I like all the words for people who are all grown up (chronologically that is).  There is some serious weight in those terms.  Knowledge, experience and perspective.  Not to mention beauty, grace, power and sexiness of course.  Practise does make perfect and with a certain amount of age, hopefully came plenty of practise!! [...]]]>

I like all the words for people who are all grown up (chronologically that is).  There is some serious weight in those terms.  Knowledge, experience and perspective.  Not to mention beauty, grace, power and sexiness of course.  Practise does make perfect and with a certain amount of age, hopefully came plenty of practise!!  From a strength and conditioning perspective those of us around age 40 and over begin to have a little different experience.  The timing of change hits all of us uniquely, depending on general health, stress, lifestyle etc…  While it is phenomenally inspiring, motivating and generally satisfying to train alongside people half your age, it can sometimes be a little downheartening.  The sitch is this: once our bodies begin to reduce their ability to repair and put out those youth-providing hormones, we cannot recover as quickly.  Our overall capability is not what tanks, it is our ability to train really hard and frequently.  We have to dial in the sleep, the eating and the other tools of recovery like body work and possibly supplements.  It becomes important to compare yourself to someone who can train like you can.  Someone more in your age bracket.  Although we here at CrossFit Works, do have plenty of wise crossfitters, we tend to be scattered throughout the day and we don’t always know who each other are or get to train together.  We are about to change all that.

Some very cool folks at CrossFit Excel have begun putting out a Masters WOD once per week with an Open Posting Forum split up by age bracket.  We are going to take advantage of their offering and join in the fun!  When I say “we” I mean I get to do it too!!  Don’t get me wrong.  I still like besting people younger than me in workouts and I prefer to get carded when I go out and I love it when people are shocked to find out I have a 12 year old son.  Throwing down for the Masters WOD isn’t about opting out of staying youthful.  It is about creating a secret circle of wise, over 40 crossfitters who will plot to take over the Universe.  You aren’t invited unless you are 40 or over, but if you are 40 or over get with us.  One of my young trainers will coach us.  They will leave desperately wanting to be over 40 and able to do what they witness.  It will be awesome.

THE FIRST MASTERS WOD AT CROSSFIT WORKS IS THIS FRIDAY NIGHT, JANUARY 28 at 5:30pm.

THE NEXT IS FEB 12, SATURDAY AT 10:30am.

Check out Jennifer S. with her morning Ladies’ CrossFit Bootcamp Crew! This six week program emphasizes quick, focused body composition changes and fun workouts.  These brave women already have been through Tabata squats and they had Bryon measure body fat percentage with the calipers.  We currently have [...]]]> A few of Wednesday’s gym highlights!

Check out Jennifer S. with her morning Ladies’ CrossFit Bootcamp Crew! This six week program emphasizes quick, focused body composition changes and fun workouts.  These brave women already have been through Tabata squats and they had Bryon measure body fat percentage with the calipers.  We currently have two Ladies CrossFit Bootcamps underway.  One meets at 7:15am M, W, F and the other is 2:30pm M, W and F.  These two bootcamps are closed, but Jennifer  is already planning the next sessions to begin around the New Year.  If you are interested please email jschae@crossfitworks.com and let her know!!

At 6pm Kevin Nichols (in orange), Directory of our CrossFit Kids Program explains the content for the Wednesday night Mobility and Recovery Class.

I do believe that all mobility and recovery sessions end with a giant tug-of-war anchored by one of Sunnyside’s strongest baseball players, see photo below!

Bruce Montoya of www.combatfit.webs.com is currently holding a Wednesday afternoon Israeli Krav Maga series.  Bruce has been teaching Krav Maga and other self defense courses at CrossFit Works for more than a year.  He is an excellent instructor.

There was an unpleasant looking version of a farmer carry going on in the back alley.

I think this was the unofficial advisory board for the above-pictured activity.

Finally, at the tail end of the day you might catch someone doing their Games prep strength progression.  You might also see this same young man perfect his power clean which will now be frightfully BIG!

1.  Don’t forget Aaron will be here at Open Gym tomorrow.  He will be with a client until 10:30, but then he will be available to teach you guys what you need to know to participate in the August 14th Grip Strength Competition…you know, the CrossFit-Friendly Strong Man event. [...]]]> Multiple important things today:

1.  Don’t forget Aaron will be here at Open Gym tomorrow.  He will be with a client until 10:30, but then he will be available to teach you guys what you need to know to participate in the August 14th Grip Strength Competition…you know, the CrossFit-Friendly Strong Man event.  Just in case you CrossFit purists wonder about the connection between grip strength/strong man training and CrossFit check out the 2010 Northwest Regional Qualifier Games where fat bar deadlifts showed up courtesy of Kurtis Bowler, Strongman and owner of Rainier CrossFit (one of the early CF Affiliates).

Crispy Coconut Tilapia

2 packages of frozen tilapia dug our of the bottom of the freezer

1c shredded dried cconut

1/4c arrowroot powder

1T Hungarian paprika

1T cumin

1T tumeric

1T coriander

Plenty of butter and a good cast iron skillet

Mix the arrowroot and spices on a plate.  Sprinkle the coconut on another plate.  Rinse the tilapia fillets under cold water, dry them on a towel.  Press into the arrowroot/spice mix so that a very thin layer covers both sides of the fish and do the same with the coconut.  Melt plenty of butter (or ghee) on your skillet and fry the tilapia until golden brown on both sides.

2.  Next Wed, July 28 at 7pm is the Intro to Paleo, free nutrition lecture.  Free and open to the public.

3.  Those foam rollers get awfully lonely sometimes.  Check out my classes doing some thoracic opening work.

We have been very fortunate this week to have many visitors.  All of whom, I feel, have chosen an insane time of year to be in Tucson.  All the more impressive.  Welcome and let us know what you need.  Randy, especially, had some beautiful overhead squats last night.

Raymond here has found one legit use for our foam rollers.  I believe perched on the top of the stack is an Orca named Willy.  There is another more Crossfit-related use for these things however.  A lot of times we look at training hard, doing CrossFit, as the magic pill to make us [...]]]>

Raymond here has found one legit use for our foam rollers.  I believe perched on the top of the stack is an Orca named Willy.  There is another more Crossfit-related use for these things however.  A lot of times we look at training hard, doing CrossFit, as the magic pill to make us wonderful.  Training is only one piece of keeping the body well.  I’ve written before about sleep and many times about food, but there is another aspect of caring for your physical body which involves caring for your muscle tissue.  There are therapies and therapists of all varieties than can benefit your hard worked muscles.  There is also the everyday, cheap, in-house approach.  Foam Rolling is one good one.

Listen to Jon Gilsom of Again Faster describe how and why foam rolling should be an EVERYDAY part of your crossfitting.  This is an excellent video of foam rolling.  Watch it please.  There will be a test later.  Click here: Foam Rolling with Again Faster.

PS.  If you are still having trouble with muscle and joint pain even if you move properly and you care well for your muscles, I hope you will turn to the potentially inflammatory nature of your diet to look for another contributor.