Kick the Carbs!

A Reversal on Carbs”, By The Los Angeles Times
“Fat is not the problem,” says Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. “If Americans could eliminate sugary beverages, potatoes, white bread, pasta, white rice and sugary snacks, we would wipe out almost all the problems we have with weight and diabetes and other metabolic diseases.”
Read the full article Here.

Front squat basics

Workout of the day

Ladder Drills

5x3 Power Snatch  followed by 3 tall box jumps
10-8-6 Push Press
5x5 Pullups

Workout of the day

WOD
10-8-6 Box squat
3x5 Bench Press - add 5 pounds
2x10 Deadlift
3x8 DB swings

Workout of the day

Dynamic flexibilty
Explosive stair work
Vertical Jump practice

Power Snatch 3x3 (light)
Spiderpulls + Moneymakers  10-8-6
Biceps and Triceps -your choice
Mobiltiy work - Identify your weaknesses and attack!

Body Composition Testing

Today is the final day to check our progress from the fall semester.  We will be doing our basic body composition tests.

Items that will be tested

-BMI = Body Mass Index - a comonly used measurement with many flaws
     -Used to estimate current and future health
     -Weight divided by Height
     -Recomended Range = 18-25
-Fat % = the percentage of total body weight that is fat
     -Accuratly estimates current and future health
     - Recomended range for teens - males 8-20%  -females 22-33%
-Fat Free Mass = comprised of muscle, bone, tissue, water and all other fat free mass in the body.  This is a good way to measure muscle growth.  Generally speaking, males carry more muscle than females.
-TBW = Total Body Water - reflects the amount of water in the body.  Girls should have approximatly 50-60% of their overall mass be water.  Males should have 60-70%

Student Pics

Austin setting up his deadlift with a tight core.



Rio helping Jake with his tight hamstrings



Stephen showing a big chest in his squat

Alan Squatting 295lbs x 5

WOD
Power Clean 5x3  immediatly after every set of cleans do 3 tall box jumps
Push Press 8x2 - Fast, Fast, Fast
Knee to Elbows 3x6
Bench Dips 3x10

Neuroendocrine Adaptation

Why do we train with multi-joint movements, heavy weights and short intervals?  To make hormonal and neurological changes in our bodies that make us better, faster and stronger!

Check out the writing of Greg Glassman the founder of Crossfit and his thoughts of the importance of these important changes that affect they way our bodies develop and perform.

"Neuroendocrine Adaptation" is a change in the body that affects you either neurologically or hormonally. Most important adaptions to exercise are in part or completely a result of a hormonal or neurological shift.  Current research, much of it done by Dr. William Kramer, Penn State University, has show which exercise protocols maximize neuroendocrine responses.  Earlier we faulted isolation movements as being ineffectual.  Now we can tell you that one of the critical elements missing from these movements is that they invoke essentially no neuroendocrine response.
Among the hormonal responses vital to athletic development are substantial increases in testosterone, insulin like growth factor, and human growth hormone.  Exercising with protocols known to elevate theses hormones eerily mimics the hormonal changes sought in exogenous hormonal therapy (steroid use) with non of the deleterious effect.  Exercise regiments that induce a high neuroendocrine response produce champions!  Increased muscle mass and bone density are just two of many adaptive responses to exercise capable of producing a significant neuroendocrine response.
It is impossible to overstate the importance of the neuroendocrine response to exercise protocols.  This is why it is one of the four defining themes of crossfit program.  Heavy load weight training, short rest between sets, high heart rates, high intensity training, a short rest intervals, though not entirely distinct components, are all associated with a high neuroendocrine response.

WOD
Front squat 3x5 add 5 pounds
Dead Lift 5x3
Bench Press 5-3-1
DB Swings 3x8

Workout of the day

Savage Abs

3x8 overhead squat at 45lbs or 15lbs
3x10 spider pulls
Biceps and Triceps - your choice

The Fuzz!

I decided to post the fuzz video that we watched a few weeks back.  A few of you mentioned that your parents were a bit skeptical about the growth of myofacial tissue in the body.  Remember, myofacial tissue grows whenever muscle damage occurs.  Guess what?  We are ripping a tearing our muscles each and everyday in the weight room and the resulting "Fuzz" needs to be dealt with.

Enter the "Fuzz" concept
Maybe, you will start stretching because you just don't like the concept of "fuzz" accumulating in your tissues. Fuzz you ask? I have a fuzz problem? What the fuzz? Gil Hedley, rockstar anatomist, makes an excellent case and presents a compelling hypothesis for internal muscular resistance. You can think of muscular "stiffness" as a measure of how well the muscle tissue (and other connective tissues) slide past one another. The more stiffness, the greater the internal resistance of the system. Increased internal resistance means decreased efficiency and lost power output.



WOD
Mobility work  - Front and Back of the hip -Hamstrings - Internal Rotation of Shoulder