2010 Paleo Challenge….And the Winners are:

Posted by Natalie on March 13, 2010 - Posted in News There are 4 comments, Add yours!

The votes have been tallied and we are excited to announce our winners!

Congratulations to all 54 participants who finished our 7 week Paleo Challenge for 2010!  Check out our winners!

First Place:  Mary Elaine H.

Second Place:  Brandon B.

Third Place:  Josh F.

1st place gets 2/3 of the cash buy-in and 3 months of unlimited group class. 
2nd place gets 1/3 of cash buy-in and 2 months of unlimited group class.
3rd place gets 1 month of unlimited group class.

Rockin’ the Saturday WOD!

Posted by Eric on March 12, 2010 - Posted in News There are 3 comments, Add yours!

Saturday’s 9am Elements class appears to be getting very popular these days. Last Saturday we had twenty people show up to enjoy a good butt kickin’ before they got to relax and sample that great Paleo buffet we had to celebrate the conclusion of the Paleo Challenge.

This Saturday we had great crowd of eighteen people and I got to meet a few new faces. Jeff J, Veronica O, Sara and John B all came in for their first Saturday workout, along with a few faces I hadn’t seen in awhile.
Everyone did a great job in the WOD, and the finisher was fantastic. They did two one minute superman holds to warm up, then a plank hold for time. Shawna R & Veronica O were the last two “plankers,” Shawna lasting twenty seconds longer with an even four minutes as the crowd cheered them on. Great job ladies!

I can’t think of a better way to start my Saturday than hanging out with the great bunch of athletes we have at Norcal Strength and Conditioning.  Will YOU be joining us this Saturday??

Check out Heather, one of our SIX pregnant clients (seriously...what’s in the water down here??) hitting the push press work out! 

Nothing beats a NorCal Birthday Beating!

Posted by Natalie on March 11, 2010 - Posted in Events There are 8 comments, Add yours!

Everybody likes to start their birthday with a work out, right??

Especially at 6AM!  Today is Ryan B. 30th birthday...so we wanted Ryan to have a memorable start!  We did a quick little team work out with farmer’s walk and lunges....with two rounds of 30 burpees and ending with a little jump rope and rowing for calories.  And--we of course had to have a finisher of 30 KTE!  That’s like the icing on the birthday cake!

Check out Ryan celebrating his birthday with a few lunges....and also at his ‘Super Hero Scavanger Hunt’ birthday---with a stop at his favorite gym!
ALSO...TODAY IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO VOTE ON PALEO CHALLENGE FINALISTS!!  GET INTO THE GYM TODAY!

Have you voted??

Posted by Natalie on March 10, 2010 - Posted in News There are 8 comments, Add yours!

Voting for the 2010 Paleo Challenge is well on its way! 

Folks have two more days to select the participant who showed the greatest improvement in body composition....and it hasn’t been an choice for most!  All voting must take place by Thursday evening!  Votes will be tallied and winners will be announced on Friday!  Get into the gym and cast your vote today!!

Check out the Matt and Tom show...sharing a moment of stretching after Tuesday’s Level 1 beat down!  We’re all just one big happy family

Out with the Diet

Posted by Natalie on March 09, 2010 - Posted in News There are 3 comments, Add yours!

Last week the Chico ER published a brief article on the current philosophy in the Department of Nutrition and Food Science, at Chico State.  “Out with the diet”… the title, and the current mantra of dietitians in the department, suggests that people should listen to their body—and let hunger signals guide food consumption. 

In addition—folks shouldn’t get wrapped in a being a certain size—rather try to control the food choices they make instead of the number on the scale.
Theoretically all of these things sound great.  Then why doesn’t that work?  Why can’t we just feel our hunger—eat—and be healthy?  Seems simple. 
One thing that they fail to mention is your body’s hormonal response to food.  We all know what it is like to start munching on those damn tasty chips and salsa they put in front of you.  It’s easy to stop eating when you are full?  Right?  Of course not. 
I’m not completely bashing what these dietitians are suggested….I’m just saying that food quality can’t be ignored.  Eat some protein, layer on some healthy fat—and it will be a whole lot easier to stop eating when you are full.  If you make quality choices—you don’t have to battle the onslaught of food cravings that follow. 
Listen to your body, but give your body a fighting chance!

Check out some awesome food choices at Outback....

Recession/Depression and Health…..

Posted by Karina on March 08, 2010 - Posted in News There are 5 comments, Add yours!

As you all know we are living in a “recession”. That is what the government calls it anyway. My feeling is that they are too scared to call it like it is; a depression.

We may not fully be there yet but we are heading down a slippery slope of economic downturn that has the momentum of a locomotive. We have seen worse though, in our grandparent’s lifetime.

The great depression started after the stock market crash in 1929 and continued for some well into the 1940’s.

There is an interesting correlation of health to economic hardship. A ton of people lose their jobs therefore lose their health insurance. They run out of money due to the loss of that job and have make cut backs on what type of things they buy and the lifestyle they lead. Most people, rich and poor, had to make sacrifices. They did not worry about not getting ice cream; they worried whether they could give their kids a meal to eat that day. They chose not to fill their bodies with empty calories but with things like veggies, and some meat if they were lucky. Food was extremely expensive so they had to make every penny count.

