13.1 once again highlighted the importance of working the Olympic Lifts. 5 CFO Males hit lifts at 165, sick but they all have Snatches over 200#.  One female hit lifts in the 100# class, and her Snatch is 123#.  To make these heavier lifts under fatigue, your technique had to be spot on or you had to be incredibly strong.  Or a nice mix of the 2. Now, we don’t get better at WODs like 13.1 by doing a lot of ugly Snatches while tired.  We get better by drilling the movement, breaking it down, finding our weaknesses, becoming more efficient and moving forward.  We will continue to develop these skills, but it takes time. I contacted Charles Shipman at Be Strong Athletics to come to CrossFit Oakdale to hold a 1 day, 8 hour Olympic Lifting Seminar.  Charles is a member of California Strength (formerly the Donny Shankle/Jon North...Read more

13.1 is in the books.  Just so you guys know – that was no freaking joke!  Tons of work, order highly technical and long – if you did that, you have a true test of fitness under your belt.  We’ve had a few highlights, and I wanted to share on of my favorites.  In our final heat on Sunday, Trevor and Vanessa were working next to each other.  They both approached the 135/75 bar around the same time.  Both athletes knew this was going to be a significant test (Vanessa had nailed 1 75# Snatch on Thursday, Trevor’s PR was 130).  Vanessa had a couple of misses before she nailed a 75# Snatch.  The gym went nuts!  Moments later, Trevor pulled a perfect 135# Snatch, stood up with it to our cheers, and slammed the bar down.  It was so cool…   Another moment.  Denny just missed finishing the 135#...Read more

***No CrossFit Classes on Saturday, remedy March 9th*** Tomorrow is the Annual SOS Run in Oakdale. It is a 1 mile and 5K run to raise money to support Oakdale Schools. We did this as a group last year and Gloria came in first place in her age group for the 5K! The 1 mile starts at 8:30 and the 5K will go after. If you haven’t signed up yet, you can still register at 7:30am. Let’s meet at the flagpole in front of the school at 8am. Since there is no class, you have no excuse! Location is Cloverland Elementary: 201 Johnson Street, Oakdale, CA CrossFit Open WOD 13.1 was completed once again tonight and we have had another PR. Courtney M’s previous 1RM snatch was 70#. On Wednesday she did 4 snatches at 75#! Tonight…she got 11. Great job Courtney! Sunday will be the last day to complete...Read more

I wanted to share some thoughts on the Open, visit web mainly 13.1, seek after it’s been posted. First, I feel a little vindicated seeing a big burpee/Snatch WOD.  I don’t feel like we, or I did as well as we could have on the burpee WOD last year.  We stuck to a plan over the last 6 months to get better and better at burpees, which isn’t sexy, but you gotta do it.  As far as Snatching goes, we practice this lift a minimum of 2 times a week, we actually had a period in November and December where we worked the lift, as a gym, 2-3 times a week.  We work it heavy (relative to your abilities), we work it in pieces, we even work it fatigued. I said it Wednesday night, but when this posted, you should have punched your fist in the air, because if you...Read more

Joel B. PR’ed his Snatch after 70 burpees and 30 75# Snatches.  HELL YEAH!  That is WHY WE DO THE OPEN!  Great job Joel! The energy was great, abortion the teamwork was on point, and we did some work on Wednesday night.  I have a little hangover from it…can’t wait til Sunday.  13.1 is doable for all CFO athletes.  If you are on the fence – sign up!  Let’s do this – together! 42 Things I Learned Leading Up to 2013.  Talk To Me Johnny, Baby! This is the kind of list I bookmark and read once a year.  Classic! Workout of the Day AMRAP 15 Handstand Walk (8m-ish) 11 Box Jump and Over 15 Kettlebell Swings (Heaviest possible)Read more