Coming up...

There is so much going on this weekend! Saturday is the kick- off of some exciting things that will be happening this Fall.

8:00.......UTB and First time ever Kids UTB (ages 7-14)!!

(Same location and time for both) 

9:30...... Block Party at Run-Tex (Lake Austin Blvd.)

Breakfast tacos from Tacodeli-yum

Unveiling of the CrossFit Women's Challenge

Fight Gone Bad demo and information 

lots of great stuff!

Friday night will be a Happy Hour gathering for all you CrossFit Women- starting at 4:30pm. This will allow you to get your drink on early enough and still make it out to the UTB on Saturday.  

Bring a friend to the UTB this weekend. Sometimes all a person needs is that little push... 

Mechanics, Consistency, Intensity

Have you ever wondered what you should be focusing on in your workouts?

"Should I up my weight and get a slower time or should I do an easier weight and ramp up the intensity?"

Erika wrote a great post about this last week. It really takes some balance. Yes, you should go as heavy as you feel comfortable, but you definitely don't want to hurt yourself!

I've been re-educating myself lately on the basics of CrossFit, and I came across yet another very informative article to share with you.  If you'd like to read the entire article, go here.

A CrossFit Start-up Guide, courtesy of CrossFit Journal:

There are three components of CrossFit that are intertwined and intricately interrelated:

Mechanics

Consistency

Intensity

According to the article, "CrossFit does not work to its potential unless you execute each one and understand how it is bound to the others."  Fair enough.

Mechanics refers to technique and your ability to move through the movements safely.  Build a good foundation with a solid squat, and many other movements will fall into place.

Consistency has a 2-part application:

1. Consistently performing the mechanics of the movement

and

2. Consistency in your workouts. Both are necessary!  

Intensity is what brings about all the results of CrossFit. Ramp it up! But also remember that fitness takes time. We all need to work on  getting out of our comfort zone. Intensity is where the magic happens.

 " ...we can’t emphasize enough that 

sound technique is the most efficient and effective road 

to fitness. Proper movements will allow you to lift more 

weight, perform more repetitions faster, or both.   "

I hope you find these "basics" posts helpful and not boring. I think sometimes it's important to go back to the beginning. 

On a different note, the Clothing Swap is happening!! We are still working out a date, but get to work on your closets and I'll keep you posted.

Have a great week!

 

Back to Basics

If you've been involved with CrossFit for a while, you probably have read the classic CFJournal article "What is Fitness?" Or maybe you haven't...

If you've ever had to answer that question "What exactly is CrossFit?", read this article.

If you've ever heard "I can't do that. It looks too hard." read this article.

If you just need a little kick in the pants to remind yourself why you get up so early in the morning, read this article.

Here's something else that you should read- purely for the humor: It's the Wikipedia definition of CrossFit.

The best line: 'CrossFit has been criticized for its perceived "cult-like" mentality'

Mmmm... Kool-Aid...

Growth, Change, and Closets

Whew! There's a lot going on around here.  The next few months you'll see some new and exciting programs and events at CrossFit Central. Things are movin' and shakin' like crazy in order to include more people in our Fit Community. Over the next few weeks I'll be sharing more, but here's a little taste:

Kids (all ages)

Moms (all stages)

Endurance athletes

Challenges

Social Gatherings

Re-vamped Nutrition workshops

ARE YOU READY?!

Here is a really inspiring story from the CrossFit Games site. An award was given out for "Spirit of the Games" and this is one of the contenders.

Sarah Dunsmore  was not able to complete a single non-kipping parallette handstand push-up during the Event 7 Triplet. As per the rules, this disqualified her from competing further for the championship. She opted to do the final Chipper to compete for 13th place (three other women were in the same position). It took her over 15min to complete the 10 muscle-ups, but she kept fighting. She fought all the way to the end, finishing just a minute before the 35min cap to the delight of the cheering crowd.

