Max Effort Monday
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I will be taking preorders for t-shirts. I will need your quantities, sizes and payments by Wednesday evening for the preorder pricing of $22 + tax for men’s t’s and $20 + tax for ladies racerback tanks. Regular price for these will be $26 for men’s t-shirts and $24 for tanks. They will say CrossFit Oakdale on the front and have the Team CFO Logo on the back.
Monday will be our first “Max Effort Monday”. The goal is two fold- to move heavy weight and to continue to build competence and confidence in the major lifts. Use this time to lift heavy but not forsake perfect technique. This is a training session and we will be testing at max loads many times over the coming weeks and months. Leave plenty in the tank and focus on safe, efficient lifts.
As many of you know we will be abbreviating the schedule from June 14th through the 26th. We will be adding a 6am on Tuesdays for the next few weeks. The schedule for that time period will be out in the next few days.
Thank you to everyone who came out this weekend for CrossFit for Hope. It was a lot of fun and we got to raise money for a great cause. We have another week to continue to raise money. Just as every rep counts, every penny does to. If you have a change jar…at home or in your car…please bring it in. Checks can be made out to St. Jude and I will mail them in. There will be a jar at the gym for donations. Please be generous!
Top Mens and Ladies Scaled and RX Winners
CrossFit for Hope Event
Workout of the Day
Strength
Clean and Jerk
20 Minutes build to a heavy single
Metcon
30 Clean and Jerks 95/65
30 Burpees
(If these Clean and Jerks feel super light…It is because they ARE! Go FASTER)
Saturday’s CrossFit for Hope!
We will be taking on the brand new CrossFIt WOD “Hope” for the CrossFit for Hope fundraiser. There is still time to sign up for the CrossFit community wide fundraiser. We will be doing to fundraiser a week early, so you can still get donations for another week.
We will be open at 8am to begin registration. We’ll review the movements at 8:30am, and run the first heat at 9am. The first heat will be scaled, and we’ll move into RX heats. We’ll try to schedule the big dogs around 10am. Please come out to cheer on athletes, and even help out with judging.
If your doing the WOD, you’ll have a scorecard and a judge.
Workout of the Day
“Hope”
Three rounds of:
Burpees
75/55 pound Power snatch
Box jump, 24″/20″ box
75/55 pound Thruster
Chest to bar Pull-ups
“Hope” has the same format as Fight Gone Bad. In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. On call of “rotate,” the athlete/s must move to next station immediately for good score. One point is given for each rep.
CrossFit for Hope
Saturday, June 2nd, we will be holding the CrossFit for Hope Fundraiser to raise money for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. Let us know if you will be participating. You can sign up to raise money on your own at hope.crossfit.com or donate on Saturday at the event.
Registration starts at 8am, and the first heat starts at 9am. It will be Fight Gone Bad Style with Thrusters, Box Jumps, Burpees, Chest to Bar Pullups and Snatches. As with every CrossFit WOD, we will be scaling this WOD appropriately.
Workout of the Day
Strength/Skill
Back Squat
3-3-3
Metcon
AMRAP 12*
KB Waiter walk 50ft out, Left hand
KB Waiter walk 50ft back, Right hand
15 Kettlebell Swings
*If you put the KB on the ground, do 5 burpees
KB load, Men 53, Ladies 35
Advanced atheltes, try completely vertical KB swings.
Future Plans
I want to clarify a few things on last night’s post. Although the Olympic lifts will be a major point of emphasis, we are not going to become a weightlifting gym. I love the O lifts because they provide the best bang for the weightlifting buck. But, there is no substitute for CrossFit ass-kickery. In my book, there is nothing better than a short, sweet couplet or triplet which pushes your limits, but not so much that you have to stop. THAT is the center piece of our training. Virtuoso performance of the Olympic lifts will help us toward that goal.
And better or worse, if you are interested in CrossFit as a sport, you better get good at the Olympic lifts. Like really freaking good. In 7 of 11 workouts (the Open and Regionals), Olympic lifts, or components thereof, were tested. In cases like the 2 Snatch ladders, Row/Pistol/Hang Clean, if you weren’t extremely competent with the O lifts, and heavy, you got left in the dust. I’m speaking from experience here.
All that being said, gymnastics are a major component of our Plan as well. Gymnastic will be worked into the plan in 4 week waves, and will stick to broader concepts. 4 week waves of Being Upsidedown, Hanging and Pulling and Ring Competence and Confidence will be worked into the program.
I am seriously contemplating posting a Workout of the Week, announced on Wednesday, to be performed on Saturday at 10am. Any thoughts on this? This session will always be proceeded by O lift work, but will allow for strategy and breakdown of movements to maximize performance. Call it the Sport of Fitness, competitive exercising or gaming the WOD, but anything worth doing is worth doing well. Let’s get really good at it.
