Category — Linkage

Got a shoulder thing? Check out CrossFit Oakland’s shoulder clinic recap post, complete with photos and descriptions of exercises to strengthen and support your shoulders. Good stuff there. Come into the box early or stay late to complete these exercises on a regular basis, especially if you’ve got crunchy or painful shoulders that limit you in daily life or in training.

The date for the 2nd annual NorCal 40s has been announced: Sunday, January 29th, 2012! This is a CrossFit competition specifically for athletes ages 40-49, and last year was held close to home in Novato at TJs Gym. There hasn’t yet been info released other than the date, but this was a fun event last year. If you’re in your 40s and can generally do WODs as prescribed, this is for you!

On Saturday, September 3rd, CFSR will run the 31 Heroes WOD “to honor our heroes killed in action August 6, 2011 with a workout in an effort to raise funds for the families affected by this tragedy. All funds received will go to these families through the Navy SEAL Foundation, other like-organizations, & individual family funds.” You pay $31, get a t-shirt and do the workout, and your money goes to these families. Register here. Can’t be in class but want to participate? Donate here.

Then, on Saturday, September 17th, CFSR will participate in Fight Gone Bad 6, benefiting Camp Patriot, a non-profit that takes disabled U.S. Veterans on outdoor adventures; Infant Swimming Resource with CrossFit Kids, which provides swimming lessons to kids as part of a drowning-prevention initiative; and the Warrior Foundation, which provides a college education for the  children of U.S. service men and women killed at war. There are prizes awarded to FGB participants who raise the most cash for these causes. Register here.

There’s a bunch of new cookbooks coming out of the Paleo/Primal world. Woo-hoo! Check out Make It Paleo: Over 200 Grain Free Recipes for Any Occasion. A perusal  of the authors’ blog plus the preview of the book are plenty of evidence that this is going to be a really good one, worth pre-ordering.

Next is Paleo Comfort Foods: Homestyle Cooking in a Gluten-Free Kitchen also available for pre-order. Here’s a look inside that book. And like the first book mentioned above, this one is written by a couple that has a blog with recipes you can check out.

And last but not least, a great chart from Balanced Bites showing us the quantity of carbohydrate and nutritional value of various vegetables and fruits. Lots of things to take away from this chart. We can see one reason why, for example, sweet potatoes are preferable to white potatoes as a post-workout food for glycogen replacement. The sweet potato is micro-nutrient rich while the white potato is relatively void of nutritional value. Check it out for yourself to help you make informed choices and good choices in your eating.

Carolyn, who will be competing this August in Femme Fit 2011: Summer Edition, was featured today on the Femme Fit blog!

Click here to read her athlete profile. And even though she says that “participating is winning,” we know that she’s strong, skilled, and badass enough to give the other competitors in her age group (or otherwise!) a run for their money – if she doesn’t come out in first place, that is.

Athlete Profile: Carolyn from MJ on Vimeo.

Since CFSR members are always asking where to get foam rollers and jump ropes, we’ve put up a new static page on the website, just for you to buy your own stuff! Check it out to your left in the navigation menu: Get Your Own Equipment.

Perform Better is our supplier and they sell tons of equipment related to strength training and functional fitness. We’ve linked to just a few items you might be interested in, but feel free to check all their stuff out.

Have a desk job? Even if you don’t, how many hours of your day do you spend sitting in your car or in front of a computer? Check out Mark Sisson’s 16 Tips for Desk Jockeys no matter what your line of work.

Many people first exploring the Paleo way of eating have a hard time understanding why legumes (beans) are excluded. Aren’t they good for us? The Whole9 presents the Legume Manifesto to explain how nitrogen-fixing legumes are super tools for soil health, but not so great for our bodies.

And I hope you’ve all noticed the new daily recipe link to your left from The Foodee Project. These folks find great Paleo recipes from various blogs and sites all over the web, and bring one to us each day, complete with picture! Check back every day to see a new, yummy meal idea.

Inspired by the CrossFit Open? Considering athletic competition? Here’s an interesting opportunity for fun, fitness, education, and competition. The Peninsula Peak to Bay, a “map trek adventure” is April 3oth down in the Palo Alto area. Its website says that participants will get to “explore the redwoods, foothills, Stanford University, and old Palo Alto. Choose a 5, 10, or 25 km course and find up to two dozen interesting checkpoints in parks and special places.” You can do it as an individual or team. Anyone interested?

Also coming up is the Good Times Summer Classic in the Sacramento area. Four CrossFit workouts on one day, May 7th. All ages and fitness levels welcome.

