Workout of the Day
Coach Kate: AR Clothing Swap
From Coach Kate:
Clothing Swap at AR!
I've put a bin upstairs, next to the cubbies, for clothes swapping. It might be a bit small, but something to get started. Add and subtract as desired. I'll donate everything (including the lost and found) before the AR move.
There's demand for a men's clothing swap too, I'll drum up another container for the boys. Guys, bring some clothes to share!
EVANS AVENUE PARKING REMINDER During Construction (click for details).
WOD For 04-04-18:
Alternating EMOM For 5 Rounds (25 Minutes):
1) 21/15 Calorie Row
2) 40ft Single DB Goblet Walking Lunges @ pick load
3) 15 Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups
4) 200m Run
5) Rest
If you're a ninja at C2B pull-ups then do every round of pull-ups unbroken for as long as possible. The DB can be as heavy as you like but you must maintain solid lunge mechanics, and you're not allowed to rest or rack the DB on the shoulder(s). If your reps for the row and/or the pull-ups fall then attempt to hold the new number for the remainder of the workout for that movement. Need to up the intensity? Run faster.
The Jerk Store Called...
Hey, George, the ocean called... they're running out of shrimp.
Classic.
EVANS AVENUE PARKING REMINDER During Construction (click for details).
WOD For 04-03-18:
5-5-5
For Quality.
-then-
Push Jerk:
3-3-2-2-1-1
Climbing as Technique Allows.
-then-
A) AMRAP 3 Minutes:
9 Push Jerks @ 155/105 lbs
9 Box Jumps @ 24/20 in
Rest 4 minutes, then...
B) REPEAT!
Use a rack for the push jerks. Set-up your equipment with enough safe space for box jumping clear of your neighbors and dropping/missing the barbell if needed. Be mindful when re-racking the barbell so as not to miss the j-hooks.
(Compre to 04-04-17 and 07-05-16)
Monday Squats + Isabel Interrupted
The album cover?
WOD For 04-02-18:
Back Squat:
6-6-6-6 Climbing to a Heavy Top* Set, then...
Two Drop Sets:
1x6 @ 85% of your top set
1x6 @ 80% of your top set
*If possible, add to your top set of SIX from last week 03-27-18.
-then-
"AR's Isabel Interrupted"
For Time:
100 Air Squats
30 Power Snatches @ 135/95 lbs
100 Air Squats
(Compare to 04-03-17 and 05-09-16)
Waterfalls
You're welcome.
Happy Weekend!
Please note: the gym will be closed on Easter Sunday (April 1st).
WOD For 03-31-18:
"Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls: Version 3.0"
In Teams of THREE Athletes For Total Time:
BUY-IN: 1000m Run, Starting TOGETHER
Then, 2 Rounds EACH With "Waterfall" Start:
30/21 Calorie Row
25 Wall Balls @ 20/14 lbs to 10/9 ft
20 Toes-to-Bar
10-8-6 Curtis P Complexes @ 95/65 lbs (Athlete 1-2-3)
BUY-OUT: 100 Lateral Bar Burpees SPLIT
The Curtis P Complex is: Power Clean + Lunge Right + Lunge Left + Push Press
*All three athletes start the BUY-IN run TOGETHER and all three athletes must complete 1000m.
**The "Waterfall" start can begin with the first athlete to complete the run starting the row immediately (he/she does NOT have to wait for the other two athletes to complete the run). An athlete cannot start on a movement station until the teammate before him/her has cleared that station (e.g. Athlete 2 cannot start the wall balls until Athlete 1 has completed the wall balls, and Athlete 3 cannot start the row until Athlete 2 has completed the row).
***Teams cannot start the BUY-OUT until all three athletes have completed 2 full rounds - and the burpees over the barbell are shared and may be SPLIT in any fashion, with only one athlete working at a time (they do not have to equally split, step-overs are allowed).
Double Under Progression
EVANS AVENUE PARKING REMINDER During Construction (click for details).
Please note: the gym will be closed on Easter Sunday (April 1st).
