Blog Archive

Please note that Monday February 10th there is only a 11am and Noon class

There will be more information on the event later!

Thanks

The cherished town hall meeting, every small town used to have them.  We at CFV have had some doozies.  Each one was spawned from a tragic or glorious event in our community.  From the city trying to shut us down (“we shut down a sweat shop group chant”) to  “Scotch and Beer with Glassman” to kick off our 29 east 2^nd location after we were near bankrupt.  We have had some truly authentic “town Hall meetings”.

Well we have a new reason to throw another one.  Many of you are old friends of mine and have not seen me around the place like I once was in years past.  There is a very specific reason for that and that is the topic of this town hall meeting.

For those of you who can’t make it, are not terribly interested in the details or are just interested in how this meeting will effect you directly right now, this is essentially what will be happening in the next week.

Our website URL will be changing.  We will no longer be using www.crossfit.ca this domain will be changing to www.crossfitvancouver.com.  For most of you it is as simple as changing this URL in your favorites tab.  www.crossfit.ca will forward to www.crossfitvancouver.com for another 3 months.

We ask you to please change this URL as soon as it goes live and that is it, you are done.  No need to do anything else or read any further.

For those of you who are interested in the bigger picture and what happens behind the scenes at our school and the greater world of Crossfit.  You will dig this meeting.  I promise ya.

As many of you know a lot has changed in the Crossfit world in the past 3- 5 years.  There are now 100 new CF branded gyms a week opening whose only training is a 2 day course.  We have been honing our trade and developing our business for 10  years now, and we have been doing a lot of prep that we would like to show you.

Our Crossfit affiliate site www.crossfitvancouver.com  will tie into a larger site www.madlab.ca which encompasses our entire business which is now a provincially registered school.   We are going for final accreditation in a few months, rolling out an entirely revamped apprentice program and an all new online school.  This accreditation will also enable our apprentices access to student loans, the GI bill in the US, and a whole lot of other good shit.

Our school is also tied into a global network that I started 3 years ago www.madlabgroup.com that brings together best practices, business systems, software, coach development and quality control among gyms around the world.  We have many of the oldest Crossfit gyms on the planet from Boston to Atlanta, Miami, Dublin, Sydney, Auckland, LA, San Francisco and Chicago among the 70 gyms currently in this group.  These are the best gyms on the planet and our little school in East van is the leader of the pack.  Stop by any of these sister gyms and tell them you are from our school (Madlab school of Fitness ) and you will be treated like royalty.

One of the first products this group has released is the Pocket Coach™ ,which is replacing all those duo-tang folders lying about the gym, as well as www.crossfitleaderboard.com.  We will teach you how to use it and get your own account.  The fitness rating feature is pretty cool.   Yes Madlab tournament vets……it is ready!!!

If this interests you, come see what we are up to and how it will positively affect your fitness and our community both locally and around the globe.

Friday February 21^st at 7pm

Also:   Free Beer 

~Patty

Friday

Warm

8 minutes of…

2 x 2 Lengths Waiter Walk
2 x 10 Feet Elevated Glute Bridge
2 x 30 Second Glute Bridge Hold

Strength/Skill

6 x 2 Turkish Get Up

Perform

7 Rounds of…

Every 2 minutes
10 Push Ups
Max Double Unders (Max Singles)

then finish with

100 Ball Slams

* Every Double Under counts as 1 second off your finish time

Saturday

Warm

Coach Dynamic Warm Up

Perform

One 1/2 Damn Kelly at a time

10 Rounds with a Partner…

20 second Flexed Arm Hang
15 Box Jumps 24/20
15 Wall Ball Shots 20/12

Partners will trade off exercises until 5 rounds have been completed each.

(thank the cold weather… ya’ll managed to avoid the damn Kelly run…)

Family Day is coming next Monday, Feb 10th.  There will be classes at 11am and Noon coached by Dan and Caroline, and a BBQ following for folks to stick around and mingle.  This is Dan (the Afghan) writing to you now.

