Lauren B Gets High
Reminder that tomorrow is our third ever Tough Titsday Powerlifting Meet, the more spectators the better!
Rope Climb Clinic
Want to relive the anxiety of 8th grade gym class? Maybe you’ve just always wanted to touch that weird brown stuff all over the ceiling. Regardless, we’re hosting a FREE rope climbing clinic on Saturday January 26th at 2pm (right after the 1pm Group class). This event is limited to 10 participants and will review rope climbing 101.
To register, email David(at)CrossFitSouthBrooklyn.com, first come first serve.
Rest Day Dinners
The rest day dinners have filled up quickly! Here are the details for the first RDD hosted by Dave, Rachel and their awesome dog, Nahla. They’ve got plenty of room for all and hope you can make it. To RSVP please email them at the contact information listed below. This year we’ve also included pictures of folks on the event pages (to the right) to help put names to faces!
Hosts: Dave, Rachel and Nahla
Host Contact: dgever(at)gmail.com
Location: 399 Ocean Parkway apt 6 L 11218 – its Ditmas Park , 4 stops on the F train from Park Slope. F train to Ditmas ave or the Q train to Cortelyou road
Time: Saturday 1/12 at 6pm
RSVP: We would like to have an idea of many people are going to show by next wednesday 1/9 but dont actually need a final number until friday 1/11
What to bring: This will be a potluck event, the hosts will help coordinate dishes.
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Interested in competing? Check out the Frostbite 2013 Challenge in Long Island City
Extreme Group Gymnastics
Anyone have any challenge-appropriate breakfast recommendations? I'm already sick of eggs! I suppose I could just have some leftovers from dinner, but that seems so wrong!
6am with Nick. Discovered tightness in my right hip flexor during some pre-class lax ball loving. Tightness stayed with me during squats: 45×5, 135×5, 225×3, 245×5, 255×3, 265×1, 265×1, 265×1. Squats felt slow and the bar felt heavy, though Nick said my bar path was nicely vertical.
Skipped the accessory work in favor of more CRASH-B rowing. 4 x 1000m with 3min rest: 3:29.1, 3:30.3, 3:29.8, 3:30.3. The first interval felt good. The next three sucked progressively more. It's a minor miracle that I pulled off that last time.
Anyone have opinions about Seattle Crossfit boxes? Crossfit Belltown looks to be the closest to where I'm staying.
@rachael bringing back the IF convo from yesterday. i did some reading on this topic a few months ago just for kicks. experiments with intermittent fasting was an interesting read that was referenced in the stumptuous article @michele mentioned yesterday. its got lots of good insight on how to perform scientific experiments on yer body. great right! the main article linked from stumptuous was more about women and IF which is here! and i'm planning on reading that today.
other things i've read make it sound like IF might not be ideal for women because, to paraphrase, it sends our bodies into "DEAR GOD HOW WILL WE FEED THE BABIES (real or hypothetical babies)" mode.
i haven't ever tried it myself, i just find it an interesting topic to read about.
and finally, went to 6:30p last night with fox & josh. worked up to 50 on the push press which felt decent with room to build. fox pointed out i was grasping the bar too early so on my last set i was able to correct that and felt the difference. CRASH-B stroke-pyramid rowing after 2×11' 3' @20-22, 2' @24-26, 1' @28-30, 2' @24-26, 3' @20-22. This was rough but i learned from going out too aggressively on the first set and corrected for the second. technique felt good, i think it's working!
Squats: 150×5, 155×3, 165x1x3. Surprisingly, I found the set of 3 to be the hardest of these.
Accessory work: I won't give away the surprise, except to say that it's a party for your forearms and shoulders.
Susan — I have leftovers a lot. It's weird the first time or two, but after that it's okay.
