Benchmark Update

I have not updated this blog in some time, however I have improved in quite a few areas.

I am currently doing Wendler's 5/3/1 and working out every other day. I am doing assistance exercises, conditioning and climbing all on the same day with a day off between everything, which is working well. Recommended for the over-40 set.

Benchmarks: recent PRs in italic;

Hips
-100 free squats L2
-295 lb back squat (1.5x bw) L3 April 2009
-405x2 lb deadlift 2.25x+ bw) L3 Aug 2010
-24 inch standing vertical jump L2 2009
Push
-50Push-ups L2 Oct 2007
-30 Push-ups on rings L3
-235 lb Bench Press (1.3x bw) L3 Aug 2010
-175 lb Shoulder Press (.96x bw) L3 Aug 2010
-11 HSPU L3 July 2010
-21 Dip on rings L2 Oct 2007
Pull
-20-foot Rope Climb (no feet) L3 2006
-205 lb Power Clean L3 Aug 2010
-37 Pull-Ups L2 Aug 2010
18 C2B Pull-Ups 11-08
-2 Muscle-up on bar (perfect) L2 April 2008
-6 Muscle-ups on rings (kip) L2 April 2008
-3 Muscle-up on rings from full hang May 2008
Core
-30 V-ups L2
-15 Hanging Knees to Elbows L2
-10 second L-sit L1
-195X2 lb OHS (1x+ bw) L3 CrossFit Games 2009
-Sandbag carry (modified) 100 lbs, 1 mile L3 2007
-2:50 min 800-meter Run L3 - Norcal Sectional 2010
-7:39 min 2000-meter Row May 2009
-Helen: 10:13 L2
-1 mile run 6:27 L2
Speed
-1:11 min 400-meter run L3 Jan 2010
-1:26 min 500-meter Row L3 Dec 2006
-135 lbs Power Snatch L2

Other Benchmarks:

-Cindy 21 + 8 push-ups December 2007
-Clean & Jerk 185 2009
-Fight Gone Bad 309 FGB IV 2009
-Fran 5:45 2007
-Filthy Fifty 21:30 2008
-Grace 4:08 Aug 2010
-Linda 22:31 11-07
-Push-Jerk 195 04.09
-Murph C2B/20# Vest 54:40 Oct 2008

Highest Grade Climbs:

Indoors;
5.11b on-sight 2010
V5 redpoint 2010

Outdoors
5.10a, redpoint 97 feet 2009

Games Training WOD #5

Warm-Up

1.    Jump rope: single-unders, alternating feet, high knees, one foot, front cross, backwards, then 30 double-unders (or 1X max consecutive) for time.

2.    Dynamic Stretching

3.    Dowel Movements:

i.       Behind the neck wide grip press moving into narrow grip as the shoulders warm up. 

ii.     Snatch hang position: shrug, muscle snatch, power snatch, and full squat snatch. 

iii.   Snatch bottom start position: snatch deadlift, snatch shrug, muscle snatch, power snatch, and full squat snatch. 

iv.   Jerk width grip grip and the dowel placed behind the neck: press, push press, jerk. 

v.     Clean hang position: shrug, muscle clean, power clean, and full squat clean. 

vi.   Clean bottom start position: clean deadlift, clean shrug, muscle clean, power clean, and full squat clean. 

4.    Run 800m at 80-85% of max perceived effort.  Minimize the sound of all footfalls as much as possible; if this requires slowing down to achieve desired effect slow down as much as necessary.

5.    3X10 wall ball full squat start and finish best form possible.  Think about following through on the finish to ensure that ball returns where you want it to.

6.    3X butterfly kipping pull-up practice or attempts.  Without letting go of the bar complete 3 C2B pull-ups after each attempt at the butterfly kips. 

7.    3X3 muscle-ups.  Use rings and the best form you are capable of. Break up the sets if necessary to perform with the best form that you are capable of.

8.    3X3 pistols each leg.  Use perfect form or as best as possible and minimum supported if necessary.

Workout: record results and numbers for now I will work on putting together a sheet for entering them into this weekend.

9.    Fran C2B (21-15-9 Thruster (95# men, 65# women), C2B pull-ups)

10.                     Rest 15 minutes keep warm

11.                     Row 2k

Cool Down:

12.                     Foam roll focusing particularly on sore or tight areas

13.                     Static stretching

What You Should Eat

Double Re-Blog

Twelve days of Christmas No-Equipment WODS From CrossFit Virtuosity

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Via the blog of Princess Raindrop AKA Boss Arce: she has agreed to be one of my test pilots for the primal/paleo diet - I have been eating mostly this way for two months, during which time I have lost weight and retained performance and I am nearly ready to advocate zone/primal for all. Let me know if you want to join us in this experiment before I roll it out more "officially", probably Jan 1.

"Polly and I attended at talk at Catalyst by Mark Sissons. Mark is the author of the Primal Blueprint, a book about "going primal". Basically reverting back to a diet that more closely resembles what we have evolved to eat - a hunter-gatherer diet. Namely, meats and other natural fat sources (nuts and oil) and carbohydrates coming from vegetables and fruit.

As I see it we have two conflicting evolutionary trends when it comes to food. The first is our physical evolution - what we have evolved to eat over millions of years. The second is our industrial food evolution - how to affordably produce enough food to feed an ever growing population. These two trends don't reconcile with each other and, at some point, in order to achieve optimal health, we have to leave behind the food of convenience that is negatively impacting us physically and financially and eat according to where we've evolved.

I was raised eating rice, bread, pasta, etc. Earlier this year I cut way back on those types of foods and I'll tell you this - life was BORING. Sure I lost weight, got stronger, faster, fitter, ate fat and plenty of meat and tons of eggs and that's all great but I did miss those filling grains. They are comfort foods and it's hard to undo that mind/body connection. Eggs - not so comforting. Meats - not comforting much at all and lots of chewing. I like eating to be brief and intense and I don't like tons of chewing.
- These are the types of things that make it difficult to imagine a life without grains and breads and pasta and BEER. What makes it easier is knowing that it's absolutely the right thing to do for so many reasons, not the least of which is the potential for living really well. I'm not so concerned with living for fucking ever but I would like the time that I am around to be really really good.

- This is why I like the 80/20 rule. 80% primal; 20% not quite. Dairy may be my remaining source of comfort - the 20%".

