Hi Everyone,

It’s that time of year again; athletes are gearing up for the CrossFit Games. You might be wondering what that means for you and the gym so I’m here to shed some light!

I’ll start by explaining the process of qualifying for the games. There are two different routes athletes can take; Individual and Team. Teams consist of 3 men and 3 women. No matter what route an athlete takes, they must sign up for the CrossFit Open. Anyone worldwide can sign up for this, including you. Here's the website. It’s $20 to register. https://games.crossfit.com/mygames/
If you would like a shot at the team, join the DogTown Affiliate and then join one of our teams. Team A orTeam B.

More on the CrossFit Open:
Beginning Wednesday February 22 CrossFit Headquarters will announce one workout a week for the next 5 weeks. Athletes are required to complete this workout  within the week and have a qualified gym validate their score.  DogTown is a validated gym and we will make sure all scores are true and correct.

Upon completion of the 5 weeks of workouts, the top Individual men and women and teams worldwide will be selected to compete in Regionals. This is the next step to the games. Regionals for the Socal Region will be held May 11-13. It has been rumored that the event will take place at the Pomona Fairgrounds.

From the Regionals competition, the top 3 individual men and women and the top 3 teams will move on to the CrossFit Games. The CrossFit Games are to be held July 11-13 at the Home Depot Center in Carson.

DogTown's Valerie Voboril is competing for an individual spot and several others are competing for spots on the Teams. We hope to send our best athletes and go all the way to the games this year!

Anyone can sign up for the Open and Register for the team. The Open workout from CrossFit Headquarters will be our class workout every Friday with  Sunday being a makeup day during Open Gym. Even if you’re not competing, it will be fun to do the workout or a scaled version as a gym and see where you stand within the rest of the world.

Here’s a link with more info: http://games.crossfit.com/about-the-games

Please contact me with any questions: liz@dogtowncrossfit.com

Today marks Day 35 of our 40 day Paleo Primer, and with that, means the end is in sight.  With just 5 days to go, I know people are already planning their 'celebration' meals that they haven't eaten for the past month.  While that's all well and good, I strongly urge you to not dive face first into everything non paleo all in one meal or even in one day.

For the past 35 days, if you've maintained a strict paleo regimen void of grain, dairy and legumes, your body has healed itself of the damage that those foods are known to cause.  Chances are, you're feeling, sleeping, training, thinking and even working better than you have in awhile.  If you leap off the paleo wagon so to speak with the enthusiasm of a gold rusher trying to strike it rich in the mountains of Colorado, not only will you feel terrible, but you won't know which of the foods you ate made you feel that way.  It could be one or all, you don't know.

The reason I bring this up is, I've done that very thing.  I worked hard to finish a 40 day challenge, saw some great results, was feeling better than I had in my life, and then I proceeded to eat a gluten filled pizza with beer and a milkshake to finish it all off.  Huge mistake.  Not only did I crash big time from the sugar overload, I had some not so pleasant reactions to the food and I wasn't sure which one was responsible (I found out later that they all were culprits in their own way).

I'm not saying that you can't indulge in non paleo fare after this Friday (Day 40) is over.  I just strongly advise that you take it slow and really pay attention to how you're feeling after you eat something that is grain, dairy or legume related.  You've worked so hard to make it through these 40 days, why not make it worthwhile and take it slow enough to note what foods you might be sensitive to without realizing it before?  You owe it to yourself.  Pizza will always be there waiting.

Recipe of the week: Shepherd's Pie

~ Coach Sean (Seamus)