Good Luck Coach Hillary & The Flying Squirrel!

Good luck to Coach Hillary and Kate "The Flying Squirrel" on Saturday at the PWA Hassle Free American Record Breaker weightlifting meet!  These two will be competing with some of the country's top weightlifters, including 2016 Olympian Morgan King!  If you're in the area or want to drive up and watch some big lifts, the competition will be held in conjunction with the Caffeine & Kilos Invitational:

Sacramaento Asian Sports Foundation

9040 Hightech Ct.

Elk Grove, CA 95758

Go get 'em Hill & Kate!

WOD For 09-30-17:

With a Partner For Time:

BUY-IN: 800m Run TOGETHER

Then, 5 Rounds of:

40 Wall Balls @ 20/14 lbs to 10/9 ft

20 Power Snatches @ 115/75 lbs

BUY-OUT: 800m Run RELAY STYLE

Wall Ball and Power Snatch reps are shared with only one athlete working at a time (these reps may be split anyhow and do NOT have to be shared evenly).

Scaling For Athletes

One of the things we loved about starting our own gym was introducing levels of scaling into our everyday programming.  As we envisioned it, and as we now operate, each day athletes can select from four levels: Black, Red, Grey and White, and athletes can race each other within these levels as well as push to achieve new levels.

As we program, we're envisioning a room full of athletes completing a workout that is similarly taxing to each, while accommodating a wide variety of strength, skill, fitness and familiarity with the movements prescribed for the day.  The goal is for each to complete the workout in the intended time domain with the best technique they were capable of on that day.

Sometimes it's necessary to reduce the weight or the complexity of a skill within a workout performed for time because an athlete is unable to complete the movement under stress.  Handstand walking is an example of this for me - right now I can do reasonably well at handstand walking when my heart rate is low and my arms are fresh.  Once I'm breathing hard and my arms are tired though, there's a good chance I'm going to fall on my face.  Literally.  When we scale, we factor in the aggregate complexity of the workout, taking into consideration the effect each movement has on the others.

In the above two cases, scaling is relatively straightforward.  For each movement within the workout, do you think you can complete the workout at the level you've selected with good technique within the time cap?  If not, reduce the weight or simplify the movement using the prescribed scaling options as your guide.  If yes, go for it.  If by chance you guess wrong, that's why we have time caps and coaches to tell you to take weight off.

At other times, it's necessary to reduce the weight or the range of motion because the athlete is working around some form of injury.  We are firm believers that it's important to get off the couch when possible, even when a bit dinged up, but also feel strongly that it's necessary to scale movements to avoid further damage.  We always start class by asking the participants to tell the coach if they need to adjust the workout beyond what's written on the board - this is to accommodate the special circumstances that usual scaling can't address - a limitation on doing overhead movements, squatting below parallel, front racking the bar, etc.  We're always happy to give suggestions in this case, but it's pretty important that you come prepared because as coaches we don't know exactly what you're trying to avoid.

If you think the volume is too high for your current fitness level, ask how to reduce the volume.

If you can't go through a certain range of motion tell the coach and ask if it's possible to modify the movement to avoid that range (e.g. squatting above parallel).

If you can't do a movement at all, like snatching, ideally suggest another similar movement - a clean or deadlift for example - that you haven't done within the past few days that you'd like to sub.

In the above cases, the coach then has enough information to quickly give you a good suggestion.  If you simply say "what should I do today?" the coach has to start at the top of a flowchart with tons of stages:  Are you injured? yes/noIf not injured: why do you want to modify the workout?  If injured: Does it hurt when you do the movement?  Does it hurt after you do the movement?  Does it hurt if you reduce the weight?  Have you seen a doctor?  The list goes on and on.  For your benefit, and for the benefit of your classmates, if you think you need to make a major change to the workout, please come prepared to tell your coach exactly what you're trying to avoid, and what you think you should do instead.

Any questions about the above?  Give us a shout and let us know!

