The gym.

WHY WE DON’T DO LOTS OF LONG MET-CONS

If you’re new to CrossFit Athens, you’re probably a little unsure about some things. Like, “Why do we do so much strength training?” And, “Why are the met-cons so short?”

I actually get these questions frequently. To answer your questions I’m going to borrow part of a great article from Melissa Urban at Whole9Life. If you’re not reading her blog, you should be. She’s a fabulous writer, strong as hell and still kicks ass on the met-cons.

“People often make misguided assumptions about CrossFit workouts based on what grabs their attention on paper. “Tough workouts”, “elite athletic training” and “high intensity” translates as high repetitions, endless rounds, a grab bag of exercises (often seemingly chosen at random), or some combination of the above. And there’s a trend, especially among those new to CrossFit and inexperienced with programming, to ride that met-con train all the way to Cortisol Crazytown.

I’m here to caution you… beware the lure of the Sexy Met-Con.

For some (especially those new to CrossFit), the lure of something like the Filthy Fifty or the “300” workout is undeniable. Hundreds of reps of various bad-ass exercises all in one workout? That MUST be good fitness. New trainees doing their own programming fall quickly into the Sexy Met-Con trap, piling on the reps, adding more and more exotic movements, needing an excessive amount of time to complete the workout. They get beyond creative, making up workouts so complicated that you need a map and a flashlight just to follow along.

It might be light, for now, but we're getting heavier all the time.

Trainees aren’t the only victims of the Sexy Met-Con pull. New coaches and affiliate owners fall into this trap as well. What looks like you put more effort into your programming – seven rounds of five different exercises with a complicated rep scheme, or “Back Squat 5×5”? What’s an easier group class workout – a 20 minute light-weight met-con, or a structured PMenu-style Olympic lifting session? This isn’t a dig on those coaches or affiliate owners – I get it. The pressure to get creative and put out fresh “unknowable” workouts every day is enormous. There is also a need (real or perceived) to drastically distinguish themselves from their Globo-Gym competition. Add in the pressure from clients to make them SWEAT so they feel like they’re getting what they pay for and the Sexy Met-Con becomes an easy go-to on all counts.

But while it’s an easy trap to fall into – some affiliates never bear-crawl out. I follow several gyms’ custom programming, just to keep an eye on what everyone else is doing. With one, I counted back a few months and found 22 days of met-con out of a month’s worth of programming. Twenty. Two… not including rest days. Another programmed “find your deadlift one rep max” workouts two months apart – without a single day of strength-oriented deadlifting in between. Sure, they did some light deadlifts during met-cons… but how much does your 1RM go up without putting the work in on your 5x5s?

Always working on getting stronger.

There are a few things wrong with this phenomenon. First, longer length met-cons (even those that go “heavy” for time) will not make you as strong as you could be. Sure, your cardio will improve, and you’ll most likely see some strength gains, but nowhere near the gains you’d see picking up heavy stuff with a tried-and-true 5×5, 3×5 and 3×3 protocol. (Of course, this point is only valid if you believe, as we do, that prioritizing strength is the most effective way to get better at everything.)

In addition, these types of workouts miss the bus by focusing on quantity at the expense of quality of movement. The never-ending pursuit of improved met-con “performance” overlooks the important component of quality-based training. You can learn your nine foundational movements in a group class and “practice” them in a chipper, but none of those movements (performed fast and loose, as these met-cons tend to inspire) prepare you for moving a real load. Sloppy air squats won’t translate to more weight on your back, and a hundred med ball cleans won’t prep you for a heavy clean and jerk. What you are doing, unfortunately, is reinforcing bad movement patterns for literally hundreds of repetitions. And that’s hard to recover from if and when you decide you want to start adding weight to the bar.

Strong = Better CrossFitter AND Harder to Kill

Want to be a better CrossFitter? Make sure your workouts are constantly varied, right? On first glance, these met-cons seem to fit the bill. The structure makes you THINK you’re working a good “constantly varied” program, with fresh-out-of-the-hopper movements and convoluted rep schemes. But “constantly varied” means more than just swapping out exercises in your 30 minute met-con. These Sexy Met-Cons work primarily one metabolic pathway, with a very limited range of strength and power. So all those randomized exercises and rep schemes, when contained within the same longer length, light-weight met-con, aren’t really variety at all.

