Primal-ish/Paleo-ish

Over the past 2 days, I’ve read a couple of articles discussing the “paleo” diet and it’s application to people. There are those on one side of the fence that insist on an elimination of many foods that have been shown to cause unwanted responses in people. The other side of the fence are people that claim that the “paleo” diet is a fad and that the “caveman” idea has been debunked because neanderthals have been found with fossilized remains of cooked plants and legumes in their teeth.

I find myself in the middle. The elimination of grains and much sugar has done wonders for my family. It has almost cured my sister’s lupus condition and dropped pounds from just about everyone. It has given us all more energy and helped us to become more fit. However, I find that it probably would have never come to be without taking the necessary steps. If you tell someone to simply eat “meats, nuts and seeds, veggies, fruit and blah blah blah”, I don’t think it will work. The idea should be to ease into the lifestyle. Just as a coach shouldn’t have their brand new client do Fran with “Rx” weight, I don’t think a total immersion in the lifestyle will work from the get go. Steps are necessary because the effect will be such that the person either buys totally into the program, or becomes discouraged by the difficulty. For these reasons, I enjoy Dr. Harris’ 12 step program, it’s a good start for many people. I myself would begin with the elimination of grains, then move on to sugar, but only because I’ve found that it becomes easier that way.

In taking steps, I don’t see a problem with the consumption of “paleo-ish” foods. Again, I find this to be beneficial further down the road. It took me about 1-2 years to become almost totally primal. I started first by eliminating bread and other grains. Then moved on from there, until I was finally able to break from artificial sweeteners. The same most likely goes for others. I think my sister has seen great benefit and she still consumes “paleo” pizza from time to time as well as almond flour breaded meats. It is these meals that have helped to keep her on track with the lifestyle. While I don’t believe that food consumption based solely on these meals will be of great benefit, I do believe that the elimination of grains/gluten and some sugars will provide HUGE benefit. So my response is, the 80/20 principle is a good start for everyone. Others will see amazing benefit from going strict, but seems a better idea to gradually bring them on board in fear that the proscribed dose will be too much to handle for some. Plus, doesn’t that pizza just look too good to not try it?

QUAN and COIN – Let’s have both!

SAY IT AIN’T SO
Over the weekend I was bothered when I saw updates stating that the CrossFit Games Sectional would be switched from a one-weekend event held in different “sections” throughout the world to a 6 week online video qualifier. I was annoyed because I remember my sectionals experience, my regional’s experience, and many other experiences I’ve had at local affiliate competitions. With the recent Reebok deal being announced at the CrossFit Endurance Expo, I’m worried about the future of the sport. While gaining mainstream appeal, it will seemingly sacrifice “quan” for coin.

TIMES ARE CHANGING
The soul of the CrossFit Games isn’t the amazing feats that the super athletes perform in front of their family, friends, and fans. The soul lies in their heart, their willingness to battle for their own glory. Gone are the days where athletes would gather, wearing their affiliate colors, hoping to honor their local box. These days, videos and competitions are now filled with supplement company T-Shirts and the like. While some Crossfitters used to laugh in the face of supplement companies and their apparel, it seems they are now intelligently sacrificing “quan” for coin.

HEART
Competitions used to be a place where athletes would come together to battle it out, not for the 1st place monetary prize, but for the battle itself. There were no sponsors; there were no professional athletes, yet people still clawed tooth and nail for victory. This is where the “awesome-ness” was seen. It wasn’t quite in the athletes talent or abilities, but it was in the fact that there had finally come a sport, where one didn’t have to be a professional athlete. Rather, one simply had to have heart. How far could you claw? How much could you take? THIS was the spectacle! Even at this year’s Games we witnessed it. Grueling rope climbs, while amazingly dangerous, were also amazingly eventful as athletes laid it out in the stadium. Now sadly, it will be no more. The “quan” is being sacrificed for the coin.

