First the Overhead Squat Article by Dan John.  Read it, he’s a better coach and writer than I am and you will benefit more from reading him than whatever I would say.

Second, we have officially started a No Crap for Your Facehole Month, formerly known as the Clean Eating Challenge.  30 days to drill down on your nutrition.  You should recieve an email from your group leader today or tomorrow.

Also going on this month we have our 3rd Saturday Fundamentals workshop on the 18th.  I encourage any of our current members who want some extra coaching to come to this.  It’s a little like drinking from a firehose, but it will definitely fill in any gaps in your knowledge about fundamental exercises.  If you want to attend, we’ll give current members a discount.  Just let a trainer know, or email us at info@tacomastrength.com.

Then on the 20th, in lieu of the regular 5:30pm class, Lisa and Emmi will be leading a jump rope clinic.  I have noticed that nothing will take a man from zero to homicidal faster than the jump rope.  I have seen the rope break men down like no other.  Part of what makes it so bad is the fact the the cute bouncy girls fly through it like it’s fun.  Well, now we’ll hear from the girls themselves what their secret is.

Just in time for the first event of the Crossfit Opens to be announced on Wednesday the 22nd.  Like last year, we’ll be hosting the event on Saturdays at 11am.  We’ve had a lot of people training for it this year and I expect to have a big turn-out.  If you haven’t thought about it, you might want to.  The Games are a fun way to push yourself.  Even if you have no expectation of winning anything, it’s a way to evaluate your progress, and to motivate your training.  I’ve never regretted when I’ve participated.

This is not Katie. In case you were worried.

A few weeks ago we featured a profile of Craig O’Hanlon.  My intention is to make this a regular occurrence, as there seems to be no shortage of awesomeness at Tacoma Strength.  Craig is a tough act to follow, but Katie gives him a run for his money.

If you know Katie, you are lucky, end of story.  Sometimes I need to be reminded why I decided to be part of opening a gym. What was I thinking?  Katie’s story is just the reminder I needed.  She has made dramatic changes in her life and I/we were lucky enough to be a part of that.  What follows is a “brief” interview I had with Katie a couple of days ago.

1 – What do you do for work?

• I work for one of the largest companies in the U.S. grocery channel. I work in the supply chain side of our company. We are contracted to service the Department of Defense (DeCA) commissaries. We are a part of making food accessible and affordable for the men and women of our armed services at home and abroad. We are passionate about our customer!

2 – You’ve been working out at Tacoma Strength since March 21st of 2011 (nearly a year) and you’ve made some great progress. The people who don’t know you, or have met you recently, probably have no idea how much has changed for you even before you started training with us. What was the low point for you, as far as your health is concerned? 

• Less than two years ago was the lowest point of my health. I had been through a divorce six years earlier and had neglected taking care of my health. I was very overweight to the point a brisk walk up a hill was taxing. I was experiencing plantar fasciitis and having occasional back pain and trouble being on my feet for long periods of time.  I had been procrastinating going in for my physical (for 7 years). Many of us do this because we are afraid to know how bad the truth really is or that we can no longer put off doing something about it.

3 – What inspired you to begin making a change? (Doctor’s visit – results of that) 

• My employer launched a healthy pursuits program which tied discounts to our healthcare package if we participated in a health evaluation and ongoing health coaching. I had mixed feelings about doing this because we had to get a physical and supply the results but this was the facing of the music for me. The internal look at my health was as bad as what was obvious from the outside. I was over 200 pounds (I cried on the way home), my blood work showed that I had thyroid disease and it had been going on for a long time. My TSH level was 18 and dysfunctional levels start at 4 or 5 . My cholesterol was very high as the thyroid can affect liver and kidney functions, my blood pressure was borderline hypertensive and my body had zero levels of vitamin D (I was placed on 50,000 IU’s of Vitamin D weekly for two months)

4 – What was your strategy initially? What were the results?

