CrossFit

Friday, October 30, 2015

Coach Matt

(11AM) Ashley, DW, Bill, Tom, Dan, Clay, Ilian, and me

Warm Up

75m High Knees, 75m Butt Kicks, 150 shuffling, 75m skipping for height, 75m skipping for distance, then 3 rounds of 15 Slam Balls (25#), 6 Pushups alternating on Slam Ball, and 15 Slam Ball Front Squats

WOD

6 Rounds For time (25min cap) 9 Toes to Bar, 18 Burpees to 6” reach, 27 Wallball 20/14# @10/9’, L2:  KTE and lighter ball, L1:  6-12-18 Reps for 6 Rounds

This was another sufferfest workout similar to yesterday.  I did the L1 workout.  I was doing 6 leg raises in place of T2B and nearly getting KTE on several rounds.  I was preceding the first rep with a few kips.  The 12 burpees were really tough.  I quickly switched to 6+6 and by the last round it was 3+3+3+3.  The Wallballs were much better today.  I was making a point of setting myself in a neutral spine for the catch.  I still split up the 18 shots, but I felt like my form and accuracy were much better.  I still counted several under 10’.  I finished the 6 rounds in 24:41.

Mobility – Finished with banded shoulder stretches, squat on wall and flared legs on wall.

Wall Walk Ups

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Coach Meriah

(11AM) Ashley, Sam, Mandy, Jeff and me

Warm Up

500m Row; then 3 Rounds of 40 seconds on 10 seconds off of Bear Crawl forward and backwards, Jump Rope, Candlestick to Pancake

WOD

EMOM 10:  Min 0-3:  30 sec wall holds  Min 4-9:  2-4 Strict HSPU with as much deficit as you can handle..increasing if you’d like.

During this session I focused on trying to kick up.  After crumbling a few times, Meriah supported my legs to get me in position.  I then tried diving in and stepping in and was able to get myself up very shakily.  The wrist wraps helped a lot.  I had more confidence and will hopefully be less sore.

then

For time:  20-2 Kipping HSPU, 2-20 Box Jumps (step downs) 24/20”, 150 meter KB farmers carry, 53/35+ in each hand.

We all started on the round of 14.  I did 1 wall walk up per 2 kipping HSPU, used a 20” box, and used 44# KB in each hand after the first couple of rounds.

7 WWU/8 BoxJ/35#

6 WWU/10 BoxJ/35#

5 WWU/12 BoxJ/44#

4 WWU/14BoxJ/44#

3 WWU/16 BoxJ/44#

2 WWU/18 BoxJ/44#

1 WWU/20 BoxJ/44#

This was still a really tough workout and my wall walk ups were really taxing my wrists and shoulders.  I was a far cry from parallel, but made a point of pressing my head through and stabilizing my midline.  The Box Jumps were OK, until 14 and then I started breaking them down.  The farmer carry was new to me and really reinforced everything I read in Starrett’s book on neutral spine.  I finished in 27:03

Bench Press

Coach Meriah

(12:15 PM) – About 10 of us

Warm Up

Sandbag (45#) run to the fence, 20 squats and run back.  Then 3 rounds of 20 lunges (10 each leg), 3 inch worm pushups and 10 hollow rocks.  First round was wide lunges, second round was backwards lunges and 5 inch worms, last round was jumping lunges and 7 inch worms.  I did not complete the last round.

WOD

Bench Press Every 2 minutes:  5-5-3-3-1-1-1-1-1.  Start the set of 5 around 60%, increase as needed, then go for a 1 Rep Max.

I worked out with Adam and started with 95#-115#-125#-135#.  Then for the 1 Reps I did 155#-185#-195#-failed at 205#-made 205#!

then

5 Sets not for time (NFT) but moving though:  5 Weighted Strict Dips, 10 Back Rack Lunges (5/side)  Rest 2-3 minutes after each round.

I did strict ring dips un-weighted.  I made the first two sets OK and then broke them down to maintain form.  My left shoulder felt crunchy but no pain.

For the back rack lunges I did 45#-45#-55#-55#-45#.  My right hamstring started to sing and my left groin was a little anxious.  Moving out to a wider lunge helped a lot.

