Kristy during the 2008 CrossFit Games.
Choosing our Zone Competition Winner was a very difficult task for us at CrossFit Santa Cruz. There were many people who participated and who had amazing results. Measuring gains in CrossFit can be challenging, and because the commencement of the competition corresponded with the week of July 4th and the CrossFi Games, it was more difficult to test people then we anticipated it was going to be.
However, Kristy's dedication to the Zone and to training for the Games was something that none of us needed testing to tell us was absolutely phenomenal. Her husband Scott and her strictly followed the Zone while most of us eventually gave in to the cravings of our favorite non-zone foods, they only splurged and ate ONE meal that was not in the Zone during the whole six weeks! Now, she is blowing through workouts without modifications, her times are improved, her form is great, her clothes fit differently and her body is looking stronger and more toned. Kristy was also a huge motivator to us all both at the gym and in her daily comments on this site. Kristy's weight dropped from 139 pounds to 132. Her wasit went from 29 inches, to 26.5 inches, and her hips were 39 inches and dropped to 37.5 inches. But, most impressively, her Fran time dropped in just seven weeks from 13:47 to 10:25. She used a rack on the first Fran, but not on the second one. As you can see, she improved her Fran time by 3:22! That is amazing! I wish we had more improved times for you, but we wanted her to rest the week before the Games, and her hands were torn up the week following, so we will have to post more times as she continues to get them. However, anyone who works out with her can see that she has made huge gains and we all know that it's because of her commitment to the Zone. Great job Kristy, you are an inspiration to us all!
Stay tuned this week as we highlight other people who made amazing gains during the last six weeks on the Zone! Thanks everyone for participating.
And now for our new challenge....
THE BURPEE CHALLENGE!
Beginning today, Monday, July 14th, we are going to start doing one burpee a day until we get to 100 burpees on the 100th day!
The Rules:
1. Use Burgener's burpee standards for form (see examples below)
2. You can complete each day's burpees all at once, or broken up and done at different times throughout the day
3. If for some reason you miss a day, you have to make up all the missed burpees the following day
4. If you don't start the challenge with us today, you can "buy-in" at any time by doing ALL the missed day's burpees on your first day
5. Any burpees you complete during your regular workout can count towards that day’s Challenge burpees, if you want them to
5. Have fun doing burpees and getting stronger doing it!
Burpee Challenge Form Standards:
One
Start with hands on the ground in front of your feet. Keep your back straight.
Two
Kick feet out behind you into the top of the push-up portion of the burpee. Your body should be straight and tight in a flat plank.
Three
Lower your body into the lowest part of a push-up. Your chest and thighs should ultimately touch the ground at the same time. Remember to keep your whole body, especially your midline, tight. While throwing your body on the ground and therefore touching both chest and thighs to the ground is acceptable by some standards, we feel that more is to be gained from doing a strict push-up in this Challenge.
Four
Push up into the top of the push-up position again.
Five
Jump your feet up to your hands into your starting position.
Six
Jump into the air and clap your hands overhead so that your ear is exposed in front of your arms. Your feet should leave the ground.
I first heard of this Challenge from The Serrano Family of CrossFit Marina. They recently completed the Challenge and all swear that they are so much stronger and have better wind because of it. They loved the burpee part of the CrossFit Games! Denise Serrano originally got the idea from CrossFit Long Beach and loved the idea so much that she started the Challenge before they did. Crossfit Long Beach is on day 96 today! I don't know where they got the idea, but maybe someone out there knows and can fill us in.
My goal with The Burpee Challenge is to do what I dislike the most! We all know that there is no better way to work your weaknesses then to just do it. Please post if you are interested in joining us in this Challenge. As far as I know, Greg A, Hannah and I are starting today. Anyone else? Greg and I both did 100 burpees yesterday so we would have something to compare to the time we get on 100 burpees completed after the Challenge is over. I'm guessing we will get a lot faster.
