Yesterdays Level 1 class warmup featured the elusive triple under (compliments of your Josh Stonier). Though I recognize this is a means to forcing folks to step outside of their comfort zones and forcing 'em to move away from the routine of 3 minutes of singles followed by 2 minutes of doubles, this sort of "play" is great for skill development. However, I was a bit disappointed in that there were several members that didn't even attempt the skill. Let us ignore the fact that if you are in L1, you are EXPECTED (and tested) to be able to do doubles, and recognize that this is an indication of a needed attitude adjustment that does not pertain simply to jumping rope. I was however pleased to see several invest significant attempts at understanding the precise timing and jump height (allow me to let you in on a little secret, you just jump real high and spin it like hell) when there was conversation early on regarding whether the move was even possible (big shout-out to Larry who I saw stick a triple). See above if you still have questions.
And I'd like to welcome back the Saturday morning foundations classes (and I suppose L1 as well). There have been 5 long weeks of 'The Open' in which warmup ideas have been a'brewin and I'm looking forward to putting you all through it. Come with your ego's checked or don't come at all.
Here is the squad that Travis and I have chosen to represent our gym this year at regionals. Brooks, Loren, myself, Trav, Cori and Cori, Leah and Blake. The competition will only require 3 men and 3 women, so once we get a chance to see the regional workouts, we will decide which of these competitors is best suited to to compete, and 2 of these athletes will become alternates. Congrats to these atheltes for earning the right to represent CFES. We have an amazing team here who will be ready to go to war at NorCal Regionals 2012.
Regionals will be in Santa Clara Friday May 18th through Sunday May 20th, click here for info. Please mark your calendars and come out to support the team in our efforts to qualify for the CF Games 2012. I will arrange a block of hotel rooms at the Embassy Suites in Santa Clara and post information about how to book a room early next week.
AMRAP 12 Minutes: Run 800m 150 Ab-Mat Sit Ups 75 Wall Ball 20/14
I have heard so much positive feedback on all of your experiences with participation in the CF Open 2012. Joan emailed me the following list of awesomeness that I wanted to share with you all. Please use today's comment section to share some of your own experiences from the Open.
Hey Justin and Travis, After reflecting back on the last 5 weeks and participating in the Open, I just thought I should send you a quick note to say thank you for all that you have done building CFES into what it is today, developing ever challenging WOD's and bringing together a community of people who support and push each other to strive to be at our best every day. So thank you again and here's what I learned about myself over the last 5 weeks.
Staying on the Leaderboard was important to me which meant no scaling
20 inch box jumps are possible even with arthritic knees
28 Push Presses at 75# are possible when previously your 1 RM was only 80#
106 14# Wallballs can be done basically with only one arm thanks to a tweaked shoulder
65# Thrusters which at one time was my 1 RM felt easy during WOD 12.5
Chest to Bar Pull Ups are now part of my "can do - but needs work" list of goals
Setting goals for each WOD and sharing them with your judge and friends help you get there
Having friends cheer you on during these WOD's are priceless
Joining CFES goes down as one of my smarter decisions in life
And though I am glad the Open is behind me, I am really glad I did it
AMRAP with the following intervals- Work 5 min, Rest 3 min Work 4 min, Rest 2 min Work 3 min, Rest 1 min Work 2 min, Rest 30 sec Work 1 min
7 Ground to Overhead 135/95 Run 200m
*Pick up right where you left off after each rest interval
Most of you probably already know this, but Cori deserves some serious recognition for her accomplishment in this year's Open. Cori finished 17th in the world in the 45-49 year old women's division and has qualified for the CrossFit Games at Home Depot Center in July! Out of 734 total finishers her division, 17th place puts Cori in the top 2.3% of all women in the division.
Equally impressive is the fact that if you take her scores and virtually rank her in the open age division, she would have placed 81st in Northern California out of the 874 female finishers in our region! So not only is she in the top 3% of her masters age group, she's actually in the top 10% of the best female CrossFitters in NorCal and the entire world! Cori's scores in the Open would rank her as the second place female in our gym overall.
