Taylor 4 rounds for time of: Run 400 meters 5 burpee muscle-ups If you’ve got a 20-lb. vest or body armor, wear it. U.S. Army Specialist David Wayne Taylor, 20, of Dixon, Kentucky, assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, died in Kandahar province, Afghanistan on March 29, 2012, from wounds sustained in an accident at an ammunition supply point. He is survived by his sisters Tamara Taylor and Christina Abell, and mother Sarah Whitledge Taylor. We are now in our 3rd week of the Spring Food Challenge and by now it should be pretty obvious that the first step to success is preparation.  As many of you have probably found out, when we start getting really hungry and we haven’t put much forethought into our meals for the day we can lose a lot...Read more

Overhead squat 1-1-1-1-1 reps Front squat 1-1-1-1-1 reps Back squat 1-1-1-1-1 reps Try to increase the load on each of the fifteen sets. Have a plan. We’ve talked about brain plasticity before and there we learned that through repetition our brains build connections or pathways that allow us to achieve that same act with less effort the next time. Overtime, these actions become “natural” or even automatic. Imagine a toddler learning to walk. It requires all of their attention and even then they experience a lot of mishaps. Now think of yourself walking. When we walk we’re not focusing on our steps and maintaining our balance, we’re thinking about something completely separate from the act of walking, yet we’re walking. That is one way the brain has created a pathway that is so strong that it no longer requires any of our conscious energy to achieve. Natural movement patterns are...Read more

Master’s Qualifier 16.4 55 burpees 34 overhead squats (95/65) 21 muscle-ups Check out Root Amy Jo above in her submission video of this same workout.  She gets through all 21 muscle-ups under the 20 minute time cap!  Well done Amy Jo!  Read more

Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of: 10 L pull-ups 10 handstand push-ups 20 hip extensions In this article, Mark discusses why he occasionally will fast after working out.  He explains the benefits of fasting and reaffirms that pre and post workout nutrition are not understood.  We can all get caught up in the game of what to eat and what not to eat and how soon before and after and so on and so on.  If constant variation is what we have found to be the best strategy in our fitness, why wouldn’t we try it for our nutrition?   I think Mark says it best: In the spirit of IF (intermittent fasting) and recreating patterns of our primal ancestors’ lives, varying your eating/exercising/fasting practices ultimately allows for maximizing the hormonal and upregulating benefits of different physiological scenarios.    Read more

Complete as many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of: 12 dumbbell deadlifts 9 dumbbell hang squat cleans 6 dumbbell push jerks We haven’t been able to do much fact checking on this new study so please don’t change your current fitness routine until we do.  In the meantime though, enjoy the video and have a great Friday!  Read more