Final day of our “Week of the Games”. This was inspired by WOD#3 (Sandbag Hill Sprint) of the CrossFit Games. Today was all about getting out of our comfort zone and truly varying our training. Using the techniques we learn in the gym with practical application is what we train for. Heaving sandbags and hauling them up hills is functional fitness. Plus it’s just fun.
Big thanks to Rob for kid duty and Curtis for photographer duties after his WOD.
This week was really fun for us programming workouts that followed the CF Games. It provided some new opportunities for all of us to mix it up a bit. Stay tuned to our next challenge soon!
(Whiteboard asterisk: Curtis says was due to an advantage of having a “fan” in the heat)
As far as chipper’s go this was relatively quick (sub 20 minutes for everyone). It was not easy however. Great WOD that progressively got more challenging as it wore on. Thanks to Curtis for sticking around, making fun of my socks (Skins) and coaching his coaches through it!
Notes:
Meet at the gym tomorrow at 10AM for the Saturday WOD. It will be our final workout to close out the Week of the Games. Bring your running shoes and prepare for some friendly team competition.
Day 4 of our “Week of the Games Inspired WOD’s”. This was WOD #7 and featured parallette handstand push-ups, heavy kettlebell swings and GHD Sit-ups. We modified it and extended the time and it worked well. Only two more days!
AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) in 15 Minutes of:
This WOD allowed for jumping to the next level either in push-ups, a heavier kettlebell, or both. With a short rep count it allowed for several people to make that next progression.
A few notable highlights from today:
Congrats to Amanda for her first RX’d WOD and moving to full push-ups, Leigh and Lorri completed their first class WOD, and Jorge for moving to a heavier KB. Everyone seemed to like this one as it allowed for speed, progress and pushing to an all out race to keep piling on the rounds. It also was bearable considering the heat.
One other note. On the right hand side of the page is a link to the Snoqualmie Railroad Days Run. Click and register if you haven’t yet.
Sherry demo’ing broad jumps as part of movement prep:
The med ball slam subbed as a sledgehammer. The sprint kept the heart rate up after the row and simulated running with the hammer to pound in the stake. The competitive spirit certainly came out today. It was nice seeing some of you go head to head while cheering each other on. Big props to Jorge edging out his fiance Jana by a second. Every second counts!
Notes:
We have 10 plus people signed up for the 5k Snoqualmie Railroad Days Race. We suspect some more of you and also a few friends from down south will join us. Potluck BBQ at the house afterwards. Make sure you register for the run! Run details can be found here.
Day 2 of our “Week of the Games”. This WOD was our take on WOD#1 and #2 in Aromas. Our version featured a shorter run. We did throw in the brutal heat, and the deadlift ladder afterwards with minimal rest working towards your one rep max (1RM).
For Time:
2 mile Trail Run (2 loops 1600m, plenty of small hills, and one log obstacle on the trail)
* Rest approximately 5 minutes after the run and complete:
Today we mixed it up. The run was new. The trail was a challenge and capping it off with some heavy deadlifts was different. It gave us all some new perspective on the Games 7.2km trail run and 20 bar deadlift ladder workouts.
Everyone pulled a good amount of weight and kept their form. No rounded backs and strong PR’s all around. Before we know it you’ll all be crushing these numbers.
Vulgar maybe. Accurate, yes. Welcome to our week of the Games! Each day will be a WOD inspired by this year’s CF Games. Today is CrossFit Games WOD #4.
3 Rounds for time:
30 Wallball (20#/14# ball at 10 ft. and 9 ft. target)
The (squat) snatch, hang snatch and power snatch are all pretty new movements. So is the Burgener warm-up. What better way for you to learn them than to pile them on in one day! As Lyndi said “I should be better after 90 of them.” Everyone did well today learning a highly technical lift. Many scaled to get the technique down and for most the hang power snatch was the norm over a squat. That’s great too as we will be doing plenty of these in WOD’s to come.
The bigger challenge was the heat. It was Africa hot. Or Aromas hot (site of the Games). It was oppressive. It sucked it out of you. It was almost a third part to the WOD. In tonight’s class I had the privilege of watching all of you overcome the effect of it. Curtis ignored it and simply asked “what weight did Michelle do?” and then gutted it out with power snatches. Jorge asked for more weight each round despite being gassed, and Amanda fought off a bout of nausea for the last two rounds and did not give up. It was inspiring to say the least. Only four more days to go and Wednesday is supposed to reach a 100.
Here’s a slideshow from today:
Notes:
Saturday WOD for all. It will be the final WOD for “Games Week”. We will meet here at the gym and head over to the site on foot. Don’t worry, it’s really close.
Don’t forget to register for the Snoqualmie Railroad Days Race (either the 5k or 10k) on 8/22. We have a bunch of you now committed. To register go here. Potluck BBQ at our place afterwards and we will show “Every Second Counts” the CrossFit movie, let the kids run amok, and all share in some paleo beer and mixed drinks (Paleo only because we will hunt for alcohol and gather to drink it).
This week will be WOD’s inspired by the 2009 CF Games. A little tinkering here and there due to equipment limitations such as 20 loaded deadlift bars, the lack of a GIANT 7.2km hill climb, no sledgehammers and spikes to drive, and other minor details have led us to get somewhat creative.
Don’t worry though. We promise you will get a workout, have fun, and not do them all over two days!
Picture taken by Curtis after a great family hike to Twin Falls.
So Deb S. has been asking for a “chipper” style WOD since we did the “Dirty Thirty”. Every time she comes in and sees the WOD it’s like “awww no chipper”. Some people like to just git ‘er done and move on. Deb is one of those people. So for Deb, we put this together. Hope ya liked it. If not, now you know who to blame…
Curtis mastering Knees to Elbows:
A few milestones worth mentioning today:
Neil moved up to 20# wallballs, 44# kettlebells, and banded pull-ups.
Deb and Adriana moved to banded pull-ups.
Curtis back-to-back RX WOD’s.
Jim, Jana, and Lorri are more than halfway through Elements.
Notes:
Our CF Games video the other day on Josh Everett deadlifting was strange timing. Today on the CrossFit Journal Games site they posted this video. Better quality, different perspective. Login, Watch and enjoy.
Monday nights are growing crowded! We may need to run two waves but we can accommodate. As for parking, please try to park a little further down from normal on the street at the 400m turnaround (the court where there are no houses built). This will proactively avoid any neighbor complaints if we have too many cars stacked outside our place. Run up to the gym and get your warm-up started early.
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…
