1005H Cleveland Ave, Santa Rosa, CA 95401 (707) 542-7725

This is our third revision of an old post, updated to include some of the many low profile shoes now available due to the growth of both the barefoot running movement and CrossFit.

Running shoes seem to be the default shoe for all general athletic activities. Going to get some exercise? Put on your running shoes, right? Well, no, not so fast. As many of you have noticed, running shoes may be your poorest choice for the movements we do (especially those involving added weight). Let’s examine why.

Think of setting up for a clean or a deadlift. You bend down to grip the bar, set your back properly, and get ready to drive your heels hard into the ground to lift this heavy weight. You want the force generated by your legs to be transferred directly into the ground. If you’re wearing running shoes, however, that force is being partially stolen by the big old, squishy heel cushion. That heel cushion was made to absorb shock while running, but now it’s absorbing the energy you need to lift the weight.

Now picture yourself doing heavy jerks. Dip, drive, push yourself under the bar…and land, solid, with the weight locked out overhead. Same issue: you want that drive to be strong, you want to push off the ground and force that weight up! In this case, though, not only has the squishy heel stolen some of your power, but it’s also given you an unstable surface to land on. Instead of landing on hard ground, you land on the squish. With heavy weight over your head. Sound safe?

So what shoes do you want to wear while weightlifting? You want a shoe with a thin, non-compressible sole. And if you’re doing Oly-lifting, a wedge heel is preferred. Here are some of the options:

Weightlifting Shoes
You’ve seen these at the box, stacked in the cubbies. And you might think they’re ugly, but they do the job right. Weightlifting shoes have a non-compressible sole with a wedge heel. Keep in mind that weightlifting shoes can not be used for running, and aren’t so great for high rep box jumps and some other CrossFit exercises. (You’ve probably noticed that those of us with weightlifting shoes put them on and take them off depending on the workout.)

If you want an all-purpose shoe for your time at the box, this isn’t it. But if enjoy and plan to do plenty of deadlifting, squatting, and pressing, you’re getting into Olympic lifting (Clean and Jerks and Snatches), or you have poor ankle flexibility or a hard time getting deep in your squat without rolling forward, consider investing in a pair of weightlifting shoes, as they will improve your performance.

The popular Do Wins are made by Muscle Driver, and you can often find some good deals on that website. VS Athletics has the VS Weightlifting Shoe and the Dynamo. Rogue also sells the Do Wins, along with the Nike Romaleos and the new Adidas PowerLift Trainer. The Adidas Adistars have been considered the gold standard in weightlifting, but really, all of the shoes listed here do the job. There are some other brands and styles out there, so get googling if you’re ready for a pair.

All Purpose Shoes for CrossFitting

Inov-8s are a popular shoe in the CrossFit world. They’re flat and super light. There are a couple different styles, one of which includes a plastic sheath on the instep to protect the shoes during rope climbs. Nice feature, made just for people like us. It looks like Rogue has a bunch of Inov-8 models for sale, so you can check them out there, or shop around.

We’ve got a load of people at our box wearing the various shoes from the New Balance Minimus series, so they seem to be well-liked. The Trail Minimus has a Vibram sole and athletic look. New Balance also has the Cross Trainer Minimus, as well as several other new minimal shoes coming out over the next six months. Shoes from the New Balance Minimus line are available just down the street at Fleet Feet Santa Rosa, and in fact, Fleet Feet has arranged for New Balance to come to CFSR to demo their minimal shoes with all of us on Saturday, January 7th during the 10 am class, Sweet!

Vibram FiveFingers have been very popular at our box. They come in a variety of styles including the Treksport and Bikila. They can take a little time to get used to, but they definitely allow you to feel closer to the ground under your feet. Be warned that if you wear them outside of the box, you will get some funny looks! These are available locally at Sonoma Outfitters and REI.

Merrel has taken Vibram soles and made the Trail Glove, so you get that close-to-the-earth thing without the toe separation and with more of an athletic look. A small handful of members at the box wear these – ask them what they think and how they like them.

If you’ve got a pair of indoor soccer shoes around, like the classic Adidas Samba, you’re golden. These are great, low profile, all purpose shoes for training. Of course, Chuck Taylors are the original CrossFit shoe. And for basically the same price, you can get Ethletic’s fair trade version.

What about you? What are your favorite shoes for the work we do at the box?

It’s the week of Winter Solstice for us here in the northern hemisphere of planet Earth, and dang if it isn’t cold in Sonoma County. When it’s this cold, please be sure to arrive early to class so you can spend extra time warming up. Even though we generally give you ten minutes for the warm up, you need extra work to get your body prepared for strength work in weather like this. Row, run, or jump rope a little longer than usual before getting into dynamic stretching.

Please note that we are closed this weekend, Saturday and Sunday 12/24-25. Enjoy the holiday weekend, and we’ll see you Monday!

If you’ve been training at CFSR for a year or more and didn’t make it to Saturday’s holiday potluck, please contact Joanna or Brittany. We have an anniversary gift for you!

Congratulations to all who completed the CrossFit Total, and thanks to everyone who stayed or came out for the potluck. Here are some pics from the day. What’s a CFT at CFSR without an impressive back squat from Manspeaker? And beer is totally paleo, didn’t cha know? See more pics on our facebook page.

