Month: July 2010

Athlete Profile – Samantha Eborn

Tell us about yourself; I am the mother of 3 awesome children. Annika 6, Micah 4, and Tristan 1. They keep me busy and happy. I currently went back to school after a 5 year gap. I am attending USU studying elementary education. I love to clean and organize my house, spend time with my family, get lost in a good book, work in my yard and garden, work on my tan, and support my husband in his various activities.

What is your day job? I am a mother during the day, a student when I have a spare minute, and I clean the bakery at Maceys from 9pm-1am 3-4 days a week.

How were you introduced to CrossFit? My bff Tami Rigby wouldn’t quit talking about it!

What is your favorite lift? Push press

What is your favorite skill/movement that you have learned at CrossFit IoTA? My favorite skill/movement are burpees and knees to elbows. I also like the sumo dead lift high pull.

One word to describe me would be…ambitious

I have always wanted… to learn how to play the piano

Outside of the gym, I like to…spend time with my family, go to bear lake, and make cookies

Three things you would always find in my fridge… My favorite things to put in my fridge are: peanut butter cups and cookie dough from Papa Murphy’s

Something nobody knows about me or would be surprised to know about me… I guess I’m not very exciting because the only things I could think of are: my babies have all weighed over 8 lbs,  and I have been to 3 U2 concerts.

Favorite physical activity outside of CFI… running and playing basketball

Favorite place to eat in Cache Valley… The Italian Place

Song(s) that gets me pumped up for a workout…I like Viva la Vida by Coldplay, I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga- Pokerface, Ali in the Jungle by The Hours, and The Wavin’ Flag by K’naan

The last thing I ate was…a Snickers candy bar

My proudest accomplishment is… having 3 beautiful children

My six month goal is… to be able to do kipping pull ups (is that what they are called?)

If I could have ANYBODY (living or dead) over for dinner, it would be… I can’t really think of anyone for myself, but to make my husband happy it would be Bono (U2)

My favorite workout attire is… Shorts and  a tanktop

My favorite workout partner(s)… anyone who challenges me to work harder

If you created a WOD and named it after yourself what would the workout be?
“Sam”
5X
10 Box jumps
15 Knees to elbows
20 Goblet squats

“I learned pretty quickly that Sam’s pretty darn tough! Her enthusiasm and willingness to encourage others even during the WOD is just amazing. She has a great sense of caring for others and I appreciate the energy she brings to our box.” – Coach Paul

7-30-10 RECAP & the 7-31-10 Saturday WOD “The HAT”

Today was a proud day for all of us.  The energy of the 6am class was electric and it carried throughout the day.  Here are a few great things that I saw. 

1st – COMMUNITY – A member that has been with us for less than 3 weeks, took someone who was at CFI for her second time under her wing during the warm-up and helped her though the movements.  Thank you Brandi.  I’ve seen this from a lot of our members.  We all go through the same thing everyday with the workouts and having someone there to help and just be your friend is what we are all about as a community. 

2nd – TEAM WORK – As the 6am class was finishing the WOD all eyes turned to one of our members who was doing pull-ups for the first time in a WOD.  There where encouraging words and a shouts of support as Tod Martin pounded through is last few pull-ups.  A cheer and high fives were given as he finished off his last few reps.  Team work and comradery was what I observed, no one left behind, all cheering for each other to do their best and finish the way they started. Well done Tod, Mike N, Lane and Tyler H who all did pull-ups in a WOD for the first time today!! 

3rd – CROSSFIT WORKS – Today’s workout gave us all empirical data that CrossFit works!  You can get fit doing constantly varied, functional movement done at a high intensity.  Quite simply short, intense workouts done with proper form and function can give results.  If you don’t believe it, look at what we did today.  Everyone PR’d (read Personal Record, ie bested) their rookie time.  After two months everyone got faster, stronger, better and some of you even have pull-ups!  Our most improved athlete, Jen Pitcher.  The first time Jen did the “Rookie” WOD she completed it in 14:21.  Today she completed it in 5:40 and did a second round in 12:48.  That’s two time through the same movements in less time than it took her to do one round less than 2 months ago.  How cool is that!!  

4th – CONSISTENCY & COMMITMENT – I could go on and on about each of you and how proud I am of all the PR’s we saw today and all the firsts that you each experienced.  At the end of the day you all control your own destiny and your commitment to bettering your life through a fitness program that works is inspiring.  One day at a time you are getting better, and consistency and commitment are all it takes.  Thank you for allowing us (Paul, Brett and Tami) the opportunity to watch you each learn and grow.  It is a pleasure to be on this journey with each of you! – The CrossFit IoTA Coaches 

 

7-31-10 “The HAT” 

That’s all I’m giving you 😉 You need to come and see what you pull from the HAT! – UPDATE: We had a great time thismorning.  Lisa got to draw the number of rounds and everyone else got to draw out a movement.  YOu can see what came out of “the hat” below! 

