Too Much Protein Makes You Fat: Leucine Makes You Jacked...

   

Saturday...

More Saturday...

“Acting is a question of absorbing other people's personalities and adding some of your own experience.”

Sacrilege. Heresy. Rabble, Rabble, Rabble, Rabble. The ever typical reaction when you disparage protein in any way. Thankfully good things come to those who wait....or those who supplement. And there is too much of a good thing....at least when protein is involved.

You need not be ultimately aware of every action this little Macro-nutrient has within the body. A simple rudimentary explanation will do. Interesting this comes as a surprise to some. And tested gospel to a select few.

As you may recall from here, Protein is just amino acids strung together. Some are complete, meaning they have all they are capable of having, some are incomplete proteins like Soy and Nuts, meaning they are a portion of the whole. Obviously best to get the whole to call it protein. 

Having more muscle is a very fun and usually attractive way to be less fat. Having more muscle usually lends itself well to contractile potential meaning performance gets better. And having more muscle doesn't mean we are necessary bigger. It can simply mean better. All this can be achieved with those little wonderful Amino's. But like everything else, it's dose dependent.

WODing breaks down muscle. Eating protein introduces Amino Acids into the pool so the body then can use them repair said muscle. If twenty grams was good, thirty may have been better, and fifty may have been a touch too much. To much protein, unlike fat will glycate. Meaning it will turn to glucose through gluconeogenisis. As you know, glucose calls on insulin, insulin stores....yup fat. Therefore a dab will do ya, too much will screw ya.

What to do, what to do? Interestingly there is about 22 standard Amino's we contend with. Nine are essential, meaning we gotta eat to get em. Eleven are non-essentially meaning we will make em. The other two happen by way of internal mechanizing I will save for another post. The reason the excessive protein can be converted to glucose is because a whooping 18 out of the 20 amino's are glycogenic. Meaning they have the potential to become sugar, if they aren't needed elsewhere.

To ensure we remain in the green with our protein consumption allowing all of it to head towards rebuilding, not fattening may be as simple as one particular amino, timing, and cycling.

First start at no more than a gram of protein per pound of body-weight daily if your lean. If your not so lean go to one pound of lean body-weight. After you have your starting dose like everything else map your progress with BF measurements, the scale, the mirror, and WODs. After that, apply step two.

Leucine:

If you remember from above there are 18 glycogenic aminos. The other two, are ketogenic. Meaning they will be burned of as ketones...or fat. Leucine, and Lysine are the only two strictly ketogenic amino's, and Leucine in particular seems to make the whole lot of the amino's work a little better, Meaning we can take less, and earn more without the potential fat gain.

Leucine increases muscle protein synthesis up to ten times as much as other amino acids, with no chance of the possible glycation, making it very friendly to those looking to continue oodles of fat burning in our beloved ketogenic state.

Leucine seems to activate mTOR. An not to get to geeky on you, but if mTOR isn't activated, protein absorption, as muscle isn't very easy. However, with enough Leucine mTOR wakes up dedicating even the smallest amount of protien for the greater good. Making Leucine a sort of anabolic primer. 

So whats a good WODer to do? Try supplementing with 5 grams of the stuff pre-and post WOD. Hell take 5 grams with a meal or two. Wait. Then check the books. Did you get better, feel better, look better, have more energy? If that's a yes, keep Leucine as part of your arsenal. At the very least if you were living on 400 grams of protein a day, and just couldn't figure out why you can't see your abs...now you know.

Strength:

Deadlift

3,3,3,3,3

Chin-up

3,3,3,3,3

For Time:

15-Burpees

10-Deadlifts 185/275

3 Rounds

 Post time to comments.

Life, Not So Coincidental: Green lights, Rail-road Stops, School Zones...

  Min... 

"Relax, Your Right Where Your Suppose To Be."

Sometimes we forget all to easily. Sometimes taking a breath is more important than taking a step. Sometimes the best way to move is to realize currently, you are exactly where you are suppose to be.

Today you hit a red light. Most likely you stopped. Yesterday all you needed at the store was one thing...everyone in front of you needed one-hundred things...and they all had coupons. Tomorrow you will have exact change, no one will be in-line in front of you, and everyone will actually do their job efficiently, and every action puts you exactly where you were suppose to be...no matter how you perceived it.

