House Keeping

Hey CFU,

Hope you had a good lifting week.  I was in New Mexico blowing stuff up.  Now ready to lift heavy again. 

I hope you are seeing gains or old weight is easier to lift.  The 3x5 with 90 % of 5RM should be a nice way to get a solid base for future lifts.  When completing these lifts don’t spend too much time doing warm up lifts.  Remember that this is only about 80% of your 1RM.  You should be able to work into your working load pretty fast.   Remember to get warmed up on your own and start lifting.  You do not need to be told what the lift is that day.  Go get it done.  Try and leave room for normal classes too.  This might mean pairing up.  Try and stick to the yellow racks for all lifts other than power cleans, deadlifts, and snatch.  The yellow racks have safety bars (important for back squat/bench), please use them.  They give you confidence to try those heavier loads.   

Let any of the coaches know if you have problems or questions.  We have many people that have never lifted before and if you unsure about percentages, how to read the percentage chart, or what set/rep scheme is just ask.  We want you to get stronger and knowledgeable about the lifts, so ask away.  I hope you all are enjoying the strength program as well as the associated WOD’s.  I know I am. 

Get Stronger.

When it comes to proteins, the only ones I consume and recommend are those with faces,souls and mothers.

Hey CFU,

Had to post from TTMJ and CFFB.  DONT EAT SOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. "HOPE" WOD this Saturday. 

Flesh Builds Flesh

By John | Published: June 5, 2012

John,
First of all I would like to say thanks for the awesome website and the wealth of information I found on it.  I have a quick question for you, what is your opinion on soy milk?  Would you recommend it for someone who can’t drink regular milk or should I stay away from it completely.
Thank you.
Taras Demyanchuk

I haven’t beat up on soy in a few years. In 2008, I launched a one man campaign on the CFB blog against soy and have not changed my thoughts. I had friend, (I stress “had”) which in hopes of being healthy started supplementing with soy. With each venti soy latte, he saw his muscles go soft and him go limp. Needless to say, a teary intervention resulted after he started lactating.
“Tofu was first used in monasteries in China about 2,000 years ago, in party to promote sexual abstinence, since the phytoestrogens in soy lower testosterone levels.” – Soy Alert!
The key problem with soy is that it contains phytoestrogens, which “mimic the physiological effects of the endogenous hormone, estrogen”.  So by consuming soy products, you’re could be pumping hormones into your body like you are taking birth control pills. Now imagine you take your days old baby boy or girl and start pumping soy-based formula into him or her 8 times a day. The flush of phytoestrogens wreaks havoc on the surge of testosterone that happens in newborn baby boys. If your intent is to create a living Ken doll out of your boy, soy him up. I can only speculate on what the extra estrogen does to young baby girls.
“Because of their estrogenic effects, they act more like drugs in the body than foods. If your body needs estrogen, that may be fine. But for men, or pregnant (particularly vegetarian) mothers, there is evidence that even a very small amount of soy may contribute to problems such as low sperm counts or even testicular cancer and birth defects” – The Healthy Skeptic
When it comes to proteins, the only ones I consume and recommend are those with faces,souls and mothers. If your protein does not have a face, soul or mother than you should it avoid like a kid huffing bath salts.
But what is soy milk?
Soy milk is a result of grinding up soy beans and mixing it with water. While it has the similar amount of protein, 6.3 grams per cup, (plant based proteins) as cow’s milk, 7.9 grams per cup, the amino acid profiles are very different. Mainly, it has about 1/3 the amount of leucine of cow’s milk. And if you are a regular reader of TTMJ, you know leucine is responsible for the anabolic effect needed to build muscle. But it doesn’t stop there as researchers have long recognized them as a poor source of protein because the proteins found in soybeans act as potent enzyme inhibitors. These “antinutrients” block the action of trypsin and other enzymes needed for protein digestion.
Finally, if you can’t consume cow’s milk than avoid it completly. Just make sure to supplement your diet with meat, preferably from grass fed cows.
In short, flesh builds flesh or FBF.

Hey CFU,

Just wanted to see how everyone likes the new strength segment at CFU?  Do you like being able to start on your own? Have you found a lifting partner or someone you can compare/compete with? Do you feel comfortable with the lifts/weights so far? Do you like how the strength is paired with the WOD? Please let us know if either in person, email, the comment section etc. we would like to know how you like this specific program of CFU. 