• I was overwhelmed and didn’t have one. Eat low fat was the only advice my doctor gave me. Then one day several months later the best neighbors a person could ever ask for and who I really didn’t even know (love you Vince and Suzy) offered me an olive branch…….and a bicycle. I accepted both. My first bike ride was 20 miles and it was comical to say the least. I didn’t have a helmet so I wore my son’s skateboard helmet and everyone called me Dude for the day. The ride was mostly flat but very strenuous for me. I won’t even go into what it was like to sit for the next few days. Then one night over a few sips of tequila Suzy asked me to do a sprint triathlon with her. At this point I was still very close to the weight from my physical. We had less than two months to train but I was on board. We started running, cycling, and swimming almost daily. Hard work for the fat girl named Dude! For some reason it never occurred to Suzy that I might not be able to do it, and for the same reason I never let it occur to me. Cutting to the chase I lost 50 pounds on my own and I was after adventure and I had my life back.

5 – You had come so far on your own. What made you seek us out?

• I wanted to do the Tough Mudder race and some other adventure races. Unfortunately after a hike on Mt.Elinor I found that while I could run ten miles I was weak and didn’t have the strength to do most of the things in life I now wanted to do and hitting the hills on my bike was very hard for me. Try avoiding a hill on your bike in the Northwest! Bike Riding For Sissies won’t be published here. I was also spending a lot of hours getting cardio exercise but it wasn’t meeting all my needs.

6 – You trained with us for a couple months before doing your first clean eating challenge. What did you notice once you changed your diet? 

• I was one of the winners in the category of most improved after picture and I was fully clothed in my picture/s. One month of clean eating proved to have more results on my physical shape, size, and weight, than two or three months of working my butt off at the gym. It was eye opening. I was sleeping better, my skin was clearer, my psoriasis went away, and I don’t know if this is related but two months later my dentist told me my mouth looked extremely healthy.

7 – We asked you to cut out grains, legumes, dairy, sugar, alcohol and all processed foods for 30 days.  Did you think we were crazy? What was the hardest part for you?

• I still think you’re crazy but grains and legumes are not related to that conclusion J. The big bomb was dropped on me when Lynn told us no sugar substitutes. Ught OOO, my life was full of sugar free this and sugar free that. Every beverage I consumed included a sugar substitute. This was super hard for me to give up and my sugar free coffee creamer was the hardest. I vowed to do it but figured  I would revert back after the challenge. The other hard aspect of the food challenge was and is giving up the social side of food and beverages (aka 7 Seas Balls Deep Double IPA with friends). We work hard and we like to play hard and it’s hard to give up weekend fun.

8 – Did you make any permanent changes in your nutrition since that first challenge?

• Many changes. My love for Starbuck’s Iced Triple Grande Sugar Free Cinnamon Dulce Breve Latte will never die but I have given up using sugar free products of all kinds. I eat very clean Sunday night through Friday afternoon (had to be honest).

9 – How did you feel for the first couple weeks? How did that change? 

• The first two weeks of my first food challenge left me with withdrawal symptoms: cranky, edgy, I felt hungry all the time, and in general bitchy to those who love me most. Going into week two those problems went away and I started to really feel better than I had in a long time and I was getting a lot of sleep which does not come easily for me.

10 – Since you started with us (you had already lost 45-50 lbs) what are the results? Blood work?  Fitness? Any other areas of your life in which you’ve noticed a change?

• This is important to talk about. More important than shedding fat or climbing a rope. Yes I had lost weight before coming to you but internally I was unhealthy. I never expected crossfit to solve my other health problems, I was just here to get strong. While I had lost weight, my blood work results were still relatively unchanged with cardio exercise and no food changes. I had my blood work retested about 4-5 months after my first taste of clean eating. The results were incredible.

11 – You mentioned being really nervous to come to classes initially. How did you deal with that? Is that why you are so welcoming to new people when you see them come in?

• I was sick to my stomach walking into crossfit. I had never touched a weight bar in my life. I didn’t even know how to load one with weights much less have muscle to lift it. I had to modify a lot! Almost every day the first 4-8 weeks I would feel physically sick at the thought of coming in. I didn’t know anyone so I came alone. I have been so impressed with the people I get to share my time with at Tacoma Strength. If we have a common thread it’s our attitude in life. I feel really lucky to be here, surrounded by these great people. When I see new people coming in the door I know some of them must feel like I did or need the physical improvement I did which frankly takes courage to address. I try to give back what everyone gave to me.

12 – What are your goals for your second year with us?

