Workout of the Day
Lost & Found: Spring Blowout Sale!
The gym's Lost & Found is once again having a blowout sale! Anything that's actually yours is $FREE NINETY-NINE, and anything left at the end of next week is fair game for us to send to the Arena Ready Rack (aka donated to The Salvation Army). So if you don't want to see Molly F. or the Flying Squirrel wearing your favorite blazer when meeting you out for dinner, I'd suggest taking a peak into the bin during the next week to potentially claim your loot - there's some nice stuff in there!
The Lost & Found bin is located next to the Power Supply fridge in AR North. Please also check the "water bottle graveyard" located on top of the cubbies - we'll also donate any of those that are left over at the end of next week.
Thanks for your attention!
Current Lost & Found contents not actually pictured above (sorry, this is an old picture)... but you get the point. Double-check to see if that sweatshirt you've been missing has been here all along!
WOD for 04-29-16:
ON A RUNNING CLOCK...
A) At 0:00:
Back Squat (Week 3, Day 2):
6x5 @ 80%
Across
B) At 32:00:
1600m Run
You pick the pace.
15 Days Until Regionals
Over 40 of you from Arena Ready were there last year to watch all of the action, and it looks like another big group will be making the trip down this year to cheer on Coach Sarah and witness some of the best CrossFitters on the planet do their thing at the 2016 CrossFit Games California "Super" Regional. Who remembers that awesome moment (at 0:50 in the video below) when Sarah set the Event 5 world record in 2015?!
Will you be there this year?
WOD for 04-28-16:
3-3-3-3-3
-then-
For Time:
21-15-9
Ring Dips
Wall Balls @ 20/14 lbs to 10/9 ft
Sumo Deadlift High Pulls @ 95/65 lbs
A Message From Kim
... to her Arena Ready family:
As the season comes to a close for me, I wanted to thank every single one of you for your support and encouragement during the Open and the Masters Qualifier. I am so honored to have our amazing coaches and to be able to call all of you my Arena Ready Family. There are so many people that I want to thank, my 6am crew, y'all know who you are! All of the Barbellers, the Gladiators, and truly every single one of you, from newbie to forever AR member, grinding for that extra rep, pushing me to be the best that I can be. To our incredible Coaches who teach us with passion and knowledge and care, I am so grateful! Kathy, your support has meant the world. Rob and Sarah, you have built a gym that all of us call home. It's such a beautiful thing! This weekend, all of you filled me with the strength to do more than I ever thought possible, with your messages and words of support, your fist bumps and your hugs. I am humbled. I leave you with this video (Editor's note: we posted a pic instead since the video was on Kim's phone) and the belief that anything is possible, if you trust your coaches, do the work and believe. 251!!!! Thank You!!!
WOD for 04-27-16:
Tabata:
Hang Power Cleans @ 135/95 lbs
Lateral Bar Burpees
Toes-to-Bar
Row for Calories
(Rest 1 Minute Between Movements)
The Tabata interval is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest, and is repeated eight times (over the course of four minutes). Your score is the lowest rep count for each movement among the eight intervals.
This workout lasts 19 total minutes, including the 3 rest/transition minutes.
Things That Make You Say WOW
The CrossFit Games leaderboard is still shifting for the 2016 Masters Qualifier, so the final placings are not yet set. But what we do know is that Kim absolutely CRUSHED the four events this weekend, and ended the Qualifiers in style on Monday with an Event 1 re-do which earned her a 30+ second PR... on her birthday! Some of the evening classes celebrated with her by enjoying some (gluten free, haha) Kara's Cupcakes.
Kim (as of this writing) also currently has the 4th place worldwide score in Event 4, the nasty bar burpee /OHS/muscle-up workout. Sadly, that event did not have a tiebreaker time (come on CF Games, WTF?!) so her domination on the muscle-ups (she finished all 21 reps with over 7 minutes to spare under the time cap) doesn't get the overall scoring benefit that it should since every athlete who got exactly zero muscle-ups - and there were a lot of them - all tied for the same placing (i.e. not much separation in scoring to help Kim out). But that's the way the bumper plate bounces sometimes. Nevertheless, a phenomenal performance on a very challenging workout.
Perhaps the coolest moment of the weekend was Kim's HUGE deadlift 1RM in Event 2. She pulled 251 pounds for a 26 pound all-time PR... just about 2.5 times her bodyweight! Simply amazing.