I've been eating a lot of smoked salmon this week. FreshDirect users, I'm almost afraid to tell other people about this, but they have what they call "smoked salmon bits" where you can buy basically the leftovers from the salmon they've cut for normal orders. It tastes just as good, it's just not in one nice pretty slab. But it costs $10 a pound, whereas if you buy salmon the usual way it's more like $25 per pound.
The catch, and this is why I almost didn't want to say anything, is that they don't have it consistently. And the more people who want it, the less chance I have of getting it! 😛
@gina – Thank you for all the articles! I posted last night, but I think it got eaten. I think Betz has a good point about it being the last piece to try to fit into an established pattern of healthy/clean eating. Definitely an interesting topic to research, though. I will definitely check out all the links everyone sent me yesterday.
For those into intermittent fasting @rachael @ginacatto, it actually helps to answer one of Susan's questions: namely, I have done it, and while I'm not strict about it, I don't eat breakfast now, and it has solved one of paleo's biggest challenges. I try not to eat for 16 hour gaps on as many days as possible, the leangains style of IF. Basically if I finish eating by 9PM and then just have coffee until a 1PM lunch, it's not that hard, and all in all, it's really not that hard. (The not eating breakfast thing is hard for lots of people to swallow, because of years of constant talk of breakfast being the most important meal of the day, whereas really it's just important to have regulated eating patterns, but I digress)…
For breakfast, in addition to eggs and leftovers, might I recommend some smoked salmon one or two days a week? It's what Jewish cavemen ate.
leftovers i especially like for breakfast:
cold barbecue and brisket
leftover meatloaf
other non-trad breakfasts i like:
good lunchmeat (like mortadella or virginia ham)
wow IF, smoked salmon interesting stuff
IF. I have messed around with it, it works. checkout leangains. Cheesy dude, informative site, dig around on there. he doesn't call it that, but it's the same thing,.
smoked salmon – I love it. what kind do you guys get? The catch for me is that it tends to be a BIG time sodium blast. It's delicious though.
Last night –
squats, bench, pullups. normally do chins, but this place has just about everything, other then a straight effing bar to do chins. they have 5 different stations with various handles in various angles. yet I can't do chins. all good though it's all close enough.
working some sprints in after. ouch.
tonight squash, mobility.
biggest challenge takeaway so far is the old saying, "80% of success is showing up."
The "Experiments with IF" book is available on the web as a PDF, and is way better than the Leangains site, although it does reference it. It's written by doctors, one of who is Krista Scott-Dion (who if you are a woman, and you lift weights, you should be reading her stuff already!)
Since I've already done a few challenges I am trying IF this time around and (at least for guys, it may be very different for women) it works. I'm about 2 weeks in and theres been significant body comp changes and metrics trending in the right place. I never really missed breakfast, and sometimes I just eat it for lunch or dinner if I'm jonesing for eggs and bacon. That said, if this is your first foray into Paleoville, I'd just work on adherence there first.
Susan- I consider anything breakfast if I put one fried egg on top. Last nights pork chops+fried egg=breakfast. I suspect I could eat birthday cake for breakfast with an egg on top.
Anyone else having a hard time with getting the water in? Even with it right in front of me at my desk, by my side during workouts, and a glass next to my bed, I am still literally choking it down to meet the requirement.
And weird cravings? I don't even like pancakes that much and haven't had them in probably 6 months, but it's all I can think about now!
As for paleo breakfast, I like all-fruit smoothies (made with water and ice). You can even it out by adding some whey protein in or eating with a side of nuts.
I also have to share that home-made plantain chips are delicious! Melt a little coconut oil, brush onto plantain slices, and bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes on each side. YUM.
Made up yesterday's WOD:
Started off with 25 minutes of mobility work for my hip, which seems to be slowly improving
Push Press:
45×5, 95×5, 135×3, 155×2, 165×5, 170×5 – might have been able to get 175, but not after two sets of 5 – last 3RM was 175
Metcon:
5:07 Rx'd largely because Kevin R (welcome back!) was right on my heels. Grip was so fried after this.
can anybody explain to me the fish oil dosages? i bought GNC double strength 600mg capsules and have been eating 3/day. does that = 2-4 grams of EPA/DHA?
