December 2009 – Page 2 – SNORIDGE CROSSFIT

Over-Under

For Time:

21-15-9 Reps of each:
Overhead Squat
Sumo Deadlift High Pull

* One bar, pick the load and storm for time.

Results

The two Jim’s getting Overhead:

Moe in the bottom position (L) and Jorge and Jana (R) show off their matching Converse:

Note in the two “Jim” photos above of the overhead squat they have good alignment of the bar in a vertical line over the back of their head or ears, behind the knees and straight down through the heels. Note how Moe is also actively pushing her shoulders up and attempting to “pull” the bar apart in her hands while she supports the weight through her midline to her heels. Are their areas to continue to work for them and all of us? Yes. However the stance and position has improved for many while supporting heavier loads and with that grows the confidence!

Notes:

Day 26 of the Burpee Challenge!

Several of you caught back up today. From here out try to make it a game as much as you can. Do all of them for time, save them for the warm-up, or do tabata burpees until you reach your total each day. What’s your strategy?

The 12/24 WOD will be at 10am on Thursday. Team Squatch (Affiliate Team) meets at 9am.

Halfway to Burpee-ville!

You made it halfway! Day 25 of the Burpee Challenge!

If you are reading this and haven’t done them today then drop and give me 25. For time. If you have dropped out the only shame is in not admitting it. Persevere, stick with it, and don’t give in. This will make you stronger, quicker and improve your endurance.

Michelle and the “One Woman Wave” at SRCF:

Notes:

“100 Muscle-Ups for Hope” with Gillian Mounsey, a CrossFit Journal preview video … [wmv] [mov]

Gillian did 100 muscle-ups in 35 minutes! All for a fundraiser to raise over $50k for our wounded warriors (Hope For The Warriors).

"Grinch 12"

“Grinch 12” For Time:

25 Walking Lunge Steps
20 Pull-ups
30 Box Jumps (20″)
20 Double Unders
25 Ring Push-ups
20 Knees-to-Elbows
30 Kettlebell Swings (53#/35#)
30 AbMat Sit-ups
20 Medicine Ball Cleans (20#/14#)
25 Good Mornings (45#/33#)
30 Wall Balls (20#/14#)
800m Run

Results

View this photo

Affiliate Cup “Team Squatch” training:

“Beast 12” For Time:

25 Walking Lunge Steps
20 Pull-ups
50 Box Jumps (20″)
20 Double Unders
25 Ring Dips
20 Knees-to-Elbows
30 Kettlebell Swings (70#/53#)
30 AbMat Sit-ups
20 Dumbbell Hang Squat Cleans (35#/20#)
25 GHD Back Extensions or Good Mornings (45#/33#)
30 Wall Balls (20#/14#)
3 Rope Climbs – 15′

Results

View this photo

Day 24 of the Burpee Challenge. Anyone quit? Stick with it and be honest!

Two WOD’s today! The Affiliate Team climbed through the Beast 12 while the rest of you ran through the Grinch 12. Both were challenging and had their own unique twists like rope climbs or a half mile run at the end. Congrats are in order for a bunch of you. Sherry, Michelle, and Moe knocked out ring pull-ups (sub for rope climbs), Pat and Curtis climbed the rope, Jana completed her first WOD with double unders, Jorge nailed knees-to-elbows, and Bridget moved up to the 20″ box. Best of all, props to Amanda who narrowly beat Curtis in the Christmas sweater competition. Curtis borrowed Deb’s sweater (which he easily fit with his small stature) and was just plain bad, but Amanda was dressed to impress. She won a day off from burpees tomorrow and a gift card to the ‘Bucks for coffee!

Jorge with Knees-to-Elbows and Moe showing powerful kipping with ring pull-ups:

The Grinch came to Who-ville and stole everything but the Christmas fashion!

