Getting good grades in school always required doing your homework. The same rules apply with CrossFit. Some of us are tight in the hips, other in the shoulders, some both. We need to spend time outside of the gym working on body maintenance. Kelly has a rule "Two times a day get's you C." Are you doing your homework? What would your grade be?
Workout:
100 Pull ups for time.
Midline stability is often referred to when we talk about simple movements, the push up and deadlift for example. Explaining the importance of protecting our spines is something that we hope carries over to more complicated movements. One area where athletes often forget this, and loose midline stability, is during overhead work. Be it the simple shoulder press or the more complicated jerk, all too often we athlete give away good midline position.
Workout:
Shoulder Press
1-1-1
Push Press
3-3-3
Push Jerk
5-5-5
Considering only the physical, each one of our classes is available to any age and ability. Considering the physical as well as the mental/developmental, it is important to specialize age groups. We currently have athletes with ages ranging from 13 to 66. With CrossFit Kids certified trainer, Kristy Amory, spear-heading our developing kids program, and CrossFit Kids certified trainers Jesse and Dave on staff, we expect to soon offer kid and teen classes. If you are interested in getting your kids started... now is a great time!
Workout:
3 rounds, each for time of:
200 meter run
30 Push ups
30 Body weight deadlifts
Rest as needed between rounds.
Heather Mac has returned. After spending nearly one month on trail, she is back in the land of comfort. Dirt, mosquitoes, wind, rain, and snow all tested her as she walked over 300 miles up the Pacific Crest Trail in Oregon. No fresh fruit, organic vegetables nor grass fed beef to assist her body. And as Bob Marley said "Cold ground was my bed last night, and rock was my pillow".
Now back in civilized society, organic produce, down comforters and internet communities abound. Sometimes it takes living without the things we are used to, to appreciate the things we have. The simple pleasure and comforts of home seem more relevant and fulfilling after a long break.
Welcome back!!!
Workout:
Rest Day
_______________________
If you missed Mary Conover's article on FUNCTIONAL EXERCISE-INDUCED TACHYCARDIA read it now, it is an interesting look at the science behind high intesity training.
Most of or lives are pretty scheduled out but somehow we all find a way to fit our CrossFit workout into the routine. Some come before work, others after the day is done, then there is the group who like get sweaty on their lunch break.
However, on Saturday and Sunday we offer only one class.
There are many reasons for this, but most importantly it is because we enjoy and find benefit to bringing our whole community together.
Much of the fun in CrossFit comes from the people who do it. As our community has grown so has the size of the weekend classes. We hope people look forward to the big groups and enjoy getting to know and check in with the people they don't get to see during the week.
The group energy is often why we like coming to CrossFit and we think that if we add more coaches to the mix we will better accommodate the growing number of athletes. You may see more than one coach on the weekends. The more eyes on you the better.
Workout:
"Fight Gone Bad"
Mary Conover is a well known figure in the local CrossFit community and has been writing articles germane to CrossFit and it's coaches and athletes. This month she writes on FuntaionalExercise-Induced Tachycardia. Below is an excerpt noting some benefits of "your tacky":
Sinustachycardia is strictly defined as a rate of 100 beats/min or more and is called an “arrhythmia” by traditionalists and a “dysrhythmia” by purists. These designations for this particular rhythm are unfortunate because they fly in the face of appropriate exercise-related sinus tachycardia—certainly NOT an arrhythmia (without rhythm) or a dysrhythmia (disturbed rhythm). Every day that you do an intense, tough, CrossFit workout that tachy is yours! It is the normal response of the heart to signals from the brain that you need more oxygen.
We don’t worry about our heart rate during workouts. Are we OK with that? You bet! . Studies have shown that aerobic interval training and the functional sinus tachycardia associated with it improve micro circulation, the health of the lining of our coronary arteries, and myocardial function at the cellular level 5. That’s a boon, considering our CF passion for anaerobic/aerobic workouts! In fact, mixed-sports (aerobic and anaerobic) athletes and elite endurance (aerobic) athletes survive longer than the general population; fewer cases of cardiovascular disease are thought to be the primary reason 6. Even in those athletes with cardiovascular disease who have sustained a heart attack, some of the negative effects following the event are reversed in hearts preconditioned with tachycardia7, 8.
Read the entire article in Conover's Corner
Workout:
Back Squat
1-1-1-1-1-1-1
Mary Boudreau Conover BSNed
BRIEF ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY---INSIDE THE HEART
The sinus node. Your heart has kept you alive all this time with a nice normal rhythm at an appropriate rate. The structure responsible for such a dependable personal cardiac-history is called the sinoatrial (SA) node or sinus node. It can only be defeated if invaded or overpowered. This article has been written to acquaint you with the function of this little node during all of the activities of your life, including your workout, when it protects your organs by supplying you with an appropriate sinus tachycardia.