But the biggest danger by far is this – these Sexy Met-Cons can quickly take a dive into “overkill” territory, where your training starts to hurt more than it helps. You can’t tell me that day after day of Filthy Fifties won’t produce a sharp decline in movement integrity, and the overuse of certain muscle groups, joints and tendons. (How many days of kipping, ring dips and push-ups can you do before your elbows starts to hurt?) In addition, the body goes into serious cortisol production around the half-hour mark, so these day in, day out, longer length workouts wreak all kinds of havoc on the body. These kind of met-cons (much like long distance “cardio”) are notorious for pushing people into over-trained territory, and where over-training lives, injury is soon to follow. (Not so awesome for you, but serious job security for [me].)

Don't worry. We still get our met-cons in.

But who wants to work a boring 5×5 when there are plenty of sexier workouts to choose from? I’ll tell you who. People who want to be stronger. Nothing builds muscle and strength like the big lifts – squat, press and deadlift – supplemented with gymnastics skills for core strength and low repetition Olympic lifts to develop explosive power. And I’m not taking a bunch of one rep maxes, either! Sets of 3’s and 5’s are your money-makers – where you train the body and build the strength. Missing your met-con? Work them in, but hit them hard and keep them short. Piling 30 minutes of “cardio” after a serious strength workout is, in a word, counterproductive. And for the love of Pavel, keep them simple. Thrusters and burpees, broad jumps and overhead carries, sprints and swings – all simple, all brutally effective”

Folks, it doesn’t get any simpler or better explained than that. Thanks, Melissa.

Due to overcrowding problems, doors will begin opening in the afternoon at 4:15 TODAY! First WOD will start at 4:45. Bring it.

DON’T FORGET ABOUT FGB5!

Who do you fight for?

Sept. 25 will be a big day for us. We will be participating with more than 600+ affiliates world wide to raise money for LIVESTRONG, The Wounded Warrior Fund, and The CrossFit Foundation. Go to the FGB5 website, sign up and start getting some donations! More info to come soon.

LET ME SEE YOUR WAR FACE!

You know the one I’m talking about. When the bar is so heavy you feel like your actually moving the earth. When your lungs are on fire, starving for oxygen, but you’ve only got 3 more burpees. When you’re 400 meters from the finish about to relive lunch and there is no way in hell you’re going to quit; not this close to the end. Check this one out:

Pretty sure that's a PR.

The Paleo Diet - So easy a caveman could. . . wait, he did!

Thanks to Josh for finding this great, FREE video of Dr. Cordain (the author and leading researcher of ) discussing the paleo diet. As Josh said, ” I plugged my mac into my TV and watched the whole series in HD on Sunday morning while folding laundry.  Nice FREE primer on Paleo eating and the reasons for it.”

Check it out here.

NEW HOURS

Starting next week CrossFit Athens will have new hours. Check it out:

• Doors will open in the afternoon at 4:30 with the first WOD starting at 5:00, Monday through Friday.
• The lunchtime workouts will move from Tuesday/Thursday to Monday/Wednesday/Friday at 12:30.
• We will be adding morning workouts to Monday/Wednesday/Friday. I need input from you! Several people have requested this option, so let me know which times work best; post to comments.

CROSSFITTERS IN ACTION

Keep up the great work! I know it’s hot and painfully humid right now. Don’t worry, October is around the corner. Keep drinking lots of water and hitting it hard. The better your diet is, the less the heat and humidity afffect your performance. Just think of it as your personal detox program.

Katie's war face.

Devin, Natalie and Ean doing overhead lunges.

Josh with a 45# overhead-one leg squat.

Click here to see the video!!

Ankur: "I'm going to get 15 rounds on this biotch!" Jennifer: "ROTFLMAO"

Megan getting 15 rounds on this biotch.

]]> http://crossfitathens.com/2010/08/18/great-paleo-primer/feed/ 14 http://crossfitathens.com/2010/08/14/at-the-gym/ http://crossfitathens.com/2010/08/14/at-the-gym/#comments Sat, 14 Aug 2010 13:57:31 +0000 adam http://crossfitathens.com/?p=915 Saturday Open Gym at the gym. 10am.

Watch out!

I just want to let everyone know that we have had a few prowler sightings near the gym. They’re reported as being covered from head to toe in black.

The Police department has advised that all persons in the area use extreme caution when venturing outside and to please report all suspicious activity to them immediately.

Oh, and don’t puke in the gym!

The inspiration.

The reality.

Ankur a.k.a. "The Italian Stallion"

"Dirty Mike Rowe" Brown

The GodFather

Tampa Luke

Josh "You-Can-Thank-Me-For-The-Prowlers" Martin

Darren's so cool we couldn't think of a nick name.

and Natalie said, "Josh, I hate you!"

and this is why the prowlers are all Josh's fault!

