Have you met Randi yet? She is one of our four new folks doing the two week trial.  We have enjoyed having you guys around...Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Can you believe Alexis is still in here working hard everyday!  Nice work Alexis.

REMINDER:  THE GYM IS CLOSED SATURDAY - MONDAY FOR LABOR DAY!

More bad news...NO AM CLASSES TUESDAY MORNING...WE RE-OPEN @ 9am Tuesday morning with a regular schedule....VERY SORRY AM'ers.

So what are you doing with your long weekend?  Hopefully something fun and relaxing.  I want to apologize personally for closing the gym Tuesday morning, but we have two trainers out of town and don't have an alternative for Tuesday.  So fill up the rest of the classes.  We know you will be chomping at the bit to get your WOD in. 

Next week, I am going to Calgary, Canada to attend a week of seminars with James Fitzgerald, also known as OPT in the CrossFit world.  I am going to learn how to bring more pain to you in the gym. Seriously though, OPT is a great coach and trainer that has played a big role in the developement of CrossFit and has played a huge role in the way we are programming right now.  I am really looking forward to attending his seminar so I can come back smarter (we all know I need it) and better prepared to help you all reach ALL of your fitness goals.

Have a great long weekend and I will be looking forward to seeing you all next week.  Until then, don't give Danielle, Liz, Billy, Marie, Vas and Chandler too much of a hard time. 

Some great thoughts about Cleans by the infamous Sage

5 of the most important things to ever think about when doing cleans
. . . And by cleans I don’t mean squat cleans ’cause those don’t exist.
Written by Sage Burgener

#1: Think about your chest

I may have mentioned it before (I can never remember anymore), but keeping your chest up is extremely important in the lifts. If your torso comes forward at all, (which it actually will most of the time due to inflexibility, but still try to think about keeping it as tall and proud as possible) that generally will put your weight on your toes making it extremely hard to stand up with the barbell. A tall chest makes for a much more stable position whether it be in a front squat or an overhead squat or even when pulling off the ground.

#2: Think about your elbows

Elbows turn around the same time that the feet hit the ground. I don’t mean turn them around in a T-Rex/reverse curl kind of way. I mean getting the elbows high and outside (which is happening as you pull yourself down. Read on, and this will make sense), and down and around REALLY fracking fast. The faster the elbows, the more comfortable you will feel receiving that barbell. Elbows can be EVERYTHING on a clean. Every time you have slow elbows on a clean, God kills a kitten.

#3: Think about Britney Spears

This is one of those common sense things that definitely doesn’t need any explanation.

#4: Pull yourself under the bar

Do NOT jump and drop under that barbell. Jump up (getting as tall as possible (ATAP)) and when you cannot possibly get any taller, IMMEDIATELY change your hip direction from going up, to going down by physically pulling yourself down and around that barbell. If you try to jump and drop, that bar is going to beat you down EVERY SINGLE TIME (I don’t know why I’m really into using caps lock right now). However, if you pull yourself under the bar (not pull the bar up with your arms), you can guarantee that there will be no crashing of that bar on your chest and you will receive it in a much more comfortable position.  Nobody likes walking around with baseball size bruised clavicles…that I know of.

Which leads me into my last point…

#5: Become one with the barbell

If you pull yourself under the bar, you know where it is in space and you can avoid having that barbell come up really high and smack you right in the throat or nose or forehead (we’ve all had it happen). Not knowing where the barbell is means that you are not in control of it. That bar WANTS to be controlled. It wants you to meet it wherever it is (since when did a barbell start developing personality traits?). So just do it, ok? Be more Zen-like with that barbell

Look at what you did in August...time to start filling up the empty board for September!

Sport

by Toby Watson

So why do you CrossFit?  Some of you to get in shape, some to get in shape, some because it's fun and provides a community, some to compete in CrossFit, some so you can drink heavily and eat crap, and some to compete better at other sports. 

I want to address the other sports part.  CrossFit is amazing, but it is designed to help/allow you to play other sports better.  CrossFit increases your athletic ability so you can compete in other sports.  A prime of example of this is Sam C.  He plays a lot of Ultimate Frisbee and uses CrossFit as his training methodology to allow him to keep up on the field.  And sure enough he is reaping the benefits of the training and playing better than he has in a long time.

So why this little article.  Because I want to encourage all of you to go out and PLAY!  If you have a sport you already like great, play it more often, if you have never taken part in other sports give it a whirl and see what happens.  We will be doing a few sports Saturdays here in the near future at CFOTM and we hope you will all come out and play.

