This past weekend I watched dozens upon dozens of people from all walks of life get put on the spot. On camera, documented for what could be eternity. I watched some people do nothing but be themselves, and the camera loved them for it. I watched others, stand up a little straighter, talk a little sweeter, and smile a little easier, in hope to maybe be remembered as who they want to be, not who they really are.

I began to wonder if a camera or recorder was on my every action everyday if I would change my behavior, my actions, my interaction with the environment. Ultimately, I wondered, would I put on a show for an audience only when I knew they were watching, or was I always on for the world to see, always unafraid of the reviews of the critics.

We all should repel at the mere thought of having to “adjust” when the world may be watching, and the cameras are recording. To live is to progress unabashed never worrying if our words will fall upon the air never to be hard again, or if they will remain immortal on film or paper for generations to come. We are always “on”, even if everyone else is “off”.

If you were interviewed today, would you be the same on camera? Would you fear an instant replay of your typical personality so much so that you would offer up a character you created, the version you wish you were? There is one shot at getting roses when you leave this stage called life, and if your not always giving your best, most real performance, if your not always “on” for the cameras then no one will remember your story. No one will applaud your exit. No one will write tales about you and no-one will continue telling your adventures for generations to come.

Strength:

Snatch grip high-pull/Full squat snatch/Overhead squat
1+1+1 @75%1RM Snatch
7 Rounds EMOM

For Time:

25-Ground to overhead 65/95
3-Rope Climbs
25-Dips
2-Rope Climb
25-Front Squats 65/95
1-Rope Climb

Post impression to comments.

I really don’t know the first thing about X-boxes or computers, or technology of any kind and I really don’t want to. However, I do know a sign when I see one, I believe we all do. No matter the dialect we maintain a blinking red lights is always bad, and they all carry the same warning, “no”, “stop”, “not today”. Obvious to say the least. Its not that the lights dim or flicker, we just become blind to the signs, ignorant to the suggestions.

“Damn, my shoulder hurts”

Be thankful you have a shoulder to hurt first off, second, stop doing whatever the hell is making it hurt, but don’t stop “doing” altogether.

Pain is very much a good thing. Its the alarm clock that gets us to work on time. It’s the irritating friend who makes you uncomfortable when your not living up to the standard you should be. Pain, like anything else worth a damn, will not be ignored.

Did you really think becoming an amazing human was going to be pain free, never a hiccup tweak or twinge? Seriously, humans get hurt taking the trash out let alone throwing heavy shit overhead 800x’s a week. However, where twinges tweaks and discomforts are common, lasting chronic pain is not common, nor acceptable. And that is exactly what you will get when you ignore the initial blinking lights.

If every time you go overhead, or behind the head, or left of center or whatever, then stop doing that-THEN. Squat, ice, eat like a normal human, get a massage and call it tissue therapy. After that run, jump, rest, and do it over and over again. Do anything, and everything except for the worst thing-nothing.

You will never heal sitting on the couch as fast as you would intensely working everything that is functioning just fine. And you will not heal without targeted mobility and a dedicated program geared towards strengthening the weakness that created the problem in the first place. The fun part is learning that, more often than not, your shoulder hurts because you didn’t stop the first time you saw the blinking lights.

“My X-Box doesn’t work”

Long ago I bought an X-box because it looked fun at the time, for some odd reason killing things on a screen is quite soothing. But today, it sits broken in a closet, right where it should be.

Quickly, I became irritated with it simply because I played it instead of doing things I deemed important. I simply stopped playing for a very long time, until of course Batman came out. After I had my fill of awesomeness, I put it away never to return….until Batman’s sophomore effort hit the shelves that is. In a few days I mastered another glorious waste of time, but this time was different. For some reason, this time I kept playing, I kept wasting. For about a week the cosmos put up with my wasteful behavior, and then an act of God erupted-three red lights.

After I handed my box over to a friend for maintenance, he returned it in working order. It lasted about three sessions and started blinking again, and then I got the sign. I opened my eyes and got the hint, “stop wasting time”.

