The biggest loser challenge. Weight will be checked starting tomorrow and will continue through Friday. There is a $15 dollar entry fee which will be split between the top two winners along with a free month to the top finisher.
The gladiator challenge will start next week, details to come.

Fight Gone Bad

Fight Gone Bad was awesome today. For everyone that has not experienced FGB, welcome to your first time. Congrats to Scott who totaled 285 and Travis who totaled at 266. We will be doing it again September 26th at CF Costa Mesa for the fundraiser.

Dodgeball/Soccor at Arovista Park tomorrow. Meet at the park as there will be nobody here at the box. If you're not familiar with Arovista just drive down as if you were coming to the CFBrea. Its across Imperial, so instead of making a right on Berry make a left into the park.

Also, lets welcome Christian, Gilbert, Manish and Duane to the CF Brea family. Great job today everyone!

JUST A REMINDER: IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN JOINING CROSSFIT BREA TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE $95 PROMOTION WHICH ENDS THIS MONDAY THE 31st of AUGUST.

Make sure you get your rest for tomorrow it is going to be an ass kicker. For everyone that thought we are hard ass' check this out.

Announcement: We are at the end of August the $95 first month promotion is ending, so if you have friends or family who want to join and still get the discount sign up NOW!!!

Did anyone else think it was hot today? Now we all know what hot pockets feel like. Speaking of hot pockets have you cheated lately? At CF Brea we are all about paleo/zone. But every once and a while you need a delectable treat to keep you from going crazy.

Cheat meals every once and a while will help your mental health. Remember to not go too crazy though. Fuel up properly for "Fight Gone Bad" on Saturday. Be there! It will be a painstorm... but a fun one.

Since we are on the subject of food remember that we are having a nutrition lecture on Wednesday September 2nd @ 6:30.

Fight Gone Bad 4 is a charity event held by CrossFit. The workout will take place on Saturday September 26. We are trying to raise at least $1000 for our affiliate, anything you can donate will help. To donate please go to:

https://www.rapidreghost.com/fgb/php/frpage.php?frID=25457

All proceeds will go to Athlete's For A Cure prostate cancer research and the Wounded Warriors Fund. The Wounded Warriors is a program to help soldiers wounded in battle return to their everyday lives back here in the states. Please click the link above to learn more. Also, please spread the word to family, friends, co-workers, post it our link on myspace/facebook/twitter. Tell everyone how important this event is to you.

This Saturday we will be doing fight gone bad in preparation for next month. Make sure you are on time and eat some breakfast, getting a good night sleep Friday night might not be such a bad idea either.

Next Wednesday 9/2 we will have some guest speakers in at 6:30 to talk about the Paleo diet. This is a free event, similar events in the area are going for $100 a ticket so it would be wise to check it out.

On Sunday we will have a recovery workout in the park. Fight Gone Bad is going to be a kick in the ass so Sunday we will relax with an hour of soccer.

Every day there are more and more new faces here at CrossFit Brea. This thing is spreading like wildfire. It's exciting to see so many people making positive changes in their lives. One of two things will happen when you walk through this door that you will remember for the rest of your life. You will either instantly fall in love, almost like a drug, becoming addicted to the pain and the satisfaction when it's over. Or you will go running and screaming back to your comfort zone, scared out of your mind that there are actually people on this earth willing to put themselves through that hell. Either way you will never forget what you've experienced here, and you will most likely share your experience with everyone you know. So, how did you hear about CrossFit?

September 2nd we will be hosting a FREE Paleo Diet seminar at 6:30pm. This will take the place of our 6:30pm class that evening, you are more than welcome to stay and workout in the 7:30pm class.

This Saturday 8/29, we will be doing "Fight Gone Bad". This is to prepare you for the fundraising event we are participating in about a month.

This Sunday we will be taking our 11:30 workout out doors for a soccer game. More details to come.

