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What Snatch?



My WOD for Saturday....


Seven rounds for time of:
95 pound Power snatch, 7 reps
95 pound Snatch balance, 7 reps
95 pound Overhead squat, 7 reps


Time 13:39
Was nice to actually workout with someone today rather then training by myself like I usually do....  Thanks JT.

No CFFB, rest day yesterday and today.

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Barefoot

 
Christopher McDougall and the "tribe" he runs with know what they are talking about... his book, and the daily use of my Vibram 5fingers have changed my life.......

 

The best running shoe may be nature's own: study 

The best running shoe may be none at all, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday. Skip related content
Runners who eschew shoes may be less likely to do serious injury to their feet, because they hold their feet differently, Daniel Lieberman of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts and colleagues found.
Writing in the journal Nature, they said runners who wear shoes tend to hit the ground with their heels first, whereas barefoot runners put the balls of the feet down first.  "People who don't wear shoes when they run have an astonishingly different strike," Lieberman said in a statement.  "By landing on the middle or front of the foot, barefoot runners have almost no impact collision, much less than most shod runners generate when they heel-strike," Lieberman added.  "Most people today think barefoot running is dangerous and hurts, but actually you can run barefoot on the world's hardest surfaces without the slightest discomfort and pain. All you need is a few calluses to avoid roughing up the skin of the foot."
Lieberman and his colleagues at Harvard, the University of Glasgow, and Kenya's Moi University studied runners who had always run barefoot, those who had always worn shoes and runners who had abandoned shoes.  Barefoot runners had a springier step overall, and used their calf and foot muscles more efficiently, they found.  Demonstrations can be seen at http://www.barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu.  

People used to running in shoes should not start barefoot trotting right away, Lieberman cautioned. "If you've been a heel-striker all your life, you have to transition slowly to build strength in your calf and foot muscles," he said.  But he noted that evolution is on his side.  "Humans have engaged in endurance running for millions of years, but the modern running shoe was not invented until the 1970s," Lieberman said. Rival German companies Adidas and Puma made running shoes a household item.  Running shoes are big business. Nike Inc had $4.4 billion in revenue in its second quarter.
(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

My WOD:

CF Football Total  1205# PR!

Power Clean 1 Rep  235 ties pr
Squat 1 Rep              320 pr
Bench 1 Rep             245 pr
Deadlift 1 Rep          405 pr!!!

*Perform a single maximal effort for the lifts listed above.
*After warm-ups, 3 attempts are allowed.
*Total must be done in the specified order.
*Combine all 4 lifts to create CF Football Total






Peace. 