The one and only Robb Wolf. Paleo guru, bad ass trainer, and funniest science geek ever!

I’LL TELL YOU WHY

First, let me say that my knowledge of the Paleo diet is minuscule compared to Robb Wolf. He’ll be giving a Paleo seminar in Atlanta at BTB Fitness on September 11. I encourage everyone to attend. I’ll be going. You will learn more than you ever thought possible about gluten free living. Check it out! This WILL sell out fast.

So, why Paleo? Simple.

IT WORKS!

This is the easiest way that I know for anyone to lose weight, gain lean muscle mass, clear up skin issues, correct digestive track problems, sleep better, be mentally sharp, improve performance in the gym, improve performance outside of the gym, make aches and pains disappear, and become a total bad ass. I’m not exaggerating!

Yeah, that may be true Adam, but why does it work?

Good question. Let’s start by talking about inflammation. Everyone has twisted an ankle or a knee, sprained a wrist or pulled a muscle. These are all forms of acute inflammation. The body is inflamed because of something you did to it, but it will go away shortly.

On the other hand is chronic inflammation, or inflammation at a low level that lasts for a LONG time. Some examples would be arthritis, irritable bowl syndrome, diabetes, obesity, atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and cancer. This is a who’s who (or maybe what’s what?) of what you don’t want to have in your life!

Everyone has chronic inflammation in their body at some level; most likely in the gut. The researchers of the Paleo diet have traced most of this inflammation back to the way we eat. Specifically grains and dairy.This low level, chronic inflammation is correlated (I can’t say caused; yet) extremely highly with the aforementioned problems. The Paleo diet simply removes the foods that are causing the inflammation.

Bar graph illustrating the ratio of geologic time: 2,000,000 years vs. 10,000 years. These times are good representations of the magnitude of time of the Paleolithic Era foodstuffs of our ancestors as compared to the time our ancestral lineages have been on a Mass-Agriculture Diet. From Dr. Cordain's thepaleodiet.com

From a historical perspective, grains did not exist in the human diet until about 10,000 years ago. This may seem like a long time, but from an evolutionary stand point it’s a mere drop in the 55 gallon drum.

Basically, our bodies have not adapted to being able to process gluten, the protein found in grains. This causes a whole mess of problems which, for the time being, we will label as chronic low level inflammation. Reducing and eliminating this inflammation is where the Paleo diet is king.

For more information, check out the Paleodiet.com, and Robb Wolf’s website.

Still to come, even more awesomeness about the Pay-Lee-Oh diet.

THREE BARS OF DEATH ANYONE?

Check out Dustin and Taylor tackling “Linda”, aka the Three Bars of Death.

For time: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 reps of 1.5x BW Deadlift,

BW Bench Press

and 75% BW Cleans.

]]> http://crossfitathens.com/2010/08/06/why-pay-lee-oh/feed/ 2 http://crossfitathens.com/2010/08/04/a-little-filthy-50/ http://crossfitathens.com/2010/08/04/a-little-filthy-50/#comments Thu, 05 Aug 2010 00:13:33 +0000 adam http://crossfitathens.com/?p=881

The girls of the Filthy 50.

The guys of the Filthy 50.

Josh and Mike

Megan, Stephanie and Devin

Here’s what they did:
(from CrossFit Ballantyne)

Crossfit Ballantyne – Filthy Fifty from lenny noel on Vimeo.

Yummy! Fresh cow pie!

One of the largest factors of weight loss, muscle gain, CrossFit performance and overall feeling of well being is diet. I think Bill Cosby said it best with his book You Are What You Eat. How true. Eat like crap and you will not only feel like crap, but you’ll perform like crap too. What does crap feel like? Well, it’s kind of soft and squishy I’d imagine.

One of the questions I get asked the most is, “What is this Puh-layo diet?”

The FDA food pyramid is cow pie friendly.

“Well,” I respond, “the Pay-Lee-Oh diet is really simple. You eat meat and veggies, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar.”

Then comes the inevitable, “What about grains?”
“Nope.”

“Even whole grains?”

“That’s still a grain.”

“So potatoes are good, right?”

“In small quantities, hence the ‘little starch.’”

“Oh. . . That sounds like it sucks.”

