The Human Race

Push ups in solidarity

Training with a goal in mind often produces the most focus.  Some of our fittest are focused on the Regional competition for the CrossFit games.  If you're not competing in the Regionals on May 8th and/or you're not able to travel to SoCal to cheer on our star athletes, CFSC has something great for you to participate in.  Thats right folks... its HUMAN RACE TIME!!  Last year CFSC raised over $4,000.00 for the Every Child Outdoors Foundation to support the Santa Cruz County Outdoor Science School.  The money we raised allowed over 200 students in our community to receive grants to the outdoor school.  In other words, 200 students who rarely, if ever, get the chance to explore outside and discover the natural world were able to spend a week in the redwood forest exploring, discovering and learning because of our efforts last year. 

There are several ways you can support young people in our community and outdoor education.  1.  You can participate in the race  2. You can raise money for the event  3.  You can donate to Team CrossFit Santa Cruz

Details on how to participate and/or raise money are coming soon... 

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Workout:

10 Dumbbell Clean & Jerks
1 Weighted pull-up
9 Dumbbell Clean & Jerks
2 Weighted pull-ups
8 Dumbbell Clean & Jerks
3 Weighted pull-ups
7 Dumbbell Clean & Jerks
4 Weighted pull-ups
6 Dumbbell Clean & Jerks
5 Weighted pull-ups
5 Dumbbell Clean & Jerks
6 Weighted pull-ups
4 Dumbbell Clean & Jerks
7 Weighted pull-ups
3 Dumbbell Clean & Jerks
8 Weighted pull-ups
2 Dumbbell Clean & Jerks
9 Weighted pull-ups
1 Dumbbell Clean & Jerks
10 Weighted pull-ups

Human Race Sign Up

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Use Your Air

Kyle and Karla using their air in very different ways.

One of the greatest skills to master is proper breathing for the proper workout. When we do a one rep max lift it is big breath hold. When we do many reps at heavy weight we may breathe in between efforts only. If the movement is light enough and you can keep your mid-line rigid then you breathe as much as possible. When you row or run you want to keep your breathing long and controlled and push air out as much as possible, in order to get co2 out and get oxygen in. Sometimes learning to breathe right takes a long time and patience, keep working on it.

Remember if you are holding your breath and you get dizzy take a knee, sit down or get close to the floor, it is rare but people do pass out.

It is one of my sharpest memories of working with Greg Glassman he would often say "breathe" or "use your air"

-Coach D

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Workout:

Run 1600 meters
Rest 3 minutes
Run 1200 meters
Rest 2 minutes
Run 800 meters
Rest 1 minute
Run 400 meters

***those of you who are wanting to do double workouts, this might be a good day to do that check in with a coach to find out what you should do.

Happiness Is...

Suzanne enjoys a sunny day.

The pain of a hard workout always gives way to the happiness of completing the workout. Rx'd or scaled we all suffer the same. 

Complete the following sentence in comments. Happiness is...

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Workout: "Tabata Something Else"

Complete 32 intervals of 20 seconds of work followed by ten seconds of rest where the first 8 intervals are pull-ups, the second 8 are push-ups, the third 8 intervals are sit-ups, and finally, the last 8 intervals are squats. There is no rest between exercises.

Some Like it Hot

Chris Cobb on his birthday
 
One of the most time efficient and pretty effective recovery tools Irecommend is the hot cold shower. You get in there and hang out in the warmth and relax for a bit, wash your hair, shave, lather, etc.  Then you turn the dial to the coldest it will go and endure the shock for at least two minutes then you go back to hot and enjoy. If you do three cycles like this after a workout ending on cold you will recover better and be less sore. It is one of my stand by lazy recovery tricks...give it a try.

-Coach D

Workout:

Rest Day

Deadline

Matt gettin Randy

We have been talking a lot about The CrossFit Games competitions and celebrating our athletes' success. There are two things we want to be sure of as the conversations continue into the coming months. First we want to make sure we do not exclude anyone from participating in extra training and hard work. Second we do not want people to feel like they have to be a games competitor to warrant the attention of our coaches.