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Gluten...think Gluttony





The following article was taken  from http://socalsc.com/


Gluten: What You Don't Know Might Kill You


Something you're eating may be killing you, and you probably don't even know it!
If you eat cheeseburgers or French fries all the time or drink six sodas a day, you likely know you are shortening your life. But eating a nice dark, crunchy slice of whole wheat bread--how could that be bad for you?
Well, bread contains gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, spelt, kamut, and oats. It is hidden in pizza, pasta, bread, wraps, rolls, and most processed foods. Clearly, gluten is a staple of the American diet.
What most people don't know is that gluten can cause serious health complications for many. You may be at risk even if you don't have full blown celiac disease.
In today's blog I want to reveal the truth about gluten, explain the dangers, and provide you with a simple system that will help you determine whether or not gluten is a problem for you.
The Dangers of Gluten
A recent large study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that people with diagnosed, undiagnosed, and "latent" celiac disease or gluten sensitivity had a higher risk of death, mostly from heart disease and cancer. (i)
This study looked at almost 30,00 patients from 1969 to 2008 and examined deaths in three groups: Those with full-blown celiac disease, those with inflammation of their intestine but not full-blown celiac disease, and those with latent celiac disease or gluten sensitivity (elevated gluten antibodies but negative intestinal biopsy).
The findings were dramatic. There was a 39 percent increased risk of death in those with celiac disease, 72 percent increased risk in those with gut inflammation related to gluten, and 35 percent increased risk in those with gluten sensitivity but no celiac disease.
This is ground-breaking research that proves you don't have to have full-blown celiac disease with a positive intestinal biopsy (which is what conventional thinking tells us) to have serious health problems and complications--even death--from eating gluten.
Yet an estimated 99 percent of people who have a problem with eating gluten don't even know it. They ascribe their ill health or symptoms to something else--not gluten sensitivity, which is 100 percent curable.
And here's some more shocking news ...
Another study comparing the blood of 10,000 people from 50 years ago to 10,000 people today found that the incidences of full-blown celiac disease increased by 400 percent (elevated TTG antibodies) during that time period. (ii) If we saw a 400 percent increase in heart disease or cancer, this would be headline news. But we hear almost nothing about this. I will explain why I think that increase has occurred in a moment. First, let's explore the economic cost of this hidden epidemic.
Undiagnosed gluten problems cost the American healthcare system oodles of money. Dr. Peter Green, Professor of Clinical Medicine for the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University studied all 10 million subscribers to CIGNA and found those who were correctly diagnosed with celiac disease used fewer medical services and reduced their healthcare costs by more than 30 perecnt. (iii) The problem is that only one percent of those with the problem were actually diagnosed. That means 99 percent are walking around suffering without knowing it, costing the healthcare system millions of dollars.
And it's not just a few who suffer, but millions. Far more people have gluten sensitivity than you think--especially those who are chronically ill. The most serious form of allergy to gluten, celiac disease, affects one in 100 people, or three million Americans, most of who don't know they have it. But milder forms of gluten sensitivity are even more common and may affect up to one-third of the American population.
Why haven't you heard much about this?
Well, actually you have, but you just don't realize it. Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity masquerade as dozens and dozens of other diseases with different names.
Gluten Sensitivity: One Cause, Many Diseases
A review paper in The New England Journal of Medicine listed 55 "diseases" that can be caused by eating gluten. (iv) These include osteoporosis, irritable bowel disease, inflammatory bowel disease, anemia, cancer, fatigue, canker sores, (v) and rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and almost all other autoimmune diseases. Gluten is also linked to many psychiatric (vi) and neurological diseases, including anxiety, depression, (vii) schizophrenia, (viii) dementia, (ix) migraines, epilepsy, and neuropathy (nerve damage). (x) It has also been linked to autism.(ix)
We used to think that gluten problems or celiac disease were confined to children who had diarrhea, weight loss, and failure to thrive. Now we know you can be old, fat, and constipated and still have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity.
Gluten sensitivity is actually an autoimmune disease that creates inflammation throughout the body, with wide-ranging effects across all organ systems including your brain, heart, joints, digestive tract, and more. It can be the single cause behind many different "diseases." To correct these diseases, you need to treat the cause--which is often gluten sensitivity--not just the symptoms.
Of course, that doesn't mean that ALL cases of depression or autoimmune disease or any of these other problems are caused by gluten in everyone--but it is important to look for it if you have any chronic illness.
By failing to identify gluten sensitivity and celiac disease, we create needless suffering and death for millions of Americans. Health problems caused by gluten sensitivity cannot be treated with better medication. They can only be resolved by eliminating 100 percent of the gluten from your diet.
The question that remains is: Why are we so sensitive to this "staff of life," the staple of our diet?
There are many reasons ...
They include our lack of genetic adaptation to grasses, and particularly gluten, in our diet. Wheat was introduced into Europe during the Middle Ages, and 30 percent of people of European descent carry the gene for celiac disease (HLA DQ2 or HLA DQ8), (xii) which increases susceptibility to health problems from eating gluten.
American strains of wheat have a much higher gluten content (which is needed to make light, fluffy Wonder Bread and giant bagels) than those traditionally found in Europe. This super-gluten was recently introduced into our agricultural food supply and now has "infected" nearly all wheat strains in America.
To find out if you are one of the millions of people suffering from an unidentified gluten sensitivity, just follow this simple procedure.
The Elimination/Reintegration Diet
While testing can help identify gluten sensivity, the only way you will know if this is really a problem for you is to eliminate all gluten for a short period of time (2 to 4 weeks) and see how you feel. Get rid of the following foods:
• Gluten (barley, rye, oats, spelt, kamut, wheat, triticale--see www.celiac.com for a complete list of foods that contain gluten, as well as often surprising and hidden sources of gluten.)
• Hidden sources (soup mixes, salad dressings, sauces, as well as lipstick, certain vitamins, medications, stamps and envelopes you have to lick, and even Play-Doh.)
For this test to work you MUST eliminate 100 percent of the gluten from your diet--no exceptions, no hidden gluten, and not a single crumb of bread.
Then eat it again and see what happens. If you feel bad at all, you need to stay off gluten permanently. This will teach you better than any test about the impact gluten has on your body.
But if you are still interested in testing, here are some things to keep in mind.
Testing for Gluten Sensitivity or Celiac Disease
There are gluten allergy/celiac disease tests that are available through Labcorp or Quest Diagnostics. All these tests help identify various forms of allergy or sensitivity to gluten or wheat. They will look for:
• IgA anti-gliadin antibodies
• IgG anti-gliadin antibodies
• IgA anti-endomysial antibodies
• Tissue transglutaminase antibody (IgA and IgG in questionable cases)
• Total IgA antibodies
• HLA DQ2 and DQ8 genotyping for celiac disease (used occasionally to detect genetic suspectibility).
• Intestinal biopsy (rarely needed if gluten antibodies are positive--based on my interpretation of the recent study)
When you get these tests, there are a few things to keep in mind.
In light of the new research on the dangers of gluten sensitivity without full blown celiac disease, I consider any elevation of antibodies significant and worthy of a trial of gluten elimination. Many doctors consider elevated anti-gliadin antibodies in the absence of a positive intestinal biopsy showing damage to be "false positives." That means the test looks positive but really isn't significant.
We can no longer say that. Positive is positive and, as with all illness, there is a continuum of disease, from mild gluten sensitivity to full-blown celiac disease. If your antibodies are elevated, you should go off gluten and test to see if it is leading to your health problems.
So now you see--that piece of bread may not be so wholesome after all! Follow the advice I've shared with you today to find out if gluten may be the hidden cause of your health problems. Simply eliminating this insidious substnace from your diet, may help you achieve lifelong vibrant health.
That's all for today. Now I'd like to hear from you ...
Are you one of the millions that have been lead to believe gluten is perfectly safe to eat?
How do foods that contain gluten seem to affect you?
What tips can you share with others about eliminating gluten from your diet?
Please let me know your thoughts by posting a comment below.
To your good health,
Mark Hyman, MD
References
(i) Ludvigsson JF, Montgomery SM, Ekbom A, Brandt L, Granath F. Small-intestinal histopathology and mortality risk in celiac disease. JAMA. 2009 Sep 16;302(11):1171-8.
(ii) Rubio-Tapia A, Kyle RA, Kaplan EL, Johnson DR, Page W, Erdtmann F, Brantner TL, Kim WR, Phelps TK, Lahr BD, Zinsmeister AR, Melton LJ 3rd, Murray JA. Increased prevalence and mortality in undiagnosed celiac disease. Gastroenterology. 2009 Jul;137(1):88-93
(iii) Green PH, Neugut AI, Naiyer AJ, Edwards ZC, Gabinelle S, Chinburapa V. Economic benefits of increased diagnosis of celiac disease in a national managed care population in the United States. J Insur Med. 2008;40(3-4):218-28.
(iv) Farrell RJ, Kelly CP. Celiac sprue. N Engl J Med. 2002 Jan 17;346(3):180-8. Review.
(v) Sedghizadeh PP, Shuler CF, Allen CM, Beck FM, Kalmar JR. Celiac disease and recurrent aphthous stomatitis: a report and review of the literature. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod. 2002;94(4):474-478.
(vi) Margutti P, Delunardo F, Ortona E. Autoantibodies associated with psychiatric disorders. Curr Neurovasc Res. 2006 May;3(2):149-57. Review.
(vii) Ludvigsson JF, Reutfors J, Osby U, Ekbom A, Montgomery SM. Coeliac disease and risk of mood disorders--a general population-based cohort study. J Affect Disord. 2007 Apr;99(1-3):117-26. Epub 2006 Oct 6.
(viii) Ludvigsson JF, Osby U, Ekbom A, Montgomery SM. Coeliac disease and risk of schizophrenia and other psychosis: a general population cohort study. Scand J Gastroenterol. 2007 Feb;42(2):179-85.
(ix) Hu WT, Murray JA, Greenaway MC, Parisi JE, Josephs KA. Cognitive impairment and celiac disease. Arch Neurol. 2006 Oct;63(10):1440-6.
(x) Bushara KO. Neurologic presentation of celiac disease. Gastroenterology. 2005 Apr;128(4 Suppl 1):S92-7. Review.
(xi) Millward C, Ferriter M, Calver S, Connell-Jones G. Gluten- and casein-free diets for autistic spectrum disorder. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2004;(2):CD003498. Review.
(xii) Green PH, Jabri B. Coeliac disease. Lancet. 2003 Aug 2;362(9381):383-91. Review.
Mark Hyman, M.D. practicing physician and founder of The UltraWellness Center is a pioneer in functional medicine. Dr. Hyman is now sharing the 7 ways to tap into your body's natural ability to heal itself. You can follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, watch his videos on Youtube and become a fan on Facebook.