 

Stacey, Tod and Mike at the box jumps (Michelle and Lisa where there too, they where just hiding 😉

7-30-10 “The Rookie” (x2)

“Rookie”
(2x)
400m Run
40 Squats
30 Sit Ups
20 Push Ups
10 Pull Ups  

CFI 7-30-10 "The Rookie (2x)" Score Board

How to ready todays board – If you had previously done the rookie workout, the first time posted next to your name in blue is what your first round today took you. The second time posted in blue is your total time for 2 rounds. If you have an Rx after your name, then you did pull-ups. The purple date and time was your first Rookie date and time for one round.

For those of you who have been with us for over 6 weeks, we will have all of your original “Rookie” times handy.  We will want you to watch the clock and make a mental note after you’re through your first round so that we can compare your score to your first day with us. It’s been just over 2 months that we have been open and we’ve seen progress and want you to see it too!  

Some of the GOOD STUFF that appears on our white board!!

Paul’s Coaches Challenge
“DT”
12 Deadlift
9 Hang Clean
6 Push Press
(155#/115#)  

Brett’s Coaches Challenge
Air Force WOD(courtesy of 2010 CrossFit Games Midwest Sectionals)  

For time:
20 Thrusters
20 Sumo-high pulls
20 Push Jerks
20 Overhead squats
20 Front squats
~For every minute on the minute you have to perform 4 burpees  

Note: Rx weight for males is 95lbs and for females it’s 65lbs. The fastest time by a male at the sections where this WOD was created was done at a BLAZING 3:53! Here is the video From the Event!

7-29-10 WOD

(5x)
7 – Deadlift (135#/95#)
14 – Knees to Elbows / Toes to Bar
200m Run

 Video Games Invading our Youth

A new study has found that both viewing television and playing video games are linked with increased attention problems in youths. The research found that children who exceeded the two hours per day of screen time were 1.5 to 2 times more likely to be above average in attention problems.

Among elementary and middle-school populations, girls play for an average of about 5.5 hours/week and boys average 13 hours/week. Playing games is not limited to adolescent boys. Recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that several companies are now designing video game consoles for preschoolers. Preschoolers aged two to five play an average of 28 minutes/day. The amount of time spent playing video games is increasing, but not at the expense of television viewing which has remained stable at about 24 hours/week.

“If we train the brain to require constant stimulation and constant flickering lights, changes in sound and camera angle, or immediate feedback, such as video games can provide, then when the child lands in the classroom where the teacher doesn’t have a million-dollar-per-episode budget, it may be hard to get children to sustain their attention.”  Douglas Gentile of ISU

Simply put, the amount of time spent playing video games has a negative correlation with academic performance.

 
Tips on managing your child’s media consumption
Because of the popularity of video games, completely eliminating them from your child’s life might be difficult. But you can decrease the negative impact that they have on your child. Here are a few tips:

  • Know the rating of the video games your child plays.
  • Do not install video game equipment in your child’s bedroom.
  • Set limits on how often and how long your child is allowed to play video games.
  • Monitor all of your child’s media consumption — video games, television, movies and Internet.
  • Supervise your child’s Internet use — there are now many “video games” available for playing online.
  • Take the time to discuss with your children the games they are playing or other media they are watching. Ask your children how they feel about what they observe in these video games, television programs or movies. This is an opportunity to share your feelings and grow closer with your child.
  • Share with other parents information about certain games or ideas for helping each other in parenting.

Further reading..

7-28-10 WOD

15 min AMRAP (As Many Reps as Possible)
5 Sumo Deadlift High Pull
10 Burpees
15 Wall Balls

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TINY errrr TYLER!! One of our members has reached the ripe old age of 27 😉 Tylers willingness to work hard and be dedicated has inspired may of us!  Get to know Tyler as he is one of the “good guys”!! Keep up the great work.

Tyler owning the ring row!

Taryn is a CrossFitter up in Canada who writes a blog about her CrossFit experiences called “Tabata This”. The following essay came from her post at the beginning of July. I thought it was good enough to post the entire thing right here on our blog. Thanks Taryn for your contribution to the CrossFit community in your beautiful writing!

