Mash for GAINZ: 4 Simple Recipes for Performance

The following four recipes will simplify your meal planning and promote workout recovery.

Success in achieving your training and body composition goals is eighty percent nutrition and twenty percent exercise. We debate about these exact percentages, but I think we can all agree that nutrition plays a bigger part in achieving our goals than most of us give it credit for.

I initially created these Mash for Gainz recipes for myself after being injured for nine months. I figured if I could get my nutrition figured out, it would aid my recovery and prevent any further losses.

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Sickly Sweet

San Francisco becomes first city to require warning labels on soda while local university seeks long-term deal to put sugary beverages in front of students.

It’s in our homes; it’s in our universities. It lurks in the corners of our children’s schools, and it won our loyalty with its pocketbook and a mountain of sugar.

It’s Big Soda, and it’s got us right where it wants us: addicted.

Recently, San Francisco decided to do something about it.

On June 9, 2015, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors became the first in the U.S. to pass legislation requiring warning labels on posted ads for sugar-sweetened beverages. The legislation also banned ads for sugary beverages on city property and the use of city funds to purchase sugary beverages. The ban includes sweetened coffee drinks as well as sports drinks such as Gatorade.

“This is a public-health crisis in the making,” San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener said in a phone interview.

Warning labels will occupy 20 percent of ad space and read as follows: “Warning: Drinking beverages with added sugar(s) contributes to obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay. This is a message from the City and County of San Francisco.”

Less than a month before the legislation was passed, San Francisco State University announced it was looking for a deal with Big Soda, issuing its first Request for Proposals for exclusive campus pouring rights.