WOD#1  Move 3 yrds of gravel before the rain came this am...took 1hr 45minutes.  This included multiple trips into the house to see if the kids were awake yet, as well as taking my time in the beginning trying to be quiet  and not wake the neighbors....  Included in the time was leveling of the 2yrds of gravel I moved last night.


WOD #2

Five rounds for time of:  14min 40seconds
Row 500 meters
135 pound thruster, 7 reps


10minute rest


WOD#3

Complete 7 rounds: 3min 48seconds handstand holds

Handstand Holds for maximum time
10 Supine Ring Pull Ups

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Pale Blue Dot

WOD #1 Time:  9:40

21-15-9
Dual Kettlebell clean to front squat w/ 1.5 pood
Rolling Bar Pull-ups


Somewhat paced myself in this wod, will push harder tonight for WOD #2. 


Pale Blue Dot
by Carl Sagan

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there -- on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.


The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.


Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.


The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.


It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.


--Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994

WOD# 2   5 RDS  27minutes

                 400M Run
                 12 HSPU
                 21 in and outs      
the most HSPU I have done in one day, I had to kip 15 out of the 60.




.....  Peace

Love this song, R.I.P  IZ!





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Why I Do What I Do....




Ran to the gym with the kids as my warm-up, 2.3 miles... then ran home after the workout.

My WOD:  5 Rds in 20minutes
                  
                    12 calories on Rower
                    9 Dead Lift @255
                    6 MU
                    3 Jerk @135


Took the last couple of days off not by choice (Carey was out of town).... but wasn't a bad thing, I feel extremely rested even after the workout.   The MU's wore me out, but everything else was manageable.  As a side note, it has been 8 days since my last drink of alcohol, makes all the difference in the world.


Wow....for all you parents out there this is a must watch.....
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The Art of War





Just got this book in the mail on Friday, looking forward to starting this today!




My WOD for Friday and Saturday:  Rest/ Travel to parents for my mother's 55th bday.  Also was able to visit my Grandmother who is now so ill she is basically bed ridden.  Very somber feeling being at my Grandparents house...growing up as a kid,  words I would use ot describe their house would be coziness, vibrant and green, crystal clear in-ground pool, intense, and love that I felt from my Grandmother.  Now as my grandparents are in the final years of their lives the only thing left is memories...the house is old and dirty, the pool hasn't been in swimming condition in a few years despite what my Poppy would say, ...the love is still there from my Grandmother even if she can't express it like she use to.  She had a Dr.'s appointment last week, and the prognosis was 3-6 months (this was told strictly to my Poppy)  Granted, I can give too rips what a Dr. might say.  If the will and desire to live is strong, miracles will happen......
Take care of yourself, I know we can't and will not live forever, but as long as I'm here I will do what's right for my body, mind, and soul!

that's enough, getting to emotional to write anymore. 

