WOD 8/1/2011

Congratulations go out to Rich Froning Jr. and Annie Thorisdottir, winners of the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games, and fittest man and woman on Earth. If you had a chance to watch the coverage at all this weekend, I'm sure you had to pick your jaw up off the floor a few times, just like me.

A.

MA.

ZING.

OK, on to the wod. After warmups and static holds:

For time:

Sprint 50m

20 Pushups

20 Squats

Sprint 100m

15 Pushups

15 Squats

Sprint 150m

10 Pushups

10 Squats

Sprint 200m

5 Pushups

5 Squats

Sunday Challenge

OK folksies, here it is:

Between waking up in the morning, and going to bed at night, complete between 50 and 100 pushups, slow-style. If you have a strength building device that you can set to 1 beat per second, do so.

2 seconds down, hold 1 second

2 seconds up, hold 1 second

Rule 1: Sets must be 5 reps each.

Rule 2: You must rest at least 20 minutes between sets, preferably more.

Suggestion(up to you): Pick a variation that you capable of doing for 10, so 5 is half your max.

Post variation and number of reps accomplished to comments.

At least I'm not making you do this..........

WOD 7/29/2011

Another scorcher today, so HYDRATE, HYDRATE, HYDRATE!

Warmups:

Inchworm

Wrist Mobility

Static Holds(let's do another Frog Stand test, and see if we can't get more names in the Hall of Fame)

Skill work: Partner Pistols. Counter-balance each other going down, help each other back up. Full ROM

Workout:

AMRAP 15

100m run

5 Pushups

10 Unanchored Situps

15 Squats

'Nasty Girls,' one of CrossFit's most famous workouts. 3 rounds for time: 50 Squats, 7 Muscle-ups, 10 Hang Power Cleans at 95#. Athletes are Annie Sakamoto, Nicole Carroll, and Eva Twardokens

WOD 7/27/2011

HYDRATE PRE-WOD!!! If you pass out during the workout, I get to call you a dork.

Strength work:

5x5 Pushups(your hardest version)

3x5 Pistols(use blocks for elevation)

Workout:

3 Rounds for time:

400m Run

30 Squats

20 Pushups

Your daily video dose: Mikko Salo, 2009 CrossFit Games champion, does a ladder(remember the pushup ladder from last week?) of Clean & Jerks. He calls it by it other, very fitting, name.

The Games start FRIDAY!

I know I've mentioned it a couple times, but I'll say it again:

26,000 people entered the Open Competition.

1000 people(about 60 from each of 17 regions) competed in the regionals, with 3 men and 3 women plus teams advancing.

Approximately 70 men, 70 women, teams, and Masters(45+) athletes will compete this weekend in the

2011 REEBOK CROSSFIT GAMES!!!!

The entire event will stream live(and free), and the winners will be crowned the fittest man and woman on the planet. Tune in, it's going to be SICK!

WOD 7/25/2011

HYDRATE!!!! It's going to be hot.

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Here's your dose of pain to start the week off right.

Four rounds for reps:

1 minute walking lunges

1 minute pushups

1 minute squats

1 minute rest

Make sure you pick a pushup variation that you can do. Don't do a regulation pushup if you'll only get 5 reps. Go to your knees, or a bench, or whatever you have to.

Sunday Challenge

Hey gang,

I hope you had a nice easy Saturday. Not too much outside time, or if you did I hope you got a lot of water in over the day.

Your Sunday Challenge this week is a repeat of last week, since nobody actually did it. :)

Do at least 35 Pistols(on each leg)

Spread them throughout the day, in sets of 5, with about an hour in between. Do a version that you can manage for an easy 5. This is called "Greasing the Groove." Start in the morning, and finish just before going to bed. Bonus brownie points for reading Pavel Tsatsouline's article on Greasing the Groove here.

Post reps accomplished and impressions to comments.

In this video, you see teams of two guys competing. The Rogue Fitness duo consists of Mikko Salo(2009 CrossFit Games champion) and Graham Holmberg(2010 Games champion). Check out their pistols.

