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GERARD jumps into the NEW YEAR!

Workout of the Day
Thrusters
5, 5, 5
-break
Three rounds for time:
20 Clapping Pull-Ups
40 Clapping Push-Ups
60 Jumping Squats

PALEO RECIPE
"Orange Glaze Fish Topping"
4 servings
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
2 oranges, peeled, white membrane removed and sectioned
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/3 cup fresh squeezed apple juice
1/4 finely chopped yellow onion
2 tablespoons of parsley or mint
At medium heat, add onion and sauté, stirring, until tender and translucent, 5–8 minutes. Add the orange/apple juice and zest. Raise the heat to high and cook, uncovered, until reduced by half, 5–8 minutes. Season to taste with pepper and spices and stir in orange sections. Heat until warmed through. Pour sauce over fish. Sprinkle with parsley or mint and serve immediately.

“The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul”-G. K. Chesterton

As always, we apply the Paleolithic Model as a litmus test for nutrition, fitness and lifestyle characteristics. One of these characteristics that we have to consider is... SLEEP. Thought I would share the latest finding on Sleep Loss and Increased Risk of Obesity and Diabetes: "The research reviewed here suggests that chronic partial sleep loss may increase the risk of obesity and diabetes via multiple pathways, including having an adverse effect on parameters of glucose regulation, a dysregulation of the neuroendocrine control of appetite leading to excessive food intake, and decreased energy expenditure. Epidemiologic studies have gen- erally supported the laboratory findings. The causes of the dramatic increase in the prevalence of obesity and diabetes that has been occurring worldwide over the past few decades remain to be fully elucidated, and the possibility that chronic partial sleep curtailment, a novel behavior that appears to have developed with the advent of the 24-hour society, is very intriguing, particularly because sleep habits may be amenable to behavioral intervention.



The BUTTERFLY KIP by WILL "The Natural"

Workout of the Day
"Nancy"
Five rounds for time of:
400 meter run
95 pound Overhead squat, 15 reps

PALEO RECIPE
"Coconut Icecream"
All used foods should be best quality. Buy a ripe coconut, i.e. one with thick white flesh. Additionally buy two pints of coconut juice or buy young coconuts and extract the juice. Extract the flesh from the ripe coconut and put it into the food processor. The amount of flesh is something you can vary, depending on how intense the taste of the ice should be. Try .5 lb for two pints of coconut juice. Add the juice to the processed flesh. Now put the mixture into an ice machine (must be able to stir while freezing). Eat your icecream while frozen. Do not let it thaw again because it would be subject to denaturation by thawing. Enjoy!

"To get rich never risk your health. For it is the truth that health is the wealth of wealth."-Richard Baker

In an effort to gather info from within our community, this is an open invitation to any and all students, willing to share a..."year-end" review! This can include your personal experiences, specifics about progress you have made thus far or anything else you would like to share. Please post in the "comments" link below. Upon approval, your review will appear.

Here is what Brian L. had to say last month in his YEAR IN REVIEW: "I cant believe it’s been a year already! It was November 20, 2008 during my lunch hour that I decided to walk down the street and see what this place was all about. Chris ran me through the Baseline (8:40) which I knew wasn’t too awesome but had no idea I would be cranking that down to (4:39) now and ready to push that further again! I came back two days later for my first official class on an early Saturday morning, Maribel was teaching, and all that was written on the white board was ‘Deck of Death’...my post comments Nice…my first official workout here and I soon come to realize it’s no joke! . I remember Maribel scoffing at my weight choice for the DB Thrusters and talked me up 20# which nearly destroyed me, and from that day forward I was hooked.I’ve done the ‘Gym’ thing a few times before, I’ve had memberships I only paid for and never used, some that I actually went to but was stuck in the bench press, dumbbell curl, elliptical, routine that seemed to offer no results. Growing up I was heavily involved in team sports, Hockey, Baseball, Soccer, and always excelled when I had friends with me doing what we like. I find that when you surround yourself with goal oriented, like minded people in a positive environment, your potential is limitless. This is what we have here and it’s as much about the people we do it with as it is what we actually do. Over the course of this year I have made some great friends here and even though I only get to see but a small fraction of our ‘community’, know that I am following your progress on the forums and rooting you on from the sidelines.
Thank you Crossfit for introducing me to Burpees
Thank you Crossfit for Tabata Squats
Thank you Crossfit for PVC Abmat Situps
Thank you Crossfit for Fran, Grace, Nancy, Murph, Jackie, Annie, Lynne, FGB, Filthy 50 and more…
Thank you Crossfit for kicking my ass into the best shape of my life at 33
Thank you Crossfit for a great year
See you on the White Board!
Brian L."



JULIAN gets a feel for the SUMO-DEADLIFT!

Workout of the Day
"2009 NorCal Regional Qualifier"
For time:
Row 500m
30 Burpees
10 Shoulder to Overhead (anyhow) #185

PALEO RECIPE
"Bear Roast"
4 lb Bear meat
Pepper to taste
Celery salt to taste
2 Garlic cloves
8 oz (piece) Salt pork
Season the bear meat with the celery salt an pepper and place in a stock pot, adding the garlic, salt pork, and enough water to cover; Cook `til meat is tender, then drain RESERVING the pan juices. Place the meat in a roasting pan and top with the onions, roast at 350x until brown, basting with the reserved juices. Thicken the remaining juices for gravy. Enjoy!