Notes:

Gym Holiday Hours:

12/21 – 12/23: We will have a normal schedule Monday through Wednesday.
12/24: On Christmas Eve we will have one WOD in the morning at 10am. It will be a team event and it will be fun! After the WOD is an open invite to go raid the local coffee shop for some caffeine to get us through the festivities.
12/25 – 12/26: We are going to close on Christmas Day and the day after. We will resume our regular programming following this downtime! Burpees are still required!

Quote of the day from Pat in response to the “CrossFit is a cult” discussion: “You know why people think it’s a cult? Because it’s hard and they’re scared.”

"Pistol-Whipped"

For Time:

3 Rounds for Time:
800m Run
15 Pistols (Left Leg)
15 Pistols (Right Leg)
25 Sit-ups
12 Pistols (Left Leg)
12 Pistols (Right Leg)
25 Sit-ups
9 Pistols (Left Leg)
9 Pistols (Right Leg)
25 Sit-ups
800m Run

Results

View this photo

Nan and Erin with their guns drawn and demonstrating the “Pistol”:

What’s a pistol? A pistol is a one legged air squat. It requires strength, coordination, flexibility, agility, and above all balance. When done fast it requires the most common element of fitness in CrossFit; Power. Every single person who came in today saw the board and when told what a pistol was had a look on their face that is best summed up with “You gotta be sh*tting me”. After some demonstration, instruction on technique, different methods of scaling, and practice all of you had a very different outlook. Each of you learned that the movement can be scaled using different heights of a box for depth, as well as a pole or a band to hold onto for balance and help. Everyone was successful and completed a workout that will undoubtedly leave your quads, hams, and glutes sore tomorrow. Erin and Nan even learned them so quickly they completed the WOD as RX’d and were models of the movement!

There are many “advanced” movements in CrossFit that people tend to shy away from. Most of the reason for that is because they are hard. Sometimes it is lack of equipment, or lack of instruction, but mostly it is due to lack of confidence and a tendency to stay in the domain that is known. We will do our best to keep it unknown and unknowable from time to time. That is why when you ask me what tomorrow’s WOD is I may tell you, I may lie to you, or I may just keep my mouth zipped. The “unknown” is sometimes the best part. You never know what you may learn.

Pat and Steph demonstrate pole dancing technique:

Notes:

Day 23 of the Burpee Challenge!

Affiliate Cup “Team Squatch” meets at 9am for their WOD (they know who they are).

Normal class will be at 10am. It’s our “Bad Christmas Sweater” WOD. If you couldn’t find a sweater it’s okay, come and if you have anything Christmas-like then wear it!

Oh Squat!

Strength WOD:

Overhead Squat
3/3/3/3/3

Immediately After:
Max Effort
1000 Meter Row

Results

View this photo

Day 22 of the Burpee Challenge. It continues…

Steph gets comfortable in the bottom position. Note that she has good active shoulders, her lumbar curve is maintained, and her head is level. Great progress on the overhead squat today. Everyone hit a PR! Remember to force those knees to track out towards the toes, stay back on your heels and hold that breath to keep your core tight. Most importantly ensure you practice stretching. As you gain flexibility that “uncomfortable” spot at the bottom position that Michelle helped you find will become comfortable. If you can get comfortable you can support a lot overhead.

1K Max Effort Row:

Lucy and Rob would have been proud!

Upcoming events in the New Year:

I talked with Lucy about doing another rowing clinic in either January or February. Let us know if you are interested. We likely would limit the number of people to maximize rowing time.

Sectional Qualifiers in February for the 2010 CF Games will be at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds. If interested talk to us, our affiliate team likely will field some competitors. It’s even fun as a spectator!

Speaking of the Games, we will have a 2009 CF Games movie day (or night) at the gym. Drinking and watching CrossFit, it doesn’t get any better.

A second Paleo Challenge is on the menu in the New Year. This one will have a few tweaks based on some excellent inputs and guidance from CF Seattle. We may even partner with Chef By Request for some Paleo discussion and samples.