WOD For 09-29-17:

ON A RUNNING CLOCK...

A) From 0:00 - 15:00

Split With a Partner, 3 Rounds For QUALITY:

30 Calorie Row OR Assault Bike

20 Toes-to-Bar

20 Burpees

30 Overhead Squats w/Empty Barbell

One athlete working at a time. This is FOR QUALITY not for time, so move with a purpose but prioritize movement integrity in order to prepare/warm the entire body for 4x4 back squats.

B) From 18:00 - 48:00

Back Squat (Week 6, Day 2):

4x4 @ 90%

Across

10 Things I Learned In My CrossFit Class

A little Thursday perspective, courtesy of Lisbeth Darsh:

"10 Things I Learned In My CrossFit Class"

10. If you drop an empty barbell, a kitten does not die. But the gym owner sees blazing technicolor red. (Don’t drop that empty BB.)

9. Working harder is okay, but working smarter is what you really want to do. 

8. You’re probably taking more breaks than you need.

7. What you lift is more important than what you wear.

6. The last person to finish is usually pissed that they’re finishing last.

5. People who don’t like deadlifts are like people who don’t like dogs: probably not to be trusted.

4. If anyone in your class says, “This workout doesn’t look too bad” you are all so screwed. Death is near.

3. The “bro” ratio in your class is a likely equivalent to the douchiness level of your gym. Shop accordingly.

2. If anybody tells you to “harden the f*** up” you are more than justified in telling them to “shut the f*** up.”

1. What’s in your heart is infinitely more important than what’s on your barbell.

WOD For 09-28-17:

"The Test Drive"

Alternating EMOM For 3 Rounds (12 Minutes):

1) 150-200-250m Row (increase distance & pace with each round)

2) 5 Hang Power Cleans (increase load with each round)

3) 25 Double Unders

4) Add/Change Weight + Stretch

-then-

"The Purchase"

3 Rounds For Time:

500m Row

12 Hang Power Cleans @ 185/135 lbs

50 Double Unders

Sit Up Straight!

In the gym we're constantly trying to get athletes to maintain good positions, whether it be during weightlifting, bodyweight/gymnastics movements, or even mono-structural conditioning elements (running, rowing, jumping, etc).   The cues you hear of "chest up" or "chest out" or "set yourself big and proud" are really just tools we use to get athletes in better positions to move external objects or their own body through space.  And really, posture is just a proper-sounding word for position.   

Good posture in the gym hopefully leads to an increased awareness around better general posture in one's daily life outside of the gym.  The folks at TedEd made this little video about the benefits of good posture - check it out:

WOD For 09-27-17:

2 Rounds For Time:

600m Run

30 Deadlifts @ 155/105 lbs

30 Hand Release Push-ups

60 Walking Lunges

-then-

Tabata:

Medicine Ball Russian Twists (pick load)

Weekly Forecast: Sunny With A High Chance of Man Feet

A warm week ahead brings with it one of the most requested annual blog posts... 

It's that time of year again in San Francisco - the stretch of a handful of weeks during which I try my best not to look down too much in public, for fear of seeing some gnarly man feet resembling hairy talons clinched to a pair of Rainbows.  Thank goodness the forecast looks to be showing some cooling trends starting on Thursday/Friday, since Tuesday's reading on the SF Weather Advisory System is: HIGH.

San Franciscans can empathize.

I was at Whole Foods the other day being generally snobby and buying some nutritious fuel for a certain high powered athlete and her ruggedly handsome trophy husband.  The troubling amount of man feet I was forced to look at made me so nauseous I could barely locate the $7 coconut water my dear athlete loves so much.