WOD 7/23/2011

Just kidding :)

Excellent efforts from everyone on Friday. It's very tough doing a workout in that kind of brutal heat, especially with the air being so thick with humidity. Great job.

Make sure you stay hydrated, and make sure you eat enough to keep your energy up. HOWEVER, I'm not telling you to eat garbage to stay energetic. Eat good stuff. Meats and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar. An excellent way to stay hydrated is fruit. That juicy plum or nectarine not only gives you natural sugars(good) and lots of essential micronutrients(also good), but also has a high water content and helps you keep water in your system(even more good). It's a win-win-win all around.

Here's Robb Wolf, author of "The Paleo Solution," telling a group of trainers about nutrition. Look him up. Very cool guy. For those looking to lose weight, the real take-away here comes around 6 minutes in.

WOD 7/22/2011

REMEMBER TO HYDRATE PRE-WOD!

Very important this time around, and you can thank Liz, who asked for a tough one, since this will be her final summer workout before band camp. All together now, THANKS LIZ!

(who is a senior, by the way. Apparently I was supposed to know that:)

For time:

200m Run

30 squats

200m Run

25 Pushups

200m Run

20m Walking Lunges

200m Run

15 Burpees

200m Run

10 Pistols

Post time to comments.

Some of you commented on my "I <3 Fran" Shirt. Enjoy :)

Nutrition Update

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS go out to Alex Monos, who demonstrated the full pistol on each leg! Awesome job, Alex!

After class, a few of us had a little pow-wow about nutrition, and it reminded me that I haven't really addressed it recently. The main take-away point is that we shouldn't be eating foods that we didn't evolve to eat, and we only started eating grains and any sort of processed food about 10,000 years ago, the blink of an eye in evolutionary time.

The problem with grains and sugar is that they're loaded with simple carbohydrate, which becomes sugar in the blood stream very quickly, spikes your insulin, and tells your cells to store anything and everything that comes their way. In short, you get fat.

By getting your carbohydrate from vegetables and fruit, your insulin levels stay balanced, and you get a nice steady energy throughout the day. If you feel the need for a carb hit, grab an apple or orange. I just had an awesome peach a few minutes ago. Yum :)

I repeat(from a couple weeks ago): Meats and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar. If this is the ONLY guideline you follow, fat will melt off your body. I dare you. Go two weeks eating no grains at all(no rice, bread, pasta, etc.) and no sugar. You'll lose weight.

I dare you.

Here's Nicole Carroll from a seminar several years ago:

WOD 7/20/2011

REMEMBER! Drink at least 16oz. of water between 30-60 minutes before the workout. Make this a habit!

Pushup Ladder

Perform one pushup the first minute, two pushups the second minute, three pushups the third minute, and so on. Sets may be broken as you wish, as long as reps are completed before the next minute. You're done when you fail to complete your set within the minute.

All pushups must be a) straight body, open hip and b) full range of motion to count. Pushups may be done on knees, against a bench, whatever allows for proper position and full range of motion.

I don't normally post actual commercials for the video, but I thought this was worth it :)

Post rounds completed(and reps of last round) to comments.

And, here's some advice for making the pushups easier('The position' simply refers to keeping all those tissues tight and under control from head to toe):

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Congrats go out to Dominic Napoleon, who was our first entry into the Hall of Fame. Dominic held the Frog Stand for 60 seconds. Generations to come will sing your name, Dom. :)

Who will be next, and......who will do the first pistol?

For those who joined us for the first time, here's a little primer on progressions for the pushup. You can scale the work to your ability, but the two main points are:

1) Straight body, with a fully open hip, and

2) Full range of motion.

And, build up your pressing sufficiently and you'll be doing this.......

WOD 7/18/2011

REMEMBER! Drink at least 16oz. water 30-60 minutes before the workout. Make this a habit!

