Walnut Crossfit

Jose on the Rowing Station

All of you come in here and bust your butts for 1 hr. I’m a witness to that. But what do you do with the other 23 hrs in the day? Are you eating items that will help you get that trimmer and stronger physique? Or are you stopping at a local fast food joint. What you do with the other 23hrs of your day is EXTREMELY important. Your have selected the best training regimen/workout on the planet, now don’t you think it’s time to do the same with your diet?

Tricia at this last weekends Fight Gone Bad workout

What community of people do you choose to be around? Have you thought about the impact that your community, your friends, your associates have on you? Are you around people that live in drama, like to gossip and talk about other people, criticize, blame, are generally negative, pessimistic, complain, or take no responsibility for themselves or for their actions? Did you realize that behaviors of the people in your community have an impact on you? And what about health – can that be affected too? The answer to that is definitely YES, “Taking up smoking is contagious; so is quitting. Obesity is contagious. So is happiness.” (from the NY Times – Social Medicine) Do yourself a favor and take a look around you… are you in the environment and around the people who’s lives and commitments look like those you’d like yours to resemble? If not, maybe it’s time for a change.

As the video below describes much better than words, the simplest things in life (like getting out of bed to the sound of the alarm clock at “zero dark-thirty”) are definitely NOT easy. Yet the results from making those simple choices day after day after day after day make all the differences in your life. The people getting the best results out of life aren’t any better at something than anyone else, they’re just not willing to not let the little voice that says things like “I don’t have time, I’m too tired, it’s too cold, I’ve got too much other stuff to do, I’ll just do more tomorrow” lead the way. Simple… not easy.

Fight Gone Bad Workout at West Covina Fire Dept.

Thank you to everyone that showed up Saturday morning at the West Covina Fire Dept. to do the Fight Gone Bad workout. Also, thank you to those that did not show up, but still purchased a T-shirt. 100% of the proceeds will be going to a very worthy cause.

Aren's 1st Class with us. Way to go Aren!

Really, let’s think about it — what are we doing here?? Sometimes it’s good to take life with a grain of salt. Is it really the end of the world if your time isn’t a couple seconds faster? Are you really a horrible person because you failed on your final attempt on the clean? Yes, it is important to have goals, and it is important to be one hundred percent committed to yourself and what you want. We should always be pushing ourselves to learn more, go harder, and accomplish our biggest and best. But, it’s not good to be so married to the results you imagine before hand, that the results you actually get don’t feel good. So, when it doesn’t quite work out the way you wanted – shrug it off, laugh it off, and come back tomorrow for more.

I know the holidays often end up taking us far from home, sometimes for a couple of weeks at a time. If you’re looking to keep moving forward with your fitness, but don’t want to find a gym or take tons of time to do it almost nothing beats sprints – no equipment required. Just get dressed, warm up and head outside. The length of the block. Three telephone poles. Pick any distance you want – there is no magic number. If it’s short, do it 10 times, if it’s long, do it 3. You can even pick a rest interval you like – how about 2 or 3 times your work time? I promise it’ll be a short workout that definitely won’t leave you feeling out of touch with your fitness routine.

Another fun idea that will definitely challenge your fitness – learn to juggle. No kidding. It improves your coordination and balance, as well as stimulates permanent connections between nerve cells (think riding a bike). Not all workouts have to leave you a quivering ball of jelly on the floor like our CrossFit workouts.

Mike & Raul knocking out Thrusters

Why do we practice the fundamentals over and over again? So that when we do a complex movement that requires speed (like a jerk, clean or snatch), our bodies already know how to do the fundamental elements without much thought, and we can work on the more technical nuances of the lift and on developing the proper motor engrams (pattern or sequence). This is typically known as “practice” – as in practicing dribbling a soccer ball, or shooting a free throw, and is usually not referenced in regard to fitness. Do you participate in a sport that requires practice? If so, what is it, and what are you doing for practice?

Darlene completing "Angie"

Like a lot of things in life, we are more likely to be successful if our family and those close to us support what we are doing. If the people who care about us also care about our goals, they can help us achieve them or, at the very least, not get in the way of our goals. Imagine, that I wasn’t the only one holding you accountable, but your family made sure you got up and got to the gym, as well. Maybe, you could even inspire them toward bettering their own fitness.

What does your family think of CrossFit? Do they think you’re nuts? Are they proud of you? Would they ever come do a workout?

Tricia completing "Angie"

In a study recently done at the University of Oxford with the men’s crew team, researchers found that members of a team that train together can tolerate twice as much pain as when they train on their own (read the article ) Does this help to explain why CrossFit workouts are most effective when done in a group, with a community? Does this correspond to what you’ve found on your own? Do you scores improve, times drop, lifts increase when you CrossFit with a group as opposed to on your own? Post thoughts to comments.

She's baaaaaaackkk! Tina Garza!

Most people don’t start CrossFitting because they want to work on nutrition and/or the food that they eat. This usually comes many months or years into the game, when they realize that if they made a few better choices during the week, they could improve their performance and get better, faster or stronger. Are you there yet? Wether you are or not, I’m here to support you - with great recipes and challenges.