WOD – Page 638 – SNORIDGE CROSSFIT

"Zombieland"

5 Rounds for time:
40 Double-Unders
30 Box Jumps (24″/20″)
20 Kettlebell Swings (53#/35#)

Results

Soaked head to toe either from sweat or rain; the guys demo this WOD:

This was brutal. Surprisingly so. Knowing main site WOD’s are always both physically and mentally challenging, this one snuck up quickly on you. Everyone was gassed by the end after each class and as Eli noted very “Zombie-like”. Double Unders are improving for many and the emphasis on jumping the box jump is also leading to better athleticism. Remember the box jump is primarily an exercise used to develop explosive hip extension that translates directly to the Olympic lifts of the clean and snatch. It also builds better agility, speed, coordination and stamina which pay off across the board in many other exercises. So take the time and try to jump as much as you can, regardless of height. It will increase your power.

Notes:

Attention Parents! We are asking for your help regarding kids in the box and the rules and use of the Squatch Cave. First I want to take a moment to mention what our purpose is as a CrossFit facility. Our goal is to build fitter individuals and a fitter community. We strive to offer no nonsense, high intensity functional fitness in a safe training environment that can properly provide coaching and an atmosphere of encouragement and success for all of our members. We do not offer daycare or kid-sitting services. We certainly don’t want to be in the practice of having to police children or be the “bad guy” so we look to you as parents to help us all ensure the kids are following the rules, being safe, being respectful, and above all reminding them that the gym is just that, a gym. Please be mindful that many of our members do not have children. We provide the Squatch Cave to those of you who are parents as an alternative waiting area for you to utilize when you have your kids and coming in for your workout.

The Cave is unsupervised and use at your own risk. It has toys. It has some books, blocks, and other things that kids like to use to pass the time while waiting for you. We love to let them out to play after all the adults are done. However before they can play or leave they all need to help clean up. They also need to wait in the Cave or play outside but not keep running in and out. It’s not only for their safety but also for yours and are just part of our rules. We need to focus on running the gym and being your coaches so please help us by ensuring the kiddos know to follow the rules and listen to the adults or they won’t be allowed to come back into the gym. We really don’t want to have to make that kind of decision. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation!

First Timers

These Squatch Kids know how to play hard then rest:

This past week was a first for a couple folks. Rona got her first pull-up (plus 2 more) then Don got his first Muscle-up (plus one). Congrats!

First Timers from Tom Nugent on Vimeo.

"Squatch"

3 Rounds for time:

Sandbag Run 800m (50#/25# with hill)
5 Muscle-Ups
10 Kettlebell Swings (70#/53#)
15 Overhead Squat (95#/65#)

Results

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And they’re off…

Ryan and the hill: Love the shadows:

Our very own official benchmark workout for our box. I did this last year when we were still in the garage and used the hill in the woods behind the house. Today we brought this one out for all to try and incorporated the hill out front and the sandbags. For those who don’t have muscle-ups yet we subbed muscle-up progressions, ring pull-ups and even tried something new by using a band assist with the rings which worked well. This WOD mixes a little of everything (running, ring work, barbell, odd objects like sandbags and heavy kettlebell) and for only three rounds makes a good challenge especially with a hill on each run/trot. For those who missed this you will have to simply have to wait until next time and “Watch for the Squatch”.

Speaking of muscle-ups, Don got his 1st muscle-up today POST-WOD. He actually got two (No Travis I am not BS’ing you). Travis was joking that lately it seems like every couple days it’s someone getting a muscle-up and that Ashley is next. Muscle-up fever! Congrats Don!

Notes:

Great Friday 5pm class turnout with Moe. We are stoked you all showed up and took advantage!

Cinco De Mayo 8k and 1/2 Marathon: If you are running either race register at the gym to get $5 off the entry fee. If you are running the 1/2 marathon then register by March 31st at our gym before entry fees increase starting April 1st. The 8k price will go up later in April. Either way don’t procrastinate! Details are here.

Squat clean pain: The “Serious 7” from the 2010 CF Games New England Sectionals [wmv] [mov]

Rugby and CrossFit: Training the “High Hang Snatch” with Owen Franks of the New Zealand All Blacks (Rugby Pro Team) with Coach Mike Burgener [wmv] [mov]

Burpee Oreo

3 Rounds for time:

Row 500m
21 Burpees
Run 400m

Results

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Nothing says brutal fun like a run/row wod with a burpee filling in the middle. It’s a Burpee Oreo!

Lorri’s farewell party was tonight! That means everyone is out partying and not likely checking in on CrossFit. Tonight was not a reason to celebrate but rather it was a reason to gather friends and raise a toast to a great family who are moving soon and starting a new chapter in their lives. We are gonna miss Lorri and her clan!