Enough rambling on.  If any of you have activities you are involved in and what others to take part in let me know and I will do my best to put them in our events calendar and put them on the blog.  I know a lot of you cycle, play softball and several other activities.  Let us know when and where and you just might get a few extra players!

SCHEDULE:

September 4-6:  THE GYM IS CLOSED FOR LABOR DAY!  TAKE SOME TIME OFF AND HAVE FUN!

September 25th: We are going to close the gym to go to CROSSFIT SMYRNA for FGB V!  The event starts @ 9am and should be done by 12.  It's going to be great.   Click here to Register! Your Team is CFOTM and donate some money to one of these great funds.

September 25th:  CFOTM end of summer pool party.  Bring your family and friends.  The party will start @ 2pm after a good hard days competition.

*There are several competitions coming up between now and February.  We will do our best to keep you posted on them all.  CrossFit Dahlonega has moved their even to November...Look out for details.

Happy Birthday Laura!

by Toby Watson

I know all of you morning folks and many of you evening folks know Laura.  She has been with CFOTM since we first opened and we were finding our way!  I chose this picture for a reason.  Laura is one of the most dedicated (sometimes a little too much) athletes I have ever met.  Laura has a training plan and she has stuck with it since day one...now that has resulted in a lot of fun things for her like pull-ups without a band, heavy squats, deadlifts, handstands and a number of other things.

Laura has also proven to be extremely mentally and physically tough.  If you look back in our archives you will see photos of Laura bleeding at least once a week.  She didn't seem to have a a good relationship with the boxes, kettlebells or pull-up bars...YES ALL OF THESE HAVE PUT LAURA ON THE FLOOR AT LEAST ONCE. But every single time she gets up and no matter how intimidated she is by something (because it has caused her pain) she always finds a way to conquer it. 

Laura I want to thank you for all the help in and out of the gym (and for helping us understand Jerry).  We hope you have a delightful birthday and an even better year here at CFOTM!

SCHEDULE:

September 4-6:  THE GYM IS CLOSED FOR LABOR DAY!  TAKE SOME TIME OFF AND HAVE FUN!

September 25th: We are going to close the gym to go to CROSSFIT SMYRNA for FGB V!  The event starts @ 9am and should be done by 12.  It's going to be great.   Click here to Register! Your Team is CFOTM and donate some money to one of these great funds.

September 25th:  CFOTM end of summer pool party.  Bring your family and friends.  The party will start @ 2pm after a good hard days competition.

*There are several competitions coming up between now and February.  We will do our best to keep you posted on them all.  CrossFit Dahlonega has moved their even to November...Look out for details.

Dr. Heather D! is back in full swing with us...glad to have you back DOCTOR!

Bryan I am putting you on the blog looking for some frequent flyer miles on Delta....did it work?

High Protein Chicken Pizza
Scott Hagnas
2008-04-01

This is a quick and convenient way to make pizza, and you won't have to eat any extra meat on the side in order to get in your protein! Here, we'll just use a chicken breast as the crust. After the basic directions, I provide recipes for two old favorites. You can make any style of pizza you like this way, just follow the basic guidelines.

Time: 30 minutes

For the "crust":

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 Tbsp olive oil

Pizza sauce:

• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 2 Tbsp finely chopped red onion
• 1 6 oz can tomato paste
• 1 8 oz can tomato sauce
• 1 tsp black pepper

Toppings for the Italian sausage and olive pizza:

• 3 oz Italian sausage
• chopped black olives
• chopped mushrooms
• chopped red onions
• 1 Tbsp tahini

Toppings for the Canadian bacon and pineapple pizza:

• 2 oz sliced Canadian bacon
• chopped pineapple

To create the "crust", use a mallet to pound the chicken breasts into flat, thin crusts. This will take a little effort - you might not want to try this right after finishing a grueling workout of deadlifts and rope climbs! While you are pounding, preheat the oven to broil. Once you have two thin, approximately round "crusts", they are ready to bake.

Spread the olive oil on a baking pan. Brush each side of the chicken with the oil, then place the pan in the oven. Broil for 1 1/2 minutes, then flip the chicken over and broil for 1 1/2 minutes on the other side. Remove from the oven, and now the pizzas are ready to top. Reduce the oven heat to 350 degrees.

