When Did you start CrossFit: I joined the gym in May 2011 and have been doing the CrossFit work-outs since the beginning of November.

How long did it take you to go from Basics to CrossFit: About six months.

What is the best thing you have gotten out of doing CrossFit: Confidence! It is a powerful thing and has amazing effects on life in general… how I think, how I live, where I go, what I do, who I interact with. I am a shy person in general but I don’t feel like I hide anymore!

What is the one thing you have done here that you never thought you could do? Honestly, I have never considered myself to be an athlete, let alone a Spotlight Athlete! Never in my wildest dreams! I never thought I would be doing ALL that Crossfit has us doing. Calling myself an athlete would be one of the things I never thought I would/could do!!

What is one goal you have reached? And one goal you still hope to reach? I can run!! I am by no means the fastest or best runner and I have a lotto work on but I could hardly run 200-400meters when I first started. I have a lot of personal goals when it comes to my workouts… stronger and more coordinated lifts, better double-unders, handstand walking, pull-ups! Each day and one workout at a time I hope to improve all of these.

How has your diet changed since starting CrossFit? I just recently participated in the Paleo course and it has been the best thing I have done for my health!

How has the paleo diet affected your workouts/life? It has changed my body, my way of thinking, my way of cooking, my way of shopping and all in a positive way! The food I eat fuels every step, jump, lift, climb… I feel like I make improvements everyday whether they are small or large and therefore eating Paleo has definitely improved my workouts! As part of the Paleo course we had to perform a workout at the beginning and the same workout after the course. I rowed a 2K at the beginning in 9:01 and post Paleo I rowed it in 8:35!

Additional Comments: Oh my, how do I even begin to thank everyone at CrossFit Fury! I hope that every coach and mentor at the gym can stop each day for a moment and  look at all the lives you have touched, improved  and saved!! It is truly amazing what you all do for so many on a daily basis! Thank you for every word of encouragement, your dedication, and for being an inspiration to me! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

So here is our chance to stand firm in our convictions and show our family and friends that what we do is not that crazy and in reality we have learned how to really enjoy things in our life. Dont settle like 94% of americans who provide their sides and desserts from boxes, packages or just add water and stir. Instead be the educated self conscious minority who care about their families health and well being and actually do something about it.

Check this out, if you call yourself a CrossFitter and you care about your health and fitness, find great paleo courses and sides this turkey day and show  your family and friends how great eating healthy can be. Obviously there may be some ‘crap’ foods at the party and there is  nothing we can do or say about it, they just aren’t coming from us.

As with anything CrossFit we will add some competition to this. If you take me up on this and post a picture of your creation on our Facebook page we will hook the best one up with the new paleo shirt that Alfred is wrapping up this week.  Ground rules are no gluten(duh) unless its your centerpiece, no refined sugars (or excessive sweeteners), No multi-syllable ingredients created in a laboratory somewhere… Other then that all is game! Here are a couple of my favorite recipes:

Cauliflower Mashers

Paleo Stuffing

Paleo Brownies

Paleo Pumpkin Pie 

Sweet Potato Casserole

Please share anything great here and lets see those pictures! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Chipotle is all about Food with Integrity, finding the very best ingredients raised with respect to animals, the environment and the farmers.  They strive to serve the very best sustainably raised food possible with an eye to great taste, great nutrition and great value.
They support and sustain family farmers who respect the land and the animals in their care. They try whenever possible to use meat from animals raised without the use of antibiotics or added hormones and they source organic and local produce when practical as well as use dairy from cows raised without the use of synthetic hormones.

Chipotle truly has the paleo vision in mind and despite the rice and beans (leave those out) is a great way to grab a quick, healthy meal on the road . So no more excuses that you had to eat poorly because you couldn’t find something paleo friendly. There is a Chipotle on every corner.  To learn more about Chipotle and their Food with Integrity go to www.chipotle.com.

