch her and Kristin battle it out at the Home Depot Center. Can any woman challenge these 2? Camille? Becky Conzelmen? Angie Pie? We'll see....
Next week, we'll have Central East, North West, South West, and Asia doing battle. Until next time.
- All six events were won by three athletes in the male division: Lucas Parker (1st), Jeremy Meredith (2nd) and Steve Howell (4th).
- If you look at the scoreboard, you'll see one blip on Howell's scorecard, the thruster workout where he accumulated 20 points, if he had lifted 10lbs more, he would've gotten 7 fewer points, putting him ahead of Meredith.
- It's been mentioned before, but if there were no cutoffs after day 2, and everyone competed in the last day, the standings would definitely look different, but would it change the top 2 who gets to advance? If so, Crossfit HQ might wanna re-visit that idea.
- Jeremy Meredith finished in chronological order: 1st, 2nd, 7th, 1st, 9th, and 10th. He blames it on his nutrition on the last day. He's got 8 weeks to figure out what went wrong. ps. I have video on my iphone of him cleanly and successfully thrustering 255lbs so he shoulda got 1st on that WOD too. I don't know why it was a mis-rep. Does anybody have an explanation?
- If we compare the top 10 from the Sectionals to the Regionals, you'll see that most guys at the top stayed at the top save for Nate Beveridge (mainly cause of his goat, handstand push-ups) and Brian Carter. Carter finished in 9th place overall in the Sectionals and 40th at the Regionals. But if you look closer, his placings at the Sectionals were 2, 4, 5, 50, 29, 32. So does that mean he got progressively less fit during the opens? Did he lose work capacity as the opens went on? Hmm..... - Over on the Women's division, it was all about the story of the Taranis Twins (they needed a nickname), Angie Pie and Alicia Connors who dominated the weekend winning all the events between the two of them.
- Angie Pie is gonna be a HUGE Crossfit Celebrity. You heard it here first. She is gonna be this year's Camille Leblanc-Bazinet. She's got the looks and the work capacity to back it up. Watch out for her.
- Angie finished 28th in the world during the Opens and WILL place top 15 at this year's games.
- Gotta give a shout out to my man, Pete Kendrick, 9th place, gutsy performances all around. Brrraaap.
- Finally, Congratulations to Lucas, Jeremy, Angie, Alicia, Crossfit Taranis and Crossfit Vancouver for qualifying to the games. Go Canada Go!
This post was originally published on Crossfit Salvation’s website by Coach Kevin Hughes (check out his bio here).
There has been recent discussion about the athletic look of the CrossFit women. So today, I decided to give you Coach K’s perspective on training and the woman in CrossFit. Please realize this is Raw and Unfiltered today. I am speaking from the heart. I give kudos to all forms of fitness, however it is the fallacies and the myths I am addressing today and talking about specifically why CrossFit Women are amazing. This goes for women of all ages, backgrounds and body types!
First, there are some common challenges with the way media portrays “fitness”. As you saw on our main page, there are a plethora of so called “Fitness” magazines out there that tout they have the definition of fitness, the pictures of fitness and the body that “every woman wants”. this frustrates me as a coach because of all the feedback I get when women come to me to train. the most common thing we hear as coaches is: I don’t want to lift a lot of weight because I don’t want to get big”. Well thanks to mainstream media we have all lost touch with what is real and what is “gym myth”. We have lost the eye for what is truly appealing to most. Our society has been blessed with air-brushing and photo shoots of skinny women who tout they are “In Shape”. And yet never have I seen a CrossFit woman airbrush her photos of a workout to make her look better. I have yet to find a CrossFit Woman who doesn’t take pride in just being who they are and letting the rest work itself out. I also have yet to find a woman in CrossFit who isn’t willing to try the workout of the day and push even just a little bit past their comfort zone.
I sometimes wish the media would get their shit together and realize we are promoting anorexia, and self esteem issues. I used to worry my daughter would succumb to all the bullshit out there until she wrote a book at 10 years old called “The Best Gym Ever” about a CrossFit affiliate in California called CrossFit FTF. I worry about the images we see and how demotivating it can become for those who need fitness the most, not those who are halfway in shape, but for those who are grossly out of shape. We need to touch these people and NOT give them even deeper rooted psychological issues. We need to realize that the average person is beautiful and the gifted are those on magazine covers and even then, they are airbrushed to a degree. We need to realize genetic potential is a human trait that is different for every man, woman and child and we need to figure out how to reach that in each one of us.
