"Nan-Non"

3 rounds for time:

Run 400m
38 Kettlebell Swings (53#/35#)
40 Pistols (20 per leg)

Results

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Happy Birthday Shannon and Nan!

Shannon_KB Swing Nan_Pistol

Quote of the day: “Another birthday WOD? Man, people have to stop getting older in here.”

Today was pistols for Nan and kettlebell swings for Shannon. They both are runners too so for them I hope they loved this WOD. It was better than overhead squats I guess. For anyone who is new to the birthday WOD, we will help you celebrate your special anniversary of entry to this life by designing a WOD that might possibly make you or others want to keel over and end it all.

The pistol or one-legged squat is a movement that challenges the legs far more than the basic air squat. Unassisted bodyweight pistols require leg strength, balance and coordination (far more than the overhead walking lunge). There are several methods to scale this movement, from squatting to a box of varying height, to using a pole or post for balance, or to performing a “rocking” pistol where you rock onto your back and then roll your foot onto the floor and spring up into one legged squat. Whether you scale to one level or another, it matters not. What matters is you practice them to the best of your ability and be patient as you build up to a more advanced progression from one step to the next. 

Pistol Sequence:

Pistol Sequence - 1 Pistol Sequence - 2 Pistol Sequence - 3

Pistol Sequence - 4 Pistol Sequence - 5 Pistol Sequence - 6

Notes:

Day 41 of the Burpee Challenge. 9 to go. Oh and don’t look now but despite joining the challenge late Jim M. is catching up!

Michelle is working with lululemon athletica to coordinate a date this month for the “Trunk Show”, please be sure to let her know ASAP if interested. The first choice is hold it Friday afternoon, if not then Saturday after classes are over. They will bring very expensive articles of tight clothing and pants that every woman I have ever heard swears have magic powers at making them feel like a supermodel.

Our next Paleo Challenge will commence after the Burpee Challenge. This time we will tweak it with some great inputs from CrossFit Seattle that we are excited to implement. Oh and before and after pics will be required!

Last but certainly NOT least tonight I was inspired to watch Jim C. complete a very hard benchmark WOD as RX’d. He did “Grace” which is 30 clean and jerks for time at 135 lbs. (for men). Let me rephrase that, he absolutely crushed “Grace” in 3 minutes and 15 seconds. That is unreal for a 1st attempt. Way to go Jim!

Jim_Grace

Jim clean and practically push pressing all 30 reps!

Only ten days to go!

Day 40. Do Burpees…

Burpee Challenge

The barbell overhead walking lunge. I picked up this exercise from Morgan of CrossFit Tacoma and realized recently how we haven’t used it. I also realized yesterday how much I like it. Why? Because it is tough. It requires balance, coordination, and strength to walk and kiss your knee to the ground, all while keeping that bar safely and firmly supported overhead. It helps develop your overhead squat, another lift we need to do more of. So expect to see more of the overhead walking lunge. Which sucks for the rest of you… 

Michelle demonstrating the barbell overhead walking lunge as well as how thrilled she was to do this WOD in the rain yesterday:

M_OH Walking Lunge_Step M_OH Walking Lunge M_OH Walking Lunge_Step 2

Drenched Post WOD

Anyway Overhead Anyhow, part deux…

Affiliate Team WOD:

10 rounds each for time:

10, 9, 8, 7, 6… down to 1 each of:
Power Snatch (95#/65#)
Overhead Walking Lunge (95#/65#)
End each round with a 200m Run

Results

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Zombie Workout:

Power SnatchesOH Walking Lunges 

Main Class WOD:

As a Team of Two, men lift 11,000 lbs. and women lift 7500 lbs. anyway overhead for time:

Choose one bar from below weight options, then alternate with each partner to complete (use clean and jerk, snatch, thruster, etc.):

Men:

96 Reps Anyway Overhead (115#)
116 Reps Anyway Overhead (95#)
147 Reps Anyway Overhead (75#)

Women:

90 Reps Anyway Overhead (85#)
119 Reps Anyway Overhead (65#)
167 Reps Anyway Overhead (45#)

Results

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Mark displaying his enthusiasm for Power Snatches:

Mark_Intensity

Sometimes it just feels really good to throw a bunch of weight overhead. Today both WOD’s focused on quickly moving a large load overhead. In one WOD that method was the power snatch, in the other the decision of how much and what method to get a load overhead was up to each team. The most common method was the clean and push press, although the snatch was a close second. Either way speed and efficiency were the deciding factors. Remember that whether it’s a clean or snatch, keep the barbell close to the body, move fast, explode to reach full extension and open the hips before the arms bend. At the point where the barbell has accelerated to its max height due to momentum begin moving the barbell overhead as you drop under it. Land at full extension (in a partial squat if needed) with active shoulders and the arms locked out overhead.