Some other paleo friendly fast food places-In and Out Burger and Carl’s Jr both have a lettuce wrap burger, Ground Control has an entire Paleo Menu, Sprouts has a great Deli department that makes awesome lettuce wraps and Bashas has a great mongolian grill. Check some of these options out next time you are crunched for time and in need of a paleo friendly meal.

From a wedding day weight of 142lbs 31 years ago, I managed to ratchet my weight up to being a biscuit shy of 300lbs. Throughout those 31 years, I had tried everything to lose the weight but I was that guy who could lose ”x” lbs at will but would gain back “1.5x” lbs. As is the case with most men of my vintage it took a disastrous trip to the doctor for me to finally realize something needed to be done.

So what better to do when you’re a physical wreck than to get an estimate on flooring? Right? Lucky for me getting a flooring estimate caused Kory Sterns (representin’ in a CrossFit Fury tee shirt) to come into my house on a Friday afternoon. We spent ten minutes talking flooring and 30 minutes talking about CrossFit Fury. After telling Tyleen and I in graphic detail about the WODs that make you want to yack by the dumpsters, how you feel you can’t possibly get enough air into your heaving lungs, and how crazy sore you get, he invited us to the free Saturday Basics class. Never once did he say “go try it,” he said, “go do it.” It was like the light had been switched on in the dark room; I wasn’t going to try CrossFit, I was going to do CrossFit.

Tyleen and I went to the Saturday, May 21, 2011 free Basics class . That’s precisely when my life changed. That first week was brutal. I realized I was going to be the oldest, fattest and slowest in every class but with Leah constantly encouraging me it didn’t matter. Even though I hurt like hell, it was a good hurt…not a fat-guy-trying-to-get-off-the-couch-to-get-a-fresh-bag-of-Doritos kind of hurt. When we started coupling eating Paleo with out Basics WODs I felt exponentially better. From there it has been all down hill, but in a good way.

I think its safe to say there would be no roads, no buildings, lights, bottled water, toilets and unfortunately no weightlifting shoes. There was probably lots of open space, kinda like the wilderness, and lots of reasons for fight or flight.

When it came to food, ‘what am I going to eat?’  was probably on our mind from sun up to sun down. Now depending on where in the world we are, there would be a variety of plants, nuts and seeds that we could forage on, but on average there was a much higher calorie content available from animals then there was from food. Basically we were mostly carnivorous with some occasional roots, nuts, seeds and leaves on the side.

As life got easier the smart ones learned how to keep food on supply so groups and communities could grow. In time we learned animal husbandry and agriculture. With this brought greater supplies of food, greater diversity in food and even experimentation with foods. Now a lot of good things came about because of this like education, civilization, the arts and with a healthy food supply came wealth and better living…maybe not.

As people started to see the benefits of food storing, they took on new innovations.  For example, our friends along the Nile were the first to develop some milling and baking practices with an easily farmed grass. Enter wheat, grains, breads and the like. Once foods began having some shelf life there was no stopping it. The grass grew almost year round, you could store it, you could produce it almost indefinitely and you could feed armies to fight for you and slaves to build you big temples to die in.

It is around this time that we begin seeing some of the first signs of the metabolic issues that are much more common today. Ironically these ailments were thought of as ‘diseases of affluence’ because hunter gatherers just dont consume the calorie content and more specifically macro-nutrient ratios needed to develop these diseases. Fast forward a few millennia and no longer is it a disease of affluence but a chronic disease.

Don’t worry we are not gonna ask you to burn all of your money and start killing things to survive, in fact its the exact opposite. Lets think more about where we put our money. Imagine what percentage of our ancestors work and energy went into feeding themselves and their families… I bet its safe to say for many it was 100% and beyond. That means every minute of their efforts and work went into nourishing their bodies and their families. Now how much do you think we commit to nourishing ours?  I know today its all about being frugal and smart with our money but we gotta think a little more about what we are feeding this machine you call you.

