Blog Archive

JOIN US ON WEDNESDAYS from 7 to 8 PM…
classes are informative, challenging and always fun
Cost: $20/one-time or buy a package: 4/$70 10/$130
Questions? Please call Giselle

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May 16th – Today we will work Top to Toes
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Fascia work on soles of feet and calves
Warm up the calves: 3D jump rope, 3D hams and hip flexors
PNF: Hamstrings, adductors and hip flexors shoulders partner assisted for optimal result
Stability: distracted planks
Rotational impact on torso revisited:

For those of you who think you’re too big or too old for the small man’s world of gymnastics, check out this video of an 86-year-old doing a floor routine.

If you think that’s impressive, wait until you here this…

93-year-old Olga Kotelko is coming to CrossFit Vancouver to do an intro session this Thursday! Here’s a story from the NY TIMES about Kotelko. Pretty impressive read.

WEDNESDAY GYMNASTICS DAY

Tech: Handstand Push Up Negatives (5 sets of 3) In between sets, work on your double unders

*If you can do handstand push ups, do deeper negatives with plates or paralettes. If your handstand push ups are on an ab mat, do your negatives to the floor. Try to lower yourself to the ground as slowly as possible. If you can’t do handstand push ups at all, invert yourself on a box and slowly lower your head to the ground.

WOD:

Pull up, Sit-up, Squat Ladder

In minute one, do one pull up. Two in minute two. Three in minute three. Go until you can’t complete the reps in the minute. Once you’re knocked out, move to sit-ups. In minute one, do three sit-ups. Six in minute to. Nine in minute three. Continue this way, adding three sit-ups per minute until you can no longer complete the reps. Then move to squats. In minute one, do four squats. Eight in minute two. Keep going, adding four squats per minute until you can no longer complete the reps within the minute.

This workout is different than normal in that the longer you take, the better your score.

Your leaderboard score is the minutes elapsed (the highest minute completed).

- Eunice

Nutts Cup registration will open this Thursday. Details will be found right here. The first 40 teams to register and pay will be given spots at Nutts Cup on August 11^th.

 Reminder: Teams will be made up of two men and one woman. Those of you who don’t have a team and would like to be on a team, post your desires to comments. Let’s get everyone who wants to compete teamed up! Don’t be shy.

You don’t have to be an elite CrossFitter to compete. This is NOT an elitist event. It’s about celebrating Nutts and having some fun. That being said, with $3000 on the line for the winning team, expect some ringer teams to show up.

Regionals Debrief: 

Ok, it’s been a couple weeks. The dust has finally settled and I’m neurologically less fried. I’m finally ready to post about my Regionals experience this year, and to thank you all for the amazing support.

So without further ado, I will try to keep this short:

Many of the most significant moments in my life have come and gone so fast that I don’t realize they were impacting events until after the fact. Usually, it’s hindsight that allows me to see moments of personal growth.

But recently, I found myself in the middle of a fleeting moment, and somehow I was able to freeze time and recognize it as a significant moment of growth.

Let me explain:

I was an obnoxious child. As a five year old, I placed second in my first gymnastics competition (It was a two-time Olympic gymnast who beat me, so I should have been more ok with losing to her). But that’s not the point. The point was how I handled the defeat. I was nothing short of devastated. And angry. Raging, even. I dug up the picture of me pouting on the podium:

I guess I can forgive myself. I was five, after all, and I knew nothing about losing gracefully.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the end of my graceless behaviour.

Grade three to Grade eight: my track and field career. I wouldn’t show up to the medal ceremony unless I won the event, and I have a distinct memory of throwing my track spikes into the stands after I fouled out of a long jump competition. Needless to say, when I meet people today who say they remember me from the track and field days, I cringe.

For me, my ability to win a competition of any kind has been how I determine my self worth, and this has stayed with me until now.

This year’s Regionals started out the way most competitions have for me in the past. I was terribly nervous to compete. I felt myself putting pressure on myself that I had to qualify to the Games, assuming that the weekend would be a failure if I didn’t place in the top two. And, of course, I was scared. Scared because I know how hard I usually take defeat, and I didn’t want to feel that again.

Physically speaking, the competition started out well. Then Sunday hit. I woke up and felt like I needed the jaws of life to lift me out of bed. I have never felt this physically destroyed in my life and actually contemplated pulling out of the competition. I rallied myself, and managed to get through the first event, although it was a mediocre result. I had a bit of a buffer, so I went into the last event of the competition still in second place, with a Games berth on the horizon. In theory, it was even a good event for me. Heavy deadlifts, muscle up, toes to bar, wall balls – all things I consider to be strengths. But my body wasn’t there. I simply didn’t do enough volume this past year to compete with the best in a three-day competition. My body felt like a corpse.

The workout lasted 17 minutes, 17 minutes that are still vivid in my mind.  My first muscle up felt like I had already done 30 muscle ups. “Uh oh,” I thought. “Ok, regroup. Keep calm,” I continued to pep talk myself. Then all of a sudden I realized that I actually was pretty calm.

