Month: February 2011

Strictly Speaking

As Many Rounds As Possible (AMRAP) in 20 Minutes of:

5 Strict Pull-ups (Overhand Grip Only)
10 AbMat Sit-ups
15 Air Squats

Results

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Strictly Speaking

Michelle threw a curve-ball today. She raised the bar on the strict pull-ups by making them overhand only. My reaction this afternoon was admittedly poor, mainly because I had a set strategy in my head for doing both under and overhand grip pull-ups in the WOD. After voicing my displeasure, Michelle told me to deal with it because that is what the other classes did. I was still not happy but tough shiitake. The message was clear: Unknown and unknowable, constantly varied, or HTFU (in Army speak). Or in Michelle’s speak: “Seriously? What EVER Tom”. I remembered the rule of “no whining” and got to work. In fact I owe my burpee penalty tomorrow. How did it turn out? It forced me to work on a weaker dead hang pull-up grip and was overall good training. The WOD was more challenging. So officially “Michelle was right and I was wrong”. That is now on record. And Michelle will likely take every opportunity to remind me of this!

Notes:

“Don Hasselbeck: My CrossFit Story“, CrossFit Journal preview video [wmv] [mov]

Matt Hasselbeck’s Dad (former NFL player himself Don) does CrossFit. He is also a Sports Marketing Executive for Reebok that is working with CrossFit as part of the new Reebok/CrossFit 10 year sponsorship deal. It’s interesting to note that several other former NFL players CrossFit. John Welbourn owns CF Balboa and both created and runs the CrossFit Football program (certs and website). Andy Hendel owns CF Charlotte. Lorenzo Neal co-owns a box in CA. Grant Wistrom co-owns one in Missouri. 

Announcements:

  • Welcome to Jason and David who just recently completed Elements training!

Payment update:

  • We are going to be switching to online software called Mindbody Scheduler to use for payment of dues and other things like Elements, Event sign-ups and CrossFit Kids registration (CF Kids coming in April). 
  • Mindbody is now active on the left hand side of the site.
  • Please create a profile and input your billing information. You can pay via credit card or EFT via your checking account (so if you pay by check now it’s no different and more convenient). 
  • If you are more tech savvy go ahead and add your autopay schedule for your membership. You can set your start date to match either the 1st or 15th depending on when your dues are due. If not let us know and we can help get you set up. 
  • This will become our preferred method for billing moving forward.

Games Worthy

3 Rounds for time of:

30 Push-ups (Hand Release)
Rope Climb (15’/12′) 
21 Overhead Squats (95#/65#)
Rope Climb (15’/12′) 

(There is a 12 Minute Cap on WOD #1)

Rest 3 Minutes; then Complete

3 Rounds for time of:

30 Toes-to-Bar
21 Ground-to-Overhead (95#/65#)

(There is a 10 Minute Cap on WOD #2)

Results

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These two WOD’s are influenced by the Final Individual Event of the 2010 CF Games. We slightly modified them to make up for not having a 15ft. wall to climb over as well as using longer time caps to allow everyone to get more work done.

A few pics from the 2010 Games Final Individual Event last year. Can’t wait to go back again for another “epic-cation”:

Chan and Mikko

Camille_OHS

Froning racing to finish

Toes2Bar

Ground 2 OH

Up and Over

“Women Of The 2010 CrossFit Games” – video [wmv] [mov]

Last Chance for the Early Bird Special on CrossFit Games Tickets

Power Stroke

3 Rounds for Time:

500m Row 
21 Hang Power Snatch (75#/55#) 

Results

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Rowers Ready

Today’s WOD focused on a basic Olympic lift. The hang power snatch is a stepping stone to the power snatch from the ground and also the snatch (squat). Learning this movement will help you become more efficient at getting a barbell overhead (or any weight) and put you directly into a position to overhead squat it. Who gets tired of the “power clean, jerk, rack, move your grip out and jerk it again” combo to get ready to overhead squat? Learn to snatch.