Power Snatch Sequence

Notes:

Day 39 of the Burpee Challenge! Don’t give up now, there are only 11 days left!

Cross your fingers for Pat who tried out for Survivor today! Like a true Survivor he wouldn’t accept that there weren’t any numbers left to stand in line so he bargained his way into a chance by buying someone else’s spot in line. Let’s hope he is one of the lucky few so we can watch him do burpees at tribal council.

Several of us went sledding and tubing this weekend at the Summit with the little ones. It was a great time for both groups and we will do our best to help coordinate a group trip in January or February when the snowfall has piled up. 

The St. Patty’s Day 5k Dash is this March on the Ridge. Registration info is on the right hand side. Get signed up and let’s run for the pot o’ gold.

It has been great reading and hearing about several of your resolutions and goals for the coming year. Be sure to write them down. We can’t wait to see you achieve them. I am most personally stoked about the prospect of being able to compete side by side with Michelle in Sectionals and Qualifiers. Regardless of how we do, competing together will be a victory in itself! 

Happy New Year! Now write your goals!

Day 38 of the Burpee Challenge. Happy New Year!

Do your burpees and then stretch.

Stretch

New Year’s Resolutions:

It’s that time. The start of a new year. The time when most of us vow to do something we have put off, something we have always wanted to do or talked about doing. It’s that time when hope is eternal and the possibilities of the coming year are filling our minds of ideas and goals we want to achieve. It’s the time of the resolution. I have to say I personally am not one for New Year’s resolutions as I think when its time to set a goal you should set it and start marching towards it rather than waiting year after year. 3-2-1 Go or Just Do It seem to make much more sense to me. However not everything in today’s world is instant, most things take time, a plan, and a path. They take commitment and hard work and dedication. For that I say the New Year’s Resolution is perfect. 

So what are your goals for the gym? Is it losing weight, changing your nutrition habits, running a race, getting a muscle-up or pull-up, or competing in an event? Is it completing a WOD as RX’d, setting a PR, lifting a certain weight or learning that long sought after movement or technique? Maybe you want to get on the Leaderboard, or best a time in something you did before or learn a new sport or get better in one you play now. Well, now is the time to commit to it. Write it (or them) down. Either in your book at the gym or on the goals board. Writing your goals down means you have to either start to work towards them, erase them, or stare at them all year. Take the first step and write them down, no matter how ambitious, then make sure you keep coming in and let’s get you closer to crossing each one off. 

Here are some of mine for this year: get out on a snowboard, run a half, PR a 5k, compete in the Sectionals, field and compete with our team for the Regionals, get 30 muscle-ups for time in under 5:29, beat Michelle in max consecutive double-unders, get a CF Gymnastics certification, break a 1000 for my CrossFit Total, PR my deadlift, and most importantly continue to grow our box, have fun and watch this community get fitter and fitter. Now its your turn, if you have any you want to declare then post to comments. 

Notes:

Here is a CF Journal preview video of Mikko Salo documentary where he is training and completing Chest to Bar “Fran”. This workout was one of the 2008 Games WOD’s. It was 95# thrusters and chest to bar pull-ups (21-15-9 reps each). He does this in a mind blowing time that is faster than most of the fastest Fran times (which is normally regular pull-ups). Note how clean his reps are and how consistent his form is. What’s more amazing is at the end he not only doesn’t seem winded, but two of the reps were not counted and he had to repeat them. I can truly understand how he won the 2009 Games. He exudes willpower.

