Hey everybody! As you know, I am really excited for the CrossFit Games, and they begin in less then 24 hours! The first event has been released and it is epic! I can't wait to see these incredible athletes do what they do best! Here is the first workout of the Games.
For time:
210-meter ocean swim
Run 1,500m in soft-sand
50 Chest-to-bar pull-ups
100 hand release push-ups
200 Squats
Run 1,500m in soft-sand
This is the video that Reebok and CrossFit have dubbed the Anthem of the Games. The links that I have been posting are working now. So you can click them and they will take you to awesome.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
I Stole This From CrossFit Verve!
Why does CrossFit work?
The easiest answer is that it works because it is empirically driven. It's evidence based, if something is proven not to work, we change it. In that way, CrossFit continues to evolve with the discovery of best practices. CrossFit doesn't say our way is the best and only way, it says here is what we have found works. Try it for yourself and let us know your results.
CrossFit also works because it has a plan. Have you ever heard, "If you don't have a plan, you plan to fail?" Fitness works the same way and CrossFit's plan is to increase work capacity across broad time and modal domains.
There has never been a clear definition of fitness before this. If you look up the definition of fitness it states being in good shape or physical condition. What does that mean? It's hogwash. If you had to explain that to an alien, their first question would be, "what is good shape or physical condition?" Now how do you answer that? "You know, good shape". Then the alien thinks; like a star, circle or a square shape? You can see that is not a very scientific definition. In order for something to be scientific it must be measurable, observable, and repeatable. "Good shape" is not any of these. However, increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains is very much measurable, observable and repeatable. Why do you think we do all those benchmark workouts? Why do you think we harp on you to log your loads and times? We want to know what your work capacity is, whether it has increased or decreased and if you can do more faster.
Let's break this plan down. Increased work capacity is the ability to do more work; lift heavier things, run faster, hit harder. Across broad time; now that is why we want "Fran" to be short and intense and "Murf" to be longer and enduring. If all of your workouts took 20 minutes or longer, you wouldn't be stressing all your oxygen pathways. We want capacity in short, medium and long distances. Modal domains, this means we want it all. We want to be able to run 10 miles and back squat 300lbs. We want to be able to do anything that comes our way, ANYTHING!
So the next time someone asks you why CrossFit works, tell them it is because CrossFit has increased your work capacity across broad and modal domains. Can they say that about their fitness program?
The easiest answer is that it works because it is empirically driven. It's evidence based, if something is proven not to work, we change it. In that way, CrossFit continues to evolve with the discovery of best practices. CrossFit doesn't say our way is the best and only way, it says here is what we have found works. Try it for yourself and let us know your results.
CrossFit also works because it has a plan. Have you ever heard, "If you don't have a plan, you plan to fail?" Fitness works the same way and CrossFit's plan is to increase work capacity across broad time and modal domains.
There has never been a clear definition of fitness before this. If you look up the definition of fitness it states being in good shape or physical condition. What does that mean? It's hogwash. If you had to explain that to an alien, their first question would be, "what is good shape or physical condition?" Now how do you answer that? "You know, good shape". Then the alien thinks; like a star, circle or a square shape? You can see that is not a very scientific definition. In order for something to be scientific it must be measurable, observable, and repeatable. "Good shape" is not any of these. However, increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains is very much measurable, observable and repeatable. Why do you think we do all those benchmark workouts? Why do you think we harp on you to log your loads and times? We want to know what your work capacity is, whether it has increased or decreased and if you can do more faster.
Let's break this plan down. Increased work capacity is the ability to do more work; lift heavier things, run faster, hit harder. Across broad time; now that is why we want "Fran" to be short and intense and "Murf" to be longer and enduring. If all of your workouts took 20 minutes or longer, you wouldn't be stressing all your oxygen pathways. We want capacity in short, medium and long distances. Modal domains, this means we want it all. We want to be able to run 10 miles and back squat 300lbs. We want to be able to do anything that comes our way, ANYTHING!
