6/19/13
Strength
6 sets of
3 Front Squats
1:00 rest
1 rope climb
1:00 rest

WOD
"Annie"
50-40-30-20-10
Double Unders
Sit-Ups

What's not to love about a man wearing a loin cloth swinging through the trees? Whenever people think of Tarzan, I bet they conjure up images in their head of someone fearless and wild...and that's how we're going to be after all the rope climbs we've been doing lately! I mean, if this whole CrossFit thing doesn't work out for us, we can always just re-name ourselves JungleFit and do Tarzan-ish WODS. Loin cloths NOT optional!

If you haven't noticed, we have some cool new stuff appearing in our pro shop. The other day we welcomed a new product called "rip fix". Yes, lots of you have sniffed it and inspected the container, but until yesterday nobody bought the stuff. After some urging from Bill, Tony bought a tin for his badly torn hands. He was absolutely AMAZED at how fast it took the sting out, and how seemingly over night it helped his hands heal faster. I think his exact words were something like, "this stuff is like MAGIC!" But this product isn't just for rip repairs, it's also a preventative maintenance tool. Use it twice a day on your callouses to keep them soft and supple and prevent rips from ever happening. Pull-ups are cool...rips are NOT cool!

6/18/13
WOD
10:00 AMRAP
5 burpees
10 sit-ups
15 Squats
5:00 rest
10:00 AMRAP
200m row
10 ball slams
10 box jumps
5:00 rest
10:00 AMRAP
5 toes to bar
10 burpee broad jumps
20 steps walking lunges

Yesterday was a true grip killer. I was showing my 7PM class how to stretch their forearms and use the Armaid to help relieve that "pumped up" feeling. Forearm stretches are always a good idea, and my favorite ones are when you kneel on the floor, and rotate your hands so your finger tips point towards you. Stretch in this position for a good minute, and them rotate your hands the other direction. Ahhh....the relief. You could always do this stretch, but make sure you wear your gloves. Them things are tough on your hands.

By the way, take a look at the picture - that's Tabitha swinging a 16kg kettlebell for Monday's workout! I can remember back in her ramp-up when she could barely swing the 8kg! Good work, girlfriend....you've come a long way!

Tuesdays workout looks pretty cool. My prediction is that the middle AMRAP with the rowing is going to be the toughest part. What do you think? And most importantly, do you think Mad Dog will beat George at this WOD?

TOUGH. CrossFit T-Shirts are always telling me I need to "harden the f-up". I don't need to be any tougher, because I'm already as tough as I want to be. To be completely honest, I sometimes feel like crying when the WOD is extra challenging. Every now and then I scale workouts. And if my hands hurt really really bad during pull-ups, I stop. I don't go and go and go until my body collapses and my hands are bleeding, because that's not who I am. It might be who you are. And I'm cool with that.

ME. I wear makeup to the gym. I like tall socks with cute designs. I have a pink headband that matches my pink sports bra that also happens to match my black shorts with hot pink trim.Tough isn't for everyone. It certainly isn't for me. I don't wear t-shirts with profanity on them. (Actually they make me cringe). I don't cheer when people puke after a WOD. Instead I want to hold their hair and get them a drink of water. Puking is awful.

HUGS. Know what I do a lot of? Hugging. High-fiving. Cheering and clapping. Because that's who I am. I'm tender and kind and I just so happen to have a love for lifting heavy weights. And you know what? That's ok. It doesn't make me any less of a "CrossFitter" because I'm not tough. CrossFit is infinitely scalable and so is the "toughness" that our community has become famous for. Or infamous. Whatever you prefer.

BE YOU. Consider this the CrossFit Fire PSA that you don't have to be tough all the time. It's ok to break down once in a while. There is a time and a place for that mental toughness....but there is also a time for scaling, kindness and lipgloss. Lucky for me CrossFit Fire allows me to be whoever I want to be today.

On a scale of 1-10, how tough are YOU?