Some unfortunate circumstances affected my family about a month ago now.  My brother-in-law and husband to my younger sister, Nicole, died during a training mission off the coast of Virginia Beach on January 8, 2014.  He was a helicopter pilot in the US Navy and stationed in Norfolk, Virginia – where many of you know I make a habit of visiting to see him and my sister and their two adorable sons, Maddox (1 yo) and Jaxton (4 yo).  Family Day – Feb. 10, 2014 – would have been his 30th birthday.

The accident occurred very suddenly 20 miles off the coast of Virginia during a training mission.  Wes flew a helicopter called an MH53E Sea Dragon, which is the largest the US military has.  I understand it’s about 100 feet long and can carry over 50 passengers and 2 vehicles.  I saw it once – it’s huge!  The navy mainly uses the MH53 for mine sweeping and mine removal in shipping routes and bays in conjunction with other sea-based support.  Here’s a photo of Wes when he was deployed in Korea with the helicopter in the background.

On this day, Wes was one of two pilots on board.  The helicopter was also crewed with 3 other enlisted Air Crewmen.  The accident is currently under investigation, but what we do know is that something went wrong and the pilots had enough time to make a distress call before crash landing in the Atlantic Ocean.  Three men died in the crash including Wes – the other two were an air crewman, Petty Officer Brian Collins, and the other pilot, LT Sean Snyder.  Two air crewmen survived – one severely injured and the other relatively unharmed.  Wes was actually recovered while still alive and in and out of consciousness, and survived long enough to be air lifted to the hospital to battle unsuccessfully for his life.  Our families prepared a statement, which is far more eloquent than I can attempt.  You can read that here:

http://wtkr.com/2014/01/10/family-of-pilot-killed-in-navy-helicopter-crash-releases-statement/

I first met Wes in September 2009.  I distinctly remember the flight down to meet him – my little sister was 7 months pregnant at the time, you see.  Nicole had assured me that we would get along great, and that we were a lot alike.  What I heard is “a navy guy knocked up my little sister, and wants to meet me and smooth it over”.  So I went.  I remember the first time I met him at the airport and then a quick foray to a local pub for some welcome beers – we were getting along.  The next test was a big one – I fancied myself a fairly fit guy in those days, recently having joined Crossfit, and was training for an ironman.  Wes had been bounced out of Navy Seal hell week months earlier and was training to become a pilot.  Good matchup?

Our first workout together was in this military base gym in Florida at his flight school.  We did some pushup/pullup/situp triplet – he crushed me.  The guy had bionic shoulders and didn’t slow down for 15 minutes.  I didn’t have much in the way of pullups back in those days, not enough to keep up with him – I was still marvelling at the ladies crushing me in the morning class.  We shook that workout off and went for a run around the base.  It started off at a very civil talking pace, but as those things go it snowballed a bit (and only in terms of pace – it was the balmy Florida sun with humidity).  We ended up crushing a 5 mile run each without showing any weakness, no stops for water.  I remember thinking that eventually there would be a water fountain/hose/puddle of some variety on the way, and later I found out that Wes didn’t want to show any weakness in front of me if I didn’t want any water.  I didn’t ask, he didn’t offer, and we both went without.  We bonded during that first workout together, both suffering for our “manliness” later.  I learned a lot from Wes, who was a younger man, about being a man, a husband, and a father.  He was exceptional at all three.  I shared with him freely of myself and my experiences in life, and we became close friends and brothers over the next four years.

Wes prided himself on being strong enough to lift with the big guys and fast enough to run with the runners.  He valued working out hard, often too hard for his own good.  The workout on Monday will reflect this, but there will be scaling options for individuals and the possibility to pair up.

I hope you all can join us on Monday.  I’ll be running classes and sharing more about why we’re doing what we’re doing, about Wes and his life and impact on my life.  Caroline will be helping me out, and I’m sure will have some feelings of her own to share.  Audrey will be cranking up with BBQ with food ready at noon and there will be some adult bevies on hand for those who are interested.  Wes liked cheap beers, and bourbon and gingers.  Food and bevies will be on the cheap.