OK. Enough with that… Women are you SURE you are ready for this? Let’s see what “Shape” Magazine shows as a Lower Body, Butt Hips and Thighs workout: Shape Magazine Video
OK. Now let’s look at a Women in CrossFit Video. You tell me who is more fit! And then you tell me if these CrossFit women are “BIG”.
Here are some words to think about coming from a coach who has trained countless women and heard some of the challenges and other discussions coming from his clients: (Please be aware there is only some filtering on this post. this is raw Coach K talk today)
CrossFit is scalable to every one! It is NOT tailored ONLY for those whom are “In Shape” already. It is designed to be scalable based on your fitness level. However, having said that, we WILL push you regardless of age or gender to YOUR physical and psychological limits. Why? Because we know INTENSITY is what produces results, not being in the gym for three hours on a treadmill or elliptical trainer.
Yes you are going to gain muscle. However you will NOT look like you are on steroids unless you take steroids.
Yes your hips, ass and thighs may grow depending on your build and your fitness background. If you have never lifted weights like we do in CrossFit or never squatted more than 15 reps at a time with 2 Pink Vinyl dumbbells, then you will grow. That’s OK. Your body is becoming athletic. If you have that background, we are going to do our best to make sure we find your genetic potential EVEN if you don’t know what that is. It may change your shape. It may put some lean body mass on. It MAY EVEN make your jeans fit differently. But that’s OK!
We understand you don’t WANT to buy a new wardrobe, but if we were worried about that, we would stick you on a piece of cardio equipment for an hour.
We know the intensity is different than you’re used to. It’s what is so great about CrossFit. Your workout will be done in a little bit versus a long bit.
Yes, we know you want to RX the weight, but if you’re not ready, we won’t let you. We are here to push you not hurt you. We believe in progression as much as any other coaches.
Yes you will probably gain some weight when you first start because we understand that muscle takes up less space than fat so for every pound of fat we shave off of you, we will replace it with three pounds of muscle. The great part of this is, you will LOSE FAT and GAIN MUSCLE. We will replace it with FUNCTIONAL strength that you can actually use in life!
We understand that part of the weight gain is due to inflammation in the muscle and retention of water. We understand this is normal and we URGE YOU… THROW OUT THE SCALE because in the end.. it doesn’t f-ing matter.
Expectations
Yes we will expect you to move heavy weight quickly. It is part of being able to carry groceries, pick up your kids, play with your kids, do your job and perform the essential functions of life.
No we will NOT listen to your whining. In fact, the more you whine, the more weight, box jumps, burpees, pull-ups, air squats, shoulder presses, we will make you do.
We want you to curse our names. It means we are doing our job.
We don’t care if it hurts as long as you aren’t getting injured. We WANT you to be able to function better and sometimes it requires pushing beyond what you think you can do. We will always ensure that what you are doing is within an allowable and safe range of motion for you. We will always ensure your form is correct. and we will correct you if it’s not.
No we don’t want you to wear gloves. When in real life are you going to stop to put on your gloves before you lift a box, pick up your kids, or move things around? Why would we want you to do that at our gym?
Yes you are going to get dirty, be sweaty, mess up your hair. Hell you may even break a nail. If you don’t, we aren’t trying hard enough. It just means you need to work out harder! We will push you to sweat, maybe even blood and tears.
Yes you will have to look at how you are eating. Why? because why on earth would you want to put CRAP in your system when you are training for PERFORMANCE? That’s like giving your High Performance vehicle Low octane fuel!
Yes you are going to get leaner, faster, stronger, but it is a process. Remember it takes TIME to get results. Try it for AT LEAST 90 days before you make up your mind as to whether it is for you or not. How can you say it’s NOT for you if you only try it ONCE?