Mental conditioning!!! We all know that what we do here at CrossFit Brea is physically demanding, but what most of us do not realize is that you will not last here if you are not strengthening your mind as well. You Must be mentally strong before the physical will happen. All great athletes and performers are mentally strong. Lets take Michael Jordan, can you imagine what his career would have been if he was mentally weak. His mental strength matched his physical and that is why he performed great under pressure.
Today we did a 10/1- 1/10 burpee/ball slam ladder. This workout looks like 10 bupees, 1 ball slam, 9 bupees 2 ball slams etc etc . The men used a 20# med ball and the most ladies used a 12# med ball and we all finished in under 15min. If you don't know what a bupree is, it can be best described as a wrestler sprawl-back to your feet with a six inch jump off the ground and a overhead clap.
The true test here is a mental one. That feeling of your world closing in on you, your lungs burning and mind telling you not to do one more rep is a common feeling among those that train here. Everyone here has expeirenced that and it sucks. The reason why we all come back is because we learn to shut all those uncomfortable feelings out, and we teach ourselves to finish.
Frustration has been the downfall to many, stay positive do not lose focus. If you can train mental control the body will repond quicker and more efficiently. Don't lose sight of why your here. Don't come here because your friends do, come here because you have goals and you want to be an ass kicking machine. Be positive and keep focus. Much respect to everyone that gets in here and grinds.

Our apologies to Mary Ann, she was the only female to RX on Fri and she was the first to finish. We are going to do a 90 day challenge on the September 1st. We will be doing before and after pics along with a weigh in. Details to come.

Suffer as One

Eunice, Darla and Vicki



Mary Ann and Doc. Chung



Slappy and his sombrero

Static hold days are deceivingly hard. Chuck set a new world record with a ring plank hold of 6:14! The Oly lifts are coming along great keep it up. If your farmer holds were longer then 2-3 minutes, the weight is too light, step it up a little next time. Here are the times from yesterday. Manny's time was 41:39. Congrats to Dr. Novak, T, and Jeff who completed the entire workout. Great job guys, this was not a nice workout.

Great job tonight, we slowed it down a little ( till the end) to try and give everyone a little break after yesterday. Tomorrow is $1 taco night at Cafe El Cholo, located at 840 E Whittier Blvd in La Habra at 6:45 pm. Summer is coming to a close and what a better way to end it. Come hang out with your fellow Crossfitters.

Tabata to hell

Great job on the Burgener warmup and the skill transfer drills. Stance, Grip, and Position are the keys to a successful snatch. Are your feet in the jumping position? Are you using the "hook" grip?

Today we changed up the tabata, it went something like this:

Kb swing
ball slam
box jump
power snatch from the high hang

The goal of this WOD is to get as many reps as you can each 20 second interval and then stay as close to that number every interval there after. It made it much harder since we were not allowed to drop the bar during the Snatch.

"Will your desire override your fatigue?"

Our friends a Bare Natural Foods have come up with a great idea, they are delivering Paleo foods to the gym. Meals start at $10 and they come in a cooler that will be delivered to CrossFit Brea. To see more info visit there site www.barenaturalfoods.com.

Great job on the front squat today. Get comfortable in that "rack" position as that is where receive the bar in the "clean".

CrossFit Brea is participating in the Fight Gone Bad 4 fundraiser for The Wounded Warrior Project and Athlete's For A Cure Prostate Cancer Foundation. We are trying to raise a minimum of $1000 for our affiliate, this should be a pretty easy goal to reach.

This is the link to our page:

https://www.rapidreghost.com/fgb/php/frpage.php?frID=25457

The Rules for Fight Gone Bad

The CrossFit workout is ‘Fight Gone Bad.’ In this workout you spend one minute at each of five stations, resulting in a a five-minute round after which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. This event calls for three rounds. The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. On call of ‘rotate,’ the athletes must move to the next station immediately. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower, where each calorie is one point. The stations are:

1. Wall-ball, 10 ft target (Reps)
2. Sumo deadlift high-pull (Reps)
3. Box jump (Reps)
4. Push-press (Reps)
5. Row (Calories)

Top (<>26 member) Affiliate will receive coverage on the FGB IV website and CrossFit.com.

Awards

National:

Highest fundraising Affiliate in the <>26 Participant Division will receive a $5000 Rogue Fitness package and a Concept 2 rower.

Regional:

The highest fundraising Affiliate in each region (<25> 26 members) will receive a Traveling Trophy with their Affiliate name, the event name and the year they won on a plaque.

It will travel the following year to the highest fundraising Affiliate (<25> 26 members) in that region with a new plaque installed each year.

*An Affiliate CANNOT win both the national and regional awards. The award will go to the 2nd highest fundraising Affiliate in that region should any Affiliate win both categories.

Incentives

First 250 affiliates to register will receive a limited edition Official FGB IV poster.

Affiliates who raise over $1k receive a limited edition FGB IV poster when they achieve that goal.

Affiliates who raise over $5k receive a limited edition FGB IV 3’ x 3’ custom hanging banner when they achieve that goal.