@Amy: haha, i had a dream about pancakes last nite! but i love pancakes.
MUXX: Check the label to see whether it's 600 mg of EPA/DHA or 600 mg of fish oil — if the latter, you are almost certainly not getting enough. If it's "600 mg fish oil" the EPA/DHA count is probably more like 350-400 mg. 2-4 g = 2000-4000 mg so even if your tabs contain 600 mg of EPA/DHA you need to take more.
(says the girl who refuses to do fish oil this year — I had a terrible experience with the side effects last year)
@Amy – yes re: pancakes – all I want is a massive stack with real syrup and bananas, even though I rarely eat them – and yes re: plantain chips. They're awesome.
As for the water, I slam as much as I possible can as soon as I wake up. It's the very first thing that I do and if I don't put a limit on it – just drink as much as I possible can in massive gulps until I can't drink anymore – I find that it helps since I'm able to mentally check off glasses that I don't have to drink later in the day. I don't know if this makes any sense, but oddly, it seems to work for me.
Also, toss some lemon or cucumber slices in there. I try to trick myself into thinking I'm drinking fancy spaaaaaah water instead of tap water in a mason jar that my cat has just stuck his paw into and almost knocked over.
All sorts of weird, psychological mindf*cks during the Paleo challenge for me, apparently.
meat csa folks
if you didn't get an email from me today, email me now please. mignyc at gmail dot com.
Courtney, I just spit water out at my desk and now cannot count that mouthful toward my LFPB requirements. Thanks a lot. 😉
Taking my rest day today — tonight will be the first big challenge towards not drinking — I am going to watch my Aggies beat the hell outta OU in the bowl game tonight. Beer goes so good with football…not as much with seltzer and lemon but I better adjust!
2013 is crushing me, every day sicker. It's made it easy to get the water, fish oil and sleep requirements, but 0 gym visits in the new year. Very sucky.
I am curious as to why there is no requirement for avoiding bad fats this year. I know we're not calling it "paleo" this time but we can eat french fries cooked in corn oil and still be within the guidelines. That seems odd.
@Courtney,
Best naturally flavored water I've had is at Pok Pok Ny, which seems to be infused with peanuts.
@stella, just add that mouthful to tomorrow's total and DRINK IT REALLY FAST.
And @JoelW, for real?? I have mixed feelings on how that might taste, but if you say it's good, I trust…
@joelw ok that just made me google what actually is in pok pok's water because i couldn't identify the taste. here's what i found:
"Another hallmark of Pok Pok’s extensive beverage menu is water flavored with pandanus leaves, a Northern Thai tradition that adds flavors of toasted rice, vanilla and grass to the water."
B Dubbs you know the answer to that, you are a very smart guy.
I second (or third or fourth) eating leftovers or cold cuts and a few macadamias for breakfast. So easy!
Macadamias IMO should be in the "how to get more fat in" conversation. Be aware, they are addictive and I have a bad day when Costco is out of stock.
Eat some protein and fat with every meal, so if it's a shake put some protein powder or turkey slices and some nut butter in it. Also, frozen broccoli is a sneaky way so get some veggies in your shake. Not kidding about the broccoli, kidding about the turkey.
IF works tremendously well for the fellas but can be problematic for the gals…sorry.
IF should definitely be the last item on the list.
Fish oil goal is 2-4 grams of the good stuff, i.e. EPA and DHA. Check the label.
I also pound 16-32oz of water upon waking. I feel like I crave it. Don't pound 16-32oz before bed, you won't sleep well.
@mgmt we need these: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFBcOrZe6IE&feature=youtu.be
@Courtney & MUXX : It sounds like we should celebrate the end of our challenge with a pancake breakfast!