Speaking of going overhead, tomorrow will be just that. Times two. We are going to run through two of the 2010 CF Games Final Event WOD’s (one will be slightly modified). Get ready to overhead squat, climb, go anyway overhead and hit those abs. Two WOD’s back to back with a time cap. They will be short, fast and intense. Do as much work as you can in the time limit. Get smoked, have fun.

2011 CrossFit Games Regional Boundaries Announced

Notes:

Amanda sent us this “Grande Awesome” email and she was cool with us sharing:

“I’m feeling especially introspective tonight 😉  So I thought I’d share what has been bouncing around in my head for the last couple months and has become crystal clear in the last couple weeks.  I really struggled at the first 2 weeks w/ the “stop the slop” challenge – I’ve done countless nutrition challengs in my life.  However, January is always a horrible month for me.  My family is from the midwest & east coast; visits leave me missing them… On top of that this year I was sick for part of the month & had a hectic work schedule.  But then I took a step back and looked at what has made the big difference in my life since Fall of 2010 and pulled it back together… I wanted to share.
 
Thanks for what you both do & caring about pushing your “peeps” to their potential.

I’ve never wanted to lose weight to be able to do a pull-up w/out a band.  I’ve never wanted to be slimmed down so I could run a faster 400 M or bust out push-ups.

To be clear, I’m not new to being athletic, I’ve been running for over 10 years – I’ve done a marathon, several halves, and countless 10K & 5Ks.  Losing weight and getting in shape was the result of the running and sure losing weight meant I could go faster, but I cared more about how I’d look at the end.

Exercising and eating good to actually feel better & perform better is a huge change.  A change that is much more intoxicating then just looking good.  If I had only figured that out a long time ago I’d be a much happier person today.

I’m getting it now… It has taken awhile and I didn’t understand right away.  But with every PR, every struggle through a WOD, every proud moment I have – I get it.

Eating “paleo” isn’t some kind of punishment to lose 10 lbs; it is the fuel that makes me feel good & get through a WOD feeling strong.  Even odder to me – I can’t imagine not having my Squatchers & amazing SnoRidge CrossFit box to go to. I’ve always been a solo artist, actually getting excited to go see my coaches & friends is a unique experience for me.  One I really enjoy 😉

I’m not perfect – I won’t give up pizza for the rest of my life 🙂 but the work I put in pushing myself & eating healthy has a different payoff nowadays.  One that is much longer lasting than a goal weight.”

1st Pull-up!

This feat from yesterday deserved it’s own post. (Also I forgot to import it from the camera last night when I did the WOD recap). Wool hoot and Contests (Rona-speak for “woo hoo and congrats” to Lindsay for nailing her 1st of three kipping pull-ups last night! She’s been working hard for this. Awesome sauce!

Lindsay joins the pull-up club:

Lindsay_1st Pullup

"Death by Burpee"

With a continuously running clock perform 1 burpee the first minute, 2 burpees the second minute, 3 burpees the third minute, and so on, continuing to add 1 each minute until you cannot complete the required number of reps in the given minute.

Score total rounds and reps in the last round completed.

Results

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Read: “It’s Just Exercise (Part II)” by Melissa Urban of Whole9 

Today’s “Great Day Summary” is presented in captions and photos:

The Burpee King Matt who did so many damn burpees it had to be witnessed:

The Burpee King

and the Burpee Queen Rona (who is sharing the title with Moe as it was a virtual tie since she did an extra 2 burpees in a previous round when she lost count):

Burpee Queen

What is virtual shoveling? Well it was in the warm-up today (nice one Mark!) and Hailly provides a demo:

Virtual Shoveling - 1 Virtual Shoveling - 2
Virtual Shoveling - 3 Virtual Shoveling - 4

Matt was so on fire tonight he actually worked in trick burpees during the WOD like this “360 Burpee”:

360 Burpee 360 Burpee 2 360 Burpee 3 360 Burpee 4

Rona showing off why she crushed this WOD and PR’d today! It was her never quit attitude!

