Blog Archive

**** LONG WEEKEND SCHEDULE ****

Friday: 6 am and 1 pm

Saturday: 10 am

Sunday: No Class

Monday: 6 am, 11 am, 5 pm, and 8 pm

**** LONG WEEKEND SCHEDULE ****

Wednesday is typically gymnastics day. But given the long weekend ahead of us, programming is going to change. Today we will be doing the Crossfit Games Open WOD Week 5.

Warm Up: Coach’s Choice

Tech: Power Cleans 1-1-1-1

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 20 minutes of:
5 Power cleans (145lbs / 100lbs)
10 Toes to bar
15 Wall balls (20lbs to 10′ target) (14lbs to 9′ target)

Standards:

** No special straps (ie. gymnastic wraps, etc…) but you are allowed to tape your hands to protect it. ** It’d probably be a good idea to tape your hands. Some early birds have paid the price.

Power Clean:
Ground to shoulders. Touch and go permitted. Drop is permitted, but, bar must be stationary before it can be lifted again. Bounce is not permitted. Hips and knees fully open when bar is caught in rack. Elbows in front of bar at the top of the rack position. Cleans can also be caught as a squat clean.

Toes to Bar:
Must initiate each movement from a full hang. Arms and hips fully extended at the bottom, with feet behind the bar at the bottom of the movement. Both feet touch the bar at the same time. Feet must touch, does not matter where. Arms can be bent or straight, grip is over, under, which ever.

Wall Balls:
Start is at bottom of squat. **No sitting ball** Hips below knee level. Like the cleans, if the ball is dropped, it must be stationary before the next lift. No bounce. Ball MUST HIT at or above target line. Anything below or a no hit is not counted.

Get taped. Be well rested.
CJ

To get in the spirit of the old man turning 40, here’s a preview video of the festivities that lie ahead!

April 23rd. Be there!

It has come across my attention that some people are still having problems stringing together 30+ double unders. I am more than confident that those same individuals paid the price when that Double Under Games-WOD came down from HQ. Double unders are great way to supplement the development of explosive power from our lower legs as well as power in our upper back/shoulders. Also, double unders are a great supplement to those looking into barefoot running to develop your calf and foot strength and overall sprinting capacity. It takes a totally different kind of conditioning to string together 100+ double unders. If we are consistently practicing this movement we should all be approaching close to 50+ consecutive. But, I know some people don’t do them because they just can’t get it. So, lets take it from Buddy Lee himself to teach us how. In this video he touches on the power jump.

Essentially, in the power jump, you just want to be able to jump twice the height of your regular single unders. While jumping you want to be able to keep your whole body as straight as possible, without piking or bending at the waist. When you get better at the power jump you won’t have to jump as high. I find that this jump is 1 of 2 crucial components in getting the double under. The second component is hand/wrist speed. If you watch the hands of both Buddy Lee and the lady demonstrating, the speed of rotation of their HAND AROUND THE WRIST, not forearm around elbow **key point**, does not slow down. The speed is consistent and its fast. In words, the sound of the rope going around you is like a “woosh-woosh”, then a “woosh-woosh, woosh-woosh…” and so on…

Warm Up: Coach’s Choice

Tech: Double Unders

If you’ve got 30+ double unders already, play around with those other positions that Buddy Lee demonstrates.
1) Side Stradle
2) Forward Stradle
3) Skiers
4) The Bell
5) The Twister
And if you’re courageous enough, 6) The Swap!

Workout:

The Defibrillator

15 Double Unders
5 Burpees
Rounds in 10 Minutes

Coach’s leave an extra 10-15 minutes before the end of class to do some stretching. Anyone that hit yesterday’s running WOD plus today will experience some lower leg tightness, so stretch it out. Hit the calves, achilles, and hamstrings especially.

Have fun!
CJ

Ever since the birth Crossfit there has never been a more debated subject, other than Crossfit itself, than barefoot running. And I must confess, before working at an undisclosed specialty running store, I was one of those guys that was so gung-ho about the idea and thought that it was the best thing ever – without doing research. Since starting I have learned many things about cushioning of shoes, structure, support systems, foot mechanics, and running mechanics. I have even learned a little bit about the traditional shoe industry versus the barefoot industry.

Many times I come across a well meaning customer looking for, “… those toe shoes…” or “… those really flat weird shoes…” Or a customer just as jacked and excited about barefoot running as I was. Given the circumstances, I couldn’t help but ask, “How much research have you done on barefoot running?” The most common answers are, “Well…” or “My friend that’s a (insert health profession)…” These conversations usually end with them not buying anything from the store, which I am not ashamed of, I just slip them my cards wink There are a few key points that I bring up that almost all these customers fail to realize.

