Depth

IMG_5587Emma and Lexi on summer vacation

Some days I am struck by the breadth and depth of the CrossFit program. I finished a series of intro sessions today with a new athlete, and I was once again impressed with CrossFit. As I taught her the basic movements and explained the details of each one, I was inspired by the functionality, simplicity and beauty of how they build on one another. I was excited as I told her about the neurological adaptations that occur when we do the Olympic lifts. I believed it when I told her she would one day get a pull-up. And as we finished up today, I was proud of all she learned in three short hours and by how different CrossFit is from any other training program out there. I realized CrossFit is for everyone and anyone.

-Coach D

___________________

Workout:

Two rounds of:
Tabata row for calories
Tabata handstand hold

Serious

IMG_5575Jess ready to snatch

The clean and jerk and snatch are serious endeavors. Learning the nuances and details can take a long time. Getting good at them may take a lifetime. Olympic style weightlifters spend hours honing in on their technique and squatting heavy. Be patient and keep practicing. The hardest stuff to learn has the biggest neurological benefit.

_________________

Workout:

For time:
Run 800 meters
10 rounds of the couplet of:
135 pound Thruster, 3 reps
3 muscle-ups
Run 800 meters

Striker

IMG_5549Dahlberg running

If you were to watch people running frame by frame, you would notice the most efficient runners spend more time with their feet in the air than on the ground.  

_________________

Workout:

5 Rounds
Max rep bench press (bodyweight)
Max rep pull ups
60 seconds rest

__________________

There will be a Benefit WOD at the legendary Ranch in Aromas on Saturday, June 16 at 11 a.m. 
Sign up and more information HERE.

O- My My

IMG_5496 Olivia strong and beautiful

World Class Fitness in 100 words:
Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise, but not body fat. Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics:  Pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc., hard and fast. Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense. Regularly learn and play new sports. 
~Greg Glassman

Based on the above 100 words what would you, add, change and or work on to closer match this outline?

_______________

Workout:

Four 400m sprints, rest as needed between efforts

Z's

IMG_5322Warming up for Hope

___________________

It can never be stressed enough just how important sleep is. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m an old lady trapped in a 21-year-old’s body and thoroughly enjoy going to bed at 9:30. But even I sometimes get caught up in life and responsibilities and forget to look out for my best interests and well being. 

Sleep is often underestimated, especially when you’re in college where finishing something on time means finishing it 3 hours before it’s due (procrastination? It’s a lifestyle). For me personally, without at least 8 hours of sleep I become a zombie-like creature whose sasstitude increases exponentially. 

Without sleep, your hormones are confused, your stress levels raise, your brain slows down, and if you’re anything like me, you begin to consume everything in sight and feel like Ms. Pacman. And as much as I would like to think my workouts are still great when I’m tired, they aren’t. Those are the days when my push-up looks even more like a strugglefest than usual and even my lucky bacon shirt can’t help a sistah out.

Regardless of what your schedule looks like, it is incredibly important to take care of yourself in all aspects of life (hydration, nutrition, etc.), but especially in making sure you are getting enough sleep.

So try to make a conscious effort tonight, turn off your electronics and go to bed early. Or even nap! Cat naps are where it’s at (have I convinced you yet that my real age is 88?) Try getting 8 hours of sleep and see how you feel the next day. See if you don’t feel more energized and ready to PR your snatch by 10 pounds (Spealler obviously got a full night’s sleep the night before his PR at the South West Regional ... ergo, get 8 hours of sleep and you can compete at the CrossFit Games too!)

- Kelsey K.

___________________

Workout:

Rest day

Wise up

IMG_5062

Before I started CrossFit, I thought skinny was fit. I thought six packs were the be all end all of fitness. I know now it is much wiser to see my fitness in terms of what I am able to do, not what I look like. I see my nutrition as fuel for my performance and not a diet for my waistline. I want to deadlift and clean and jerk. I want to santch and run. Those things make me better at moving furniture, riding bikes, surfing and climbing trees. This is an easy idea to forget, but a great one to remember.

-Coach D

______________

Workout:

With a continuously running clock, do one 135-pound overhead squat the first minute, two overhead squats the second minute, three overhead squats the third minute ... continue as long as you are able. Do not use a rack.

After A Lot Of Reps

IMG_5488After  "Hope"

In case you haven't noticed, my posts have been few and far between. Yet others have certainly picked up where I left off -- which speaks volumes about the type of community we foster here at CFSC. The post I'm sharing with you today comes courtesy of author Bill Hayes, who is currently writing a book on the history of exercise. The following is something I think most of us athletes can relate to -- especially those who have been at it for years.
- Dahlberg
________________
 
If only I had read Plato. That's what I thought when I saw my MRI: 28 images, impossible to deny, of a torn rotator cuff muscle -- a consequence of years of weightlifting... Plato could have warned me. In "The Republic," he advises "temperance" in physical training, likening it to learning music and poetry. Keep it "simple and flexible," as in all things, don't overdo. Follow this course, and you will remain "independent of medicine in all but extreme cases."
 
Plato was an athlete, particularly skilled as a wrestler... So good a wrestler was Plato that he reportedly competed at the Isthmian Games (comparable to the Olympics), and continued wrestling into adulthood. Ensconced at the academy, he spoke strongly on behalf of the virtues of physical education. He felt that one could balance physical training with "cultivating the mind," exercising "the intellect in study." The goal "is to bring the two elements into tune with one another by adjusting the tension of each to the right pitch." Equal parts thought and sweat...
 
As one can see most obviously in gifted athletes and performers, the body itself can be a source of knowledge -- coordination, grace, agility, stamina, skill -- both intuitive and learned... Of course there is the risk of taking things too far. Again, from "The Republic": "Excessive emphasis on athletics produces an excessively uncivilized type, while a purely literary training leaves a man indecently soft."
 
Even if I'd been sitting at Plato's feet as a young man, I would not have listened. Back then, looking good and getting bigger mattered most... Alas, today I'm paying a price in frayed muscle tendons. But in my aches and pains I am choosing to see wisdom gained... I have pressed pause... and stepped away from the heavy weights for a time. Now it is Plato's body to which I aspire.
 
* Something tells me Mr. Hayes should have done more mobility work.
________________ 


For time:
100 Ball slams, 30lb ball
Run 400 meters
100 Wall ball shots, 20lb ball
Run 400 meters
100  Pull-ups
Run 400 meters