An article a day for your holiday fitness reading

Happy Holidays, everybody!  Don't worry about not having a gym during your travels.  Think of it as a training "deload" to rest, restore, and try something different.  There is plenty you can do on the road without barbells to maintain your fitness.  And for those of you who are runners, there are dozens of running-specific Crossfit-style workouts posted here.  Or, mix and match any of these 50 bodyweight exercises you can do anywhere to create your own metcon.

Meanwhile, here's some reading for motivation over the next 3 weeks:

• Give yourself a gift with these cool interval training apps
• Paleo Diet Infographic
• Strength is a big deal; training mistakes that prevent people from making strength progress
• Put pushups at the top of your list for the new year
• Some great gifts for health nuts  (I covet that toothbrush sanitizer!)
• Speaking of nuts, eat some walnuts today!  (I like to sprinkle walnuts and cinnamon on my plain yogurt.)
• Lift like a girl and look awesome.

• The benefits of vitamin D:  lose fat, gain muscle, improve performance
• Live longer by strength training (rather than intense endurance exercise)
• Alcohol and fitness don't mix, but here's how to speed detoxification after one too many.
• Could eating carbs at night make you lean?
• Work on your wrist and ankle mobility for improved lifts
• Bench-press crimes
• The benefits of ginger for athletes = relief for sore muscles

• Exercise helps protect against cancer
• Fixing common workout mistakes
• Athletes have better cognitive strategies for coping with pain (duh, we already know this!)
• 5 tips for bigger deadlifts 
• Do short Crossfit workouts really work?  (I love the picture at the bottom.)
• 10 keys to healthy aging (excellent information!)
• What is Crossfit's obsession with full range of motion? (one blogger's answer)

12 Days of XMas!

Using the same pattern as the song . . .

1 - Agility drill
2 - Burpees
3 - Ring rows
4 - Air squats
5 - Pushups
6 - Step-ups (3 e.s.)
7 - Sit-ups
8 - Swings
9 - Pushpresses (dbs)
10 - Cleans (dbs)
11 - Boxjumps
12 - Jingle Jangles (each length = 1)

Box Jumps + Push-ups

Strength

3 x 5's

Metcon

An elegant couplet:

For time...

20, 15, 10, 15, 20

Box Jumps

Push-ups

BHam  11:23

DF  12:09

BU  11:16

KE  9:06
PR  8:34
SS  8:49 (subbed step-ups for boxjumps)
KZ  8:16
BHeg  9:30

Shuttle Sprints!

Strength

3 x 5's

Metcon

Shuttle Sprints in the main gym.

6 rounds

0:40 work

1:00 rest

PR  5.0, 5.5, 5.5, 5.5, 5.5, 5.0

KZ  5.5, 5.5, 5.5, 5.5, 5.5, 5.0 (no tagging)

SS  5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 (no tagging)

BH  4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 (no tagging)

Good work, everyone!

Sunday Seven

1. Meal-planning advice for better health
2. Short (30-second), intense work intervals produce the greatest fat-burning effect
3. Another reason to love short, intense intervals:  anti-aging effects
4. Why you need more protein than the status quo
5. Crossfit's pullup instruction series
6. How to execute the perfect squat
7. Recipes for a holiday feast, paleo-style (best tip: substitute cauliflower for rice)

Choose your own modified "Angie"

Strength

3 x 5

Metcon

"Angie"

100 each...

-pull-ups

-push-ups

-sit-ups

-squats

All reps must be completed before continuing to the next movement.

We did this previously back in September.

We subbed ring rows for pull-ups and reduced the reps.

KZ  75 reps; modified push-ups; 16:24

PR  75 reps; 15:54

BH  40 reps; modified push-ups; 10:44
KE  50 reps; 9:14
BU  50 reps; 14:13 (lat pulldowns instead of rows)

3 rounds of 3x1-minute stations (row, wallballs, boxjumps)

DH's new kipping pullups!

KE squatting with big wheels!

Strength Training: 3x5's (except squatters, who moved up to 4 sets of 5's)

MetCon:  3 rounds of . . .
     - 1 minute rowing
     - 1 minute wallballs
     - 1 minute boxjumps
     - 1 minute rest

"Quite 50"

Strength Training
3 x 5's

Metcon
This was originally written as "Not Quite 50", a repeat of the workout here.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 = 49 reps of...
-Deadlift
-Power Clean
-Front Squat
-Push Press

But since we covered chaining movements together during the warm-up, most everyone decided to do this instead:

"Quite 50"
50 reps, Full squat clean + thruster

Chaining the movement together actually reduces the overall work a bit, since it eliminates the dip on the clean and the dip on the push-press.  Regardless of the movement-style selected, these sorts of workouts -- you, a barbell, and a ton of reps -- are particularly mentally challenging.  Good work everyone!

MWF
KZ: 7:27 (15kg bar) 50 reps, full squat clean + thruster
PR: 10:00 (20kg bar) 50 reps, single movements
GQ: 8:48 (30kg, 66#) 50 reps, full squat clean + thruster
^ special guest appearance!

T/TH/SAT
Everyone did 50 reps, full squat clean + thruster
BB: 6:18 (20kg bar)
BH: 9:18 (20kg bar)
KD: 7:50 (15kg bar)
KE: 7:48 (15kg bar)
BU: 11:16 (15# training bar)

Sunday Seven

1. Replace aerobic exercise with strength training to prevent age-related fat gain
2. 2.5 minutes of exercise burns calories all day
3. Protein supplements boost benefits of strength training
4. U.S. Marines change their official fitness test to include pullups for women.  Take that, New York Times.
5. Why you should drink more coffee
6. 10 herbs/spices that aid weight loss
7. The benefits of having strong training partners