Food for Thought – Page 22 – SNORIDGE CROSSFIT

Swingers

4 Rounds for Time:

400m Run
25 Kettlebell Swings (53#/35#)

Results

Swing away people!

Pistol at Andrews AFB Tactical Fitness Center, MD (i.e. CrossFit gym) after a drop-in for a WOD:

Sitting on the plane the other day as my daughter was crashed out on my lap and keeping me pinned in a semi-torturous position that almost sent me into the “pain cave” I had two options: 1) Wake her up and move her or 2) use the time to myself to self reflect and jot down some blog topics on my iPhone. I picked #2. Having just finished my Outside magazine earlier I had read an article in which the author laid out his “plan or formula for life”. It was simple yet striking at the same time. I thought it was a good read and I dog eared the page to come back to it at some point. Little did I know that the pretzel like position my frame was forced into on the airplane by my seat-hog 5 year old would be a good time to come back to it. I started pecking away on my notepad app and thinking about what it is that I think is a solid formula and one I want to both practice and pass onto my daughter.

My Formula for life:

Engage in intense and hard-ass daily exercise. Intense and hard are relative terms. Your intense and hard may be different than mine, but you alone know when it isn’t either. I do it 6 days a week. Sometimes 5 or even 7 days. It’s important to me because when I have a good workout I usually have a good day.
Fuel and feed yourself with real, quality food.Avoid the crap; the junk food. The stuff that a cartoon character says is healthy or a diet program tells you is worth “points”. I don’t eat for “points”. Simply put, when I eat right I feel right and I have enough energy to stay alert and ready for whatever may come. When I fuel my body this way I can also allow the occasional cheat which makes it all the more an epic experience or memory. I also can take comfort knowing I will live longer and healthier for my loved ones. That alone is worth it.
Choose a good partner and surround yourself with good people and friends. This keeps your heart big, your attitude right and your course correct. (I’m beyond blessed here)
Have goals and dreams. Set goals regularly and don’t be afraid to dream big. Then chase after them. Big goals or small goals do not matter. What matters is the habit you create that will breed success more often than failure. At a minimum it will make you focus on your successes.Whether they are here in the gym, at work, or at home try to achieve them one at a time. Me? I have more goals than I have time to tackle them all. I make lists. I have gym goals and life goals. In fact I need to complete my goal of documenting the 100 things I want to do before I die (I have 67 written down so far).
Work hard and Seize the day.Carpe Diem! Give 100% but don’t forget to have fun. Work hard, give it your best effort but don’t forget to enjoy it and make memories. Balance is key. I struggle here. 😉

Notes:

Gym is closed on Monday for Labor Day! If you need a WOD to do check out the “Travel WOD” list over on the left side of the site under “Resources”.

Want to learn to climb a rope? Practice. Learn technique. Don’t ignore it. Even the best showed that neglecting those hard skill movements can bite you down the road. Plus rope climbing is just fun! Learn a style and practice in the box.

Mikko Salo Rope Climbs

Video [wmv] [mov]

Abs of Steel

For time:

50 Sit-ups
50 Double-Unders
50 Sit-ups
Walking Lunge 50 Steps
50 Sit-ups
50 Burpees
50 Sit-ups

Results

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Squatting: Stay on those heels, get deep, knees out, chest up, eyes level and fight for that lumbar curve!

Day 2 of the Whole 30 Challenge! Post comments on how wonderful, peppy, and generally happy you all feel! In all seriousness, you guys can do it. At least for for another day. One at a time. Write down what you eat. If you are starving then eat more of the stuff you are supposed to eat.

Pet Peeves, “Tom-trum” Rant of the Day, or things I hate: Spammers. Specifically blog spammers. Seeing bogus comments on our site from spammers trying to get you to buy stuff like Viagra pisses me off. If I want everyone to buy Viagra I’ll simply put a link to it and say something like “take Viagra and PR all of your WOD’s!” May blog spammers all burn for eternity!

Notes:

Gym is closed on Monday for Labor Day! If you need a WOD to do check out the “Travel WOD” list over on the left side of the site under “Resources”.

Welcome to Terry and Riche who started Elements yesterday with us!

Again Faster is sponsoring an Again Faster WOD Series that is a open to anyone who wants to compete with their Again Faster Competition Teammade up of top CF athletes. They will post a WOD for the week with their top times for men/women. If you want to try to beat the top time you must film and then upload it for judging. Simply put if you post the winning time you can win some gear. If you are interested click the link above to see how the competition works and to get more info.

Here’s a cool compilation video of their team of Beasts:

An Introduction to Team Again Faster from Patrick Cummings on Vimeo.

What a Jerk!

Strength WOD:

Push Jerk

3/3/3/3/3

Checkout WOD immediately after:

For time:

Then alternate 21/18/15/12/9/6/3 reps of each:

Sumo Deadlift High Pull (75#/55#)
Push Jerk (75#/55#)

* Sumo must end with clear pull under chin and elbows above bar
** Push Jerks must be a jerk then fully stand; no press or push press or it’s a no rep!

Results

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Mark locked out:

This WOD specifically calls for Push Jerks to train the jerk. Thus the reason we enforced the rule of no pressing it up, even if it’s light. Training correctly at a lighter load should lead to a better technique when going heavier. The key to the jerk is not jumping up; it’s jumping under the bar and locking out in one distinct motion.

Click on the linkto the picture of the day on CrossFit.com and the explanation beneath it for how you should finish overhead in a fully locked out position. Minimize that tendency to over exaggerate the lumbar curve when finishing and pushing the head “through”.

Watch this video of a good split jerk at heavy weight. James Hobart at 305 pounds split jerk [wmv] [mov]

Notes:

Congrats and good luck to the group of you who officially started the Whole 30 Challenge today! It takes guts to make the commitment and discipline to see it through. Read here for what it is if you are unfamiliar with Whole9and their approach to clean eating and healthy nutrition. If you want to jump in it’s never too late to start now!

Pet Peeves, “Tom-trum” Rant of the Day or things I hate: Airlines that suck. Specifically airlines that suck at the following: a) Flying b) Flying you to your destination when they say they will c) Flying all of your belongings that you checked at the counter along with you to your destination. d) After losing your belongings showing that they care and will get off their personal cell phone call to explain why your bag is getting a nice tour of the bowels of DFW airport all night

Have a happy Thursday everyone! Be fast, be strong, and be epic!

Coaches Challenge

Today is “Command Maintenance“! Focus on recovery, go play and get ready to hit it this week.

Coaches challenge: Pick one skill you want to fix or improve. Any skill you suck at or have tons of ground to make up. Whatever the goat, pick it and write it down. Then starting the very next time you come into the box I want you to work on it. Break it down to the very basics. Hit your warm-up aggressively, then spend a few minutes on it. Ask for a pair of eyes and grab one of your trainers. Ask for cues. Practice it. Then hit the WOD. Afterwards practice some more. Rinse, wash, repeat daily. I guarantee you if you stick with it then you will improve. As that goat becomes less and less of a detractor from your performance it also furthers your fitness level and goes into your toolbox.

Some ideas: flexibility, double-unders, cleans, deadlifts, wall balls, pull-ups, ring dips, muscle-up progressions, push-ups, overhead squats, POSE running, jerks, rowing technique, box jumps, snatches, front squats, handstand push-ups, knees to elbows, air squats… DAMN that list is endless!

"Dirty Thirty"

For Time:

30 Box jumps (24″/20″)

30 Jumping Pull-ups

30 KB Swings (53#/35#)

30 Walking Lunges

30 Knees to Elbows

30 Push Press (45#/33#)

30 Back Extensions (or Good Mornings 45#/33#)

30 Wallball (20#/14#)

30 Burpees

30 Double-Unders

Results

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Dirty Thirty Crew:

Sorry to the 7pm class for forgetting to write the scaling/RX movements on the whiteboard. I trust that you all wrote it in your WOD books.

SnoRage dropped in to The Compound tonight for the Dirty Thirty with Travis, Jeremy, and Kim. Good times! Check out their post here.

Notes:

Feeling like an Iron Chef? Or maybe a Paleo Chef? Check out this recipe. If you make it then let us know what you think!

Poached Eggs, Prosciutto, Asparagus and Kholrabi Rosti – by Martha Burton video [wmv] [mov]
Recipe [pdf]

Watch the final Masters event of the 2010 CF Games competition:

Masters Men [wmv] [mov]

Masters Women [wmv] [mov]

"Hang Up"

Complete 100 Hang Squat Cleans (75#/55#) for time. EMOM: Stop and complete 5 push-ups

* Stop every minute on the minute (EMOM) and complete 5 push-ups. Continue with this rep scheme each minute repeating max reps Hang Squat Cleans and 5 push-ups until you total 100 reps of hang cleans.

Results

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Mish on her way to 100 reps:

A few of us trainers made up this WOD on Sunday after throwing several ideas around. Wanting to do squat cleans with a fixed rep goal with a “penalty” that would get harder as time went on, this is what we decided on. Keeping it light meant you had to sprint, or else the push-ups would start piling up. This is supposed to be a sprint. Each minute your goal is to do fast reps until the clock hits 59 seconds and then you knock out those push-ups and jump right back into it. Pat demonstrated what a true sprint was by his shocking 4:44 time today on this WOD. Although I really shouldn’t be shocked as this is the norm for him!

Steven and Lyndi and the Hang Clean:

Notes:

Starting NEXT WEEK: Moe will be teaching a 6pm class on Monday and Wednesdays! What this means: The 5pm class needs to run ON TIME. Come late to the 5pm and expect to get a shorter WOD or just scale and move faster. Get in, get your warm-up done quickly and correctly, and get ready for “Go Time”! Stay tuned for more announcements.

How many fish oil capsules should you take? Find out here: Whole9 Fish Oil calculator

We are expecting samples from Barlean’s this week of some of their high quality, kick ass, no stinky burping fish oil. Once it comes in we will put them out first come first serve. Free stuff rocks! We will then be taking orders and will be able to get it at a price that is sure to be cheaper than what you would pay locally. Pricing and ordering will be available in the gym soon.

Sean training hard for Colorado Springs and the 2010 CrossFit/USAW Open:

Command Maintenance

Back when I was in the Army we had a practice every week when we were in garrison (meaning “not in the field or deployed”) called Command Maintenance. This practice was not really fun, it was not necessarily looked forward to, and sometimes not taken anywhere near serious enough. As an Armor unit, we had vehicles. We had M1A1 Abrams, Humvees, various types of trucks, fuelers, ammo haulers, light tracks, tow vehicles, etc. Those vehicles were worked hard. They often were driven hard enough that even though the majority of them had faults and “deadlines” we still used them because we had to. In fact one of my unit’s motto was “Ride ’em hard, put ’em away wet!”

We trained hard like most units did and we certainly rode ’em hard. What was most important though was that we allocated time and made it mandatory to focus a day on repair, recovery, and maintenance. We spent all day in the motor-pool cleaning, inspecting, swapping parts, checking inventories, and going through repairs to fix and improve our vehicles and our readiness. The ones who took it seriously were the ones that made sure they followed the checklists (no matter how repetitive), they lubed, greased, topped off, and wrote up every single part needed to get on order. Hell the best even came up with ways to get deals made for parts or get bumped in priority with the mechanics. The ones who didn’t take it seriously? Well their vehicles were crap. Typically they had lots of faults, broke often in the field, and were unofficially cannibalized for parts when they were deadlined for a major fault, thus setting them back weeks from training on their own vehicle. Those vehicles usually had the crews that were not as loyal to their vehicle, and it showed.

What’s the point of this?

The point is that like my unit did with using and abusing our vehicles, each of us do with our bodies week in and out of the box. We work out hard and play hard. Our bodies scream for a rest day sometimes but we keep going. I encourage all of us each week to take one day to do some “command maintenance”. Rest and sleep in. Make it quality sleep. Eat clean (or if you are hyper vigilant on your diet, then have a solid cheat). Prep some great quality food for the week. Stretch, roll, or work out some kinks. Relax your brain and decrease your stress. Use ice or heat appropriately with ice packs, contrast showers, ice baths, or heat pads, heating pads, or a hot tub (by the way if you have a hot tub we expect an invite). Get a massage or go for a long walk to clear your mind. Read or learn something, set new goals or review ones accomplished. Most importantly, schedule some quality time with family, loved ones or friends. All of these activities will directly impact how you feel, prepare for, and perform during the week. Your body and your mind will repair itself and thank you for it. And you can “ride it hard and put it away wet” the very next week.

Notes:

“Hot or Cold… What’s the Right Choice?” by CrossFit Invictus

Behind the Games: Pt. 2 Preview Video [wmv] [mov]

M and I after a WOD today with a great friend Derek who is in town visiting us (he’s also a coach from CrossFit Morristown):

Happy Birthday Steph and Marc!

For time:

Run 400 meters
7 Overhead Squats (95#/65#)
26 Ring-Dips
Run 400 meters
7 Overhead Squats
26 Push-ups (Hands must release from floor)
Run 400 meters
7 Overhead Squats
26 Ring-Dips
Run 400 meters
7 Overhead Squats
26 Push-ups (Hands must release from floor)

Results
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Steph and Marc raise the roof for their birthday WOD:

Off to the races:

What is CrossFit? This video gets me fired up. Fired up to train, coach, and simply walk into the box and be around clients, friends, and family. It gets me thinking too.

What is CrossFit to me? It’s my way of embracing life. Seizing the day. It’s taking on a challenge and struggling to push both mentally and physically to see it through. It’s self-improvement, self-motivation and self-satisfaction. CrossFit is setting the example for my kid, my family, my friends, and my community. It’s evidence based fitness both of mind and body. It’s also hard and intimidating. CrossFit is butterflies in your stomach, mind screaming “quit” and then “don’t quit”. It’s almost never wanting to do the WOD until you hear “3-2-1 Go” and then loving that you did the WOD when it’s over. It’s bumper plates, big lifts, tall socks, board shorts and no shirt. Tire flips, rope climbs, handstands and being a big kid whenever you want. It’s epic, awesome and badass every single day. It is workouts that really are workouts. CrossFit is coaching, training, cheering, good games, and good times. It’s eating right, hating to rest, and chomping to get back to that next dreaded workout. It’s marriage counseling. It’s setting PR’s, learning new skills and newfound confidence, and then getting better at whatever you use your fitness to go do. It’s turning weaknesses into strengths. It’s helping my loved ones live a few more healthy and productive years. CrossFit is a vehicle which you can use to change your life, and we have been lucky enough to witness it daily in our box. Most of all, it’s simply FUN.

So what is CrossFit to you?

Death By Clean and Jerk

With a continuously running clock perform 1 Clean and Jerk (135#/95#) the first minute, 2 Clean and Jerks the second minute, 3 Clean and Jerks 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 partial reps in the last round completed.

Results

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Canada Day WOD Results

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Intensity takes on many faces:

“Amanda concentrating on the clock”

“Justin concentrating on his Blue Steel look”

This WOD lives up to its name. After starting slow you suddenly find yourself racing the clock and as it adds up literally feels like death. Most underestimate this workout and overestimate the rounds they think they will get. To get to the later rounds you must overcome the voice screaming in your head to stop and just go after it with as high an intensity level as you can bring. I love these types of WOD’s because getting further along really demands an ability to move large loads fast and efficiently while also shutting out the pain. Getting that extra round means destruction, or at least having to really “go there”.

“Death by Clean and Jerk” with Mikko Salo, CrossFit Journal preview video [wmv] [mov]

Notes:

Saturday schedule is normal. Post sign-ups for 10am or just come to the 11am class! Monday will be a 10am class for all.

Read “High” by Lisbeth Darsh of CrossFit Watertown:

It should look like this. Wreckage. Destruction. Annihilation. After “Power Cindy” you should look like somebody just pistol-whipped you or shoved a needle in your vein.

You should be wrecked. And if you’re not?

Then your pacing was off, your intensity level was too low, your plan was too measured.

CrossFit, done right, is like taking drugs…

(continue reading “High“)

I can totally identify with this. Post your thoughts to comments.

Pulled Apart

AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) in 20 Minutes of:
200m Run
12 Pull-ups
15 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls (95#/65#)

Results

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M Pulls:

The sumo-deadlift high pull ideally develops powerful hip extension and strong shoulders and arms while training a proper deadlift body position (with wider stance) and balance and coordination. Focus on those cues to ensure proper execution and remember to extend those hips, immediately pull to under your chin, and finish with high elbows.

Good elbows Fran!

Notes:

“You can’t fish oil your way out of a bad diet.” ~ Melissa Urban, Whole9

That said, here’s the Whole9 and Robb Wolf Fish Oil Calculator to determine how many you need to augment your nutrition and your health.

Here’s a link to the Whole9 blog post covering our workshop last week.

The Compound Crew and SRCF Trainer’s WOD today: