January 2008 Archives
WOD 2-01-08 at Great Western Power Company: "Helen"
Three rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
1 ½ pood Kettlebell X 21 swings (or 55 pound dumbbell swing)
12 Pull-ups
Women use 1 pood (or 35 pound dumbbell)
The classes at GWPC are just getting started, and the member base is still small relative to Berkeley Ironworks (it is a brand new facility). This means you might get lucky and attend a small class, where you will get individualized attention that is usually at a premium, so see you there!!
"No one goes there anymore on account of the crowds"
WOD at GWPC 1-31-08 "Black Jack" AKA "Twenty-One"
21 Push-Ups
1 Sit-Up
20 Push-ups
2 sit-ups
19 Push-ups
3 Sit-ups
18 Push-ups
4 Sit-ups
17 Push-Ups
5 Sit-Ups
16 Push-Ups
6 Sit-ups
16 Push-Ups
7 Sit-ups
15 Push-Ups
etc. until you reach 1 push-up and 21 sit-ups.
There will be a 45 minute time limit on this workout. This means you must average one rep every 5.8 seconds or better to finish, and avoid a DNF on the board.
The total volume in this workout {arrived at using the Gauss formula n(n+1)/2 } is 231 push-ups and 231 sit-ups.
Sit-Ups will be feet anchored sit-ups.
Push-ups will be strict push-ups, chest to deck, full lockout at top.
JIm Baker Snatches bodyweight on his 60th birthday at CrossFit Headquarters.
CrossFit is the most effective anti-aging exercise protocol I know of. I am more fit now, at 41 than I was at 31. Take a look at this link: Online interview with Max.
Also of note is the blog of self-proclaimed "Fit as Fuck at 43" CrossFiter Dirt Diva.
Another CrossFit Star is Eva T, 44. Her Website, Ski Eva T. is HERE
A little farther up the maturity scale, take a look at CrossFit benefactor, Jim Baker's 60th Birthday Snatch & Clean.
And if you have any doubts that health and vitality can be maintained long into life, witness Jack LaLanne!
Sun 1-27-08 WOD best times:
Snookie: 5:40
Malinda: 6:50
Pavel Tsatsouline, author of "Power To The People".
CFEB WOD 1-26-08 "The 4000"
Get 4000 Pounds from the floor to overhead anyway, anyhow, for time.
Women use 3000 Pounds.
Move an object (Kettlebell, Dumbell, Barbell, Med Ball, Cat, Dog, Wife, etc.) from a position of contact with the floor to overhead at full lockout (knees, hips, shoulders, and elbows fully extended).
The default move for this workout will the kettlebell clean and push-press. You may mix and match weights if you are willing and able to do the math.
Possible Rep Schemes:
4KG kettlebell x 455 reps
8KG kettlebell x 228 reps
12KG kettlebell x 152 reps
16KG kettlebell x 114 reps
20KG kettlebell x 91 reps
24KG kettlebell x 76 reps
28KG kettlebell x 66 reps
32KG kettlebell x 57 reps
135# Barbell x 30 reps + 1rep with 50# dumbbell
Possible Movements:
Kettlebell Clean and Press
Kettlebell Clean and Push-Press
Kettlebell Clean and Jerk
Kettlebell Snatch
Barbell Clean and Press
Barbell Clean and Push-Press
Barbell Clean and Jerk
Barbell Snatch
Dumbbell Clean and Press
Dumbbell Clean and Push-Press
Dumbbell Clean and Jerk
Dumbbell Snatch
1-26-08 Best Scores "Tabata That"
Women: EV 32
Men: Frank 38
"Tabata That"!
Tabata Burpee
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Sit-Up
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Push-Up
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Squat
Rest 1 minute
The Tabata interval is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest for 8 intervals.
Tabata score is the least number of reps performed in any of the eight intervals.
Post Tabata score for each exercise to comments and total for final score.
E.G., 5, 22, 9, 15 = 41
Tabata Intervals ( 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest repeated 8 times) is applied in turn to the Burpees, Sit-ups, Push-ups and Squats with a one minute rotation break between exercises. Each exercise is scored by the weakest number of reps in each of the eight intervals. During the one minute rotation time allowed the clock is not stopped but kept running. The score is the total of the scores from the four stations.