As Cori's coach, it is tempting to want to brag about her accomplishments and take some credit. The truth a coach is lucky is when they get the chance to interact with an athlete with the kind of work ethic Cori has. There is nothing to expect but constant improvement, excellence and achievement. Coaching Cori has been equally about teaching her technique and strategy as it has been helping her manage her obsession and anxiety levels. At times she has driven me crazy sending upwards of 10 text messages at a time before I am even able to process what she said in the first message. I have felt for her husband Dave as Cori has taken her obsession with this sport far outside of the gym into just about every corner of her life. I have come to learn that this is the way Cori operates. The trick is trying and keep the self-talk positive and keep the focus on belief vs. doubt. Anxiety, obsession and relentless perseverance is the way by which Cori gets it done, and she has certainly done it this time.
After the Nor Cal 40's last and the Open last year, Cori has been looking forward to getting a chance to compete in the masters age division and she has had the goal of qualifying for the CF Games this year. She has now achieved that loftly goal and nobody deserves it more than she does.
Great job Cori! We all couldn't be more proud of you!
3 Rounds For Time: 1/2 Mile Airdyne (Or Row 500m) 15 Box Jumps 24/20 15 Ring Dips 50 Double Unders
I think Matt Marabito is happy to be done with the open. He said his hands started to rip on the first round of chest to bar pullups of 12.5. Way to power through the pain. Next time get yourself a callous trimmer from CVS.
Here's a shot of Trav getting some C2B. Congrats to Trav for finishing the round of 18 and posting the highest gym score of 126. Not bad for a powerlifter.
Thank all of you for participating in the Open. It has brought our whole gym closer and it's meant alot to us to have so many of you come together to be a part of the worlds largest sporting event. I have already heard so many stories from all of you regarding your positive experiences with participating in the Open. Please keep them coming.
7 Min AMRAP 3 Thrusters 3 C2B Pullups 6 Thrusters 6 C2B Pullups ...continually adding 3 reps per round
Some of you may know this about me while others may not, but prior to finding CrossFit I spent about a year rockclimbing as kind of a rebound from no longer playing soccer seriously. Though I have since allocated my efforts elsewhere, climbing still remains close to my heart. Here's one of my favorite climbing videos. This may not be the word's most difficult "problem" (though it's certainly more difficult than anything I could fathom doing--some problems that highlight difficult holds aren't quite as impressive on video), but I think it really emphasizes the creativity and athleticism involved. If you want to skip ahead to 3:47 you can see one guy make it all the way through.
I will say that climbing, more so than any other sport I have ever come across (and yes this includes CrossFit or Olympic lifting) highlights how important economy of movement is. It does not matter if you have Pop-eye forearms if you have poor movement patterns. It always entertained me to see the guys that expected to kick ass attempt even beginner problems and find that all of their strength was good for nothing without the practical application of that force (it's okay because this was me). Come to think of it, I kind of feel that way in CrossFit too.
For those of you who are interested in checking out some climbing check out Pipeworks on 16th and I. Costs about 16 bucks on the weekend if you don't have gear. Lots of fun for all age groups and fitness levels and you maybe you'll learn to do THIS.
For Time: 1000m Row 30 Handstand Push Ups 1200m Run
A while back, I found myself yelling at some athletes in our gym who were making mistakes as spotters and lifters while bench pressing. Spotters were allowing athletes to fight to the death to aviod ruining the lifters PR, and lifters were quitting when the spotter stepped in to help.
I thought about it later and realized that I was yelling because I understood the danger the athletes were in. Having spent a lifetime in the gym and eye witnissing a good handful of scary things happen to inexperienced lifters, I sometimes take for granted than many of you may not have the same understanding of the catastrophies that can happen and how to aviod them. So I figured I would take this oppritunity to educate you all a bit on how to aviod unnecessary danger while bench pressing.
Before I go further, I will say that if your spotter touches you or the bar, they are helping you. No matter how little they helped you, you do not get to credit yourself with that lift. So, I understand that the spotter is in a tough situation, but the lifters saftey is far more important than the PR. As you can see in the video, when a lifter begins to fail, bad things happen.
