Community. Coaching. Caring.
Gym is closed. Rest or go for a run. Low intensity active rest is a good alternative.
Do you think CrossFit prepares you for other fitness tests despite not particularly training for them? I believe so and have personally experienced it. Here’s an account from a friend of ours from North Scottsdale CrossFit who used only CrossFit to train, prepare for, and successfully run a 1/2 marathon. If you have similar experiences post to comments.
Celebrating Michelle’s 9th Annual 29th Birthday!
3 Rounds for Time:
400m Run
9 Thrusters (115#/85#)
29 Burpees
37 Kettlebell Swings (53#/35#)
Results
Tough WOD. Like all birthday WOD’s, just brutal. It could have been worse though! Wait a few more years until Michelle celebrates her 15th anniversary of her 29th birthday, which will equal more thrusters! Now that will be really bad…
Post WOD there was a little hula hoop competition/demonstration by Michelle and Curtis. The video ran out on Michelle’s attempt but I counted her at 20 revolutions. Then it was Curtis’s turn. Who knew he was a former Canadian luau dancer (besides Deb)?
Food for thought: For those wondering about nutrition and if you should focus on your diet as much as you focus on your workout, or your job, your family, your mind, and so on then just take a look at some of these links from LivingPaleo.com and decide for yourself:
Americans Wonder Why They Are Dying Sooner
Foods to Avoid On the Paleo Diet
There are a ton of resources out there that are packed with good, sensible information on nutrition. Read what you can, take what you want, decide what you are ready to give up, and get to eating cleaner and healthier. Your body truly is your engine, what you fuel it with is important. Putting in the wrong fuels over time has long-lasting and harmful impacts that not only effect your workout, they effect your life. We are going to start another Paleo Challenge soon. Read here for insights into how it will work this time around. We will follow something similar to the approach that Level 4 / CrossFit Seattle used for their recent challenge but of course reserve the right to tweak things as needed.
Notes:
Parents, we need your help! Please ask your little ones to help clean the Squatch Cave before you leave. It helps avoid the end of day collective disaster that appears after several classes and the little Squatches have their way with the toys.
3 Rounds for Time:
50 Double-Unders
50 Good Mornings (45#/33#)
Results (Friday WOD)
Double Trouble – Bridget and Adriana:
Short post today. It’s my better half’s birthday.
5 Rounds for Time:
400m Run
Overhead Squat (95#/65#)
Results
Happy Birthday “Nancy”!
When programming a birthday WOD for someone it typically involves a few guidelines: it should mix exercises the person is not a fan of along with something they are good at, it should somehow reflect the birth date, age or year if possible, and it should be hard. For Curtis I threw some of those guidelines out and simply asked a few questions; what is hard and a weakness and something he has been targeting? His nemesis, the overhead squat. What would make it even more challenging? A benchmark with overhead squats. Last I asked, what would really get his goat? Picking my favorite benchmark WOD. So happy birthday! Don’t say I never did anything for you!
Tonight I was able to witness some cool PR’s again in the box. Some with heavier loads, full range of motion, or faster times for those who had done “Nancy” before. I watched Michelle PR (personal record) Nancy by over 8 minutes and go almost unbroken the whole way through! I was able to workout with the 5pm class and it helped push me to PR and also watch Pat get through the WOD RX’d after struggling with learning OH Squats only a little over a month ago. I watched as the late class improved tremendously on overhead squats. I talked with Pat about the topics of progress, setting personal records, and achieving athletic goals through CrossFit that continue to surprise all of us. From heavy deadlifts, to fast runs, to improving a dreaded lift with better form and less breaks. We talked about how you can never quit a WOD, never cheat yourself, and must always push through it to the end.
