This Friday, May 27th, we will start PROMPTLY at 5pm!!  Get in the gym early enough to be warmed up and ready to start the 500m Row at 5pm sharp!  From there we will go from one thing to the next and chip away at the testing… hopefully have everyone out of there by 6:30pm at the latest.  That means, be ready to go!

This week on the white board in front of the office there will be a sign up “sheet”.  Please put your name on there if you plan on attending Friday night.  For those of you not testing, come in and watch some of our athletes do some  amazing things.

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Aside from keeping our bodies healthy with exercise and nutrition we also all hopefully brush our teeth regularly, shower often and pay attention to our hygiene.  That too, is part of being healthy.  But here’s the catch…and I am guilty of this too… if we pay so much attention to putting high quality food in our body, why do we not feel the same about our personal hygiene products?  If I gargle with sugar-laced mouth wash and wash with chemically enhanced soap, what is that doing to my body?  We know it’s not good to eat genetically modified food or to toss back artificial ingredients.  But then we go and lather our bodies, scrub our teeth and rub on deodorant that is all absorbed into the body with the same crap.  More and more I am becoming a “do-it-yourselfer”, so here are a few household items that I have started making on my own and encourage you to as well.  If you’re not into making your own, I encourage you to go to Chico Natural, S&S or whatever Natural Health store you like and find products that come from natural ingredients.  A simple rule, if you can’t pronounce it or have no idea what it is, don’t get it!

Sunscreen: 

Ingredients: 1 Cup Coconut Oil (melted over very low heat), 1/2 Cup Shea/Coco Butter Moisturizer, 1/2 Cup Zinc Oxide Powder (for 20SPF), 1/2 Cup Filtered Water

Directions: Combine everything in a blender and blend until well combined.  You can increase or decrease SPF by changing up Zinc Oxide Powder amount.  Add a few drops of carrot seed or raspberry seed essential oils for a bit more sun protection.

Shampoo:

Ingredients: 1/4 cup coconut milk, 1/3 cup liquid castille soap (Dr Bronner’s is my favorite!!), 1/2 tsp Vitamin E Oil, 20 drops essential oils (your favorite smell), *For dry hair add a 1/2 tsp olive or almond oil.

Directions: Combine all ingredients into a bottle (pump bottle works best I think) and keep in the shower for up to a month).  Shake before each use and you’ll only need about 1 Tbsp each time (depending on how much hair you have)

Face Wash:

Ingredients: Coconut Oil, Baking Soda

Directions: Wet face, then put 2 tbsp baking soda in the palm of your hand.  Add just enough water to make a paste and then add a drop or two of coconut oil (may have to heat first to liquify) and gently scrub face.  Rinse away with cool water and pat dry.

Black Head Remover:

Ingredients: 1/2 Lemon and 3-4 drops of honey 

Directions: Pour honey on flesh side of lemon.  Rub lemon and honey on face, focusing more time on the areas that have black heads (nose, chin, etc) and let sit for 5 min.  Then wash with cool water.  The honey also moisturizes while the lemon will help fade dark marks/spots.

Toothpaste:

Ingredients: 2/3 cup baking soda, 1 tsp fine sea salt, 1-2 tsp peppermint oil, filtered water

Directions: Combine first three ingredients and then add filtered water slowly and mix together to desired consistency

Teeth Whitener: 

Ingredients: Tine bit of Toothpaste, 1 tsp Baking Soda, 1 tsp hydrogen peroxide, 1/2 tsp water

Directions: Stir together until thoroughly combined and then brush teeth once week for 2 min.  Continue until you’ve reached your desired whiteness.  From then on only use once every month or two.

Body Butter:

Ingredients: 1 Cup of Coconut Oil, Essential Oil (scent of your choice)

Directions: Whip coconut oil in mixer on highest setting for 10min or until it’s whipped VERY well.  Add in essential oils toward the end of the whipping process.

Deodorant:

I haven’t tried this yet, but I’ve heard that you can just use Coconut Butter and spread it on evenly under your arm.  I’ve heard it takes a few days for your body to adjust to it but then it works great.  Add some essential oils if you’d like for a bit of scent.

Mosquito Repellent:

Ingredients: 15 drops Lavender Oil, 3-4 Tbsp Vanilla Extract, 4-5 Tbsp Lemon Juice 

Directions: Put ingredients in a spray bottle, shake a little and spray them away!

Air Freshener:

Ingredients: Baking Soda, Essential Oils, Jar, Foil

Directions: Fill jar about 1/4 way with baking soda, then 4-5 drops of your favorite essential oil, put foil on top of the jar and poke a few holes in it (if you have it where it’s seen you may want to use a mason jar lid for appearance sake).  Shake it up and voila!  Every few weeks give it a little shake to stir up the scent.

Essential Oils:

Essential oils can replace many of the Over-The-Counter products we have in our medicine cabinets.

