Last Saturday we had 8 members from the gym participate in the Bootcamp Challenge down in San Diego. With a check-in time of 630am most of us had to leave the south bay around 5 in the morning to get there on time. As we pulled up to gate 5, the only gate that allowed participants to enter, we noticed that some cars were going through security inspection. Ashley and I were one of the many selected cars that had to be examined. We had to turn off the engine, open all the doors, and pop the hood and trunk. After about 3-4 minutes we were allowed to return to the car and continue onto parking. After parking we strolled over to the participant’s area where vendors were giving out shirts, sports drinks, nutrition bard, and even military haircuts (Paul K. got in on this one). With about 20 minutes until our race we made our way to the start line. We heard the main drill instructor shouting out instructions rules of the race. When the gun went off we made our way to open space since it was very crowded. The first mile was on flat blacktop with some hay stacks to step over. Mile 2 is where the obstacles started really came into effect. There were plenty of logs and walls to climb over, tunnels to crawl through, trenches to jump into, and pushups to be knocked out quickly. Needless to say it got tiring very fast. As we finished the main obstacle course and worked through mile 3 we all felt pretty damn good crossing the finish line. A big shout out to Kevin R. who felt like the run was a big challenge, but managed to keep moving the entire time. Michele was an animal during the race and sprinted when she had the space. Ashley, who despises running, never walked once and kept a steady pace. Colleen, Mat, and Paul made the run look easy with the many miles they have under their belts. Cherie, a former Intrepid but an Intrepid nonetheless, also performed well. If there is a big demand to do this race again next year I will have no issues organizing.

Since we are on the topic of races, the Bright Lights 5K will be taking place at the Stub Hub Center on November 1, 2013. The site (built by Mike Huynh) details, that this event is more about fun, dancing, and an overall good time than an actual race. In my mind I see it as a glow in the dark or black light party. There is still plenty of time to register and if you have a group of 6 or more that will take off $5. The fun does not stop once you cross the finish the line. DJ Jace One will be playing at 9pm to keep the fun going and food and drinks will be available for purchase. This event is open to every one of all ages. Proceeds will benefit Noah’s Bark Pet Rescue. Come on and register now!

WOD 10.05.2013

Partner WOD-

4 Mins to build max Hang Power Clean

then,

• 6 Rope Climbs
• 50 Push Press (135/93)
• 75 T2B
• 100 Double Unders

Happy Birthday Morgan!

Just because summer is over, that doesn’t mean the BBQs have to stop. Instead, take the BBQ indoors and let your slow cooker do the work. I went searching for this recipe in particular to have a Paleo BBQ sauce in my repertoire. You see, I LOVE BBQ but don’t always appreciate the sugar used in most BBQ sauces. What’s awesome about this recipe is that this blogger actually used the BBQ sauce recipe from Whole 30′s It Starts With Food. Easy meal to prepare and Whole 30 approved! What’s not to love?

Prep Time: 45min / Cook time: 6 hours
Makes 2 cups of BBQ Sauce and 2-3 lbs of ribs.

Ingredients

• 2 Cups Tomato Sauce
• ⅔ Cups Unsweetened Apple Sauce
• 4 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
• 4 Tablespoons Coconut Aminos
• 2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
• 2 teaspoons Hot Pepper Sauce (I like Trader Joe’s Chili Pepper Sauce)
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 Tablespoon Ghee or GrassFed Butter
• 2 Cloves of Garlic, finely minced
• 2 teaspoons Chili Powder
• 1 teaspoon Paprika
• ½ teaspoon of cayenne (use more for extra SPICE!)
• 1 yellow onion, medium dice
• 2-3 lbs Pork Baby Back Ribs
• Salt, Pepper and Garlic Powder to taste

Click here for cooking directions. Word to the wise, be gentle when removing the ribs from your slow cooker. The meat will seriously fall of the bone! Then again, that’s not such a bad thing.

