Strong Mind

There will be no class on Monday at 6am.

There is a quote by Thomas Jefferson that states "A strong body makes for a strong mind." In order to change your body whether you are trying to get leaner or stronger it takes some mental toughness. What kind of mental toughness am I talking about? When the workout gets hard and you want to stop it takes some mental toughness to keep pushing and finish what you started. It also takes mental toughness to stick with your eating plan when you are surrounded by temptations. Changing your physique is not always easy and the mental toughness that you gain through your workouts and nutrition carries over into everything you do in life. Not only will you be mentally tough in the gym but in everything you try and do.

Workout of the Day
2 min sets of
jumprope
burpees
turkish get up sit ups
sumo high pull
rowing machine
wallball

What is Wrong with Magazine Fitness Programs

After spending some time with Alwyn Cosgrove one of the things that he talked about was how ridiculous it was that people followed the workouts in many of the major fitness magazines. He said that the articles that he and other trainers write for the magazines do not contain the actual workouts that they use with their clients. Why is this? He said that often times the magazines will approach him with a set article in mind and ask him to create a workout to fit the story. For instance, he was recently asked to write an article for a magazine that contained a workout that used only 6 bodyweight exercises. He says that the odds of him using this program with an actual client were not that high. He said that it could happen but that the odds were not that great. You have to remember that the programs in magazines are general programs that provide basic princples. They are not for everybody.

Workout of the Day
Backsquat 4x6
45 sec work/45 sec rest
reverse lunge, pullups, pushpress, hollow rocks
3 rounds

What is Your Weakest Link

Often times someone will come into our facility with a weak link and when that weak link is identified and corrected all their lifts tend to go up. This weak link could be caused by a lack of flexibility, mobility, or strength. An example of this would be someone with a weak core. If a person comes in who can do lunges with a good amount of weight but they cannot squat well it means that they have a weak core. The body is not allowing the person to squat a lot of weight because it wants to protect then spine. Your body will always try to protect itself and thus will not allow you to lift as much weight. Once you strengthen this persons core then their squats will improve. Once their squats improve their legs will get stronger and all of their other lifts will also improve. One of the secrets to a good program is working on your weaknesses. By eliminating your weaknesses you will be able to stimulate your muscles on a whole new level.

Yesterday's Top Performers
Male Bob 5;41
Female Ashley 5:41

Workout of the Day
Fundamentals Day (Practice Your Technique)
5 db snatch each arm + 5 sumo high pulls
2 min work/1min rest for 3 rounds

5 1 arm clean and press + 5 box jumps
2 min work/1 min rest for 3 rounds

Have A Goal

One of the biggest things that we went over at my seminar last week was goals. It is important to have a single goal that you are pursuing. Too often people have multiple goals that they are trying to accomplish and then they get overwhelmed by all of the things they are trying to do. Pick a goal and work hard to achieve it and once you have achieved it then pick another goal. One concept that Alwyn and Rachel went over is that when you are trying to accomplish something worthwhile your life is going to be slightly unbalanced. An example of this would be if you are trying to get leaner. Your life will not have the normal balance that it normally would have because you will have to focus quite a bit of attention on getting leaner. Once you reach your desired goal then you can restore the balance in your life.

Workout of the Day
Db Complex 4 x 5
Deadlift, Hang Clean, Thruster, lunge
2x20 Air squat, db swing, pushup, ring row

Posture

The average person today spends most of their time sitting down either driving or at a computer. This has caused most people to have poor posture in which their hips are tight, their glutes are not functioning properly, and their shoulders are rounded forward. In order to combat this we need to strengthen the muscles on the back side of the body and stretch the muscles on the front of the body.

Workout of the Day
6 deadlifts
8 pullups
10 burpees
4 rounds

Workout of the Day
30 seconds of work/ 15 seconds of rest
R leg lunge, L leg lunge, squat jumps, pushups, plank
6 rounds with 1 min rest between sets

Workout of the Day
1 min airsquat, pushups, pullup/ring row, rowing machine
Rest 1 min repeat for 4 rounds

Principles

Yesterday I spent my first day with Alwyn and Rachel Cosgrove. It was a very educational day. One of the main points that Alwyn tried to hammer home with us is that he preferes to teach principles. He teaches his clients the basic principles of working out and proper nutrition and then lets them take it from there. If you can understand the basic principles of what you are doing it makes everything easier. An example of this that he gave is that he would prefer to give his clients basic nutrition principles and let them pick which foods fall within the principles, rather than telling them which foods to eat.