Meanwhile, make the pizza sauce. Warm the tomato paste and tomato sauce in a small saucepan. In a separate small skillet, saute the garlic and onion for 3 minutes, then add them to the tomato mixture. (Basil and oregano would be good additions to the recipe at this point, as well. When I prepared this, we were away from home, and I didn't have access to our spices) Mix to combine well. Simmer on low.

Spread the pizza sauce on the broiled chicken "crusts". Add the toppings of your choice. Place the pizzas back into the oven, baking for around 12-15 minutes. They are then ready to slice and serve.

Zone info: This really depends on your toppings, and the size of your chicken breasts. 1 oz chicken = 1 block protein. The pizza sauce as above totals 5 carb blocks, 26 fat blocks. Add the info for your toppings to get an accurate total.

Meet Xena...She has just joined our CrossFit Family...make sure and welcome her in.

Mobility and Functionality

by Toby Watson

Have you guys ever heard of Kelly Starrett?  If not you need to check him out as soon as you can.  He is the owner of CrossFit San Diego and the Mobility coach for CrossFit.  He puts on seminars for CrossFit HQ and he is doing one here in November @ CrossFit Atlanta.   The Saturday session is sold out, but I am already signed up for the Sunday session and I can't wait to go.

But if you can't go or decide you have better things to do take a look as his new website: http://www.mobilitywod.blogspot.com/

If I were you I would go back to his first post and watch the entire video and start doing the homework he assigns on a regular basis.  It will help you immensley with soreness, flexibility and performance and it is totally free...all you have to do is do the work.

His homework takes less than 10 minutes every night and you will see your body and performance change for the better in a short amount of time.  So get on it and do the homework!

SCHEDULE NOTES:

September 11th: CrossFit Alpharetta will be hosting the  CrossFit KB Certification w/ Jeff Martone.  Sign-up today!

Labor Day Weekend:  The gym will be closed September 4, 5 and 6 for the Holiday! So make plans and get after it! 

SEPTEMBER 25th - FIGHT GONE BAD FUNDRAISER!  Guys this is a great cause that I strongly support.  Click here to Register!  We are going to try and pack the gym full and do FGB and raise some money for these great causes! 

Sat, September 25 - 12 noon to 3 pm -- END OF SUMMER POOL PARTY
380 Grant Circle, Atlanta, 30315

OCTOBER 9th - CrossFit Dahlonega is hosting another competition...the details aren't posted yet but as soon as they are we will post them.  But let's get as many of you signed up as we can.

Shoulder Stretch w/ Rope
Written by Calvin Sun

This is an easy follow-up stretch to the tricep stretch as you are already in the starting position.

-Start standing straight up with your right hand over and your left hand under.
-Actively reach as high as you can on your back with your left hand.
-Use your right hand to gently pull the rope up and increase the stretch felt in your shoulder.

Perform 5 cycles of 5 seconds of contraction and 10 seconds of passive stretching. Switch sides and repeat the same process.

Try incorporating this stretch into your post-workout routine as often as possible.

Still not sure how to perform this stretch? Feel free to ask one of your coaches.

Liz H. working hard through the Jerks!

Why Tracking Your Workouts is Important and How to Use the Information

-by Toby Watson

Are you tracking your scores after each workout?  The weight you lifted, the time you completed the WOD in?  We have provided you all with a great tool in Beyond the Whiteboard to track all of your scores online so you can go back and see how far you have come.  We have given you as the athlete the responsiblity of keeping track of your stats.

You might be asking why does it matter if I keep track of my scores? I just show up and do what Toby or Mariah tell me to do.  Well your fitness and progress really depend on you knowing where you started and where you are headed.  As you check the WOD for the day if we have done one of the lifts before you should go onto beyond the whiteboard and see what your last time or weight was so that you have a starting point when you come into the gym.

The strength component of before the WOD usually has you do doing reps of 4-8, with  no prescibed weight.  The reason the weight is not prescibed is so you can work on your strengh needs.  So by knowing what you lifted last time you know where to start which is usually somwhere between 75-85% of your 1 rep max.

So for example today we are doing power cleans.  My 1RM is 205 so during my 15 minutes to work on power cleans I will warm-up with the bar and and then IF MY FORM IS GOOD I will do a set of 3 @ 70% of 205 which is about 145#. If my form is good (no rounding of the back on the pull, full extention of the hips and quick elbows) I will do another set of 3 @ 75% which is about 155# and move up in 5% increments as long as I am able to do so with PERFECT FORM.

