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CrossFit/USAW Open. It's in the books!

The CF/USAW Open event held this past weekend in Colorado Springs, CO consisted of the following:

Snatch 1 rep

Clean and Jerk 1 rep

“The Triplet” 10 Minutes Immediately After:

As Many Rounds/Reps As Possible in 10 Minutes:
6 Squat Cleans (55kg/30kg)
12 Pull-ups
24 Double-Unders

Combine the best of each lift and total of Triplet reps for a Total Score.

Results

Sean completing the Total and the Triplet at the CrossFit / USAW Open in Colorado Springs:

It’s in the books! Sean went and competed in the 85kg Men’s class and turned in a performance of heart and determination that should make all of us at SnoRidge proud! He posted a total of 179kg in the two lifts and 180 reps in the Triplet for an Event Total score of 359, placing 23rd in his division (out of 27). He is officially a badass in my book for having the Cajones to step in front of a crowd and face the stresses of performance, competition, work capacity, and altitude. Congratulations on an incredible job and for persevering under tough circumstances. Scoring a total including a bodyweight snatch is damn impressive.

The event was spread out by weight class over three days. The field consisted of 165 competitors (61 Women and 104 Men). However this field of competitors contained beasts of all sizes. Men and Women’s divisions included previous CrossFit Games competitors, past Games champions, and top regional performers. Olympians, medalists, USAW National Team members and Olympic lifters of both experience or reputation. Some names were truly big ones for their respective communities. It was also made up of CrossFitters and Oly athletes who were brand new to either competition or the opposite of their chosen sport. All of these athletes put on the first combined USA Weightlifting and CrossFit event of its kind. It was extremely well run and organized overall and the location was well suited for both athletes and spectators. Besides the soul sucking effects of high altitude there were no major complaints.

I was honored to be Sean’s coach for this event and it made me reflect at several points throughout the weekend about my role and what Sean was preparing for. Knowing his capabilities and previous PR’s and lifts, as his coach it was going to be a tough task to balance the desire to make a PR lift with the prospect of staying a little lighter so that the initial lift could go up on the board successfully. Keeping him loose, prepped, positive, and confident in what he was going to do was really fun for me. For anyone who has been part of an individual athletic competition, it is far different from team sports. In team sports you can always rely on the performance of the team. Sure you will be on the spot at times in the game, but the pressure of competition and judging is shared. In an event like this, you are exposed for all to watch. In front of your friends, family, loved ones, fellow athletes, and strangers you are in the spotlight. Alone, you must make the lift or face failure. What you do is solely resting on your shoulders; literally in the case of an Olympic lifting competition.

Pushing through a WOD like the Triplet is the same thing. Like any CrossFit competition, you have to go beyond comfortable and stay there; pushing through a constant state of pain, anxiety, fatigue. You must do it in front of people, as well as with a judge who is there to score your reps and take some away. This is hard to do. You aren’t in the safety of your box, counting your own reps. There is an audience, the set up is unfamiliar and the other athletes are surely as good if not better. They all want to beat you and beat each other. The intensity takes on a higher level and the prospect of finishing low or last pushes everyone to better results.

Factor all of the above in and what Sean did this weekend can be summed up in one over-used but perfect word: EPIC.

Well done Sean, keep doing epic shit!

Notes:

Two new events coming in October and November:

WA State CF Weightlifting Championships at Thrush SPC in Sumner. Oct. 23 from 8am to 6pm.
Mt. Rainier’s Strongest Man and Woman at Rainier CrossFit on Nov. 6

Video I shot of Olympian Chad Vaughn with a 141kg Snatch at the USAW/CF Open:

"The Incline"

In Teams of 2 Alternate or Complete Individually For Time:

250m Row and 200m Run
500m Row and 400m Run
1000m Row and 800m Run
500m Row and 400m Run
250m Row and 200m Run

Results

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What is “The Incline“?

“Up A Mountain, Olympic Dreams are Carved” NY Times

Before:

I’ll try to answer that question here. In short? It’s a WOD, a benchmark even. It’s 1000 barbell front squats for time. At altitude. Epic suckfest. It’s a test more of your mind than your body, as willing yourself to keep climbing is the tedious part. This afternoon I accompanied good friends Derek, Mike, and Kristen from CrossFit Morristown/ CrossFit Bernardsville up “The Incline” in Manitou Springs, CO. It’s a very visible, very steep trail cut straight up a small mountain. It gains 2000 ft. in elevation in 1 mile. It is a series of stairs made mostly from railroad ties but also rocks, dirt, and even metal piping. It is hard. Oh and did I mention steep?

I was initially under the illusion this was a run. Having read the story above about Olympians training on it I was seriously interested. Constantly varied right? As we drove over late this afternoon Mike pointed out the ‘scar” in the forrest on the small mountain in the Rocky foothills. As it snapped into view I instantly said something to the effect of “Are you f’ing kidding me?” From that point until we found parking at the trailhead the conversation drifted from a half inspired pep talk of doing the mountain to “what coffee shop is nearby to go to instead”. Running out of excuses we finally found parking and headed out. After a few words of warning from some locals we were ready to get this over with. Looking up the endless set of stairs going practically straight up the mountain we could make out lots of people all plodding away up the slope.

We started our watches and one by one started running. Shuffling along, stair after stair I ran. Maybe 3 minutes in I thought, wow it’s kinda hard to breathe. At around the 4 minute mark I thought, “my heart might explode. WTF!” Feeling like I was completing “Fran” in my lungs and with my head starting to get dizzy I quickly looked up and saw that our group also stopped running at the same point. We all began walking basically in a file up the stairs. We walked, climbed, scrambled, pulled with our arms and went up, up, up. Every time someone would stop to catch their breath the threat of being passed or getting behind made us go again. After reaching the false summit we were warned about we picked up the pace (if you can call it that) and tried to push through to the end.

After 40 minutes (40:44 for me) we were all done. Not bad considering 50 min. plus is expected for people not from here. Standing atop the mountain we could see all of Colorado Springs in a beautiful view. After a brief stay and a handstand or two, we all ran the 4 mile Barr Trail back down. Great experience, great challenge, and great memory. Despite the pain our quads and glutes endured, it was well worth it. What’s for tomorrow?

Awesomeness Achieved:

"Frogger"

For Time:

400m Run
21 Dumbbell Push Press (40#/25#)
21 Broad Jumps (6’/5′)
400m Run
15 Dumbbell Push Press
15 Broad Jumps
400m Run
9 Dumbbell Push Press
9 Broad Jumps

Results

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Quote of the day:

5 Yr. Old Audrey to Sean and Jenna as we are heading to the airport: “Why is the gym guy in our car?”

Sean and Jeremy get their Mobility WOD on with some tools of torture:

Who’s doing a Mobility WOD each day or each time they come into the gym? Flying into Denver today for the CrossFit USAW Open with Sean was a perfect opportunity to try out the plane mobility WOD (Surviving the Airplane Seat). After some reading, computer work and a cat nap I decided to work on my “business” and get the kinks and soreness out from a week of abuse from some tough WOD’s. With my trusty lacrosse ball in hand I proceeded to make the two people in my row really unsure just what the heck I was doing. By the time we landed though I had worked several areas and felt none of the customary tightness I get when flying. If you travel, try it. Buy a lacrosse ball and throw it in your bag. Your body will thank you for it.

Sean catching a cat nap. He is taking this event so seriously he won’t stop wearing his singlet everywhere.

By the way he lifts on Saturday tentatively at 2 pm after a 12pm weigh-in. Watch it LIVE.

"Burpee Hell"

10 Rounds for time:

10 Pull-ups
10 Burpees

Results

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Compare to Dec ’09 and April ’10

The third time’s a charm. Today we tackled this brutal couplet for the third time. It was also “Burpee Wednesday”. As Cristin noted recently that we have been doing lots of burpees usually right in the middle of the week. I told her once someone notices a pattern in the programming I try to change it. My change? Throw more burpees back into Wednesday. Remember to keep those jumps high, hands clap overhead and not in front, and hips open at the top. You can’t fail a burpee!

I am off to the CF/USAW Open to root Sean on! This will be an amazing and fun event and I’m personally stoked to see Sean chase a PR in his Oly lifts. Look for updates after his heat is complete on Saturday.

Miranda Prepares for the CrossFit/USAW Open [wmv] [mov]

Yay Thrusters!