In reality any and all stress you could possibly be feeling at this point comes entirrey from a preconceived notion of how you "thought" things should go. Followed by how they actually went. In reality there is no such thing as an externally stressful situation or we would all consider the exact same things stressful, and we all most certainly do not. In reality every bit of stress you feel, is internally created by your own perception not externally given. In reality, this is life saving...it means your totally in control. The difference is some folks revel in that simple truth. Others scare, run, and make excuses. And God only gives you so many opportunities, and only presents so many chances, then maybe he gets bored....best to stay exciting.

I could turn this straight into some bullshit life is cherry sundays and hand-holding throw-up-edness in the park...but it ain't. But it isn't the romps in the park that we live for. Can you immediacy recall the last time you had to dig out of misery, or pain, or discord. Im sure it is much more recent and much more vivid than your last memory of complete and utter serenity. We function best when we must overcome. We are simple interconnecting animals with muscle. When animals are caged they die inside. When muscles don't work, they atrophy. We are at our pinnacle when we must be better "now" than we were "then". But we need not view the now as negative. The now, and exactly how we got there was a gift to us weather we understand it or not, and maybe more importantly, it may be someone else's gift.

Everyday we are living on borrowed time. You are specifically placed here to do something. Something that is very much you and no one else's. And the reason the supposed asshole failed to turn and make the green light holding you back another five minutes could have prevented you from that seven car pile up down the road, ultimately allowing you to achieve whatever it is you are here for. Maybe you made the light, crashed into a pregnant mother and killed her child...maybe that child was the next Hitler.

The point of the story is, the more we think life is holding us up, the more stupid and selfish we prove ourselves to be. We are not on a path that is sidetracked by an excessive traffic jam...our path includes the traffic jam. It's when your jammed-that you need to look around. That currently stressful situation means your fighting whats happening, not looking for the purpose its happening in the first place. Stepping back and adjusting your gaze out of your ass works a lot better than shoving your head further up it. It's easy to do CPR on the dead, its much harder to save the living when your eyes are always on a mirror.

The moment you revel in the red light. When you begin to marvel at the meticulous. The time you finally start to believe nothing ever happened to you, but for you, then you can finally step out following your "call", not fighting it. Maybe all roads don't point to yes. Maybe there are only so many signs, speed bumps, and detours on the way we are allowed to take. Maybe fighting, complaining, and whining is what separates the successful from the dead. Maybe the dead fought against the path for too long. Maybe the conductor kicked them off the train because they simply wouldn't stop fighting the amazingness they were designed to have. Maybe hell is not living up to the potential you were created for.

Realizing your right where your supposed to should function as making you more determined to treat life as series of events leading to your climax, and you better damn well direct, produce and act well in the movie of your life. There isn't a sequel. 

Strength: 

Rest

For Score:

"Danny"

Compare Here

30-Box Jumps 20/24

20-Push Press 75/115

30-Pull-ups

AMRAP 20 Minutes

Post rounds and fractions to comments.

Die On Purpose...

King...

“Only the guy who isn't rowing has time to rock the boat.”

Every Saturday we steal a post. This week we dedicate our post thievery to living like your dying. Raptitude enlightens us with a delightful romp in the essence of no worries, no stress, no problem.

I think it’s really helpful to forget you exist, and often.

It sounds impossible, but it can be done.

Here’s an exercise I do sometimes to achieve that perspective:

Wherever I am, whatever location I am in, I picture the situation exactly as it would be if I wasn’t there. I just watch it like it’s a movie, and the people still in the scene are the actors. Or maybe there’s nobody around at all, it’s just an empty corner of the world sharing a moment with itself. Whatever the scene, it feels like I’m watching it remotely from some far-off theater. It’s all still happening, but I’m not there.

I absorb myself in the details of how it looks and sounds. The characters’ tones of voice, their gestures, the room around them, the background noise. I can let it be whatever it is without any apprehension, because I’m not there, so I have no means — or reason — to stop it or control it, or to wish it was different.

And something amazing happens: all of my concerns and interests just disappear. I watch the moment unfold however it pleases. No part of me is invested in the moment, it just becomes whatever it wills to be, and it doesn’t matter what happens. The effect is exhilarating and liberating. It seems to be quite a miracle that there is even something happening at all. And it’s always, always beautiful.

Think of it as dying on purpose.

Imagine you just died, right now. All of your responsibilities, relationships, plans and worries would vanish like they were never even real, and the world would go on perfectly fine without your input, just like it did before you existed. It’s nothing personal, just the plain truth.

Your hopes and worries never mattered anyway. They only appeared to be so critical because while you were alive you had the insidious (but normal) human habit of seeing things only insofar as they relate to you and your interests. 

