Saturday

*Classes are CANCELLED for tomorrow.
Stay safe and see you all on Monday!

Hurricane "Irene"

Friday

*There are NO classes tomorrow. We will be competing in the Metro Dash.
Regular classes on Sunday.

Metro Dash Obstacle Course.

Wednesday

Yesterday I was talking about body fat percent and muscle gain to some of the athletes. Then I found this great post from CrossFit Southbay. Ladies!….please take a minute and read it. It will answer many of your questions.

Skinny Fat
by Cody

One of the most difficult things to fight as a coach is the thought that “Lifting weights is going to make me ‘bulk up’” from girls. My first response is to shake my head and contemplate shoving my hand in a toaster to cure the frustration… Yet, when I stop and think about it, I honestly like the way CrossFit makes my body look. And I know there are many of us in the gym that wouldn’t be as enamored with CrossFit if we didn’t see aesthetic results in combination with fitness results, so I do think it is a valuable question that needs to be answered.

The first thing you need to do is look around the gym at girls that have been CrossFitting for a long time. If we created “bulky bodies”, you would see them at CFSB. All the above are CrossFitters that have been with us a long time… Strong, not bulky, don’t you agree?? (Sorry for not including all our awesome girls, but I only went back three pages on flickr).
Definitions and Misconceptions:
To begin, we need to address some misconceptions about how the body works…

• You cannot “tone” a certain portion of your body. Your body will not lose fat in one spot at a time, it will only lose fat. Thus, you must reduce your overall body fat percentage to see results in the area you want. This is why the “ab-(insert attention-grabbing verb)” you see on TV won’t work to help you get a better midsection.
• Lean – having little to no surplus fat – Thus, to look “lean”, you need to have low levels of body fat.
• Toned – seeing muscle definition on a human body – Thus, to look “toned”, you need to have low levels of body fat combined with having enough muscular development that you can see the shape of the muscle under the skin. This is usually accomplished at below 20% body fat on women, and below 10% on men.

First, I want to establish that having muscle doesn’t mean being bulky…
The first thing you need to do is compare these two women:

For reference, the girl on the left is a runway model and the girl on the right is an elite CrossFit athlete. Both have approximately 12-15% body fat. Both are doing something they love, and the bodies they have created help them do that.
On the left, we have a runway model who has almost zero muscular development while also having almost zero fat deposits. She has enough essential muscle to not fall over walking, but not much more than that. If you want to look like the girl on the left, sorry, but we cannot help you get there. Although, if you have an apple and a cigarette a day for about a year, you could get close.
The girl on the right has spent years developing her strength and muscle. She has battled heavy weights and pushed herself to the limit to squat, deadlift, and lunge heavier weights every time she comes into the gym. She weighs approximately 40 lbs more than the runway model due to the large amount of muscle that she has acquired. She is likely approaching her genetic limits in the amount of muscle she can develop without going on a bodybuilding routine. Between her and the runway model, there is likely very little difference genetically, yet there is a huge difference in training and diet (more on this shortly).

Same elite CrossFitter, now dressed up, still bulky??

Thus, you can have a large amount of muscle without ever looking “bulky”. Don’t you agree??

Now that we know that muscle doesn’t make you “bulky”, what does??

Well, the answer is fat. Excess adipose tissue will result in less than satisfactory aesthetics. This is regardless of the amount of muscle you have. This is easily seen in the image below:

The image at left shows a female figure that has a large amount of fat, while having a very small amount of muscle. This is described in the fitness community as “skinny fat”. While not overly “bulky” she most certainly doesn’t have the aesthetics that most of us work so hard to attain. The woman in this image is likely at a level close to 30% body fat and likely has a similar amount of muscle as the runway model. So even though she may look fine wearing a sweater, it is a different story at the beach.
The trick is how to fix this. Well, option 1 is to starve yourself and do tons of cardio, surviving on a diet heavy with running and light on food, and you will end up looking like the runway model above. Option 2 is to develop muscle to burn away the excess fat while doing cardio, resulting in looking more like the elite CrossFitter above.
Ok, so we have started to establish that building muscle isn’t a bad thing, right?? Yet, you are afraid that by squatting and deadlifting, you are making your legs and butt bigger, thus getting more “bulky”, correct??
Here is the kicker, the reason your legs (and shoulders and arms and back) are getting a little bigger is that you have now started to add some muscle to them. Now, that muscle will burn more calories, starting to help whittle away at the amount of fat you have on your body, even while you sleep. You now are able to achieve that “lean” and “toned” look, as your body fat levels have decreased, and your muscle is starting to show, giving the “toned” look.

Some people keep saying to be leaner they just need more cardio and less strength. Well, yes, if you just do “more cardio”, you will lose more fat, but you would also lose muscle because without strength training, your body burns muscle as well as fat. So, instead of looking more like a Victoria Secret model, you start to look more like a runway model. Then, once you stop doing “more cardio” you will gain fat even faster now that you don’t have the muscle to burn the extra calories, resulting in the “skinny fat” look. You can see this in ex-athletes that have tried to “get leaner” by doing “more cardio” only to result in having more fat with less muscle.

