Wednesday’s workout is from the original CrossFit Open – 11.2.  It’s a heavy breather of box jumps, stomach hand release push ups and deadlifts.  This workout introduced hand release pushups to the masses, stomach although they had been introduced in the CrossFit Games the year before.  Back then, # the Games were streamed on the internet and like a 1,000 people watched in Carson.  Now, you can flip through Regionals heats and consume CrossFit as seemingly thousands of people watch in the stands at Regional events. This workout was a shit show for scoring and judging back in the day.  Video submissions for 11.2 were getting ripped apart on the internet.  The pushups, which demanded the hand release and a lock out, but little else in between, looked like people were doing the worm or humping horse stall mats.  But the box jumps were worse.  The only requirement was that...Read more

I was talking with someone during 16.1 (the overhead walking lunge/burpee/Chest to Bar WOD) and I was marveling how everything came out to 8’s.  8 Burpees and 8 Chest to Bar, story but it was incredible to me how short or tall, buy everyone needed 8 steps to get through the 25 foot overhead walking lunge. On Saturday, cheapest I was talking with Chris how Front Rack lunges would be interesting to mix in, and we came up with this riff on 16.1. Ideally, this would call for a walking lunge, but we don’t have the space for more than 6 to do this safely (a few gyms do).  Instead, we will lunge in place , with one small nuance. One each set of lunges, you will stand in place an alternate your feet.  For the first piece, you will step forward, which will force you to step back into the...Read more

This week, treat we’ll enter the 3rd Phase of the Cube.  The lifts and rep schemes stay the same, information pills but the percentages go up by 5%.  So our working weights will be 70% for explosive day, 80% for rep day, and 90% for heavy day. Monday we will be closed, but we will be doing the Hero WOD “Murph” on Saturday.  “Murph” is 1 mile run, then 100 Pullups, 200 Pushups, 300 Squats and finish up with a 1 mile run.  You can break up the calisthenics how ever you like.  I prefer 20 rounds of 5-10-15. Workout of the Day Strength/Skill The Cube, Phase 3, Week 1 Bench Press 5 sets of 2, 90% of 1RM Conditioning 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Chest to Bar Pullups 50 yard down and back sprint after each roundRead more

CrossFit at 9am and 10am.  Get your sweat on before the Chocolate Festival.  If you’re into that kind of thing. Workout of the Day 33-22-11 Push Jerk 135/95 Pullup At 10am, decease we will do this, and after a 10 minute rest 5 RFT 250m row 7 Power Clean 135/95 7 Bar Facing BurpeesRead more

Stop Thinking, information pills Start Exercising from Headspace.  If you talk to me for a little bit, you may eventually hear me talk about Headspace, an app that I have been using to learn about, and how to meditate.  The practice that Headspace develops enhances mindfulness, also called awareness.  The practice teaches you how to become aware of your thoughts.  In becoming more aware of our passing thoughts, we begin to see thoughts are merely passing things.  More, this helps us learn that it’s not the thing – a traffic jam, a heavy barbell, a conflict with a co-worker, whatever – it’s how we respond to the thing that defines our experience. What does this have to do with CrossFit?  I have talked before about the importance of positive self talk – using positive words – ‘keep going’ instead of ‘don’t stop’ and avoiding thinking and saying things like ‘don’t...Read more