CrossFit Chicago

3 Rounds for time of:
800M Run
40 Double-Unders
20 Kettlebell Swings (1.5/1 pood)

This time last year… we had a pic of setup positions on the platforms in the old room.

Wallball Tips
-Zack Otte

Wall balls suck and will always suck, but I’ve been playing around with some techniques to help them suck a little less, for me anyway. So here are the couple of things I’ve done:

1. The biggest issue with wall ball for most, me included, is the neck position of looking up at the target the whole time. I would suggest that there’s never a reason to be looking up at the target while the ball is in your hands, the target is always in the same place and the potential threat has already been neutralized until you toss the med ball back into the air of course. Just doing this helped out a lot with my tolerance level of wb’s.

2. Rather than catch the ball with my elbows out, I have been working on catching the ball with my elbows inside my hands. It feels (and looks) a little strange, but it really helped me out. This is the same position we teach for any other overhead pressing movement, why not wall balls. Elbows out sets you up nicely for a chest pass in basketball, so tossing the ball with very little trajectory or launch angle, not straight up. On the other hand, by being in the same position as we press directly overhead, it gives me a little more latitude to incorporate my next thought.

3. In order to further reduce the craning of my neck, I just stepped further away from the wall. I used to be fixed in on being as close to the wall as possible, not sure why now. How far have I stepped away? When I was first messing around with this I grabbed a really light med ball and stepped up to the wall. I did some power wall ball and kept moving away from the wall until I could hit the 10ft target without either over extending at my lower back (standing bench press) or craning my neck. This self-test is probably the best way to go. It’s a slightly further shot, but a slightly further shot from a much more comfortable position. I keep my head neutral as much as possible, only peaking up to see the catch/shot. Since I’m not within inches of wall my sight radius is much larger so I don’t have to move head and crank my neck back to see up.

There is an mwod that discusses the neck positioning thoughts that spurred my thinking (episode 53 around the 4:00 mark to around 5:30). As far as the specific technique of keeping the ball overhead noted in this video , it wasn’t comfortable for me, but would be something else to give a try. I know in my classes, ChrisS uses this technique well.

Five rounds for time of:
35 pound Dumbbell squat clean thruster, 7 reps
10 Pull-ups

This time last year… Frank wrote an article on his Level I Cert Experience.

Meal Planning Help
-Zack Otte

By nature I’m not a meal planner, I don’t typically make grocery lists and will “consult” recipes, but rarely follow them exactly. I understand the concept, my mom used to plan out the entire week, write out every ingredient and then go to the grocery store. I can’t do that, I like going to the grocery store, seeing what looks good and what’s on sale and figure I can’t go too wrong with fresh ingredients. I’ve been eating basically Paleo for three years and with time the food list continues to feel less and less restrictive. When I first started, I admit, it was pretty bland and repetitive. Sure I had the food lists, but I hadn’t cooked this way before, so I was pretty unsure of myself and just kept on falling back to what I knew worked, which meant lots of ground beef throw-togethers and roasted chicken. I didn’t really branch out until about 6 months in, when Jess joined me and pushed us to be way more creative. The creativity and diversity in meals is what has made it sustainable for the long term.

There are way more Paleo websites today than there were even when I started. One that I particularly like is a blog by Hayley Mason and Bill Staley called The Food Lovers Primal Palate (http://beta.primal-palate.com/) They just launched their new site, so I’m not sure if the beta will be disappearing soon, but if at some point in the future it doesn’t work, it should pop up if you google them.

One thing the new site offers that I particularly like is a 30 day intro to Paleo menu plan: http://beta.primal-palate.com/menus/30-day-paleomeal-plan/. Which lays out breakfast, lunch, and dinner and for 30 days. So, if you are looking to make a switch and want it planned out for you, here’s a pretty easy way to do it. You may not always be able to find the exact cut or type of meat or fish listed on a given day, but their flavor combinations are good and it gives quite a bit of variety. This certainly isn’t all of their recipes, so poke around the rest of the site as well.

Another great resource for recipes is nomnompaleo.com. In addition to great recipes of their own, their “links” tab is probably the most complete directly of all things Paleo. I will warn you though that for whatever reason there site doesn’t always load on the first try and you get a connection error, refresh a couple times and it does come up.

