Challenged Athlete Foundation x CrossFit 1904 Adaptive Strength Clinics

Our CAF Partnership - Built for Every Athlete

A snapshot from a CAF x CrossFit 1904 Strength Clinic

For the past year, we've partnered with the Challenged Athletes Foundation to offer a free strength clinic to the adaptive community. CAF didn't have an existing strength offering, and we had the coaches, expertise, and equipment to fill that gap.

In one year, 30+ adaptive athletes discovered what we've always believed: they belong here, and they are strong.

CrossFit 1904 has been adaptive-friendly since day one. We offer equipment for seated athletes, athletes with prostheses, and coaches trained to work with visible and invisible disabilities.

Join Us!
If you're an adaptive athlete or know one get started HERE

I’ve worked with a wide range of adaptive athletes for six years.

Working with adaptive athletes has made me a better coach for all abilities. In order to truly adapt, you need to understand human movement in depth.

Strength training is for everyone of all ages and abilities. It’s never too late to get started, and there is nothing we cannot adapt to any individual. CAF has created a partnership with us at CrossFit 1904 to bring strength training to an incredible community.

Penny being Penny - she is the most fun!

Gavin competing in the 2026 CrossFit Open

Action shot from a 2026 strength clinic

A huge Highlight from
This Year

One of our original CAF clinic participants has been a member of the gym for about a year, Gavin Sippel. He completed in his first CrossFit Open in 2026, and wanted to try to qualify for the Wheel WOD Games.

Early June Gavin found out he is GAMES BOUND and will be competing in San Jose July 21–26th, 2026. We couldn't be more proud of the growth, strength, and confidence we have seen from Gavin over the past year - even though Coach Shawna is convinced she needs to wrap him in bubble wrap sometimes!

Coach Lizzie, Gavin, and Coach Shawna

Upcoming Events

Our next scheduled adaptive clinic is September 27th, 2026 12:00pm-2:00pm PST.
Want to participate? Click the button to drop us a message!

Your Watch Is Watching, But Are You Listening?

Ray wearing his Morpheus during a workout

Picture this: It's 5:30 AM. The gym is filling up. Before the whiteboard is even explained, watches are beeping, rings are syncing, and bands are buzzing. Someone shouts across the room: "If you didn't start it on your watch, does it even count?"

We laugh, but there's actually a lot of truth buried in that joke.

The gym floor is packed with members wearing some of the most sophisticated biometric technology ever created for consumers. Oura rings, Whoop bands, Apple Watches, Garmin forerunners - you name it, someone's wearing it. But here's the thing: when I ask people what they're actually doing with the data, about 95% go quiet. They can tell me their HRV score from this morning. They can't tell me what it means, what changed it, or what to do differently because of it.

That gap, between collecting data and actually using it, is where I live. And it's where the best conversations happen: post-WOD, on the foam rollers, lacrosse balls rolling under tired hips, heart rates finally coming down.

I'm a board-certified health and wellness coach specializing in precision medicine. At the core of that work is one simple belief: data is only powerful when it changes behavior. Wearables are one of the best tools we have to uncover what habits, patterns, and lifestyle choices are actually affecting you — not the average person in a research study, but you specifically.

So let's talk about what these devices are really tracking, how they do it, and most importantly: what you should be looking for during and after your workout.

Not All Wearables Are Created Equal

There are dozens of devices on the market now. The three I've personally used, tested, and recommend are the Oura Ring, the Whoop Band, and Morpheus. Each has a distinct purpose, and right now I run two of them simultaneously: Morpheus for exercise readiness and heart rate tracking, and Oura for everything else — sleep, recovery, and nervous system trends.

Here's why the distinction matters:

Oura & Whoop: Great for What They're Designed For

Both the Oura Ring and Whoop Band use PPG sensors (photoplethysmography). This technology shines a light source against your skin and measures changes in blood volume beneath the surface to estimate your heart rate and HRV. It's elegant, passive, and comfortable enough to wear 24/7- which is exactly the point.

These devices genuinely shine at sleep tracking and stress monitoring. They calculate your readiness score using overnight HRV averages, passively collected while you sleep. For lifestyle trends, that's valuable data.