It is good for a lifter to struggle, through a lift, but as a spotter, there are two situations you need to be ready for and you need to be close. The first is the catastrophic failure of a lift that requires you to jump in full force and get the lifter out of a terrible situation. The most common casue of dropping a bar on one's self is the false grip. In our gym you are required to wrap your thumb around the bar while benching or overhead pressing. False grip on rings, good. False grip on press, not allowed!
The second situation happens when a lift is going well, but comes to a slow stop where the lifter strains isometrically in the same position. This is typically followed by complete loss of form as a lifter squirms around trying to find some kind of strength that isn't actually there.
Allowing a lifter to fight isometircally in a sticking point is putting them in danger for injury. They may not drop a bar on themselves, but they are likely to sustain an injury while fighting for their lives. When you see an isometric sticking point, catastrophic faliure is probably one tick of the clock away and it's time to help.
As a spotter in our gym, and this goes for either bench press or squat, if the bar stops moving up or starts to veer of course, its time to help. I have often seen inexperienced lifters stop lifting when the spotter jumps in to help. Remember, as the lifter it is always your job to keep working as hard as you can to finish the lift. YOU CAN NOT rely on your spotter to lift the weight for you! You must continue to do as much work as you can. Do not assume that your spotter can lift the entire weight.
So go lift some heavy shit, but do so with care and respect.
6 Rounds: Run 400m Rest 1:30 *No more than 5 second deviation from one round to the next or suffer burpee penalty.
3 Rounds: 5 Shoulder Press 5 Push Press 5 Push Jerk 25 Ball Slams 40/25 *Pick a challenging weight for the overhead movement complex that will allow you to do all 3 rounds unbroken.
So 12.5 = 11.6? Mathematically impossible, but totally possible in CF. Take a deep breath, here we go again.
I remember this rendition of Fran being a great wrap up to last years competition as I am sure it will be again this year. I really thought the competition needed to see deadlifts, but I guess it's not CF without the Thruster Pull Up couplet. Travis and I actually did chest to bar Fran in the 08' Games and our team did an event in the 10' Games with Thusters, Pull Ups, and Partner Carries.
The keys on 11.6^2 will be efficiency and pacing as always. If your front squat, and overhead positions are good you are likely to do well, but you will also need a good C2B Pull Up technique. If you aren't the bomb at C2B's you will want to throw in a few a day focusing on consistent rhythm. Don't do too many though, you could definitely fatigue yourself and under-perform. When you feel like strength or quality is declining, its time to do something else.
As for during the workout, remember that 7 minutes is the same amount of time you did burpees for 4 weeks ago. You have to find a pace that will maximize 7 minutes. Going out sprinting is only going to yeild hitting a wall and doing less overall work.
Take a look back in the past from May last year when the Open was wrapping up. Check out the posts on the lower part of the page. May 2011
BBQ After Party With the conclusion of the Open, we will need to blow off some steam and chill out. We are going to get a bunch of tri tip and some kegs for Saturday after the WOD. Please bring a side dish or a drink concoction to share and lets hope for good weather.
For Time 30 Power Snatch 135/95 150 Double Under 50 Hip Ext 50 Back Ext
Here is a quick video from the guru on how to get better positioning for your ovrhead squat. The overhead squat is a magnifying glass onto your weaknesses. Mastery of this movement will help eliminate those weaknesses. Check out the video, get loose, go to class and make strides on this paramont exercise. Click here for another K-Star video on overhead squat prep.
For 6 Minutes, Row 100m every :45 seconds Rest 3 Minutes For 4 Minutes, Row 125m every :30 seconds Rest 2 Minutes For 2 Miuntes Row 125m every :30 seconds *If you finish the distance early, rest until the next interval.
3 Rounds For Time: 15 DB Ground to Overhead 45/30" 15 Toes to Bar 40 Yard Sprint
I'm not sure what to say about this. Post your own caption to comment section.
For Time: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 KB Swing 53/35 GHD Situps
Firebreathers at 9am. I'm proud to be training people who get after it while braving the elements. Training under tough conditions can only make you stronger.
Great day yesterday! Here is Leah, sporting the guns and tying Loren for the top female score in the gym with 5 muscle ups. She was nailing the muscle up transition and was just seconds away from getitng one more rep but just didn't have enough time to get the lockout at the top. It was exciting to see this top performance with no missed reps on the rings!
