"The Road to RX Challenge"

Mark and his “Jumpless Burpee”! Crazy mad skills!


Jumpless Burpee


Advanced Skills Test (WOD is untimed: Pass/Fail each event):


5 Front Squats 155/105 lbs    
5 Overhead Squats 95/65 lbs    
5 Deadlifts 225/135 lbs

5 Kettlebell Swings 70/53 lbs    
3 Thrusters 135/95 lbs
15 10ft Wall Balls 20/14 lbs    

5 Squat Cleans 135/95 lbs    
5 Push Jerks 135/95 lbs

3 Squat Snatches 135/95 lbs
5 Presses 95/65 lbs
5 Push Presses 135/95 lbs

5 Sumo Deadlift High-pulls 95/65 lbs

3 Chest-to-Bar Pull-up
5 Ring Push-ups
10 Kipping pull-ups

5 Pull-ups – Strict
1 Rope Climb 15′

3 L Pull-ups

3 Muscle-Up
25 Push-ups

5 Slapping Chest Push-ups
10 Bar Dips

5 Ring Dips
5 Handstand Push-ups
10 Burpees w/ 6″ Jump
10 GHD Sit-ups (touch floor and then post at top)
10 Ring Knees-to-Elbows 
10 Rebounding Box Jump 24″/20″ (Feet on box, open hip)
3 Pistol – right legs (Ankle Depth)

3 Pistol – left legs (Ankle Depth)

10 Consecutive Double-Unders (No singles)

* All reps unbroken and no rest except barbell movements and wall ball which require hands on bar/ball or to remain in rack position. For consecutive wall balls, ball must touch over 10 ft. line or no go, drop = fail

** Movement standards reviewed in box, full hip crease below parallel, full hip extension at top of all squat movements

*** Full lockout with ears in front of arms at top of pressing movements

**** Ring movements require turnout at top or lockout and turnout at bottom for MU

***** Push-ups require shoulder below elbow, pull-ups require chin over bar

Advanced Skills Challenge
 

Standard Skills Test  (WOD is untimed: Pass/Fail each event):


3 Front Squats 95/65 lbs
3 Overhead Squats 75/55 lbs
3 Deadlifts 185/115 lbs

5 Kettlebell Swings 53/35 lbs
3 Thrusters 95/65 lbs
10 9ft/10ft Wall Balls 20/14 lbs

3 Squat Cleans 95/65 lbs
3 Push Jerks 
95/65 lbs
3 Squat Snatches 75/55 lbs
3 Presses 75/55 lbs
3 Push Presses 
95/65 lbs
3 Sumo Deadlift High-pulls 95/65 lbs
3 Ring Push-ups
5 Kipping pull-ups

3 Pull-ups – Strict
1 Rope Climb 10′

1 Muscle-Up
10 Push-ups

3 Bar Dips

2 Handstand Push-ups (Floor for M; 1 AbMAt for W)
7 Burpees
10 Weighted Sit-ups 45/25 lbs
7 Knees-to-Elbows 
5 Box Jump 24″/20″ (Feet on box, can rest between reps if needed)
2 Pistol – right legs (Med Ball Target)

2 Pistol – left legs (Med Ball Target)

7 Double-Unders (Singles between DU’s allowed)

* No rest on barbell movements and wall ball which require hands on bar/ball or to remain in rack position. For consecutive wall balls, ball must touch over line or no go, drop = fail

** Movement standards reviewed in box, full hip crease below parallel, full hip extension at top of all squat movements

*** Full lockout with ears in front of arms at top of pressing movements

**** MU does not require turnout, cannot be a jumping MU

***** Push-ups require shoulder below elbow, pull-ups require chin over bar (rest between reps allowed)

Road to RX Skills Challenge


Many of you wanted to have another challenge. Well today was one. It was a challenge to see where you are with several basic, intermediate and advanced skills. The key word is skills. I emphasized skills because these require just that; skill. You cannot simply be “in shape” or a fast mover and expect to be able to do these. Inspired by CF Oahu’s similar RX Challenge; these WOD’s (both the standard and advanced) were intended by us to test the skill movements and loads that are fairly common in the majority of CrossFit programming. The exercises picked represent Olympic Lifting, basic barbell strength lifts, gymnastics skills and bodyweight skills, movements that demand core strength and coordination, and the generation of power through explosive hip drive. We substituted a few exercises in, switched loads, and after careful consideration kept or modified the standards for which reps would count. Could they have been heavier or harder? Sure. However these are the common ones that when combined with cardiorespiratory endurance exercises form the basic workout of the day that is as RX’d (Prescribed). Some may have seemed easy to you but remember how difficult these skills were after only a month or two into CrossFit?