Strength WOD:

Thruster

3/3/3/3/3

Check Out WOD Immediately After:

As Many Rounds As Possible in 10 Minutes:
3 Thrusters (95#/65#)
5 AbMat Sit-ups
10 Double-Unders

Results

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Cristin getting strong:

Quote of the day: “Today is my 1 year anniversary, 162 WOD’s.” ~ Marc

“That is a lot of time to spend with Tom.” ~ Jenna

Congrats to Marc for hitting his 1 year anniversary with us and CrossFit. Some brief highlights: Marc is able to do quite a few new things from when he started; run a 7 minute mile, jump a 24″ box, squat full depth, lift obscene amounts of weight, do push-ups, and almost do a pull-up compared to a year ago. He has completed three nutrition challenges and switched to a Paleo diet. He’s lost 60+ pounds, is no longer on statins, BP and resting heart rate all within normal, bodyfat significantly down, lean muscle mass up, and has a totally new wardrobe!

Before (1 year ago):

After:

Food For Thought:

Celiac Disease Can Develop In Adults – LA Times

Celiac Disease – Wikipedia

Fueling for Performance – Chef By Request

Coverage of the CrossFit/USAW Open:

The CF/USAW Open Will Stream Live For Free

Tour of the Resort [wmv] [mov]

"You Ruined My Perfectly Good Push-ups"

10 Rounds For Time:

15 Deadlifts (135#/95#)
15 Push-ups

Results

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Deadlifting for two (Jenna CF’ing in her 2nd trimester):

Who loves the “new and improved” push-up? Just when you thought that “hands release” push-ups were hard, now you get to try the “KStar” push-up that we learned at the Mobility cert. Yes they made the WOD harder to focus on these early. Now you know what they are. Practice these. Then go forth and crush push-ups.

Homework Assignment: Go to the Mobility WOD site. Watch one of the videos. Pick any one. Come into the box 10 minutes early. Warm-up and then do it. You will see results.

Speaking of push-ups: Cristin had a great idea to work on push-ups. Here is our next challenge that will start on October first. It will be a 30 Day Challenge.

Scaled version: Day 1 complete 1 push-up and 29 scaled push-ups. Day 2 complete 2 push-ups and 28 scaled, Day 3 complete 3 push-ups and 27 scaled and so on, continuing until Day 30.
RX Version: Complete 30 push-ups everyday for 30 days.
Break them into sets as needed or just display random acts of awesomeness by doing all 30 at once.

Notes:

“Amazing Grace: You Can Fight Cancer” through Barbells for Boobs, CrossFit Journal [wmv] [mov]

Come fight cancer and support a great cause by doing “Grace” on 10/16 at King CrossFit! Event details on the right side of the page.

It may be an early arm pull, but the fact that Jeremy is shrugging in a clean is a victory in and of itself!

Jeremy O. cleans his way through the “Broomstick Mile”:

A Month of Awesomeness

Get ready for a week of burpee-licious training! AND a month of Awesomeness…

Yesterday Michelle, Moe and I all completed the CrossFit Movement and Mobility Cert and learned a ton. We look forward to bringing it back to the box and sharing with you all. Rest assured that we will be emphasizing proper warm-ups, pre-WOD stretching and mobility and after-WOD recovery. Do that Mobility WOD for extra credit, it’s one click away over on the right side of the page.

Bottom line: Take care of yourself so you don’t have to have someone else taking care of you.

October:

1-3 October – USAW/CrossFit Open in Colorado Springs will be held at Cheyenne Mountain Resort and Sean will be competing on Saturday!

Event will be 3 attempts each at 1RM of Snatch and Clean and Jerk (Standard Oly Lifting Event) followed by a CrossFit Triplet: 10 Min. AMRAP of 6 Cleans, 12 Pull-ups, 24 Double-Unders
The event will be beamed over the internets! Grab some friends and watch the LIVE Webcast
Matt and Cherie Chan demo the CF Triplet [wmv] [mov]
Friday night will also be head to head competition of “Isabel” (30 Power Snatches for time) between Josh Everett and Dave Lipson; both of whom have sub 1 minute times on record

16 October (Sat.) – “Barbells for Boobs” at King CrossFit from 8:30am to 11:30am

Part of breast cancer awareness month, “Amazing Grace” is a fundraiser sponsored by the CrossFit Journal to benefit Mammograms in Action
We are teaming up with King CrossFit in Renton and we are going to their box for this workout for the Saturday WOD. Come represent SRCF!
WOD is “Grace“: 30 Clean and Jerks for time (135#/95#) as RX’d
Please RSVP
There will be NO Saturday class at SnoRidge on 10/16 as we will all go to King

30 October (Sat.) – “Frankenchipper” Halloween WOD at the box from 10am until 12pm

Same WOD as last year
Costume required (you will do the WOD in it too)!

