CrossFit Ocean City

IT'S OKAY TO MAKE MISTAKES

Go ahead. Fall Down. Make a mess. Break something occasionally.

Know that your mistakes are your own unique way

Of getting to where you need to be.  And remember:

The Story is never over.

Conan O’Brien

If you aren't making mistakes, especially when attempting new movements in CrossFit, then you probably aren't giving it your all.  No one starts out on top.  It takes weeks, months, and years of hard work and practice to master the moves.  Sometimes a move will come easily, but most often it doesn't.  Don't get frustrated when you see others doing moves that you cannot do.  Most likely, they've been where you are now and have just been consistent in their training and practiced a lot to get where they are. 

Determination should be Andrew's middle name!  Although he doesn't often see it, his fitness level improves weekly and his ability to do the moves improves every workout.  He just finished his first "Murph" on Monday - as prescribed and with the heat index hovering around 100 degrees.

CROSSFIT SUCCESS STARTS WITH BABY STEPS

We always push the fundamentals of CrossFit.  Why?  Because the movements, done properly over a long period of time, will enable elite physical performance down the road.  Our society today is all about instant gratification.  If only we could diet for a week and lose all those extra pounds.  If only we could work out one a month and get into the best shape of our lives.  If only . . . well, you fill in the blank.

"The Slight Edge Philosophy", developed by Jeff Olson, breaks down the proper means and methods to achieve whatever you want in life.  Consider Jeff Olson's lesson:  "In the process of learning how to walk, you probably spent more time failing than you did succeeding. But did you ever have the thought of quitting? Did you ever tell yourself, 'I'm not cut our for walking - guess I'll crawl for the rest of my life?' No, of course you didn't. So why do you do that now?" 

Success begins with the realization that you must take baby steps.  Most people forget that and end up only looking for the quick fix.  According to Olson, "you put your trust in achieving breakthroughs, making quantum leaps, instant this, instant that, hitting the lottery. You began a habit of settling for less, just because more was so far out of your reach. You forgot about the most proven powerful success philosophy on earth - The Slight Edge."

Success in any endeavor is simple, really.  Just do a little bit extra every day, of whatever it takes, to achieve your goal.  Don't have a goal?  Then that's where you start.  Determine what it will take to get there, and begin to make it happen.  At CrossFit, we'll help you achieve those fitness goals, one baby step at a time!

Med ball cleans make for a great workout, but they become the gateway to proper cleans with heavy loads.

WEEKEND TEAM WOD - DATE CHANGE

The date for this weekend's Team WOD at Ann Hasting's house has changed.  It will now be held on Saturday, July 26, 2008, at 3 pm.  Check your email for the EVite!

DIETS DON'T WORK - LIFESTYLE CHANGES DO

Exercise and diet together work, but only if you treat your diet like you would when you put gas in your car.  If your car needs gas, then that's what you put into it.  It doesn't run on donuts, cookies, and junk food.  Also, since your gas tank is only so big, you can't overfill it.  Instead, you have to stop and refill the tank on long trips.  If only our bodies required fuel, and only fuel, the same way our cars do, we'd all be a lot healthier and society wouldn't have the obesity problem it does.  Instead, your body can digest just about anything, in just about any quantity, and turn what it needs into fuel and the excess into fat.  That's great if you're a caveman and you live on meat, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds.  But today, our food choices include processed sugars in just about everything we eat.  These processed sugars contribute to hyperinsulinemia and poor health - including obesity, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and the list goes on and on.

To change your diet, you have to think of food as fuel.  Here's a link to a new study on why diets fail [click HERE to read a New York Times article about the study] and which ones tend to work best.  What we've discovered with CrossFit is that the Zone Diet provides the best all around nutrition and "fuel" requirements for your body.  Check out the Zone Diet HERE.  For even more information, check out Robb Wolf's website: www.robbwolf.com

A good, hard 500m row burns, on average, 30 to 40 calories.  That's equivalent to about half an apple or 3/4 of an Oreo cookie.  Exercise is great, but without the right fuel in the body's "tank", in the right amount, your body will not functional properly and your health will decline.

GROUP WORKOUT COMING UP ON SUNDAY 7/27/08

More details to come, but hold the date!  CrossFit Ocean City will have another Sunday afternoon group workout at the Hastings house on Goody Hill Rd on July 27th.  Plan to bring the family, swim suits, side dishes, drinks, and also enjoy a fun group workout.