Burpee Love

Spent

We were visited today by Tom Ashby who is a friend and coach from CrossFit Lakewood, CO. It was awesome to have him come see the box, meet Michelle, Ash and our peeps and all workout together:

Group shot with Tom A

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner! (Paleo of course)

Coaches vs. “Mary”

Coaches vs. Mary

Choose between the following AMRAP’s:

“Pistol Whipped”

AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) for 20 Minutes:

5 Medicine Ball Cleans (20#/14#)
10 Pistols (Alternating)
15 Double-Unders

or “Mary”

AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) for 20 Minutes:

5 Handstand Push-ups
10 Pistols (Alternating)
15 Pull-ups

Results

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Matt showing a proper cool-down after crushing “Mary”:

Cool Down

   Quote of the Day: “Paleo is a logical framework applied to modern humans, not a historical reenactment.” Andrew Badenoch

Here is the official winner and runner-up for the 6 week “Stop the Slop Nutrition Challenge”:

(The “Jackie” Performance results were announced yesterday)

  • Nutrition Challenge Winner is Dustin Rogers
    • Dustin finished the Nutrition Challenge with the highest % weight loss overall; with a 6.7% improvement (13 pounds lost)
    • Dustin also improved his RX Jackie by 4.7% while simultaneously shrinking to the point that his wife Lindsay called him “Man-orexic”
    • Dustin wins:
      • $200 in cash money
      • 1 Month Unlimited Free to SnoRidge aka “The House of Awesome”
      • 1 Year CrossFit Journal Subscription
  • Nutrition Challenge Runner-up is Jenn Lilly
    • Jenn finished the Nutrition Challenge with the second highest % weight loss overall; with a 6.5% improvement (9.7 pounds lost)
    • Jenn’s food choices overall were really good and it showed as she is a lean mean fighting machine
    • She also improved her Jackie by 22.2%. (I am kind of scared of her now)

CONGRATS, chest bumps, and caveman high fives to Dustin and Jenn for the top two spots and to everyone who participated in the Nutrition Challenge!

The Nutrition Challenge this year was longer (6 weeks) than our previous one. This was meant to ensure those who stuck with a Paleo diet could see or feel results, make longer lasting nutrition changes, and understand the full effects of both staying “on” and falling “off” the wagon. Several of you did just that. The race for this challenge was very close. We are proud of everyone for starting, trying and sticking with it. If you didn’t finish for whatever reason, don’t be discouraged! Read your Nutrition guides, make a decision to start eating clean and muster that self discipline to truly try it for at least 30 days. It’s never too late to try to be more healthy. If I believed that I still wouldn’t passionately try to convince my parents that things like low fat, soy, whole grains, and other processed garbage is not good for them.

For those who didn’t participate, when you decide you are ready to get more information and insight into nutrition and the paleo diet, ask us about purchasing our complete Whole9/SnoRidge CrossFit Nutrition Guide which lays it all out for you.

Some basic stats:

  • 94 lbs. lost total!
  • 25 people started the “Stop the Slop Challenge”
  • 17 of you finished it and weighed in to seal the deal
  • Many of you have elected to maintain a Paleo diet after the challenge
  • 11 Men completed it vs. 6 Women (Surprising to me since more women started than men)
  • 10 people lost greater than 5.5 lbs

Notes:

Today’s WOD was a choice between two pistol loving AMRAP’s. Either the CrossFit.com benchmark WOD “Mary” or just a brutal triplet in “Pistol Whipped”, neither is easy. One piece of coaching from me: If you finished the WOD today (or really any day) and need to immediately do an unplanned second WOD, then you likely scaled incorrectly or simply did not push as hard as you could have. Remember that this is all training. Training means working on your weaknesses. Sometimes those weaknesses mean you need to scale to allow yourself to get enough work done to build strength, technique, form, consistency, or work capacity. 

