United Barbell - CrossFit SOMA

Check back later today for UB's full summer calendar!

**PLEASE NOTE** - We will be closed Friday - Sunday for the NorCal CrossFit Regionals. Please feel free to join us there!

You've heard it before -- you are what you eat. But as the number of consumers buying grass-fed beef grow, the concept of you are what you eat - and what it ate is becoming more and more apparent. I was just directed to a study looking at the health of mice who were fed a diet of salmon. The catch was some of the mice were fed salmon raised on soybean oil, others on olive oil, rapeseed oil, or fish oil. What were the findings? The lab mice fed salmon raised on soybean oil got fatty liver and developed insulin resistance. Despite the nutritional value of eating salmon, the salmon's diet still played a direct role in the overall health of the mouse. (For those of you not up on the specifics of why soy gets scrutinized, I strongly recommend reading the linked article from Mark's Daily Apple.)

This study had me wondering. I try to pay close attention to my food as well as my food's food 85% of the time. But what about you? What level do you investigate your food? How far are you willing to go to protect your health? What's "worth" it, and when do you choose to play "ignorance is bliss"?

**PLEASE NOTE** - We will be closed Friday - Sunday for the NorCal CrossFit Regionals. Please feel free to join us there!

When people hear the words "stability" and "stabilization," many think "midline." This is because we drill the concept into your head during class - midline stabilization is essential for safe and efficient movement. But do you ever think about stability as it applies up and down stream from your midline?

What do you do, for example for lower body stabilization? You might think squats, deadlifts, and Olympic lifting are enough - but I would argue that it these are only a starting point - a great one, but still just a start. Think about it - how many sports (or even daily activities are done with two feet on the ground at all times? Even the most foundational human movements (walking and running) are single leg activities. So how can only training two leg training be sufficient?

Working your lower body stability means adding single leg movements. These movements force you to stabilize differently, utilizing relying more on different muscle groups than in two legged movements. This allows you to better recruit these muscles when doing one and two legged movements alike and will help you become not only more powerful, but more efficient and less prone to injury.

Remember, single leg movements don't have to limited to single leg squats (we hope you enjoy today's split squats). There are many variations on single leg squats, Bulgarian squats, lunges, Romanian deadlifts, and step ups that can help you work your stability and single leg strength. Here is a good list of pistol variations in this CrossFit Journal article to get you started.

T puts the muscle in muscle cars.

If you were in the gym on Sunday, you may have noticed a rather large pup in the corner. You may have also noticed the two people and massage table that were sitting next to him. This past weekend we ran a "beta" experiment. We brought my two favorite A.R.T. (Active Release Technique) masseuses to the gym to help a select few UBites work out their kinks.

Well, no surprise, the few who got to work with them loved it. And so, we will be opening up our doors to Tammy and Monte once a quarter to help you handle your issues.

A little more about A.R.T. work:
ART is a soft tissue treatment system based on a massage technique that allows a practitioner to diagnose and treat soft tissue injuries such as headaches, back pain, shin splints, frozen shoulder, sciatica, plantar fasciitis, some knee problems and general tendonitis. There are over 500 techniques unique to ART.

We will announce our next day with our two monster mobilizers soon. Meanwhile, if you can't wait, feel free to visit them at their facility Kinetic Chain in Pleasanton.

This week's dose is brought to you by coach Jon!

I've only been coaching this week's Dose for a short time, but he's been with us at UB almost as long as I have. He's known affectionately to the coaches(at least to Jenny and Olivia), and embarrassingly to him, as Ryan Gosling. Does our Ryan G. have the same seductive, commanding presence as the actor? That's up for debate. But they do share a quiet strength (that Ryan's is on stage, our Ryan's is in the gym), and a surprising knack for comedy.

Seriously, though, our Man with the Tan has been deserving of a Dose for a long time. He always brings a friendly, happy energy to UB. He's consistent. He pays attention to cues, diligently works his technique, and hits that Rx weight when he knows he can do it with good form. He doesn't take himself too seriously, which means he's a perfect fit at UB. Ryan is always willing to step up to a challenge whether on his own or when urged to, which means he's a perfect "A" athlete -- "A" for awesome!

Maybe our Ryan does have a future in acting...

Next week Friday - Sunday is the CrossFit NorCal Regionals. In support of our passion, as well as our very own T-Money rockstar who will be competing, we have lots of information for you regarding the three day event. Please take a few minutes to read through everything below:

REGIONALS - GYM HOURS

We are incredibly proud of Trent for qualifying for the 2013 Regionals. We are excited to cheer him on through all 7 workouts that he will take on over the three days. As such, we intend on showing our support by having our full staff (and encourage any and all of you who are able to come) attend this 3 day event. To do so, UB will be closed Friday May 25 - 27th. Please take note and join us at the Sonoma County Fair Grounds.

REGIONALS - WHERE WE'RE STAYING

For any of you who are interested in staying up north for the weekend, the coaches and several other UBites will be staying at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Sonoma Wine Country Let us know if you are staying there or anywhere else nearby so we can invite you to team dinners..etc.

REGIONALS - TEAM TRENT TEES

The Simmons shirts are in! We have an extra in each size, and a huge number in women's XL (ordering SNAFU) so if you missed out, you might still be lucky enough to snag this extremely limited edition tee.

REGIONALS - SUNDAY TICKETS AVAILABLE

When tickets went on sale, we purchased groups of tickets for each day. We still have 9 tickets available for Sunday if you are interested. Sunday will be a great day -- the final 2 WODs plus the winner announcements. Please let us know if you would like to purchase tickets - they are 15$ a piece.

REGIONALS - TICKET PICKUP

For those of you who have purchased tickets, your tickets are here and ready to be picked up. Please bring cash to pay for your tickets:

3 Day Tickets - $40 each
Steven D
Andrea S
Aaron O

Saturday Tickets - $15 each
Ruth G
Paul N
Dheeraj S - 2 tickets
Matt B - 2 tickets
Tara L
Andrew M
Scott Y
Isaac H

Sunday Tickets - $15
Tara L

If you are a member at UB, chance are you have met one of our Crossfit couples Andrea S. and Steve D.. These two share a lot of common interests, one of which lead to their playful site Drink Your Carbs, a cheeky spin on low carb paleoish eating. This past week, they wrote a great article regarding the benefits of higher intensity workouts. Below is a very small sample, I recommend taking a few minutes to read the full article here. .....

Walking and running burn the same number of calories per mile. It is an oft repeated mantra that we have all heard thousands of times. This idea is rooted in eighth-grade physics, specifically the equation “work = force x distance.” For those who were distracted or otherwise missed that lecture, the point is that it takes a defined amount of energy to move a body of mass over a measured distance. The speed of the object is not taken into account. Therefore, running and walking should require the same amount of energy to cover the same distance.

However, as their post goes on to discuss,

Clearly intensity matters. The best part is that you don’t have to be a runner to take advantage of the metabolic lift intensity provides. A 2012 study out of Colorado State University found that two and a half minutes of all-out effort on an exercise bike can burn up to 220 calories. For comparison, it would take Steven nearly an hour of slow, casual bike riding to expend that same number of calories.

As I said, this is just the teaser... check out the whole post here!

Ah yes, CrossFit and the muscle up. Although we have spoken about this coveted movement and progressions for it before, today I want you to take a minute (well, more like 4:56) and look at the movement in it's strictest form. That's right, here is a GWOD video on the strict muscle up:

So wherever you are in the process -- be it working strict muscle ups, no grip muscle ups, or even focusing ontransition work, study up! You'll an opportunity to work on your muscle ups today, so having an appreciation for the progressions ahead of time will serve you.