[wmv] [mov]

"2 Minute Drill"

Affiliate Team WOD:

As a Team of Two, complete 10 rounds each for time:

1 Power Clean (135#/95#)
3 Hang Squat Clean
2 Push Press or Push Jerk
30m Sprint

* Results to be posted (forgot to take picture)

New Year’s Eve WOD:

As a Team of Two, complete one round for tIme:

800m Run together 
Then alternate with each partner completing:
31 Kettlebell Swing (135#/95#)
31 Wallball (20#/14#)
31 AbMat Sit-up
31 Dumbbell Push Press (35#/20#)
31 Dumbbell Walking Lunges (35#/20#)
End with 800m Run together 

Results

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Day 37 of the Burpee Challenge. It just keeps going and going and going…

Two Minute Drill

Nan_Wall Ball Sangeeta_DB Push Press

Happy New Year’s! Stay safe and be responsible tonight! Tomorrow the gym is closed but Saturday will be the same schedule as today: 9am Affiliate Team training, 10am Class, 11am Class. First 8 to post on the blog (Bonnie is #1 so far) get a spot for 10am. 

Notes:

Our fearless Pat is trying out for Survivor this Saturday at the Snoqualmie Casino! If you can make it after the WOD on Saturday then head over to show your support and tell the casting folks he is a no brainer. I picture him on an island happily doing 100 burpees a day while winning all the challenges and introducing CrossFit at tribal councils!

Here’s a video that is flat out amazing for the time of this workout. “Angie” is a benchmark of 100 each of pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups and squats. It is hard. A sub 20 minute time is great. Watch Chris Spealler of CrossFit Park City record one of the fastest times I have ever heard for this. Simply astounding. 

“Angie” by Chris Spealler [wmv] [mov]

No More Pull-ups!

10 Rounds for time:

10 Pull-ups
10 Burpees

Results

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Curtis and Nan demonstrating the two components of “Burpee Hell”:

Got Pullups?_Curtis Nan_Burpees

Today was our first cross-gym CrossFit affiliate challenge brought to you courtesy of Outer Edge CrossFit. They are to blame for the pull-ups and burpees that hit us in the middle of our burpee challenge and only two days after “Chelsea” had us swearing off pull-ups forever. Whatever doesn’t kill us makes us stronger right?

A total of 6 boxes agreed to rotate picking a WOD for all to do each month on the last Wednesday of the last week starting today. We will tally up the total time for our gym and divide by all who completed it today to determine the average WOD time for SRCF. Once we have a final result for the top gym I’ll let everyone know. Next month another gym will get to pick so we will have our turn. Great turnout today and way to represent! This one crushed the chest (I am still coughing) and made your legs feel like lead and your arms feel like rubber. Can’t wait until next month! 

Don demonstrating the common post-“Burpee Hell” position:

Don_Post WOD

Notes:

Today is Day 36 of the Burpee Challenge! We are under two weeks to go. Stick with it. 

New Year’s Eve WOD schedule: 

  • 9am Affiliate Team Pull-up Training: Kidding! No Pull-ups!
  • 10am class roster: Bridget, Mark, Steph, Nan, Rona, Maria, Sangeeta
  • 11am class: Open to all

New Year’s Day: The gym is closed. For those interested Jeremy and Pat have invited all to come run with them along the golf course. Let them know tomorrow. We can ask them to accommodate a shorter route for those interested.

For those with kids: Snow Tubing at the Summit at Snoqualmie on Friday night, New Year’s Day. Pat and Jeremy are taking their kids to the 6pm – 9pm tubing session as it beats the crowds (he has experience with this so trust him). If interested get your tix and let us know! We are planning to join them.

Mad Max Pt. 2

Max Reps in 10 minutes of:

Front Squat (75#/55#)


Results


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Front Squats 

Shannon Front Squat Rona Front Squat

It’s back! We did this one back in September and it proved to be a tough front squat challenge. Once again for several the wrist and elbow flexibility was a limiting factor. Read the post from September for front squat cues to focus on. If you did this WOD back then compare results to see if you improved. 


Oh and don’t forget it’s Day 35 of the Burpee Challenge today! Post to comments if you are still in. We most definitely are.


Notes:

New Year’s Eve 12/31 we will have two “go” times: 10am and 11am. If you want the 10am slot then post to comments and the first 8 get a locked spot. Otherwise show up at 11am. It will be a team WOD. For the Affiliate Team if you can make 9am then let me know.