But here's the limitation worth knowing, and the research backs this up pretty clearly. In calm, controlled conditions, PPG devices are reasonably accurate. The moment you start moving intensely, that accuracy drops. During high-intensity, full-body movements, (think burpees, thrusters, wall balls), the agreement between wrist-based PPG and a chest strap ECG can fall so low that the readings become genuinely unreliable. At peak effort, we're talking about heart rate errors of 10 to 15 beats per minute or more in some studies. For a CrossFit workout full of movement, transitions, and intensity spikes, that margin of error matters. You might think you spent 12 minutes in Zone 4 when you were actually in Zone 3, or vice versa. Over time, those miscalculations can quietly skew your readiness scores and your understanding of your own fitness.

Morpheus: Built for the Way We Train

Morpheus takes a different approach. It uses ECG technology, electrical signals of the heart, which is the gold standard for measuring heart rate and HRV. The research community has long recommended ECG-based chest straps for monitoring heart rate during exercise specifically because accuracy is so much better when things get intense and wrists are flying around. That's exactly what Morpheus uses.

Beyond the hardware, Morpheus does something else that matters: it uses a morning active HRV check. It’s a brief, intentional measurement you take right after waking up. This is how HRV is actually studied in sports science research. Studies in professional athletes have found that morning readings are less affected by daily stressors and give a more accurate picture of your readiness than passive overnight readings, which can be skewed by sleep quality, what happened the day before, and the natural ups and downs of your sleep stages. The science community's current best practice for athletes is short morning measurements upon waking. That's exactly what Morpheus is built around.

What I love most about Morpheus is what it does with that morning data: it adjusts your aerobic and anaerobic thresholds daily based on your readiness score, then gives you a time target for each heart rate zone. It’s telling you whether today is a day to push hard, recover smart, or land somewhere in between.

The results speak for themselves. Using Morpheus consistently, I improved my VO2 max from 47.3 to 56.3 in just eight months. That number isn't just a fitness milestone. It's one of the most meaningful health metrics you can move.

Why VO2 Max Actually Matters

VO2 max is a measure of how much oxygen your body can use during maximum effort. It's often called the gold standard of cardiorespiratory fitness. The science behind why it matters for longevity is genuinely hard to overstate.

Here's the short version: your cardiorespiratory fitness level is a stronger predictor of how long you'll live than smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or type 2 diabetes. That's from an American Heart Association scientific statement published in one of the top cardiology journals. They actually recommended that doctors start treating low fitness as a clinical risk factor alongside those traditional ones.

The numbers get even more interesting when you look at what improving it does. Research shows that for roughly every 3.5 mL/kg/min increase in VO2 max, which is one metabolic equivalent, or MET, your risk of dying from any cause drops by about 11 to 17 percent. A large overview of studies covering over 20 million observations found that people with high cardiorespiratory fitness had roughly 45% to 53% lower all-cause mortality risk compared to those with low fitness. In people already living with cardiovascular disease, the gap was even wider - up to 73% lower cardiovascular mortality risk.

And it's not just the heart. A study that followed over 2,000 men for an average of 22 years found that those with low VO2 max had nearly double the risk of developing dementia compared to their fit peers. That's not a small signal. That's the kind of finding that should change how we think about showing up to the gym.

That's a powerful reason to care about how you're training, not just that you're training.

Using Your Wearable During the WOD

Here's where it gets practical.

The coaches at CrossFit 1904 do something really valuable: they explain the intended stimulus of each workout. When a coach says "This one should have you at 90% or above during the intervals" or "Stay in Zone 2 today - don't go out too hot," that's not just coaching preference. That's programming rooted in physiology. Your wearable is the tool that tells you whether you're actually executing the plan or just feeling like you are.

The primary metric you're watching during a workout is heart rate. But seeing a number on your screen is just the beginning. What you really need to know is what zone that number puts you in.

If you've had a VO2 max test, you'll have your actual aerobic and anaerobic thresholds — the most accurate way to set your zones. If you haven't, most wearables will estimate your zones for you using the standard formula of 220 minus your age to approximate your max heart rate. It's a decent starting point, but it's just an estimate. And honestly, individual variation is huge. A true VO2 max test gives you a personalized snapshot of your aerobic fitness that no formula can replicate. And as we covered above, the data is worth having for reasons that go well beyond the gym.

Heart Rate Recovery: The Number You Might Be Ignoring

One of the most underrated metrics your wearable can show you is heart rate recovery (HRR) - how fast your heart rate drops in the first minute after a hard effort ends.

When you stop a hard workout, your parasympathetic nervous system, the "rest and digest" side, rushes back in to slow your heart rate down. How quickly it does that is a window into how well your autonomic nervous system is functioning. The faster your heart rate drops, the more efficiently your nervous system is doing its job.

