Author: Squatch

"Oh God…"

“I want to die. I haven’t felt this bad since the first one.” ~ Neil midway through this main site grinder.

5 Rounds for TIme:

21 Thrusters (75#/55#)
21 Double-Unders

* If you can’t do any double-unders then sub 3 single-unders for each double-under. (That’s 63 per round for the mathematically challenged)
** Each double-under attempt counts

Results

Travis double parking his barbell:
Travis Double Parking
Jorge and Jim thruster-ing away:
Jorge Thruster Jim Thruster

"Check your ego at the door"…

is a common saying in CrossFit. It applies universally to any CF box. The moment you walk through that door, leave the ego behind. Those of us who CrossFit, get it. You cannot come in day after day and have an ego. You won’t last. If you fear getting beat by someone who is older, younger, heavier, skinnier, male or female, you will not stick with this. Because simply put you will get beat. Often. It’s not about who you “lose” to. It’s also not about who you “beat”. The only person you are really competing against in here is yourself. 

Everyday we battle that inner voice, the one that tells you to take a break, drop the bar, slow down, quit or stop. The one that says “I can skip today because work was long, I had a bad day, I didn’t get enough sleep, I have too much to do”. During each WOD, you have enough to focus on rather than taking the time to worry about those around you. Is it fun to chase someone else or to win the day on the whiteboard? Sure it is. The bigger fun is seeing the results, setting a new PR, and doing things we never thought we could or would. That is what we really take pride in.

I got an email from one of our clients (Jim) the other day that really was great to read. The topic was “CrossFit doesn’t get easier”. Jim went on to say the following:

“First of all, I just broke my recent personal best by more than 2 minutes in the 2 mile tonight. I ran 2 miles about 2 days before my 1st CrossFit lesson in May. So in 2 months, I have reduced my mile split by 1 full minute. 

But here is what I was thinking when I was running. Before, when I ran, I feared the pain. I ran just to increase the heart rate and get a small burn.  When I was finishing the run in the past, I was just barely crossing the “finish line”.  Now after CF, pain has a whole new meaning. My pain threshold is much higher now. At the end, I sprinted to beat the clock…missed it by a second. 

The thing that I find interesting is comparing CF to past lifting I did and sports I played. What I have to get used to the most is losing, it sucks. I have never been beaten physically like this regarding sports. You got me thinking last night after the WOD. If you remember, I made the comment “damn Tom when does this get easy?”. You replied, “this is CrossFit…it doesn’t get easy.”  

But that is contrary to every workout I have ever done before, as they progressively became easier as I did more reps. So I have to rethink my approach to working out a little. And what I have thought is that this won’t get easier as time goes on…but that is good.“

CrossFit is hard. Why? Because we always are striving to do more than yesterday. More weight, better technique, faster time, more rounds or reps, more effort. That is the pathway to becoming fitter. It never gets easier, but we get better.

This video I shot at the Games illustrates this. It shows Josh Everett tackling the deadlift WOD. Is he competing against everyone at the Games? Yes. But as you see in the video he is really competing against himself. Maybe he makes the deadlifts look easy, but he is clearly battling that inner voice, telling himself he will lift them all. And that ego? It’s checked somewhere at the door…

"Take Your Medicine Ball And Go Home"

In teams of 2 storm through the following for time:

400m Medicine Ball Run around Baseball Field 

100 Burpee Medicine Ball Clean
100 Medicine Ball Push Press
100 Sit-ups
100 Push-ups
100 Medicine Ball Chest Pass
100 Squats

400m Medicine Ball Run around Baseball Field

Rules:
  1. Each team member must carry the med ball for part of each run
  2. One team member works at a time per exercise (team runs together)
  3. Teams are free to split up the reps as they see fit
  4. RX’d for Men is 20#; Women 14# 

Results

View this photo

About the only thing you didn’t do with the medicine ball today is 1) lots of wallballs and 2) dodgeball. Hmmm maybe for the next park WOD…

Take Your Medicine - 23

Tryouts for next year’s CF Games or the Rockettes? (Lucy seems to be a shoe-in)
Take Your Medicine - 04 Rockettes
Slideshow:

"Balls to the Wall"

AMRAP in 20 minutes:

(As Many Rounds As Possible) 

15 Wallball (20#/14#)
30 AbMat Sit-ups
15 Push-ups

Results

View this photo

Today was a usual quiet Friday. We want to welcome Leigh who started Elements today and will soon be joining mid-day classes after next week. 

Tomorrow start off the weekend right with our WOD at Swenson Park at 10 am. Please meet over there and plan to have some “Brutal Fun” as teams of two. We’ll go easy on you. Promise…

Lucy doing her least favorite, AbMat Sit-ups.