There are not a lot of things I really fear. I fear failing my friends, I fear causing another pain, I fear wasting my time, my life. For me, and I argue for everyone, X-box, Facebook, t.v, apps and whatever else are a waste in the most truthful sense of the word. I believe we all feel ill when we are not being productive, when we are not learning, working, and achieving, but I also believe many of us have tricked ourselves into creating “downtime”. In an effort to distract ourselves from the drudgery of everyday existence trying to accumulate things that we don’t need, we come up with our very own antidotes to life. We call them “relaxing” to make us feel better about doing it. We call it, “necessary”, we call it “earned”.

What could be more relaxing than studying to become something more than you are. Than discovering a truth that you could pass onto your loved ones that may save their life. Maybe you can find that on a screen somewhere, or maybe when the red lights start blinking you should do what I did, stop playing games.

“I got a ticket”

In “Liar Liar”, the main character is a defense attorney who cannot lie. He receives a phone call from a repeat offender looking for legal advice. The main character, again who cannot lie, screams his advice to the criminal saying, “stop breaking the law asshole”.

If I remember right, there are a few flashing lights atop police cars pulling over offending motorists for one reason or another. There is one particular human I care very much about who has seen those lights more than once, and spent a night (or several) behind bars. The whole time spent defending their so-called right “to drink responsibility”.

I remember vividly thinking about the movie “Liar Liar” the second time my friend committed the same crime. I remember thinking, “If it didn’t work the first time, why do you think it would work the second time”. I remember thinking, maybe a soap party would straighten him out, maybe then he would see the big blinking light leading straight to his grave, or worse yet, someone elses.

I am not saying that prohibition is the right way to go. Hell just because the Spartans didn’t drink doesn’t mean you have to follow suit right, unless of course you wanna be a super awesome Greek bad-ass instead of a recreational alcoholic. Regardless, at some point you really gotta ask, “is this really worth it”?

Enough games, enough distractions, enough evil elixirs and antiquated antidotes. The lights are blinking in every direction except the one your suppose to be traveling. Stop wasting time and creating distractions and start taking the hint…….life is only full of so many warnings, and the next blinking red light may be your last.

Strength:

Strict pull-up
3x max reps

Close grip floor press
3×5

For score:

Wall-Ball
Toe 2 Bar
Box Jump
1 Minute each station
3 Rounds

Auxiliary:
DB Bulgarian split squat
3×8

I watched Julie Foucher compete this past weekend as did the rest of the Central East, and the world for that matter. I watched a girl that is an example to our sport and to athletes everywhere. A girl that we can all learn from. A girl that is motivation and clearly the talk of the town, and for good reason. “How can I be more like Julie” lingers in the air. Girl or guy, fire-breather or not, everyone can appreciate the likes of Julie Foucher. Everyone can utilize some of the same tactics to become a better CrossFitter, and a better human.

Have fun

I was lucky enough to interview Julie a while back. The thing that sticks out immediately is her schedule. She is absorbed within her profession which is not CrossFit. She is a medical student with many years of preparation left in waiting.

I would assume that the effort it takes to be an incredible CrossFitter and talented student is incredibly difficult, but I wonder if it produces a much needed form of synergy. There was always a wonderful, almost sly smile upon Julie’s face as she was competing. She was in pain and giving her all like the rest of the field, however, Julie, as opposed to a few other athletes I will refrain from naming, looked like she was still enjoying herself. To me, Julie looked like she CrossFits for fun, and the competition is just an extension. To me it seems like some folks were at work, while Julie was playing.

I would attribute this, and I could be wrong, to her daytime job. Julie seems to use CrossFit as the fun mix of competition, community, and health it was created to be. To me, the first step to becoming more like Julie Foucher is doing little more than keeping CrossFit in perspective. It needs to be a healthful release-rewarding. Once it becomes a burden and stressful-punishing.

Good coach

One of my favorite dudes is Doug Chapman. He is that mix of caring honesty that you really can’t find anywhere else. He may piss you off at times, but most likely, you needed it

Doug is Julie’s Coach and he does a splendid job with her, and all his athletes for that matter. It’s not that I think Doug, or anyone for that matter, has the market covered on the absolute best method of training. It’s that he really cares about his athletes and everything that goes into training them. A good Coach will of course be well studied, but they will also be able to read people and go beyond what they need on the workout floor. A good coach is always coaching on and off the floor.

Your version of Doug is whoever will push you when you don’t want to be pushed. It’s someone who is honest and cares for your success not their own. It’s someone who is knowledgeable of course, but also capable of wanting only the best for you. The second step in the Julie journey  is finding a smart coach that you can relate to. A coach that coaches the way you need, not necessary the way you want.