Also, please note our holiday hours to your left in “Upcoming Events”. We are closed on Christmas Eve but open for a special New Year’s Day workout on Sunday!

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This Saturday, December 17th, our workout of the day will be the CrossFit Total, followed by a potluck and social gathering.

What is the CrossFit Total?
The CrossFit Total (CFT) was developed by Mark Rippetoe, the brilliant (and comedic) strength coach. In a December 2006 CrossFit Journal article (click here for a free download) he wrote, “The CrossFit Total is the sum of the best of three attempts at the squat, the press, and the deadlift, the three most effective lifts in existence for developing and testing functional strength.”

“After a warm-up, the squat will be performed first. Some squatting with the empty bar should have been included in the general warm-up so that the knees, hips, back, and shoulders are not too terribly surprised. Anyone in a position to attempt a legitimate CrossFit Total should be familiar enough with their capabilities on the lifts to have a fairly good idea of just what might be possible for a one-rep max (1RM). This number is what you warm up intending to do.”

“The first attempt would be a weight you know you can do for a heavy set of three. The second attempt would be a weight you know without any doubt that you could do for a single, having just done the first attempt. And the third attempt is the weight you want to do, based on your performance in the previous two attempts.”

“If you don’t have a damn good idea of what you can do for a heavy triple, you don’t need to be doing a CrossFit Total yet.”

So if you’re one of our newer members and haven’t yet trained these lifts for any substantial amount of time or through full training cycles, you are still welcome to come in and work out, but we’ll have you doing different rep schemes of the same lifts: back squat, press, deadlift. It will still be a great workout!

And of course, the CFT will be followed by…

A Paleo Potluck and Holiday Party
All members are invited! Dan, pictured below at last year’s gathering, has suggested that we also make this an ugly Christmas-sweater party. You game? It starts around 12 noon, or as soon as the CFT is completed.

Please bring a grain-free, dairy-free dish or drink to share. There is a sign-up sheet at the box. CFSR will provide paper plates and all that stuff, plus some door prizes. Please come out and join us! All members are welcome, and we hope to see a bunch of you.

Post any questions to comments.

Who can forget this?

This weekend we had the pleasure of hosting a CrossFit Endurance Seminar. CrossFit Endurance is specialty program that combines CrossFit training protocols with intervals, time and tempo trials to prepare athletes for single sport (e.g. running) or multi-sport (e.g. triathlon) endurance events. CFSR coaches Ryan, Leah, and Joanna attended, and athletes and coaches from places as far as Oregon and Alberta, Canada traveled here for the seminar.

One major focus of the weekend was on the skill of running. Like all the exercises we practice here, your running will become more efficient – easier and faster – by learning and practicing proper mechanics and movement. If you hate running, you can learn how to be better at it. If you love running, you can get faster and still keep your body healthy.

If you like the sounds of that, keep your eyes and ears open for upcoming announcements with more info about our plans for creating a running program. You interested?

Check ‘em out! (Click to enlarge.)

And mark your calendars! We will be doing the CrossFit Total on Saturday, December 17th, 10 am-12 noon. More info about that day to follow.

If you are a current member and did not get our email newsletter sent out last week, please check your spam folder. If it’s there, add us to your address book. If you can’t find it, let us know so we can track down the problem and make sure news gets to you in the future.

CrossFit Kids
at 4:00 pm with Majid Zeinal
This class is open to kids of members and non-members, ages 5-10. Bring in those kiddos!

Mobility and Mechanics
6:30 pm with Suzy Babcock
This Thursday’s class will focus on the hips. See you there!

This past weekend Adrian, Shannon, and I (Joanna) competed at Level 10 CrossFit’s Fall Strength Challenge. This was a really well-organized and well-programmed event that I’m glad we got to be a part of. Thank you to the organizer of the event and owner of Level 10, Santos Reyes, and to all his members and volunteers who made everything run so smoothly. And a big thanks to our support crew of Mark, Lily, and Michelle! It was a long day for all of us, but we three finished with post-competition contented exhaustion. It was fun.

All of these photos and videos were taken with iPhones, so please forgive the quality:

Shannon swinging a heavy bell in workout #3.

Adrian pushing the sled in workout #1.

Joanna hopping over the wall in workout #1.

Here’s Adrian moving quickly through the first round of workout #3:

Joanna’s Drop Snatch at 155 lbs:

And even though Shannon was worried about these Front Squats beforehand, she rocked them! This was Shannon’s first CrossFit competition, and even though she was sick all week before the comp, she still managed to do a stellar job. Congratulations Shannon!

There were three workouts that all competitors completed. Then the top 18 men and top 12 women went on to complete two more final workouts. Here are the overall men’s and women’s placements from the day.  Adrian finished 22nd out of 47 men, Shannon finished 26th out of 32 women, and Joanna finished 11th. For some more videos from the event, you can check out our YouTube channel.

Get yourself stacked and organized into a nice, straight line. This is what it should look like:

*Also: Please note our Thanksgiving week hours to your left in Upcoming Events. We are open Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) and Friday for 10 am classes only.

The close of our latest training cycle in Olympic Lifting class brought Snatch PRs for Allison and Ryan. Great work.