February 2009

If you haven't picked it up yet, consider reading "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" written by award winning journalist and Bay Area native Michael Pollan. His previous book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (2006), was named one of the ten best books of 2006 by the New York Times and the Washington Post. He is also the author of The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World (2001); A Place of My Own (1997); and Second Nature (1991). Pollan is also a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine and is a Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley.

The book is summed up in three lines right on the cover "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants". Pollan discusses the history of food in the U.S. to demonstrate how the question of what to eat has become so confusing and distorted by politics and greed. His message is clear and to the point, offering up a fresh, new approach on how we look at food, an approach that encourages us to return to a natural, more traditional way of eating. Read the full introduction of the book here.

Here's a list of Pollan's 12 commandments for serious eaters:

1. Don’t eat anything your grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.

2. Avoid foods containing ingredients you can’t pronounce.

3. Don’t eat anything that wouldn’t eventually rot.

4. Avoid food products that carry health claims.

5. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket; stay out of the middle.

6. Better yet, buy food somewhere else: the farmer’s market or CSA.

7. Pay more, eat less.

8. Eat a wide diversity of species.

9. Eat food from animals that eat grass.

10. Cook and, if you can, grow some of your own food.

11. Eat meals and eat them only at tables.

12. Eat deliberately, with other people whenever possible, and always with pleasure.

Visit www.cookingupastory.com to view parts 2 and 3 of this video.

For those who have read any of his books, please post reviews to comments. If you aren't familiar with his works, post other good reads.

Spend your Valentine's morning getting a muscle-up! Tomorrow at 11a.m., Candace Hamilton will be holding a Muscle-Up Clinic! Candace will review progressions for beginners and discuss the finer points for those who are in the process of perfecting form. The clinic is open to members and non-members. The cost is $20.

Post your valentine note to CrossFit in comments.

Franklin, a man of many skills

Tomorrow is Franklin's birthday, and it's a big one, his 40th!

Before I get on to talking about what we're going to be doing tomorrow at CFO in honor of his 40th birthday, I want to take a moment to shine some spotlight on Franklin.

Most of you know Nicole and me, and see us a lot at CFO. But Franklin is actually an owner of the CFO business as well. He has played a critical role in our success to date. Much of the work he does goes on behind the scenes. Over the years, he's played various roles, taking on projects ranging from the construction of our first two pull-up bar sets, to putting into place a business strategy for CFO (including getting us incorporated), and most recently, spearheading the effort to find a new, better, bigger box (details on this will hopefully be coming very soon; keep your fingers crossed for us in the meantime).

So in honor of Franklin, we'll be posting an optional WOD for everyone tomorrow:

For time: 40 clean-and-jerks @ bodyweight

Franklin and I will be taking on this workout at 2pm, so if you're free then, please join us!

In the meantime, let's post birthday wishes to Franklin in comments!

Patrick in a moment of pause during 40 body weight C&J's

An excerpt from "Iron and the Soul" by Henry Rollins:

It took me years to fully appreciate the value of the lessons I have learned from the Iron. I used to think that it was my adversary, that I was trying to lift that which does not want to be lifted. I was wrong. When the Iron doesn't want to come off the mat, it's the kindest thing it can do for you. If it flew up and went through the ceiling, it wouldn't teach you anything. That's the way the Iron talks to you. It tells you that the material you work with is that which you will come to resemble. That which you work against will always work against you.

It wasn't until my late twenties that I learned that by working out I had given myself a great gift. I learned that nothing good comes without work and a ceratin amount of pain. When I finish a set that leaves me shaking, I know more about myself. When something gets bad, I know it can't be as bad as that workout.

I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me: pain is not my enemy; it is my call to greatness. But when dealing with the Iron, one must be careful to interpret the pain correctly. Most injuries involving the Iron come from ego. I once spent a few weeks lifting weight that my body wasn't ready for and spent a few months not picking up anything heavier than a fork. Try to lift what you're not prepared to and the Iron will teach you a little lesson in restraint and self-control.

I have never met a truly strong person who didn't have self-respect. I think a lot of inwardly and outwardly directed contempt passes itself off as self-respect: the idea of raising yourself by stepping on someone's shoulders instead of doing it yourself. When I see guys working out for cosmetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the worst way, as cartoon characters, billboards for imbalance and insecurity. Strength reveals itself through character. It is the difference between bouncers who get off strong-arming people and Mr. Pepperman.

Muscle mass does not always equal strength. Strength is kindness and sensitivity. Strength is understanding that your power is both physical and emotional. That it comes from the body and the mind. And the heart.

Yukio Mishima said that he could not entertain the idea of romance if he was not strong. Romance is such a strong and overwhelming passion, a weakened body cannot sustain it for long. I have some of my most romantic thoughts when I am with the Iron. Once I was in love with a woman. I thought about her the most when the pain from a workout was racing through my body. Everything in me wanted her. So much so that sex was only a fraction of my total desire. It was the single most intense love I have ever felt, but she lived far away and I didn't see her very often. Working out was a healthy way of dealing with the loneliness. To this day, when I work out I usually listen to ballads.

I prefer to work out alone. It enables me to concentrate on the lessons that the Iron has for me. Learning about what you're made of is always time well spent, and I have found no better teacher. The Iron had taught me how to live.

Life is capable of driving you out of your mind. The way it all comes down these days, it's some kind of miracle if you're not insane. People have become separated from their bodies. They are no longer whole. I see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban homes. They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly. And they behave badly. Their egos run wild; they become motivated by that which will eventually give them a massive stroke. They need the Iron mind.

Through the years, I have combined meditation, action, and the Iron into a single strength. I believe that when the body is strong, the mind thinks strong thoughts. Time spent away from the Iron makes my mind degenerate. I wallow in a thick depression. My body shuts down my mind. The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it's impossible to turn back.

The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you're a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.

In anticipation of the CF Games team competition that will take place this year, a few of the Bay Area gyms have banded together and agreed to host some team competitions over the next few months.

We kicked off our first team competition at Diablo CrossFit at the end of January.

And we'll be hosting the next one on Saturday, February 21 at 11am. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is invited and encouraged to participate. These types of events are great ways to tap into this wonderful community and celebrate the sport of CrossFit at the same time.

Here is the schedule for the team competitions that have been planned thus far, with the date and the hosting Affiliate gym:

Sat Feb 21: CrossFit Oakland
Sat Mar 14: Diablo CrossFit
Sat Apr 4: CrossFit Santa Clara
Sat May 9: CrossFit San Francisco
Sat May 30: CrossFit One World

Each competition is governed by house rules, meaning that the hosting Affiliate gym gets to come up with the workout.

The workout we're putting together on Saturday, Feb 21 will be posted on this blog two days prior to the day of competition, Thursday, Feb 19. The only thing that we'll let out of the bag at this point is that the competition will involve three-person teams, ideally two males and one female.

Post questions, thoughts, predictions, etc. to comments.

Did you know that adding butter to a serving of vegatables will increase the body's ability to absorb the nutrients by as much as 80% ?

Did you know that short-chain and medium-chain fatty acids, like butterfat from cows have antimicrobial properties that protect us from viruses and harmful bacteria in our gut?

Or that butter is immediately absorbed by the body and used for quick energy making it a great food source for athletes?

If you've been living in the US, the answer is probably no.

Contrary to popular belief, butter is a completely natural and healthy food! Butter has been used in traditional diets for more than 10,000 years! For centuries butter has been highly prized for its health-giving properties. So why has it come under attack in recent years?

It wasn't until the turn of the century when the U.S began its war on fat that butter became substandard. Gary Taubes, an American science writer and author of Good Calories, Bad Calories(2007), chronicles the events that lead to butter's tarnished reputation in an article published in the journal, Science. He points out the lack of scientific evidence that links heart disease to a high-fat diet. A researcher named Ancel Keys was among the first to propose that saturated fat and cholesterol in the diet were the cause of the sudden rise of coronary heart disease after WWII. Ironically, during the same time period, butter consumption had decreased - from eighteen pounds per person per year, to four. Numerous subsequent studies costing hundreds of millions of dollars, have failed to back up Keys' and other low-fat advocates' claims. Read the full article here.

