Home Sweet Home Gym

For months, all the exercise equipment in our garage has been hidden behind walls of boxes, couches, tables, and chairs. But after a LOOOONG week of cleaning and moving, my favorite space in the house (other than the kitchen) is back.

With all the furniture and moving boxes cleared out of the garage, I was able to put down some new compressed rubber flooring to replace the old foam mats that covered three-quarters of the floor. (Horse stall mats from the old CrossFit Palo Alto flower shop location cover the rest.) Michelle was the first to test out the new floor the other night-- with double-unders and sit-ups.

Although I've missed the last couple of 5 a.m. classes at the gym (finding childcare for the wee hours of the morning ain't easy), I can once again duck into the garage to squeeze in some thrusters, rope climbs, box jumps, pull-ups, and kettlebell cleans and presses.

It's good to be home.

Link Dump

I've been laying low this week.

It's not by choice. The house is still wrecked, which means we're well into the second month of living in a hotel. Which means the grandparents don't have room to crash overnight when Michelle's working. Which means I have no babysitters at 5 a.m. Which means no gym. Which means I'm cranky and restless.

Maybe it's a good thing that I'm forced into taking a few days off. My right shoulder has been bothering me for over a week now, and I might as well give it some extra time to recover.

Plus, I've been slammed with work, kid stuff, and the Nom Nom Paleo iPad App. (Yes, still. We're feverishly working on a new update to fix the update that was supposed to fix the previous update, but didn't. Got that?) So getting a few extra hours of sleep is a good thing. 

I'm hitting the sack, but if you're looking for something to read, check out these links:

• The New York Times wrote up a nice piece about CrossFit and Memorial Day Murph.

• "The Paleo Diet Moves From The Gym To The Doctor's Office" (NPR)

• Our friend Stacy Toth from Paleo Parents is the "Face of Paleo" in Women's World!

• Holy crap. Tickets for this year's CrossFit Games are sold out. The Home Depot Center is at capacity. I fully expect that it'll be a bazillion times crazier than last year. (And it was already pretty insane last year.) To whet your appetite for the competition, check out the Regional summary videos here.

• The Wirecutter recently researched and wrote a lengthy piece on the best standing desks. Check it out, because your office chair is killing you.

• Last but not least: Glazed-donut-flavored vodka exists. Be afraid.

Reebok CrossFit Nano 2.0 Shoes

I almost forgot until Tim reminded me: The brand new Reebok CrossFit Nano 2.0 shoes are available starting today! I just picked up a pair of red ones...



...and a pair of gray ones, too.

I know I just got some new inov-8s a couple of weeks ago, but I couldn't resist. Besides: (1) I miss my trashed Game of Death shoes, (2) some sizes are already selling out, and (3) I am a shoe whore.

Don't you worry, my brand new f-Lite 195s. I still love you. Stop looking at me like that.

(By the way, Reebok.com has free shipping, and offers a color that CrossFit's online shop doesn't carry: Orange. However, Reebok's site doesn't carry the men's blue shoes with the red laces, so you Captain America types -- hello, Terminator -- will just have to pay a few extra bucks for shipping.)

Are These the Next Reebok CrossFit Nanos?

Tim's eagle eyes spotted what looks to be a pair of prototype Reebok CrossFit Nano shoes on an athlete at Reebok CrossFit One.

It's hard to tell from this one snapshot, but the toe, tongue, and heel look different from those of the current model.

Can't wait to see this up close. But in the meantime, I need to go shopping for a new pair of shoes. My Game of Death shoes are thrashed.

[Source]

WOD Toys

My kids are a little too big for these toys, but I'm sure there are plenty of tykes out there who'd get a kick out of having their own toddler-sized set of CrossFit gear.

Heck, I think I might get a set anyway. I bet I'd set a new Fran PR with that barbell.

[Source: WOD Toys]

The Swiss Army Knife of CrossFit Equipment

Jeff Tucker of CrossFit Gymnastics is about to start selling one of the most versatile-looking pieces of CrossFit equipment I've ever seen: The Iron Beam. More info here.

It goes without saying, but I want one.

What Does It Take To Turn the Heads of New Yorkers?

Another Reebok CrossFit video filmed in New York City:



I'm sure the handstand walk across the street turned some heads, but it looks like most New Yorkers didn't bat an eye when they passed elite CrossFitters doing kipping pullups on construction scaffolding or air squats on the sidewalk. (I liked watching them jump over each other -- it looked like fun -- but Manhattanites are used to seeing that sort of thing done with more panache.) Folks probably just assumed that these firebreathers were participating in an afternoon bootcamp exercise program. And who could blame them, when they're accustomed to encountering much more eye-popping spectacles around town?

Here are a few examples.

No Pants Subway Rides:



UFOs:



Grocery Store Musicals:



Flying People:



This Guy:



What CrossFit WOD do you think would stop New Yorkers in their tracks? My vote's for Amanda:

Empire State Building WOD

Where to next?

