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

For those of you who don’t know, many of us pulled together to buy a locally raised grassfed cow from Stemple Creek Ranch. Thanks for everyone who put in on the cow. Last I heard, the cow was going to slaughter some time this week.

Here’s a great reason to eat locally grown, unprocessed, meat. AHA Journal Article. Thankyou Tom for the link!

Processed meat if effing terrible for you. If you weren’t able to get in on the cow buy, Jo has been trying to put together a group of people interested in a meat and poultry CSA from Gleason Ranch in Bodega. I would encourage you all to sign up. If your interested, ask Jo about it.

They just keep coming, those muscle ups. Travis got his first in the morning, then Gaetan in the evening. Emily got her second, better than the first of long ago. And our homegirl Journey of CrossFit Oakland, who famously got her first muscle up at the CrossFit Games qualifiers in 2009 – and hasn’t had once since – did several (5 or 6 at least?) at our box this weekend. Congratulations all of you!

So there’s one day left in this Muscle-Up May. Are you coming in tomorrow, Memorial Day, to give a try? Muscle-Up June just doesn’t have the same alliterative ring…

Add one to the muscle up crew! After some skill work today, Travis knocked out not just one muscle up – but several – for the first time. Nice work, man. Who’s next?

First, a congratulations to Thomas for placing fifth overall and earning a medal in Los Altos this last weekend at the Bad Boy Open weightlifting meet. This is impressive considering the fact that no weight class medals were given, and so he was competing against dudes quite a bit heavier than him.

Next, an announcement, fresh off the competition platform. We’re opening a new class at CFSR: Olympic Lifting.

We write the program and coach, you show up and improve your snatch, clean & jerk, and their variations. In working on those lifts, you’ll be building explosive power, using practically every muscle in your body and especially working the core stabilizers, making your sprint times faster, building bone density, feeling badass, and, we hope, having fun!

You can also use this time for Open Gym – to make up a WOD you missed, do some strength work, hammer away at a skill you’re working on. You’re welcome to come in and do your own thing.

The details:
Olympic Lifting and Open Gym
Thursdays 5 pm-6 pm
Saturdays 11 am- 12 pm

See you there!

Friday evening classes! They are now a reality. We are constantly trying to bring you guys new stuff (training, equipment, classes). Starting tomorrow Majid will be heading up the friday evening class. The friday evening class will be at the normal evening time, 6:30pm. Don’t be disappointed if you see Jo, Leah or myself filling in for Majid from time to time.

Doormats. Use them. Dirt gets inside the gym from outside the gym. Wiping your feet is a great way to keep your gym clean.

evidence

Give it up for Jo. This past weekend Jo competed at the norcal open in Novato and placed third in her weight class. Nice Jo.

We are no longer CrossFit One Wall. The work has been completed and we are excited for the future with all of you!

Add Shannon to the pull up club! She busted out a couple unassisted pull ups the day this photo was taken, and even though they’ve been a little elusive since, we know we’ll see them again soon. Congratulations Shannon!

We have had a rash of headaches brought on by physical activity here at CFSR in the past couple weeks. Veteran members who have never had exertional headaches and newer people alike, have been experiencing this.

This seems  to coincide with allergy season. Many people get headaches as part of their allergic reaction. Perhaps it’s only being exacerbated by physical activity.

Many people use the words health and fitness interchangeably. They have very different definitions. Many fit people are unhealthy, and likewise, many healthy people are unfit. In this country, most are neither fit nor healthy, a few are both. At CrossFit Santa Rosa we give you the tools and knowledge necessary to be both.

Health is defined as “the optimal interplay of organs”.

A few reasons to be healthy…
-Retirement, specifically RVing
-Grand Kids
-Medical Bills
-Walkers, Canes, and Rascals
-Chemotherapy
-Angioplasty
-Dialysis
-Hospital Food

Things that can make you more healthy…
-SLEEP!
-Water
-Diet
-Fish oil and Vitamin D supplements
-Protein
-Fiber
-Exercise

Fitness is defined as “your ability to complete a task”

Examples of someones fitness aren’t as readily available as they were prior to the introduction of the grocery store, automobile, boat, airplane, water department, pg&e, elevator, escalator, lazy boy, and slurpee. However, we still have not found a way to live our entire lives submerged in a tub of nutritious goo with a tv suspended over our head, so you are still required to be fit at certain times. A situation in today’s world that would require you to be fit is moving day.

Things that can make you fit…
-CrossFit Santa Rosa
-Moving Day

I would like to say thank you to all of you who are on your way to becoming more fit and healthy, you are making the world a better place to live in. By not having to call me on moving day you are making my life easier. I intend to do the same for you.

Last weekend I was having dinner with some friends, one of whom had a plate full of french fries. I started to eat a few, when one of the other people at the table called out, “Don’t do it, Joanna!”  I gave him the finger.

