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Did you know there are many advanced medical tests that can give a very accurate picture of your present health?

The information from these tests can also be used to prevent many chronic diseases from happening in the first place. The bad news is that your doctor isn’t likely to ever order these tests for you, and may even be unaware of their existence.

One such test is a Gastro-Intestinal Panel and is utilized in an emerging field of medicine called Functional Medicine. More on this test later…

Certain MDs, naturopaths, and other health practitioners use functional medical tests to determine why you may be sick in the first place, then prescribe various things (only rarely drugs) that address the root cause.

This is unlike conventional Western medicine, which primarily looks to see if you’re already sick, and then gives you drugs to artificially manipulate the problem. Your symptoms may get better, but the cause of your sickness won’t have been addressed at all. As a result, your health may continue to decline, perhaps even faster now because of your additional need to detoxify the drugs.

Most chronic diseases are really just different manifestations of an underlying system-wide dysfunction. Disease will manifest differently in different people based on both individual circumstances and genetic differences. For example, a magnesium deficiency may show up as high blood pressure in one person, diabetes/obesity in another, and cancer from estrogen dominance (secondary to the magnesium deficiency) in a third.

When one system of the body isn’t functioning well, other systems won’t be working ideally either. This is because all of the body’s systems work in concert, and what one is doing affects all of the others. Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to determine the root causes when the operation of the body is so complex.

The good news is there is that there are tests available that can look into many different areas to determine if there are deficiencies, excesses, or other trouble going on. You can then make steps to correct it long before it manifests as a disease.

One such test is a Gastro-Intestinal Panel. They are a detailed look at your digestion and as digestion is foundational to your health and immunity, there is a lot that can be learned here.

An intestinal permeability test checks to see if your gut lining is allowing things through that shouldn’t get in, or if things that should be absorbed aren’t getting through. The ratios and types of gut bacteria, both good and bad, can also be checked. You’ll learn if you have any parasites, yeast, or fungus present. The test will even see if you are deficient in various digestive enzymes.

If you know the terrain of your GI tract, you can then take steps to repair it. An imbalance in gut bacteria or a leaky gut can lead to deficiencies, inability to lose or gain weight, and a host of autoimmune conditions.

Members, check your inbox for the rest of the article, which details a host of vital additional tests!

Many of you signed a commitment letter of intent to compete in 2011. Now its time to do it!

1. Get your credit card, you’ll need $20.
2. Go here: http://games.crossfit.com/
3. Click top, right hand corner. It’s red. It says “Sign in”
4. Create your account. You can make up your stats (except your bithday). Have fun with it.
5. Pay the people.
6. Select CrossFit Portland as your affiliate
7. JOIN OUR AFFILIATE TEAM FOR THE CROSSFIT OPENS!

In 21 days, the first step to the CrossFit Games Championship begins. It’s the way the top people qualify for Regionals and then the Games.

It’s also a chance for **everyone else** to compete in a world-wide, 5 week long, CrossFit competition. If last year was any indication, everyone who has the basic CrossFit skillset can play. It’s not just for firebreathing twenty-somethings.

You’ll be doing these WOD’s each week anyway, you may as well sign up and see where you rank in the gym, the region, and the world.

If you have no intentions of competing, just see this one more time and reconsider.

Benchmark Retest, Wednesday and Saturday

5 Weeks ago, we did the “Cerebus” benchmark test. Here are the previous logged results.

We retest this week, Wednesday and Saturday. With a twist…

You will be judged on WOD #1. Your fellow members will practice judging your reps and you will get practice accepting their decisions

During the Games Open, all Games workouts at the gym will need to be judged. We will have everyone practice beforehand.

Video for movement standards will be released tomorrow, Tuesday, on the blog.

Did you know there are many advanced medical tests that can give a very accurate picture of your present health status? Also, the information from these tests can be used to prevent many chronic diseases from ever happening in the first place?

These tests can also determine the root causes behind many nagging conditions such as chronic fatigue or inability to loose or gain weight.

The bad news is that your doctor isn’t likely to ever order these tests for you, and may even be unaware of their existence.

An emerging field of medicine is called Functional Medicine and the practitioners may be MDs, chiropractors, or naturopaths. They will use these tests to see why you may be sick in the first place, then prescribe various things (only rarely drugs) that address the root cause.

However, this is unlike conventional Western medicine that primarily looks to see if you are already sick, and then if you are, gives you drugs to artificially manipulate whatever the problem was.

The drugs will improve your symptoms, but the reason why you are sick has not been addressed! As a result, the health status of the body continues to decline, perhaps even faster now because of the additional need to detoxify the drugs.

In my next member article, I’ll detail some functional medical tests and how they can be used, plus give you resources to find practitioners. I’ll also describe how and why this is important for high level athletic performance.

Are you currently applying for entry-level police jobs, or considering joining the military, and want an extra edge with your fitness?

Or are you simply curious about what fitness tests the military and law enforcement imposes on their members?

If so, you should check out CrossFit Portland’s new Tactical Fitness coached by Brad Robertson!

CrossFit Portland Coach Brad Robertson is a decorated local law enforcement officer and Army Veteran. He is an instructor for the Oregon Physical Abilities Test (ORPAT), required for State of Oregon entry-level law enforcement officers.

As a former SWAT operator, he’s also familiar with the level of fitness necessary to excel in a tactical setting.

In CrossFit Portland Tactical Fitness, Coach Brad combines his CrossFit Level One coaching skills, his knowledge of military and law enforcement fitness testing, and real-world experience to better prepare athletes for a variety of fitness tests.

Athletes will learn critical exercises and methods to maximize their performance, especially on the ORPAT, but also on fitness tests given by the DEA, ATF, FBI, the US Marshals, and all branches of the military.

Additionally, the course will integrate basic self-defense tactics, team-building exercises, and long-term health education tips.

This course is open to everyone. All levels of fitness are welcome, though spots are limited to no more than 10 athletes. Enroll today!

This course will run for four weeks and is comprised of 12 one-hour classes. Class times will be 7:30pm Tuesdays and Thursdays and 8am Saturdays. The first class starts Tuesday, March 6 at 7:30pm.

CFPDX members receive a significant discount to enroll. Just use the coupon code “YellowBaja” and click here to enroll now!

A free orientation and meet-and-greet with Coach Brad will be held at the gym at 11am on Saturday, February 25. Come as you are or in athletic clothing to get a taste of the class! Reserve your spot for the orientation.

Be on the lookout for more updates on this new course to be offered at CrossFit Portland. Feel free to contact Coach Brad with questions.

The two day event featured many interesting challenges such as pair rowing (where the rowers were connected together) and the classic game of “Hooverball”, along with more standard Crossfit movements.

There are plenty of photos from the event on Cheryl Boatman’s facebook page.

She also got a great video of Erin and Adam playing a point of Hoover Ball. Click on the picture below to take you to the video on facebook.

By now, I know exactly how to explain the wonderful feminine changes CrossFit will produce.

Ladies, you have an exaggerated fear of your own muscles!!

Check out this girl’s CrossFit transformation. She added 9 lbs from weighing only 126. Heavier and WAY HOTTER!

What did we learn from this picture about CrossFit’s transformative power?

Will your butt get bigger? Yup
Will your arms get bigger? Yup
Will your shoulders get bigger? Yup
Will your waist and hips get smaller ? Yes!

Who do you really want to be?

The Smaller, Lighter less muscled and skinny fat you on the left or the 9 lbs Heavier, Bigger, more muscled and able to carry a man out of a fire on the right?

I’m talking to the girl on the right.

PIMST is an acronym standing for Poliquin Instant Muscle Strengthening Techniques. It is a collection of methods that can nearly instantly improve range of motion, neural recruitment of muscles (you’ll produce more force), and faster muscular contraction.

PIMST is a comprehensive integrative system of techniques developed by renowned coach Charles Poliquin. It utilizes muscle activation points, Chinese acupressure, and more, combined with years of practical development.


A PIMST practitioner is able to help you to instantly improve the following within minutes, that might otherwise take you 4-6 weeks to achieve:

• Joint Range of Motion (flexibility)
• Neural Drive (strength)
• Meridian Balance
• Fascia Release
• Postural Alignment

This may all sound pretty voodoo, but there is a very real mechanism at work here!

Think of it as re-setting your nervous system’s “software”.

In reality, much of your muscular inflexibility isn’t really muscles that are “short”. They actually CAN lengthen beyond what you may expect, but they won’t because your nervous system will not allow them to lengthen all the way.

This happens from a lack of full range movement over time. Your nervous system begins to assume that since you never touch your toes (for example) that it probably isn’t safe for you to do so. It then begins to keep your hamstrings chronically contracted so that you can’t lengthen them fully.

By doing conventional stretching, we are slowly, over time, able to convince the muscles to give us back a little bit of this range. However, there are many tricks we can employ to help this process.

One that you may be familiar with is contracting the muscle you are stretching, then relaxing it. The sudden lengthening that happens when you do this is your nervous system letting go a little bit.

PIMST uses some other neuromuscular “tricks” to relax the muscles and fascia and allow either instant range of motion improvements, or a stronger signal to the muscle to contract.

On some shoulder pre-hab exercises, we may be able to get 5-6 weeks worth of improvement in just one session. This is compared to doing it conventionally with stretching and weighted progressions.