Olympic Lifting Coaching Session to be conducted at Thrush Sports Performance Center in Sumner. It will be in either Jan. or Feb. The session will focus on the clean, jerk and snatch and proper O-Lifting basics. Michelle and I both attended similar sessions and came away with a lot of great technique improvements and areas to work on. We will fill spots with those trying out for the affiliate team first but after that will open the remaining spots to anyone.

Don’t forget starting the last Wednesday of this month we will start our monthly 4 Way WOD Challenge with CrossFit Advantage, Outer Edge CrossFit, Local’s Gym and us. This challenge will rotate each month with one box picking the WOD for all four gyms to conduct on that day.

Details on all of these events to come! Any other ideas let us know.

Upcoming CF Certs:

Moe is going to CrossFit Level 1 Cert in Feb., Michelle is going to CF Olympic Lifting Cert in Mar., and I will be attending the CF Gymnastics Cert in April. CF Kids is also still planned but timing, logistics and location are a big factor. We’ll keep checking the calendar.

Hanging Around

For Time:

3 Rounds for Time:
50 Air Squats
10 Hang Power Cleans (115#/75#)
15 Pull-ups

Results

View this photo

Amanda achieves triple extension on her clean!

Also note that she has the bar in close to the body, her hips are open before her arms bend, she is shrugging up and back, and her feet are pointed down at the floor in her slight vertical jump! She is ready to pull herself under and rotate her elbows around the bar and catch it in the rack position with elbows up. Outstanding! Triple extension is the full extension of hips/ankles/knees. It is the key to power and explosiveness and is vital to the clean. In fact it is vital in weightlifting and Olympic Lifting movements like the Snatch and Clean. If you want to be powerful and move faster at most movements from barbell lifts to burpees to box jumps to sprinting, then visit the link above and train yourself to open your hips, achieve triple extension and get fast and explosive. Oh and be patient, it’s not instant success.

Notes:

Day 21 of the Burpee Challenge. Get them done if you missed class today!

Congrats to Jana and Amanda for getting double-unders this evening after the WOD. They shocked themselves! Also Eli set a pull-up PR the other day with 13. It’s good to see so many of you quietly working on your weaknesses here and there both pre and post WOD. Don’t think we don’t see you. In fact we love it.

Last but not least, Jorge visited two different boxes in Montana last week and CF Montana almost didn’t let him leave!

Snatch It, On the Double!

For Time:

7 Rounds for Time:
10 Dumbbell (or Kettlebell) Power Snatch (35#/20#) – 5 per Arm
10 Push-ups
20 Double-Unders

Results

View this photo

Travis and Amanda demonstrate the “set” and “pull” of the dumbbell power snatch:

We have reached 20 burpees on the 50 Day Burpee Challenge! Now it’s time to focus on the next 30 days. One month to go. Start making it interesting and maybe use a stopwatch to time how long it takes you to do your days burpees. On the next day try to beat that time when you have to add that rep. See if you improve day after day.

The last couple days have been brutal fun. Nothing drove that home like the lack of a 5pm crowd! Rest and recover and we will make tomorrow fun. Just make it into the gym. Every day away blunts your athletic potential. Speaking of which, the following post from CrossFit One World really said it best (below and at the following link). Take a couple minutes, it’s good food for thought. Do any of these apply to you?

“Ten Ways to Blunt Your Athletic Potential”

by Freddy Camacho

Not having goals, both short term and long term. A fitness regimen with no goals is like driving to a destination you have never been to before without a map or directions. Goals keep you on track. You seek out guidelines and information on how to achieve them. Make those goals!!!

Avoiding your weaknesses. Why is it everyone and their mother shows up on the days we do some crazy workout, but when weightlifting days or running days come up, people suddenly don’t feel so well??? Weaknesses stem from a series of issues. Suck at an Olympic lift? It is probably tied into deficiencies in the strength and flexibility department. Can’t get through that whole 5k run? You need to eat better and build up your cardio/respiratory endurance. Attack your weaknesses and your strengths will improve.