As many round possible in 8 minutes of:
10 Hand Release Push-ups
10 Kettlebell Swings (1.5/1)
10 Box Jumps (24/20)

This time last year… was a rest day with a JK picture somewhat similar but different than the one above.

Granor Farm CSA – Year 2
-Zack Otte

Last year over 40 of us participated in Granor Farm’s CSA and if we’re going to be a drop site again this year. They delivered fresh organic vegetables to CFC every Saturday or every other Saturday depending on which option you chose. It was my first time being part of a CSA and it was a wonderful experience. The crate that Lilly is sitting in is the bushel crate will be approximately full each time. What we found from last year was that week one it was full-ish and then with each drop the amount of produce got bigger and bigger through the end and most of the summer it was overflowing.

Granor Farm does mainly vegetables in their CSA, except for one week of blueberries last year. They also allowed our members to request a Paleo-friendly CSA where they would swap out non-Paleo items for us, so if a week was to include pole beans or sweet corn they’d swap in something else for us. I asked many farmers about doing this before finding Granor Farm and they were the first one who would even listen to this request.

In general what can you expect:
Vine Crops – Squashes, cucumbers
Greens/brassicas – Such as arugula, mache, kale, collards, kohlrabi,
spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, amongst others
Nightshades – Tomatoes, eggplant
Roots – Beets, carrots, radish, turnip, onion, rutabaga, parsnip, leek

What might one week look like? This is what we received in Week 10 last year:
1 Pint Apero (Grape) or Sapho (Plum) Tomatoes
Mountain Fresh Pick Slicing Tomatoes.
Touchstone Gold Beets
1 Quart Marvel of Venice Pole Beans – Subbed Lacianto Kale
1 Quart Cucumbers
Costata Romanesco Zucchini
Sunburst Patty Pan Squash
Bright Lights Swiss Chard
Flashy Trout Back Lettuce
Luscious Sweet Corn – Subbed Spinach

In addition to the weekly boxes they also run special members only events at the farm, such as blueberry picking and Hog/Harvest Dinner. Last year they also had a couple weeks toward the end of tomato season were the dropped extra bushel boxes full of plum tomatoes for any CSA members to grab as they wished. They froze really well and I’m still going through them. You obviously can’t use them raw once frozen, unless you like really water, limp tomatoes, but they still make great for making pasta sauce, salsa, stew, chili, etc.

You have two options, a full share and a half share. A full share receives a box every single week for 20 weeks from June through October. A half share receives a full box every other week, so 10 boxes over a 20 week time period. Last year half shares were delivered on the odd number weeks, weeks 1, 3, 5…

Jess and I split a full share last year, so we were picking up a box every week and the dividing that amount up with a friend from work and that amount was just about perfect for us. This year we decided to do a half share by ourselves, so the same amount of food just no splitting. Jess and I cook almost every night and I also bring my lunch to work on most days, and we barely needed to go to the grocery store during the CSA, but still here and there. Many members split the half share last year, so they received a full bushel box every other week and then split that with a friend or another member.

If you are going to take 100% of a full or half share yourself, then you simply need to register at http://granorfarm.com/join/csa-registration/. When you register sign up for the Green City Market drop location and let me know that you signed up and I’ll keep track of all of our members that have signed up. They are working on getting CFC added to the drop sites.
If you want to split a full or half share then you need to locate a partner to split with first. The ideal person to split with would be someone that either you live close by to or you are often at the same Saturday class with. If you need help find someone email me and I can work on some arranged marriages. I’ll match people up at the end of April and the end of May, so whoever has emailed me at these times I’ll work with you to get you paired. If you want to split a share or half share, I would recommend to not sign up on Granor’s website until you have a partner unless you’re sure we will find someone. Like I said last year was our first year and we had over 40 people participate. There are a lot of new faces this year, so I’m anticipating this number to go up.

If for any reason, such as you do not work out on Saturdays, you would still like to participate but don’t want to pick up on Saturday you can chose any of their drop sites spread across the city throughout the week. The Paleo-friendly option is just that, an option. I manage that on the side since we’re the only one they make this bulk accommodation to, so just let me know if you’d like the standard box or the Paleo option. If you chose the Paleo option and you just have a hankering for some sweet corn on a week that it’s offered, just let me know and we’ll get it worked out for you.