Also @ Courtney: You made me LOL with “spaaaaaah”. I did find a blog with various fruit-infused water recipes, so I’ll give them a go!
The other thing I have been doing is making pitchers of hot tea with orange tea leaves, but since I hate drinking hot liquid (I know, I know), I put it in the fridge for an awesomely refreshing flavored iced tea beverage, no sugar added. But even more than 12oz of that is a little much.
@Fox: I found that out the hard way last night. Slammed the last 32oz of water I needed right before bed last night, and had my boyfriend in stitches over how many times I had to get up to go to the bathroom before I could fall asleep!
PS – the best part about this challenge are these blog posts!
I'm not that smart Fox. Places like Chipolte seem legit, but they use crappy oils. Bareburger uses peanut oil. I was just wondering why it wasn't mentioned. Maybe my example should've been a non-grain derived oil like safflower.
I'm with Ben, I find it odd that it's not explicitly stated to what extent we are supposed to be avoiding vegetable/legume/seed oils. (It's also not explicitly stated that we are to avoid legumes at all, I guess to include the vegetarian/vegans among us?) In fact, it's tacitly assumed that we will eat some, because of the way the fish oil parameter is worded (if you don't eat veg oils, you may not need fish oil at all implies that some of us will be eating veg oils).
I mean, I'll fess up. Last year I didn't cheat according to the rules of the challenge, but I had French fries or sweet potato fries more than once, thinking, "oh well, I guess it must not be that important." This time I'm going to be better about avoiding deep-fried food, but I'm not planning to check every single time on stuff like salad dressings, mayonnaise, what oil do they use to sear the steaks at this restaurant, etc. For the purposes of the challenge…should I be? It really would be nice to have some more explicitly stated guidelines about veg oils (eg, "read labels, but don't obsess about restaurant cooking" or "no deep-fried anything").
Hit the 7 am with nick and McDowell. Got to a 200# back squat. I think I have more in the tank but also wanted room to grow. I've been here at around 200 for too long and want to move up.
Having a cold doesn't help.
So far so good for sleeping 7 hours, fish oil, etc. I have noticed now that I'm drinking even more water I feel more dehydrated than ever. My lips are chapped and I generally I feel like I need even more water.
Joel, I have the same relief with the 16 hour fasting: I don't have to worry about making a paleo breakfast every single day!
My problem with nuts is that I can't stop eating them. I assume even though they're "Paleo" and good, everyone agrees that if you're trying to lose weight, you can't eat too many of them. Macadamia nuts are a particular relief.
Ive been terrible on the sleep, but otherwise adhering to the guidelines. Did yesterdays class at noon with Jess – got to 125x3x5 on the push press – though she pointed out i wasn't getting much out of my legs on the press.hmmm.. need to work on that
9:41 on the WOD RXed. (well 40lb dumbbells which is not 45% of BW – maybe 45% of ideal bodyweight? – but heavy enough)
by the way, does the challenge permit white potatoes? I see nothing in the guidelines, though i know they're not optimal.
Keith – I have the same problem regarding the water! I thought maybe I was taking in too much salt but I really dont think that is. The past three days were really bad, today I felt okay. Not sure why thats happening to us?
You can eat white potatoes, I think they're good in a pinch. Often a restaurant might not have any other good side dish options. But like all starches, in moderation if you're attempting to lose weight or control your insulin.
Regarding oils, I would generally use your instinct and avoid overly processed oils/fried foods.
Make the decisions that seem right for you and don't focus on the things you can't do.
I've been out sick the last 2 days, terrible yesterday and the night before and then just blah today. Low energy, especially upon exertion. Lots of water and sleep and some AR happening over here.
