20 on 10 off

Kick ass effort today. The 10 seconds of rest is just enough to let that lactic acid subside, and then back to work. This kind of training can teach our bodies both mentally and physically to push past the "I wanna quit" barrier. Reminder to go get your vitamin C, no one wants to be sick on during the holidays.

Girls, Girls, Girls

Today's workout was and ass kicker for sure! We had a great Sunday turnout, 16 people, 11 men and 6 women. The top 5 finishers today were Women! We had some studly men in here working out but the women still came out on top, way to represent girls. Like Erik said yesterday, it's the holiday season, that means more sugar and alcohol intake for most people and it shows in the workout. Are you gassing out early? Are you cramping up? Feeling dehydrated? These are all symptoms of excessive sugar and alcohol intake. Remember, everything in moderation. CrossFit is not a quick fix like some other programs out there, cough cough P90X, "lose your belly in 30 days", yada yada yada so on and so forth. Those are what we call "fitness binges". As the new year approaches, fitness binges are in full swing. We are here to help you change your lifestyle, teach you discipline, improve work capacity and fitness.

The vacation is over.

Action pic of the dodge ball game. Click to
enlarge.

Welcome back. Time to start working off all the extra calories we consumed and preparing ourselves for the next Holiday feast. With the Holiday's in full swing beware of your sugar intake. Sweets are all around us especially this time of year so make sure you are tracking how much sugar you are putting in your bodies.
We had a great turn out for the dodge ball game on Friday. If you missed it don't worry we will have another soon. We would like to thank everyone for spreading the word of CrossFit Brea, its great to see all the new faces in here. Let's try and introduce ourselves to the rookies, we were all "rooks" at one time so make them feel welcome. Thanks

Holiday Massacre

Before

Cathy and Victoria

Group ring row

Paula Bear Crawling

Nakia showing her Holiday love. Click to
enlarge.

Thank you to everyone that showed up this morning. We wanted to do something other than a turkey trot, and it seemed that you all enjoyed this. We had some great quotes today. "You owe me $25 for f@$#ing up my nails."-Nakia: "The bear crawls almost made me shit and puke."-Gilbert
Tomorrow's workout will be held at the Brea Sports Park off Birch and Valencia @ 10:00am. If you get lost call me 714-225-1451. We will post pics in the photos section on the site and on our Face Book page next week. You can click to enlarge the ones we posted today.

Ohs and Box Jumps

Heavy DL

Great job tonight on 90%. We definitely have some new pr's on the horizon. We will stop you from pulling if your form goes out the window, please do not take it personal. We have added a Mon, Tue, and Fri 4:30 pm

Dave's old gym pass.

Women who train.

We love when women come in and kick the shit out of these workouts. We have a number of ladies that do not buy into the idea that training is only for men.

"Which one is easier?"

Just looking at the board today it was hard to tell workout to choose. Some wanted to know which one was easier. It did not matter which workout you picked, they both sucked. It did not take long for either side to see that everyone was struggling. The TGU is a very humbling movement and on the flip side after 165 KB swings we got your attention.

Why do you do it?

Throughout my athletic career I have learned to love sport/competition. Whatever the rules and boundaries are I am ready to take my body and abuse it for whatever the alloted time was. As a competitor I personally turn into something I am not. I do not know what it is about competition within sport but it brings out a side of me that no one would recognize. I credit that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde syndrome to my training.
When I step into the weight room I know why I am there. My goals are to fine tune my skill set within sport/competition. Training the way we do allows us to become both mentally and physically fit. We have all been to the point where our bodies want to shut down but our minds force us to squeeze out one more rep, or hold on for one more second. For me that breaking point translates over to the field and day to day life. The mental and physical edge I sharpen allows me to thrive during adversity.
Why do you do it? Is it for better overall health? To belong? Maybe to shed some weight? Whatever your reason is make the most of your time. As time slips through our fingers can you say that you made the most of it. Can you say that you were the best you could be? Did you make every attempt you possibly could to make yourself better?
This might include putting down that extra beer, or giving up your late night snacks. It intrigues me when I hear someone say that they are noticing little if any change. Upon further investigation we find that the diet or outside influences might be a bigger culprit than previously let on.
Some of us might think that we are new to competition, but you are not. The genetic makeup of the human species is competition. If we did not compete on a daily basis we might lose our job, spouse, or even life. You are all competing against each other and against yourselves. Your life has always been your sport. The choice of an athlete might be to pass or shoot. The choice of an individual who is not an athlete might be to pass on the junk food.
Look in the mirror and see what it has to say. If you can look yourself in the eye and honestly say you are doing everything you can to make yourself better, than you are on the path to success. If you can not look yourself in the eye its time to make some changes. -Erik