Granor Farms will give you a reusable back on week 1 to use during the CSA. We have some very simple ground rules at the CFC drop site. Pickup is from 9 – noon, which fits nicey to around our class schedule. If you are unable to pickup during this time frame one week you can either make arrangements to have someone else pick up your goods at CFC or contact Jesse and you can arrange to pick your box up at any of their other drop sites earlier in the week. If your produce has not been claimed by noon then there’s no guarantee it will be there. Granor comes back and picks up the boxes around noon and we have a decision to make, either let them take it and they’ll donate it or let the noon class take what they want. For sanitary reasons we just can’t have produce sitting around at the box all day and night and we hate to see it go to waste. I will say last year there were some weeks with quite a bit of leftovers and I hated seeing people missing out on what they paid for. Please plan ahead, Jesse is very accommodative, if you know you’re going to be out of town, give him a call or email and let him know you need to change your pickup location to earlier in the week.

The start date will be sometime in June depending on the spring we have. They try and time it up to make sure there’s enough produce in the early weeks, but get all 20 weeks in before the first frost on the back end. They will set a date towards the end of May or early June.
If you participated last year and have anything to add from your experience please do so in the comments. If you have any questions please email me at zack at crossfitchicago.

There seems to be a reoccurring theme here.

A1 Front Squat 3-3-3-3-3
A2 Floor Press 3-3-3-3-3

This time last year… we featured GinaP as our Member of the Month!

Muscle ups vs. No False Grip Muscle ups
-Zack Otte

Muscle ups in gymnastics are nothing more than a means to get from hanging position with your body below the rings to a support position with your body above the rings. From a skill level according to gymnsaticsbodies.com, they barely register. Since most of us are not gymnasts, we would disagree with this thought and in fact it place it as one of the most advanced gymnastics skills we use in our training, right up there with pistol squats and freestanding handstands. A true muscle up, has no kip, it is as its name implies a m-u-s-c-l-e up not a kip up. For body weight strength development, achievement of a kipping muscle up should not be viewed that as the end goal, but a progression toward L-seated muscle ups, strict muscle ups, and weighted muscle ups.

That’s not to take away from all the 1st time muscle ups we’ve been seeing lately, I think it’s great. Getting a kipping muscle up requires a great deal more strength than a dead hang pull up or chest to bar pull up and should be viewed as a great achievement. But if you’ve gotten there, know that there’s more on the body weight strength side of things.

In addition, if you’re viewing CrossFit as a sport and not just a training method, there is a better technique for performing high reps of muscle ups than using a false grip, kipping or strict. We teach the false grip because it is the gymnastics method and puts your hands in the proper position for the bottom of the dip. In other words, this is what you should be doing if you’re working toward a strict muscle up. The other option is a kipping muscle up without a false grip, and if you’re a Games athlete you should have these in your tool box. These should be viewed as two distinctly different movements for different purposes just like the dead hang pull up and kipping pull up.

Why should a Games athlete learn a no false grip muscle up?

1. Multiple false grip muscles are slow because you have to reset the grip either at the top or the bottom, whereas with a no false grip there is no grip reset allowing you to quickly transition to the next rep.
2. Kipping as we know from Drywall is another word for cheating, and if you’re going to cheat you may as well not half a$$ it. Holding the rings in your fingers is a stronger more secure grip and also lengthens your levers allowing you to create more momentum in your kip. You will not be able to hold onto a false grip and kip as aggressively as is being suggested in the video below.
3. The skin on the pads of your hands (no false grip) can take a lot more abuse than the skin on your wrists (false grip).
4. It makes the dip far easier because you’ll be reducing the ROM.

The progression I used to teach myself the no false grip muscle up is based on Carl Paoli’s series on gymnastics wod. He goes through a 4 part progression that I highly encourage you to watch. This is link to the 1st progression: http://gymnasticswod.com/content/no-false-grip-muscle-progression-pt1

Carl does a great job walking through this, so I won’t regurgitate entire tutorial, but will give some color to the discussion. The key to the no false grip kipping muscle up is the pull and where you pull to. Think about which is the easiest option, a dip where the bottom is your arm pit, rib cage, or hips? Of course hips would be the winner and rib cage isn’t all that bad. Unfortunately, the rite of passage most of us have gone through on our first muscle up is only pulling toward our chest, which if you’re able to achieve the muscle up at all, results in the deepest dip you’ve ever had to do. This is not ideal and puts a ton of stress on your elbows and shoulders and failing half way through that turnover hurts even worse. On the hand, if you can pull toward your belly button you have the opportunity to transition into a much more comfortable dip that is not near as taxing on your body, making high volume far easier. Some of this is mindset of where you’re pulling to, but make no mistake, there’s a strength competent to pulling this deep that may need to be developed. Whatever your deepest pull up is, bottom of rib cage, belly button, hips, this should be your target when on the rings. If your target is lower than what your strength can get you to, you will not get your chest through on the transition. If these are in line and you can at least pull to the bottom of your rib cage you should be able to pull these off with a little work.

