Happy 234th!

The United States Marine Corps turns 234 today. A moment of thanks for those who've given their lives and for those who are giving their lives, like my big brother, for their dedication to their country. And, of course, for the protection and freedom they provide for us Americans.

Which reminds me- WE WILL HAVE A NORMAL SCHEDULE TOMORROW. I know that many of your work places consider Veteran's Day a holiday, so come by for a HERO WOD!

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It's another Tasty Tuesday. I just want to take this time to share the resources I believe that ALL CrossFitters must read.

Sites:

• Mark's Daily Apple. Primal/Paleo Lifestyle blog
• Fitness Spotlight (formally 'Modern Forager'). Another great primal fitness/health blog.
• Urban Gets Diesel. CrossFitter and nutrition guide. Great info on her blog.
• Here's a decent Paleo shopping list.
• Performance Menu free recipes. Gluten, wheat, grain and dairy free (mostly) meals to try.

Literature:

• Mastering the Zone (or Enter the Zone, if you want more science) by Dr. Barry Sears
• Protein Power by Dr. Michael Eades
• Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes
• The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

Read up. Become smarter. We will build out our FCF Library soon and there you can borrow some of these to read and educate yourself.

If you haven't noticed, Foundation CrossFit is a Paleo advocate. We believe nothing beats the science and results from this nutritional way of life. It'll be difficult to switch from what you do, but it'll definitely be worth it.

I wanted to check out the movie Food, Inc. when it was playing at the Egyptian here in Cap Hill, but didn't get the chance. Should be coming out soon. Check out this video for an explanation of the film.

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What do you want to see in the gym? Equipment, toys, quotes, pictures, posters? Someone suggested a basketball hoop. Wall basketball, anyone?!

more bell ball bells?

TOTALED.

Backsquat

Shoulder Press

Deadlift

Amazing day at an amazing gym. Plenty of PR's by the Foundation CF conglomerate, consisting of Andrew B., Mike S. and Max. Great grinds, good times. We should be hosting a CFT sometime early next year and y'all better be there.

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This weekend is the FIRST GROUP INTENSIVE CLASS. It'll be on Olympic Lifting and how to become more proficient in the clean & jerk and the snatch. Speak to Andrew for more details.

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Anyone up for a Winter Solstice Party at the gym? We'll do a gift exchange or White Elephant or something. Obligatory WOD? No WOD and everyone wears an ugly sweater? What should we do? Gather ideas and share!

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What has CrossFit done for you so far? Have you become stronger? Better conditioned? Do you control your body better? What about objects? Are you learning and trying new things?

Tasty Tuesdays

We're adding a new weekly post dedicated to nutrition. Soon we'll be sharing our favorite recipes, links to our favorite blogs and articles, and much more. Let's begin...

Your Next Week's Grocery List

• meat (beef, chicken, fish, pork, etc)
• vegetables (get ALL different types of colors)
• seeds and/or nuts
• some fruit
• only a little starch (bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, cereal, etc.)
• and NO sugar

You can try this recipe too!


How to Make Pork Pepperonata from ABueno on Vimeo.
For a delicious, nutritious, Paleo, primal meal:
- pork loins (cutlets are best!)
- bell peppers (red, yellow, and orange = yum)
- olive oil (fat = UBER yum)

1. cut pork, bell peppers into long strips
2. brown pork loin strips in olive oil, set aside
3. melt down peppers in olive oil
4. add pork back in, mix, simmer on low heat for 20 min or until peppers are at desired density
5. EAT!


What you'll need:

• pork loins
• bell peppers
• olive oil
• about 40 min (10 min prep, 10 min "cooking", 20 min simmer)
• an appetite

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Check out how to make your own almond milk, almost flour and almond meal: How to Milk an Almond! - Instructables.

Speaking of which, Paleo + CrossFit Might Save Your Life - Robb Wolf.