The research here is striking. A landmark study published in the New England Journal of Medicine followed over 2,400 adults and found that those whose heart rate dropped 12 beats per minute or less in the first minute after exercise had a fourfold higher unadjusted risk of death. Even after controlling for age, medications, cardiac risk factors, and how hard they'd worked out, the risk was still doubled. A large meta-analysis published years later confirmed it: a sluggish heart rate recovery was associated with a 68% higher risk of all-cause mortality.

The benchmark to shoot for: a drop of more than 12 beats per minute in that first minute is considered the line between normal and abnormal by the American Heart Association. Once you're consistently dropping 20 beats or more, you're in solid territory. It's one of those numbers that improves quietly and steadily with consistent aerobic training, and watching it climb over months is genuinely satisfying.

You can track this right now with any device that shows real-time heart rate. Note your peak HR at the end of a hard interval or at the end of the WOD. Check it exactly 60 seconds later. That difference is your HRR. Simple as that.

The Bigger Picture

Wearables are not magic. An Oura Ring doesn't make you healthier. A Whoop band doesn't optimize your recovery by itself. What these tools do is give you signals. Signals that, when understood and acted on, help you train smarter, recover better, and build the kind of long-term fitness that actually adds years to your life.

In a future post, we'll get into lifestyle tracking - how sleep quality, alcohol, stress, and nutrition all show up in your data in ways that might surprise you. Because what happens between the workouts matters just as much as the workouts themselves.

For now, the next time you tap that button to start your workout, ask yourself: Do I know what I'm looking for? If the answer is no — come find me on the foam rollers. That's my favorite office.

Coach Rays Top 3 Favorite Places to Mountain Bike in San Diego

I am excited to start up some weekly blogs again! Hope everyone is having a great week so far and can use some of this info to get out and ride our beautiful trail system in San Diego.

Number 3 - Lake Hodges

This was a great trail for me to start my mountain biking days on. Fairly easy trails with some technical/steep sections to work on your balance on the bike. There are about 47 miles of trails around it with mostly beginner/intermediate difficulty. Parking is easy and there are bathrooms around the lake. If you are looking for a more difficult uphill/downhill switchback trail, Raptor Ridge is right next to Lake Hodges.

Number 2 - Los Peñasquitos Canyon

When my friends and I started looking for harder trails, this was the one to go to. We especially liked the trail called' “Tunnels” which was an awesome downhill with the trees and brush surrounding you overhead making the effect like a tunnel haha. There are so many places to explore here with more intermediate to hard difficulty on the climbs and technical sections. I recommend getting an app that can guide you on the trail. I usually use trailforks, MTB project, or Alltrails.

Number 1 - Mission Trails

I might be biased to this trail because its in my backyard in Tierrasanta. The trail quickly became a favorite of ours because it is all over the spectrum of easy to hard difficulty. If you wanted to take it easy, theres a trail for that. If you wanted to climb and bomb down hill, there is a trail for that. I especially like the trail called “E-ticket”. It has an awesome flow with some small jump features. My wife and I like to compete with each other to see who can PR their time to finish this section.

There are so many amazing trails in San Diego but these are my top 3 at the top of my head. If you are looking to test your fitness and get outside, you have to give mountain biking a try. Here are a few tips to prepare yourself for the rides.

1. Map your route and let someone know where you are going. The apps I mentioned are great tools to help guide you on the trail, but in case you don’t have service make sure to let someone know where you are going.

2. Bring lots of water especially on longer rides. Consider electrolyte supplements and snacks as well.

3. Check your bike to make sure everything is in working order before going out. Brakes, chain, tires are a few things to check on. Bring tools to be able to fix these if needed on the trail.

4. If you encounter a snake, let it do its thing. Don’t try to aggravate it. If you do get bit, move away from it as far as possible and call 911. Don’t try to ride or walk up the trail. It will move the venom through your bloodstream faster. Stay calm and either call for help on the trail or 911 if you have service.

JOIN THE #800gCHALLENGE®

WHAT IS IT?

This challenge was designed by OptimizeMe Nutrition. Eat 800 grams (g) of fruits and/or vegetables, by weight, per day. 

No foods are eliminated, but only fruits and veggies count toward the 800g. Eat the fruits and veggies of your choice. Hit the macros you want.

