Blog Archive

First off, shout out to Em and Kerm for June’s programming. Lots of new things (dimmel deadlifts, arm bars, quake bar bench press and lots of stability drills and abdominal holds) and lots of old things (CF total, Badger, Hidalgo and Grace). The mix of old school and new age was solid ladies. 

Moving forward into July, TBear and I will be exposing you all to a lot of gymnastics over the next 30+ days. We will be using volume training to build up gymnastic strength. The same way we use EMOM’s (every minute on the minute training) to train the barbell moves we can use them to train gymnastic moves as well. 

Twice  a week you will see a technique piece that looks just like the one posted below. The intention is to gain practice with the movements in a controlled and less intense manner. We all want to string together pull ups but without a solid baseline of strength and stability the chance of this happening is much lower. 

Also expect to squat, deadlift, snatch and clean once a week. Outside of the gymnastics volume training focus we will be testing you guys with basic CrossFit movements and some classic workouts as well. There will also be a few retest workouts from January. So be sure to look back in the pocket coach and compare your old and new score. 

EMOM 20 min pick one of each and pick a number from 3-10

1. strict pull up/ring row/bent over row
2. pike push up/ring push up/handstand push up
3. ring dip/dip/push up
4. transition drill/hollow rock/muscle up
5. t2b-k2e/ghd sit up/30 sec plank hold

How this works is pick one of the three options from each number (1,2,3,4,5). You can pick a different rep scheme for every movement but the goal is to hold the same number each time you cycle that specific movement. Since the EMOM is 20 min we will cycle through the movements 4 time each. 

For example: Note this is not the workout for tomorrow

Min 1-6-11-16. 5 reps of strict pull ups
Min 2-7-12-17. 3 reps of HSPU
Min 3-8-13-18. 8 reps of ring dips
Min 4-9-14-19. 2 reps of muscle ups
Min 5-10-15-20. 9 reps of GHD sit up

In every daily workout expect to see some coaching points at the very end and also expect to see two, even sometimes 3 levels of workout posted daily. Comp Team, Rx’d, and 6 months or newer. 

Mondays Lesson Plan

Warm up:

4 rounds of
10 cuban press – barbell
10 behind the neck push press-snatch grip
10 snatch balance

 Tech: 

every min for 10 min

1 snatch-pick your own weight (squat or power is fine)

 Workout: sweaty snatch

Six months or newer

12 min AMRAP
5 snatch balance 
400m run

Rx’d

12 min AMRAP
5 snatch 115/75
400m run

Comp Team

12 min AMRAP
5 snatch 135/95
400m run

Coaching points:

Focus on the snatch, clean crisp movements. Hit the run at about 80%, but not so hard you need to recover before your first snatch. Once you come in the door, address the bar, think about lowering your heart rate and try to develop a routine for each lift. Every snatch should look the exact same. Singles are the best option on the snatch, unless you can snatch 165+ or 115+ touch and go is not for you. 

Please note that classes will be normal for Sunday June 29th  and Monday 30th

Tuesday July 1st Canada Day – There will only be two classes. 
10am and 5pm 

Someone in East Canada has organized a Canada wide Canada Day workout on July 1st to support Canadian Games athletes so Emily will be coaching the classes and letting us know the workout when it is released. 

I attended a very interesting info session (oddly enough at work) this week titled “Managing the Impact of Caring for Aging Family”.  The session delivered a powerful message and put a lot of things in perspective for me.  The presenter began with a very heart-felt story on her relationship with an older family member (in this case her father) and the transition that it made as aging took its toll on the mind.  The presentation was fantastic and it hit many people in attendance quite hard, including myself.  Today’s elderly population is living longer now than in any other previous time in history.  This comes, however, with the added risk of mental illness.  

She made reference to Dementia, and how it isn’t a disease, but rather a group of symptoms that accompany disease such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, MS, or Stroke to our aging loved ones.  Not to scare you but she also mentioned that these diseases often come in pairs.

Ali_Fox

At the end she provided ways of tackling some of the very hard, yet very real discussions we are forced to have with our parents about aging, prevention, illness, and eventual passing. As depressing as this might sound, the presentation was in fact a real eye opener and made me realize that these real discussions have to happen with family.

To help, she provided reference to a few books such as  “I Only Say This Because I Love You” and a wealth of information on the AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons) website. 

I took a quick glance at the information on the AARP website and found a few articles that dive into some of the topics/issues that she touched on:

• Help for Alzheimer’s Caregivers
• Easing Aged-Based Sibling Rivalry in Caregiving
• Caring for the Greatest, Muhammad Ali
• And mention of local, Margot Bentley

I’m no expert in family matters, and by no means a councillor, but I thought this was a very real and very probable issue that is going to touch all of us at one stage of our life or another.

Maybe some of our resident Health Care guru’s could also comment on any additional resources  

Thoughtfully,
Richy

Friday

Warm-up: Andy’s Choice at 6 am

Strength: Cleans (2, 2, 2)

You can either touch-and-go or take one quick pause (no more than 5 seconds between the two lifts). How heavy can you go for a double?

THEN

Every 30 seconds for 7 minutes: 1 clean (Go heavier than you did Grace earlier this month)

Workout: Quake Bar Sprints! (Budget 20 minutes)

East Van Barbell Club dabbles with quake bar bench press a lot. It’s great for both muscular endurance and stability.

5 rounds:

15 unbroken Quake Bar Bench Press (16 kg for men, 12 kg for women)
200 meter sprint

**Share benches. Rest as needed (1 to 2 minutes between rounds). The idea is to do the bench press unbroken and hit the 200 meter hill sprints hard.

Here’s a video of how to set up with Quake Bar with bands attached to the KBs.

 Saturday

Warm-up:

5 minutes dynamic warm-up lengths
20 band pull aparts
10 Dislocates
10 ring rows
10 pull-ups
5 minutes to warm up squat clean

Workout:

Badger

3 rounds of:

30 squat cleans (95 lbs/65 lbs)
30 pull-ups
800 m run

40 minute time cap

If you’ve been here for less than 6 months, do a smaller version:

3 rounds:

20 Squat Cleans
20 Pull-ups
600 meter run

Sunday

Make up day, but prioritize CrossFit Total!

Three things to talk about today:

1). If anyone is interested in doing CrossFit HQ’s Weightlifing Trainer Course this weekend, there are still spots available. It’s at Studeo55 downtown and runs from 9 am until 3 pm on both Saturday and Sunday. Details can be found HERE.

2). Check out this dude: He broke the Guinness World Record for the longest plank hold. 4 hours plus!! INSANITY. Read more here.

3). As the morning people know, my pet peeve is people who have NO clue how much they can lift. These folks never seem to bother counting up the plates on their bars so they waste time every class figuring out what kind of weight to lift during both the strength and workout sessions. TODAY is your chance!! CrossFit Total will allow you to establish a one rep deadlift, back squat and shoulder press. LOG THESE SCORES IN THE RECORDS SECTION OF THE POCKET COACH BITCHES! So even if you forget, you’ll have it logged FOREVER!!

That is all.

Thursday

Warm-up: (10 minutes)

10/10 Bowler Squats
10/10 T-Spine Bridges
10 Yoga Push-ups

Then with an empty bar:

20 Good Mornings
10 Back Squats
10 Front Squats
10 Shoulder Press

Workout:

CF Total

Back squat – 1 rep max (15 minutes)
Shoulder Press – 1 rep max (10 minutes)
Deadlift – 1 rep max (15 minutes)

Score is total poundage

Finisher

50 Unbroken Wall Balls (if 50 is easy, use a heavier ball than you normally do or use a 12 foot target!)

**If you cannot do 50 in a row, see how many you can do in one max attempt!