So the next time someone asks you why CrossFit works, tell them it is because CrossFit has increased your work capacity across broad and modal domains. Can they say that about their fitness program?
Rob Orlando!
Hey everybody! Rob Orlando is another one of my favorite athletes! Here are a few videos to give you a better idea of the awesome!
http://games.crossfit.com/features/videos/i-dont-take-direction-well-rob-orlando
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3GuDCxts94&feature=mh_lolz&list=FLG0MkxQMJ4Go
http://games.crossfit.com/features/videos/i-dont-take-direction-well-rob-orlando
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3GuDCxts94&feature=mh_lolz&list=FLG0MkxQMJ4Go
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
The CrossFit Games!
Hey everybody! It's the CrossFit Games this weekend, and personally, I couldn't be more excited! There are some incredible athletes competing this year and they are going to go all out! Of coarse I'm rooting for my hero Mikko Salo, but there are numerous competitors I am looking forward to watching this year. Some of which are Rich Froning, Graham Holmburg, and Chris Spealer. *I hope I spelled those names right* Chris Spealer is always the smallest competitor at the games and he has competed in every single one. Last year he did a WOD that had a 315 lb. deadlift. When you take into account that Chris is only 145 lbs., the fact that he is lifting over double his bodyweight for multiple reps is pretty incredible.
Like I said, I'm really looking forward to watching this event, I can't wait! It's not like the UFC where I get to watch at least one a month, if not 2 or 3. I have to wait a whole entire year for this, and I definitely plan on going to next years event! Here is a highlight video from last years games, enjoy and I'll talk to you soon!
Like I said, I'm really looking forward to watching this event, I can't wait! It's not like the UFC where I get to watch at least one a month, if not 2 or 3. I have to wait a whole entire year for this, and I definitely plan on going to next years event! Here is a highlight video from last years games, enjoy and I'll talk to you soon!
Friday, July 22, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Staying In The Fight by SealFit Founder Mark Devine
Hey everybody! I just read this interesting journal entry from SealFit founder Mark Devine. I really thought it was worth sharing so here it is!
During this final segment to the Staying in the Fight SEALFIT Journal series, I want to emphasize the significance of what we’ve covered and how everyday decisions can ultimately impact whether you succeed or fail in your life’s endeavors.
A “staying in the fight” mentality is crucial for success in any endeavor. Whether you are an MMA fighter, business executive or CrossFit athlete, staying in the fight is about properly orienting your inner self at critical moments. Every race, fight, mission, business venture or crisis has critical “inflection points,” where the outcome can swing one way or the other based upon the actions (or lack thereof) of the key player.
You are that key player.
Someone wise once told me that our lives are defined by millions of tiny decisions, and only a few big ones. We tend to focus on the big ones, but it is the tiny decisions that stack up over time and define who we are. Consider the following:
Do you occasionally dilly-dally too long on an unimportant project so you have an excuse to miss that ugly looking workout? Or do you embrace the suck and lean into the tough ones, knowing that each decision to do so makes you stronger over the long haul?
If you value discipline but don’t practice discipline then it is not your value. It is just a trait you appreciate in others. Practicing a value re-enforces it until it becomes a virtue. Virtues are deeply ingrained value-based habits which require no conscious thought. When strong values are habituated into virtues, right action results in the form of good tiny decisions made throughout the day.
Bottom line: you should train daily to be mentally tough, physically prepared, emotionally deep and intuitive. Train your indomitable, never-quit spirit. Don’t wait for some miracle or distant future date to start. Make it part of every tiny decision you make here and now.
The world is a dangerous and chaotic place. Destiny favors the prepared. Living with your head buried in the sand of ignorance, denial, or non-presence is a recipe for disaster. We have all heard people complain about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This can’t happen. Wherever you are, there you are. You are either:
* at the right place at the right time (you are present)
* or at the right place at the wrong time (your head is in the past or future)
In either case, the decisions you make at that moment will determine whether you are a loser or a hero. It simply boils down to having the mental toughness and clarity for right thought, which will lead to right action.