Really, try this. Imagine you’ve died but you can still watch what happens. You can even wander around the house or the neighborhood like that. Suddenly, the spectacle of what happens is all that’s important, and how it might affect you has nothing to do with it whatsoever, because there is no you.

If you can achieve that mindset of being utterly absent — and it’s not difficult — you will experience no self-consciousness, no worries, no angst, no fear. Just stuff happening. Interesting stuff. Poetic and absurd and compelling all at the same time.

The sensation of “not being there” is one of utter clarity. It will feel as if you’ve dropped a weight you never knew you were carrying.

Once you get a feel for that state, you will realize how much of your everyday thoughts are not about what actually happens, but about what’s in it for you or not in it for you. Those thoughts are the source of all self-consciousness, fear, longing and existential pain.

There is no sufferer, so there is no suffering. Curiously, beauty survives.

You will find that what happens around you is always beautiful and painless if you can watch it without evaluating it against your personal interests. And that’s easy to do when you’re not there.

So die, often.

Strength:

Rest

For Time:

Rest

Blogging, Bragging, Doing, Talking, Living, Dying....

Maggie...

“Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do.”

Recently I was queried about why I blog about what I do, or rather what gives me the right. I figured I would push it back out there for others to view, see, comment, ignore. Especially the folks attending to their own blogs, on-line journals, articles, studies and the like. 

A blog can be many things to many people. It may truly simply be a reflection of the mood you are in when you read it, much more so than what it truly says. Like everything, if you bring perspective "A", to the table, you may very easily miss point "B". Or, conversely, you may come up with point "C". Either way, what was the goal, what was the outcome, why does it matter?

Some true Journalists are bloggers, some bloggers act like journalists, some just act like people. What I mean is a true journalist usually presents a point void of their opinion or real interpretation. They want the opinion the the reader to be their own, presenting a supposedly un-bias story. The goal of a blogger could be to rant. It could be to educate others. It could be to provoke action. It could be to promote un-bias journalistic activities. It could be all, or it could be none. It could be all opinion zero facts, it could be facts followed by opinion. It could be emotion. Bloggers need not be journalists, they tend to have more freedom.

Freedom, or Abuse:

Case in point. I have the supposed freedom to say "I" in our blog implying my personal feelings. I also have the supposed freedom to say what I want (kinda). Following suit, I have the time to write my opinions, beliefs, or studies. Does that mean I have too much time since others don't do the same? Does that mean I don't do what I say, even though I take the time to say it?  Or does it mean I care so profoundly in what I am trying to teach I make time, where others will not?

Bragging:

This leads bloggers to their next point. Are they stuck up their own ass when they say things like "I"?When I personally formulate a blog that has personal opinion, and expect others to read my lame ass view point, does that make me inherently arrogant and selfish for thinking people should read it? Are bloggers all around the world like myself selfishly trying to be read, exalted, celebrated, or are we hopping to un-selfishly be understood, because we think our opinion will help someone, anyone, everyone.

Best Writers:

Generally, we right best about what we know. Chuck Palahniuck spent many hours attending AA meetings, cancer gatherings, and self-help get-togethers before he penned one of the best novels ever...Fight Club. He knew his subject well. He just changed the name of the main character from himself, to a fictional figure.

Therefore are bloggers spending too much time talking about stuff? Or as the example above states, are they on the front line doing shit, then making the time to show their results to the masses? Maybe for fame. Maybe for fortune. Maybe to bragg. Maybe to help. I guess you would have to know the blogger to know the motivation, but the question does not change. 

Sitting behind your computer reporting back what you read is one thing. Spouting fiction to be used as gospel is another. Talking about shit you would never do is generally despicable. Living the life you simply describe via the web may not be admirable, but I bet at the very least it is helpful to someone who may have the same goals. And some of the main goals of this blog are;

-Fitness exploration-find the best way to produce the best performance.

-Looks-I wanna be cute, you wanna be cute, we all wanna feel pretty. I like abs, you like abs, we all cheer for muscles suck it up.

-Anarchy-truly I am no nihilist (anyone who says they are are not) but I dislike many things that are allowed to happen today, just as I am sure you do to. Simply because I believe in man. I want to reclaim our beauty, not condone bad behavior.

Help-I(there is that pro-noun again) want to feel like when I die, I tried something. Currently I experiment, study, read, try, fail, succeed over and over again. There is like a million ways to accomplish helping, and most of us who want to help others find at least one outlet, if not multiple. 

