Chris G. and one darn good accent, did I say accent? I meant squat!
Your Fitness Put to the Test Photo Contest.
Starting this Friday we will be conducting a "Your fitness put to the test photo contest". The contest will run the entire summer, restarting each week on Friday.
What: A photo of you using your fitness outside of the gym walls. Can be anywhere, doing anything. With: A minimum of four sentences telling us about the photo and your fitness. When: Each week we will close the week on Friday and announce last weeks winner on Tuesday. Winner: Each weeks winner receives $25 in cash, easy money! There is no limit to how many times you can win. Submissions: Must be in .jpg, must be turned in by Friday to be included in that weeks judging, must be you and sent to info@crossfitverve.com.
So get your cameras out and lets see how everybody is using their fitness this summer.
Spend a full day atCrossFit Vervewith Coach Carl Paoli ofGymnastics WOD and learn how to apply basic gymnastics, acrobatic and freestyle movement to your CrossFit training program. If you want to increase your agility, mobility, and the versatility in your CrossFit WODs, then this is the perfect seminar for you! This is an 8-hour seminar session, with a half hour lunch break.
Learning Process This seminar will be organized to deliver both lectures and practical sessions. Not only will you learn learn the foundational theories, but you will also get a chance to visualize and apply these concepts through active demonstrations. You will learn new skills from this seminar that are scalable and progressive, and Coach Carl will demonstrate these skills with safe, simple and easy-to-follow progressions that can be applied by anyone at any given level.
Takeaways You will be taught a wide variety of movements and techniques, including these and others: strength and conditioning, hand balancing, rings, bar, basic rolls and tumbling, freestyle movement, and trampolining.
About Coach Carl Carl Paoli is the owner and founder of Naka Athletics, based in San Francisco, CA. Naka is a company designed and created to specialize in Action Sports coaching. Naka focuses on helping freestyle athletes excel in everything from core basics to expert movements.As a former competitive elite gymnast, Carl Paoli leverages his knowledge, experience, and expertise to invigorate the world of Action Sports coaching and athletic development around the world.
If you are interested sign-up now as space is limited and running out, you do not need to be a CF Verve member to sign-up.
Exercise, Vitamin D, survival skills, and fun… what more could you ask for?
Summer is here and the rays are abundant! Despite our 300 days of annual sunshine, 50% of the population has a vitamin D deficiency? Now consider what our vitamin D levels would look like seasonally – especially mid-winter, when the last thing you want to do is go outside and expose your skin to the elements.
Inadequate levels of vitamin D are linked to decreased athletic performance, poor insulin sensativity, low testosterone levels, and inflammation. People with low levels of vitamin D are also at an increased risk for metabolic syndrome. None of these pathologies appeal to us, so we have a couple of recommendations for you.
First, check with your physician to see if vitamin D supplementation is right for you. This can be done with a simple blood panel with an additional vitamin D screening (which will be required for your next food challenge). Second, since it's summer and the weather has been fantastic, get your D the easy way – expose 40% of your skin to direct sunlight for 10 to 20 minutes daily. This will provide you with adequate levels and improve your sunny glow. Lastly, if you're stuck in an office chair with no hopes of getting into the sun – you can supplement with a 4,000 – 6,000 IU dosage daily.
Have a safe Independence Day!!! Only two classes today, so check the schedule and register on MBO.
A note on hydration, By K-Star the mobility mad man.
-Life is Full of Assumed Risk
I was lucky enough to head out into the great outdoors this week. Hopefully, you too have had opportunities this summer to find yourselves engaged in some outdoor sport or venture. On this particular day I was headed out on a climb in Eldorado canyon, with an old climbing partner. I feel extremely lucky that I can do this on a whim, it is miraculous really considering it’s been over three years since I’ve climbed with any consistency, but this post is not about that.
It’s about assumed risk. I’m using this example, because you would think it is obvious the risk involved with climbing a mountain, using ropes, harnesses, gear and heading upwards where any uncaught fall would be fatal, right? Nevertheless, I believe that we have created a society where we forget we have some assumed risk in all the happenings we engage in.
Take this headline for instance;
Man Burned at Burning Man
On June 30, the California Court of Appeal held that a man who was burned by the huge bonfire that ends the Burning Man festival each year could not sue the festival organizers. Anthony Beninati admitted he had intentionally walked into the fire, and that he had previously known fire was hot. But he argued, basically, that the organizers were negligent because they should not have let him approach the fire so closely.
Shocking I know, but it illustrates a point that we all have come to “assume”, no matter what we do, ALL risk has been mitigated. Regardless of the nature of the activity, or our desire to still do the activity.
I thought about this assumed risk multiple times while we were climbing that day. The climb was easy (much easier then the climbs the two of us had done in the past) and relatively short, it took us two hours to climb ~600 feet and longer to get down. Even so, the risk involved can not be denied and little reminders appeared throughout the day that this was in-fact risky.
My partner waited about thirty feet to place a piece of gear on the second pitch, I felt my safety knot slip and stopped while climbing to cinch it up, we didn’t exactly know the decent route, we did know that our rope was too short for the traditional rappel, the rope got stuck behind a boulder knotted under a flake 600 feet up(at which point I informed my partner that the only way out was to cut the rope), we only had 30oz of water at noon on a climb that was taking a few hours and so on.
The risks were apparent and sometimes glaring. But would we have chosen to remove all risk? We could have; my partner could have placed more gear, lowering the risk of a dangerous fall, but if he had done that, he would also have been decreasing our speed and efficiently (possibly leading to not only a longer climb but potential thunder storms in the late afternoon). We could have google earthed the decent route, but where is the adventure in that? We had both been on that rock before and assumed we’d figure it out once there. We could have brought more water, climbing would have been harder and slower. I could have tied a longer safety knot, but then it might have been too long and got caught up in the gear and on my harness. You get the point.
