Gravity Janes Update

More Nutrition Resources

2010-02-03T14:40:00.000-08:00

All of you working to created great nutrition for yourself and your family, we have a valuable resource to pass along. This one was created by one of our own: Joey Bowles. It's a Blog call "Paleo Girls" and you'll find it at paleogirls.com. Don't let the name fool you, this is a site for everyone.

If you want to hear from a sincere and dedicated person on the same journey you are - to understand and practice healthy human nutrition - this is a place you must visit often. There are numerous recipes and strategies for living a powerful food-driven life. Please contribute to her site with your comments and ideas.

Many of you know Joey as a professional photographer and - as you might imagine - the photography on the site is first-rate; showing the preparation and presentation of picture-perfect GJ/Paleo meals. Doesn't get any better than this. I like it so much I am going to provide a permanent link to this site among our other links on the right-side of this site.

WATCH: If you missed the piece featuring GJ and Nicolé on Evening Magazine, the video is available on the KING5 website.

NEWS: The Peak Performers and CrossFit Games Affiliate Team will be working on kettlebell technique and running at 8A this Saturday. Non-members may join them but you must reserve on the Book Training page.

The Peak Performers Club

2010-01-31T16:41:00.000-08:00

Gravity Janes announces the latest in our list of Fitness Awards programs. All awards programs are designed to reward those who are the most committed to their fitness. Joining Gravity Kids Points and the Goals Awards is the new Peak Performers Club. Here's how it works:

Once per month we will conduct a fitness challenge during the Saturday morning Peak Performers Workshop. There will be 1 Strength and 1 Met-Con challenge assigned on the day of the event. Men and women will compete separately. All finishers in the 95th percentile and above will receive 20% off of any training plan for the following month. All finishers in the 90th to 95th percentile will get 10% off of any training plan for the following month, and the winner of each challenge will receive a $30 credit to be used any way they want in addition to the discount for being in the 95th percentile. All Peak Performers also receive a free pass to all Saturday Peak Performers Workshops for every month that their discount applies.

Full details will be posted soon elsewhere on this site in the next few days. Let the Games begin.

Evening Magazine Features Gravity Janes

2010-01-28T15:09:00.000-08:00

Many of you might remember that KING-TV filmed at GJs last fall for a segment on CrossFit featuring Nicolé V. That story will be broadcast this coming Monday, February 1st, at 7P. The gym will be open and busy at that time so some of us won't be able to watch. We're counting on the rest of you to give us a full report.

The Peak Performers Workshop will be working on barbell snatches this Saturday at 8A. Reservations are available for booking.

Read: Interesting article on running.

Gravity Kids Get Serious

2010-01-26T21:14:00.000-08:00

The GKids program at Gravity Janes just introduced a new Goal Awards program similar to the Awards program for adults. The kids will be earning points for their discipline and athletic skills and capacity that will entitle them to earn awards like exercise equipment and movie passes just to name a couple. We'll be posting the names of high point earners here and individual accomplishments on Twitter. Please comment with words of encouragement for the kids as they grow into healthy lifestyles.

Read: Article on salt in the diet.

Goals Awards

2010-01-24T20:40:00.000-08:00

Some of you have already discovered the new Goals Board, but it's time to make it official. Gravity Janes wants to reward you for your discipline and hard work with Goal Awards. Here's what you can earn:

A 15% performance improvement earns a 10% discount on your next 1-month unlimited training package
A 20% performance improvement earns a 15% discount on your next 1-month unlimited training package

We will attempt to make time during regular workouts to work on your goals, or you can request time whenever you want. A minimum combined 15% improvement (1 strength, 1 met-con) on your stated goals in any 90 day period is required to received a discount. You may begin or end the charting of your progress at any time.

Gravity Janes is giving you just one more thing to work for: money. Full details are posted on the wall next to the Board.

Watch for details on the Peak Performers Club - another opportunity to get cash back for your fitness - from Gravity Janes.

Peak Performers Meet Saturday

2010-01-21T08:50:00.000-08:00

Peak Performers meet every Saturday at 8A and this workout is open all current and aspiring PPs. The focus is on the technique and knowledge required to boost athletic performance. All participants will be challenged in new ways both physical and mental. This Saturday's focus will be:

rope climbing technique
paralette drills
handstands and handstand push ups
muscle up and other ring work

Attendance is by invitation or by reserving a spot here.

