Blog Archive

Officially we are closed tomorrow, but Andy Sack (bless his heart) has crazy 5 am clients, so he will hold a 6 am class tomorrow – December 24th. The workout will be up to Andy. Maybe he’ll teach you his pencil push-ups…

I, too, am hosting a workout at 8 am with a couple students, so if anyone wants to join in for a workout, come on out at 8 am! I will be locking the doors at 9:30 am.

We will be closed the 25th and 26th.

Merry Christmas – Check out this beauty of a picture of Kimmy and her little ones on Gingerbread making day!

It’s that special time of year again.  We’ve all been planning and bustling to get ready.  Now its time to enjoy.

CrossFit Vancouver wishes all of you the Veriest Merriest  of Christmas and a joyous and prosperous New Year.

For those of you who do not celebrate Christmas we wish you happiness and warmth throughout the holiday.

Either way, everybody enjoy the people in your life this week because that is what your life is really about.

Love,

TheHouse of Shepherd

Oh Ya!  And here is the Christmas/Holiday Class Schedule.  

Monday Lesson Plan

Warm up: 2 rounds:

1 minute Goblet Squat Hold (with a DB)
8/8 Windmills
8/8 DB Snatch

Skill: Spend 10 minutes warming up the workout movements.

Workout: Nutts Cup Couple Gone Bad - start this workout at 30 minutes after the hour

*These are the movements from this year’s trio of couplets at Nutts Cup, only it will be done Fight Gone Bad Style, meaning you will do each movement for one minute each, and take a full three minutes rest after each round. Score is total points accumulated for all three rounds. Note that each rope climb is worth 10 points, where as everything else is worth 1 point.

3 rounds of:

1 minute of max Rope Climbs (Each rope climb is worth 10 points!!)
1 minute of max Burpees
1 minute max Rowing (calories)
1 minute max KB swings (Black, Red)
1 minute max DB snatch (70/45 lbs)
1 minute max Pistols (progression is air squats)
3 minutes rest

There are a handful of schools in Surrey who have done away with letter grade report cards in Elementary school. Instead, A students, B students, and C students will all be considered as “meeting criteria.” Conversely, students who are struggling will be exposed as “not meeting criteria.”

Time for a Eunice Rant:

This is shocking. I know we live in a society where we like to protect people maybe a little bit too much, but getting rid of letter grades? Who is that helping?

Now I know that I live in a world where my success is almost always based on measurable outcomes (possibly why I like CrossFit so much), but how on earth will anyone know where they truly measure up if all they see is “meet criteria.” For more advanced students, this will just be a huge disincentive to work hard in school because they’ll have to do very little to “meet criteria,” as meeting the criteria is a C+ standard. I would have been one pissed off Grade 5 student if my school did this to me. I was motivated by achieving those As, and damnit I wanted credit for my damn work!

And on a more general level, I think all this will do is convince mediocre students that they can slack off without being exposed, or it might possibly convince them that they’re more capable than they really are, which won’t help them when they get to High School and get jobs and discover that much of life is merit-based. Also, by never giving people true feedback as children, when they eventually receive real feedback in the real world, it’ll shock their cushioned egos.

Just my two cents.

What do you all think? Good idea? Bad idea? Are report cards a valuable tool?

Teachers and parents of our community – Speak up! (And Wendy, you better agree with me for once. Justine is going to be that A student bringing home perfect report cards, and you wouldn’t want to rob her of her success…)

Friday Lesson Plan

Strength: Back Squat (5, 3, 2, 1, 1)

Workout: Team DB/KB Thruster Relay Race

In teams of three, line up at the ‘baseline,’ and complete 5 rounds EACH of the following:

15 DB or KB thrusters (choose a weight where you can do 15 thrusters at a fast pace, and ideally all three group members are using the same DBs or KBs)

Sprint 20 meters to the other end of the gym and back

Tag the next person

Work to rest ratio is 1:3, so make each of your 5 efforts all-out sprints!

Cool Down: light 500 meter row and stretch the legs!

Saturday Lesson Plan

Warm-up: Tabata Russian Twists

Skill: Strict Pull-ups

5 sets of 5-8 strict pull-ups. If 8 is easy for you, try weighted pull-ups

Workout: Double Sinister 6

6 Rounds of:

6 Burpees
6 Box Jumps (20″ box)
6 Wall Balls (20/14 lbs)
6 KB Swings (Black/Red)
6 Double Unders
6 Squats

Rest three minutes

And REPEAT the Sinister 6!

As many of you know, two great talents – Caitlin and Bess – who you workout with every morning, are part of Musica Intima, a band that has been nominated for Junos on more than one occasion.

Bess is now the manager of Musica Intima, and Caitlin will be dominating the stage with her gorgeous voice.

I went last year and am planning on going this weekend, as I know it will put me in the best Christmas mood ever! You can buy tickets HERE. They always sell out, so get on it.

Thursday Lesson Plan

Warm-up: 10 minutes of shoulder prep (band stretches, scapula push-ups, wall angels). Coaches – take your time prepping the class for some upper body work.

Tech 1: 10 minute EMOM of HSPU (progression is seated DB shoulder press or HSPU negatives)

*Choose a number you can hold for 10 minutes. If you think you can hold 5 HSPU a minute or more for 10-minutes, then do strict HSPU or deficit HSPU

Tech 2: 10 minutes

1a). 3 x 8 strict toes to bar (or v-sits)

1b). 3 x 12 Good Mornings (As heavy as you can safely do)

Superset these two movements.

Workout: Bench – Press 15 minutes

5 x 3