Notes:

CONGRATS to Rona for getting her first pull-up and then her 2nd and 3rd! Amazing progress and all that practice and hard work has really paid off. One thing besides practicing kipping and doing assisted pull-ups regularly, I think Rona’s consistent post WOD rope climb practice from the prone to standing really helped develop the arms for that extra pulling power.

Rona post pull-up giddyness:

The 10am class has two signed up, I’ll be surprised if we fill it since everyone was pounding beers and shots for time tonight. We will also have an 11 as well. Affiliate Team meets at 9am.

"DT"

In honor of USAF SSgt Timothy P. Davis, 28, who was killed on Feburary, 20 2009 supporting operations in OEF when his vehicle was struck by an IED.

5 Rounds for time:
12 Deadlift (155#/105#)
9 Hang Power Clean
6 Push Jerk

Results

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Sangeeta honoring “DT”:

Coaching Sequence:

Jana demonstrates the barbell lifts of DT. The deadlift has a good set position and open hips at the top. The hang power clean keeps an upright chest and straight arms as she initiates the bar to travel down to above the knees before reversing direction and generating momentum in an explosive upward shrug. Note the triple extension in her hang clean and that the arms have bent only after the knees and hips and ankles have extended. This is outstanding. The hang clean finishes with high elbows. The push jerk starts with the elbows dropping towards the floor (but in front of the bar) as she dips vertically and then drives upwards to a landing back in the 1/4 squat (not shown) before standing up and locking out fully overhead. Great job Jana!

Notes:

Tomorrow weekly 5pm Friday classes are “game on!”

Lorri’s goodbye party is also tomorrow. Join the gang after the WOD and raise a glass at Finaghty’s Pub tomorrow night!

Recipe ideas running short? Consider “Paleocookbooks.com”

Why is it called the "Clean"?

Strength WOD:

Squat Clean
3/3/3/3/3
* Work up to 3RM (3 Rep Max)

Check Out WOD Immediately After:

As Many Rounds As Possible in 12 Minutes of:
3 Squat Cleans (95#/65#)
5 Push-ups
7 Knees-to-Elbows

Results

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Jorge in the 2nd pull of the squat clean:

Michelle working on flexibility with Bridget:

The clean and jerk is known as the “King of Lifts” because it allows for more weight to be lifted overhead than any other known weightlifting technique. Why is it called the clean? From Wikipedia the early 20th century technique for lifting weight in competitions was known as the “Continental”. This was a movement practiced by Germans over the British (from the continent) and involved pulling a barbell up to rest on a belt, then flipped and wrestled clumsily up to the rack position to press overhead. This became known as a slow, nonathletic, and inefficient method compared to the faster way to lift the bar “clean”. The Continental fell out of favor and the clean was adopted by weightlifting federations as the official movement. Thus the story behind the “clean”.

This week and last we have focused on the clean. The power clean, hang power clean, and today the hang squat clean and full squat clean. The key to the squat clean is the second and third pull. The second pull is where you reach triple extension of the hips, knees and ankles (as Jorge is doing above) and the third pull being the pull under the bar as it reaches it maximum height and the lifter pulls into a deep squat and receives the bar. It’s vital to limit the load and practice the full squat clean movement technique rather than piling on the weight and breaking it up to do a power clean and a front squat.

Wonder what the Olympic Weightlifting world records are for the clean and jerk (yes squat clean)? Men’s world record is 581 lbs.! Women’s is 412 lbs.! Think about all of that weight deadlifted, cleaned, squatted, and pressed overhead.

Notes:

CrossFit Seattle is hosting Robb Wolf for a Paleolithic Solution Nutrition Seminar on Sunday, May 2nd from 9am to 5pm. Cost is $195. If you are interested you can find out more and register here. Robb is the one who ran our CrossFit Nutrition Cert back in 2008 and literally changed our lives. His seminar educated us to what eating healthy really is and opened our eyes to the meaning of “real food”.

Push, Pull

7 Rounds For Time:

5 Handstand Push-Ups
5 Deadlifts (225#/135#)

Results

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Short and sweet. This WOD is a quick one that with full handstand push-ups gasses you midway through and taxes the shoulders. We underestimated the effect scaling would have on this one and the shortened ROM (range of motion) for handstand push-ups did not adequately train the shoulders. Chalk it up as a learning experience. Future WOD’s with handstand push-ups will be stricter in using the pike push-up on the floor or pike off a box as a suitable scaled exercise rather than allowing 3 AbMat’s for a HSPU. For those who can get inverted and easily knock out HSPU’s with 2 AbMats we will lower that target slightly by using a 10# bumper and AbMat. The goal is to make the range of motion an equal challenge and load on the shoulders as a full ROM handstand push-up requires. This will increase overall strength in the shoulders much quicker.