Document-might as well have a reference to all we do. Workouts, opinions, diets, fads. Whatever, its all fair game.

Everyone-this blog is supposed to be shared. The more authors the better. The more opinions the more learned. The more friends the more help. I hope whatever we choose to post keeps everyone learning and progressing.

Is it blogging or boasting? Is it worthless, or priceless? Are you educated or bored? If we do it, should we describe it, or keep the secret sauce? Is preaching selfish, or self-less? Weigh in below.

Strength:

Rest

For Score:

"Teams of Four"

30-WallBall (each)

then

1 Minute-Db Thrusters 25/35

1-Minute-Push-ups

1-Minute-Box Jumps

1-Minute Overhead Plate Lunges 25/45 

AMRAP 20 Minutes

*The entire team starts at Wall-ball one at a time until their 30 reps are completed. After they complete WB reps they address an open station and start adding reps to the team score. When each teammate has completed WB, they simply rotate on the minute until time is up accumulating reps. Score entire team total less wb.

Post reps and team to comments.

Life Broken Down: More Confusing Than Helpful....

Coleen...

Bryan...

“If you are lonely when you're alone, you are in bad company”

It is common human tendency to break things down to parts of the whole to see how things work. We dissect shit to see the insides. However, this dissection is usually death, and sometimes prevents us from understanding the whole. The whole may be the reason for the beauty in the first place, life not death.

Reductionism is a method which explains: to understand the whole we must study what makes it up. Nature for instance has many pieces and we supposedly can understand "nature" as an entirety, if we understand its constituents. But does that always hold true? Can we reduce everything and understand it better, or does that actually confuse us more? 

The first thing that throws off this breakdown is that anything complex, usually can be complex a million different ways all at once. Fitting things like Nature, Religion, CrossFit into some weird typeset that can be broken down, then puzzled back together the same way inherently eliminates the beauty we see to begin with. And the reason they can all hold such beauty is because they don't fit into our tightly woven opinions of puzzles with only have one way to fit together.

Take the bible for instance. Arguably there is one basic theme: Accept christ as your savior, thereby believing in the word and following it. However, if you break down the action of each prophet, disciple, or follower individually, you may find contradictions, opinions and puzzle pieces that as a stand alone, don't seem to fit all to well. That is of course when you try to look at beauty, or even the perfection which it is through very human, very broken eyes. When you see the big book as a totality, you no longer need to argue its parts.

The same applies for CrossFit workouts and Paleo diets. Of course they are much less a religion, and truly less beautiful than lifelong spirituality, but breaking it down applies all the same. And just as atheists who don't want to believe try to find ways to make it somehow less true, folks continue to argue CF for no better reason than to make them feel comfortable with what they are doing. Or not doing.

For instance, lazy crazies want to claim they don't do CrossFit because Olympic Lifting for time is insane, and dangerous. Alright, instead of breaking down one piece of a beautiful program, just change the names. If your some crazy Osama Bin Olympic about shit, just call it metabolic conditioning with a bar, call it floor to overhead. Leave Snatching for the olympics. Better? Of course not, thats insanely simple and far to logical.

Maybe your one of those sciencey types and I applaud you for it. I also dig the science behind our incredible exercise program, but I am much more interested in proving it with a bar, than a pen, and I am not talented enough with numbers to do what others at HQ are doing now. Science is just simply observation, and the best way to observe CF working isn't to read some study, its to sweat. Instead of complaining how three minutes isn't enough, try it. Then prove it wrong. Do what you do, then play with what we do. Did yours get better because of ours....or do you need science to tell you that you are fitter.

To really experience the beauty of nature, watching just the rainbow isn't as sweet as the storm before it. David killing a dude in the Bible so he can tag his wife is much less the magic the book has to teach than the totality of forgiveness and good the whole book contains. CrossFit is the best there is simply because if you break it down, it is much less CrossFit, than simply other sports, or techniques unified making one great fitness routine the best their is. And the best way to celebrate the whole, is leave it as remarkable as it is, no more assembly necessary, no dissection required.

 Strength:

Board Press

1,1,1,1,1

For Time:

25-Bears 65/95

25-Knees To Elbows

Post weight and time to comments.

Obligations: What Trainers, Soldiers, And Street Sweepers Have In Common...

 

Kara M...

Renee...

