WOD – Page 623 – SNORIDGE CROSSFIT

"Cindy"

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

5 Pull-ups

10 Push-ups

15 Squats

Results

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

View this photo

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

View this photo

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

View this photo
View this photo

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

View this photo
View this photo

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.

"Rob"

For Time:

34 Double Unders
34 Pull-ups
34 Medicine Ball Cleans (20#/14#)
34 Kettlebell Swings (53#/35#)
34 Medicine Ball Cleans (20#/14#)
34 Knees-to-Elbows
34 Double Unders

Results

View this photo
View this photo

Happy Birthday Rob:

Don’t blame Rob! Blame me. He simply got one year older, I programmed the WOD. This workout focused on “pulling” from the bar or from the floor. Similar to but shorter than “Dirty 30”, this one packed a good punch. Like all birthday WOD’s, the numbers reflect either the age or day, and the workout includes exercises both easy and difficult for the honoree. In Rob’s case he smokes double-unders and pull-ups, while the 53 lb. kettlebell is a challenge. Hope you enjoyed it Rob!

Notes:

Congrats to Don who started getting butterfly pull-ups today! Great work!

Read “Real Foods vs. Fake Foods” Makes you think about why you would ever willingly choose to eat fake foods.

2010 CrossFit Games Ohio Sectionals at the Arnold Classic with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger [wmv] [mov]

By the way, can you guess who wore “Man-Prees” to the box today? These are worse than gloves!

Active Recovery

Hope you enjoyed your rest day! Or used it for some active recovery like a run, ride, or hike! Any sort of lower intensity exercise makes for good active recovery following high intensity workouts or competition.

Next weekend is the St. Patty’s Day Dash 5k and Kids 1k and today was the deadline for registering online. We have a bunch of you who are running. Details are at the link. Plan on meeting up pre-race for a group photo near the registration area (not sure where that is but the start point is listed as the intersection of Center and Kinsey). Wear something green, a CrossFit T Shirt and plan to have some fun! We are still looking for volunteers that aren’t running and are willing to help corral the little squatches for the 30 or so minutes it will take many of us adults to run. Let us know if you are willing!

Race Day Schedule
7:00-8:45a.m.- Bib Number Pick Up & Day of Race Reg
9:00 a.m. – Start of Kids 1k Run
9:15 a.m.- Start of 5k
10:15 a.m.- Awards Ceremony

Notes:

6am Class tomorrow on Monday morning with Moe! The Tuesday 6am class is cancelled this week!

Pics from yesterday (so good I wanted to put them in slideshow format):

"Deads, Sleds, and Dread"

Affiliate Team WOD:

21/15/9 reps of:
Deadlift (225#/155#)
Overhead Squat (135#/95#)

Results

View this photo

Mark and Pat rock out their deadlifts:

Main WOD:

In teams of 3 complete a relay race of 5 Rounds for time of:

100 ft. Sled Push (70#/35#)
50 ft. Shuttle Sprint
12 Sledgehammer Swings (16#/12# at 6 per side)
100 ft. Shuttle Sprint
200m Row
50 ft. Shuttle Sprint
25 Squats
* One athlete works while others rest

Results

View this photo

Tough Sledding with Rona:

Today was one of our most favorite days in the box. Or outside of the box. When it’s that nice out we have to drag the equipment outside and generate some power and intensity. We had several great waves of people today show up to have some “brutal fun”. Seeing so many people gutting it out in two tough WOD’s and in such a great scenic setting was motivating. From deadlifts and heavy overhead squats to sleds and sledges, we mixed it up a bit. We hadn’t done a relay or team WOD in awhile so this WOD worked great for teamwork and used the new sleds and the tire and hammers.

The affiliate team also got a taste of what going heavy in overhead squats will show you in terms of form faults. Overheads are improving! Getting a little beyond your comfort zone in the overhead squat will quickly amplify if you have shoulder flexibility or strength issues, whether you can properly support the bar while sending your posterior chain back and down, or if you have sufficient mid-line stabilization to support that load overhead. Kudos to Lorri and Lucy who found their groove and started getting the feel down for the OH Squat. Props to everyone for toughing out a very hard workout. Mark, Jeremy and Kim also joined us today from “The Compound” for the deadlift/oh squat WOD and then stuck around helping and coaching. Thank you so much for the good cues and extra coaching today.

“The Compound” Crew:

Lots of pics from today’s WOD can be found on Flickr. Check ’em out and thanks to Jim for helping take some great ones!

Notes:

Graham reported today that since he started CrossFit with us and switched to a strict Zone diet he has lost 20 pounds! All of that in only ONE month! Hard work, proper nutrition and consistency is clearly paying off.

Paleo-Zone Challenge participants: Remember your weekly weigh-in’s. We strongly encourage food logs as you will be interested in 7 weeks to look back at what you ate. Stay consistent, strict and avoid cheat meals as much as you can until April, then see the results and slowly see what you add back in moderation.

Here’s a thought provoking post and discussion: “The Grain Manifesto“

Pat modeling the exclusive handmade “SnoRage 1 Member Club T-Shirt” for Curtis’s garage: