Blog Archive

I used to be able to throw down 2 hour naps like it was nothing. I considered myself a true “Sleep Expert” as I woke up refreshed and ready to tackle life.

But lately my naps have been hitting me differently. I can’t shake the grogginess I wake up with, and it throws the rest of my day off. So I’ve been avoiding naps all together.

I looked into the problem and found this article – essentially a template for choosing your nap time domain. HOW TO NAP WELL! It claims napping is more of an art than a science.

Post-Patterson-Tannant Wedding Nap – Much Needed

It breaks down what the 10-20 minute power nap is good for, the 30 minute nap, the 60 minute nap and the 90 minute nap. Funny enough, my 2 to 2.5 hour nap doesn’t even get a mention! But apparently if you sleep for 90 minutes you’re supposed to wake up refreshed. I might have been overshooting the feeling of refreshment by 30 minutes or so.

Interesting concept if nothing else.

Anyone else have napping problems or solutions?

YOU’LL NEED A NAP AFTER THIS WORKOUT!!!

Thursday’s Workout:

Tech:

Work your way up to a heavy Thruster 3z.

Workout: Fran

21, 15, 9

Thruster (95/65 lbs)
Pull Ups

Its been a while folks.  Come on in a measure yourself against the human you once were.

Don’t forget to smile.

House of Sheppy

We’re down to 6 teams in our Fall Madlab Tournament, and tomorrow night at 7 pm we will narrow it down to just 3.

The FINAL night will be the following Friday – November 29th – at 7 pm. Come out and watch! The FINAL will be as audience friendly as exercise gets! And after the Madlab Champions are crowned, we’ll crack open some drinks and toast to the winners.

Top-5 Fall 2013 Memories so far:

5. Panda Anger in Week 3. Angry Panda said: “Our team got derailed by one of Patty’s totally random (and dumb) ideas.”

4. Mike “Pukie” F pretty much every week: Nausea and vomiting doesn’t stop this man from finishing any workout.

3. Alana “Show Pony’s” 5-rep overhead squat in Week 4: A little over a year ago, the Show Pony was just that – all show! She squatted on her tip toes, and the thought of loading up an overhead squat was unthinkable. Not anymore!

2. Noah’s Mishap in Week 3: A perfect combo of food poisoning and too many squats led to 5 bags of IV to replenish this man.

1. Scott Craig’s never-ending Tabata Squats in Week 3. He just kept going and going. Patty called it, “The coolest workout moment I’ve seen in years.”

Good luck to the top 6 teams tomorrow!

Wednesday’s Workout:

Warmup:  1 Mile run

Tech:  Pistols!

6-8 Pistols (alt) EMOM for 12 minutes.

Choose a challenging yet makable depth.  Stay aligned.

Workout:

Dirty thirty:

30 Squats
30 Sit ups
30 Kettle ball swing (Black / Red)
30 Box Jumps (24″ / 20″)
30 Burpees
30 Wall Balls (20 / 12)

Hit it hard! Post Dirty 30 time to the Leaderboard.

Andele Andele!

Casa Del Shepardo

Last week Emily and Mike posted about our revamped Competition Team, as well as why they each love to compete. There was also mention of coming out this Thursday at 7:00 pm and this Saturday at 8:30 am, to see where your skill level as a CrossFit athlete is overall.  I just want to let everyone know that the first two weeks of the Competition Team are free, so if you can make it out please do. If you decide that the Comp crew is a bit of a reach for you after the initial two weeks, then our suggestion would be to consider working on those few little things that may be holding you back. This is where I’d like to introduce our newest specialty program Weakness 101.

Weakness 101

As a CrossFit athlete and coach, I know its hard to master all the things that come along with CrossFit. Classes are awesome, they build community like no other fitness regime out there, plus they are a great way to get fit as hell.

I’ve been on both sides of the fence (being an athlete and coach) and I do know that at times there is a lot to get through in a one hour class. I also  know that sometimes the opportunity to practice the things I struggle with is very minimal during a class.

Which has led to us coaches at Crossfit Vancouver to begin to talk about how to tailor to the needs and wants of the client with out taking away from the camaraderie of the classes. I think that I have come up with a solution.

The best CrossFitters out there are obviously extremely strong and conditioned, they are also highly skilled though. I’m not suggesting folks become obsessed with the ability of  professionals or Games athletes, but the same training approach can be taken.

The goal of this program is not to stop clients from attending class, but rather to give the time and coaching needed to allow them to perform better inside of the daily workouts. 2-3 classes per week, plus weakness training or specialty training is the recipe for long term success in my eyes.

Weakness 101

What?

12 week program where students can receive coaching on a specific skill or weakness twice a week.

A specific program is assigned to each student depending on their individual needs or goals.

A coach is on the floor helping people with their program, teaching and helping them with progressions and/or honing in on certain movements.

Cost?

 $360.00

1 hour one on one consultation discussing and evaluating the individual weaknesses or goals of each student (i.e. muscle ups, Handstand push-ups, or whatever you want to work on) ($75.00 value)

Specific weakness program tailored to each individual needs with proper progressions and skill transfer exercises or schemes ($100.00 value)

48 hours of available gym time and coached hours (each hour ends up costing $3.85) ($7.70 per two hour session)

When?

