Blog Archive

Thanks everyone for all you much appreciated support this week. It is a lot of work putting this content together every night the intent of pleasing all involved. The coaches work really hard to bring you some of the best content on the web and I have a new found respect for what all these guys put into the website every night and the amount of thought and calculation needs to go in to the programming to put together a good 7 day week.

T Bear is hosting the latest incarnation of the traditional Paleo battle. I had a go at the “flab challenge as it was called back in 2008 and the thing absolutely changed my life. I highly encourage anyone considering it to go ahead and participate it has the potential to be a real game changer for you. Moreover T Bear takes his role of resident nutrition Guru seriously and has put together a blog for everyone to follow to learn about and follow the Paleo battle and to steal a little of T Bear’s hard earned information. He has even posted some cool pics of the Halloween party as an added bonus for all of us.
Check it out: http://web.me.com/tbear73

Saturday:
In teams of 2
10 Deadlifts (305/205lbs)
20 HSPU
30 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls (135/95 lbs)
40 jumping squats
50 Chest 2 Bar Pull ups
60 Push ups
70 Sit ups
80 Kettle bell swings (1.5/1 pood)
90 Lunges
100 Double Unders

Sunday:
5 Rounds of
200m Run
20 Wallballs (20/14)
2 Rope climbs

Today it is my pleasure to share the inside story of my very first student with the rest of Crossfit Vancouver. He is known by many names Matt, Matty, Eagle, Bald Eagle, Patty Balls and Pat Ballman but most of the time I just call him Bro or Matt Dahlman.

After many months of harassing him to move over to Vancouver and start training with me he finally agreed to do a first day with me in February of ’09. Matt has alway had a scientific way of thinking and he recalls being most convinced by the practicality of Crossfit and the Code of Fitness. Plus he said if he was going to have to put up with working out, it was going to have to be the most efficient method he could find, and Crossfit boasted 3 minute workouts – “how could I go wrong?!”

As important as the efficiency is to Matt he says he probably wouldn’t be here as much as he is if it wasn’t for the community. He loves every aspect of the community and thinks of almost all of us as family; sometimes he loves ya, sometimes he hates ya, but he always has your back. He describes his philosophy as the 20 20 20 system. As long as he spends 20 minutes socializing in the beginning, 20 minutes working out in the middle, and 20 minutes socializing he will keep coming back.

Matt may have a pretty casual attitude about things and love talking people up when he gets to the gym but he also loves to compete. About 6 months into Crossfit Matt took the time to redo his first day and realized he really had come a long way (went from 3 ring dips to 14). This drove him to spend a couple of months on a strength program to help him develop what for him felt like a weakness. He managed to shave 10 minutes off his Zoe time. Now he is thinking of following some of the endurance programming to deal with another perceived weakness; look out over the next 6 months.

If you wanna get to know Matt better you are in luck cause he and Em are hosting their birthday gala at the box on January 28th. It will be a Naughty or Nice Pajama party and things will get going around 9pm so bring your booze and a positive attitude and they would love to have you.

Now for one of Matt’s favorite song’s

Warm up: 800m Run

Tech: Back Squat 3 rep max

WOD: 20 Back Squats 225lbs (155 for girls)
500m Row

Two Flights are full. Prizes are gonna be good this spring. Party will happen in late March 2011 to hand out the Cash and numerous prizes.

Battle Paleo

I just updated my new Battle Paleo website and thought you might want to check it out. To visit, just click on the links below or paste the URLs into your browser.

Site http://web.me.com/tbear73

Take a look and I’ll be posting lots of related material that I’ve gathered over the past 6 months.

Here’s the Rules

1. Eat Paleo, Whole 30 or Zone based diet as close as possible.

2. Limit stress, get adequate sleep, and workout regularly

3. GOAL IS – to lose as much subcontainious body fat as possible.

4. The challenge is for you to beat the 9 others in your flight. All flights will have their own unique challenge. So challenge your mates in your class, or those you live with.

5. Top half will move on after 4 weeks to a 2 week playoff of 5 individuals to show who can lose the most body fat as a percentage of what they started with from Day 1. measurements are not reset after 4 weeks. But, you’ll know how far behind you are.

6. The percent lost = (pinch width total at start – pinch width total at 4weeks)/ pinch width total at start

7. If there is less than 10 – pot $$ will be adjusted to the same percentage for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. and always half will move on to the finals. Groups of at least 4 to 10 must be made.

8. 7 pinch zones will be taken: bicep, triceps, iliac crest, abdominal, sub-scapular, thigh, calf.