Training Through Leukemia: Michael’s Story

by Michael Bennett By Difu Wu via Wikimedia Commons “I told myself that if the science got me out of there, insofar as it was up to me, I would do everything to keep this train moving, physically and mentally. I knew then that even I was not arrogant enough to think I would ever ‘beat’ cancer, but I would do everything in my power to keep it at bay.” Read More var addthis_config = {"data_track_addressbar":true}; When Mark asked me to share my personal experience overcoming chronic illness, I spent much thought wondering how I would present it in a manner that would be appropriate for the intended audience. I knew I couldn’t do the Starting Strength program much justice, seeing how I am just a beginner in its practice, even though the principles it upholds are the same as what helped me. If I can offer any value, it’s in the telling of my story of chronic illness, the physical adversity I went through, and how fitness helped me survive it.You see, I’m just an average guy who loves life and is always trying to do what is best for himself. As is usually the case, anything I figure out on my own I usually find that someone else has figured it out better long before I came along. That’s the amazing part of being human: learning from the experience of others and using it to improve yourself.So, here goes…According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the average weight for an adult male in the United States is 190 pounds. This as a guide, at 6′2″ 180 pounds is slender, but has the graceful appearance of a swimmers body. I was 145 pounds, hollow eyes and gaunt face, frail, and weak. I had one or more IV’s that somehow managed to provide constant fluids, a morphine drip on command, and around-the-clock chemotherapy. I had a plastic jar in the bed beside me because I could not get up to go to the bathroom under my own power. When I finally did get up, I saw myself for the “first time” in a full-length mirror. “I look like a Skeksis,” I thought. I finally realized what a wreck I had become, physically. My mind, too, would have looked very much the same: I was intellectually barren. I could no longer even remember simple words I used so casually beforehand.When white blood cells take over your body your spleen becomes enlarged, like mine did, causing terrible pain. This is because the spleen is the garbage collector for white blood cells. When it receives cells that do not die in exceedingly gross amounts, it clogs and swells up. The other thing is that white blood cells represent your immune system, so it is true to some extent that a human with increased white blood cell production is very well protected from diseases and viruses – until there are so many that they can’t accomplish anything. Your body is at war with itself and the one that suffers is you.I do not recall having anything to vomit in during my first hospital stay, which is strange, because I threw up frequently for days. I do remember that after they moved me to a sterile room that I simply leaned over the bed and threw up in the trashcan. I did not think much of it then and there was no time to react. I remember feeling terrible about it and apologizing to the janitor.The first day was the simplest, fundamentally. I was very fortunate. Most people come into a serious, life-changing event and find God, swear to change who they are and how they are going to live. I did not have to struggle with that epiphany. I did not regret a single moment. I knew before my body began to shut down on me that life was too short not to take chances, that I had to enjoy what I had, that I wanted to do better, be better, and appreciate life for what it is. I was mature in that way, but up until that first day I always thought, “If my time comes, it comes.” I was surprised to find out that my answer to the most fundamental question was not so resolute. I realized I wanted more. I wanted to see my wife again. I wanted to see my kids. I wanted to see my dog. I wanted to see my family. I wanted to have a great steak. I wanted to feel a fall breeze on my face. I wanted to smell honey suckle. I wanted to swing. I wanted to barbecue. I wanted to travel. I wanted to live longer. After that, the rest was easy. I told myself that if the science got me out of there, insofar as it was up to me, I would do everything to keep this train moving, physically and mentally. I knew then that even I was not arrogant enough to think I would ever “beat” cancer, but I would do everything in my power to keep it at bay. Later, I would understand just how much was actually up to me, what I had province over, and how strong my resolve would really be.How To Get Leukemia.I remember being in a hospital ward filled with other kids. I remember being stuck in bed for a long time. I remember having my temperature taken by way of the rectum and how uncomfortable I was about it (ah, the seventies). I remember kids coming over to my bed to play and eventually I was able to get up and move about the room a little.I don’t know how long I was there, but found out later that it was because I had pneumonia. I was very young, somewhere around six years old I suspect. I don’t know how it happened or why, but it is clear that my immune system would forever be compromised as a result. From that point on I had regular health problems.Forward about 25 years. I am seeking out challenges and overcoming obstacles. I have two great fears that I haven’t conquered: spiders and the workings of automotive mechanics. Spiders are obvious, but I always had a terrible fear of a car breaking down and leaving me in despair. Maybe it was some deep rooted psychological issue or maybe it was just being broke and alone in the middle of nowhere with no recourse that bothered me. In the end I had to know and understand it to overcome that fear.{pagebreak}Now I am working at my uncle’s transmission shop. You may not know it but spiders love the underside of cars. It makes a great natural and safe habitat, and it’s warm. They nest there. So I am killing two birds with one stone.About two years in I am starting to get pretty good at it. I am starting to not only understand transmissions, but overall car mechanics as well. I am even starting to pick up on how certain models of car have unique problems. I have a good level of comfort, a few challenges, and now I know enough that I no longer fear what can happen if my own car breaks down. I can diagnose it and fix it.Then one week I am sick, as sick as I have ever been. My uncle is on vacation and he calls in to check on everything. I tell him I need to take a few days off, I am really really sick. We have customers waiting for cars and lots of work – without the whole crew working together we won’t get through. So I do something I can’t recall ever doing in recent memory: I go against principle. I do something I disagree with and know is wrong. I hang in there, suffer, and get through the work.But while I am deathly sick something else is happening. I am working with chemicals, parts cleaners, oils, fluids. My immune system is weak. The perfect storm is here and I have no idea. It wouldn’t be until five years later that it all comes together and I realize that a few days as a mechanic would change the rest of my life.Parts of two chromosomes have exchanged places – translocated – and now I have a genetic mutation called the “Philadelphia chromosome”. My body makes them now, they don’t die, and they are slowly killing me, day by day, for the next two years until my body crashes and I am hospitalized. Then I find out I have chronic myelogenous leukemia.In the next few years I learn that CML is not genetic, it’s environmental. I learn that this chromosomal defect can be caused by several chemicals, including benzene. I learn the chemicals I used at the transmission shop contained benzene. I learn that while other mechanics have worked with these chemicals for decades, something was different about me. I learn about the immune system and how it works, and how it can be compromised.If I had never been diagnosed with CML I still wouldn’t have given this history any thought. I wouldn’t care about colds or flus. I wouldn’t be donating to bone marrow organizations or leukemia drives. I wouldn’t have any pieces to put together. If I had taken a few days off this article wouldn’t exist and I would be living a normal life, none the wiser. I probably wouldn’t care about my health or fitness or what it means.In the search for answers over time the pieces come together. This is how it all happened.TransplantFast forward ten years.Chemotherapy is a poison and it has finally taken its toll. I’m at the end of my life. My body can’t take anymore. Ten years of daily chemotherapy, in pill form, was my limit. The only chance I have to go on living is an archaic process that is literally a coin flip and where surviving is usually worse than dying: a bone marrow transplant.For my situation and type of transplant, 50% of the patients survive the first year and of those, 50% survive five years. I’m closing in on three years at the time of this writing.Before being stuck in that hospital bed with leukemia, one of my goals was getting in shape. I had seen Fight Club and determined that I would get ripped up like Brad Pitt, but that idea had been suspended momentarily in time. It wasn’t long, however, before I was out of that hospital and at it again, back to work, reaching for goals, and over the next seven years getting in the best shape I would ever be in my life.In that decade I battled with leukemia I learned a lot, rejected a lot, and changed a lot about my training. I always challenged prevailing trends and always questioned why I was doing something so that I could assure I was doing what was best for me. Ultimately, though, my body told me what I could and couldn’t do. I got real good at listening.If you do enough research you are going to come across some things that are true. That is how it was for me and fitness. Unfortunately, most of what I found was wrong. In fact, it was down right dangerous. When you are fighting through chronic illness, its “cure” and the subsequent consequences, you don’t have a lot of slack when it comes to making fundamental errors. Mistakes can cost you.Since undergoing transplant I’ve had deep vein thrombosis, embolisms, loss of hair, severe peripheral and autonomic nerve damage, fibromyalgia, infections, shortness of breath, vertigo, shattered teeth, body rash, and dozens of other health issues. But I never quit, never gave up, and never relented because I wanted more life. I did what my body would allow, when I could, the best I could with the hope that I would get the benefits long term.StrengthOne overall truth in particular stands out today. The foundation I built when I was “healthy” made managing and recovering from transplant easier. That foundation was strength. The body remembers. When it is time to recover, getting healthy is much easier when you have already laid the foundation and can return to it. And if you have the foundation, you can do what you want with it – build at the pace you set, change the esthetics, make it better, be stronger. In those moments I often doubted if anything I had done or did was helping, it was impossible to say. Now I know it did.The first thing I would tell anyone newly diagnosed with chronic illness is to start to build a foundation. The first thing I would tell anyone else is, start to build a foundation. After two and a half years of staying the course and managing the transplant, things started to improve. I started to slowly recover and make some physical gains again, albeit with great difficulty. The period of maintenance and waiting was over. Time to check on the foundation. My goal was to rehabilitate a body that had been through the wringer. Physically, I was still experiencing severe joint pain, tendon pain, bone pain, muscle pain, cramps, and fatigue. I needed to work through all that and make progress again.But even in this electronic age of communication, with so much information, opinion, expertise, and media presentation I was hard pressed to find anyone who could actually explain why the methods they preached should be practiced, let alone applied to a guy in my unique circumstance. So I started to research and understand – really for the first time – underlying bone, muscle, tissue, and tendon structure, how to improve and strengthen their function, and apply it specifically to my condition.That’s when I came across Mark Rippetoe.{pagebreak}Someone had written two lines in a forum mentioning his name and his book. I can’t remember exactly what it said, but it was something like, “This guy explains why we do what we do. Required reading.” That brief explanation was enough for me to go to Amazon and read the reviews. I ordered Starting Strength right away.Even after years of training I found myself learning from his book immediately (by immediately, I don’t mean the next chapter, but the very next sentence). I had never trained in pure strength and never thought it was for me, but I was sold on the “foundation” idea immediately because I always believed that, and had always tried to do that; I just never understood it or trained it from a Starting Strength perspective.Now, I am a 45-year-old male who has been through some serious adversity. I am not going to compete in the Olympics or be in the World’s Strongest Man competition. I just wanted to be better and stronger. Being stronger would make me more useful in general and harder to kill. Being stronger than I have been in my life didn’t even enter my thought process.But that’s exactly what has happened.While I knew that the concepts presented were perfectly sound, I wasn’t sure about many of the specifics offered in Starting Strength – the training days schedule, the very few barbell exercises taught being enough, the Valsalva technique, or the practice of fives as being the right guideline for building strength – things contrary to what I had been told previously, but I couldn’t disagree with any of Mark’s reasoning. So I simply followed the program as prescribed, and after two months the results, for me, have been amazing and significant on their own.The most weight I had ever moved in any barbell exercise in my life, at my peak, was 225 pounds for no more than three reps, total. Now I have added ten or five pounds per week and currently, after two months, I am lifting the following according to the Starting Strength program: Squat: 250 Press: 115 (I was bench pressing 210 before deciding it was not a good idea to continue, due to shoulder issues) Deadlift: 265That’s from a guy who was stuck in a hospital bed for far too many days memorizing the ceiling. Not only am I getting stronger, but I’m stronger than I have ever been in my life. After just two months everything I do in life is getting easier as a result – going up