Seen some pretty big numbers on the white board, keep up the good work.  These are going to help you set goals, determine weights, and keep track of your gains.  I hope the sheets provided are useful.  We will try and have these for you each month to track your progress; however, you should be tracking on your own and keeping your own log book.   Keep up the good work, and remember all this is building off these fundamental lifts we are establishing during this first month.  Keep with this through the summer and I bet you will see significant gains in a number of your lifts and overall strength capacity.

Get Stronger.

Hey CFU,

Remember today is the start to CFU strength program.  This program will work upon itself to create a strong strength base while increasing power and speed.   If you miss a SWOD,  you can make it up other “rest” days, but you cannot complete the wod that goes with it. You will need to follow CFU’s normal wod for that day.  Try and plan accordingly.  This first week or so you should be setting your 5RM for a number of movements.  You will need these for future lifts.  Make sure you are eating well, and getting the sleep you need to train with these heavy loads.   Let us know what you think of the lifts and when you set new PR’s.   There will be space on one of the white boards to place your weights for the week so you can see what others are accomplishing as well.  

For those of you that are not doing this specific program, the CFU SWOD program will be killer as well.  Work on form, speed, and full ROM.  This is not a lesser program at all and new PR’s will be set.  Everyone will be doing the same WOD, so it should be fun to see all the friendly competition.

Get stronger

CFU,

Do not forget about the strength program starting next week.  You need to start this program at the start, as it builds upon itself and class. 

For those of you who are doing the program you will need to be completed with lift BEFORE the WOD starts.  So get in get warm and get lifting.  Below is a percentage chart with percent and reps to follow to work you into your working loads.  I like this chart a lot and use it frequently.  It can be used for any lift. Just follow the percent and rest periods.  Insert your own goal for that day to get weight.

When loading into working weight you need to have some idea of where you want to end.  Also, you will only have one good attempt at a 5 rep max (RM), so loading is very important to get to proper weight while keeping reps low.  You only really have about 2 attempts at a 3RM before failure/form issues, so same issue with rep count. 

So..... For an example, you are trying for a 3RM deadlift. What's your Goal? Do you know your last 1RM? If you know your 1RM use the chart on the wall and find what your 3RM should be around.  Then follow the following based on that number.  Rest should be while you load the weight for next percent.

example:
3RM Deadlift, Goal 435, total rest time 16 min

Percent of Goal      Reps      Weight (example) Rest
60%                       4            260 lbs                   30 sec
65%                       3            280 lbs                   1 min
70%                       3            305 lbs                   90 sec
75%                       2            325 lbs                   2 min
80%                       2            350 lbs                   2.5 min
85%                       1            370 lbs                   2.5 min
90%                       1            395 lbs                   3 min
95%                       1            420 lbs                   3 min
MAX                     3            435 lbs

This is a good way to load into heavy weight, go off what your goal for that day is, not your 1RM. 

Looking forward to seeing some new PR's. 

Get Stronger.

Hey CFU,

I am really sorry I have not been posting anything.  I have been super busy with my own work, the gym, and other issues.  However, we (CFU) have some news for you. 

We will now be offering a more focused strength program for those of you that are looking to make gains in strength, power, speed, and general preparation for CF Games.

This program is for those of you who we feel can work safely in an independent role and have demonstrated an understanding of the lifts and form in class.   We will be giving each participant the lifts for the month so you can see how they build on each other.  These have been designed to work with the daily WOD in class.  So this is not an open gym.  You must follow the program given. You can either do these lifts before (recommended) class or after class, whatever fits in your schedule.  Also, we want you to take this seriously, so if you have not been keeping track of your lifts please start.  If you ask a question we want to be able to help and it is hard to help if you are unable to produce what your last 5RM for back squat was, as an example.  

This will begin Tuesday May 29th.  It will run through the summer.  There are 3 lifts a week (Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday).  Please take the rest days seriously.  Saturday will normally be a competition day (games WOD, Hero, Old School Girl, etc.) for everyone. 

For those of you that are not at the point where either you don’t feel comfortable or we don’t feel comfortable with you lifting independently, we will still have a killer SWOD for you and it will get you stronger.  This program is just a little extra for those that need another level to push them.  

I know there will be some kinks to work out, but if your interested come talk to Nate, Tyler, or myself.  Also, as this program is designed to help the more advance athletes, you will see coaches implement this program into their training.  We will practice what we preach.

Hope you find this useful.  We love feedback, good or bad, so please let us know what is working or what is not.  

Get stronger.

Slayer!

Sorry about not posting for awhile.  Been busy.

Awesome job everyone that did 12.3.  Long one!

Here is a little Slayer to get you going on a Monday.

Be sure to welcome all new On-Rampers. 

Get Stronger.  (Slayer helps)