Blog Archive

Its that time of year again. After placing 2nd in the Canada West Regional we are sending our team down to Los Angeles to compete in the 2011 CrossFit Games.

Andrew “Sack” Swartz. British Columbia’s original CrossFit Bad Ass has been competing in the games since 2008. Twice as a single (best finish was 24th in 2009) and this his second year with the team. This guy’s game is comprehensively the most complete in our gym. He comes from some pretty strong Dutch genes. I don’t think they used oxen to plough the fields there. Just yoked the little children and put them to work. Of course afterwards they filled them full of chocolate. This explains his Olympic Podium level sweet tooth.

Mike “Ginger Monkey/Lumberjack” Dahlman is one of the most loyal people I know. I remember when he was still in pt and texted me in a so clandestine way that there were other CrossFits in Vancouver. I got back to him immediately, out of fear he would set them on fire, and assured him we knew of these other CrossFits. He came to me with some impressive love handles, a big smile and a whole bunch of time on his hands. Now, I’d say the smile is bigger, the love handles gone, and all the time and effort he can muster for our community. Representing us for the second year in a row, The LumberJack will bring it #$%*ing hard. Love ya buddy.

Dan Fontaine. I don’t think I know anyone who is more stoked on CrossFit than Dan. He came to us a runner and triathlete and is currently transforming into a crossfitter with legit game. Be really interesting to see where he is in a year or two. He tried to nickname himself “Tiny Dancer” but I’ve never heard anyone call him that. Patty calls him “Afghan” for his likeness to an Afghany opium farmer. He is hairy enough. Nobody comments on our website as much as he does.

Amy Mathers (distant relative of Marshall Mathers – aka Eminem) brings both experience and steadfast character to the team. Not only can this girl do handstand push ups, muscle ups and deadlift like a John Deer, she also bakes one hell of a cake. Somebody snatch this gem up! She competed at the games last year for us as well. A very sweet outward demeanour, The Brown Owl will be out on the floor with her talons drawn for sure.

Bradleah “Pinky” Dahlman. She had done one workout in her life before she joined CrossFit Vancouver. It was with Suzanne Summer’s thigh master when she was 16 (we actually have one in our box if you want to try it out). Early on I saw some competitive fire in her. She went to great ends of effort to not let the ginger skinny fat training partner she had in pt beat her. Now its there in spades. I am so very proud of you Bradleah and your exemplary development as a crossfitter.

Emily “Eunice/Punky” Beers is still recovering from tearing her achilles last December but will be filling in for Kermit. She won’t be in any running events but is sure to give the team a giant boost not only with her fire and competitive spirit but also with her lifts. She hasn’t seen her boyfriend in a couple of weeks so I’m thinking she is going to be ready to chew concrete by the first event.

And let’s not forget the alternates. Puppy and Kermit. Both have been with CrossFit Vancouver for more than 5 years.

Amy “Kermit” Summers is a mean little crossfitter. Threw down pretty damn hard at the Regionals during the Amanda event. She competed for the team back in 2009 when the Games were still held at the ranch. No one has a better post workout 1000 mile stare than this girl. She got the name “Kermit” because of the shade of green she turned after completing her first day. She smiles and laughs more now than she ever did before. Kermit loves to have you pick her up and guess her weight.

Geoff “The Pup” Fraser has been with the community since 2005. What he lacks in stature he makes up in heart and ability. Pup is a bodyweight workout machine and his lifts are pretty good too. I have no doubt if we have to throw him in a workout that he will tear ass the whole way (maybe not on double unders). But don’t worry about his stature too much. This guy is hung like the Canada space arm. Some of you might not know that Puppy has built everyone of our gyms. Whenever you do a pull up you have him to thank. I can’t imagine our community without him.

All the team’s love for the sport and sacrifice for CrossFit Vancouver is something we hold in very high regard.

Congratulations folks.

GO GET ‘EM!!!!

You can keep up to date on their progress and watch them compete at the 2011 CrossFit Games Site.

Emily will be blogging daily on the same site as well.

Wednesday’s Workout:

Workout #1: 50 m Sprints x 5 (2 minutes rest between)

Coaches warm your athletes up really well for this.

Workout #2: J.T.

21,15,9

Handstand Push Ups
Ring Dips
Push Ups

Hspu do not count unless both heels are on the wall when your elbow is locked straight.

J.T. will be the leaderboard.