I Don't Remember Being This Awesome In Eighth Grade

She's 13 and holds 8 weightlifting records. Plus, she CrossFits. And eats Paleo.



In addition, she wears "BACON" socks by Gumball Poodle (which, incidentally, also made Nom Nom Paleo's socks).

In contrast, my eighth grade year was devoted to sticking baseball cards in protective plastic sheets and fighting the good fight against acne.

Anybody Can Do Anything

I love working out at CrossFit Palo Alto before the sun is up. I love getting stronger and faster. I love learning new skills. I love the competition, and watching elite athletes go beast mode at the Games. But the thing I love most about CrossFit are the people who do it, from my fellow 5 a.m. nutjobs to Maddy at Saratoga High School, who DOES. NOT. QUIT.


"Anybody can do anything" indeed.

"The Sport of Fitness Has Arrived"

Football fans: Watch for the new Reebok CrossFit commercial during the Giants-Packers NFC divisional playoff game tomorrow.

You've got to hand it to Reebok -- the company's throwing itself into its partnership with CrossFit. AdAge just ran a piece on Reebok's new marketing campaign for CrossFit, and it's full of interesting tidbits. The ones that jumped out at me:

• In April, Reebok's opening "a combined gym and store location on Fifth Avenue in New York."

• Reebok plans to "outfit shipping containers as mobile CrossFit gyms and deliver them to 50 locations around the world, as a means of encouraging people to try CrossFit."

• "The Sport of Fitness Has Arrived" campaign will be Reebok's main marketing push for 2012, [Reebok marketing VP Viktoria] Wallner said. It will also highlight other Reebok products, such as RealFlex, ZigTech and EasyTone." (EasyTone? As part of "The Sport of Fitness Has Arrived" campaign? Really?)

What do you think? Awesome? Or worrisome? And how long before Kenny Powers adds his two cents about the sport of fitness not being a "real sport"?



[Source: AdAge, CNBC]

Reebok Oly Shoes: First Impression

It's been a few days since my Reebok CrossFit Oly shoes arrived, but I haven't yet worked out in them.

Part of me doesn't want to even put them on -- I'd rather just look at them lovingly, and keep them in mint condition forever. But that's just my inner nerdy baseball card / comic book collector talking. The other part of me can't wait to get these suckers on my feet and into the gym.

This afternoon, I broke the shoes out of the box and gave 'em a good once-over.

The Reebok Oly shoe feels a lot lighter than most other weightlifting shoes, owing largely to a heel made of injected thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) rather than wood. I'm guessing the triangular indentations in the heel cut the shoes' weight even further, though I can't say I'm a huge fan of the resulting zigzag design. (It reminds me too much of the barfy-looking outsoles on the Reebok Zigs.)

That said, the vamp of the shoe is extremely soft and flexible. The tread/score lines on the front of the sole underscore the emphasis on free forefoot movement. Combined with the lightness of the shoe (mine weighed just 13.8 ounces -- yes, I checked), I'm guessing these suckers'll do just fine in a WOD that pairs Oly lifts with box jumps or double-unders.

My pair fit well right out of the box -- and not just because the shoe features a nicely-padded collar and a snug heel counter. Reebok appears to have fixed the sizing problem it had a few months ago. (As you may recall, the yellow Nanos sold at the Games ran about one size too big.)

Another issue I had with the prototype Nanos were that the laces were too short. Reebok appears to have addressed that concern as well:

Actually, this photo shows both pairs of laces -- red and black -- that came with the shoe. The red ones are snazzy, but I think I'm going to stick with the black ones.

And let's not forget about the custom-fitting U-Form shoe lining. As with the Nanos, you can bake the Oly shoes in the oven at 200°F for 3 minutes and then put them on. As they cool, the lining of the shoes will mold to the shape of your feet. This may be the closest thing to a perfect-fitting weightlifting shoe on the market.

Mine are now baked and ready to go. 

By the way, it's a little thing, but I love that the little U-Form tab on the sides turn red when the shoes have been baked. (They turn black again once the shoes cool down.)

I know that not everyone's sold on plastic heels over wood ones, and I'll probably stick with my wooden-heeled Adidas weightlifting shoes when I'm focusing on my lifts. But for CrossFit WODs that combine Olympic lifts with jumping around or hanging off a pull-up bar, this flexible, lightweight shoe certainly looks promising. I'll report back once I've had a chance to test drive them a bit more.

[Previously: My review of the Reebok CrossFit Nanos]

A-Team Oly Shoes

Look what came in the mail while we were in Mexico:

Reebok CrossFit Oly Shoes!

I'm going to have a hard time wearing these without this running through my head.

Link Dump

I was going to post about my workout today, but that would require that I actually work out.