I dont know why everyone isn't going crazy over the gymnstiics video. Granted this is now the 4th time weve posted it over the years.. it still blows my mind
For all of you paleo breakfast eaters, this is your answer. It's amazing and very easy to make, just make a big batch once a week and reheat as needed. Also it's super easy to modify portions and change to your liking…
From Marks Daily Apple, it's called Noatmeal, name implies meaning 😉 Honestly, I love it
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/no-oat-oatmeal-its-no-atmeal/#axzz2H3tPZAWe
Open gym: Haven't wodded in 3 weeks due to my recent trip to New Zealand and Australia. It was great seeing so many familiar faces! Cheers!
10m AMRAP:
5 kb swings 36kg bell
7 burpees
9 toes to bar
8 rounds
muscle up work on the minute for 5 minutes 2-4 reps each minute
4 rounds:
500 row
50 double unders
and a belated Happy New Year!
made up front squats tonight… went very conservative.
45×5, 75×5, 105×5, 135×5
135 was quite easy but I am trying to be smart and ease back into things
Then did the challenge capacity test.
row plus 2 rounds and 3 burpees at 1.5 pood.
I am not happy at how quickly conditioning departs.
Squat: 45×5, 135×5, 225×5, 265×5, 265×5, 265×5
Split Jerk: 45×5, 75×5, 105×5, 135×3, 135×3, 135×3
Clean & Jerk: 140×5
Row: 4x1000m @ ~23SPM @ ~2:12.4 @ ~160 HR
This coming in twice a week and cramming everything in is for the birds. We'll start our progression on the squat from here. It's lighter but I don't want to be wiped out after the first lift. Split jerk starting at 135 and getting comfortable with the movement then easing slowly up. One set of full clean and jerk to slowly work on the muscle memory. Thanks to Michelle I couldn't punk out on the rowing. Should have went faster but not enough rest in between lifting and rowing. Over all a good time.
Open gym to try to combine Thurs & Sat's workouts. Worked up to 175lb x 5 on the push press. The weight felt manageable, but I'm lousy at doing anything more than singles with push presses for some reason. Hope to iron that out this cycle. Then did tomorrow's squat work: 310lb x 5, 325lb x 3, 345lb x 1 x 3. Didn't feel as brutal as it looked on the whiteboard, but it was tough.
I opted for Thursday's WOD since I need more conditioning work. Finished in 9:15. DB clusters are one of my least favorite things.
@MUXX : after Lovaza which needs a prescription from your Dr (and my insurance does not pay for it anymore) the best and most reliable/efficient fish oil supplement that I could find is Omegavia, a pharmaceutical grade fish oil with 780 EPA, 260 DHA in a 1105 mg tablet, i keep taking it 3-4 tablets a day with no side effects or burp. It is at http://www.omegavia.com
I can drink a total of 80-90 oz of water (I am 177) including a cup of coffee a day and stick with the paleo diet principles almost totally but a 7 hour sleep is something I can see only in my, well, dreams! I did sleep 4 hours last night (usually it is 6) and was at the box at noon. Jess was coaching and she could not find much time for anything else as she was busy with fixing my form -thanks Jess, seriously.
Partnered with Sasha for yesterday's push press.
45×5
65×5
75×3 –bad bad form
65×5
I found Apricot & Almond spread from Mt. Vikos a very satisfying and tasty snack – i add a few pepita seeds and eat 2-3 tea spoons and it satisfy my craving for all Tiramisu of Fornino Park Slope, for now! Yet it is expensive: $6.99 for 8.8 oz.
6 months ago I lost about 15 lb in 5 weeks by sticking to a high protein-high fiber-low carb-low calorie diet. I managed to keep that weight until the holday season where the tiramisu and other villains take precedence. Then I gain 6 lb. This whole Paleo challenge for me is to get back to healthy eating habits and lose some pounds: hopefully upto 10.
Is Grapefruit juice acceptable in the challenge? What about Truvia?
still ramping up with light weights, buddy, after a loooong holiday away from the iron.
boring. but it must be done.
Holy flaming crapballs!!!!! That gymnastics video is bonkers! It gets better every time I watch it, which is gonna be everyday since I'll now make it my homepage! Hell yeah.