The discovery of the sinus node was published in 19071, describing a crescent-shaped area located within the uppermost wall of the right atrium. It was later demonstrated that there is an artery coursing through its length. The word “sinus” describes a curved, hollow, sac-like structure, a designation that probably reflected what Kieth and Flack could see with the equipment of the day in 1907. Modern technology and electromechanical mapping has revealed it to be a group of highly specialized cells tightly packed in connective tissue with an “irregular contour, variable borders, and extensions”4 into the surrounding myocardium.
The illustration rather dramatically represents the sinus node as a bright yellow spot against a pretty pink background--not even close to reality, but it does pinpoint its location fairly accurately. The sinus node is actually embedded within the right atrial wall and not plastered against the inside wall as shown in the illustration. You will see it again in a more realistic animation below.
The atrioventricular (AV) node is a group of special cells in the floor of the right atrium where the sinus impulse is delayed slightly to allow for the atrial contraction to be completed.
The His bundle (pronounced “Hiss”) is the very important slender tract extending into the ventricles from the AV node. It is the only normal electrical connection between atria and ventricles. This link to an animated illustration of cardiac electrical and mechanical activation may help in the visualization of the cardiac conduction system and how the heart responds to it. This is a complicated link, but well worth seeing. Please click on the “forward” arrow at the bottom of the picture and you will see a perfectly stunning animation of the normal sinus rhythm, electrical and mechanical. The flash of light from SA node to the apex of the heart represents the electrical current that powers the heart.
NOTE: It says “ventricular tachycardia” at the top of the illustration. Ignore it and enjoy.
Electrical System of the Heart
Papillary muscles and chordae. The strange looking finger-like protrusions that you see inside the two ventricles are diagrammatically illustrated below. They are strong muscles (papillary muscles) extending into tough string-like tendons (chordae) attached to mitral and tricuspid valve leaflets. Only one valve leaflet is shown. The papillary muscles and the chordae keep the valve leaflets from flipping up into the two atria during ventricular contraction and are also thought to be important retaining the ventricular shape and function2, 3. Click on the animation again and watch the papillary muscle and chordae at work. What an incredible creation!
Illustration courtesy of: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York City, NY
PACEMAKER OF THE HEART
THE pacemaker of the heart is the sinus node because it is automatic, needing no stimulation from elsewhere. There are other cells located geographically lower in the heart (bundle of His) that are capable of firing automatically, but the sinus node does it best and dominates all other contenders. It also adjusts its firing rate so that the speed at which the blood is pumped (heart rate) meets the needs of the body in all the varied activities of life---sleeping, eating, running, relaxing, splitting logs, climbing the face of El Capitan, skiing the steeps, surfing Mavericks, making love, fleeing danger, fighting tigers, chasing buffalo, or exercising CrossFit-style--intensely. Its rhythm normally changes to accommodate every situation you may throw at it and it does so smoothly—never abruptly---no sudden starts and stops. This last property distinguishes it from most abnormal tachycardias.
Muscle cells of the heart. The
muscle cells of the heart are not normally capable of automaticity.
Their sole functions, other than that of a container for blood, are to
respond to the electrical currents, pass it on, contract, and
relax—restored and ready for the next cycle. They simply wait for the
next impulse to arrive—and so it goes, each beat depending on a
stimulus from the sinus node.
EXERCISE-INDUCED SINUS TACHYCARDIA AND ITS BENEFITS
Sinus tachycardia is strictly defined as a rate of 100 beats/min or more and is called an “arrhythmia” by traditionalists and a “dysrhythmia” by purists. These designations for this particular rhythm are unfortunate because they fly in the face of appropriate exercise-related sinus tachycardia—certainly NOT an arrhythmia (without rhythm) or a dysrhythmia (disturbed rhythm). Every day that you do an intense, tough, CrossFit workout that tachy is yours! It is the normal response of the heart to signals from the brain that you need more oxygen.
We don’t worry about our heart rate during workouts. Are we OK with that? You bet! . Studies have shown that aerobic interval training and the functional sinus tachycardia associated with it improve micro circulation, the health of the lining of our coronary arteries, and myocardial function at the cellular level 5. That’s a boon, considering our CF passion for anaerobic/aerobic workouts! In fact, mixed-sports (aerobic and anaerobic) athletes and elite endurance (aerobic) athletes survive longer than the general population; fewer cases of cardiovascular disease are thought to be the primary reason 6. Even in those athletes with cardiovascular disease who have sustained a heart attack, some of the negative effects following the event are reversed in hearts preconditioned with tachycardia7, 8.