What an inspirational performance by one of the toughest athletes we've had the privilege to know. Great work, Kim - and HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS to you!
WOD for 04-26-16:
Back Squat (Week 3, Day 1):
6x2 @ 80%
Across
-then-
4 Rounds for Time:
200m Run
21 Kettlebell Swings @ 53/35 lbs
12 Box Jumps @ 24/20 in
Tommy Kono: 1930 - 2016
We heard of the sad news that Tommy Kono passed away on Sunday at the age of 85. Kono was a two-time Olympic Champion and six-time World Champion in weightlifting, and set world records in four different weight classes (the only lifter to ever do so). Kono coached Team USA at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, and continued to coach weightlifting through seminars and educational workshops for the majority of his life. He was also a pioneer in bodybuilding and was named "Mr. Olympia" three times.
Kono was born in Sacramento and has always been an icon in Northern California - several of our competitive weightlifters at Arena Ready have even competed in the annual PWA/USAW Tommy Kono Open. I never had the pleasure of meeting Tommy Kono myself, but Sarah did... very briefly. He has a special place in our heart, not only because of his NorCal roots, legendary status in the sport of weightlifting, and incredible life story, but because of the humor and grace he displayed during the above-mentioned brief meeting.
At the 2012 USAW National Championships Mr. Kono did the podium finishers the honor of placing the medals around their necks during the awards ceremony. Tommy Kono is maybe 5'5" tall... Sarah stands at 5'11" (almost unheard of in the sport of weightlifting for a female). After struggling a couple of times to reach up and get the ribbon around Sarah's head Mr. Kono looked up at her, shook her hand, and uttered a few words with a chuckle and a grin on his face. Sarah laughed in response as I snapped the fuzzy picture you see below - I didn't know at the time what it was that he said to make her laugh. When I saw her ten minutes later I gave her a hug, and said "Holy crap that was cool! That was Tommy Kono! What did he say to you?!"
Sarah laughed again and quoted Mr. Kono word for word, complete with the humorous tone he had in his voice...
"Very LONG pull."
To this day we laugh about it and find ourselves enjoying the story, and how true and accurate his words were. When I heard the news of his passing on Sunday I instantly checked my photo archive to see if I still had the picture of that magical moment Sarah shared with a sporting legend. I'm so glad it was still on my phone.
Thank you, Tommy Kono, for all that did for the sport of weightlifting. You will be missed.
WOD for 04-25-16:
Alternating EMOM for 5 Rounds (10 Minutes):
ODDS: 3 Push Jerks, Climbing - no rack
EVENS: 15/12 Calorie Row
-then-
AMRAP 12 Minutes:
3 Rounds of "Cindy"
5 Shoulder-to-Overhead @ 155/105lbs
1 Round of "Cindy" is:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Air Squats
April Group Orders Due This Weekend
A quick reminder that we've had the group/bulk order form out this week on the gym desk, and we'll be ordering snacks & supplements on Monday.
For those of you who would like to place orders but haven't yet, please make sure to write your items down on the form this weekend - and help us out by writing legibly (i.e. before your workout and not after, when you're shaking uncontrollably and dripping sweat all over the paper... haha).
To clarify - these are personal orders that we place for you in group/bulk format to take advantage of reduced shipping and/or bulk order rates (they are NOT orders for inventory we normally carry at the gym for individual sale).
The following items/brands are available for Monday's group order (Stronger Faster Healthier/SFH orders were already placed on Thursday):
Perfect Bars, Fuel For Fire, Rx Bars, Nick's Sticks, Rise Bars, NutriForce, Revive Rx
Thanks for your attention!
WOD for 04-23-16:
ON A RUNNING CLOCK, WITH A PARTNER*...
A) From 0:00 - 16:00
AMRAP 16 Minutes:
600m Run
16 Power Cleans @ 155/105 lbs
32 Lateral Bar Burpees
Only one partner working at a time. Run & reps are shared and may be divided in any fashion.
From 16:00 - 18:00
REST
This is forced rest. Deadlift warm-up reps are not allowed during this 2 minutes, but loading the bar for the first set/attempt and gathering plates is allowed.
B) From 18:00 - 30:00
12 Minutes for Both Partners to Establish a Heavy Single Deadlift
Partners must use the same bar. Weights can be added or removed in-between sets/attempts.
*Score the WOD by rounds + reps completed in the AMRAP and total pounds lifted (both partners combined) in the deadlift.