Mobility – Finished with squat against wall, flared legs against wall, shoulder stretches with band.

Overhead Squats

Monday, October 26, 2015

Coach Meriah

(11AM) – 7 guys (Steve B, Rusty, Ben, Charlie, Darryl, other guy and me), 1 girl (Sam)

Warm Up

Run to the fence and back (~500m) then 3 rounds of 7 Behind the Neck Snatch Grip Push Press, 7 Overhead Squat, 7 Hang Muscle Snatch, 7 Hang Power Snatch (35#) and 15 lateral jumps over bar.

WOD

EMOM 12 min of 1 Power Snatch + 2 Overhead Squats, increase as able

I continue to struggle with overhead squats and likely need to work on my mobility as they were nowhere near 90 degrees.  I did start at 55# and went up every other round to 55#, 60#, 60#, 65#, 65#, 70#, 70#, 75#, 75#, 80#, 80#, and a bonus round at 80#.  I wore lifting shoes for all of the rounds and wrist wraps for the last 3 rounds.

then

CrossFit Games Open Workout 11.1/14.1 Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 10 minutes of:  30 Double-unders and 15 Power Snatches (75#/55#).  L3:  Rx, L2:  65/45# & half double-unders, L1:  Modified to get 6+ Rounds.

I modified to 30 single-unders + 5 double-under attempts per round and used 55# for the power snatches.  I only managed 4 rounds and was really working to finish off the power snatches in the final round.  Getting set it was important for me to keep my butt up higher and push the ground away to lift my back and butt as a unit.

Finished with mobility calf stretches and squat against wall.

Banded Deadlifts

Friday, October 23, 2015

Coach Jeremy

(6AM, MBS II) Brian and me

Warm Up

Using 2.5# plates, 3 rounds of 5 reps of Rows/Pushups, Reverse Fly/Situps, Pull Through/Air Squats, ATYT/Burpees.  I did not care for this warm up, but it did get my shoulders loose.

WOD

Every minute on the minute for 12 minutes, 3 Banded deadlifts, Use 50-60% of 3 rep max weight and focus on speed.  *No Dropping

I did this with 75# and felt pretty good about the effort.  My shoulders seemed to be slipping forward instead of keeping my shoulder blades pinched together.

then

As many rounds as possible in 12 minutes:  10 Sumo Deadlift High Pull and 10 Ring Dips.  L3:  95#, L2: 75# and 5 ring dips, L1:  Modified to keep intensity.

I used 65# and only started breaking them up after 3 rounds.  The ring dips were another story.  I did 3 on the first round before switching to having my toes on the ground for the remaining rounds.  I managed 6 rounds + 6 SDHP.

Rope Climb – Double Unders

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Coach Stacey

(6AM, MBS II) – 5 of us, 2 girls, 3 guys

Warm Up

3 Rounds of Jump n Rope Drills - 20 straddle jumps, 20 front back, 20 skier, 20 twice on one foot then switch feet.  I could make a go at all of them, except front back.  Stacey suggested doing the drills without a rope and even trying double unders without a rope.  The hurdle is to separate hand movements from feet movement.  Once they are mentally separated, double unders will be much easier

WOD

15 minutes to practice rope climbs and drills.  Check out Carl Paoli’s Gymnastics WOD Rope Climbing Videos.  He offers tons of advice for various ways to climb the rope:  Russian wrap, Spanish wrap, Minimizing Rope Burn, How to come down quickly, Legless progressions and more!

I feel most comfortable with Spanish wrap, but did experiment with Russian wrap.

then

5 Rounds at the top of each minute, Min 1:  max rope climbs, Min 2:  max burpee box jump overs 24/20” (feet can touch box), Min 3:  max double unders, Min 4:  rest

This was a tough workout.  On the 5 rounds I scored 22 + 19 + 19 + 19 + 20 = 99.  I got 2 rope climbs on the first round and then 1 rope climb + modifications like half way up or raises and lowers.  For the burpee box jumps I did step ups and step downs on a 20” box and was getting between 8 and 9 reps.  On the double unders I was managing 10-11 double unders/attempts which I have no shame in counting.