9. Body Weight, Age, Height, Chest, Waist, and Hip measurements will also be taken.

10. Many community sponsors have come forward to make this challenge quite rewarding.

11. Wrap up party at a secret downtown location with deep discounts for all participants.

T-Bear

Hey everyone if you haven’t seen it yet there was a picture on the crossfit.com site yesterday that caused a great deal of controversy, and with that, discussion. It involved 5 people on a pull up bar with no pants on and is a continuation of several similar pictures on the crossfit.com site in the last few weeks (actually I think it was in response to the previous pictures). I have provided a link below so you can check it out and let us know whether or not you think a picture like this has a place on a “fitness” website? Consider yourself warned – if you are very easily offended don’t bother looking at it.

http://www.crossfit.com/mt-archive2/007378.html

Next up the Workout of the Day:

Fight Gone Bad
3 Rounds of:
1 minute to perform max Wall balls (20/14 lbs)
1 minute to perform max SDHP (75/55 lbs)
1 minute to peform max Box jumps (20″)
1 minute to perform max Push Press (75/55 lbs)
1 minute to Row as many Calories as possible
1 minute Rest

The last time I did this workout was in front of the Lululemon on Robson Street; this one is for the memories.

The first gymnastics day we had, a couple CrossFitters from outside of this community asked me if they could sign up. Since it filled up so fast, I told them next time we would open it up if the spots didn’t fill.

The last time I checked (last night), there were still 10 spots left for the Gymnastics Day at Pheonix Gymnastics this Sunday at 5 pm. As of tomorrow (Thursday), if there are still spots available and you CrossFit at a different affiliate, send me an e-mail to Emily () and we can get you signed up. Price is $30 if you don’t belong to this affiliate (we have to make sure everyone is insured).

What to expect from Gymnastics Day: Some coaching. Olympic Gymnast, Kate Richardson, will be on-hand again. But more than anything, it’s an open gym – a chance to play around on the trampoline, in the foam pit, on the spring floor, on the bars and beam…You will have fun, and you will be humbled.

Kate didn’t just represent Canada at two Olympic Games, she also made her mark on the NCAA scene and became one of UCLA’s most decorated college gymnasts. Here’s a vid of her college days:

So lately I have been loving the free podcasts available on iTunes. I find them a great portable way to fill those precious minutes when you are waiting for someone or caught in a line somewhere or taking the ferry. Two of my favorites are the Ted talk videos which we see a lot of on the website and the Freakonomics podcasts. While exploring this entertainment genre I came across this Ted talk and it got me thinking about my own life.

I’ve had periods in my life where it wasn’t at all strange for me to work 70 hours a week. Thinking about those long work weeks (and my lack of sleep), I realized that during those periods, I was my least successful. Now, thinking of when I was most successful I can conclude it was when I was working fewer hours, had a more well rounded lifestyle and was getting more sleep. I was doing more, having more fun, having more success, making more money and most of all getting a good nights sleep. I was disciplined enough to only spend as much time on any given activity as I could while still achieving the goals I set, intentionally worked smarter – not longer and prioritized my life to be able to say more than “I worked a 70 hour week and had 5 hours sleep last night.”

So take the time to sit down and enjoy this video and think about how you can live your best life then share it with all your friends; we want to hear about the little things you do to be your best everyday. Thanks for your advice!!!

Now for the workout:

Warm up: Coach’s choice

Tech: Skin the Cat’s, Levers and dead hang knees to elbows

WOD: “Annie”
50 – 40 – 30 – 20 – 10
Double Unders
Ab mat Sit ups

Only criteria for the Sit ups are head touches the ground and shoulders in front of the hip at the top. Throw your arms, anchor your feet or scream your lungs out, just move as fast as you can. Sorry all of you purists but its my week my rules and I want to see some PR’s; Spealer anchors and he is pretty legit.

Finally in the last ten minutes of class perform the following stretches from Kelly Starrett’s mobility WOD to loosen up those hips and shoulders from yesterday’s Murph and get ready for another huge one on Thursday.

Thanks and see you in the box.

Now that everyone is back in town after the holiday’s, Giselle and I are hosting another Contract-Relax Stretching workshop Saturday January 15th @ 2pm.
Lets make this a supple New Year!
Sign up on the bulliten board or email to reserve your spot. Space is limited.

Andy

So the other day Kermit asked the 7pm class, “what they are irrationally afraid of?” I replied something stupid like enclosed spaces, then as I walked away after the workout I thought about it a little more and what I came up with was the Fall guy. To give you a frame of reference when I first started doing Crossfit I was pretty fat and slow but when it came down to it I felt like I was willing to work harder for that 5 to 25 minutes than almost everyone else in the gym to be the best at any given workout.

That is everyone except for a guy we used to train with at the old barn called the Fall guy. Every time he showed up at a workout I was afraid to go up against him because I lost my one advantage. All of a sudden there was someone in the room that was willing to endure more pain than I was willing to endure. I once saw him do a Chest to Bar pull up ladder and the guy turned his hand to meat but would not stop until there was absolutely no way his body could possibly physically do a pull up. Many of us stood around and watched this and thought this guy is totally crazy.

I realized that I wasn’t going to be the toughest guy in the gym anymore as long as this guy was around. I also realized that I was using that identity as an excuse to not work on my weakness and become a better athlete. Thanks to the Fall guy I realized I had to do things like figure out how to do Double Unders. So I would really love to hear from everyone about your personal experiences of who motivates you? Who or what are you afraid of? What or who makes you want to be better?

In the name of fear here is one of the baddest workouts on the planet.

.