Some performance insights and a scoring example from Mark Twight (edited for clarity):
1. Lying down between exercises lowers HR faster than standing, sitting or walking, indicating better recovery in the short 60 second rest.
2. Alternating upright exercise (squat, burpee) with prone exercises produces lower heart rates, and allows greater overall level of work
3. Improvement happens really fast when the workout is done consistently (bimonthly).
6. High number of reps may be maintained for greater number of sets as fitness improves. Rep totals do not necessarily improve per set, but now I can do 6 sets of 7 pull-ups rather than doing 11, 8, 5, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, etc. which suggests that local area endurance and lactic acid tolerance improve with this protocol.
Scoring Example:
A total score of 42 (Execllent score, BTW) is determined by adding up the lowest number of reps in any set of each exercise.
18 squats
4 burpee
6 push-up
13 sit-up
This score is a 42.
Please Watch THIS video, for an example of Annie S. Nicole C. and ? performing Tabata Squats.
Also check out THIS video for WHAT NOT TO DO!! Terrible range of motion, I would not count ONE of these reps!
If you use any machines in your training, besides the C2 rower, Gravitron or, possibly, a treadmill (running outside is better), I am asking, no begging you to please, please stop it now!
Unless you are a competitive or recreational bodybuilder, and have already spent many years attaining the requisite mass, there is no conceivable reason to waste your time with machines.
Barbells and dumbbells require coordination and the development of stabilizer muscles. Machines do not. I have seen quite a few people who have gotten quite large using machines, but when it came to doing some real work (like a CrossFit workout) they have, without exception, fallen to pieces. What good is it to have giant muscles that are inefficient and incapable of accomplishing real work? Even if you are training for mass, compound multi-joint exercises like the Squat, Deadlift and Bench Press elicit a much greater neuro-endocrine response, in addition to building real-world, usable strength.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I often see people who are incredibly weak using ridiculously light weights at insanely high reps on machines of dubious (at best) design. Sometimes while reading the newspaper. This will do almost nothing for you. If you want to build strength without getting very big, sets of 5 reps with big multi-joint compound movements will do the trick. Squat. Deadlift. Press. Clean. Bench Press. Unless you are fairly advanced you don't need more than this. Adding Olympic Lifting will build explosivity and is a noble pursuit. Bodyweight exercises, such as the pull-up, dip and push-up are far more useful (and fun) than any machine based exercise.
Find a CrossFit or otherwise qualified Coach, get some instruction, and turn your back on machines forever. They are made to benefit the management of Globo-Gym and the machines makers and not the end user. Stop the madness!
"A $10,000 barbell-based weight room in the hands of an experienced coach is far superior to a $300,000 collection of exercise machines run by an inexperienced trainer".
-Mark Rippetoe,
"Practical Programming for Strength Training"
The CrossFit schedule at the Touchstone Family of Gyms will be expanding, starting January 31.
Wednesday:
5PM - Ironworks
6PM - Ironworks
Thursday
6PM - Great Western Power Company
Friday
6PM - Great Western Power Company
Saturday:
11AM-12:30PM - Ironworks
Sunday
11AM - Ironworks
Noon - Ironworks
We will be outfitting the roof of GWPC as an urban outdoor CF Playground and it will be awesome! And yes there is indoor space in the event of hurricanes, etc...
We are coming into week three of the Touchstone CrossFit Program, and I am starting to see some improvements already from some of you who have been coming regularly; I see a few kool-aid drinkers are amongst us already.
I encourage you to keep taking it easy for a few more weeks, go slow, keep something in reserve, learn the movements, work on form, watch lots of video of CF athletes.
That being said, in a few weeks, when I feel some of you are ready for it, I am going to start pushing you a bit, to simultaneously improve form and intensity.
Some excellent examples of the intersection of form and intensity can be found here:
Note the absence of form breakdown, despite what is, by any standard, a nearly superhuman effort.
and here:
This is worth watching all the way through. Note Annie is able to breeze through this with near-perfect form. Nicole, however, is at the limits of her ability and experiences severe form breakdown at the end; however her effort is nothing less of inspiring, and the breakdown is not a result of less focus and effort than she can muster, but of having nothing more to give.
From AGAINFASTER.COM:
The Non-Negotiability of Perfection
CrossFit is the pursuit of athletic perfection--performing difficult workouts with technical mastery under conditions of duress. We're looking for flawless form with a jackhammering heart, bursting lungs, and battery acid-filled veins.
When this is accomplished with unyielding intensity, the result is nothing short of beautiful. When we fall short of the mark, the result is horrifying at best.
Athletes often set up a false dichotomy between perfect form and intensity, assuming that as one increases the other must necessarily fall. This idea is a thinly disguised excuse for athletic complacency. Rather than revisit proper technique through low-intensity, low-excitement skill work, the athlete chooses to pursue personal records with diminished form. The unstated reason for this choice: it's easy on the ego to put up "good" WOD times. Taking a hit to your "Fran" time in order to perform perfect thrusters is not going to move you up the records board--at least not right away--and the blow to the ego is too much to bear.
In reality, form and intensity are not mutually exclusive, but the non-linearity of their relationship leads novice athletes to the wrong conclusion. For the novice, maintaining form becomes a cruel joke as intensity increases, leading to the erroneous conclusion that the two cannot coexist. Advanced athletes believe the opposite. These athletes recognize that continuous high-intensity work is nearly impossible without strict attention to form. The advanced athlete knows that perfect form is perfect for a reason: it imparts structural advantages that poor form does not.
Take the thruster as an example. Performed poorly, the movement relies on the small muscles of the anterior shoulder to support the weight at lockout. These muscles fatigue extremely quickly, leaving the athlete with reduced capacity in short order. When the thruster is performed well, the weight is supported by the large, hard-to-fatigue muscles of the posterior chain, allowing the form-conscious athlete to continue at peak power long after his sloppy brethren have stopped to rest.
The advantages of good form are not isolated to the thruster. Clear structural advantages can be had in the majority of our movements if one chooses to pursue perfect form. Most of these advantages are based on the physics of power transmission, specifically the fact that it is easier to send power through a rigid structure than through a limp one.
Squatting provides a wonderful illustration. The squat utilizes power from the hip to propel the torso through a complete range of motion. If the spine is rounded and the torso is loose, power is lost and the torso becomes difficult to move. If the spine is kept in a neutral or arched alignment and the torso is rigid, as proper form dictates, power flows freely and the load is easy to move. Nonetheless, we'll often see novices blasting through flaccid, rounded-back squats, heedless of the power-draining effect of their substandard form.
Condoning bad form for the resulting intensity ignores the big picture. In doing so, we rob our athletes of their long-term potential, artificially capping their progress in the name of immediate gratification. An athlete with poor form and an ugly three-minute "Fran" will always have an ugly three-minute "Fran", while a similar athlete with good form will soon find himself pushing the limits of possibility, utilizing the structural advantages of the perfect thruster to close in on two minutes.
For the CrossFitter, perfection should be non-negotiable, regardless of the near-term outcome. Progressing to the elite level--heart jackhammering, lungs bursting, and records falling--depends on it.
http://againfaster.squarespace.com/home/
Some video from today's workout at Ironworks climbing gym.
Filthy Fifty best scores:
Women: Elaine; 27:25
Men Snookie: 28:00
Mariko Performs Thrusters
Best WOD scores for Sat. 1-19-08, "Man Overboard"
Women: Mariko 295 RX
Men : Jator 262 RX
Notable: Evelyn 205 with Men's weight (RX Plus)
WOD For Sunday 1-20-08
"Filthy Fifty"
For time:
50 Jumping Squats
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 V-ups
50 Push press, 45 pounds
50 Supermans
50 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
50 Burpees
50 Double unders
If you are just starting out, you might strongly consider doing 1/2 volume, AKA the troublesome 25.
Video is of a similar workout: Check out Shira flipping at the end!
Tomorrow's WOD at Ironworks will be "Man Overboard!" co-coached FGB Style:
2 Rounds for time:
Row 250 M
Double-Unders
Kettlebell Swing
V-Ups
thrusters
Push-Ups
Tuck Jumps
DB Snatch
Burpees
Wall-Ball
Workout:
This is a Version of "Man Overboard" from CrossFit NYC Black Box.
The rower is the 'pace car'.
The time it takes to row is the time you have to do each movement.
Upon completion of the row, the rower yells out "Man Overboard" and the coach calls "Rotate" or "Switch", everyone then moves to the next station (Wall-Ball to Rower, Rower to Double-Under).
There is no rest in this workout: as soon as the Coach calls "Rotate" you may start the next exercise. Total score is total reps completed. The row does not count towards points. If you are trying for the highest score, you want to row as fast as possible to prevent others from being able to complete a lot of reps. However the trade-off in metabolic capacity of going full-bore must be considered as well.
Boulder Wall at Great Western Power Company, Oakland
We will be expanding the CrossFit program at the Touchstone family of gyms, which includes Berkeley Ironworks and The Great Western Power Company in Oakland which is a brand-new facility near 20th and Broadway in Oakland: it is part of the long-awaited downtown Oakland revitalization.
There will be at least 2 more classes offered at Ironworks, probably Monday and Wednesday starting in February. Classes at GWPC will be announced.
Touchstone Gyms have reciprocal memberships, so you can take classes at both facilities.
The Great Western Power Company is a brand-new facility in Oakland on 20th Street near Broadway.
GWPC is waiving the $100.00 sign-up fee for the first 200 members, so sign up now! The membership is only 63.00 a month: being able to attend CrossFit classes in and of itself is worth more than that, so it is like getting a climbing gym membership for free!
rock wall at GWPC
Best Times of the day:
Fastest:
Women: Lynne
Men: Snookie
Heaviest:
Jacques: 71#
Ev: 44#
Jacques swings the 71# kettlebell!
Here is video of 16 first-timers and 2 experienced CF'rs doing a two-round FGB. Nice work everyone!
Ironworks WOD Saturday Jan 12, 2008:
"Fight Gone Bad"
In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. We've used this in 3 and 5 round versions. Today we will do 2 rounds. The stations are:
1. Wall-ball: 20 pound ball men/14 pound ball women, 10 ft target (Reps)
2. Sumo deadlift high-pull: 75 pounds men/ 55 pounds women (Reps)
3. Box Jump: 20" box (Reps)
4. Push-press: 2x 30 pounds KB/DB men/ 2x 20 pounds KB/DB women (Reps)
5. Row: calories (Calories)
The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. On call of "rotate," the athlete/s must move to next station immediately for good score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.
Beginners will substitute lighter weights or a dowel. Step-ups can be substituted for box jumps. A 10# med ball can be subbed for the wall-ball.
Best Scores of The Day
Women: Ev 189 RX
Men: Allan 229 RX
Post time and impressions to comments.
Here is the 45 foot climbing rope at CrossFit East Bay/Ironworks. First one to make it to the top with no feet gets a beer, or a five-dollar coffee drink!
OK so you do have to be a member of Ironworks, but once you are, you can attend all eight classes (held Saturday and Sunday at 11AM) for free. The monthly rate is only $63.00 and for the month of January the $100 initiation fee is waived. When the program demonstrates some success, we should be able to add some classes.
Berkeley Ironworks is a pretty amazing facility and I feel lucky to have the opportunity to offer CrossFit classes there. There are a bunch of machines, and a mirror or two, but we will just ignore those or use them for obstacle courses or Parkour (just kidding Paul!).
Almost all of the equipment we need to do just about everything is there already, and management seems amenable to getting anything else we need, including real pull-up bars. Ironworks has C2 Rowers, Lots of Olympic bars and weights (no bumpers unfortunately), Rings(!), kettlebells, Dynamax Med Balls, jump ropes, serviceable pull-up bars and a 45 foot climbing rope! And, of course, a huge, 45 foot climbing wall!
So what are you waiting for to join??
It took me a while, but I found a place to hang my rings yesterday to do the muscle-ups. This is near Key Largo Florida.
I will be offering private training at Berkeley Ironworks effective immediately. The rate is 57.50 an hour.
My first Ironworks client is Dawn Miller, a personal trainer who is working on tightening up her OLY lifting and Squat technique.
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