Peace and Love


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Can You Stomach it?!




When you're playing against a stacked deck, compete even harder. Show the world how much you'll fight for the winners circle. If you do, someday the cellophane will crackle off a fresh pack, one that belongs to you, and the cards will be stacked in your favor.
-Pat Riley 



The Time has come to finally step it up or step out.  I can honestly say that I have never been committed 100% to anything in my life, other then high school soccer.  I guess that makes me a phony.  My wife , my kids, family and friends all deserve better.  As I mentioned in a previous post, the last couple of weeks have been quite the emotional roller coaster that I have bottled up, hoping it would go away.  My stomach felt like it was disintegrating, and the pain was almost intolerable.  Someone was trying to get my attention.  I believe that someone is God, letting me know that now is my time, stop hiding the true me and become that man he intended me to be.... The last 3 days I have prayed more then normal, and the clarity has been amazing, and my stomach doesn't hurt anymore.  When God wants your attention, he sure knows how to get it!  Time to illuminate!



SWOD

Squat 5x5 225-235-245-255x2

Bench 5x5 135(10)155,165,175,195(6)



DWOD

Complete 4 rounds of:

Complete the cycle 7 times: weight 115# NO DROPS

Power Clean
Front Squat
Push Press
Back Squat

*Do Not Drop The Weight. Do Not Set It Down.

*If weight is dropped, count number of drops and perform an equal amount of burpees as a penalty.

*Rest 90 seconds between sets.


I Feel So Alive!!! 
 


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Adapt

Urban Definition of Adapt:  Intelligence is correlated to the ability to adapt to different environments and circumstances. The higher the intelligence, the easier it is to deal with ambiguity, incomplete information, and to make intuitive leaps in logic that turn out to be productive and right. The lower the intelligence, the less likely it is to adapt to change and the less likely it is for that organism to be successful in the new and changing environment.  

Raising 2 small children will teach you very valuable lessons in life if you are willing to adapt.  The last couple of weeks have been quite the challenge for me when it comes to raising my kids.  Savannah, who will be 4 in April, thinks she is already 18.  Everything is a challenge with her, and her ability to push the boundaries we have set for her is extraordinary!  Stone, on the other hand is so demanding of attention, and if he doesn't get his way.....watch out!  all hell breaks loose!   And for the last 2 weeks my response to their behavior was not a very positive one.   A UCLA survey from a few years ago reported that the average one year old child hears the word, NO!, more then 400 times a day!  Not only does that take a toll on the kids, it was starting to take it's toll on me...mentally and physically.  Thank God I know that I must adapt, for my sake and most importantly for the sake of my kids! 
 






My Wod:  CFFB Rest Day.  I  need to get some more strength work, Power Cleans, Cleans, Dead Lifts.  Feeling tons better after a bout with some stomach issues.  


Dead Lift:   5x5 225-245-265-285-305  felt good/ light

Power C:    5x5 135-155-165-175-185 felt better then yesterday


155# clean/ thrusters for practice...will start adding heavy thrusters to my strength days, need to do it!




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R.I.P Herbie



Frank Knight, of Yarmouth, Maine, 101 years old, who has been Herbie the tree's caretaker for over half a century, puts a caring hand on Herbie after it was cut down in Yarmouth, Maine, on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2010. Herbie is New England's largest and oldest elm tree. The tree succumbed to Dutch elm disease after surviving 14 previous bouts with the fungus. The massive tree is estimated to be 240 years old. Its exact age will be known after officials count the growth rings in the trunk.
(AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach)

30 snatch L/ 30 snatch R w/ 24kg KB (house) Time: 4:30  a little rusty with the kettle bell


Strict Pull Ups 3 x max reps (3 min rest)16,12,11
 

Have been under the weather for the past 3 days, didn't have anything in the tank to do a wod after I warmed up.  Listening to my Anthony Robbins cd's again, why did I stop in the first place!  I'm a man on a mission is all I can say, and I have Anthony Robbins to thank for that.  Amen!
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Rebirth



My Wod:  stomach is still not 100%, not going to push too hard today.  work on mu, hspu, trigger point, row 500m- run 400m x 3
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More then Willpower

by Cory Doctorow Boingboing.net

I'm unsurprised but vindicated to read of this research from the Max Planck Institute and Indiana U that says that diets are more apt to succeed when they are simple -- complexity kills. I think this is why Atkins worked so well for me (80 lbs in about a year): low-carbing is just easy to do, all you really need to do is stop eating high-carb food:
"For people on a more complex diet that involves keeping track of quantities and items eaten, their subjective impression of the difficulty of the diet can lead them to give up on it," reported Peter Todd, professor in IU's Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. Jutta Mata, now a professor of psychology at Stanford University, said this effect holds even after controlling for the influence of important social-cognitive factors including self-efficacy, the belief that one is capable of achieving a goal like sticking to a diet regimen to control one's weight.
"Even if you believe you can succeed, thinking that the diet is cognitively complex can undermine your efforts," she said.

Sticking to Diets Is About More Than Willpower -- Complexity Matters (Image: lunch, a Creative Commons Attribution photo from malias' photostream)

For each his own when it comes to Paleo, Zone, Paleo-Zone... whatever works for you do it.  Robb Wolf was discredited for basically saying the same thing as this article states, but why?  Zoning your meals is a science that is always evolving, but if our ancestors were really caveman-like, they didn't have scales to weigh food " oohh--oohh, aahh-aahhh!"

