CrossFit Gymnastics Certification at The Cell

If anyone is thinking about attending the gymnastics certification at The Cell in the middle of March and is concerned it's just for 'gymnasts', set your worries aside.

These certifications start at a beginner level and regardless of fitness or experience, teach attendees a wealth of useful information that can be put to use immediately in your training.
While gymnastics movements cover everything from pushups and pullups to parallettes to falling and flipping to hand stands to ring work (dips, muscle-up, static holds etc) and much more, the overall focus is on balance, coordination, agility, flexibility and power generation. Core control is necessary and every attendee will leave with a much greater general body awareness and greater understanding of controlling their body.

Check out the Gymnastics Certification section on the CrossFit Specialty Certs page for more information and get in touch with the guys at The Cell if you're keen. Just try and find someone who walked out of one of these sessions dissatisfied!

It's high-time Perth got some quality coaching and education opportunities available to the general public, I for one am excited to see the community flourish with knowledge!

At long last...

Well as Stef so eloquently put it, things have been a bit quieter around these parts recently. That's not to say the training, motivation or dedication have slipped, in fact, quite the opposite!

Several months ago a game-changing deal was struck between two gentlemen who share a vision of delivering unprecedented and until now, unattainable levels of elite fitness to the population of Western Australia.

The concept has been lovingly nurtured from it's initial inception through white-hot fire and bone-chilling cold to develop into what will become the premiere strength, conditioning, fitness and health training facility in the state:

As the logo suggests, The Cell is about real fitness - all aspects of fitness, not just the physical.

The Cell has been in the making for some time now, our very own Stef has teamed up with Jason (formerly of Ultimate CrossFit Perth) to create a team that is bigger than the sum of it's parts; they each bring a wealth of experience, knowledge and enthusiasm to the party that can't be beaten!

The Sweating Blood team has been working behind the scenes to assist this fantastic venture and as you will quickly see the philosophy is 100% unified. This is a path we have travelled down over the past several years to arrive at a juncture where we are able to take it to the people on a whole new level!

The Cell brings together methodologies adopted from CrossFit (it will continue to be Perth's only official CrossFit affiliate), Gym Jones, The Underground Strength Coach - Zach Even-Esh, Ross Enamait, The Diesel Crew and many others including plenty we have developed and documented right here on Sweating Blood!

Make no mistake, The Cell will kick ass and will not stand still for dawdlers to jump on board!

Enthusiasm at the new facility is bristling, members are flooding in with haste! We all know this is something special as it's grown so naturally through trial, sweat and no small amount of blood!

What does this mean for Sweating Blood you ask? Good question.

Sweating Blood will live on, it is intrinsically linked to The Cell, part of the ever-expanding fitness community we love. As it has done over it's short life to date, Sweating Blood will continue to evolve, we will continue to train together regularly and bring the pain with methods new & old!

We have plans to run some more open boot camps, building on the success of the last one where the energy levels were overwhelming; we have been fortunate to continue training with some of the wonderful people we first met that day! Look out for more to come!

And so it is with incredible pride, zeal and gratitude that I direct your attention to The Cell! Drink it in! If you want real fitness, continue on the journey with us as we take the next step!!

Yours in health, fitness and all things Sweating Blood,
Paul, Rod, Damon & Coach Stef.

CrossFit Main Page!

Today we appeared in a photo on the CrossFit site from the Perth Level 1 Certification last week!!

You can see myself, Stef and Jason in the middle photo with the military boys and the CrossFit crew.


This is the WOD for 6th October 2008.

Check out my impressions of the cert here.

On Stupidity...

Another great article on T-Nation that is worth a read. The first point really is the most important thing to consider, it is from here that all else will manifest.

The number of people I know who train to be bodybuilders or figure competitors (I don't know if there is a difference...) is incredibly small but the number of people I know and see doing bodybuilding 'workouts' is unfortunately large. The synaptic connection doesn't get made either by those designing the programs or those doing the routines... fitness miseducation is alarmingly rife!

It won't be a surprise to anyone that the type of training we do comes most broadly under the wonderful Crossfit acronym of GPP (general physical preparedness). While I can only speak for myself, the training we do is, by design, not specific to any particular persuit of athletic achievement but to be ready for 'anything' and to increase overall 'fitness' (as that term fits most closely with the Crossfit definition).

That isn't to say we don't take an interest in more detailed training analysis or specific principles, Gym Jones is one amazing resource that takes GPP to the next level but there are plenty more (some in the links sidebar on the right).

We also spend quantities of time discussing and persuing related topics like the mind-body connection (see Damon's and Stef's personal blogs on the subject) and the influence of spirit, will, knowledge, responsibility and respect on all aspects of life including how you train.