Chris 5 Jeff 7 Shalina 8 Tatiana 9*
Mike 8 Shob 8 Tarra 7 Niki 7
Vicki 8 Travis 10 Jacob 8
Ryan 7 Nick 7 Vernon 6
LeeAnn 9 Jamie 8 Michelle 8
Duane 9 Barbie 8 Gilbert 12
T 9 Ed 7 Jessica 10 Josie 13
Dave 9 Chris E 9

Pilgrims vs Indians

We will have a Turkey Day Massacre this will take place at Arovista Park @ 9:30am. We will meet there so bring water and running shoes. We will only have one class that day so make sure you get in. The day after we will have a recovery workout consisting of dodge ball. Should be fun.

"Modified"

The pose of "modification"

It was recently stated that Crossfit Brea "modifies their workouts" and "only does Olympic Lifts". I would like rebut that statement and clarify what we do here for those surrounding facilities that know nothing about us. I do not take this as an out right bashing but see it as some sort of attempt to discredit what WE do. The term modified can be defined as custom but I have a sneaky suspicion that this facility intended it to be defined as weak or soft.
The CrossFit Brea family is the exact opposite of the for-mentioned words. You can look at our numbers on any cycle basis and see that they go up every time we work for a PR. I know the term cycle might elude some affiliates due to the lack of experience in strength training. We have the experience to know that not every day can be a "met-con". We also know the importance of a good recovery workout. Call us "modified" but at least were original.
The ninety family members we have here would probably disagree with the term "modified". I do not know how many people have left us and went to another facility, and we do not take that personal. What we do know is that we have at least a couple dozen that have left other facilities or drive by one or two on there way to CrossFit Brea.
We also have several professional athletes that train here we just do not plaster them all over the website. We feel if the product is good people will hear about it. We do not want you training here because a professional athlete does. We have been sitting on a video that we have had for over a year of us training Babalu Sobral, and I was recently convinced to post it.
Our website is designed for you to see what we want you to see. What I mean by that is our workouts and philosophies are not always posted. If you want to know about us then get your ass in here see what the hype is about. Some of the knowledge that we posses is kept in house. Some affiliates frown on that but we frown on charging a couple hundred dollars to teach someone the fundamentals of CrossFit.
We are a blue collar facility whose foundation is sweat, blood, and tears. We fear no competition and take as much pride in our CrossFit Family as they take in us. If there is any affiliate that would like to come over for a throw down please contact us. We have always displayed in interest in some friendly competition.

Hard work never looked so good.

Amy and her angry sox.

Heavy KB Day

We dig the effort today guys. Not a grueling, dig a grave and crawl in it day, but none the less a physically demanding get your attention day. Congrats to Steph and Tatiana who ended up swinging the 88# KB, Tatiana actually took it a step further and was killing 106#. Way to go ladies.
Matt is out of the hospital and came in to visit. He looks great and is on the road to recovery. He thanks everyone for the concern and is going to try and stop by again this week. We need to welcome Ernesto to the family.

Coach Moffitt talks about attitude in this video. Your attitude in the box is crucial. When you walk in here, you need to have eaten a proper meal, be rested and ready to WORK. If you are walking in here expecting to socialize, talk over the coaches, and not wanting to work hard, it slows down the class and takes away from the good vibe we are trying to keep. We write the workouts on the board, break them down, and demonstrate the movements to the class as a whole for a reason. This is the time to LISTEN then ask questions if you have them. Good job on the back squat today! Everyone's form was dead on!