Double Re-Blog

12 days of Christmas No-Equipment WODS FromCrossFit Virtuosity

---

Via the blog of Princess Raindrop AKA Boss Arce: she has agreed to be one of my test pilots for the primal/paleo diet - I have been eating mostly this way for two months, during which time I have lost weight and retained performance and I am nearly ready to advocate zone/primal for all. Let me know if you want to join us in this experiment before I roll it out more "officially", probably Jan 1.

"Polly and I attended at talk at Catalyst by Mark Sissons. Mark is the author of the Primal Blueprint, a book about "going primal". Basically reverting back to a diet that more closely resembles what we have evolved to eat - a hunter-gatherer diet. Namely, meats and other natural fat sources (nuts and oil) and carbohydrates coming from vegetables and fruit.

As I see it we have two conflicting evolutionary trends when it comes to food. The first is our physical evolution - what we have evolved to eat over millions of years. The second is our industrial food evolution - how to affordably produce enough food to feed an ever growing population. These two trends don't reconcile with each other and, at some point, in order to achieve optimal health, we have to leave behind the food of convenience that is negatively impacting us physically and financially and eat according to where we've evolved.

I was raised eating rice, bread, pasta, etc. Earlier this year I cut way back on those types of foods and I'll tell you this - life was BORING. Sure I lost weight, got stronger, faster, fitter, ate fat and plenty of meat and tons of eggs and that's all great but I did miss those filling grains. They are comfort foods and it's hard to undo that mind/body connection. Eggs - not so comforting. Meats - not comforting much at all and lots of chewing. I like eating to be brief and intense and I don't like tons of chewing.
- These are the types of things that make it difficult to imagine a life without grains and breads and pasta and BEER. What makes it easier is knowing that it's absolutely the right thing to do for so many reasons, not the least of which is the potential for living really well. I'm not so concerned with living for fucking ever but I would like the time that I am around to be really really good.

- This is why I like the 80/20 rule. 80% primal; 20% not quite. Dairy may be my remaining source of comfort - the 20%".

NYC Trip

720 Pound Tire Flip @ CrossFit Virtuosity

I had a great week in New York: I trained and taught classes at

CrossFit Virtuosity, which may be the most awesome CF Box around.

I got to train with Keith and Jay:

They totally kicked my ass on THIS workout:

10 min AMRAP of the combo (1 rep for cycle) at 135#:
Power Snatch
Back Squat
Rack Jerk
Front Squat
Push Press

Frustrating due to my lousy snatch. I could not even RX it, had to scale to 115# and still got crushed with only 13 rounds. I just could not get two in a row to save my life.

The next day I treated them to THIS lovely workout, perhaps the hardest one I have ever done. I considered leaving the building when all the cursing and yelling started, but of course, they loved it. CFEB will have to do this soon.

5 Rounds:

5 thruster 155/95
10 Burpee

Try it at home!

My response to the message thread on robbwolf.com entitled "The Black Box Summit Or How I Got Fired from the CrossFit Nutrition Certification"

CrossFit is currently experiencing it's biggest controversy so far, at least on-line. Fallout from the Black Box summit, and the evident firing of Robb Wolf from teaching the nutrition cert has sparked some lively debate:


Robb Wolf on Being Fired from Nutrition Cert

Greg Everett on what happened

Russel Berger on what happened

A rather balanced analysis of what happened

A very interesting take on what happened/is happening

I meant to write a brief, concise post on Robb's blog about this. Brevity, alas, is not my strong suit, and since writing it I had a few thoughts that I wished to include. Here is my opinion for any who care, for the record.

My response to the message thread on robbwolf.com entitled "The Black Box Summit Or How I Got Fired from the CrossFit Nutrition Certification" (edited for clarity)

I have now read all 425 plus comments that came before this, and all of the source material.

I am an affiliate owner (CrossFit East Bay in Oakland CA) and I know or have met many of the principals here. Greg Glassman changed my life, and while I don't revere him as anything more than a fitness visionary, it is, to me, frankly ridiculous how little credit some people are giving him. I will post below his best response to such misunderstandings. For once, I largely agree with Barry Cooper, above.

I am a bit older (43) and have been into fitness since the 1980s. I used to read every fitness magazine I could get my hands on for, I guess, decades. I NEVER saw anything remotely like CF. I never heard of a double-under, a muscle-up, a kipping pull-up, a dynamax ball (or wall-ball), a thruster, a kettlebell, the zone diet, paleo, IF, tabata, etc etc etc. I was vaguely aware that rings existed and that these weird guys in tights lifted huge funny looking weights in the Olympics, and that a rower existed, but it never occurred to me to use these things. I never saw anything remotely like Fight Gone Bad, and I challenge anyone to point me to something like FGB that pre-dates CrossFit. When I discovered CF in 03 or 04 it sounded interesting, and I dabbled, but not until I trained with Josh and Keith at CFNYC Black Box, the 18th affiliate, was my mind blown.

As I said I am a bit older, and have an administration background as well. I am familiar with internecine disputes, and have mediated many. I am disappointed in what I am seeing here from all sides. There is a whole lot of dick-measuring and airing of grievances, old and new, going on. While there may have been some pent-up feeling that needed to be discharged, it has been done, the issues are out there, and, as an affiliate owner and member of this community I ask that we take a deep breath and dial it back a notch on all sides.

This community has experienced explosive growth, and I think it is silly to pretend there are no issues associated with that growth. As a community we have added, are adding, quality on the individual affiliate and regional level daily. It is questionable as to whether HQ is keeping up with or taking advantage of all of the great stuff that is coming out of our open-source fitness model. Simply put, there are some potential, or actual, quality issues. A med ball clean might not be the best progression to the clean. Teaching someone with zero experience how to snatch with a PVC pipe does not prepare them optimally to teach the snatch. The explanation that it is impractical to use barbells with so many people does not hold water. Inconvenient, yes, expensive, yes. Impractical, no. It is possible that the current programming template of .com could be improved. I'm not suggesting I know how, but this is fitness, not religion, and blind allegiance to the .coms is against the spirit of CrossFit. To quote Greg Glassman speaking to me personally: "the next big innovation in CrossFit will come from outside of my intuition". It is clear that a whole foods diet is healthier than Zoning Pringles, Coors Lite and Skirt steak (personally I think zone/paleo + milk is the way to go). The level 1 Cert is not as valuable a product as it was when Coach taught them himself (I have been to both versions). The .com only to prepare for the games is not optimal unless one already has perfect balance in all 10 areas of fitness. Even then training once a day to prepare for a multi-day multi-event competition would be insanity.