After warmups:

Frog stand test, let's get someone into the Hall of Fame :)

3 Rounds for time:

400m Run

20 Bench Jumps

10 pushups

Here's your Monday Motivation. Chris Spealler, 3rd place in the 2010 CrossFit Games, does 100 pullups in a row, the first time ever on film. The video is long, 22 minutes(he takes a few tries at it:) Enjoy ;)

Sunday Challenge

OK, after a good Saturday off, I'm giving you a challenge:

Do 35 pistols on each leg.

HOW?

We're going to 'grease the groove.' Find a version of the pistol that is doable for a set of 5. Maybe a slightly higher-than-normal chair, or a bench with a book on it. Do a set of 5 with each leg, then wait at least an hour before doing another set of 5 on each leg.

DO NOT GO TO FAILURE!

These should be fairly easy, or maybe they'll take a 75-80% effort.

Your goal is 7 sets of 5 pistols, spread throughout the day. Start in the morning, finish before you go to bed.

Extra credit: Read Pavel Tsatsouline's article on greasing the groove here.

Post reps accomplished and impressions to comments.

WOD 7/15/2011

REMEMBER! Drink at least 16 oz(preferably more) water 30-60 minutes before the workout. Make this a habit!

Today's wod:

"My First Chipper"

For time:

25 Pushups

25 Bench Step-ups(alternate legs)

25 Situps

25 Squats

25 Supermans

25 Pistols on a bench(alternate legs)

25 Walking lunges

25 Burpees

This is a 200 rep workout. It will take a while, so pace yourself. A "Chipper" is designed with many reps of many movements, in order to make the athlete feel like they've been through a wood chipper. :)

A major point on a chipper is to maintain focus and form while fatigued. Remember the burpees last time? Technique tends to go when you're breathing hard. Try not to let that happen. If I give a correction during the workout, SLOW DOWN and get it right. Nobody's going to blaze through this thing.

Two video doses today. First, Pavel "The Evil Russian" Tsatsouline demonstrates the full pistol:

And second, none of us have any excuses. Here, Kyle Maynard does a workout, and speaks to some wounded warriors:

WOD 7/13/2011

Drink AT LEAST 16 oz of water, 30-60 minutes prior to the workout. The hotter the day, the more you should hydrate BEFORE going outside for a hard workout.

After warmups(you guys know the drill by now)

In teams of 2:

100 Burpees for time

Only 1 person may work at a time, while the other rests, and both athletes must complete 50 reps each.

At least I'm not making you do this...........

In Your Head

First of all, great job Monday. Everyone did excellent work, both in the strength segment and during the workout. Remember, it's not the result of any one workout that matters, it's your progression, from where you are now to where you want to be. Every week, a little stronger, a little faster, bit by bit, second by second, until you realize that you're doing things you didn't think you could.

Consider the following example(myself):

Started at 194 pounds, now I weigh around 155

Pullups when I started: 0

Pullups now: 37(last max reps attempt)

Handstand pushups: 10

I'm no great athlete. I'm just a musician who likes being fit, and there are many out there who make me look like a baby in the gym. I just worked consistently for a long time, taking my improvements one rep at a time.

So, where's your head? What do you say to yourself when it's time to run, and your legs are made of lead? I can tell you from the trenches that toughing it out brings more benefit than just fitness.

For your video dose today, I'm getting a bit theoretical on you. :)

Post thoughts to comments.

WOD 7/11/2011

Wrist Pre-hab

Static Holds: Plank, Reverse Plank, Hollow Body, Superman, Frog Stand

Dynamic Mobility

Overhead Squat with dowel

Strength work:

5 x 5 Pushups, one set every 90 seconds

3 x 5 Partner Pistols (2 sets partial ROM, 1 set negatives)

Workout:

3 Rounds for time:

400m Run

20 Overhead Squats

Here's your Monday Motivation. When this video hit the web, OPT(James Fitzgerald) was the first person to do a sub-7 minute 'Helen.' Since he showed it was possible, dozens more have done it. Enjoy this dose of awesome. :

WOD 7/9/2011

OK, so nobody did the run yesterday. Bunch'a slackers :)