Participants who raise $150 or more will receive a limited edition FGB IV t-shirt.

Sunday Funday!

100m sprint on the minute, every minute, for 10 minutes.

Strategy is a pretty important part of our workouts. Whether it's a strength biased day or a metcon, every one should have a game plan going into the workout. Today's goal was to keep every sprint around the same time. A few people ran a sub 15 second sprint the first minute, then the next 9 were over 25 seconds. Some people ran 25 second times the first 8 minutes, then sub 20 the last 2. Then there were those who ran at about 90% of max effort. These were the people who consistently (within+/- 2 seconds) stayed around the same times for all 10 minutes.

Here are some things to think about while you're looking at the board every day:

1. Focus on controlling your breathing and try to relax. You're beating your body up and it's natural reaction is to panic ( fast heart rate=fast breathing), SLOW IT DOWN! This is a mental game, if you can trick your mind, you will reach new levels you never would have thought you could before

2. Think about the movements, loads, rounds etc.. and what effect they will have on you (breathing, muscle fatigue etc).

3. Have a realistic goal of how long it should take you to complete each round taking into account the fatigue setting in after each round is over. Try and push that pace and keep that pace for the duration of the WOD.

4. If you are on your last round of a WOD, try not to rest, you are almost finished, you have the rest of the day to rest after the WOD is over, push that threshold, hurdle that wall, and get a new PR!

5. Never walk away from the bar! Time and time again we see people drop the bar and walk away and pace around. This is all wrong, you are wasting energy. A break should be short, think of it like this, "when I put this bar down, I'm going to take 5 really really slow, big deep breathes, then I'm going to pick it up and go!" Walking away leads to a minumum of 30 seconds added to your time every time you do it, this could add up to minutes on your time that didn't need to be added.

This is a great documentary out in theatres right now called "Food Inc." This is a must see movie.

UPDATE

WE ARE HAVING A BEGINNERS CLASS MON, TUE, THUR @ 6:30PM & SAT @ 10:30 AM. How this will work: The beginners class will take place outside so the people that have been here will still continue on with the normal class. These classes are set up to develop technique. They are not just for beginners if you are to sore to train that day come in for a technique review. It will be mandatory that all beginners come to at least four technique session before they attend a class.

IMPORTANT

Some of us are new here so this is a lesson, for others this is a reminder. Please be aware of your body. If you are banged up take a rest day. This is like no other training program, you have to learn to pay attention to your body. The human body is very intelligant, when you have food cravings that is your body telling you what it wants. For example when you get thirsty your body is telling you to get something to drink, when you crave sugar it usually meant you lack carbs.
If your body is sore all the time, you are fatigued throughout the day, you can't sleep at night, you get injured or you are getting sick these are signs of over training. Please take notice of how your body changes, we want this to be a life changer for everyone and the only way this will happen is if we are all healthy.
For those that have been here we all should know that are rest periods should be minimum 2 min on are 80% lifts and 2 1/2 to 3 min on our 90% maximal efforts. Take these lessons that are taught and apply them. We remind everyone in our prep period so we should not have all our 80% 1 RM lifts done in three minutes. We also need to stay with the numbers suggested for our lifts. 90% means 90% there is never an excuse to go over your 1rm by 40 pounds.

Here is Lindsay killing the Clean and Split Jerk.

We have a ton a pics for you guys but for some reason we cant post them, hopefully soon I can figure it out. We were set up to have another taco night but our reservations got lost so we will shoot for next Fri.

Welcome to Mandy, Josie, and Minnie to the family. Today was a bit deceiving, we started with a power day and finished with a little metcon. Everyone handled it well, nice job.

It's good to be back. I took some pics of the Paleo Japanese style. I will post them in the next few days. We need to welcome Jodi, and Alex to the family. I will leave you today with a friend I met through my coach Josh. Her name is Megumi and she is pound for pound one of the best fighters in the world. No one has heard of her out in the states because nobody wants to fight her. She is the definition of champion... she is humble, hard working and a warrior. In a sport that is dominated by men she is proving that women can be just as tough and skilled. Here are some of her highlights. Thank you Megumi for giving us something to watch.

