I urge everyone who is participating in Fight Gone Bad IV to get one of these limited edition, CrossFit Fire shirts. Like our "Get Sexy" shirts, these too will be American Apparel and have a retro fit to them. All orders and monies ($20 per shirt) are due to Wild Bill by the end of class Saturday, September 5th. Remember, if you are participating in FGB IV and show up without a shirt, fellow CrossForters may shame you mercilessly FOREVER. Ok, that probably won't happen, but you should still get a shirt!

CrossFit Fire - FGB IV - Front

CrossFit Fire - FGB IV - Back

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The following are several excerpts from the first ever CrossFit certification held in December, 2002. These were all taken from Coach, and CrossFit founder, Greg Glassman's lecture on anaerobic vs aerobic training. For those of you with a subscription to the CrossFit Journal, the video can be seen in its entirety here.

What are the chief drawbacks of anaerobic exercise? Discomfort. Compared to anaerobic exercise, aerobic efforts are fun.

I know guys all day long who want to get up in the morning and jog on west cliff. Take their dog and wife. They think jogging is fun. NOBODY thinks 1,000-meter efforts on the rower are fun. If you do, you are a liar. Or, you are rowing poorly. Or, you’re starving mad. I would venture to guess that even the seriously mentally ill would not think that is fun. Even guys who like to get beat up at bars wouldn’t think that is fun.

I have always believed that a good anaerobic athlete could put his hands in his pockets and walk up to a 5 gallon plastic bucket full of water, stick his head in, and drown himself; not pull out. That is the kind of will power that is required to endure anaerobic efforts.

We don’t advertise that aspect of our program much; it doesn’t draw a lot of people through the door. But it is true. If you can give me good 1000-meter efforts on the rower, good 800-meter efforts out on a track, if you’re that kind of guy, if you can thoroughly exhaust these anaerobic pathways with a smile on your face, then you are the real deal; to the extent that you can engage in this and not give up. You will also become supremely fit. Because you are working out in a high power range where the intensity is great and that focus is where all the results come from.

We aren’t looking to make you comfortable. What we are looking for is to turn men into steel. And that is done with higher intensity work. And it is only fun when you stop. It is only fun to the extent that we have camaraderie and support. It is fun in the acknowledging that we are improving. It is fun in the community that it builds in knowing that you have done what you have done. It is a very cerebral kind of thing.

Over time, your capacity for it will increase. Your tolerance for the discomfort will increase. It does become better. All the while it gets worse and worse because you go harder and harder. It is really amazing.

Does it ever get easier? No, it gets harder as you perform better. It never gets uneasy.

Coach concludes this segment of the lecture by telling a story about a guy named TJ. At the time, the Glassmans were working with the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to assess their current fitness standards. They needed a volunteer for their demonstration so they used TJ; the fittest amongst all police officers in the state according to the standards at the time. Long story short, a CrossFit style WOD absolutely crushed the guy. That leads into Coach's final thoughts:

Sure, you’ve got a big bench press, you’ve got a fast mile, but how you hold up when those stressors are combined, that is critical. Keep your 500-pound bench press. Keep your 4:00 mile. Give me the capacity to bench moderately heavy at screaming high heart rates and come away with a clear head and a strong body and the capacity to do it again. And do it again. And do it again.

How well? Just better than anyone else. That’s all. You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to be better than the others.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you agree with Coach? Is this an accurate description of what we do at the Fort? Post your thoughts to the comments and enjoy this beautiful Monday.

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3k4rhVdYpU&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

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For everyone who is interested in participating in a couple of rowing events this winter, there will be 3 additional rowing WODs posted on one of the whiteboards at the Fort every week. Complete 2 or 3 of these WODs each week based on how you're feeling. I don't want anyone to run themselves into the ground with this though so please pay attention to your recovery and listen to your body.

I'll leave it up to each of you to decide when you are going to get these WODs in (i.e. before/after class). However, I think we would all enjoy it more if we could coordinate some specific times. I know Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6:00pm would work for the guys being there is a ladies class going on at that time, but I am open to other ideas as well. Saturdays or Sundays are another opportunity for us to all row together. Please post your thoughts to the comments.

From September 15th - October 15th, Concept2 is hosting an online rowing challenge. CrossFit Fire has a team in the challenge and I invite ALL of our members to join in. All you have to do is register with Concept2 and then log all of the rowing that you complete between the dates above. There will be individual prizes as well as team prizes.

Head on over to the Concept2 website and register for your own online logbook. Once you are registered, you will be able to join the CrossFit Fire team and participate in the challenge.