Dear SF (grown, adult, gainfully employed, not in college anymore) men - really?!  Can we please retire the flip-flops as acceptable urban footwear, or at least reduce them to beach/pool/tropical vacation/public shower duty as they were intended?  I mean, really... it's not like it's 100 degrees out there.  I get it, it's nice out.  How about a nice canvas sneaker, or loafer, or boat shoe? Anything.  Please.  And no, man sandals (AKA "mandals") are not okay and I don't care if they're Dolce & Gabbana - this isn't Europe, regardless of whether or not you insist on telling me "ciao" when we leave each other's presence, or sign-off all your emails with "cheers."  You don't see me trying to kiss your wife goodbye on both cheeks, so cut it out with the Italian designer leather excuse for wearing what is, in effect, a high end flip flop.  The linen man-pri pants should probably stay on the rack at Loehman's as well.  THAT'S WHY THEIR MEN'S STORE CLOSED, DUDE.  Or, let's make a deal, just clip your toenails like you've seen your feet in the last month - then maybe I won't feel like I'm losing my $11 kale chips the wrong way (Editor's note when re-reading this: I don't actually eat kale chips but it seemed fitting at the time for dramatic effect).

OK, end of grumpy old man rant (almost).  I'm officially a curmudgeon.  What can I say, I'm not a fan of the man feet.  If cargo shorts are the Nickelback of men's clothing then flip flops are the Dave Matthews Band - we're not late for Chem Lab and neither of us has a Scarface poster on our wall anymore.  So take a few minutes and put some shoes on, big dawg, so we can hang out and I won't have to pretend I don't know you.

Ladies, on the other hand, keep it up.  You look fabulous, especially when it's warm outside - just make sure to hit those heels with some moisturizer, ain't nobody got time for ashy.  Don't let the calloused hands fool you.    

WOD For 09-26-17:

Back Squat:

6x2@80% (Week 6, Day 1)

Across

-then-

Alternating EMOM For 5 Rounds (10 Minutes):

Minute 1) 20 Wall Balls @ 20/14 lbs to 10/9 ft

Minute 2) 10 Burpee Box Jumps @ 24/20 in

Score this EMOM similar to a Tabata workout - your score is the lowest rep round for each of the two movements.  Start at 20 WB and 10 BBJ reps and attempt to hold the number (or as high of a number as possible) for the five total rounds. 

The Jello Jog

Last Spring someone asked me why we named this WOD "The Jello Jog" - I chuckled and said "just wait until you see what everyone looks like when you're running those 400s."

They didn't find it as funny as I did when the workout was over.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

WOD For 09-25-17:

Push Press:

10 Minutes To Establish a Heavy Triple (NOT 3RM)

No rack, barbell is cleaned rom the floor.

-then-

"The Jello Jog"

For Time:

40 Push Presses @ 95/65 lbs

400m Run

10 Burpee Ring Muscle-ups

400m Run

40 Push Presses

Push presses means there should be no re-bend of the legs when receiving the bar overhead - those are called jerks.  If you find yourself struggling to actually push press the barbell, particularly if you have a hard time with re-bending your legs, then scale accordingly so that you can do the written movement.  Yes, it's harder to push press in this workout - that's the point.  Enjoy! 

(Compare to 04-04-16)

Happy Weekend!

Thanks to our team of coaches for holding it down while Sarah and I are in Chicago for a seminar this weekend.  Not to worry, the Sweaty Saturday Team Specials don't stop when we're not there... enjoy this spicy meatball of a WOD!

WOD For 09-23-17:

In Teams of Three Athletes...

For Time:

100 Calorie Row

100 Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups

80 Calorie Row

80 Deadlifts @ 155/105 lbs

60 Calorie Row

60 Front Squats 

40 Calorie Row

40 Push Jerks 

20 Calorie Row

20 Clusters (AKA "Squat Clean Thrusters") 

Only one athlete working at a time. Reps may be partitioned in any fashion and do NOT have to be split evenly.

(Compare to 08-13-16)

On Elegance

Pat Sherwood was the flowmaster at my (and Sarah's!) Level 1 seminar nearly eight ago - which essentially means he (among other things) led the weekend's instruction and delivered the key lectures.  His mastery of the concepts and methodology behind CrossFit were intermingled with his sharp sense of humor, fantastic delivery of complex ideas, and wise perspective on the real world applications of the program.  I left the weekend incredibly impressed and enthused, and my respect for Pat and for CrossFit has only since grown over time.