We finished with WOD from a while back. 150 push up's for time, if you rest, it must be in the top of the push up position with both hands and feet touching the ground. If you you rest in the bottom position, you had to run 100m. Suddenly 150 push up's doesn't sound so easy does it?

Are you born with it?

The question was raised recently, "Are you born with mental toughness or is does it have something to do with how you are raised?" I lean toward how you were raised. I remember daily bike rides along my father while he ran at 5:00 am, I was 4 years old. I remember my mother taping up my broken foot so I could try and play in a football game, I was 13 years old. These experiences I feel helped mold me into who I am today. Some cases were harder than others but being able to push through adversity at a young age allows me to deal with more stress today.
I believe mental toughness is a tool that can be sharpened. I think this video demonstrates how you can train a young mind to be mentally tough.

If kid A has an inherent gene for mental toughness would they reign supreme over kid B who might not have been born with that gene but trains like these kids in the video? My answer is no. I do not feel these Chinese kids were born mentally tough, they were taught through extreme circumstances on how to be tough.
This question might vary from country to country. I feel if you ask someone from the United States they might answer nature, if you ask someone from Russia or Cuba they might answer nurture. My feeling on this is based on how some countries raise their athletes. I have had the opportunity to train with individuals from other countries. One of them was forced into training at a young age in Cuba. I think he is a product of his enviroment. He was not given a choice he was taught to be who he is. You can watch some of his fights on You Tube (Hector Lombard). Whats your opinion?

I was going to post pics today but I will save them for tomorrow. I want to touch on some personal acivments in the gym. Our group of Brea wrestlers will start their season Monday. Most of them started training with us in late September. Here are their starting and finishing number on Dead Lift. O'Conner: 155-205 Kyle who started 3 weeks ago 135-155 Jake 255-295
Ozima 175-227 Santos 165-245. These numbers reflect how proper programming and dedication can pay off in a short amount of time.

It was good to see that the our mile times went down. One time worth noting is Cynthia. Her time went from 13:05 to 11:36. We want to call attention to this because Cynthia has 1 lung. She never complains she just comes in here and busts hers ass and we want you to know that all of us are very proud of you Cynthia.

Trainer Matt showing us why he
is so tough.

Matt is back in the hospital and I do not have much details other that he had surgery today. It was a little difficult understanding his voice mail due to the amount of pain meds he must have been on. It was kind of funny to hear him tell me he was "high". Our thoughts are with you Matt, get well soon so you can start kicking our ass's again.
Please go get vitamin C. Your bodies are being broken down everyday and more susceptible to illness. This can be avoided or at least minimized with a simple product. Vitamin shop on the corner of Imperial and Randolph has Solaray vitamin C in capsule form, 1000 milligrams with rose hip and bioflavnoids is recommended. Your body will thank you.

Blood is red sweat!

Nabil showing off his red sweat.

To date Nabil has lost 40#s, he thanked me today. We appreciate it but its you guys that are putting in all the time and effort. We are here to motivate and guide you along the way. We can write the perfect workout but it does not mean shit if you do not take the appropriate actions outside the gym. For those of you that train here you know what those actions are, for those of you who do not train here come find out.
This was day two of our recovery phase, we only pulled 40%, this is below what we normally warm up with. It was good to here that most felt better after the workout. This is a good example of active recovery.
Make sure to introduce yourself to someone that you might not know already. Make everyone feel welcome, we are all chasing the same goal.

Recovery Day

We are glad to see that some of you trusted us and came to train today. Yesterday was complete hell, and we knew today was going to be a recovery day. Today's workout was designed to loosen you up and kick start the healing process. The worst thing you can do is sit around and be sore. Active recovery is the the most important tool a person can have after intense training. After every football game that I played in from high school to pros we were forced to do sprints the day after the game.

