Workout of the Day
Simple vs. Easy & Cooking vs. Baking
Sometimes in CrossFit people tend to confuse "simple" with being "easy." In the context of Thursday's AMRAP I would ask some of those people to show us 8+ rounds as prescribed to see if they truly felt the workout was "easy."
In a somewhat related line of thinking -- when we write programming we generally start with ideas organized by movement pattern, loading, time domain, and intended stimulus. As you can imagine this can sometimes get a bit messy and over-complicated (if we don't constantly edit along the way) as we attempt to keep constant variance, intentional practice, and opportunities for intensity front of mind. In many ways writing a periodized program for Olympic weightlifting or a sport-specific strength athlete can be much easier than doing so for CrossFit as the frequency, volume, repetition, and percentages are much more exact and logical. For building General Physical Preparedness (GPP) and enabling stronger, faster, better humans to improve at nearly everything (i.e. a "broad" fitness) without specializing in any one thing, programming can be much more of an art than a science.
Sometimes I liken the art versus science in programming to cooking versus baking. When programming an athlete's training leading up to Nationals in weightlifting we "bake" much more than we "cook" (via exact measurements, exact volume requirements, exact percentages, exact timing of it all) -- but when training athletes not to suck at life we often "cook" much more than we "bake." Yes, there's obviously some very intentional guiding principles, a focus on a set of priorities at any given time, and a close & methodical regulation of the stimulus for each day's/week's/month's workouts -- thus the astute programming geeks among you have picked-up on the patterns over the years at Arena Ready -- but the "art" and fun of "cooking" CrossFit will always remain. And I would argue that the cooking has been quite successful based on the performance of any regularly-training athlete at AR (from multiple-time Regional competitors to those who simply want to be fit and healthy).
On Thursday we present to you a 10-minute AMRAP that is very simple, but certainly not easy. It's some of the best ingredients in "cooking" distilled down to an elegant (if I must say so myself) set menu -- no over-seasoning needed... no desire to put 17 movements in there to make it seem fancy... no aspirations to make it 30 minutes long to try and kill everyone. Just simple, quality, demanding fitness in three little movements. This workout started as something completely different (but closely related in terms of movement patterns and systemic demand), and was edited down and revised 3-4 times before it made its way onto Thursday's plate. We "tasted" and "re-tasted" -- we've tested and re-tested the ingredients in other contexts over and over again.
Constant variance, but not random. Simple but not easy. Cooking and not so much baking.
Bon Appetit!
WOD For 08-09-18:
3 Rounds For Quality (NOT For Time):
12/9 Calorie Assault Bike, Ski, or Row (easy, medium, fast)
12 KB Goblet Cossack Squats @ pick load (6 R / 6 L)
6 Inchworms to Plank
6 KB Turkish Get-ups @ pick load (3 R / 3 L)
-then-
AMRAP 10 Minutes:
30 ft Handstand Walk (15 ft down & back)
10 Burpees
World Record Deadlift + lululemon
Here's Brian Shaw deadlifting 1,128 pounds:
Here's Brian Shaw trying on lululemon at the mall (enjoy):
WOD For 08-08-18:
2 Rounds For Time:
500m Row or Ski
40 Walking Lunges
30 Box Jump Overs @ 24/20 in
20 Deadlifts @ 275/195 lbs
Main Site Tuesdays: "Complex Fran"
Why did Monday's WOD "feel" so much worse than it looked on paper? Welp, Monday's WOD involved what we like to call "movement interference" -- the concept that multiple movements which comprise the workout have redundant patterns, therefore the accumulated fatigue never quite clears your system the same way it would in a more complimentary couplet or triplet where the movements are opposing patterns. Tuesday's WOD is just that -- a complimentary couplet(ish... sorta) which is a variation on quite possibly the most famous couplet of them all in CrossFit... Fran.
The "Complex Fran" WOD comes to us courtesy of the CrossFit.com main site and was the final event in the Masters 35-39 and Teen 16-17 divisions at the CrossFit Games this past weekend. To watch those fire-breathers do this workout check out the archived footage of the event on the CrossFit Games website here (click on the "Age Groups" tab > EVENTS: CF > then select the division & heat you want to watch by clicking the colored circles below the video feed). CrossFit's Youtube channel should also have the archive up in a few days or so if you want to watch a later date.