Overhead Press

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Coach Meriah

(11AM) Erika, Mandy, Tim, me, Julien and Doug

Warm Up

Run to the fence and back.  3 rounds of pull-ups/ring rows and shuttle run or lunges and dips/pushups.  On the zero, I did 5 pull-ups and then the 90 yard shuttle run.  On the 1, I did 5 lunges and 6 push-ups.  On the next round I did ring-rows and push-ups.  On the final round, I finished the lunges, but did not start the push-ups.

WOD

In 20 minutes.  Shoulder press 1-1-1-1-1 reps, Push press 3-3-3-3-3 reps, Push Jerk 5-5-5-5-5 reps.  Increase weight as needed

I worked out with Tim and we started the Shoulder press at 75# and went up to 85#, 95#, 105# and finally 115#.

For the Push presses I stayed at 115# for the first 3 rounds and went up to 120# on the last 2 rounds.

For the Push Jerks, I dropped down to 95# for the two rounds and went up to 105# for the next 3.  I did use wrist wraps for the very last round and they helped a lot.

then

10 rounds every 45 seconds, 10 seconds for max pushups, 60 yards shuttle sprint (15 yards out and 15 back x 2 touching the ground, rest the remaining time.

For pushups, I managed 7-7-6-5-5-5-5-5-5-5 for a total of 55 reps.  I really dogged the shuttle runs as sprinting still forces my groin to start singing.

Finished with shoulder mobility and foam rolling

Hero WOD Andy

Monday, October 19, 2015

Coach Meriah

(11AM) Mary, Clay, Daryl, Angelica, Tim, Ben, Grant, James and myself

Warm Up

Run to the fence, 20 air squats and run back.  Then with 45# barbell 10 straight leg deadlifts, 10 hang muscle clean, 10 thrusters, and 10 hang muscle snatch.  Muscle clean and snatch refers to just using extending and landing the clean on your collar bones or snatch overhead (you can finish on toes).  Then 2 more rounds of 5 repetitions of each motion at our own pace

WOD

“Andy”

4 Rounds for time:  21 Calorie row, 11 Power clean, 85#, 28 Wallball shots, 20#, 8 Power snatch, 85#

I did the workout with a 65# barbell and 14# wallball and it was still a tremendous effort to finish in 25:47.  I was breaking the power cleans in 2 sets, the wallballs into 4-5 sets and the power snatches into 2 sets.

Mobility – finish with couch stretch, legs flared against wall, squat against wall and foam roller on back.

Today’s workout is to honor someone from our Colorado CrossFit Family.  Andy Schwiesow had been a member of CrossFit Verve since April 2011 and regularly came to classes with a barbell focus.  Andy’s first workout as a member of Verve was 4-21-11 and his birthday is 8-28-85.  They designed this workout for a tall man with an enjoyment for throwing around a barbell.  Andy unfortunately passed away after a tragic accident last month leaving behind a young family. A scholarship fund has been created for Andy’s children, Bella (3) and Charlie (1), donations can be made out to LUMC and the memo line needs to state “Bella and Charlie Schwiesow fund”.  If you have any additional questions, please feel free to email courtney@crossfitverve.com.

Pendlay Rows

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Coach Meriah

(11 AM) Angelica, Sam, Naige, Conner, Zur, Ilian, and me

Warm Up

800m Run followed by 3 rounds of run variations (karaoke, high knees, etc) or 5 wall balls and 1 rope climb trade off with partner.

WOD

Every 2 minutes 8 Pendlay Rows, 4 Round of increasing weight

Ilian and I worked out together and did 95#, 100#, 105# and 110#

then

AMRAP in 10 minutes, 4 person team 10 Ball Slam 40/30, 30 yard Sled Sprint (25#), 30 yard sprint back.  Person 2 goes in reverse.  We knocked out 16 rounds in 10 minutes and I was really hurting afterwards.  It is one thing to go 100%, it is another to go 100% with 3 guys looking on.  I went fourth and was all in trying to finish my final ball slams.  My form broke down and my lower back is pretty tender.  I will definitely spend some time on the foam roller the next few days.