Recently one of my athletes started training the O-lifts with Greg Everett. This forced me to recognize that what I had learned so far in CF regarding the O-lifts was demonstrably inferior (but still an order of magnitude better than what I knew before CF, i.e. zilch). I admitted my sub-optimal teaching to my athletes and we are now working on improving our O-lifts, but not at the expense of GPP or not following a .com-like template.

Greg Glassman and CrossFit have given us all an incredible gift, for which I am truly thankful, but they have started a wildfire which cannot be easily managed or neatly compartmentalized. That does not have to be a bad thing. Another local product, eBay, was also started on a wing and a prayer - basically not even a beta product thrown out there. Subsequently, the owners started reacting to every piece of feedback they received and built a killer app. Their community base is the basis of their success and they jealously build, guard and protect it. CrossFit should do the same. Listen. Grow. Evolve.

I know Greg Glassman and I believe in him as a businessman, fitness visionary and really just a good down-to-earth guy. I have had my issues with HQ and I know this is not the kindest, gentlest organization on earth, but given what we do doesn't that make a certain amount of sense?

Now goddammit! Let's chalk to the elbows and get back to working out!

See you in the garage.

Maximus Bernard Lewin
Owner, Lead Trainer
CrossFit East Bay
info@crossfiteastbay.com
510.910.2919

Post thoughts to comments.

13th Anniversary of My 30th Birthday

November 11, 2009

13th Anniversary of Max's 30th Birthday


7:15PM

Delta-Force Hit-and-Run Dinner @ Taqueria La Familla

8PM

Salsa Dancing at Down Low

It has been a long-time goal of mine to learn to dance, and get over my phobia of same. And, according to Coach Dr. Mock, I am ready for the world.

So come amuse yourself by seeing me break out in a cold sweat and run, humiliated and sweaty, into the night. Or, possibly, dance.

Down Low:
Wednesdays | Live Salsa Bands
Beginner lessons from 8-8:45
Intermediate lessons from 8:45-9:30
$10 cover, $5 w/student ID
$4 margarita special
Map

CrossFit East Bay: CrossFit Games 2010

Apollonia May 2009, Norcal Qualifier

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We are now 9 months out from the CrossFit Games 2010. Greg Glassman has stated that the games are an opportunity for affiliates to show the strength of their programming.

Last year we decided late to enter the games; for the Affiliate Cup we gambled and lost on a dark horse strategy, which involved a lot of long grueling metcon (long time domains by CF standards). We chose this strategy because we had limited time to develop tons of power or strength; it takes quite a while to get strong, while developing work capacity can be done fairly quickly. Because of (or perhaps despite) this we finished 68th of 97 teams.

For the individual competition, Apollonia also had limited time to prepare, but thanks to Gita's brilliant 11-day preparation and her inherent athleticism and powerful work ethic, she qualified for the games in 5th place, but far ahead of the next nearest competititor. With good, hard training, she placed 34th at the games, and, notably, improved enough against the moving targets of the the Norcal Competitors that she placed higher than everyone who beat her at the Norcal Qualifier previously.

This year we know far in advance that we will participate in the competitive season, and therefore, We will tailor our programming to that end. Given the fact that CrossFit East Bay is dedicated to old-school CF principals, most of the training will be fully scalable, and we will offer a compelling fitness experience for anyone who wants to train hard and get results.

The next three months will be old-school CF GPP (generalized physical preparedness). However, our Max Effort work will be less varied than CF main for this period. The reasons for this being a good or bad idea could fill a very long article. Suffice to say this will make it easier for us to gauge what kind of progress we are making. We will also be working on short metcon, long metcon, light (bodyweight-ish) metcon and heavy metcon. We will deadlift heavy every week, either as Max Effort day or as a metcon with weights of up to 315/205. We will also do Max Effort Clean & Jerk at least 2X a month. While some suggest teaching the snatch first (because it is harder), I am choosing to work on my own snatch, including getting high level instruction, before committing to teaching it in a serious manner.

In addition to the above we will be working a lot on Overhead Squats, Muscle-Ups, HSPU and Double-Unders (because they take the longest to learn). Also expect to learn to back squat.

The training template is HERE.

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The subsequent training will be developed once we know more about the schedule and format, however, if possible we will spend significant time getting as strong as possible (think Deadlift, Squat, Press, Bench Press, Sled Drag, Tire Flip, etc.) while still gaining some capacity. Following that, I hope to have a well-designed volume overload scheme which will bring us right to the brink of despair overtraining/overreaching followed by a back-off, followed by a cycle of escalating intensity but lowered volume. In all cases, I hope to avoid the scenario of last year when we were a bit spun-down (if super-conditioned) coming up to our competitions. Some of us definitely peaked the week after the games. Recovery will be much more at the forefront this year. Training will be the new overtraining. The above may have to be repeated multiple times in micro-cycles (sectionals, regionals, games)

Bad Girl Open 091018

Power Weight Challenge Day Five

Here is an excellent 3-block meal, courtesy of Trader Joe's

- 1 package Thai String Beans with 2/3 of 1 sauce pack (the sauce packs are mostly sugar and have 30 grams/3 blocks of total carb)
- 1 patty Trader Joe's 96/4% beef

Calories in: 1550
Calories out: 3300
Negative calorie balance: 1750

WOD "A" Row 5K 20:59
WOD "B" Boulder one hour (got a few V2s)

P/W Challenge Day Five: Equalibrium

Cal in: 2400
Cal out: 2800
Negative Cal balance = 400

WOD - none.

Ready to attack it again tomorrow.

P/W Challenge Day Four

Cal in: 1400
Cal out: 3450
Neg balance 2050

This is a bit too much neg calorie balance, but I am quite surprisingly not hungry. I have been eating pretty much nothing but zone-ish portions of meat, veg, fruit, nut, seed and coffee. Go figure. 1500 negative calorie balance a day is probably the upper limit of sustainable, safe, healthy weight loss. That would result in 3 pounds lost a week, some of it likely muscle: in the past I have lost 2.5 pound fat .5 pounds of muscle on such a diet.

