Movable Type – Page 155 – SNORIDGE CROSSFIT

"Couples Retreat"

2 Rounds, of each couplet consecutively, for time:

15 Power Clean (115#/75#)
30 Double-Unders

20 Wall Balls (20#14#)
20 Pull-ups

* Performed like “Twins“. (Complete 2 rounds of couplet 1 then move to couplet 2)

Results

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Quote of the Day: “Dude, why are you grabbing my balls?” ~ Jorge to Jim after Jim stole his medicine balls

Jackie and Deb doing Power Cleans:

PR Alert! So first off I have to apologize to Rob for not mentioning his 1 mile run PR yesterday with a scorching 5:35. It inspired several in the gym to get out and try to break it. Pat and Jeremy came in before yesterday’s afternoon WOD to try for theirs and Pat ran a 5:40 while Jeremy ran a 5:57. Then today Don came in and ran a blazing 5:24! I’m now motivated to try and get sub 6. It’s contagious! Rob also PR’d his double-unders tonight with 49 straight.

Speaking of PR’s we are looking at hanging another whiteboard up to track PR’s for several things (like max rep double-unders, pull-ups, handstand push-ups, 400m run, 1RM lifts, etc.). This would be for the top 5 males /females or something like that since we can’t list everyone (which is a good problem). We encourage all of you to take a page in your WOD notebooks and dedicate it to writing down your own PR’s for bodyweight movements, lifts (1 rep, 3 rep, and 5 rep max), benchmark WOD’s etc. Just another way to motivate for us all to work on those skills and push for setting new goals to break.

Notes:

Make sure you weigh in for the week for those in the Paleo/Zone Challenge. Stick with it! April is approaching.

Our Navy Seals use CrossFit, so do several military posts, air and naval bases, various units (both conventional and Special Ops) and our Marine Corps. Now the Canadian Army Combat Fitness Program and official Canadian Army fitness manual is based on CrossFit.

Power Clean Coaching Tip Sequence (Steph, Jim M., and Greg):

The proper power clean means assuming a deadlift stance, followed by and aggressive pull off the floor that reaches triple extension while keeping the bar close to the body, followed by receiving the bar in the rack position with the elbows high and forward.

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:

Happy St. Patty’s Day from Sangeeta:

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:

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!

Hang-A-Round

Strength WOD:

Hang Power Clean
1/1/1/1/1/1/1
* Work up to 1RM (1 Rep Max)

Check Out WOD Immediately After:

One Round For time:
50 Box Jumps (24″/20″)
40 Double-Unders
30 Kettlebell Swings (53#/35#)
20 Overhead Walking Lunges (45#/25#)
10 Wall Balls (20#/14#)

Results

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Quote of the Day: “I’m having a case of Curtis today.”

~ Eli after a failed HC attempt with no jump or extension

Today the pictures will tell the story.

Notes:

This guy gets my vote! Congressman John Sullivan of OK is a CrossFitter and competed in his Sectional Qualifiers! Read A Vote for CrossFit on the CrossFit Journal.

Nice showing today! This may be a record for one day. Records are meant to be broken by the way…

"Cindy"

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

5 Pull-ups

10 Push-ups

15 Squats

Results

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Pull, Push, Squat…Repeat:

34 of you completed “Cindy” today and crushed it! The atmosphere was all business and getting work done class after class. For those who have done this before congrats to every single one of you that PR’d it. The progress was remarkable as so many blasted past the previous number of rounds or moved up in range of motion or used less help to get more rounds. There are a few WOD’s such as this one on the horizon we will be doing that are repeats so that we can measure progress directly. There are also plenty of new ones that will test recently acquired skills and improved fitness levels. Either way be ready.

Laura knocking out push-ups:

Notes:

Welcome to Cathy who started Elements today and also Amanda who is back after a short stint away from the gym!

Fourth week of the Paleo/Zone Challenge is upon us. Keep strict, NO CHEATING! Not yet! Stay with it through the 7 full weeks. Get your weigh-in done this week, keep your frequency in the gym consistent, and watch what you eat. Keep that food log or note what you are eating. Only you know if you have been dialing it in.

Ever wonder what “Tabata” is and who invented it? Read more about it on CrossFit Football here.

