Intensity

Now that is packed full of truth.
Photo borrowed from our campadres at One World.

If you have been doing CrossFit for any length of time, even if just a beginner, then you have probably heard the word 'intensity'. Intensity is CrossFit’s Holy Grail, our manifesto. It’s a simple equation. You work hard, I mean really hard, then you will get results. Your numbers will go up, your times will go down, and your clothes will fit differently (or not at all). But, there is a caveat to all this, and it’s a big one that people don’t like. And that is the hard work part.

You have to really push yourself. You need to constantly be upping the intensity. Most people go to the gym and they never push themselves. They will never experience the slightest bit of intensity, because they don’t work hard. Really hard. CrossFit hard.

Again, it is a simple equation. Go to the gym, regularly. Warm up. Do some skill work, maybe chase a couple 1 rep maxes, always refine your form, and then do the WOD. Do it hard. Really hard. Just kill it. Push all thoughts from your mind except the movement you are doing right now. Your heart should be playing Pong with your rib cage. Battery acid should be pumping through your veins. Your lungs should be bellows desperate to feed air to the fire that is your muscles. Sweat should be niagaraing off your body. That is what I mean by hard.

And then slowly peel yourself off the floor and get the hell out of the gym. Drink lots of water, eat right, watch a video of Amundson charging a WOD, sleep 8 hours, and then get back in the gym and do it all over again the next day, and the next. That is how you get results. That is how you get the performance you want, the body you want, the fitness we all deserve.

See you in the Cage.

Workout:

Christine

3 Rounds

500m Row

12 Deadlifts (bodyweight)

21 Box Jumps 

 Justin: post Christine

Check out Pat Barber, 4th place 2008 CrossFit Games, taking Christine out on a date.

Short, Hard, and Heavy

Four time (3 gold) Olympic medalist Pyrros Dimas of Greece goes airborne after a record lift. Watch this great video of him training.

Common fitness wisdom holds that aerobic training is the only way to metabolic conditioning.  Outside magazine trumpets  endurance athletes as the fittest human beings.  Ah, the dark ages.

At CrossFit we know that a heavy and hard anaerobic WOD highly boosts an athlete’s metabolic conditioning and VO2 max.  A short heavy met con will continue to burn calories as long as 24 hours after the workout.  It’s a phenomenon called ‘high caloric afterburn’.  An aerobic workout, such as an hour on the elliptical machine or a couple rounds of Cybex machines, even a 10 mile run, won’t produce the same effect.  A hard and heavy WOD, done in ten minutes or less, will translate directly into increased capacity in all three fitness pathways.  

Here at CF Los Gatos we are firm believers in the short, hard, and heavy doctrine, having seen it bring constant PRs across the board to all who train in it.

Post thoughts to Comments.

Workout:

Overhead Squat

Work up to a max single.

Then:

Strict Shoulder Press

Work up to a max single.

Then:

500m row or 400m run

21, 15, 9

KB Swing 53/35#

Squat

Pushup

Situp

Post loads and time to Comments.  If you did a different WOD, post WOD and score.

Cherry Picking

CFLG's awesome new pullup structure. Hours of fun will be had on those beauties.

Every night CF Los Gatos trainers post a WOD (workout of the day) on the CFLG website's daily blog. Already we have gotten questions why the classes don't always do that WOD.  The answer is cherry picking; picking and choosing which day to come to class based on whether you like the movements in the that day's WOD.

One of the big advantages to training at an affiliate rather than on your own, is that you, via the WOD, are forced to train movements which you don't like, are weak at, or otherwise would rarely or never work. Remember, CrossFitters are generalists.  We aren't trying to be the strongest or the fastest or the have the most endurance.  We want to be strong and fast and have great endurance.  In other words, we want to be pretty good at everything.  And you don't get that way by focusing only on your strengths and likes.

As for the posted WOD, we will get around to it in a day or two, even if it is a little out of order.

What are your favorite and most hated movements?  Please post to Comments.

Workout:

5 Rounds

10 Hang Power Cleans 135/85#

15 Pushups

Post time to Comments.  If you did a different WOD, post WOD and score.

The Record Board

Part of the CFLG record board. Who will be the first?

Ah, the record board.  Some love it, some hate it.  CrossFitters are a competitive lot.  That competitive drive should mostly be with yourself and your own times, but certainly some competition with your fellow CFLG mates is a healthy thing.  The one caveat, however, is that sportsmanship is always the law of the land (or at least the Cage).

I originally trained at the old CrossFit HQ in Santa Cruz.  I was not on the record boards for anything.  Of course, the old HQ was home to almost all the monsters from the early CrossFit years--Amundson, Leys, Weaver, Paschel, Lewis, Mast, Highbarger, Pine, Miller, and, of course, Nicole, Annie, and Eva--so I don't feel so bad about not having my name up there in lights.

But, and this is the big thing folks, my weights and times now, today, would have earned me a spot on much of those old HQ record boards (although current CrossFit records have passed me by). My times have steadily dropped, my technique has steadily improved, and my weights have steadily gone up.  Thus, I am faster, stronger, more powerful, more explosive, just more fit, than I was 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, and 10 years ago.  And that is what matters to me.

So if, like me, you never see your name filling one of the coveted top 5 spots on the Cage's record boards, it matters not one whit as long as your own workout journal steadily sees PRs (personal records).  

Thoughts? Please post them to Comments.

Thanks to CrossFit San Jose trainer Billy Bybee for stopping by and working out with us.  Hope you enjoyed the WOD, Billy.  Stop in anytime.  

Workout:

5x5 Front Squat (do a couple warm up sets and then do 3-4 sets of your 5 rep max weight.

Then:

7 Rounds

7 Pullups

7 Ring Push Ups

Post squat weight and WOD time to Comments.

Chest To The Bar

Pullups are a big deal in CrossFit. With the kipping pullup constantly evolving, pullup standards are becoming a hotly contested issue in the CrossFit community. Last year’s CrossFit Games debuted a new standard of chest-to-the-bar only pullups.

At CF Los Gatos, we are encouraging our athletes to get high on the bar. We do this a couple ways. First, we want to be very picky about what counts as a pullup rep. Chicken necking is considered bad form and often disqualifies a rep. Second, we throw in lots of chest-to-bar pullups in the class WODs. Third, we teach the bar muscle up before the ring muscle up. This focus on the bar muscle up emphasizes a truly high pulling pullup and really provides the explosive pull for the more technical ring muscle up. An athlete who is routinely smacking his or her sternum, solar plexus, or even stomach against the bar finds the bar and then the ring muscle up an easy transition.

Congratulations to Joel on his first muscle up!

Workout:

Cindy

As Many Rounds As Possible (AMRAP) in 20 Minutes of:

5 Pullups

10 Pushups

15 Pullups

Cindy is one of the oldest CrossFit benchmark workouts. These days, it is standard to do as many rounds as possible. There is a great video on youtube of Dutch from CrossFit A&M killing it with 34 rounds. In the old days, it was more customary, once you reached the gold standard of 20 rounds, of adding reps to the exercises. For example, Amundson held the old CrossFit Santa Cruz Cindy record with 20 rounds plus 4, meaning that he did 9 pullups, 14 pushups, and 19 squats a round.

How do you do Cindy? How do you approach or strategize this seemingly easy WOD? Post along with rounds scored to Comments.  If you did a different WOD in class, post WOD and score.