Unfortunately, the notion that high-fat foods, such as butter are not part of a healthy diet has been a stigma that has been hard to erase. As a result, Americans continue to steer clear of fat while rates of obesity, diabetes, and consequently, heart disease, remain higher than ever.

Is Margarine Better a Better Alternative?
Absolutely not! Margarine are a processed food, created chemically from refined polyunsaturated oils through a process called hydrogenation. According to Mary Enig, the trans fats in hydrogenated fats, such as margarine make it the real villain in America's battle against heart disease and cancer.

An excerpt from Why Butter is Better:

Who benefits from the propaganda blitz against butter? The list is a long one and includes orthodox medicine, hospitals, the drug companies and food processors. But the chief beneficiary is the large corporate farm and the cartels that buy their products--chiefly cotton, corn and soy--America's three main crops, which are usually grown as monocultures on large farms, requiring extensive use of artificial fertilizers and pesticides. All three--soy, cotton and corn--can be used to make both margarine and the new designer spreads. In order to make these products acceptable to the up-scale consumer, food processors and agribusiness see to it that they are promoted as health foods. We are fools to believe them.

Here is a list of some of the health benefits of butter by Donna Gates, author of the Body Ecology Diet:
1.Butter is rich in the most easily absorbable form of Vitamin A necessary for thyroid and adrenal health.

2. Contains lauric acid, important in treating fungal infections and candida.

3. Contains lecithin, essential for cholesterol metabolism.

4. Contains anti-oxidants that protect against free radical damage and anti-oxidants that protect against weakening arteries.

5. Is a great source of Vitamins E and K.

6. Is a very rich source of the vital mineral selenium.

7. Saturated fats in butter have strong anti-tumor and anti-cancer properties.

8. Butter contains conjugated linoleic acid, which is a potent anti-cancer agent, muscle builder, and immunity booster

9. Vitamin D found in butter is essential to absorption of calcium and fights tooth decay.

10. Is your only source of an anti-stiffness factor, which protects against calcification of the joints.

11. Anti-stiffness factor in butter also prevents hardening of the arteries, cataracts, and calcification of the pineal gland.

12. Is a source of Activator X, which helps your body absorb minerals.

13. Is a source of iodine in highly absorbable form.

14. Is a source of quick energy, and is not stored in our bodies adipose tissue.

15. Cholesterol found in butterfat is essential to children's brain and nervous system development.

16. Contains Arachidonic Acid (AA) which plays a role in brain function and is a vital component of cell membranes.

17. Protects against gastrointestinal infections in the very young or the elderly.

Sources of Healthy Butter:
The pasteurization process destroys a majority of the healthy nutrients in dairy including butter, so it is best to buy it raw and as always, organic. Green Pastures makes an excellent raw butter (sold at Whole Foods).

Sources:
Fallon, Sally and Mary Enig, Nourishing Traditions;
The Soft Science of Dietary Fat, Science Magazine, March 2001
http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/taubes.html#linktop
Why Butter is Better
http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/butter.html

Tami in mid-pull-up at the 2008 CF Games

Kudos to Tamara, who was profiled today on the CF Games website.

You can check out her full profile here.

Meanwhile, we've put together our own little video of Tamara that goes behind the scenes, taking a look at the intense training regimen that's taken her to the top:

All kidding aside, let's give props to Tami here on our blog and on the CF Games blog!

Well, today is February 1st and that means that we've officially survived the 30 Day No-Sugar Challenge, well some of us have, anyway. I'd like to give major props to everyone who participated in whatever capacity you saw fit. Most of all, I hope that many of you used this as an opportunity to be more conscious eaters and that you will continue to make better choices for your health.

Finally, I'm happy to announce that Joe P., Brandon, Pete, and Steven were the final four participants who stuck it out until the end! Thirty days without a brownie, sundae, or even BBQ sauce is not easy, so congratulations to you all for stepping up to the challenge. As promised, I'll be delivering the prizes in the next few days...

What kind of nutrition-related challenge are YOU up for? Post ideas for future challenges, along with props to Joe P., Brandon, Pete, and Steven in comments.

Sierra asked an excellent question about what the difference and benefits are between a 100 meter and 50 meter sprint. In thinking about how to answer that question, I thought it would be useful to reacquaint everybody with the three energy pathways.

There are three places muscles can get power from:
1. Phosphagen Pathway (Maximum Power) - this lasts in burst up to 10 seconds.
2. Glycolitic Pathway (Medium Power) - this lasts 2-3 minutes.
3. Oxidative Pathway (Low Power) - this lasts 3 minutes and beyond.

The well-trained CrossFit athlete should be able to accomplish a 50 meter sprint within 10 seconds while outputting the maximum amount of power their body is capable of during each sprint. The same athlete will require closer to 20 seconds to complete a 100 meter sprint, forcing them to switch over to medium power in order to complete each effort.

Without getting into eyes-are-glazing-over explanations, the maximum power pathway (Phosophagen) utilizes energy that is already stored in the muscles while the continual medium power effort (Glycolitic) forces the body to make energy on the spot, which in turn produces lactic acid (the burning you feel during tabata squats). The low power (Oxidative) pathway utilizes nutrients available in the blood stream and can result in prolonged activity if you continue to feed yourself and breathe.

To summarize, the 50-meter repeats will allow an athlete to explore their maximum power output, whereas the 100 meters will challenge muscular endurance.

The beauty of CrossFit programming is that it requires an athlete to utilize all three energy pathways, making us the most well prepared generalists around!

This is all explained in beautiful detail here: http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ-trial.pdf

Post your thoughts or questions to comments.

Kelly Starrett, physical therapist and CF coach extraordinaire (flanked by Mini and Nicole)

Kelly Starrett will be in the house on Friday, Feb 13 from 10am to 4pm, giving 45-minute physical therapy sessions. The cost will be $125.

If you're experiencing tightness, pain, or some other sort of physical limitation related to performing CF exercises, I'd strongly urge you to give Kelly a shot at working it out. He's a maestro when it comes to rehab and prehab. We're extremely fortunate to have the benefit of his services.

Look for a sign-up sheet on the CFO whiteboard.

We are adding MORE Open Gym hours from 3p.m. to 5p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday beginning next Monday (2/9). Here's a re-cap of our schedule:

Monday/Wednesday/Friday-
Group Class-6a.m.
Fundamentals-7a.m.
Group Class-9a.m.
Seniors Class-11a.m.
Group Class-12p.m.
Open Gym- 3p.m. to 5p.m.
Group Class-5p.m., 6p.m., and 7p.m.

Tuesday/Thursday-
Group Class-6a.m. & 9a.m.
Open Gym-10a.m.-12p.m.
Group Class- 12p.m.
Group Class-5p.m./6p.m./7p.m.

Saturday/Sunday-
Group Class-9.am.
Group Class-10a.m.
Group Class-4p.m.

Post CFO love to comments.

In case you missed it in our most recent newsletter (which you can sign up for on the upper left-hand side of our blog), you have the option of having your training dues come out on a monthly basis automatically.

This is a relatively hassle-free process; all you need to do is fill out one of the forms we have on the whiteboard right now. Then give your form to Nicole or me, and the very next month your dues will be charged to your credit card or debit card (a great way to accumulate some reward points from your credit card provider).

Ask us if you have questions!

***Team Workout Looming on Horizon***

We're going to be having another big ol' team workout Saturday, Feb 21, and it's going to take place at CFO. Other Affiliates will be here as well. Details coming soon!

Mini breaking down CF pull-up standards

The Berkeley Fire Department officially began its CrossFit training program in conjunction with CFO this week! Over the last year we have collaboratively established a Health and Wellness Program in which CrossFit will serve as the primary strength and conditioning program. Phase II, which we began earlier this week, consisted of a basic evaluation for the department testing the: 500m row, 1-minute max wall balls, 1-minute max pull-ups, 1-minute max sit-ups and 1-minute max shoulder presses. Once the evaluations are complete, we will begin a 36-week "ramp-up" program.

We are honored to be part of the city's effort to increase the fitness of its first responders--you are all welcome to come and train with us at CFO anytime. Thank you to everyone who participated and gave their best effort!

Give it up to our local and in-house firefighters in comments.