If double unders continue to elude you the video above shows a great progression for practicing the movement in a step-by-step fashion. You've likely seen many (if not all) of these progression pieces before at Arena Ready, but sometimes hearing and seeing the instruction from a different source can make that last little bit click for someone - especially in a movement as fickle as the double under.
Practice, practice, practice!
Happy Friday, friends.
WOD For 03-30-18:
Tabata:
Side Plank (alternate sides for 4 total intervals each of right and left)
-then-
Sumo Deadlift:
6-6-6-6
Prioritize quality position over load.
-then-
5 Rounds For Time:
10 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls @ 95/65 lbs
10 Pistols (alternating)
50 Double Unders
Jenny Captures Open 18.5
EVANS AVENUE PARKING REMINDER During Construction (click for details).
Please note: the gym will be closed on Easter Sunday (April 1st).
Jenny documented the final 2018 Open workout at Arena Ready, and once again she captured some amazing shots of our people and community. Thank you so much, Jenny, for all that you do!
Check out the full gallery here - and give Jenny a hight five when you see her!
WOD For 03-29-18:
3 Rounds For QUALITY:
100m Single KB Front Rack "Waiter" Carry (50m Right / 50m Left) @ pick load
20 Hollow Rocks
-then-
EMOM 20 Minutes:
1 Snatch
Technically both Power and Full/Squat Snatch are allowed - but let's be honest, unless you're injured you should be snatching this workout with full squats to get the most out of the stimulus as possible.
Use FOUR different weights:
Minutes 1-5: "LIGHT" (approx 55-60% of 1RM)
Minutes 6-10: "MODERATE" (65-70% of 1RM)
Minutes 11-15: "MODERATE-HEAVY" (75-80% of 1RM)
Minutes 16-20: "HEAVY-ISH" (85-90% of 1RM... note this is NOT a max)
The goal here is technical consistency and developing confidence (i.e. "not overthinking it") at increasing loads. Ideally we want to see 20 out of 20 makes (no misses), with the snatch looking the same in minutes 16-20 as it does in minutes 1-5. If you miss during minutes 16-20 you MUST reduce the weight on the following minute.
The Ring Push-up
EVANS AVENUE PARKING REMINDER During Construction (click for details).
Please note: the gym will be closed on Easter Sunday (April 1st).
The ring push-up is a great exercise that most of you have performed during your time at Arena Ready. It's a great training tool to teach body position and awareness, and to show how that position can translate into the actual upper-body push. You begin to realize that the position & engagement of your body is just as important to the movement of a push-up (if not more important) than the actual "pushing up" itself.
The two videos above give you a good one-two punch review of the ring push-up - the first is a quick snippet from Matt Chan and the second video features our old buddies Kelly and Carl diving further into the importance of position and external rotation at the shoulder. That last part is key for any of us who have experienced the "hot elbow" sensation described at the end of the video - which is why the ability to externally rotate at the shoulder is so important in so many movements (not just push-ups and ring push-ups!).
It was strength and sprint-y day on Tuesday so here comes the aerobic ninja's jam on Wednesday - a nice long & light AMRAP for some mid-week sweatiness. Enjoy!
WOD For 03-28-18:
AMRAP 22 Minutes:
18/12 Calorie Row, Ski, or Bike
18 KB Swings @ 53/35 lbs
18 Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups
18 Ring Push-ups
18 KB Goblet Squats @ 53/35 lbs
What Now?
The CrossFit Games season has come to an end for those of us at Arena Ready - another competitive year in the books, and another opportunity to review what went well, what could have gone better, and potentially to start thinking about goals for next year.
The first thing to keep in mind, as always, but as very easy to forget, is that this is a sport we are fortunate to have the opportunity to play. Getting to go to a gym on a daily or near-daily basis to pursue competitive exercise alongside friends, being cheered for by these peers during competition, and having the opportunity to watch and learn from each other during a world-wide competition, is a really cool opportunity that really is quite a luxury. I'm thankful to have been a part of the 2018 Open at Arena Ready, and I'm thankful so many of you chose to come along for the ride.