My SWOD:
Squat 5x3 90% of 5RM @265
Press 5x3 60% of 1RM @115
Dead Lift 5x3 65% of 1RM @265
3x strict pullups:  14, 14, 11
No CFFB DWOD..lacking tire, sledgehammer

Metcon: " Christine"  10 minutes..... a little spent going straight into the wod, but pleased overall with my effort.

3Rds
500M Row
12BW DL @185
21 Box Jumps

Ali's recipe for life....



8weeks and counting.....



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Channel

happiness, sadness, excitement, anticipation...anger, whatever the emotion may be,... you need to learn to channel it.  No one can make you feel any emotion that you don't want to feel.  You create your OWN state.  My biggest fault that I know of is my anger, how easy it is for me to pipe off, yell, curse.... whatever it is that might set it off.  I'm a work in progress and I'm tested everyday.  Some days I pass with flying colors, and then there other days I fail miseribly.  The one advantage that I want to point out about my fiery side is that if channeled properly can be quite powerful...  before I act, I must decide, and in doing so I will have given myself ample time to make the appropriate decision.  instead of making split second decisions,  I'll give myself a second or two.




My Wod:  5rds Lynne w/ a twist
Body Weight Bench Press: 12, 8, 6, 5, 5 @185
Max  Muscle Ups:  4, 4, 3, 2, 2
wow, going from bench to mu's was very deceiving.  still a little smoked from Murph on steroids.  really pleased with my mu progression.  the pull is cake,  I need to get stronger on my dips..10-15 in a row coming very soon.

2 minute break

CFFB:  Rowing Intervals 1minute on 1 minute rest for 20minutes
Goal is to reach 3000m, 1 HSPU for every 5m's
Started cramping up by 1500m's in 5minutes.  decided to stop there.




Words can't describe what the people of Haiti are going through right now.  If you have the resources donate them, whether that is time, goods, or money....donate what you can.  
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Rest Day

Active Recovery WOD:  4 Mile walk with the kids at town lake, roughly 45minutes.

 





Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. 
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan






Awesome video I found on Consciousmedianetwork.com, enjoy!

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Steroids



I had a long post written out but decided to delete it because in MY opinion......


WHO CARES!


WOD
Murph on Steroids (45lb vest):  1hr 6minutes


No disrespect to Lt.  Murphy, you were in my thoughts the whole time.



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Self Actualization




8 Ways to Self Actualise - Abraham Maslow

Filed under: Mental Health by Matt Emery on August 31, 2007 @ 03:31 PDT
Maslow studied healthy people, most psychologists study sick people. The characteristics listed here are the results of 20 years of study of people who had the “full use and exploitation of talents, capacities, potentialities, etc..”
  1. Experience things fully, vividly, selflessly. Throw yourself into the experiencing of something: concentrate on it fully, let it totally absorb you.
  2. Life is an ongoing process of choosing between safety (out of fear and need for defense) and risk (for the sake of progress and growth): Make the growth choice a dozen times a day.
  3. Let the self emerge. Try to shut out the external clues as to what you should think, feel, say, and so on, and let your experience enable you to say what you truly feel.
  4. When in doubt, be honest. If you look into yourself and are honest, you will also take responsibility. Taking responsibility is self-actualizing.
  5. Listen to your own tastes. Be prepared to be unpopular.
  6. Use your intelligence, work to do well the things you want to do, no matter how insignificant they seem to be.
  7. Make peak experiencing more likely: get rid of illusions and false notions. Learn what you are good at and what your potentialities are not.
  8. Find out who you are, what you are, what you like and don’t like, what is good and what is bad for you, where you are going, what your mission is. Opening yourself up to yourself in this way means identifying defenses–and then finding the courage to give them up.
Check out the full article: Maslow Self Actualization

My WOD
MU 5-5-5, will go to sets of 6 starting next week...I have come a long way on this particular movement!

Squat 5RM:  worked up to 285 (no spotter and limited area to dump weight if need be, 300 plus for sure next time)  my current 1RM is 315, which I did back in October...time to retest that lift.

Bench 5RM:  worked up to 205 (no spotter, possibly could have gone up to 215, but satisfied with this number for now)

6rds        45 second break between rounds

3 HPC @ 145#
3 20 yrd shuttles
Time: 5:50  forgot to break after the first round so I just kept moving for the remainder of the workout. 

Whatever you're doing in your life right now, if it's become routine, it's time to move on to something new and scary (cavemanpower.com)






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The Benefits of Sports Psychology for Athletes



image was taken from jeremythiel.blogspot.com. in the pic is Lindsey Smith, 5th place finisher at the 2009 Crossfit Games.

