WOD – Page 556 – SNORIDGE CROSSFIT

Jump, Swing and Wail

4 Rounds for Time:

25 Box Jumps (24″/20″)

25 KB Swings (53#/35#)

Followed by 200m Dumbbell Overhead Waiter’s Walk or as Jim nicknamed it, the “Statue of Liberty”. Carry a dumbbell (25#/15#) overhead while maintaining a locked out and active shoulder for 100m each arm.

This makes for great looks by the neighbors when people are carrying dumbbells around the corner. Travis telling my neighbor that all of you were going to go check our mail for us had me cracking up.

“One of these kids, is doing his own thing…”

BIg welcome to Amanda, Lyndi and Greg who all completed day one of Elements and their first Elements WOD with us today (2 x Rounds of Run 400m or Row 500m, 40 Squats, 30 Sit-ups, 20 Push-ups, 10 Pull-ups) . Great effort by all of you for pushing yourselves! That first WOD is deceptive and a good test of your fitness level. We will do this WOD again down the road and you’ll be amazed at your improvement. Here’s a couple pictures of the three of them in action.

"It's Good Stuff"

Uttered by Travis today during this WOD in a state of exhaustion and breathlessness (See below). This just had us cracking up.

Front Squat

3/3/3

Goal is to get max effort and weight for 3 reps per set of Front Squat. Followed by the WOD.

3 Rounds for time:

400m Run

12 Front Squat (95#/65#)

21 Knees to Elbows

Knees to Elbows proved the toughest aspect of this WOD. The devil of these is how they quickly degenerate into a “gorilla swing” if you don’t find a rhythm or reset yourself. That and the grip failure from hanging for so long.

Measuring Stick

For Time:

21-15-9

Pull-ups

Wallball (20#/14#)

Sumo Deadlift High Pull (95#/65#)

Neil during the WOD after his crash course in wall ball throws:

Why do we make you write down your WOD every time? Why do we keep that drawer of notebooks with your name on it? Simply because it’s your measuring stick. It’s the most basic element to tracking progress. You write it down. Once you write it down you can reference it for comparing past performance and pushing yourself to reach a new PR (personal record). When you need to know what your past load was for a particular lift, or time for a WOD, or weight for a med ball or kettlebell, it’s right there. If it’s a benchmark WOD that came up you can see what time you need to try and beat.

For us as your trainers it’s a record to see how far you have come, and help identify areas of weakness or undertrained skills. All of us have fitness goals, writing down our performance will actually help us see how short or far we have to go to realize them. So remember to write it down. Without it you are simply working out, not training.

On that note here are three different web resources for CrossFitters that allow you to enter and track your WOD’s. All are unique and have pros and cons but any one of them are excellent tools to have for things like entering workouts when on the road or away from the gym, tracking your performance, and for comparing yourself to other CrossFitters. I use LogsitAll.com and it’s great for me to see where I measure up to others. I like the others too and may end up trying them. Some support social networking applications which is a plus. Give them a look and if you sign up for them don’t think it gets you out of writing in your notebook!

Web Based:

LogsItAll

beyond the whiteboard

Noscrolls

iPhone app:

As Rx’d

Notes:

We are going to post a class schedule soon based on the most common times we are training all of you. Please try in advance to schedule class times that you can consistently make with us so that we are able to judge the number of people and prepare. We are going to cap the class WOD’s at 3 to 4 for now. If you can’t make the posted class just shoot us an email, text or call and we will do our best to accommodate you at a different time.

First timers will still be required to attend the first three sessions with us separately to learn the Elements or fundamentals (unless you are Level 1 certified).

Déjà Vu

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:

The Kipping Pullup – Part One from Patrick Cummings on Vimeo.

"Cindy"

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

5 Pull-ups

10 Push-ups

15 Squats

“Cindy” is a benchmark named WOD that will make an appearance now and then. Deceivingly tough (aren’t they all) this bodyweight WOD is a killer. Jim rated this a “6 out of 10” on his new personal WOD ranking system. Ask him about his criteria. It’s a blend of how he thinks he performed as well as how tough or memorable the workout was. The higher the score the better. I think I want to pick the exercises from the lower scoring WOD’s as then I know they will be focusing on his weaknesses!

Congrats to Bridget, Neil and Sherry who finished their Elements today. While the learning never stops they now have the knowledge and experience with the basic foundational movements to build from.

Notes:

The Snoqualmie Railroad Days 10k and 5k Race is August 22nd. We are planning to get a team of us to go run, race, and represent. There is even a 1k kids race for the little future CrossFitters in our families. Afterwards we plan to have a Beer-B-Q at our place and have the gym open, stuff for the kids to do, and the CrossFit movie “Every Second Counts” for all to watch. Let us know if you are interested and come one come all. Mark it on the calendar now!

Yard Work

For Time:

400m Run

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5…1 Thrusters (95#/65#)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6…10 Dumbbell Lawnmowers each arm (25#/15#)

400m Run

Alternate each exercise per round in an ascending/descending ladder format.

10 and 1, then 9 and 2, then 8 and 3, etc. For lawnmowers perform number of reps per arm.