• I’ve had so much fun this past year in my new life enabled by crossfit. I came here to enhance my life experiences and it has been a great journey. In my excitement over  the little wins like climbing a rope the first time, kicking into a hand stand, dropping a couple bands off my pulls ups, and riding my bike up Mt. Constitution without stopping and passing someone 20 years younger walking their bike at the half way point, I have neglected to set actual crossfit goals. So these are the things I want to accomplish: Real Hand Stand Push Ups, Strict Pull Ups without Bands, a dead lift over 200 pounds, double unders without stupid skips in-between them, get over the 6 foot wall, tell Andrew one of his WODs was no big deal, and TOUGH MUDDER IS ON MY BIRTHDAY!!! WANT TO PLAY??

So February is gonna be a press challenge, but I’m gonna make it a handstand press.  Mostly because they are more awesome.  Even if you feel you’re really far from the elusive handstand push-up, you can still work your handstand strength.  Here’s how we’re gonna work it;

-3 days a week you practice your handstand push-ups (sub handstands)

-This is done on top of your regular workouts.

-There is no excuse for missed days because this is something you can work at home.

One session is spending 5-10 minutes working one of the following progressions.

Handstand Work

15 second hold against the wall, 60 second rest, and repeat 5 times.  If this becomes easy you can increase by intervals of 5 seconds.  This can be done as balancing (away from wall) as well.

Headstand Push-up Progression

What we call HSPU are actually HeSPU, which means lower your head to the floor and press to full elbow extension and shoulder flexion.  Start with 2 or 3 reps, 60 second rest, for a total of 5 sets.  If this is too easy you can increase work sets by 1 or more.  If this is too hard you can work a negative rep, which is lowering your head to the floor as slowly and controlled as possible.

Handstand Push-ups Progression

This is done on paralletes, lowering your chin all the way under your hands, and pressing to elbow extension and full shoulder flexion.  You may want to start with 1 rep, 60 second rest, total of 5 sets.  Increase by 1 rep per set.  Modified would be a negative rep just like the headstand push-ups.

Some advanced moves to work towards-

Freestanding handstand, or freestanding headstand press.

Ring handstand push-ups, modified would be feet around straps, legit is no feet touching the straps.

I hereby retire the name “Clean Eating Challenge”, from now on this will be referred to as the “No Crap for your Face Hole Month”.  You have to say the whole thing too, no abbreviations or acronyms.  We’ll be running it a bit differently this time, but we’ll still divide everyone into teams.

If you would like to participate in the ”No Crap for your Face Hole Month”, we’ll need you to fill out a survey and there will be a $20 dollar buy in.  Based off of the surveys and number of participants, we’ll group you guys with a trainer.  The Fawcett trainers will be Morgan, Brianne, and myself, the Pine street coaches will be Leon, Emily, and Craig.  Depending on your goals and past participation in the challenges, we’ll group you with some like minded peeps.  For example, I want to work with everyone who wishes to become superhuman, and we’re gonna lift weights and eat raw animal flesh all month.  Who’s with me?

The deadline for the surveys is this Thursday (2nd), and we’ll start the challenge on the 6th.  Here’s the link for the survey we need from you.

We’ll also have two different talks to prep you guys for the month.  This Wednesday, 7:30 pm at Fawcett, I’ll give a short presentation on what we want you guys eating.  It will be a basic eat this not that talk, why we avoid certain foods, and some practical advice.  If you’ve done one of our clean eating challenges in the past you’ve probably heard a lot of the information.  This Saturday, 12:30 at Pine street, we’ll have a how to class.  Basically some cooking advice, shopping, planning, and how to put it all together.  I would highly recommend you come to this one, it will be presented by Craig, of Caveman Bistro fame.

The kitchen was traditionally the hub of the household. Familys would spend time cooking and preparing food throughout the week. Children would be taught how to cook at a young age. Everyone would help in one way or another with the family meal.  Some of my happiest memories are of cooking for family and friends. Think about all of the holidays in your life time where everyone ends up hanging out in the kitchen. As far as I am concerned it is a pretty magical place. I am increasingly shocked when people tell me they don’t know how to cook because no one ever taught them. I understand this if you are 18 and it is your first time away from home, but 30 year olds that can barely boil water? When you decide to make you health and wellness a priority it is time to learn how to cook.