Two sessions, a morning and an evening. The morning session has yet to be determined, but it appears it will either be Wednesdays from 6-8 am, or Fridays from 6-8 am The evening session will be Wednesdays from 7-9 pm

Once registered for either the evening or morning time slot, you are only allowed to attend that time slot.

There will be a second session that both groups are allowed to attend on Sundays from 3-5 pm

I’d would like start Wednesday January 8th and run until Wednesday April 2nd.

I also plan on running this program three times per year, winter, spring and fall. Dates to be determined.

How?

Students will register via email to 

The first 12 students to register for each group will be given…

1. A consultation session where their weaknesses are discussed as well as their goals.

2. The ability to come at any point during the two hour time slot they registered for. This is much different than a regular class setting. There is window rather than a start time, folks can come at any time during their window.

3. Students will be assigned drills, progressions or schemes depending on their needs/wants.

Why?

To address the need of individual students.

To avoid students from taking up space and self programming during peak class hours.

Allow students guidance: having a coach on the floor to help students through a given assignment or task.

The two hour block allows for more freedom with peoples schedules.

If anyone has any questions or thoughts about Weakness 101 please email me at thomassarosi@gmail.com, or if you see me around the gym I would love to chat and tell you all about how stoked I am to help you guys turn your weaknesses into strengths!

I’ll post a sample program on the bulletin board at the school so everyone can see how an individual program will be formatted.

Tom
If you want to reserve a spot for Weakness 101 please click the link below:

Tuesday’s Workout:

Workout #1: Annie

For Time

50 D/U
50 SitUps
40 D/U
40 SitUps
30 D/U
30 SitUps
20 D/U
20 SitUps
10 D/U
10 SitUps

Workout #2:

Muscle Up Work

5 sets of 3 or 3 sets of 5

The handsome Andy Sack made up this list of “The Logical sequence to Muscle Up Mastery”. See where you are on the list and start climbing.

Lying/laying mu
Kneeling mu
Heels on ground/box mu
Band under but mu
Partner assist mu
(Jumping) ring pullup w/ false grip, w/ 2sec pause and 4 sec neg
Jumping mu
Jumping mu w/6 sec neg
Ring pullup w/ false grip, w/ 2 sec pause and 4 sec neg
Kipping ring pullup w/ false grip
Kipping mu
Kipping mu w/6 sec neg
L sit ring pull up w/ false grip, w/ 4 sec pause
Strict mu
Strict mu w/ 6 sec neg
Wt. strict mu
Wt. strict mu w/ 6 sec neg
Strict wide mu
Strict wide mu w/ 6 sec neg
Wt. strict wide mu w/ 6 sec neg

Don’t be afraid of trying a progression or level a little above you.

Workout #3: 2010 Canada West Regionals

For Time

50 Double Unders
10 Burpees
40 Double Unders
10 Burpees
30 Double Unders
10 Burpees
20 Double Unders
10 Burpees
10 Double Unders
10 Burpees

Leaderboard Score today will be Workout #1 + #3.  Try not to have an aneurysm doing the math.

Giddy Up!

The House of Shepherd

The Project Endurance volume is going to ramp up slightly in the next few weeks and we want you all to come along for the ride!  If you go back to the Week 2 post you’ll see we are entering step 6 in the plan.  I’ve seen great improvements in all of you in terms of technique, though for some it falls apart a bit once we start to layer on the intensity.  Please keep yourself focus and try to stay with the technique we’re teaching, even when you are tired.

With the volume ramping up a bit, it’s time to buckle down and make sure we are hitting the homework sessions so that we can keep the improvement rolling.  When I surveyed you all this week it was an inconsistent response.  Forget last week and just focus on this week.

We still love you.

Make sure you warm up and do these drills

(1) Back to the wall pull drill

(2) Charlie’s Angels drill

(3) Cop drill

And finally, if you missed the session this week do the following:

3 x 800 m intervals with 5 min rest between intervals.  No more than 7 seconds difference in any interval.

Love, The Afghan

Mark the date on your Calendar – Saturday, December 7th. It’s going to be a festive-filled day!

1). We’ve got Gingerbread House Making for your kids (and for you) in the morning during and 10 and 11 am classes (10 am – 12:30 pm).

2). Silent Auction – with Christmas around the corner, it’s an easy way to Christmas shop! Auction will open on December 3rd and will close at 1 am on the night of the 7th.

3). Wine and Cheese: Doors open at 7 pm. This will be an intimate affair (like the Wine and Cheese we held last February). Formal dresses are encouraged.

4). EAST VAN’s GOT TALENT! Once you have sufficient wine and cheese in your systems, we’ll start the Talent Show. So far, we have a stand-up comic in the house, a group of female dancers, a guitarist, a trumpet player and a singer, and a male stripper to entertain you. We’re limiting the Talent Show to 8 acts. We have a couple spots left, so if you have talent you want to flaunt, e-mail Eunice at punky@crossfit.ca

More details about all of these things will be rolled out in the next two weeks.

Monday’s Workout:

Tech:

Groove Workout movements

Workout:

5 Rounds for time:

9 Squat Cleans (155/105)
3 Rope Climbs

Bring a long long sock bitches! Put some tape around your the bottom of your shin as well.

Been a long time since we did this one.  Now possible with the new ropes.  Be steadfast and vigilant throughout the workout.

Cheers!

House Of Sheppy