stairs, lifting couches, riding my hog…this shit really works!Now I am in a position to look back and revisit what I learned about training from the perspective of someone dealing with chronic illness – from the moment that I didn’t know the difference between dumbbell and barbell, through transplant, and to the present, with a better understanding of how body mechanics work and should be employed. I have gone beyond what I ever thought would have been possible. I cannot guarantee that if you are in the exact same situation as me and do exactly what I did that you will make it. I can guarantee you that I did some things that drastically improved my odds. It broke my heart to see some fellow patients go through it much worse simply because they had no idea that preparing their bodies beforehand would make the difference.From that perspective, here is what little I can offer, now a little wiser.Is Training Important?This is the first question that needs to be answered and one I struggled with throughout. When I was lying there at the mercy of chromosomes, drugs, and human competence I was quite sure that my body didn’t care that I ate steak every night, that I was a good person, or that I exercised and took good care of myself. That is because, in the throes of such a difficult time, it is hard to see the whole picture. Plus, it’s just hard as hell.Training plays an important role in anyone’s life, regardless of whether or not you are healthy or sick. Being fit has proven benefits: you are stronger, more resilient, have better endurance, can better manage the onset of disease, absorb digestive material better, greater stability and mobility, and improved flexibility to name a few. Training simply makes the human machine better, regardless of circumstance. Mark sums it all up and I wish I knew this as concretely when I started: “Strong people are harder to kill than weak people and more useful in general.” Every time I read that I laugh, not because it’s a funny thing to say, but because it is so fundamentally true as to be almost obvious, yet constantly evades understanding. If you have any doubt as to this truism, doubt no further. I proved it. Exercise and the Immune System.There is certainly more to overcoming chronic illness than just lifting weights and getting strong. There is nutrition, medication, managing side effects, the illness itself, the ups and downs, the psychology, support, caregiving, setbacks, stress, bad doctors, misdiagnoses, and deficiencies in knowledge, to name a few. Training is just one component, but I know it is a major one.The scariest thing I ever had to consider was whether or not exercise could actually hurt me during times of recovery. If exercise is so good, and I need to do it to get better, what is going to happen if I’m not allowed to do it? Some evidence says that moderate exercise can help strengthen the immune system temporarily, while strenuous exercise can weaken it. The exact how and why isn’t fully understood, but several studies suggest this. In my specific case, my immune system is actually trying to kill me (that is because when you get a bone marrow transplant you get someone else’s marrow, i.e., immune system, and that immune system thinks your body is the enemy). So, conceivably, there are situations for any chronic illness that may limit or even contraindicate exercise altogether.So could strength and conditioning training actually make things more difficult? Some day science will give us this answer conclusively. (Editor’s note: Probably not.) For me, it was a balance of making adaptive progress while listening closely to my body. I was an extremely unusual case. My conclusion, based on the fact I am writing this, is that adaptive strength training, no matter how slow or difficult at times, is the component that is paramount to surviving chronic illness and transplant. You have to outperform the complication, and the variables are simply how and how much. Allowing the body to deteriorate at the mercy of prevailing obstacles, without fighting, is giving in to dying. You must not concede this.Even at my very worst I can also say that exercise (any exercise) provided a distraction, a sense of accomplishment, relief, gain, and confidence. It is just one more thing that resembles the old, healthy life, one more thing that points to the return of normalcy.{pagebreak}What training did I do?There are activity-specific exercises added to improve areas of sport performance, whether it’s gymnastics, MMA, long distance running, boxing, and so forth. So, is there leukemia training? Or bone marrow transplant training?Yes! But it starts with training systemically.For a chronic illness and procedure like I had, the training concepts applied are the same for anything on two legs, regardless of its present physical efficacy. It applies whether you want to simply walk up and down steps easier, or pursue absolute physical excellence. What I didn’t fully realize in the beginning and wish I knew better is again best summed up by Mark so eloquently:“You do not need to do many different exercises to get strong – you need to get strong on a very few important exercises, movements that train the whole body as a system, not as a collection of separate body parts. The problem with the programs advocated by all the national exercise organizations is that they fail to recognize this basic principle: the body best adapts as a whole organism to stress applied to the whole organism. The more stress that can be applied to as much of the body at one time as possible, the more effective and productive the adaptation will be.” In my personal experience, any side effect of illness or treatment which precludes the execution of stress applied as a whole can be reduced to smaller functional parts (as much of the body as possible) without losing the benefit of adaptation. And in dire situations where smaller functional movements cannot be produced, move anything.A significant factor in my survival was this: I didn’t wait to be transplanted to suddenly take up the torch of training. I came in with it. A large chunk of work was already done. After that, it was just a matter of continued doing.Obstacles Out of Our ControlI hated when doctors responded to my sometimes poor results by saying, “Everyone is different” (translation: We have absolutely no fucking idea what is happening to you), but it does hold a point here. Not everyone has blood clots which limit exercise during recovery. Not everyone has an allergic reaction that keeps them down for weeks. Not everyone has the exact timing of experiences. Many were worse off than me. The point is that everyone has something to deal with. But there is a difference between “can’t” and “won’t.” So long as the answer is “won’t”, then you can overcome an obstacle.How much you can overcome that obstacle at any given time may well vary based on circumstance. Don’t despair. Effort always results in progress and continued progress turns into results- the only undetermined variable will be time. Enjoy the progress in the moment and know that there is a benefit coming longer term. But you have to put in the effort and that is simply a choice.MaintainingWhen time is indeterminate and it seems like nothing is happening, you sometimes have to maintain. This is especially true with severe or chronic illness. Is essence, the idea is to try and hold on until you can get back to “normal.” No one can survive cancer treatment indefinitely without serious side effects. All you can do is hedge your bets and put yourself in the best possible scenario for when it ticks upward again. And the fact is that if you stick with it, your chances are always going to be accumulatively better.Maintaining is where a lot of people give up. It wears on them. It wore on me. But even under the strain of constant suffering, there are always days, hours, or even minutes that present themselves as opportunities. In the beginning of my transplant recovery, the goal proposed to me was to get out of bed and do a lap around the hallway of the patient rooms (maybe fifty feet). That first lap left me exhausted and unable to move for two days. I did that for a while. Then I worked up to two laps. Then every day. Then five minutes straight. Then fifteen minutes. Sounds like adaptive training, doesn’t it?RecoverySo if you hedge your bets and survive long enough, you get the chance for further recovery. The new obstacle is what your body will allow consistently. I can tell you that it is disconcerting to feel like you sometimes have no say in the matter, but if training is important to the human body and allows for better living, certainly you would want to reestablish your routine as soon as possible. So you start with walks around the block, then two blocks, then bike riding, then light body weight exercises, resistance bands, weights, and on and on, progressively – see a pattern here? And you start to feel stronger and healthier. Then a setback occurs and you are hospitalized for a few days. Now the focus is to fix the problem that sets you back. Once that is done, you may have to start over from scratch and just walk around the block again. That is okay because your body didn’t forget. You get right back into rhythm and in a few days you are right back to where you were in your training. Then something else happens and now you are set back a week. Again, you overcome it and everything is fine for a while. Then something else happens and it’s a month. In times like those training doesn’t matter in the moment – for me it took a dozen or more drugs to get going again. All that new work is in the future, waiting, ready to start again.I started over, literally, at least fifty times. The pursuit of health and well being comes naturally to anyone who wants to be in a better position than they were previously. With chronic care it’s just a lot harder and frustrating because there are so many breaks in routine and valleys to traverse to get to that better health. Everything is set against you. And it’s even harder if all the work put in previously appears to be slowly lost in time because the body can’t keep up.That’s why it’s called recovery.{pagebreak}RestAfter writing this I came back and added Rest because it is more important than training. Without rest, there can be no recovery. Anyone battling to live won’t need to worry, there is going to be plenty of rest, but there are two things I found important. One, not worrying because you are inactive – accept what the body needs. And the second thing goes back to “can’t vs. won’t”: rest when you need it, not when you don’t. The body/mind connection can play some great tricks. Don’t let it fool you. I was always surprised at what I was capable of when I didn’t want to do it.NowToday I come in around 232lbs, fit, solid, and strong. I am making new gains using the Starting Strength program (as of this writing I added to all three movements again). To say I am stronger than I have been in the last ten years would go without saying, of course, but can you believe I am now stronger and healthier than anyone around me who is twenty years my junior? I have energy, cardio, and general strength that applies to any adventure I find myself in, and I am happier and healthier overall. That ideas about strength are so simple and can be so beneficial is amazing. That someone like Mark can present it in such a clear and concise way, so that anyone can benefit, is truly wonderful and appreciated.When I underwent transplant I was asked to participate in an exercise study to correlate the benefits of exercise on transplant survival. When they asked me to meditate fifteen minutes a day and count my steps I knew I probably wasn’t going to get too much benefit personally. I described above how walking for a transplant patient is extremely taxing, a challenge, and to a point adaptive, but for me that didn’t last long. I exceeded the productive effects of walking pretty quickly. During my time with leukemia and subsequent transplant, physical well-being played zero part in patient survival either before, during, or after. One of the most significant aspects of survival is virtually unknown to the medical community: no one understands the role of a foundation of strength and its importance in overcoming illness. It is black hole science. There are some indications that change is in the future, but it is completely up to the patient to pursue, figure out, and execute. No one has a greater interest in your survival than you, so until help arrives, see to it.I no longer care to look like Brad Pitt. Instead I feel like I think someone who looks like Brad Pitt would feel like: strong, powerful, healthy. Everyone who sees me can’t believe what I went through, what I endured, and everyone wants to know how I made it. I hope this helps.For me, a large part of my life consisted of strength and conditioning as a means of survival. Now, as I am older and putting those trials behind me I find a whole new life opening up. This suits me well. As I understand, things that are older often seem to just generally work better. That is true.I do not hold any certifications in fitness or degrees in physiology. I simply have my experience and the outcome. The outcome would be impossible unless the fundamentals were true. If everything I did turned out to be wrong, or improperly executed, I can step back and rebuild based on an incontrovertible axiom: movement is life. As long as I know that I can fix the rest. So can anyone else.Mark, thank you for your work, diligence, and commitment to understanding physical strength, and thank you for Starting Strength: Barbell Training. Anyone who is willing to think, challenge what they believe, and continue growing can benefit from this book. I wish I had had it sooner, and all the benefits offered. And I hope that every person sitting in that god awful transplant clinic discovers the lessons for themselves.It’s never too late to survive, and live. Michael Bennett is an average guy who pursues constant happiness, always tries to do better for himself, and sometimes fancies himself a writer of philosophical and literary fiction. He has lived a better life than most and, perhaps, better than he deserves.He and his wife, Renee, raised two wonderful daughters. One is a teacher and the other is in college to be a nurse. He worked in business process improvement for a decade while going to night school to earn his BA in IT, after which he developed software in the financial industry.He was diagnosed with leukemia in his thirties, underwent a bone marrow transplant, and is currently a semi-retired survivor pursuing and enjoying more life. His journey with health and fitness has been honed primarily by circumstance.He has an Italian Greyhound named Chopper, rides a 1992 Honda Shadow 600VLX, and has had the love, affection, and support of his high school sweetheart for the last 30 years.

