W

a big congrats to Graeme Donald, Irene Foster and Dave Tainsh (in pic) for representing OPT at Iron Man Canada...all three performed well..Graeme had a calm swim, a strong bike (that included a few flats which slowed his time tremendously, our goal was 5hrs 10minutes or thereabout...the flats slowed him - finished with 5:39) and a sweet marathon at the end of this of 3:35; he was well on his way for a sub 10 hour (what i thought he would do) but finished at 10:28 due to the wheels...all together a great effort!
Irene's 1st experience at the big one was well put together, she struggled all year with confidence and "trusting" the program and finished at 12 hrs 38 minutes, well within the goals we had shot for...nice.
and to the winner goes the spoils; see pic here of a VERY happy man; someone who was a soldier for OPT, who had done everything that was asked, and dedicated one last year for the big show and he did it, with a 1 hr 7 min swim, a 5 hr 19 min bike and a 4 hr marathon; it got him a qualification for the world IronMan championships in Kona, Hawaii in Oct...well done Dave!

Everyone at OPT understands what true fitness is...training ironmen and ironwomen does not change the perspective we have on true fitness...believe me, they know it as well, triathletes are not truly fit...mark that down, tell your friends, challenge me as you wish...they are specialists of three sports of a cardio respirtatory nature - specialists...meaning lacking in agility, power, strength, stamina, co-ordination and a few other areas...and what i mean by these traits are TRUE definitions of them...i do not consider biking up a hill at high watts powerful, i consider it a skill...true power across many domains is what i am talking about..

these 3 folks have experienced increases in fitness while still specializing...i do not claim to have a hold on it yet...but i can say that in years to come we will have triathletes winning, 10K'ers winning...and other endurance athletes winning at their sport and they will not train 25% of the time they thought they might have to and STILL win...you wait, it'll happen, but the infiltration will take time due to the almighty old school methods of long distance useless miles on swimming, biking and running that kills people long term, and promotes a DECREASE in fitness that folks still hold on to...if anyone out there is willing to do it right, stop by OPT, we sell true fitness and endurance results.

todays WOD:
OHS - 95,115,135,155 x 5 - 70% effort, 30 sec rest b/t sets
hang squat clean - 135,145,155,165 x 3 - 70%, 30 sec b/t sets
push jerk - 135,145,155 x 3 - 70%, 30 sec b/t sets
snatch balance - 65,75,85,95,105,115 x 3; 30 sec b/t sets - 60%
SA DB Power snatch - 6/arm x 3/arm - 55,65,75# - 80%, 30 sec b/t arms
db thruster x 5 - 25,35,45# - 30 sec b/t sets - 60%

felt great to throw some weights around, kept it light, found some other fellow crossfitters in the gym doing Nasty Girls - (god that sucks with chin ups and dips) - well done Sean and Ron...keep it up; we are moving forward.

MG

BC WOD @ globogym in westbank:

AMR in 20 min:

15 double unders

6 HSPU

15 box jumps - 25"

6 L ups

rds - 10.25

had to walk distance for l pull ups, was a nice rest, wanted 10 or more rounds so this sufficed...long day, then travel, great to get a wod in right away.

my muscles are always on fire when i come here, the training is always top notch due to a number of factors:

- altitude

- low cortisol

- no committments, grandparents love Hannah

- wod's in globogym, different setting, different CNS response

the last statement everyone can learn from; seems i have been mentioning it to a number of clients that was passed on to me by one of my mentors, Charles Poliquin; i'll never forget at one of my first meetings with him, we spoke of elite training principles vs. what the "norm" is out there and the difference...and he said "neural drive leads to anabolic drive"...at first i did not have a clue what he meant, but it meant so much...elite training basically is determined by the ability of the CNS to work at high adaptation levels...coaches can instill this in correct nutrition and training principles but when a human "feels" ready to stir it up (as globogyms do to me, it seems as if i feel like i'm entering a cage full of people that want to step on me - it in other words "fires me up") this leads to a big CNS response...as happened today in this workout; there's something more to it than narcicism that makes me want to do well at these wod's in these gyms...

thanks Charles.

WMG

first of all, wanted to congratulate Mark Davids, our OPT athlete of the summer...everyone has an athlete in them, Mark's sport is life...over the summer he has learned to live well, live a bigger life and take fitness/health seriously...we decided to honour him and his successes @ OPT for his dedication, willingness to show up and give it each time...and within this period of time we discovered a true athlete that was dying to get out...here's a clip of him below dead lifting 329 lbs easily for his last max effort of the summer...some other accolades include from June to August beginning to end:
1K row - 4:17......two 1K row's in one workout - 4:07 and 4:05!
walking fast (difficult)......5K run in 51 min (first time ever)
DL - 251 lbs 1RM......DL 329 lbs 1RM
200 m run/walk - 1:14......200 m run (in a workout we might add) - 57 seconds
no confidence in fitness......a warrior and a TRUE OPT client

congrats Mark!

