Check out the really nice profile on Valerie Calhoun from Rocklin CrossFit.  Many of you will recognize my buddies Gary Baron and Chad Augustin in the video.  Hopefully Chad will swing by CFO in the weeks leading up to the Regionals and you’ll get to see him make up, more about then attack, information pills workouts. If you fighting for you first muscle up, website pay specific attention to how Val executes hers.  She doesn’t really use a false grip, pulls to her hips, and sits up FAST.  This is NOT the type of muscle up I learned, but it is very effective.  I look forward to breaking this move down, and seeing you guys try it out. It’s interesting watching the “sport of fitness” grow.  In the early days, a few years ago, we saw the sport dominated by spe#ts; weightlifters, sprinters, wrestlers, gymnasts and other athletes that had...Read more

We’re seeing more and more “minimalist'” or “low profile” shoes on the market.  These types of shoes are intended to simulate barefoot running, remedy which forces the athlete to strike and stay on the balls of the feet, website and not the heel.  Minimalist shoes are excellent shoes for CrossFit for this reason, and because they create a more stable lifting platform than standard running shoes.  It’s pretty tough to keep your weight on your heels when your running shoes are canting you forward and squishing under the weight. These type of shoes are measure by “drop”.  Drop is the distance the toes drops from the heel.  Normal Inov-8’s have a 6mm drop, and New Balance’s have a 4mm drop.  In the “less is more” world, we are seeing more “Zero Drop”, meaning the sole is completely flat, although there may be padding. Both Inov-8 and New Balance have recently...Read more

This article from the New York Times has caused an uproar in recently, physician claiming that red meat increases mortality rates.   Gary Taubes responds.  Taubes response is long.  So is his book, Good Calories, Bad Calories.  But like the book, this is worth reading.  It doesn’t question the nutrition, it questions the Science behind these studies.  It will help you look clearly at scientific claims, and make you wonder    Sometimes we yell at each other.  Especially during “games season”. Workout of the Day   Strength/Skill Pullup Practice Work on bands, kipping, chest to bar or weighted pullups.   Metcon 10-8-6-4-2 Chest to Bar Pullup Burpee Box Jump 24/20Read more

The 2012 CrossFit Games have come to a close.  We had great participation, purchase with 13 athletes participating, along wit some guests.  We had men, women and masters competitors.  We also had a team, Team CrossFit Oakdale.  The scores of the top 3 men and top women went to the team score, and we ended up in 60th place in Northern California. The workouts were varied and challenging.  One of CFO’s highlights was Don Q placing 39th in the freaking world in the Masters Division in WOD 12.2.  Amazing! For many first time competitors, I think the scary thing about putting yourself out there in the Open is wondering, “How can I do this?”  I saw a ton of this last year.  I loved the look in the eye of Mike and Tony as they wrapped their heads around big snatches in 12.2 and double unders and muscle up AFTER...Read more

CrossFit Oakdale had a busy weekend, ampoule with two events: the Oakdale SOS 5k/1 mile and the culmination of the CrossFit Games Opens.  I’ll review the CrossFit Games Open tomorrow.   A handful of CrossFit Oakdale athletes took on a 1 mile and 5k run in Oakdale on Saturday.  The run was a fundraiser for Oakdale schools, prescription and had over 360 runners.  In the end, this site the SOS run raised over $11,000!   We had plenty of great achievements on Saturday:   Gloria won her age division in the 5k!   Dylan Lizama, Kirk’s son, took second on both the mile and the 5k in his age division and 24th overall!  And he’s just 8!   Brandon Tyler and I ran with Shai and Finn in the 1 mile, and they carried us to second and third place finishes for our age division!   Courtney pushed young Cole...Read more