Blog Archive

A big thanks to Sheppy for reviving the leaderboard!  It’s nice to see everyone posting again, fostering healthy competition.  In case you missed Reto’s top tens from the comments section here it is again.

Top Ten Reason’s People Don’t Post on the Leaderboard:
1. I had a bad day and I’m shameful
2. I took it easy today and I’m shameful
3. My score was too good and I’m a modest firebreather
4. I’m too lazy
5. I can’t remember my password
6. I lost count
7. I forgot my time
8. I didn’t do the workout as rx’d
9. I’m shy and don’t want people knowing I even exist
10. F@#$ it.

Top Ten Reason’s People SHOULD Post on the Leaderboard:
1. Men will die for points – competition drives results. Crossfit is the SPORT of fitness, if you don’t post your score, you’re not crossiftting.
2. Helps track your progress
3. Provides a benchmark for everyone else in the box
4. Advertises to people not in the box
5. Avoids hollow victories (I finally PRd my f’n snatch and nobody else posted!)
6. It feels great to finally take it down one day
7. Helps the coaches see where you’re at
8. Helps overcome unproductive feelings of shyness, modesty, and other ego-focused bullshit
9. It’s always good to beat the Pig Line
10. F@$# it.

Thanks for the reminder Reto!  Keep posting guys and gals.

Lesson Plan for Friday, February 8th:

Warm-up:  2 rounds

200m run
10 goblet cossack squats
7 ring roll outs

Skill work:  5 sets of the following

3 snatch grip behind the neck press followed by 3 three-breath-pause overhead squats.

These should be very light again with the focus being on stability throughout each movement.

WoD:  Two Parts.  One minute rest between the two.

Part 1.  At the top of every minute for 5 minutes perfrom 10 burpees.  Your score for this part will be your slowest time to complete 10 burpees.

Part 2.  Every 2 minutes for 10 rounds run 200 meters.  Your score for this part will be your slowest 200 meter run time.

Add both scores together and post to the leaderboard!

Coaches can send runners out in waves for bigger classes.

<3

Bill, Ben and Patty

Yesterday I finished the blog post telling you that it’s ok to not go hard every day but I think I like the way Drew interpreted that sentiment in the comments even better.  IT’S NOT OK TO GO HARD EVERY DAY!

Now, I’m no expert on brain chemistry and/or adrenal fatigue or even stress in general.  But I am pretty good at using google.    After several searches I kept finding myself ending up over at Robb Wolf’s blog.  Here’s what I learned and how I think it can be useful for you in managing your stress levels intelligently.

1.  Sleep Well
2.  Eat Well
3.  Train Well

Listed in order of importance.

Every time I get the chance to blog here I bring up sleep.  It is more important than our diet!  If we want to reap the full benefits of our diet and training we need to be getting good sleep.  Sleep is restorative and will help bring our stress levels down, no matter what the cause.  Lack of good quality sleep will not only cause more stress but amplify the effect of other stressors in our lives.  Our goal with sleep should always be to use it as a restorative tool.  There is no known positive adaptation to poor sleep.  Sleep well.

The same is true of our diets.  We should use it to restore and sustain our bodies, not cause it additional stress.  Stay away from pro-inflammatory foods and get as many good fats, proteins and nutrients into our systems as possible.  Again, there is no positive adaptation in our bodies that comes from eating poorly.  Eat well.

Training, on the other hand, is a different story.  Remember, not all stress is a bad thing and sometimes we see beneficial adaptation from putting our bodies under stress.  Training is a great example of this.  Train hard today, be fitter tomorrow.  Right!…not so fast.  What if you’re not sleeping well or eating well?  Then we’re just adding to already high levels of stress.  What if we’re dealing with an unusually large amount of stress due to work or family situations?  Then we’re just adding to already high levels of stress.  Well, here’s some good news, training can actually be used to help reduce stress, provided you back off the intensity.  So when you’re deciding how hard you should be going at it in the box take a look at your life and see if you’re ready to handle some extra stress and will be able to recover from it adequately to get the beneficial adaptations.  If yes then go hard.  If no then back off the intensity for a little while.  Train well!