Trav and I tied with 20 muscle ups each, Josh got 16, and we had more than a handful of athletes get a few muscle ups! We also had a number of participants who had never touched a 20 or 14 lb wall ball get a great number more reps than they ever thought possible. Props to all of you who now have Rx Wall Ball in your bag of tricks. That's what the Open is all about!
We still have both Cori's who will do the WOD this moring at 8:30 and they are both capable of putting up top gym scores. Head over and cheer them on if you can. Good luck gals!
"AMRoundsAP" 12 Min (Bet you don't get through many) 150 Wall Balls 90 Double Unders 30 Muscle Ups
One of the reasons I am so drawn to CrossFit is for the opportunity to be part of a movement that strives to find the limits of human (and personal) performance/potential. If you are "prebok" then you may have an idea of the extent to which preconceived notions of physical limitations in performance have been pushed. Benchmark stats that would have been considered extraordinary in 2007 are now prerequisites for games competitors. Of course some of this can be attributed to the fact that CrossFit has grown exponentially but if you look even at the athletes that are still around from that period then you'll realize it is not entirely explained through population growth.
There are examples in every sport of individuals pushing themselves and developing their craft beyond this imagined threshold. I'm always inspired to witness such acts. I wonder how far this kid will go? He clearly has physical tools and the foundational technique necessary to walk this line, but we all know there are many more variables at work in realizing potential...we'll see.
What I am most impressed by with this kid is not his skill or athleticism but rather his confidence and body language. It is evident the moment that he steps onto the mat that there is nothing his opponent can do to stop him. Notice the way he stares directly into the eyes of his opponent and is on attack mode the moment the match begins (this is very evident at the 15 sec mark where his opponent starts backing up immediately). There's no pacing and no regard for how his opponent (analogous to the workout) will effect the outcome. Call it what you will, but this attitude definately lends itself to success. When you hold yourself to a high standard and are willing to accept nothing less then you'll summon all of your potential strength that can get you there.
Man do I wish I had this kids swagger...the cocky son of a... (there I said it, someone had to).
AMRAP 15 Minutes: 30 sec Handstand Hold 30 sec Active Squat Hold 30 sec L-Sit Hold 30 sec Chin Over Bar Hold
Accumulate 30 seconds on each isometric position before moving to the next. You may break a set, but you stop accumulating the 30 seconds while you rest.
There is no doubt that The Biggest Loser is America's most prevalent piece of fitness media in the sense that more people are seeing and learning about fitness from the show than any other source. Well CF.com might be a close second, but I am guessing even more people know about or follow The Biggest Loser.
America's most well known trainer, Bob Harper has been doing CrossFit and Rouge has set him up a box at the Biggest Loser Ranch where he is using CF methods on the show. If we thought a Reebok sponsorship was big exposure, how about this? Bob is actually competing in the Open and you can view his profile here.
It's crazy to see our little cult community go from largely unknown by the masses to a household name almost overnight. Many CF'ers who have been around since the old days, just a few years ago really, are having trouble accepting this growth and change. They seem to want to keep CF to themselves and fear CF gaining wide spread popularity. Why?
What's the threat? Shouldn't we be excited that we have been a small part of making a dent in the fitness industry that has been selling us all the myth of fitness past two decades? Shouldn't we be stoked that the fitness industry as most people know it is about to fall? The answer is yes, and it is imminent now. Within 10 years the only peole doing curls, cardio, and pilates will be the cults in the garages.
Coach Glassman predicted this paradigm shift long ago and the time is upon is now. With the growth of the sport and the media attention "Real Fitness" is now recieving, it won't be long before everyone is privy to the facts. Constantly varied functional fitness at high intensity with the goal of increased work capacity and breadth of skills just plain works better than bodybuilding, cardio, and stretch class.
What is most exciting to me is that the excuses and arguments people have against CrossFit are slowly being taken off the table. I'm too old. I have a bad back. I need to get in better shape first. I don't want to lift weights... The list goes on and on. If the world's most well known trainer and the worlds most overweight people are now embracing CrossFit, all of the excuses become obsolete and I for one am more excited at this moment than ever. There is no reason to squander this program. It has grown because it works better and the momentum that is going now can not be stopped.
