PR Board for July 2016

So, this month we decided to start a PR board and complete a short report at the end of the month so everyone could see each others' accomplishments.  I'm really glad we did.  In all, there were 78 PR's for the month of July.  78!!  Incredible work from everyone; you make us very proud to be your coaches!  Here's the list of 1 rep max unless notated:


Deadlift - Dan LaFrancois 415, Mike Merritt 355, Angie Birdsall 265, Tamara Bader 195, Tracy Berning 175, Chad Heidenreich 325, Ron Shutts 405, Cindy Meyerhofer 300, Kim Merritt 170, Carrie Pinch 255, Mike Grundhoefer 365, Tom Keleher 415, Tami Soat 175, Sammy Blaum 255, Carrie Geary 165, Jodi Korte 205, Jesse James 305, Jamie Lattner 140, Scott Wernet 403, Matt Gullone 325, Chad Berning 255, Kristi Gempler 165 (x3), Emily Skiston 110


Back Squat - Tami Soat 135, Sammy Blaum 155, Matt Gullone 275, Chad Berning 185, Mike Merritt 265, Scott Wernet 295, Jeff Miller 155, Matt Blaum 315, Tracy Berning 155, Earl Thompson 345, Chad Heidenreich 255, Evan Berning 300, Ron Shutts 305, Angie Brown 205


Front Squat - Tamara Bader 120 (x2), Angie Birdsall 175,


Bench Press - Bob Freiburger 300, Carrie Geary 127 1/2, Ron Shutts 225, Mike Grundhoefer 235, Chad Berning 195, Matt Gullone 220, Jeff Miller 155, Ali Ouahbi 155, Tami Soat 95, Jesse James 200, Jessica Ware 110, Nick Hasken 165, Kristi Gempler 85 (x2), Kim Merritt 85, Carrie Pinch 115, Nate McCoy 285


Strict Press - Angie Bridsall 90 (3RM), Angie Birdsall 100, Tamara Bader 75 (3 RM), Jeff Miller 95, Carrie Pinch 85, Bob Freiburger 205


Push Press - Jeff Miller 115, Carrie Pinch 125, Angie Birdsall 125, Ali Ouahbi 125, Bob Freiburger 245


Unbroken Strict Pullup - Earl Thompson 15


Max Weight Pullup (lbs) - Jesse James 23, Ali Ouahbi 40, Chad Heidenreich 50, Mike Merritt 10, Scott Wernet 70, Chad Berning 10, Matt Gullone 35, Matt Blaum 40, Nick Hasken 34, Tracy Berning (red band)


And Tom Keleher got unassisted pull-ups on 7-11-16!!


Thank you for all of your hard work!  Be proud of yourselves and what you have accomplished. When you stop and think about it, it really is quite remarkable.  #betterthanyesterday


Coach Craig

BETTER = BETTER

Better = Better?  Let me give a little insight into this statement. 

For those of you who had never done CrossFit before joining CFG, the first year is filled with tons of positive changes.  PR’s every time you touch the bar, pant sizes going down, energy levels up, strength and aerobic capacity at levels some of you haven’t been at since high school, or ever!  In terms of training, your “age” was relatively low.  This is due to the type of stimulus that CrossFit imposes on our bodies.  These constantly varied functional movements performed at a high intensity elicit a positive response from our body and life is great!  But what happens if we reach that point of diminished returns?  What happens when it gets harder and harder to add pounds to our deadlift and reduce our Fran time?

If you’ve noticed this happening to you, understand you’re not alone!  This is common and, honestly, happens to the best of us.  Hopefully you know by now that our gains are not just made during the WOD.  What we do inside the box is just one piece of a much larger puzzle.  Three other very important factors, which I would say are even MORE important than your training, are hydration, rest (sleep), and fueling (nutrition)!  If we aren’t drinking enough water, getting enough sleep, and fueling our bodies properly, it is very unlikely our bodies can perform optimally, therefore limiting our gains.  I believe if we all took a good, honest look at our habits outside of the box, we could determine exactly what factors are limiting our success. 

As far as hydration goes, drink more water!  A good rule of thumb would be:  Bodyweight x .05 = the amount of ounces of WATER you should drink per day.  Add another 10-20% to this number depending on your activity level and you will have accounted for the water loss that occurs during your workouts.  If numbers are your enemy, try this.  Drink a full glass of water as soon as you wake up in the morning, and continue to drink from your water bottle until your urine is clear.  Then continue to sip from your water bottle throughout the day to maintain that.  I know it may gross some of you out, but the color of your urine is a very good indicator as to whether or not you are properly hydrated.  If you aren’t properly hydrating now, you will be surprised at just how beneficial drinking enough water is!

As far as sleep goes, most of us probably aren’t getting enough.  Here is a great article from the CrossFit Journal regarding sleep and the effects it has on your body.  http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ_Sleep_RawlsMeehan2.pdf 

In very simple terms, we need rest.  Rest = recovery.  Remember, the work we put in at the box is a stress to our body and it’s systems.  Although we view this as a positive stress, it is stress nonetheless.  To continue to progress, we need our rest!

And lastly, nutrition. If you google nutrition, or diets, or whatever, you’re going to get a thousand results, which leads to overload, which leads people to just say the hell with it.  To get started in the right direction, I will offer this advice.  EAT MORE!  And by more I don’t mean a whole box of twinkies instead of just one.  I mean eat more clean, whole foods, starting with protein.  As a rule of thumb, we’ll start with .7 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight to maintain and increase muscle mass.  I’m not talking about completely rearranging your cupboards, just start small to avoid too much change at once.  Don’t be too concerned about the extra calories to start, because as I said before, you’re probably not eating enough!  Also, an extra 300 calories of protein does not necessarily equate to storing an extra 300 calories on your body.  In fact, the thermogenic response from protein consumption in your body is 10-20%, whereas fats/carbohydrates are at approximately 2-5%.  This means your body burns more calories digesting protein than fats/carbs, therefore, those 300 calories aren’t necessarily 300 extra calories.  I don’t want to get off track here, we can talk more about this in our nutrition counseling, but the take away here is that you need protein to maintain/build muscle.  As far as carbs go, space these out in your meals before and directly after your workout.  Again, this is a lengthy discussion to have at a later time when we can talk about supplements, how many meals per day, macro counts, etc.  But for now, eat more protein, drink more water, and get more sleep.  Be honest with yourself about the habits you currently have and please reach out to me with your questions if you are unsure where to start!  Long story short – better hydration, better rest, and better nutrition = better performance.  Better=Better.  Remember, this is a lifelong journey, so enjoy the ride.  See you at the box!  #betterthanyesterday

Coach Craig

ROW RAISER 2016 - SPECIAL OLYMPICS ILLINOIS

Because of everyone who supported our efforts and participated in this years Row Raiser, this event was a huge success!  We had a great time with some wonderful people.  I have heard so many compliments on how we all came together for this important cause, you should all be very proud of yourself.  I know all of us at CrossFit Galena are proud of you and are humbled by your generosity.  A special thanks to Debbie Kelly, Area 1 Special Olympics, Taste Country Road house for their $450 team party donation for the first place prize, Miss Kitty at the Grape Escape for her donation of a $200 team party for the second place team, and Chestnut Mountain Resort for their $100 team party donation for third place.  And also to CrossFit Dubuque for their support and use of some of their

rowers for our event.