6/17/13
Strength
One arm push-ups

WOD:
1 round for time
300m run
10 KB swings
15 pull-ups
20 Push-Presses
15 pull-ups
10 KB swings
300m run

Yep, we're doing single arm push-ups tomorrow. Ultimately, you're going to have to declare which arm is your favorite. Kind of how you always knew which of your siblings your Dad loved the most? That's how you already feel about one of your arms - you just don't know it. If you'd like to wear an outfit like Rocky Balboa (short shorts are a MUST), I'll automatically subtract 2:00 from your WOD time. OMG he looks AMAZING!

Can't do one arm push-ups? Don't worry....Coach Carl Paoli has a great video going over some of the progressions for this movement. I know in your head you're kind of laughing at having to do these, but trust me, they're functional. Carl explains it in his video, but in a nut shell, they work your core like a mo-fo because you have to resist the unilateral twisting that your trunk will try and do.

6/15/13
Team Saturday
In teams of 2, 30:00 AMRAP of
5 hand release push-ups
5 C2B Pul-ups
___________
5 handstand push-ups
5 Power Snatches

I heard a rumor that some of you were dissing the fact that I said the programming this week was like drinking a rainbow. What was it you said?? That it's like drinking a rainbow, but only if my rainbow tastes like gasoline and cyanide?? HA HA REAL FUNNY. NO, my rainbow does NOT taste like those things. It just so happens that a week with a Regionals WOD, overhead squats, double unders and snatches is kind of amazing to me. Psh. I'd hate to see the sissy workouts that make up YOUR rainbow. I bet Froning would like my rainbow...

Sorry for the stock photo - I'm running short on recent pictures. They're all trapped on the camera at the Fort. Hopefully Rich Froning can inspire you kids to get out of bed on a Saturday morning to come workout!

6/14/13
WOD - 2013 CrossFit Regionals #7
4 rounds of
2 rope climbs
100ft sprint
4 Squat Cleans (90% of 1RM, not to exceed 102/61kg)
100ft sprint

Well here is Friday's workout. The icing on the cake for this last week of awesome WODs! Want to know something funny? It took me 4 tries to spell "sprint" right. For some reason my brain just wanted to write "spring". Can you imagine if you had to spring 100ft? That would be WAY cooler.

This WOD was the final event of Regionals, and it was EPIC. It separated the men from the boys. The mentally strong from the timid of heart. The lions from the gazelles. The....um....people who can squat clean like robots from those that struggled under the bar.

The weight should be heavy - it was CRAZY heavy for the competitors. In a "best of the best" situation, you should be able to go unbroken on your 4 squat cleans, while most other people will have to break them into single or doubles. Just aim for using a weight that is sufficiently heavy to challenge you. Don't be scared to push for that extra weight on your bar!

Know what you SHOULD be scared of? Rope climbs. Well, unless of course you purchased these frickin' AMAZING shin protectors from RXSmartGear.com. Tall socks are great, and so are long pants, but sometimes that rope can still burn your leg. These shin protectors are just what the doctor ordered. They even come in cool colors. For $15, why would you NOT buy them!?

6/13/13
WOD
9-7-5
Overhead Walking Lunges
Ring Dips
Wall Ball Shots
5:00 rest
9-7-5
DB Manmakers
Toes to Bar
5:00 rest
9-7-5
Turkish Get-Ups
Burpees

I mean really....what's a WOD without burpees, after all! I think it has been like 4 days since we had to do any "pain filled soul suckers", so a little sprinkling of them should be nice!

I have to give Chris Studer MAD PROPS for Wednesday's workout. After the WODFather came home from the morning classes, Chris had the fastest RX time of the day. Bill's comment was, "he was using the most weight, AND he was the fastest!" You're a squat power house, my friend. Great job! George isn't easy to keep up with at 5:30AM, especially when there's running involved!

If you're one of my friends that likes to run 5K's when the weather is sunny, then you should definitely sign up for the Lakemoor 5K! Not only is the race route right in our front yard (literally. You'll run right past the Fort) but I heard there's cash prizes for the top finishers! C'mon CrossForters.....I know we have someone out there who can SMOKE anyone at a 5K run! Let's bring home the title of "Lakemoor's Fastest"!