How Heavy Can You Go?

Posted by Xi Xia on September 19, 2008 | Filed Under News | Leave a Comment 

Saturday 09-19-08
Clean Lift - challenge yourself to a heavy single. Checkout this video of heavy cleans from CrossFit.com

30 Light Hang Power Cleans
30 KTE
30 Double Unders

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Confessions Of A Paleo Weightlifter

Posted by Xi Xia on September 19, 2008 | Filed Under News | 5 Comments 

Travis’s “Buff Factory” diary has been missing in our lives the past couple of weeks. I use to wake up, fire up the bacon & cabbage on the stove, and sit down to absorb the latest developments in Travis’s paleo journey. It wasn’t just me but an entire Trav Nation found their day to be brightened by his waxing philosophical on Dr. No Carb bowls from Laughing Planet.

Rumor has it that Travis found a lady friend and was distracted from staying on the Paleo path. Fact - he did find a supportive lady friend but Paleo is now in him, more specifically his guts, and once it gets there, it doesn’t leave. While the food diary has been on pause, Travis has been reflecting deep about his transformation and now shares his discoveries with you. Enjoy.

Confessions of a Paleo Weightlifter:

My experiences at Portland Crossfit, aka “the buff factory” aka “das
uber clube des buff”, and as a recorded guinea pig of the paleo diet,
can be best characterized by borrowing a hilarious, yet made-up term:
“Scrumtralescent”.

I joined Crossfit in January of 2008. I was bulky. Some may have
described my physique as ‘fat’. I enjoyed thinking of myself as
lovable…with girth. My intentions were simple enough: find a regime
that promoted healthy living and stick with it. At the time, I had
mastered a lifestyle which at best could be described as dysfunctional.
I smoked cigarettes; drank excessively, and for the most part, devalued
what most people, including the Bush Administration, would deem as
‘acceptable living’.

My initial thought was to engross myself in a community that valued more
than ones’ capacity to drink 18 beers in one sitting, and to see what
happened. What I discovered, with some hard work and expert guidance,
was nothing short of miraculous. The first three months were rather
pedestrian. I would come to Crossfit thrice-a-week and perform the
prescribed workouts. Although challenging, they were not a big deal. I
was intimidated, but gradually, I began to see results: I was losing
weight and feeling stronger. The problem, however, was that I wasn’t
losing weight as rapidly as I had imagined. I was definitely getting
stronger, but my weight hovered in the same district. Fortunately, I
soon discovered that Crossfit is much more than a gym with simple
membership requirements. More than buff enthusiasts, the instructors are
nutritionalists that subscribe to a philosophy of living, a physical
‘filosophia di vie’ of sorts, which transcends simple exercise. Scott,
Xi Xia, and Rochelle are compassionate individuals and true exemplars of
the practices and ideologies which support what is commonly known as
‘Crossfit’. In other words, beyond providing the basics, i.e., the
simple guidance as to the proper form of exercise, they offer the
personal attention and dietary suggestions that are critical for those
(like myself) whom are impatient to see the results of hard work.

What began as a simple conversation of diet, soon transformed into a two
month public experiment: I was to commit to a ‘paleo’ or ‘ancestral’
diet which involved radically changing my eating habits — zero carbs,
high protein, massive amounts of vegetables, healthy fats, and kombucha
(not required, but delicious). Initially, the goal was to maintain and
record my diet for four weeks. However, I quickly discovered that the
combination of dietary governance and daily Crossfit workouts delivered
a potent effect. The support I received from the Portland Crossfit team,
in particular from my main man, Xi Xia, expanded the horizons of my
physical accomplishments. The four-week experiment soon morphed into an
eight week effort which has left me feeling stronger than ever and (as
of today) has resulted with 20 pounds of weight loss.

Portland Crossfit is by no means easy. The daily workouts are
intimidating at best. As a friend once said, “If I’m not scared by the
Work out Of the Day, it’s not worth doing.” I resonate with this
statement. I have now been an active member of the Portland Crossfit
community for nine months, and I can say with absolute certainty that
each day when I arrive for class I am scared. The reward, however, is in
the discovery that the goals are in fact, achievable. By completing the
prescribed workouts, we empower ourselves to take steps toward, albeit
inch by inch, the goal of becoming more fit individuals. My experiences
at Portland Crossfit have afforded new friendships, confidence in my
body-image, and a total weight loss of 35 pounds, and for that I am
eternally grateful. More importantly, I have maintained a commitment to
healthy eating habits and living; I have continued to be smoke-free; and
I have reaped the unexpected rewards of imagining that I have a chiseled
physique (psychological overconfidence and apparent narcissistic results
may vary). But for now, I will sleep soundly with my sincere thanks to
the Portland Crossfit Community for exemplifying what I believe to be
the true meaning of an imaginary yet provocative term: Scrumtralescent.

In buffness I remain,

Your Student For Life,

Travis



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Good Morning!

Posted by Xi Xia on September 18, 2008 | Filed Under News | Leave a Comment 

Friday 09-19-08

“Cindy”
20 minutes, how many rounds?
5 Pull Ups
10 Push Ups
15 Squats

We did a variation of Fight Gone Bad Thursday in preparation for next Saturday’s Fight Gone Bad Fundraiser. Sign up and join the team today. Sonja getting it done on the SDHP and wall balls!


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Fire It Up

Posted by Xi Xia on September 17, 2008 | Filed Under News | 1 Comment 

Thursday 09-18-08

2 minutes each station, 30 sec break between stations. max reps each station. 1 once through.

Rowing
Wall balls
box jumps
SDHP
Push Press

Sign Up for the Fight Gone Bad workout next Saturday, starting at 9 am! Join our team at the Athletes for a Cure website, help us raise donations towards our goal, and fire it up for Fight Gone Bad on Saturday, 9/27. Have friends curious about CrossFit? Have them sign up and they can do Fight Gone Bad with us for free.

Heavy deadlifts with heavy Turkish Get Ups. Lisa pulls a huge 250 tonight! Way to rip it off the floor girl.

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Heavy Day

Posted by Xi Xia on September 16, 2008 | Filed Under News | Leave a Comment 

Wednesday 9-17-08

Deadlift: Heavy 3 x 3
Heavy Turkish Get ups R 3 x5 , L 3 x 5.

Tuesday was the workout “Nancy” and it involves overhead squatting and running. Please comment and share your Nancy experience with us all:)

This is a fantastic workout - pinpoints weaknesses like shoulder and hip flexor flexibility, challenges one’s lactate threshold, and ability to express squat strength and run endurance at the same time.

Jay T. set a new gym record today with a time of 13:58! Way to go Jay. He also did a weighted pull up with 123 lbs but didn’t count it cause he only got his chin over the bar. I like those standards.


Not high enough…dang it, I have to lower my PR now.

If you have been thinking about checking out CrossFit Portland but feel like you need to “get in shape first”, here is a great example of how we scale our workouts so anyone can do it. We prescribe movements and exercises that will strengthen you from your core to your extremities. The overhead squat delivers this strength in a most effective way.

The load (the weight) is scaled appropriately for Sonja.




Introduction Gymnastics and Tumbling class was super fun tonight! Ramman helped everyone with a bunch of basic skills like cartwells, headstands, swinging on the parallel bars, pommel horse trips, etc. You should come check it out!


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Can’t Miss Nancy

Posted by Xi Xia on September 15, 2008 | Filed Under News | Leave a Comment 

Tuesday 09-16-08
“Nancy”
5 Rounds
400 M
15 Overhead Squats

Welcome to Jamie on his first CrossFit Portland workout. He did really well on the Dirty 30!

Jess made a huge PR last night with her front squat! This should give her even more confidence to clean and jerk her BW. She got up 122 and still had a few more pounds to squeeze out. That’s 107% of BW.

Who is that beast of a man in the far left? Yes, Jay’s back from China!



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