“One always dies too soon - or too late. And yet one's whole life is complete at that moment, with a line drawn neatly under it, ready for the summing up. You are - your life, and nothing else.”

Martin Luther King Jr once said and I paraphrase, "even if your a street sweeper, be the best street sweeper you can be". Essentially you are obligated to be the best you can possible be to those you agreed to work for. Even if you are less than passionate, you still are obligated.

I had a very confusing conversation with a trainer the other day about how they viewed their new affiliation with CrossFit. That conversation provoked me to question others as they spoke about their professions, and their attitudes, and passions or lack thereof for their current careers. This trainer was new to the affiliate scene and trying to get a wrangle at the kind of workload they may have, and what they should expect. After our conversation, I think I stressed them out more.

Personally, and professionally, in anything you put your name on. Any activity you receive compensation for. Any action you stand up for in some way, you must put your all in. To me it is inconceivable to offer your employer any less than 100%. If you can't bring yourself to this, you need a different job, or a disability check.

What does it mean to be a good trainer, a great street sweeper, a great soldier. It means dedication to your employer. In my case as a trainer, my employer is my athlete. I am supremely obligated to begin everyday with their best interest in mind, and end everyday and time with them ensuring they are ultimately aware of their value, and how even if I make them uncomfortable or pissed off I want the best for them, and I will do my best all the time, everyday to make sure they are cared for.

For instance, just recently an athlete handed my a check for my services. I declined payment. They were of course astounded. Embolden they questioned why I did not want compensation. I informed them, "over the past few months together I have yet to find a trigger to motivate you". A way into your psyche. Essentially I feel I have made you no better, and I don't accept donations. I may very well be an exercise whore looking for the next thing to make all my friends better, but I damn sure ain't no dime store hooker giving time to the highest bidder. I will bust my ass day in and day out for you, but you will work too, and if you fail to accept this responsibility myself, and other trainers should cut you all the same. This isn't exercise by association...I put in tons of work, so all you have to do is show up and give the effort.

The new trainer I spoke with said they just didn't want to spend the kind of time building a business that I had...and there was there problem. Training is not a business. Frankly anything you are passionate about isn't. Especially when humans are involved, humans you would call each and everyone of them friend. Training is making people better. Obligation is a deep seeded need you feel in yourself to be better, the best you can possibly be at your art, therefore ensuring all your friends who come to you can benefit as you so desperately want them to. Not because its some bullshit business, because its the right thing to do. Because obligations are from the heart, businesses are on paper.

I left my new friend with a gleam of hope. Maybe they have yet to see the face of someone when they get their first pull-up. Maybe they have yet to watch the mother of three smile as she trots around the block for her first unbroken 400 meters....ever. Maybe they have yet to see one of their young CFer's make a game winning tackle, or better yet take a horrible hit, and stand up unscathed. Maybe they still haven't measured the 20% loss in bodyfat that gets the young girl into her first prom dress, because last year she was too uncomfortable to go. Maybe they have yet to find a sleepless night because one of your friends got injured, and you know how bad that sucks, and how much you want to fix them. If you can witness any of these, and ever say your working....quit, this job ain't for you. If you don't feel compelled to pour your soul into seeing this everyday, then your soul ain't in it. If you want applauds join the theatre, good trainers, street sweepers and soldiers know what they do matters deep down, they don't need to be told.

Strength:

Rest

For Time:

10-Hang Power Snatch 55/85

10-Overhead Squat 55/85

10-Swings 35/55

10-Box Jumps 20/24

7 Rounds

Post time to comments

The Cardio Curse: How Exercising Makes You Fat...

 

Mindy...

JC...

“Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.”

How are you suppose to end a workout? Standing? Dying? Lying? Crying? Should you be utterly exhausted, ready for me, or eager to 5k your way to fame? The answer may be the difference in stubborn fat, and fat no-more.

 I'm not looking for blog traffic with a cute little post title like the one above. Or the ones titled, "5 easy ways to burn fat fast". That's bush league first grade tactics of bloggers trying to drive traffic home. No, I am more professing a truth. A truth as inconvenient as it may be, is till better than being wrong. And when fat loss is at the top of the goal list as it is for many CFers this new year. Or even during our Re-Comp Revolution it may not be popular to say...exercising make you fat".

Ok so that was a little tricky because if you read up to there you would most likely continue to see where this deranged asshole is going with saying such things that. You know I must have a catch....thankfully there is a catch. A big one. In fact a positive one for most exercisers, but maybe not so positive to addicted Cfer's.