WOD 10.04.2013

Deadlift 1×5 or Wendler

OTM for 6 minutes,
Row 200m

Then 3 rounds
4 Muscle ups (sub 8 dips)
16 Pistols

With the internet at our fingertips, we have a plethora of information about any topic we could ever want to learn about available to us at all times. With all of this information available to us, how do we determine what information is truthful and useful and not just some dumb-dumb’s ramblings? How do you decide what information you listen to and take with you or even share with others?

In the CrossFit community, even in the news in general, the latest “get fit” and diet trends are a dime a dozen. As trainers at Intrepid, we share information with you all constantly whether it’s in class or here on the blog. When you see the latest variation of a CrossFit movement or workout, or some crazy trick that a Games athlete pulled off, even Average Joe doing a demo in a garage gym, how do you decide whether or not you accept that information is valuable? Do you regularly stop to evaluate the quality of the information in front of you? As trainers at Intrepid, we do our very best to bring you quality diet information, drills, programming, lifting pointers, etc. However we expect none of you to follow blindly, and we appreciate it when you follow up with additional questions. What I’m asking of all of you is to be critical learners. Go out a do your homework, if you come across an article with a new drill or workout you think we should know, bring it to our attention. We do our best to stay up to date with our training and bring you new pointers as we improve our knowledge base. We remain diligent however, to remain critical learners and only bring back pointers to all of you that we think are safe and beneficial.

Here are some tricks for evaluating the credibility of the information in front of you:

1. Is there data?

Most information out there involves some kind of science.  If they have no data or verification to back up their claims, I would be hesitant to believe everything I read or see.

2. Look for sources.

If there is data, especially if it’s not their own, look for a source. Take an article about the latest fad diet, research on diets is being done all over the place, if they don’t have a source (or a reputable source) for their data, it may be a good idea to leave it.

3. Research the author.

Why does the author have any credibility to be writing or talking on a particular subject? For example, I feel comfortable writing on this topic because I’m always reading and criticizing what information comes my way, whether it’s about crossfit and diets or the latest technique for analyzing and classifying the dynamic properties of different metals in extreme environments. Lets take Carl Paoli for example, we post a lot of his demo videos because he’s very efficient and skilled in his movements and has trained some of the best in the world (Annie Thorisdottir) who have been very successful in their CrossFit careers.

4. Look for additional sources on the topic.

Look for similar articles or videos out there, do they conflict or are they mostly the same? If they conflict, determine the differences and use the other critical learning tricks to determine why you believe one over the other.

5. Keep you mind open to conflicting views.

Humans are creatures of habit and once we’ve convinced ourselves of something, it’s hard to change. Keep an open mind and don’t get set in your ways. It wasn’t that long ago that we all thought fat was bad for us!

Anyway, enough of my ramble. There is a lot of information out there and a lot of it is bogus, so be constant critical learners and pay attention to what information you take in and pass along to others. Blindly following never ends well…

RPM Fitness is selling pink handled jump ropes with the breast cancer awareness ribbon on it during the month of October. They are donating 15% of the proceeds to breast cancer research, so if you’re considering an RPM rope, this month is a great time to get one. http://rpmfitness.com/shop/product/sr102-pr/

WOD 10.03.13

Mobility and Recovery: Shoulders

Skills: Lower Abdominal Activation Drills & L-Sit

Today’s birthday post comes courtesy of Ryan’s fiancée, Cicely. Happy birthday Ryan!

Ryan you’re awesome! Ryan you’re great!
Ryan you’re 7 plus 28!
May you feel special cuz this day’s about you
May you kick ass on today’s WODdie poo

But first come the fun facts and stories galore
So everyone can get to know you some more
Trivia for each year that you’ve been alive
So it’s kind of long because… dude you’re old.

ONE… he grew up in Greece and Spain.

TWO…he doesn’t speak Greek or Spanish.  Well, kind of Spanish.  The usual words like hola, queso, and donde esta la biblioteca?

THREE… his parents own a ranch in Pahrump, NV, where they have 7 horses, 11 chickens, 4 roosters, 3 dogs, 2 cats, and a goat.