OPT WOD:
thruster - 5 sets of 5 @ 80%: 98,108,118,128,138
+
5 rds 4 time;
21 KB swings - 1.5 pd
21 GHD sit ups
21 double unders
time-9:56

wanted less than 2 min per round, got it, felt good

GW

WOD:

clean - 5 sets of 1, build quickly to tough 1RM - 210,220,230,240,250

haver to be a little more patient on 2nd pull, pulled little early and had to jump forward to catch it...when you do it right as i did at 240 (vid is 250) it was if it was in slow mo like i was slowly pulling myself under the bar and watching it go by...weird

+

for time: 10HSPU/2 CTB chin ups/9HSPU/4 CTB chin ups/8HSPU/6 CTB chin ups/7HSPU/8 CTB chin ups/6 HSPU/10 CTB chin ups/5HSPU/12 CTB chin ups/4HSPU/14 CTB chin ups/3HSPU/16 CTB chin ups/2HSPU/18 CTB chin ups/1HSPU/20 CTB chin ups - time:10:15

i did this G workout in Aug 2005, took me 31 minutes...nice

max clean felt nice today, can do 265 (goal for a long while; will do on ME day coming soon)

a client had posted a ? re: a now famous swimming olympian and here is what he "apparently" has to chew on for fuel, you never know, he may say this for competitive purposes and as a joke on the media but i thought it was interesting...

Breakfast: Three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise. Two cups of coffee. One five-egg omelet. One bowl of grits. Three slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar. Three chocolate-chip pancakes.

Lunch: One pound of enriched pasta. Two large ham and cheese sandwiches with mayo on white bread. Energy drinks packing 1,000 calories.

Dinner: One pound of pasta. An entire pizza. More energy drinks.

from this site. http://www.nbcolympics.com/wtvj/news/newsid=219672

Now, you do not need to be a scientist to understand that the fuel provided here is nothing less than absolute crap, and ANYONE, i challenge ANYONE to mention why otherwise....but it gives you a perspective if this really is his fuel about how freakingly talented this machine is "for now"..and i say for now, as most may think the old adage like our moms used to say..."well, he's burning it off"...well...errr...Mom, you were never right; there are certain SERIOUS side effects for long term exposure to these low nutritonal value, highly toxic foods

the BIG problem lies here, i have swimmers showing up to my door now looking to become the next champ and they throw this meal at me..."well this is what the champ eats, why can't I....i burn so much"...side note, most swimmers that i have ever seen are WAY TOO overtrained (we call it spun down)...so on top of this the last thing they need is more stress to the system, they will do much better as we infiltrate the system on less volume, more correct conditioning and better fuel choices - (don't get me on the chocolate milk thingy, it's coming...)...

so to finish, should one eat like this to become a champ - NO; one needs MAJOR physical talent, size 16 feet and gills; if you or anyone suggests this is the way it has to be, you'll turn out a chump...

M

today's WOD:
1 min POSE @ 95%, 3 min walk x 6 with my dog on the burm
+
150 m row sprint (5.5, foot 3) in 28.2,27.7,27.5,27.2 sec, 2 min b/t sets

feels SOOO good to run outside again with my buddy Red, calves are less tired now, feels nice...those trying to POSE and learn it now; beware that running efficiency has SO much to do with breathing as well, this must NOT be forgotten...so get the breathing and timing down 1st, THEN and only THEN compare for 400's and 800's in efficiency....not 1st...you'll feel deflated if you test a new car without learning how to drive it.....

articles/chat to come this week before i head to BC:
- OPT IM athletes Graeme Donald, Dave Tainsh and Irene Foster complete their journeys with "success"
- Mark Davids - OPT athlete of the summer
- chocolate milk as recovery? there are MUCH better options
- project Lutsch - 2012 swim olympian hopeful starts the journey at OPT
- why high profile athletes can eat like shit and perform...for now
- emotional attachment - new learnings from work by Dan Seigel

project salo

Shelagh Salo
age: 56
sport: endurance running
stats - best marathon - 4:12 Phoenix, static hang - 10 sec, push ups from toes - 1, 500 m row - 2:12 (35 s/m), squat - 25-30 deg above parallel, vertical jump - 9 inches
goals - 4:10 October Victoria Marathon (Boston qualification), 30 sec static hang, 10 push ups, 2:10 row (30s/m), squat - parallel, vertical jump - 10 inches