Enjoy this twisted twist on Fran!
WOD For 08-07-18:
Alternating EMOM For 4 Rounds (12 Minutes):
1) 4 Thrusters (climbing in load)
2) 10 Lateral Bar Burpees (climbing in pace each round)
3) Rest / Change Weights / Warm-up Kips, Pull-ups, Bar Muscle-ups
-then-
"Complex Fran"
For Time:
7 Bar Muscle-ups
7 Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups
7 Chin-Over-Bar Pull-ups
21 Thrusters @ 95/65 lbs
5 Bar Muscle-ups
5 Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups
5 Chin-Over-Bar Pull-ups
15 Thrusters
3 Bar Muscle-ups
3 Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups
3 Chin-Over-Bar Pull-ups
9 Thrusters
(Workout courtesy of CrossFit.com)
2018 Fittest on Earth
The "Fittest on Earth" were crowned on Sunday and what a test it was this year! What was your favorite moment of the 2018 CrossFit Games?
WOD For 08-06-18:
4 Rounds For Max Reps (0:45 Seconds per Movement / 0:15 Seconds Rest Between Movements):
Sumo Deadlift High Pulls @ 115/75 lbs
Ring Dips
KB Swings @ 70/53 lbs
Row or Assault Bike Calories
(REST 1:15)
-then-
Tabata:
Dead Bugs
Games Watching Get Together
When you're done competitively exercising in class on Saturday you should come back to the gym (or just continue to stay) so we can then watch other people competitively exercise on the TV to find out who is the best competitive exerciser in the world... you know, among all competitive exercisers.
In other words, we'll be having an impromptu CrossFit Games Watching Get Together at Arena Ready on Saturday -- we'll set-up a TV in the gym and just generally hang out to watch the fittest in the world do some crazy events, complete with horrible play-by-play commentary that's par for the course every year.
Bring some snacks to munch on if you like, and feel free to also bring a camp chair to sit on if you don't want to sit on a box, bench, or the gym floor. I'm sure we'll also get our share of foam rolling in as well, so think of it as recovery work for your body haha.
We'll likely just start setting-up the TV after the last Saturday class ends at 11:30am and will probably watch for a few hours -- nothing formal just a casual Saturday afternoon watching fitness. Come join us!
WOD For 08-04-18:
"Loco Moco v3.0"
With a Partner For Time:
BUY-IN: 1298m Row OR 1000m Ski
Then BOTH Partners Complete...
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Hang Power Cleans @ 155/110 lbs
Burpee Box Jumps @ 24/20 in
BUY-OUT: 1298m Row OR 1000m Ski
Both partners must complete the 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 sequence, with one partner working at a time to complete a FULL ROUND before switching (e.g. Partner A performs 10 HPCs and 10 BBJs, then Partner B performs 10 HPCs and 10 BBJs).
The row/ski can be shared in any fashion and does not have to be split evenly.
Friday Skills & Staples
Happy Friday, everyone - here's a fun one with a little something for everybody... enjoy!
WOD For 08-03-18:
4 Rounds For Time:
5 Bar Muscle-ups
10 Pistols (alternate)
15 Deadlifts @ 225/155 lbs
20 Wall Balls @ 20/14 lbs to 10/9 ft
Welp, C2-Ya Later
At least we're not rowing a marathon (AKA 42,000 meters) on Thursday AMIRITE?!
No, really it was a thing on Wednesday at the CrossFit Games - if you want to watch the fittest people on earth row for 3-plus hours in a stadium full of spectators who paid to watch competitive exercise then click here on the Games site and watch the archive of Event 4.
The winning times were 2:43:50 for the men and 3:03:37 for the women.
That makes our "August Open Gym Challenge" seem like a walk in the park!
WOD For 08-02-18:
Alternating Double Tabata:
Single Dumbbell Hang Clean to Overhead @ 50/35 lbs
Row For Calories
Score by your lowest rep round for each movement. Switch sides on the DB whenever you like (we recommend roughly equal reps on both sides unless you like crooked HSPUs in the next piece).