Instead, I've just been hanging out with the family and eating insane amounts of meat while on vacation here in Cabo (and plugging along on some extracurricular homework for Nom Nom Paleo). I did, however, gather a bunch of interesting reads for you to chew on:

• This op-ed piece in The Atlantic's been making the rounds. Three longtime vegetarians and vegans discuss how they came to understand that eating meat and other animal products is not only healthful, but also ethically and environmentally sound. Read it here.

• According to the New York Times, coffee can boost your athletic performance by "enabl[ing] more forceful muscular contractions and delay[ing] fatigue.” CoffeeWOD, anyone?

• You should already be reading all of the sites featured in Outside Magazine's list of the blogosphere's top ten fitness blogs -- especially MobilityWOD, Conditioning Research, and RunBlogger.

• Is Bob Harper really going to be putting his "Biggest Loser" team on a CrossFit-focused training regimen next season? I might actually have to start watching the show again.

• Serious Eats recently posted Pat LaFrieda's video responses to readers' meat-related questions. Good stuff -- especially if you're interested in butchery.

• I enjoyed the crap out of this post on Lift Big Eat Big: "10 Excuses For Not Exercising & Why They Are Horsesh*t."

• Health Tip of the Day: Do not eat cocaine out of your brother's butt.

Bye for now.

Reebok's E-Commerce DNF

Say what you will about Reebok, but you can't say it doesn't own up to its mistakes.

The Reebok CrossFit Facebook page lit up this morning with complaints from folks who tried desperately to buy the newly-offered Oly shoes before they sell out, but failed due to system issues on Reebok's end. Some apparently spent hours on Reebok's site, trying in vain to purchase the shoes. (I was able to get through without any problems, but it looks I was one of the lucky ones.)

The silver lining for Reebok? The demand for its CrossFit shoes is off the charts. Clearly, there are plenty of us who need shoes to match our Kool-Aid mustaches.

CrossFit: One of America's 25 Hottest Brands

Yup -- AdAge recently named CrossFit one of America's hottest 25 brands (along with "My Little Pony," pickle juice, and pads for light bladder leakage).

The most eye-opening line in the article: CrossFit expects to grow to "30,000 affiliates in five years."

Yowza.

[Source]

Just So You Know, We Don't All Wear Gas Masks To The Post Office

My pal J-Ho recently circulated the best news article I've read in a long, long time: On Tuesday, Long Hoang, a nursing student here in the San Francisco Bay Area, touched off a full-scale emergency at a busy San Jose post office.

How, you ask?

By wearing what appeared to be a gas mask and body armor, running to the post office, and trying to jam an oversized package down a mailbox.

Not surprisingly, someone called the authorities, and the post office was shut down for four hours while the area was combed by San Jose Police's bomb squad, the Fire Department's hazardous materials unit, and a team from the U.S. Postal Inspector's Office. They even brought in a robot to blow up the package that Hoang was seen stuffing into the mailbox.

Here's the story, as reported by the San Jose Mercury News:

About 12 weeks ago, Hoang became an avid follower of the CrossFit exercise regimen, which he said, exuberantly, combines "this really creative combination of weight lifting, gymnastics and rowing." He wears the mask to simulate high-altitude training. Hoang, who is 5 feet 4 inches, said he's lost at least 20 pounds, and is now 142 pounds. 

Many neighbors in the area frequently spot him running in his gear, doing squats and lunges at corners while he waits for the light to turn green. 

As Hoang tells the story, he mistakenly received a package of calendars at his home, and thought he'd mail them back to the proper recipient while on an exercise run. The package didn't fit the first time in the mail box, he said, so he had to fold it up and try a second time.

I love how the reporter made sure to characterize Hoang's "exuberance" for CrossFit, as if it weren't already obvious from the guy's choice of workout apparel.

Reebok CrossFit: A New World Record

As part of last Friday's Guinness World Records Day, Joe Hill of 3D Joe and Max partnered with Reebok CrossFit to complete the world's largest and longest 3D street painting ever seen. The artwork measured 1,160.4 meters by 105.6 meters, and was displayed in London's Canary Wharf.

I'm not sure why Reebok didn't aim for a record that's a little more CrossFit-oriented (Longest tire-flipping relay? Highest box jump? Most consecutive ring handstand push-ups or double-unders?) -- but the optical illusion presented here is pretty amazing nonetheless.






[Source]

Hello, World.

With The Biggest Loser's Bob Harper putting Jillian Michaels through a CrossFit WOD beatdown on "The Doctors" AND Reebok taking out a full-page ad featuring Rich Froning in People Magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" issue, is this the week when our little cult suddenly enters America's mainstream consciousness?

(I kind of wish Rich Froning was wearing the new Reebok CrossFit Nano shoes instead of the nubby RealFlex, though.)

Want to bet on whether Bob Harper'll incorporate CrossFit training into The Biggest Loser next season?

A New Craze

It seems like every week for the past couple of years, yet another local news report about CrossFit pops up.

Oh, and here's another one.

Funny how in just about every single story, CrossFit's described as a "new craze" that's hitting the scene.