Finished with mobility

Bench Press

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Coach Meriah

(11AM) Val, Ericka, Mandy, Anya, Tom, Bill, Steve B, Conner, Matt, and me

Warm Up

Run to the fence and back, at bus stop do 10 air squats, at 400m do 5 lunges each leg, at fence do 10 air squats, repeat lunges and squats on the way back.  Then 3 rounds of 5 bent over rows (2.5# plates), 5 push-ups, 5 bent over flys,5 straight leg sit ups, 5 A’s, 5 air squats, 5 ATYT’s, 5 burpees, run door to door

WOD

For Time 800m Run, 21 Bench Press, 800m Run, 15 Bench Press, 800m Run, 9 Bench Press.  L3: Body Weight, L2 > 75% BW, L1:  < 75% BW.

I warmed up with 45#, 95#, 135# before settling on 125# (67% of 185# BW) for the workout.  The first run was really good, I came through at 4:15 and was able to do the bench press in sets of 10-6-5.  The next rounds were slower.  I did the second round in 9-6 and the final round unbroken.  I finished in 16:59 and opted for the add on 800m for a total time of 21:48.  The hill got grueling at the end, but it was nice to get some blood flow to my hamstrings.

Mobility – Finished with arm stretch against rig, squat against wall, flared legs and foam rolling.

Back Squats

Monday, October 12, 2015

Coach Meriah

(11AM) Clay, Mary, Luke, Jeff, Sam and Me

Warm Up

500 yard sandbag (45#) run followed by 3 rounds of 15 reps Plate (15#) Straight Leg Deadlift, Ground to Overhead, Thruster and Bent Over Row.

Then we stretched from Downward Dog, to raised leg opening up hips, to pigeon to runners lunge

WOD

Back Squat Party:  Starting at 135#/75# perform 2 back squats at the top of every minute.  Add 10# per minute up to 225#/135#.  Then add 5# per minute until you cannot complete the 2 reps.  (Shoot for 20 rounds +/- 2-5 rounds, capped at 25 minutes).  L2: starting weight was 95#.  L1: starting weight was 65#.

I went with the recommended progression for L3 women.  75, 85, 95, 105, 115, 125, 135# then 140, 145, 150, 155, 160, 165, 170, 175, 180#  On the 17th round at 185#, I felt my left hamstring tighten and did not go to a full squat.  I stripped the weight to 135# and did the last 3 rounds at 135#.  I felt pretty good on form.  I was dropping nice and slow, but not accelerating very well up.  The lifting shoes and belt gave me a lot of confidence.

Mobility – finished with couch stretch, squat on wall, flared legs on wall and calf stretch

Olympic Weightlifting

This weekend, I had the opportunity to participate in an Olympic Weightlifting workshop hosted by MBS II CrossFit in Arvada.  There were 15 participants (half guys, half girls) and 1 coach.  Our coach has competed nationally and is passionate about Olympic lifting.  After a 15 minute warm up we started to talk about lifting in general.  Olympic lifting at its core is a jump and a land.  A statistic thrown around was that 90% of missed lifts could be traced to the feet.

We started with the Snatch and foot drills, going from a deadlift position to a squat position.  We did drills moving from hang position to hip drive position.  We did drills going from ground to hang position focusing on pivoting the knees back and out of the way.  Even in the deadlift position vertical shins was the goal.  We eventually got to high elbows and dropping under the bar.  We worked exclusively with PVC and spent about 45 minutes on the snatch.

The next 20-30 minutes we spent on the clean.  A lot of the technique is similar, except for obviously catching the bar in the rack position.  We then spent another 15 minute on the jerk.  I determined that my dominant forward foot is my left foot.  We again spent the majority of time on foot position.

Finally we wrapped up with 20-30 minutes of light barbells.  James and I worked out with 55# which felt good and reinforced all of the technique work we had done to that point.  It was a lot of information to take in, but every pearl of wisdom will pay dividends in my performance and safety.