Josh inverted while Michelle is locked and loaded:

Josh_HSPU M_Pistol

Read: “It’s Just Exercise (Part I)” by Melissa Urban of Whole9 – Part II coming tomorrow

Got wide feet? Like New Balance? Try these barefoot style shoes for running and CrossFit: NB Minimus Preview

"Jackie" Performance Challenge Results are in!

Strength WOD:

Deadlift
3/3/3/3/3

Checkout WOD:

4 Rounds for Time:

5 Deadlifts (225#/155#) 
10 Knees-to-elbows 
15 Ring Dips

Results

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Checkout WOD Action:

Full Rig

Checkout Action

We can finally publish the winners and runners-up for the “Stop the Slop Jackie Performance Challenge”

The Nutrition Challenge results will be announced tomorrow!

  • Performance Challenge Winner is Matt Patterson
    • Matt finished the Jackie Challenge with the highest % time improved overall; with an insane overall 49.4% improvement! 
    • His first bout with Jackie did not go well and he finished at 12 plus minutes as RX’d. It was a struggle as Matt kind of “crashed and burned” after the row. His rematch 6 weeks later saw him complete it at a blistering time of 6:37! The improvement was the result of several factors: 1) Improved nutrition (Matt completed the 6 week Paleo Challenge) 2) Improved kipping pull-ups 3) Better strategy. Matt paced better to avoid the crash he suffered the first time. 4) Overall improved fitness. Matt has had several PR’s over the past 6 weeks and it shows.
    • Matt wins:
      • RX Jump Rope of his choice
      • 1 Year CrossFit Journal Subscription
  • Performance Challenge Runner-up is Nadia Schmieder
    • Nadia finished the Jackie Challenge with the second highest % time improved overall; with an overall 26.6% improvement!
    • The race for second place was very tight with 4 people bunched up right behind Nadia by a matter of a few % points
    • Nadia improved by 4:59 using the exact same weight and bands each time. Six weeks of paleo and CrossFit 3-4 times per week on average paved the way for such a huge improvement. On top of that she surprised herself tonight by hitting a 3RM on her deadlift at 173#!  This was her previous 1 rep max back in December. Solid performance!

CONGRATS to Matt and Nadia and to everyone who participated in the Jackie Performance Challenge!

Notes:

Attention Team Squatch competitors: Update on the upcoming 2011 CF Games Open (AKA “The Event Formerly Known as Sectionals”) below. We are only 3 weeks away from “GO TIME”!

CrossFit Games Open: The New Site – video [wmv] [mov]

View from The Squatch Cave:

View from the Cave

CrossFit Gymnastics Trainer Course Certification is coming!

We are stoked to announce we are working to host this awesome 2 day cert with Jeff Tucker and Jeannie Bassi here at our box in late May or June. Spots will fill up fast so if this interests you then let us know so you can register before we post it to the larger community. Cost for this cert is $595 and registration will be via CrossFit.com once it is listed.

Course Description: “This course will be open to anyone and is a “road show” course led by Jeff Tucker and his staff. This is a great two-day fundamental session in the gymnastics skills you need to become a better, more well-rounded athlete and CrossFitter.

Jeff R. Tucker – or “Tucker” to those who know him – is the CEO and founder of Global Sports Xtreme (GSX) in Ft Worth, Texas and he has a passion for teaching gymnastics. He and his staff will delve into basic and intermediate gymnastic forms in a lecture setting followed by practical application. Skills will be repeated until the student has satisfactory understanding of how to learn, spot and teach such methods safely. You will also be taught how to scale the movements until they become second nature. You don’t merely watch, or half-heartedly attempt such moves, you LEARN them, and through repeated progression and persistence you gain great rewards.

Tucker’s goal in this course is to aid CrossFitters in using gymnastics for strength development, core control, and WOD progressions. Result: the CrossFit community will become more engaged in using one of the foundational blocks for CrossFit workouts – Gymnastics.