We do not want to put unwanted pressure on anyone, but I encourage each of you to think about what it would feel like if you had to do a competition and represent the gym in 5 weeks time.  Would you change your diet? What weakness would you focus on? How would you go about achieving your goals in such a short time.

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Workout:

For time Complete:

1000m Row

30 Deadlifts (275#/155#)

Ring Pull-Ups

Lucas Zepeda, three year CrossFit veteran and UCSC men's water polo alum.

CrossFit was recently featured in UCSC's student newspaper City on a Hill Press. At one point women's soccer coach Michael Runeare is quoted as saying "I've been overall really happy with it, some of the concerns I have are that some of the repetitions are dangerous, such as squats and lunges... sometimes when athletes go as fast as they can they put themselves in danger because technique goes out the door."  Does Coach Runeare have a legitimate reason to be concerned? 

Yes and no.   Squatting and lunging are fundamentally safe movements that ultimately strengthen athletes and prevent injury.  However, if a coach is truly concerned about the safety of these two movements it is likely he/she has not had proper experience or training in how to perform and/or coach them.  Also, it is important to understand the relationship between technique and intensity as a balance between the two optimizes favorable adaptations and improvement.

That being said, it has been shown time and time again that "bad" CrossFit is better than no CrossFit.

Post thoughts to comments.

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Workout:

"Randy"

75 pound Power snatch, 75 reps for time.

A Simple Trick

Dave goofing around.

"I wondered how many of my readers suffer from vertigo--the sensation of false movement with the room spinning, or have a family member with this common symptom, especially in the older population.  Just imagine, if every time you put your head in a certain position the room would spin around you.  You would be helpless and very frightened--hanging on for dear life, crying for help and imagining the worst.  Other possible symptoms are nausea, vomiting, sweating, and abnormal eye movements.  Vertigo is usually a harmless condition, but a doctor should evaluate it.  In some cases, vertigo is associated with serious and life threatening conditions."

Read Mary's complete article Vertigo in Conover's Corner and learn how the Epley maneuver may help.

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Workout:

Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:

20 Bent Over Rows

15 Ring Rows

10 Turkish Get Ups 35/25lb

Better All The Time

Scott with his chin over the bar.

What makes a gym?  The Coaches, the athletes, the facility, or all of the above?  We believe that our community of athletes is what makes our gym and the the most important thing for any gym.  If you don't like the people you workout with you won't continue to come in.  Second is the coaching, good coaching is often the difference between good athletes and great athletes.  Then comes the facility.  Nice bathrooms with showers would be nice, a steam room, cold soak, and hot tubs would be even better, but those are not the most important things.

Our friends and San Francisco CrossFit run one of the best CrossFit facilities anywhere.  The San Francisco Chronicle is having a vote for best gym in the city.  Many of you have been lucky enough to visit Kelly and the rest of the crew.  If you had a good experience and think they do good work, give them your vote.

SFCF Best gym in San Francisco

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Workout:

Rest Day

Junior Olympians

Main Beach 15 Gold

Gilly missed Sectionals last weekend, because she was busy coaching her Volleyball team to a tournament victory.  Below is her story.

"The tournament was the Pacific Northwest Junior Olympic Qualifier. Therewere 54 teams in our age division, the division was called 15 Club. We went undefeated the entire tournament and amazingly won first place. We won a Junior Olympics bid, National Division (there are three different divisions you can compete in: Open, which is the hardest, National, and American, which is the easiest of the three, but still full of incredibly talented teams). Currently, we are one of 5 teams nationwide that have earned a National Bid to the Junior Olympics, and eventually we will be one of a total of about 50 teams at the Junior Olympics in our National Division. Long story short, we have earned our place in the top 100 15-and-under teams in the nation, pretty cool."

Congratulations to Gilly and her team.

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Workout:

Split Jerk

1-1-1-1-1-1-1