WOD "A" 5K row in 20:24

WOD "B": 2.5 hours of moderate bouldering

P/W Challenge Day Three

Intake:

Protein: 165g
Carb: 129g
Fat: 76g

Cal: 1810

Output: 3331

Negative Calorie balance: 1521

WOD: 10K Row in 42:44

CrossKitchen: Enter The Zone

From CFEB; By Daniel on September 28, 2009 9:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)







I'd like to take a moment to call out our friend and fellow athlete Raphael Dozzi. Now, athletically speaking, Raph has a few things going for him that make him a great CrossFitter: yes, he's young and has good genes, but he's also dogmatic about coming to as many workouts in a week as he can, and making up those he can't. And we've all seen the passionate intensity he brings to his workouts.

All of this is great, but I could also point to several other CFEB regulars who share the same traits. So why am I focusing on Raph this week? Because lately Raph has an ally in his corner that, to my knowledge, none of the rest of us (besides Max) do: the Zone diet. Since he started zoning strictly, Raph's performance has gone through the roof - he's been shedding bodyfat noticeably, his Clean & Jerk is one of the best in CFEB, and his Fight Gone Bad went from an already respectable 270 to a very impressive 306. At that level, a 36 point jump in your Fight Gone Bad score does not just happen - it is a solid indicator of athletic improvement.

His story, while impressive, is not unique - you read about it all the time from CrossFitters who fix their diet, typically by starting the Zone. The Zone Diet is the official diet of CrossFit. While variations of Paleo are also popular, Zone is what they taught me at my level 1 cert, and Zone is the first thing they advocate on CrossFit.com. Nearly all the top performers at the Games swear by the Zone. I've even heard that CrossFit NorCal (Robb Wolf's box), flat out will not let you join the gym unless you agree to eat Zone.

I blush to confess that I have never personally tried the Zone. I am intimidated by all the math that's involved. I almost never use measuring implements when I cook, much less the scale. But inspired by Raph, I've resolved to put my misgivings behind me and commit to going strict Zone for the month of October - and I invite you to join me. I will dedicate CrossKitchen for the month of October to an exploration of the Zone, and share with you any recipes, tips and insights that I gain, and hope you will do the same. 30 days, and we can blow it all out in style on Halloween. Let's do this thing!

OK!...but...uh...what is the Zone?

Sorry. I got ahead of myself there. First things first: the Zone Diet is a somewhat unique take on dieting invented by Dr. Barry Sears. His theory is that the human body performs optimally on a diet wherein the ratio of each meal is 30% protein, 30% fat, and 40% carbohydrates. When eating this way, the body enters a "Zone" where it is firing on all cylinders, easily converting bodyfat to energy and sidestepping the rollercoaster of hormone release caused by eating things all out of proportion.

You can read more at the official Zone Diet website, but it's something of a marketing nightmare. I would encourage you instead to consult the Bible of the Zone for Crossfitters: Journal issue #21. It's freely available, and packed with far more practical information in an easy-to-read format than any of the Zone materials I've read. I will endeavor to provide a quick overview here, but if you're serious about trying this I highly recommend reading the journal article at least.

A quick rundown: Meet the Block

The Zone Diet is built out of "blocks." A block is made of 7 grams of protein, 1.5 grams of fat and 9 grams of carbohydrates. Consuming food in these proportions will meet the 30/30/40 requirement.

The next step is figuring out how many blocks you should eat in a day. There is a calculation for that. Here's what you do: head over to my blog, and on the right you'll see a bodyfat calculator. Fill in your numbers, and you'll get a lean body weight. Multiply this number by 0.7, then divide by 7 for your block count. Using me as an example: a lean body mass of 157 times 0.7 comes to 110, divided by 7 comes to 15.7, so I can eat 16 blocks a day. This could be four 4-block meals, or (more likely) three 4-block meals and two 2-block snacks, or... well, the permutations are extensive.

(Side note: if you are already at a very low bodyfat (ie, 8% for men, 13% for women), then you should double or triple the amount of fat you're allowed in each block, or risk losing too much weight).

Practical application

CFJ #21 is full of helpful tips on how to convert all these numbers into actual food that you can eat. Take one food from the protein column, one from carbs and one from fat and you have a block of food - multiply quantities for more blocks. Or just pick something from the sample menus. There are also plenty of online resources for zone recipes. If I find anything particularly compelling, I'll be sure to share it - I hope you'll do the same for me.

So who's on board?

Anyone else ready to take the plunge? Sound off in the comments! Questions? Fire away and Max, Raph and I can do our best to clear up confusion.

CFEB P/W Challenge Day Two

10AM: 1 cup 2% milk = 1 block

2PM: 9 oz pork loin, one apple, one tomato, .5 avocado = 5 blocks

8PM: 9 oz hamburger, 12 oz broccoli, 10 oz papaya, 5 oz strawberries = 6 blocks

10PM 5 oz strawberries, 5 oz papaya, 4 oz cottage cheese = 2 blocks

WOD "A": Row 10K; 42:24

WOD "B": GWPC Boulder comp problems 1-12 (fail on 13, 5 attempts)

Calories: 1600
Negative calorie balance: 2140

CFEB P/W Ratio Challenge Day 1

Stats:
Weight - 199#
BF% -21.5%
Lean Mass 156#
Fat Mass 43#
Max Rep C2B 6
Max Rep HSPU 1
Max Rep 1.5XBW DL (300#) in one minute: 14

Food Log:

11AM: Cup 2% Milk (with coffee), 9 oz apple, 9 oz tomato, one egg + 4 egg whites, trace olive oil = 4 blocks

5PM: Two TJ's Chicken Patties, 9 oz tomato, 5 oz apple, 8 oz mushroom, 2 tsp butter = 6 blocks

10PM: NSA (No Sugar Added) Frozen Yogurt, 1 oz Kiwi, .5 oz shredded coconut, .5 oz almonds, 20 g protein powder = 3 blocks

Block Total = 13 blocks
Cal= 1404
Neg Cal Balance = 1800

WOD: Bouldering;
V0x3
V1X2
V2X2
V2 (fail)
V3 (fail)

CrossFit East Bay Power/Weight Challenge Part Two

CrossFit East Bay Power/Weight Challenge Part Two

You may self-report your stats on the challenge page in comments. You will have to use a different method of ascertaining lean mass and bodyfat if you are self-reporting. Use the calculator here:

http://onrockrockon.blogspot.com/ - This calculator is NOT accurate for athletes, but it will measure the difference just fine.