Cheers!

Shep

When I think about cycling 240 kilometers in two days, ‘therapeutic’ isn’t the descriptive word that comes to my mind.

But for CrossFit Vancouverite, Pascal ‘I don’t look a day over 16’ Gray, his recent bike ride from Surrey to Seattle had elements of unmistakable therapy.

Gray, a High School teacher, took part in the recent BC Ride to Conquer Cancer, a 240 kilometer bike ride. The main reason for the journey: A way to remember his father, who lost a battle with cancer and passed away a year and nine months ago. “The second day of the ride fell on Father’s Day, so that had a huge impact on me,” said Pascal. “It gave me a lot of time to reflect about who my Dad was, and to spend time with him in a metaphysical kind of way,” he added.

Pascal says rides like this help him in dealing with the loss. “It was amazing to be around those 2,900 riders, to be surrounded by people on the same page as me,” he said.

Another place Pascal feels at home is right here at CrossFit Vancouver. His first CrossFit experience? Last year’s Nutts Cup. He still remembers the pain. “I remember pushing to the point that I wondered if I’d get through the workout. And I thought to myself, ‘there’s nothing else that will do this to me,’” said Pascal, who was immediately hooked. “I was totally blown away by the workout and the people in the box, and it actually solidified what I already believed fitness to be.”

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Patty has asked me to start a regular contribution to the CrossFit Science page on the website. Although I have been with CrossFit Vancouver for five years now I thought I would start by re- introducing myself more fully and discuss what CrossFit Vancouver hopes to achieve with my involvement (other than improving my overhead squat….which I admit is X-rated).

As you know CrossFit is not about getting you to sign up on a cheap monthly package and hope you don’t turn up (as in the Fitness World model where if all members came regularly there wouldn’t be room for them). Not only is there instruction from knowledgeable coaches during your gym time but there is also an on-going education component. CrossFit wants to make a difference in your life and help you to become an informed consumer of the health information that we are bombarded with (some good, some bad and, unfortunately, a lot unspeakably bad).

So here is a little about me and how to contact me……. try to stay awake now! I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Kinesiology at Simon Fraser University and have taught there since 1983. I teach physical conditioning, fitness assessment/counselling and biomechanics courses.

When I was new to CrossFit I read the CrossFit Foundations Article and realised Greg Glassman had brilliantly captured what I believed about conditioning from many years of involvement as an athlete, coach and university lecturer. I strongly believe that the science in the field of Strength and Conditioning supports CrossFit methodology.

I think CrossFit captured my immediate attention due to the all-round nature of its training. I have been interested in physical activity since my youth, primarily in competitive sports. I have played soccer, field hockey, rugby, tennis and squash at advanced levels. I am an avid skier and during my Physical Education degree I did lots of gymnastics, swimming, and other activities. Although I have been somewhat guilty of focussing on a given sport at times at least one benefit of the sports I play(ed) is that they do not require one-dimensional fitness. Granted I should have done more weights and paid more attention to flexibility, but even a soccer player requires, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance and accuracy, along with cardiovascular and muscular endurance. I believe this is a big factor as to why I have done quite well in many CrossFit WODs – and nearly puking my guts out on a squash court many times was a big help with the mental aspect of CrossFit as well!

Mark Twain once said, “Specialization is for insects” and I think this statement is relevant to this exercise science blog. The marathon runner gets 99%+ of his/her energy from the aerobic system and carrying upper body muscle mass is pretty much a detriment to this event. The picture opposite is of Haile Gebrselassie. He is 5’ 5” 123 lbs and has the world record time for a marathon at 2:03:59. That is 26.2 miles at an average pace of 4 min 44 seconds per mile!

In the cause of equal opportunity, the picture below is of Paula Radcliffe. Although perhaps more “acceptable” in our society, it doesn’t take much of a look or knowing she is 5’8” and only 120 lbs, to see she too has sparse upper body musculature. Her marathon world record time is an amazing 2:15:25, 26.2 miles at an average pace of 5 min 10 seconds per mile!

These performances are truly incredible, but at what price is that specialization? Apart from the sparse muscularity – which will probably come back to haunt them as they age – there is also evidence that very serious distance runners have a higher incidence of calcified arteries. Here is an easy to read article on this topic (marathon runners have calcified arteries!). Here is another research article if you are so inclined.

