Thanks to Al Viquez and Cutting Edge CrossFit for posting a useful resource yesterday on rope climbing.  Beastskills.com is an excellent site to learn various gymnastics movements and progressions like handstands, levers, and rope climbs.  Many of you have asked about the various ways to climb the rope, and this video does a very good job at covering the 3 main techniques out there.  Incorporating rope climbing skillwork into your routine will help improve upper body strength, functional grip strength, and help you become more proficient at a valuable, possibly life saving, skill.  There’s currently only one rope hanging at Intrepid, but we plan on getting at least 2 more, so I’m no psychic or anything but I see rope climbs in your future.  Don’t be the dope who can’t climb the rope when it matters most!

WOD 07.28.10

Power Snatch 3×3

“Chief”

5 Sets:

AMRAP 3

3 Power Cleans

6 Pushups

9 Squats

Rest 1 mins b/n Sets

*compare to 5/18/10*

Many of us were introduced to the California Fish Grill for the first time at Viv’s birthday get together a couple of weeks ago.  Everyone really seemed to enjoy the food and Anna suggested we dedicate a post to it so that everyone who didn’t make it to Viv’s b-day dinner would know to try it out.  They have a variety of fish options, many of which are fresh and caught wild.  Ruth and I tried the Ahi Tuna and were very impressed with the quality.  And of course we coupled the delicious fish with delicious sweet potato fries, coleslaw, and grilled zucchini.  Overall we really enjoyed our meal and recommend you head over to the El Segundo Plaza on PCH between El Segundo Blvd and Rosecrans near The Counter to California Fish Grill.

Halibut, Sweet Potato Fries, & Coleslaw (Just make sure you ask for no bread)

REST DAY 07.25.10

Scott#2 & Melissa, our newest wodding couple

For those of us who have experience playing basketball you may be intimately familiar with the practice of shooting free throws trying to become a better free throw shooter.  My high school coach often made us sink 10 straight shots before heading home, but for someone like me who struggled to find his stroke, this often meant lots of free throws and me turning the lights off in the gym as I left because I was the last one around. Just like how I felt working out at the Globo gym, I thought there might be a better, more effective, way to train. A recent study published in Nature Neuroscience confirmed my hopes and found that skill retention occurs better when practice structure is more variable and less rote repetition. Time.com takes the technical, scientific jargon and puts it into understandable terms.  The basic premise is that variability forces our brains to remain engaged and prevents us from going into auto-pilot which tends to occur when we simply perform one movement over and over again.

What does that mean for us at Intrepid?  It means keep doing what we’re doing. To improve our snatch or clean and jerk we don’t simply have you perform hundreds of lifts in a row like freethrows.    We break the movement into components which we drill in between reps of the whole movement. This might look like snatch grip deadlifts and highpulls between reps of snatch or have you perform a complex with 1 rep of each movement.  Varying the start (hang) and landing (power) positions also help us to better learn the whole movements.

Keep this study in mind next time you’re getting ready for your sports season and you’ll have more effective practice sessions and you’ll retain the skills better.

WOD 07.21.10

Power Cleans 5×3

3rds:

15 Overhead Squats

50 Double Unders

c/o 3×5 HSPU and 2×10 KB  Snatches

Today marks the second of three days of the 2010 CrossFit Gamesbeing held a short drive away at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA.  During Day 1 of the Games, there were 2 Affiliate Cup workouts, 1 Master’s WOD (age 50+), and 1 Individual WOD.  Day 2 will continue the actions with more team and individual workouts with some teams/individuals facing elimination.  If you’re interested in attending the Games in person, tickets are on sale through TicketMaster via the Games website link above or at the door.  If you’re unable to attend but are still curious and want to catch some of the action then check out the live web feed.

A group from Intrepid are headed out on Sunday so let us know if you want to tag along, carpool, or meet up at the stadium.  Inspired by the energy and camaraderie of the Games, today’s WOD is a team workout very similar to one of the Northwest Regional Affiliate Cup Qualifier workouts.  Start your beautiful weekend off with a great workout!

WOD 07.17.10

In Teams of 4:
120 OHS
120 Pullups
120 Deadlifts
120 Pushups
*1 Team member is working at every station. Each team member must do at least 5 reps of every movement. Each team has 2 bars and is responsible for swapping the weight as necessary.
Cash Out: Team performs total of 80 Double Unders (cannot sub singles), 2 people allowed to work at once

Jenna driving up from the bottom of a Back Squat

Today’s WOD, the Bear Complex, is a creation of Strength and Conditioning Godfather, Dan John.  Coach John is a wealth of knowledge as Ruth and I were fortunate to hear him speak at a seminar.  Ruth has previously posted on some of Dan John’s recovery techniques, but today I’ll introduce everyone to Dan John’s top 10 tips for Athletes taken from his article on T-Nation.

