The Big Expansion

Amy L; a little better every day.

This Saturday.  9AM start time.  Food will be provided.  Please bring tools such as prybars, skilsaws, and such.  If anyone has a shop vac, we need one.  

Please come join the CFLG community as we expand the Cage. See you all on Saturday.

Workout:

Weighted Lunges

10, 8, 6, 4, 2

Walk 10 steps out and 10 steps back.  Then 8, 6, 4, and 2.  Add weight to the bar each set and never let the forward knee go past the shin.

Then:

10, 9, 8...2, 1

Clean and Jerk 155/100#

Burpee

Post loads and time to Comments.

Superstition

Very superstitious, 

Writing's on the wall, 

Very superstitious, 

Ladders bout' to fall, 

Thirteen month old baby, 

Broke the lookin' glass 

Seven years of bad luck, 

The good things in your past 

CrossFit is all about empirical evidence, right.  We don't do and preach constantly varied high intensity functional movement because we read in a book somewhere that it is good for you.  We know it is.  We have scientific proof that it is.  We have case studies showing its huge benefits with people ranging from pro athletes to my mother.  We are evidence based fitness.  Scientifically proven.  Hell, maybe I should wear a white lab coat when I teach classes at the box. Or is it the lab?

Then why is there so much superstition at a CrossFit box?  That's right, superstition.  CrossFitters are some of the most superstitious people you will ever meet.  Which way do you put iron plates on the bar?  I bet it is numbers in.  I have to have the numbers in.  Do you have a special bar that you have to use or your workout just won't be the same?  Before a big lift do you have a special routine you have to go through?  Lots of CrossFitters do.  Does your barbell have to be in line with the joints of the mats?

That's superstition folks.

What are your superstitious quirks in the box? Please post to Comments.

Don't forget folks, the CFLG expansion is on for this Saturday with a start time of 9AM. Please come help redo your box.  Food will be provided.

Workout:

Rest Day

Second Chances

The Professor; everyday better than yesterday.

Always give someone a second chance for anyone can make a mistake.  Always give someone a third chance because even a repentant person can repeat the mistake.

At CF Los Gatos we believe in 2nd chances, and 3rds and 4ths and even 5ths.  We are all about forgiveness.  Falling off the wagon is a common occurrence at gyms, heck, in life.  Something comes up and you can’t make it in for a week or so, you get a little nervous about coming back, and pretty soon 3 weeks or a month have gone by.  Or maybe you just fell off the nutrition wagon and your Paleo diet went right out the window and was last seen hightailing it back to the Paleolithic Period.

Hey, we get it.  We understand how life works.  And we know that it can be hard to come back, maybe a little embarrassing too.  No worries, we firmly believe in 2nd chances, and 3rds and 4ths too.  However many it takes.  Get back in that saddle, cowgirl.  Get back on that board, Moondoggy.  The longer you wait, the harder it will be, but there will never be any recriminations on our part.

You see, we believe in CrossFit.  We believe in the Paleo diet.  We believe in our community.  We believe in you.  We know that nothing will affect your fitness for the better more than CrossFit.  Nothing.  And fitness across years is health.  Superior functional health.

This is not blind dogma, but rather a belief born out of empirical evidence based on dozens and dozens, thousands and thousands if you look at the larger CF community, of case studies.  Not to mention ourselves.  You remember that old commercial for artificial hair growth?  “I am not just the owner, but a customer too.”  Well, that describes us perfectly.  The CFLG trainers eat drink talk and train CrossFit.

So, never be scared or nervous about coming back to the box, or asking a trainer how to reinstate proper nutrition into your life.  We believe in 2nd chances.  Thirds and 4ths and 5ths too.

Have you ever fallen off the wagon?  What got you going again?  Please post to Comments.

Reminder: The CFLG expansion is happening THIS Saturday.  The start time is 9am.  Please join us in making the CFLG box bigger and better.  

Workout:

Snatch 10×2 75% 1RM

Really work on getting under the bar.  If you miss a rep or feel especially wobbly in the hole, do 2 overhead squats with that weight.