From a strength development point of view the kip will take away the initial pull, but it only gets you so high, finishing the pull toward your hips will require some pretty decent strength development. The carry over to the false grip muscle up is that you will have developed the ability to pull higher, with the goal being to pull to the bottom of your chest / middle of your rib cage area before your transition. Getting this high puts you in a more normal bottom of the dip versus that super low and deep turnover dip position that puts so much stress on the elbow.

I’m not in a ton these days, but I’d be happy to work with folks before my 6 a.m. class on Mondays or on the weekends on both strict muscle ups or these no false grip versions.

AMRAP Ring Pullups x 1 set
Rest as needed
AMRAP Ring Dips x 1 set

For Time:
21 Hang Power Cleans (135#/95#) or 50% or 1rm Jerk
12 Thrusters
15 Hang Power Cleans
9 Thrusters
9 Hang Power Cleans
6 Thrusters

Post: 3 mins cumulative plank hold (1 min on each side + 1 min on both forearms)

Continuing Education…
-Zack Otte

We had a great group of members take on the Paleo Challenge. It’s easy for most people to just go along with an “acceptable food list” and a “do not eat food list” for 30 days without all the dirty details of why it is certain foods are looked at as good and others bad. As I said at the kickoff meeting, we do not want this to just be a twice a year crash diet for members. We want everyone that is currently in the Challenge to find a way for this way of eating to become part of their life going forward. What I have seen that convinces most people to stick with Paleo in some form or fashion is educating themselves more deeply on why this way of eating seems to work for most people. We try to offer further background on specific topics on our blog, but a broad base is really the best place to start. For that I would go to two recent books published two fairly popular people in the Paleo community:

The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf

The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson

I would chose one of these to start out with, though both are quick reads. From there I would chose one or two Paleo focused websites or podcasts to track on a weekly basis. These will give you more current information and in certain cases will dig deeper into certain issues that may have been too specific to be included in the books. My favorite general Paleo websites include:

www.robbwolf.com – articles as well as a weekly podcast

www.chriskresser.com – site has specific collection of articles related to such issues as heart disease, diabetes/obesity, amongst others as well as a weekly podcast

www.marksdailyapple.com – Offers daily Paleo blog posts

All of these have good search features embedded, so if you’re looking for something specific you can get to it.

Ancestral Health also has made available all of the speaker presentations and slides from this past years Ancestral Health Symposium at http://ancestryfoundation.org/. The hyperlink for “Presentation Videos” will take you to their vimeo page. I’m not crazy about vimeo’s page setup, but if you click on any one of the videos, it will load up that video and then have a scroll bar with all 54 video shown to the right of the video you opened. I’ve found this is the best way to search these.

Education will go a long way to making this way of eat more sustainable for everyone doing the Challenge. Understanding why grains are bad and what they do to your body makes passing up on pizza and pasta a whole lot easier than just knowing wheat flour is on the do not eat list.

Fashion statement: “Uh, I got rope climbs today!”

Retest!!!!
1x Max Pull up
1x Max HSPU

(From CFFB)
7 rounds for time:
3 Power Snatches 135 lbs
Row 250 meters

Post time to comments.

Problem Foods And Keeping It On The Rails
-Zack Otte

As Erin pointed out recently, you can get just about all the goods out of using a Paleo framework for the majority of your meals, but still giving yourself some freedom on a couple meals a week. The real trick is not letting the non-Paleo meals throw you off the rails completely. During the Challenge we´ve urged you to stay strict, aside from trying to help you maximize results over a short time frame, it also forces you do plan ahead and learn how to make good food choices in a seemingly tough situation, such as eating out. Hopefully, you were met with some food choice obstacles during the Challenge and learned how to work around them.