The Benefits of Sports Psychology for Athletes

Patrick J. Cohn

Mental Game Coaching is that the segment of sports psychology that concentrates specifically on helping athletes break through the mental barriers that are keeping them from performing up to their peak potential.
By focusing on the mental skills needed to be successful in any sporting competition, mental game coaching seeks to achieve the overall goal of performance improvement.
Sports Psychology is about improving your attitude and mental game skills to help you perform your best by identifying limiting beliefs and embracing a healthier philosophy about your sport. Below is a list of the top ten ways that you can benefit from sports psychology:
Improve focus and deal with distractions. Many athletes have the ability to concentrate, but often their focus is displaced on the wrong areas such as when a batter thinks "I need to get a hit" while in the batter’s box, which is a result-oriented focus. Much of my instruction on focus deals with helping athlete to stay focused on the present moment and let go of results.
Grow confidence in athletes who have doubts. Doubt is the opposite of confidence. If you maintain many doubts prior to or during your performance, this indicates low self-confidence or at least you are sabotaging what confidence you had at the start of the competition. Confidence is what I call a core mental game skill because of its importance and relationship to other mental skills.
Develop coping skills to deal with setbacks and errors. Emotional control is a prerequisite to getting into the zone. Athletes with very high and strict expectations, have trouble dealing with minor errors that are a natural part of sports. It’s important to address these expectations and also help athletes stay composed under pressure and when they commit errors or become frustrated.
  1. Find the right zone of intensity for your sport. I use intensity in a broad sense to identify the level of arousal or mental activation that is necessary for each person to perform his or her best. This will vary from person to person and from sport to sport. Feeling “up” and positively charged is critical, but not getting overly excited is also important. You have to tread a fine line between being excited to complete, but not getting over-excited.
  2. Help teams develop communication skills and cohesion. A major part of sports psychology and mental training is helping teams improve cohesion and communication. The more a team works as a unit, the better the results for all involved.
  3. To instill a healthy belief system and identify irrational thoughts. One of the areas I pride myself on is helping athlete identify ineffective beliefs and attitudes such as comfort zones and negative self-labels that hold them back from performing well. These core unhealthy beliefs must be identified and replaced with a new way of thinking. Unhealthy or irrational beliefs will keep you stuck no matter how much you practice or hard you try.
  4. Improve or balance motivation for optimal performance. It’s important to look at your level of motivation and just why you are motivated to play your sport. Some motivators are better in the long-term than others. Athletes who are extrinsically motivated often play for the wrong reasons, such as the athlete who only participates in sports because of a parent. I work with athlete to help them adopt a healthy level of motivation and be motivated for the right reasons.
  5. Develop confidence post-injury. Some athletes find themselves fully prepared physically to get back into competition and practice, but mentally some scars remain. Injury can hurt confidence, generate doubt during competition, and cause a lack of focus. I help athletes mentally heal from injuries and deal with the fear of re-injury.
  6. To develop game-specific strategies and game plans. All great coaches employ game plans, race strategies, and course management skills to help athletes mentally prepare for competition. This is an area beyond developing basic mental skills in which a mental coach helps athletes and teams. This is very important in sports such as golf, racing, and many team sports.
  7. To identify and enter the “zone” more often. This incorporates everything I do in the mental side of sports. The overall aim is to help athletes enter the zone by developing foundational mental skills that can help athletes enter the zone more frequently. It’s impossible to play in the zone everyday, but you can set the conditions for it to happen more often.
I will add that sport psychology may not be appropriate for every athlete. Not every person who plays a sport wants to "improve performance." Sport psychology is probably not for recreation athletes who participate for the social component of a sport or do not spend time working on technique or fitness to improve performance. Young athletes whose parents want them to see a sports psychologist are not good candidate either. It’s very important that the athlete desires to improve his or her mental game without having the motive to satisfy a parent.Similarly, an athlete who sees a mental game expert only to satisfy a coach is not going to fully benefit from mental training.
Sports Psychology does apply to a wide variety of serious athletes. Most of my students (junior, high school, college, and professional athletes) are highly committed to excellence and seeing how far they can go in sports. They love competition and testing themselves against the best in their sport. They understand the importance of a positive attitude and mental toughness. These athletes want every possible advantage they can get including the mental edge over the competition.

About The Author
Dr. Patrick J. Cohn is a sports psychology expert and master mental game coach who works with athletes of all levels including amateur and professionals. Visit Peaksports.com to gain access to over 500 exclusive mental game articles, audio programs, and interviews with athletes and coaches to enhance your athletic potential:
www.peaksports.com/membership or call 888-742-7225

This Guy get's me fired up!



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With One you Must Have the Other

Don't Bet Against Lance Armstrong.....



The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Lance Armstrong
www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor
Health Care Crisis

....because you'll lose 99% of the time!


“Desire is the key to motivation, but it's determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek.”

 Mario Andretti 

Any guy that's not working with the same amount of intensity and passion that I do, I don't want to know.
Zakk Wylde



WOD  I AM Crossfit Challenge

3 Rds

400m Run
15 pull ups
7 135lb HC


Time 7:10
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Genetic Tests of Athletic Prowess — For Babies

Genetic Tests of Athletic Prowess — For Babies

Kidwithbat
A new genetic test offers to predict the sports at which a baby will someday excel. But even if the science were sound — it’s not — this might not be a good idea.
The $150 test, offered by Colorado-based Atlas Sports Genetics, looks at ACTN3, a gene that codes for fast-twitch muscle fiber. People with lots of fast-twitching muscle are ostensibly suited for "burst" sports like football or sprinting. Those with slow-twitch muscles ought to be better at endurance sports.
"Finding any great Olympic athlete normally takes years to determine," proclaims the company’s website. "What if we knew a part of the answer when we were born?"
But sporting achievement isn’t that simple. Theodore Friedmann, a University of California-San Diego gene therapist, told the New York Times that the test was "an opportunity to sell new versions of snake oil."
Hundreds of genes have been implicated in athletic success. ACTN3 is just one of these. (Sure, Jamaicans have disproportionately high levels of ACTN3 — but if that explains their Olympic dominance in 2008, what about their poor showing in 2004?)
These genes have yet to be connected with those other, equally important predictors of success, which go by the unscientific names  of "heart" and "smarts." A perfect example is Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia: slow, small, weak and fabulously successful.
"This kid can’t run. He’s not very strong. He’s 5′4", or whatever he is on a good day. He doesn’t have much fast twitch. He’s just a ballplayer," said his college baseball coach, Pat Murphy, in a Boston Globe story on Pedroia’s winning the American League’s Most Valuable Player Award.