QUAN
Now what is “quan”? As mentioned in Jerry Maguire, Cuba Gooding Jr.’s character defines it as “heart, character, and community”. He separates this from coin, which is just making that money. This is what I’m afraid of. With the sectionals format changing, I hope we don’t lose the “quan”, the heart of The CrossFit Games. The fan base is in the affiliates, and sectionals provide affiliates the opportunity to have their average athletes something to look forward to. I compare it to football and basketball. The NFL while elite would be nothing without college football, and college football would be nothing without high school football. The NFL is the CrossFit Games, it is the ultimate proving ground. College football is Regionals, a place where some of our region’s elite compete for a chance and just a chance. High School football is sectionals, where almost everyone makes the team and only those that can’t handle it are weeded out. All of these have a symbiotic relationship, where one cannot survive without the other. We lose “quan” and we lose all that is entertaining and great about the CrossFit Games. Show me the money, but be my ambassador of “Quan”!

FOR THE FUTURE
I hope the Games continue to grow in size, stature and value. I hope those athletes that show their heart are compensated for their efforts, as athletes and entertainers. Let us see where the future takes this growing sport.

Training with Blinders (kind of)

I want to preface this short blog by describing what I mean by the title.  When training, you should be aware of your opponents training, but only in the sense that you should know what movements “.Com” has been posting.  Thus creating awareness of any movements that you may need to brush up on.

Focus

Many times in our training we get caught up in what everyone else is doing.  Our focus shifts away from ourselves and shines on everyone else’s accomplishments, training, and performance.  We are worried that Opponent A just snatched 50 lbs more than our max, or that Opponent B has been working muscle-ups and is getting pretty darn good at them.  We get worried that the cold weather will interfere with our training, or we sit and think about how detrimental our life situation is to our training.  While difficult to do, there must be focus in order to win/accomplish your goals.

Set Goals (See Dutch Lowy’s Blog)

Opponent A and Opponent B’s performance should not affect the intensity or method in which I train.  We must set goals (Great Dutch Lowy Blog on Goals) and they must be goals that are both attainable and hopefully a certain date.  If I set my plan into action, there should be no reason to deviate from this because your set plan should be followed through to achieve your desired goal.  The problem becomes when one begins training in a group and a sort of groupthink begins to take hold of you.  You begin to not question the methods of your group’s training and partake in it not only hoping you’ll still achieve your goals, but participating with the group because of your fear that doing something different than the group will not be beneficial.

Specialized Training for a Generalist?

The problem with training for CrossFit the Sport is such that one begins to become overwhelmed with being a generalist.  It is easier to have a narrow goal because this will require a narrow set plan or prescription.  If one says “I want to increase my snatch 1RM, Murph time, and lose 5 percent body fat”, creates a much more different and extensive plan than just saying “I want to increase my back squat by 10lbs in 1 month.”  You’ll notice in the 2^nd situation, the goal was quantifiable, and had a time table.  So if I have to get better at 20 different things, how do I attack it?  The answer is becoming the most well balanced athlete possible, all while picking up skills along the way.  Gaining 50lbs in my back squat and 30lbs in my Snatch will yield a far greater result in competition then spending an hour a day learning to walk on my hands.  This isn’t to take away from the latter skill, but rather to say that if I have 1 hour a day to train, I’m looking to get the most bang for my buck, and that is going to be done getting stronger, faster and bigger, and walking on my hands just won’t do this.

Focus, Again

So the idea is to set YOUR goals, don’t worry about what others are doing (kind of), and be ready for game day.  Game day you can’t do anything but focus on yourself because your opponent’s performance will not affect your days of training or your obliteration of your goals.

The Secret – Training with Wes

The Games
CrossFit is an ever-evolving sport. The ’08 Games were a test of brute strength, 4 workouts over 2 days of classic CrossFit movements and workouts. The movements were simple: thruster, pullup (C2B), Deadlifts, Burpees, a short run, and clean and jerks (or thruster again). The ’09 Games became an even bigger test of brute strength, but tested that athlete’s will even further. A long grueling run, deadlifts (again), and a hodgepodge of different CrossFit movements again, but this time over 8 workouts over 2 days. There weren’t many skilled movements besides the snatch, that was more of a ground to overhead sort, and the muscle-up of the chipper. Then came the 2010 Games, these again were a test of brute strength and will, but became a great test of skill based movements (ring HSPU, rope climbs, muscle-ups and a stricter snatch standard). So what will 2011 provide? We don’t know!