As we move away from the Challenge, which had a definitive start and end, and enter into the concept of Paleo being part of your life indefinitely into the future it is important to think about how to make it sustainable. To be frank, a life of super-strict, no cheat, Paleo is not sustainable for most, if not all people, given the environment we live in. As noted above, it may not be necessary either, you will still reap most of the benefits. People typically either plan a cheat meal a couple times a week, where others will just let them come as they may. How you do it is pretty much immaterial. Be aware of your how you look and feel, if it´s not what you want, then you may need to tighten things up a bit more. The key is, can you get back on track after a cheat? I’ll have some pie over Thanksgiving and will enjoy it at the time, probably get a little stomach ache and move on.

There are however usually a couple of food items that for whatever reason make it so you can´t find the off switch to your craving or one cheat meal turns into another cheat meal turn into a nightly occurrence. Mark Sisson of Mark’s Daily Apple, refers to these as gateway foods, foods that lead you down a path of multiple bad food choices versus just the isolated event of enjoying something you haven´t had in a while. It´s important to know what these problem foods are for you. For me it´s dark chocolate bars and nut butters. Dark chocolate can be a pretty decent Paleo(ish) treat. The good stuff has very few ingredients, there´s plenty of low sugar options in the 85% and up cacao, and even some soy free options. I´d treat myself to just a square or so here and there, which over the course of a couple months turned into half of a 3.5 oz bar to a full 3.5 oz bar on a daily basis.

It just became part of my daily lunch routine, and I knew I was eating past the point of being full, I just wanted more of the taste. Nut butters are a little different problem for me, it never really became an issue of eating it on a daily basis, mainly because I could lean against the counter with a spoon when I get home from work and polish off close to half a jar in one effort, so it was never around long. I just couldn´t quench the craving, so I´d typically just keep going and going, which resulted in significant overeating and then not being overly hungry for dinner. Overeating on nut butters is typically isolated for me, but it´s the fact that it´s not controlled was the problem. If we had it in the house more it would have been even more an issue. I long ago discovered I couldn´t really have nuts as a snack in the office because of the same issue, I couldn´t keep my hand out of the bag in my desk even though I knew I was no longer hungry. These items may not be the worst food choices in and of themselves, but the quantity was the issue for me. Due to this, I started noticing some definite body composition changes as well as some random cravings for other sweets.

I´m very aware of these food items now. For the most part, I just stay away from nuts and nut butters because in the end I don´t enjoy them that much and haven´t missed them. The dark chocolate, I am just very aware of the fact that they can be an issue for me. Lindt´s 85% bar, which is one of the soy free bars, changed up their formula to include more sugar alcohols versus sugar, which both changed the flavor and also started giving me headaches, so that helped quite a bit in the cut back.

We’re not suggesting you give these problem foods up entirely, just be very aware if something turns from the occasional treat to an uncontrolled binge or a daily routine that it could be an issue. Once you recognize what you think is a problem, remove it for 2-3 weeks and see what happens. Then you just need to weigh the results of elimination compared to the enjoyment of the item. I did this during the Challenge with chocolate and cheese and have lost 6 pounds. It was an eye-opener, both will go back to the occasional list for me. Do you know what your problem foods are and how do you deal with them?

A1 – 5 x 1 Rope Climb
A2 – 5 x 2 Turkish Get-up/Arm
A3 – 5 x 3 Good Morning (55% of 1RM Back Squat)

3 rounds of:
10 Deadlifts (275/185 or 65-70% of 1RM)
400M Run

Post – 4 x 10 GHD Sit-ups

Vitamin D
-Zack Otte

If there was one supplement I’d recommend across the board for everyone it would be Vitamin D. The reason being is that you could be eating a perfectly clean Paleo diet and could still very likely sub-optimal Vitamin D levels. The RDA for Vitamin D of 600 IU is basically set at a level high enough to avoid significant bone health issues such as rickets. However this amount does not appear to be high enough to support maintain levels high enough to garner many of the other benefits of vitamin D. We recommend closer to 5,000 IU of vitamin D. This is in line with research findings from University of California Study San Diego and Creighton University showing that adults needed 4,000 – 8,000 IU of Vitamin D to maintain needed levels of Vitamin D to cut risks of several diseases in half included breast cancer, colon cancer, multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes. See the article here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110222140546.htm