2016 Masters Qualifiers Workouts Announced
The 2016 CrossFit Games Masters Qualifier workouts have been announced, and Kim has until Monday to complete the events and submit her scores. It should be a fun weekend as our Mighty Mini hits these workouts hard! You can check out the four events on the CF Games website here, complete with movement standards/loading and video explanations.
We'll keep everyone posted either here or on the private Arena Ready Facebook group with any details on days/times that Kim might want some supportive cheering & screaming, or perhaps some pacing rabbits to do the WOD(s) with her.
GO KIM GO!!! You got this!
WOD for 04-22-16:
ON A RUNNING CLOCK...
A) From 0:00 - 15:00:
Snatch Balance + 2 Overhead Squats:
5 Sets of (1+2)
(Add to your top set from 03-21-16 if possible)
-then-
B) From 15:00 - 40:00:
Back Squat (Week 2, Day 2):
6x4 @ 80%
Across
Squat Program FAQ
A reminder that Kim's 2016 CrossFit Games Masters Qualifier workouts will be released on Thursday at 5pm on the CrossFit Games website. Last year, among two other tough workouts, she faced a "Double Jackie" and a 1-rep Max Snatch. What will 2016 bring?!
Also, we've received several questions regarding the current squat program, so I thought it might be helpful to answer the most common ones here on the blog.
Is this the same squat program we did last Fall or last Spring?
No. Both of those previous squat programs were original creations we mixed into the regular class programming with varied days and slightly less structured loading. We had a ton of PRs at the conclusion of both of those programs, and we expect the same this time around even though this current program is more deliberate and structured (for reasons explained previously before the program started), with back squat days on Tuesdays and Fridays.
This current program is an adapted version of the "Russian Master's Squat Program." If you're a bit of a weightlifting geek and find yourself thinking "Why don't we do the full Russian Squat Program?" - which is quite a bit more volume in a shorter period of time - my honest answer is "because you have a job, and a life, and want to be a useful human... and mostly because it might actually break you." For nearly everyone at the gym the 2x per week program (aka "Masters") is plenty, given that we program so many other days of lifting and conditioning on a weekly basis. I think the full Russian Squat Program is great if you're 22 years old, are weightlifting full time, have the the luxury of being able to take a nap in the middle of every training day, have daily access to a cold plunge and ice baths, eat like you're going into hibernation, and have no aspirations of wanting to do things like breathe hard for twenty minutes, be useful at work, or make it through the day without falling asleep at your computer because your CNS is on empty.
Wait, it's 6x2 @ 80% again?!
Yup. Every other session is 6x2 @ 80%. Which means that every Tuesday is exactly that. The progression in it's entirety is as follows:
Volume Phase (Weeks 1 - 4)
Tuesday: 6x2 @ 80% EVERY WEEK
Friday: 6x3 @ 80% (Week 1), 6x4 @ 80% (Week 2), 6x5 @ 80% (Week 3), 6x6 @ 80% (Week 4)
Intensity Phase (Weeks 5 - 8)
Tuesday: 6x2 @ 80% EVERY WEEK
Friday: 5x5 @ 85% (Week 5), 4x4 @ 90% (Week 6), 3x3 @ 95% (Week 7), New 1RM (Week 8)
But this 6x2 feels easy. Should it?
Well, it shouldn't feel hard. I mean, it's 80% for two reps. It should feel like you have to focus & work, but you shouldn't be "grinding out" the reps. Some may experience that the 6x2 feels easier as we go along, and may be tempted to add more weight on those days as that phenomenon happens - don't. Just let it happen. Enjoy the "easy" days every other session. Focus on your positions and tempo, and make every rep as perfect as it possibly can be. Assuming you used a recent/accurate/reasonable 1RM calculation then stick with what you're using and trust in the program. Don't be that guy or gal who gets pinned at 80% on the 6x6 day because you went up after thinking 80% "felt easy."
Actually this 6x2 feels really heavy. Should it?
No, not really. Like I said above it should feel like you have to focus and work on holding positions and tempo, but not like you're grinding out reps or in jeopardy of missing. If you feel either of the latter, and it's not due to an accidental technical issue (i.e. I rushed a rep and simply forgot to maintain tension), then you may be using an 80% that's too heavy (i.e. not actually 80% of your "current era" 1RM). That's another way of saying "you don't squat that much right now so stop lying to yourself." I've seen a few really grind-y reps on 6x2 days and it makes me worried for a few of you when 6x5 and 6x6 comes around (let alone 5x5 @ 85%, 4x4 @ 90%, and 3x3 @ 95%). Sure, you're going to build up some ability to handle those larger/harder working sets over the next few weeks, but if you're numbers are way off then it might be time to reassess and be real with yourself about what you're actually capable of right now. Set yourself up to succeed, don't put yourself in a position to fail due to ego.