Fast forward to eight years later and the application of what I learned that weekend has now become the work that we love.  And the quest to constantly improve the ways we can help folks become better has enriched my life immensely.  The more I learn, and the more I experience, the more I realize that simplicity often rules - and that the ingenious solutions to our fitness and life challenges are almost always the simplest.    

Pat wrote an article for the CrossFit Journal back in 2013 titled "On Elegance" - a free copy can be found here.  It's brief, and simple, and hits the nail on the head.  It's pretty cool to think of what we do in the gym as "elegant" - and even cooler when we start to appreciate clever simplicity both inside and outside of the gym.

WOD For 09-22-17:

ON A RUNNING CLOCK...

A) From 0:00 - 15:00

With a Partner For QUALITY:

800m Run TOGETHER

Then Split...

600m Row

50 Wall Balls @ pick load

40 Kettlebell Swings @ pick load

30 Burpees

Both partners run together completing 800m.  Then partners split the remaining movement reps evenly, with only one partner working at a time. This is FOR QUALITY not for time, so move with a purpose but prioritize movement integrity in order to prepare/warm the entire body for 5x5 back squats.

B) From 18:00 - 38:00

Back Squat (Week 5, Day 2):

5x5 @ 85%

Across

CrossFit Acronyms: HAP

If you thought Wednesday's WOD was a creeper I think this one will prove to be sneaky as well, but in a completely different way.  Hey, at least it won't be to country music?!  

WOD For 09-21-17:

3 Rounds For Time:

100m Kettlebell Farmers Walk @ HAP (Heavy As Possible)

20m Bear Crawl

20m Walking Lunges

400m Run

-then-

Weighted Plank Hold:

3 x 0:45 Seconds 

(Rest 1:15 Between Efforts)

The Fascination With Erg 18s

You would think Tuesday's re-introduction of running would make us forget about rowing for a bit.  The Summer of The Erg rolls on in 18s this week... giddy up!

WOD For 09-20-17:

7 Rounds, Start Every 3 Minutes:

18/15 Calorie Row

30 Double Unders

5 Power Cleans @ 205/145 lbs

If you cannot finish the prescribed work within the 3-minute interval, you must finish the round you are on, take the next round OFF, and then start again on the following round by dropping the row to the next lowest calorie scaling tier: 18/15 > 15/12 > 12/10. 

The Most Important Question of Your Life

About a year-and-a-half ago Sarah wrote a great blog post titled Stress And Living On The Roof (click and give it a read if you didn't have a chance to previously), and at the time one of our awesome members, Margaret, sent us a post by Mark Manson as a follow-up of sorts - it was titled The Most Important Question Of Your Life.  It's an excerpt from his best-selling book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k: A Counterintuitive Guide To Living a Good Life and I thought it was fantastic, so wanted to share it here on our blog.  The original article can be found by clicking here and I've pasted it below in its entirety as well:

Everybody wants what feels good. Everyone wants to live a carefree, happy and easy life, to fall in love and have amazing sex and relationships, to look perfect and make money and be popular and well-respected and admired and a total baller to the point that people part like the Red Sea when you walk into the room.

Everyone would like that — it’s easy to like that.

If I ask you, “What do you want out of life?” and you say something like, “I want to be happy and have a great family and a job I like,” it’s so ubiquitous that it doesn’t even mean anything.

A more interesting question, a question that perhaps you’ve never considered before, is what pain do you want in your life? What are you willing to struggle for? Because that seems to be a greater determinant of how our lives turn out.

Everybody wants to have an amazing job and financial independence — but not everyone wants to suffer through 60-hour work weeks, long commutes, obnoxious paperwork, to navigate arbitrary corporate hierarchies and the blasé confines of an infinite cubicle hell. People want to be rich without the risk, without the sacrifice, without the delayed gratification necessary to accumulate wealth.