Check out the following free video and article from the CrossFit Journal. CrossFit has officially arrived and the bigger it gets, the more knowledge and creativity come into our programs, th better we will all get.
For Time 15 Overhead Squats @ 55% Run 200m 15 Overhead Squats @ 45% Run 200m 15 Overhead Squats @ 35% Run 200m
I may have posted linked this video in the past, but 12.4 made me want to post it again. This is Chris Michelmore of CF Moxie doing 150 unbroken wall balls. Now Chris is a tall dude, but 150 in a row is unheard of. I could be wrong, but I doubt this will be his approach to first 150 wall balls in 12.4, but I will say to keep an eye on Chris' score. He is also known to kick butt on DU's and MU's.
12.4 150 Wall Balls, 90 double unders, and 30 muscle ups. If you are fast enough to finish in 12 minutes, then its back to wall ball. BARF!
Beat Down/Wake Up Call I suggest focusing on the quality of your squat this week. The "No-Rep Fairy" is going to be present and fired up! I have been unsatisfied with the quality of many of your wall balls squats lately. Many seem that the beginning of a successful wall ball is a full depth good quality squat. Focus on that and tune out the distraction of throwing a medicine ball up to a target. Knees falling in and weight on the toes are the most common faults seen in the squat portion of the wall ball. Both of these will not only wreck your knees over hundreds of reps, but they will prevent you from squatting to full depth, and every time you do this you are reinforcing bad movement patterns.
During classes I see many people with the knees in/weight on toes, missing depth and counting their reps anyway. I am looking forward to giving you all a tune up and a reality check on these issues. I am hoping this competitoin will help us clean up some bad habits that have developed around here and realize what it feels like to do correct reps.
If you cannot see the squat properly, or you are too soft to "no-rep" your most competitive friends, you will not be allowed to judge. If I see shitty judging, your score will not be validated. No Rep yourself if you have to. The integrity of your score is even more your responsibility than it is the person who is judging for you!
If you want to score well on this event, you will need to down shift one gear and make good quality squats on the way to your wall ball toss. If take the time to make good squats, you will not miss reps, you will not wear out from inefficiency as fast, you will avoid nagging knee injuries, and you will reinforce good movement patterns which will help you across the board.
Come in before Saturday and practice finding the right position and rhythm. Strive for perfectly beautiful reps. Squat therapy is a great drill for developing the position needed for wall balls, just make sure you are doing it correctly with your feet flat, knees out, arms extended straight and only move closer to the wall when you can do everything perfectly.
March 14, 2012
AMRAP 12 Minutes: 80 Yard Sled (Prowler 90/50, Dog Sled 45/25, Pull Sled 225/135) 5 Each KB Snatch 70/53
10 Minute AMRAP: DB Thrusters x10 Row/Airdyne 10 Calories
Rest 10 Minutes
As Far As Possible In 10 Minutes: 30 Pushups - Hardest Variety (Handstand, Deficit, Etc.) 30 CTB Pullups 30 Ring Dips Max Muscle Ups In Remainder
Here we have Rena and Robb right after completing their Level One Test, celebrating in their own way. If you are on the fence about taking your test, go ahead and take the plunge. What's the worst that can happen? You may not pass, but you leave knowing what you need to work on. This allows you to hammer out the chinks in your armor, then you move up to the next level of training. If you know someone who needs to take the test, then call them out today! Maybe they just need a little push from their friends.
4+ hours of WODs yesterday and the whole time we had a cheering section like this! The support you all provide for each other is amazing. My favorite thing about the Open is seeing the gym come together like this. Only sport can create these type of bonds, this kind of support and the ability to push each other through physical barries the way we have witnessed over the last few weeks. Two more weeks to go. Keep up the good work and strong sense of community.
18 Min AMRAP 15 Box Jumps 24/20" 12 Shoulder to Overhead 115/75# 9 Toes to Bar
I cannot recall the original source of this video so cannot issue credit where it is deserved. Shit if this was a blog post before then I apologize but this is way to comical to go unnoticed. After you've seen these sorts of videos thousands of times they all start to blend together. I notice at one point in the video one of the instructors is introduced as being from Sac...perhaps we could look into whether he's still available for a coaching gig. Maybe we can finally get that synchronized CrossFit team I've been pressing Justin about. Now accepting applications...