Shelagh and i decided after years of conversation (more of me saying "running is only one component of fitness - cardio endurance") that we needed to create some measurable fitness goals OUTSIDE of just benchmarks in running to keep her accountable to her LONG TERM fitness as well as her running prowess...she has run Boston and a BUNCH of other races (30 since 1999)...we have always had some good chats about running vs. true fitness and this sill be one of many examples where improving all OTHER aspects of fitness like power, speed, flexibility, balance, co-ordination, strength...etc...and less of ones that you are good at (cardio only) will help the ones you are already good at...and to make things better, you'll live longer! how about that!

by the way, she is only running on Thursdays (400's, 800's and time trials) and pace runs on Sunday, and training OPT style 3x/week (bodyweight, strength training) as well as her own skill training on flexibility on 3 other days...

we will update on her progress as we go as well as provide before and after squat photos and stats AFTER the Victoria Marathon...she'll be a glowing example of what you can do when you INCLUDE ALL aspects of fitness in your training.

G

WOD:
AMR in 9 min;
5 HSPU
10 pistols
15 sit ups
score: 9 rds + 5 HSPU and 6 pistols, wanted 10 (video to come)
+
chest to bar running clock chest to bar chin ups practice - 15 rds easy
+
10 sets of 15 walking lunges - 10 sec b/t sets

last wod at cabin, beautiful setting today, all outside in mild temp's with just bodyweight, lotsa fun...first wod was great breathing practice for Mary...chest to bar chin ups will make that lady MUCH harder in the future, will definitely have to mentally get prepped for that one....

working on the feeding as well pre wod's up here...as usual, making the gut almost completely empty (i.e. no eating 4-5 hours before) ensures a high powr output workout for me...again another shot against science, as is usually prescribed by the aerobic based university science to have "complex and slow releasing carbohydrates 2-2.5 hours before THEN some carbs up to 30 g pre exercise"...if i did that, which i have done in the past, i canot survive on high intensity exercise...so over time i changed it and tested it more and more...that is, got further away from the workout time...i remember my PB's like Murph with vest at 31 min and change, i did not eat 6 hours prior...this week i played with some PFC balancing and some little fuel about 2 hours prior and STILL no change, funny how things remain the same...last few WOD's (thurs and fri) were much BETTER feeling de to nothing in gut...problem with this is that it is tough for those willing to try it to ensure you get enough in your gut after without over tipping the insulin response...so i have found that ensuring your first meal is higher in protein and carbs (more carbs to protein if met con dominant and more protein to carbs if weight training dominant) and then within the next hour to 90 minutes following get another meal that is more PFC balanced (lower on carbs if you're training for weight loss)....then follow on as usual works well
when not done correctly...as in waiting for the gut to empty, then training, then eating big, then waiting another few hours is that you'll eat your face off for the rest of the day...
if it's early am training as i have done many times it works fine...if mid am or noon as it was here this week then big AM meal - 5 blocks of prot/carb and 12-15 blocks fat, then waiting 5 hours ensures high output....works for me as well as others...give it a try, it'll take some time to get used to but it works....
remember "food is ONLY fuel"!!!!!!!

MW

WOD - "Chloe"
for time;
30 DU's
10 Dead Lift - 290#
30 DU's
8 Dead Lift - 290#
30 DU's
6 Dead Lift - 290#
30 DU's
4 Dead Lift - 290#
30 DU's
2 Dead Lift - 290#
time-4:35

most wod's are named after females based on storms that are painful to get in and get out of...Chloe is in honour of our newest development to the Fitz clan...maybe she'll have a sweet grip as mine was basically shot after the 8 Dead Lifts...i expected to go through most of them easily...this quickly turned into fractioning in the 3rd double under round....so i guess it was a tough storm as i did not expect that (note to self, heavy dead lifts and double unders go together as well as back extensions and kipping chin ups)... (will add video when i get home)

looking back (if anyone wants to add a story of this nature go ahead and log in under comments), the most painful storm/female CF workout i have even been through in my memory was Linda when i did her for the first time at OPT (it is 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 rep rds for time of 1.5x BWT DL, 1 x BWT bench press, 0.75 x BWT clean); funny thing is that i did power cleans instead of squat cleans....i was good at DL's so i flew through them, and when i got to rep 8 our of 10 on the bench press and started to fail, i knew i was in trouble, then trying to clean WITH HORRIBLE form 3 years ago made my back light up....i can remember completing it in 30 minutes i think (PB to date is 13:01 with squat cleans and BWT-163) and laying on the carpet from 5 am when i had finished it till 5:45 am (i kid you not) looking at the ceiling fan spinning around and around, i think it was the only thing keeping me from reaching for "the light", i was grey, and had my vision "closing in" on me for hours after, i think i must have eaten 5000 kcal that day....
anyhow, as Geoff would say - "good times!"
what's your favourite story of your own female storm (that you can remember that is)?