FOUR… he’s an aggie at heart.  He wears cowboy boots at his parents’ ranch and listens to country and knows all the words to every. freaking. song.

FIVE… he hates folding laundry.  HATES.

SIX… when he was 2 years old, one of his mom’s friends gave him some water in a glass even though his mom warned her not to.  Ryan ended up biting a chunk out of the glass.

SEVEN… when he was 5 years old, he was walking along a stone wall.  He tripped and fell and hit his head.  He was fine, but his head cracked the wall.

EIGHT… when he was 4 years old, his brother accidentally stabbed him in the eye with a goat jawbone.

NINE… I think Jessica Alba is his #1.  I’m not too sure, because he mainly talks about Ryan Reynolds. And Ryan Gosling.  Ryan <3 the Ryans.

TEN… his favorite movie is The Notebook.

More birthday facts after the jump…

(more…)

H showing off his skills!

Strength can be manifested many different ways. Usually a heavy deadlift or squat, an explosive Olympic lift, or a caber flying through the air comes to mind. However, most people forget that strongmen back in the day also displayed a different kind of strength. Hand balancing (ie handstands, one arm handstands, and planches) demonstrates control over your entire body. It is a skill that carries over to so much of what we do as CrossFitters. It requires balance, strength, flexibility, and coordination.

Luckily, we have two very talented hand balancers in our gym. Some of you have met Amanda who teaches our yoga class (and if you haven’t you have to come to her Restorative Yoga session this Thursday!) and others have met Harold “H” in class. H will be offering a FREE hand balancing workshop on Saturday, October 12th from 12pm-1pm at the gym. Here’s a little about H and a description of the workshop in his own words:

Harold “H” Gim was born and raised in Los Angeles. Before entering the world of yoga, he was working the corporate grind. After leaving the daily desk job, Harold is extremely happy to teach yoga and share with others the great benefits and freedom that he has found through his own practice. He studied extensively with Julie Rader and Jamie Horgan through the Mukti Yoga teacher training program and continues his practice with Brock Cahill, Krista Cahill, Dice Ida-Klein, Briohny Smyth, and Angela Kukhahn. He also brings his passion and background in Boxing and Muay Thai(Thai Kickboxing) into his teachings. His teaching is filled with love, great music, and tons of laughter

Standing on your hands is so much better than standing on your feet! But getting there might not be as easy as it seems. So whether you’re new to handstand or perfecting it, let us help you. There are so many small details that make up a handstand and we want to show you what they are. By breaking down what each body part should be doing in a correct hand balance, you will take with you a full understanding of what to concentrate on when incorporating it into your daily practice.

WOD 10.01.13

Press 5×3

As Many Reps As Possible in 10 Minutes:
1 Handstand Push Up
1 Clean (155/113)
1 Strict Pull Up
2 Handstand Push Ups
2 Cleans (155/113)
2 Strict Pull Ups

Continue adding 1 rep each round.

WOD from CrossFit Buffalo

Ruth and I had the pleasure of meeting Chad Wesley Smith at a CrossFit Powerlifting Cert a while back and have been following his Juggernaut Training Systems (JTS) site. On his JTSstrength.com site, he posts all kinds of relevant material to performance athletes like powerlifters, olympic weightlifters, strongmen, and even CrossFitters. Recently Colin Burns, a JTS olympic lifting coach/athlete, posted a video addressing some of the common errors in the snatch. I thought Colin hit the nail on the head and working with athletes of all levels and abilities myself, I too can say that these are areas we constantly drill to maximize efficiency and long term progress. He provides a brief but informative look at three errors in the video below:

Remember, we are holding our first Olympic Weightlifting competition in the “new” gym on Saturday, Dec 7th. When it comes to the snatch and clean & jerk, practice is key. If you haven’t taken advantage of your free Barbell class I encourage you to contact Ruth or I and get some extra work in. Barbell classes are offered on Monday mornings, Tuesday mornings and evenings, Thursday morning and evenings, and Saturday mornings. Even one extra session a week goes a long way at improving your confidence and performance no matter what your goals are. For those that have come, I hope you continue working on your homework and get some extra practice before or after your CrossFit workouts. If you’re looking for more individualized training, contact us for a 1-on-1, 1-on-2, or 1-on-3 training and we can make it happen. I’m looking forward to the Dec 7th competition and hope to get more details out as the date approaches. As for now, keep training hard and focus on improving each and every day.