The fact marathon runners often had more plaque in the arteries than controls may seem counterintuitive but metabolic and mechanical stresses might be a contributing factor. For example, long-distance runners train at increased heart rates and blood pressures (BP), as well as spend increased time in an anaerobic state, possibly leading to antioxidant damage. In addition, damage to the bones might lead to calcium leaking into the bloodstream. Such possible mechanisms need further research, but running for 3 hours with your systolic blood pressure (SBP) at 200+ mmHg does seem a plausible cause. In one case study, based on the patients running duration and intensity, researchers estimated that the patient spent about 30 minutes a day at a SBP above 200 mmHg. This number is well into the BP danger zone and meets one definition of exercise-induced hypertension—a jump of at least 60 mmHg from baseline after exercise. Admittedly your SBP will probably hit mid-200 or more during a max back squat or deadlift, but how long in the week are you going to be at such intensity? CrossFit WODs are, by design, intense – but they are relatively short – also by design. According to research, these temporary BP increases have no long-term effect on resting BP. It is also interesting to note that this transitory increase in blood pressure becomes blunted in trained individuals compared to untrained one.

So be wary of sports/activities that focus on just one or two of the 10 components of fitness. If you like to engage in some distance running that is fine, as long as your training includes CrossFit rather than just running. This is also true of just focussing on strength. I can tell you I have seen many students come into my classes who are very strong but crash and burn when required to sprint 400 or 800 metres and run longer distance. From a health and functional capacity point of view, there is no point having a Ferrari engine (muscle) and a lawnmower fuel pump (cardiovascular/respiratory endurance).

I am committed to the CrossFit program and education process. So I will be posting information explaining the rationale behind CrossFit Training and Nutrition on the CrossFit.ca website regularly.

I am also happy to hear what questions you have and what you would like more information on. So if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to e-mail me at Tony Leyland [email protected] I may answer with an article if I think it is a question of general interest or reply privately otherwise.

Thanks for reading.

Patty has asked me (Tony Leyland) to start a regular contribution to the CrossFit Science page on the website. Although I have been with CrossFit Vancouver for five years now I thought I would start by re-introducing myself more fully and discuss what CrossFit Vancouver hopes to achieve with my involvement (other than improving my overhead squat….which I admit is X-rated).

As you know CrossFit is not about getting you to sign up on a cheap monthly package and hope you don’t turn up (as in the Fitness World model where if all members came regularly there wouldn’t be room for them). Not only is there instruction from knowledgeable coaches during your gym time but there is also an on-going education component. CrossFit wants to make a difference in your life and help you to become an informed consumer of the health information that we are bombarded with (some good, some bad and, unfortunately, a lot unspeakably bad).

So here is a little about me and how to contact me……. try to stay awake now! I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Kinesiology at Simon Fraser University and have taught there since 1983. I teach physical conditioning, fitness assessment/counselling and biomechanics courses.

When I was new to CrossFit I read the CrossFit Foundations Article and realised Greg Glassman had brilliantly captured what I believed about conditioning from many years of involvement as an athlete, coach and university lecturer. I strongly believe that the science in the field of Strength and Conditioning supports CrossFit methodology.

Read the rest of Tony’s article here in our website’s Exercise Science section.

Tuesday’s Workout: Strength day

Skill/Tech: Jeff Tucker, coach of the CrossFit HQ Gymnastics Certification, wants us to look at gymnastics as another way of strength training. Take some time here to practice his methods for developing the front and back levers.

Workout: Back Squat 1,1,1,1,1

Go for a new max if you feel it. Or try a safe max. This would be a weight that is very challenging for you but you can complete the lift without a great loss of form.

Leaderboard will be the total of your five lifts.

One Love,

Shep

Ever wonder if you should be buying all organic when it comes to your food? More specifically your fruit and vegetables? The cost of doing so seems pretty ridiculous. So what can we do? Educate ourselves.

Recent graduate to classes Serenity Aberdour, Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine, sent me some information on pesticide contamination in vegetables and fruit.

The Environmental Working Group Shoppers Guide has a published list of the best and worst fruits and vegetables in relation to their pesticide contamination.

Here is the “Dirty Dozen”. You want to be buying these items organic because they are soaked in pesticides.

1. Apples (Damn)
2. Celery
3. Strawberries
4. Peaches
5. Spinach
6. Nectarines
7. Grapes – imported
8. Sweet bell peppers
9. Potatoes
10. Blueberries – domestic
11. Lettuce
12. Kale/collard greens

And here is the “Clean 15″. Probably won’t matter if you buy these organic or not. They are the lowest in pesticides contamination.

1. Onions
2. Sweet Corn
3. Pineapples
4. Avocado
5. Asparagus
6. Sweet peas
7. Mangoes
8. Eggplant
9. Cantaloupe – domestic
10. Kiwi
11. Cabbage
12. Watermelon
13. Sweet potatoes
14. Grapefruit
15. Mushrooms

Here is the complete list of 53 produce items.

Turns out eating fruits and vegetables that are high pesticides is still better than cutting them out of your diet. However, we can certainly make educated choices as to which ones we eat.

Monday’s Workout:

Warm Up: Agility Ladder

Tech: Pull Ups – Coaches please use this time to fine tune athlete’s kipping or butterfly pull up. Everyday I see people making the most simplest of mistakes. Kipping – Push off the bar at the top. Have your legs straight and feet underneath you when your chin is over the bar. Butterfly – Have your ankles together. Buck with your hip, not your feet.

Workout: Fran

21,15,9

Thrusters (95/65 lbs)
Pull ups

When coaching the CrossFit movements, coaches are looking for the following: Proper Mechanics then Consistency then Intensity. The “Intensity” can come in several forms – load, reps, rounds, duration, or all of them. Once we have the first 2 then we can key in on the last. That is where the currency is.

So come on in and get rich!

Much Love,

Sheppy

I’m off to JB’s ranch party and a little R&R in Kelowna.  Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Here’s some of the new faces from camp t-bear.  Please welcome them all to your classes.

Friday

“Run Angie Run”

In teams of 2 while someone is always running complete a plump Angie consisting of:

125 Pull-ups
150 Push-ups
175 Sit-ups
& 200 Squats

All done in order.  The run will be the 275m Vancouver Opera Bldg Run (Quarter Block – top left). Pick your partner wisely Tag them out of the movement and pick up where they left off until the last squat is done.

Saturday & Sunday

“Who’s your Widow”

Check your back squat technique with the coaches and go for 20 continuous reps without racking the bar.  Ask the Veteran’s around you if you’ve never done these.  They are potent,tonnes of fun and will elevate your game.

Stretch Out & Work on Weaknesses with the time remaining.

TBear

Redneck / Ghetto Golf

The definitive starter guide to all those who wish to learn how to play golf; yet grew up in a rural shit hole or the projects.

Editors Note: I am all for supporting my friends and family in learning golf as a sport, of which I have many who grew up in a shit hole or ghetto. If we can save them from monster trucks and dice games we will be better off as a society. I grew up in a rural community myself and committed all of the following infractions at one point or another until I learned the value of not committing such transgressions against my fellow human. We are all in this together….. I too have sinned.

Learning the game of golf will give you an excellent indication of the state of your life as well as the corresponding joy and peace within it. I can see the ebbs and flows of my life in my handicap and it helps me to see the bigger picture of life itself. In short it will make you a better person. Golf teaches respect, honesty, courage and humility—no doubt valuable lessons for young Bubba and Tyrone.

But boys……Holy F@#king Mackarel!!!! The disrespect I have witnessed recently is appalling. Me and my hillbilly friends had more class as unchaperoned14 year olds.

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The Caveman Cookout will be happening Saturday afternoon, August 6 at our Crossfit Vancouver location. It’ll be Paleo Friendly and have an accompanying badass crossfit meets the cave dweller workout. Stay tuned – it will be posted shortly.

There’s a fun little video on their website and super easy access to register for the event.  I think he mentions free beer. Anyway,  Matt “The Wildman”and his crew shot most of this little video at our school. Are you in it?

Check it out here

Thursday WOD “2-Five-9er”

Touch and Go Squat Cleans

Add up your 2rep,5rep and 9rep efforts and post to the leaderboard

– Grip, accuracy and your inner caveman will be a factor.
Rules are:
– no re-gripping or pausing on the floor
– keep pauses in rack or high hang to less than 5 seconds.
– retry as many times as your hour has to offer.
– make sure your mates and neighbours get deep enough.
– think long neutral spine as bar goes up and down.

TBear – a max effort – short duration kind of guy

All these lovely ladies and just me alone with my camera. And welcome back Aloha, great to see you!