Fear not my friends, the Paleo Diet does not suck. It’s pretty darn tasty actually. Let’s go over a quick list of Paleo approved foods:

Lean Meat:

• Lean beef
• Flank steak
• Top sirloin steak
• Extra-lean hamburger (no more than 7% fat, extra fat drained off)
• London broil
• Chuck steak
• Lean veal
• Any other lean cut
• Lean pork
• Pork loin
• Pork chops
• Any other lean cut

Lean poultry (skin removed)

• Chicken breast
• Turkey breast
• Game hen breasts

Eggs

• Chicken (go for the enriched omega 3 variety)
• Duck
• Goose

Other meats

• Rabbit meat (any cut)
• Goat meat (any cut)

Organ meats

• Beef, lamb, pork, and chicken livers
• Beef, pork, and lamb tongues
• Beef, lamb, and pork marrow
• Beef, lamb, and pork “sweetbreads”

Game meat

• Alligator
• Bear
• Bison (buffalo)
• Caribou
• Elk
• Emu
• Goose
• Kangaroo
• Muscovy duck
• New Zealand cervena deer
• Ostrich
• Pheasant
• Quail
• Rattlesnake
• Reindeer
• Squab
• Turtle
• Venison
• Wild boar
• Wild turkey

Fish

• Bass
• Bluefish
• Cod
• Drum
• Eel
• Flatfish
• Grouper
• Haddock
• Halibut
• Herring
• Mackerel
• Monkfish
• Mullet
• Northern pike
• Orange roughy
• Perch
• Red snapper
• Rockfish
• Salmon
• Scrod
• Shark
• Striped bass
• Sunfish
• Tilapia
• Trout
• Tuna
• Turbot
• Walleye
• Any other commercially available fish

Shellfish

• Abalone
• Clams
• Crab
• Crayfish
• Lobster
• Mussels
• Oysters
• Scallops
• Shrimp

Fruit

• Apple
• Apricot
• Avocado
• Banana
• Blackberries
• Blueberries
• Boysenberries
• Cantaloupe
• Carambola
• Cassava melon
• Cherimoya
• Cherries
• Cranberries
• Figs
• Gooseberries
• Grapefruit
• Grapes
• Guava
• Honeydew melon
• Kiwi
• Lemon
• Lime
• Lychee
• Mango
• Nectarine
• Orange
• Papaya
• Passion fruit
• Peaches
• Pears
• Persimmon
• Pineapple
• Plums
• Pomegranate
• Raspberries
• Rhubarb
• Star fruit
• Strawberries
• Tangerine
• Watermelon
• All other fruits

Vegetables

• Artichoke
• Asparagus
• Beet greens
• Beets
• Bell peppers
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Celery
• Collards
• Cucumber
• Dandelion
• Eggplant
• Endive
• Green onions
• Kale
• Kohlrabi
• Lettuce
• Mushrooms
• Mustard greens
• Onions
• Parsley
• Parsnip
• Peppers (all kinds)
• Pumpkin
• Purslane
• Radish
• Rutabaga
• Seaweed
• Spinach
• Squash (all kinds)
• Swiss chard
• Tomatillos
• Tomato (actually a fruit, but most people think of it as a vegetable)
• Turnip greens
• Turnips
• Watercress

Nuts and Seeds

• Almonds
• Brazil nuts
• Cashews
• Chestnuts
• Hazelnuts (filberts)
• Macadamia nuts
• Pecans
• Pine nuts
• Pistachios (unsalted)
• Pumpkin seeds
• Sesame seeds
• Sunflower seeds
• Walnuts
  (from CrossFit CenterMass)

Stay tuned for Why Pay-Lee-Oh?

Zach working his hang snatch and looking ripped!

Also, we are anticipating a lot of new faces this semester. CrossFit is growing and spreading faster than ever. If you see somebody new at the gym, please introduce yourself and welcome them into the family!

Upcoming events:

• FGB 5 fundraiser. Sign up and start begging people for money. Greeks, I need help from you! More info to come.
• Fall Paleo challenge
• Fall Performance challenge. Have an idea for a Challenge WOD? Let me hear it. (This will be the second one for the fall. FGB5 will be the first one)

Now for something tasty!

(From Marks Daily Apple; so much good stuff!)

A coating of nuts fried in oil gives a skinless piece of meat like chicken cutlet the fatty richness that’s missing. Plus, the extra protein from the nuts is so satisfying that you’ll find yourself getting full without overeating. This means there might be leftovers, which is a lucky predicament that’s easily taken care of… Jeanne’s fried chicken just happens to be fantastic over salad the next day.

• 2 chicken cutlets
• 4 eggs
• 4 cups raw, unsalted nuts of your choice
• 1/2 cup finely chopped herbs of your choice
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup cooking oil of your choice
• 1 avocado, sliced
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Continue Here