Last Ascent

5-10-15 Reps Each For Time:

Back Squats (225#/155#)
Box Jumps (24″/20″)

Results

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We made the CrossFit main page today for the first time for our Fight Gone Bad event last Saturday! Check it out here!

Today we ran the last make-up session for those who could not make it this past Saturday to our Fight Gone Bad 5 event. Thanks to those who helped with judging and to those who did the regular 5pm WOD with Moe outside so we could run this “fighters” inside. As a gym we raised over $3500 with the final few donations that came in today. ALL of the money that was donated in person from our event has been donated to Sportsgrants to benefit The Wounded Warrior Project, Livestrong, and the CrossFit Foundation.

Notes:

Several of you are still in the Whole 30 Challenge. Keep hanging in there and stick through that final week. You made it this far! I even had to make an intervention for Michelle tonight over a tasty margarita. Which is why I may end up sleeping in the gym…

Take your warm-up seriously!

“Warm-up Like An Athlete” with Chris Michelmore, CrossFit Journal Preview [wmv] [mov]

"Shoot 'Em Dead"

Strength WOD:

5 Rounds of Dead Hang Pull-ups

* Rest 2 minutes between rounds; work up to max reps per attempt

Check Out WOD Immediately After:

As Many Rounds As Possible in 12 Minutes:
5 Deadlift (Use 60% of 1RM)
7 Shoot-Throughs (Parallette)
10 AbMat Sit-Ups

Results

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Time for a rematch with the shoot-through! What’s worse, these or burpees? Or how about a Burpee Shoot-Through? Hey we should try those! One of these days the WOD will be all burpee variants. Burpee Box Jump, Burpee Pull-up, Burpee Shoot-Through, Burpee Deadlift… the list is endless. I promise to NOT post it on the Whiteboard and let it be a nice little gift for each of you to unwrap when you come in the box.

Want to get stronger at kipping pull-ups? Or maybe get closer to that first pull-up without a band? One way is to work on dead hang or strict pull-ups. WIth or without a band, keep that hip “quiet”. It will get you stronger. Other ways towards that elusive pull-up? Practice strict pull-ups in ladders, or mix in jumping pull-ups with the box height decreasing as they get easier so you jump higher. Or ring rows with a progression towards becoming more horizontal and face-up or “supine”. You can also take advantage of that climbing rope and lay on the floor flat. Grab that rope and pull yourself hand over hand into a standing position and then lower yourself back down. Practice your kipping motion regularly. Mix all this stuff in as skill work either before or after your WOD. Be patient. Be consistent. Believe. If you do then it WILL happen!

Notes:

Last day for Fight Gone Bad make-up is tomorrow! We know of four people who plan to do it for sure. Don’t worry there will be a WOD for everyone else.

Tips on improving the the dip and the drive of the Push Jerk:

Jerk Dip and Drive from OlyAthlete on Vimeo.

"Again Faster Competition: WOD 1"

3 Rounds for time:

200m Run
50 Double-Unders
25 Thrusters (95#/65#)

Results

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Thrusters: Boooooooo! Hissssss!

Shameless Plug Alert!

We made the CrossFit Affiliate Site for Fight Gone Bad 5! Great short write-up with a picture of us doing wall balls. Pure awesome sauce!

Today’s WOD was courtesy of the Again Faster Team Competition and a truly brutal triplet. You simply never catch your breath. The running and double-unders combine with the thrusters to vacuum the air from your lungs. For some videos of some serious fire breathers crushing this WOD go to the following link and scroll down to WOD 1 videos. The winning time was 7:55!

Bodyweight Grace:

Attention early arm pullers:

Ursula Garza Papandrea explains how to correct a short 2nd pull by using a close grip snatch. (By the way – I love this site! Olyathlete.com)