Thursday, November 29, 2012

Relentless: No Equipment Needed


3rds:
Run 800m
50 Sit Ups

50 Supermans

Score: Completion Time. 20min Cut Off.

This is one of my favorite kind of workouts...no equipment needed so save this one for your records and use it when you travel. Recover on the run. Whats going to get tough is counting. The movements are simple, you could do them in your sleep. On the sit ups, shoulders over hips. For the supermans, brief pause at the top, head looking down at all times (protects the cervical spine). Whats going to win this is doing the movements correct and at a pace. Don't break for long, if you have to break at all. Then hustle on the run! 

Good Luck! 



Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Relentless: BENCHMARK!!


2mins American Swings

1min REST

6min AMRAP
10/10 Clean And Press
10 SDHP
10 Game Standard Push Ups


Rx: 35/53#
Score: Number of American Swings + AMRAP Score (1rd = 40pts). 




Relentless Athletes, you should know exactly what you did last time and your single goal is just to beat that time. Do whatever it takes to make that happen...even if it is just 1 more rep, it will sill be better than your last time! In the swings, have correct form. Your arms are just vehicles for this, don't try to use them to get the bell above your head. Its all in the hips! As for the 6min AMRAP, just move. Like I have said before, when I see 10 reps...I think 10...then I see 2x5...then I see 1x3 and 1x2. Use that to get through your rough spots. You have done this before, JUST MOVE!

Good Luck!

Monday, November 26, 2012

Relentless: KB DL + Push Ups


21-15-9-15-21 
KB Deadlift 
Push Ups

Rx: 35/53# 
Score: Completion Time. 

I like the 21-15-9 series. Everything is divisible by 3. Have correct form on the deadlift which means take the extra 2 seconds to set up (load your glutes and hams, keeping your chest big), or else you WILL feel this tomorrow...maybe the next day. These should be unbroken. Use the fact that the numbers are divisible by 3 to help with the push ups. Don't take a long break between your reps and move through it. 


Good Luck!

Friday, November 23, 2012

Beauty Of MY sport!


I have chosen a sport where I can walk in a box and feel just as at home as I do in my box. 
I have chosen a sport where I can bring friends/family and they will feel just as welcome as I do. 
I have chosen a sport where I can attend an "open gym" time AND bring my Grandmother and Aunt Barbara who have never done crossfit before and they can feel just as comfortable as I do inside the box. 
I have chosen a sport where I can workout alongside my Grandmother, Aunt Barbara and mother and even at all different levels of fitness, we can all benefit from it just as much. 

Today was just another reminder of the beauty of my sport, crossfit. Feeling some serious guilt on the amount of food I consumed yesterday (not all paleo) and all the pics on the various social media feeds of my fellow athletes working out, I posted on facebook the desire I had for an open box (previous research before traveling I discovered that all the boxes I knew of were going to be closed) in the area I was in (Cypress). Thanks to Leah Shullenberger, she connected me to the owners of G Bar 3 Crossfit because she heard they were having open gym. After a few text I had an address and an owners name. I asked my mom to join me and that perked interest in my Aunt Barbara who has expressed interest in crossfit which perked interest in my grandmother. I struck while the iron was hot and told them they could just stretch some of their sore muscles from the Turkey Trott we did yesterday. They were in! As we drove there I couldn't help but to pinch myself and see if I would wake up from this dream. I was headed to a crossfit box to workout with my Grandmother, Aunt and Mother...3 generations worth! 

We got there and was greeted by the owner Mike and one of his coaches Suzanne Wright. There was 2 others working out, one was in town from deployment and dropped in (he did an iron cross on the rings during his WOD). This was open gym format so there was no set WOD for us to do, we were own our own. This means I had to come up with a WOD for all of us to do with all of our different levels. I had to make sure my mom benefited having over a year of experience in CF. I had to come up with a WOD my grandmother who has never done crossfit before but needed some serious scaling. I had to come up with a WOD for my Aunt who has never done crossfit before but is already in good shape. A WOD where we could all have fun and wouldn't be injured or sore all with keeping the idea of community. The first thing that came to mind was FRAN. Fran is very scalable and everyone could benefit from it. For those that don't know, Fran is: 

