Home
get started
about us
class schedule
Gallery 
FAQs
contact us
nutrition
Read the Full Story
Read the Full Story
Read the Full Story
Jeff
Hero Workout In Honor Of 1LT Daren M Hidalgo
Visit www.rememberdaren.com for information on Daren, the memorial fund and pics/vidoes.
Secret Santa Holiday Program To Support Our Troops
Please help in our Toy Collection and/or Gift cards for our Marines at Camp Pendleton. These families are enlisted Marines, E-5 and below and over 1200 families from the base are registered to participate! Some of these families have Marines that are currently deployed and the others just need help making Christmas happen for their families.
Please bring any toys, gifts or gift cards to the gym so we can contribute to the families in need. Gifts should be $10 or more - no wrapping necessary! The pick up date is December 10. Every little bit helps.
Feel free to ask any of the coaches at the gym for more details if you have any questions. We thank you wholeheartedly for your support!
30-Day Body Composition Challenge
On July 1st we shall embark upon a 30-day Body Composition challenge. Determined to get into shape this summer? It onlytakes a few short months of dedication & determination to get amazing results. Kick off to a better physique!
Clean up your diet by eating real foods (meat, eggs, veggies, nuts, seeds, fruit, etc.) and cutting out sugars, grains, dairy, alcohol,and processed foods!
The Details
- Duration: 30 days (or 35 depending on the schedule of Fitness Wave)
- Cost: $100 ($75 for pre & post body composition testing and an extra $25 to throw into the pot & the best results getsthe cash)
- Zone or Paleo or Paleo-Zone
- Purchase an inexpensive food scale (Target $4.99)
- Minimum of 3-4 days of 30+ minutes of CrossFit exercises
- Prize: the winner will receive the pot of cash (e.g. 20 members joins at $25/ea equals a $500 pot!)
Entry Rules
- Participants are encouraged to maintain a food log either online or on paper (free on-line site fitday.com). I'm not goingto read them.
- Participants should commit to a version of the diet (Zone, Paleo or combine the two Paleo Zone) that they feel isreasonable and sustainable given their lifestyle. Modifications should be as minor as possible (for instance, if you knowyou'll never make it a month without booze, throw in a couple allowed drinks on your cheat day.)
- We encourage participants to take 3 "before" pictures within the week preceding the challenge: front view, side viewand back view. Men are in shorts; Women are in shorts and sports bra/bikini top*.
- As well as, 3 "after" pictures taken within 2 days of the end of the challenge*.
- Trainers will choose the top finalists whose body composition changed the most over the course of the challenge (basedon body composition results only)
* Pictures will remain in your possession. We are happy to take the pictures for you (with your camera) here at the gym if youdon't have appropriate set-up at home.
How to Join The Challenge
Sign up with Robin in person, at the gym, or e-mail
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
, inform your diet resolutions (zone orpaleo), before pictures, and food log information (e.g. if it's online, tell us where!) Pay $75 to Fitness Wave on the tank dunkingday and $25 to Crossfit OC before 7/1/2011. Got questions? E-mail us at the address above.
Fitness Wave will be at Crossfit Orange County on Monday, June 27th from 3:30 - 7:30pm. We need a minimum of 15 persons for their mobile unit!! Contact me with your preferred time slot!!
If you are interested in just receiving one body composition testing and not the 30-day challenge then the cost for the one dunk is$49.95.
CrossFit Vs Insanity VS P90X
Written By CFP Coach James Needham
“The biggest difference is the support and motivation from CrossFit’s community can not be replicated with a DVD.”
If you have not yet heard of the P90X and/or the INSANITY DVDs I am sure it is just a matter of time. Hopefully by the end of this article you will have a good understanding as to their differences AND yes, even their similarities.
The P90X & INSANITY infomercials are convincing and do a good job of promoting their product. I even purchased P90X, only to in time get tired of the routine and eventually discovered CrossFit Providence (CFP).