Have faith

After you take the first two steps….keep walking. Changing direction has it’s place of course, but woe to the attention deficit athletes who can’t rinse wash and most importantly, repeat.

There exists a plethora of training methods in our ever increasing CrossFit world today. I wager that some of them are better than others of course, but none of them is fool proof. More than a few can most likely be utilized for greatness, or simply progress. That is of course, if you have faith and let the effort create the results.

I’m really sorry that you were cursed with the inability to walk in a straight line for more than ten seconds, but too many people jump ship before it ever had a chance to get to buried treasure. If talking to other athletes about what they are doing, or watching it on facebook is just too much for you to stomach, then cocoon yourself up and stop tweeting. After a good Coach gives you a good plan, shut the hell up and follow it. Do not add to it. Do not take away form it. Do not become seduced by what someone else is doing.

The last time I talked to Julie, she didn’t Facebook or troll the games site looking for the next best thing. The third step to becoming more like the little girl who graceful crushed a region is having faith in your plan long enough for it bear fruit. You can’t harvest a field that you never let grow in the first place.

Efficient strength

After all that, train to be better at moving, not stronger at lifting. Strength is necessary, but strength without efficiency will be beat. Efficient strength will win every time.

Julie Foucher is a very strong girl and she is a very small girl at that. She will never be able to outdo certain humans when it comes to all out battles of raw strength, but after spending five minutes watching her WOD, its no secret that she will out last just about everyone with her addiction to proper technique.

Never neglect being strong, but never trade efficient movement for anything. Focusing on efficient movement is the fourth step in becoming a little bit more like Julie Foucher today. In the end efficiency can be the proper expression of well earned strength. Without both in your wheelhouse, everything just feels a lot heavier.

I’m sure that there is much more to the number one girl in the Central East, but I am not so sure we need to get all crazy exotic about our efforts to get better at our version of CrossFit. It’s more about the little things, those things that athletes like Julie, seem to have mastered, opening bigger doors to victory.

Congrats Julie.

Strength:

Deadlift
1×12
*Within 10 Minutes, find your unbroken (12) rep max

Push Press
1×12
*Within 10 Minutes, find your unbroken (12) rep max

Back Squat
1×12
*Within 10 Minutes, find your unbroken (12) rep max

For time:

800m-Run
*every 100m, perform 20 Double Unders.

Post impression to comments.

The following is authored by: Mindy Coby

I’ve never received so much advice from others as I did during the months I was engaged to my now-husband. Advice about what kind of service to hold, what food to serve, the type of music that should be played, what the dresses should look like, and the list goes on. However, the one piece of advice that proved to be more valuable than anything else was given to me after I made the statement ‘I just can’t wait for that day to come!’ for the hundredth time…  And that advice was this: “Don’t wish this time away… enjoy the process.”

This friend of mine wasn’t given that same advice when she was engaged years prior. She spent countless months stressing over meticulous details, ensuring every aspect of her dream wedding was perfectly in place for the big day… and that day was indeed perfect. She had a beautiful wedding, but at the end of the night she found herself in tears, refusing to take off her dress in disbelief that the day she dreamed of for almost an entire year had come and gone in the blink of an eye. How many girls imagine that as part of their dream wedding?

I took that advice to heart and enjoyed every week, every month that I had as a bride-to-be. I soaked up the planning, the outpouring of love from friends and family, and a very special time of preparation with my fiancé. When my wedding day ended I was over the moon happy, and satisfied with how I had spent all the time leading up to that amazingly special day.

Fast forward six months and we’ve just wrapped up an incredible weekend at the Central East Regionals. This year I was blessed to be part of Team PCF. Our goals were high and the competition was stiff. After pouring our hearts and souls into the workouts every day, we ended short of our goal, placing two spots shy of making the cut and getting to the final workout of the weekend. It would have been easy to forget the gains we made and be disappointed with our final outcome, and we might have been if it weren’t for one thing; we appreciated the process.