Don’t wish for things that are critical to living a good life. Work on making them part of you. Starting now.
Moving on to our final tips for developing your mental toughness, so you can stay in the fight… and emerge victorious every time.
Be a Team Player
Take your eyes off yourself and put them on your teammates. Don’t spend too much time looking in the mirror. Put your teammate’s needs before yours. Imagine if everyone did this. Everyone on the team would be watching your back and supporting you, while you were focused on supporting them.
Do this and you will witness something magical. Why?
1. Shared risk. When you share risk equally with teammates, your credibility and trust among teammates goes through the roof. The accountability that comes with shared risk ensures that you act at your best, at all times. You don’t want to let your teammates down. You don’t want them to let you down. You support each other and grow together as peers.
2. Responsibility. The responsibility of having to take care of your team is enormous, but you are not alone. Because of this, you will step up your level of commitment and focus on the mission. The stakes are much higher now than just the potential for letting yourself down.
Finally, an esoteric concept called the Law of Attraction. We attract that which we focus on – subconsciously. We have discussed this at length in the section on positivity. If we take this to the team level, then we note that a positive focus on the welfare and success of our team has the energetic effect of transforming not just the team, but ourselves. What you give out, you will get back at least 10x. In turn, be an island, fly solo, and you will decrease your return by 10x. It is much easier to be mentally tough when you have a bunch of other tough people watching your back!
Embrace the Suck!
During a tough evolution, whether a workout, mission, project or crisis, everyone is experiencing the same pain. It doesn’t help you or the team to whine about it. Embrace the suck means to learn to handle abnormal levels of pain and discomfort. You don’t have to like it; you just need to learn to deal with it. Embrace it and find a way to create a positive emotional association with it. Refer to the discussion on the 3rd Mountain of Emotional Control, and also Positivity for ideas. Remember, the best things in life come with pain attached to them. The more pain, the more valuable it is.
“Fake it ’til you make it” will plant seeds of positive energy and, perhaps even humor. Finding humor and grace in painful situations is a powerful skill. Often there is much humor and beauty in sublime and challenging circumstances. Surrender to the reality of the situation – don’t fight it – flow with it.
* Find humor where others can’t
* Find beauty in misery
* Don’t fight, flow!
* Enjoy the journey despite the hardships
Thus concludes our final segment of the Staying in the Fight series. I hope you have enjoyed this new SEALFIT Journal format and can put the concepts to use immediately. I look forward to working with you all in in person. Train hard, stay focused, and be safe! Coach Divine, Founder, SEALFIT
I wanted to thank all of you for the support and congratulations you have extended to the Teams. SEALFIT is gaining exposure and popularity for our mind, body and spirit training- forging mental toughness. I hope to meet many of you over the next several months.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
The Gracie Diet
So there are a lot of diets out there. The most popular ones in the CrossFit community are the Paleo Diet and the Zone Diet. I started to try out the Paleo Diet for awhile but in this day and age, this particular diet becomes exceedingly difficult to follow. Mainly because, if a caveman didn't eat it, then you're not allowed to eat it. They are really strict on this. For instance, you can't eat canned tuna because cavemen didn't eat canned tuna. You can't eat bread because cavemen didn't eat bread. Needless to say, I fell off that bandwagon fairly quickly.
The next one is the Zone Diet. This one seems like the more popular of the two. I haven't even tried this one. It seems like it would be somewhat feasible, but then you really start looking into it and it gets pretty complicated. Everything is broken down into blocks. Each meal has to have a certain amount of blocks of certain amounts of things. Such as, one meal would include 2 blocks of protein, 2 blocks of carbs, and one block of fat. This is where it gets kind of complicated. You have to take into account how much fat your blocks of protein have in them and add them to your blocks of fat. I don't have time to figure all of this out, so I don't.
Up until this point, I have just tried to keep my diet as clean as possible. And, as we all know, this is very difficult. Especially when you consider how awesome most un healthy food is. I love the pastas and the pizzas just as much as anybody else. But the unfortunate reality is, these things are really un healthy for you. And in order to reach my goal of winning that gold medal, everything has to be on point, including my diet.