• CrossFit has athletes working out using the most efficient, effective exercises available. Gymnastics, weightlifting, sprinting, powerlifting, & kettlebells, are but a few of the activities you may come across. CrossFit’s specialty is not specializing.
• P90X is described as a home fitness training system that contains 12 workout DVDs, programmed for 90 days.
• INSANITY is described as a 60 day program that comes with 10 workout discs containing Plyometrics drills on top of intervals of strength, power, resistance, and ab / core training moves. No equipment or weights are used.
The benefit of P90X and, INSANITY is that they do incorporate some whole-body movements, expose the user to new horizons like Yoga and Martial Arts and criticize the current trend in fitness towards machines. Both programs are scalable. They also believe that just “going through the motions” will not stimulate results and that the results ultimately come from intensity. Even though P90X and INSANITY are similar to CrossFit in these ways there are some major drawbacks to point out.
The biggest difference is the support and motivation from CrossFit’s community cannot be replicated with a DVD. It’s an open-source group, where anyone is free to post anything related to the workout of the day (WOD). There are hundreds of thousands doing Crossfit across the world, in basements, garages, parks, and gyms. Members and Coaches (hundreds of thousands worldwide) bring individual expertise to the table and that adds to everyone’s experience. With CrossFit you are accountable when you walk through the door. The DVDs won’t come alive and start encouraging you like a CFP Coach. Since my first workout at CrossFit Providence I have not even had a second thought to “just push play” on my DVD player to re-visit P90X. The main difference that I noticed is that what I “experience” at CrossFit Providence is what I “saw” on the P90X videos. A coach walking around watching everyone’s form, individuals performing different levels of the same exercise, everyone cheering each other on, making small talk, etc. Crossfit, being open-source, is free and constantly improving based on shared empirical evidence, where as P90X and INSANITY are limited by there DVD design. Safety, efficacy, and efficiency are the three most important and interdependent facets of CrossFit and are supported by measurable, observable, repeatable facts; i.e., data. This approach is called “evidence-based fitness.” The CrossFit methodology depends on full disclosure of methods, results, and criticisms, shared through the Internet (Coach Greg Glassman).
CrossFit uses the most efficient/effective exercises available. You will never see an “isolation” exercise much less an entire workout dedicated to just one body part. By using compound movements CrossFit strengthens your body the way it is suppose to be strengthened, as 1 machine not a collection of parts. To work the body one muscle at a time or even one group of muscles at a time now seems to me like such an ineffective waist of time.
CrossFit feels like a sport. Harnessing the natural camaraderie, competition, and fun of sport yields an intensity that cannot be matched by other means. (Coach Glassman). Where P90X and INSANITY targets physique improvement solely, that result comes as a byproduct of an improved fitness level with CrossFit.
CrossFit has the element of surprise. Constantly changing workouts help Crossfitters put out their maximal effort every day, because they don’t know what’s coming next. It makes it a lot tougher than saving your energy for days that feature your favorite exercises, and thereby only consistently improving your strengths.
CrossFit is fun. Knowing that tomorrow is ‘Yoga Day’ didn’t do much to excite me on the third time through the P90X DVDs. How many P90X folks are up at midnight on the P90X website, chatting to others about ‘Chest and Triceps’ day tomorrow? Few. At Crossfit.com? Trust me THOUSANDS are constantly hitting ‘refresh’ to see the WOD before they go to sleep.
The bottom line is this: While P90X and INSANITY may help only the self-motivated individual achieve actual results; CrossFit is an ever growing living program offering a more practical workout with support from a highly motivated community.
Ironman “Fit” or CrossFit for the Firefighter (Occupational Athlete)
I was an aerobic junkie. For 20 years I swam biked and run my ass off (quite literally). For years I exercised 24 to 30 hours every week logging 15000 meters swimming, 300 miles bicycling, and 60 miles running. For twenty five years I have had the same New Year’s Resolution. “I want to be in better shape than last year”. I still have the same New Year’s Resolution, but how I go about achieving my fitness has changed.