No Excuses

Ring Pull-ups with Don:

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]

St. Patty's Day Run

For Time:

5k Run

Results

The Squatch Gang’s all here:

(Not Pictured is Nan, Justin, Fran, Eli, Rob, Kim, Melissa, Lucy)

Today was the St. Patty’s Day 5k Run and kids 1k Race. For both races there were close to 1000 registrants. The 5k included 641 finishers (they somehow messed up Curtis’s chip so his time doesn’t show on the results page for 640 runners). SnoRidge CrossFit had well over 30 adults and over 10 little leprechauns run for fun! What an impressive turnout! The course was tight in places, mildly hilly but overall a good challenge for everyone. The sun even came out right after the race to help warm us all up. Several of you ran your first or second 5k and some were surprised at how it was nowhere near as tough as they expected. Next race on the radar is the Cinco De Mayo 8k and 1/2 marathon in May. It will be a fast, flat course in downtown Snoqualmie which should make for a great track on those longer distances. If you are wanting to run then please make sure you register in person in the gym to take advantage of the local registration discount through SRCF.

Thank you to all who took pics and posted them already to Facebook. Here are a few from our camera that are on Flickr, if you want add yours or you can give me a disc and I can consolidate.

Here is also a quick video highlight of Mike getting his 1st Muscle-up the other day:

Mike Gets His 1st Muscle Up from Tom Nugent on Vimeo.

2K Row

For Time:

2000m Row

Immediately after complete:

100 AbMat Sit-ups for time

Results

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Stroke!

Normally I don’t write about a specific performance but I want to highlight Pat’s insane 2k row time of 6:53 today. For those who have rowed you have a pretty good idea what type of colossal effort and pace that requires. For those who don’t I can tell you it is flat out HARD. 2000m is one of the common race distances used in competitions to determine world champions. To give you an idea of how Pat’s time of 6:53 compares in 2000m Indoor world rankings, consider that the fastest two women in the world rowed the following: Heavyweight – 6:28, Lightweight – 6:54. Both rowers are in the age group of 19-29. Compared to men age 40-49 (Pat’s age bracket): Heavyweight – 5:57, Lightweight – 6:18. Had Pat competed at the 2009 British Indoor Rowing Championships last year he would have placed 17th in his age group. Amazing!

Notes:

Steven and Jackie dropped in for a WOD today from lululemon. Steven was voted as educator of the month at the Bellevue Square store and gets to put up a poster in the store of some of his favorite exercise related activities. Congrats Steven! Check out his cool poster and what he put down for his “favorite way to sweat”.

Steven’s board – the honor is ours:

Trivia question: How many Chinese Irish Americans do you know?

See almost all of you bright and early for the St. Patty’s Day Dash! The Compound Crew is joining us and we plan to have a great group of SnoRidge leprechauns running for time for this annual 5k race in Snoqualmie Ridge. If you haven’t registered than get there before 0830 to sign up. Meet up around 0845 near the registration point so we can snap a photo or two of everyone. If you need parking then park near the box and walk up. Wear something CrossFit and something green if you can.

Either way just come and have a pint after with the Squatch gang. “Erin Go Bragh!” Ireland Forever!

Answer: At least one. I’m part Irish from my dad’s side. (Chinese from my Mom’s side)

"Pat"

Quote of the day: “This illustrates all my weak points.” ~ Graham on the Snatch

As Many Rounds As Possible in 20 Minutes of:

200m Run
3 Burpees
11 Squat Snatch (75#/55#)

Results

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Birthday week continues. Happy Birthday to Pat!

I read this quote yesterday and it summed up my view of Pat.

“Some guys play with their heads. That’s okay. You’ve got to be smart to be number one in any business. But more important, you’ve got to play with your heart–every fiber of your body. If you’re lucky enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he’s never going to come off the field second.” – Vince Lombardi

The snatch or squat snatch is the most technical of lifts. It is one of the lifts used in competition of Olympic Lifting (the other being the clean and jerk). It requires the utmost in skill, concentration, speed, coordination and at the heaviest loads a lack of fear. Mastering this movement is a benefit to almost all athletic movement, as it requires total stimulation of the central nervous system due to the use of almost every major muscle group in the body during a repetition. As you pull up off the floor you are accelerating upward with force and speed and then reversing direction to pull under the bar into a full squat while catching the bar overhead. To commit under the bar at a 1 rep max snatch is not easy. There is no lift more difficult on the mind than this. With a deadlift you either pick it up or you don’t. The power clean? You just drop it as you pull for triple extension and don’t get it. Press? It stops and falls back down. Squat clean? Scary but less than a snatch (the second toughest lift to commit to).

Practice the progression (or the Burgener Warm-up) with a PVC religiously. Make it a part of your warm-up. Work on shoulder flexibility, it is vital. It will pay off in all your other lifts. Remember the basics: elbows out, standard stance, hips and shoulders rise off the floor together, tight core and back, accelerate over the knees towards your “pockets” while pushing the hips forward and pull the bar overhead while slipping under it quickly into a FULL overhead squat. Ideal form to strive for at the bottom means full lock out, weight on heels, knees aligned with feet and not tacked in. The end position looks like Maria below.

Watch all three of the following:

“Learning the Snatch” from Coach Burgener [wmv] [mov]

Burgener Warm-up [wmv] [mov]

Mike Burgener on the Snatch, CrossFit Journal Preview [wmv] [mov]

Note: Coach B is a Marine (cause once a Marine always a Marine) who has 32 years of experience in coaching Olympic weightlifting. He is also the SME (Subject Matter Expert) for CrossFit that runs the O Lifting Certs. He has an affinity for burpees (Yay Burpees!). I experienced this first hand at a clinic with him that I flat out loved. It was like having a drill sergeant for a day.

Notes:

Get ready for race day on Saturday! St. Patty’s Day 5k means we will be closed Saturday and running the race here on Snoqualmie Ridge with the majority of you! Gather near the registration/start point for a group photo on Saturday morning around 0845.

"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:

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:

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…

"Caroline"

Strength WOD:

Push Press
3/3/3
* Work up to 3RM (3 Rep Max)

“Caroline” WOD Immediately After:

10 Rounds for time:
3 Press (95#/65# – Strict)
9 Box Jumps (24″/20″)

Results

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Caroline cleans on her birthday (pictured in back):

Birthday WOD? Check. Birthday girl? Check. Birthday workout pic? Ugh! No check there. Caroline completed Elements yesterday and her first class today was her very own birthday WOD. Sorry we didn’t get a good solo picture to use but I hope you enjoyed the presses and box jumps while diving into CrossFit with us this week. Anyone surprised at how hard it was initially to perform a strict press and keep your lower body rigid and knees locked?

Notes:

When you are ready for that first pull-up some will do anything to get it. Pull, kip, claw, kick and scream their way up! Congrats to Steph who kicked and clawed her way to her 1st pull-up today! Actually 2 pull-ups since the camera wasn’t ready!

Steph’s 1st Pull-up! (Love this pic):

If you missed out on our Nutrition Discussion with Todd Widman last month, he is speaking at King CrossFit Wednesday night (3/11 at 6:30pm). Spots are available so just show up. Info is up on King CF’s website.

Anyone else starving for the sun to come back? Saturday was a tease. Not only does sunshine help with the mental game, it’s our natural source of Vitamin D. Read Vitamin D and Muscle Mass

For those with kids and who are tring to stick with a Paleo Diet here’s a blog called Everyday Paleo and a post on What to Pack for Kid’s Lunch and more

Last diet topic, if you are in the Paleo/Zone challenge and want to try a “Primal Pac” then ask us for a sample in the gym. Made locally here in Seattle by a CrossFitter and businessman named Matt P., Primal Pacs are an excellent natural, preservative free, zone blocked snack bags of nuts, jerky and dried fruit. And they are good! Don’t expect the garbage beef jerky you get at the store filled with preservatives, sugar, corn syrup, MSG and other junk. These have grass fed jerky with no added sugar and are gluten and grain free. We have a flyer with pricing info at the gym or you can email them from their website for more info. A few of us just got a bulk order so if you plan to order some I recommend you ask around first and you can coordinate one delivery with whoever is ordering.

This Thursday is 6am class with Moe! Set your alarm now so you have no excuse.