Wow. Knew she was out of the competition...Fought with the muscle-ups...for 15 minutes! NEVER. GAVE. UP.

That takes courage. That takes determination. That takes strength.

It's stories like this that we should look to when we are struggling- with anything, really. That's what CrossFit is all about. Crossover. Ask anyone who's been here for a while how their life outside the Gym is going. I guarantee you'll be inspired by their answer.

So...

What are your goals? Do you set goals regularly? If so, do you post them and look at them daily? How committed are you to achieving those goals? What do you need to do to make sure those goals are met?

What does your self-talk look like? Do you say things like "I wish" or "I think I can __."

State your desires as if they are already happening. 

Instead of "I want to do all pushups on my toes" , how about "By Oct.1 I am doing all pushups on my toes."  That feels much more empowering, doesn't it?

I am eating clean and food logging 6 days/wk.

I am doing unassisted kipping pullups in all WODs by Sep.1

My closet is cleaned out and organized by Sep.1

Ok, I just laid out my goals for all the world to see. (yikes) You know which one I'm most nervous about? My closet!

So go sit down.....right now.... and write your goals.  Post them somewhere you will see them daily. And if you want to share with us, please post to comments. Let's keep each other accountable.

Have a wonderful day!

CrossFit Endurance with Carey

Carey Kepler will be hosting a series of CrossFit Endurance sessions for the next 3 Tuesdays.

Come learn drills and skills as well as work on your form and technique.

No experience necessary- all levels welcome!

Tuesdays 7/14, 7/21, and 7/28

7-8pm

@ the track across from CrossFit Central (Lamar Middle School)

For more info, contact Carey@CrossFitCentral.com

Hey, she may even throw in a sandbag workout if you're lucky!

See you there...

CrossFit Games 2009

Have you been glued to Twitter all weekend like me? I can't even imagine what it was like out there. I can't even imagine how tired they are!! 

Congrats to all our heroes from CrossFit Central. We are so proud of all of you! Here are the final numbers:

Carey Kepler: 3rd place

Crystal McReynolds: 9th place

Jeremy Thiel: 16th place

CFCentral Affiliate Team: 2nd place

We truly have some of the most amazing world-class athletes right here in Austin. Way to go!

What's With all the Tape?

The Airrosti Experience from Airrosti on Vimeo.

You may have been wondering why many of the coaches and clients at CrossFit Central have strange black tape all over them, here is your answer: Airrosti. 

If you are in my class (Cheray) or live with me (Tommy), you've been hearing about my injured shoulder for over 2 months now. I've actually never hurt myself before, so I kept thinking my injury would just heal itself. But it just kept hanging on. And on. And on. And on. I also noticed I seemed to be getting weaker and not being able to lift as much. After doing a little research on the Airrosti website, I decided to take the plunge.

My fabulous Dr. Johnson did a thorough assessment and determined I had deltoid and bicep tendonitis. It was shocking how weak my injured muscles were. He then had me lay down on the table and jammed his finger along the injured area. Over. And. Over. And. Over. Did it hurt? Um, yeah. But in that good hurt way....kind of...

The way he explained it is like this:

If your muscle is injured it will eventually heal itself. But often it is the soft tissue, or Fascia, surrounding the muscle that is injured. Fascia doesn't have a blood supply so it can't heal itself.  It develops scar tissue-type stuff on the injured area which won't go away. It needs to be worked out- like flattening out a ball of foil. 

And boy, did he ever work it out!

Here's the amazing part:

After it was all said and done, I had noticeably more range of motion and less pain. AND, the next day as I was doing my WOD in the garage, I did a full warmup's worth of pushups WITH NO PAIN. I have been doing painful pushups for over two months now!

Every day has seen more improvement and less pain. I feel confident that after 3 sessions I will be completely healed. 

So, to make a long story even longer, if you have chronic pain or an injury that just won't heal, go get some Airrosti. Now. Your body will thank you.

Oh, and the tape actually supports the injured area and helps alleviate swelling and helps the lymph. My daughter thinks it's my new tattoo...go figure!

dot com WOD

Today's WOD on Crossfit.com is one of my all-time favorites. I like the simplicity of it and there's something pretty cool about knowing you just did 200 squats! Here is a link to map out 400m in your neighborhood: www.mapmyrun.com

4 Rounds:

400m run

50 air squats

Post your time to comments, and subtract 1 minute if you do it in your bra and undies (wink to Blake)! 

Coming up next, Airrosti de-mystified...

Have a great Friday!

Don't Forget...

(You'll have to forgive me. I love these Spartan Challenge pictures! I'm going to be posting them often. There's so much emotion in them...)

No classes for the rest of this week!  Not to worry, Carey has supplied us with a few WODs to get us through. Here is one for tomorrow:

For Time:

50 situps

50 super(wo)mans

50 squats

50 lunges

50 pushups

Also, get to work on your success/empowerment stories! They are due in to Nicole by this Friday July 10. Have a great week.

For the Win

"They can because they think they can."

-Virgil

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Your mind is so very powerful.  What you say and what you think does, indeed, become your reality. The coaches of CrossFit Central have  been speaking their reality. They will win the 2009 CrossFit Games. Period.

Brussel Sprouts=True Love

I've never made or even eaten Brussel Sprouts.  But last night I tried a new and super scrumptious recipe.  I even ate some for breakfast this morning!

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

1. Heat oven to 425. Cut off the bottoms. Cut each sprout in half or into small chunks if they are big.

2. Pour some EVOO onto a cookie sheet and shake it around until the whole sheet is covered with a thin layer of oil.

3. Place sprouts cut side down onto cookie sheet.

5. Place cookie sheet in heated oven and cook for 10-15 minutes. I started with 10 minutes then did a few extra so they would be nice and caramelized.

6. Take out the sheet and shake it around. Then place the cookie sheet on top of the stove for about 5 minutes for a little extra heat/cooking time.

7. Sprinkle with Sea Salt.

8. Devour.

Brussel info:  contain significant amounts of Vit.C and antioxidants plus some fancy cancer-fighting phytonutrients. 1 block= 1.5cups of sprouts

The Pre/Post Workout Balance

How can I maximize my workouts?

What should I eat before I workout?

What should I eat after I workout?

These are questions I have been wondering about for some time. I sought out (some may say stalked) Carey for some answers.  The following is taken from my conversation with her. Good stuff!

Pre-Workout:

This depends on when you workout. If you workout in the morning, you don't have time to get a lot of food in you before you roll out to your 6am class. Carey recommends something light that will stay down during your workout. (I like to have a few bites of banana with some peanut butter, but everyone is different.) Taking a supplement combo like Spark with some Catalyst provides your muscles with some food (Catalyst) along with some energy and mental focus (Spark).  She calls this a "George Jetson" meal- it's pretty close to rocket fuel!

If you are working out in the evening, eat 2 to 3 hours beforehand- 1 or 2 blocks of protein (7 or 14g) and fat (1.5 to 3g).

Post-Workout:

The most important thing here is to eat no more than 30 minutes post-workout. Eat more carbs here- at least one more than your usual serving for a meal. (so if you usually eat 2 blocks of carbs, eat 3 or 4) Eat this with little to no protein or fat. 

The science behind this is that by eating the carbs, your body recovers more quickly. If this delicate digestion balance is upset with adding fat and protein, your workouts could suffer in the following days! Eat some sweet potatoes, fruit, or other easily digested vegetables. 

Carey drinks a post-workout recovery shake since it is easy to mix and always on hand for that important 30 minute window. Then in the next hour she will eat her protein and fat. 

Voila! Everything you've ever wanted to know. I, for one, will definitely be trying this out. Let me know if you are doing it and how it is working for you.