Is that the guy?

From the paper! You know...the one riddlin' like Yoda about motivation, challenge, and Buddha bellies! Rock on Johnny U!
If none of those truths made sense, then take a look-see.

Super Bowl Sunday

Remember Sunday Feb. 1:

a) 10AM: CrossFit Pittsburgh Workout (They call it "Keith." It looks relatively short, but quite intense.).
b) 11AM: Dan Woodside, Registered Dietician
c) 6:28pm: Super Bowl...Go Steelers!

A little R & R.

Over-training, over-training. Why? Because working out, for many of us, is an addiction. The thought of not exercising...egad...it's like telling a crack addict to lay off the pipe for a few days. No dice!

So many of us have aches, pains, and little tweaks...and what do we say? "It'll be alright, it'll go away." Maybe, but most likely if we keep running, biking, swimming, and crashing around CF like a bunch of wild dogs, it won't.

What's the motive? Why the addiction?
Will we lose muscle? Will we get fat? Will we drop our VO2? Will we be sore next time? Will we not be able to keep up? Will we miss something? Why? Why? Why?

Here are some informative articles:

Runners World article on Recovery

Runners World article on Tapering

Bodybuilding.com article on Recovery (for some technical insights)

All this means...whatever. Our actions must align with our goals. If exercise fills a social need, then maybe we put up with tweaks and aches. But if our goal is to feel as good as we can feel, or to get a PR or to place in our Age Group in a race, then we best consider how over-training may be undermining that goal.

Upcoming Challenges

Well, things have gotten back to normal since Hero Week, so it's time to shake 'em up again. Two new Challenges are on their way:

Super Steeler-Style Sick Sunday: Sunday Feb. 1, 10am. Warm up your Super-Bowl Sunday with a wild workout. We'll scan the CrossFit Pittsburgh site for their sickest workout.


My Bloody Kettlebell Challenge: Sunday Feb. 15, 10am. Celebrate Valentine's 2009 with a special KB workout. Practice up on your KB moves. There will be running and sundry bodyweight exercises. Awards for fastest M/F, and anyone else who can finish it!

Cancelled class

MONDAY JAN. 19, 5:30PM CLASS Cancelled!

Make-up class:
TUESDAY JAN. 20, 5:30PM

Football Fitness Frenzy

Well, our PA teams are in their respective Divisional Playoff. A cause to celebrate? Absolutely! No, not a tailgate celebration with wings, pizza, beer, dip, nachos, cookies, and pie! How about a CrossFit Celebration.

We'll complete homegrown workouts from CrossFit Pittsburgh and CrossFit Philly.
Sunday January 18, 8AM (sorry for the early start)
Cost: 1-punch
Reason: Bragging rights...let's make it a challenge, post your allegiance to comments. We'll see which fans have what it takes. (And it you're a fan of some other loser team not in the playoffs, just use this as another sad justification for going to CF, "Hey, there's football playoffs, I should truly honor the occasion with a workout.").

Here's just a teaser:
CrossFit Pittsburgh....5 Rounds, 5 Pull Ups, 5 Wall Ball....etc
CrossFit Philly....50 KB High Pulls, 40 Sit Ups, 30 Walking Lunges per Leg....etc

Bring your outdoor running gear.

Burpee Shmurpee

Click here for CrossFit Burpee Instructional Video

Of the many reasons to dislike your old-school coach and/or gym teacher of your youth, the Bend & Thrust has to rank way up there.

It comes in many names, Bend & Thrust...Squat Thrusts...or popularized by CrossFit...the BURPEE. It comes in many kinds...8 Count, 6 Count, 1-Legger, w/ Broad Jump, w/ Box Jump, w/ Pull Up, w/ Deadlift, etc...but the outcome is always the same!

Though in our youth we may have maligned this exercise...in our wisdom and age, we can see that it is the ideal exercise. Let's investigate:

1. Squat
2. Leg Extension
3. Plank
4. Push Up
5. Plank
6. Leg Raise (snapping knees up to squat position)
7. Squat
8. Stand or Jump

My, my...just somehow add a hoppy west-coast IPA to that and you'd have Utopia!

Aaaaanyway, maybe for a Winter/Spring challenge we can incorporate the Burpee.

Popular Burpee challenges are 1) 3-minute Challenge (brutal, but too short for our purposes...we usually do 3 minutes of B&Ts throughout the CF class)...and 2) 100 Day Burpee Challenge. Here, we do Burpees every day for 100 days...the number of Burpees represents that day (so Day 1 is 1 Burpee, Day 15 is 15 Burpees, etc.)...

So that's what others are doing....what Challenge can you create for CFers???? Maybe a President's Day or Valentine's Day theme??? Who knows?
Post to comments.

January/February Corps Fitness Schedule