Not many people can get up at 5 and be this peppy.

What’s up party people?  What’s that?  Just chillin’ like a villian?  Yeah, I dig.  I dig.  Me? Oh, I’ve been livin’ large.  You know how it is.

I do have this tiny problem…I’ve been eating anything that can be eaten.  Hot dogs.  Cookies.  Ice cream. Just flour tortillas by themselves.  Cookies.  Peanut butter by the spoonful.  Heavy cream breves.  And did I mention cookies?

Seems like someone needs another clean eating challenge.  Speaking of which, Tacoma Strength’s next Clean Eating Odyssey will begin June 4 and end July 3rd.

Here is the important information:

Prep Week- May 28th through June 1.  Here you will be able to sign up, hear talks given by our wonderful member Craig and get amped up for the challenge.

Cost: 10 big ones to any who want to participate and an extra 20 if you want to get down on the pig roast at Craig’s house at the end.

Groups: We will just have one big group this time, on the Face(book).  No more of this separation. U N I T Y!

Measurements: We will be attempting to bring in an official body fat dunk tank.  Others can choose to do the jeans challenge.  Just bring in a pair of jeans you own.  We hold on to them for the month.  You get them back at the end, try them on and say, “gee willie! this clean eating stuff really works!”

Winners: You will all be winners if you complete the challenge.  Plus, you’ll all get to eat pig at the end! That’s a prize worthy of any effort.

Questions?: If you have any, please post to the comments in this post.

Awesomeness: The weather this weekend.  80 degrees! Yeah Yeah Boooooooooyyyyyiee!!!!

-k

Thanks Ben  for letting the kids play with your adorable puppy!

At Fawcett we’re starting a new training cycle.  You’ll find this one to be much different than we’ve done in the past.  First, we’re adding a few regular elements, such as a dedicated core training section and a section for combination movements such as barbell complexes.  Next, we’re super setting a lot of things.  For instance, today you did Power Cleans and during your rest period you did Hollow Rocks.  We’re adding tempo to the mix as well.  I’ll spend a little more time on this in a future post, but for now, tempo specifically refers to how much time you spend on each phase of a movement.  This typically means that you control the downward portion, and accellerate the upward.  There are several other features, such as shorter more intense metabolic conditioning, regular and standard self myofacial release (SMR) aka soft tissue work, aka lacross ball and foam rolling.  But the biggest change that you will notice is that we’re not going to have a different workout each day.  We’ve got two basic templates and will rotate between them throughout the next 4 weeks.

The reason for this is that regular and frequent exposure to a movement will result in greater gains in strength and muscle mass.

McLester et al

Comparison of 1 Day and 3 Days Per Week of Equal-Volume Resistance Training in Experienced Subjects

Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2000, 14(3), 273-281

The study compared the same volume of training per muscle per week (e.g. 3 sets performed once per week v.s. 1 set performed three times per week).  The one day per week group achieved 62% of the strength improvemens of the 3 day group and a lesser increase in muscle.

Another study concluded that 2-3 days per week per muscle group was optimal for muscle building.

Wernbom et al

The influence of frequency, intensity, volume and mode of strength training on whole muscle cross-setional area in humans.

Sports Med.  2007; 37(3):225-64. Review.

We want to get stronger and build muscle, this is a fundamental goal of our program.  If this means that we need to simplify our program to get more time with a particular movement, so be it.  We were a little concerned that this program would not appeal to Crossfitters who are used to something different every day.  But which is more important to you, getting stronger and building muscle, or the novelty of a new WOD every day?