1. Use whole body lifts; rarely isolate one muscle.
2. Constantly strive to add weight to the bar and move it faster.
3. The best anabolic is water.
4. Did you eat breakfast?  If  not, don’t ask me anything about nutrition.
5. If you smoke or don’t wear your seatbelt, please don’t tell me the quick lifts are dangerous.
6. Go heavy, go hard.
7. Keep it simple.  Less is more.
8. You have to put the bar over your head.
9. Put the bar on the floor and pick it up a bunch of different ways.
10. Know and love the roots of your sport.

True to form, many of  Dan’s tips apply not only to today’s workout but to what we do everyday at Intrepid.  If you get a chance check out some of his other articles for some down-to-earth, blue collar insight and tips on a variety of topics.

WOD 02.08.10

Bear Complex
5 sets of the following complex:
Power Clean
Front Squat
Push Press
Back Squat
Push Press

1. Perform 7 reps of the complex without resting on the floor per set. Touch and go only for the Power Clean.
2. You can thruster the push presses from both the squats, but the first movement has to be a power clean…(no squat clean to thruster).
3. Rest as needed between sets.
4. Penalty for a bar touching the ground is 5 burpees per violation post-WOD.

How has CrossFit changed you? For some the answer may be pretty straightforward, but others’ answers may be profound. Have you noticed a change in your work ethic, your appearance, your confidence, your life? Each and every one of us has our own story about our CrossFit experience and how it has impacted us. We each have our own trials, triumphs, and tragedies and we have all come out better and stronger mentally and/or physically after our experiences.

Well a couple of coaches at CrossFit Invictus want to know about your CrossFit story. They are interested in how has CrossFit made your life better that can serve to inspire others? They are asking for folks to share with them the different ways CrossFit has changed their lives for the better. Whether CF has helped you lose weight, stay sober, reconnect with yourself and others, or just feel a sense of family and belonging, don’t be shy and consider sharing your story for their book.

WOD 07.10.10

Fight Gone Better
3 Rounds
1 minute Stations for Reps/Cals:
Wallball Shots
Hang Power Cleans
Box Jumps
Push Press
Row
Rest

Over these past few weeks we’ve thrown some difficult WODs at you including “Murph”, the Buddy Bar WOD, and a couple from the CrossFit Games on-line qualifier just to name a few.  These workouts have pushed many of you to your physical and mental limits and I applaud each and every one of you who stepped up to each challenge.  Looking back at your performance was there room for improvement?  Could you have paced yourself a bit differently to prevent yourself from sputtering out just over half way through the WOD?  For many of us I believe the answer is a resounding “YES!” which is great news if you really think about it.  Just like in the linear progression for our strength lifts where we try and add 5-10 pounds to our worksets each time we revisit a lift, wouldn’t it be nice to shave 30 seconds-2 minutes off of a WOD’s time the next time you do it just by tweaking your strategy?

Sun Tzu was one of the earliest military minds to put ink on paper and discuss strategy in The Art of War.  Strategy is a plan of action to achieve a goal, or the art of developing or carrying out such a plan.  CrossFit workouts are intense and “violent” by nature, and  numerous Police, Fire, and Military personnel have said that the some of the more intense workouts replicate the same stress they experience in situations where the “crap hits the fan” and their lives are on the line.  In these situations a plan of action has helped them pull through and see another day, and rarely will you ever come across someone in these fields who is so headstrong they are willing to put their lives and the lives of others on the line without a coherent strategy.

John Mc Evoy published an article in this month’s edition of the CF Journal talking about this exact topic entitled “To Game or Not to Game.”  In the CrossFit community the term “Gaming” has become synonymous with coming up with a strategy for an impending workout.  Most times we’re not going to be able to go full-throttle for the entire duration of a workout, and as we get going “hot and heavy” into a workout we quickly find our weak links.  Whether our grip begins giving out, our shoulders are suddenly unable to support a load overhead, or we just hit a wall (in every sense of the word), we all experience workouts where we have to pace ourselves a bit to get through it more efficiently.  Pre-WOD, we are often able to recognize the fact that a bit of pacing will be involved.  Well, when you have this epiphany take a minute or two and put together a quick plan of attack for the forthcoming workout as you warm-up.

