Meet Staci from Nerd Fitness. I never get tired of this kind of stuff, even though it may be preaching to the choir. Lifting heavy weights at high intensity works!

Army Physical Readiness. I was in the Army, and every morning was push up and sit up improvement, followed by a medium distance run. Even back in the late 90's, there was talk of a new program that would test combat fitness. They're still talking about a new program today. It sounds like a soldier that is serious about their fitness will still need to look to other places than the PT test to improve and test their fitness. It's upsetting to me that MG Longo states that the pullup is superior for developing upper body strength, but building pullups bars is a limiting factor. Engineers (an Army MOS) can't build pullup bars?

Coach Burgener on the importance of adding "weightlessness" to the barbell. In the second part of the video, once you exert that force on the object, you need to "get mean and get aggressive" like Coach B describes. That means committing and getting underneath the bar. That's what the snatch balance trains.


Workout Of The Day

Strength
Snatch
1-1-1

Snatch Balance
3-3-3
Either from the rack or the ground.

Metcon
3 RFT
10 Overhead Squats 135/95
50 Double Unders
Ideally, this is a sprint WOD. If you need to scale, find a weight you can JUST hang onto for 10 OHS. DU sub is 3 for 1 singles, 2 for backwards.

Making it Work from Crossfit Marin. We've had some packed classes and we always need to be creative to make these workouts work for everyone. Yesterday, we flipped the strength training session of half the class: metcon first then strength. Tricia dubbed this "Salo-style", 'cause Crossfit hero Mikko Salo strength trains in all different spots in his training. One of the statements in "Elite Fitness in 100 Words" is "Routine is the Enemy". Just cause we "always did it that way" doesn't mean we always have to do it that way. Keep changing the routine, and watch your fitness expand. I had been toying with the idea of mixing the strength sessions at the end of metcon's, and we'll give it a try soon. You know you'll be warmed up;)

The Cougar Behind the Trashcan.


K-Star demo's his post long car ride recovery. I don't have a band at home, but I like to couch stretch and back roll after a long car ride, hitting 2 out of 3 of K-Star's positions, sans band. The hamstring mod he demos first is a great addition, I just gotta figure out how to do it at the house.

Workout Of The Day

Strength
Clean
1-1-1

Clean Pulls
3-3-3

Metcon
"Lizzie-Anne"
21-15-9
Clean 155/100
Handstand Pushups
If you cannot do HSPU, sub 2 for 1 hand release pushups.

Why Isn't This Working? Good write up here. I started keeping a log in the last 2 months, jumping in on the backend of the paleo challenge google doc. I chart food, workouts, sleep, recovery and more. I do not track water/fluid intake. I do not add gum or mints. I should, as even as we move towards perfection, true accountability is probably the most important tool.

Michelle Kinney displays a weighted pullup in the video embedded below. She's got a pretty sweet rig: a weighted vest your can attach weight to, safely. We have 1 vest and 1 weight belt. If you are able to do a weighted pullup, share the belt and hang KB off it. The sharing of the belt/vest should provide adequate rest between attempts.

If you have never done a weighted pullup before, try pinching a dumbbell between your ankles, or hold it in the crook of your knee. If you are still fighting for that first pullup, or a chest to bar pullup, now is your chance to work on it without the pressure of the "metcon". If you have a kipping pullup, try working on your dead hang pullups.


Workout Of The Day

Strength
In 15 minutes, find your Max Weighted Pullup.

Metcon
AMRAP 15
10 Burpee Box Jumps Blue/Red
15 Pullups
20 Kettlebell Swings 55/35
You must display control, with a fully open hip, at the top of the burpee box jump. No "rabbit jumps" on and off the box.

The Crossfit Games are in the books. We have new holder's of the title: Fittest in the World. Huge Congrats to our friends at Rocklin Crossfit. RCF made it to Sunday at the Games: they were one of the top 6 gyms in the world! Chad A. from RCF stops by and trains with us from time to time. The events were challenging, varied and unpredictable. There was one common factor: you had to be able to do a ton of work, almost all of it tired.

Did you watch any of the Games? Did you have a favorite moment? Event? Post thoughts to comments


A Crossfit Games Mobility WOD. Jonathan has us do a version of this mob, and it is effective. Anything that hurts that bad HAS to be effective.

Workout Of The Day

Strength
Front Squat
5-3-3-1-1-Heavy 3

Metcon
"Karen"+
150 Wallball Shots for time 20/14.
When you complete 150 WB shots, call time. This score is for the board. The "+" is: The clock will continue to run. Pick up 70/55# and move to the 400m turnaround point and back a quickly as possible. This will be equipment dependent. RX for men is either 1 70# KB or 2 35# KBs. For ladies, RX is 55# KB or 2 26# KB. Clock will stop when both "Karen" and carry have been completed.

Anybody checkout the live stream of Event 1? I watched Josh Bridges and Speal finish 1-2 while drinking a cup of coffee. What a cool WOD!

What are your thoughts on the softball toss in the Crossfit Games? People are pretty fired up about it, questioning it's place in a an event like this. My $.02. The shotput, discus and javelin are Olympic events, tested individually, and in the Decathlon. People win Gold medals, and have since the first Olympics, based on these throwing events. Don't you think Grok and his buddies tested each other on how far they could throw a rock? Not to mention their survival may have depended on it? It's laughable to me that people think Games athletes will get hurt throwing a softball. And if they do get hurt, are they the fittest in the world?

Second, I like it from a competitors standpoint. As the "sport" of Crossfit get bigger and seemingly more defined, high level athletes are focusing on the tasks and tools of the trade, but not on of the tenets of Crossfit is: Learn and play new sports. The application of fitness is hugely important, plus it's fun. I hope these gym rats know how to throw a softball, or any ball for that matter. How depressing would it be if you wouldn't want the fittest guy or gal in the world on your intramural softball team?

We'll be doing a "Linda" Challenge in the coming weeks. "Linda" is the most logistically challenging of the named WODs. It is also know as "3 Bars of Death". It is a descending ladder (10-9-8 down to 1) of 1 1/2 Bodyweight Deadlift, Bodyweight Benchpress, 3/4 BW Squat Clean. We will do this with a schedule over the course of a couple of weeks, with no more than 3 athletes going at a time. Between 3 athletes, we'll be using 9 barbells and nearly every weight in the gym. You will only be able to try "Linda" if you are RX ONLY. NO SCALING ALLOWED.

I would consider "Linda" to be one of the most challenging named WODs; it's on the same level, but completely different, as "Murph". A blazing fast time is around 20 minutes; completing this monster in under 60 minutes the first time is very respectable. I will tell you I have tapped out on this WOD. I was doing it in a globo-gym, and was slogging through. I got to round 6 or 5, around minute 25 or so (it's all down hill around the set of 4). People kept trying peel the weights off one of my three bars, and I kept having to tell them "hey, I'm using that!" like a crazy person, then run back to one of my bars. Eventually, I said forget it, and went home. Even halfway through, it was nasty WOD. Mike has approached some of you to try this one out, but if you're interested let us know.


The Greeks thought this was important

Workout Of The Day

For time:
12-9-6
Squat Clean and Jerk 135/83
Muscleup
If you cannot do Muscleups (MU), do 3 pullups and 3 dips for each MU.

We never put MU on the board, but folks, you gotta learn it someday. We have a MU clinic coming up soon, but lets get familiar.