Driven Nutrition Supplements Are Coming!

CrossFit Galena is excited to announce that we are now an authorized Driven Nutrition affiliate.  We strive to offer our athletes the best supplements and products available, and we believe Driven Nutrition is going to be a great addition to our line-up!  Also, Driven Nutrition products can only be purchased form their website, or at an authorized CrossFit Affiliate.  Although we won't be carrying every product that Driven offers, we will be carrying a large percentage of their products.  We will also be selling these supplements below website pricing, so if there's something you would like to see, let us know and we'll get it in!

Products we will initially be stocking include:

Driven Whey Grass Fed Whey Protein:  Driven Whey is a premium grade Grass Fed Whey protein blend loaded with muscle-building amino acids. It is designed specifically for individuals looking for the highest quality protein, which is vital to build and maintain lean body mass.  Driven Whey  is packed with 23 grams of protein per serving and is rich in all the needed branched chain amino acids (BCAAs). An advanced amino acid profile provides the perfect form of Essential, Non-Essential, and Conditionally Essential amino acids that your body requires for optimum protein synthesis. This combination is ideal for helping you meet your daily protein requirements, and perfect for building and fueling new muscle growth and recovery. Driven Whey is formulated without additives or fillers, and is instantized for greater absorption and bio-availability. Including a quality whey protein blend before and after training will enable your muscles to repair and rebuild more quickly which will help you see improved physical performance and increased lean body mass.*  Initial order will include Vanilla, Chocolate Milkshake, and Cinnamon Roll. 

PreWod PreWorkout:  Train with maximum concentration and drive in every workout. PreWod adds energy and intensity to every workout you set out to conquer. Never again feel tired as your training drains your energy. PreWod will bring the drive deep into the most brutal workout. Designed to create massive energy, PreWod delivers maximum blood flow, oxygenation and nutrient delivery to working muscle tissue. Win the war against the weights, be Driven to meet the challenge of every workout.  Initial order will include Cherry Lime flavor.

DYSRUPT:  DYSRUPT™ combines a powerful ratio of rapidly absorbed Branched-Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) and natural energizers to help you reach your next level. We created this strategic blend of BCAAs and caffeine to effectively boost energy and support muscle growth during even the most intense workout sessions.  With zero calories per serving, DYSRUPT™ will make a big impression without denting your diet. Mix up a serving anytime you want to dial-up your mental focus, physical energy and recovery support.  Initial order will include Berry Bash flavor. 

Doc Spartan Combat Ready Ointment:  Life is a contact sport and war wounds are apart of the game. Doc Spartan’s Combat Ready Ointment is the no BS, all natural, first aid ointment that gets you back to doing what you love. It smells great and gets the job done.  Our proprietary formula utilizes nature’s best ingredients to comfort and soothe all of your first aid needs. It contains Organic naturally refined coconut oil, 100% Beeswax, Sweet Almond Oil, Vitamin E, Lavender Essential Oil, Eucalyptus Essential Oil, and Tea Tree Essential Oil.

These great new products should be at the box on Wednesday, Oct. 19, so be sure to check these out, ask questions, and let us know what you think! 

If you would like to order directly from the Driven Nutrition website, please use this link, as it is specific to CrossFit Galena.  Or, if you see something on the website that you'd like, let us know and we'll throw it in with the next order!

SCALING v. RX


I believe there is a big difference between being taught a lesson and learning a lesson.  Anyone can sit in a classroom, read a text book, listen to a lecture, etc., and be "taught" the who, what, where, when, and why about a subject.  But until someone actually experiences those lessons for themselves, I would argue that they haven't really "learned" the lesson.  But, I digress.....


In CrossFit, scaling is an absolute necessity for all athletes.  And I say all because I would argue that even the Games athletes, the "fittest on earth" have scaled workouts during their training.  But for some reason, the word "scale" has a very negative connotation in the minds of CrossFitters all over the world.  So many athletes associate "scaled" with "less than" or "not as good as". But that could not be further from the truth.  And I don't think the athletes from our little slice of heaven here at CFG are any different. 


So, maybe we need to look at this a different way.  You see, for programming, there has to be an "RX", otherwise we wouldn't know where to adjust from.  The RX programming is written with the most elite athlete in mind and what type of a response that workout should illicit from that athlete's body.  However, this "RX" is not the end all, be all, to measure your athletic abilities and level of fitness.  Scaling is simply taking the WOD that is programmed and adjusting it to fit each athlete’s ability and skill level for that day in order to illicit a response that will produce gains.  That's it.  And in order to progress and succeed in our fitness journey and personal goals, we need to be smart about our workouts and view scaling, or adjusting, as a necessary part of our success.  There is no shame in scaling; in fact, in my opinion, scaling a workout is smart business and it shows me, as a coach, that an athlete has put aside their ego and is serious about getting better.  But, again I digress....


Here is an example of what I'm talking about.  A real life example that actually happened.  To me.  Today.  And let me preface this by saying I've obviously scaled workouts before, especially those workouts with muscle ups, handstand push-ups, heavy overhead work, etc., but mainly because I simply could not do those movements.  Now, today, today was different.