Poor nutrition. Food completely controls how your body functions throughout the day. It is the gasoline for your engine. An engine needs gas to run, and it runs better with good gas than it does with crappy gas. Start simple. Make changes in the quality of what you eat then fine tune it from there.

Alcohol consumption. Alcohol is good for only one thing: getting buzzed. Unfortunately, getting buzzed causes a bunch of bad things to happen, mostly lack of control. You don’t sleep well (despite possibly even passing out). It dehydrates you. You tend to succumb to eating crap. You are damaging brain cells and your liver. But did I mention that alcohol is really good for getting buzzed??

Lack of sleep. You can never get “too much” sleep. Our bodies are actually wired to go to sleep when it gets dark and wake up at the crack of dawn. Electricity has jacked up our internal clocks, so no matter who you are and how much you sleep, it is never enough. Sleep is a huge component in the body recovery system. Get more of it!!!

Not taking proper rest/recovery time. Rest is different from sleep. You need to let the body rest from your training regimen. Take a rest day every few days. I would even recommend that every few months you take at least a week off from high intensity training. Your body needs time to heal, along with your brain. You will come back rip roaring ready to go both physically and mentally. Recovery simply means listening to your body. Pain is different from the discomfort of training. Pain needs to be respected. Pain takes time to heal. Turn your ego off and let your body heal up proper. The dumbest thing I ever heard anyone say was, “It hurts to train, but I have to workout.” (That was me by the way….)

Poor hydration. Water is often an overlooked ingredient in a good training regimen. Water makes up about 60% of the human body. Lean muscle tissue is about 99% water. Bone is made up of about 22% water and even your skin contains water. There is not one system in the entire body that does not depend on water. You will be hard pressed to drink to much water in a day. Drink up!!!

Lack of consistency. It’s not easy to stick with a workout program. You can get very positive results working out only two to three days a week if you really work hard and follow a solid nutrition plan. Start small…commit yourself to two days a week and build up to three. Once you start training three or more days a week, you will make leaps and bounds in reaching your athletic potential.

Lack of a proper warm-up/cool down. Sure, argue all you want that when the shit hits the fan in life, you don’t get the chance to warm up. Very true, but a training session is not life. You are attempting to improve your athletic ability. You can’t do jack if you get hurt. Warm up those muscles, joints and connective tissues by doing active stretching in full range of motion. Take the time to do some good static stretching when you are done working out. Flexibility will increase. Injuries will decrease. Your workout performance will improve dramatically.

Not listening to your coach. An experienced coach knows what he is talking about. For the most part, I know I can judge a person’s athletic ability watching them perform a few simple tasks just within a warm-up. Why is it when I tell someone they should scale a movement or a rep count or the load, they don’t want to listen to me? The road to better athletic performance is a path easier traveled when you listen to an experienced coach. Trust me.

"Annie Are You Okay?"

For Time:

21/15/9 reps of the following exercises:
Row (For Calories)
Burpees
Kettlebell Sumo Deadlift High Pull (53#/35#)
Thrusters (95#/65#)
Medicine Ball Clean (20#/14#)
Wall Balls (20#/14#)

Results

View this photo

Quote of the Day:

Me: “What did you think of the WOD?” Mike: “I don’t remember half of it.”

Annie is NOT okay. She sucks. I don’t like her. This was like Annie meets Fight Gone Bad and Annie won. This WOD will go on the Leaderboard. It earned its place. Six exercises of hip extension made for a heart pounder and sapped the strength right out of you. Transitioning from each exercise you quickly realize you don’t get a break unless you allow yourself one. Your legs are screaming, your heart is pounding and your mind is saying “F this!”. This one was a mental exercise as well. Post your thoughts on this WOD to comments.

