STRONG On Ramp!

1-22-2010

AMRAP in 20 min?
5 Knees to elbows
10 Box jumps 24/20″
15 Situps

Mobility:

4 sets hand bridge holds – 10-30 sec
Prone scorpions 5/5
Supine scorpions 1min/1min

Look what happened to Elle last night

elle strict pullup from CrossFit Portland on Vimeo.

Tomorrow, the first On Ramp of 2010 finishes with a retest of Baseline. Judging from their deadlift performance tonight, they are going to crush their previous times.

Megan, 168

Sarah 178

Eric and Jennifer, 205

Ari, 245

Cori, Sam, Aaron, and Sam all got 345 ???

Yesterday, I did a rotisserie chicken test from New seasons. How much meat do you get from one of those birds?

Cooked and intact bird – 36 oz
Meat Only – 25 oz. This was not super careful meat picking either, meat comes off easy.

$7.99 for 1.56 lbs of chicken meat, with skin. In regards to protein, this is in the neighborhood of 180-200 grams of protein. Enough for a fully grown adult male to feast on for a day if they are going for 1 gram protein – per lb of lean body mass – per day. According to 70sbig.com, you are not an adult male until you weigh at least 200 lbs, two large bills.

I used the bones to build a soup. Pot, oil, bones, salt, veggies, water, heat, and time.

Kale and carrots, chicken soup.

January 22, 2010 | Filed Under News | 10 Comments

You Are Benched, Seriously

1-21-2010

A1) Bench Press 5-5-5
A2) Weighted Pullup 1-1-1
(alt. with 2 min rests b/t each after warmup)
B1) AMRAP Press 75/45lbs
B2) AMRAP Ring Rows @ 4020 tempo
(3 sets ea, rest 90 sec b/t each)

Mobility:

3 rounds:
10 OH squat stretch w/bottom hold
5 slow wall slides

I wish I got a picture of this achievement last night. Tammy Y. did her first workout RX and it had her most dreaded exercise, running. At first, she asked me if she could scale because she hates running. If you’ve asked me that question in class, you know which direction I like to hedge people towards. So, she did it! As much as this was a physical accomplishment, it was a greater mental accomplishment. Now, when running comes up, Tammy might not like it, but she’ll know she did a 1 1/2 miles and probably could go for more. That’s confidence.

The Muscle Milk crew dropped on by last night and dropped off some samples. That was fun.

Emily, welcome to your first CrossFit class! Get yourself signed up for On Ramp and lets keep this going.

January 21, 2010 | Filed Under News | 5 Comments

Have You Heard ?

1-20-2010

Whether you eat Paleo or have not fully tried it yet (no dairy, legumes, grains – replace with veggies, fruit, and lean meats), I bet you have had discussions with your friends, co-workers, and family about it. More often than not, they think you are crazy and tell you to listen to your doctor, get your blood work checked, etc. You just wish there was a straight forward one-stop source of nutritional information that would explain Paleo well and accessible by anyone. Wish no longer!

Robb Wolf has started broadcasting podcasts called “Paleolithic Solutions”. Here is the link to the most current one. Not only is Robb scientifically informative, he delivers with humor, attitude, and sheer blunt force trauma. All of his podcasts are available for download on iTunes.

3 rounds for time:
Run 800m
Power clean x 15 135/95#

Mobility:

10 basic spinal rocks
10 spinal rocks into twist
7/7 shinbox switches

January 20, 2010 | Filed Under News | 1 Comment

Stay Connected

1-19-2010

1) Hang Power snatch + hang squat snatch + full squat snatch x 1+1+1.
7 sets, focus on technique.

2) 5 rounds for time:
6 Squats
3/3 Lunges
3/3 Jump Lunges
6 Jump Squats

Mobility:

Shinbox switches
Lying thread the needle
90/90 hip stretch
Pigeon pose

Congrats Laura on getting your Level 1 skills completed last night! Level 2???

Our second January On Ramp got going last night with an impressive start! The intensity was high, people pushed themselves to the limit, and most importantly supported their partners and fellow On Rampers in completing Baseline. I got a warm fuzzy feeling about this group

Excuse my great handwriting

January 19, 2010 | Filed Under News | 5 Comments

Who’s Who: Debra

1-18-2010

Lou Mars, member of CrossFit Norcal and professional drummer, has been drumming for over 5 days STRAIGHT! He is going for the record and trying to hit 120 hours. You’ve got to see it to believe it and send your energy & support to keep him going.

1) 10 min muscle-up practice, alternate w/ L-sit holds.

2) “Rhiannon”
AMRAP double unders in 10 min?

3) 100 med ball tosses for time. (100 each, mix your throws. If ball hits ground, 10 burpees each.)

For this next Who’s Who we have Debra. She recently took the time to write us a testimonial about her experiences here at the gym. Some of you who were not so athletic before Crossfit may identify with Debra’s story.

I was never an athlete. Active, yes, but not an athlete. Typical childhood activities: bicycling, rollerskating, dance lessons, softball. But I never excelled at anything. On a whim I went to a basketball tryout in junior high. I was not chosen. Surprise! I had never played, did not come from a sports family, and had no clue about how tryouts worked. I felt embarrassed at my public display of ineptitude. Which of course for a teenager is the most terrifying emotion possible. What was worse than not making the team was how it colored my view of sports and myself. I would not think of myself as athletic or tryout for anything competitive again. I went back to my comfort zone: biking or the occasional bout of running or lifting some light dumbbells at the gym and stayed there. For approximately the next 30 years.

Then 40 struck. Ok, I thought, I’m going to start running again. Be better. I worked up to a 5K and even improved my time a little. But then I started losing interest and all that effort fizzled away. I needed something different.

I started surfing for Portland gyms and found Crossfit. Hmm. Interesting. Now in other parts of my life I am not a shrinking violet. I have gone toe-to-toe with some tough guys without thinking twice to defend my team or my project at work. And if you threaten my cub this momma bear will tear your head off. But I spent two months looking at the website before I got the nerve to call. Those adolescent fears die hard.

The Paleo diet sold me. Prior to finding Crossfit I had begun to shift to a low carb diet and did not want some trainer telling me I needed to eat brown rice to survive. I finally called and made an appointment for an intro. Whew. The hardest part was over. I met with Rochelle and liked her immediately (who wouldn’t?) and signed up for OnRamp.

I wasn’t expecting to be the fastest- ha- or the strongest but I didn’t know I would be the slowest either. Teenage horror struck again; I was the fat slow kid in gym class! (I was relieved Crossfit does not make you choose teams to participate) The first few weeks I felt intimidated and down on myself. This time, however, I had the perspective of 40 years. I remembered my 11 year-old softball season, the one where we did not win one game, a la Bad News Bears. We missed easy grounders, struck out, and knocked into each trying to catch pop flies but we also had the most fun that season. Just the joy of running and playing and moving your body. So now when I get lapped even with a head start, I tap my inner Bad News Bear and laugh. This is the most fun workout I have had in a long time.

I still can’t shoot a basketball but I am an athlete.

How were you introduced to Crossfit? I found it surfing for Portland gyms.
Favorite WOD/lift: Snatch
I have always wanted to: live abroad
1 word people use to describe me: conscientious.
Outside of the gym I like to garden
Something nobody knows about me or would be surprised to know about me: I know how to polka
Favorite physical activity outside of Crossfit: bicycling
Favorite place to eat in Portland: Toro Bravo
Song that gets me pumped up for a workout: Would I Lie to You? by the Eurythmics
Proudest accomplishment: professionally: meeting a huge deadline while understaffed and under resourced, before my better allocated colleagues. Personally: my son Max