WMG

WOD:
W - PC/PP/SJ - 135,155,165,179,189,195,195(x)
2nd last set at 195 was not smooth so tried again and rack was not good for PP on last set so shut it down there; rack position and heel drive much more efficient this year than same time last year when Greg introduced me to my faults..so a little more practice on the O-lifts and i'll have it..
then practiced with 135# - PC/PP/PJ/SJ x 4 sets, wanted it to feel smooth and easy and did
then FS - 135# - practicing 3 reps x 3 sets for depth
+
5 rounds for time:
M - 300 m row (damper 5.5, foot pad 3)
G - 30 push ups
time-9:33

avg'd 1:40/500m for each 300 m split, happy with that, push ups fractioned on last 3 sets slowed things a little..rowing and push ups are always a good mix...i prescribe row and upper body pushing often - and with the right prescription can really get the blood flowing (what do i man by this??)...well MANY crossfit programs i see written are using sustainable energy as the energy system and if not prescribed correctly can end up basically being a 30 minute light weight aerobic session - and furthermore no different than any other "class" at a globo gym....when the correct prescription and mix of movements are done so that a high lactate point and fatigue without compromising form is reached - a HUGE hormonal shift occurs which is FAR MORE effective than work done over 30 minutes with a sustained HR...let me give you an example of some workouts i've seen designed consistently:
7 rounds for time:
400 m run
30 push up burpees
30 thrusters
30 chin ups
30 sit ups
...now based on energy systems, let's say a faster human does the 400m in 1:30, and the 30's in 6-7 min..times that by 7 IF and only IF all rounds are 8 min long equals 56 min of effort...so it IS a crossfit workout because it is varied and functional, but it is not the right INTENSITY, they would by the 2nd round be fractoning everything and turning it into a strength workout, with short rest periods as opposed to a high intensity workout sessions....if we took a normal joe/jane and had them do instead:
for time:
sprint 400m, 15 burpees, 15 thrusters, 15 jumping chin ups and 30 sit ups and it took them 4:20 to do all this (and they were coached to do it all out!), they actually will get a better recovery of cortisol and GH/a higher IGF 1 release/a higher lactate threshold and a "gassed" feeling as opposed to a completely "wiped" feeling....so if by chance you are creating programs, ensure you vary the energy systems for sure, BUT please ensure that the INTENSITY is not just there but there correctly...
there are times for big ones and some benchmarks, lots of time best done as groups and MAYBE 1x/month, not every day or even 1-2x/week, this will not make folks stronger...only at the aerobics/sustained work system and not the short wave or "ugly" waves of energy...
more to come on this one..

MG

if you did not have the chance to see the finishing kick of the men's triathlon at the Olympics last night, i'll give you a recap...."GUTS"...there it is; it explains everything as that is what it took our Canadian hopeful Simon Whitfield on the last 600m to the finish...very inspiring....he was in a pack of 4 out in front for the last 5K, then he backed off a little before the last 1K and everyone including his former coach thought he was done...that is until he threw off his hat like a cowboy ready to get dirty and caught up to the other 3, passed them with speed with 600m to go...if you have ever been in races like this (i have and know the pain)...you are in immense pain for a long while, then to kick at the end is a BIG RISK, he put it all on the line, came up in 2nd as a younger German with a little more spunk caught him and passed him like he was walking on the last 100m, but kudos to Simon, i tip you my hat...that takes balls - big ones, i've been in the same position at the first CF games and tried the same thing and got passed on the last 100 m as well; and you learn from it but it took everything i had to do that, everything...well done Simon..well done!

today's WOD - "Nicole-ish" - AMR in 20 min: 400m run, max chest to bar pull ups
107 total pull ups; 9 rounds + 100m (20/15/12/10/10/10/10/11/9)

first 20 min workout in a long while; add heat, CTB pull ups and POSE running to that and you've got a man with sore calves, a torn hand and visions of carbohydrates running in his head

sidenote: speaking of carbs, watched and laughed at a commercial today for a certain female diet program (hint - rhymes with "many leg"); this movie star was selling this program b/c she had lost 20lbs and can still eat "fun things like ravioli and meat balls and pizza and whatever else she wanted"...i'd love to know when foods became so emotional to folks, and why do most feel the need to eat based on points and not on how it makes you feel - there should be a point system based on foods that give you muscle and help improve performance, that would really shake things up...i got it, a new food program - the "opt in nutrition program"

testimony 1:
"i've gained 5 lbs in 4 weeks, i wake up and feel like working out, my butt is bigger from lunges, my arms are more muscular, i can dead lift more than my husband (actually i CAN dead lift my husband) and i eat all kinds of fatty foods like avocadoe, full fat milk, all kinds of nuts and my wasteline is slimming down every day....and add to that my workouts last only 8 min on average"

...err..wait now, that won't sell