Everyone should feel good about completing a tough one to start the week. Plus you got to count your burpees today in the WOD towards the Burpee Challenge since we know practically no one did their Sunday burpees. So be honest, catch up and get on track.

Today is Day 19 of the Burpee Challenge! (Yesterday was 18 hint, hint…)

Notes:

Bad Christmas sweaters are the requirement this Saturday’s WOD! We will have a pre-WOD sweater contest and the unanimous winner will get a prize! Put on your jingle-bells and get in the gym.

We are working with some local CF Affiliates in the area (Local’s Gym (Lynwood CF), Outer Edge CF, and CrossFit Advantage) to have a monthly WOD challenge between our gyms. We will rotate once a month with each gym picking a WOD that all of us will do on the same day and then compare results. Get ready! Details to come.

The Complete 2009 CF Games videos are being released one part a day. They are well done. Michelle and I watched Pt. 1 last night on the Trail Run Event and it made us realize how much fun we really had watching it last summer. Check it out and consider a CF Journal subscription. Part 1 is even a free download.

Rest, Play and Games

Quote of the Day: “CrossFit for Curtis is like his daycare.” ~ Deb

This pic says it all. Take the day off. Go for a run or just play. Or do both!

Notes:

Today is Day 18 of the Burpee Challenge. We didn’t forget, neither should you. Get caught up and get ’em done.

Click here for Northwest Sectional and Regionals information on the 2010 CF Games. Our Affiliate Cup Team training has begun! We have 9 of you joining Michelle and I for putting together our team for the Games qualifiers. Over the next several months we will all train, sweat, compete, collapse and maybe even puke together. We will whittle the team to a core of 6 as we get closer to the Regionals but the journey will be what is most important. Our hope is this effort will help raise everyone’s fitness level throughout SRCF over the coming months while building even greater teamwork, community and friendships in the box. We are excited to start the a$$-kickings!

I have asked each of those trying for the team to pick three weaknesses each month and diligently focus on them pre and post-WOD. I would encourage all of you to do this as it will add to your general fitness and make you more well rounded. Add them to your warm-up or spend some time after the WOD. Whether it’s more stretching, handstands, pull-ups, box jumps, med ball cleans, lifting technique, or rowing we can all find things we should get better at. Even grabbing a PVC pipe and focusing on what seems like the little things such as stance, grip and position for each of the lifts will pay huge dividends down the road. We should never stop learning! That goes double for Michelle and I as your trainers.

Flickr Album from the “Lakewood 4”:

"The Lakewood 4"

Fallen Lakewood Police Officers Memorial WOD:

For Time:

800m Run

23 Burpee Pull Ups (*Mark)

101 Box Jumps (*Tina)

400m Run Backwards

121 Push Ups (*Ronnie)

135 Situps (*Greg)

800m Run

9 Ground to overhead (185#/135#) (Number of kids left behind)

*Badge Number

Results

View this photo

Tag Team:

Saturday was the Fallen Lakewood Police Officer Memorial WOD. We joined in with several Puget Sound area and beyond CrossFit affiliates today to pay tribute to the memory of Sergeant Mark Renninger, Officers Tina Griswold, Greg Richards, and Ronnie Owens. To get an idea for why it was programmed with the reps and exercises below click here. Thank you to all who came today and showed their support for those who serve and protect our community no matter where we live. We had a turnout of 19 of us who together raised over $400 to help go to their families (we will ensure the money gets deposited to the Fallen Officers fund this coming week).

We are honored to be part of the SnoRidge CF family that bands together and supports their community the way you all have through both this memorial workout and the Lumberjack memorial workout and fundraiser. Also a special thank you goes out to Rona who helped take pics today (I’ll post a Flickr album tomorrow), Eli who ran the clock and coached us in the last group and all of rest of the folks from the early waves that stuck around to cheer and help.

Group photos: