10 Components of Complete Fitness


CrossFit workouts train your body in all 10 of these components of complete fitness:
Cardiovascular/Respiratory Endurance- The ability of the body systems to gather, process, and transport oxygen.
Stamina- The ability of the body to process, store, deliver, and utilize energy.
Strength- The ability of a muscular unit, or combo of muscular units to apply force.
Flexibility- The ability of maximizing range of motion at a given joint.
Power- The ability of a muscular unit, or combo of muscular units to apply maximum force in minimum time.
Speed- The ability to minimize the time cycle of a repeated movement.
Agility- The ability to minimize transition time between one movement pattern to another.
Coordination- The ability to combine several distinct movement patterns into a singular distinct movement.
Balance- The ability to control the placement of the bodies’ center of gravity in relation to its’ support base.
Accuracy- The ability to control movement in a given direction or at a given intensity.

"Failure"

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Live life to the fullest, cause you never know what's around the corner!



Lee William Sanford
WILTON Lee William Sanford passed away unexpectedly at Saratoga Hospital on Sunday, May 25, 2008. He had collapsed while jogging. Resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful and the cause of death was "sudden cardiac arrhythmia." Born on Oct. 30, 1977, in Glens Falls, N.Y., Lee was the son of Sally and Richard Sanford of Queensbury. Lee was a graduate of Queensbury High School, Class of 1996. He received a B.A. degree from the University of Buffalo, and was employed for several years in Boston as a financial analyst at Dane, Falb, and Stone. He was united in marriage with Alyssa Reisman on March 24, 2007. He and Alyssa returned to this area this year and Lee embarked on a career as an Investment Officer at Glens Falls National Bank. Lee is survived by his loving wife, Alyssa (Reisman) Sanford of Wilton; his parents, Sally and Richard Sanford of Queensbury; his grandmother, Shirley Cleveland; and his in-laws, Jane and Richard Reisman of Queensbury; and a brother-in-law, Michael Reisman, of Brookline, Mass. He was predeceased by his sisters, Laura and Elizabeth Sanford. Lee was a bright, affable, kind, and loving husband, son, grandson, nephew and friend. He was loved by everyone and will be missed by everyone whose lives he touched. His love of sports was supreme. His great passion for and devotion to Alyssa was noted by all.
I went to high school with Lee, played football and basketball with him, and drank a few beers too. He was a good person, and a good athlete. I had not seen him in a few years, but I am greatly saddened by his loss. His family lost his 2 younger sisters a few years back in a tragic car accident, and now they have no children. So, if you think you have it bad, put yourself in there shoes! I'd rather have cancer or die myself then ever have to endure the pain those 2 people have...
Please don't ever take life for granted, do what you love, live "your" life, not some other person's, and do everything with a 100% passion in your heart!!!! I can't stress this enough!
On a Crossfit note, did technique today for squat, deads, press, and kipping pulls...restful day...

Light Week

I'm going light this week to heal up any sore muscles (and believe me, there are some from the Memorial day "Badger" WOD) and make sure I'm at a good fitness and well being level come Saturday for the ECCFC.

Yesterday I went to the "Y" and did some technique training on push press, overhead press, squat, thrusters, deads, cleans, clean and press, and kipping pull ups. Nothing big, just like 3 sets of each nice and slow (45# bar), working on posture, alignment, hip drive, etc.

Then I did 5000m of rowing. I broke it down to...
1000m warm up
500m sprint (1:44)
500m cool down
500m sprint (1:42)
500m cool down
1000m steady (around 4:00)
500m sprint (1:43)
500m cool down
Here is a cool vid featuring the concept 2. If you have never used it, you are only hurting yourself!
This is 10% luck, 20% skill, 15% concentrated power of will, 5% pleasure, 50% pain, and a 100% reason to remember the name!

Then some mid line work...3 sets 15 GH sit ups, and 24"-32" box jumps (3 sets 10 reps)

Started today with a very easy run. 2 miles at about a 9:00 pace and then a nice hot shower to help the muscles. Looking to do some more technique work at the "Y" later and maybe a yoga class tonight. Rest day tomorrow, and maybe a light jog on Friday just to keep the blood flowing.

I have been eating fairly well, egg whites, oatmeal, and almond for breakfast. Salad with chicken or tuna, cucumbers, almonds, and balsamic vin, for lunch. Kinda whatever is for dinner(my downfall) and yogurt and almonds for snacks.
I do use protein once a day in a shake form, nothing huge, about 24g plus some essential amino acids. I supplement with fish oil, B-complex, L-glutamine, and Mega Man.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Memorial Day WOD @ Albany Crossfit.


BADGER...In honor of Navy Chief Petty Officer Mark Carter, 27, of Virginia Beach, VA who was killed in Iraq 11 December 2007.

Today I joined around 30 or so fellow Crossfitters in Albany NY to pay our respects for some of the fallen heros of the US Military, and Law Enforcement community. The Crossfitters from the area all took time on there day off to participate (with great intensity I might add) in WOD's like "Murph", "Randy", "Jason", "Nate", "Michael", "Josh",and "Tommy V.". For me this was an especially emotional workout, being part of the US Navy Special Operations. As an EOD Tech. we very often work directly with Seals, Army SF, and even local or federal law enforements agencies.

I was tasked with the honor of doing the "Badger" WOD, one I have never done before, and one that was much harder then I expected. It consists of:
3 Rounds for time
95 pound Squat clean, 30 reps
30 Pull-ups
Run 800 meters

Love this WOD! I tried to attack it with as much intensity as possible, but the squat cleans sorta got the better of me, proving to be the hardest part of the workout. With that said I finished in 35:37 and felt like jello at the end!
Congrats to all who participated, thank you for "playing along" today and thank you for all of your support. Keep up the good work and keep "killin it"!


Sunday, May 25, 2008

Ball Buster!

I got the wod off of Brendan G.'s blog. As soon as I looked at it I knew I wanted to do it, but I knew it would hurt. The movement is such a full body dynamic movement that it trains for conditioning and strength all in one. He used 45# which I figured would be a little too much, but I started with it. It was heavy, but I finished the first set of BSCT but couldn't do the OH lunges, so I went down to 35# for the rest of the WOD. Let's just say this workout hurt much more then I thought. By the end I was breaking up pulls to sets of like 2! I finished in 24:33, which I'm not sure is good or bad, seeing that there are no times for this WOD. I think everyone should try this at least once, and if possible master the BSCT. It's a hell of a ball buster movement! I'm still sore from it, and took saturday off. Plus as he talks about, working with DB's is very important to help isolate muscles and create dynamic strength. Have fun with this one, if you don't it's only going to hurt that much more!!!

13 burpee squat clean thruster (45lbs) dumbbell's
20 pull ups (chest to bar)
13 overhead walking lunges each arm ( 45lb)
20 pull ups
3x

Today I'm just going to go out for a light run, no more then 4 miles at a moderate pace. Have a BBQ this evening and traveled all day so I'm running out of time. Doing the Memorial Day WOD down at Albany Crossfit tomorrow. Looks like "Murph". Hope to set a PR. I'll be rested and hope to blow this one up!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Globo Gym is for @$$y’s (from my myspace blog)


So, myself, my brother (Grant), and my friend (Janna) went to a local gym in Utica NY that I use to "workout" at years ago. I know the owner, and he is a great man and runs a pretty good gym. Large, lots of weights, machines, etc. even found the equivalent to a glute ham situp machine. What else I saw was depressing. More on that in a second.
We were there to do a WOD. 1st day was "Diane" (for those of you that don't know, look it up). Let's just say, people like to stare at things they don't understand even if it means they stop their "workout" to do so, but I guess I'd rather see them looking at us actually doing work, then see them standing around chatting or "looking for the water fountain". 2nd day was a WOD I made up (5 rnds...5 135 thursters/ 7 pullups/ 10 70 kb swings/ 7 burpees). Awesome workout, same dumb look on everyones faces.
I saw the same people from 7 yrs ago, doing the same thing (nothing), looking the same, and acting the same as they did when I use to go there (lazy). It was seriously depressing and pitiful! The same people that stopped and stared at handstand pushups or what ever we were doing, were the ones that in 7 yrs had not transformed the bodies, strength, attitudes, or functionality...Welcome to "Globo Gym"!
When my friend, who had never done Crossfit before, is pushing herself, grunting, sweating and says later on, "I can't feel my legs", is showing more intensity then the whole gym combined, maybe these @$$y's should ask themselves, "What should I change about my "workouts"? My brother says to me, "The guy at the pull up bar was staring at me like he was 'sleeping' after he did 5 pull ups, and I was killing myself to finish my set. He was probably wondering, 'what is this kid doing'? I say, transforming himself, not wating his time.
So, to all you Globo Gym goers out there, get a life, and try a real workout for once! Crossfit.com in case you didn't know...Mess you up!!!