I felt ok this morning, but had had a chest cold or something for the past couple of days.  Nothing big, just not breathing the greatest.  I got to the box, got some mobility in, then rowed 500 meters, which honestly felt like 1000.  Strength component today was 3-3-3-3-3 push press, building each round.  Seriously, I'm winded after three reps!?  Whatever, I'm fine.  Then, set up for the WOD.  It's really nothing crazy difficult for me: 4 Rounds for Time of 10 shoulder to overhead at 115#, 40 double unders, 10 hang power cleans at 115#, and 40 double unders.  The weight isn't normally heavy for me and I am usually pretty ok with the doubles, on a good day.  But knowing I'm not feeling the greatest today, the right answer is to scale this workout in some fashion by either lowering the weight, lowering the reps, both, or seriously, just packing it up, get some good nutrition and rest, and hit it tomorrow.  But of course I put the 115# on the bar and 3, 2, 1, go....


17:30 something.  17:30 something on a workout that should've taken me much less time than that.  What did I accomplish?  Absolutely nothing, except I wore myself out.  At 17:30 something, I did not illicit a response from my body, I did not increase my work capacity, I did not succeed in making progress today.  I simply did a lot of work with no real return on my investment.  Why?  Because I didn't scale.  Because I didn't listen to my body today.  Because I "always" use 115#.  Because, because, because. 


And, just some quick math for you to show you how beneficial scaling is.  We all know that power is defined as force x distance / time.  I know I'm not accounting for the double unders, but figuring all things are equal, my power output for this workout at 17:30 was around 8.76 (80 reps x 115 / 1050 seconds).  Now, had I scaled that weight to 95 pounds and maybe I would shave a minute off of my rounds, that gives me a power output of 9.38 (80 x 95 / 810 seconds).  I would have actually had more power output by scaling the weight 20 lbs.  I would have actually made progress today, had I scaled.  And that is what I'm trying to convey to you; scaling isn't a "less than" option.  Scaling is simply adjusting in order to help you increase your fitness level and reach the goals you have set for yourself.  It is a necessity for progress.  Here is a great short article written by CrossFit athlete Erica Saint Clair that sums it up. 


So now, after writing this post and looking back on today, I guess my time at the box wasn't wasted.  I finally learned the lesson I have been trying to teach. 


Have a great day everyone.  See you at the box!


Coach Craig

August 2016 PR Board!

Another month in the books and more goals accomplished!  Thank you for working hard and setting a great example for everyone.  Here are the PR's for August:


Angie Brown - Unassisted pull-up!  Seriously, a big deal.  Nice job Ang!
Brett Shutts - 245# split jerk
Bob Freiburger - 185# thruster, 245# hang power clean, and 265# push jerk.  Damn.
Matt "Doc" Gullone - 175# split jerk
The Blaum (Matthew to his mother) - 225# hang power clean
Kim Merritt - 90# hang power clean
Tamara Bader - 100# hang power clean
Evan Berning - 205# hang power clean
Matt Stahl - 165# hang power clean
Angie Birdsall - 265# deadlift


Great job everyone! We're proud of you for reaching your goals and never settling for "good enough". 


Coach Craig

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.    

ROW RAISER 2016 - JULY 9, 2016 - 9:00 a.m.

Row Raiser 2016, July 9 – Hosted by CrossFit Galena

The Row Raiser was founded by Sam and Jen Dancer of Q Town CrossFit, to raise money and support for the Special Olympics.  The first Row Raiser was held in 2015 at Q Town CrossFit and they raised almost $10,000 for Special Olympics Illinois.  This year, with the addition of nine more locations, we hope to reach $100,000!

In Illinois, the Special Olympics has 18 "Areas". Out of these 18 Areas, nine were invited by Sam and Jen to participate in this fundraiser. We are in Area 1, which includes nine counties, and were lucky enough to have been asked to participate. We are the only affiliate in Area 1 that is participating in this fund raiser, so we definitely want to do Area 1 proud and raise as much money and support for Area 1 Special Olympics and it's athletes as we can! Since participation in the Special Olympics is free for the athletes, the money raised will go towards fuel, lodging, meals, events, etc. These incredible athletes deserve our support and we're asking you to help us make their journey a little easier. 

The Row Raiser is a rowing event where teams of 10 will be rowing a marathon (26.2 miles). Historically, this will take anywhere from 3 to 4 hours. Tickets are $50 per athlete ($500 per team) - nothing stopping you from getting a donation for your entry fee, just remember to take down the donors info so we can recognize them. Also, this event is for EVERYONE! You do not need to be a member of a CrossFit box or other gym to participate. 

The Row Raiser will be taking place on July 9, 2016, kicking off at 9 a.m. Registration/check-in will begin at 7:30 a.m. We will be holding the Row Raiser at the Depot parking lot (under the U.S. 20 bridge in Galena, IL). If weather is an issue, we will post on our page and hold the Row Raiser at CrossFit Galena (239 N. Main Street, Galena, IL). We will have the Farmer's Market and a couple other vendors on location, as well as silent auction items during the Row Raiser. Teams are encouraged to gather donations on behalf of Special Olympics; we can email you a donation form so everyone who donates can be recognized. 

You can purchase your individual ticket or sign up a team here:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/row-raiser-2016-tickets-21531468201

Thank you for your support of the Special Olympic athletes! See you on July 9!