Workout of the Day
Row 250 meters and then perform 5 rounds of 5 pullups, 10 burpees, 15 db swings

Friday's Top Performers
Male Neil 19+3 rounds
Female Ashley 21 rounds

Workout of the Day
Shoulder Press 5x1
Pushpress 5x3
Push jerk 5x5

Jogging

Schedule changes for next week
There will be no 12pm class on Monday and Wednesday of next week.
There will also be no class at 1pm on Friday of next week.
All other classes will remain as scheduled

Is jogging a great form of exercise for burning body fat? I tend to think that it is not for a couple of reasons. Here is a list compiled from Erik Minor and Charles Poliquin.

1) jogging puts repeated stress on the ankles, shins, knees, and hips increasing orthopedic issues in the lower extremities.
2) jogging increases cortisol levels in the body - cortisol burns your muscle and causes you to store fat in you midsection
3) jogging places a huge amount of oxidative stress on the body which accelerates the aging process

If you are trying to burn body fat a better choice is to lift weights in order to accelerate your metabolism and save your knees and hips.

Yesterday's Top Performances
Male Shoulder press Dale & Bob 110
Femal Shoulder Press Carol 70
Male weighted pullup Bob 55lbs
Female weighted pullup Ashley 15lbs

Workout of the Day
5 rep DB swing + 10 rep pushup + 15 rep air squat
20 min max rounds

Reach Your Potential

With the Olympics going on it is really fun to watch people who have reached their potential and are getting the most out of themselves. We hear it all the time that someone has potential, but my college coach used to say that if you have potential it just means you haven't done anything yet. He used to say that if someone told you that you had potential it was not a good thing, because it meant that you weren't getting the most out of yourself. The Olympics are fun to watch because we are watching people who have sacrificed for years in order to reach the limits of human potential and it is fun to see what the human body is truly capable of. When you perform your workouts are you pushing yourself to reach your potential or are you holding back? If you are holding back, WHY? Is your nutrition keeping you from reaching your potential? If it is then it may be time to consider really tightening it up. The best complement that anybody can give you is that you have reached your potential and you are getting everything out of yourself.

Yesterdays Top Performers
Male Chris S 362
Female Carol 370

Workout of the Day
1 Rep Max Shoulder Press and Weighted Pullup

Consistency

Why do so many people fail in their attempts to lose weight and become fit. In my opinion the biggest reason is that people are not consistent. Most people do not stick with their workout and nutrition programs for long enough to see the desired results. For instance, how many of us eat really well during the week only to binge all weekend. If you fall into this category then what you lack is consistency with your diet. One of the things that happens with exercise is that people stop or they change their program after only a couple of weeks. This is not a consistent approach to reaching your goals. Changing your body does not happen overnight. It requires being consistent for an extended period of time. During this time the goal should be to make many small incremental steps in the right direction. Eventually these steps will add up to impressive results.

Yesterday's Top Performances
Male Gerard 163 with 75lbs
Female Ashley 202 with 55lbs
Workout of the Day
30 seconds of work/ 1 min rest
mountain climber, burpee, waiters walk, jumprope

The Power of Protein

It seems that today everyone is looking for ways to boost the metabolism. One easy way to do this is by eating adequate amounts of protein. Protein requires more energy to digest than any other macro nutrient and it contributes to what is called thermogenesis(which is the creation of heat that results from digestion). This adds up to extra calories burned. According to Jonny Bowden's website higher protein diets can increase the metabolism by up to 100% in women. Yes, you read that right 100%. So you may consider adding a little extra protein to your meals.

Yesterday's Top Performers
Male Backsquat Derek 295lbs
Male Deadlift Derek 405lbs
Female Backsquat Carol 165lbs
Female Deadlift Carol & Ashley 200lbs

Workout of the Day
1 min thruster, sdhp, box jump, pushpress, rowing machine
3 rounds with 1 min between rounds
This is going to be great practice for the Fight Gone Bad Competition on Sept 27
If you are interested in participating in the competition or donating please go here.

Weight Loss

This weekend I had the pleasure of talking with a guy who has lost 35lbs on his own in the last 3 months. So what did he do. He said that he changed his diet. His diet now consists of lean meats, vegetables, some fruit, and healthy fats. He said that he stopped drinking sodas and going out to eat so much. He was even on an all inclusive cruise for the last week and didn't deviate from his nutrition at all. He was telling me how it was hard not to cheat while on the cruise because there were so many temptations but he did hold out and is glad that he did. The other thing that he mentioned is that he stopped eating past the point when he was full and started listening to his body. My favorite thing that he told me was "it isn't rocket science it just takes some discipline."

Friday's Top Performers
Male Neil 152 reps
Female Ashley 155 reps

Workout of the Day
1 rep max back squat and deadlift

Help Raise Money for Cancer Research and The Wounded Warrior Project

On September 27, 2008 we are going to be having a Fight Gone Bad competition. Fight Gone Bad is a staple Crossfit workout that involves 1 minute of wallball, sumo high pull, box jumps, pushpress, and the rowing machine. This is done for three rounds. Anyone is eligible to participate in the competition because the workout is scalable to any fitness level. So, all men, women, and children are encouraged to participate in the event. It should be a lot of fun and the money in going to a good cause. If you have a friend or family member who has been thinking of trying the classes this would be a fun event for them to attend. If you are interested in participating or donated money please go here. Make sure that you sign up for team Foley Performance.

