We are the World

Monday, July 9, 2012

Feel free to review this weeks programming HERE!

Mobility/Warmup:
Jog 400 meters
DROM
10 PVC Dislocates
10 Wall Extensions
10 Hip Extensions

Strength:
3 Rounds of:
20 Good Mornings with Barbell
Rest 60 Seconds
10 Strict Toes to Bar
Rest 60 Seconds

Workout:

7 rounds of:
7 DB Thrusters (50/35)
7 Hurdle Shuttles 24″/20″

-20 minute time cap-

Notes: Hurdle Shuttle = 3 Lateral Jumps followed immediately by a 20m Shuttle Run (10m out and back). 3 Lateral Hurdle Jumps and one Shuttle Run make up one rep. Each round consists of 7 reps (a total of 21 hurdle jumps & 7 shuttle runs).


Cool Down:
30 GHD Situps
Plow, 2 minutes
Foam Roll Quads and Calves, 2 minute each


The above video was made by Francisco, big thanks!  Along with that awesome pic of Zak last week (that wasn’t real by the way, go back and check it out:), I wanted to remind everyone to send over any pics you may have of performing in local competitions, funny CrossFit inspired pics and video clips of your successes and failures for our next compilation video!  (I would love to make a gymnastics compilation video:)

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I often like to think and comment on the grand notion of “Changing the World.”  While there are a ton of famous quotes about  creating change and what it means, we do not need to be a revolutionary, author or celebrity to have an affect on the world around us.  I was recently reading a NY Times op-ed article discussing the common notion of creating change and those shiny slogans we like to throw around on bumper stickers.  Here are a few excerpts from that article:

Gandhi’s words have been tweaked a little too in recent years. Perhaps you’ve noticed a bumper sticker that purports to quote him: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” When you first come across it, this does sound like something Gandhi would have said. But when you think about it a little, it starts to sound more like … a bumper sticker. Displayed brightly on the back of a Prius, it suggests that your responsibilities begin and end with your own behavior. It’s apolitical, and a little smug.

Sure enough, it turns out there is no reliable documentary evidence for the quotation. The closest verifiable remark we have from Gandhi is this: “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. … We need not wait to see what others do.”

Here, Gandhi is telling us that personal and social transformation go hand in hand, but there is no suggestion in his words that personal transformation is enough. In fact, for Gandhi, the struggle to bring about a better world involved not only stringent self-denial and rigorous adherence to the philosophy of nonviolence; it also involved a steady awareness that one person, alone, can’t change anything, an awareness that unjust authority can be overturned only by great numbers of people working together with discipline and persistence….

…Thoreau, Gandhi, Mandela — it’s easy to see why their words and ideas have been massaged into gauzy slogans. They were inspirational figures, dreamers of beautiful dreams. But what goes missing in the slogans is that they were also sober, steely men. Each of them knew that thoroughgoing change, whether personal or social, involves humility and sacrifice, and that the effort to change oneself or the world always exacts a price.

But ours is an era in which it’s believed that we can reinvent ourselves whenever we choose. So we recast the wisdom of the great thinkers in the shape of our illusions. Shorn of their complexities, their politics, their grasp of the sheer arduousness of change, they stand before us now. They are shiny from their makeovers, they are fabulous and gorgeous, and they want us to know that we can have it all.

This resonated with me in my recent trip back to Chicago for a wedding.  As the days passed and I had a chance to catch up with more friends and family, I began to notice a trend…everyone was excited to discuss their nutrition, health and lifestyle changes with me.  From my friends trying to get their kids to eat more Paleo, to friends’ family members that have lost weight, to parents that have started CrossFit to friends drinking cider and tequila instead of beer, I realized that my behaviors and actions have had a positive affect on almost everyone I know and love.  I also realized that this would not have been possible without the help and commitment from the community within Paradiso CrossFit.  You gave credibility to my actions and made my words louder.  I think about how many of your friends and family have been affected by our community and realize that we are creating a pretty big change!  We are doing it without falling into the trap that the author writes about above.  We are promoting the scary idea that hard work and sacrifice are necessary parts to finding improvement in our lives.  We are willing to pay a price to change the world and ourselves for the better!

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Tough Mudder F#!*ing ladies!  Changing the definition of beautiful!

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