Prepping for the challenge

The start of our latest challenge is four days away, we hope you are ready to jump on board.  The key to success in this challenge (or anything in life really) is preparation.  You need to prepare both physically and mentally for what lies ahead.

The physical preparation lies mostly with your house.  You need to do a whole house cleanse and get rid off all the candies, chocolate, muffins, breads, boxes of things, bags of things, cartons of frozen things and any other processed junk that can sit in the pantry for months on end.  Finish off the milk and that gourmet cheese basket as well as any wine you have laying around.  This challenge can be tough enough with out the added temptation of things not challenge friendly calling to you all hours of the day.

Another physical preparation that will help you in this challenge is to have your workspace ready with the tools and staples you will need to make quality meals.  We have added a "Shop" tab at the top of the page that has an amazon store of all the things that we find helpful in the kitchen.  It also has all the books we recommend and training equipment we feel is important as well.  It is new and we will be adding to it as we go along.  As for the challenge a quality skillet, some wooden spoons, a good knife, baking sheets, a peeler and a large tub of coconut oil, will set you up well for most meals.

You will need to mentally prepare yourself for what lies ahead as well.  We used to tell people that the challenge is not that hard and once things got hard people would cave.  Much of the difficulty of this challenge lies in the work involved in preparing fresh meals.  If you are used to cooking meals the transition is not that hard, if your idea of cooking is pressing buttons on the microwave, or swinging through the drive thru, this is going to be a big change.  There is really no way around it, preparing, cooking, and cleaning after your meals takes time and effort, but does get easier the more you do it.

Here is a link to a post that talks about shopping, cooking, and cleaning.

Also check out this motivating post by Sarah Fergoso at Everyday Paleo for some New Years inspiration and unstick yourself!

Thursday December 29, 2011-Workout

Strength: 5x5 deadlift

Then, complete 4 rounds of:
400 meter row(if you don't have a rower, 400 meter run or .25 on the elliptical)
10 thrusters
10 hanging knee raises
Record your time.

Tuesday's Workout

Tuesday December 27th 2011 Workout

After Warm-up

Practice double unders or regular jump rope if you do not have that skill. Here is a video of double under instruction.

Then do the following workout.

3 rounds 21-15-9 reps of 

Wall Ball Shots 12lbs

Power Cleans 25-45lbs

Push Press 25-45lbs

Keeping the chest and elbows up, and the knees out, enables efficient transfer of power from from the legs and hips into the wallball. photo www.crossfit.com

Tuesday December 20, 2011-Workout

Circuit-45 seconds of work and 15 seconds to rotate/rest.  3 rounds of the circuit taking 1 minute rest between each round.

overhead walk with barbell-25lbs-arms locked out to full extension

bear crawls

weighted step ups with leg lift-2 15lb dumbbells or 2 10lb dumbbells

reverse crunches

bent over rows

Clean Eating Challenge 2012

We know you are caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, but if you are like us you are also getting tired of the over indulgence of food and drink as well.  We have just what you need.

Our annual New Years Clean Eating Challenge!

Many of you have attempted the challenge before, some have completed it and most have had positive results from the experience.  We are hoping you will join us again as we reset our nutritional habits and resolve to make 2012 the year we gain control of our health and fitness.  If you have never participated in the challenge before, now is the time to jump in.

The idea behind the clean eating challenge is to eat noting but clean, healthy, natural foods for 30 days.  This will level out the hormones in your body and help your gut heal, so that you can absorb nutrients better. It will also reduce the chronic inflammation associated with the average diet of highly processed foods.  We want you to eat nothing but meats, seafood, vegetables, good fats and oils, a little fruit, some nuts and seeds for 30 days.  You will be surprised by the incredible meals that you can make using only these ingredients and we will be here to help with tips, tricks, and ideas.

Now for what you cannot eat.  For 30 days you cannot have any grains, sugar, dairy, beans, or alcohol(wine included).  I know it sounds tough.  No bread, pasta, rice, cereal, milk, cheese, or sweets for 30days.  It will take a great deal of effort on your end and for some will be radically different from your current nutritional habits, but we know from experience the results will be amazing.

We will start our challenge on Monday January 2nd and run it for 30 days until Tuesday January 31st.  We have added a new Challenge tab on the top of our blog where we have linked to posts from past challenges that we feel will be helpful as you work through this.  We will also post blogs throughout the challenge with helpful hints, informative resources, and occasionally some tough love, if we feel it is needed.

It costs nothing for you to participate and as with other challenges we encourage you to use the comment section of the blog to interact with each other and us.  Share tips, tricks, successes, and failures and together we will work our way through the 30 days and hopefully learn a thing or two.

Have a wonderful holiday season and stay tuned for posts as we gear up for our latest challenge.  Feel free to share this post with anyone you feel will be interested.  The more the merrier.

Thursday December 15, 2011-Workout

After completing the warm-up, we worked on mobility weaknesses for about 15 minutes.

Then, 

Complete as many rounds as you can in 15 minutes of :

5 medicine ball cleans

10(5 on each leg) assisted pistols

15 double unders or 45 jumprope

Record the number of rounds you completed.

December 13, 2011-Workout

Complete:  3 sets of 7 push press

Record you weight.

Then, complete 30, 20, 10 of:

overhead squats

ball slams

walking lunges

Complete 30 overhead squats followed by 30 walking lunges followed by 30 ball slams.  Then complete 20 overhead squats, etc.

Record your time.

Thursday December 8, 2011-Workout

We completed a nice long warm-up with a lot of mobility exercises before completing the following workout:

Complete 1 clean and jerk the first minute, 2 clean and jerks the second minute, 3 clean and jerks the third minute, 4 clean and jerks the 4th minute, 5 clean and jerks the 5th minute, 6 clean and jerks the 6th minute, 7 clean and jerks the 7th minute, 8 clean and jerks the 8th minute, 9 clean and jerks the 9th minute, and 10 clean and jerks the 10th minute.  

You are finished when you can't complete the given number of clean and jerks for the designated number of minutes.  

Record the number of clean and jerks completed.

Here are two recipes that sound delicious.  I found them on the Crossfit Bethesda website.   Enjoy and let us know if you try them.

Tuesday Dec. 6. 2011-Workout

Complete 5x5 bulgarian split squats

In between each set of split squats, complete 45 sec front plank hold and 25 sec side plank holds

Then, 

Complete as many rounds as you can in 12 minutes of:

5 dumbbell swings

10 air squats

10 double unders or 50 single jumps

Record the number of rounds you completed.

Thursday December 1, 2011-Workout

Complete 10 sets of  2 of push press.

Every minute on the minute, complete 2 push press.

Then, complete the following:

Complete as many rounds as possible in 3 minutes of:

5 thrusters

5 push-ups

Rest for 2 minutes.

Then complete as many rounds as possible in 3 minutes of:

5 reverse crunches(or hanging knee raises)

5 sit-ups

Record the number of rounds you completed for each.