Warm up: Quadra pedal basics

Workout: Murph

1 Mile run
100 pull ups
200 push ups
300 squats
1 mile run

Break up the reps anyway you like but the runs are the bookends. Good luck and bring warm clothes in case it snows.

From The Bear:

Paleo battle pinch times

Thursday 4-5pm and 7-8pm
Sunday 6pm
Monday 5 to 7pm
Wednesday 7-8pm

Good luck

Alright so for one more week the inmates are running the asylum and Sheppy has put me (the lumberjack) in charge of the programming and content for the week. I know what you are thinking and yes you will all have to lift some heavy weight this week but also expect a lot of gymnastics and running as well. Before I get into the workout and while I have people thinking about gymnastics, Emily has put together another one of her gymnastics days at Pheonix gymnastics next Sunday. Everyone had a real blast last time so check it out; they say a picture is worth a thousand words and a video has over a thousand pictures so check out the video of the last session in the video of the week section.

Next Sunday – January 16th – 5 pm at Pheonix Gymnastics (33rd and Ontario)

One and a half hours – some coaching and lots of open gym!

Kate Richardon – 2-time Olympic Gymnast will be on hand helping coach again.

Cost: $25.00

Last time it filled up within four days, so grab a spot while they’re still available. Sign up will be posted at the school tomorrow.

Pay Eunice upon sign up.

Today we are going to focus on Olympic lifting so I want to address what I would consider an underutilization of a core Olympic lifting skill: the use of the hook grip. I was personally able to add 15 lbs to my snatch and 20lbs to my Clean by figuring out how to utilize a hook grip. As difficult as it was to get the hang of my thumb is quite comfortable in the position now.

Hook Grip
Olympic weightlifters use a special grip that is relatively unknown to the average gym goer. This special grip is known as the hook grip.
The hook grip will stop the barbell from turning while gripped in the hands unlike a conventional grip. A conventional grip of thumb over the fingers can produce more force; however it is not the most secure grip to use. The hook grip is achieved by wrapping the thumb around the bar first and then wrapping the pointer and middle finger around the thumb.

There are two ways to unhook the hook grip. The first way is done naturally when a lifter flips their palms up. Other lifters might have to unhook after the squat and then prepare for the jerk. Most lifters will use a conventional grip when jerking the barbell.
Initially the lifter who is first using the hook grip will experience pain in the thumb. This is normal to a person who has never conditioned their hands to the hook grip. Some beginners will also have the thumb bruise (turn black and blue) this is normal and will pass with time. If the lifter experiences too much discomfort from the hook grip they should only do some lifts with the hook grip while using a conventional grip for other exercises. Eventually the lifter will build up a tolerance to the pain while using the hook grip and will be able to use it all the time.

Hopefully this helps and feel free to ask the coach in your class for help in mastering this essential move.

Warm up: Burgener Warmup

WOD: Olympic Lifting Total

Once the warm up is complete you have the entire class to complete a one rep max of both the Snatch and Clean and Jerk. As we are Crossfitters and not Olympic atheletes some press out is okay. So grab a partner or two and team up so there is someone there to cheer you on. Combine the two lifts and post it as your score on the leaderboard. Good luck everyone and let the games begin.

HPC and MADLAB times Monday and Thursday 7pm. Block off your schedule! MadLab will begin early Feb.
No Sunday Spot. Majority preferred weekdays.

Did you know there’s a significant CF Van following that dewarfs our own little community posts, texts and facebook messages?

The website hits are up. Keep Talking peeps!!!!!!!

Maybe we’ve found a niche of people that can relate to the community, like the WOD’s and understand that CrossFit is real and present, and should never be taken lightly on any given Sunday.

We are quite different from “the norm” and I love it. Everyone is gaining ground.

Dave Eaton said “I’ve never skied in the past 30 years like I skied today. I was completely able to keep up with my 23 year old son and the best wine rep in Canada….. Those MF’s were out till 3am last night.”
I kid you not. No wool will ever be pulled, down or up, or from any direction in our school. You will learn first and workout later. Sorry.

Recently, I visited my childhood best friend in the Crowsnest Pass, then hit Calgary, Lethbridge and a bunch of places I’ve been to when I was young.

Man, how they have changed.

1 in a 100 have heard of CrossFit. I found a few that heard but didn’t really know shyte,….. while a lucky 5 actually new Patty and myself from the website. Trippy at the time but pretty cool now that I think about it.

Since then, I check our expression engine daily and find that our daily hits are ten fold of what they used to be last year.

Is there something off??? Let’s do a little math.

I’m thinking 10% stalkers, 10% x’s, maybe 50% is current family members and friends, 15% are – for sure – local competitors checking in, so I’m left with 15% in the unknown.

Post if your out there. Let us know what you like or dis and we’ll reciprocate with our light hearted banter.

THE SUNDAY WOD

“Newbies Beware”
5 – 600lb tire flips (305lb for ladies)
300 walking lunges
120 push-ups
50 pull-ups
20 – 3 Foot Box Jumps (28″ for ladies)
and 9 Muscle-ups. (use floor progressions on rings -1 to 1MU’s)

T-Bear….out