If you will recall the reason CrossFit works so splendidly is because it relies heavily in the anaerobic pathway...or without oxygen. Essentially applying E.P.O.C (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption). Basically you don't have air when you WOD. So to "repair" for that loss of function your body "prepares" for the next time your going to do it. Burning off excess fat, utilizing glucose better, storing glycogen more efficiently. Building muscle. All very positive things that only occur during short bouts of intense work. In fact the Cooper Institute, which used to say the opposite, has come around to believe short intense bouts are a surefire way to health, as oppose to long aerobic working orders. Interestingly short makes you better at long, but not vice verse.

So where does that leave us with these lite jogs, the excessive treadmill time. The "cardio" to burn away the fat? Well that depends...can you hear me back there in the 80's with your leotards and puffy socks.

Does "cardio" burn calories? Of course. Living burns calories, but that doesn't make it efficient. And the recent dedication some folks are having to extra "cardio" isn't inherently bad, but it may very well be counterproductive if all your ducks weren't in a row before you made the decision to hop on a T-mill for the duration.

First and Foremost there is absolutely no need to perform extra cardio if your NOT ending your WODs an inch away from meeting your maker. Your results are a direct reflection of your intensity. And if your mechanics are there, and you consistency is-then make sure your attacking each WOD like a fat death row inmates last piece of cake, and watch the fat melt away.

Conversely, you will most assuredly stall your fat loss if you are attacking WOD after WOD, never really resting, and placing hours of the slow death (cardio) on top of that. Your body wants enough. After you have given it enough, give it a rest. Going above that will demonstrate fat gain in the majority of us, as opposed to the lose that the majority seek. If your a diligent WOD phenom who can't seem to drop a pound...back of the extra, and watch the pounds melt away.

Hours and hours of extra work seems like a large price to pay for eating a piece of candy. Sadly most of us think we can jog those extra pieces of pizza off. While it may be true, "cardio" does burn calories in the immediate, you can't exercise your way through a shitty diet. 

The next time you feel like scurrying along the treadmill like a caged gerbil make sure you have ass busted every WOD to date. Make sure that the WOD you just ended wasn't the sixth WOD of the week...and it's only Tuesday. Lastly make sure at least 80%, most likely more, of the food you put in your mouth was Paleo approved, carb free goodness. After all those standards are meet feel free to play with extra "cardio" here and there to enhance WOD results. The last thing you want is to be cursed with endless "cardio", thinking your doing yourself a solid, when in reality your just getting soft....thats the real curse.

Strength:

Rest

For Score:

"Blitzed By Tabata"

One Full Tabata of:

-Deadlifts for max weight moved

-Air Squat

-Jumping Pull-ups

-Situps

Post total weight moved on the deadlifts, and all reps from every other event to comments.

A Godfather Dies, A Nation Cries...

Jack LaLanne... 

"I can't die, that would ruin my image".

Last weekend Jack LaLanne left his legacy, teachings and example behind. Last weekend we lost the Godfather of fitness. Last weekend a hero died, and this post is dedicated to him.

"The only way to hurt the body...don't use it". Phrases like this forty years ago were not only unheard of, but controversial. Jack brought weight training to women and athletes long before it was popular, or proven to be beneficial. Folks were, and in some cases still are, afraid weight training makes women big and athletes slow. Thankfully, due to Jack's amazing example, we have all but eradicated those theories simply because they don't hold water. Chicks don't get big unless they eat big, and athletes who train optimally usually weigh the best weight for their sport.

Jack paved the way for exercise facilities, infomercials, presidential fitness test, and any other number of actives spawned from his era. Jack's unending dedication showed as one of the rare breed of folks today to actually practice what they preach. You couldn't argue shit with Jack, because he did exactly what he was asking you to. So common is the fat ass football coach, the diabetic basketball instructor, the near flat-lined phys-ed teacher that its only common kids grow up morbidly obese. Hell, most of the folks telling them to be healthy, are exactly the opposite. The picture of hypocrisy surrounds us, and Jack spent his days trying to fix it....and we thank him for it.

In today's time Jacks behavior is admirable, but not particularly uncommon. In his day however he was really treading up-hill with his nutritional approach, and lifestyle of fitness, but the coolest thing is that he didn't end it there.