"We shall have no better conditions in the future if we are satisfied with all those which we have at present."-Thomas Edison

Infrequent meals (2-3 meals per day) is likely to have been a common circumstance with our Paleolithic "hunter and gatherer" ancestors as they managed to make it from one meal to the next. Eating fewer meals has been shown to provide a plethora of health benefits. This is contrary to what we have been told for many years about eating smaller meals (5-6 a day) more frequently. Dr. Harris of PaNu, a well recognized practitioner of Paleolithic nutrition, offers his take on eating infrequent meals. Theories that support the 5-6 meals a day recommended by mainstream nutrition "experts" and popular diets such as "The Zone" are being challenged because we've discovered that a constant suppy (every 2-3 hours) of food causes, chronically elevated blood sugar which leads to a condition known as "hyperinsulinemia." My uncle Jack LaLanne, now 95 years old, has been eating 2 meals a day for the past 50 years and he's healthier than most men half his age. I have personally experimented with eating 2-3 meals per day along with Intermittent Fasting and the results have been amazing! Future posts will look at "Training in a fasted state" and "Intermittent Fasting"



JASMINE always makes "box jumps" look easy!

Workout of the Day
Sumo-Deadlift
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
-break
As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of:
10 Sumo-Deadlift High-Pulls #95
10 Box Jumps 20"
10 Ring Dips


PALEO RECIPE
"Curried Prawns With Mangoes" by Planet Organics
4 tspns vegetable oil
2½ tpsns curry powder
1 lb. peeled and deveined shrimp
1/2 tspn salt
pepper to taste
1 yellow onion
1 jalapeno pepper
1 large ripe mango
1 handful of cilantro
1/2 lime
Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok over low heat. Add the curry powder and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Toss the shrimp with 1/2 tspn of salt and some pepper and set aside. Chop the onion and mince the jalapeno pepper (remove the jalapeno seeds if you want a milder dish). Add the onion and pepper to the pan and continue sautéing for another 5 minutes. While the onion and pepper are cooking, dice the mango and chop the cilantro. Increase the heat to high and add the shrimp and mango. Stir fry over high heat until the shrimp turn pink. Add the cilantro and the lime juice. Enjoy!

"I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world."-Muhammad Ali

The LALANNE FITNESS "Student Athlete of the Week" is ZACK. We have another fitness professional that has chosen CrossFit to take their own fitness to the next level. As a personal trainer he's been helping his own clients get in great shape through CrossFit training methods. Zack has been crushing the WOD lately and making serious gains. Below are a few of his Workout Log entries:

"LaLanne Fitness Olympics: 800m Run - 2:44 / Clean & Jerk 1 Rep Max - 165# / Cindy - AMRAP 10 minutes - 9 rounds. I am very pleased with my performance. I shed 8 seconds off of my previous 800m sprint, added 20# to my C/J ( thanks to Natalie who said "don't worry about anything else, just fire your elbows up!") and killed my previous 3 rounds on Cindy with 9 rounds this time. In the Pre-lims I did not know how to to a kipping pull-up so it greatly hindered my ability to do multiple rounds of pull-ups."

"WOD: HELEN - Run 400m / 21 Kettlebell Swings 1.5 pood / 12 Pull-ups / 14:10. This was my very first complete Rx'd WOD !!!! .. Thanks to Chris for making me man-up and using the 1.5 KB."



ZACK (above) has made real progress on his overhead lifts the past few months!

Workout of the Day
Three rounds for time of:
15 foot rope climb, 5 ascents
21 Ring dips
50 Squats

PALEO RESOURCE
"Berkeley Bowl"
Our Produce Department is the largest in Northern California! It is also the cornerstone of our business. We are renowned for having the widest and best selection of healthy, fresh fruits and vegetables, both organically and commercially grown, gourmet and traditional. We service caterers, restaurants, and customers throughout the Bay Area. If you are looking for a hard-to-find produce item, the chances are you will find it here.

“Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live.”-Socrates

Once in a while I'll get the question... What should I eat before my workout? This is something that requires trial and error and experimentation with the quantity and type of foods you eat. A recent study shows that protein intake prior to training can increase fat burning for up to 24 hours after training. If you train later in the day or after work, I'd recommend eating a high protein, low-carb meal (e.g. shrimp and avocado salad) no sooner that 90 minutes before working out. Or, if you are training earlier in the day, drink a small protein shake (e.g.1 scoop protein powder in water) along with your morning coffee/tea. I have personally experimented with many different approaches over the years, including training in a fasted state, which I will touch on later...



TYLER looking good on the ropes!

Workout of the Day
On the minute:
Perform 2 Power Cleans and Jerks on the minute for 15 minutes.
*Start the clock. At the top of every minute perform 2 Power Cleans and Jerks
*Use a maximal weight 90% of 1 RM Power Clean
Post rounds completed.

PALEO RECIPE
"Avocado Salad with Black Olive Dressing" by The Real Food Company
3 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
1 clove garlic minced
1 teaspoon honey
salt and black pepper to taste
1 firm, ripe avocado, pitted, peeled and cut into thin wedges
1/2 red onion, sliced thin
1/2 head romaine lettuce, washed, dried and sliced into thin strips
In a small bowl, whisk together orange juice, olive oil, olives, garlic, and sugar. Season with salt and pepper. In a bowl, combine avocados and onions. Pour the olive dressing over the avocado mixture and toss lightly. Serve on a bed of sliced romaine. Enjoy!

"Lost time is never found again."-Benjamin Franklin