Thinking about what went well - we saw lots of really cool performances. We saw first HSPU, first MU, first C2B, first pull-ups, weightlifting PRs, and a whole lot of sweat and high fives. We saw people push themselves harder than they'd previously realized they were capable of. We saw people make the difficult but very wise choice to step back from top intensity in order to avoid injury, We saw a lot of self-awareness build, and we saw some competitive fires get lit. Looking back through the performances, it's clear that a lot of work went into the training our crew did in the past year! I hope that everyone has an opportunity to look back and find at least one moment of which they can be totally proud! I have at least one of those moments for each of you.
Thinking about what could have gone better - sometimes competition has a way of highlighting weaknesses. Not surprisingly, everyone has them, no matter how hard they train, no matter how competitive they want to be, and no matter how much they wish they didn't. It's actually one of the beauties of being a human, and certainly a CrossFitter - if you look at it the right way it really keeps things interesting. Can you imagine how boring life (and CrossFit) would be if you were already perfect at all the movements, and also the strategy? Ugh. I'd choose the opportunity to find weaknesses to improve on any day. Sure, weakness (or even perceived failure) can be an opportunity to beat ourselves up, wish things had gone differently, second guess our choices throughout the year, and generally feel bad about everything, but it doesn't have to be that. It can simply be a source of an objective data point, and one which can help to enlighten the fun part: goals for next year, but first, recovery.
After each track season, every coach I ever had made me take two weeks off. In those two weeks I was supposed to sit on the couch, or do something fun, or whatever I needed to do to not train for hammer (or jumping, or heptathlon) for two straight weeks. It was SO hard not to go from completely fired up about nationals or the Trials to the most intense training sessions I'd ever had with the intention of getting a head start on next year, but in actuality that time let my brain and body get back to normal, and gave me time to subconsciously process in order to come back settled and ready to thoughtfully approach the next season.
How does this apply to us? It's probably not necessary for most of us to take two weeks totally off - our entire lives haven't been revolving around training for the Open for the past year, and we're probably not going to spend the coming year focusing our entire beings on success in next year's Open. That said, for those who have been really really focused on the Open even just for the last five weeks, a few days away to rest, recover, think about things other than CrossFit and the leaderboard may do you some good. No matter what, now is not the time to be fired up and start training for next year (that's likely to be a pretty fast track to injury and/or burnout).
Once your body and mind have recovered is the time to start thinking about goals for next year. This phase is awesome. In my opinion, this is a two step review of how the Open (and prior year's training) went. The first phase is to think about how you feel about each of the workouts - how the tests went, what you wish had gone differently, what you wish had been different about your fitness, and potentially which workouts were your worst (and best) finishes, and why. If you identify things you don't feel great about - lack of a particular skill, overall metabolic capacity, overhead mobility, etc. those are great things to focus on for next year. The second phase is to think about where you'd like to be competitively next year - within the gym, the state, your age group, etc. and within that group identify weaknesses based on which workouts were your worst finishes. To clarify this point, in my case, I'd be stoked each year with my year over year improvement in burpees and hspu, yet despite my pride in my progress it seemed everyone else was still improving faster than me, so those remained weaknesses even though my performances kept improving a lot. Once you have a clear view of your weaknesses (much more powerful than "I just am not fit... wah...") you can go to the goals phase.
CrossFit as a general physical preparedness (GPP) program will help you get better at everything through working out 3-5 times per week, scaling appropriately, and pushing yourself a little harder than you'd like, all while paying close attention to recovery. We watched this be true for most of you at the gym this year. If you're good with that, keep doing what you're doing! If you're disappointed with where that puts you relatively speaking, or you feel like your capacity isn't what you'd like it to be in particular skills or movements, pick the three that you feel make you weakest, and add a little bit of thoughtful extra volume (and appropriate corresponding increased recovery) each week - this could be three sets of strict (or banded) pull-ups. It could be muscle up drills. It could be strict overhead pressing, or a Recon Ron strict hspu program (that one's hard!) It could be going to barbell once that gets started back up, it could be 50 burpees for time on a regular basis. It could be overhead or farmer carry, it could be good mornings or upright rows, a minute for max cals on the bike, or a 1k for time on the rower, a post-workout stretching/cooldown routine, or any number of other things, depending on what you'd like to improve. It needs to be effective, thoughtful, and likely minimal, in order to be something you will actually do once the emotion of the Open wears off, and once the reality of your busy life sets back in. Even 10 extra minutes a week focused on your weakest weakness will have a surprising impact on your proficiency in that movement, and even your competitive fitness overall. If your three weakest workouts had been materially stronger as a result of being stronger in the weakest component of that workout, how much closer would you have been to where you wanted to be? No time like the present to start patiently chipping away to make next year is a little closer to what you want it to be (and feel free to talk about these plans with a coach, especially if you'd like guidance).