5 Rounds: 10 Yard Handstand Walk 15 Ring Rows 15 Push Ups
State Assemblymen Nathan Fletcher, who is one of our members, works out at CF Invictus while at home in San Diego. He is currently making a strong run for Mayor of San Diego. Check out the news clip above. If more politicians were like this guy, I might actually watch the news once in a while. Well probably not, but wouldn't it be cool if a bunch of young fit bad asses were running the country?
You can donate to Nathan's campaign by clicking here.
12.3 is going to be a conditioning grinder for those who are proficient in toes to bar. For the rest of you it's going to be a long 18 miuntes of staring at a pull up bar with intermittent attempts at touching your feet to it. For those of you who can't hold a rythm on toes to bar, you better practice a little every day. Just make sure you don't tear your hands or create too much abdominal soreness. If you over do it, you will underperform. You really can't benefit now from anything other than a little daily practice.
Box jumps will be the gasser and will take some of the explosiveness needed for push pressing. Those with good balance, overhead mobility, and that upright dip position will excel in push presses. As explosiveness fades later in the workout, upperbody strength is going to help keep pace on those push presses.
For those who struggle with toes to bar, figure out a pacing strategy and be ready to push hard on the other two movements.
If you are proficient in toes to bar, I recommend pacing yourself a bit more than needed at first. 9 reps is pretty easy, but 12-15 minutes in the story will change. I suggest trying to pick a pace that feels comfortable at first and try to never slow down. The fly and die method of WODing is not going to yeild the best results here. Focus on finding your pace.
4 Rounds: Deadlift Hang Squat Clean Push Press Thruster Heavy Rope Double Unders
Last week a mixture of really hard training and manual labor left me feeling completely wrecked and overtrained. By the time Friday rolled around, I was so sore I couldn't sit still comfortably. I still hadn't done the Open WOD, and I was feeling like there was no way I was even going to be able to do the WOD I was so spanked. In an act of desperation, I decided to try the latest technology in self torture and recovery, Cryotherapy.
As long as people have been participating in sport and fitness, there has been the ice bath. It takes either serious pain or serious commitment to performance to face freezing yourself, but it does work and it's pretty simple. When you get real cold, all the blood in your peripheral tissues shifts into your core to prevent hypothermia. As you warm back up, the tissues are flushed with blood and fresh oxygen which aids in recovery. So instead of sitting in freezing clod water for 10 minutes, how about walking into a giant flash freezer for 3 minutes instead?
The experience I had was as follows. Rode out to Roseville with AO bitching to him about how sore I was multiple times. Arrived at Cryo which looked like a cross between a posh coffee shop and a spa. They gave me a shot of aloe, whatever that is and some tea. We stripped down to our gym shorts and socks. They gave us some warm gloves and slippers to prevent freezing the small parts.
We went into the -206F chamber for 3 and a half minutes. During this time I experienced what it would feel like to be locked outside in Antarctica during a storm in only gym shorts. It was intense to say the least. Immediately upon exiting, they put us on an elliptical machine for 10 minutes to warm back up and get blood flowing. Then they brought us into the localized treatment room where they had a cold air hose that is used to "ice" specific areas, I had them focus on my lower back which was the most fatigued area. The localized treatment was much more bearable than the chamber, in fact it was less uncomfortable than an ice pack even though it can take your skin to a freezing temperature in just a few seconds.
After localized treatment, they gave me the "happy ending" which was a warm water bed jet massage table for a few minutes.
We got a low sugar protein smoothy, and drove back to Sac.
Overall I was feeling much better even on the ride home. I woke up the next morning feeling like I had had 3-4 days of recovery. It actually worked much better than I had expected, and I suspect that this type of treatment on a regular basis would be really helpful for injuries and just recovery in general.