Get on board

.. or get on THE board. I'm in the process of completing our Leaderboard/"Trophy Case" to display the best times, scores, and weights for various CrossFit benchmark workouts and lifts. We will put up the Top 5 ladies and geezers for the following:

The Girls:

• Angie, Barbara, Chelsea, Cindy, Diane, Elizabeth, Fran, Grace, Helen (which we're doing today!), Isabel, Jackie, Karen, Linda, Mary, Nancy, Annie, Eva, Kelly, Lynne, Nicole

post-KAREN

The Heroes:

• JT, Michael, Murph, Daniel, Josh, Jason, Badger, Joshie, Nate, Randy, Tommy V., Griff, Ryan, Erin, Mr. Joshua, DT, Danny, Hansen, Tyler

1-Repetition Maximums (1RM)

• back squat
• press
• deadlift
• bench press
• clean & jerk
• snatch

preparing to deadlift

As well as:

• Fight Gone Bad
• Tabata This!
• Filthy Fifty
• CrossFit Total
• Max Pullups

These workouts, scores and lifts must be completed in the box under my watch! So there you go. As CFEastside would say: "Get some. Go again."

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If you haven't caught on by now, I'm a huge STAR WARS geek. Best movies (Original Trilogy) in the history of mankind. Disagree and 77 burpees for you.

I present... STAR WARS YOGA!

- A video of a Princess Leia lookalike, talking developing strength and using it for the Light or Dark side.

- Awesome postures. Expect these as cool downs!

Halloween Party

I wanted to remind everyone that this Saturday is our Halloween Workout and Potluck! One workout starts at 11am (the other heat at 2pm?), then everyone else is welcome to hang out, eat, drink, etc. until 5pm-ish.

We'll have prizes for the best costume (wear it while working out) and we'll have games to play after.

I'll be bringing a bbq grill, so bring meat to share! We have a sign-up board in the back of the gym. Make sure you write down what you're bringing next time you're in. I'll update what was put up on the list Friday evening.

If you haven't RSVP'ed with Andrew yet, please do so. See you then!

Break to Build

First and foremost, A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO BRADY! He finally got his first muscle-up. You should've seen the smile on his face! Another one added to the muscle-up club.

CrossFit never gets easier, you just get stronger. To become stronger and more efficient in our 10 General Physical Skills (cardiovascular endurance, strength, flexibility, stamina, power, speed, agility, balance, coordination, and accuracy) you have to fail forward. When a strength workout comes along and you see 'backsquats 5-5-5-5-5' on the whiteboard, don't expect to go really heavy without failing a rep or not completing the set as written. Don't fret. Stop worrying. I just want you to lift heavier weights eventually. And you will.

Recently a select few of you have been too hard on yourself for not lifting a weight I think you're capable of. It's what I think you're capable of, but you NEED to KNOW you're capable. Some of you are mentally screwing yourselves over even before touching the bar.

The best place to build confidence.

On Monday Mike lifted a 140kg+ deadlift with less than an hour "under the bar" training. He might have doubted himself, but after some encouragement he told himself he could and he picked that motherfracker up.

Why does he look left after every deadlift? No idea. Working on fixing that one...

Tita was stuck on her 1RM deadlift. I told her to go slighting lower in weight and she picked it up EASY. We built back up to that weight she had trouble with and after reinforcing the fact that she was completely capable of taking off the ground, guess what? SHE FREAKING DID!

We are all going to do "Lion and Lemon" faces and "The Rhino" together before strength WODs. Select few need to get happy before your lift. Select few need to focus. All of you need heavier weights.

Please, stop mindfracking yourself guys. I know it's hard, but trust in the method. You are all amazing athletes and we have to break to build.

Work like newcomer Missy! From her WOD blog:

I came into the gym thinking "Okay, we have been doing lots of lifting lately .. I'm going to asume that is what we're going to do.." Considering I was limited on time because I had work in a couple of hours, I thought "No sweat... Get in and get out.."

WRONG!

The Gymster Mr. Andrew Bueno threw me, personally, a curve ball.

Let's just put it out there for the record: I, Missy Cruz, HATE running. Always been a weakness of mine.. It was something I always wanted to work on.. and I set a goal for it.. but man I hate it. I swear Andrew must have read my goals and saw the portion where it said I wanted to work on cardio.

But I took it as a challenge and had to fight my initial reaction of: "Shit.. we are running."

It's like that quote form yesterday.. "I never regret doing it, but I regret not doing it.." or something like that. During the run I had to also fight the urge to want to walk. The moment someone lapped me ... I was like "Shit, okay.." PUSH PUSH PUSH! and so PUSH I did..