Starting this Sunday we are going to take a dozen people back in time for dinner. We will clean out our closets of high fructose corn syrup and grain products. We will nourish our bodies on a variety of all natural meats and animal products. We will be aware of where our food comes from and purchase locally when at all possible and in the end we are going to be healthier and we will be doing our part to improve the world. If you are interested in participating  in this paleo challenge please sign up in the gym. For more details on what is offered, please read the Paleo 4.0 section of our nutrition page and check out Wikipedias Paleo Diet page.

Jumprope instruction during Thursdays 5pm "detention"

Regarding nutrition I have always been a firm believer in the 80/20rule: if you eat great 80% of the time, go ahead and kick your heals up 20% of the time, within reason of course. Sometime late last year I first read the Paleo Solution and decided to completely kick gluten out of my diet. The cool thing about being gluten free is it really reigns in your options for “cheats” because if your gluten free you are 100% gluten free, there is no grey area here.

It was not long before I was reaping the benefits from my dietary changes, and trust me I am one to be skeptical of claims of increased energy, better sleep and faster recovery, just from eliminating a simple seed protein from your diet… but I am convinced and here is why…

Coming away from Regionals this year, I decided to take a little time off to let my body and mind heal. Shortly there after I found myself indulging in some grain based delights and I immediately knew something was awry. I will not go into details but simply put my body was obviously not happy with my intake, and things that used to be staples in my diet were now causing serious havoc. Fortunately(or not) our bodies are amazing at adapting and within a few weeks most of the discomfort had faded, or simply put my body was getting used to being irritated.

Once the Games were over I refocused myself and cleaned the crap out. As usual I felt good, energized and ready to tackle the world. A few weeks later, with those experiences a distant memory, I once again find some shenanigans to get into and once again find myself bent at the hip, grasping my midsection and once again spending a little too much time in the lavatory…needless to say I understand that what you eat and what you don’t eat has a profound impact on your overall well being. Yes our body will build a tolerance to many irritants in our diet but at what costs?…  Yes we can still run, jump, lift and perform arithmetic while eating bread and drinking beer but at what percentage of our overall potential and at what about long term?

So if you have not gone paleo and have not completely removed gluten from your diet for at least 30 days I challenge you to give it a try and you will know what I speak of if you reintroduce it. Poor sleep, low energy, bad moods can all be improved by a better diet. Additionally I hope all of the parents think about what profound benefits you could provide your children by limiting exposure to irritants such as gluten and grains, its almost unfair to the other kids if you did…

Our finalists are:

Leonard Velazquez

Cecilia Escobedo

Mark Brown

Dani Medrano

Voting will be open in the gym until close on Monday, please vote for top female and male finalist.

Additionally, we had some great success from repeat finalists and winners and despite not qualifying to win again (we have decided past winners are no longer able to win a second challenge),they have continued to see results and improvements.

First off,  Micki Sund from day one to today has completely transformed herself and has now impacted the lives of many as she refers and encourages many of our newest members.  Congratulations Micki on your success and we thank you for your hard work.

Finally, Deanna Munoz put in another valiant effort and had considerable change but won Paleo Challenge 3.2 and Stacey Frederico completed her third challenge and contintues to have results as she completed her first RX’d wod and is making huge strides every day, only to both to show their dedication will prove for continued success.  Congratulations to everyone whom competited, you have changed for the better and will continue to do so.

For this next challenge our focus will be on food preparation, shopping, eating out as well as covering the “Paleo Solution” book and Food Inc movie. However this challenge will last 4 weeks and will start with a brunch provided by CrossFit Fury and Ground Control to lay down the guidelines to success followed by a shopping trip and then online recipe exchanges, reading discussions and as always Saturday track practice.

The Paleo 4.0 Series will start when 12 people have signed up and those 12 will work together to be accountable, encouraging and most importantly successful! We can start a challenge as quickly as this Sunday (8/14) or the next start date will be Sunday (8/28). You will need to be signed up by the Friday before if you want to start. Please let us know if you are ready to change!