NO We will NOT let you do HOURS of cardio on the cardio machines. We don’t need you to. Plus, that will end up making you frail in the long run and let’s face it, “strong people are harder to kill and more useful in general”
Here’s the deal. We expect you to have some questions, concerns, and issues with your new body. It’s not what you’re used to. We don’t use steroids, don’t promote the use of long slow distance as a substitute for hard work. we want your results probably more than you do., We just can’t put the work in. YOU have to do it. we are here to motivate, educate and give you the tools. The rest is up to you. But knowing your body will change, and knowing things will start to fit differently, understand this is a natural part of the process. Understand that sometimes being athletic means your clothes may change “Shape” on your body. What we see is an amazing and beautiful woman. What we see is power, speed, strength all wrapped up into an awesome package. We may notice you are looking more lean, or more powerful or heck, even stronger, but that is our way of noticing you are getting the results you have been after.
We love you for who you are, and who you are becoming. We cherish that you have taken an interest in improving your life, improving your being and making life easier to live. We are excited about the fact that you have chosen this lifestyle. And while you may have issues with your new body, realize those of us out there that look at you and say DAMN that girl is a CrossFitter, we love that and look forward to your continued success.
Go out today, and blaze through a WOD just because you can… and you’re awesome!
After the 6 week long open sectionals of the Crossfit games, I went through 6 workouts and learned a lot about myself, my skill level, and my work capacity. I ended up finishing in 172nd place out of 455 participants in my region. Out of those 455 participants, only 340 were able to complete all six workouts. So completing all the workouts was an achievement, however, I still want to make huge improvements so that I can reach the top 60 next year.
In my quest to the qualify for the Canada West regionals of 2012. I plan on achieving these goals by the time the sectionals start next year. I feel that by posting these goals on my blog, I will hold myself accountable to reach them.
That's all for now. It's a good list to start. Now, you can all hold me accountable for trying to reach my goals. I'll revisit this post a year from now.
This article was originally written by Simon C. of the Fitness Town Blog. Read it here.
Kettlebells have been around for a long time. As a matter of fact, The Russian word for kettlebell (Girya) first appeared in the Russian dictionary in 1704.In recent years however, kettlebell training has been getting more and more popular. This has a lot to do with the recent onslaught of functional fitness programs like Crossfit.
The traditional kettlebell consists of a steel ball as a base and a U-shaped handle large enough to hold on to with both hands. kettlebells are mainly used for compound movements such as whole body swings, snatches, cleans, Turkish get-ups etc. Due to the shape of the kettlebell, the majority of the weight is facing away from your body which adds more torque and forces more stabilizing muscles to be engaged during the movements
With functional training becoming increasingly popular, there are now several different variations of the traditional kettlebell available. The newest one was recently introduced by Ultimate Fitness and is called the kettleball. It is very similar to the kettlebell in appearance. Instead of being made of steel however, it is moulded out of a similar material as medicine balls. These devices can be used in all the same ways as the traditional kettlebell but offers a few additional benefits. If you are working out at home for instance, you don’t need to worry about the steel base of the kettlebell scratching your beautiful hardwood flooring. They are also designed so that you can let go in midst of a swing and they will simple deaden with a flat “thud” when they land on the floor. This can lead to some awesome sweat inducing workouts with a combination of swings and tosses. They also come with a lifetime warranty if something were to happen.
A couple of weeks ago I first had the opportunity to get my hands on some Sandbells. The Sandbell is disk shaped and made of a very durable and stretchy neoprene material which is filled with sand. They are made by Hyperwear and are an extremely versatile tool. You can use Sandbells for your medicine ball core workouts or swing them like kettlebells with the majority of their weight facing away from your body. The shifting sand challenges your stabilizing muscles and constantly forces you to work on your grip strength. They are also soft and very safe so you don’t have to worry about dropping them on your toes (even the 50lb ones). Furthermore you can use them for slam training or tosses. Even if you workout at home.
As long as your workout area is not covered in plush carpet, you can even use your Sandbells to replace gliders for bodyweight and core training. If you workout have a workout partner, throwing a Sandbell back and forth is a lot more fun and challenging than using a medicine ball and you don’t have to worry about stubbing your fingers.
If you are an avid Kettlebell enthusiast, then a Kettleball might be the tool for you since it really replicates the Kettlebell experience but offers a few perks. The Sandbell on the other hand doesn’t feel the same during whole body swings or snatches, but all in all is a way more versatile piece of equipment. So if you are looking for an overall fitness experience, the Sandbell might be the piece for you.