Curtis and I also talked after the WOD about setting PR’s. It was a good conversation that stuck with me and also reminded me of our collective journey at SnoRidge. Curtis was our first male client who took a leap of faith and joined SnoRidge CrossFit when we were a small garage gym with a barbell, med balls, a box, a rower and our daughter’s Barbie Car. Like many of you who started in the garage he watched as we grew and evolved and set new records with more and more clients. We in turn watched as he advanced and made progress in the gym both big and small. He got stronger, faster, and more skilled with both weighted and bodyweight movements. He slowly set PR after PR. It took time. It took patience. It also took impatience. He didn’t set a PR every workout or every other workout. Sometimes he was RX’d, many times early on he scaled back to work on learning and practicing correctly. But he always pushed hard.
Which brings us to now, where Curtis PR’d “Nancy” tonight. While it may not be RX’d, he improved significantly from the first time he did this with a bar to using a heavier load tonight. He scaled himself to a load that allowed for good form yet he did it fast. And he was stoked. Which brings me to the point I want to make. A PR is something to be proud of. It doesn’t have to be RX, blazing fast, crazy heavy, or a ton of rounds. It is simply a new record. An achievement for yourself to feel satisfaction knowing you earned it. With sweat, blood, sometimes puke or even tears, take note of how pushing yourself pays off with PR’s that are lasting and potentially life changing. Don’t take it for granted. Don’t think it’s easy or should just happen. Some days will be tough or even frustrating. It’s never automatic. Know that only through consistently hard work, rest, nutrition, and the persistence to ignore the inner voice we all hear each WOD will we each continue to raise the bar for ourselves and set a new personal best.
Travis and Curtis post WOD going for their max rep pull-ups. Both PR’d…
Notes:
Saturday Schedule: Affiliate team WOD will be at 9am. Class at 10am and 11am. Post to comments if you want the 10am Sat. class time. First 8 are a “go”!
Strength WOD:
Deadlift
5/4/3/2/1/1/1
Immediately after:
Max Effort:
1 Mile Run
Results
View this photo
View this photo
Amanda celebrating her PR!
We gotta get more weights! What a day in the box today. Every single one of you had a Personal Record. EVERY…SINGLE…ONE! Deadlifts were flying up and some of you PR’d by a whopping 50 pounds. Everyone also followed this up with some blazing 1 mile sprints. We should field a track team at the next Summer Olympics at this rate. Due to this development we are going to do two things; buy skinny 45# plates to fit on the bar and order a bunch of steroid test kits.
Pictures tell a thousand (pound) story:
Notes:
SKI Magazine sends a blogger to a CrossFit gym to get ready for ski season.
We are going to get more strict on burpees from here out. This will be the new standard for everyone except Michelle and I. Watch here for a demo: [wmv] [mov]
Oh and Travis, Michelle said to remember: “Ding – Ding”!
5 Rounds of Max Effort for 1 Minute of each exercise:
Max Rep Thrusters (95#/65#)
Max Effort Row (Calories)
* Rest 30 Seconds between exercises and rounds
Results
Pre-WOD:
Where did all the smiles go? Here is the general consensus on today’s WOD: “Brutal. Hard. Miserable. Worse than Burpees. Hardest one yet. Tougher than normal, and normal is tough!” Last observation: “I loved it!” Wait a minute. What?! I have decided Amanda is a) crazy b) a rower c) a masochist. As good as she is at rowing, I vote for “a”. She is crazy.
Rona feeling the joy of Thrusters:
Notes:
We are looking at starting our next Paleo Challenge in February. We are coordinating with our fellow cavemen and cavewomen. Stay tuned for details!
If you haven’t registered for the St. Patty’s Day 5k Run what are you waiting for? A pot o’ gold? Click on the link on the side of the page and run with the gang.
As Many Rounds As Possible in 20 Minutes:
400m Run
Max Rep Pull-ups
Run first then perform max rep pull-ups. Touching the ground or contact with a box (if performing assisted pull-ups) terminates the round and starts the next run. Grip it and pull!