I love CrossFit. Not only because of the workouts and the community, but also because they have everything figured out, almost to a science. CrossFit is constantly evolving. They are constantly studying things that make you stronger. They are constantly adding new things to their workouts that push the community to new limits.
The Gracie Family is the same way with Jiu Jitsu. I have been starting to pay a lot more attention to the Gracies and what they call the Gracie Way of life. And let me tell you, I am completely fascinated! The Gracies, much like CrossFit, have everything about their way of life dialed in. They even have their own diet plan. I have purchased the Gracie Diet book and it should be here sometime next week. They have videos on Youtube explaining how to do certain things such as the Renergy Sandwich invented by Rener Gracie, and the Ryron Power Smoothie invented by Ryron Gracie. While I'm watching these videos on how to make a sandwich, I find that I am completely transfixed and hanging on every word they say. They teach sandwich and smoothie making the same way they teach Jiu Jitsu. And I am convinced that they are the best teachers I have ever seen. Some of the stuff that I have seen so far seem pretty interesting. Like the Renergy Sandwich is wheat bread, almond butter, avocados, and spinach. This seems like an odd combination, but I'm willing to try new things. The thing that appeals to me the most is that its not only a diet change, but it's a lifestyle change. I'm sure that I will be one of the only CrossFitters who is embracing a new lifestyle in the
I should also tell you that this will be my first day of training for Grapplers Quest in November. This will be my quest for the gold medal. I know what the holes in my game are and what I need to do to fix them. I will get the gold this time.
Gracie Way
The next one is the Zone Diet. This one seems like the more popular of the two. I haven't even tried this one. It seems like it would be somewhat feasible, but then you really start looking into it and it gets pretty complicated. Everything is broken down into blocks. Each meal has to have a certain amount of blocks of certain amounts of things. Such as, one meal would include 2 blocks of protein, 2 blocks of carbs, and one block of fat. This is where it gets kind of complicated. You have to take into account how much fat your blocks of protein have in them and add them to your blocks of fat. I don't have time to figure all of this out, so I don't.
Up until this point, I have just tried to keep my diet as clean as possible. And, as we all know, this is very difficult. Especially when you consider how awesome most un healthy food is. I love the pastas and the pizzas just as much as anybody else. But the unfortunate reality is, these things are really un healthy for you. And in order to reach my goal of winning that gold medal, everything has to be on point, including my diet.
I love CrossFit. Not only because of the workouts and the community, but also because they have everything figured out, almost to a science. CrossFit is constantly evolving. They are constantly studying things that make you stronger. They are constantly adding new things to their workouts that push the community to new limits.
The Gracie Family is the same way with Jiu Jitsu. I have been starting to pay a lot more attention to the Gracies and what they call the Gracie Way of life. And let me tell you, I am completely fascinated! The Gracies, much like CrossFit, have everything about their way of life dialed in. They even have their own diet plan. I have purchased the Gracie Diet book and it should be here sometime next week. They have videos on Youtube explaining how to do certain things such as the Renergy Sandwich invented by Rener Gracie, and the Ryron Power Smoothie invented by Ryron Gracie. While I'm watching these videos on how to make a sandwich, I find that I am completely transfixed and hanging on every word they say. They teach sandwich and smoothie making the same way they teach Jiu Jitsu. And I am convinced that they are the best teachers I have ever seen. Some of the stuff that I have seen so far seem pretty interesting. Like the Renergy Sandwich is wheat bread, almond butter, avocados, and spinach. This seems like an odd combination, but I'm willing to try new things. The thing that appeals to me the most is that its not only a diet change, but it's a lifestyle change. I'm sure that I will be one of the only CrossFitters who is embracing a new lifestyle in the
I should also tell you that this will be my first day of training for Grapplers Quest in November. This will be my quest for the gold medal. I know what the holes in my game are and what I need to do to fix them. I will get the gold this time.
Gracie Way
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