Yesterday's Top Performers
Bill 299 total reps
Ashley 295 total reps

Workout of the Day
2 min of db thrusters, sdhp, pullups, burpees, rowing machine

Olympic Sponsors

I think it is funny that McDonalds is a sponsor for the Olympics. Yesterday, I saw a commercial with Olympic athletes claiming how much they love McDonalds fried chicken biscuits. I highly doubt that these athletes are eating fried chicken biscuits as the games approach. We live in a society in which we are bombarded with advertisements for all kinds of horrible foods. It is no wonder it is so hard for most people to avoid junk food. Kids grow up these days on fast food and processed junk and we wonder why they develop ADD, Diabetes, and become obese.

Yesterday's Top Performers
Bill 54 with 135lbs
Carol 53 with 55lbs

Workout of the Day
30 seconds work/30 seconds rest
box jump, db swings, pushup/mtn climber combo, ring rows
5 rounds

Food Journals

Since we implemented the new food journal system I have heard a lot of complaining about why we need to do this. The reason we are doing this is because your nutrition determines a very large part of your results, and my job is to help you get results. Most people don't realize that they can undo a weeks worth of workouts with just one bad day of eating. If you look at the literal meaning of what a coach is, a coach is something that transports you from where you are to where you want to be. I see my job as helping people get where they want to be and I really enjoy helping people change their bodies for the better. The truth is that if the food journal system is hard for you then you need it.

Yesterday's Top Performances
Male Dale 17:00 with 30lbs
Female Ashley 10:00 with 20lbs

Workout of the Day
30 seconds of clean and jerk
6 rounds with 2 min rest

Fast Food

For the most part fast food restaurants should not be an option when you are looking for somewhere to eat. If you are prepared then there should never be a need to go to fast food restaurants. Most of the food at fast food places is just processed junk. There are many places that do offer salads as options but I would still rather you make your food yourself. Just remember that if you make your own food that you can control what goes in it. I am always amazed at the number of people that eat fast food a couple of times per week. The other trend that I see is people going to fast food places for breakfast. I used to drive by Hardees and Burger King every morning and the drive through would always be packed. Most of these people don't realize that they would could probably prepare breakfast at home in the amount of time that it takes them to stop at the fast food restaurant and sit in line at the drive through.

Yesterday's Top Performances
Male Bill 315 x 3
Carol 140 x 3

Workout of the Day
Row 250 meters and then perform 4 rounds of 24 walking lunges, 12 db swings, and 12 pushpress.

Accupressure Points

Lately, I have been studying Chinese acupressure points. Acupressure points are spots on the body that fall on the meridian lines. It is believed that massaging the proper point can relieve many symptoms such as headaches, stomachaches, back pain, or any other ailment. One of the interesting things that I found is that the points that coincide with reducing blood pressure and insomnia are the same. I often times talk about the importance of sleep. High blood pressure is part of the deadly quartet that comes along with hyperinsulinemia(too much insulin). Therefore it is controlled through insulin. When insulin levels are too high it places stress on the body which causes the release of cortisol. Cortisol wakes us up. Now if you have chronically high levels of insulin, your cortisol will also be chronically elevated. If your cortisol is elevated it is tough to go to sleep.

Friday's Top Performances
Male Bill 365 x 3
Female Carol 175 x 3

Workout of the Day
Backsquat 5 x 3 , 3x6

Waves of Fat Loss

MAKE SURE TO BRING YOUR FOOD JOURNALS ALL OF NEXT WEEK !!!

Many people think that fat loss is a linear process in which they will lose a set amount of weight every week. Fat loss does not work that way. Fat loss comes in waves. For example, it is not uncommon to be stuck at a weight for a week or two and then magically drop about three pounds. This tends to happen even more as you get closer to your target weight and many people get frustrated by this process because they are not always seeing their weight move in the right direction. The trick is to not let this get you down because if you keep staying consistent with your program then you will continue to make progress, it just may not be on the timetable that you expected. Remember that if you lose on average 1-2 lbs every week for a year that is a 50-100lbs weight loss.

Yesterdays Top Performances
Male thruster/sdhp Bill 7 rounds with 115lbs
Male snatch/pushups Bill 7 rounds with 50lbs
Female thruster/sdhp Ashley 9 rounds with 55lbs
Female snatch/pushup Ashley 9 rounds with 25lbs

Workout of the Day
Deadlift 5x3, 3x6