We are getting ready to enter into a new clean eating challenge. It is pretty impossible to eat real food without spending time in the kitchen. Try adding an extra challenge this time  and have your kids, spouse, sibling or parent help you make an amazing paleo meal. If you hate to cook start out small. Check out “Everyday Paleo” most of her meals are geared toward family preparation. Then when you are done creating your masterpiece clean the kitchen together, sit down, eat your dinner and look at what a little time in the kitchen can accomplish.

I would love to hear how others feel about cooking and time in the kitchen.

I enjoyed talking about the clean eating challenge last week, thought I’d go a bit more in depth on eating enough meat.  Lets expand on this, and talk about getting enough protein down.  This is important in terms of getting good results out of the challenge, but also to recover well and adapt to the strength training we practice here.  Protein requirements can vary based on size, activity levels, and goals.

As a general rule, I’ve always liked shooting for 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, every day.  So this means if I weigh 150 pounds I should be shooting for 150 grams of protein per day.  If you’re trying to gain weight, you should be shooting for more, plus as much carbs and fats you can choke down on top of this.  If you are an inactive individual, .75 grams per pound will help you to maintain a healthy body weight.  Since we lift weights and want to be awesome though, try and hit that 1 per 1 number.

In terms of weight loss, the 1 to 1 is extremely effective.  We’ve got a newbie at Fawcett named Bryan, who has managed to lose 90 lbs in about a year from the body for life program.  He was eating 200 grams of protein every day as part of the protocol.  Beat that shit weight watchers.  Protein is very satiating, and it feels impossible to over eat meat.  Your body won’t let you.  On the flip side, it is really easy to overeat crap foods, like pasta.  I’ve eaten myself sick countless times on corn chips and salsa, I can put away a huge amount of food.

On the performance side, eating protein makes you strong as hell.  You want to get your lifts up, or nail some gymnastics move that’s been eluding you, eat your weight in meat.  Want to know how Rob got his deadlift up 55 lbs in 1 month, from 405 to 455?  He listened to his coach and ate, a lot.

When I refer to protein, I’m talking about meat.  Veggie protein and protein powders just don’t cut it.  With veggie sources (like beans) you get a chunk of carbs down with it.  With powdered and refined protein, your body doesn’t recognize it as a protein source (not as dense).  In both cases, your body doesn’t release as much glucagon as it would in response to meat.  Hormonally speaking, their is no substitute for some quality meat.

Here’s what a days worth of protein looks like for me, remember I’m shooting for 150 grams;

4 ounces of meat or 4 eggs is around 30 grams

Breakfast-

8 ounces grass fed ground beef, with some fried veggies and baked sweet potatoes.  Coffee with coconut milk or heavy cream.  (60 grams)

Lunch-

4 ounces chicken or beef, with some cooked veggies.  (30 grams)

Post Work out snack-

4 ounces chicken, sweet potatoes or a piece of fruit, or my amazing pumpkin pie protein shake (30 grams)

Dinner-

8 ounces of steak, roast, or other assorted cow parts, we’re still finishing our quarter of a cow.  Squash and veggies.   (60 grams)

This is actually 180 grams total, which is what I shoot for on a good day.  Life usually doesn’t let this happen however, so if I come up short it’s no big deal.

Before we begin I feel like I should at least mention some news about the gym first.  Several people got their first muscle ups in the recent days.  I know of two first hand:  Matt D. and Rob C.  In fact, Rob was so excited to reach this achievement he leapt through my personal bubble to give me a giant bear hug.  That’s ok, a muscle up is a big deal for Crossfit.  It should be also noted that Matt got his muscle up 4 months before his younger brother.  This is just another testament to the Awesomeness of Tacoma Strength…I will speak more of this in a sec.

Today, we hosted our first “3rd Saturday Foundations Workshop.”  It was quite impressive.  I walked in to see our staff operating as a well rehearsed machine.  Leon had his group of 10 or so newbies doing some foam rolling by the windows.  Ashley and Nic had their group doing the couch stretch on the wall where we keep the bars.  Joseph and Brianne  were foam rolling over by the KettleBell Korner.  All this while Morgan sat on a box, overseeing everything like an evil mastermind.