Results
View this photo
View this photo
Jim M. pulling for the next rep:
“Nicole” is a WOD that crushes the forearms and makes it feel like you are running with two tree trunks tied to your shoulders. As your grip fails and the mind keeps racing the clock, you wonder how you are possibly going to get the next round of pull-ups without falling off the bar. The run is truly a penalty as it either sucks away time or forces you to run so fast that the heart is beating out of your chest as you come back to the bar. Do you practice your math skills while you run the 400m, constantly trying to pick what to target each round to get to your goal? What pull-up strategy do you use in this one? Do you hang on for dear life and eke out rep after rep? Or once you get to fatigue do you choose to drop and run fast? Whatever method you chose today, remember it and next time try the opposite. Looking at the whiteboard and the seriously impressive performances today make me want to get on that bar!
Notes:
Pics from our field trip on Saturday to practice some Olympic Lifting at Thrush Sports Performance Center (thanks Jim C. for taking some great ones):
3 Rounds for time:
400m Run
Max Rep Squat Cleans (95#/65#)
Partner up and go “head to head” at squat cleans. Most reps after 3 rounds wins. Run fast so you can out-do your partner!
Rules:
One runs 400m while one performs max reps.
Switch after each run.
Full squat clean, bar must touch ground each rep.
Results
This WOD was fun yet really tough. Dueling someone else head on makes those runs a little more meaningful. It really didn’t matter who ran first as you were equally taxed the minute you began the opposite exercise. For those who went solo matching your run time to your squat clean time made a unique twist as you were racing yourself.
This afternoon 11 of us (Moe was sick, get well soon!) went to Thrush Sports Performance Center for some outstanding Olympic Lifting coaching and instruction. Three coaches worked with our group for 2 hours to review the snatch (hang, power, and full), the clean (hang, power, and squat), and the jerk (push, split). Numerous pointers, cues, demos, and general practice under the watchful eyes of some very accomplished Olympic Lifters was invaluable. Each of us benefited in many ways which undoubtedly will lead to better technique, focus and movement. The corrections I received keep spinning in my head and make me want to set up a bar and get to work! We will likely plan another one of these sessions down the road. For those who went, we would love to hear your thoughts and impressions and for you to share with the rest of the SRCF gang. Big thanks go to Jeremy for hauling us all down in his killer RV “the Squatch Mobile” as well as to Jim for taking some great pics which I’ll post tomorrow.
Riding in style:
Team Shot:
Choose:
3 Rounds for time:
1000m Row
* Rest 4 minutes between rounds
Or
4 Rounds for time:
800m Run
* Rest the same amount of time of the previous run between rounds
Immediately after complete the following check out WOD “The Nickel”:
5 Rounds for time of:
5 Broad Jumps (6ft. Stall mat length)
5 Push-ups
5 Pull-ups
5 Knees-to-Elbows (KTE’s)
Results
Knees-to-Elbows by Pat:
CrossFit comes in many different flavors. There is CrossFit Endurance, CrossFit Kids, CrossFit Football, and CrossFit Mom. There is also the orginal, CrossFit.com (or Main site) as well as countless affiliates out there all offering a daily dose of constantly varied, functional movement done at high intensity. The WOD’s may be different, use different equipment, movements and time domains but they all follow the same basic tenets. Some boxes even use Strongman techniques mixed in. Things like tire flips, stones, farmer’s carries, yokes, and more. Rainier CrossFit is local and uses Strongman techniques with WOD’s and even sponsors an annual Strongman Event for charity. Another is CrossFit Conan, where Rob Orlando does the same. Here’s a video with an interesting variation on a class using tires and stones (the interviews with two new clients are also cool to see).
Over time my goal is to vary the training tools we use; starting with tires, hammers, and sandbags. To you they may be torture devices, to us they are a chance for all of us to play like big kids.
“A Class with Rob Orlando”, CrossFit Conan [wmv] [mov]
Some Squatch kids doing what their parents do:
Notes:
10am Saturday class is full. If you didn’t sign up for 10am then please come at 11am.
For those attending the Oly Lifting Coaching session tomorrow we will meet at the gym and leave at 2:30pm. We can all ride with Jeremy in his RV or you can caravan down. Session is from 3:30 to 5pm. Cost is $75.