Yuri Zakharevich

I’m going to give you some of Yuri’s own words. A few years after he retired, he did an interview with World Weightlifting magazine. They asked him about his 1983 injury, and how it affected him mentally. Here’s what he said:

“First I thought, ‘Hell, that’s the end of the world.’ Today, in retrospect, I can see it was one of the major turning points in my career. It made me realize that there is a time in every one’s life when you must clench your teeth together and your fate only depends on your determination. Finally, I overcame the injury, because I wanted to lift again so much. And later on I achieved even better results than before. It was a great thing.” - Yuri Zakharevich

Squat Cleans

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Coach Meriah

(11AM) – Chad, Mary, Tom, Bill and me

Warm Up

Run to the fence.  3 round of 10 PVC Good Mornings, 10 Strict Presses (PVC), 10 Front Squats (PVC), 30 lateral jumps over PVC, 100m run.   On good mornings, athletic stance, knees slightly bent, bend at hip and let knees flare out slightly.

WOD

Every 90 seconds for 10 Rounds:  1 Pause Squat Clean (3 seconds at knee) + 1 Squat Clean.  Increase weight as you are able.

Remember to keep your knees back as you lift the bar from the floor, work to keep shoulders over the bar when paused.  The goal today is to reinforce good positions during the pull and strengthen your ability to achieve the correct positions during the clean.  This will also challenge your aggressiveness of your second pull (above knees to hips) especially when fatigued.

My notes:  keep neutral back and head, keep bar close, jump just high enough to get under.  Do not jump forward or land feet too wide.

I worked up from 55#, 65#, 75#, 85#, 95#, 105#, 110#, 115#, 120#, to 125# and felt pretty confident until the last two rounds.  I lost my hook grip on the last round and had to reset.

then

NFT 3 rounds of 10 GHD (or weighted situps), 1 minute weighted Plank, 20 second Flexed Arm Hang (Go for CTB hold or weight if able).

On the first round I did full GHD situps, on the second round I did GHD situps to parallel, on the third round I did weighted situps with a 10# plate.  I used 25# for the plank holds (but had to put a knee down several times).  I held just at chin for the flexed arm hang (the last round was more of a negative).

Dips

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Coach Pat

(11AM) Tom, Bill, Val, Steve B, Ilian, Ben, Jeremy and me

Warm Up

Row sequence with arms pronated and supinated.  Arms only, arms and hips, add quarter legs, add half legs and then full.  Then 2 rounds of 5 ring rows, 10 pushups and 15 air squats

WOD

Strict Weighted Dip 5-5-3-3-1-1-1-1

Strict means feet forward, toes pointed forward, lower and point nose towards the floor until shoulder breaks plane of elbow and then back up the same way.

I worked out with Ilian and Bill.  We did BW-BW-10#-10#-15#-20#-25#-35#

Ben and Jeremy were pushing 135# and 160# weighted dips.

then   

Complete 4 rounds for time of 10 ring pushups, 10 KB swings (44#), 10 ring pushups, 10 calorie row, 30 seconds rest

I finished in 14:50 as Pat threw the 10 minute cap out the window.  It was also modded from 30 ring pushups each round to 20 ring pushups.  I did the first 2.5 rounds but did pushups on knees for the last 1.5 rounds.  The KB swings were OK.  Rx was 70# and were supposed to be heavy.  We did them overhead versus eye level.                                

Wall Walk Ups – Pistols

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Coach Meriah

(11AM) Ilian, Matt, Moe, Sam, Ericka and me

Warm Up

Stairs, wall walk ups, candlestick to stand.  On the stairs we ran up 2 sets on the first round, bound up 1 set on the second round and jumped up half a set on the third round.  I was having a really tough time with the candlestick to stand.  Holding a 15 pound plate improved my momentum to get me up.  Another variation that worked was rolling back on a double mat.  The rest of the group was doing candlestick to pistols.

WOD

Bulgarian Split Squats 5/5 with DB/KB in each hand, Every 90 sec for 7 rounds, Increase weight as able.

This was a really good movement.  I prefer my back foot flat.  I lowered to an abmat.  On the first round I did body weight only.  On the next 5 rounds I used a KB (20#) held at the goblet position.  On the last round I went up to a 26# KB.  With the isolated leg movement, I could feel that my left groin still isn’t ready for prime time.

then

12 minute AMRAP of 7 Handstand Pushups and 14 Pistols (7/7 alternating legs)

Up-scale or scale this workout to get between 6-8 rounds.