300 reps of Hell!

Today's WOD was intense to say the least. It's a crazy feeling to panic mid workout, out of breath, your entire body is on fire, and the trainers are telling you "take a deep breath and GO!" People shouting obscenities and letting out screams of pain and suffering. Yet you still push through, you persevere, you come out on top! This WOD put everyone's will to the test, "Am I tough enough? Can I really finish this?" The answer is YES, everyone finished, and you should be damn proud of yourselves!

Everyone has their own way of dealing with pain. Some get quiet and charge it, others get angry and frustrated and curse at the trainers for making them go through that hell, and some sit and complain, wasting time and air. These workouts are designed to improve work capacity, ultimately improving your fitness and helping you obtain your goals. They also make you mentally tough. These workouts are HARD, they make you feel like shit, they make you want to say enough is enough and quit.

Now lets step outside the CrossFit box for a second. Life is really hard, we don't need to tell you that, you already know. When life throws you a curve ball, you have a bad day, you get laid off, money is tight, or you get sick, what do you do? Do you step into the box, relax and take a deep breath, and knock that curve ball out of the park? Or do you break down, complain and waste time, and strike out? CrossFit prepares you to think and act in very stressed environment. Your body is telling you to quit but your mind won't let you. The WOD sucks, you want to die, but you don't quit, you push through. This transcends to your everyday life. Life is hard, and sucks sometimes, but is great a lot of the time, you have to step up and deal with the bullshit it throws your way.

So instead of whining and complaining throughout the WOD, wasting your breath, wasting time, wasting energy. Try to relax, breath deep and breath slow, keep moving, chip away, make every rep count, fight for good form, and did I mention breath slow and relax? Eventually you will reach the finish line.

Strength Day

No smiling Jodi

We had some good stuff happen today. Tara DL 235 but for some reason quit after that number. I am convinced she can pull close to 3oo#. If you could have seen how easy she pulled it you would think the same. Jodi's DL started at 85# and went to 125#, have confidence in yourself and there is no limitation to what you can do. Shalina did her pull-up test and hit 22, great job. We would like to welcome Humberto, Steve and Cory Feldman to the family. When you see them please introduce yourself and make feel welcome. Great job today. CrossFit Brea athlete Ben Jones is fighting this Friday at the Ontario Citizens Bank Arena in The Call to Arms Show. They are offering 2 for 1 tickets, so if you want to go hit up www.calledoutmma.com and use fighter code 06fighter.

Lifting in sport.

Here is my last match in Japan. I picked up Taka a few times, for the most part my technique during these lifts was dead on. In the final German Suplex I pick him up from the ground. I made sure the back was straight and air was held in until I got him up over my head. If I had sloppy form I could have hurt my back or looked like a jackass and not got him up at all. Enjoy.

You guys are Jerks and Snatches

The passed two days we have been playing around with the Olympic lifts, yesterday the Snatch, today the Clean. Many of you are understanding the progressions and your technique is coming along great ! Some are struggling but don't get frustrated, these are very difficult lifts and take a LONG time to learn. You are literally jumping the barbell through the range of motion with a violent extension of your legs and hips. There are no arms involved in the pull from the ground other then guiding the bar to its destination. That "jump and shrug" that you hear us telling you over and over is how you elevate that bar. The secret to the Olympic lifts is that we have to trick gravity. We jump the bar up, then before the bar can fall back to the earth, we have to violently pull ourselves under that bar. Whether it's the Clean or the Snatch, the same type of violent jump, shrug, and pull under is happening, just the grip and where we receive the bar is different.

Here is coach Mike Burgener talking about the arms staying straight throughout the movement then show the athlete pulling under the bar.

Vitamin C

Please go get some vitamin c. The flu is all around us, please, please, please, go to vitamin shop off Imperial and Randolph. There is a whole wall dedicated to Vitamin C. We use Soleray, its a big white bottle and it has Bioflavonoids, the milligrams are 1000 per capsule. I take 3,000 milligrams daily. If I feel a little sick I will take around 6,000 milligrams a day. Something a simple as eating whole foods and taking vitamin c can make a big difference in your health. This will help prevent getting you and your family sick.
The Olympic snatch is a difficult lift, but just try to be patient. Great job on the recovery/technique day.