Congrats to me!!!


Just found out that I got advanced today to EOD 2 (E 5 non-navy people)! I'm very happy about this, since the exam was very hard, but myself and my 3 boys (1 of them with me here, Danny) that took it with we did well enough to all make E 5! This means more opportunity, and more money, and more discipline. Can't wait to get to Sicily to keep training hard and start work p training for deployment.




As for Crossfit, today was a much needed rest day for me, as the day goes by I get less and less sore, so I will definetly be able to hit it hard tomorrow. I think I might try Brendan G.'s DB squat clean thruster workout for the morning, and not sure for the evening. If I make it to the evening after that workout! lol.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Master Blaster Day!

The day started with a very hearty breakfast, which I'm sure will change once I get to Sicily and start operating. For lunch I had Lynne...she is tastey, but kinda sucks! I never bench so I felt like a pussy! Anyway, I took 27 mins to do it, I used 185#, and it looked like this...

Rnd 1: Bench 18 Pullups 23
Rnd 2: 14/18
Rnd 3: 15/22 (I rested a little longer before this one)
Rnd 4: 11/21
Rnd 5: 10/18
I know I can improve on that after doing it a few more times, no worries.

Then i went to starbucks and grabbed a tall americano, and read for a bit...6 pm, dinner time, and a WOD that I made up today...

4 rnds for time.
10 75# Push Press
10 75# Thrusters
50 24in Box Jumps
25 Burpees

This was a Master Blaster leg workout, much more then I expected. I finished in 26:24, which is respectable I guess considering I was really sore and tired, but can definetly be done faster. Try this one and let me know how you do!

My best friend and I are doing the 1st Annual Eact Coast Crossfit Challenge in Albany, NY the weekend of May 31st-June 1st. OPT was the 1st to sign up, so I think we all know who is gonna win! LOL. I'm just hoping for a top 20 finish! We will see. I encourage anyone who wants to come watch and learn about Crossfit to show up. Info and be found on the Albany Crossfit site. The link is on my page. Hope to see you there. Train smart, Train Intense!




One last note that kinda pisses me off. I was browsing through Men's Fitness magazine today and they had their 25 fittest people in there. It's obvious these guys have no real clue what "fit" means. Tiger Woods was #1! I mean, yeah he is probably in really good shape, but fitest? Doubt that. Others on the list were Obama, some rapper dude, and various other "not so fit" people! Missing from this list were all Crossfitters, Military Special Ops guys, and even hockey players (well I think Sindey Crosby was on the bottom under "fit for their age"). I mean come on, if you are the editor of a REAL fitness mag, people like Greg A. and Brendan G. should be on there. If OPT was American, he should probably top the list! And I know plenty of people in the Navy EOD field, or Army SF, or AF Pararescue that could out "fitness" over 3/4 of these dudes! So whatever, Men's Fitness has no clue! Just me venting!!!!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

5K Day

Woke up today to a little bit of sun, so I decided to do a 5K in preparation for the Xfit challenge. It was about 60% uphill (which sucks, but was planned). Let me preface by saying I have never been a great runner, and as soon as I get time, money, and a suitable location I will be attending a POSE running seminar! Until then, I get by ok I guess.

So 3.2 miles in 24:55 and around a 7:48 ave. pace. (So, my GPS said) The pace I'm happy with, to a point, but the total time isn't all that good. For the Challenge I'm going to need to run around a 20-21 min race in order to be competative I think, so I'm praying it's going to be more level then what I'm training on.

