The economy, the economy, the economy: Americans seem able to think of little else. How could they? The negative reports on job losses, tanking investments, housing prices and consumer confidence keep coming, leaving us not just unwilling to spend but stressed-out and fearful, and that stress takes a toll, on sleep, mood, physical health, relationships, diet (and thus weight) and, perhaps, our willingness to indulge in favorite vices. The correlation between economic uncertainty and personal health is not clear. What follows are several articles that take a statistical look at how Americans are faring.
-- Los Angeles Times

With the economy in shambles and everyone feeling stressed out these days, I find that it's now more important than ever to focus on your health through diet and exercise. A good workout will help reduce your stress, help you sleep better, help you maintain or lose unhealthy weight and will provide you with something to take your mind off the current state of the country.



Workout of the Day
1 mile run for time:
Rest 5 mins.
AMRAP in 20 mins
250m Row
12 Pull-ups
9 KB Swings

“Fun Vs Chore: Observation of a Torture Chamber Supervisor”

Have you ever been on a bike trail, enjoying the day, biking fast and having fun, when you fly by two massively overweight ladies with their seats too low, knees hitting their chins, biking at the speed of a turtle on tranquilizers? How do we know they’re riding for fitness (besides the fact that they don’t look like they’re having fun)? They have the same look on their faces as all the folks on the treadmill-stairclimber-elliptical machine at every Globo gym.

One of the things that I’ve been noticing for a while - is that CrossFit attracts people that are not afraid to behave like children: learn and dare to try new things, make mistakes, smile and have fun while pushing to the limits at the same time.

Compare a children’s playground to a Globo Gym - one is a fun enviroment, where limits are found and boundaries are pushed, unless they will make all playgrounds super safe and Idiot proof. Let’s pray they keep them “dangerous”, where you don’t need a canopy over your head and rubberized matting everywhere. There’s nothing wrong with scratches and scabs. The other place is generally boring, with very little changes to the behavior, appearance and limits of it’s visitors. And don’t forget the Backstreet Boys as your “uber-fired-up-get-going-at-6-am concerto”! Fitness improves on the playground, not so much in the “three sets of ten and cardio” domain.

Chore is the best way to describe fitness from the eyes of regular gym goers. Drag yourself there, 10 minute warm-up, no intensity, 5 minutes on various machines, then 30 minutes on the Super Crunch ABS-olutizer 6000 and then go home. Lather, rinse, repeat. 20 minutes slow cardio after the “workout” - optional.

And every time a kid comes into a CrossFit facility - they’re off to play with mats, rings, ropes, boxes. It’s the coolest thing. Adults are more reserved, but they’re no different. You have to try the pull-up bars, the rings, and drop some bumpers. We all have the inner child within us. We want to learn new stuff, try things that we’ve never done before, and we want to explore. Or life turns into a chore.

CrossFit is fun. That’s why it works so much better than anything else out there as a program to keep us fit, excited and focused.
Constantly varied, functional movements executed at high intensity is a smart way of saying “We’re going to have a sh*t-load of fun at the coolest modern age adult playground!”
Don’t be like the regular gym zombies and the ladies on the bikes.
-Courtsey of CrossFit Evolution - written by Leo Soubbotine


Check out this playground. I'm not sure where it is but, it sure looks like a blast!

Workout of the Day
"Murph"
1 mile run
100 pull-ups
200 push-ups
300 squats
1 mile run

The Sumo Deadlift High Pull is a classic Crossfit exercise. It's a total body exercise that incorporates all the muscles of the legs and the back. This moves helps teaches students how to properly use the power of the hips to generate vertical movement on an object (ie. the bar). Learning how to properly lift an object off the floor has tremendous real world application and is also an essential part of learning the Olympic lifts. Watch this video demonstration from Chris Lalanne to see the movement in action.


LaLanne Fitness - Powered by CrossFit "Sumo Deadlift High Pull" from LaLanne Fitness on Vimeo.

Workout of the Day
21-15-9 rep rounds for time of:
Sumo Deadlift High Pull
Pull-ups

I'm a firm believer that working out should be fun and to me Crossfit is fun. It's anything but routine, which helps keeps you interested. I grew up doing the standard 3 sets of 8-12 reps. Trust me...that can get quite monotonous. If I wanted, I could do Crossfit for an entire year without ever repeating a single Workout of the Day. Besides the variety and creative, the fun of Crossfit comes from the people. Suffering through a workout is much more enjoyable when doing it among friends, both old and new. So bring a friend or come make some new friends and let's add some fun to your fitness.



Workout of the Day
Warm-up
*Go buy a hoola hoop and practice for 5 mins. (Trust me it's fun!)
3rounds for time of:
100m sprint
25 push-ups
50m crab walk
25 sit-ups
50m bear crawl
25 squats
100m skipping

A very common misconception that I often hear from women, is that lifting weights will making them big and bulky and look like a man. Unless you're training like a bodybuilder and your goal is to put on mass, I guarantee its not going to happen. First, women don't produce testosterone, the key hormone in stimulating muscle growth. Second the volume of lighting and the amount of food a women would need to eat to start adding bulk is enormous. What will happen when a women or a man starts Crossfitting is they will build more lean muscle mass(very different from bulk). This lean body muscle will help burn body fat, especially while resting. And this is why so many Crossfitter have the "ripped" look that many people are seeking. However, the goal of Crossfit is not aesthetics, it's athletics or increased performance. The aesthetics is what we call a side-benefit.

Watch this video courtesy of Crossfit.com... On the Road to the 2009 Crossfit Games with Jocelyn Secundi


Courtesy of Crossfit.com

Workout of the Day
7rds for each exercise of 60 sec max reps:
Pull-ups
Thruster
1min rest between sets