OBSERVABLE CHARACTERISTICS OF SINUS TACHYCARDIA
All other forms of tachycardia are abnormal and not always well tolerated by your brain or your heart. So it behooves us to know this friend of ours so that we can recognize the unfriendlies, for others and ourselves.
There are interesting physical clues that give the unfriendlies away. To understand these clues we will begin with an understanding of the characteristics of our friend—sinus tachycardia.
Acceleration. In healthy young adults during strenuous physical exercise the rate of the sinus node may be as much as or even more than 200 beats/min. The max rate during exercise may decrease with age to less than 140 beats/min. When the sinus rate accelerates in response to exercise it does so gradually and settles into a rapid, regular rhythm. Your respirations reflect your heart rate. You all know the feeling---open mouth, sucking air, spread eagle on the floor.
Deceleration. When the workout is completed and the physiological needs no longer exist, the heart rate decelerates along with respirations. The deceleration is easier to determine than the acceleration at the beginning of a workout—a busy time. However, at the end of a workout, it is fairly easy to put your fingers on a pulse and feel the heart rate become slower and slower. Try this after your own workout just to get the feel of normal deceleration of the sinus node rate in a healthy person. Acquaint yourself well with the normal and you will more easily recognize the abnormal.
Rhythm. A sinus rhythm is regular, but can change slightly with respirations—increasing with inspiration and decreasing with expiration, especially in athletes and children. Sometimes we may feel our hearts “skip a beat”. The “skipped beat” is actually the pause following a premature beat generated from a source other than the sinus node (an ectopic focus). It is not uncommon and is not treated in healthy individuals.
THE “ATRIAL KICK”
One
reason that sinus tachycardia doesn’t land you flat on your back is
because the electrical activation and contraction of the atria and
ventricles are sequential. The ventricles, as with other muscles,
perform best when stretched just prior to contraction. For this to
happen, the atria contract before the ventricles, pushing their
contents into the already passively filled ventricles and providing not
only a stretch but also an important extra boost of blood known as the “atrial kick.” Hearts
that are deprived of this atrial kick, such as those with no organized
atrial contractions (atrial fibrillation), lose approximately 10% of
their cardiac output---slows one down a bit.
Coach Mark Rippitoe (Wichita Falls Athletic Club, Texas) reviewed the early formation of this article and suggested an expansion of the discussion on the sinus node. The reference from Sánchez-Quintana et al was particularly enlightening
Tara Muccilli, Michelle Mootz, and Eva Twadorkens from CFSCC each added their own unique critique and helped immensely with their reviews.
mc 7/28/09
It's been a while now since I've been back in the States from Zambia. Coming back, I carried with me an enormous sense of accomplishment on a job well done. My team, including myself and five others from Mosaic (a church in LA), had been planning to build of a playground for the Breath of Heaven Orphanage in Zambia for roughly two years. We accomplished what some said was not possible!
I was given the responsibility of designing the playground and spent roughly six months thinking about what this playground should be and what it should look like. I went through several ideas before finally deciding on what a dream playground would be.
If you were to first look at my ideas before we left, the playground might have appeared too big and too elaborate to build in only nine days. However, we ended up building it in only eight days! It felt like we did the impossible! Before we were even finished, some the kids started playing on the playground. It was a highlight of the trip to see how much fun they were having. Watching them as the days went on made it more of a reality for me.
One
thing I learned from this project is that I can accomplish anything,
even the extraordinary, and it starts with an extraordinary dream to
begin with. Just taking those first steps toward your dream and making
it a reality is a powerful experience. Of course, none of this would
have been possible without my friends, family, and the support of Greg
Glassman and CrossFit, Inc. I would also like to give special thanks
to CrossFit Kids who donated necessary equipment to the playground!
THANK YOU for your support.
-Dave Leys
Workout:
Tabata Fran
20 seconds, max Thruster
rest 10 seconds
20 seconds, max Pull ups
rest 10 seconds
Repeat for a total of 6 rounds.
Safe Travels and Best wished to Jon and Amelia. You both will be missed.
Keep in touch, and good luck.
Workout:
Rest Day
We are happy to announce that Jonji Barber will be "guest coaching" some of our group classes until September when he returns to UC Davis to continue working on his bachelors degree.
Jonji is a veteran CrossFitter, a stellar athlete, a hard worker and a pure joy to be around. He is a CrossFit level 1 trainer and is sure to help teach, motivate and push us for the remainder of the summer.
We are glad to have you aboard Jonji.
He will be coaching Friday nights and other miscellaneous classes as Hannah and Heather are out of town.
Workout:
25-45 minutes of mono- structural aerobic activity
Sumo Deadlift
1-1-1-1-1-1-1