I looked up at Patty in the stands. He smiled at me. “Take your time between reps, kid,” he said. I nodded.

I took a deep breath and hit another max-effort-like muscle up.

I realized at that moment that for the first time in a competition, I was staying calm and controlled when things weren’t going my way. Physically, I was in the process of getting the shit kicked out of me, but emotionally, mentally, I was winning this battle. The old me would have been panicking, throwing her shoes, losing her mind. But there I was, about the lose the lead I had worked for all weekend, but I was somehow still enjoying myself. I literally was just happy being out there seeing what my body could do – for the first time in my life.

After the competition, Audrey and Patty gave me a card congratulating me. In it, Patty wrote, “Congratulations Eunice. You’re almost a real person now.” I knew exactly what he meant.

The personal growth I felt that day was one reason for my elation, but there was another even more powerful reason I came away from Regionals feeling great as opposed to crushed.

With about three minutes left in the workout, I took the time to look into the stands and I saw my crew – all of you.  You were still cheering for me. I was going down rapidly, but I could still see the love in your eyes. In fact, I felt the love grow as my destroyed body failed in front of you.

I was actually overwhelmed and got a bit choked up mid-workout. It’s not everyday you get to look over and see your friends and family, some even with tears in their eyes, genuinely watching you, cheering for you, wanting it for you.

I can’t thank you enough for making me feel that way!

AND AN EXTENDED THANKS TO: Sheppy for preparing me for the competition more than you realize. And to Giselle for putting up with my painful skirming through your massages. And Racquel ‘Mother Earth’ for cooking up a feast. And to Audrey for orgaznizin the after party. And to Patty for the best advice I received all weekend: It was right before the fourth event. He says to me, “Good luck, Eunice. I’m going golfing. After this event, go sit by the river and take a moment to think about how ridiculous this whole thing is.”

Thank you all!!

TUESDAY

Tech: Push Press/Push Jerk

5 heavy working sets of: 2 Push Press followed immediately by 3 Push Jerks

WOD: Sasquatch (75/55 lbs)

21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3

SDHP
Push Press

- Eunice

A couple house keeping items before we get to the meat and potatoes of this post:

1. ***NUTTS CUP REGISTRATION WILL OPEN THIS THURSDAY***

2. This weekend is a long weekend. Our class schedule is as follows:

Friday: 6 am, 7 am, 11 am, 5 pm class

Saturday: 10 am, 11 am

Sunday: CLOSED

Monday: CLOSED

One of the things we will remember about Andy Nutts was his desire to make a difference.

In honour of this, we’re in the process of establishing The Nutts Academy, our very own not for profit charity aimed at making a difference. Well, the truth is, one of our coaches – the gigantic-hearted Charlie Palmer – has already been making a difference. So this is really just the next step.

For the last five years, Charlie Palmer has been volunteering his time working with youth at risk through the Take a Hike Foundation. A couple times a week, Charlie devotes himself to coaching high school kids in an attempt to keep them on the right path in life.

Charlie says that something like CrossFit would have helped save him during his adolescence. In the last five years, Charlie has made a tremendous impact on many of these kids. Today, one of Charlie’s kids is a Junior apprentice coach at our school. If you see a pimply-faced kid following Charlie around, his name is Sean. One of our first goals is to raise money to help Sean become CrossFit Level 1 certified.

Getting to the point. This year, we’re using Nutts Cup on August 11th as a chance to raise money for The Nutts Academy.

We’re hosting a silent auction at Nutts Cup, but we need more things to sell. If anyone owns a business, sells products, or provides a service and is willing to donate to the auction, please post to comments. Or email Audrey at [email protected]

Or if you have any great fundraising ideas that you’d like to help us with, post to comments. Let’s make this the best Nutts Cup ever.

Monday:

Tech:

Deadlifts (3, 3, 3, 3, 3)

Between each set, hit up the rings and do a max set of ring dips.

WOD:

4 rounds:

20 D Ball slams
20 KB swings
Run 200 meters

This workout came from Sheppy and was programmed for the final day of our fall Mad Lab in 2011. Wendy went head to head against Nathalie. It was a gutsy and painful-looking sprint for both women. Nausea-inducing, for sure.

- Eunice

Sent from my iPhone

Sent from my iPhone

You can’t speak of the heart of Crossfit Vancouver without mentioning one of the pillars of this box, our very own Chris “Shep” Saini.   Coach to countless bodies through our door, loyal friend, party boy extraordinaire, and someone who sets the bar for quality and integrity in the Crossfit community, Shep celebrates another birthday today.

We raise our glasses to you, wishing you all the best in the upcoming year.   Thank you, you make our lives better.

SATURDAY

Tech: Power Cleans

WOD: YVONNE

5 Rounds of:

400m Run

21 Power Cleans

15 Pull Ups

SUNDAY is a make up day

Have a great weekend everyone!

Much love,

Ana Fancypants.