This can also happens as we age, as the muscle we built by running, jumping, and playing in our childhood and teens atrophies due to under-use with a more sedentary life, so people in their early twenties are seen as having “high metabolisms”, supposedly not having to work to maintain lean body shapes. This “high metabolism” is because the muscle they built in their teen years is burning excess calories and fat, and with the low body fat levels, you can see their “toned” muscle underneath. However, as they take day jobs and do not stimulate their bodies, their muscles atrophy, burning less calories and thereby lowering their “high metabolism” and leading to increased body fat as they age. Usually, people try to do “more cardio” to regain their lean, toned bodies that they had when they were younger. However, since they do nothing to build new muscle or maintain their current muscle, they slowly transition to a thin, but “skinny fat”, look as they age.

Train like an athlete…. Look like an athlete…
Most people can agree that they want to get “toned” and “lean”, but have you ever asked someone that was “toned” and “lean” what they have done to get that way?? You should, because almost every athlete I know that looks “toned” and “lean” has spent years working to develop strength, power, speed, endurance, and stamina for a sport. They move HEAVY weights quickly.

Lastly, you will never be able to create muscles like a man lifting weights.

ANY WOMEN YOU SEE WITH MUSCLES LIKE A MAN HAS TAKEN STEROIDS!! This is the defined truth, a woman’s muscle development is much different than a man’s. This is because males have 20-30 times the testosterone of women, resulting in deeper voices, more body hair, and more muscle development. Women just physically cannot build muscle like men can, sorry but it is a scientific fact. Some of the maximal amounts of muscle you can put on a female frame can be seen below. These are women that built their bodies using sports and strength training.

An extremely high level of muscle on a female will look like the pictures above, but again, only with many YEARS of weights training and a focus on a clean diet.
So, lastly, just to clarify, “bulky” means fat. Which does not happen when you work hard at CrossFit!

Saturday

Dedicated to all the Girls WHO Dig this life.
Crossfit Girl
She enters the gym with pride
This is her space
This is where she shines
A light goes on when the timer starts
Push, Push, Push
Drive, Drive, Drive
One more round
One more rep
I can do this 
I was born to do this
She keeps fighting
Fighting the pain
Fighting her mind
She’s a crossfit girl
They say she‘s too strong
They say she can’t do that
They say she’ll get injured
Who are they
Who dares deny her, her strength
Who dares to say she is not beautiful
She fights on
Fights all the non believers
Fight’s all the theys
She is what woman can be
Should be
Strong, determined, a fighter
She’s a Crossfit Girl
She sweats 
She burns
She falls down with exhaustion
Only to stand tall
Stand first
Reach out her hand to help others through it all
She’s a Crossfit Girl
The timer stops
Sweat dripping from her forehead
Chest suffocating for air
She smiles inside
Knowing what she has done
What she just conquered
A peace and confidence radiates from her being
It’s time to go
To leave her temple
Her sanctuary
Her place
She leaves for home
To nurture a child a spouse a lover
Thinking of the next time the next day the next challenge

She’s a Crossfit girl.

Friday

*REMINDER*
Tonight’s classes are CANCELED.

Wednesday

Classes times for today: 5pm, 6pm and 7pm.

Just a few things:
We are on the third week of the nutrition challenge. I hope everyone is doing their best to stay on track. Just three weeks to go!
Beginning May 1st, you must reserve your class. Go and get familiar with the scheduler. If you can’t make a class that you’ve reserved, please have the courtesy to cancel it so someone else may have that spot.
The WOD will now have a time cap “if needed”. If you’re unable to finish the WOD in the allotted time, don’t see it as a failure but as a challenge for the next time the same workout shows up. I promise you’ll still get a kick ass workout!
As always if you have any questions or suggestions, just holler

Wednesday

9:30am class is canceled.
Evening classes are on!

Friday

6am class is cancelled today. Also we will be CLOSED for the weekend.

We want to wish everyone a happy, healthy and fit new year!!!

Tuesday

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!!

This is the last week of 2010. Have you made your resolutions for 2011? If you did, have you put any into action already? Sharing your goals with others will make you more accountable to sticking with them. Be specific, don’t just say “I want to be stronger”, say “I want to shave two minutes of Fran” or “I give my self a month to get those f*ing double-unders”. So come on, don’t be shy and share your resolutions with your fellow crossfitters. It’s going to be a GREAT NEW YEAR!!!

Monday

Class Updates
We are growing rapidly and is all thanks to all you that have been spreading the word. With the increase demand there will be some time adjustments as well as additional classes.
Starting August 16, the class times are as follows:
Monday, 9:30am, 7pm, 8pm.
Tuesday, 6am, 6:15pm, 7:15pm, 8:15pm.
Wednesday, 9:30am, 5:15pm.
Thursday, 6am, 6:15pm, 7:15pm, 8:15pm.
Friday, 6am, 9:30am, 6:15pm, 7:15pm.
Saturday, 9am.
Sunday, 10am(free beginners class), 11am(open gym).

Another tentative time is 5pm on Mon,Tue, Thur, and Fri. This time will be added if there are three people or more interested. Just email us for any questions you may have.

If there’re other times that you’ll like to see, let us know in the comments area or in class.

Thank you again to everyone who shares my love for CrossFit. Please keep spreading the word!