By being a part of Fury it is safe to say you have at least heard of the Paleo Diet, if not consider yourself paleo or mostly paleo. If you do not feel this is the case, please take a few minutes, explore the websites “

With that out of the way, lets talk about some of the arguments against paleo. Even today there are  people who do not agree with the Paleo Diet…for example my sister, a Registered Dietician. It’s not that she doesn’t agree with it per say; but she like many other doctors, nutritionists and dietitians were all schooled on the USDA’s original Food Pyramid. Now like any decisions which effect a great number of consumers, corporate and political interest always come to play, for better and for worse…

The original USDA Food Pyramid was built heavily on the use of grains, breads and other products whose low costs of production was greatly influenced by the Farm Bill. Since the introduction subsidies for commodity crops (Corn, Wheat, Soy) there has been a dramatic decrease in overall number of farms and food producers and today nearly 80% of all food production is by only a handful of companies…

So it only makes since that the foods the gov’t is paying farmers to produce (commodity crops) should be the staple of the American Diet right? Well that is what were were told and taught and here we are today, luckily we have all there pharmaceutical companies to make profits off of our misfortune.

The best part of all these arguments is that fact that the Paleo Diet being “not good” for you never comes up, its simply an argument that grains should be a part of your diet. However we are claiming that grains and other processed carbohydrates are the center of America’s ills and our proof lies in each and everyone of you who walk through our doors. The best part is there are thousands of others just like us around the country doing the same things and many cultures who still follow a paleo type lifestyle with none of our ills.

So let the nay-sayers claim grains and corn are good for your while the commodity crops are subsidized more, and health insurance continues to rise… or take your health into your own hands, educate yourself and become more interested in this topic because that is the best insurance possible!

We recently bought a house that is a major remodel project.  As we began to spend more and more time working there, we began to fall out of our routines of preparing food ahead of time.  We didn’t put the necessary forethought into our meals and found ourselves needing something quick and easy so we could get back to work quickly.  I began to let my food choices slide a little here and there.  A quick pizza on a busy night, maybe a burger from the Burger King down the street.  Pretty soon we had fallen off the paleo train and could barely see it on the horizon. 

 Since loosing our focus I have felt tired, sluggish and I have struggled through the workouts lately.  It can happen to anyone, but it is time for a change.  Diet affects so much of your life and daily function that I need to get back on track before things are too far gone. 

 How do you get back on the paleo train?  Just like how I started, one meal and one choice at a time.  Start with thinking about your next day’s food the night before.  Do you need to hard boil some eggs?  Maybe quickly grill up some chicken.  Don’t let yourself get to a meal without a plan.  Throw some food into the crockpot in the morning and have a few meals worth of meat and veggies for the week ahead.  If you are truly desperate and need to eat out, go for a salad or ‘bowl’ version of a clean burrito.  Whether starting on a paleo plan or trying to get back on track, it is important to stay as strict as possible.  It is easy to add in 1 to 2 cheats per week later, when things are solid.  Allowing them early on, however, causes problems.  It is too easy to let one cheat turn into 2, then a slide back to the old ways.  Finally, when you make a bad choice, try to forget about it quickly.  Don’t get discouraged and consider the whole day a loss, refocus on the next meal and move on with better choices.

We are a long way from being done with our remodel, but we cannot let some short term business affect our long term health.  Also, I know that eating right will help me to keep up with the demands of a remodel while still trying to keep up at the gym.  If you haven’t started eating paleo yet, you really need to.  If, like me, you slid back into a less healthy diet then make the choice to get back on track.  Plan your meals, make smart choices and try to get some support from other paleo eaters.

Over the next 8 weeks we will be and discussing what grains are not a healthy part of diets along with what foods will give us the most energy throughout the day and especially in our workouts. These challengers have taken on a big commitment to change their eating habits and change their lives… good luck!