Category: Video and Media

"Karen"

For Time:
150 Wall Balls (20#/14#) 

Adriana powering through:
Karen_Adriana WB

The faces and aftermath of “Karen”:
Post Karen_Travis  Post Karen_Curtis
Mid Karen_Deb Post Karen_Deb

Wallballs are getting better (even if some of you hate them)!  Some are now fully prescribed with full range of motion and all of you are more consistent in technique, accuracy, squat depth and coordination of the throw. Here’s a video of a 5 minute Karen along with some cues on wallball form from the CrossFit main site Exercises and Demo section.

Congrats to Lyndi and Amanda who completed all their Elements sessions this week.  Oh and a new rule for welcoming our new folks: make sure you guys introduce yourselves to each other when you meet or its a 10 burpee penalty!  

"When Did It Click?"

Happy Sunday everyone! Here is an amazing story of how CrossFit changed a person’s life. More amazing though is this story is abundant in the CrossFit community. 

Jason David is the co-owner of Motor City CrossFit.  He went from a sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle to finding CrossFit and using it to go from 247 lbs. down to 165 lbs. and 12% bodyfat. More importantly he is now doing something he loves everyday and is living healthy and fit. 

Read his fitness journey here titled “When Did It Click?” on the Affiliate Blog.

Dumbbell

Déjà Vu

Curtis Pull-ups Deb Push-ups Adriana Squat
Not the club. The WOD. Today’s WOD was “Cindy” rehashed; since all of you who came today missed the benchmark yesterday we felt it was only fair for you to experience it.  First of all big props to Curtis for doing it prescribed and getting 11 rounds with full on kipping pull-ups today! Say goodbye to the band. 
Deb, Adriana, and Deb also all had great efforts and are ready to say hello to the bands and move off from the jumping pull-ups. Deb and Adriana also doubled their previous output from when they did a “mini-Cindy” with 10 minutes. This shows progress as it means they were able to maintain their work capacity and intensity for twice the time while improving form and technique.
For some of you we will begin working on kipping technique for pull-ups. Whether you have a pull-up yet or not this is good for you to study, learn and practice both with jumping, using a box, or a band. As your strength increases and your coordination improves the “kip” will become second nature and you will learn to harness the power of your hips and core to getting that body over the bar. These are not “cheating”.  Those who say kipping is cheating likely have never done them or done pull-ups at high intensity.  Just ask Curtis if he thinks they are cheating.
Here is a great instructional video on kipping from Again Faster:

CrossFit in the Local News

The Seattle Times featured CrossFit today in their Pacific Northwest Sunday Magazine.  The article is titled: CrossFit becomes an international phenom with its brutal online workouts.  

I have to admit it was surprising to be standing in line at the Ridge IGA Market to see a picture of a guy holding a barbell with bumper plates on the upper corner of the newspaper. One look and I thought, “that’s gotta be about CrossFit”.  Sure enough it was.  Give it a read, it’s a good article with great examples of its growing appeal.  Also nice to see was a video on the Seattle Times web page that covered the NW Regional Qualifiers last month.

“CrossFit is Brutal Fun”:

Quote of the Day by Fran Mason, CF Seattle Trainer: 
“Working out day after day is like putting money in your 401k, literally we’re investing in our old age by doing this.”

"Helen"

3 Rounds for Time:

400m Run
21 Kettlebell Swings (54# M / 35# W)
12 Pull-ups

Travis meets Helen

This benchmark WOD is tough.  Travis summed it up with “that was deceiving”. Everyone improved today by either scaling up a kettlebell or band for pull-ups. Or both!  

Helen is a WOD that always seems to start great and by the end you are telling yourself to not let go of the kettlebell or pull-up bar as the time just speeds up.  This is one that the best of times simply are achieved by going fast and “unbroken” through all three rounds.  

Here’s a “Helen” video from CrossFit.com of two incredible athletes showing a mind-numbing pace for Helen.  This video shows a race between one man and one woman with different strengths at play. Dutch Lowy is a well known CrossFit athlete that placed 7th in last year’s CrossFit Games and Jessica Langford is an accomplished marathon runner.  Watch how strength in kettlebell swings and pull-ups takes on a fast runner and see who wins.   

"Nancy"

5 Rounds for Time
400m Run
15 OH Squats (Prescribed Weight: 95# M/65# W)

The Overhead Squat is a weightlifting movement that requires strength, coordination, flexibility, power and a stable midline. Its ability to test the strength of your core, shoulders, and legs is unsurpassed.  It’s a technical lift that requires practice, practice, more practice and then patience, but once you get it you quickly see a change in your speed and power.  We have been focusing on these quite a bit with PVC pipe both in Elements and then in warm-ups.  The weather made for a perfect time for several of you to try it with a barbell or load to feel the difference so we ran everyone through a scaled version of “Nancy”. 

Adriana OH Squat
Quote of the Day:
“I felt like a Nancy while trying overhead squats.” ~ Curtis

Here is a great video taken from the CrossFit Main site “Exercises and Demos” section.  It shows good OH Squat form as well as keys to safely lifting, lowering and dumping the barbell.