Monday we did back squats for 3 sets of 5 reps. You should have come in knowing your previous 1RM from CFT and your starting weight should have been between 75-80% of that number and then you should have moved up from there.  With your last set closer to 85-90% of your 1RM.  If you have never done a 1RM that is ok, you would start with your last lift from the last time we did squats and move up or down from there.

So to help us help you reach all of your goals...KEEP TRACK OF YOUR WORKOUTS!  If you don't have a login...tell us and we will get you set up today!

Keep up the great work!

SCHEDULE NOTES:

September 11th: CrossFit Alpharetta will be hosting the  CrossFit KB Certification w/ Jeff Martone.  Sign-up today!

Labor Day Weekend:  The gym will be closed September 4, 5 and 6 for the Holiday! So make plans and get after it! 

SEPTEMBER 25th - FIGHT GONE BAD FUNDRAISER!  Guys this is a great cause that I strongly support.  Click here to Register!  We are going to try and pack the gym full and do FGB and raise some money for these great causes! 

SEPTEMBER  25th- Pool Party after FBG!

OCTOBER 9th - CrossFit Dahlonega is hosting another competition...the details aren't posted yet but as soon as they are we will post them.  But let's get as many of you signed up as we can.

Survival of the Fittest Group Photo!

Hey guys sorry for the delay in the recap of the weekend.  I was traveling and wasn't able to take care of the blog while I was gone.

We had several great competitors this past weekend and from all accounts everyone performed exceptionally well!

Joey K. - Was our top mail performer placing 6th in his heat!  He was in the Top heat with some of this years games competitors!  Very impressive Joey for your first competition!

Daniel E - Came to play hard but had to step out with a bad Ear Infection

Billy N. - Won his heat and performed excellent as usual!

Danille B - Was bummed but had to work and wasn't able to dominate this competition but the next one is coming soon!

Laura H - Took sixth in her heat and looked impressive!  Can't wait to see her doing everything Rx...

Wendy S - Took third in her heat...and is getting ever so close to doing everything RX as well! 

Rebekah H - Sorry Bekah I didn't hear how you finished out, but we are very proud of you!

* I hope I didn't miss anyone...if I did I will make it up to you

Here are some links to some photos from the weekend if you haven't already seen them!

Kacie Nickles photos.

And Kath from Crossfit NorthAtlanta

*We had a great showing of support out there too and I want to make sure you all know how much we appreciate it! BUT NEXT TIME WE WANT YOU ALL COMPETING!

SCHEDULE NOTES:

September 11th: CrossFit Alpharetta will be hosting the  CrossFit KB Certification w/ Jeff Martone.  Sign-up today!

Labor Day Weekend:  The gym will be closed September 4, 5 and 6 for the Holiday! So make plans and get after it! 

SEPTEMBER 25th - FIGHT GONE BAD FUNDRAISER!  Guys this is a great cause that I strongly support.  Click here to Register!  We are going to try and pack the gym full and do FGB and raise some money for these great causes! 

Meet Lisa H, from CrossFit Evolution, in Orlando, Fl!  She has re-located to Atlanta and is working for the Ga Aquarium! 

Meet Dan who is joining us from CrossFit Peachtree after moving down to Grant Park!

A pretty good treat here below.

Lemon Tarts
Nikki Young
2005-12-01

Pastry

. 1 cup almond meal
. 3 Tbsp lemon juice
. 4 dates Filling
. 6 Tbsp lemon juice
. 1 finely grated lemon rind
. 1 Tbsp honey
. 2 eggs

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (fan-forced). To make the pastry, place ingredients into a blender and mix until well combined. In a muffin tray (or similar), line individual holes with baking paper, and firmly place pastry mixture on the bottom and sides. Place in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until pastry has browned. Leave to cool.

To make the filling, place lemon juice, lemon rind and honey into a pan and simmer on low heat for 2 minutes. In a bowl, beat eggs well with a fork. When mixture is simmering nicely, slowly add the beaten eggs, stirring vigorously to form a nice smooth texture. Add more honey if desired. Leave to cool slightly.

When pastry has cooled, and the filling has reduced to a warm temperature. You can then spoon the filling into each individual tart. Place in the fridge until cooled and set. Makes around 4 servings, depending on size.

Zone Blocks: 9 block fat; 1 block carb; 0.5 block protein (per serving)