1) You CANNOT do a heel strike in a minimal / barefoot shoe (more in part 2)
2) Your feet are different (ie. Strength and flexibility) than those runners that are accustom to running in minimal shoes (ie. Tri-athletes or marathoners that train in race flats). Therefore, we cannot do the same things as easily as they do.
3) Due to the inability to do a heel strike, your running mechanics will change

The traditional shoe industry has done outstanding work in terms of providing any everyday individual a shoe to run in. What they have done is taken the natural (not barefoot) way you run and have designed shoes with different types of cushioning, structural supports, and weights depending on the individuals needs. With injury, comes question. One question that arises is, What if it’s the shoes? The barefoot industry says that if you run a certain way, you won’t get injured, at least from those common nagging knee and low back pain. Thanks to some outstanding marketing and lack of statistically significant research neither proving or disproving barefoot running, people have gotten the wrong message. What I have come across as a common thread in all this is, it is how you run and not necessarily the shoes.

For those of you interested in taking up running and are looking in to barefoot running as your means of transportation. Do research, talk to people who have adopted this style of running such as Andy “6th fastest man in the world to run up a hill with a 70 lbs sand bag on my back” Sack, Anthony King, and TBear and see what they have to say. Take your time. People don’t realize that the runners that are successful in this style of running, or a similar style, trained like this for years and they still train like consistently with a flat shoe or racing flat. Our feet don’t equal their feet.

I understand I only scratched the surface of this whole debate and I’m sure someone is going to feel that I missed some sort of key point, that’s fine just bring it up yourself! More will be coming later this week due to my own lack of research to cite mixed with studying for final exams. But there is enough content to spark a healthy back-and-forth within our community.

One source that I liked for running this way, or at least close to it, is Chi-Running.com and that’s where I have taken our technique excerpt.

And now for your viewing fix…. I present to you my baby girl Maliah Faythe Gnanasegran Castro

Warm Up: Coach’s Choice (keep it short)

Tech: Mid-foot / Fore-foot stiking
The idea is to not let your heel hit the ground first. What I focused on when I was learning to do a mid-foot strike was to not let my knee come up as high as normal, I pulled my foot closer to my bum (like a butt kicker), let my feet land flatter and under my hips, maintain a more upright posture, be relaxed in the upper torso and faster foot turnover (think 180 steps a minute)

Check here for more information

http://www.chirunning.com/chi-library/article/10-components-of-good-running-form/

Workout:
6.4k My Butt!

800 m x 8 for time
Partner Workout. Pair yourselves based on your weight and tabata squat score. The idea is to get a work rest ratio of 1:1. Do your best

Partner 1 runs 800, Partner 2 rests
P1 tags P2
P2 runs 800, P1 Rests, and so on.
4 rounds each

Happy Running!
CJ

Okay well it is the weekend and this will be my last post as I have put together the traditional weekend double. I thought I would try to accomplish two goals with this post by sharing a little comedy from my past and providing a positive message about Crossfit.
I spent a lot of my early Crossfit days trying to convince people that they needed to do Crossfit because it was so good for them. Tonight I attempted to do it with a light hearted video because I have heard a picture is worth a thousand words and a video is worth a thousand pictures.
As for the workout it is a toned down version of the the epic madlab workout that crushed some of our best athletes last Thursday. This one should quench your thirst for a grinder. So enjoy the workout, enjoy the video and enjoy the weekend.

Untitled from Mike Dahlman on Vimeo.

Saturday

W/U: Coaches Choice (keep it short)

Tech: Power Clean

WOD: Mad lab Partner WOD
800m Partner Heavy bag carry
60 Power Cleans (135/85lbs)
60 Burpees
60 Wallballs (20/12lbs)
60 Pull ups
60 OHS (95/65lbs)
800m PArtner Heavy Bag Carry
6 Rope Climbs

Sunday

W/U: Coaches Choice

Tech: OHS

WOD: Games WOD 11.4 Do-over
AMRAP 10 mins
60 Burpees facing bar
30 OHS (120/90lbs)
10 Muscle Ups

Christian Sloan – Making the Waiter/Actor Cliché Work

We’ve all heard it before: The waiter that is really an actor just waiting for that big break. Well Christian Sloan, 36, waiter at Cardero’s, just might have gotten it.

Last year he was cast in the lead role of the web series “Om Sweet Om”. He is “Rama Yana”, a Yoga Master that has… Shall we say… A way with the ladies.

Born in Victoria, Christian got involved in acting around grade 12 although he has been studying it much more seriously in the last 10 years. He loves theatre but TV and movies pay better.

Somehow Christian has developed a specialty in abuse. He’s had roles where he’s been killed by a vampire twice, gone insane with drugs and punched out. Quite a niche he’s developed for himself.

He says having the CrossFit body really gives him an edge in the industry. Surely it was a factor in being cast as Rama Yana.