WOD 9.30.13

Back Squat 3×5 or Wendler

10-20-30
Russian Kettlebell Swings
Burpees

Over the past few weeks I’ve discussed counting during your row to find a rhythm, stroke rates, split times and how to position yourself. Putting this all together takes years of practice, unless you’re a seasoned athlete committed to rowing 100% of your free time. What’s important is putting together small pieces to make the bigger picture. Think of it as getting your first pull up. You might start with bands. In the meantime you practice jumping pull ups; gradually using less of your legs to get your chin over the bar. Then negatives, lowering yourself from the top position to train your shoulders to support your bodyweight. Moving on to accessory exercises like the pressing and scap pull ups to build strength in your lats. The more you practice the smaller parts of the whole pull up, the more strength and muscle memory you gain. Until one day you find that your elusive pull up come to light. From there you learn how to kip by mastering the rhythm of the swing. Find time in your day to do a couple sets of hollow rocks and hold. Doing hip bridges and developing strength in your core to control the movement. A few more months and you’ve found your kip. It’s all the small pieces.

Back to the erg. It’s great to have a basic understanding of the topics previous discussed but it’s putting it together that counts. Keeping your body as one fluid moving object is not only safe but kinetically sound. Some common flaws that I have gone through myself are a result of a disconnected body.

A few examples of movement disconnections I have gone through are as follows. The “Booty Shooter”: an athlete who pushes too fast with their legs leaving their torso behind. Typically there is an over drive of the legs and the upper body is left behind. All the hard work the legs have just done is all for not. The connection between the lower and upper body are lost. Often this athlete attempts to correct for this by over pulling with the arms.

The “Chin Pull”: pulling the handle above the sternum almost into the chin. This athlete’s hand position would be relativley correct if their torso wasn’t laid all the way down to the rail. The lean forward and back is fairly subtle. Pulling into anything higher than your mid chest is a waste of energy.

The “Casual Rower”: My rowing coached called me out on this a few times when I started. “Alia! We’re not rowing down lovers lane! Row like you need to get somewhere” She would yell from the coaches speedboat next to us. It was embarrassing. The video below should be pretty self explanatory. You’ll notice there is no sense of urgency and all of the positions are “soft” and blend into one another. Much like you are rowing a boat down a tree lined lake on a Sunday afternoon. The arms bend too early and the legs drive is incomplete. No real power delivery is coming through here.

My point with those examples is that you have to be engaged and connected to you entire body the whole time. That can be said for any movements. When you do a push up, do you just relax your glutes and quads? No, at least you shouldn’t be. To maintain a solid plank position your core and glutes must be engaged so that your shoulders and arms can support your body weight. When you do a kettlebell swing, do you just let the weight crash on the swing down? No, you want to avoid rounding your back so you keep your lats tight and hips on to be able to thrust that ketllebell up to the sky.

I am by no means a perfect rower, nor do I claim to be. Despite my years on the water, being on the erg takes all of my concentration. Keeping my sequence in tact when I’m fatigued to get the most out of a stroke is what is important to me. Turning my glutes on and not being a casual rower is what I hope to demonstrate to others. I hope that you have learned at least a little from the past few posts. Staying conected may vary form person to person depending on your proportions but play around with this knowledge and find what works for you and your connected powerful body.

Lastly, the gym is putting together an order for Tropical Traditions coconut oil supplier. We currently sell the small jars in the store. They sell coconut oil by the gallon and a variety of other products. If you have any interest in ordering something for the site and would like to save on shipping leave a message in the comments or ask a coach!

09.29.13 REST DAY

Photo by Michael Brian Photography

Today is Jon A’s birthday! KC, his girlfriend and fellow Intrepid, has written a nice bday post.

Hey there Intrepid! I have the pleasure today of sharing with you a little about a man I’ve had the joy of calling my boyfriend. Here’s a couple fun facts about Jonathan Alarcon (Jon A.) : 

-He does not like his birthday very much. One year he forgot about it until someone called him to tell him happy birthday.

-He loves pizza and beer. Absolutely loves them. They frequent our “treat yoself” nights.   

-He loves to dance, and will often to do so by himself in the car. You can catch him in the zone in between lifts, he has started breakin’ it down at the gym lately. 

-As a young kid, he had a New Jersey accent for a couple years, and no one in his family is from there.

-He played shortstop in high school and college, and had a great shot at making it in the big leagues. But, he decided against the lifestyle that it came with. 

-In his late teens and early twenties he rocked some pretty legit sideburns.  

-He has a witty sense of humor, and loves puns. He and his best friend could go a whole day communicating in puns…I’m totally lost when I’m with them. 

-He likes to set a goal on the time it will take him to get in and out of the grocery store, and frequently nails it to the second. 

-He got me hooked on Crossfit! 

I’m sure a couple of you have noticed in the WOD’s that Jon does not merely float or skate by, but plows through with all his might. What’s so awesome about him is that he’s like that in everyday life as well. Whether it’s working, working out, running errands, eating pizza…he operates quickly, efficiently, and effectively. He puts everything he has into everything he does. I’m pretty sure he has been making goals and hitting PR’s since the womb Besides his strong work ethic, he has the biggest heart and is devoted to those he loves. His energy for life is contagious, and he has influenced me in so many positive ways. He’s pretty much an all around awesome guy! I love you my babe, cheers to your 27th year of life and the good times to come! - KC

*Also, today 8 Intrepids will be participating in the 2013 BootCamp Challenge down in San Diego. Be sure to wish them good luck!

WOD 09.28.2013

In teams of 2 complete,

• 80 WB Shots
• 70 Pull-Ups
• 60 Ball Slams
• 50 Push Ups (Clapping)
• 4 Rope Climbs
• 400m Relay (1 runs, 1 rests)

Thrusters, simply defined, are front squats to a push press.  It’s a compound movement that involves multiple joints and even more muscles including your quads, hamstrings, abs, deltoids, and lats to name a few.  They can be performed using a barbell, dumbbells, a med ball, luggage (for a hotel room WOD) and even with objects filled with liquid (a la slosh pipes) to focus on stabilizing your mid-section.  They can be done heavy with fewer reps which focuses more on strength.  Or conversely, in a quick and dirty WOD like Fran which uses lighter weights and a higher amount of reps, the focus becomes more metabolical.

The problem with thrusters is that more often than not, thrusters aren’t performed as efficiently as we’d like.  We see rounding backs, dropped elbows, too narrow of a stance, etc.  Here are a few tips compiled from a few videos from Kelly Starrett of MobilityWOD, Diane Fu of FuBarbell, and Jason Khalipa, who took 2nd at CF Games 2013.

- mobilize your triceps, lats, and shoulders to improve your front rack position

- mobilize your thoracic region to open up your back which will provide thoracic extension (keeping your torso upright)

- keep the bar resting on your shoulders in the front rack position during the front squat (think elbows up!)

- drive through the hips on the way up to transfer momentum to your shoulders to float the bar up

- don’t tight grip the bar which limits your elbow position during the front squat

- maintain open hips to allow for torso stability

If you can, come in a little early to mobilize those regions discussed above and to practice a few light thrusters.  Hopefully these tips will help you during the WOD today.

On another note, we’d like to wish Nicole a very Happy Birthday!  Nicole is a 6:30am regular that put up an impressive showing at Intrepid Games this past Saturday.  

WOD 09.27.2013

Bench press 3 x 5/Wendler

Then, 4 rounds:

• 10 Thrusters (95/65)
• 100m Run

I’ve heard a lot of great success stories from the members who attended the clinic last week. I saw Nat, Sonia, Adriana, Tina and Pat put up big numbers for consecutive dubs the night of, and Scott C knocked out 20 dubs in a row during the competition. I’m sure I’m not remembering everyone’s success, so please post additional to comments.

What’s also great about the clinic is that I was able to watch the instructors and pick up some coaching pointers. I’d like to share what I learned with all of you so that when you’re practicing at home and maybe in front of a mirror, you can spot some common errors. Also, if you see a fellow classmate struggling with one of the below issues, you can help them out and politely point them out to them.

1. Rope is too long – This was a very common theme for everyone at the clinic, including yours truly. I used to think it was okay to be jumping with a long rope because even if your technique wasn’t great, you could probably get through a few dubs. However, it seems to be a hindrance for long term progress. Ropes that are too long can throw off your rhythm, require you to jump too high, require you to turn the rope with your arms and in general, trains inefficient form. You need very minimal clearance to get the rope over your head and under your feet. If you’re just trying to select a rope from the gym’s collection, the measurement method I posted about works pretty well, but if you buy your own rope, you’ll likely want to cut it down so it’s closer to your waistline.

2. Lack of rhythm – Finding your rhythm is very important to being successful with double unders, I have mentioned that many times in the past. Once you’ve gotten a couple of doubler unders, stringing them together is all about rhythm. The instructors discouraged the single, double, single, double approach because it teaches you the wrong rhythm. A drill that some of the attendees found to be successful, was to hold the jump rope in front of you without turning it and start jumping in a consistent rhythm. While you jump in the air, tap the handles of your rope together twice to represent your double under. This will help to teach your hands and feet to be coordinated, and to find your double under rhythm.

3. Hunching over and pike jumping – When some people attempt double unders, then tend to jerk their torsos forward and bend at the hips with straight legs (essentially doing a pike jump) to get over the rope. The best way to complete a double under is to keep the chest upright, shoulders relatively relaxed and to pick the feet up by bending at the knees and kicking your feet back. The more you can avoid the pike or tuck jump, the better.

4. Picking the toes up – This one is tied very closely to #3, it’s usually just a less severe form of piking. When you pick up your toes when you jump, one it wears out your shins, and two, the rope tends to get caught on your toes. When this happens, just think jump on the toes and try to bend at the knees and pull the feet back behind you.

5. Turning the rope with your arms – The part of the body that does all the work turning the rope is the wrist. Turning with the whole arm or even just your forearm is inefficient and not as quick as a flick of the wrists. People who do this often have a rope that’s too long or have an imbalance about which arm is doing the most work. Usually, it’s one side that’s turning efficiently, and the other side is either along for the ride or working to hard turning with the arm. The first problem is an easy fix, the second one will probably take time practicing in front of a mirror to get both sides to turn the rope the same way. For optimum form for most people, the elbows should be tucked in close to the body (usually the waist) and your hands should be slightly in front of your body.

If you avoid these common pitfalls, you should have pretty good form and be knocking out double unders like a champ. If you’ve practiced the wrong technique for a while, it’s hard to untrain those habits, so be patient with yourself as you practice. Here are a couple of more minor pointers:

6. Hold the entire handle of the jump rope, don’t just barely grip the ends, it gives you more control.

7. If you are suddenly doing a lot more jumping rope than normal, be sure to roll out your calves before and after, and likely the muscle just to the outside of your shin bone. This is especially important if you are prone to shin splints.

8. Once your dubs become more efficient, conserve energy and don’t jump as high. To be really fast like Shane who can do 164 dubs in a minute, you don’t really jump at all, just pick your feet up to get out of the way of the rope.

9. If you want to try out triples, the same rules apply with the dubs, you just need a little extra hang time so you’ll have to jump fairly high and kick those feet back. It’s a little harder on the calves and shins, so don’t over-do it.

Paralette jumps are no fun and waste a lot of energy, help your friends out and post any additional pointers you received to comments.

WOD 09.26.13

Mobility:

3 position hamstring stretch
Forearms

Skill:

Rope Climb