CrossFit Sierra

Think of it as Constantly Varied

As of November 1, 2011 CrossFit Sierra will be closed for reorganization and retooling. A reopen date has yet to be established but we will continue to work to get it done. 

In the future our goal is to offer you a deeper selection of specialty training including beginner and experienced CF, basic training, basic strength training and Olyimpic lifting. Already in the works is a more resourceful and interactive website. Unfortunately, the timing of facility issues dictates a pause in the action.

Please check back often or Contact me with any questions.

Norm Rager

norm@crossfitsierra.com

Focus, Intensity, and Response

Do you have a particular movement that seems to elicit a response - maybe soreness, fatigue, general 'crap that was hard' - unlike others? 

For me, it's thrusters. Particularly moderate load, moderate volume.

Here's where I'm going with this...

I think a large part of the reason for this is the amount of focus required. A couple limitations I have demand I pay close attention so that the wheels don't come flying off. If that happens, intensity ceases and any response might be re-hab in the worst case. Not the response I was looking for. 

While you might think that intense focus would slow you down, I think for me it gives me the ability to move with more intensity via better ROM and relative speed throughout the reps. 

Now, the goal is to have that same focus regardless of the movement, load or rep-range. Regardless whether it's practice or performance, intense mental focus on the task is the 1st priority.

May 25, 2011

Workout of the Day

As many rounds as possible in 20 min:

12 squat clean 65/45

7 push-up

**these are light for a reason. be very picky and perfect in your movement

 

 

 

Hey You, Bacon gorger, yeah you!

God I love the stuff. Yes, those are Bacon wrapped scallops, an all-time favorite.... Ok, I'm back.

Now,  with all the counter-culture shawk-n-awe of these Paleo times I think many have forgotten a couple things. #1: Super heated fat in any form isn't good. It turns to the stuff that isn't really fit for much. As 'clean' as your cleanest 100% pastured raised, uncured, non-nitrate treated, yoga practicing bacon might be, smoking the holy crap out of it sends it a few giant leaps towards this side of toxic. Sorry. 

I'll let my uber-smart friends at Whole9 explain the technicalities, but what you thought might be a reach, 'EAT MORE BACON', is exactly that - and bad advice. People ran with 'eat as much fat as you want' when the Atkins diet was around - which wasn't really what he was advising, too. So, you're forgiven for your Bacon transgressions. Just find some other way to spread the love of eating real food. Bacon ain't it.   

Read the Post....The Bacon Bummer - Whole9life.com

"The Bummer Part

You see, bacon, however delicious it might be, has some downsides.  First, factory-farmed bacon (approximately 95% of the bacon purchased in the US, according to 2007 data) is, nutritionally speaking, garbage.  It’s the fattiest cut of an inhumanely treated, poorly fed, often sickly animal, and it’s loaded with unhealthy (i.e. contaminated) fats, preservatives and additives.  We’d venture to call it toxic meat, but then again, we love hyperbole. Nonetheless, we think nobody should eat factory-farmed bacon – ever.

Even in family farms where the animals are treated well, their diets are not always conducive to our optimal health. Even “pastured” pigs’ diets are often supplemented with corn, grains and soybeans. This makes this kind of pastured pork the equivalent of grain-fed cattle that get to eat a little bit of grass – and we would not designate that meat as optimally healthy for you. Because we believe high-quality, grass-finished, organic meat from ruminants (like beef, lamb and elk) is the most healthy protein source available, promoting lots of lesser quality meats like bacon – even from mostly pastured pork – doesn’t make much sense. (Nonetheless, this is not a case against pork. In a rotation of high-quality meats, 100% pastured, organic pork may have its place.)".......

Read the Post....The Bacon Bummer - Whole9life.com

Tuesday, May 24 2011

Workout of the Day

'Daniel' - this is a Hero benchmark WOD

for time:

50 Pull-ups

400 M Run

21 Thrusters 95lb/65lb

800 M run

21 Thrusters

400 M Run

50 Pullups

 

The Basics of Pose Running Techniques by Brian MacKenzie - CrossFit Journal

"What is the definition of good running technique? There isn;t one. But why? These are questions that Pose running's founder Dr. Nicolas Romanov has asked since 1979 and that I've been asking, well, since "shin splints" entered my personal lexicon. So what is good running style then?" photo courtesy of crossfit.com 

download the free article via journal.crossfit.com

As spring (I think this is spring) arrives and summer is soon on it's way we take a look a little more in-depth look at running technique. Efficient running is a 'skill' that with practice improves your ability to move better - more efficiently, and with less effort. Like other body-weight movements, running well is learning to move your body with competence throughout a range of motion. It can be broken down into specific skill progressions and practiced like anything else. 

May 23, 2011

Workout of the Day

5 rounds for time:

50 Meter waiter walk 45/30

10 Burpees

30 Sit-ups

 

 

The Other Big Deficit: Many Teens Fall Short On Sleep

May 16, 2011 - by Michelle Trudeau

Most high school students are chronically tired. They juggle school, sports, homework, chores, friends and family.

To meet all of these demands, surveys show, high schoolers usually stay up close to midnight on school nights. And then they have to get up early the next morning, typically around 6 or 6:30 a.m., to get to school on time, as most high schools start classes around 7:30 a.m.

By Friday, most teens are very tired, says Dr. Helene Emsellem, a sleep researcher with George Washington University in Washington, D.C. And then comes the weekend.

"Every parent of a teenager knows that if you try to get them up in the morning on the weekends, they're tired, grouchy, irritable.....