Congrats Travis for PR’ing your double-unders with 48 straight tonight. Impressive hops! Also a big burpee welcome to John and Cathy who are completing Elements this week and Tara who just started. Don’t worry, you three will find out what burpees are soon…

“The Triplet” Highlights from the 2010 CrossFit Games Carolina Sectionals [wmv] [mov]

Notes:

5pm Friday afternoon class begins this week.

Saw this quote on an email from Lauren at lululemon: “There is no separation between health, family and work. You love every minute of your life.”

"Box Jump Annie"

50/40/30/20/10 of each of the following for time:

Box Jumps (24″/20″)
AbMat Sit-ups

Results

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Jeremy and the GHD:

Weak Sauce: Defined by Urban Dictionary as “an event or object that lacks intensity and/or fails to fully accomplish its purpose”. I would add to this definition to include: “whining, complaining, or generally approaching the CrossFit Warm Up with a lackadaisical attitude; going through the motions or trying to shortcut it.”

The warm up has a purpose. It is movement preparation and injury prevention. It warms the muscles and overall body temperature, which increases muscle elasticity and reduces stiffness. It dilates your blood vessels and allows more oxygen to travel through the blood in your muscles enhancing endurance and performance. It induces the body to cool itself more efficiently. The warm up improves range of motion around your joints and triggers the release of hormones in the body that drives your body to release carbohydrates and fatty acids to be used for energy production. Finally, the warm-up signals the mind to get ready to get work done.

When you come in, leave the weak sauce at the door and approach the warm up as a chance to focus on movement prep as well as a chance to improve technique with a PVC and perfect your range of motion. It will pay dividends in the WOD and in your overall fitness.

If you want the exact opposite of weak sauce, then go watch two of the top CrossFitters in the world in “Speal vs. Khalipa” on the CrossFit Journal [wmv] [mov]

Notes:

Congrats to Zach for getting his 1st Muscle Up today after the WOD! Also congrats to Lucy, Pat and Jeremy for running the Mercer Island 1/2 Marathon this weekend. Warriors all of you!

Lorri’s going away gig is this Friday night! If you didn’t receive the Evite let Lucy know or drop us an email. We don’t want her to move so this is our last chance to change her mind!

Beyond the Whiteboard posted some major changes recently. Go read the link for some in-depth explanations around some of those new features.

Paleo/Zone Challenge Update: The Body Fat Truck will be back April 10th at the conclusion of the challenge to conduct a follow up test. Stick with the diet changes and make them lifestyle changes. For those who have been weighing in weekly we have seen weight dropping, and for many performance and recovery improving. Rachel has lost 13 pounds so far!

Schedule change: Starting this Friday we will have a 5pm class each week with Moe! Whoo hoo!

Max Effort Rest

Where’d the hands go? Oh it’s a rest day!

Congrats to Michelle for completing her CF Olympic Lifting Certification this weekend.

Video from CrossFit.com of Russell Berger snatching 200 lbs. at a bodyweight of 147 lbs. [wmv] [mov]

"Eva"

5 Rounds For Time:

800m Run
30 Kettlebell Swings (70#/53#)
30 Pull-ups

Results

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Grip it and rip it:

For many of us that is what we did. Gripped it and subsequently ripped it. Needless to say pull-ups will take a backseat while the hands rest for a few days. Don’t worry though there are PLENTY of WOD’s that don’t need pull-ups or an ironclad grip.

Who is Eva? If you are curious Eva T. is a former US Ski Team member and Olympic medalist. She is one of the OG’s of CrossFit. She is an affiliate owner who has a reputation for being extremely fit, strong and an all around beast of an athlete. This WOD is fittingly named for her.

As far as the “Girls” benchmark WOD’s, I think this is absolutely the toughest of them. Hands down. It’s a grinder, a beat down, a chipper of the soul. There was angst around doing this today (myself included) and for that I say it’s a good thing. The reasoning behind me programming this is simply that it gives you perspective. When you have to gut it out for up to an hour in relentless high intensity work you look at those sub 10 minute workouts a little different. Eva forces you to either get work done or give up. If you always avoid the WOD’s that demand high power output for a prolonged period of time, you will only be increasing one relative weakness.

This type of work makes you a little more confident after you do it, thinking “Wow I just did what?!” That alone makes it worth it. Now for what we were all thinking when we were actually in the middle of doing it, simply look at the below pic of Rona for what everyone was feeling:

Curtis and Jason also came in and rowed 5k today (both are a little banged up) and turned in very impressive times of a little over 20 minutes. Thanks to Curtis who helped me with picture taking today during the first wave. Here’s the Eva recap on Flickr.

Notes:

Beginning next Friday we will have a 5pm Friday class with Moe! That will mean 5pm classes Monday through Friday. No excuses now!