Jack launched a T.V program in San Francisco. Eventually it spread like a virus nationwide. Then when Jack had his audience, he used his publicity vaulted by fitness to stress the importance of every other avenue of life he felt passionate about. And how fitness could help it. And how America was becoming, even in his day, a weak meager spooled nation eager to sit for nothing as opposed to standing for something. Jack saw what was coming and spent everyday of his life trying to change it. Sure he took people through workouts, but he stresses that they make a difference in others lives as well. That we teach healthy living to everyone around us. That we be the example other countries should follow and emulate, not the laughable example of deranged health we are today. Jack saw it coming, and he did everything he could to prevent it.

Jack worked out hours a day, everyday. He made it damn near 100 years from start to finish, and the whole lot of it was active, enjoyable, and fancy. Not dumbstruck, diseased and finishing the last twenty in a wheelchair. Jack was said to have made everyone around him happy, and more energetic, always getting people to move their asses, not die on them.

I think Jack would have been proud to see what we are doing today on his way out. I think Jack would be proud to see what CrossFit will become 10-20 years from now. CrossFit's all over the world are continuing his example. In fact Chris LaLanne, Jack's Grand-nephew carries on his work at LaLanne Fitness, also a CrossFit affiliate. Pay your respect below to the folks closet to jack, his wife, two sons, and Chris.  

We lost a role model in a world where there are not many. We lost the Godfather. We can make him proud by never sitting back on our heels, never giving in, and never taking the easy way out.

Strength:

Rest

For Time:

3-Floor To Overhead 135/185

5-Muscle-ups

10-Handstand Push-ups

3 Rounds

Post time to comments.

I'm On Hold....In Hell...

Holly Standing On Kara...

Darin Killing Nick...

“The more abstract the truth you wish to teach, the more you must allure the senses to it”

Do you ever feel like when your just getting somewhere with customer service, they ask you to hold? Do you ever have the feeling the next corner was the finish line, but something held you up? Has your worst days, your most hellish experiences prolonged by, "hold please".

I wager we are put on hold, be it phone, life, computer, career, relationships, simply because we allow ourselves to be; simply because we put so much of our self-worth on the outward opinion others have of us. I wager the reason our darkest days are so dark is because we are latching on to someone, any one willing to take us off of hold, instead of hanging up the %$#&ing phone and choosing a better way. Or better yet, some calls are better to be left un-made. 

Policy:

Take this scenario for instance. In emergency situations, life or death matters or comparable, there is still "policy" to be had. The powers that be will assure you the "policy" is for the good of the afflicted. But is it? Is the policy possible two-fold?  Meaning, sure 911 wants to help your ass....but they want to save their own as well.

 When did doing the right thing, become doing the right thing only if I know I will be cool when I do it, and have no recourse after I "try" to help. When did we turn into "policy" driven species instead of "heart" driven creatures. When did circumstance dictate, not only if help is warranted, but what level of help, and in the end, who really benefits from help in the first place.  

Bureaucracy:

Where policy ends, Bureaucracy begins. Policy is more a guide, or step by step process. Bureaucracy is more a hierarchy of rigid systems with red tape out the ass. 

Call your cell phone provider one time and you will see. Your first gatekeepers are the new employees on the job. Kids out sourced all over the world faking an english accent. If they can't figure it out, you guessed it, they put you on hold until the four to six monthers pick up. All in all if your issue is complex enough you will have to meet with quite a few blockades on your road to the A-team. And interestingly enough, that A-Team still answers to someone....we all do.

These levels of stacking department after department, politician after politician, and dial tone after dial tone may well have served to begin this great nation of ours. But damn sure enough if today it doesn't prevent most beauty from happening. That is of course if you try the tradition means of progression. Traditional meaning, two steps forward....hold...one step back.

Suffocation:

If you have stayed with me until now, then what I am trying to paint is a picture of human misery we are allowing ourselves to artfully be a part of. We have set so many rules up to protect our "stuff" it serves to put us on hold. On hold from our lives. On hold at the most importune times. On hold instead of free. Essentially suffocatinging all that is good inside us. All that was beautiful is now a %#$^ing 1970's recording played ad nauseum while we try to get comfortable six feet under. 

Great, that's all well and good you say, but how do I move forward? If your so good at spotting the shit, how do I clean it up????

Hang The Hell Up....

The only way to avoid un-ending policies, is to write your own, and then break them just because you can. The only way to ignore bureaucracy is to turn your back on it, but still be in it's way so they can watch you succeed despite them. The only way to prevent feeling inadequate, caged, buried, is to stop playing by rules that make us more like lawyers and less like humans. The only way to spend life on the edge absorbing all it has to offer, as opposed to the other end of a silent dial tone is to be human caring about humans...not consumers caring about stuff.