How to Train
Always a question, how does one train for the unknown and the unknowable. Does one do the CF mainsite workouts? Possibly. Does one follow CFFB workouts? Sure, why not! What about just following your local box workouts? That’s a good idea sometimes. In the end, there is an optimal way to train for each individual. Each individual needs training that is catered to his or her needs. What are these needs? Well this is a gross description, but essentially the more individualized the program, the greater the possibility that your imbalances will be reversed thus creating a better overall athlete. I’ve found my greatest success coming off of training with Wes. Individual numbers since training with Wes? PR’s through the roof.

Training begins with laying the foundation

Some of my PR’s
Snatch from 135-195 lbs
Clean&Jerk from 205-265 lbs
Fran: 3:24 to 2:26 (58 seconds shaved)
5k roughly 21 minutes to a PR of 19 minutes
’09 Regionals finish of 22nd, ’10 Regionals finish of 16th
Press from 175-195 lbs
These are some of the numbers that I can remember; the best thing though is that Wes understands athletes.

The Secret
The secret is Awesome-ness and finding one’s own inner awesome-ness.  The How?

Training with Wes
I’m not saying that Wes is YOUR go to guy, but I do recommend you get a coach, that understands energy systems/pathways, overtraining, peaking, offseason training, and protecting YOU the CrossFit Athlete. He’ll make you a better athlete. Will this make you a better CrossFitter, HELL YEA! As I explained above, the CrossFit Games are “unknown”, we don’t know what will come next. You have two choices, (1)kill yourself learning every skill or (2)train smart and become the most prepared athlete possible. It is these prepared athletes that I see prevailing.

Adversity

Over the weekend, I had the great opportunity of competing with some of the best that CrossFit has to offer. The likes of James Hobart, Austin Malleolo, Deric Maruquin and Chris Spealler were on hand trying a new sport, Olympic Lifting. I was excited to just be in the same room with all these great athletes and a sort of “who’s who” of the CrossFit community. While it didn’t end quite how I wanted, the experience was well worth it. I started my lifting session hitting my first snatch at 85 kilos, then proceeded to miss (barely) 90 kilos twice. I started my clean and jerk and was able to hit my first 2 lifts easily. After my 2nd lift, I knew I had qualified for National Collegiates (USA-W), but I decided to one up my PR and go for 120 kilos. I stepped up to the platform, just as I had 100 times before. Everything changed when I got under that bar. I heard a crackling in my knee and still tried to jerk, but felt no power coming out of my leg.

It was disheartening, I considered attempting the triplet, but my knee immediately started tightening up. I laid there, saddened by my inability to overcome the pain I felt and compete with my team. I felt I had let everyone down, myself included.

Leaving Colorado, I was happy. I had spoken to my family, and my girlfriend Alex and felt optimistic. Then came the dreaded visit to the doctor. His diagnosis was a torn ACL. My MRI appointment is coming soon, and I’ll know then what my future holds. If my ACL is torn, I will do my best to rehabilitate as quickly as possible. I’ll do this with the support and motivation from my family. I woke up feeling the world was crumbling around me, worried about being ready for Sectionals, Regionals, and my end goal The Games. Then, I remembered the story of my sister; Suffering with lupus for many years, she didn’t give up hope and she fought, and even competed this weekend alongside myself and best friend, Javier Guzman. Just so you know, “Hope’s not giving up”!

Don’t hate the “Globo-Gym”

CrossFit. Defined differently by many.
*Moving Large Loads, Long Distances, Quickly
*Constantly varied, Functional Movements at High Intensity
*lifting heavy shit and moving fast
*Community Fitness
*A super effective way to get fit
*Circuit Training
*Forging Elite Fitness
*Puke Training

None of these definitions say that CrossFit must be done in a “CrossFit box”. CrossFit started as a website in 2001; people from around the globe would perform the posted workouts, and post their times/weights/reps to the comment section of the website and received feedback from the web community. They would perform these workouts alone, before there were any CrossFit Affiliates. Many athletes were performing workouts at Globo-gyms, tracks, open fields, or garages. Have we forgotten where we started?