Finally, again, congratulations on finishing the Open. Congratulations for the firsts. And for the self-awareness you gained. Congrats on caring enough about your performance to be a little disappointed when you failed to live up to your expectations. Congrats for cheering wholeheartedly for your friends (even when they were beating you). Thank you for judging, for facilitating, for cheering, and for making it another really fun year.
The 2018 Open is in the books!
WOD For 03-27-18:
Back Squat:
6-6-6-6 Climbing to a Heavy Top* Set, then...
Two Drop Sets:
1x6 @ 85% of your top set
1x6 @ 80% of your top set
*Add to your top set of EIGHT from the last five weeks
-then-
FOUR 2-Minute Cycles For MAX REPS:
15/11 Calorie Row
20 Wall Balls @ 20/14 lbs to 10/9 ft
MAX REPS Burpee Box Jumps @ 24/20 in
(Rest 2 Minutes Between Cycles)
Open 18.5 Scores Due By 5pm Monday
EVANS AVENUE PARKING REMINDER During Construction (click for details).
Reminder to SUBMIT YOUR 18.5 score to the CrossFit Games website by Monday at 5pm. We cannot submit your score for you so if you're reading this just do it now so you don't forget!
WOD For 03-26-18:
3 Hang Power Cleans + 2 Push Jerks:
5 Sets of (3+2)
Climb to a weight heavier than to be used in "DT"
-then-
5 Rounds For Time:
12 Deadlifts @ 155/105 lbs
9 Hang Power Cleans
6 Push Jerks
(Compare to 03-27-17, 03-16-15, 09-15-14, and 02-08-14)
18.5 Thoughts & Strategy
EVANS AVENUE PARKING REMINDER During Construction on Connecticut Street (click for details).
Open Athletes - if you haven't already, please watch the 18.5 standards video below (which briefly covers only Rx standards), and read the full workout details here on the CrossFit Games website. This will ensure that everyone is on the same page with movement standards and expectations (both Rx and scaled) prior to every athlete and judge starting their workout/heat. In particular, note that men's Rx weight is 100 lbs and not 95 lbs, and make sure to review the jumping pull-up standard if you'll be doing the Scaled workout.
This is about as classic as it gets in CrossFit - a bit of a twist on the most well-known benchmark WOD out there ("Fran"), with an ascending rep scheme on a fixed time domain (or "time-priority" format). The movements are complimentary, meaning that the couplet components don't interfere with each other from a movement pattern standpoint (you squat and upper-body push, then you upper-body pull) - and that combination allows for a ton of intensity AKA power output.
As we've covered previously in this post here, we'll be running the Open Workout ("18.5") during rolling heats in all of our Saturday morning classes. If you haven't already please sign-up for class in advance and plan on doing the workout AND judging another athlete while in the gym (no, you do not have to be a certified judge who has taken the judges course).
For those new to Arena Ready please note that these Saturday morning classes will be very different from our usual protocol. The warm-up will be self-directed and written on the board in AR North for you to follow. Please plan on showing up 10-15 minutes early for class if possible, so that you can sign-up for a heat time when you arrive and get yourself situated for warming-up.
If you're not officially entered in the Open then ask a coach on site to help you decide on a reasonable scaling for the workout if needed -- based on availability & logistics we may assign you to a particular station to give priority to the athletes who are officially registered.
The rest of this post will attempt to break down some strategy on this seemingly simple, but oh so challenging, workout...