Workout of the Day
8 Handstand Pushups
8 Pistols, alternating
8 Burpee Over Box 20/16
12 Handstand Pushups
12 Pistols, alternating
12 Burpee Over Box 20/16
16 Handstand Pushups
16 Pistols, alternating
16 Burpee Over Box 20/16
The Plan
The problem with the Deadlift, is it’s a relatively slow lift and it requires relatively little coordination. The Olympic lifts, the Clean and the Snatch require a similar, although usually lighter pull, but the pull is performed much faster, as much as 40% faster.
I have planned on 12 week cycle where we will focus on the Olympic Lifts and Squatting. We will Clean and Jerk and Snatch AT LEAST once a week each, and we will Back Squat once a week.
We have a great mix of experienced Athletes and newer athletes, but we can all benefit from focusing on these lifts, and breaking them down a little more than we have in the Strength/Skill sessions.
We will rotate the lifts weekly. Mondays will be “Max Effort Mondays” where we will attempt to build to a heavy single of which ever lift is up that week. During the week, we will work the other lifts, but will focus on different aspects of the lifts in what are known as “skill transfer exercises”.
Once you learn the lifts, you likely begin to realize you are better at certain components of the lifts than others. You may find you are really good at pulling the barbell, but your elbows are slow. Or you are not great at pulling you body under the bar. Or more. The skill transfer exercises are about fixing weaknesses, but they need to be done perfectly before they can be loaded heavy.
Some examples of skill transfer exercises are: Snatch Balance, Clean Pulls, Snatch Pulls, Behind the Neck Jerk, Hang Cleans and Hang Snatches. There are excellent drills such as the 3 Position Snatch and 3 Position Clean or Halting Clean and Halting Snatch. I will be posting videos on these movements, but please take the time to look them up, whether on CrossFit.com FAQ or on you favorite Olympic Lifting sites. The better you understand the lifts, the quicker we can get to loading them, and get better bang for the buck.
Most of these drills will require hanging onto the bar for multiple reps, which will require greater spinal tension than heavy singles. Working from the Hang also not only builds a strong back, but develops great grip strength and stamina. These are great things to develop, and with consistent work, you will see gains in nearly everything. I know this, but forgot it. Experiences and failures should affect how we do things in the future, right? Well, I got absolutely got gut punched by 225 Hang Cleans at Regionals, while other guys and gals seemed to handle the movement. This is something I aim to fix.
Lifting Days will be Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for now. Like before, the sessions will be followed by a shorter conditioning session. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be longer, Metcon only days, but don’t be surprised if you see the lifts worked in as well. On Saturdays, the advanced class will always start with a Clean and Jerk or Snatch session.
I will have more information on how we plan to work gymnastic development in waves tomorrow.
Workout of the Day
Strength/Skill
Hang Snatch
3-3-3
Metcon
9 Hang Squat Snatch
50 Doubleunders
7 Hang Squat Snatch
50 Doubleunders
5 Hang Squat Snatch
50 Doubleunders
Men 115, Ladies 75
DU – Sub 75 backwards, 100 singles
Post Murph Bliss
I don’t know when “Murph” became a Memorial Day tradition at CrossFit gyms, but it’s an appropriate one. In CrossFit gyms all over the country, men and women attacked hundreds of pull-ups, push ups, squats and exhausted runs. It’s a great thing to honor LT Michael Murphy, but Memorial Day isn’t just about his sacrifice, or even that of Special Operations that so many CrossFit Hero WODs are named in honor of. I hope that we think off ALL service men and women that have sacrificed so much to preserve freedom as we put forth our effort.
That being said, what a great effort on Monday! “Murph” is perhaps the longest CrossFit WOD, and is a gut check if there ever was one. We had 18 CFO Athletes tackle 2 miles and 600 reps, and everyone made it out the door before the 60 minute cutoff. I’ve been busy with training and work, so I haven’t gotten to see everyone recently, but I was impressed with everyone’s form under extreme fatigue. Solid squats and legit pushups were the norm, and any ROM issues were quickly and easily corrected. I’m not calling him out, but 2 months ago, Kirk’s pull-ups resembled a full body spasm. Today, the K-man was fluid and powerful through 100 pull-ups! BOOMSAUCE! Way to put in the work, Kirk!
The thing I was most impressed with was the attitude. First off, just showing up for something like that is commendable! We had two studs take it on with a 20# vest, but it was the team work, and constant encouragement that has me still smiling. It is VERY easy to get into your own “pain cave” and become a Grumpy Gus. When you’re suffering, it’s easy to get discouraged when a ROM correction is made, someone gets in your way or moves the chalk. I don’t know how many physical grinders Terri C has been through, but Memorial Day Murph, scaled or not, is no joke. But she, like all of you stayed positive throughout, chipped away, and did the work. Great job!