21-15-9
Thrusters (65/95)
Pull Ups

I explained to them what they were going to do and how it was easy to scale, but yet they would still get the benefit from the WOD. They were in!!  I had to get them warm. We did a quick 250 row for my Aunt and Grandmother and a 500m Row for mom and me. We then did a dynamic warm up. I then brought out the PVC pipe and we got our shoulders warmed then I talked about the movements, thrusters and pull ups/ring rows. I told my grandmother, Pat Pat, she was going to stick with PVC pipe and I got a 15# bar for my Aunt. My mom was in charge of setting up her bar (she did 40#). We then moved to the rings where I explained to them they were going to do ring rows versus the RX Pull ups. We discussed how to scale pull ups by doing ring rows. We talked about the foot placement and how to make it harder and easier. Mom set up her bands for pull ups. I asked them if they had and questions and they were set to go. Before 3-2-1 was called, I explained to them that we could even scale reps to 15-12-9. This made Pat Pat feel better. Therefore Fran looked like this: 

Mom:                                    Aunt Barbara:                             Pat Pat:
21-15-9                                 21-15-9                                      15-12-9
Thrusters 40#                       Thrusters 15#                              Thrusters PVC
Pull Ups (blue band)             Ring Rows                                 Ring Rows

3-2-1 was called and they were off!! Is this really happening??? I was really watching my Mom, Aunt AND GRANDMOTHER do Fran!! 
Mom
Aunt Barbara
Pat Pat
After "TIME" was called, we put our equipment away. My Aunt rowed 1000m and Pat Pat walked about 300m. I went over some band stretching (yes I prob should have done that before but I was just too excited). THANK YOU Crossfit G Bar 3 for making this experience one I will NEVER forget.



It chokes me up to write this because I'm so PROUD and BLESSED to be a part of this AMAZING, CRAZY, LIFE CHANGING sport called CROSSFIT!








Thursday, November 22, 2012

Cold Bar Concept

This awesome concept/method (call it what you will) is something I picked up from my Strongman Cert with Hybrid Athletics....If you are looking to add certs to your list, this is one of them. During our Q&A post lunch, Rob Orlando talked about the "Cold Bar" concept. His example was he wanted to get better at bench so he set up a bar loaded with something he could do in his sleep; cold. Where he didn't need warm up, he could walk down to the basement perform 1 rep and walk away. He would leave the bar set up and perform this periodically through out the day. Nothing more than one rep. He said he would do any where from 1-15 reps per day on random. In just a few weeks his bench press drastically increased. For me, I am going to do this with C2B Pull ups. I'm not the best at them so doing more than one makes me roll my eyes, LOL. Therefore if I can do 1 rep multiple times through out the day (I have no excuse because I have a pull up bar at my casa and both the gyms I train). If I can just do 1 rep, then when I see multiple or Max UB I won't roll my eyes as much!

What is your goat? Where can you apply this concept?



Thursday, November 15, 2012

Relentless: Shoulder Boulders

7min AMRAP
10 Swings
10 Push Ups

Rx: 35/53#
Score: 1rd = 20pts

Yes your shoulders WILL feel this one...if you do it right. These are low numbers which means unbroken is possible but if it isn't look at sets of 5. If you are like me and will need to break up push ups come min 4, LOL, alternate between sets of 2 and 3....2 sets of each and you have 10. Use your  hips on the swings...you arms are just vehicles, leave them at that.

Good Luck!



Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Godai Recap


This past weekend was Godai Elements Competition put on by Crossfit Central at TSR! According to the description this competition, "This one-day event will feature tests of constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity across broad time and modal domains using the elements of the Godai and the 10 General Physical Preparedness Skills.". It did just that too! This year was partners and I partnered with the one and only Rach, my BFF! We had a BLAST...we always do! 

Let me walk you through the day...I picked up Rach at 5am so we could check in and get a "spot" to set our stuff. We warmed up and got ready for WOD #1! 

WOD 1: Water + Earth (45 min cap)
-400m Swim + 5K Run
1) Partner A will swim 400 meters around Goat Island, exit the water and 
TAG Partner B.
2) Partner B will then run a 5K.

There was no battle who was going to swim and run. Rach having swam in college and can teach a rock to swim, she swam and I ran. Which is awesome because I'm not a fan of being cold and wet. According to Rach the swim was rough and involved swimming/crawling through clay. However she did a dang good job, finished and tagged me for a 5K run! Having an endurance background this was no problem for me. What I wasn't use to is the terrain that we ran on. I'm use to asphalt ..none ankle breaking opportunities. We made 3 laps around the facility (each lap = 1mi) on all different terrain. I enjoyed this actually! 

FLOATER WOD #1: Trampoline!! 
Athlete A had to run across 3 trampolines, back tag athlete B and he/she had to run across 3 trampolines. I laughed the WHOLE time doing this. We called time at 43sec! 

WOD 2: Fire (15 min cap)
-HS Walk + Monkey Bar + SandBag Getups + Double Unders1) 

1) Partner A will Handstand Walk from the start line to their waiting partner and TAG Partner B.