After working through a five-week long Open season, we had six weeks of preparation as a team for regionals. Six weeks of double or triple wod days, documenting every calorie put in our mouths, testing various supplements, rearranging work schedules, time away from family, and a lot of patience and hard work. We had to learn our teammate’s strengths, weaknesses, and how to communicate with each other. We had to play a role that we might not have been comfortable with before. We were challenged to work at heavier loads and move faster than we had before. We worked really hard. And you know what? I loved every damn minute of it. Even if what came out of my mouth at times were complaints of pain, hunger, and fatigue, I loved the challenge. I loved being part of something bigger than myself. I loved having a team that counted on my performance, consistency, and leadership. I loved being pushed beyond what I ever would’ve chosen to do on my own.

Every athlete on team PCF hit some type of PR this weekend. Our WOD times were faster than we had practiced. We lifted heavier and moved faster. It doesn’t matter what it looked like on the leaderboard, because the process we went through just to get there has permanently changed each of us in some way.

Friendships and bonds were formed. Discipline and accountability were taken to new heights. We are all better than we were yesterday. I am thankful for the weekend we just experienced, but even more grateful for what I had to do to get there.

Strength:

Three Position Clean AHAP
EMOM
5 Rounds

“Chief”

3-Power Cleans 95/135
6-Push-ups
9-Squats
AMRAP 3 Minutes
5 Rounds
*Recover (1) minute between rounds.

Post impression to comments

Every year CrossFit gets bigger and stars shine brighter. Every year things change dramatically, while remaining exactly the same. Every year after a competition I feel empty when I leave the people and the community as a whole that I care for so very much.

I would wager that every cool story was brought to the world’s attention in one way or another here, I should know that was part of my responsibility. And what a responsibility it is to have the ability to put your friends from all over up in lights. Its an honer to write, and report about amazing performances from athletes you will congratulate in person, right after you congratulate them in verse. As a writer, as a Coach, as a CrossFitter, I could not be more blessed.

Again, click here for various stories and situations re-telling the weekend masterfully. In the meantime, I will sit and ponder about where our sport of fitness has come from and where it will go. I will remember those dreamlike times in Aromas, and I will compare them to the epic times of today. I will love them both for their similarities as well as their differences.

We all can thank CrossFit for the multitude of amazing people it has brought into our lives enriching us just for having meet them. We all can step back like proud parents watching a child grow and say, “I remember when”, and maybe more importantly, “I can’t wait to see……”

Lastly, I will thank my team. I will thank them for being the example human beings should be. I will thank them for the extension of a bigger family they became when they took the Regional floor as competitors. As athletes they demonstrated their passion in their performance, as friends they demonstrated their honor in their behavior.

I was proud of every performance this weekend. How could I not be? In CrossFit, it’s always like a big family reunion, a reunion of awesomeness. But there is still something about your immediate family, those your with everyday, those you sometimes take for granted. It’s something that reminds you of just what it feels like to yearn so much for the happiness of others. To literally feel like you would lend them your heart for one breathless moment if it would help them in anyway.

For hours after watching team PCF compete for their last time of the season, I shook thinking about the collective effort of their extended family awaiting their return home. The friends that came to cheer them on, the family that supported their efforts this weekend and every weekend before that. CrossFit again reminds the world via competition that all out human wellness is achieved as one giant group gathered together with nothing more in mind than being better today than they were yesterday.

Thank you Central East. Thank you team PCF. And thank you CrossFitters near and far…here is to many more years to come.

Strength:

Thruster
1,1,1,1,1

For Score:

7-Thrusters 65/95
9- Burpees
12-Pull-ups
AMRAP 20 Minutes

Post impression to comments.

From the CrossFit Games site, by: Me

Huge white satellites protruding from the roof tops of beastly big rigs don’t blend in to a more natural scenery easily, yet it’s the first thing you see upon entering the venue at the Central East Regional. For the first time ever a CrossFit Regional event will be broadcasted live for the world to see. For the first time, you can watch a regional a event as it happens from wherever you are in the world.

Four years ago, in a parking lot, in the rain, with thunder and lighting as the backdrop, the Central East CrossFitted, and called it regionals. Today huge semi-trucks with an entire team of humans living inside of them greets spectators and athletes a like. Camera’s as big as the people carrying them are scattered all over a climate controlled floor that spans the length of a football field and is very viewer friendly. It’s ground zero for what will be the biggest Regional production the CrossFit world has ever witnessed to date.