At the Hastings house (aka CrossFit "Goody Hill"), Ann erected a pullup bar station just for the group WODs.  Here are some teams completing their pullups before moving on to the next exercise.

The men's team nearing the end of the loop around the pond.

MEDICINE BALL TRAINING AND CROSSFIT

Tired of doing medicine ball cleans, wall ball shots, and using the med ball for a squat target?  There are many other uses for the med ball - we've only scratched the surface!  Check out some of the other med ball training coming to a CrossFit affiliate near you:

Hoover Ball:  CrossFit Journal Article - click HERE.  Official rules - click HERE.

Dynamax Website link: click HERE and navigate to the Education link for training manuals and videos.

Ever run 400m with your med ball?  Louise has.

SUNDAY RUN ON THE BOARDWALK - 7/20/08

Where:  Meet at the Lifesaving Station at the Inlet

When: Sunday, 7/20/08 @ 7:00 a.m.

What: Run either a 5k or 10k with a group of CrossFitters

Why:  Why not? We have to train in the oxidative pathway too!

Group will be led by Ann and Colby.

Ann nears the finish line of the Ocean City 1/2 Marathon.

HELP YOUR CHILDREN THROUGH CROSSFIT

As Coach Glassman states:  "The needs of our elite athletes and those of our grandparents differ in degree, not kind."  Whether you compare the elite athlete, firefighter, police officer, Marine, or 70 year old grandmother, the basic requirement for functional fitness is the same.  Taking this to the next level, our children's need for functional fitness beginning at an early age is paramount.  Teaching kids to squat, deadlift, run, row, do pullups, pushups, situps, and box jumps at an early age will prepare them for just about any physical challenge later in life.  Those challenges will come in the form of sports, chores, recreational activities, and eventually jobs. 

One way to help prepare your children for life's physical challenges is to engage them in a CrossFit program.  Any age is a good age and any prior physical ability is the right place to start.  The universal scalability of CrossFit lends itself well to all children.  For those children in their early teens, CrossFit can serve as their general physical preparedness program for any sport.

Proper fitness and a proper diet at an early age will go a long way to ensuring wellness and fitness throughout life.  Help your children through CrossFit!

Click HERE to read an article in the New York Times about children and their reduced activity levels as they age.  Scary!

Teaching kids how to deadlift medicine balls prepares them to lift odd objects without straining their backs! The deadlift is an essential, functional movement that we use every time we pick something off the floor - regardless of the weight.

DO CROSSFITTERS HAVE BIG HEARTS TOO?

Of course CrossFitters have big hearts!  We're routinely involved in our community's fundraising efforts, we cheer each other on during strenuous WODs, and we give a lot of our time to help others out - both in fitness and in other aspects of our lives.  But I'm not writing about how generous we are as a measure of the size of our hearts.  I'm writing about the physical size of our hearts.

There was a recent article on the New York Times (click HERE to read) that discussed the heart sizes of skaters, football players, and rowers, who have been known for over 100 years to have larger hearts than other athletes.  Although an enlarged heart due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a dangerous condition, the researchers have uncovered scientific evidence that most athletes with larger hearts have simply adapted to their training.  Quite simply, the athletes' hearts have increased in size as a result of an increased demand for the work and power capacity of their sport.  Since CrossFit is all about increasing work capacity across broad time and modal domains, our hearts most likely increase in size as we improve our fitness.  I have no proof of this, but it makes sense and would be very interesting if researchers ever do studies on CrossFitters.  My guess is that our hearts are really are big too!

Galen, Makeala, and Caroline doing wall ball shots.  Our CrossFit for Young Athletes program (ages 12 and up) focuses on providing the essentials of CrossFit training for our pre-teen and teen CrossFitters.  Contact us if you would like more information on this incredible program.

10k RUN WOD THIS SUNDAY

Before Coach posted a 10K on the main site today, I had already planned on a 10K for everyone this Sunday (I do the WODs about a week or so in advance).  Knowing how much we all love running, I thought it would be a good idea to give everyone a few days of lead time  to allow everyone to plan their route (fewer excuses).  As soon as I mentioned running the 10K on the Boardwalk, Colby jumped all over the idea.  She's volunteered to lead the effort for anyone who wants to join her. 

When: Sunday, 7/13

Time: 7:00 a.m.

Where:  Old Lifesaving Station near the inlet

Route:  Run north to just past 41st St and return.  Check out http://www.favoriterun.com/224202 to see the route online!

Thanks, Colby!!!