As a professional firefighter I am an occupational athlete. My job/profession requires me to be “fit”. And I was exercising more (in time) than 99% of all firefighters in this jurisdiction. So why was I not in much better shape than everyone else when I was called upon to do my job?
Firefighting is demanding and strenuous work. When people take the entry level test to become a firefighter many exclaim that they like the idea of every call being different. It is ever changing. You can be just sitting down for a nice dinner at the firehouse and receive a call to respond to a medical emergency, or an automatic fire alarm, or a working structure fire with people trapped. Every response deserves your ability to handle the job required to help stabilize the problem. The ability to think clearly under stress is also critical and rarely trained. We can be at rest one minute and hand jacking 200’ of supply hose, lifting and throwing 35’ extension ladders, and pulling ceiling the next. An exercise program for “functional” fitness for a firefighter that bases its programming on monostructured metabolic conditioning (treadmill, rowing machine, or exercise bike) followed by unilateral strength movements like bench press, bicep curls, and seated rows is grossly inadequate for what the reality of firefighting requires of us.
I always viewed my V02 Max score as the gold standard for “fitness”. Maximum oxygen uptake is measured it is a barometer for how efficient your body is at transferring the oxygen that you breath into your blood stream to replenish your aerobic exercising muscles. It can be estimated by testing on a treadmill or ergometer by following your cardiac response when delivered an ever increasing load. How quickly your reach an estimated 85% MHR for your age. Or you can be tested by actually measuring 02 in and C02 out while exercising. 40 is the estimated minimum V02 for a firefighter to effectively do his job under extreme physical stress. Miguel Indurain the legendary Spaniard winner of the Tour De France touted an incredible 88 V02!! To increase your maximum oxygen uptake takes a very long time to train on or near that “anaerobic threshold”. And the increases come very slowly! Like I said earlier, my goal was to be more fit (a high V02 Max) every succeeding year. "An athlete diminished by excessive aerobic training is slow and weak. At CrossFit we call that state, 'spun-down.'"
Some years back I heard about CrossFit and some extreme workouts from a friend. I was intrigued enough to look at the www.crossfit.com website and consider the possibilities of attempting a workout. The first workout we attempted was “Cindy” (for 20 minutes complete as many rounds as possible of 5 pull ups, 10 pushups, and 15 body squats). I completed the workout with a weak result and I was hooked on the bodyweight style workouts. It did take me some time to become as sold on the Olympic style of lifting heavy things because I was not comfortable with doing those sorts of movements. So I would search the web for the bodyweight style WODs (Workouts of the Day) that I liked to do. In doing so I was missing a huge part of what CrossFit is all about. You should be training on all aspects of fitness. The fitter person is the person that can excel in more aspects of fitness than you. Not the person who can run the longer and fastest, or the one who can do the most pull ups, pushups and squats.
I often ask new folks that are coming in to CrossFit Orange County for the first time “In your opinion, ‘Who is the fittest person in the world?” 95% of the time the answer I hear is Lance Armstrong. If your standard for fittest person is the person that can ride his bicycle the fastest over a 2100 mile course for three weeks then you would be correct. As bicycle racers go, he is tops in my book! But as the fittest person in the world? No. Fitness incorporates more than cardio respiratory endurance.
10 General Physical Skills:
• Cardiovascular Endurance
• Stamina
• Strength
• Flexibility
• Power
• Speed
• Coordination
• Accuracy
• Agility
• Balance
CrossFit training specializes in NOT specializing. An elite fit person needs to be proficient in all of these aspects of fitness. You are only as fit as your weakest skill. If Lance Armstrong came into our gym for a workout and we were competing for the title Fittest for the day at CrossFit Orange County. Lance is going to pray for the workout to be a longer endurance style workout (like ride for bike for 150 miles over a huge mountain). The proficient athlete at many of these physical skills will be the overall more “fit” athlete than a sport specialist, even if they are the best in the world at his or her game. "There is no single sport or activity that trains for perfect fitness. True fitness requires a compromise in adaptation broader than the demands of most every sport."