Read More HERE 

5/16/2011

Workout of the Day

Front Squat - 3, 3, 3, 3 @ 80% 1rm

Push press - 3, 3, 3, 3 @ 80% 1rm

Tabata Chaser - 8 rounds, 20 sec. work, 10 sec. rest for each. Score is lowest rep-round each.

Wall-ball

Sit-ups

Getting enough?

Water, what did you think I was talking about? That's a whole different post on recovery strategies and stress management. Anyway, back to water. 

It may not seem like it now, but odds are that you're thirsty. You just don't know it or think that you're starting to get hungry. That's a pretty common thing and a survival strategy that goes way back. See, back when we foraged (and not shopped) the available stuff usually had some nutrient content as well as water. Read Veg or fruit, even nuts have some moisture content as long as they're raw and not roasted with salt. These were survival strategies in the absence of a water source. And could keep you going for a while so that you can find water.

We usually have readily available water sources, but a tendency to eat something at the slightest hunger. And many times that snack is baked, processed, salty...anything but a nutritious watery option. Now, I'm not saying to deny yourself food by replacing it with water. What I am saying is that adequate hydration is AT LEAST AS IMPORTANT as quality food when considering your nutrition needs. Proper metabolic function including recovery rely on it as a catalyst and clear cognitive function is impossible without it. A dehydrated, weak and loopy-in-the-head forager's survival rate is low.

So, how do you know you're not hungry, just a little dehydrated? Here's a good baseline volume equation - 1/2 your body-weight in ounces daily. This is a baseline, not considering any training and/or environmental factors. I'm not a 'sipper', so to get the hang of it I just did the math, set my watch for intervals and made sure I was around a water source when the timer went off. Downed 8-10oz and went about my business. Try it - it really does make a difference!

5/11/2011

Workout of the Day

for time:

400M Run

50 Pull-ups

400M Run

50 Push-up

400M Run

50 Sit-ups

400M Run

50 Squats 

Cardio with a Barbell

Or a dumbell, box, KB, wall-ball, our options are many and varied. What's easy to forget is that anyone that hasn't experienced this type of work has no clue what we're talking about. Conventional gym activity is 1/2 hour or more on a piece of cardio equipment, then on to a body part or two segmented out on a machine. Sometimes a barbell is in action...slowly. Which is ok, strength work is good. 

My point is this. Mixing it up and turning things and 'convention' on their head is a good thing to do. The results prove it out every time. If you're ever in a position to explain to someone what we do, we mix it up. It's tough to explain but immediately understood once experienced.

Today's example:

5/10/2011

Workout of the Day

'Linda'

for time:

10, 9, 8, 7, 6......1

Deadlift (1.5X BW)

Bench press (BW)

Clean (.75 BW)

10 of each, 9 of each, and so on until 1 of each, scale loads of each bar to your capacity. Ring push-up sub for bench press. 

Damn you couplet

So innocent and unassuming with all that white-board around it. Just two movements, two very functional movements typically, just staring at you from the board saying 'come and get it'.

Then there's the choice - if you have the movements down will you choose a load that allows for maximum power output? Or will you accept a few extra minutes, test your strength and where your mechanics begin to fail. You know flailing all seizure-like isn't going to help - not efficient or safe at any load, but maybe if you just gut it out...

Yesterday was just that sort of opportunity. Either way you chose, or in the middle somewhere, it was brutal - that sort of brutal that's a very good thing, makes you better, and is fun in it's own little innocent couplet way.

Today we have another couplet to do. And that's the only similarity....you'll know what I mean soon.

May 5, 2011

Workout of the Day

AMRAP 12 minutes

40 Double-unders

10 Pistols

aka MFLD and MFCD 

Short and sweet

You're going to like the workout today. I promise. It will be the best day of training you've ever had and at just the right moment. You might be tired from training the last 3 days in a row, or this could be the 1st or 2nd day of your weekly cycle. It doesn't matter. Today will be the best. That's guaranteed. 

Attitude matters. 

Wednesday, May 4th 2011

Workout of the Day

for time:

21 -15 - 9

Push press (135/95)

Weighted pull-ups

"It's so hard when I have to, and so easy when I want to."
- Annie Gottlier

 

Weak

My back squat sucks. There I said it. It would be one thing if I was just leaning the damn thing and needed to gain a little experience but that's not the case. I just don't like them so I find ways to avoid the heavy days - Weaksauce. Front squat, overhead, zercher - I'm in, and actually I'm happy with those. Back squat? Efff. A total mental block with a bar on my back and as a consequence my numbers suck.

So here's the deal. I'm trying something new. This is the only lift I've somehow managed to put on an island all by itself and not associated improvement here with better overall athleticism. I know better. I've always been determined to improve the other squats to help with better bottom positions in the clean/snatch, etc. The back squat was delegated to that position of 'just getting stronger'. Why that hasn't been enough motivation for me I don't know. What I do know is that I'm not as strong as I could be...mentally. So, I'm going to work that angle, then be happy with the added strength. The old switcharoo. 

Here's how that went today. After the mid-morning class was over and gone, and during negotiations with myself over the thought of back squats and the soreness from the 'Filthy Fifty' yesterday I stopped the conversation.

Four words muttered to myself did the trick - Shut Up And Squat. I did and it went ok - not great, but what could I really expect? I did add 5 lbs to to a barely remembered (and admittedly weak) PR , then backed off for the final 2 singles. There won't be any red #s for a while but it's a start.

May 3, 2011

Workout of the Day

Back squat

Warm-up sets - 1X5 @ 40% 1Rm, 1X5 @ 50, 1X3 @ 60, 1X3 @70

Work sets - 7X1 - Heavy singles 90%+ - new PR? Squat it if you got it.