How to Eat for All-Day Energy and Athletic Performance

Follow this easy plan to feel and look your best from breakfast to your nighttime snack.

Everyone has likely tried multiple diet styles, modalities, or meal timing practices. There are thousands of different diets put out by “experts,” and books about weight loss line the shelves at the bookstore like bad wallpaper at your grandma’s house.

While most of these diets speak to weight loss, a concept that 84% of Americans have dealt with at some point, most diet plans don’t deal with the true nature of food - to give you energy.

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Fixing Tiny Muscles: Smart Strength With Charles Staley

Want to fill out your tiny bird chest or clean up your lifting form? Charles Staley is here to help.

Note: Charles is here on a weekly basis to help you cut through the B.S. and get to the bottom of the biggest questions in health and training. Post your questions directly to Charles in the comments below this article.

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Human Defense System

CrossFit Defense shows Theresa Smith she already has the tools she needs to defend herself.

Like many other CrossFit gyms, Raise the Bar CrossFit in Ontario, Oregon, is in an industrial area.

We want our members to be able to work out in a place where they can be themselves, and industrial areas are home to large warehouse spaces where weights can be dropped and music played loudly at all hours of the day without pissing off the neighbors. Rent is often cheaper in industrial areas, but these affiliate-friendly parts of town can be places where we have to look out for each other and ourselves.

The small city in which I run my affiliate has the reputation of being the most dangerous in the state. We’ve had break-ins, vandalism, drug busts and even murders in the neighborhood in which I go to work every day, and safety is a very real concern.

The final straw was when someone broke into a coach’s car. It happened in broad daylight: A class of athletes worked out just 20 yards away while a thief smashed a window and stole a wallet. The incident destroyed the sense of safety at my gym.

Around the time of that event, I posted on a Facebook page for CrossFit affiliate owners to see what others do to stay safe when they are at the gym alone so often. The response was tremendous and very passionate.