Raw, cooked, canned, frozen; doesn’t matter!  If you can weigh it as a standalone and unprocessed fruit or vegetable, you can count it. Yep, that’s it! Here's a one-sheet with all the rules and scoring details.

So why 800g? It’s associated with increased health and is a simplified way to hit those recommended servings of fruits and vegetables. Read more here.

DATES

January 6th - February 2nd

SIGN-UP

1904 Members click the link HERE to sign up. Registration closes Sunday January 5th. Non-members are able to join for only $50.00 and you can sign up by clicking HERE.

We will host a meeting at the gym to go over all the challenge rules and answer your questions. Be sure to be there!

• Saturday January 4th at 11:30am with Coach Ray, Khang, and Emily.

• 5745 Kearny Villa Rd. Suite 113-114 San Diego, CA 92123

COST

$20.00 for 1904 Members

$50.00 for NON-Members

FREE - with your NEW membership sign up now through January 5th

SCORING

We will be using SugarWOD to log scores, leaderboard, and fist bump throughout the challenge. More info on scoring and logging can be found here.

PRIZES

We will be doing a random raffle of the participants for a FREE month at CrossFit 1904.

SLEEP AND ITS POSITIVE EFFECTS ON PERFORMANCE IN THE GYM

SLEEP AND ITS POSITIVE EFFECTS ON PERFORMANCE IN THE GYM

Ever wondered if sleep can in any way affect your gym routine? Well, of course, it can. In fact, research has proven that sleep has a correlation to exercise and that they both impact each other. Individuals who are not getting enough sleep can suffer a reduction in their exercise performance while standing the risk of gaining weight. So, getting a good amount of sleep will make you more productive in the gym.

Get adequate sleep

Never make the mistake of seeing slippers a luxury. Sleep is very important as individuals need it to carry out their daily functions at optimum levels while staying healthy. About one-third of the existence of every human is spent sleeping. If you deprive yourself of adequate sleep, you put yourself at risk of developing chronic diseases like depression, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and more. Sleep can help to fight off these diseases by boosting your immune system, as well as, helping in metabolism, learning, etc.

With respect to working out, gym activities are very important. However, the activities that you engage in away from the gym are just as important too. Your diet, drinking habits, and most importantly your sleeping regime is highly essential. Therefore, in order to have a successful exercise routine, you need adequate sleep.

The positive effects of sleep

Of course, you visit the gym for reasons which are to attain cardiovascular health, enhance the mass of your lean muscles, improve your endurance levels, and more. To achieve these goals, you need to sleep. If you are someone who is into regular exercise, then, you actually may require even more sleep than people who do not use the gym, especially, if you engage in highly intense exercise. 

Sleep has the responsibility of replenishing energy levels in your body, and it is only rational that the more intense the exercise you engage in is, the more the amount of sleep that you need. This goes to say that without sleep, you will not derive maximum benefits from exercise. Inadequate amounts of sleep will only undermine your body. Some of the essential things that sleep does include –

• Giving your body ample recovery time

• Energy conservation

• Muscle buildup after workout sessions

• Muscle repair after exercise

• Enhancing growth hormone production

During childhood, as well as, adolescence growth is spurred by the growth hormone and as we age, the growth hormone assists in the build-up of lean muscle while helping the body to repair itself after getting torn up from hard workouts. In order to attain athletic recovery, the growth hormone is very important, and sleep helps in its production.

In order to restore the immune system, as well as, the endocrine system, sleep is highly essential. The endocrine system has the responsibility of producing and spreading very key hormones such as testosterone, as well as, the growth hormone or through your body. Additionally, sleep helps to regulate the functioning of your brain. Non-REM sleep is known to maximize protein synthesis and helps to mobilize free fatty acids which supply energy to the body. This helps to repair your muscles which got broken down while working out.

Over 30% of humans are not getting enough sleep which, according to the recommendations, is about 7 to 8 hours every night for adults. This implies that millions of persons are sabotaging every one of their fitness goals by not getting enough sleep.

Sleeping better will help your gym performance

When you get adequate rest, your body functions better, including your mind. This will translate into better performance at the gym. Getting enough sleep is connected to helping you find the motivation to adhere to your gym routines and to visit the dream the next day. When you sleep more, you are likelier to complete your exercise regimen. 

Adequate sleep will do more than just provide you with the drive and the energy that you need to workout maximally. It will, also, positively affect your concentration, your mood, and improve your focus which will help you to be more efficient while working out. Getting enough sleep will help enhance your stamina while helping you to perform to your full capacity in the gym.