On New Year’s Day 1/1 we will be closed to mull over our Resolutions and to continue our burpees.

Last but not least, tomorrow is our cross-box WOD challenge with 6 other CF gyms in the Seattle area. Show up and represent SnoRidge!

"Chelsea"

Every minute on the minute for 30 minutes perform the following: 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 squats. Once you fall behind the clock and can no longer continue to maintain a round in that given minute, continue to 30 minutes with as many complete rounds as possible.

If you can finish the 30 minutes add +1 to each exercise, i.e. 6 pull-ups, 11 push-ups, and 16 squats each minute adding an additional rep until you can no longer continue. 

Score total rounds on the minute as well as partial rounds and reps completed after falling behind the clock.

Results

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Day 34 of the Burpee Challenge! Who’s left?

Curtis and Nan demo the air squat from both perspectives. These two torched Chelsea today!

Curtis Possessed Nan and Lucy_Chelsea

So this WOD is kinda like Cindy. Only this is the one where you take Cindy on a date, and she turns out to be this annoying long-talker who keeps on going and going and you just want it to be over so you can go home. Okay Chelsea wasn’t that bad but it was a tough WOD. You had to move quickly to keep up with the clock or you instantly moved to an “As many Rounds as Possible” format. It required some management on your part of how you would tackle the pull-ups and move quickly through the push-up and squat portion. For those on bands you had to move quickly on and off the box to save time. Either way though it was a great post-Holiday workout to burn off all our pie and cookies!

I also have to mention that I have to make a correction to the results. Curtis achieved 18 rounds (not 17). I announce this to ensure the integrity of our results as I was confused as a result of mid-WOD communication issues that I will blame on Curtis. If you actually look up the word Curtis in the dictionary or on Wikipedia it says: “Curtis: A name for one who is a trickster, a conniver, one who is sneaky or at times manipulative. In the world of Dora, Curtis is also known as “Swiper”. He will take candy from your kids, and if you are not looking, will take the Sunday paper off your porch.” So that said, you can see why I was reluctant to credit him his 18th round. All scores other than that are correct and we stand by them!

Seriously though, he earned his 18 with blood, sweat and almost puke. It was as inspiring to watch him push that hard as it was to watch Travis chase him in the late class. Great effort as usual today from everyone, whatever your score, you all worked your butts off for 30 minutes. Let’s do it all again tomorrow!

Travis and Eli with synchronized kipping:

Synchronized Kipping

Notes:

This wednesday will be our cross-box WOD Challenge with several local affiliates. All boxes participating will do the same WOD that day and compare results. Scoring is TBD.

Several of you have signed up for the Sectionals for this year’s CF Games Qualifiers! For more details see the previous post or ask. Let’s all represent!

Rest Day, Except for Burpees…

Do 33 Burpees for time then rest! Day 33!

Jeremy did his yesterday, even in the snow:

Winter Burpees_Jeremy
 

Notes:

The registration website for the 2010 CF Games is open. You can now register for sectionals for our state and region which are on Feb. 27-28 at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds! We strongly encourage anyone thinking of competing or for those trying out for our Affiliate Team to give it a shot. The sectionals are designed to be for everyone and will scale accordingly. It’s two days where you get to compete in workouts and have fun. Don’t say “I shoulda’ or I coulda'” after the fact. Just do it and thank yourself later! (On a side note for Team Squatch it will help you in preparation for our team Regionals in May).

You can also sign up to volunteer or just pay to go as a spectator. Cost is $50 for two days and each adult is allowed 2 kids under 12 for free. Competitor cost is $100 and includes one additional spectator. For more info on the Games (Sectionals/Regionals/Games) go to the 2010 CF Games site.

The Squatch Who Stole Christmas!

Three WOD’s today!

Every Minute on the Minute complete the following:

Open one present or sing a Christmas carol

As Many Rounds As Possible:

Eat a plate of Christmas dinner

For time:

DO YOUR BURPEES! ALL 30 OF THEM!

Looks like Santa had help last night from Squatch…

Squatch Who Stole Christmas

Remember the box is closed until Monday.