February 27, 2009 in Upcoming Events by admin

Tomfoolery

Adult Gymnastics part deux 

Next Friday March 7th will be another fun night of adult gymnastics at Oroville Gymnastics Academy.  This is a great time to soak up some great coaching in a fun and relaxed environment.  So if your idea of a good time is a trampoline, a foam pit and sore abs then bring $10 and meet up at OGA at 7pm.     

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Slylar gets a muscle-up (here)

I apologize for the sideways video, as well as for Skylar’s “footware!”

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Want to give Jeff of BW Products a huge thanks for our amazing new portable racks.  Great products, great prices, and local to boot.

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Our newly redesigned post card

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February 26, 2009 in Nutrition, Personal Record by admin

Did that cake have a face?

Change of Date

Due to the inordinate amount of people who expressed disappointment with the date presented for our “gym wide workout”, we will be moving the date back one week.  Sorry for the inconvenience.  We will now be enjoying this workout on Saturday March 21st at 4pm.  

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What are your thoughts on the Concept 2 rower? 

If you are partial to the rower then you have demonstrated by your response that you have not been on the rower much!  The impact of a hard rowing effort-for us typically under 1,000 meters-can leave quite an impact.  

Note: The concept 2 monitor is extremely versatile.  One function that we use often is the “pace boat” feature.  This allows the individual rowing to set up a boat that moves at a constant-preset pace.  The goal is to set up the pace boat to ensure that if said boat is beaten you will have completed the row in desired time.  However, the trick is to distinguish between your boat and the “pace boat”.  Crossfit “manimal” Brett made this mistake mid row (couldn’t figure out why he couldn’t catch the lead boat-turns out he was the lead boat) and nearly killed himself…he ended up netting a 3:16 1,000 meter time.  So I guess the mistake ended up working in his favor.  

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Here is a snippet from an interview with David Zava, Ph.D., a biochemist and an experienced breast cancer researcher.  He stated in an interview:

“In studying the literature on soy I found there are about five types of plant chemicals in the soybean that can be toxic to humans if they are not removed by special processing… the fifth antinutrient in soybeans is called a goitrogen. This is a chemical that latches on to iodine, preventing it from absorbing into the body from the gastrointestinal tract. Iodine is needed to make thyroid hormone. Low thyroid function has been associated with poor brain development. Anyone who has been deficient in thyroid hormone understands quite well what impact this can have on normal brain function, especially at a time in life as we grow older and “fuzzy thinking” creeps into our vocabulary.”

Interestingly a few years ago my wife’s grandfather was having episodes of early onset dementia. The doctors examined his diet and found his soy intake to be extremely high.  They immediately ordered him off of soy.  Shortly after the change his memory and mental acuity  returned to normal.   

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February 22, 2009 in member news by admin

Represent

 
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Malia shows off her handstand…who knew a cactus in Arizona would be so hard to find?

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February 19, 2009 in The facility, Upcoming Events, member news by admin

Scaling Up

Upcoming Event

Our much Delayed “Gym Wide Workout”  will finally take place on Saturday March 14th at 4:00pm.  The workout will consist of 3 rounds for time of 400m run, 21 kb swings, and 12 pull-ups.  You CrossFit veterans know this workout as “Helen”.  This will be a great time of meeting new people from the various classes, as well as an opportunity to let friends and family witness the energy and excitement that takes place here at Level 10 Crossfit.  

In addition we will be rolling out our “Spring into Summer Paleo Challenge.”  After all,  health, longevity and the all-mighty bathing suit are right around the corner!!!

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Congratulations to Brett who got a Deadlift PR of 461lbs and his first Muscle-up during the same week.  Next up is a 500lb Deadlift and 30 Muscel-ups on the same day!!!

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Our little red Glute ham developer will soon be getting a big brother.  Sorinex maker of some of the most bomb proof exercise equipment in the world is currently welding up our soon to be delivered GHD.  I am so excited that my abs are cramping just thinking about it!