One answer that kept coming up intrigued me: Check out Tony Blauer’s CrossFit Defense course. I decided it was worth a shot and booked myself into the Trainer Course at CrossFit Unbroken in Denver, Colorado, set for the following month.

Pregnancy and Exercise: 4 Findings From Recent Studies

Pregnancy poses a challenge for research, but there are plenty of studies out there supporting the benefits of exercise.

Pregnancy poses a unique challenge for scientific studies. As noted in an article in Women’s Health Issues, pregnant women are often excluded from scientific trials and studies due to the complexities of pregnancy and the increased risks to mother and baby (not to mention higher liability).

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Survival of the Survivors: The CrossFit (Hunger) Games

As the 2015 CrossFit Games season wraps up, it is safe to say that the arena is starting to look more like a dangerous carnival than a competition.

In 1965, daredevil Evel Knievel made his first motorcycle jump, jumping his bike forty feet over boxes of rattlesnakes. In 1974, he attempted to jump his “skycycle” over the Snake River Canyon, three quarters of a mile across.

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Back to Basics: How to Assess Movement With the Plank

From spinal bracing to full-body tension, everything you do in the gym relates to the quality of your plank.

A while back I stopped looking at what body parts were used during specific exercises. I got away from thinking that pressing was for shoulders and squats were for quads.

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Insurance: What Fitness Professionals Should Know

Though many may try not to think about insurance, it's a necessity for fitness professionals. Make sure you are well-informed about all of your options when seeking coverage.

No one really wants to spend money on insurance. Maybe it’s because we’re paying money for something we hope to never need, and that’s kind of strange. Or perhaps it’s because we’ve heard so many horror stories about insurance claims gone bad.

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5 Advanced Bodyweight Exercises to Build Whole Body Strength

From a functional perspective, it makes sense to exercise your body as a unit instead of isolating specific parts.

The workout split has become extremely popular and the go-to plan of choice for many exercise enthusiasts. It makes sense to divide your body into parts because this is how many gyms are laid out. The chest equipment is in one spot and leg exercise equipment are in another.

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A Sandbag Exercise to Ward Off Low Back Pain

Use Josh Henkin's sandbag exercise to train healthy hip movement patterns and strengthen your muscles to alleviate back pain.

Many people suffer from low back pain. Josh Henkin of Ultimate Sandbag Fitness shares a sandbag drill that strengthens your back and improves hip rotation and stability, often impaired by excessive sitting. Use a sandbag to perform the following exercise, called the crossover step deadlift:

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Can Low-Carb Hurt Your Athletic Performance?

A recent study compares the performance of ultra-marathon runners under different dietary conditions.

Conventional thinking says carbohydrates are the preferred energy source for athletes. In a general sense, that is true. Most sports involve a series of quick-burst, high-intensity actions, some over an extended period of time. Carbohydrate intake provides the fuel for this in the form of circulating blood glucose and stored muscle glycogen.

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Find Your Movement Medicine With Dr. Perry Nickelston, Ep 17

Dr. Perry Nickelston dropped by our podcast to chat about common athletic injuries, anatomy, and the importance of individual movement assessment.

If your movement and performance have gone off the rails, then it might be time to listen to Dr. Perry Nickelston, creator of the RAIL system. RAIL stands for release, activate, integrate, and load and is just one part of Perry's holistic approach to health, performance, and the human body.

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Rotational Exercise: The Controversy of Functional Training

I'll help you determine if rotational training is right for you and provide some tips to do it well.

Functional training is a philosophy that both connects and divides much of the fitness industry. The largest issue I’ve seen with “functional training” is that it is actually more of a philosophically based means of training than one of agreed-upon specific methods.

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7 Ways for Experienced Lifters to Stimulate Muscle Growth

Don't stress if your strength has stalled - these techniques will help you make gains like a novice again.

For most beginners, training is a glorious time where personal records are seen monthly, new striations pop up every day, and you feel invincible. But for those of us who have been around the iron block before, we find ourselves in a rut more often than not.

Stalled progress, plateaus, and dead ends are a part of the process. They highlight our flaws, challenge our ways of doing things, and force us to get better. With a little science, savvy, and a whole lot of grit, you can and will reach new heights.

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Kick Pain in the Face With Natural Movement

Natural movement provides a powerful stimulus to redefine habitual patterns of pain in the body.

I’m going to go out on a limb and guess you’ve dealt with pain. Possibly, you’re stuck with it even now. Pain has a way of hindering our athletic progress and quality of life. Luckily, your body houses its own built-in solution for pain: natural movement.

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What's Daoism Got to Do With It? The Yin and Yang of Training

Connect with your spiritual body and take your training to a new level.

We are all chasing performance and strength gains at nearly any price. Some of us have gone to the extremes to guarantee continued improvement in our bodies. What I am going to present to you is an answer to all of our problems - or more so, a likely reason why you have hit stagnation in your training.

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“Whatever It Takes”—Greg Glassman in New Zealand

In March 2014, Richard Beddie—CEO of the Exercise Association of New Zealand and spokesperson for the New Zealand Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs)—made unfounded claims in the media that CrossFit training has caused deaths.

“CrossFit has resulted in six deaths overseas and rendered an Australian man paraplegic,” Beddie told Stuff.com.nz. Beddie later denied making the statement, though the reporter who quoted him asserted she had been entirely accurate.

Not without motive, Beddie hoped to get CrossFit to partner with REPs, which would force CrossFit trainers in New Zealand to pay an annual fee to Beddie’s group. Beddie promised if CrossFit affiliates registered with the organization, he could make critical stories about CrossFit disappear. At the time, Beddie was chairman of the International Confederation of Registers for Exercise Professionals (ICREPs), whose members include the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) through their membership in the United States Registry of Exercise Professionals (USREPS). Both the NSCA and ACSM have released baseless claims about CrossFit, and CrossFit Inc. has filed separate lawsuits against Beddie and the NSCA.

CrossFit Founder and CEO Greg Glassman flew to New Zealand to address affiliate owners and explain the situation.

Glassman said he believes CrossFit has a moral obligation to protect its affiliates and keep owners, trainers and members informed. They are, after all, what Glassman calls “the heart” of the CrossFit community.

“You’re doing the right things for the right people for the right reasons, and the least I can do is defend you at every opportunity I have with everything I’ve got,” Glassman says. “And I will do whatever it takes to keep you free, to keep you safe and to keep your reputations just what they deserve to be.”

Video by Carey Peterson.

9min 17sec

Additional reading: “Authority Figures” by Chris Cooper, published Jan. 20, 2015.

