Lately I’ve been messing around with my nutrition and I realized something.
Any good fitness program will help you improve the way you look, feel and perform.
But when deciding which program or diet to follow, you have to pick one of those goals to prioritize.
Of course, you want them all.
But when it comes down to it, which one are you willing to sacrifice for?
If performance is your priority, you need to push harder in training, eat to focus on performance and spend extra time working on skills.
If your priority is to look good, you have to make diet sacrifices, train for aesthetics and take a lot of selfies.
If your goal is to FEEL better …
Hmm.
That’s an interesting one. Because if your goal is to feel better, you can achieve that pretty quickly.
You’re only one meal and one workout away from feeling better.
Eat well and get to the gym, and you will be fired up.
Whereas you can’t change the way you look and perform much in one day, you CAN change the way you feel in just a few hours.
The best part is if you eat well and train for several days in a row, you feel better even if you skip a day or have cake at that party.
Feeling good becomes a motivator for you to keep training and eating well, which helps improve the way you look AND perform.
So really, the focus of your fitness program should first be to FEEL GOOD, then to look good and perform well.
Eat well, train hard, feel good.
Coach Jay
Announcements
Next Guest Day at Hale: Saturday, August 3
All athletes and guests welcome; no CrossFit experience required. Classes at 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. FREE! New guests, please arrive 10 minutes before class to sign a waiver.
Summer of Skills:
Our next few skills sessions will be:
7/24: Oly Skills (Snatch) with Nathan Loe*
7/31: Oly Skills (Clean) with Nathan
Loe*
8/7: Oly Skills (Jerk) with Nathan Loe*
All clinics at 6:30 p.m.
These are FREE for members.
*Advanced sign-up is required and space will be limited. Please sign up here or in person at the front whiteboard.
Is there something you’re dying to learn more of? Please drop a line to [email protected].
Mark Freeman (of Freeman Technique, Cirque du Soleil, and Cal Gymnastics fame) will be running his clinics on Wednesdays at 5:45 a.m. Cost is $20 for members; $25 for non-members. Our regular 5:45-a.m. Group Coaching class will continue as scheduled.
Oakland Tri and Alcatraz Swim
Now that the Hero Challenge is done and dusted, the coaches are training for two upcoming events. More info to come, but the more the merrier! Give us a shout when you sign up!
- The Oakland Triathlon: Sunday, August 18 (Coach Jay)
- Odyssey Alcatraz Swim: Sunday, September 21 (Coach Heidi)
Workouts for the Week:
Monday—TRAIN
“NOT Pressed for Time”
4 rounds for quality:
5 deadlifts
10 strict handstand push-ups or DB strict press
20 sit-ups
Strength day! Upper-body press + deadlifts. Add weight to deadlift through the rounds—5 reps here must be unbroken, and aim to work up to something heavy for the day. Pick a challenging scaling for HSPU or DB press and work on strength and good positions.
Tuesday—TRAIN
“PCP” (Posterior Chain Pump)
16-min EMOM:
15/12-cal row
14 alternating DB lunges (50/35)
40 double-unders/80 singles
14 DB hang power cleans
MissFit: 40/25# DB
Score is total number of minutes you “made,” or completed. Scale back row/singles as needed. You should be working about 40-45s.
Fun with EMOM! You won’t have a TON of rest between each movement. Move quickly on the DB movements to save your grip. Shoulders will burn! Try to to control your breathing through the dubs and rowing to hold it together.
Finisher:
3 rounds:
10 slider pike ups/crunch ups
10 slider hamstring curls
30-s hollow
hold
Wednesday—RECOVER (+Snatch Clinic, 6:30 p.m.)
A. Warm-up
Rowling:
Each partner, 3 rounds
200-m row
Other partner:
Round 1: holds plank
Round 2: holds squat
Round 3: holds 25-lb.
plate overhead.
You BOTH do 1 burpee for each meter over/under 200!
Score is total number of burpees you do!
B. Get Sweaty
15-min AMRAP:
10 DB plank rows
10 AMERICAN KB Swings
10 parallette pass-throughs
Rx+: Dabble with pass-throughs (on boxes, as needed) without feet touching the ground at the front.
C. Mobility
2 min. kitchen sink stretch
2 min/side barbell trap/1st rib smash
2 min/side
barbell tricep smash
Thursday—PERFORM
A. (as warm-up to main event)
Tempo Front Squat
3-3-3
3 s down
1 s
pause
UP
Working on nailing down nice vertical position and drive out of the hole in prep for the 5 x 5 front squats!
B. Front Squat for load:
5 x 5
Working up to a heavy 5 for today–maybe a PR!
C. “Legs on Fiyah”
Every 5 min. for 3 rounds:
12 burpee over bar
12 front squats
(135/95)
400-m run
Be safe but move FAST. Burpees are lateral over the bar—stay low and quick. Unbroken front squats and aggressive (but not all-out) pace on the run.
Keep track of your splits. Match or BEAT your time from the previous round!
Friday—TRAIN
“Farmhand Friday”
30-min AMRAP in teams of 3:
25 heavy ball toss
50-cal bike/row
150-m sled push
400-m farmers carry (53/35)
This should be a good chance to get outside and work with moderate weights and SIMPLE movements. No need to rush between stations—just a day to get work done. Stay in control of breathing and work hard when it’s your turn.
Saturday—TRAIN
“Dollar Fifty Dog Combo”
For time:
1-mile run
Straight into:
50-40-30
Pull-ups
Hand-release push-ups
MissFit: Jumping pull-ups
Hit the mile at a good clip—75-80%. Scale back as needed to keep run UNDER 10 min.
The bigger sets of pull-ups and push-ups will get nasty—this one is about stamina! Take the mile at a good clip and start chipping away!
If you get to Costco, you’ve run too far.
Aim for sub 20. Hard cap at 25 min.
Sunday—TRAIN
20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2
Wall-balls (20/14)
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Toes-to-bars
Descending reps in this one will help improve the mental battle—try to go unbroken on the wall-balls and minimize transition time. I know you don’t WANT to pick up the ball, but do it! You may have to chip away at T2B in 2 sets to start. Your goal is SUB 12 minutes!
20 wall balls/10 T2B
18 wall balls/9 T2B
16 wall balls/8 T2B
Etc.