10 Reasons NOT to train at CrossFit Orange County (And 10 reasons we don’t want you to come)
9. They train too hard – You sweat and breathe hard in every workout. You train at the edge of the red line which makes it too hard to read a magazine while “working out.” They won’t let you be a part of the program if you just want to go through the motions.
8. They coach you – You can’t just sit and peddle on the bike, they make you learn and develop skills. They video workouts so people can see what they are doing and coach you on how to improve. You have to learn how to move better, so you can lift more weight faster – which means you get stronger, faster and lift properly. Who wants to be coached to be stronger or faster?
7. They don’t like whining or excuses – Complainers and criers are shunned, ridiculed, or are run off. They don’t consider the woe is me attitude to be a good thing or a badge of courage. It is the right of every human to paint himself or herself as a victim in everything so they can increase their popularity with their everything-is–wrong peer group. Who wants to go to a place where you can’t complain about everything under the sun?
6. They teach you new things – They make people learn new lifts, workouts and training methods – And expect you to master them. They teach and re-teach the fundamentals so you are good at them. Who wants to learn and perfect movements in constantly changing workouts?
5. They don’t have mirrors, treadmills, machines, Etc. – They don’t have a place to adjust your make up or to flex while you stand around figuring out your next bicep exercise. You can’t check how your new outfit looks when you work out. They actually make you run to do your “cardio.” Who really wants to actually focus on training?
4. They tell you the truth – They tell you when you are not moving right, or babying yourself or going through the motions. They are do not praise you when you look like a space monkey having a seizure. If you do something stupid in a workout they will have probably videoed it and put it on YouTube. Who wants to be held accountable to actually do things right?
3. They expect you to get better and actually expect you to train – They expect you to add weight, go faster and maintain excellent form as a regular part of the training. They expect you to try harder to overcome the weakest links in your performance. They expect everyone who has a membership to actually come to the gym to workout. Who wants that kind of stress to constantly improve or show up?
2. They measure performance – They keep score and track your results. They won’t let you just go through the motions – They keep score on the results of your training. If your scores, weights or times are not improving, they want to know why. Who wants their performance to improve all the time?
1. They charge too much – They charge enough where you may actually feel compelled to show up and train. They think that if they provide a top level, fully equipped training space and expert coaches to coach you, it is of value to their members. Who wants to pay for a fully equipped and professionally run training center that expects people to workout and requires people to get results?
Latest Blog Entry
-
Strength Training For Women
Written by SpikeStrength Training For Women Conventional wisdom has somehow drilled into our heads the silly notion that men and women are completely different species, especially when it comes to working out. There are definite differences – anyone who’s been married will be able to tell you that! – But that doesn’t take away from the fact that we’re all homo sapiens with the same basic physiological makeup. And so an outfit like Weight Watchers will push the chronic cardio, the ankle weights, and the step classes because of some underlying, self-defeating assumption that women aren’t “meant” to lift heavy weights. It’s insane, it’s preposterous, and it’s downright insulting. Men and women have different work capacities and different natural inclinations, but their bodies still work the same way.
“But I don’t want to get big and bulky!”
That’s another common one, and I can’t really blame them. Have you ever seen a women’s bodybuilding competition, especially one where the drug testing bodies are asleep at the wheel? Those women are frightening and incredibly ripped (for my money, the dudes look just as freakish), but more importantly, they just don’t look right. In fact, this is one area in which the underlying gender-specific physiology is limiting (thank god!): women, being testicle-free, do not produce enough natural testosterone to get those bulging pecs (just where do the breasts go, anyway?) and engorged thighs without supplementing with steroids (synthetic testosterone, essentially). Men generally do produce enough natural testosterone (the ultimate muscle-building hormone) to get big, and most of us still have trouble building a significant amount of muscle. Just imagine how difficult it is to bulk up for a woman.