I might miss a day, how can I make it up?
This particular program works if you work it. You have to make all the training days, be precise, take recovery seriously, and fuel yourself well. If you know that you may not be able to hit that first point, and have to miss a day (Tuesday or Friday), then you have two options to make up the session: 1) come in on Sunday Open Gym to make up the missed day; or 2) come to Wednesday 7pm Barbell Class, assuming there is space in the class & you've notified the coach that you're making up a squat session. Either way please sign-up for the class (Open Gym or Barbell) as you would with any other CF class.
Remember that making-up a day up throws the timing off a bit, so it could make the session a little more difficult if you're going on less days rest and/or fewer days in between squat sessions. If it's important to you that you really crush it on this squat program then you may want to take that into consideration during your other training days (days you're doing the class WOD but we're not back squatting) by moderating intensity a bit and/or reassessing relative scaling options. The weeks are obviously programmed with the overall context of the stimulus in mind, but it's not necessarily programmed with make-up days in mind (that would limit things too much) so you'll have to be smart about your workload if you need to make-up a back squat session and are still training pretty regularly otherwise.
Dude, 6x6 is going to take me a while. Are you going to make me do a 20-minute AMRAP that same day?
No, of course not. The higher volume days and higher intensity days will have more time to complete the sets. You're already seeing that 6x2 @ 80% doesn't take very long for most of you once you find your rhythm, so those sessions will stay about the same in terms of time during class. But the harder days both in the volume phase and intensity phase will get plenty of time to complete the work sets. That said, the "slow squatters" (you know who you are) will have to try to keep moving at a reasonable pace - I know the old stories of lifters sitting down for 15 minutes, smoking a cigarette, drinking some coffee, and reading the paper in between sets sounds glorious to some... but unfortunately we don't have that kind of time in a 60-minute class.
Have any other questions that I didn't address here? Feel free to shoot me a message or ask me in the gym - I'm happy to help!
WOD for 04-21-16:
5 Rounds, Start Every 6 Minutes:
250m Row
20 AbMat Sit-ups
40 Double Unders
100m Kettblebell Farmer Carry, HAP (Heavy As Possible)
40m Bear Crawl
2016 Regionals: May 13-15
Here we come! Again.
The CrossFit Games California "Super" Regional takes place at the Del Mar Arena from May 13-15, and like every year will be one of the most competitive CrossFit competitions in the world. Last year over 40 members and coaches from Arena Ready made the trip down to cheer on Coach Sarah, and we'd love to get another big group together again this year.
Who's in?
This will be Sarah's fifth Regionals appearance in the CrossFit Games. It should be a fun one!
WOD for 04-20-16:
Alternating EMOM for 5 Rounds (10 Minutes):
ODDS: 2 Push Presses, climbing
EVENS: 12 Hollow Rocks
(Add to your top set from 04-04-15 if possible)
-then-
For Time:
20 Calorie Row
30 Handstand Push-ups
40 Pull-ups
50 Overhead Walking Lunges w/Plate @ 45/35 lbs
600m Run
GO Kim GO!!!
I just couldn't resist posting a classic "post-WOD Kim pain face" picture above (captured of course by the amazing Jenny M), as we are now two days away from the 2016 CrossFit Games Masters Qualifier.
Our very own Kim crushed the Open once again this year, earning her second consecutive invite to compete in the Masters Qualifier, which is the final qualification phase before the big show - the CrossFit Games in Carson, CA (and on ESPN). By finishing 8th overall in the Northern California Region (and well inside the top 100 in the world) in her age division, Kim has moved on to this next stage of competition, and the folks at CrossFit HQ will announce her workouts this Thursday, April 21st. Kim will have until Monday to complete the workouts at Arena Ready and submit her scores and video validations - the top 20 scoring athletes in her division will earn a spot at the CrossFit Games to compete for the title of "Fittest on Earth."
Once the workouts are released we will keep everyone posted on potential days and times Kim will be completing the workouts at the gym, and specifically which ones she will want the cheering support of her Arena Ready family. I'm sure that if she so desires we could assemble a nice crew of crazies that will gladly scream their heads off to help her get a few more reps.