2) Partner B will cross the Monkey Bars. Partner B MUST use each rung on 
the Monkey Bar (no skipping of rungs). You MUST cross the Monkey Bars 
without dropping. If you drop, you must return and try again. You will 
have 3 attempts to cross the Monkey Bar. When you have successfully 
crossed the Monkey Bars (or after 3 attempts) both partners will move to 
their work station.

3) At your work station, both partners will complete:
-5 SandBag Getups (90#/60#) & 50 Double-Unders Each
*Partner A then Partner B
-4 SandBag Getups (90#/60#) & 40 Double-Unders Each
*Partner A then Partner B
-3 SandBag Getups (90#/60#) & 30 Double-Unders Each
*Partner A then Partner B
-2 SandBag Getups (90#/60#) & 20 Double-Unders Each
*Partner A then Partner B
-1 SandBag Getups (90#/60#) & 10 Double-Unders Each
*Partner A then Partner B

This was our "worried" WOD. Rach isn't the best at DUs, however she didn't back down, she said bring it on and practiced her heart out. I began and walked all 30ft, lifted her to the bars, she flew across them. I was the first on the SB/DU. That SB was awkward and wasn't easy. I know there were times when I felt like a turtle on my back. However, I knew the faster I moved the more time Rach had to do DUs. After I finished my 1st round, it was Rach's time! She flew through the SB no problem. Then out of now where she completed 50 DUs!!! She had to break them up but she did 50 DUs. I think she got a total of 20 during the hour she practice before the WOD. We moved through the WOD and finished in 14:45 which means we had 15sec to spare! Not bad for a team who thought they were not even going to get through the WOD! 

Floater WOD #2: Keg Carry (90sec cap)
Athlete A carries 3 kegs (1 at a time) from cone to cone, tags athlete B and he/she does the same thing. Every keg carry is a 30sec deduction off your final time. Women's Kegs were 100-80-60#. You had to carry heaviest to lightest. This was set up on the beach on the opposite side of the comp. I'm glad we did this WOD before we did WOD3...my legs didn't work well after WOD3. I was up first. I carried all  3 kegs, Rach made it through the 100# and half way through the 80#. Therefore we go 2mins off our final time!! SCORE!!! 

WOD 3: Air (10 min cap)
-Sled Relay
Each Partner will take turns pushing the dog sled:
-50 ft. down and back.
-100 ft. down and back.
-150 ft. down and back.
-200 ft. down and back.
-150 ft. down and back.
-100 ft. down and back.
-50 ft. down and back

Humm yea...this was a leg burner for sure! The weight was sled +45#....so however much that was was heavy! LOL! I was really looking forward tot his but it wasn't as easy as I had hoped for to be honest with you! There was this hill/incline thing! 

WOD 4: Void (15 min cap)
-Pull-ups + SandBag Squats + Toes 2 Bar
Teams will complete:
-150 Pull-ups
-150 SandBag Squats
-150 Toes 2 Bar

Oh WOD4...What isn't written in the description that I posted is that while one person was performing movements the other person had to hold a 60# SB. So while I was doing pullups...Rach held a 60#SB. If she dropped the sandbag, we both had to do 10 burpees before continuing to next rep/movement. We were rocking along alternating between pull ups. We had 20 reps left...Rach is on the bar and she goes to kip and due to a lose grip her feet go in the air, she legs go of the bar and falls FLAT on her back, then BOOM her head hits. I drop the sandbag and rush to her. The medics meet me there to check her out. While they were asking her questions, I did 10 burpees which was the penalty if you dropped the bag. Bless her heart, Rach got up grabbed the bag and told me to finish the pull ups...so I did. She started on squats...we were good at theses so we switched every 25 or so. At the end I passed the bag back to Rach and she started squatting even though we were done. I quickly told her that we were done and she dropped the bag! During our last set of squats they had been counting down the time over the loud speaker so when I said DONE she thought done with the WOD, as if time had run out. I'm sure I could have only performed 1-3 T2B so I wasn't worried about it. I was just proud of her for keep going after falling off the bar! 

Even with a worry on DUs and Rach falling off the bar...we still placed 4th in the whole thing. To be honest, we could have come in last place and been just fine. We had a blast all day hanging out with people and doing some crossfit on that BEAUTIFUL Day! 

Thank you Crossfit Central for organizing the event and for TSR for hosting us! 

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Relentless: Partner WOD

Partner WOD
800m Run
100 American Swings
100 Push Ups
100 Sit Ups
400m Run

Rx: 35/53#
Score: Completion Time. 15min Cut Off. Athlete CAN start working if partner has not finished run. BOTH partners need to finish the 400m for official finishers time.

If you want to work hard, find a good a partner and push each other through this. I would recommend doing a few reps at a time versus rep for rep...y'all might be there all day. Best advice is to get a good partner that wants to work just as hard then do just that!

Good Luck!



Monday, November 12, 2012

Relentless WOD: Legs Galore

5rds
20 Mtn Climbers
10 Goblet Squats
5 Burpees

Rx: 35/53#
Score: Completion Time. 10min Cut Off.

Power is in the hips! Keep good form and move through this. There is not that much skill involved in it so just MOVE and move fast!

Good Luck!


Thursday, November 8, 2012

SantaFit Holiday Classic 2012

SantaFit Holiday Classic 2012

In the spirit of the holidays… XFit2You, Living Amped, & My Creative Head present the first ever SantaFit Holiday Partner WOD benefiting Toys for Tots.
What better way to test your new skills than trying out your first competition. This event is for those of you who wish to compete but have never done so, those who think they have what it takes but may not be ready to compete with Firebreathers, or for those who are finally ready to show everyone exactly what they are made of… NO MORE EXCUSES, THIS IS
YOUR TIME!
Grab a partner and come out and enjoy yourselves. It’s been a long year and you all have worked so hard!

All spectators are encouraged to bring one new unwrapped toy for admission. If not, there will be an entry fee of $5. Each entry receives 1 FREE raffle ticket. Santa will be on site and in the spirit of giving, we’ll have tons of cool prizes to raffle.

EVENT TIMELINE
7 – 7:45 AM = Athlete Check In
7:30 AM = WOD Briefing
8 AM – 11 AM = Competition
11 – 11:30 AM = Raffle
11:30 AM = Closing Ceremony

SAME SEX TEAMS OF TWO – BEGINNER/FIRST TIMERS WANTED
$70 = Early Bird Registration, Nov. 1 – 17
$80 = Regular Registration, Nov. 17 – 30
$90 = Late Registration, Dec. 1 – 14 (noon)
$100= Last Minute Registration, Dec. 15

Sign up NOW, clink the link below and then the events tab. https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/ASP/home.asp?studioid=30970
Competitors are encouraged to dress the part, maybe tights and bells or a santa hat and beard?! Register before Nov. 30th get a SantaFit Holiday Classic t-shirt!

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Everyone PRed at Spiceworks...


I love the mile run Benchmark, and deep down I'm pretty sure its my athlete's favorites as well! This benchmark creates the most team camaraderie out of all the other benchmarks. It is the shortest yet most effective. The PRs are valued greater...athletes ALWAYS know when this benchmark is. I LOVE IT! My Firebreathers took the cake on this one...EVERYONE that ran that day PRed on their mile run, I'm NOT kidding...if you ran, you PRed!! A few mile benchmarks ago I encouraged my stellar friend Rabah to come out and run the mile with this crew. He ran in college and I thought they could use a little "push". And he, Rabah, gave that and still does just that. Running under a 6min mile on this VERY hilly course he keeps the crew going not just in the mile but in the other WOD’s as well. This time around, some of the Spiceworks athletes recruited Colin Carroll to come run the mile with them (Honestly I think it was a prank for Rabah, LOL). Colin is a very nice gentleman who runs a 2:30 marathon...and is predicted to WIN the Austin Marathon this year! Yeah, not kidding! That day, Colin ran a 4:59 mi, pushing Rabah to run a 5:37 mi creating a domino effect on the crew with everyone PRing!

Megan 10:56 to 8:27
Marcy's 1st time = PR (7:53)
Jeff 6:30 to 6:16
Judith 7:53 to 7
Cindy 7:49 to 7:45
Katy 7:35 to 6:57
Ted 6:42 to 6:07
Misha walked 800m because she is #PregoFit and we are so PROUD of her for still coming out!!
Sally 9:20 to 8:10
Catherine's 1st time = PR (9:08)
Josh 7:26 to 6:46

I am super proud of this crew and the bond they have created! I cannot wait till the next mile! Well done Spiceworks!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Leg Game!

20 Lunge Pass Throughs
15 American Swings
40 Goblet Squats
15 American Swings
20 Lunge Pass Throughs

Rx: 35/53#
Score: Completion Time. 7mins Cut Off.

This is a leg game. Your goal should be NOT to put the bell down...yes this is possible!  JUST MOVE! You CAN do this and fast! Proper form will be very essential. GAME ON!

GOOD LUCK!