Women’s Olympic-style weightlifting at the 2007 Arnold Weightlifting Championships (below): No Arnold look-alikes here, just strong women performing Olympic lifts.
Snatches at the 2007 American Open in Birmingham: I don’t even know if I’d look twice if I saw these women walking down the street. Well, I would, but for a different reason. They simply look like attractive women in good shape.
Here is another example: Watch a 108 lb woman clean and jerk twice her body weight. And another.
These are women whose entire athletic lives are devoted to lifting big and lifting heavy – the very same movements that I’ve prescribed as truly Primal and strength-intensive – and yet they aren’t big and bulky. You’d think if it were likely, or even possible, for a natural woman to build major size without resorting to steroids, you would see it happen with Olympic-style female weightlifters, but you don’t. Time and time again, you don’t.
Now, check out these women.
Armenian bodybuilder Lisa Moordigian (You Tube) shows some sample workout clips. Notice the exercises she does – curls, machine curls, tricep pulldowns, and even more curls. She’s doing nothing but isolation exercises.
Search You Tube for Brenda Smith’s killer leg workout (check out her crazy calves!): The closest she gets to a real movement is the lunge, but even her squats are assisted. She’s obviously not interested in learning actual athletic movements or developing real strength; she only cares about stoking that PUMP coursing through her veins.
Look at the bodybuilders’ bodies, their workouts, and their focus. Notice anything? They’re solely focusing on individual muscles to the detriment of the whole. There’s no catlike athleticism, nothing that indicates actual functional strength. Leg extension machines don’t exist in nature.
Seriously, though: men and women should work out the same way. That is, provided they have the same goals of developing functional strength, promoting lean body mass over adipose tissue, and improving health, both men and women are best suited to lifting heavy, hard, and with great intensity. Hormonal differences and diet will alter how this lifting program affects you and how much hypertrophy occurs, but the end result is the same: an increased strength to body weight ratio, which is vital for true Primal health and fitness. You’ll increase musculature, but it’s not going to be superficial, bloated muscle. It’s going to be muscle that makes sense, fat-burning muscle that fits your body and fits your genes. After all, you’re just providing the right environment for your genes through proper diet, adequate sleep, normalized stress levels, and – now – the right kind of movements.
There are a few other physiological differences that might crop up when it comes to working out. The “Q” angle, which describes the angle measuring from hip to knee, is larger in women. As a result, the quadriceps can pull on the patella and eventually cause knee issues. Cutting sports, like soccer and basketball in particular, can place additional stress on the knees and increase the chance of injury. This just makes maintaining proper form even more important (as if it wasn’t already). I should also mention that pregnancy, especially during the 3rd trimester, can soften the pelvic cartilage and relax the hips to prepare for childbirth. It’s absolutely essential for safe birthing, but doing deep squats with such tender cartilage and overly-relaxed hips will increase pressure on the knees and should be avoided.
I suggest that eating an extra dozen eggs on top of your regular daily dietary intake might be the catalyst for hypertrophy especially for hardgainers. For women who perhaps aren’t so interested in adding a lot of muscle, skip the extra eggs. Keep eating paleo or Primal and get adequate protein, hit those deep squats and heavy deadlifts, and you’ll begin shedding fat and putting on lean mass that (because of the physiological differences between the genders) won’t be “bulky” or “big.”
In the end, though, it’s your choice. You could do the basic strength exercises and end up looking like fit athletic woman or you could spend hours in the gym and spend hundreds on steroids and stuff yourself with protein shakes to look like a bulky, manly looking specimen. I think I know what would appeal to the masses. What about you?
Thanks Mark Sisson for information in this article. www.marksdailyapple.comWritten on Thursday, 05 April 2012 08:59 in News and Updates Be the first to comment! Read 0 times Read more...
Member Login
WOD (Workout of the Day)
Sites Worth Visiting
Fan Us!
Contact Info
CrossFit Orange County
927 Calle Negocio, Suite C&D
San Clemente, CA, 92673
Tel: (949) 682-8577
Official Links
Map & Directions