Gravity Janes on Twitter

2010-01-19T11:13:00.000-08:00

GJs has made the leap to Twitter under the name "gravityjanes". We'll be posting thoughts and observations on the current work in the gym, and immediate news of any significant accomplishments. The four most-recent tweets appear in the right column of this page. Please follow us and give us your thoughts on how we can better use this to keep everybody up what's happening in the gym. Let us know of any tweets we should be following.

Photo of our new female deadlift champ Kris B.

Products Available at Gravity Janes

2010-01-15T08:56:00.000-08:00

We are beginning to make items valuable to your health available for sale in the gym or online. Among the first items available are leather hand guards to protect your hands in high-rep pull up or kettlebell sessions. Several clients have also requested that we stock AbMats and we now have a few on hand.

You might also have noticed the new link to the right that takes you to the online ordering page for Performance Paleo meal plans. Just like the ultimately healthy meals that we have been offering in the gym, these meals can be pre-ordered in any quantity at a significant savings. Meals are delivered fresh from our caterer daily, and pre-ordered meals will arrive in individual coolers on the days you designate.

Our current Nutrition Challenge which began January 9th is our biggest ever. If you would like to read a few of the key points made at the first lecture, check out the latest post on the Nutrition Blog.

New Saturday Group

2010-01-11T17:35:00.000-08:00

This coming weekend Gravity Janes will convert the Saturday 8A group sessions into the Peak Performers Workshop. This is the place to perfect those high-skill activities that will allow you to get some competitive-level loads and/or times. You'll get valuable coaching and time to put it into practice.

Peak Performers is a new program at Gravity Janes that will financially reward those who achieve the highest levels of functional capacity. Stand by for more details on the entire program.

Every Workshop will include a short multi-movement circuit, at least 45 minutes devoted exclusively to a specific skill, and other features unique to this workout. The first PPW will focus on the Split Jerk and Push Jerk. You'll find more details and and registration for the Peak Performers Workshop here.

A Winter Warm Up

2010-01-03T15:42:00.000-08:00

The first 6 to 10 minutes of any workout should be dedicated to ramping up the body's readiness for high intensity work. Despite the name, the advisability of this has to do with more than just temperature.

Among its other values, warm ups are designed to reveal your current state of flexibility or any other range-of-motion issues that may have crept in since your last workout. Plus, biological programming makes us resistant to coming out of the resting state we are in whenever we are not being physically challenged. You may have noticed that the first 2 or so minutes of the warm up are typically the hardest. That is evidence of this resistance, but it soon passes and getting beyond that point is one of the most important reasons for engaging in a warm up.

Your highest priorities for the warm up period should be maintaining as much constant motion as possible, and engaging in full range of motion in your movements.

Question: Name as many of the other considerations in creating a warm up as you can think of and post them to Comments.

New Link: The Goals Board has now been included in the links at the right. It also contains instructions for using the new Board.

Also - Random "Letters To Jane" now appear in the left-hand column of the home page. Got something to say? Send your letters to jane@gravityjanes.com.

2010, The Year Of The Athlete

2009-12-31T17:02:00.000-08:00

If you care about your ability to function to your highest potential, you are an athlete. You may not have a chosen sport, and you may not compete against others in any organized way, but you share the desire to perform with a high degree of capacity and skill just like any athlete who does.

This notion has many ramifications, but mainly it should help you to avoid comparing yourself to societal norms in terms of fitness. The bar for fitness relative to society as a whole is extremely low and getting lower. Just like an athlete, you would never dream of comparing your abilities to the average citizen. To do so will leave even the most unhealthy people feeling pretty good about themselves. Even when their unhealthy state is entirely reversible. For example, doctors will treat athletes differently from you and me because the expectations for the athlete are so much higher. Which treatment would you rather receive? Likewise athletes have a strong motivation for eating well. Do you?

Consider yourself an athlete and you will begin to act like one. Happy New Year.

If you are not yet eating like an athlete, the first Gravity Janes Nutritional Challenge for 2010 begins January 9th. There is still time to sign up.