12 Reps - The Breaking Muscle Digest - Vol. 1, Issue 20

Twelve reader favorites from the past week and from the archives, curated to save you time and bring you happiness.

This week, Breaking Muscle celebrates publishing our very first ebook for sale, The Max Effort Black Box System by Michael "Coach Rut" Rutherford. You can't get it anywhere else but Breaking Muscle. If you're a fan of being strong and having great conditioning at the same time, check it out.

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I Scream, You Scream for Dairy-Free, Delicious Ice Cream

I've finally found a way to enjoy ice cream without worrying about my dairy sensitivities or my sweet tooth.

Beyond community and health, living the paleo lifestyle has introduced me to the world of dairy- and sugar-free ice cream. Yes, it is true. For the first time in my life, I am able to enjoy a bowl of ice cream with a simple smile now that the dairy is gone.

To make it even more exciting, paleo ice cream does not require an ice cream maker, is simple enough for the entire family to make their own, and allows you to create new flavors.

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Get Down With Your Down Dog

Get the most of your down dog with these simple adjustments.

Down dog, or downward facing dog, is a great way to stretch your back and your legs. Plus, it just feels great! But if you do not have a instructor to adjust your form, it can be difficult to get into the correct position. The slightest adjustments to this pose can make a huge difference, and doing it incorrectly can defeat the purpose of the exercise.

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Timing Is Everything - In CrossFit and Life

I don't do CrossFit so I can make it to the Games or come first in the class. I do it because it helps me with life.

I go to CrossFit five or six days a week. You wouldn’t know this to look at me. In fact, one of the trainers sort of suggested maybe I should stop telling people about CrossFit all the time. I’m not exactly the poster child for fitness.

I’m what you might call an everyday CrossFitter. I’m never going to compete, go to the CrossFit Games, or even come in first in the class. This is my truth, and I am just fine with it.

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Flax Seed Oil or Fish Oil? The Best Source of Omega 3s

Let’s take a look at what the research says about the health benefits of these supplements.

I’m sure you’ve heard plenty about both flax seed oil and fish oil. Some people swear by one or both. If you read enough claims on the Internet, you’d think these supplements could cure every disease plus have dinner ready for you when you get home.

Let’s take a brief look at what the actual research says about the health benefits of these supplements. We will also go over what the difference is between fish and flax, and if you should be taking either one.

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4 Safe and Effective Ways to Work Out With a Cranky Knee

If your knees aren't happy during your workouts, you can easily modify with these simple tips.

If you’ve been training for an appreciable amount of time, you’ve probably acquired a tweak here or a twinge there that you now have to train around. Whether it’s an old sports injury or a that-was-dumb-of-me injury, it’s now something you have to take into account when hitting the iron.

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How to Achieve Your First One-Arm Push Up

Master your bodyweight control by learning how to create maximum muscular tension.

The one-arm push up is a great expression of strength, tension, and balance. Many strong athletes are not able to do it. But this article will share tips that can help you join the one-arm push-up club.

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Prepping for the Starting Strength Fall Classic

“I think that the most useful approach to take is the chronological. Let’s start before the meet ever begins, and work through your last attempt on the platform. The first thing to do is sign up…” The Starting Strength Fall Classic is just over 13 weeks away. While the events in California, Maryland, and Texas are sold out, there is still room for participation in the other six venues. After you’ve taken Andy Baker’s advice and signed up, it’s time to see what else he had to write about meet preparation in his article from the archives: Prepping for your First Powerlifting Meet.Read More var addthis_config = {"data_track_addressbar":true};

Mobility for Masters: Warm Up Without Breaking Down

Staying in the game and injury-free past the age of forty takes extra time and planning.

I am always somewhat envious of my friend George, a weightlifter at my gym, Cincinnati Strength and Conditioning. George is 25 years old and he waltzes into the box, changes his clothes, and before I can finish rolling my quads, he is already warming up with a 185lb snatch. Young, flexible, and seemingly invincible.

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GPP in the Modern World: How to Become an All-Around Athlete

In periodization terms, there are only two phases someone could be in - SPP or GPP. Here's what GPP looks like.

Language is a useful tool. Ask any monkey. They’ve got the same number of opposable thumbs as we do and 95% of the same DNA, but without the ability to speak they never really made it out of the trees.

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The BM Podcast Un-cut: What's Your Favorite Cheat Meal?

Behind the scenes at the Breaking Muscle podcast, we asked our coaches to share their favorite ways to splurge on calories.

Food. Wonderful, glorious, food. A life of structured eating and training should always include a little wiggle room for occasional indulgences.

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3 Factors Affecting Bar Placement in the Snatch

I’ve identified a problem many beginners have with learning the snatch, and I hope it will help other coaches, too.

During the early years of my coaching career, I ran my program in two middle schools and one high school, and although I also worked with adult lifters, almost all of my first timers were adolescent athletes. Fast forward to 2015, and I’m coaching at my own Takano Athletics gym and many of the folks I’m coaching are beginners who are past their athletic primes and have very little experience in mastering an athletic skill.

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An Easy, Effective Hip Flexor Stretch You Can Do Anywhere

As a physical therapist, one of the top five most common things I see is tight hip flexors. Here's my favorite stretch to fix them.

As a physical therapist I see lots of pains, aches, injuries, and muscle imbalances each and every day. One of the top five most common things I see is tight hip flexors.

I see this in desk jockeys who work all day and barely move from a seated position, quad-dominant lifters who don’t know how to properly engage their glutes, and everyone in between. It always seems like I’m talking tight hip flexors and what to do about them.

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Coach, How Do I Know if My Program Is Effective?

Finding a good coach, organizing your training volume, and periodically assessing your results will help you keep your progress rolling.

My favorite times of my college football career were the off-season conditioning. I was an average football player, but I excelled at preparation. I worked as hard as anyone on my team at improving my ratings in a battery of physical metrics and performance tests. These pre/post test sessions validated the work and effort that I applied to my training. They also revealed the efficacy of the conditioning coach’s methods and programming.

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Training to Failure: Smart Strength With Charles Staley

Charles offers advice about morning workouts and using high reps in training.

Note: Charles is here on a weekly basis to help you cut through the B.S. and get to the bottom of the biggest questions in health and training. Post your questions directly to Charles in the comments below this article.

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11 Simple Ways to Fuel Your Body With Real Food

These simple tips will help you fuel your workouts and avoid artificial ingredients.

There are tons of energy bars and drinks that are designed to help you perform better. They are easy to bring during bike rides, long runs, and hikes. But most of these products contain preservatives and artificial color and flavor. It is almost as easy to bring “real” food with you and it is definitely healthier.