We can’t mitigate ALL risk without other consequences, some of those consequences directly related to our health and or the desire results. I could choose never to deadlift, or never to deadlift any significant weight, but what are the consequences and are those even riskier? A weak back and the real potential to herniating a disk while doing something as dangerous as bending over, not having the capacity to recover and now having a chronic back injury? I could choose never to climb, bike or drive a car.
You see the trick to mitigating risk is not by eliminating that which is risky, because it we eliminate all that is risky we eliminate not only fun, but all that is athleticism. Instead, mitigating risk is about making smart choices and knowing when risk is necessary to achieve the desired result. Believing in oneself, knowing ones limitation, understanding ones capacity, if you know this about yourself you will know when a risk is truly a risk. If you can be honest with yourself about this, you will not only have less risk, but more fun and guaranteed better results.
There is a 40 minute time cap on this workout so scale appropriately to get the work completed.
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Discussing shoulder and hip roll prior to the swimming WOD.
Tonight, Wednesday at 7:30pm we're hosting another "Nutrition Lecture" at Verve. Whether you're new to Zone/Paleo eating or have lost steam (and results), this is a great opportunity to get dialed in for these bikini body months ahead of us.
We will introduce you to the Zone and Paleolithic eating and discuss the foundations of a sound long term nutritional program. We will discuss timing and frequency of meals, sizing and portioning of meals specific to you (your body measurements, your activity level, and your goals). We'll also build a day's worth of meals and discuss how to make the most of every meal. Don't forget a notepad, a pen and an open mind!
Our nutrition lecture is free to all, so bring a friend, family, lover, or neighbor.
Swimming WOD reminder, this Sunday:
Swimming WOD's are so fun! This Sunday, three classes will be held at Berkely Pool (the outdoor pool). We will cover basic swimming technique including the pull, shoulder roll, breathing, and kicking. We will cement these techniques into your brain by running you through various drills that will help improve your swimming. Afterwards, we'll do a typical CrossFit WOD that will include, you guessed it, a swimming component.
Class size is limited, so sign up today on MBO to reserve yourself a spot. Cost is $10 per participant, which goes to the rental of the pool. You do not need to be a Verve athletes to join, just sign-up online.
Compare to May 14th, 2010 Post total load (all six) to comments. Team Verve showing their grrr face! Leah, Jorge, Amanda, Em, Greg, Jeff, Rich, and Mas. Honorary Ververs: Jen and Cody Gauer, Nate, and Peter.
This weekend, Verve athletes demonstrated again how awesome the CrossFit community is. Several Verve athletes and honorary Verve athletes came together to do the Tough Mudder. It was a 10 mile race up Beaver Creek Mountain with 25 obstacles. Some of the obstacles challenged your physical capacity, while others challenged you mentally. It was an adventure race that emphasized camaraderie, rather than getting the fastest time.
There were definitely examples of camaraderie shown this weekend. To our head cheerleader Amanda R, who never stopped encouraging all of us and the people that she passed–A job well done. To our water barrel saviors, Jeff, Rich, Nate, and Peter, who helped a women get her hair untangled from the barrel where she was only able to keep her mouth and nose above the 35 degree water. Needless to say, she was grateful. To our honorary Verve athlete Cody, who was not only the pace setter, but helped a young lady across the water after she had been clenching to the barrel for quite some time and starting to have signs of hypothermia. Jorge and Leah overcame the monkey bars of death together. Em and Greg conquered a grueling uphill portion of the race even after their blue smurf stain. And as a group, we finished the race with Verve chant before entering the live wire field of 10,000 volts. It was awesome!
All in all, the Verve team started together and ended together. A big thank you to Jen and Cody Gauer who flew in from Alaska to join us. What is up next for team Verve?
The Tabata interval is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest for 8 intervals.Tabata score is the least number of reps performed in any of the eight intervals. Unit for the row is "calories".
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Robyn Courtney and Sara at the 2011 SouthWest Regional.
Spectator t'shirts for the 2011 CrossFit Games are now on pre-sale. The shirts will be identical to what the atheltes wore at the regionals.
Shirt/Tank: White Front: Black drip V Back: "ChanFan" (squared) Cost: $25 for T's, $20 for the tanks
These must be ordered now, as we will only print what is pre-ordered. Order now on MBO. We will have them on-sale for one week only.
21 – 15 – 9 rep rounds for time of: Clean, 135#/95# Ring dips
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Flip, a bright addition to the family, getting his mobility done!
People often know what they want, but not what they need. – By CrossFit Lisbeth
They want a hot body, but they need discipline — in the gym and in the kitchen.
They want a bodyweight-plus snatch, but they need someone to help them get strong and to teach them how to really pull themselves under the bar.
They want a great-paying job, but they need to figure out what talent they have that is worth that money.
They want to be in love, but first, they need to be someone that people feel totally, phenomenally, exceedingly compelled to love. (And not in a “Oh, that poor thing” way. You don’t want to be the lost kitten on a rainy night. That stuff never lasts. Be the “Holy hell, I can’t wait to see her again” gal. Yeah, that’s a lot hotter.)
It’s really hard to know what you need. Often, you need helpers to guide you through what you need in order that you may get what you want. In CrossFit, sometimes it’s the coaches who are those helpers. And, sometimes, it’s other CrossFitters.
So how about you? Do you know what you want? And, perhaps more importantly, do you know what you need?