-then-
For Time:
80 Double Unders
40 AbMat Sit-ups
20 Handstand Push-ups
60 Double Unders
30 AbMat Sit-ups
15 Handstand Push-ups
40 Double Unders
20 AbMat Sit-ups
10 Handstand Push-ups
20 Double Unders
10 AbMat Sit-ups
5 Handstand Push-ups
AR Weightlifting Shoe Cabinet 3.0: New Cubby Boxes in Stock!
We have more little blue cubby boxes in stock at the gym for those who did not get one during the first release of the AR Weightlifting Shoe Cabinet in June. If you need one for your lifters then grab one and follow the easy steps to ensure you're in compliance with the house rules (click here to read the full post).
You'll notice that we've moved the little blue cubby boxes to the wire shelving racks from the original white cabinet. What can I say, we're trying it out to see if we like it. We'll see if the feng shui agrees with me. Kinda like if David Bromstad or Nate Berkus (sans Oprah) came to your house to surprise you and then re-arranged all your furniture... you might end up moving it back once they leave with all their cameras and hair product.
Props if you got either of those references without using the Google machine -- you officially start Wednesday's AMRAP with one round in the bank thanks to your home decorating pop culture knowledge (see, Mom, who said it would never come in handy?).
WOD For 08-01-18:
On a Running Clock...
A) 0:00 - 5:00
AMRAP 5 Minutes:
21 Walking Lunges
15 Box Jumps @ 24/20 in
9 Double Kettlebell Front Squats @ 53/35 lbs (per side)
B) 8:00 - 23:00
Back Squat:
15 Minutes to Build to a Heavy Triple (Not a 3RM)
C) 26:00 31:00
Repeat the AMRAP From Part A
Tuesday "Main Site" Fun (Again!)
Last Tuesday we did a WOD straight from the CrossFit.com "main site" which involved TEN 1-minute rounds of 25 air squats and max reps clean & jerks. This Tuesday we'll do another "main site" WOD with a very similar round/time format -- but this time it's lateral bar burpees and power snatches.
We anticipate that far fewer athletes will be able to do this WOD "Rx/Black level" as the equivalent loading on a power snatch "feels" heavier to most versus the (power) clean & (push) jerk. Don't fret, just scale the loading appropriately to "something you can do for 5 reps unbroken with good technique" -- that should maintain the intended stimulus across all levels regardless of loading.
Enjoy!
WOD For 07-31-18:
TEN 1-Minute Rounds of:
10 Lateral Bar Burpees
Max Reps Power Snatches @ 155/105 lbs
(Rest 2 Minutes Between Rounds)
Your score is the total number of power snarch reps completed.
Yes, some have done this as bar-facing burpees and others as lateral over the bar. We will do the latter like is this video here.
(Workout courtesy of CrossFit.com)
The CrossFit Games: Aug 1st - 5th
The 2018 CrossFit Games "world finals" is upon us this week and it should be an exciting time to watch it all go down in Madison, WI. For all the details on how to view the week's events click here to see BarBend's full detail of watching options.
There's sure to be some awesome action from the Teams, Masters, and Teens categories as some of the events have already been released - and several look like a helluva lotta fun to watch. The Individual Men's competition may be the closest we've ever experienced to a "sure thing" (even more so than during the reign of Rich Froning) as two-time defending champion, Mat Fraser, seems to be in a universe of his own... BUT as the saying goes that's why they play the games. Anything can happen!
Most of us are probably most looking forward to the Individual Women's competition and watching the drama unfold in this super-competitive field of athletes. There are likely 5-8 women who are capable of winning the whole thing, and seeing the leaderboard shift and the points race get tight as the final Sunday approaches will be a blast. Who's your pick to win (and who is your dark horse to make the podium)?
WOD For 07-30-18:
1 Power Clean + 3 Push Presses:
12 minutes to build to a top set
Add to 07-16-18 if possible.