I myself started CrossFitting in my backyard, but mostly at Laredo’s Gold’s Gym. Eliud Garcia opened gold’s Gym in Laredo in 2005; I had the great opportunity of being their 1st employee. It was an exciting time for Laredo, the facility houses a spinning room, aerobics room, basketball court, and outdoor heated swimming pool. All of the aforementioned are great tools for getting fit. The gym is also equipped with dumbbells, squat racks, and enough barbells and plates to deadlift and squat well over 600 lbs. Again, all excellent tools for getting fit, and many of the tools crossfitters use to perform workouts. Why hate the globogym then? Many of us crossfitters started there, and there are still many crossfitters doing workouts there. With that being said, I know there are “globo-gyms” that don’t like people doing CrossFit workouts in their gym…but do you blame them? The movements are dangerous, and these gyms pay for insurance, and any wrong step and the gym is being sued because you decided to attempt a thruster at 300 lbs. It’s similar to a coach at a CrossFit gym not allowing athletes to perform their own workouts; there are rules and we follow them. So we shouldn’t blame them, because without them we would have never met that “one guy who did CrossFit at the globo-gym”

The following video is me doing Fran at Gold’s Gym…one of the many workouts I did at Gold’s Gym

Let’s not hate on anyone else in the fitness industry. I applaud people for simply getting off their butt and trying to change their life. The more time we waste putting down other “globo-gyms”, affiliates, and fitness enthusiasts, the less time we have to take care of the people that we can mold, the ones right in front of our faces, the ones in our boxes. We started CrossFitting because we loved the idea; functional movements for the masses, fitness for the world.  Let’s continue to deliver on our passion.

CrossFit…Niche to Sport

The 2010 Games are over, and another year of training is about to commence.  After watching the 2010 Games in Carson, I realized that the sport is no longer something done recreationally.  Although the athletes aren’t awarded large purses quite yet, they’re training still resembles that of a professional athlete.  This year’s Games proved how skilled and conditioned one has to be to even compete at the same level as Clever, Annie, Spealler, Mikko, Khalipa, and the new champ Holmberg.  What does this mean?

After talking to my coach, Wes Kimball (CrossFit Austin), and Jeremy Thiel (2007-2009) Games competitor, I concluded that it means everyone needs a coach and sport specific training (CrossFit the sport).  Gone are the days where one can just hit the main site WOD’s hard and have a legitimate shot at winning the CF Games.  It is similar to the evolution of the sport of Mixed Martial Arts.  Remember the original UFC matches where 2 gladiators would battle it out using their raw strength, speed and fighting ability.  Now the matches are very technical with MMA fighters having boxing, jiu-jitsu, and conditioning coaches.  I think this is the direction CrossFit is heading, and I think it’s great.  CrossFit athletes will soon need gymnastic, Olympic lifting, and CrossFit specific coaches; hopefully with this, we will see the sport gain legitimacy.

I myself have had the great opportunity of training with Ursula Garza and Chad Vaughn, both of whom are outstanding Olympic lifting athletes and coaches.  I hope this training will transfer into my sport, the sport of fitness.  There are big things to come this year, and I can’t wait to continue learning and training.

Laredo Lady Texans – Train to Live

Over the past year, I have had a great opportunity to learn from many different great coaches, businessmen, athletes, and now kids.  After training under some very elite athletes and coaches in Austin, I came down to Laredo this summer eager to teach Laredo athletes all the great things I had learned over the school year.  After contacting Roland De La Cruz, coach of the Laredo Lady Texans, I was excited to learn that he was interested in having them train with me twice a week.  I immediately accepted the offer, and got to work as soon as I arrived in Laredo.

The first day was definitely fun, as I walked in with my Ninja Turtles hat, mismatched shoes, and SICFIT wristband.  The girls looked surprised, nervous, and excited.  First thing I told them after meeting them was that they all needed to add a little more flair to their wardrobe.  Next session, one girl walked in with converse with bright colored laces.  It was funny, but from this I learned that I was a big influence on these young ladies and it ignited a fire in me to help them get better.

We did 3 different tests on their first day, I tested their vertical jump, broad jump, and quickness/speed with a shuttle run.  They all did great, and were eager to jump into the program.  Throughout the duration of the program, the girls would walk in with knee high socks with skulls, mismatched shoes, new converse, and a great attitude.  This is where I began to learn from them.  No matter the condition, they were willing and able to sweat, learn, work, and rest.  Yet, after every session, no matter how tired, they would go on and live the rest of their life as if they hadn’t trained.  They were training for a National basketball tournament, but that didn’t take away from playing with their dog, staying up late for a sleepover, or having ice cream as a post game meal.  They were being young, and not getting caught up in the details, and were training for the reason we all started training.