Christian is celiac and learning about nutrition at CrossFit Vancouver has proved invaluable for him in dealing with it. “CrossFit has shown me my limitations and empowered me to push past them”.

Engaged last year I asked him what his fiancée thinks of some of the scenes he is shooting in Om Sweet Om. He replied laughingly “Oh Ya! She’s a big fan!”

Wondering what happens on set when he shoots some of these racier scenes he quoted Al Guiness. When talking to his partner before the scene is shot: “I apologize if I get an erection. And I apologize if I don’t”.

Check out the series at Om Sweet Om

Its great to see a member of our community making CrossFit work for them.

Cheers Christian!!

W/U: Coaches Choice

Tech: 3 Rep Max Deadlift

WOD: Christine

3 Rounds

500m Row
12 Body weight deadlifts
21 box jumps 20″

Crossfit Vancouver’s history at the Crossfit games has been filled with tragedy and triumph. We started our journey at the games in 2008 with perennial top contenders Kermit and Andy representing us at the Ranch in Aromas California. Andy was the top competitor from our box finishing in 43rd overall when the gruelling 2 day event was completed.

In 2009 the competition looked a little different, athletes had to qualify for a spot and the team competition took on a new look with teams competing in team workouts for the honour of fittest affiliate. Once again Andy did us proud taking second place in the Canada West Regionals and 23rd overall narrowly missing a chance to compete with the top 16 athletes in the world at the end of an epic three day battle. Our team battled hard that year but an injury to Kermit at her second games appearance and some first WOD jitters kept us from reaching the final.

In 2010 the stakes rose once again and this time both teams and individuals were expected to qualify for the games through a regional event which that year included all of Canada. Moreover we were going to be competing at the home depot center in Los Angeles California if we made the big dance. Once again Andy would figure prominently in the run for the title, with a bye to the regional event thanks to his qualification for the 2009 games. Our success at the games started with rising star Emily Beers went up to Squamish for the weekend and stole the show taking first place on the female side. We had many athletes qualify for the regional event but many like Amy and Big Baby gave up their shot at glory in Calgary to help the team tie for first place in the national competition. On the individual side we had two top ten finishes but both Emily and Andy at the end of the day on the outside looking in.

In the end though their misfortune was Crossfit Vancouver’s favour as our top male and female athletes were now competing on the team. We had a brilliant performance their and spent most of the games competing with the best teams in the world in the top heat, finishing as high as 3rd in the second workout which involved all six athletes (myself, TBear, Andy, Rhea, Amy and Emily). However in the end another unfortunate mishap left us out of podium contention on the last day. Still we competed on the last day with the fifteen fittest affiliates in the world and ended the day in 14th.

Another Games is here and everyone has a chance to compete and help Crossfit Vancouver get back to California. So come out and hit tomorrows workout to help us qualify for the regional event . If you haven’t signed up to help us now make plans to come cheer us on at the Canadian regional at UBC May 27th to 29th.

W/U: Coaches Choice

Tech: Overhead Squat 3 rep max

WOD: Games WOD 4

AMRAP in 10 min.
60 Burpees facing bar
30 Overhead Squats (120/90lbs)
10 Muscle Ups

If you were a child in the 80’s and especially if you were a boy, you were into Ninja movies. In fact as a 6 year old boy I wore a Kung Fu head band for my class photo. Now the girls may be wondering what the heck is wrong with me but for those of us that watched all 6 American Ninja movies, played Ninja Gaiden or dressed up as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle for Halloween, you know what I am talking about.
For those of you that have not quite let that dream die, there is a show called Ninja Warrior. If you’re not quite ready to take on the Ninja Warrior obstacle course, there are a number of moderate warrior races that our own Dave Poetker and several other of our athletes will be competing in this summer. If you are interested contact Dave for more info. Also post your favourite Ninja movies, games or shows from your youth. Below is a video of some famous ninja warrior contestants from Japan and Crossfit’s own Carl Paoli’s Ninja Warrior submission video.

W/U: Coaches choice

Tech: Max Box jump

WOD: 5 Rounds
3 rope climbs
5 box jumps (36″/28″)
15 Abmat sit ups
200m Run

Love the Lumberjack (favorite movie Best of the Best)

I would imagine there are more than a few people out there reading this wondering: should I go to the gym tomorrow? I mean, you went yesterday and you like gymnastics Wednesdays, then there is the Games WOD on Thursday and you can’t miss that. Plus you probably shouldn’t workout 4 days in a row. But you and I both know the truth is you are a little bit afraid of Fran. Hey don’t worry, I get it, I am a little bit afraid of Fran. I know people love grinders and Crystal was complaining on the website just yesterday that she needed to see more grinders but let’s be honest, by a show of hands, has anyone ever puked during a grinder? Fran is like a force of nature, it makes you deaf, dumb, dizzy and violently ill all at the same time and it only takes 3 minutes to take effect. We are dealing with some powerful stimulus. What is even scarier is that the pain wouldn’t be so bad if you were assured victory at the end, but in a workout that takes mere minutes every second counts and there are no guarantees that this one is going to be any better than the last. That is why Fran is the most loved, revered, feared and famous workout in Crossfit. With a reputation like that you have to take your shot at it because it only comes around once in a while and you don’t want to miss your shot at glory.