Anyone who knows Kim is well aware of how hard she works, how dedicated she is to setting and achieving her goals (both inside and outside of the gym), how welcoming she is to everyone in our community (she's often the first person to say hello to a newbie and chat them up), and how much of an inspiration she is to practically everyone at Arena Ready. I've said it before many times, but it bears repeating because of how true it really is... when I grow up, I want to be Kim Tom.
So if you see Kim in the gym during the next few days make sure to wish her good luck... and hell, even give her a high five or two. Maybe some of her fitness and badassness will rub off on you if you're lucky.
GO Kim GO!!!
WOD for 04-19-16:
Back Squat (Week 2, Day 1):
6x2 @ 80%
Across
-then-
"Kim's Burpee Box Over Knockout"
EMOM Until You Cannot:
10 Burpee Box Jump Overs @ 24/20 in
(Compare to 04-22-15)
Congrats Megan!
On Friday I posted a video to the private Arena Ready Facebook group of Megan D snatching her bodyweight (from the hang, plus an overhead squat), which is a pretty damn cool accomplishment. Congratulations, Megan!
What's the big deal, some of you may ask? The bodyweight snatch is a milestone for many CrossFitters, and even some Olympic-style weightlifters - a gold standard of proficiency and one of the hallmarks of the beginning of mastery. By my count I believe she is the fifth female athlete at Arena Ready to snatch her bodyweight (I think the mens count is somewhere around thirteen), which is pretty cool considering we are a fairly small gym that predominantly runs a CrossFit program in our classes (not a pure weightlifting program).
The snatch is (as just about all of you know) a very complex movement, and an athlete's ability to snatch relatively heavy weights can often tell a lot about said athlete's abilities in other areas of fitness. If an athlete can snatch his/her bodyweight it likely means that he/she is pretty darn strong, powerful, flexible, coordinated, agile, fast, and has a sound sense of both balance and accuracy. Coincidentally those are 8 of the 10 "General Physical Skills" as defined by CrossFit in their classic, 14-year old article "What Is Fitness?" and it's arguable that snatching relatively heavy weights can also help in building capacity with the other two skills they define, cardiorespiratory endurance and stamina (assuming the athlete is spending time training other modalities and domains, and not just weightlifting). In Megan's case I think the argument is pretty solid - not only can she snatch her ("fighting" ;-P) bodyweight, but I'm pretty confident she can run a sub-6-minute mile, do multiple strict pull-ups, pick up heavier objects than most men & women, run a decent half marathon time (if for some reason she wanted to do that to herself out of the blue), and probably embarrass more than a few people in a pick up game of her choosing. Last week it was clear that she could still do ring muscle-ups no problem, even though she almost never practices them (she would admit this herself so I don't feel bad saying it, haha).
What does this mean for many of you? Well, since we love to teach weightlifting at AR we have a membership base that generally likes to snatch (and clean, and jerk, and squat, etc) and appreciates spending time getting better at the movement. But there's always some folks who just don't quite understand the point of trying to learn how to do this awkwardly dynamic movement, and who may not appreciate what it does for herself/himself when they build proficiency in such a seemingly novel pursuit - the snatch. I can guarantee you that the better you are at snatching the better you will be at an overwhelming majority of physical tasks in your life - carrying your kids, moving your furniture, hauling luggage in an airport or on an airplane, skiing, surfing, running, jumping, playing catch with your grandchildren, chasing your dog, telling snot-nosed bag boys at the grocery store that "No thank you, I don't need help out... these aren't actually that heavy for me."
It'll be cool to see who will hit the bodyweight snatch milestone next.
WOD for 04-18-16:
Every 2 Minutes for 6 Rounds (12 Minutes):
3 Power Cleans
-then-
A) AMRep 4 Minutes:
400m Run
15 Power Cleans @ 135/95 lbs
Max Rep Wall Balls @ 20/14 lbs to 10/9 ft
REST 4 MINUTES
B) Repeat A.
The Saturday Sweats
Giddy up, teams.
WOD for 04-16-16:
IN TEAMS OF THREE...
For Time:
600m Run
100 Calorie Row
100 Burpees Over Rower
100 Thrusters @ 95/65 lbs
100 Burpees Over Rower
100 Calorie Row
600m Run
Only one athlete working at a time. All movements, including the run, can be shared/split/partitioned in any fashion by the team.