Everybody wants to have great sex and an awesome relationship — but not everyone is willing to go through the tough conversations, the awkward silences, the hurt feelings and the emotional psychodrama to get there. And so they settle. They settle and wonder “What if?” for years and years and until the question morphs from “What if?” into “Was that it?” And when the lawyers go home and the alimony check is in the mail they say, “What was that for?” if not for their lowered standards and expectations 20 years prior, then what for?

Because happiness requires struggle. The positive is the side effect of handling the negative. You can only avoid negative experiences for so long before they come roaring back to life.

At the core of all human behavior, our needs are more or less similar. Positive experience is easy to handle. It’s negative experience that we all, by definition, struggle with. Therefore, what we get out of life is not determined by the good feelings we desire but by what bad feelings we’re willing and able to sustain to get us to those good feelings.

People want an amazing physique. But you don’t end up with one unless you legitimately appreciate the pain and physical stress that comes with living inside a gym for hour upon hour, unless you love calculating and calibratingthe food you eat, planning your life out in tiny plate-sized portions.

People want to start their own business or become financially independent. But you don’t end up a successful entrepreneur unless you find a way to appreciate the risk, the uncertainty, the repeated failures, and working insane hours on something you have no idea whether will be successful or not.

People want a partner, a spouse. But you don’t end up attracting someone amazingwithout appreciating the emotional turbulence that comes with weathering rejections, building the sexual tension that never gets released, and staring blankly at a phone that never rings. It’s part of the game of love. You can’t win if you don’t play.

What determines your success isn’t “What do you want to enjoy?” The question is, “What pain do you want to sustain?” The quality of your life is not determined by the quality of your positive experiences but the quality of your negative experiences. And to get good at dealing with negative experiences is to get good at dealing with life.

There’s a lot of crappy advice out there that says, “You’ve just got to want it enough!”

Everybody wants something. And everybody wants something enough. They just aren’t aware of what it is they want, or rather, what they want “enough.”

Because if you want the benefits of something in life, you have to also want the costs. If you want the beach body, you have to want the sweat, the soreness, the early mornings, and the hunger pangs. If you want the yacht, you have to also want the late nights, the risky business moves, and the possibility of pissing off a person or ten thousand.

If you find yourself wanting something month after month, year after year, yet nothing happens and you never come any closer to it, then maybe what you actually want is a fantasy, an idealization, an image and a false promise. Maybe what you want isn’t what you want, you just enjoy wanting. Maybe you don’t actually want it at all.

Sometimes I ask people, “How do you choose to suffer?” These people tilt their heads and look at me like I have twelve noses. But I ask because that tells me far more about you than your desires and fantasies. Because you have to choose something. You can’t have a pain-free life. It can’t all be roses and unicorns. And ultimately that’s the hard question that matters. Pleasure is an easy question. And pretty much all of us have similar answers. The more interesting question is the pain. What is the pain that you want to sustain?

That answer will actually get you somewhere. It’s the question that can change your life. It’s what makes me me and you you. It’s what defines us and separates us and ultimately brings us together.

For most of my adolescence and young adulthood, I fantasized about being a musician — a rock star, in particular. Any badass guitar song I heard, I would always close my eyes and envision myself up on stage playing it to the screams of the crowd, people absolutely losing their minds to my sweet finger-noodling. This fantasy could keep me occupied for hours on end. The fantasizing continued up through college, even after I dropped out of music school and stopped playing seriously. But even then it was never a question of if I’d ever be up playing in front of screaming crowds, but when. I was biding my time before I could invest the proper amount of time and effort into getting out there and making it work. First, I needed to finish school. Then, I needed to make money. Then, I needed to find the time. Then… and then nothing.

Despite fantasizing about this for over half of my life, the reality never came. And it took me a long time and a lot of negative experiences to finally figure out why: I didn’t actually want it.