Bleed With Me, And You Will Forever Be My Brother – Written by tarynrom on July 2nd, 2010

We all fight on the rubber matted battlefield together. Puddles of chalk dust cover the rough terrain, and bodies lay sprawling throughout the trenches when the battle is done. But is that battle really over? We pack up and march home, only to wake up and start all over again. We’re not fighting for our countries, we’re not fighting for a name, or anyone else. We’re fighting for ourselves.

Half way through the battle, our hands are covered in blood, we’re drenched with sweat. The look upon our faces spells pain and defeat, but it’s what happens at this point that is the most important to ourselves and to making that advance on the rubber matted battle field to get ahead of our opponent – whether that be someone else, or simply just our mind.

A friendly reaches across and pats you on the back encouragingly. “I’ve got your back,” they say. “Pick up that bar and get going. Finish it up.” Your hands hurt; they’re torn and bleeding. Your muscles feel like you’re caught in barbed wire. Standing up is like climbing a mountain with all your gear on. There’s no way you can go on. You tell yourself just to give up; throw that bar down and walk away. Tomorrow is another day.

But that’s the thing. Tomorrow isn’t just another day. You either survive today, or you don’t. It’s at this point when you need to stare that bar down and attack it. Pull yourself up and over the others laying sprawled on the battlefield, and keep going. Grip the bar with that madness I know is deep down inside of you. Shut your mind off, because the ONLY thing that matters is what you’re about to do. What you’re about to do RIGHT NOW. Tomorrow doesn’t matter. Yesterday especially doesn’t matter. Getting that bar up is the ONLY thing that matters RIGHT NOW.

Next time you’re struggling through the middle of your WOD, keep your hands on the bar and look into it. Leave everything on the floor. The only thing that matters is what you do TODAY, RIGHT NOW.

Overreaching vs Overtraining

7-27-10 WOD
400m Run
25, 20, 15, 10, 5
Push Up & Pull Up
400m Run

Overreaching vs. Overtraining:  

It’s safe to say that each day we enter the gym with a pretty specific goal in mind. To push ourselves just a little harder than we did the time before? Agreed, we all have those days where we walk in and say “burpees…really?” 

This “drive” to reach toward new heights, faster times, and greater loads is what makes us unique as a CrossFit community. Belive it or not strength coaches have put a name to this phenomenon, overreaching.  Overeaching is the intermediate between going to the gym sitting down on a recumbent bike and reading your favorite magazine and overtraining to the point of detriment. Overreaching is the point where we see favorable adaptations in: strength, metabolic conditioning (aka cardio), skill development, etc.  

As common as this favorable characteristic is in us CrossFitters, there is a negative one that comes along with it: Overtraining.  Overtraining is when the body has been pushed to a point where it can no longer repair itself. The body is too fatigued to rebuild…  

Here is a graph of how it the body is supposed to rebuild, defined by the principle of supercompensation:  

Your workout causes damage. Your body responds by getting stronger and compensating…This graphic shows what happens when you push yourself beyond overreaching:  

  

So, why do we want to avoid over training? Here are a few common reasons that cause overtraining:  

a) Rapid increases in training volume and intensity of training
b) Extended schedules of high-volume
c) Inadequate recovery and rest

The number one cure for overtraining is REST! Max Mormont from So Cal Strength and Conditioning/Crossfit Balboa says, “There’s no such thing as overtraining, just under recovery”.

Here are 5 ways to keep pushing for PR’s and avoid overtraining:  

1 – Get plenty of rest and sleep (7 hours minimum a night)

2 – Consider your environmental workload as well (if your job has you stressed out, it can contribute to your physical stress amplifying it).

3 – Record Keeping – Make sure you are recording your times, reps, weights and sets for all WOD’s. This will help keep you keep that balance between overreaching and overtraining.

4 – Thoughtful programming – Doing WOD’s that are long (ie 15+ min) day after day will have an overall negative impact on your conditioning, but don’t worry, we have this part covered for you.

5 – Proper Nutrition – make sure you are planning your meals (especially pre/post workout calorie consumption) (courtesy of CrossFit South Bay)

7-26-10 WOD

Coach Brett will be programing this week and we are looking forward to some great WOD’s!! 

(3x)
400m run
21 Double Unders (3:1 Singles)
12 Thrusters (95#/65#) 

COACHES CHALLENGE
800m runs instead of 400’s
115#/85# Thrusters 

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SOCCER WOD
800m run
30 Push Ups
30 Sit Ups
400m run backwards
30 Sit Ups
30 Push Ups
800m Run 

‎”Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” – unknown

Here is an amazing video that really captures what CrossFit is. I hope you all feel the same.