The upside is that this seemed to work very well. The downside... it's in Roseville. They offer memberships for around 60 bucks per month on unlimited treatments to CrossFitters and I think they offer drop-ins as well. If you find yourself feeling spanked and you have a couple hours to drive out Roseville, I recommend giving it a shot.
Scale as needed so the reps are challenging. Broken sets do not count. You will have to start over if you break the set.
Robb B posted this video on the comment section a few days ago. I know I don't watch too many comment section videos so I though I would post this for those of you who probably missed it. This is crazy! Those little kids are bad asses!
Last Friday Kelli came in for her Level 1 test. She breezed through the movement part of the test. Then came time for the dreaded fitness test. She told me that was what she was really worried about. She finished the workout with plenty of time to spare and was able to smile for a pic 30 seconds afterward. Congrats Kelli!
So 7 minutes of burpees, 10 minutes of snatches... what's next? Maybe 13 minutes of toes to bar? Who knows, but 2 weeks are done and there are 3 more to go. There are a few more people to go, but for now top score in the men's division goes to Alan Strange with 82 reps, and top women's score is Loren Riley with 71.
Performance of the week goes and the real highest score in the gym goes to Chuck Wilcox in the 55+ and over division. With little experience in the snatch, Chuck muscled his way through 93 reps and getting 25th place in the division this week and putting him 77th in the world in the 55+ division. Many of the members witnessed Chuck smash the WOD on Friday. He finished dazed and confused, leaving the rest of us inspired and motivated. Great work Chuck.
3 Important Things! 1) Make sure you have entered your scores into the leaderboard by 5 PM tonight! If you don't you will be out of luck to get your score validated.
2) Be sure your score is on the gym whiteboard or it will not be validated!
3) Although there might be some people heading to the gym on Sundays to do the workout, WE ARE NOT OPEN SUNDAYS and you should absolutely not plan to wait until Sunday to get an Open workout done. You have from Wednesday night when the WOD is released until Saturday around noon when we close to do the WOD. If you are traveling, go to another CF or learn to use a point and shoot video camera and YouTube. Sundays are not just rest days for all of you, but for all of us coaches as well.
Please check in on your friends who might not be so up to speed on how this whole Open thing works. There will be no exceptions made for missing or unentered scores.
No I didn't get amnesia and confuse the date from doing too many burpees...this IS the most wonderful time of the year. It is competition "season" and we get to test ourselves and see where we sit on our path to higher fitness. Not only do we have the opportunity to measure in relation to others of a similar profile but we also have a stage that encourages breaking through preconceived limitations. For those of you who have little experience in competition (especially CrossFit competition) or don't identify as a "competitive person," I hope the 2012 CrossFit Games will be a catalyst for taking yourself seriously as an athlete like it seemed to do for so many last year. On the other end of the spectrum are the athletes who are HIGHLY invested in this sport and have tall aspirations for both individual satisfaction and relative placement in your division. I want to remind you all that competition should bring out the best in yourself rather than be a means of defining your athletic value. This time of year can be stressful when you're heavily invested but that should not take away from it being fun. I know I at times overanalyze/overvalue this aspect of competition. With the goal of enabling you to perform to your fullest, learn about yourself, and carry minimal stress I'd like to make some suggestions based on my experiences in competition and CrossFit in particular.
Tips for Performing at YOUR Best: 1. Keep your routine on game day- this is not the time to experiment with new sleeping/eating/clothing routines. If you have lucky shoes that are so beaten down that you use tape to hold them together, wear them (like how I qualified this?). Keep new variables to a minimum--unless you don't usually sleep. 2. Get a thorough warmup- because there will be less coach involvement in warmups on Saturdays it is important that you are self-driven. Warming up primes you mind and body for the event. Do not neglect it. The shorter the workout--> the longer the warmup. 3. Get familiar with the movements- though you will not become olympians overnight, practicing and visualizing movements can improve your efficiency and comfort with the skill. If you have been consistent and committed then the programming will take care of your level of fitness and at this point improvements will only be neurological (take place in your noggin). 4. Visualize yourself doing the workout- I mean it. Think about how you are going to feel before, during, and after. Prepare yourself for the pain to come and be confident that you will keep fighting. Mentally callous yourself and realize competition is going to require you to find a new gear. 5. Have a plan- think about your pacing, when you will rest, size of sets, and even your breathing. 6. Throw the plan out the window- When you finally dive in and find out that you are (a) moving to slowly and will not use your gas at the current pace or (b) starting off too hot and will implode at the planned pace then it is time to make a change. Getting to know your engine takes a lot of time and retrospective thought. A mature athlete will take cues from their body and adapt a plan on the fly while an immature athlete will go out guns-a-blazin' and be blindsided when their body CAN't respond (trust me on this one). 7. Don't let your previous performance affect the next one- if you didn't perform up to expectations then use the following week as an opportunity for vengeance rather than a precursor of things to come. Conversely, a stellar performance in week one in which you found that new gear does not mean you coast the next four weeks. Come to terms with the fears evoked by experiencing new depths of misery and be ready to stare it in the face again. It's better to overreach than to settle because there's much more to be learned.