There are a lot of diets out there. I’m sure you have tried or know someone who have tried a popular diet before. If you go to your local bookstore and look at the diet/weight loss section, you will see a plethora of books like the Zone Diet, the Atkins Diet, the Mediterranean Diet, etc. Diet books are a dime a dozen, most of the diets that you find are “fad” diets, you must delve further into the science and research behind the diets in order to make the best decision for yourself. If you are part of the every growing and popular Crossfit community, you have probably come across two types of diets. One is known as the Zone Diet, and the other is the Paleo Diet. The Zone Diet is a diet popularized by the books of biochemist, Dr. Barry Sears. It advocates that there is a specific ratio of macronutrients that is optimal for health and performance. The Paleo Diet, also known as the caveman diet or hunter-gatherer diet advocates eating a diet based on pre-agricultural foods like wild game meats, fish, fowl, vegetables, fibrous fruits, nuts, and seeds. If you are new to Crossfit or just want to learn about nutrition in general, you may have asked yourself what the difference is between these two diets and which one is better? I’ll start with the similarities. First of all, if you plan on adopting either the Zone or the Paleo Diet, they are both much better options than what the Canada Food Guide or USDA recommends. You have probably seen this pyramid somewhere before, either in school or online or in your doctor’ office. The Canada Food Guide has gone through some changes recently recommending vegetables and fruits as the base of their pyramid whereas grain products use to be the biggest food group recommendation. That is a step in the right direction. I don’t want to talk about grains vs. vegetables as a carb source, I’ll save that for another blog post. Just log on to http://www.nutritiondata.com/ and plug in 100 calories of broccoli vs. 100 calories of whole wheat bread and look at the vitamin and minerals content between the two. One of the problems with eating too many grain products is that they contain gluten – a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley that causes gut irritation, digestive problems and may lead to celiac disease. Furthermore, eating too many carbohydrates in one meal will lead to quick increase of carbohydrates in the bloodstream which then leads to a spike in insulin levels. If you don’t quickly use up these carbs as a fuel source, the extra insulin will store the extra carbohydrates in your fat cells. Most of the research being done on a high carb diets are funded by agricultural corporations like Monsanto therefore, the research is most likely tainted. These are the studies that the Canada Food Guide and USDA uses to back up their recommendations. Many of the top shareholders from these agricultural companies are also top politicians. Watch Food Inc. – it is definitely an eye opener. The biggest difference between the Zone Diet and Paleo Diet is that the Zone leans toward a diet that is quantifiable in terms of the ratio between the macro-nutrients. The diet centers on a ratio of 40:30:30 of carbohydrates, protein, and fat. The idea is that with this ratio, your body is at a hormonal balance, controlling your release of insulin and glucagon. Eating within the “Zone” principles enables a slower rate of carbohydrates being released into the bloodstream, a smaller insulin release, which means less fat stored and a faster transition to fat burning. Sears claims that meals balanced in this ratio are anti-inflammatory and heart-friendly. The Paleolithic Diet, on the other hand, focuses more on an un-weighted, unmeasured diet based on the quality of the food. The presumption of this diet is that modern humans are genetically adapted to the diet that our Paleolithic ancestors ate and that our genetics have hardly changed since the dawn of the agricultural revolution – roughly 10,000 years ago. The diet consists largely of meat, seafood, vegetables, tubers, fruits, nuts and excludes Neolithic foods such as grains, legumes, dairy products, refined sugar, and processed oil. Paleo approved foods are nutrient dense and make you feel better. Below is an example of what a Paleo pyramid would look like, this is taken from http://www.marksdailyapple.com/
Here's a humorous video about the Paleo diet:
So which diet should you adopt? If you are someone who prefers to adhere to a system and you like measuring your food intake and being really precise about everything you eat, then you should try the Zone Diet. Like every diet, try it out for a few weeks, if you look, feel, and perform better, stick to what you’re doing. However, if you find it an annoyance to measure everything you eat, the Paleo Diet may be right for you. Skeptics of the Zone Diet will always point to the fact that you can eat twinkies for your carb portion, and fatty meats for your protein and fat portions, you will still technically be eating within the “Zone.” Now this is an extreme example and Dr. Barry Sears does recommend eating quality foods but the Zone is still defined as anything within the 40:30:30 ratio. If you eat strict paleo, your carb intake will be slightly lower (22-40%) and your fat intake (28-58%) will be higher than what the Zone recommends. Eating this way will make you fuller for a longer period of time. It is hard to overeat while on this diet. My two cents: for such a dynamic and constantly varied program like Crossfit, I don’t understand why they have a static, “one size fits all,” diet prescribed for their athletes. The Zone also does not change its recommendations for pre or post workout meals and there is a lot of science on varying your pre and post-workout meals to optimize performance. Just like you would want to individualize your workout programs based on your different needs and weaknesses, your diet should also be individualized. Not everyone is built the same way. Some people are more carb tolerant than others, some are more gluten tolerant than others. Some people need more calories, some people perform better on high carbs; most perform better on high fat. The sport you play also dictates what diet is most appropriate for you. Bottom line, if a diet is working for you, stick with it. If it’s not, try something else, if it makes you feel better and perform better, it’s probably better for you.