The Absolutes of Movement

2009-12-27T19:11:00.000-08:00

Functional movement is defined by certain characteristics that determine its value. Do your shoulder blades touch down in every AbMat Sit Up? Do your elbows lock out overhead with every Thruster rep? Do you hips drop below your knees on every Wall Ball shot? These are all defining characteristics of their respective movements. Failure to achieve these qualities is essentially failing to perform the movement. In other words, it is no longer a Sit Up, Thruster, or Wall Ball, but something else entirely. Something not nearly as valuable.

You should be completely clear on the defining characteristics of every activity in which you engage so you don't make this very common mistake.

Question: What are the defining characteristics of a 2-handed Kettlebell Snatch? Post your thoughts to Comments.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-22T09:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays

Wishing you a warm and wonderful holiday season—good health, good friends,
and happiness. Thank you for being a part of the Gravity Janes family.

Many new programs coming to GJs in 2010. Stay tuned.

More Nutrition Challenge Info

2009-12-17T07:14:00.000-08:00

"I've enjoyed getting to know more people at Janes and am really proud of the changes I've made. Thank you!"

Rachel

See what other participants in our recent Nutrition Challenge are saying about their experience: excerpts from Letters To Jane on the Nutrition Blog.
The Challenge was topped by Lynn H. with a 32% improvement in her functional capacity over the 6-week period.
Lynn's largest single-test improvement was 50% in the circuit. A feat duplicated by Lori C. Top 800m run time gain was Lynn's 15%.
Other top scores were Lori's test-wide improvement of 27%, and John C's gain of 23%.
We could not reasonably attribute gains of more than 10% to exercise alone over the period of the Challenge. The rest is the contribution of a vastly improved diet. Hope to see you at the next Challenge in January.

The photo links to video of an example of adaption to a human's environment. Whatever you do, you'll be good at.

Nutrition Challenge Results

2009-12-13T17:16:00.000-08:00

The results from our recent Nutrition Challenge were determined by the only measure that matters: human functional capacity. Results were measured by a performance test at the beginning and end of the 6-week Challenge. On the basis of those tests, the average improvement among all participants was 22%, and the single best improvement was 32%.

If you'd like to see performance gains like that in yourself, join the next Challenge beginning Jan 9th. Sign ups are now available here.

On the subject of diet, the best way to avoid those holiday temptations is to have healthy meals on hand that will give you an easy option and keep you from manic eating. This is the very reason that Gravity Janes has complete meals available in our cooler made to our specifications and delivered fresh daily. Please take advantage of this opportunity to keep the holiday damage to a minimum.

Photo: Greg S. taking time out from his honeymoon for a very picturesque L-Sit.

Swim Meet Results

2009-12-08T14:26:00.000-08:00

The Issaquah Swim Team just completed both State and National swim meets where they put their Gravity Janes training to the test. Here is a brief note received from IST coach Kyle Johnson:

"Our girls dominated at the State meet! Katie K. won 2 State titles including setting a new State Record in the 100 Fly. Her lead off split for the free relay was faster then the winning time in the 50 Free individual event. Maria (14) won the 100 Breast with a National qualifying time while upsetting older girls. All the girls had significant time drops and loads of success."

One week later at the conclusion of the National meet we learned that Katie had won the bronze in that 100 Fly.

These are great kids that take their athletic conditioning seriously. Smart choice for anyone, competitive or not.

Congratulations IST. More great rewards to come.

Strength Cycle Results

2009-12-03T10:54:00.000-08:00

Results of the latest Strength Cycle are posted on The Whiteboards page. Congratluations to Lynn H on a 20% improvement in her back squat, and to Darlene for a 30+% increase in her deadlift. We witnessed many gains in the 10 - 20% range in all movements.

Time to turn your attention back to your own personal goals. Please update the Goal Board and make sure you notify us of anytime you reach a personal goal. We'll post your accomplishment here.

Picture: Chris "goes commando" with his favorite pair of rope climbing shoes.

T-Shirt Sale

2009-11-30T14:08:00.000-08:00

We have a limited number of Gravity Janes t-shirts left from the last run and are offering them at a discount. Sizes still in stock are Womens Small, Mens Medium, Mens XL, and Mens 2XL. All remaining shirts will be sold for $10 (plus tax).