Here at CrossFit Santa Rosa, we’ve recommended to each of you some specific nutrition guidelines, following the major principles of both the Paleo Diet and the Primal Blueprint. Greg Glassman, the founder of CrossFit, puts it most simply in his World Class Fitness in 100 Words: “Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar.” We’ve told you about why grains are to be avoided, about the importance of keeping your insulin levels steady, and about balancing your Omega 3 to Omega 6 ratios to fight inflammation. We’ve defined what we believe is the healthiest way to eat so that you feel, look, and perform better.

But do you need to restrict yourself so much that you stop enjoying life? No. Are you allowed to “cheat”? Absolutely. In the end, whether and how you follow our nutrition advice is entirely up to you. Ultimately, we want you to define for yourself which foods help you and which hinder you in your efforts to look, feel, and perform better.

Most of our members who have fully adopted primal eating find that when they eat a formerly enjoyed food that isn’t paleo/primal- say it’s pizza or pasta – they get indigestion and bloating and end up crashing to sleep shortly after. And you know, I actually encourage you to try that out and find out for yourself what the effects are of eating these foods after eliminating them for an extended period. Once you do that, you’ll know exactly how you feel when you eat them, and will be better able to make the choice to eat or not eat them in the future.

So when is it okay to “cheat”? What kinds of treats are you allowed? It has to be up to you to make your own rules. But here are some basic guidelines, taken from my own experiences plus some wise advice from Mark’s Daily Apple and the Whole9:

-Treat yourself consciously, fully aware of what you’re doing and why. Having treats is an entirely normal and healthy and part of enjoying life. But you should be fully conscious of what you’re doing when you treat yourself. Dessert at your anniversary dinner, your best friend’s wedding cake, a homemade pizza your kids made? Those are special occasions, and if you want to treat yourself, go for it, completely aware of the negative effects it may have on how you feel and perform. Of course, you might be flying so high on the paleo/primal bandwagon that you choose not to partake! But if you do, it should be worth it, and an entirely conscious – not mindless – decision. Eating the donuts your office mate brings to work every week, grabbing a soda at a party or a candy bar in the checkout line at the grocery store? This is not treating yourself, and can often lead down a slippery slope to frequent “cheating” and completely falling off the wagon.

-Choose your cheats and treats wisely. They should be special, and you should enjoy every bite. Going back to those french fries I was reprimanded for eating. Let’s first remember that potatoes are not the worst thing to eat (covered in Thomas’s post about glycogen replacement). But you know, those fries were not even very good. And fries are just not a food that I care much about. I ate two and quickly realized they just weren’t worth it – a cheat, but not a treat. Fast forward to this weekend: I was dining out with some friends, and the server brought us a huge piece of chocolate cake, on the house. I tasted it, and damn if it wasn’t great. Furthermore, I had already decided that I was going to have some chocolate this weekend to satisfy the cravings I usually get around a particular time in my hormonal cycle (ahem). I ate as much as I wanted (more on that below) and it was gooooood. You should be able to really enjoy your treats.

-Don’t go crazy. I ate that chocolate cake until I was satisfied and knew that the next bite wouldn’t be as enjoyable as the last. Now, it can be hard to determine that point – especially if you’ve been eating “clean” and are so psyched to have a treat that you go crazy on it. If you find yourself binging, or you’re someone that has had that problem in the past, read Mark Sisson’s post on the 80/20 rule (linked below). Basically, you should aim to eat primally at least 80% of the time; give yourself a break 20% of the time if you need it. And if you crave foods, feel deprived, then binge uncontrollably, you DO need it. Give yourself permission to not be perfect, but still aim to follow paleo/primal eating the majority of the time. This can be a tough road to navigate, and I want to offer myself as a source of support for any of you walking down it. I’ve been there, and can help, so don’t hesitate to talk to me about what you’re dealing with.

The bottom line: having treats is entirely normal and healthy. But you have to figure out for yourself when the right time is and what the right things are. Be aware of the effects your cheating and treating will have on you. If you know you have a trigger food – the one that starts the snowball effect into mindless binging – you should avoid it. At the same time, don’t expect yourself to be perfect. Give yourself a break when you really need it and can enjoy it.

For further reading, check out:
Guide to Eating Dirty, Part I and Part II from the Whole Nine
Mark Sisson’s 80/20 Principle (read the comments section as well)
Primal Blueprint 101 on Mark’s Daily Apple

It’s a Glute-Ham Developer, or GHD for short. The GHD is an incredibly effective core training tool. Some excercises that can be performed on a GHD are; GHD sit-ups, back extensions, hip extensions, hip-back extensions, russian twists, med-ball throw sit-ups, various isometric holds and so on and so forth.

The GHD is potent medicine and should be used sparingly when you are new to it. This guy has been known to leave people astonishingly sore for days and is also the number one cause of rhabdo in the CrossFit setting. Once you’ve been taught the use of the GHD, don’t be afraid to use it after your workout. If nothing else it will get you beach ready.

A few GHD movements…