With that said, hill work is always a great way to improve on overall running. Especially if you are at a high altitude. I spent the last year and a half or so on the Gulf Coast of Fl, so the slight difference in altitude here in central Ny is something I feel when I go out to train.

I decided to forego a Crossfit WOD this afternoon, and decided healing up would be a smarted option. I feel good, and could have trained but there is always tomorrow...

One thing I hate is that there is no track near the gym I'm working out at (which is on the 2nd/3rd floor of a warehouse) so WOD's like Helen, and Murph aren't really an option right now. I'm kinda substituting with either longer runs, or with a track/plyo type workout at the local college. Which by the way has no pullup bars anywhere in site!! Who would have thought? A college with an "athletic" department that has no pullup bars anywhere but in the gym, which is closed for "summer hours". Maybe someday people will catch on.

Monday, May 19, 2008

East Coast Crossfit Challenge

There are 2 weeks till the East coast Crossfit Challenge and I'm felling pretty good. Even though I posted a Fran time 2 weeks ago of 5:23 (PR is 4:10) I bested my Crossfit Total by 30# in a week. My 1st total was 795...165 overhead press/265 squat/365 deadlift.

Today I did 825...175 overhead press/275 squat/375 deadlift. My allergies are kicking pretty hard, but I feel strong. I know I can do more in all of the lifts, but without bummer plates or any sort of a spotter (for safety) these lifts are pretty good. I'm going to do Cindy later today, and try to get to Murph, Fran again, and Helen this week.

I also did Diane last wed. Not a PR, but I had to walk kinda far to do the handstand pushups, no excuse but I think it made a difference in the 4:16 time as opposed to PR of 4:12.

Other then that, I hate central NY, specifically Utica! the weather and the people here suck! I can't wait to get out of here and off to Sicily!

My Blog Spot

I just started this blog to keep my friends and family updated when I move to Sicily in 3 weeks and to voice my opinion on life, liberty, and the pursuit of whatever it is I might be pursuing! Feel free to hit me hit on myspace or my email...Enjoy.

Crossfit Nation

I just recently turned 30 and have never been stronger, faster, more ripped, more intense, and most importantly...more powerful! This is Crossfit! Force x Distance / Time = Power...it's such a simple equation and such a amazing philosophy.
It has been just over 2 years since I was seriously introduced to Crossfit, but only about 1.5 since I started. I went to the San Diego gym and meet Lisa Lugo and her husband, and the seed was planted. Since then I have slowly, but surely been growing, developing, and cultivating this intense concept.
I tell everyone about it, not just because I like it or because it fits my profession (function fitness), but because I frimly believe 90% of the fitness industry is BS. My family, friends, military counterparts, and even random people. Just yesterday, I had my Crossfit Coronado shirt on and the guy at vitamin world was like "Cool, you do Crossfit?". Next thing I know I'm talking about the WOD's and the "Girls".
I have come to realize that I am just a Crossfit baby. I follow the wod most of the days, some days make up my own and have some pretty good times for the "baseline" workouts. I have not yet totally transformed my diet, or takin the jump into a seminar or a cert. Soon enough I will...I understand now that in order to become a total workout "monster" and true warrior, these are the tools that must be used.
For those of you who know me, you know where I stand and what I believe in as far as functional, dynamic, training goes and I thank you for our talks, workouts, and competition we have provided each other. For those who don't know, I'd like to thank some of the people who, everyday, help me to develope. First and foremost Coach Glassman, without you we would all be "searching for the water fountain" at Gold's Gym! Here are some of the amazing, intense, knowledgable people who deserve credit for transforming their lives and sharing Crossfit with the world. Lisa Lugo (for introducing me to the "cult" lol), Brendan G., Greg A., OPT (aka James F.), Freddy C., Andy S. (Crossfit Coronado) "Tosh", Shari K. (Love the tats), Annie S. Nicole C. Jolie G., and Allison NYC just to name a few.
Thank you for helping to transform me and helping me to become part of Crossfit Nation!