Sartre may have been almost spot on. Hell may very well be other people....people on the other line putting you on hold....forever.

 Strength:

Front Squat-12 Minute limit

1,1,1,1,1

Compare Here

Compare Here

Compare Here

rest 2 minutes

For Time:

12-Front Squats 95/135

25-Burpees

35-Double Unders

4 rounds

Post weight moved and time to comments.

Nine Steps To Perfect Health....

Bryan...

Franchise...

“I love to doubt as well as know.”

The following "Saturday Stolen Post" comes from one of my favorite, and most widely used blogs for criminalistic blog thievery. The Healthy Skeptic joins us yet again with a simple primer leading to nine activities for perfect health. Check back frequent to read more about the steps started below, and use this as an easy checklist to see if your actively trying to be as healthy as you can be. 

Those of you who’ve been following the blog for most of that time, or who’ve had the chance to go back and read a lot of those articles and special reports, probably have a pretty good idea of what my philosophy on health and nutrition is. But a lot of newer subscribers and visitors might benefit from a condensed summary of the ingredients I believe are essential to optimal health.

I often find myself wanting to refer to something like this – a quick primer that gives readers an overview of my approach – when I’m responding to comments or emails. Because let’s face it, not everyone has the time to go back and read 157 blog posts and 8 special reports to get a sense of what this blog is about.

I also want to create something that you all can easily share with friends and family who may be completely new to this stuff. In those cases I think it’s better to start with a broad, not-too-technical overview of the approach we discuss in more detail here.

With this in mind, I’m going to write a series called 9 Steps To Perfect Health. After I’m finished, I’m going to repurpose that series into an eBook and make it available for free. This way you and I will have something concise and easy to read to send to those loved ones who still think eating saturated fat causes heart disease, or that soy products are healthy alternatives to animal protein.

THE CONVENTIONAL APPROACH TO HEALTHCARE HAS FAILED

There’s no better or more important time to get this information out there. Our health continues to deteriorate at an alarming pace, and the incidence of chronic, degenerative disease is skyrocketing each year. Consider the following:

• Diabesity (obesity + diabetes) affects more than one billion people worldwide, including 100 million Americans and 50% of Americans over 65.
• More than half of Americans are overweight, and a full one-third are clinically obese.
• Recent reports suggest that  one-third of people born in 2010 will develop diabetes at some point in their lives.
• 9 out of 10 Americans will develop high blood pressure before they die.
• 4 out of 10 people who die each year in the U.S. die of heart disease, and rates of heart disease are projected to double in the next 50 years.
• Rates of infertility are expected to double in the next decade.
• According to the World Health Organization, depression is now the leading cause of disability, affecting more than 120 million people worldwide.

I could go on but I think you get the point. Our health is getting worse, not better.

Over the last 50 years the medical establishment has vigorously promoted a low-fat, high carbohydrate diet, claiming that it would protect us from heart disease and diabetes and make us healthier and happier. How has that worked out for us? The statistics above make it clear that the conventional approach has been a dismal failure that has not only failed to protect our health, but has directly contributed to the epidemic of modern disease.

ALL MODERN DISEASES SHARE A SIMILAR CAUSE

One of the most glaring mistakes conventional medicine makes is to assume that all of these modern diseases – diabetes, heart disease, depression, autoimmune disease, etc. – are unrelated conditions that don’t share a common cause. This is a convenient fiction created by the pharmaceutical industry (and perpetuated by the medical establishment) to sell more drugs.

The truth is that while these conditions do have unique features, they all share a common origin: the modern lifestyle. Poor diet, nutrient deficiencies, stress, lack of sleep, lack of or the wrong type of exercise, toxins and medications all directly contribute to the problems that are ruining our health.

The conventional approach is to treat each of these various problems with different drug, and ignore the fundamental factors that are at the root of all of them. That has been a stupendously unsuccessful approach. It’s time to replace it with a more holistic view of health, and to empower people to prevent and treat disease without unnecessary drugs or surgery.

INTRODUCING THE 9 STEPS

Here are the 9 steps we’ll be covering in the articles to follow:

1. Don’t eat toxins.
2. Nourish your body.
3. Control your blood sugar.
4. Supplement wisely.
5. Heal your gut.
6. Manage your stress.
7. Move every day.
8. Sleep more.
9. Practice pleasure.

Strength:

Rest

For Time:

Rest