Taking a generalist approach doesn't mean having a slap-dash attitude to training either. We each spend countless hours mapping personal pathways to improvement and have often espoused the benefits of setting specific goals, measuring progress often and reassessing.

We don't sell anything here. We are on a journey of knowing by doing and dropping breadcrumbs along the way. There is no end game, the means is enough to drive us forward so you better jump on board or get out of the way!

Recommended Reading

I highly suggest everyone take a few minutes out to read this interview with Mark Rippetoe over on T-Nation.

Not often these days do you find such a succinct, quality set of guidelines and advice from a well-recognised expert. Anyone not familiar with Coach Rip should immediately check out his facility Crossfit Wichita Falls and all of the instructional videos on the Crossfit media site.

Back to the article, I think we can relate to this from some of the SB sessions:

"For an actual, no shit, set of 20 squats, you're going to pick a weight that you previously thought was your 10-rep max. And you're going to do 10 reps with it. Then you're going to do the 11th rep, and you're gonna breathe a little bit. And finally, you're gonna finish the 19th rep, and Jesus is gonna be talking to you about this time."

Sweat Blood!!

Stef @ Gym Jones

This post collects the GJ posts from Stef's time there from June 2008-

8th July 2008
Workout:
Row 10 minutes @ easy pace to warm up
Then:
Air Dyne 8x20-sec work/ 10-sec rest @ 10-12 calories per interval pace
Rest 2 minutes
Then:
50x Pull-up +
100x Push-up +
150x Squat (partition as desired, i.e. use ladders or split work)
Then:
Row 8x 20-sec work/ 10-sec rest @ 6-8 calories per interval pace
Then:
10x Fat Bar DL @ 106# +
30-second Dead Hang from fat rope +
2x “lap” Wrist Roller @ 43# of chain
Then:
3x2 minute overhead static hold with Slosh Pipe
Rest between sets while others do the same

AirDyne, Row - Stef: AirDyne = 22, 14, 12, 12, 12 11, 12, 12 calories per interval, Row = 8, 7, 7, 7, 6, 5, 7, 7 calories per interval



30th June 2008
Workout:
10 minute Row @ easy pace
Then:
Tabata Row (8x 20-sec work/10-sec rest)
Then:
“Jonestown Sprint”
Push Press @ 75# + Burpee/Pull-up
20-10 reps of each
Then:
“Cool Down” with “AirDyne to Hell”
Team AirDyne Ladder
50-40-30-20-10 Calories
Round 1 looks like:
P1: AirDyne to 50 Calories
P2: Rest
Switch
Round 2 looks like:
P1: AirDyne to 40 Calories
P2: Rest
Switch
Etc...

Tabata Row intervals - Stef: 111m, 102m, 99m, 92m, 94m, 93m, 91m, 93m
"Jonestown Sprint" - Stef: 3:54


29th June 2008
(Day 2 of seminar)

Workout:
Work up to 1RM Deadlift
Then:
“Jonescrawl”:
10x Deadlift @ 115% bodyweight +
25x Box Jump @ 24” box
Three rounds

DL - Stef: 420#
Jones Crawl - Stef: 3:53 @ 195#

"Our warmup is your workout"

While I don't especially agree with the entire sentiment or the words used, this small blog post about Crossfit and Coach Glassman made some sense to me.

This quote more than anything:

"Of all the things I hate about exercise culture, the most hateful is the pontificating about form. Exercise should be kind of primitive and stupid and entirely physical; it should not require flourishes and perfect sneakers and 10 sessions of learning minutiae before you even break a sweat."

It resonates with a post I made some months back.

Move. Move fast, move lots, add weight.

A Ramble

When you train hard, pushing yourself to the limit or what I call maximum effort, seeing others pursuing fitness as a casual, lumbering past-time is not only aggravating and frustrating but quite often disconcerting.

Maybe it's the work 'pursuing' that doesn't fit properly in that sentence. To persue something requires focus. To persue a life goal demands more than casuality in the pursuit, you have to be single-mindedly relentless or you're doing yourself a disservice.
This picture comes courtesy of a great blog I found recently called Straight to the Bar, another great resource for articles, inspiration and insight. Another post on the site links to this fantastic clip from a Steve Cotter kettlebell seminar in Barcelona that you need to check out (note it is a youtube video).

Why would you spend your time doing something in anything less that the least efficient manner possible? Walking on the treadmill for 30 minutes isn't a workout! Balancing on two bosu balls holding 5kg dumbells and trying to squat once or twice is not going to make a lick of difference to that gigantic ass!

There is no secret, if you want to get fitter you have to move, that's all. To get fitter faster, you have to move more of you more quickly. Wow, big secret. Then why don't you do it? Too hard you say? That's the damn point! More effort = more results! If you feel comfortable while working out you aren't working out with maximum efficiency. Comfortable is the worst thing a workout can be.