And to learn about even more CrossFit-oriented competitions, there is this website you can check which lists events going on across the country and world. I haven’t figured out the name of our region though. Let me know if you do.

Also, CrossFit HQ has set up a CrossFit Sports Series. Just check the right hand column of the main page for upcoming sporting events.

Lastly, Shane points us to an old post from the wise Lisbeth on double-unders. She says that if you struggle with the DUs, you need to ‘chillax,’ listen to your coach, and do what she/he says. WORD.

Tall Tom posted the flier on the bulletin board a few months ago and now it’s time to step up. Who’s game for some “good, clean fun”? It’s the Down and Dirty National Mud Run Series! Here’s what the website says:

Start your Halloween off right with Down & Dirty Sacramento! Choose between a 5K or 10K course. The first annual Down & Dirty Sacramento Mud Run will take place on October 31, 2010 at Folsom Lake State Recreation Area! Register Here.

• Military-style Obstacles
• Commanding cargo climbs
• Wild water crossings
• Mud, mud, and More Mud!
• Post-race BBQ and an awesome Tech Tee

So far Tall Tom, Anthony, Emily and Majid have signed up.  Who else is in?  Click on the link and register for either the 5K or 10K; you can run the course with our peeps or just go on your own. The BBQ is after both events are over, so everyone can meet up. (You people that already registered: are you signed up for the 5k or 10k? Post to comments.)

There’s also a kid’s version, with different courses for ages 4-6 and 7-13, complete with mud pits and small sized obstacles. Register for Adventure Kids here.

And it’s on Halloween…anyone going to wear a costume? Bring cameras and send photos here!

Please note that we will be closed Saturday, March 27th. We’re headed to the NorCal Sectional Qualifiers for the 2010 CrossFit Games! Check that link for updates over the weekend, and also check the CrossFit main page over the next several days, as there’s likely to be some video from the NorCal qualifiers posted there.

Thomas already posted A thought, or two, on sleep, but Mark Sisson over at Mark’s Daily Apple recently posted a new Definitive Guide to Sleep. This is a must read, people. Seriously. Read it. And go ahead a follow any of the dozens of links he’s provided, ’cause there’s some good stuff there too.

Lastly, you know how Thomas and I tell you to take fish oil? We give you a formula -1 gram for every 10 pounds of lean body mass- but that means you need to calculate your lean body mass, then see how many grams there are per dose of your fish oil and, well, even I just end up taking a few handfuls every day, not really paying good attention to the quantity. Well the good folks at Whole Nine have come up with an online calculator to figure out just how much of your brand of fish oil you need to be taking, based on your current diet and lifestyle. It’s the Robb Wolf Fish Oil Calculator, named after NorCal’s own nutrition guru Robb Wolf (whose website is linked in our right column). I’m supposed to take between 14 and 20 pills a day, depending on how beat up I am. And I thought my couple handfuls was a lot!

Cheer us on from afar over the weekend! Or if you’re feeling up for an adventure, come on down to the qualifiers in San Jose. Spectator tickets are now only $15 a person for Saturday – check here for more info. If we don’t see you there, see you next week at the box!

If you’ve been skeptical of our recommendations to get grains out of your diet,  the Whole Nine presents a good summary of the reasons Why We Don’t Eat Grains. And even if you’ve already eliminated grains and are feeling great, read up so you can explain exactly why.

Are you arriving to CFSR classes sluggish, hoping to gain some energy from working out? Been feeling more sore than usual, even after several days? Holding onto more fat than you’d like, despite eating primally and exercising? We keep our eyes on all of you to prevent overtraining, but some of you are still prone to it. Mark Sisson presents a good set of directions for reigning it all back in and keeping yourself healthy.

The Food Renegade shows us how to make a proper beef broth like our grandparents would’ve done. Traditionally-made meat stocks, using bones (not MSG or hydrolyzed something or other in little packaged cubes), are full of the minerals we need for joint health. Quoting Sally Fallon of the Weston A Price Foundation:

Stock contains minerals in a form the body can absorb easily—not just calcium but also magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur and trace minerals. It contains the broken down material from cartilage and tendons—stuff like chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, now sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain.

And lastly, CrossFit’s main page put up this video the other day. Even though we’ve got a bunch of you firefighters here at the box, I think the rest of us have no idea just how important CrossFit training is to the work you do. I was totally awed by this video and the thoughts of you guys (and gal) working every week and coming to the box on your days off. Thank you for what you do!