August 9, 2009

This weeks programming was TOUGH!! You all pushed yourselves hard and gave 100%
I'm here to remind you that even though we encourage you train hard at CossFit Brea we also encourage you to give your body the proper rest it deserves. We have some of you that are coming in five days straight, which should be broken up into three days on, one day off or two days on, one day off etc. Let your body recover!! We can't stress that enough. If you don't that could lead to fatigue, improper form, injury, the list could go on and on. I'm not going to mention any names.. Mark and a few others.
By the way, how is your eating lifestyle?? Are you eating as often as you should-every three to four hours? Are you taking in enough veggies and LEAN meats? That is another thing we stress to everyone here, eat well and you'll reap the benefits. Your times and strength will improve with each WOD (Workout Of the Day). I have to give props to Bake and Nanci for making that change in their diet. Nanci's Push Press just went up 10 lbs. from four weeks ago and we haven't even retested on our 1RM (1 rep max) yet. Way to go guys.
We have new members here at CrossFit Brea, lets welcome George, Jose, Mike and Chris to the family.

"Pick Your Poison"

Took this WOD from our friends at CF Costa Mesa. Choose from one of the following for time:

60x 100m sprint
200 burpee
200 wallball
200 KTE
300 Tire Flip

This workout pushed everyone to the limit. If there were a test to measure mental toughness, this would be a good one and everyone passed. Almost everyone picked tire flips, why? Probably because flipping tires sounds the most fun out of the 5 but it also carries the most work load. Only one person picked burpees today, Eddie, why? Burpees are the most dreaded of all movements at Crossfit Brea but Eddie decided he was up for the challenge. At 50 reps, he said he wouldn't make it to 100, at 100 he said there was no way he would make 150, and at 150 he said he was done. He finished the last 50 burpees and recieved an ovation from his fellow CrossFitter's, great job today Eddie!

We have a ton of new faces every week here at CF Brea, lets make sure we are making everyone feel welcome. This family is multiplying at an alarming rate, we are building a small CrossFit army and we love it.

Did you eat breakfast today?
Are you drinking enough water?
Are you conscious of what you are putting in your mouth?
Are you getting enough sleep and giving your body proper time to recover?
Did you make it into CF at least 3 times this week?

If you answered "YES" to these questions, you're on the right track. Possitive changes in your lifestyle leads to progress, progress leads to reaching your goals. The only person responsible for making this happen is YOU! We are here to guide you on your journey.

Hot Off the Press

The shoulder press and push press are two of the nine foundational movements to CrossFit. It was great to see the enthusiasm and motivation today. Nanci claimed the heaviest push press by a woman at CrossFit Brea and now stands tall on our Wall of Fame. Jeff who's previous record was 195 managed to push press 195 for three reps.

There is no such thing as an "easy workout", Everytime you step in here you should be physically and mentally prepared. Today's WOD was 5x1 Shoulder Press and 5x3 Push Press. It was hard... but a different kind of hard than 150 Wall Ball shots.

Remember: If it were easy, everyone would do it. It's not easy. It's not supposed to be.

Fun on the Floor

It's been awhile since we have enjoyed the company of the floor wiper. Everyone did excellent on the WOD today. CrossFit Brea has a few thoughts we would like to share with you...

#1 We are a family... we battle pain, suffering, and in the end we share the glory together. Veterans make sure you welcome our newcomers. When you finish a WOD, just don't get water and put away your gear and start talking. Get in someone's face, you have an opportunity to help someone dig deep and find something never thought they had. The workout is never over until the last person is finished.

#2 Recovery: Training 5 days straight at maximal intensity is not healthy. Make sure you get rest. We recommend the 3 on 1 off schedule for experienced crossfitters. CrossFit is intense, it eats you alive, it takes a toll on your body if you don't give it a chance to recover.

#3 Have Fun: Take advantage of the group training environment. Find some friendly competition when you come in. Not only will the competition help your intensity but it will build camaraderie. Enjoy your time here... while laying in a puddle of your own sweat.

Today's Top 5
1. Sean 13:13
2. Austin 14:00
3. Mundo 16:44
4. Aurora 16:49
5. Steph 16:57

Snatch This!

Great job today on the heavy squats and KB Snatch metcon. Out of the top 5 three were women! Great job girls! Keep up the hard work everyone.



1. Mundo 10:22
2. Virginia 11:16
3. Jackie 11:18
4. Jose 11:22
5. Aurora 11:24

This is a great read on intensity and strategies for workouts... enjoy.

Intensity

by Jeff Martin

This is key: How much pain can you eat? When the misery index rises, what do you do? Having a plan helps. Before getting to specifics, here are a couple of general things to do to up your intensity.