Then:

5x 40yrd sprint

Slowly walk back to the starting line.  Work on exploding out of the starting stance.

Then:

AMRAP in 8 minutes

2 Hang Power Snatches 135/85#

2 Overhead Squats

3 Clapping Pushups

2 Hang Power Snatches 135/85#

2 Overhead Squats

5 Pullups

10 Double Unders/30 Single Unders

Post loads and score to Comments.

CrossFit Football

Shawn; resisted sprints.Justin and Billy bench 225#. Justin was tops at 21 reps, Shaun nailed 20, and Billy got 10 at 155BW.

This last weekend several of the CF Los Gatos trainers joined me at the CrossFit Football certification in Oakland.  CF Football is a program and training methodology geared toward producing a faster, larger, more powerful athlete.  An athlete comfortable with the physical demands of sports such as football, lacrosse, rugby, wrestling, among others, rather than the unknown and unknowable.  It was created by ex pro footballer John Welbourn and the cert is staffed by John, nationally ranked Oly lifter Max Mormont, and strength and conditioning expert Raphael Ruiz (possibly the most fluid and agile man I have ever met).

The cert was both highly informative and physically demanding.  We were all worked by the end of the weekend.  There was even a written test at the end (I outscored Billy). All in all, we learned a great deal and you can bet that there will be some new stuff appearing in classes soon.

On another note, the long awaited Cage expansion is this Saturday.  We are starting at 9 in the morning and we could use a lot of help.  We will also need tools such as pry bars, skilsaws, hammers, etc.  Please talk to a trainer or sign up on the whiteboard if you can make.  By the way, we will provide food.

Workout:

Split Jerk (find a new PR)

1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1

Then:

5x 5 broad jumps for speed and distance

Then:

10 Rounds

1 Deadlift 80% 1RM

20m sprint

3 Burpees

20m Sprint

Post loads and time to Comments.

The Holistic View

Big Greg on the move.We were doing back squats the other day in class. After one of the athletes PR’d, she commented that she hoped this wouldn’t be like her deadlift.  She had set a PR in the deadlift last summer and, even though she has been close, had not PR’d in it since and she was naturally a bit frustrated.  I remembered the day that she had PR’d.  Her daughter, another CrossFitter, was visiting and the two of them were really finding encouragement in each others’ presence and consequently were pretty fired up.

Anyway, I asked her if she had had any other PRs lately.  She responded with a list ranging from the aforementioned back squat to a couple minutes off of Helen.  I looked at her and said that seemed like improved fitness to me.  But what about the deadlift, she replied.

Well, what about the deadlift?  Does it matter that she has not PR’d in it since the summer?  Yes and no.  Obviously it matters to her and so it is important.  We all have favorite lifts or WODs that seem especially important to us.  And of course, the deadlift is a real indicator of strength, so I certainly want her to PR in it.  But over all, by CrossFit standards, no, it does not matter.  Demonstrably she has gotten much more fit than she was in the summer.  Almost across the board (except the deadlift) her numbers are up and her times are dropping.  And that counts much more than a single movement.

Measuring progress, ie fitness, in CrossFit is an holistic enterprise.  You have to look at the whole picture, and the whole picture is generalistic.  CrossFit is about plurality and therein lies a lot of the appeal, and also the pain, of CrossFit.  With CrossFit’s many ingredients, there is always another avenue open for progress, another area ripe for training.  But you never get to just sit on your laurels.  CrossFit is the compete opposite of the one trick pony. Killing it on the WODs?  Great, how are your lifts coming?  Been PRing on the O-lifts?  That is awesome, how about your gymnastics?  Been working hard on your pressing and handstand strength?  That’s great, can you put it to use in Diane?  You are a CrossFit animal?  Right on, but where is that sport, that activity, the top of the pyramid?

Being cross fit is about being fit across borders and genres.  It is an holistic approach to fitness and health.  So don’t get so engrossed in the individual trees that you forget to look at the big CrossFit forest.

Please post thoughts to Comments.

Workout:

Push Press

1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,

Press

7×1

Then:

5 Rounds

10 Back Squats bw

10 Kettlebell Swings 53/35#

Post loads and time to Comments.