Some general gaming tips that have helped me have been:
-Chunk the WOD: No I don’t mean throw the WOD (for all my Southerners), I mean decompose those 30 Thrusters into manageable chunks. For me, this trick also diminishes the mental suckitude of a workout by controlling that overwhelming/hopeless feeling we all tend to get when we see a tough workout written on the board.
-Plan for fatigue: My early sets often have a more reps because I am bit fresher while my later sets are tailored down to less reps.  Chunk your WODs in a way that prevents steep drop-offs (i.e. 1st set of Pullups is 15 only to have your 2nd set be 4)
-Plan your rest: If you can efficiently plan short rest periods into your workout you’ll prevent premature burnout and be able to maintain a steady pace.  I usually try to step away for a few of breaths and then “3, 2, 1…GO!” I’m back at it again.
-Understand Your Limits: Over time you’ll accumulate a great deal of experience and understand the many variables at play and how those affect performance.  Understanding your limits is essential for building a realistic strategy for a WOD.
-Stick to the Plan: I’m talking about doing your best to hold true to the plan you laid out for yourself.  Your first few chunks may feel pretty easy but show a little restraint early on as fatigue oftentimes sets in quickly and tends to sneak up on me just after the midpoint. This is where some early on pacing pays off and I’m able to keep from falling off towards the end of a set of the entire workout and maintain a steady pace throughout
-Be Flexible When Necessary: I’m not referring to stretching more (although I know you all have been since the post). The best plans often go awry and we need to recognize when our rep scheme is too ambitious for today, or, “I didn’t plan than my hands would get so sweaty that I can only do 3 hang power cleans instead of the 5 I planned for.”  We almost always have to do a bit of replanning on the fly to help us efficiently move through the WOD or to keep some gas in the tank for the end.  On the flip side, if you are getting close to the end and you still have a good amount of gas in the tank, you always have the option to forsake the plan and sprint to the finish.
-Use Your Body and Your Mind: Be in tune with your body but be smarter in the way you approach your tougher workouts or the tougher parts in workouts.  There are times we may be able to go full-throttle the entire time, but for the other times start approaching your workouts with a bit of strategy and you’ll likely notice a difference.  As with everything, balance is important so be careful not to over strategize every single thing.

Personal Example:
07.05.10 WOD
150 Double Unders
30 Thrusters @ 135#
30 Chest to Bar Pullups
-Double unders are a strength of mine but I knew 150 in a row was a steep task, so I decided to shoot for 3 chunks with a short rest between.  Each rest was just enough to grap a couple of breaths and shake out the arms.
-I recognized right away that the heavy thrusters would burn me out quick if I didn’t plan reasonable chunks with rests.  I planned for chunks of 5-6 with a short rest between each.
-Pre WOD I planned on doing chunks of 7-8 pullups but my body told me otherwise after I completed the heavy thrusters and my first set of Pullups.  I decided on the fly to shoot for chunks of 4-5 the rest of the way.

The result…Ruth said I completed the WOD quicker than any of those who posted times for the CrossFit Online Qualifiers clocking in at 6:54.  I attribute this to not just being on a jump rope team in elementary school but to taking a few minutes to craft a game plan that allowed me to intelligently move through the workout based on my relative strengths, weaknesses, and limitations.  In all honesty, my best workout results have been where I developed a realistic plan prior to the workout and this instance was no different.  Outside of the gym this lesson can be applied to anything from house cleaning to getting someone out of a burning house alive.  Where better to hone this technique than at CF Intrepid under the stressful conditions of our WODs and with the assistance of skilled coaches who offer a watchful eye and advice.  Test it out for yourself and see how it affects your workouts.

WOD 07.07.10

Back Squat 3×5, 1×10-15
10, 9, 8,…,1
Burpees, Situps, Kettlebell Swings
compare to 02.10.10

Communication is key. This statement holds true in many areas of life but especially in the gym where we rely on one another to safely explore and push beyond our limits. Whether using a spot during our bench press work sets, helping each other stretch, or spotting each other while upside down in a handstand or on the rings, being on the same channel as your spotter is a matter of trust and safety. Recently, Becky and the 7pm crew were perfecting their handstands and thought that it would be good to have a safe word so their spotter knew when to help them or when to help them down in the case of the handstand. And viola, “¡jalapeño!” was born, and has spread like wildfire.