I was in love with the result — the image of me on stage, people cheering, me rocking out, pouring my heart into what I’m playing — but I wasn’t in love with the process. And because of that, I failed at it. Repeatedly. Hell, I didn’t even try hard enough to fail at it. I hardly tried at all.

The daily drudgery of practicing, the logistics of finding a group and rehearsing, the pain of finding gigs and actually getting people to show up and give a shit. The broken strings, the blown tube amp, hauling 40 pounds of gear to and from rehearsals with no car. It’s a mountain of a dream and a mile-high climb to the top. And what it took me a long time to discover is that I didn’t like to climb much. I just liked to imagine the top.

Our culture would tell me that I’ve somehow failed myself, that I’m a quitter or a loser.Self-help would say that I either wasn’t courageous enough, determined enough or I didn’t believe in myself enough. The entrepreneurial/start-up crowd would tell me that I chickened out on my dream and gave in to my conventional social conditioning. I’d be told to do affirmations or join a mastermind group or manifest or something.

But the truth is far less interesting than that: I thought I wanted something, but it turns out I didn’t. End of story.

I wanted the reward and not the struggle. I wanted the result and not the process. I was in love not with the fight but only the victory. And life doesn’t work that way.

Who you are is defined by the values you are willing to struggle for. People who enjoy the struggles of a gym are the ones who get in good shape. People who enjoy long workweeks and the politics of the corporate ladder are the ones who move up it. People who enjoy the stresses and uncertainty of the starving artist lifestyle are ultimately the ones who live it and make it.

This is not a call for willpower or “grit.” This is not another admonishment of “no pain, no gain.”

This is the most simple and basic component of life: our struggles determine our successes. So choose your struggles wisely, my friend.

-Mark Manson

WOD For 09-19-17:

On a Running Clock...

A) From 0:00 - 8:00

Squat Snatch + Overhead Squat:

8 Minutes to Build to a Moderate Weight (Not Max)

The goal is simply to work up to something heavier than to be used in Part B, focusing on speed in the snatch and overall movement quality.

(From 8:00 - 10:00: Rest 2 Minutes & Re-Set Barbells)

B) From 10:00 - 16:00

"2010 NorCal Sectional Event 1"

Against a 6-minute Clock For MAX REPS:

800m Run, then

MAX REP Overhead Squats @ 115/75 lbs

(Compare to 05-03-16, 02-05-15, and 04-08-13)

(From 16:00 - 18:00: Rest 2 Minutes & Re-Set/Rack Barbells)

C) From 18:00 - 38:00

Back Squat (Week 4, Day 1):

6x2 @ 80%

Across

Monday Evening Yoga Reminder

Dani had a nice turnout once again during Sunday morning's yoga class, and we wanted to post a reminder that she's also teaching a Monday evening (Sep 18) class at 7pm as well!

For what to expect during one of Dani's yoga classes click here to read a previous post.  Remember that yoga is available to all Arena Ready members as a part of your membership (there is no charge to attend!) - we simply ask that you sign-up for class in advance so that Dani knows how many to expect, and bring your own mat if you have one (we have a few to borrow if you don't).  All levels of experience are welcome.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

WOD For 09-18-17:

AMRAP 18 Minutes:

18 Calorie Row OR Assault Bike

18 AbMat Sit-ups

1, 2, 3, 4, etc... Rounds of "Nate"

Rounds of "Nate" start at one and then increase by one every time the athlete completes the preceding AbMat Sit-ups:

18 Calorie Row

18 AbMat Sit-ups

1 Round of "Nate"

18 Calorie Row

18 AbMat Sit-ups

2 Rounds of "Nate"

18 Calorie Row

18 AbMat Sit-ups

3 Rounds of "Nate"

Etc... until 18 minutes expires.

1 Round of "Nate" is:

2 Muscle-ups

4 Handstand Push-ups

8 KB Swings @ 70/53 lbs