There was a magazine in print during the Great Depression called Physical Culture that sold hundreds of thousands of copies a month. It was similar to a ”Muscle and Fitness” mixed with Goop.com on how you should eat during these times to stay healthy to avoid too many costly trips to the doctor’s office. The magazine promoted juice concoctions, heavy vegetarian diets, and a lot of fasting to maintain an optimal GI tract. We do not suggest some of these things, but I find it amazing that all these poor down and out people paid to buy magazines to learn how to “take care” of themselves so that they stayed healthier.

This is exactly what we are seeing in our small facility. We have seen some wonderful growth over the last few years while most businesses are having a tough time keeping their heads above water. Why I ask you????  It is for the exact same reason as the Great Depression. Tough times are here and we all know that it is better to stay healthy and be preventative then to suffer the COSTLY expense of illness.

We appreciate each and every one of our members and the effort/money it takes all of you to be a part of our gym.

During the depression, pasture-raised chickens was a necessity, not a luxury.  We’re lucky enough to have clients Karen and Merre Jope provide tasty farm fresh eggs for the trainers on a weekly basis!

Weightlifting PR’s!

Posted by Nicki on March 05, 2010 - Posted in News There are 3 comments, Add yours!

A shout out to all of the lifters who have been consistently training in our weightlifting classes!  We are seeing some great progress on the platforms!

Thursday’s 10AM class was full of personal records in the Clean.

Shawn G 86kg
Sean B 80 kg
Peter M 80 kg
Joye G 48 kg
Becky C 63 kg

Check out a couple pics from yesterday morning:

And here’s a fun video of the women’s 58kg class from the Athen’s Olympics. You will see the top lifters perform both the snatch and the clean & jerk.  These women weigh less than 128 lbs and are putting incredible loads overhead!  As I read on a poster somewhere:  “some little girl in China is warming up with my max.” Some fun perspective there

Paleo Challenge Finalists!

Posted by Natalie on March 04, 2010 - Posted in News There are 3 comments, Add yours!

It was a difficult choice...but the trainers have narrowed the challenge participants down to a final 16! 

Congratulations to the following folks:

Sharon B. 
Roz J. 
America L. 
Gina V. 
Nancy R. 
Rachelle P. 
Mary Elaine H. 
Davin A. 
Josh F. 
Jim L.
Mike L.
Justin G.
Brandon B.
Ryan B.
Mike Z.
Robert F.

Here’s the scoop on how to vote:  Finalist photos will be displayed in the trainer office for viewing.  Only challenge participants who took both a before and after photo will have the opportunity to vote.  You will get to choose the top three finishers from the 16 finalists.  Voting will begin tomorrow--March 5th and end on Thursday, March 11th.  The winners will be announced on Friday, March 12th--and winners’ pictures will be posted in a blog post on the website.

Also--we’ve got a few spots left in our March On-Ramps....starting on March 8th and March 15th.  Get your friends and family on board at NorCal!  Check out our last batch of On-Rampers working the dumb bell snatch! 

What a Feast!

Posted by Karina on March 03, 2010 - Posted in Recipes There are 7 comments, Add yours!

I want to send a huge thank you and congratulations out to everyone who attended the paleo potluck last Saturday. We had an amazing turn out!

We kicked the day off with our Saturday class which was huge. Eric opted for a team workout to change it up a bit and have people bond through mutual suffering before mowing down gourmet paleo food. We also got the remainder of the “after” photos and then celebrated all the trials and tribulations of the last 7 weeks with a feast fit for kings!

We had a staggering 25 dishes to choose from. It was a real testament to the work that goes into changing our diets and our cooking habits. Most people can slap a sandwich together which takes no creative effort what so ever. But, can you make a crock pot full of spicy carnitas, homemade green salsa, bacon wrapped meatloaf, carrot salad, or fantastic braised beef?

No worries if you can’t at this point....Here is a link to all of the fantastic recipes that folks shared on Saturday!  Paleo Potluck 2010 Recipes

We did have a three (four!) awards to recognize the top nominated dishes!  The winners are Dain with his Chilie Verde, Alleta with her Pink Salmon Salad, and Ashley Hamm for her refreshing Watermelon gazpacho. Congrats! We have a $15.00 gift card to Trader Joes waiting for each of you! (Editor’s note....Karina is being modest...her Sweet Potato Hash Browns earned top votes as well!)

Anyone who was brave enough to commit themselves to this 7 week challenge is a winner in my book. I hope you all know that this is just the beginning to the kind of progress that is possible when you make the decision to give your health, your all. I would love to see everyone continue to use what they’ve learned and move forward and wow yourself even further. Sometimes we feel as though someone else must lay the gauntlet down in order to perform. But you know what to do now, so as NIKE says, JUST DO IT!

Stay tuned for an announcement of our 2010 Challenge Finalists....coming soon!  Check out some pics from Saturday’s Festivities!

Sandbaggers or Incredible Progress?

Posted by Shawn on March 02, 2010 - Posted in News There are 3 comments, Add yours!

Call it what you want, but this on-ramp crew got it done!

Seems to be a trend starting here… exercise three days a week, clean up the nutrition… and surprise...you get results! So, with that I would like to say great job to the all of you for putting forth the effort and making your health and well-being a priority!  Take a close look at this photo we will be seeing all of these folks in elements classes starting this week!  Check out the day 1 to day 12 time changes that is awesome!  Hope you all had a good time, we did. Great job and thanks for making our job fun!