You will have to use the same method at the conclusion of the challenge.

Please report:

1. Bodyweight
2. % Bodyfat
3. % Fat Mass
4. % Lean Mass
5. Max Rep Deadlift @ 1.5X BW
6. Max number of C2B Pull-Ups
7. Max number of Static HSPU
8. Max number of muscle-ups
9. Max number of static muscle-ups

See standards, below.

Here
is the format for the Power/Weight Challenge: This is specifically NOT
a weight loss challenge, those might be fine for TV, but focusing only
on weight lost is simplistic and not for athletes, some of who need to
gain, not lose, weight.

Losing "weight" is really, really easy.
Losing fat mass, without losing significant lean mass (muscle, bone) is
difficult. Losing fat mass while gaining muscle mass is quite difficult
indeed but by no means impossible. Gaining muscle for some is just as
hard as losing fat is for others.

So: each participant will pony up $50.00 for each 5 week challenge, winner take all.
Here is part two of the body comp challenge. Please note the changes.


Stats
will be taken at the beginning and end of each challenge, including
lean body mass/body fat using a decent bioelectrical impedence scale.
Come fully hydrated for each test to minimize the error of the scale
(it actually measures total body water and extrapolates LBM from that).
Picture optional.

Challenge "A" will run from Sunday, July 27th to Sunday August 30th
Challenge "B" will run from Sunday September 27th to Sunday November 1st.

Each participant will choose a goal:

"Beanpole" - gain weight
"Chubs" - lose weight

Points are assigned thusly:

Beanpole - 1 point per pound of mass gained.
Chubs - 1 point per pound of fat lost

1.5X BW Deadlift
One point for each additional point above baseline, including zero.

C2B Pull-Ups:
One point for each additional point above baseline, including zero.

Static HSPU
One point for each additional point above baseline, including zero (first HSPU may be kipped all subsequent reps must be static).

Muscle-ups:
Two points for each additional point above baseline, including zero (first muscle-up can be from bent arm, all subsequent reps must be from full lockout).

Static Muscle-Ups
Three points for each additional point above baseline, including zero.

Achievements:

Tracker: weigh and measure and count calories/macro-nutrient ratios of all food consumed (estimate at restaurants). Provide proof in the form of a journal or printed Fitday or similar software pages : 1 point
Blogger Bonus: share your intake and WODs with the world: 2 points (3 total including above)
Zoner Lite: Eat in "The Zone" 5.5 days per week - 1 point
Hardcore Zoner: Eat in "The Zone" all but one meal per week - 2 points
Fanatic Zoner: Eat ALL meals and snacks in "The Zone" - 3 points
Sweetie: No sugar, no sweeteners of any kind, same rules as No-Sugar Challenge - 1 point
Paleo Lite: No grains or sweetners of any kind - 2 points
Pure Paleo: No Dairy, no grains, no sweeteners, no legumes, no tubers, no coffee, no alcohol - 3 points
Performer: lose all fat and no muscle or gain muscle without gaining fat - 2 points.

Zone Low-GI, Matched Carb/Pro Italian Tuna Salad

20 0z Chunk White Tuna

4 TSP Olive Oil

2 TSP Balsamic Vinegar

1 Cup Cherry Tomato

1/2 Cup Artichoke Hearts

1/2 Finely Chopped Red Onion

Juice of 1/4 lemon

TBSP Capers

10 Dried Black Olives

Chopped Dill to taste

Salt, Pepper to taste

2 cups (Dry) Whole Wheat Rotella Pasta

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Enjoy. To make this paleo, omit the pasta and make up the missing carb blocks (about 110 g carbs)

13 protein blocks (these are 10 gram blocks)
13 carb blocks
13 fat blocks

CrossFit East Bay Games Prep

CrossFit East Bay Games Prep from Maximus Lewin on Vimeo.

Here is video from our CrossFit Games Affiliate Cup prep series.

We (Gita D. and I) realized early in our training that we did not have the time to equal bigger stronger teams in terms or pure strength or power. It simply takes too long (years) to get really, really strong. For sure we will be working on this going forward into 2011 and 2012.

Instead we chose a dark horse strategy based on interpretations of Coach G's statements over the past year that we we chose to regard as clues. When I spoke with Coach at last year's games he stated that in 2010 he wanted it to be ungameable. The phrase he used was "farm work for time". He also mentioned an obstacle course. I read into the article coach posted with the phrase "an army lives on it's legs" as suggesting work capacity would be paramount. Finally, there is a remark buried in one of the videos where coach says the Games is an opportunity for affiliates to show the superiority of their programming, perhaps hinting that main site WODs might not be the best prep for the games.

Taking into consideration the logistical set up of The Ranch we supposed that one way to try to make it ungameable was carry heavy objects up the hill, stage them and work out with them at the top and/or along the way. We guessed that sandbags would be one way to do this, and, in fact, there are now many sandbags on The Ranch equipment list.

So: we focused on building capacity, teamwork and being comfortable in a variety of hostile environments (in the above video it is 109F). We also did some urban forest obstacle work. Another staple of our training was hill run metcons along the lines of Cath-22 from the Norcal qualifier. We worked out hard twice on Sundays for six weeks to prepare for the games format.

Once we chose our team, we built on our capacity base and have tried to optimize team members as "Tank", "Ninja" and "Hybrid".

If the event(s) is long-ish (20 minutes+) and focused on pure work capacity we expect to do well. If is a heavy weight metcon (like some of the NorCal Throwdowns), we expect solid mediocrity.

We have taken a bit of gamble here, but we feel it was our best shot, and, no matter what happens, I am very proud of my team and happy with the work they put in.

We are looking forward to game day.

More on Polly's individual training to come.

The "Tank" Series

I will be posting a series of articles about CrossFit East Bay's 2009 Games prep over the next few days.

We persued a "Dark Horse" strategy for the Affiliate Cup training. When we decided to seriously train for the Affilate Cup this year rather than next, as had originally been my plan, we realized a number of things:

- There was simply no way, given six weeks of training (plus a one-week taper) that we could match teams made up of D-1 football players in their 20s, etc. in pure strength or power. It simply takes too long to get seriously strong, and as a newer affiliate without any "ringers" we just don't have the muscle.