#1 Resolve not to be a big baby. In our box, we have guys who have been blown up working out next to guys who complain when they stub their toe. Folks who have been shot, next to folks complaining about a hangnail. Who do you think works harder? Who do you think brings the most intensity? Don't be a big baby; it doesn't help. We all hurt. Resolve to move forward without complaint. We have a large bottle in our box marked YBF. Spray some on and continue: You'll Be Fine.

The Specific:

1. Have a plan for each WOD. Look at each WOD. Try to decide how long each round should last. Shoot for that.

2. Think about breaks. Have a plan for your breaks going into the WOD. Say you are doing Fran and your pull-up max is 10. Plan to break the first round 7-7-7 and rest 15 seconds before getting back on the bar. This will help you avoid muscular failure. If you hit muscular failure, it will take 30-40 seconds before you are able to get back on the bar and do anything meaningful. That's a lot of time spent staring at the clock spinning.

3. Work specifically on a plan to minimize break time. Using Fran as an example again, say that 95# Thrusters are not heavy for you and that the limiting factor is cardio-respiratory endurance. In this case, your heart is hammering when you reach 11 reps, but the bar speed is the same as rep number one. Now you can put the bar down and acknowledge that it's okay to be a pus** today, or you can continue. If you do put the bar down, have a plan: I'll pick the bar up in 15 seconds, I'll take three big breaths and pick the bar up, etc.

4. If you are working with a class, pick someone that is close to you in their fitness level. Before you start the WOD, tell yourself that you will watch them and break only when they do. Resolve when they put the bar down you will do one more rep than they did. When they look like they are going to pick the bar up, grab your bar and do at least one rep before they get started. Be aware that eventually they will realize what you are doing and the game will be on. Who will drop the bar first? Again, "Men will die for points."

5. NEVER walk away from your bar! NEVER, NEVER, NEVER!

6. Understand that every time you put your bar down, you can chalk 20 seconds onto your time. Is breathing really worth that 20 seconds? I don't think so.

7. Just finish it. When most people set the bar down, they wait until they feel better before picking the bar up again. This is a mistake. You will not feel better until the thing is done. Might as well get back on the bar and finish the work required. Little known fact: working helps regulate breathing. The hard part of Fran is the transitions. You're gasping for air staring at the bar. Surprisingly if you clean the bar up and start doing your thrusters, your breathing will regulate. Keep that in mind while the clock spins and you stare.

Just a few thoughts.

We have been getting a ton of questions regarding nutrition and supplements. "What protein should I take?" "What can I take to get bigger?" "Why do I feel so weak halfway into the workout?" and so on.

1. Did you eat breakfast?
2. Are you eating around 1 gram of protein per pound of your body weight each day?
3. Are you drinking at least 64 ounces of water a day?
*You must add 8 ounces of water to the 64 for every soda or coffee you drink.

THE ABILITY TO ANSWER YES TO ALL THREE OF THESE QUESTIONS WILL DO FAR MORE FOR YOU THAN ANY SUPPLEMENT!!!

What is your excuse for not working out this week?

Our soldiers in Iraq are getting it done...Busy working mothers are getting it done...People on vacation in Beijing are getting it done with backpacks. Kyle who has no arms or legs gets it done!

Medieval torture device or unique way of training? You decide.

This month we will be spending a lot of time on the kipping pull-up. We have been prepping with a lot of pulling in the month of July. Everyone's progression with the snatch was amazing, if you still have not got the technique don't worry we will be visiting that lift frequently.

We had a great night at Cafe El Cholo for those that could not make don't worry we will have another soon. Talking to some of you outside the gym is great because we have time to sit and really get your input. One thing that Dr. Chung mentioned was that the pics we put up show group training, but what you never get to see is the group supporting and pushing each other. The only way you see it is to come here and feel it. We would like to show you everything but there are some things that are meant for our family and our family only.
We might post a workout but you only see what we want you to see. The casual web surfer might come to our site and get some stimulation out of what we present but they have only scratched the surface. They feeling of accomplishment and group motivation gives the trainers chills. It is nice to be in gym where everyone knows each others name. How many people can you name at your globo gym?
Someone throughout a suggestion that we seem like we are a team, I quickly shot down that notion. I have been on amateur and professional teams and the difference is that if some can't finish they get cut. We on the other hand will stay and help them finish. We will pick up our brother or sister and get them to the finish line. I say this all the time...we are proud to be associated with every single one of you. WE ARE A FAMILY!!!