DH3- me and Guy each got one for Xmas, you can come over and borrow.
Challenge-
Alotta people are into IF and I won't knock it but I will say doing it just to avoid dealing with breakfast is silly.
I drink so much water all day by instinct I might actually drink too much, I never understand how it's a problem. Definitely have a glass after waking up- start getting the internals moving. Carrying/having at your desk a nalgene/sigg/Klean Kanteen helps as it makes water a constant option (and reminder).
Good paleo breakfast is a salad with fish on top. I usually go for canned sardines cause they're cheap and great for you but fresh is dope, smoked, other canned, whatever. Canned mackeral is delicious if you can't dig the sardines. If this isn't enough to hold you down sprinkle some of your favorite nuts/seeds.
Oils I suspect is a question of management wanting to make the challenge more user friendly. Last year it was 8 weeks and a lot more specific. I use canola and olive mostly, occasionally rocking my stash of rendered bacon grease, ghee or coconut oil. If you really wanna nerd out, google "oils omega 6 content" and you'll get an idea of which are most advantageous from a omega 3 to 6 ratio perspective. Stella- whatever it is, whatever oil it's fried in, you know it's cheating if it's deep fried.
Use your common sense everyone, why are you doing this challenge? If it's to Look, Feel and Perform better then you should obviously skip hydrogenated oils, deep fried stuff and over-indulgence in nuts. I also think you should pick a book to read on paleo so you can understand the hows and whys of what you're doing. Personally I'm rocking strict paleo + some dairy but if you feel like you need some legume love in your life, they really aren't the worse thing out, most people keep at least some caffeine or alcohol- gotta make it work for you (like me keeping some dairy). If you wanna be super hardcore, read a book on Paleo and follow the guidelines (meat, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Period).
Oh yeah, and new 1RM on the bench today. 225# Thanks Josh.
Excited to see the awesome women of CFSBK kill it on the platform tomorrow.
OG tonite. Had a great session. I am not going to lie, ive been jonesing to get back on the Snatch leader board ever since Josh knocked me off a couple months back. I went into tonite feeling pretty good about hitting something heavy.
198# twice-felt ok. it always takes me a couple attempts to start feeling comfortable under the bar.
210# for one-Felt way better. Slid under the bar quickly and hit my bottom position feeling really solid.
222#-Missed this behind me. But it felt like light weight so I decided to move on and go up.
229-Missed the first attempt a little out in front. But it felt really close and i just knew i was going to hit it tonite.
229-HELLS YEA, hit it. Was patient in the hole, got my positioning just right. and with help from Fox and Jess yelling at me (and whoever else was as well) I stood up with it. There is literally nothing that feels as satisfying in athletics as hitting a heavy snatch…nothing.
Halting Snatch pulls@242# 3×3
225# Bench press for 12 reps.
50 25#Weighted Situps
Im still jacked up from the snatch….
DE Deads
2 e :30 for 5min (22 reps)
255 + Green band
Bench
185×8
210x5x2
225x3x2
Superset with
Pull Ups
BWx8
25x5x2
35x3x2
(my strict pull ups have gotten weak)
9 Muscle Ups
50 Split Jumps (lunge jump)
30 Wall Ball 20#/14'
7 MU
40 SJ
20 WB
5 MU
30 SJ
10 WB
After the first 4 or 5 muscle ups were done as singles I switched over to 15-12-9 C2B Pull Ups instead. Almost quit after the fail on the 5th muscle up, glad Jess was there so I just scaled. Finished in 14: something. #quadsonfire
I just watched that Gymnastics video….My paltry combination of adjectives and expletives will not do it justice. HOLY F__ING SH__T!!! How is that not an olympic sport. Some of the most impressive feats of strength ive seen in a while. wow.
Wrote and sent a longish post yesterday. Seemed submitted ok but never showed up in he blog page… Any ideas why?
Did the same the day before and that one was posted with no problem and fast.