Tomorrow night I’ll post the basic plan CrossFit Oakdale’s training for the next 6 months. I’m excited. I hope you are too!
Workout of the Day
Strength/Skill
Squat Clean and Jerk
In 15 minutes, build to a heavy single. “Thruster-ing” the barbell from the squat clean position to overhead is not only allowed, but encouraged!
Metcon
AMRAP 5
Squat Clean and Jerk 165/105
Memorial Day Schedule
On Memorial Day we will be honoring Navy Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy, age 29 of Patchogue, NY. He was killed in Afghanistan on June 29th, 2005.
9am class only. No 6am or Evening Classes.
This workout was one of Mike’s favorites and he’d named it “Body Armor”. From here on it will be referred to as “Murph” in honor of the focused warrior and great American who wanted nothing more in life than to serve this great country and the beautiful people who make it what it is.
Back to Normal…whatever that is.
Our schedule has been crazy for the last few weeks, but we get back to normal just in time for summer.
I love Saturdays. The pace is relaxed, families get to hang out, and we do crazy workouts. This Saturday is no different than all of the others. But it is fun to get back to it.
Saturday at 9am is a Bring a Friend WOD. Please come out and join us and bring a friend! Show’em how hardcore you are!
Monday is a holiday, and we will o
Jen C. is working on a project for Under Armor and she has set a goal of doing the CrossFit benchmark WOD Fran in less than 5 minutes. She’ll be taking her second run in between classes. Jen is a great athlete with a great attitude, and your cheers will definitely help her as she pushes through the pain. Please stick around and cheer her on!
10am is our Advanced class. Training for the 2013 Games begins! I’m not going to lie to you: I got crushed by heavy hang cleans. Guess what, folks? We may work em a bit. Also, I am excited to start working in some O-lifting work on the front end of training, and I’d like to test out running classes through the lifts and skill transfer exercises.
Next Saturday will be our CrossFit for Hope WOD. Registration starts at 8am and the first heat will start at 9am. All donations will go to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Donations can be placed here: https://hope.crossfit.com/sponsor?id=U3986 or you can sign yourself up to be sponsored here.
Workout of the Day
9am Bring A Friend WOD
Thrusters and Pullups
We’ll see who we have, and have fun workout by coupling 2 of CrossFit essential movements.
10am Advanced
12 minutes to build to a heavy Clean and Jerk
Clean Pulls
3×3
Metcon
AMRAP 12
Hang Clean Ladder 1-5, 155/100
Handstand Walk 50ft
Earn Your Carbs
Earn Your Carbs from TTMJ. John recommends reading his earlier post, Just Tell Me What To Eat. I am a big believer in limiting carbs, especially processed ones. BUT…if your physical output is high, you will NEED to get carbs. Otherwise, you will run into a brick wall. I’m curious to hear some our Paelo challengers thoughts on this, especially in the first weeks of the challenge, when carb intake in usually really low.
CFO saw an unbelievable jump in performance on the baseline WODs. Increase in performance, over a month by 20-25% means you put in the work and did it right. Great work!
How did you feel early? How did you feel later in the challenge? Did you add carbs? Keep them low?
Janet ROCKS
Workout of the Day
Strength/Skill
In 5 attempts, build to a heaviest 100 ft Sled Push.
The only place you can stop is on the turn around. If you lose momentum mid-run, you went too heavy.
Metcon
AMRAP 10
75 Doubleunders*
20 Pistols, alternating
10 Wall Climbs
*Substitution is 2 for 1 backwards, 3 for one forwards.
I got your back!
ATTENTION ATHLETES: If you just set a PR on your Deadlift (which many of you did! Rock on!), be careful with you lower back over the next week or so. Take extra time to warm up, roll your lower bits, and apply ice. You have just asked your body to move more weight than you ever have before, and this is powerful JuJu. In my experience, it can take 7-10 days to fully recover from a max effort deadlift. Be smart, and we’re going to lay off the deadlift for a bit. Great work on all the big lifts!
The 5 best weightlifting shoes under $200. I’ve been called a shoe hound in the past, but let my obsession benefit YOU! I have worn Rogue Do-Wins for 3 years, and I love them. Alison has a pair of the Adidas powerlifting shoe, which is very similar to the unmentioned Reebok Oly Shoe (which is a little pricy, at $150).
K-Star is talking about low back recovery post jumping efforts, but this can help you post-ME Deadlift.
Workout of the Day
AMRAP 20
5 Shoulder to Overhead 155/100
Run Parking lot loop
10 Wallball Shots 20/14