I came late to the party because I was busy representing Tacoma Strength being a boss on an opponent’s turf.  For the past several weeks I’ve been competing in The Wod Club Open:  http://wodclubopen.com/   It’s an online competition that largely mimics the upcoming Crossfit Games Open:  http://games.crossfit.com/

It just so happens that a few of our friends at Crossfit Federal Way were entered as well.  I only found this out by looking at the results page, noticing that I was one rep better than a, Derek Cabrera, on the first wod.  He bested me on the second but was only a few points ahead in the standings.

With one wod left we decided to get together at his gym and have a showdown.  I wanted to go there because I thrive in a visitor’s environment.  I have no idea why, maybe it’s because I don’t have to worry about letting down the people who believe in me.  It’s more satisfying to crush an opponent on their own turf.

Anyway, I came out the victor in the final wod faceoff.  8:48 to his 10:04.  Now, I sit atop 75th place, while Derek lags behind in 77th.  Unfortunately for Derek, there was a large amount of Toes 2 Bar.  This happens to be a strength of mine, but even more conveniently, a major weakness for Derek.  That’s the good thing about competitions.  They easily help you discover weaknesses.

I’m sure Derek will be going into these final few weeks before the Open with a purpose.  After all, I did just best him in two recent competitions:  This Wodclub thing and our inaugural Tacoma Strength/Federal Way Showdown.  I’m glad for him, that seems like it would be very helpful.  But ultimately I feel sad for Derek for I have a new purpose now.

Over the past several weeks my competitive fire has been burning low.  My training has been suffering.  I’d go in with the intent to do a 20 minute wod, but walk away only doing 3 minutes…maybe 3.  I was kind of burning out, thinking about taking a break from working out.  I don’t feel that way now.  Now my lantern has been recharged with this goal.  This goal of…

…Utterly destroying Derek Cabrera in the Crossfit Games Open of 2012.  Who cares what place I get just as long as it’s better than him.  Also, please note that this is a friendly rivalry.  I’m not nearly as much of a jerk as I sound here, all the time.

Lastly, I believe there will be a few changes coming to the website for Tacoma Strength.  To my understanding the main page will largely be composed of a pic for the day and posts of whiteboard results.  Posts from the trainers will stem largely from their own personal Blogs.

One of the more common answers from our member questionnaire a few weeks back was that you wanted to know more about the trainers.  Who we are as people.  Why? I have no idea?!  Our blogs will still largely focus on topics that relate to the world of fitness but our range of issues will be much broader.

This change over isn’t coming for another few weeks but I have recently started.  That’s one reason why I haven’t posted much here on our site.  It took me a while to get started and get past that feeling of pretentious self worth.  Just finding a name for the Blog felt weird but I eventually came up with, “…”

Here it is in super-beta version: http://elipsescubed.blogspot.com/  Good luck!

-k

Fawcett will be closed for 5:30 and 6:30am, then regular hours for the morning and afternoon.

With the next clean eating challenge fast approaching, I’d like to get ahead of some of the issues we typically have.  I’ve also been hearing a lot of people lately commenting on how they’ve tried eating paleo and it hasn’t worked for them.  Sometimes I feel like people don’t even take time to understand the basic concepts of the diet, do no research or planning beforehand, and go at it half-ass.  Yes, you won’t see results with this approach, but then again that approach isn’t paleo is it?

10 most common mistakes/misconceptions about eating clean-

1-  Using scale weight as a measure of success.

If this is your sole goal, you are setting yourself up for failure from the beginning.  Instead, figure out your BMI or just measure your waist and hips and use that as a progress measure.  If you build muscle while simultaneously losing fat, the scale shouldn’t move one way or the other at first.  Throw out your stupid scale, and measure progress from pants sizes.

2- This is NOT a calorie restricted diet.

Counting calories, points, blocks, or whatever you want to call it actually does really well for shedding weight, but that weight comes back immediately after the diet plan is over.  Your body will catabolize (break down for fuel) muscle tissue when you starve it, which weighs more than fat does.  Your muscle mass also drives metabolism, the more you have the more calories you burn.  If you lose muscle you’re going to gain the scale weight back, in the form of fat this time, and be worse off than when you started.