On Day One of the seminar, we covered mostly the lower body. Lack of VMO recruitment (the teardrop part of the quads by the knee) is a common problem with athletes and the general population alike. Some of the techniques we learned can very quickly cause these muscles to fire better, reducing knee pain and improving performance. We also learned techniques for the glutes and hamstrings.

Day Two was focused on the shoulders. This is a trouble area for me, and it was pretty amazing to experience the instantly improved range of motion and strength improvements firsthand. We also learned some competition day strategies to prep the body and to peak performance.

PIMST is best done in a personal training environment. Stay tuned as we implement this into our practice here in the coming months!

If you are interested in a PIMST session now, please contact me (scott@crossfitportland.com) to schedule a personal training session.

When they first arrived and found a land devoid of the plant that we now scour from our lawns, they couldn’t imagine a life without what to them represented food (edible spring greens),medicine (root for liver and digestion) and wine (flowers).

CrossFit Portland member Karina Brown will be giving a seminar on herbal cold and flu prevention on January 28th. Full details of the seminar are here.

Who is Karina Brown, Herbal Healer?

I grew up in the forests and wetlands of the Pacific Northwest. In addition to a lifelong interest in plants and about 15 years of self study, I have spent the last three years studying with Portland-area plant teachers.

Most recently, I completed a one-year apprenticeship with Scott Kloos at The School of Forest Medicine. That included camping in various remote corners of Oregon, learning and harvesting native plants.

Before that,

In most cases, there is some space between the health issues the average, healthy person faces and serious sickness, where medical doctors, pharmaceuticals and surgery might be needed.

This space is the prime territory for herbs. Plant medicine excels at strengthening the body’s innate ability to heal itself, and to support the body through all the little road bumps in health. This approach can fortify the body and help prepare it for a time of serious sickness.

Our Paleolithic ancestors certainly had intimate relationships with each of the many plants they came into contact with on a daily basis. Without hospitals and antibiotics, it is undoubtable that they relied heavily on plants for their medicine.

We know that they got a substantial portion of their daily calories from greens, and these wild greens were probably much more bitter than today’s relentlessly hybridized greens and veggies. Bitterness signifies the presence of chemical constituents that improve digestion and liver function, among other things.

Most of the herbs I use are called “food grade herbs,” which means they are as safe to consume as food. I think adding herbs to the modern diet is a necessary part of the paleo diet.

I hope to see you at the seminar! Sign up here.

I also offer herbal consultations for all kinds of health challenges, including frequent colds and flus, fatigue, PMS, menopause, digestive issues, skin problems, back and joint pain, depression, anxiety, sleeplessness, recovery from surgery and many other issues.

Warm Up

Bar Complex, 10 reps of everything

Mobility

Lat stretch with stall bars or band
Cross leg sit stretch – 2 minutes

WOD

A. Deadlift to 1 RM in 15 Minutes
B. 12 minute AMRAP
+
10 Wallballs
5 Toes to bar

First, thanks to Jenn, ET, Lisa, Carolina, and Jessica for being the first group.

The first class in the Workshop was the 4-hour mini-clinic. This class taught the basic theory and drills that they would be doing over the next six weeks.

I took video of everyone’s running form during the six weeks and we worked on drills to improve their form. Each Saturday class had a video session to chart progress and give more feedback.

Here is a quick video showing a basic improvement over the course of the Workshop. ET went from heel striking in minimalist shoes to landing on the balls of her feet in the first 3 weeks of the workshop.

In the upcoming 6-week running skills workshop, participants will have on-road video sessions, as well as video gait analysis performed while on the “Dreadmill” – the Woodway Curve, an unpowered treadmill that allows the runner to set the pace.

The workshop participants were also given 6 weeks of cadence and drill homework, as well as an optional 6-week training document. Both the homework and secondary WODs were designed to further reinforce what was taught and reviewed in class. In addition to the official class, we settled on an informal track night.

The test at the end of the workshop was running the 2012 Resolution 5k. For some it was their first race, for others, it was a chance to test out their new wheels.

The truth of the matter is that a 5k run should be an easy workout for anyone who uses Crossfit as their base training. Anyone in a 201 class at Crossfit Portland is fit enough to run a 5k.

The benefit of the running workshop was to provide a basic level of running skill. Build the skill, then the intensity, and then the volume. In the 6 weeks of training that we did, we only just started to scratch the surface of what “endurance” running actually is.

The next Mini-Clinic and Workshop is going to start on February 11 at 11 a.m. The test race will be the Shamrock Run on March 18. If you have been wanting to learn more about running, here’s your chance. Click here to find out more.

Madoc Yng-Wong is a Level 2 POSE running coach, a certified Crossfit Level One trainer, a certified Crossfit Endurance trainer, and has attended the Crossfit Mobility seminar. He is available for private consultations as well – runyng@gmail.com