For me the video was more difficult to watch than funny. I chose this is one in particular to demonstrate that (a) small differences in pacing can make a big difference; even elite athletes don't know EXACTLY their best pace. (b) We should not necessarily pass the judgement that when an individual slows down they are lacking mental strength but may in fact be physically incapable. She clearly has the will but physically cannot support it.
"We should design failure into our practicing." - Dr. Bernie Novokowsky
Many of you probably had no idea that we have our very own stand-up comic in the box. Maggie Newcomb will be performing at the Sacramento Punchline this Sunday March 4 at 7:00pm.
Maggie said it would really be great if she actually had a crowd that would laugh at her CrossFit jokes. Let's all get tickets and go support her!
Complete 32 intervals of 20 seconds of work followed by ten seconds of rest where the first 8 intervals are pull-ups, the second 8 are push-ups, the third 8 intervals are sit-ups, and finally, the last 8 intervals are squats. There is no rest between exercises.
Post total reps from all 32 intervals to comments.
If you read this blog every day and have been checking the leaderboard all week, you have probably seen 12.2. If you are not up to speed, then click here go to the Week 2 tab before reading further. This post won't make sense if you don't know what I am talking about.
I'm guessing you have probably started thinking about how far you might be able to get throught the WOD, or how heavy the weight is going to feel. I am wondering how many of you began to visualize what good snatch technique looks like.
Seeing movement makes you better at moving. Visualitation is a key to learing complex movement patterns. I have watched videos of world class Olympic weightlifters over and over then a few more times hitting the pause button frequently to look at the different positions and try to figure out timing. Although I am decent at best in Olympic lifting, I have developed proficient lifting techinque with minimal coaching and I attribute much of this to visualization and drills. You can learn a ton about the snatch by watching videos.
last night when I found out what this weeks workout was for the Open I thought about my strategy. Its pretty straight forward, but I don't want to get into that here. Each athlete will need slightly different approach to this one.
Regadless of strategy, the way to maximize your score here is to be focused on technique. Developing a consistent and accurate movement pattern will allows you to conserve energy for later in the wokout when the difficulty increases and the stakes get higher. Now it's time to watch some videos of the most perfect snatch I could find. I swear I didn't search the internet for the most perfect snatch in slow motion.
Watch this video over and over. If you are really dedicated you might even get out a broomstick and do some drills trying to emulate this perfect snatch. If you are obsessed like some of us, you might even go so far as to film your snatch and have a good look at it.
This video is a squat snatch which is not the ideal movement for this weeks WOD, but might become necessary as the load increases or as you fatigue. You will want to start the workout with power snatches, or even muscle snatches if you are real strong. The mechanics on this lift are the same as the power snatch except this is a real heavy lift which required a full squat to get locked out.
Note how the lifter keeps the bar close to the legs. As she gets the bar to her thighs, she brings her hips to the bar and right as her hips get to the bar she jumps upward with everything she has. At this point she continues to keep the bar very close as she pulls herself under the bar. The bar moves upward in a straight line all the way up.
This is a really good snatch, so watch it over and over, then watch it more hitting pause and looking at different postions. Go get your stick and stand in front of a mirrow practicing. Oh heck, get out the good old video camera and film your own snatch. If you can improve your techinqe, positioning and timing, you will maximize your potential this week.