 

This test also helped us on a few other fronts, all of them centering around assessing how you are progressing as athletes and what we need to progress and focus on as your coaches. Most importantly it should have helped you identify what specific areas are your strengths and what areas are your weaknesses. You get fitter by training your weaknesses and maintaining your strengths. If everyone was a disaster on the barbell lifts that would reflect on us. If no one could get a specific exercise then shame on us as well. If you were all outstanding across an exercise or a particular domain than that would help highlight what we have done right. 


This also helped us begin the process of selecting who will be on our Affiliate team, “Team Squatch” for the CF Games Regional Affiliate Cup Qualifier on May 15-16th in Puyallup.  There will be 30+ teams vying for 6 spots to advance to the CF Games in July. Our goal is to field a team from those who have been actively training together that is best equipped and able to accomplish any WOD that is required as a team. We cannot afford to scale, so having a team that is most well rounded across the general and advanced skill-set of CrossFit and fitness is pretty important.


So how did it go? Overall we could not have been anymore stoked with the progress all of you have made. It was so satisfying to see 20 people (Michelle and I included) buzz our way through the skills today with more “pass” than “fail” scores. Many areas showed broad improvements from those first days of Elements to where we all are now. Today helped serve as a focused coaching opportunity to remind you all about good form, proper movement standards and efficiency of technique. It was also an incredible opportunity to sit back a moment and realize we have a bunch of men and women doing pull-ups and climbing ropes, lifting heavy stuff, throwing and swinging heavy objects, sprinting with sandbags, and jumping rope like Rocky training for a fight with Clubber Lang. That’s fitness! 


We hope you had fun, we will do this one again. If you need your results we have the scoresheets in the box and can make you a copy for your logbooks or BTWB.


Post Skills Challenge there was a little fish tournament. While Jeremy may have won it doesn’t say much that he beat 5 year old Maya who racked up a mighty impressive 700+ points! If all else fails, Maya will make the team!


Results


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Maya and the Fish Game

"Bionic"

5 Rounds for time:

6 Sumo Deadlift High Pull (95#/65#)
6 Burpees
6 Front Squat (95#/65#)
6 Kettlebell Swings (53#/35#)
6 Hang Power Snatch (95#/65#)

Results

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Jason gutting it out:

Bionic_Jason

Burpees done right:

Bionic Burpee Bionic Burpee_Ryan Bionic Burpee_Curtis

This WOD came from Jogo Gym (CrossFit Bellingham) and was one workout that was used in their throw-down last year for local athletes who were prepping for the 2009 CF Games Regionals. I remember later trying it along with Michelle and it literally floored us. So this year we figured in the spirit of the Games we would bring it out. Speaking of the Games, we are officially in the next phase of the road to the CrossFit Games. All of the Sectionals are now complete worldwide and the next step is the Regional Competitions where over 1350 men and women will battle it out to send 90 finalists to the CrossFit Games Finals in July to crown the “World’s Fittest Man and Woman”.

Read more about the next phase along with some interesting stats at “Congratulations Athletes” from the CrossFit Games site.

Now to give a huge high five to Rona for her 1st rope climb tonight after the WOD. She was feeling “Bionic” and climbed right up! The sky is literally the limit for you!

Rona_Rope Climb

Notes:

Welcome back to Jeff who is back in the box after a little time off. Nice to have you in here and remember to take it one WOD at a time. 😉

This Thursday is “ladies night out” at Ana’s. See Lorri, Michelle or Moe for more details if interested.

From CrossFit.com: “Trainers vs. Trainers” from the Second Annual Certification Staff Trainer Summit [wmv] [mov]

"Karabel"

10 Rounds for time:
3 Power Snatch (135#/95#)
15 Wall Balls (20#/14#) 

Results

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Karabel_Jana

“Karabel” is a mash-up benchmark WOD. Taking Karen (150 Wall Balls at 20# men/14# women) and combining it with Isabel (30 Snatches at 135#/95#) creates this little monster that ends up with the same number of reps but with a different approach. There are several ways you can mash benchmark’s together or mix them up and a couple are in the programming in the next month or two. Look for possible rowing, team, or heavy variations and maybe even a backwards version. The possibilities are almost endless.

Synchronized Wall Ball

Notes:

Traveling? If you are gone for business or vacation don’t forget to consider fitting in a WOD. You can download a list of Bodyweight WOD’s here on our site (right hand side) to use or think about looking for another CrossFit Affiliate to drop in on. The experience of visiting another box on the road is a bunch of fun and good exposure to the rest of the community.

Go get a massage! It’s worth it to get outstanding attention paid to removing the stiffness, tension, adhesions and pain points we build up through everyday work and CrossFit. I got one today, and what a difference it makes. Travis told me recently something that his massage therapist told him, (which I’ll paraphrase); “If you are going pretend to be an elite athlete and train like one, then you have to eat, sleep and recover like one; including taking care of yourself with regular sports massages and stretching.

Don’t forget if you bring a SnoRidge CF business card with you to North Bend Therapeutic Massage you can get a discount off a 60 minute massage (which works out to a very affordable $55 for an hour of myofascial release, sports, or deep tissue massage). Get more info from us in the box.

Go watch some cool video of the women’s highlights from the New England Sectionals [wmv] [mov]

Snatch Squat not Squat Snatch

3 Rounds for time:
Run 400m
10 Dumbbell Hang Power Snatch (each arm) (40#/25#)
50 Squats

Results

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Snatch then Squat:

Travis DB Power Snatch Tara Squat

In this WOD the goal was power snatch then air squats. The full squat snatch we will save for another day. The focus this week and next is the snatch. We will continue to work on these as well as incorporate elements of the Burgener Warm-up. As we improve these we plan to increase exposure to the Olympic lifts and incorporate them into a weekend WOD where we can spend some time learning and practicing them as a larger group.

Coaching tip: Tara started CrossFit last week and already has a very solid air squat (pictured above). Note her weight is distributed on her heels and her chest is up while she is maintaining a slight lumbar curve as she is dropping to the med ball. This is after just having a baby recently. The key is her flexibility. Tara is a yoga instructor and this demonstrates how valuable flexibility is in building a solid base for which all athletic movement is dependent on.

Notes:

Post to comments if you want to attend the 10am or 11am class on Sat. 1st 8 get the 10am slot. Don’t forget there is a regular 5pm Friday class now with Moe! Tomorrow is someone’s birthday WOD. Good times!

Video of Jana’s 1st pull-up and Mark’s monster box jump is in production. I will tell the studio to stop slacking and get it in gear.

Workout ‘A’ from the 2010 CF Games NorCal Sectionals [wmv] [mov]

"Squatch"

3 Rounds for time:

Sandbag Run 800m (50#/25# with hill)
5 Muscle-Ups
10 Kettlebell Swings (70#/53#)
15 Overhead Squat (95#/65#)

Results

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And they’re off…

Sandbag Carry Race

Ryan and the hill:    Love the shadows:

Sandbag Run with Ryan Me and My Shadow

Our very own official benchmark workout for our box. I did this last year when we were still in the garage and used the hill in the woods behind the house. Today we brought this one out for all to try and incorporated the hill out front and the sandbags. For those who don’t have muscle-ups yet we subbed muscle-up progressions, ring pull-ups and even tried something new by using a band assist with the rings which worked well. This WOD mixes a little of everything (running, ring work, barbell, odd objects like sandbags and heavy kettlebell) and for only three rounds makes a good challenge especially with a hill on each run/trot. For those who missed this you will have to simply have to wait until next time and “Watch for the Squatch”.

Speaking of muscle-ups, Don got his 1st muscle-up today POST-WOD. He actually got two (No Travis I am not BS’ing you). Travis was joking that lately it seems like every couple days it’s someone getting a muscle-up and that Ashley is next. Muscle-up fever! Congrats Don!

Notes:

Great Friday 5pm class turnout with Moe. We are stoked you all showed up and took advantage!

Cinco De Mayo 8k and 1/2 Marathon: If you are running either race register at the gym to get $5 off the entry fee. If you are running the 1/2 marathon then register by March 31st at our gym before entry fees increase starting April 1st. The 8k price will go up later in April. Either way don’t procrastinate! Details are here.

Squat clean pain: The “Serious 7” from the 2010 CF Games New England Sectionals [wmv] [mov]

Rugby and CrossFit: Training the “High Hang Snatch” with Owen Franks of the New Zealand All Blacks (Rugby Pro Team) with Coach Mike Burgener [wmv] [mov]

Push, Pull

7 Rounds For Time:

5 Handstand Push-Ups
5 Deadlifts (225#/135#)

Results

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Jeremy and Kim Deadly Duo

Short and sweet. This WOD is a quick one that with full handstand push-ups gasses you midway through and taxes the shoulders. We underestimated the effect scaling would have on this one and the shortened ROM (range of motion) for handstand push-ups did not adequately train the shoulders. Chalk it up as a learning experience. Future WOD’s with handstand push-ups will be stricter in using the pike push-up on the floor or pike off a box as a suitable scaled exercise rather than allowing 3 AbMat’s for a HSPU. For those who can get inverted and easily knock out HSPU’s with 2 AbMats we will lower that target slightly by using a 10# bumper and AbMat. The goal is to make the range of motion an equal challenge and load on the shoulders as a full ROM handstand push-up requires. This will increase overall strength in the shoulders much quicker.

Congrats Travis for PR’ing your double-unders with 48 straight tonight. Impressive hops! Also a big burpee welcome to John and Cathy who are completing Elements this week and Tara who just started. Don’t worry, you three will find out what burpees are soon…

“The Triplet” Highlights from the 2010 CrossFit Games Carolina Sectionals [wmv] [mov]

Notes:

5pm Friday afternoon class begins this week.

Saw this quote on an email from Lauren at lululemon: “There is no separation between health, family and work. You love every minute of your life.”

Don't Hate the Hopper Deck!

Hate the Game! 

3 Rounds For time:

40 Push Press (65#/45#)
30 Squats
20 Ring Dips
10 Double-Unders

Results

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  Fran locking out:

Fran Push Press

 Happy St. Patty’s Day from Sangeeta:

Happy Sangeeta Patty's Day

I pulled this WOD out of the Hopper Deck (which I recently found again at the box) and figured this workout fit nicely with our goal this week of emphasizing alternating pull days then push days with cleans and double unders as the skill focus. The Hopper Deck is a deck of cards that has some great WOD’s; several benchmarks and many workouts that mix it up a bit. This one appears deceptively easy as the push presses are light and the rest seems straightforward and not particularly difficult (save the ring dips). It’s the exact combination of rings and push presses that leave the shoulders taxed and by round three struggling to complete those dips. The squats and jump rope make the urge to rest or slow down constant and start to suck the legs and hips away from the push presses. Two thumbs up for this one!

For those new to ring dips focus on achieving the full dip, whether it’s on a box, or on the rings using a band. Make sure the elbow drops below the shoulder in the bottom of the dip and touch the rings to the outer edge of the chest. Extend fully with locked out arms. If you need to kip them then learn to kip by “pumping” your legs down to the floor as you reach extension on the arms. These are taxing and once fatigued note that going to failure will add a significant amount of time to your workout. Stop short of failure to allow your arms to recover enough to bang out a couple at a time.

Your Coaches all got to work out with a class today:

M Dips T Push Press Moe Dips

Notes:

Congrats to Fran for getting her double-under about two minutes before the WOD and then completing them RX’d in the workout. Also Rachel ran the 400m unbroken (only 7 WOD’s in!) and Rona PR’d her double unders tonight by stringing her first round together. Way to go ladies!

We’d also like to personally thank many of you for the incredible feedback, advice and inputs you have given us recently. From Moe, Curtis, Pat, Bonnie, Jason, Ryan, Jorge, Jana, Eli, Travis, the Compound crew of Mark, Jeremy, and Kim and many more, all of you have helped in some way to let us know what you think is working, what could use some focus, and what you love about SRCF. It’s been invaluable and we not only love it but encourage it. Please never hesitate to tell us what you think!

Welcome to Steven and Jackie from lululemon and Jeremy, Kim and Mark of the Compound who have recently started training with us regularly! Make sure you say hi and introduce yourself to them or it’s 5 burpees!

Affiliate Team update for the Northwest CF Regionals in May: As the team roster is still open and also since I am competing individually at Regionals; Mark B., Jeremy D. and Kim D. are throwing their names in the hat. Tryouts are still scheduled for April. They will be hard! We need to field a team of 3 men and 3 women that does not scale any potential WOD’s or movements as a team. No exceptions! If you are interested let Michelle, Moe or I know. It’s ON!

No Excuses

Ring Pull-ups with Don:

Don Ring Pull-ups

Today’s topic: No Excuses

Tired? Sore? Too Busy? Just not “feeling it”? Maybe we just can’t wake up or we had a long day. Sometimes when we get to the box and the WOD is so tough it makes us think of quitting. Or sometimes life just “gets in the way” of getting into the gym. Everyone experiences this at one time or another. Many times the reasons are entirely valid. Sometimes they may just be excuses.

Take a few minutes and watch Kyle Maynard of No Excuses CrossFit compete in the Georgia Sectionals for the 2010 CF Games. Why? Well, Kyle is a congenital quadriplegic. He is not only one heck of a CrossFitter he is an inspiring and amazing person. You may have heard of him or seen him interviewed by Oprah or Larry King. I was lucky enough to have met him once and hear him speak at the Affiliate Gathering in 2009. Motivating to say the least. After you watch this try and remember him the next time you have an excuse. I know I certainly will.

Kyle Maynard at the 2010 CrossFit Games Georgia Sectionals by CF Again Faster – [wmv] [mov]

"Nate"

“Nate: In honor of Chief Petty Officer Nate Hardy, who was killed 2/4/2008 in combat operations in Iraq.”

As Many Rounds As Possible in 20 Minutes of:

2 Muscle-Ups
4 Handstand Push-ups
8 Kettlebell Swings (70#/53# or 2 pood/1.5 pood)

Results

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Ryan with the Muscle-up and Mike with the 2 pood beast:

Ryan and Mike_Nate Hero WOD2

I was not so sure about when to program this WOD in. I have been wanting to add it for some time, but was holding off deliberately due to a few reasons; the intimidation factor, the fact that it has multiple advanced skills, and that I really wanted at least one person to be able to do muscle-ups RX’d. For the past couple months we have slowly but steadily worked on things like gaining confidence getting inverted, holding handstands for time, then scaling handstand push-ups. We have dramatically increased the number of people doing kipping pull-ups and doing them consistently so that ring pull-ups as a scale could be added in. Last we have worked strength WOD’s and hip extension on a constant basis so that several of you could move up in kettlebell weight. 

Today it paid off! I was able to watch and help Michelle coach the late classes and it was so motivating. Everyone was scaled appropriately to enable them to complete 20 minutes of hard ass work. Whether you were on the rings, the bar, the band, or jumping over the bar it was all designed for pulling. Handstand push-ups with different levels of AbMats underneath, piked push-ups off the box or even piked on the floor provided a shoulder load. For those who have become very proficient in their kettlebell weight it was time to step out of the box and move up a weight. A few of you got to taste the difference 10 to almost 20 pounds makes in a swing. Before you know it I’ll have to add more rings and we’ll be having handstand push-up challenges.

Huge congrats to Mike for getting his first muscle-up today before the WOD. He surprised everyone including himself on his first attempt by getting up and almost locking out. After we got the camera out he nailed it (Will post a short video clip soon). Ryan also was the first person to complete a WOD with muscle-ups which was completely cool to see. Everyone should be proud; all of the movements were hard and not even a month or two ago most of you were not able to do what you did today. Stay focused, stay confident, stay positive about what you can do (like Bonnie, Sangeeta, and Laura did last night in moving up in box jump height) and believe that if you put the work in, it can happen.

Getting inverted is fun:

Eli and Mike Inverted Sherry and Don Inverted
Shannon and Nan Inverted Steph Inverted

 Notes:

Welcome Aaron who completed Elements today. Judging by how you crushed your mini-Fight Gone Bad workout you are more than ready!

6am Class with Moe tomorrow. Be there or it’s burpees for you. Wait never mind, tomorrow will be burpees for everyone!

Highlight video from the 2010 CF Games Ohio Sectionals at the Arnold Classic [wmv] [mov]

You can all thank Lorri for clueing me in on this video and giving me the idea of how we can use the new sleds. I guess I need to order some rope or straps…

Pull Like You're In Second Place

3 Rounds for time:

500m Row
20 Pull-ups
400m Run

Results

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Rowing Perspective:

Perfect Pull

CrossFit Jana

Close your eyes and Pull  

Great turnout for the Sunrise crew today! Good to see the early risers hit a WOD to start the day with Moe.

Don’t forget your weekly weigh-in! How do you feel the Paleo/Zone challenge is going for you? Making progress? Staying strict? Feeling moody or feeling more energetic? Post to comments.

Read “Paleolithic Diet is So Easy, Cavemen Really Did It” in the Washington Post

Notes:

Post to comments if you are attending the 1000 WOD on Saturday. Right now Steph and Maria are in. Otherwise come at 1100. Affiliate Team will train at 0900.

Sign up for the St. Patty’s Day 5k and kids 1k race. We are gonna have a big group this time!

Check out the poster for the SoCal Sectionals for the CF Games:

Crossfit_socal_retroart-thumb-250x375-574