3-  Not eating enough, in the way of quality foods.

Meat and veggies with every meal, no exceptions.  If you don’t eat enough of these, you will have the issues that come with a calorie restricted diet.  Even though this isn’t calorie restricted, it’s really hard to overeat meat and veggies, but I want you to try your hardest.  The more protein you get down, the better your progress.

If your goal is performance based you need to eat enough dense carbs to support activity, and supplement your diet with processed quality foods whenever possible.  It’s hard to get a lot of calories through whole foods, if you have a food processor or a blender you can process your own foods down.  Calorie dense foods are awesome, just don’t sacrifice quality.

4-  Not lifting heavy weights.

Not surprisingly, if you don’t show up to the gym, you won’t see great progress.  Even worse, if you show up and don’t work hard, don’t record your weights, don’t try lifting more than you did last week, or ask me what a front squat is for the 12th time you won’t see progress.

5-  Sleeping problems.

I’ve always considered 8 hours a minimum standard, you should be shooting for 9 per night.  Don’t have time you say?  I bet if you turned your tv off you would fall asleep faster.

Blue light, in form of electronic screens disrupts your bodies hormone production come bedtime, your brain thinks it’s still daytime.  So if you watch tv till 10 and immediately after try and sleep, your body will be ready for sleep by 11.  Might as well cut another hour off your 8.  Also try blacking out your room, and take some Natural Calm (supplement) a half hour before bed.

5-  Eating gluten, soy, or sugar.

These are the big problem foods, the more of these you have in cheats the worse your progress will be.  I heard of a lot of people eating sandwiches, drinking beers, and eating fake meat paste last challenge.  I also heard a lot of bitching about not making progress, from a lot of the same people.

6- Sugar denial.

Sugar= sugar= sugar.  Table sugar, corn syrup, honey, agave, juices, fruits, breads, and pastas are all dense, easily digestible carbohydrates.  There are a few dozen other sugars I don’t have listed, but they all do the same thing in your body.  It all looks the same in the blood stream, and anything that doesn’t fit into muscle tissue or the liver is stored as fat.  Post workout, eat a piece of fruit, this way you’re motivated to get your workout in and you’ll learn good post work out eating habits.

Fake sugar is even worse, cause your body responds by releasing insulin and driving your blood sugar down.  This is either gonna lead to hunger pains, followed by a binge fest or catabolizing muscle tissue for the missing carbs.  Sorry to be the no fun police but stay away from the sweetness.

7-  Fear of fat.

Dietary fat is essential for good health, not eating enough of it is a problem.  Get some quality fat in with every meal, in the form of tallow, coconut, olives, avocado, and healthy animal fats.  Avoid trans fats (hydrogenated) like the plague, along with all cheap cooking oils.  These include canola, grapeseed, sunflower, safflower, etc.

8-   Not getting sun every day.

Wait a second, we don’t ever get sunlight here.  Best to take your vitamin d supplement, every day.  Shoot for 5,000-10,000 IUs daily, taken with a fatty meal.  If you are nervous about the high amounts track your blood work.  Optional, less important supplements include magnesium (Natural Calm), digestive aids, and a pro-biotic pill.  I prefer some delicious sauerkraut or kimchee instead of the pill for cultures.

9-  Keeping a food log.

Don’t be too neurotic with this, but if you are serious about making a change this will help.  It will help you make better choices and is a reference you can give to a coach to track progress.  We are always willing to give feedback to those willing to put time and work in themselves.  Just eyeball the amounts and list all ingredients.

10-  Cereal, baked goods replacement.

Paleo brownies anyone?  This is a really common problem I see, bad “paleo”  food choices.  Almond flour and massive amounts of sugar aren’t good for you, I don’t care if it’s organic date sugar.  Same with cereal, the more you search for a replacement “paleo” option the more you will opt for carb dense poor choices.  Eat eggs and an avocado for breakfast, you’ll feel awesome and will be full through the afternoon.  Just make sure it’s 4 eggs and a whole avocado (refer to rules 2 and 3).

Happy hunting……. and gathering

-Joseph

Instead, you have homework.  Do a set of Tabata Squats  (8 sets of 20 sec of squats and 10 sec of rest).  Record your total reps done and post to the Facebook Page.