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If you go to your doctor for an annual check-up it is more than likely that a blood sample will be drawn so that your Total Cholesterol, HDL, and Triglyceride levels can be checked. From these results, your LDL level will be calculated. This won't tell you much about your health though. As we already discussed, your lipid panel can give some insight, but additional testing will be needed to truly determine if you are at risk.

Here are a handful of tests that will tell you if your current lifestyle is healthy:

• A1C - average blood sugar over a 2-3 month period, much more telling of insulin issues than a single glucose reading
• C-Reactive Protein - marker of inflammation and inflammation is a definite sign of trouble ahead
• Cortisol - measures stress / adrenal fatigue
• Lipoproteins - directly measure LDL and include particle size A & B testing
• Testosterone (free or bio-available) - low testosterone may be an indicator of increased coronary risk
• Thyroid Panel (TSH, free T3, free T4) - hypothyroidism is common and may increase TC, LDL, and triglycerides
• Vitamin D - normal blood levels protect against heart disease and cancer
• Vitamin Deficiency - ensure that your diet is meeting all of your  needs

Be prepared for a fight if you request additional blood tests. Most doctors will question why you want these additional tests performed on your blood and may even refuse to do so. They like to argue that they only test when symptoms are present. I would recommend finding a new doctor as your health counts on it. It is an absolute shame that the majority of general practitioners don't take preventative medicine seriously. Having the above tests done on a regular basis (annually?) could give you a heads up long before anything becomes a life threatening problem, potentially saving the insurance companies millions of dollars down the road.

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There is research proving that the sugar we eat weakens the ability of our white blood cells to destroy bacteria. Studies have shown that if a person eats no sugar for 12 hours, each white blood cell can destroy an average of 14 bacteria. However, as sugar consumption increases, the white blood cells' effectiveness decreases. The take home message: Eat sugar and you severely compromise your body's ability to fight infection. Check out the data:

• 0 tsp sugar consumed - 14.0 bacteria destroyed
• 6 tsp sugar consumed (1 medium apple) - 10.0 bacteria destroyed
• 12 tsp sugar consumed (12 oz. orange soda) - 5.5 bacteria destroyed
• 18 tsp sugar consumed (medium McDonald's milkshake) - 2.0 bacteria destroyed
• 24 tsp sugar consumed (venti Starbucks frappuccino) - 1.0 bacteria destroyed

In 1973, a different study was performed to check the effects of a range of sugars on our immune system. After an overnight fast, people were fed 100 grams of a specific sugar or starch. The effectiveness of their white blood cells at destroying bacteria and other micro organisms was then tested. It was discovered that starch, as well as sugars, decreased this effectiveness by up to almost 50% and required more than 5 hours to return to normal strength. Here is a list of the sugars used and the resulting decline in effectiveness:

• Fructose - 45.1%
• Sucrose - 44.0%
• Orange Juice - 42.1%
• Glucose - 40.5%
• Honey - 39.0%
• Starch - 13.4%

As you can clearly see, it is fair to say that anyone who eats carbohydrates throughout the day, could lose up to half of their immunity to disease.

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oOsLOotrRw[/youtube]

Agriculture--its foods, its civilizations--is the end of the world. There is no peace in the warfare that agriculture demands, no justice in the slavery it requires, no life in the bare, salted rock it leaves behind. And there is nowhere else to go. These are our choices, as bare as that dead rock: accept our place as animals, a place both humble and wild, or impose ourselves and our food across our living home of land and sea and sky until the planet dies.

The Vegetarian Myth
by Lierre Keith

I have not yet had the opportunity to read this book, but I have heard nothing but great things about it. Here is what Dr. Eades had to say about this book on his blog:

But I can tell you that Lierre Keith’s book is beyond fantastic. It is easily the best book I’ve read since Mistakes Were Made, maybe even better. Everyone should read this book, vegetarian and non-vegetarian alike. If you’re a radical feminist, you should read this book; if you’re a male chauvinist, you should read this book; if you have children, especially female children, you should read this book; if you are a young woman (or man) you should read this book; if you love animals, you should read this book; if you hate vegetarians, you should read this book; if you are contemplating the vegetarian way of life, you should definitely read this book; if you have a vegetarian friend or family member, you should this book and so should your friend. As MD said after she read it, “everyone who eats should read this book.”

My copy should arrive sometime next week and I am looking forward to reading it. Based on what I have read of it so far, I would urge the rest of you to do the same.

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