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Build Functional Strength With the Shovel Lift

This lift uses the length of the barbell to add even more challenge to our bodies.

Barbells were designed to make lifting weights easy. Almost every exercise done with them is with a balanced grip and two hands. But if we take a different approach, the length of the barbell can be used to add even more challenge to our bodies.

The shouldering a barbell exercises covered in a previous article is one example of this. The shovel lift is another favorite of mine.

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SS Weekly Report July 20, 2015

The Starting Strength Weekly Report 2015-07-20: Topics from the Forums: “PP 3rd Edition – Starr Model HLM – 5x5 Confusion” and “Wrist circumference and genetic potential” . This week Under the Bar: Midsummer training and comp. View report in browser View report archive var addthis_config = {"data_track_addressbar":true}; News Announcements Submit your images to enter this month’s Under the Bar prize drawing. Videos Rip gives a rundown on Barbell Basics: different kinds, what to look for when purchasing one, and basic maintenance. Catch up on the last few Ask Rip videos for answers to various off-topic questions SS Coaches’ Updates & Blogs Chris Kurisko provides An Update on the Michigan Strength Conspiracy. Under the Bar Kris presses 100 lb for 3x5 in preparation for the Starting Strength Classic at Westminster Strength & Conditioning in October. [photo courtesy of Emily Socolinsky] Starting Strength Coach Heidi Coffman took first place in the West Texas Strongman Showdown lightweight class June 27. (Left) Deadlifting a tractor tire for 14 reps in 60 seconds, (Right) pulling a Jeep 50yd in 25 seconds. [photo courtesy of Heidi Coffman] 61-year-old Phillip started lifting after a hip replacement. After 3 months of self taught lifting, he traveled 90 minutes coaching from Starting Strength Coach Noah Milstein to clean up his form.[photo courtesy of CREDIT] Carrie trains at Woodmere S&C to stay strong for her summer outdoor runs. She has greatly improved her endurance and performance simply by increasing her strength. [photo courtesy of Inna Koppel] Starting Strength Coach Andy Baker opens with a 460 lb squat at the Warren Branch Classic powerlifting meet in Houston. [photo courtesy of Flo Corcutt] Click images to view slideshow. Submit your images to report@startingstrength.com Submission guidelines to enter this month’s Under the Bar prize drawing. Best of the Week PP 3rd Edition – Starr Model HLM – 5x5 Confusion DanJits I have Practical Programming 3rd edition and I have a question regarding the rep x set system for the Starr model. In the introduction to the chapter, Mark says that Starr had his athletes work up in sets of five (5 x 135, 165, 225, 255). Later on in the chapter, in the example workouts, it simply says ex 350x5x5. So I’m wondering if I ought to be working up in increasing sets of five as per the introduction. Or, warming up to my work-weight, then doing five sets of five at that weight. The reason I’m curious is because I have been on the Starr Model for 12 weeks, as I interpreted it from the PP book. That is, warming up to 5x5 across. I train Jiu-jitsu three times a week and work full time, so, often I just don’t have the mental or physical reserves to manage a 5x5 max effort and progress has stalled. I’m wondering if 5x5 ramped sets could fix the problem. jwagner The book does give a few examples that use 5x5, some that use 3x5 and a few others that rotate rep ranges. It also goes on to talk about how the system is really about the stress of the day being Heavy, Light or Medium and that none of the examples are really set in stone. Heavy day could be 3x8, 5x3, 5x1 any other rep/set range that could be considered a heavy stress dose. Andy Baker This is very important and I have mentioned it multiple times: The Heavy-Light-Medium System IS NOT A SPECIFIC PROGRAM. It is a means of organizing training. Within that organization there are LOTS of set and rep schemes that can be utilized effectively and lots of exercises that can be plugged in at different times. Now, Bill Starr used the HLM system for his athletes and wrote about it in his books. He happened to be a fan of using ascending rep schemes for 5x5. Over time a lot of people have come to think like this: HLM = Ascending 5 x 5. NO. That was simply Starr’s preferred rep scheme within the HLM system - if for nothing else, it is an easy way to train large groups of athletes. But the two concepts (HLM and Ascending 5x5s) are not married to each other. Within the HLM system you can use Ascending 5 x 5, 5x5 across, a 5RM, etc. As long as what you are doing on a given day fits the criteria as either Heavy, Light, or Medium you are managing stress in a way that the system was designed for. Best of the Forum Wrist circumference and genetic potential Scrawn78 I have an off-the-scale TINY wrist circumference (just shy of six inches), is it a foregone conclusion that I’ll never be able to squat 225lbs for example, no matter how much I eat or how hard I train? In short, are there fairly reliable ways to determine genetic potential for strength before even starting any training program? Mark Rippetoe No. Maybe you’ll grow. Maybe you’ll be strong at a light bodyweight. Tom Campitelli I just watched one of my trainees squat 225 pounds last night for four sets of three. She weighs 112 pounds and is in her mid to late 30s. If you want to squat 225, you can do it and quite a bit more. BCharles123 Coach, in your experience how many people do you see reaching (or get close to) their full genetic potential? The owner of my gym says he’s never really seen it. The reason for this question is that out of the variables affecting strength, genetics is fixed. On the other hand, if it’s really rare to reach your genetic potential, most of us don’t need to consider it. Wrist size or other. grumble I’m by no means an expert, but wouldn’t someone’s genetic potential be more of a sloping hill to climb and less of a wall? It’s not like your genes dictate a 300lb bench is your max and it’s easy going until you hit 300. You’d find it harder and harder to increase your bench until after many years of slowing gains you hit a point of near-total lack of progress on your bench a little shy of 300. This wouldn’t happen if someone had the makeup to get them to 400, who would sail past 300 (relatively) easily as it’s below their potential. It seems that it would affect your progress at all levels, not only when you’re trying to get into seriously heavy weight.

CrossFit Pottstown Pans Out

CrossFit Pottstown in Pennsylvania is part of Pottstown Athletic Club, a non-profit youth organization. The affiliate provides an alternative outlet for troubled youths who may not be able to afford to participate in traditional sports.

CrossFit Pottstown and the Pottstown Health and Wellness Foundation partnered up to develop a mutually beneficial relationship within the community. David Kraybill, president of the Health and Wellness Foundation, is happy with the outcome thus far.

“We appreciate the discipline and activity and lifelong planning that CrossFit brings to the table,” he says.

The pairing promotes the development of healthy-living habits to last a lifetime in a community where demographics are less than desirable.

“The demographics in Pottstown are pretty rough,” says affiliate owner Robert Matthews. “Pottstown scores high in all the wrong categories and low in all the right, and we’re trying to change that.”