“Absorb what is useful, discard what is not and add what is uniquely your own.” ~ Bruce Lee A certified personal trainer and crossfit coach with more than four years of experience, Patrick Vuong has helped countless athletes, elderly, and everyday folk improve their lives through better movement, nutrition, and body re-composition. A kinesiology graduate of UBC, Patrick continues to educate himself daily promote the benefits of regular exercise to everyone. He currently is the Assistant Manager at Fitness Town Burnaby.
When it comes to shape, human beings come in all varieties. In all that diversity, though, each one of us falls into a category of three basic body types – the endomorph, the mesomorph and the ectomorph. Which one are you? What are you doing to optimize your body type?
Everyone is born with a specific body shape. Depending upon your genetics, as well as your exercise routine and diet, you look quite different from those around you. While there is nothing you can do to alter your body’s structure, there are ways to make the most of what you have. Here are some tips on how to identify your body type and how to sculpt it with the specific exercises suited for you.
Based on the work of scientist William Sheldon (1898-1977), physiologists have refined a theory that all human beings fall into one of three categories of body type dictated by the prominence of different basic tissue types we each have: digestive, muscular and nervous. Sheldon named his body types after the three germ layers of embryonic development: the endoderm that develops into the digestive tract, the mesoderm that becomes muscle, heart and blood vessels, and the ectoderm that forms the nervous system. The Endomorph
Endomorphs tend to have bigger bones than the other body types. These men and women usually have round faces with larger thighs and hips. Endomorphs have arms and legs that tend to be short and tapering, giving them a stocky appearance. Most endomorphs have comparatively small hands and feet and a high waist. Other traits of the endomorph include soft, smooth skin and fine hair. The head of the endomorph is large and spherical with a broad face. The body of the extreme endomorph is round and soft. It appears that much of the mass has been concentrated in the abdominal area.
The endomorphic body type is sometimes referred as “apple” for those who put most muscle and fat on the top half of the torso, and “pear” for those who put most muscle and fat on the bottom half of the torso. This body type is characterized by an increased amount of fat storage, due to having a larger number of fat cells than the average person, as well as higher proportion of digestive tissue. Fortunately, though, endomorphs can also build muscle and lean mass easily.
The Mesomorph
Mesomorphs are usually described as having an athletic build. They have dense, mature muscle and usually a good posture. The majority of mesomorphs have broad shoulders and a narrow waist. They have a fast metabolism and can lose weight more easily than endomorphs. Female mesomorphs have an hourglass shape and males have a wedge shape. Other traits of the mesomorph include thick skin and hair with a heavy texture. The bones and muscles of the head are prominent. Features of the face are clearly defined, such as cheek bones and a square, heavy jaw. The face is long and broad, and is cubicle in shape. Arms and legs are developed and even the digits of the hand are muscled.
In a sense, mesomorphs are the luckiest of the three. They maintain the best attributes of both the ectomorphs and the endomorphs. Perhaps the most imposing obstacle for the mesomorph is overconfidence. Because mesomorphs can generally build muscle and shed away fat with considerable ease, they are prone to become lax in watching their diet or maintaining a steady exercise routine, depending on their favourable genetics to shape up when the occasion calls for it.