Lavender: Restful Sleep – rub a couple drops on feet at night and helps with sleep

Lemon: Liver Cleansing - 2 drops of lemon to glass of water for liver cleansing.  Runny Nose – swipe under runny nose and it helps stop the snot.

Peppermint: Fever – drop or 2 on each foot help lower body temp.  Breath Freshener - Add a drop or two on your tooth brush and scrub your mouth for fresher breath.

Tea Tree (Melaleuca) Oil: Anti-fungal- A few drops a day on toenail fungus this will do the trick.   Anti-viral-  Add a drop or two with water and swish your canker sores be-gone.

If you have any of your own natural products you’d like to share, please do!  Let’s be healthy inside and out!

“Uhhh, don’t worry about the cost….just go!!”

“Who cares if you haven’t worked out in 10 years….just go!!”

“Yes it’s awkward when the coaches stare at your butt and tell you to ‘SQUEEZE HARDER!’…….just go!!”

Are you pickin’ up what I’m puttin’ down?  Our gym is more than a place to sweat, it’s a community that you have to experience first hand.  Many of you describe us as your Norcal Family and as we know, families support one another.  Just as many of you came together to support our Shane Gower in his time of need, I am asking if you all wouldn’t mind rallying again for another great cause.

Many of you know the quiet wallflowers Katie Nichols and Erna Friedeberg.  If you’ve ever taken a class with these two, you know that last line is a flat out lie and they are the opposite of quiet. Especially if there are burpees and bear crawls in the workout. Word to the wise?…wear ear plugs.  Just kidding ladies (not really  I absolutely love these two and thoroughly enjoy having them in class.  Unfortunately a co worker of theirs has been struck with the sucky cancer. It’s not good and she needs all the support she can get.  That’s where you come in.  They are hosting a book drive in order to help raise money for this sucky and very expensive cancer.  Below is a flyer with the information.  Please start gathering any books you would like to donate to help their co worker Kim get through this very difficult time.  I will place a box at the gym for collection.  If you could, pass this along to anyone else who may want to help.

Kim is not a member of our gym, but non the less she is a good person in need.  I can’t think of a reason not to put our best effort forward and show her some NorCal love.

Thanks so much everyone.  You’re all AMAZING!

ps. starring at your glutes is awkward for us too…..but we do because we care

As I often say, “I’m not that smart. I just quote smart people.”… and this  is one of my favorite quotes.
“Life’s a journey”. We hear this saying all the time. We say it to friends, family, and significant others. It’s our safety net when times are tough. Our explanation for how we got from where we were, to where we are now. The saying doesn’t give any concrete answers. It simply reminds us that there are no set paths to the future. It reminds us that we’re never too old, or too young. It’s never too soon, or too late.

Take Mark Burns for example… While vacationing in Hawaii he watched the Kona Ironman. Something in that moment grabbed him, and he got it in his head that he wanted to do it too. He’d never done a triathlon before, or ran a marathon… Truthfully, he’d never done any races. He exercised regularly and ate right… ish, but an endurance athlete he was not.

Rewind to a year ago: Mark completed his first Olympic distance triathlon
http://www.norcalsc.com/mark-burns-triathlete

Fast forward to April of this year, and Mark has completed a Sprint, another Olympic, and now his first Half-Iron. He’ll be the first to tell you the journey wasn’t smooth… as his trainer, I’ll second that. But, “life’s a journey”, right?

A year is a long, yet amazingly short, amount of time. A lot can happen to us, around us… without us. Time waits for no one. While you’re thinking about doing something, somebody else is already out doing it. Every day, month, year, we’re writing the chapters to the story of our lives. At 55 Mark decided to add triathlete, and Ironman to his. What do you want to add to yours? And why aren’t you writing it now?

The test/retest date is going to be Friday May 17th at 5pm (hoping to be done at 6:30pm at the latest).  Please either comment to this post OR contact Jenny or Shawn letting them know you will be participating on that Friday.  Also, as the day gets closer we will have a place to sign up at the gym.

Just in case you haven’t seen the previous posts, here is what the Level 1 Standards are.

1. 400m Run: W-1:30/ M- 1:15

2. Clean AND Power Clean: W- .75 BW/ M- BW

3. 500m Row: W-2:08/ M-1:48

4. Dips: W-3 Bar/ M- 5 Ring

5. Strict Pull Ups: W-3/ M-5

6. Plank: 2:00

7. Back Squat x2 reps: W- .75 BW/ M- BW

8. Dead lift x3 reps: W- BW/ M-1.5 BW

9. Wall Walk to Handstand Hold – 1 min hold (nothing but toes touch wall)

10. Metcon…. (Time Cap: W- 9:00, M-8:00… all long shuttles must be 15 seconds for women and 14 seconds for men or faster or you have to redo that shuttle)

9  power cleans 135/85

1 long shuttle

9 kipping pull ups

6 power cleans 135/85

2 long shuttles

6 kipping pull ups

3 power cleans 135/85

3 long shuttles

3 kipping pull ups

Here is the list of the “clean 15″:

Onions
Sweet Corn
Pineapple
Avocado
Asparagus
Frozen Sweet peas
Mango
Papayas
Eggplant
Cantaloupe (domestic)
Kiwi
Cabbage
Watermelon
Sweet Potatoes
Grapefruit
Mushrooms

Now get out and enjoy this awesome weather and shop local! Just think how much easier life would be if you did all your food shopping either Thursday or Saturday at the market, prepped/cooked for the week Saturday and Sunday. Just saying…

I’ll give you 3 clues……..