- It was possible to build serious work capacity in six weeks given our decent existing base.

- Less conventional methods would give us a long shot of doing very well and a fair chance of achieving mediocrity.

I will write more on the conditiong methods we used and why (hint: Coach G. made an offhand remark to me last year about "Farm Work For Time" and obstacle courses that I took seriously).

In the last few weeks we chose our team and tightened our focus. My job was to "face reality" as Torquemada put it, and get as strong as humanly possible in the last couple of weeks available along with increasing my capacity and eating tons of food. My dreams of being an underwear model have been defered.

Above is picured one of my "Tank" workouts:

12-9-6

Deadlift 315#
Thruster 135#

Time 7:44

There is no question that I am now as strong as I have ever been, my capacity is excellent and my running is decent. However due to my high bodyfat (19%) pull-ups and HSPUs are hard and muscle-ups are if not impossible, very, very hard.

Weights that once seemed heavy are now a joke. I could DL 225# for reps all day.

Muliti-Modal WOD Improvment Protocol

165x5 Push-Press, now pretty easy!


The eternal question: how should I best improve my WOD times?

Let's look at "Helen".

CrossFitter "X" comes to the WOD initially unable to get C2B pull-ups or swing the RX KB. It makes sense for them to scale (in fact there is no other possibility). At this point time to completion is immaterial: they have glaring deficiencies and should simply work towards getting the WOD RX at which point they will have clearly improved.

Once it can be done RX, I recommend approaching improvement from several directions simultaneously:

A: improve components through monomodal workouts, in this case, 400 M sprints, high-rep pull-ups, heavy KB swings. Does needing extra work mean the WODs are ineffective? No. Go to the main site and start looking over the programming. I guarantee you will find an example of, for instance, ME Front squat, ME Push-Press, Weighted Pull-Up, followed by Fran. CrossFit is not simply the metcons, but a sophisticated and artful periodization scheme (undulating periodization to be exact).

B: Doing the WOD as fast as possible, commensurate with virtuosity. I don't consider 1/2-assed form done blazingly fast to be legit or even RX. However in the case of Helen, if the KB is overhead knees, hips, elbows in full extension, and the athlete goes from full lockout to touching the bar to chest on every rep it would be pretty hard to complain. The benchmarks are just that and are there to measure progress. There are plenty of other one-off WODs where you can go balls-out, and in fact will not be able to game as easily as they are unfamiliar.

C: Doing the WOD focusing on weak points as in THIS example of selling out on the runs: it is a valid point that if you have trouble doing swings/pull-ups winded, you can improve by working that part of it.

I have found, over the years, that the inelegant method of throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks works rather better than seemingly better thought out schemes.

The Last Weak Link

C2B Fran

There is definitely one last major chink in my armor, performance wise. You can see the culprit in the upper right of the photo above.

We did C2B Fran yesterday, and my performance was abysmal, despite being able to do 21 unbroken thrusters. Strength only goes so far when your body composition is, shall we say, sub-optimal. While I have no illusions of being an underwear model, this level of bodyfat is really holding me back.

I calculated my input/output with Fitday yesterday, something I have gotten out of the habit of doing. I was surprised to see I ate a few hundred calories more than I expended, even though I meant to eat less. As the last few month demonstrate, this is an outstanding protocol for gaining strength while keeping bodyfat levels constant but, clearly, to lean out I need to (obsessively) track everything, as my natural tendency is to very slightly overeat. As we know a few hundred extra calories a day can add up to a lot over a year. It may well be that I need to write down everything I eat, every day, for the rest of my life, or until I stop caring about my body comp. I hope not.

Strong Enough? Yes!

195 pound overhead 60 foot barbell carry @ CF1W Throwdown: Andy and I moved 2750 pounds of plates this way in 14 minutes for the win.

Our recent affiliate cup training has yielded excellent results. 10 weeks of our own programming has yielded the best results I have ever experienced in all areas except one (more below).

Recent benchmarks:

-Deadlift 400#
-Squat 300#
-Bench Press 235# (easy, could maybe do 245#)
-Overhead Squat 195#
-Press 160#
-Push-Jerk 195#

I did the Mid-Atlantic qualifier WOD "B" yesterday:

3 rounds
10 deadlift 275#
50 double-under

5:45

This was done outside in a high wind: fairly certain I could approach 4 minutes in more controlled circumstances with my own rope. The 275 DL that seemed so hard at the CFO OPD fundraiser seemed not like a joke, but really quite easy. The really interesting thing about this, and all of the strength benchmarks above, is that I have done very, very little strength work in the last 10 weeks, but a lot of "stengthcons", with much higher weight than in previous years metcons. It works.

My conditioning is excellent, and my muscle mass is the highest it has ever been 157 pounds of lean mass!

The only thing that has not changed is my bodyfat. Still hovering around 20%, even up a bit from a few weeks back.

I am starting a very conservative cutting cycle today to take me up to the CF games: I am going to aim for a 500 calorie deficit each day on average, with the goal being to burn one pounds worth of fat each week. The goal is simply to not lose any muscle mass and lose 5 pounds of pure bodyfat, or 191 pounds at 18% bodyfat, lean mass of 157. I think this is the single greatest performance enhancer I can get.

Post-games, I will start a 10 week cutting cycle, also very, very conservative to try and take off another 10 pounds using the same protocol. That would put me at 181 pounds and around 14% bodyfat, 157 lean, which I think is a realistic bodyweight/bodyfat percentage and should make bodyweight movements like muscle-ups, etc., not to mention running a lot easier.

Strengthening the Chain

Back in March, after the first NorCal Throwdown CFEB attended at Diablo CrossFit, I wrote this post: "I Am The Weakest Link".

I identified a lack of conditioning and bad body composition as the culprits.

10 weeks of intense training later, Team CFEB and I are at an order of magnitude higher of conditioning, and it seems, personally, every I time I touch a barbell lately I get a PR. Did I mention I'm pushing 43?