The Ectomorph
Ectomorphs have a thin, linear appearance. Ectomorphs can lose weight easily and tend to have low levels of body fat. However, they also have a harder time gaining lean muscle mass. The ectomorphic body type, sometimes referred to as the “banana,” is characterized by long arms and legs and a short upper body, high forehead, slightly narrow shoulders. According to Sheldon’s theory, they have a higher proportion of nervous tissue.
The extreme ectomorph physique is a fragile and delicate one. The bones are light, joints are small and muscles are slight. The limbs are relatively long in proportion and the shoulders droop. Ectomorphs may appear taller than they actually are, due to the length of limbs coupled with lack of muscle mass developed on those limbs.
These people may have long fingers, toes and neck. The features of the face are sharp, and the shape of the face is triangular. The lower jaw is somewhat receding. Ectomorphs may suffer from extremes of temperature, due to a greater body area in relation to the insulation of fat and muscle mass. The hair is fine, grows quickly and is sometimes difficult to keep in place. As you read through these profiles, you may have difficulty deciding where you belong. Few people actually fall distinctly into one category and some people would be better described as an ecto-mesomorph or an endo-mesomorph. In any case, there are steps each of us can take in making the best of our body type.
Endomorph Exercise Strategy
Many endomorphs desire a leaner, more defined look. In addition to a lean diet, the key is to increase aerobic or cardiovascular workouts. This type of exercise is crucial to keeping the metabolism and calorie burning at a high level. Avoid high impact cardio and concentrate on biking, brisk walking, swimming, cross-country skiing, stair climbing and the cross-trainer. Do 30-60 minutes of cardio work three to six times a week at a moderately intense level.
For adding muscle tone and definition, perform a total-body weight training routine three times a week that consists of two sets of weight training exercises per body part. Do ten to fifteen repetitions per set using a moderate to light weight. To improve body symmetry, you may want to double up on upper-body exercises.
Mesomorph Diet and Exercise Strategy
Three to five cardio workouts a week done at a moderate to fast pace should help keep you looking lean and trim. Aim for 30 to 45 minutes per session. Once you have worked up to it, higher impact cardio training, such as running will increase the intensity of your workout.
For strength training, light to moderate weight training done two or three times a week will help enhance tone, not size. Perform two sets of 12 to 15 repetitions using light to moderate weights for each major muscle group. You may want to try circuit training (moving quickly from one exercise to the next without a break) because it promotes strength and stamina without building bulk.
Ectomorph Exercise Strategy
While cardiovascular exercise burns calories, which is not particularly an ectomorph’s goal, cardio work is necessary if you are to sustain exercise levels to the point that you can build muscle mass. It is necessary to build up stamina by conditioning your heart and lungs for the challenge of extended exertion. So, include cardio exercise three or four times a week and aim for at least 20 minutes a session at a moderate to intense level. This is enough to develop cardiovascular health without extended times of calorie burn.
Build up muscle mass with two to four sets of weight training exercises per body part. Use a moderate to heavy weight that you can lift with good form for six to ten repetitions. Increase your weight and work your muscle to the point where you cannot lift another repetition before calling it a day. Consider doing a split routine where you work some parts of the body one day and then others the next. Don’t forget to eat to give your body the raw material it needs to build muscle. Adding an extra 1000 calories or more a day, with ample protein, is a good idea.
Remember that when it comes to body type we are all different and there is little we can do to change ourselves into the image of another. So, as you diet and exercise to improve your health and physique, do not compare yourself with anyone else. You’re striving to be the best you can be, and you are created as a unique person.
Quick, what should you do to warm up before working out?