There will be a donation jar at the front of the class.  It is not expected that you make a donation, but any donations provided will be sent to Wes’s younger brother and sister who have set up an education trust for my nephews, Maddox and Jaxton.

We look forward to seeing you on Monday.

Love, Dan and Caroline.

And now:

Thursday’s Workout:

Warm

2 x 15 Banded Good Mornings
2 x 15 Inverted Rows
2 x 15 Barbell Glute Bridges
2 x 15 Split Squats

Strength

Sumo Deadlift 5RM @ 90%

then…

Complex 7’s

AHAP (As Heavy As Possible)

7 Deadlift
7 Hang Clean
7 Front Rack Reverse Lunge

This year The CrossFit Games has really stepped up its level of testing for steroids and performance enhancing drugs.

Check it out the new policy  here.

Their bottom line? You are responsible for what you put in your body. I like it but frankly this level of testing is way overdue.

I remember being told that when a team quialified for The Games at our Regional two years ago they were given a few specimen bottles and told to go and fill them up, come back and return them. One guy and one girl from each team. That’s it. Not exactly an air tight process.

This year they will watch you pee in the cup. Hope no one gets stage fright!

I expect those who get caught this year will be made examples of to prove that The Games are serious about this.

Here are some links to interesting articles about CrossFit and Steroids:

The Truth About Steroid Use in CrossFit: Don’t Ever Assume

Steroids, CrossFit and The CrossFit Games: Who and How.

Check out this great video of Dick Pound being interviewed by CrossFit HQ.

Please give it all a look. Would love to hear your thoughts.

Cheers!

The House of Shepherd

Wednesday’s Workout:

Warm

8 minutes of…

8 Scap Push Ups
8 Yoga Push Ups
12 Ball Slams

Strength/Skill

a1) Bar Muscle Ups or Strict Pull Ups 5 x 6

a2) Half Kneeling Banded Lat Pulls 4 x 10/10 (Click Here, use a band with 3010 Tempo)

a3) Front Plank 4 x 45 seconds

*One set of each with no more than 60-90 seconds rest in between, one extra set of pull ups. If you have at least 1 Bar muscle up you may use a band for 2 of the sets.

Perform

7 minutes Left, Down by 6 (Replay)

2 Rounds of…

1 Minute Max Effort each station

DB Push Press 45/35
Rest
DB Sit Ups 45/35
Rest
Row Calories
Rest
Burpees
Rest

JB and Dashie brought this video to my attention. Its called The American Parasite.

It comes from the website keybiotics.com.

And what is this parasite ??? … CANDIDA!

Yes its about a half hour long. Definitely worth a watch. Some things take longer than 10 seconds to explain. Often these are the important things in life.

The video explains the evils of mass sugar intake and the illnesses that ensue. It also has a strong anti corporate big food component that is very interesting – Especially about Aspartame.

If you watch the same video on the keybiotics website there is a plug for some probiotics that sound like they are a very good product (have ordered them but not tried them myself).

Don’t want to give too much away as I want you to watch it. So much food for thought there.

Mucho Amore,

The House of Shepherd

Tuesday’s Workout:

Warm Up

4 minutes Coach choice Hip Mobility Drills

2 x 15 Glute Bridges
2 x 15 Reverse Lunges
2 x 8 Dumbbell Explosive Box Jumps 25/15

Strength

Back Squat 10RM @ 90%

* Find a clean but challenging 10 rep squat

Strength Circuit

5 Rounds…

8/8 High Box Step Ups
8 Goblet Squats
30 secs Paloffs Hold (Click Here)

*Use Dumbbells for weight increase among sets but reduce when form suffers

The circuit involves cycling through each exercise with no more than 60-90 seconds rest. The key is to maximize the reps with weight until form starts to break then back off and finish strong. We’ll be doing these every Tuesday. This is not for time.

Please note the hours for the Family Day Holiday on Monday February 10th.

Monday February 10th Classes:
11am
12pm

There will be more information to come, but we will be hosting a BBQ at the event….Stay Tuned