Here are some of the conditions Vitamin D has been associated to help:
Rickets
Osteoporosis
Osteoarthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis
Influenza
Tuberculosis
Common cold and other upper respiratory tract infections.
Breast, Ovarian, Colon, Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma amongst other forms of cancer
Multiple Sclerosis
Cardiovascular disease
Diabetes
Systemic, chronic inflammation
Insulin sensitivity
Seasonal Depression

So, how do you get vitamin D? Direct sunlight is your best natural option, specifically through UV-B radiation. Although, considering we’re entering winter in Chicago, the sun is less intense, and I know I won’t be showing much skin outdoors, that may not be much of an option. In general 30 minutes of direct sunlight (no sun screen) during midday of the summer would produce about 10,000 IU of Vitamin D. This varies significantly with time of day, time of year and complexion of skin. For those trapped behind a desk from 9 -5, even getting enough sun in the summer may be tough. There are some food options, such as salmon, mackerel, and other oily fish and liver, but these can at best support the RDA amount, but won’t get you enough to see many of the above benefits. Supplementation really is your best option here. You want to supplement with D3. You may also see D2 available, but this not as effective for humans or animals. It’s a fairly inexpensive; I pay less than $10 for 4 month supply. It’s also a small pill, so easy to take. In general we say to take it with a meal once a day. Since your body stores it, you can double up doses. For example if I’m going away for the weekend, I’ll usually just take my dose for the whole weekend on Friday versus having to pack one more thing.

If you are having your blood work done and want to know where you’re at you can request a 25-hydroxy vitamin D test. Many of the benefits seem to be in the 35 – 55 ng/ml range based on this chart: http://freetheanimal.com/2009/12/vitamin-d-and-disease-incidence-prevention.html, which came from http://www.grassrootshealth.net/.

Here is some good additional reading that I pulled much of this information from:
http://www.eatmoveimprove.com/2009/10/a-closer-look-at-vitamin-d/#VD2
http://www.archevore.com/panu-weblog/2009/8/9/vitamin-d.html
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/vitamin-d-sun-exposure-supplementation-and-doses/

Click here to link to the Paleo blog!

Snatch 1-1-1-1-1

Post: 2k Row
Compare 26Feb11.

And we’re off!
-Zack Otte

We had a great turnout last night at the Paleo Challenge Kickoff. If you missed last night, but would still like to participate please email zack at crossfitchicago and let your coach know you need to get your dead hang pullups and handstand pushups tested to set your baseline. You’ll also need to get your before pictures taken. We’ll be setting up teams this week. Don’t wait until then to get started though, the Challenge has begun! So first order of business, what’s
for breakfast?

I’ve found you can just about any leftover meal into breakfast by throwing an egg or two over top, pulled pork and chuck roast are a
couple of favorites. At least once a week I’ll either skip breakfast or do something protein free like coconut milk with cinnamon, nutmeg and either a small banana or dab of raw honey. I put my coconut milk in the fridge so it thickens up and has the consistency of greek yogurt. This is a meal that has turned into a lot of cereals and dairy, so can be tricky. I wouldn’t worry if this meal is somewhat repetitive, if you find something works go with it. As best you can include some fat and protein into this meal. I’ll explain my once a week variation in another post, but it’s for a purpose and not all the time. For those in the Challenge or those playing from the sidelines, what are your go-to breakfast choices?

210 Burpees in.

Jerk
4×3

“Diane”
21-15-9 of:
Deadlift (225/155)
Handstand Push Ups

Compare to 29Jan11.

Post- 5×5 Box Jump, go higher than last week

Meadow Haven Farm
-Zack Otte

We’ve been having Meadow Haven Farms come to the box now for a little over a year. There are quite a few new members to the box since that initial visit, so I just wanted to give a quick background on why we invite them over. One of my main roles at CFC is to help members source quality meat and produce. The best way to do that is to bring farmers into the box that we know and who have great products. We try and have Meadow Haven Farms come once every 4-6 weeks supplying beef, pork, chicken and eggs and we also started a CSA this year with Granor Farms, which are those yellow bins full of vegetables you’re seeing on Saturday mornings.

Why did I choose Meadow Haven Farms? Mainly because Jess and I are happy customers. We first sampled their beef, pork, and eggs a couple of times at Green City Market and then we started purchasing bulk halves of hogs and cows from them and felt their product was really outstanding and wanted to share that with the rest of the community. Their standards matched up with the quality meats we encourage members to look for. This is a statement from their website that describes their overarching goals:

We at Meadow Haven Farm think of food as medicine. We strive to produce the highest quality nutrient-dense food possible. Food that is not only organic (free of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides), but also highly rich in minerals, vitamins and other nutrients. We are constantly working to enhance and re-mineralize the soils that feed the plants that feed the animals that feed you, the consumer. Learn more about our farming practices here.