1. You can get amazing deals on paleo and paleo-ish foods.

2. For you paleo + booze people, they have a killer beer, wine and adult apple juice aka cider section.

3. I spend almost as much time there as I do at Norcal….don’t judge.

Yes! The Grocery Outlet bargain market located next to K-Mart off Cohasset and Pillsbury.  If you’ve been to any of my classes and stick around for the highly anticipated (perhaps only in my mind) “Jaime Chat” then you’ve defiantly heard about the Grocery Outlet.  I really shouldn’t tell you this because you’re going to run out and steal all my deals…but seriously, this place is awesome.  Discounts, slashed prices and food!! It’s like a TJ Maxx that you can eat. I dig grocery shopping.  It’s one of my favorite things to do (weird?). People actually used to pay me to do it for them. I guess not everyone enjoys it as much as me.

I get it.  But thanks to that fact, I’ve spent an incredible amount of time reading labels, researching brands, making mental notes, taking naps in display chairs tired from all the mental notes taking, perusing the aisles looking for the best deals on the best products. Basically, when it comes to quality foods and hippie products, I know a deal when I see it.  

I know what some of you are thinking………

You:  “Grocery Outlet??  Pbbbb, don’t you mean Gross-Me Outlet?”

Me: Watch your mouth.”

You:  “Ok, so what kind of stuff do they have?”

Me: “Um…a lot.  To name a few, organic produce, organic fair trade chocolate, wild Alaskan salmon, organic name brand body care products, kitchen gadgets, quality cheeses, gluten free crackers and cereals, kombucha teas, gluten free beer, friendly staff, weird cool things that you need/want  and most importantly FUN!”

You: “Sounds to good to be true. Also, thanks for letting me talk in italics.”

Me:  I know and you’re welcome.  Again I really shouldn’t be telling you any of this but guess what else?”

You: “What?”

Me:  ”They give you $0.25 off your bill for EVERY grocery bag you bring in!!”

You:  “Shut the front door! I love the Grocery Outlet!”

Me:  ”I thought you might…….I thought you might.”

We all know that buying fresh local organic food directly from the farmer would be ideal. Do that when you can but use the Outlet as an inexpensive supplement. With any shopping, make sure you do your own research.  A simple google search will bring up a ton of info on your products and possibly letting you know if they are GMO free.  In my opinion, you can’t get every single item that you probably need at any one store, here is no different.  However be a detective and go see what you find.  You’ll definitely find me, that’s for dang sure.

Here’s just an example of some of the cool stuff they carry.  Items rotate often so get it while the gettins’ good.

Niman Ranch Bacon $2.99

wild alaskan salmon filets $5.99/lb

Organic, fair trade dark chocolate AND doesn’t have any soy

giant bag of frozen organic veggies for $2.49

If you eat dairy, Humbolt Creamery is an awesome! $3.69 is a great price!

Aidells is great! They source their chicken from independent farmers who raise birds with real
care.

Also, sometime before  Friday please write your name on the sign-up “sheet” on the white board near the water dispenser.  It will help things run much smoother and more efficient on Saturday.  The new standards are posted on our site and listed below.  If you have questions/concerns please contact Jenny.

1. 400m Run: W-1:30/ M- 1:15

2. Clean AND Power Clean: W- .75 BW/ M- BW

3. 500m Row: W-2:08/ M-1:48

4. Dips: W-3 Bar/ M- 5 Ring

5. Strict Pull Ups: W-3/ M-5

6. Plank: 2:00

7. Back Squat x2 reps: W- .75 BW/ M- BW

8. Dead lift x3 reps: W- BW/ M-1.5 BW

9. Wall Walk to Handstand Hold – 1 min hold (nothing but toes touch wall)

10. Metcon…. (Time Cap: W- 9:00, M-8:00… all long shuttles must be 15 seconds or faster or you have to redo it)

9  power cleans 135/85

1 long shuttle

9 kipping pull ups

6 power cleans 135/85

2 long shuttles

6 kipping pull ups 135/85

3 power cleans

3 long shuttles

3 kipping pull ups

If you’re not able to attend the testing, but are interested in Level 1 classes, we will have a make up day in the NEAR future.  Please contact Jenny if you CANNOT attend and we will get you on the list for the make up day.

*Please note the 5:30pm Level 1 class is changed to an All Levels class and the 10am Elements is cancelled on Saturday 4/27 due to Level 1 testing*