Now a word from Glassman on the origins of Fran:

W/U: 800m ball run with partner (one ball per team)

Tech: 3 rep max Thruster

WOD: Fran
21 – 15 – 9
Thrusters (95/65lbs)
Pull ups
Lets make it chin above the bar I want to see some PR’s.

As the title indicates I want to give the Madlab champions their due because I believe that madlab is one of the best parts of Crossfit Vancouver and having been a part of it 3 times I can honestly say that it is a very hard thing to win. There weren’t a lot of people around to watch the final, in fact it was one of the more quiet evenings I can remember seeing at the gym. I even heard a few people laughing about it calling it ‘the Mad lab that time forgot’ and ‘the incredible disappearing Mad lab.’ I can’t blame people, the finals were postponed by 2 weeks largely due to my wedding and Patty (who is usually the king-of-hype) was away at the Masters. That being said, those of us that were there saw an epic battle that was nothing short of amazing.

The two teams consisted of Dave “Poker” Poetker, Cam “the good twin” McConnell and Geoff “Vetterbuilt” Vetter versus Dan “the Afghan” Fontaine, Matt “the Eagle” Dahlman and Kate “two time Olympian” Richardson (we have to work on that nickname). Although we are dealing with 6 high level atheletes here I think it was fair to say that in most peoples eyes Dan, Matt and Kate were the underdogs, a label that Dan was all too happy to embrace (calling his team ‘the sleepers’ at one point). I think in most cases people like being labelled as the underdog and or spoiler, it takes the pressure off you and puts it on your opponent because win or lose people assume you gave it your all.

Patty tasked me with putting together a final workout and I was determined to make it something that would be fair, contain variety and above all push the competitors to their limits. The result was a workout that had 2 heavy bag carries, Power cleans, burpees, wallballs, pull ups, overhead squats and rope climbs. I tried to vary it between one weightlifting movement and one gymnastic movement to create a bit of a back and forth between the larger and smaller team. The teams did not disappoint and battled hard start to finish keeping within 5 to 10 reps of each other the whole way through. B and I each had a team that we were counting for and I really started to feel like I was a part of the whole thing. We would shout out significant numbers like 50 or 100 and it felt like we were competing a little to see who could shout the milestone first.

Once the workout started we watched as Dave’s team came off the run with a narrow lead but by the time they were through the power clean’s Dan team had passed them and started the burpees first. By the time both teams were finished the Wallballs Dave’s team had regained their narrow lead but it was not destined to last as the underdogs passed them on the pullups. Both teams were neck and neck with only 5 reps seperating them throughout the overhead squats and were out on their second run separated by mere seconds. The two teams came in the door 5 paces apart but a tactical error gave the underdogs the advantage as Kate was ready hands on the rope when Matt came in the door with the bag whereas Dave was behind Geoff through the door. Time and time again I watched as both teams flew up and down the 15 foot rope with little regard for their own safety separated by a single ascent. At this point the gym was filling up with Charlie’s large 8pm crew and they caught up in the emotion of the moment started cheering the teams on loudly. In the end, the workout (which took nearly 40 minutes to complete) was decided by a single rope climb and the underdogs were Champions.

The emotion after was amazing as I can remember Lars saying, who says crossfit is not a spectator sport that was one of the most entertaining things I have seen in a long time. Dan reported, “I had to take a knee in between overhead squats or I was going to barf.” And Matt reminisced “ya I saw Poker come up the hill with the bag like a bat out of hell, deliver it to Geoff and then just collapse for 15 seconds before stating ‘shit I have rope climbs to do still.'” As for me I was nearly out of breath from the excitement and yelling and I just kept saying ‘amazing guys simply amazing.’ I also remember the sentiment at the end was unanimous: I can’t wait until the next Madlab.

It would be great to hear from others who were there and those that participated about what stood out to them and what they remember.

Now for the workout of the day:

W/U: Burgner Warmup

Tech: Snatch

WOD: With 12 minutes on the clock run one mile and the load your bar and complete a 1 rep max Snatch

You want to have a bar and some weights laid out but you can have nothing loaded on the bar prior to the start of the workout. You must load the weight and complete the lift or lifts in the remaining time.

Score for Leaderboard is max snatch.