I bet a lot of you guys think that I’m just lazy and hate to shave, and thus have let my beard grow for the last few months.  Well I’m here to tell you today that my beard is actually a performance enhancing tool!  Turns out that people with beards actually perform better at altitude!  Check this out:

Beards Better at Altitude Say Scientists

Moral of the story: beware when challenging me or any of my bearded brethren to a high altitude match of physical prowess!

-Ryan

=============================================

Monday’s Benchmark WOD:

“Jackie”

Row 1Km
50 Thrusters (45/35)
30 Pull Ups

Compare to:

4/13/10,
1/24/11,
5/23/11,
10/3/11

Finally!  The big name scientists are starting to come around!  A big thanks to Marcia Macomberfor consistently forwarding on great articles.

UCSF Scientists Declare War on Sugar in Foods

-Ryan

=================================================

Friday’s WOD:

Snatch Pulls – 7 sets of 3 at 110-125% of 1RM snatch

Tabata Running

rest 1 minute

Tabata Sit Ups (scalable up to GHD)

You you Hard Core CrossFitters, wanna do a fun and muddy race in April? Let’s all head out to the Central Valley by Tracy, a place you never stop cuz it’s in the middle of nowhere, and tackle some obstacles and get muddy together. Info is here, and Sunday April 22 is the date. Let’s get a group and sign up now so we can have an early start time. Please leave a note in Comments if you want IN, and we will put our group together by February 10.

-Beth

________________________________________________________________

Handstand work

21-18-15-12-9-6-3
SDHP (75/52)
Push Jerk (75/52)

No Push pressing allowed!  Each rep must be a push jerk.

Does this woman look familiar to you? Myka Felt, Wine Country CrossFitter and 49er Gold Rush Cheerleader!

You GO Myka! We are so proud of YOU!

-Beth

_________________________________________________________________________

Back Squat:  Perform 3 sets of 5 reps at 85% + of your 1 rep max.

Zurcher Squats: 10, 10, 10 (start at about 50% of 1rm back squat)

Walking lunges with kettlebells or dumbells – 3 sets of 10 steps

As time allows – supplemental Ab work of coaches choice

POSE work

4 rounds:
400m Run
25 Pull Ups

I’ve posted this a couple of times before, but it bears repeating, especially after seeing some of the push ups around the gym this week. Get those shoulders rotated correctly and save them for life!

-Ryan

Monday’s Benchmark WOD:

Isabel

30 Snatches for time
Men 135#
Women 95#

Compare to 1/17/11, 5/16/11, 9/26/11

Romanian Deadlifts – Work up to heavy set of 5

Complete 7 rounds:

1 Run to Telephone pole
10 Clapping Push Ups
10 Nine Foot Touches

For the 9 foot touches: Rx’d = touch 9ft (our highest pullup bars (the cross bars))
Scale by lowering to something that is close to a 1rm jump

(Compare to 3/9/11)

A little over a year ago Matt Calcutt saw our sign out on Soscol Ave and happened by. Matt lives in Truckee with his wife Tina, and works at Squaw Valley as ski patrol. He has over 20 years on the job there, so he has the liberty to work when the snow is fresh to throw dynamite, rescue skiers in distress, and of course ski the powder. When not found at Squaw on snow days he is in the back country, living it up!

Turns out Matt and I are from the same tribe as he has spent plenty of time in boats on rivers,  so we hit it off on the whitewater front as well as the CrossFit arena. He used to paddle a C-1, like the picture below shows, which is where you sit on your knees and use a paddle with one blade. In order to keep the knees in working order he decided kayaks were the way to go. He graduated to a two bladed paddle and we can no longer say “half the paddle and twice the man!”

Matt’s other job is as a CHP officer. He is a medic, and flies around in a helicopter with Pilot Dave Power (of the 6AM class) and chases villains and saves lives. He is stationed down here in Napa, which is why we get to have him with us at Wine Country CrossFit.

Matt also works out at CrossFit Blizzard when at home in Truckee, and his gains are substantial. In a year he has gone from doing jumping pull-ups to kipping pull-ups. His overhead squat was 22#, and is now #125. He does most workouts as prescribed, his deadlift is up to #390, and his CrossFit total is 805.  His goal in starting CrossFit was to lose weight and get stronger as staying fit over 40 was proving harder than expected. The “forced” group workouts and continual PR’s keep him inspired, and he reports  the greatest inspiration is continuing to maintain and improve in sports and outdoor activities despite the aging process.

He participated in the last Paleo Challenge, and though he didn’t win (he was .1% body fat point behind winner Gary Awai), he was certainly the biggest loser in every other way. During the 45 day challenge his total cholesterol dropped from 265 to 223, his LDL from 203 to 166, his triglycerides from 92 to 79. A regular sufferer of gout, he had no attacks and reduced his waistline. He cut out the beer entirely, minimized the other alcohol by 50%, ate tons of meat, and never felt better!

Thanks for working out with us Matt. Your quiet presence and progress is an inspiration to all.

-Beth

__________________________________________________________________

Press – 3×5

21-15-9
Slam Ball (50/25)
Burpees
Wall Balls (20/14)

A few thoughts from Coach Emilie!

Anyone else been getting the winter blues? I know – until just a few days ago we were having beautifully gorgeous sunny days, so what am I complaining about? But, if you’re at all like me, chances are you’ve been stuck inside at your desk, typing away at your computer. And with the sun rising so late and setting so early, it’s dark when I leave for work, and it’s dark when I get home! I get to a point where I despair and feel like I’ll never see the sun again! And it’s not just in my head – Seasonal Affective Disorder is a real condition that affects between 4 and 6 percent of Americans! But what I have come to find out is that if I take just a few minutes during the day to get outside and go for a walk, I get the hit of sunshine that I need to literally brighten my spirit. With the rain starting now, it may be a bit tricky to get out at the right time, but you don’t need hours of sunshine to get happy. I know that after only 5-10 minutes in the beautiful outdoors I start to feel much happier and healthier. Mark Sisson had a great “Dear Mark” post on the subject earlier this month. Check it out to get the down-low on SAD, and ways to counteract it and GET HAPPY!

__________________________________________________________

Front Squat – Find 1rm, reduce to 85% and complete 3 sets of 5.  On the third set, complete as many reps as possible.

Strict Pull Ups – 3x max reps

Ab work of your choice – 3 x sub maximal reps

Hey you Paleo enthusiasts, on Tuesday night at 10.30PM CBS/KPIX channel 5 is doing a special look at the Paleo diet and CrossFit. Set your DVR to record, and then share it with all your friends and family!

-Beth

______________________________________________________________

20 Deadlifts (275lbs)
Run 400m
20 KB swings (2pood)
Run 400m
20 Overhead Squats (115lbs)
Run 400m
20 Burpees
Run 400m
20 Pullups (Chest to Bar)
Run 400m
20 Box jumps (24″)
Run 400m
20 DB Squat Cleans (45lbs each)
Run 400m