But even if ACTN3 testing was completely accurate, able to predict athletic success before a baby had graduated from bottle-feeding to Gatorade, would it be desirable?  Becoming a professional athlete is only a little more realistic than becoming a rock star. Which isn’t to say people shouldn’t strive — but reaching the pinnacle is less important than the process itself.
The benefits of childhood sports take many forms: how to be a good teammate. Learning to perform under pressure. The satisfaction and self-confidence of overcoming adversity. The value of practice and self-discipline. Most important of all is simple fun. If a child doesn’t enjoy a sport, he or she should do something else.
Reading about the Atlas Sports Genetics test reminded me of a conversation I overheard last year at a local coffee shop. Two new parents were talking with a friend about what sport their baby boy would play. Basketball and football were out of the question, dad said: he’d never be big enough to succeed. The friend suggested tennis, but mom said that traveling across the country for high-level tournaments was too expensive.
The parents seemed like nice, thoughtful and genuinely supportive people. It just hadn’t occurred to them that their son might be fine picking a sport he liked, and playing it for fun.



My workout for the day:

5x max strict pull-ups 16,11,9,7,8
Power Cleans 135x3,185,195,205,215,225x3

5rds
10 True Pushups
10 Ring Dips
10 GHD Situps
Time 7:15....ring dips need improvement


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Indomitable Will

this article was taken from zen habits.net

Three Effective Ways to Enhance Your Willpower


Discipline is like a muscle. Work it out.
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Ian Newby-Clark of My Bad Habits.
Control yourself!” We all say it, mostly to ourselves. We say it when we ‘indulge’ in behaviors that cause short-term gain for long-term pain. And guilt. I cite many of the usual suspects: eating the wrong things, being lazy, staying up too late, drinking too much. There are others, of course. Why do we do such things? After all, aren’t we entirely in control of ourselves all of the time?
Nope.
Research tells us that willpower is a limited resource. Each of us only has so much of it. The studies demonstrating this are rather ingenious. I will share one of my favorites with you, though there are many more.
You are a student at a mid-Western university and you are in a psychology experiment apparently concerned with taste-testing. The experimenter seats you at a table. In front of you is a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. There is also a plate of radishes. Your stomach is growling because, as instructed, you didn’t eat anything last night.
The experimenter asks you to taste-test the radishes. You are not to taste the cookies. In fact, don’t even touch them! No cookies for you! Next, the experimenter asks you to help out another experimenter with a puzzle experiment. You start working on the puzzle. It’s rather hard …
Times passes …
You are having trouble solving the puzzle. Undeterred, you press on.
More time passes …
You still can’t solve the puzzle! You sometimes get close, but then you make a mistake and start over. Eventually, you give up. When the experiment is over, you learn a couple of interesting facts. First, the two experiments, taste-testing and puzzle-solving, were related. Those sneaky psychologists! Second, some people taste-tested the cookies. Lucky ducks!
Persisting at the frustratingly difficult puzzle takes willpower. But will the radish-eaters and cookie-eaters have the same amount of willpower? The experimenters think that the radish-eaters have less will-power than the cookie-eaters because the radish-eaters had to resist grabbing a cookie. So, the radish-eaters should give up on the puzzle sooner than the cookie-eaters. That’s what happened.
That study, and dozens of others like it, show that people only have so much willpower. When you have to control yourself, there is less willpower available to you for other parts of your life. This fact is a good one to know because people who lose their will-power often do things that they would rather not. They become aggressive, sexually impulsive, and give up too early on puzzles.
This has nothing to do with being physically tired. Your self-control is at low ebb when you are mentally exhausted. So, what lessons can we learn from what the science is telling us? How can we be in more and better control of ourselves more often? I have three tips:
1. Anticipate and plan for your times of low self-control. Now that you know that self-control is a limited resource and that depleting it means less for later, you can do some anticipating and planning. For example, make sure that you’re not in the chips and cookies aisle of the grocery store after a long day at work. Don’t start on your tax return after a frustrating commute.
2. Exercise your willpower muscle to get more of it. Roy Baumeister, one of the leading researchers in this field, thinks that willpower is like a muscle. Exercising a muscle in the short-term leads to its exhaustion. In the long-term, though, exercising a muscle causes it to grow. In fact, there is some good evidence that exercising your willpower, though temporarily depleting, means that it will be stronger in the long run. So, push yourself. Things to do that will deplete your willpower:
  • Work on a tough to solve puzzle;
  • Watch a funny movie but resist the urge to laugh;
  • Watch a sad movie but resist the urge to cry.
3. Drink some orange juice. It turns out that glucose is one of the key ingredients that your brain needs for effective self-control. Willpower. It’s not just for breakfast anymore!
I hope that you find my message enlightening and helpful. Some of you, I am sure, will be disappointed to learn that your capacity for self-control is less than infinite. You do have willpower, just not as much as you might like. But now you know how to get more!

