***** Saturday’s WOD is at 8:45am instead of 9am. ****** The Last 2 or 3 Repetitions from CrossFit Invictus.  I love this post.  As a note, # approved we don’t do a lot of higher rep work in the strength training (we will as the Open approaches), # approved but John’s point can be applied to every aspect of our training – pushing hard at the end – when it hurts.  Plus, mind the post had an Arnold clip from Pumping Iron. Team WORK was the name of the game on Thursday night’s WOD. Partners had to tag their teammate at the end of each round. Workout of the Day   Strength Snatch 15 Minutes to Warm Up, then Every 30 seconds for 4:30 (10 reps) Snatch 70% of 1RM   Metcon 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Kettlebell Swing Parking Lot Sprint Swing the heaviest KB that will allow you to achieve a PERFECTLY...Read more

Saturday brings another Team CFO event – heading up to CrossFit Walnut Creek. That competition doesn’t begin until noon, this so there will be a morning class on Saturday. We would like to start a bit earlier – 8:45am to be exact. If you want to drive up to Walnut Creek together, we will be leaving around 10am (right after the morning WOD). We will be doing a Hero WOD on Monday to celebrate Veteran’s Day. There will be only 9am classes on Monday due to the Holiday. There is nothing better than a good support system during a competition.  Workout of the Day   Partner WOD AMRAP 12 2 Cleans 185/115 3 Wall Climbs 5 Box Jump 30/24 One partner does a round, the other partner does a round for 12 minutes. Transition quickly and make your partner work.  For scaling, Cleans should be heavy, but not so much...Read more

Wednesday’s WOD will be the first qualifier for the 2013 OC Throwdown.  Over 1, for sale 000 athletes have paid $10 bucks to register for the chance to compete in Orange County at the biggest CrossFit competition outside the Games.  If the WODs are good, I will program them into the gym’s weekly programming – likely on Saturday’s.  I really like this one as a qualifier WOD – it’s easy to score, the standards are simple, requires some athleticism, but the biggest requirement is guts to keep going. If you are interested in going to the OC Throwdown, register. This is another good opportunity to see where you stand on a leader board, much like the CrossFit Games Open or to a lesser degree, the Proanox Diamond of the Tough.  If it’s anything like last year, the WODs will be challenging, and the competition is FIERCE. The folks at the...Read more

Being There by Robert D. Kaplan. Non-fitness reading today, web but well worth your time.  The Atlantic is my favorite magazine, and the title jumped off the page at me.  Being There is the title of one of my favorite albums by Wilco and a great film staring Peter Sellers.  Maybe it’s the title, but both are classics.  In my mind at least.   If you’ve ever been distracted by your smartphone when you should have been living in the moment, you should read this.  That’s probably everyone. Team Jerkface…oops I mean Team CFO.   Workout of the Day   Strength High Bar Back Squat Build to a heavy 3 in 20 minutes.   Metcon 3 Round, for reps Pullup Box Jump 24/20 Squat Each round is one minute, FGB style.  Keep a running count of you reps for each round.  There will be 1 minute of rest between rounds. ...Read more

CrossFit Oakdale had a fantastic day at the CrossFit Merced Holiday Throwdown.  First off, information pills I have been to many CrossFit competitions, advice but the venue was absolutely outstanding.  CFM threw their event on The Vista Ranch, a winery with all kinds of stuff for everyone to do.  The kids could roam, do corn mazes, play tetherball and more.  In so many events, you’re chilling in a parking lot.  We travel with a large contingent of kids, and we can make do.  That’s fine, but this venue made it a really fun day.   Second, the event was very well run and moved along efficiently.  The WODs were easy to understand and score.  The judging was well executed.  The crowd was family friendly and well behaved.  My only gripe, and it is absolutely minor, is there was so much going on, it was hard to catch everyone in their...Read more