Warm-ups:

Pre-hab wrist work

Statics(60 seconds each): Plank, Reverse Plank, Hollow, Superman, Frog Stand

Skill/Strength work:

Partner Pistol negatives, 3 sets of 5 with different partners

Pushups 3 x 5 (the hardest variation that allows for full ROM)

WOD

6 rounds each of Tabata intervals on:

Air squats

Pushups

Situps

Perform as many reps as you can in 20 seconds, followed by 10 seconds rest. Your score for each exercise is your lowest rep count. So, if you're doing squats and your reps are 20, 18, 18, 17, 15, 14, 10, 10, then your score for that exercise is 10.

Post score to comments.

Finish with an easy 800m run.

WOD 7/8/2011

ON YOUR OWN. THERE IS NO FRIDAY MORNING WORKOUT THIS WEEK, INSTEAD WE WILL MEET SATURDAY, 9AM AT THE TRACK.

Run 5k

Post time to comments.

If you are not accustomed to long runs, set your watch for a 20 minute jog. Pace yourself, you should be able to hold a conversation during your run. If you are used to running distances, go to MapMyRun.com and map out a 5k run(3.1 miles), and go hard.

Afterward, stretch for a moment, and then do this mobility work:

WOD 7/6/2011

AMRAM 10

As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of:

5 pushups

10 squats

15 situps

Post results to comments

HOOOOOVERBAAALLLL!!! :)

Great time this morning, everyone! Our first ever Hooverball game, and it went very well. Team 'Sometimes Good' got a good shellacking, and the Trapp family showed up ready to throw down. We'll definitely do this again :)

Some facts about Hooverball:

• President Hoover went from 210 lbs down to 185 lbs during his presidency and credits the game for his record of not missing one day of work due to illness during his term.
• Four to eighteen White House VIP’s (what became known as “The Medicine Ball Cabinet) played each morning. The average age of the players was 53 years.
• Secretary of the Interior, Ray Lyman Wilbur, noted in his memos that rain drove the game inside only 2 or 3 times during the 4 years.
• A friend of Hoovers (Will Irwin) wrote an article in 1931 in Physical Culture magazine, reporting on the President’s physical activity. The article (The President Watches His Waistline) noted the game was more strenuous than boxing, wrestling or football. It’s virtue, according to Irwin, was not its cardiovascular benefits, but that it developed virtually every muscle of the body.
• How did Hoover fair during the games? In his article, Irwin wrote: “The president has one special talent. He carries in his old baseball arm a powerful 'forehand drive.' When he volleys at close range, his opponent must usually give ground to keep from going over on to his back. President though he be, he expects no quarter and gets none."

For your Monday Motivation, here's a video of Camille LeBlanc-Bazinet crushing a classic CrossFit workout, "Fran."

For time:

21, 15, 9 reps of

Thrusters(95# men, 65# women)

Pullups

The pullup variation seen in the video is the 'butterfly' kip. The rule is, get your chin over the bar, and fully extend at the bottom. Anything that allows you to do this faster is allowed. The butterfly kip is very fast, but requires a lot of strength in the shoulder to avoid injury. In my training, I don't allow the butterfly until an athlete has 10 strict pullups. As a former gymnast, LeBlanc-Bazinet has strength to spare. Enjoy :)

July 4th is ON!

We'll meet at Trailside Park in Herndon at 9am for a 4th of July(and Kim's birthday!) celebration, CrossFit style. We will be celebrating an american president by playing a game that was named after him. That's all I'm going to say :)

Bring your parents, bring some friends, we're going to have fun!

On Friday I mentioned the CrossFit games. On July 29-31 in Los Angeles, someone will be crowned fittest man and fittest woman on the planet. Hopefully not the same person for both prizes.

REST DAY

"Active" Rest, that is ;)

Go play some frisbee, get a baseball game going, go for a long bike ride or a jog. Do no specific strength or conditioning work today, but get outside and have some fun!

Also, here's some food for thought :)