10 minutes on the bike? NOPE A few arm swings, leg circles, and jumping jacks? NOPE A warm up set of 50% of the weight you're gonna use for your first set? NOPE
The best warm-up you can possibly do is one that
- elevates core body temperature - elevates cardiorespiratory rate (ie. heart rate, breathing, etc) - increase ROM in all joints, planes of movement - relaxes, stretches tight muscles, activates dormant muscles (ie. glutes) - prepare neuro-muscular system for proper recruitment of movement patterns
Crossfit Journal has a better warm-up than the aforementioned warm ups that most people do at commercial gym settings. The Crossfit warm-up consists of (Samson stretch, overhead squat, sit-up, back extension, dip)
But I think we can do better, for the majority of us, there is much more mobilization work and activation drills we need to do before we do any of those movements. We need to make sure every joint is mobilized and has increased range of motion, as well as recruit the muscles that we are going to use in our workout. Most of us have tight hip flexors and don't know how to fully fire our glutes. Therefore, it's imperative that we fix both those issues in our warm-up. Do the following general warm up and you'll feel better during your work out and in the long run
8-10 minutes of full body soft tissue work (foam roller, lacrosse ball)
On Saturday January 22nd, I decided to complete the OPT testing challenge. It comprised of 3 tests which I have detailed below. I have also attached a quick 3 minute video detailing my exercises.
Feel free to try these out, and post your results to comments.
Test #1: 1 rep max split jerk from rack
My sets were as follows - 5 x 135 - 5 x 150 - 3 x 165 - 1 x 185 - 1 x 205 (10lb PR) I wore a belt for this lift but still very pleased with the PR
Test #2: 50 handstand push-ups for time
My time to complete was 4:11. I was very happy with this effort. Back in May, I did AMRAP (as many reps as possible) of handstand pushups in 10 minutes and only managed 47, so I'll accept 50 hspu in less than half that time.
Test #3: AMRAP kettlebell snatches in 10 minutes (1.5pood/1pood)
Apparently, I read somewhere that this is one of the tests they use for the US Secret Service and in order to pass, you need a score of 200! Wow! My total reps in 10 minutes was 166. I used 1 pood (16kg) for this test. At the end of it, my forearms were pretty bruised. Enjoy the video!
First time doing Diane, didn't know what to expect with her. My handstand push-ups are good, so I wanted a good time. Felt about 70% going into it. Glute medius/min on right side a little sore from yesterday's front squats.
Dianne: 21-15-9 of 225# Deadlifts hand stand push-ups
My first set of hspu was unbroken, my last set was 4, 2, 2, 1.
Time = 4:56
Pretty good, I'll say! Next time I want sub 4:30 though ;)
I'm on week 7 of 9 of olyathlete.com Hybrid program. Today's workout went like this.
Snatch(up & downs, 3-5 min apart; off best snatch in current cycle): 140 x 1, 105 x 1, 140 x 1, 105 x 1, 140 x 1, 105 x 1
C&J: 135 x 2reps x 3sets
Squat: 195 x 5 x 3
then the metcon looked like this.
3 Round 400 M Run 15 Pull-ups 10 Thrusters @ 95 lbs
Well I hate running and it looked like Fran, so I thought to myself, why don't I just tackle Fran and see if I've improved from last time. The last time I did Fran, my time was 5:48 but I was just spent! I spent over 20 minutes lying on my back on the floor recovering, so you could see that I was pretty nervous about it this time.
In case you don't know, "Fran" is 21 thrusters @ 95lbs, followed by 21 pull ups, then 15 thruster, 15 pull ups, 9 thrusters, and 9 pull ups. Before I started, I made sure I spent extra time foam rolling, static stretching, working on mobility and movement prep work. After a thorough warm up, I gave it a shot. It went down like this:
21 thrusters unbroken
21 pull ups UB
8 thrusters, 7 thrusters
15 pull ups UB
9 thrusters
9 pull ups
Time? 5:04. Good for a 44 sec PR! I was ecstatic. And the better news, I didn't feel that bad afterward. I actually felt pretty good! I didn't even have to lie on the floor! A much different feeling than went I tackled Fran last (which was back in April 2010, I believe). All in all, a better time = increased work capacity = happier me! See you next time! (when I'll have a sub-5 Fran)
Today, I tested my 1RM in the back squat. My previous record was 265lbs. I thought 275 would be good but I hit it easily, so I went for 295. That went up slower but I still made it so I decided to try and break 300 and put on an extra 5# per side. 305 seemed like it took forever to go up but after about 3 full seconds in the concentric phase, I got it! Woo hoo! Hitting 300 was one of my goals I set for myself after the regionals, so it looks like I can cross that off!