Maybe your like me and your just a CrossFitter with no clue of what “production” looks like. Production looks a lot like hundreds of people behind a curtain doing things no one will ever see so that what everyone does see looks seamless. Its a support crew ensuring that what we as CrossFitters do every day for fun, looks like something much more than a workout, even though oddly enough, the workout and the athlete doing it, is the highlight. It’s the reason we are all watching.

A small Army with “Rogue” on their shirts just loaded dozens of bars with thousands of pounds. Over 100’ of metal called a “rig” magically appeared dwarfing rowers that look innocent enough, until you test them of course. A garage gym multiplied by a thousand is built in front a massive screen showcasing the accomplishment of some of the worlds fittest humans.

It’s at that very point where reflection turns to reality and you realize you saw this all coming long long ago. Maybe you weren’t sure how or when the waters would part leaving only the CrossFit path in the middle, but you knew greatness would not remain secret, but secretly you never really wanted it to anyway.

You may have never realized it before, but that little workout you found so invigorating personally is now the highlight of an entire broadcast team spanning the globe calling it all, “the sport of fitness”, and your part of it, you help build it with every sweat angel you leave behind, every newbie you invite to their first WOD, and every “like” you click on that says “PR”.

Welcome to ground zero yet again, welcome to the Central East Regionals and the first of what will prove to be an enhanced regional experience that will inevitably be trumped in 2013 and the year after that, because thats what we do and thats who we are. It’s the contagion of CrossFit spreading, one-upping itself by reinventing something, that will always remain exactly the same those of us who just can’t get enough.

If you are near the Ohio Expo Center and the CrossFit Central East Regionals, join Rich Froning, Dan Bailey, Josh Everett and many more faithful names. This rare opportunity to mingle with the worlds fittest is for any and all, and entirely created by CrossFit Faith.

Click here for details, and don’t miss this opportunity to join the worlds best for a faith enhancing, award winning experience you won’t want to miss.

CrossFit Classes are Cancelled Saturday 5/12 due to the Central East Regional.

It’s possible the owner of this immaculate and capable machine was just a stickler for perfection, but perfection prevents presence. If your always worried about perfect, you’ll never reach good. Your truck should be treated as the temple it and respected of course, but you do it a disservice by shielding it from the elements that can only enhance it. The purpose of the powerful machine you have was not meant for show only.

Trucks call it a bed, it hauls. Humans call it an ass. If your ass is small, your not pulling your weight. We all know what our posterior should like it; it should look like the more tonnage you give it, the better it gets.

The durability of a truck shows up within it’s thick exterior that takes the beating of constant effort, and comes back for more tomorrow. Humans either have the same type of thick skin void of ridiculous sensitivity, or they find themselves in pain at even the hint of a drizzle, never able to play in the rain.

Every truck gets a pit-stop when they wear the tread off their tires. However, the blessing of rest and care given from your crew is reserved for those running the race, not those sitting on the sidelines. If you don’t race, stay out of the pit.

You can clean a truck, and you can clean a human, but no amount of water washes away the tell-tale signs of effort, the scars of accomplishment. Showers are a reward if there is something to wash off, as well as something that will never leave you.

Your truck will run out of gas. You can either chose to fill it with premium fuel, or something that burns ugly, and leaves something even mechanics cannot fix.

Your dents, and dings are you victories no matter how bad they hurt. Chicks without bruises and Men without the scars of work are like all the shining machines lining our streets today…just one turn away from an accident they cannot recover from.

Attention PCFer’s: The 9am CrossFit Class is the only class offered Friday May 11th. Saturday May 12 is cancelled due to the Central East Regionals.

Strength:

Rest

For Score:

7-Thurster 65/95
10-Supine rows
7- Sumo-deadlift high pulls 65/95
100m-Sprint
AMRAP 20 Minutes

Post time to comments.

The following is authored by; Joel Lyman

Sometimes, it seems like paleo ain’t cheap. which is wrong, when you consider the costs of stuff like not going to the doctor for diabetes. Regardless, we can make it cheaper. I hear people talk a lot about eating pricey cuts of meat (i.e. steak) but little discussion about other, cheaper cuts of meat that are usually just as good, if not better.

Pork

Pork shoulder is my paleo best friend. It’s one of those things that you usually have to ask a reputable butcher for. PCFer’s have their very own house meat guy from The Troy Meat Shop. If your not friends with the butcher close to you, you need more friends.