Our conditioning was evident at the CF1W Throwdown yesterday, where we won by a nose. In the first event we screwed up our strategy a bit and were behind on the 800 meter 100# sandbag carry. All three of us (Andy, Alex, Me) passed the slowest guy on their team: personally, while the other teams were wearing out, I had what it took to go faster and faster at the end. On the second event, which involved running with a barbell overhead, only Andy and I were able to overhead 195 pounds which contributed to our victory.

Also lately CFEB records are falling left and right and many of us are setting PRs frequently: this is more impressive as I am not talking about beginners, but long-time athletes. I have deadlifted 400, overhead squatted 195, strict pressed a 71 pound kettlebell, hit new metcon PRs, and as above we won the latest throwdown.

Torquemada has convinced me somewhat reluctantly not to publicize our training but I will say this:

It is not the .coms.
It is most certainly pure CrossFit
It is unconventional
It improves teamwork
It recognizes individual differences
It falls on the outside of the typical CF time domain
It is somewhat high volume
It relys on, rather than strength bias, weakness bias. Figure that one out and you will start making huge progress, I guarantee it.

I am no longer the weakest link.

Long Time Coming

I finally broke the mental barrier and Deadlifted 400 pounds! I'm fairly certain I will start making linear progress again now. I think I can officially say I am now as strong as I have ever been, and while it may not be at an all time high, my capacity is now decent: the last time I was almost this strong coming off of a pure strength cycle in 07 I was glacially slow, could barely run or do pull-ups.

Interestingly I have been doing almost no direct strength work, but lots of "stengthcons", like the "Catch 22" WOD that started with 22 Deadlifts at 315#. Just lots of brutally hard metcons and big volume in general.

I addition my running is decent again, I suspect I could break 3:00 in an 800 again. I have gotten a bunch of new PRs lately, 5 HSPU, Strict Press 2.0P Kettlebell, 185X2 OHS, etc.

The only things that are not at peak are pure capacity, pull-ups and muscle-ups (have not done one in almost a year). This is a combo of my weight, and my elbow issues.

However: if my bodyfat scale is at all accurate, I am now at an all time peak of lean mass 158.5 pounds at a bodyweight of 192, 17.5% bodyfat.

When I started this journey, I was 215 pounds, 36% bodyfat and only 138 pounds of lean mass. That means I have stacked on 20 pounds of solid lean mass, from my late 30s to my early 40s. Not bad!

Readiness

The last week has been of (for me) high volume for various reasons. Mostly planned. I am trying to cultivate a mindset of being ready for anything, anytime. This is of course primarily athletic, but, again, it seems to be creeping into my regular life, in a good way. Ramping up for the Affiliate Cup, I have added both volume and intensity to my training and that of the Affiliate Cup team. I really pushed myself to the ragged edge last week. More on that in a moment, but first let's look at what I did:

Monday: Off
Tuesday: 2 mile hill run
Wednesday: Deadlift 1-1-1-1-1-1-1


325-375-385-395-395-400 (fail, moved it)-400 (fail nailed to the deck).

This was a major math fail. I somehow failed to put 400 on the bar, and I got just insanely pumped up to do it. I did 395 twice. It came up easily, and, on the plus side I BELIEVED it was 400, so I may be over my metal problems with 400. I am certainly going to try this again next week.

395 is tied for a lifetime PR, and I have not lifted this much since 2007.

Thursday:
Run One Mile
100 Squats
Run 800 Meters
75 Push-Ups
Run 400 Meters
50 Burpees
Run 200 Meters
25 "GI Janes"
Run One Mile

Time: 41:25

Friday:

Five rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
75 pound Sumo deadlift high-pull, 21 reps
75 pound Thruster, 21 reps

Time: 25:20

Finisher:

15-9-6

Ring Dip
Burpee

Time: 7:59

Saturday:
Olympic Lifting Seminar (3 hours in hot sun)
C&J 175, tied for lifetime PR.

Grace:
Time: 7:30, far off of PR

Sunday,
Affiliate Cup WOD "A"
15 minutes of very hard work

Affiliate Cup WOD "B"
90 minutes of slog

+25 plus hours of training others.

By the time we got to WOD "B" I was cooked. I tried to get myself psyched up, but I simply ran out of energy. I could not get any intensity going, no matter how hard I tried. What should have been a 45 minute workout took me 90 minutes. I have never hit the wall this hard and not DNF'd. Whether this was a good idea remains to be seen. I have, for a long time, considered volume for the sake of volume to be akin to "junk miles". However, I committed myself and my team to this course of action, and I never considered not following through. I realized pretty quickly I was going to be Dead Fucking Last, and I just plodded through it. I really enjoyed the 50 penalty burpees at the end. Thanks Gita.

So: what is readiness? Committing to a course of action and following through no matter what. Will this yield the results we are hoping for? New strength, capacity and intensity PRs this week for most should tell the tale.

CrossFit Stopwatch Whores

Spencer Nix Of Dallas CrossFit leaves nothing on the table.

This post was inspired by the following response from Spencer Nix of Dallas CrossFit on Dutch Lowry's Blog.

"-THESE GUYS ARE FOCUSED ON THE PROCESS NOT THE OUTCOME. How many of you guys out there are ’stop-watch whores’? You put out a sub 3 minute Fran but half of your thrusters you didn’t push your head all the way through, and 10 of your butterfly pull-ups were technically over the bar but not really? These guys aren’t like that. I get to workout with dutch pretty regularly and ALL his reps count. He is focused on the execution of the rep and not really the stopwatch. OPT - same way; look at all his videos and read the ROM requirements on the blog (borderline obsessed with the process). These guys focus FIRST on doing the movement flawlessly and SECOND on the clock. If your goal is to be the stud of your garage or gym, then this might not pertain to you BUT if your goal is to compete, then this has to be your mindset."

(As an aside, I got the idea for the 50 unbroken burpee finisher yesterday from Spencer).

I definitely started out CF as a SW (Stopwatch Whore). My form was abysmal, and I kidded myself into counting every ugly rep and posting some pretty good times, that, in retrospect, were a joke.

I am very strict with form at my affiliate, and we have transitioned to C2B pull-ups for all WODs for men, with women to join them after the games this year. Some (Andrea, Elaine, Polly, Ynez, Hodges) have made the transition already.

I feel that true excellence in CrossFit requires excellent form, regardless of speed. In some ways I am more impressed with a middle-of-the-pack athlete with HEART who does everything right, than a Firebreathing animal who cuts corners to make their blazing times even hotter. Of course what I really love to see is blazing intensity with excellent form. We want virtuosity!