WOD:

4 rds for time:

400m Run

12 Turkish Get-ups

25:26

Goal: running i think will always be my weakness, but not something I cant do. The goal is still still constantly work on incorporating running into my everyday life..and to continue to fight the urge to walk and just sayPUSH IT! i think that i am very capable of doing more..its self-motivation i need to work on..because i find that with in..its not that my body cant do it.. but my mind telling me i cant do it.. and then it all just becomes a simple mental game..

soooo.. FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT.. PUSH PUSH PUSH!

Couldn't have said it any better: FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT! PUSH PUSH PUSH!

Partner Sweat Angels

Ashley & Adrian

Do you have a partner who could benefit from training in CrossFit? Your love interest, roommate, friend, coworker, a teammate or some other random person in your network? I bet you do! Are they a little hesitant on the entire method?

Weren't you?

Foundation CrossFit has always offered free one-on-one no obligation orientations. We love having new people in the box. BRING 'EM IN! No athletic or exercise experience? NO PROBLEM! We will be starting our "FOUNDATIONS" classes (aka the CrossFit On-Ramp Program). This is a dedicated beginners class to build up the proper movements and confidence to enter our normal classes. Set up orientations with Andrew by email, phone or text.

The box is waiting for you...

We all have to crawl before we walk, walk before we run.

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If you've been training hard since we've opened I'm sure you've noticed how much strength-training has been going on. My programming is set on strength bias for a reason. Jesse and the rest of Lynnwood CrossFit's crew have been preparing to squat weights equivalent to a couple of baby elephants. We have 5 people signed up to "compete" on 11/7th, 4 of which are 'maybes'. Represent baby! Sign up on the board in the office.

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JXCF - I don't know what that email was about, but my fitness is 'ehh'. I need to get consistent with my own stuff. Dude, you stirred up a bees nest!

Jumping in, on tires.

stacked, it's 41.5".


ps
We're going to test standing verts this week!

Week 3 in Review

Nothing like starting the week with some tabata intervals!


Nate sets for the snatch.

Missy has some amazing overhead squats (with very limited time "under the bar") and is doing more than me*! Jenelle worked on her *okay* back squat yesterday and her form was incredible today! Margaret is finally back and decided to work out at 6am after doing the 6:30pm the night before. You ladies are crazy.


Lots of orientations- how many of y'all are going to become part of our community? We'd love to have you.

Q: How fun was Tony's birthday workout?

A: Not that fun.
















RAINSTORM (11am) TOMORROW!

30...Again

A letter from the owner

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One of my goals in life was to start a business by the age of 30. I had no idea what I wanted it to be, but it was a series of fortunate circumstances which led me to Foundation CrossFit. For anyone that has attempted to start a business, you know it is not a walk in the park by any means. This has been a work in progress for almost a year now, and I am happy to say we finally have something to show for it.

I wanted to take this moment to thank everyone who has been a part of the gym, from our recent clients in Capitol Hill to those who have been with Andrew since the Lake City days. You have all been an important part of this process, from the initial move to Capitol Hill, the outdoor workouts in the sun & rain, and finally the growth of our current space on 11th Avenue. I have to say, and I'm sure many of you will agree, that the new space looks pretty legit and has potential to be the premiere training facility in Capitol Hill!

You have kept Andrew on his toes and committed him to be a better trainer in all respects. He is the best trainer money can buy, and is not only an incredible teacher but a lifelong student as well. He continues to learn and pass on knowledge to his clients, and shares as his personal challenge your desire to be fit. He has yet to disappoint anyone, and I strongly feel that he is highly motivating and more than capable of helping you achieve results. I am honored to have him as a business partner and the Director of Training.

Finally, I would like to thank all of you for your continued pursuit of fitness. You should congratulate yourselves for committing an hour or more of every day to provide for your own personal health. There is nothing more important than being able to breathe freely, to move without inhibitions, and to excel beyond your own expectations. Our goal at Foundation CrossFit is to enable you to live a healthy life - so that you can use that as a base from which you can experience life and all it has to offer. Remember, if you don't take care of yourself first and foremost, everything else suffers.

So it is today that I celebrate my 31st birthday, or 30th..again. =) I feel fit and healthy, and CrossFit is a big reason for that. I look forward to many more years of continued health, just as you should too. Foundation CrossFit is here to serve you; let's all keep living the dream, one day at a time.

-Tony Lau

Owner, Foundation CrossFit