Efficiency means the best use of each unit of time, maximum effort until you can't do any more! Don't be scared to get your heart rate up, you were built to chase down tigers and carry them over harsh terrain back to the cave to eat!

If you don't push yourself you will never know your limits and knowing your limits allows you to push them further every time you go there. You want to be stronger, faster, leaner, FITTER!! Yes, fitness is a limit too, you need to test the boundaries to be able to smash through them next time!

That brings me to women. What is this mentality of, 'I don't want to lift heavy weights because I don't want to get too big.'? You've just insulted a whole culture of women who train tirelessly for years to get fit, muscular and lean! You think it will happen over night? Hogwash. Read this, an article from one of the Diesel Crew guys from their long list of documents and in words that make it much clearer than I could.

Leisure centres, need I say more? Give me a bar and some iron. Fitness doesn't cost money and in fact you can't buy it. Furthermore, you don't need to pay someone for something you already know! Get outside and move, eat better - you know how! Just do it!! You want to cheat? Fine, but it's you, not the system or your ideal that is being cheated. Don't tell me you don't have time, you don't have any less than anyone else.

I'm going to break it down before ending my rant:
Moving more = good for you.
Eating better = good for you.
Lifting weights = good for you (and you won't get huge, trust me).

Life is short, fitness is cheap. Do it now and be fit for life!

Sloshing Pillar of Pain?

This article is great for 2 reasons:

1. Another simple home made tool for training that is similar to ideas we have had such as different diameters of PVC piping filled with sand, fishing sinkers, bluemetal, water or whatever

2. This line, "Friends helping friends sweat blood. It's a beautiful thing."

That's where it's at!

Health and STrength Links - 27th Sep

~ A Singular Workout – “If you're a bodybuilder and you've spent your weightlifting life doing sets of 8,10, 12, etc., doing singles will absolutely blow you up. A terrific idea and a terrific program that'll raise you head and shoulders above the competition.” Doing singles is not for beginners.
~ Well: The Missing Ingredients in Organic Cereals – “Organic cereals, free of additives like artificial preservatives and colors, may also lack the added vitamins and minerals found in commercial brands.” Everyone should be taking a good multi-vitamin anyway, so go organic.
~ 10 Great Post-Workout Snacks – “Fuel up post-workout on these tasty snacks.”
~ Genetic Differences Predict Anti Inflammatory Benefits From Nutritional Products – “Interleukin Genetics reported in the journal Nutrition that a botanical supplement reduced inflammation more effectively in individuals with genetic variations that are associated with over expression of inflammation and risk for early heart attacks. This is one of few studies that recruited study subjects who have different genetic patterns and tested how they responded to nutritional products or drugs.”
~ – “Although eating lots of fruits and vegetables is good for your health, doing so will not reduce your risk for colon cancer, a Canadian study finds.” Or….~ Blue, red, and purple fruits and veggies fight cancer: study – “In a press release made available on August 19, a team of researchers at Ohio State University announced that anthocyanins, the compounds that give many blue, purple, and red fruits and vegetables their color are capable of cutting the growth of colon cancer cells both in vitro and in rats by 50%-100%, with certain extracts even destroying up to 20% of the cancer cells while leaving healthy surrounding cells intact.” Hmmmm… apparently not colon cancer?
~ – “Consuming the omega-3 fatty acids present in certain kinds of fish could lower the likelihood of acquiring type 1 diabetes in children who are at risk, a study suggested on Wednesday.” This is the first link I have seen between omega-3 fats and type 1 diabetes.~ Healthy Grocery Shopping without Blowing Your Budget – “Is your grocery bill sometimes enough to raise your blood pressure? Some people think that filling the grocery cart with healthy food will blow the budget at the cash register.”
~ Combining Acetaminophen With Caffeine Might Cause Liver Damage – “If you consume caffeine with acetaminophen (paracetamol) you could be at a higher risk of liver damage, according to researchers from the University of Washington, USA. The report, which appears in Chemical Research in Toxicology, explains that the consumption of large quantities of both caffeine and acetaminophen combined raises the risk of liver damage.” Acetaminophen causes liver damage all on its own and should be pulled from the market.
~ Fighting Obesity by using Hoodia Diet Pills – “Hoodia gordonii is a type of succulent plant that resembles a cactus, and is known to have suppress a person’s appetite and thus help with losing weight. It’s sold in capsule form, and as a liquid or in tea form.”
~ Discovery supports theory of Alzheimer's disease as form of diabetes – “Insulin, it turns out, may be as important for the mind as it is for the body. Research in the last few years has raised the possibility that Alzheimer`s memory loss could be due to a novel third form of diabetes.”