As a nonprofit facility, CrossFit Pottstown works with all members to make fitness affordable. Much of its clientele barters for memberships, and all the equipment in the affiliate has come from donations.

Pottstown Athletic Club’s Laura Washington recognizes the partnership is changing the community.

“People are getting fit,” she says. “The dynamics are changing as far as sickness to fitness, and CrossFit has been a key component in that change.”

Video by Mike Donofrio.

5min 38sec

Additional reading: “More Than the Street: A Steve’s Club Story” by Liz Wolfe with Lee Knight and Steve Liberati, published Aug. 2, 2012.

Master the L-Sit for Core Strength and Bodyweight Control

Body control is an essential athletic skill, and the L-sit is an excellent tool to build it. Follow Timothy Bell's guide to holding a perfect L-sit.

If you want to simultaneously strengthen your core and develop a solid foundation in bodyweight exercise, the L-sit is an excellent option. The L-sit is the starting position for highly advanced exercises such as the L-sit to handstand, and it will familiarize you with the parallel bars. Bodyweight exercise expert Timothy Bell, who blogs over at Timothy Bell Fitness, presents this guide to help you work up to and master the L-sit.

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Story in California

The brawl between Northern California and Southern California commenced May 21 at the Del Mar Arena in Del Mar, California.

In the women’s competition, eight previous Games competitors were fighting for return spots alongside 32 hungry athletes hoping to get their first shot. Eyes were on Rebecca Voigt, who was aiming to set a record by qualifying for her eighth consecutive Games, and Lindsey Valenzuela, who wanted to reclaim a spot at the StubHub Center after failing to qualify in 2014.

In a tough field, it was rookie Brook Ence who stole the show. Going into Event 7—15 muscle-ups followed by 5 increasingly heavier squat cleans—she and Valenzuela were tied in points at the top of the leaderboard. With a second-place finish in the final event, Ence not only snagged her first trip to the Games but also first place overall at the California Regional. Valenzuela locked up her ticket to the Games in second place, and Voigt made history by finishing fifth.

The men’s competition brought seven previous Games athletes to the floor. Perennial competitor Dan Bailey started and ended the weekend with event wins, earning regional gold and a sixth trip to the Games. Neal Maddox—the only male representative from NorCal—will return as the oldest individual competitor, and Jon Pera qualified in third place after a hiatus from solo competition.

California will send three rookies—Ence, Julian Alcaraz and Chad Melton—and seven veterans—Valenzuela, Chyna Cho, Alessandra Pichelli, Voigt, Bailey, Maddox and Pera to the 2015 Reebok CrossFit Games.

Video by various.

Additional reading: “Won Two” by Hilary Achauer, published June 27, 2012.

12 Reps - The Breaking Muscle Digest - Vol. 1, Issue 19

Twelve reader favorites from the past week and from the archives, curated to save you time and bring you happiness.

Crawling is all the rage in fitness these days.

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5 Champion Breakfast Recipes to Start Your Day Right

It can be hard to find healthy and tasty options to start your day, which is where these recipes come in.

Is breakfast really the meal of champions?

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Barbell Basics | Starting Strength Equipment

Mark Rippetoe, author of Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training and owner of Wichita Falls Athletic Club, gives us a rundown on barbells. Different kinds, what to look for when purchasing one, and basic maintenance.

Story in the Meridian

The Meridian Regional brought Europe and Africa together in Ballerup, Denmark, from May 29 to 31.

A group of strong Icelandic women were poised to dominate the podium, and many bet on two-time Games champion Annie Thorisdottir to win. Instead, rookie Icelander Sara Sigmundsdottir handily topped the regional by collecting 38 points more than second-placed Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir. Despite starting the weekend with an Event 1 win, Thorisdottir sat in unfamiliar territory in third place at the end of the weekend.

Two-time Games qualifier Jonne Koski owned the men’s competition, taking first place in four of seven events and only finishing outside the top five once—Event 5, the max snatch. Koski also managed a record on Event 1—Randy—with a time of 2:17.5.

Europe’s women took down records in four of seven events. Kristin Holte finished Event 3 in 23:52, Davidsdottir posted 1:19.8 in Event 4, Oxana Slivenko’s 210-lb. snatch was tops in Event 5, and Sigmundsdottir completed Event 6 in 13 minutes flat.

After a weekend of intense competition, the Meridian will send three rookies—Sigmundsdottir, Steven Fawcett and Phil Hesketh—and seven veterans—Koski, Björgvin Karl Guðmundsson, Lukas Högberg, Davidsdottir, Thorisdottir, Holte and Thuridur Erla Helgadottir—to the individual competition at this year’s CrossFit Games.

Video by Eric Maciel and Adam Cline.

18min 46sec

Additional reading: “Tour de Force” by Mike Warkentin, published June 15, 2012.

How to Avoid Cargo Cult Science in Fitness Literature

Much of what we ready in fitness publications looks like science and feels like science, but it is missing something.

When it comes to research in the fields of nutrition and strength and conditioning, most studies report their findings as being “significant” or not. What this means is: did the intervention work or not?

But these fields lag behind other important sciences where studies report how much or how well an intervention worked. Applying this important distinction can provide us with a great deal more information when we are making health decisions.

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Teams of the California Regional

“This will be the best team year ever.” —Chase Ingraham, CrossFit Games commentator

In 2015, four-time CrossFit Games champion Rich Froning Jr. went team, as did seven-time CrossFit Games competitor Jason Khalipa. Back-to-back champion Ute CrossFit is returning from a one-year hiatus, and 2014 Affiliate Cup winner CrossFit Invictus is back to defend its spot on the podium. A handful of other strong teams will also make a push for the hardware at the 2015 Reebok CrossFit Games.

“This year will be the year that teams get showcased just as much as the individuals. It’s going to be a great year,” Ingraham continued while commentating at the 2015 California Regional.

NorCal CrossFit—as expected—locked up the team competition in Del Mar, California, by winning four of seven events and setting two event records, but the rest of the regional was up in the air. Perennial regional and Games teams CrossFit 808, CrossFit Kinnick, CrossFit Invictus, Diablo CrossFit, CrossFit CSA, CrossFit Costa Mesa and new team CrossFit Foothill were fighting for the other four spots.

This documentary offers an in-depth look at the California Regional team competition that produced five veteran groups that are hoping to drink champagne from the Affiliate Cup.

Video by Sevan Matossian, Gary Roberts, Hayley Parlen, Matt Krautstrunk and Taylor Filasky.

1hr 20min 08sec

Additional reading: “Getting Too Comfortable” by Jason Khalipa, published Sept. 19, 2011.