You will be taught a wide variety of movements and techniques, including these and others:

  • Paralette work: handstands, L–sit, stretching, core control, handstand push ups, scalability of basic and intermediate movements, spotting, ROM/EROM training.
  • Rings: core training exercises, support work, proper hand placement, L-sits, iron cross progressions, dislocates, presses, muscle ups and muscle up drills, self spotting techniques, kips, handstands on rings, and conditioning.
  • Bar variations: handstands on rings back levers, skin the cat, L-sit pull up variations, stretching, kipping swing, spotting techniques, bar muscle ups, scalability of all moves.
  • Handstands : HSPU’s, HS forward rolls, balance work, press to HS, L-sit to handstand, how to spot and scale this foundational part of the elements for WOD’s and newbies. hand placement, core control, strength development Planche – progressions on floor, rings and paralettes.

We will have an in depth lecture and video presentation throughout the two days with detailed information and discussion on gymnastic elements and the best application for such drills in CrossFit boxes and the community at large.

What do you need to bring? Athletic attire and an adventurous attitude! We look forward to teaching all comers and all skill levels how these foundational gymnastic elements will increase your strength, your flexibility, and understanding on how gymnastics programing is part of Greg Glassman’s vision.”

"Wittman"

Seven rounds for time of:

15 Kettlebell swings (53#/35#)
15 Power clean (95#/65#)
15 Box Jumps (24″/20″)

Results

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The Movements of “Wittman“:

Mollie KB Swing Nan_Box Jump

Power Cleans (Wittman)

U.S. Army Sergeant Jeremiah Wittman, 26, of Darby, Montana, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, based out of Fort Carson, Colorado, was killed on February 13, 2010, when insurgents attacked his unit with a roadside bomb in Zhari province, Afghanistan. He is survived by his daughters Miah and Ariauna, wife Karyn, siblings Robert H., Charity, Jenell, and Natasha, father Robert, and mother Cynthia Church.

Rest in Peace.

Notes:

“Stop the Slop” Challenge last call:

Last chance to make up Jackie and weigh-in is tomorrow! Tell your coach when you come in! We have a few left who need to make up Jackie and weigh-in. Then we can publish the winners and runners-up.

Two of our own competed in two different types of athletic events this weekend and both dominated and placed very well in their respective races. Congrats to Pat and Matt on their hard earned accomplishments! 

Pat took 7th overall out of 44 men in the Elite Division of the CrossFit Bellevue and CrossFit Interbay Throwdown on Saturday. He was 12th, 13th and 5th in each of the three WOD’s. The results for the last WOD and final read funny but scroll down for Pat’s time and overall finish as there was a mixup in locating his final WOD scoresheet that was straightened out today. Read the recap (which mentions Pat’s gray hair and his stellar performance in the last WOD) and see the results from CF Bellevue/CF Interbay Throwdown. The video at the bottom is a photo recap made by CF Bellevue.

Matt went to Nevada to compete in the Bootleg Downhill Mountain Bike Race and took 3rd place and 8th place in two races (Cat 1 Masters and Chainless Open)! To get an idea of how gnarly downhill mountain bike racing is simply go outside to your garage, grab your bike and a helmet. Then find a very steep, rocky and dangerous hill that even Chuck Norris would think twice about riding down. Get on the bike and then ride down as fast as you can while acting like you have control and impersonating a human jackhammer. It will be over in just a few minutes IF you make it to the bottom without dying. Now you know why Matt is a ninja. 

   

February 2011 throwdown from Dan C. on Vimeo.

Restful Sunday

Coaches WOD on Saturday:  

Coaches WOD

Read: Rest: A Four Letter Word by CrossFit Lisbeth

Want to know what the CF Games are? Want to get motivated to train? Watch this:

Remember the 2010 CrossFit Games? – video [wmv] [mov] [HD mov]

Hopefully Sean and Jenna are getting a little bit of rest with a newborn. Congrats to Sean, Jenna and Audrey on welcoming Baby Brinkley into the world! The family is home, healthy and happy!

Sean-Jenna and Brinkley