CFO had a fun weekend in Fresno at the FTF Affiliate Challenge. I will have a review of the event on Monday night. I will say this: you always learn something at these events. Give Don, try Emmaline and Chance a pat on the back for their hard work this weekend. Ask them what they learned. We have a busy week coming up. Tuesday night at 6:30, CFO will host a Seminar “Eyes on the Open”. Classes on Tuesday will be held at 4:30 and 5:30 only. No 6:30 class. Come in a knock out the WOD, it’s a CrossFit classic. In the “Eyes on the Open” seminar we will discuss the upcoming Reebok CrossFit Games Open, a five week test of fitness. We’ll review last year, go over some strategies to maximize performance, break down some workouts, and discuss some travel options. CFO is also hosting a series of...Read more

CrossFit Oakdale has some athletes signed up for the CrossFit Open! This fires me up and I can’t wait for the event to kick off in less than 3 weeks. Remember, story to compete, and to stay in the competition, you will need to complete each WOD as prescribed (RX). You will receive a score even if you do one rep, but you’ll need to get that first rep. I can’t predict what the WODs will be, but some movements people ran into trouble with last year: doubleunders (11.1), hand release pushups (11.2) heavy overhead squats (11.4), toes to bar (11.5) and chest to bar pull-ups (11.6). I can’t guarantee it, but it’s pretty safe to assume we’ll see these movements again. Why do people struggle with these movements? Because they’re HARD! Because they’re hard, they make a really nice way to separate the pretty good from the great. If...Read more

Coromega.  We talk about Omega-3 a lot at CFO.  A good travel option for an Omega 3 supplement is pretty tough to find: you either end up lugging around high quality fish oil, information pills or you have to buy low quality pills.  I always opt for the high quality stuff, so I end up carrying a cooler to keep my fish oil cool.  As awesome as that sounds, Coromega has provided a better way for high quality fish oil.   Coromega is basically a high quality fish oil in, for lack of a better term, a ketchup packet.  I haven’t tried it yet, but Adele has, and she liked it.  I treat this as an emergency/travel option; I would still keep a bottled, high quality fish oil in the fridge for my normal consumption.   Coromega is sold at Sunflower.  Here is a $5 coupon offered on their website....Read more

The Reebok CrossFit Games site is live! You can register your account as well as register for the Opens. It is $20 to participate.  I really want as many CFO athletes as possible to participate. I would ask that you review the WODs from last year. I believe the WODs were simple, hospital and the weights were reasonable. Remember, you just had to accomplish 1 rep to get your name on the leader board. So, a 165/110 squat clean (WOD 11.3) would have scored you points. Or in WOD 11.4, the ability to do Muscle ups separated, but did not disqualify, many athletes. We don’t know what the workouts will be, last year was such a resounding success, I expect a similar event. One small change from last year: the WODs were announced Tuesday night. This year they will be announced on Wednesday night. To maximize work, I repeated all...Read more

I find myself talking a lot about inflammation, purchase as a result of diet and exercise.  It’s usually questions I receive from non-CrossFitter’s like: what is inflammation, and why is it bad?  Does it matter?   Inflammation is actually a good, essential part of life; the response our body gets from exercise, a bump, a cut are forms of acute inflammation.  What we’re trying to halt is chronic inflammation.  I’m not crazy about my answers, so I’m going to do some research on inflammation.  Here’s some of my early reading.   What is Inflammation How to Tell If You’re Inflamed The Relationship Between Exercise and Inflammation.   Workout of the Day   Strength Deadlift 9 sets of 3 75% of 1 RM on the minute   Metcon 5 Rounds 40s Deadlift 185/135 20s rest 40s Burpees 20s rest Score is the number of reps completed. If you are competing this...Read more