They offer grass fed/finished beef that if you’re comparing to what you may have tried from Whole Foods, there is no comparison. In addition they have organic pastured pork of which you simply can’t find in retail markets. Their eggs are from pastured chickens and probably have been the best seller at the days they’ve been into the gym. They’re pretty familiar with crossfit in general as they also do meat days at Crossfit Bloomington-Normal, CrossFit TBC, and Quad Cities CrossFit. These relationships, along with us, is where the meatboxes came from. It was an effort by Meadow Haven to put together a sampling of their products at a discount to retail based on feedback from all the gyms they’ve been servicing.

It’s been a little while since we’ve had Meadow Haven Farms in, mainly because our schedules haven’t matched up. I know some of you have been going over and getting your meatboxes from their booth at Green City Market, but for those of you who haven’t met Jeremy yet and enjoy the convenience of having them to the gym, we’re excited to get him back over. They’ll be here from 9:30 – 10:30. He parks in the service lot and we’ll have the door on the northside of the parking garage open.

Info on the meatboxes can be viewed at: http://www.meadowhavenfarm.com/box_specials.html. If you’re interested in ordering one of these email me (zack at crossfitchicago) which option you want by Thursday evening. He will also have individual cuts available from what’s on hand in his cooler, no need to pre-order those.

Choose a hero!

For all the Heroes
-Zack Otte

Saturday will not be a normal workout day, instead in honor of the men and women who lost their lives on September 11, it will be a Hero Workout day. The structure of the day is a little different than our standard single scheduled wod, instead you will get to choose your wod from the list of Hero Wods on crossfit.com. A couple of things to think about:

This is our way as a community to show tribute to the fallen soldiers, police officers and firefighters who gave their lives protecting the freedoms we enjoy. Read the stories on the name saint of the workout you chose, do a google search on them. The story of Navy Seal Lt. Michael (“Murph”) Murphy’s courage and selflessness is absolutely amazing. I can guarantee these stories will give a little extra energy on the day.

These are great workouts to do in groups. Even though this isn’t going to be your typical class setting with everyone doing the same workout, the same camaraderie and competitive environment that helps you push through normal class wod’s will help today as well. Grab a couple fellow members and tackle the same workout.

Turn any Hero WOD into a partner WOD. The 31 Heroes WOD is a designed partner wod, but feel free to make an Hero WOD into a partner WOD however you see fit. One partner can work while the other rests, you could both be working doing alternate movements, you could add a running or burpee element, etc. If you want some advice, suggestions, or just want some reassurance run your thoughts by any coach.
Every one of these workouts is a true physical and mental test, none of them are “easy” in any way. We want you to challenge yourself, but as always check your ego at the door. Make sure to warm up appropriately for the workout you’ve chosen, find a coach if you’re unsure.

No fitness goal is ever reached while injured.

Consider your fellow members when choosing your workout.
One bar per member, which depending on the workout may mean you’ll need to change weights between movements.
Some of the Hero wods take up a lot of room or require a lot of equipment, be considerate of the number of other members working out and the space limitations we may have when chosing your wod. Along with this, we’ll make every effort to accommodate the wod you’ve chosen, but don’t be disappointed if a coach steers you in a different direction due to space or for any other reason.
Be aware of the other members and their workouts, especially when transitioning between movements. The coaches will do their best to position folks in the best spot possible to keep a safe workout environment. At the same time always be aware of your surroundings. Take a little extra care and travel the bar down versus just dropping from the top, don’t spike the kettlebells, use your box as a barrier between you and people working on the platform and so on.

All of the workouts are long, but try and keep it to an hour or less.
We have a limited number of ropes, GHD machines, rowers, pullup bar space, weight vests, be understanding if you chose a workout that require these and have to wait at times during your workout.
Be understanding if a coach asks you to move mid workout. These are all long workouts, a little bit of an extra break won’t ruin your workout, you’ll just be able to hit your next set of reps that much harder.
Have fun with it and don’t forget this day isn’t just about your workout, it’s a tribute to those men and women who are risking their lives every day for us.