Banzai Bowls, or more commonly known as Acai bowls have really come into fashion lately. At any minute of the day if you stop by the Banzai Bowl location on 17th in Costa Mesa you’ll see a crowd of hipsters hanging about in their pencil mustaches and cutoff jean shorts, nomming along on their bowls of blended fruit, coconut, granola, and honey.

Health nuts will also have you believe that there are magical healing powers in the acai berry, curative elements that will make you lose weight, never get sick, remove your back hair, whiten your teeth, etc. Let me tell you something, Crossfitter — here, come in a little closer so I don’t have to shout it — it’s all pseudoscience. It’s as much rubbish as the chiropractor telling you that he’ll cure your asthma by cracking your back.

OK, now that I’ve totally taken a dump on your favorite treat (now you’re hungry, eh?), let me pick you up and dust you off: eat them, friend, eat them. Blended bowls of fruit are a pretty good option if you’re choosing between two pieces of white bread, a coca cola and a bag of chips. But if your ultimate goal is to flense your body of fat, fruit is not your friend (more on that later from Steve). Here are a few tips if you must eat these calorie/carb dense treats:

1. Don’t eat them for breakfast. Start your day with some protein. Best to leave the heavy carb loading until you’ve gotten your workout in for the day.

2. Eat them WITH some protein (this rule applies for all carbohydrate consumption).

3. Moderation – Think of these as an indulgence.  I don’t even need to explain this one. You know what I mean.

More on the dangers of eating fruit while trying to lose weight coming from Steve in the next day or two.

WOD on!

Your brother in CrossFit,
Christopher Thomas Worden

WOD: “Grace”

For time:

30 Clean & Jerk (135/95lbs)

Notes:

Grace, oh how I loathe thee. This, I’ll admit, is one of those CrossFit workouts that’s right in my wheelhouse: short time domain, extremely high power output and if you do it right, over before you know it. Grace is also one of those great workouts that allows you to run the intensity REALLY HIGH because it’s a single modality from start to finish. Don’t wanna put the bar down? You don’t have to, just pin it all the way to 30 reps.

Which brings me to an important note on intensity.

Although CrossFit is notorious for extremely difficult workouts, some people often miss the point when they see something like 30 reps of a single lift. “Is that all we’re doing today?” they wonder. Here’s the thing, dear reader, CrossFit is three things, plain and simple:

1. Constantly Varied: New modalities and time domains all the time, routine is thy enemy, segmented training results in segmented working capacity.

2. Functional Movements: Multi-joint, core-to-extremity movements that move large loads long distance quickly, and efficiently.

3. Executed at High Intensity: Not just a fast heart rate, but respiratory system working in overdrive, the kind of workout that when you’re finished your breathing seems to speed up (EPOC).

Number one and two we as trainers can ensure that you’ll have in your CrossFit experience, number three is pretty much up to you. I can shout until I’m blue in the face, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to pick up the barbell any faster. It’s your choice at that point.

So here’s what I’ll leave you with: if you ever find yourself thinking “I wish CrossFit Costa Mesa would make their workouts harder” just step back for a minute and ask yourself if you’re truly working at as high an intensity as you possibly can. If you can make it through a full week of our programming, leaving everything out on the floor every day, finishing seeing spots and then come Sunday still want the workouts to be “harder” then we can talk about what “harder” really means to you.

Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Until the next time,
The Worden

WOD:

Divide 40,000 men/30,000 women by your body weight, then take that number and divide it by five. Then take this sum and use it as your rep count for the following movements in a chipper format:

Part 1:
- Box Jumps (24/20″)
- Burpees
- Squats
- Sit-ups
- Push-ups

Rest 3 Minutes

Part 2:
Row 1k

Notes: I’m back! Thanks for all of those in the gym tonight to welcome Erica and I back to Costa Mesa, we’re super excited to be in the box again mixing it up with the best people in Orange County. But on to the important stuff…

Today you had a chance to sit for a few minutes, mid workout and contemplate what was coming next. During that three minute period between the chipper and the row, what was going through your head? I can tell you that during my three minute rest I was thinking about how I didn’t push hard enough on the chipper, and that if I was going to walk out of that gym with my head held high I had to throw down on the rower.

I can tell you one thing with absolute certainly, CrossFitter: your mindset everything.

Next time you’re sitting at work, or at home, or whatever and it’s an hour before you’re to come to the gym, start to get your mental act together. I’m not going to get into any sort of any crazy mental prep strategies here, just going to tell you to start to get your shit together. You’ll maximize your experience in the gym if you come fully prepared to do battle.

Ok?

Links:

Read – Motivation, by Steve Dugger
Laugh – Dancing Merengue Dog
Eat – Paleo Recipes, by Lindsay Schuil

Just a reminder and an update about our Produce Boxes guys and gals.

1)  Kristan Bruce (Kristan@crossfitcostamesa.com) will be organizing and coordinating the delivery of your boxes.  We will have a sign up form in the gym and when you pick the dates you want, we will just charge your account for the boxes you want.  Easy Peezy!

2)  Because of Labor Day, expect the boxes to come Tuesday, September 7th.

Peace out!

Hey “party people,” I want to keep the knowledge blog relevant, so I’m asking for a little feedback from everyone…so0000, what do you want to know about?  Post thoughts to comments.

WOD: “The Circuit”

Warm Up
200m run
10x Wall Squat
10x Turkish Get-Up
5x forward leg swing (each side)
5x Backward leg swing (each side)
5x Side leg swing (each side)
2x through

then:

45 seconds at each station, 15 seconds to transition to the next
3 time through the circuit
1. Row
2. KB Rack hold
3. Hang Power Clean
4. Dead Hang
5. Burpee
6. Wall Sit
7. KB Swing
8 . Slosh-Pipe Hold

Notes:  We got some great feed back from the survey, thanks for taking the time to answer our 5 questions and be on the lookout for some upcoming additions to the gym.

The workout today was a last minute change, Saturday was initially going to be some thrusters and running, but we ended up doing a fun team WOD, with thrusters and running, so I went to an oldie-but-goodie in the tool bag, The Circuit.

The workout goes from movement to static hold.  Starting at the erg, we create a large oxygen debt, then restrict the breathing by holding heavy kettlebells over our chest, then season up the grip a bit for the dead-hang from the pull up bar.  At this station you will find it hard to breath too, that’s because hanging expands the intercostal muscles and limits their contraction thereby reducing your breathing again.  Then create a bit of an o2 demand again with the burpees, burn out the legs and mind with the wall sit, more 02 demand with the KB swings, finish with a core blaster holding the slosh pipe overhead.  A Slosh pipe is a 12 foot x 4 inch PVC pipe about 3/4ths full of water.  The big guy weighs about 45# although with evaperation it’s probably closer to 40 now, and the little guy, 3 inch diameter, started out weighing 35#.

I learned about the awesomeness of the slosh pipe from Mark Twight and Dan John in SLC.

In the end, the comments are usually centered on how hard the static holds are.  You get what you put in on this one, and when you give it, the static holds are remarkable, a great way to build mental toughness.

WOD: “Alec’s PWN House”

Mixing it up today.  It was time for a classic “Thrust Off”.

Teams of 5 (or 6) race to 600 Thrusters.

Each team designates an opening “runner” who runs 200m and upon their return can then send an opposing team member from any of the other 4 teams on a 200m run.  First team to accumulate 600 thrusters wins.

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