There are infinite roads to paleo tastiness when it comes to pork. My favorite method involves about 5 pounds of shoulder cut into chunks. Add:paprika, salt, pepper, a bottle of liquid smoke and 10-12 hours on low in my slow cooker. Shred and consume. You can also roast a shoulder in a 325 degree oven for a few hours, until internal temps reach 180 degrees plus. But let’s be honest: slower is always better…unless your WODing.

Beef

Chuck. Specifically- Beef Chuck. It has a similar bulletproofness to it that pork shoulder does- it can stand a long cooking time and still be pretty tasty. Thank the fat. Anyways, chuck makes the best pot roast you’ll ever have- look for something in the three pound range, sear it well on both sides (medium high heat for 4-5 minutes but don’t burn) and cook it in about 2 cups of liquid. Add some garlic to the pot- a clove or a whole bulb cut in half will do. I hate peeling cloves so I’ll usually just halve a bulb and call it a day. Add carrots for extra points, use baby carrots pre-washed if you’re super lazy like me.

Chicken

Simplest meal of all: roast chicken. Buy a whole chicken, or slaughter your own because buying anything form anywhere is very unpaleo. Preheat your oven to 450. Sprinkle said chicken with salt (kosher salt for bonus points). Cook it for about an hour, until the thighs are 165 degrees and the breast is about 155 degrees. Rest it for about 10 minutes and consume bare handed like the savage you are. You don’t need to tie it up. You don’t need a bunch of seasonings. You don’t even need a roasting pan. I use a 10″ iron skillet and make a couple of these per week. Use a good chicken though- remember butcher’s are your best friend.

The best part of these recipes is that they can be multiplied appropriately to batch cook for the week making it super easy to grab and go ready for whatever may come your way.

Strength:

Strict pull-ups
3xmax reps

Strict dips
3xmax Reps

For Time:

50-Squats
25-Muscle cleans 45/75
50-Lunges
25-Sit-ups
3 Rounds

Post impression to comments.

It never fails that within our seeming expansive CrossFit community sits micro-environments, or rather focal points. Your CrossFit resembles my CrossFit, but slight anomalies exist. That’s our passion shining. That’s our voice in the crowd.

Some CrossFits compete like caged animals making the act of competition their umbrella. Other CrossFitters are more concerned with manning the grill post workout for that relaxing community time. Both are built around fitness, and both are blessed.

At Practice CrossFit we clearly have aligned our version of CrossFit with nutrition, and charity. That’s just our CrossFit version, it may look like yours, and it may not, and that’s what makes us stronger as a whole. Our efforts are CrossFit, food freedom, and using a wonderful community to be the hand of generosity it should be. Recently, we have added two new ways to do this;

Don’t Eat Dumb %$#& Fan Page

We are more than consumed, in a good way, with people looking to leave the stable of misinformation the world creates for the open field of truth. To must folks looking for a better life and times, food is that huge elephant in the room they are doing their best to ignore. Finally, when we are done rationalizing and procrastinating, we can make a change, and usually we need assistance.

The DEDS fan page below is a place to put recipes, ask quick questions and propose experiments relating to our food and exactly what it can do for the planet if we would simply wake up to the legal drugs killing us today that the world calls Calories.

“Like”, the page below and write your testimonies, ask your questions and get the helpful truth most are to scared to say. Also, schedule  the DEDS seminar for your organization and learn first hand what food freedom is, and exactly how it can change you and everyone around you

DEDS Fan Page

Practice CrossFit Charity page

A few years ago, we got a couple CrossFitters together in a parking lot and we said we wanted everyone to chip in for someone else in need. We told everyone that their friends needed to come watch them do so, and that they needed to chip in as well. Everyone gave…

From that faith filled moment where we let people be the generous helpful creatures they usually crave to be, we have made a special point to grow, create, and enhance charities all over the community.

Nothing feels as good as giving. We created the PCF Charity page to get the world out in the community. “Like” it and post your thoughts as well as your ideas on just where CrossFitters can add their special brand of muscle the entire planet is lacking.

PCF Charity Page

Strength:

Snatch
Work up to a heavy Squat Snatch within (12) minutes

For Score:

1-Rope climb
3-Thruster 105/155
9-Push-ups
12-Double-unders
AMRAP 14 Minutes

Post impression to comments.