I still don’t have handstands so I did 3 wall walk ups per round.  For the pistols, I lowered to a 20 inch box and used a 5# plate for balance after the first 2 rounds.  I ended up with 5 + 11 which I felt pretty good about.  I felt something pinch in my left shoulder on the fourth round and just held against the wall rather than doing a walk up the last 2 rounds.

Most folks were doing handstand pushups to abmats or deficit pushups.

Mobility – Finished with stretches laying on back

Power Snatch T2B

Monday, October 5, 2015

Coach Meriah

(11AM) Ben, Darryl, Steve B, Julian and me

Warm Up

400m run followed by pass throughs with PVC, OH Walking lunges, PVC OH Squats, Supermans and Hollow body on ground and then hanging from bar

We also did a Burgener Warm Up to get ready for the snatch.  Meriah summarized it as the jump and land.

WOD

5 rounds for time (20 min cap) 10 Power Snatch, 10 Toes to Bar, 400m Run, L3:  115/75#, L2:  75/55#, L1 modify to complete sub 20.

I worked a weight up from 35#, 55# and 75# before backing down to 65# for the workout.  On the toes to bar I was really struggling to maintain my rhythm and any effort to pull my hips up would kill my momentum.  I did kips with knee raises for the workout.  I finished in 20:01, just missing the 20 minute cap, but I did feel pretty good about the effort as I slowed from my first round of 3:40.  My left calf was pretty tight during the warm up but it held for the workout.

Mobility – legs straight against wall and then flared against wall

Run

Friday, October 2, 2015

Coach Meriah

(11AM) Ashley, Richelle, Tom, Bill, Steve B, Craig, Ben, Luke and me

Warm Up

2 rounds of 40 sec ON, 20 sec REST of Ball Slams (15#), Hang from Bar, Low bounding box jumps (12”), one other thing?, Pistols/Squats holding onto rack.  Then 1 speed round with 40 sec ON of each with no rest.

WOD

2 Rounds for time:  40 Hang Power Cleans 75/55#, 80 Air Squats, Run 1 mile

This was a long workout.  I considered going Rx, but opted to drop down to 65#.  The weight was not supposed to be heavy, but I still found myself dropping the bar every 10 repetitions.  The Air Squats were a grind as well, I broke them down into sets of 20.  Finally the mile run was down and up the hill heading East to the first driveway and back.  It took between a little over 2 minutes for each round of Hang Power Cleans, 3 minutes for each set of Air Squats and around 12 minutes for each mile run.  Overall, I finished in 34:41 and was just glad to be done.  I paced myself pretty well.  I also ended up drilling a hole in my right thumb and will make a point of taping it up the next time we have a high repetition set of cleans.

I was surprised at how quickly some folks were knocking out this WOD.  Times were as low as 20 minutes.

Finished with mobility on calves hooking the foot onto band and rolling a barbell under the belly of the calf from a variety of angles.

Bench Press

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Coach Meriah

(11AM) Charlie, Bill, Tom, Mandy, Naige, Darryl, other guy and me

Warm Up

250m Row followed by 3 rounds of 10 banded push-ups (I did not use band), 10 Hollow Rocks.  Then 250m Row followed by 2 rounds of 5 push-ups and 5 hollow rocks

WOD

Bench Press 5 sets of 3 reps every 3 minutes.  Increase weight as needed.

I partnered with Charlie and we warmed up with 45#, 95# and 115#.  For sets I did 135#, 145#, 155#, 165# and 175#.  We added a sixth burnout set at 95#.  I got 21 repetitions.

then

3 Rounds NFT of 10/10 KB single arm row, 20 Situp med ball toss 10#/6#, 10 dips add weight as able.

For the rows I used 35# on the first set and 44# on the last two sets.  For the med ball toss, Charlie and I used the 6# med ball.  We tried a few reps with the 10#.  It may have been possible, but form would have been sacrificed.  I did 1 ring dip and the other 29 were on the parallel bars.