The night before their last day, I was nervous for the little girls, while I had seen them improve greatly, I was worried about how they would perform on their initial 3 tests.  It turns out they all did great, one girl, Cathy Rodriguez improved her vertical by 4 inches going from 13 inches to a 17 inch vertical.  Another, Kate, ran the shuttle drill in 3.85 seconds, improving by almost an entire second.  The shortest girl on the team, was jumping the furthest and the highest, Shannan had a 17 inch vertical and had a broad jump of 74 inches.  Macayla, saw improvements in all 3 tests, and improved her shuttle run by almost an entire second as well.  After finishing all 3 tests, Val Lopez, began doing pullups and was able to do over 5 pullups with the RED BAND!  Amazing.  The biggest thing though, was Vic, or Vennica, after all the tests and after seeing improvement across the board, she still worked on her broad jump, and asked me for more tips.***Overall the team gained 14 inches on their vertical jump, 29.25 inches on their Broad jump, and over 5 seconds on their Shuttle Run

Improvements and results are great, but learning is even better, and these girls had it.  All the while, they taught me a lot about myself, and why I train.  Train to get better, but train to live and don’t live to train.  They taught me what my coach Wes Kimball had been trying to teach me for a year.  Because of Wes, Chad Vaughn, and Ursula Garza, I was able to give these girls tools that will make them better athletes and people for their lifetime, and they were able to teach me a valuable lesson.  Train to Live, don’t Live to Train.

G7 Defined

People always ask me, what does G7 mean?  It’s a cool logo, but what exactly does G7 stand for?  My answer is always the same, “well my last name is Garza, and there are 5 kids and 2 parents, so it’s G7.”  The conversation usually ends there, without me ever being able to give a response worthy of what G7 really means.

The Garza Family has always been one to embrace exercise, whether it was my father playing basketball and lifting weights at the local gym, or my brother jumping around outside on “Strength Shoes”, or even my sisters and mom spending countless hours in front of a TV on a treadmill.  Each of us acting individually, in pursuit of different goals.  As years passed, my brother Rob, G4, moved away for school and ended up in Sugar Land with my sister-in-law.  It was then that he started tinkering with different exercise programs.  All the while, my sister Vero, G5,  was suffering from lupus, a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disorder.  Becky, G6,  was an avid runner, logging over 30 miles a week on a treadmill, but was growing dissatisfied with the time and effort it took to run.  Linda, G3, was raising a family, had a gym membership, but would just walk on her treadmill at home.  My mom, G2,  would walk on the treadmill as she watched her favorite movies, all in the confines of a small exercise room at our house.  G1, I mean my dad, was still heading to the local gym to jog a couple of miles and lift weights, but was most excited when my sister or I would accompany him.

Now you can find all the “G’s” or Garzas at G7 Athletics in Laredo.  You’ll find my father doing pushups, as my mom makes efforts to extend her consecutive deadhang pullups to 3 repetitions.  You might see Becky coaching young children and helping to establish a foundation of healthy living in the Laredo youth.  Rob, who recently moved down to run G7, will be seen coaching, working out, or taking a client through a one on one session.  Linda might be rowing, or warming up with the 6:30 PM class.  Vero will probably be obliterating another workout as she no longer has any symptoms of lupus.  You’ll also see me, G7, from time to time coaching, laughing, working out or just having a great time.

So what is G7?  It’s a family!  We’re no longer 7 though, 7 is just a symbol for where we started.  It’s a symbol for the backyard, but it’s also a symbol for where we’re going.  The G7 family spread throughout Texas, with Wes Kimball and the rest of CrossFit Austin, The Thiel’s, Kepler’s and Smith’s of CrossFit Central, Vic, Katie and Charlie of Bayou City CrossFit, Ben and Elliot of the Nomads, Carlos and Lisa of CrossFit Houston, and new friends that we’ve met along the way.

This family will continue to make strides in Laredo to bring about healthy living to the city of Laredo, Texas.