Here’s a good image to get you thinking about potential stressors in your life.

Lesson Plan for Thursday, February 7th:

Warm-up: Hip and Shoulder Mobility drills

Strength:  Sumo Dead Lift (3,3,3)

Work up to some heavy triples well above the weight you’ll use in today’s WoD.

WoD: 21-15-9

Sumo dead lift (225/135)
Chest to bar pull-up

<3

Bill, Ben and Patty

Another of our focuses over the next few weeks leading up to the open is going to be anterior core strength.  It’s a place we can all use some improvement, and it will make you better at everything.  Even kissing.    Expect to see a lot of GHD sit-ups (yes, you should be doing them in your warm up!) and these.  The ring roll-out.

Lesson plan for Wednesday February 6th:

Warm-up: 2 rounds

10 jumping squats with high knees
5 push-ups
20 second plank hold
20 second side plank hold left side
20 second side plank hold right side

Strength: 5×5 of each

Ring roll outs
Ring flies or ring push-ups.

The flies are tough.  Try them from your knees first and if your shoulder can handle it try a few from your toes.  You can also try the roll outs from your toes if you’ve mastered them from your knees.

WoD:  Hockey Night in Canada

10 rounds:
30 seconds wall ball
30 seconds dball slam
2 minutes rest

A lot of tough wods this week.  IT IS OK TO NOT GO HARD EVERYDAY!  I know, it’s blasphemy but it’s true.  If you’re stressed or feeling rough don’t be afraid to take it a little easier.

<3

Bill, Ben and Patty

The 2013 Crossfit Games Open registration is live!  Who has already signed up?

A quick, rough estimate looking at the website shows around 50,000 people have already registered to compete and I have no doubt that this number will get much, much larger.  We’re still a month away from the first workout.

I’m sure most of you already know you can have your workout judged at your local affiliate or you can video tape your workout and post it online for verification of the score.  This video verification option puts some interesting restrictions on what HQ is going to get us to do to jack up our heart rates in the open wods.  Most folks will just set their cameras up and and get after it so the work is inevitably going to be stationary.  That means loads of burpees and, everybody’s favorite, DOUBLE UNDERS!  Check out this break down of movements that have shown up in the open over the last two years.

Burpees and double unders have totaled to a value of 20% of your overall score.  I stole the chart above from a Norwegian actuary’s blog whose taken it up as a hobby to break down some statistics behind crossfit competitions.   You can check it out at http://cfganalysis.blogspot.no/ .  Lots of cool stuff there.

So over the next few weeks leading up to the open we’re going to focus a fair amount on getting our metabolic systems efficient at handling the burpee and double-under.

Lesson Plan for Tuesday, February 5th:

Warm Up: 5 rounds with an empty barbell

5 dead lift
5 hang power clean
5 front squat
5 push press

Skill Work: The touch-and-go clean

Set the clock for 10 minutes and use the time to practice the touch-and-go technique for your power cleans.  Most of us will need to focus hitting that set-up/starting position quickly and smoothly so that we’re set up and ready to go right into the next clean.  Keep these light and focus on getting a neutral spine for each rep.  We’re going to do A LOT of reps in today’s wod.

WoD: 7 rounds

15 power cleans (95/65)
15 burpees
50 double-unders

If you’re still working on your double-unders take a look at the clock when you finish your burpees and give yourself 3 minutes to do as many as you can then move onto the next round.  Don’t be shy about scaling the weight down on those cleans.  I know the load isn’t all that heavy but it’s 105 reps in total.  Try to keep it at weight where you can work the touch and go with perfect form.  Today is a great day to ingrain good habits.

Coaches, try to get this work out going by 20 past the hour.  If you finish early use the time to foam roll or stretch out a bit.

Bill, Ben and Patty