A search of what people have posted on YouTube is downright embarrassing. I recently saw a 30+ round Cindy and a 2:30-ish Fran in both of which, in my gym, NOT ONE REP would have counted!

And, as pointed out, if you are going to enter the brand-new sport of Competitive CrossFit, your shitty 1/2 reps are not going to cut it.

I am striving to become mentally stronger all the time these days, and part of that is total honesty with myself about my workouts. In the past if I got confused about reps/rounds, etc. I would probably engage in "wishful counting" some of the time. Lately any time I become confused or don't know if I got full ROM (I do the WODs by myself most of the time) I just don't count it and do the extra reps. I have been much more satisfied with my WOD times since doing this. I don't care about being the fastest or the best, but I do care about doing CrossFit with integrity and what I can approach of virtuosity.

Mental Fitness

I am continuing to improve in my ability to recognize and interrupt negative-self talk and replace it with, as I have heard it said "a different conversation with myself". Interestingly this started as a purely athletic pursuit but it is starting to bleed over into other areas of my life.

I'm resolving to recognize and interrupt all negative self-talk in all areas of my life and replace them with positive and/or useful messages. There is of course a balance, I don't want to become blind to my shortcomings or Pollyanna-ish. for the moment there is no such danger.

I'm working on being able to create the emotional and physical components of successful performance on short notice. All of my recent workouts have been excellent. I turned a moment of doubt into a new PR yesterday: 185#x2 Overhead Squat at a bodyweight of 188#. I'm calling that a double bodyweight squat.

I figured out the kipping HSPU yesterday as well, and was able to get 4 in a row in the WOD.

Today I rowed 1K and I found myself thinking/saying "I don't know if I can hold this pace" at one point. I instantly recognized it and replaced it with "I CAN I MUST I WILL" for the remainder of the row - 3:37 and I ended strong. Happy with it.

I also worked on my snatch form. I got 125# but anything over 115# is with some fairy awful form. I used the Mid-Atlantic Qualifier form, in the video, above, yes I know there is an error in it.

Hill Repeats

The 22 C2B Pull-Ups in "Catch 22"

---

I did hill repeats yesterday, which, I am, to say the least, not stellar at. I really had to keep interrupting any negative self-talk (I've done enough, I'm going to be slow, etc.) with positive self-talk (I'm going to fly up this hill, I love doing this, this is going to get me closer to my goals).

I have really resolved not to complain about my workouts to others or myself, just do them and accept them for what they are. After all, I'm really just doing this for my own satisfaction.

Anyway: I managed to go from a state of dread and wimpiness to feeling invincible, powerful and fast on the third repeat I cleared the hill in 52 seconds, first attempts were more like 1:05. While it is unmeasured I suspect that is the hardest I have run in some time.

About 4 hours later I worked with YPFA of team CFEB on some skills. I did some decent rowing. She nailed some of her goals. Nice work.

2009 CrossFit Regional Qualifiers

315# Deadlift X 22. Got 16 consecutive.





"Catch 22" (course pictured above).

Sunday Morning WOD

"Catch 22"
22 Deadlift 315/185
DB Farmers Walk 45's/25's Up Hill To #3
22 DB Thrusters 45's/25's
DB Farmers Walk 45's/25's Downhill To #4
22 Chest To Bar Pull Ups
Run To Top of Ridiculous Hill #5
22 Overhear Squats 95/65
Run Down Hill To Finish

I went as a Judge to the CrossFit Norcal Qualifier. My athlete, Apollonia Helm came in fifth and is going on to the 2009 CrossFit Games. This is incredibly exciting, and needless to say kind of big deal.

A Thousand tips of the hat to Gita Dombrowski who realized Polly had what it took to make it this year (I was going to have her try in 2010) and put together a stunningly effective 11 day competition peaking program using, shall we say, very creative methods (still top-secret).

After the competition we mortals were allowed to do the day 2 WOD, "Catch 22" above. I completed it RX but slow as hell, 28:31 right under the 30:00 DNF limit. This would have put me around 47th place or so, including the 10 or so folks who did this RX "for fun" after the competition. Of course we won't mention there is little chance I could have RX'd WOD "B" and no chance I could have made it to day 2.

This was interesting - while I am still on the heavy side, due to all the competition ramp-up I have been involved in I have done tons of heavy-bias metcon in the last six weeks or so. I am fairly sure I am at the greatest lean mass I have ever achieved, around 158 pounds at a bodyweight of 192 or so. My bodyfat has been holding steady or dropping a little since I went back to the Zone.

To put this in perspective, in December of 07, at my lightest, around 168, I tried to Deadlift 315 ONCE in a CrossFit total and it felt nailed to the floor, it might as well have weighed 1000 pounds or a million. On Sunday that shit flew off the ground and I got 16 consecutive - I think my grip failed or I would have gotten all of them. In addition I did 21 consecutive OHS with true full depth in the WOD and 24 as a warm-up. All told I did 38 315 DLs on Sunday. By the way this is predictive of a 466# deadlift, far past my stuck point of 400 or so. It really must be mental! I am positive I am about to blast past my PRs in the total, and I feel like I might even be close to a 250 bench again. Also I can still do HSPU (one at a time) which I never could above 185 before. I'm also working on rehabing my elbow with jump-through muscle-ups of the type done for the scaled WOD at the NRQ. I'm optimistic I can get them back even at this weight, if my elbow heals.

I don't know exactly why, probably zone, adequate calories and hitting just the right mix and amount of WODs, but I feel fantastic and powerful, really ready for anything WOD-wise. Another possibility is that the two weeks of caloric deprivation and massive volume (for me)was actually a beneficial stimulus once recuperation was allowed to take place - I'm at a fairly advanced level and almost certainly need to stack several weeks of tough stimulus together to disrupt homeostasis.

I also seem to have successfully adjusted my attitude and stopped the negative self-talk and self-defeating bullshit. Watching all the amazing athletes and feeling the positively electric atmosphere at the games (my limited hair really stood on end) really brought home to me how much I love this shit. As Patton said "God Help Me I love it so, more than life itself". We jokingly call it a cult but it is really getting to be less and less of joke for me over time: CrossFit is my religion.