Everyone On The Message Board

2009-11-28T14:38:00.000-08:00

A reminder that the next Nutrition Challenge in January is open to the public. You are encouraged to invite people you know outside of the gym who are struggling with their diet (moms, dads, siblings, neighbors, etc.). This is - most of all - an educational program. The physical "challenge" part of it is recommended but entirely optional. There will be a free introductory lecture about a week prior to the start of the Challenge; this is also open to the public and will include Q & A. Sign ups are open now.

There are many new faces at GJ and you are all encouraged to register on the Message Board. There is a wealth of knowledge and advice available to you from more experienced Janes (including a doctor). Post questions and learn about events and resources relevant to your health and fitness. You can designate that postings and responses be sent directly to your email account. There is information being exchanged and announcements made on the Message Board that don't appear anywhere else. Do it now while you're thinking about it.

Got questions about holiday season schedule changes at GJ? Current calendar has been updated and is available now.

Finish Stronger

2009-11-25T16:48:00.000-08:00

The latest Strength Cycle is coming to a close on Monday, November 31. Please have your final loads posted by Tuesday, December 1. Since we have a holiday this week I just wanted to give you the opportunity to request time to get some work in on your chosen test at least once more before then.

Someone sent me a link to this video that is posted on CNN. You gotta give credit to a Globo Gym trainer that takes to this work. If he can do it, so can you.

Picture: current Strength Cycle numbers (click image to enlarge).

Winter Nutrition

2009-11-14T11:39:00.000-08:00

There will be another 6-week diet education program beginning in January. The goal is - once again - to demonstrate to you, in exacting performance terms, how significant your diet is to your overall health and vitality. Participants will see for themselves measurable performance gains over the 6-week period, and will receive a comprehensive education on the subject of constructive eating.

This program will now be known as the Nutritional Challenge so as to be more generally understandable.

Sign ups are now available here.

Here is a bit of advice that might help you between now and then:

"One of the goals for performance eating is to think seasonally. Strive for being aware of - and sticking somewhat close to - a diet comprised of foods you might obtain in your area and at this time of year without benefit of grocery stores or restaurants." Read more.

Improving Your Skills

2009-11-09T14:59:00.000-08:00

We'd like to know what movements you would like to know more about. Please post your ideas to the Comments section below. We'll compile your suggestions and begin working some of the info into the workouts.

For a little inspiration, take a look a some local TV coverage of a San Francisco-area gym owned by friends of mine Steve & Maya Khuong. You'll see some good kettlebell work here. Video.

More Than A Warm Up

2009-11-04T14:15:00.000-08:00

Rather than mindlessly following a typical warm-up routine, never forget that you can use your warm up time to get in extra reps of some high-skill movement that would benefit from more attention (wouldn't they all). Here are a couple of suggestions:

barbell snatches
kipping pull ups
barbell split jerks
kettlebell and dumbbell cleans/snatches
row technique

Warm up movements will always be lightly loaded, and you should strive for more movement than rest. This means that movements like dead lifts and ring work are not good candidates for this time.

This is also usually low-demand time for the coach who will be available to answer questions and provide instruction.

With that in mind, be creative and take better advantage of your warm up time. You'll have an edge on those that don't.

New Strength Cycle in November

2009-10-30T13:31:00.000-07:00

November will be another Strength Cycle month. You'll be choosing from one of the moves below, and working on your 1RM load at least twice a week for the entire month. Get a baseline reading in the first week, and work toward a significant gain by month's end. Pick one only.

Front Squat
Back Squat
Overhead Squat
Shoulder Press
Deadlift

Photo: Chris sets for a heavy Front Squat.

Read: Study Shows Paleo Diet Improves Health Quickly

GJ Nutrition Blog & Online Meal Purchase

2009-10-25T11:25:00.001-07:00

The online food ordering page is available but with limited choices for now. It will expand in the near future and become more versatile. Meanwhile please use it if it suits your needs, and otherwise continue to communicate your wishes to us at the gym. That information will be helpful in improving the system, and we can always order any combination of days and meals that suit you.

Performance Paleo meal ordering.

Gravity Janes announces the addition of the Nutrition Blog to the GJ website.

This blog will contribute to your knowledge and practical application of the nutrition plan that supports maximum health and performance. Don't forget to leave your thoughts on the Comments section below each post.