Warm-up Well
This is not a shocker to this group. We always warm-up at Arena Ready, you all know that. Like for reals warm-up. None of that "uh, go get warm... you know what to do... and then, um, we'll hit the WOD" crap. Conversely we also don't wear dumb t-shirts that say "Your Workout Is Our Warm-up" (there are actual shirts that say this). No, our warm-up is our warm-up because we are adults and we understand the need to prepare like we care about our bodies.
Anytime we do anything "Fran-like" at Arena Ready we almost always do an increasing intensity, WOD-specific warm-up following a general warm-up. The same will be true on Saturday morning so expect to see a pattern that you've probably already seen before: basic/general warm-up, mobility and movement prep, then WOD specific movements in increasing intensity to get you sweating/breathing/ready to attack what is (for many of us) a very high power-output AMRAP. Don't make the mistake of thinking you can just jump into 18.5 without much moving beforehand, or you may end up feeling like you got hit by a truck.
Do the Math (Ascending Reps Means Your "Feelings" May Betray You)
You're all a bunch of smarties at this gym so do the math and trust what it tells you: THE EARLY ROUNDS ARE A TRAP AND THE LATER ROUNDS CONSTITUTE MOST OF YOUR SCORE. What determines an "early" round and a "later" round? Don't go off of the round number, go off of where the round may occur in time within the 7-minute stretch - i.e. a big part of your score comes between minutes 5 and 7, which means that you cannot blow yourself up between 0:00 - 2:00. You have to do the first few rounds (3/3-6/6-9/9) in such a way that sets you up well for the middle of the WOD and with enough mojo to step on the pedal during the final 1-2 minutes.
Sadly, for most people, we watched three of the fittest women on the planet do 18.5 at the live announcement and it probably gave a lot of folks a false sense of what's possible. HOWEVER, if you go back and watch the Dottirs again you'll notice that even those three super-human CrossFitters did one thing in common: THEY BROKE UP THE MOVEMENTS BEFORE THEY WERE FORCED TO - e.g. they broke the sets before they reached failure... this is otherwise known as, say it with me, doing the workout in SUB-MAXIMAL SETS. It just so happens that their sub-maximal sets occur much farther along in the workout than for the rest of us, but the concept still remains - they're not going to failure until that final sprint in the 7th minute (where they are accumulating a big percentage of their score).
So how do you break the two movements into sub-maximal sets? Read on...
Thrusters
Where you start to break and/or rest depends on how heavy this weight is for you. If it's light then it won't be until the double digit rounds (12s or 15s for most, 18s for the elite folks), but if it's not light then it should be from fairly early on (break in the 9s or even 6s for some). How you should rest is a matter of personal preference and stability/mobility - if you're strong and stable overhead then a quick breath or two with the bar overhead in lock-out can be an efficient way to "gain some short rest"... otherwise dropping the bar and re-setting quickly may be the better way to go (in this case you MUST be disciplined about your rest periods and the manner in which you drop the bar, since chasing a bouncing bar is time and energy consuming).
Moving well will pay dividends here, so: 1) prioritize a vertical torso to save your back and to put most of the squat work in your legs/quads; 2) rack the barbell on the body to save your wrists & grip, and to maximize leg drive into the overhead; and 3) make sure you're driving the bar with your leg/hips rather than strict pressing the overhead.
Should you wear weightlifting shoes? Sure, go for it. Especially if you're used to them and they don't bother you on pull-ups (they shouldn't). Tell the "anti-weightlifting shoe" establishment to pipe down for 7 minutes and go foraging for mushrooms in their barefoot shoes while the rest of us do some fast fitness.
Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups
Here's where the Open really shows its magic. We already had some super celebratory chest-to-bar pull-ups on Thursday evening (props to Jeannie, Angela, Ed, Catherine, and Amy D) and I'm sure we'll see more on Saturday morning. Some of you even noticed the movement transfer of Thursday's Bent-Over Barbell Rows to C2Bs, and noted the intentional programming of said barbell rows to help with the "feeling" of an appropriate pull. Good on ya.