FYI

Ever wonder why we are form nazi’s, and are constantly stressing a slow ramped up progression of volume on the GHD? Well here is a review of the history of GHD and a short story from Crossfit HQ:

The GHD sit-up was once a gym staple. In the gym today only rarely will someone be found doing other than back extensions on the GHD. In no small measure the decline of the GHD or roman chair sit-up coincided with the advent of the crunch. The crunch came to fashion on warnings and claims in popular media of the traditional sit-up’s destructive impact on the back. It was argued that the GHD style sit-up’s primary movers were the hip flexors and not the abs and consequently this sit-up, and sit-ups like it, were actually not good abdominal exercises. It was further argued that recruiting the hip flexors to lift the torso was destructive to the lumbar spine. Once every couple of years we get lucky and find an exercise physiologist to repeat this message of poor ab recruitment and lower back destruction standing in front of the GHD apparatus. What we do is ask them to mount the GHD and perform a set of thirty sit-ups for us while rehashing the poor recruitment claim. The fun comes the following day when the report comes back from the exercise scientist that they are almost too sore to sit upright. Laughing, walking, standing, and moving are all excruciating. Where are they hit? The abs.

Our favorite story along these same lines comes from Matt Weaver (www.speed101.com), arguably the world’s fastest human being. On top of being known for hitting 85 mph on a bike, Matt was crowned “King Sit-Up” in high school for completing 100 perfect-form bodyslapping sit-ups (BSSU’s) in one minute. In one of his earlier visits to CrossFit Santa Cruz he found himself in a multi-station circuit with a group of CrossFit veterans that included twenty-one reps of GHD sit-ups with a full range of motion, hands reaching back to the floor. The workout left Matt sick in the immediate aftermath. This was a surprisefor sure but nothing prepared Matt for what came the following morning: “I awoke later without the slightest ability to sit up. It was as if the six pack was totally gone, though all ribs remained. The curse had left me merely able to roll over and slither like a snake off the edge of the bed. From there I had to use my arms in humiliating ways to move about. I avoided being seen. A week passed, and I began to revitalize.”

The worst was yet to come! In the wake of Matt’s being dethroned as King Sit-Up, his abs had swollen and distended markedly. This kid looked fat and sunburned where the week before he’d been ripped and lily white. As the swelling subsided, his scrotum grew and grew and grew. Matt’s father, John, is an ER doc, so he was consulted. He laughed himself to near seizure. Our kind of doc. Before the swelling stopped Matt’s scrotum had become the size of a small and very ugly cantaloupe. Why we have no pictures we’ll never understand. Apparently the fluids that had swollen Matt’s abs had drained into the inguinal canal and filled the scrotum. Oh, and apparently GHD sit-ups recruit the abs. Matt is convinced.

The lesson we’ve drawn from the GHD sit-up is that in spite of the primacy of hip flexors over trunk flexors, or the abs, in this sit-up it recruits the abs powerfully in two ways. First, the movement takes the trunk from hyperextension to full flexion, albeit with negligible load. (No crunch can match this range of motion.) Second, the role of the abs in this sit-up is powerful and largely isometric – i.e., they stabilize the torso from undue extension. This second point is consistent with our belief that the most powerful, functional, and developmental contractions of the trunk are isometric, not isokinetic. Our favorite ab exercises are predominantly stabilization or isometric exercises. The GHD sit-up, the L sit, and the overhead squat share this stabilization role. The lack of trunk flexion in these moves hides their potency from the uninitiated.” - Greg Glassman, CrossFit Journal, October 2005

February 18, 2009 in General Blog Posts by admin

Consistency through Injury Pt. 2

Be Creative

Creative thinking in programing workouts is key when trying to stay consistent when minor bumps and bruises try and derail your training.  Got a hurt wing?  How about GHD sit-ups, Box jumps, and single arm dumbell overhead squats.   By exercising a little creative thinking you can recoup, and stay sane by not missing your daily dose of CrossFit! Lower extremities causing a serious pain in your gluteus maximus? How are your hand-stands,  muscle-ups, and L sits?  Nearly any way you dice it there is a way to maintain, or even expand your level of fitness during those roadblocks that seems to pop up from time to time.  

Note:During instances of the flu, or when working out is absolutely not an option please refer to the paleo diet main page found ( here), as well as the book Protein Power life Plan by Michael Eades, M.D and Mary Eades M.D found (here) 

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Kinsey recently got bad news…unfortunately a torn meniscus will force her to miss the remainder of the Oroville Tiger basketball season.  Guess she will just have to be the first girl to get 40 pull-ups!!!