Spreading the word of CrossFit to the Tokyo trainers.
They had a hard time understanding the kipping pull-up

It is great to be back. As much as I love Japan it is always good to come home and see all your faces. The gym I worked out at was a typical globo style with the exception of no street shoes or tattoo's. They would not let me in because someone recognized me and said I have tattoos. I promised the manager I would keep them covered and all was good. I won my match, but learned about the five minute mark that I had not trained hard enough. It is a shitty feeling to realize that you are out of gas. I look forward to getting back in here and training with you all again.

OHS

Today was the first time that I can remember where we had to have classes do different workouts. There was a brush fire about 10 miles NE of us that started around 10 am and burned through until late afternoon. The AM classes did the WOD that we had scheduled for today but do to the terrible air quality, I changed the WOD for the PM classes. It was an AMRAP in 20 min ass kicker and I didn't feel comfortable making people work their lungs with that poor of air quality. So if you missed the pullup test yesterday, you got a shot to test your max, then some OHS+box jumps, and finished it up with 100 pushups for time.

The overhead squat is no walk in the park. It takes tremendous strength, concentration, and body control. A few of us went a bit too heavy out of the gate and had to take some weight off. This is one of those lifts where you take baby steps when adding weight. Coach Bergener says no more than 1 or 2 kilo's at a time. It was nice to see people stacking plates on their boxes for the jumps and trying new heights they've never thought possible. It's all about commitment, spot your landing, be confident in yourself, commit to the jump, and stick it.

Lets welcome Melissa, Cathy, Ross, Marc and Paula to the CrossFit Brea family!!

Pullup test

Top 2 men: Ibby 48 pullups, Jimmy 33 pullups
Top 2 women: Mandi 14 pullups, Stephanie 8 pullups

Today we did a pullup test. You had two tries to see how many pullups you could do without dropping from the bar, we took the highest out of the two. It was great to see everyone's numbers on pullups increase by so much. Imagine how many more you will be able to do next time!

Congratulations to the top three finishers of the biggest loser.

Michelle lost 17lbs, 12% of her BW!
Cynthia lost 20lbs, 10% of her BW!
Travis lost 12lbs, 5 1/2% of his BW!

I always hear women complaining about how much easier it is for men to lose weight. This was not the case with our competition. Keep up the good work everyone!

Pick Your Poison

I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween and didn't eat too much candy. We were back on the grind today with a pick your poison WOD. Make sure that you aren't over training!!! I have had a few people ask me what they can be doing at home in addition to the workouts we do here. My answer, follow the paleo diet and rest. If you are following our programming, the diet we recommend, and getting proper rest, you don't need to do anything else. There is no magic key to success, it takes hours, days, weeks, months, years etc. to mold yourself into an ass kicking machine. That's why we have an obesity epidemic on our hands in this country, that's why there are infomercials on tv and weight loss pills. Everyone wants to be comfortable, everyone wants the easy way out. That is just not possible. We kick your ass every day you walk in the door, there is never an "easy" day. That being said, if you walk out of here and think "oh that wasn't that bad, you should be thinking "what could I have done to make that more challenging?" Did you stay within your comfort zone when choosing weight? Did you go through the full range of motion on your push ups? Or did you only go half way down or go from your knees? Did you try extra hard to maintain the proper technique on your air squat? Or did get lazy and let your chest come down or lose the arch in your back? There's always a way to make things tougher on yourself, I said this last week. If you take short cuts, rush through things and just go through the motion with half ass effort, you WILL get half ass results, plain and simple. Focus on one day at a time. Make good choices, get in here and grind. Soon that day turns into a week, that turns into a month, that turns into a year, before you know it you look in the mirror and CHANGE has happened.

Babalu Sobral

CrossFit Brea Athlete Babalu Sobral