I am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill. I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent. As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will. Mahatma Gandhi

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Intensity




Taken directly from Crossfit Football...

Gaining The Mental Edge Part II: Intensity
© Winning Edge Psychological Services, LLC

Intensity in competition is sought by athletes and desired by coaches. An intense athlete performs with purpose, single mindedness, and laser focused energy. One common misconception surrounding intensity is that there is a magical point of intensity that leads all athletes to great performances. This mistaken belief can lead coaches to giving the classic pre-game pep-talk to get the team psyched up. Unfortunately, the pre-game talk may help some athletes while annoying others. Research in the field of sport psychology has found that intensity exists at an optimal zone that is individual to each athlete. Each person has his/her level or zone of intensity where he/she performs best. Optimal intensity refers to the ideal level of physical and mental intensity that allows an athlete to perform his/her best (Taylor & Wilson, 2005).

One common reason that athletes seek out a sports psychologist is because they experience over intensity. Over intensity involves too much emotional, mental and physical energy. The athlete doubts his/her ability, focuses upon mistakes, feels nervous/anxious, feels stiff and has difficulty moving, and overall cannot perform as he/she does in practice. In essence, the overly intense athlete melts down. Although less common than over intensity, under intensity is when an athlete feels over confident, does not view a game as important, has low energy and low motivation to compete. In the under intensity scenario, the athlete may be playing down in a match or game where he/she expects to easily win. The good news is that sports psychology research has developed specific techniques to help the athlete over come both over-intensity and under-intensity.

When working with the over intense athlete, I first want the athlete to understand what is biologically happening to his/her thoughts, emotions, and body. Understanding what causes over intensity allows the athlete to understand his/her self and is the first step in regaining control. Comparison of past successful and unsuccessful performances offers initial insights into how the athlete behaves differently at different times. Together with their sports psychologist, the athlete looks for thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that lead to strong performances. Examining past performances also provides insight into what the athlete is thinking, feeling, and doing when he/she performs poorly. Armed with new knowledge about his/her performance, the athlete will develop a pre-competition routine that includes several key components. First the athlete will learn and practice the physical skills of deep breathing and muscle relaxation. The practiced skills of deep breathing and muscle relaxation allow the athlete to regain control of his/her body, which in turn stops them from fearing that he/she will lose control (of his/her thoughts, feelings, and body). Deep breathing and muscle relaxation need to become integrated into the athlete's daily practice routine.

Second, confidence skills that we discussed in Part I of Gaining The Mental Edge are integrated into the athletes daily practice routine and pre-game routine. Layering the perspective of confidence with positive thought skills directs the athlete to focused performance. Third the athlete needs to develop and then engage imagery of positive, focused, performance. Imagery often involves dipping into his/her positive image bank of past success to see and feel his/her past successes. Imagery (often called visualization) is not magical; it is a research based skill used to enhance athletic performance. The use of directed imagery before competition can help an athlete place his/her self closer to their optimal zone of intensity. Imagery will work if the athlete regularly uses imagery as part of his/her practice routine.

Fourth, athletes develop and enhance positive thought skills in order to effectively direct his/her focus. The use of positive thought skills keeps the athletes focused in the moment, reducing the possibility that his/her thoughts will drift to unproductive worry. The ability to re-direct focus during competition; remain on task and think positive is critical to optimal intensity. Finally, a sense of humor, an ability to laugh, smile and loosen up before a competition can be priceless. A coach, teammate, or family member's ability to help a tense athlete smile, and laugh can instantly shift the athlete from over-intense to a positive, relaxed and ready state.

The under intensity athlete requires a different direction of focus. Often the under intense athlete is not mentally or physically ready to take on a lesser opponent. The under intense athlete believes he/she should easily win, and underestimates the competitive task. Learning to direct focus in competition to personal goals and excellent technique helps the under intense athlete maintain focus. Directing focus to his/her technique, provides the athlete with concrete goals, and directs his/her intensity. Second, the under intense athlete needs to remember that he/she once beat higher ranked teams/players, and that every game/match matters. Consistency of performance is a developmental goal, and learning to focus intensity for every game/match is work. Intensity and consistency are mental skills that need to be practiced as much as physical skills do. Roger Federer (number one ranked men's tennis player in the world), perceives every match he plays as equally important. By maintaining this mindset, Federer is incredibly consistent and on his way to accruing a winning record that may see him become the most dominant male player in the history of tennis.

Confidence and intensity are work! No one will give them to your team or you. It is up to you as the athlete or coach to build them. Confidence and intensity are your job! Learn to build and maintain them and you will see your game rise to a new level.
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Tarzan

The kids and I watched Tarzan today, and I can't stop thinking about it! Me Tarzan....over and over in my head! The closer we get to becoming like Tarzan the better. Stop being soft.. stop being absorbed by materialistic things. We need to Fight for what we believe in, put family first.... throw away your T.V., play outside, limit the amount of time you spend on the computer. The closer we get to our primal roots the better. Keep in mind I do not believe we originated from gorillas, but since God did create everything, doesn't that make us all family?! Point is, another calender year has come and gone and I for one would rather be swinging through trees then watching T.V. dying a slow death....Use it or Lose it.



There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

- Albert Einstein
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2010...this is

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