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Heidi just recently headed out to the land of the cacti-Arizona.  During her trip she had the opportunity to take in an afternoon workout at Crossfit Core located in Pheonix.  How did she do you ask? Well, out of the 16 class participants who completed the workout she ended up with the highest score.  And this wasn’t no powder-puff workout, it just so happened to be “Fight Gone Bad”.  One of the toughest workouts around.  Way to represent L10XF well, Heidi!!!

February 16, 2009 in habits of highly effective athletes by admin

Consistency Through Injury pt.1

CrossFit is the sport of fitness, and just like other sports we are not without injuries.  This is not an inditement upon CrossFit or our movement as much as it is a statement about the flesh and bone nature of our bodies.  Bodies that require adaptational stressors in order to develop strength, loose body fat, or improve bone density.  In other words the presence of hard physical work.  Such work can manifest itself in the form of stiffness, sore muscles, and sometimes injury.  Yet even at the height of intensity serious injury is extremely rare.  The vast majority of injuries are soft tissue dysfunctions that stretching, planned rest, massage, and heat/ice will quickly elevate. After all you can spend time healing from those nagging injuries or you can sit and watch another episode of Oprah.  You decide.      

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Clark is fire-breather of intensity and hard work.  Add that to the fact that he is more than willing to tackle movements that  by nature are difficult, and you have a proven recipe for consistent results.

February 10, 2009 in member news by admin

Tea anyone?

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Sara is on a mission! She rocked through her individual sessions and is now moving into our established classes.  I know time flies when your have’n fun but… I can’t wait to see what sara is accomplishing in a few months from now!  

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Push, pull, squat, rotate, carry odd objects…Sound like a typical crossfit workout? Well it is also a typical day in countless emergency rooms around the world.  Debbi just so happens to be someone who has experience in both, and can personally validate the benifits of our varied and functional approach to fitness.  After all, after hearing some crazy stories-ever try lifting a 400lb man out of the front seat of a car?-I am certain that the only thing crazier than our workouts is an overnight at your local ER.

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February 5, 2009 in The facility, rant by admin

Bru ha ha and Baby Bella

The “fake healthy” beverages of Vitamin water has landed them in court.  The Coca-Cola line of beverages’ use of healthy buzz words such as, ‘defense,’energy’ and ‘endurance’ as well as their claim to help prevent decease and support immune function has lead the Center for Science in the Public Interest to file a lawsuit based on “deceptive and misleading claims.”

Personal responsibility is an important virtue to have whenever trying to make lifestyle altering changes.  So, with that being said, here are a few reasons why beverages such as these should be nixed from your diet pronto!

* 6 tablespoons of sugar per bottle.

* Vitamin water contains 50 calories per 8 ounce serving.

* The word “natural” is basically meaning less  now-days based on the manipulative marketing practices of companies.    

I am personally convinced, based on the length of time that calorie dense liquids have been in our diets, that our bodies can’t makes sense of such foods.  So leave the sugar water alone and stick to what nature made-water and green tea!

Just say No!

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Kinsey stopped in for a little mid season tune up!

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Rhonda, our prego crossfiter, capped off a smooth pregnancy with an even smoother birth.  Little Bella arrived on Monday January 26th; Afterward Rhonda said the birthing process was like, “the hardest workout imaginable.”  Well, good work, your time will be hard to beat!!!

Rhonda, Kurt, and baby Bella

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Picture a day

This is a picture of our first workout in what is now Level 10 Crossfit.  I say “now” because this place would be simply an oversized Tuff Shed if not for the amazing people who we get to continually share our life with.  So thank you to each of you who show up, sweat, laugh, encourage, correct, praise, and support.
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February 2, 2009 in member news by admin

One Kick’n Butt and One on the Way

Amy recently saw the new Liam Neeson movie “taken“, However, when pressed she admitted that the movie was “not nearly as intense” as Friday’s Fight Gone Bad!!!

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Christine will soon be our newest member to leave the fundamentals program and join one of our established group classes.  With Christine’s enthusiasm and determination it will a very short time before she is seeing incredible results.  Oh, and she has great deadlift form to boot!    

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Functional Space

Our gym layout is nothing like the typical chain gym. In fact, if the gym down the street went out of business we would have virtually no need for their “equipment”.  Here we use full body functional movements for no more basic of a reason than that they work!  They work for loosing weight, getting stronger, maintaining bone density as well as for life skills such as cutting a quart of wood or building a rock retaining wall.  So I guess you can say our fitness impowers lives outside the gym.  Can the pec dec or leg press machine make such a claim?