Breaking the C2Bs follows the same basic principal as described above for the thrusters: break them up before you have to, or are forced to by failure. Remember that breaking C2Bs is less disruptive than breaking thrusters, since smaller sets (or even singles) on C2Bs requires less energy between reps/sets than thrusters - i.e. jumping back up to the pull-up bar is generally easier than dropping the barbell/settling the barbell bounce/cleaning the barbell. This means that if C2Bs are a challenge for you then have no fear - even singles the entire way on C2Bs can get you a pretty darn good score if you manage the thrusters well, don't give up, and keep your no-reps to a minimum!
Closing Remarks, One Last Time (since I said I would keep re-posting them every week)
Be smart and move well. You know what that means, I don't have to explain that one to you. The weights will be here tomorrow... will you be?
Cheer for your fellow athletes, and be a good judge. We do things the right way at Arena Ready -- with integrity and to the standards of the competition. Our movement is clean, our technique is admirable, our effort is 100%, and our members know the difference between intent and accomplishment (e.g. giving your fellow athlete a respectful but deserved no-rep when they're working their ass off but simply didn't accomplish a valid rep). The spirit of the Open is amazing - there's nothing like the energy and positive family vibe of these 5 weeks. Many of your buddies will do things they never thought possible, some will fall short of what they wanted and be frustrated for a bit, and others will have experiences on both sides. But in the end this is our community, and our AR family, and we support each other in success and in failure... knowing that we're all just trying to get better every day.
GO TIME!
WOD For 03-24-18:
"Open 18.5" (AKA "Open 11.6" and "Open 12.5")
AMRAP 7 Minutes (following an ascending rep ladder of 3/3-6/6-9/9-12/12-etc...):
Thrusters @ 100/65 lbs
Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups
The scaled version of 18.5 uses 65/45 lbs for thrusters and modifies to jumping chin-over bar pull-ups. Check the Open standards here to make sure you understand all the official requirements.
(Compare to 01-09-15 and 04-06-13)
Open 18.5 (AKA 11.6 / 12.5) Announced
EVANS AVENUE PARKING REMINDER During Construction on Connecticut Street (click for details).
Open workout "18.5" was released on Thursday evening, and "by way of vote" we finally have our repeat workout from previous Opens of years past. It's thrusters and chest-to-bar pull-ups as we expected (no dumbbells though!), and is a repeat of Open workouts 11.6 and 12.5. Those of us who have been doing CrossFit, and the Open, long enough to remember 11.6 and 12.5 were basically waiting for this one to come back into play at some point since it's just such a classic combo and format (we last did this workout as a class WOD on 01-19-15 for those of you searching BTWB).
If you're going to be completing the workout this weekend at Arena Ready (either during the fun craziness of our Open Heats during all Saturday classes, or during Sunday Open Gym) then please start by reviewing the workout details here and watching the standards video below (which covers only the Rx workout, and not the scaled version) - thanks!
WOD For 03-23-18:
For Time:
BUY-IN: 1000m Run, Row, or Ski
... then...
21-15-9
Deadlifts @ 185/135 lbs
Double Unders (3x Reps AKA 63-45-27)
-then-
Tabata:
Side Planks
Alternate sides every interval for a total of 4 right and 4 left.
Open 18.5: Any Guesses?
EVANS AVENUE PARKING REMINDER During Construction on Connecticut Street (click for details).
The trending prediction for 18.5 seems to be dumbbell thrusters and chest-to-bar pull-ups, either in ascending ladder AMRAP format or repeating-time-segments. What say you?
Dave Castro (Director of the CrossFi Games) announced that the CrossFit public will be able to vote on what 18.5 will be by choosing from three options he'll reveal at 3pm PDT on Thursday. If you're traveling this weekend and you need to do 18.5 on Thursday night our 7pm "The OPEN" class is the time to get it done -- so sign-up in advance if this means you!
WOD For 03-22-18:
Bent Over Barbell Row:
6-6-6-6-6
-then-
AMRAP 10 Minutes:
2 Ring Muscle-ups
10 Medicine Ball Sit-ups @ 20/14 lbs
12 KB Snatches @ 53/35 lbs (6 Right then 6 Left)