Lucy AbMat Sit-up

Working through limitations

Part of coaching is being able to work with someone effectively to deal with limitations in flexibility, range of motion, work capacity, or physical ability. The reasons for these limitations are many, but specific to limitations centered around pain or rehabilitation

Front to Back

For Time:

1000m Row
21 Front Squat (135#/95#)
21 Back Extension
15 Front Squat
15 Back Extension
9 Front Squat
9 Back Extension

Results

Back extensions are new. We have only one GHD so subbing means we get creative. We don’t have enough bars to do “Good Mornings” (bar behind the neck and bend forward to parallel with the ground) and front squats during the WOD. We’re not about to buy swiss balls as those are pretty much only good for playing kickball or to help induce labor. So we use the AbMat for groups. Lay face down on the AbMat and perform a “Superman” or back hyperextension. Lift your shoulders up towards the sky and make it tougher by putting your hands behind the head. You’ll feel it in your lower back and activate all of the erector spinae group.

Seeing this pic of Travis and Deb rowing makes us wonder, for those of you who are couples and CrossFit together, how is it? Is your relationship different? Are you more competitive? Do you now workout together where you previously didn’t? Are you too consumed with just getting through the WOD that it doesn’t matter who is standing next to you? We would love to hear your thoughts.

Couples Rowing
Front Squats
GHD Back Ext Curtis

Pull me up. Dip me down.

For Time:

21 Pull-ups
21 Ring Dips
100m Walking Lunges
15 Pull-ups
15 Ring Dips
100m Walking Lunges
9 Pull-ups
9 Ring Dips

Results

Today we introduced a new skill and exercise. The ring dip. There are many progressions towards these such as jump and holds on the rings, bar dips, box dips, negatives, or limited range of motion dips. Today we scaled them with the rings and your feet. By bending the knees and placing the load of your bodyweight on the rings rather than all of your feet it made you work. Requiring full range of motion helped you work more. By having the rings hanging you had to also deal with the dynamic movement they take when you get tired and more “wobbly”. This coupled with the pull-ups meant that coming back from the walking lunges you weren’t getting any sort of “break”. 

Then again in CrossFit the only break should be after the WOD when you look like this.

Aftermath
Lucy demo’ing scaled ring dips while Jim gets good walking lunge extension.
Lucy Dips Jim Walking Lunge
Notes:
Saturday WOD is on for 10am at Swenson Park in Deer Park past the gym. Our plan is to have a Saturday WOD twice a month and to start offering a monthly “unlimited” membership for those who are asking for 4 times per week. To avoid crowding or running waves we will still need to commit to regular day/time slots as much as possible. More info and pricing coming.

Our CrossFit Games 2009 Experience

“Our workouts are competitive events. The strength and value of CrossFit lies entirely within our dominance of other athletes. This is a truth divined through competition, not debate.” ~ Quote across the wall of the Stadium.

The Run from Hell - 15 - Everett and Khalipa

Hard to believe it’s over. All the hype, anticipation, excitement and action has come to an end. We are home and still stoked over a great weekend at the CrossFit Games in Aromas, California. As fans, spectators, and CrossFitters it mostly lived up to our expectations. Were there areas for improvement? Sure, but they are minimal overall. The coolest part was what we were there to witness. We saw human performance pushed to the limits, saw sportsmanship and community in action, and most of all saw some of the fittest folks around inspire us to get back to the gym and work harder.

Continue reading “Our CrossFit Games 2009 Experience”

Clean. Jerk. Run. Repeat.

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

15 Clean and Jerks (95#/65#)
Run 400m

After about the first round it made everyone realize this was gonna be a long 20 minutes. Michelle and myself included. Whether scaled or Rx’d in weight the range was between 3 rounds and almost 6 rounds. The cumulative effect of the clean and jerk left no real opportunity to “rest” on the runs.

Dan and his inner voice
Notes: 
Get on beyondthewhiteboard.com! Be one of the cool kids and log your workouts. If you join it make sure you “join” our gym. Great tool. 
Saturday WOD is on for Swenson Park. Please let us know if you are planning to make it so we can program the workout accordingly. 
CrossFit Games write-up and photo album coming soon. Stay tuned. Training for our Affiliate Cup Team has begun as of Monday. We have a year to get us all ready to hold tryouts. 🙂
Our beloved Curtis is awaiting some results on a knee that has been bothering him. Will hope for the best possible news. Recover quickly and get back in here. Rumor has it that Jim and Travis are plotting to put some distance between you and them while you are on the mend.
Enjoy the pics!

SNORIDGE CROSSFIT