Judging by your Lawnmowers most of you must hire someone to do your yard work! Seriously this movement is awkward and takes some practice. This tests your balance, agility and coordination along with your strength. How was that second 400m run? Anyone have jello legs?

Butterflies

7 Rds for time:

10 Burpees

10 Medicine Ball Cleans (20#/14#)

Today was progress for all of you. Bridget and Sherry both completed their second Elements session. Everyone drastically learned and improved their form with the medicine ball clean. After instruction and practice, the reps mounted as the WOD wore on and helped cement the technique. Michelle was also happy to get a boost from working out with the late crew.

Curtis, Jim and Travis all mentioned something similar today. They each commented that coming to CrossFit brings butterflies. The nervous energy, the anxious feeling, the partial dread and the feeling that they each had before a game or meet back when they played competitive sports. It’s a common feeling. The “gnawing in the pit of your stomach” feeling is almost universal to those who go to a CrossFit gym to do the workout of the day. I get it every time I am about to do a WOD, either here or at another box. Michelle does too. Wondering just what is going to be on the whiteboard becomes a recurring theme for many.

That anticipation is one of the draws for many about CrossFit. You get that butterfly feeling because you know it will be hard. You know it will require you to push, to work, to feel discomfort and pain, and that it is the key to results. Nothing comes easy. When you are finished however, you know that you earned it. No matter how you finish, you finished. You competed only against yourself. Sure you can try to beat others, but really you competed against your own body, against your own mind. You will stand taller the next day or feel good about yourself going home. You know that you are one day fitter.

Notes:

We regretfully will need to charge sales tax. Please help us remember when you pay your dues!

Shirts are ordered and will be in soon. We also have another design that rocks and will be adding a slogan on the back (“Brutal Fun” is the leading contender). For women we will also get tank tops. Design posted below. Post your comments and let us know what you think of it.

"Dirty Thirty"

30 reps each for time of the following:

Box jumps (20″)

Jumping Pull-ups

KB Swings (44#/36#)

Lunges

Knees to Elbows

Push Press (45#)

GHD Back Extensions

Wallball (20#/14#)

Burpees

Double-Unders (or 90 Single-Unders)

This is the red-headed stepchild or second cousin to the Filthy Fifty (which we will do at some point). Great effort today from all and especially Curtis and Jim for going prescribed with good form. Stretch those hamstrings and anywhere else that is tight! This will leave you sore.

Also welcome to Bridget who started Elements with us today. If any of you feel like you missed out on the Dirty Thirty we will gladly make sure you get a shot at it soon.

One last note, the Snoqualmie Railroad Days Run is scheduled for Saturday, August 22nd and they will have a 10k, 5k and 1k kids race. I ran the 5k last year and it was fast and fun. If any of you would like to run it let us know and let’s get a SnoRidge CF Team out on the course. Kids too!

"The Chief"

Max Rounds in 3 Min. of:

3 Power Cleans (135# / 95#)

6 Push-ups

9 Squats

Rest 1 minute. Repeat for 5 Cycles.

Complete as many rounds as possible in each cycle. Goal is to maintain that max number of rounds across the 5 cycles.

Read here for a description on why this is named “The Chief”.

Great job today by Adriana, Deb, and Travis. Each of you all commented on how deceptive this WOD is. Looking at it you think, “piece of cake”. Then you start doing the math and realize how many reps this adds up to. Usually when a WOD earns a name there is a reason.

Virtuosity: Defined as showing great technique or skill by someone who excels at something. Or doing the common uncommonly well.

One theme we heard today was how each of you were somewhat struggling in different areas of the Power Clean. All of you said that despite the clock running you were each focusing on remembering your cues and trying to get perfect form on each lift. When you didn’t, you felt frustrated. You felt like you needed to get each rep right, to get the integrity of the movement, or to not “cheat” it up. I would tell each of you that’s a good thing and to be patient. I also would say that Michelle and I take that as a compliment. We focus on form for a reason. To see each of you come in and care more about doing a rep or movement correctly and with proper technique or range of motion is paramount to being successful in CrossFit. This is also key in avoiding injury. Don’t be in a rush to learn it all and pile on the weight. We will help coach you, provide cues to what you are or are not doing right, and push you when you need it.

Whether or not you see your improvements we both have seen major strides in each of you. Master the basics, keep pushing hard in each WOD, don’t beat yourself up, and continue to strive for virtuosity. Practice makes perfect. Perfect practice makes for perfection.

New Faces

Welcome Sherry and Neil who joined us today and started Elements! They both learned three of the foundational movements quickly; the air squat, front squat, and overhead squat as well as abMat sit-ups, push-ups and pull-ups. Then they pushed each other through their first workout at the end of the session.

They each did the standard first time WOD for SnoRidge CF:

2 rounds of Row or Run, then 40, 30, 20, 10 of Squats, Sit-ups, Push-ups and Pull-ups. Jim came in and did yesterday’s WOD and despite meeting for the first time today it was great to see them all cheer each other on. We look forward to seeing them learn the overhead press movements in their next session.

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