The use of safewords is not uncommon as Kelly Starrett, owner of CrossFit San Francisco and CrossFit Mobility and Recovery Seminar teacher, instructs his athletes and clients how and when to use a safeword in a way that has put “brisket” on a whole new level. With HSPUs being the focus of our Challenge this month, it is especially important to be on the same page as our spotter to help us kick up into and out of the bands. So when things start to get a little too hot for your taste just shout “¡jalapeño!” to your spotter and they’ll give you a hand and help you out of your spicy situation.

REST DAY 07.03.10

This weekend Ruth and I are headed up to Zion National Park in Utah and as we started planning what to bring we couldn’t help but think about what food we should have with us for the drives, hikes, and the downtime in between.  Luckily Melissa and Dallas of Whole 9 recently went on a 30 day road trip around the country holding nutrition seminars and wrote about the food they kept on hand that helped them eat clean throughout their entire trip.  With many of you also planning road trips in the near future, you too may want to steal some of Melissa and Dallas’s ideas to fill your road trip cooler and/or hotel fridge.

Here’s some tips straight from the article that go along with their list of foods:

Good luck preparing for your next road trip.  Now you have some nutrition ideas to help you pack healthier food options.  With that being said, since all of Intrepid’s trainers are out of town this weekend:

*NO CLASSES ARE OFFERED FRIDAY AND SATURDAY (JULY 2-3) AND NO MONDAY 6:30AM CLASS*

WOD 06.30.10

June’s Cup Challenge:

1) One set of squats for max reps. Rest.
2) One set of bench for max reps. Rest.
3) One set of deadlifts for max reps.

Men: 225# or 185#
Women- 135# for squats and deads, 95# for bench or 95#/65#

One of the great things CrossFit came up with was dedicating workouts to those Military, Law Enforcement, and Firefighters who CrossFitted and gave their lives in the line of duty. These workouts are referred to as “Hero” workouts and today’s workout is a hero workout named “Murph” after Navy Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy who was killed in action by Taliban forces in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005. This coming Monday commemorates the 5 year anniversary of Murph’s heroic passing and it’s in his honor that we do this workout today.

Murphy led the four-man reconnaissance team on a mission to kill or capture a top Taliban leader, Ahmad Shah, who commanded a group of insurgents known as the “Mountain Tigers,” west of Asadabad. The group was dropped off by helicopter in a remote, mountainous area east of Asadabad in Kunar Province, near the Pakistan border. After an initially successful infiltration, local goat herders stumbled upon the SEALs’ hiding place. Unable to verify any hostile intent from the herders, Murphy asked the team what should be done with them. Sonar Technician (Surface) 2nd Class Matthew Axelson reportedly voted to kill the Afghans, and Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Danny Dietz did not offer an opinion, causing Murphy to state that he would vote the same as Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Marcus Luttrell, who said the herders should be set free. Hostile locals, possibly the goat herders they let pass, alerted 80 to 200 nearby Taliban forces, who surrounded and attacked the small group. After Murphy called for help, an MH-47 Chinook helicopter loaded with reinforcements was dispatched to rescue the team, but was shot down with an RPG, killing all 16 personnel aboard, including an additional eight SEALs and eight Army Night Stalkers.

By the end of the two-hour battle, approximately 35 Taliban soldiers, Murphy, Dietz, and Axelson were killed in the action. Luttrell was the only American survivor and was eventually rescued after several days of wandering the mountain and being protected by the people of an Afghanistan village. Murphy was posthumously award the Medal of Honor, the Silver Star, and a Purple Heart for his actions after exposing himself to enemy fire and knowingly leaving his position of cover to get a clear signal in order to communicate with his headquarters. He provided his unit’s location and requested immediate support for his element and then returned to his position to continue fighting until he died from his wounds. All three of Murphy’s men were awarded the Navy’s second-highest honor, the Navy Cross, for their part in the battle making theirs the most decorated Navy SEAL team in history. Lutrrell would later share his team’s story in the book “The Lone Survivor” which I’ve heard is a great and inspiring read if you have the chance. Reading the book gave Ruth a new appreciation for the workout so check it out if you get a chance. Good luck with today’s WOD.

WOD 06.26.10

“Murph”
Run 1 mile
100 Pullups
200 Pushups
300 Squats
Run 1 mile

*Partition the Pullups, Pushups, and Squats as needed and wear a 20# weighted vest or body armor*