-then-
3 Rounds For Time:
35 Air Squats
20 Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups
15 Push Presses @ 115/75
The Single Decision
Tim Ferriss' book Tools of The Titans includes an interaction between the author and coach Christopher Sommer, former men's gymnastics national team coach, who explains the value of "the single decision." It's a great section of the book and we wanted to (re)share it here with you:
We all get frustrated. I am particularly prone to frustration when I see little or no progress after several weeks of practicing something new. Despite Coach Sommer’s regular reminders about connective-tissue adaptations taking 200 to 210 days, after a few weeks of flailing with “straddle L extensions,” I was at my wits’ end. Even after the third workout, I had renamed them “frog spaz” in my workout journal because that’s what I resembled while doing them: a frog being electrocuted.
Each week, I sent Coach Sommer videos of my workouts via Dropbox. In my accompanying notes at one point, I expressed how discouraging it was to make zero tangible progress with this exercise. Below is his email response, which I immediately saved to Evernote to review often.
It’s all great, but I’ve bolded my favorite part:
“Dealing with the temporary frustration of not making progress is an integral part of the path towards excellence. In fact, it is essential and something that every single elite athlete has had to learn to deal with. If the pursuit of excellence was easy, everyone would do it. In fact, this impatience in dealing with frustration is the primary reason that most people fail to achieve their goals. Unreasonable expectations time-wise, resulting in unnecessary frustration, due to a perceived feeling of failure. Achieving the extraordinary is not a linear process.
The secret is to show up, do the work, and go home.
A blue collar work ethic married to indomitable will. It is literally that simple. Nothing interferes. Nothing can sway you from your purpose. Once the decision is made, simply refuse to budge.
Refuse to compromise.
And accept that quality long-term results require quality long-term focus. No emotion. No drama. No beating yourself up over small bumps in the road. Learn to enjoy and appreciate the process. This is especially important because you are going to spend far more time on the actual journey than with those all too brief moments of triumph at the end.
Certainly celebrate the moments of triumph when they occur. More importantly, learn from defeats when they happen. In fact, if you are not encountering defeat on a fairly regular basis, you are not trying hard enough. And absolutely refuse to accept less than your best.
Throw out a timeline. It will take what it takes.
If the commitment is to a long-term goal and not to a series of smaller intermediate goals, then only one decision needs to be made and adhered to. Clear, simple, straightforward. Much easier to maintain than having to make small decision after small decision to stay the course when dealing with each step along the way. This provides far too many opportunities to inadvertently drift from your chosen goal. The single decision is one of the most powerful tools in the toolbox.”
-From "Tools of The Titans" by Tim Ferriss
WOD For 07-28-18:
"Controlled Chaos"
In Teams of THREE, For Time:
A) All Three Working At The Same Time, Each on a Different Movement:
150 Wall Balls @ 20/14 lbs to 10/9 ft
125 Calorie Row (FMM = 115 Cal, FFM = 105 Cal , FFF = 95 Cal)
100 Lateral Bar Burpees
B) One Person Working at a Time, Completed in Order as Written (i.e. 75-50-25):
75 Power Cleans @ 115/80 lbs
50 Power Snatches
25 Squat Clean Thrusters
For Part A game plan how your team will split the work into pre-set rounds & reps with planned transitions. For example:
5 Rounds of...
Athlete A - 30 Wall Balls
Athlete B - 25 Calorie Row
Athlete C - 20 Lateral Bar Burpees
(Everyone rotates to repeat this 5 times until Part A is complete)
For Part B there is only one person working at a time, and reps can be split in any fashion as long as the movements are completed in order as written (75 > 50 > 25). We recommend smaller sets and quick transitions to keep the pace as fast as possible with good technique.
Grunt All You Want
It's Friday, and we won't kick you out or sound the "Lunk Alarm" for trying hard. But we will if your technique looks like a Tootsie Roll and you drop our dumbbells. The former is a euphemism for poop (you know, because they serve Tootsie Rolls in bowls at Planet Fitness... aaaand they look like little poops AKA horrible deadlifts... is this thing on?!) and the latter should be easy because WE'RE NOT EVEN USING DUMBBELLS ON FRIDAY.
I would've kicked them out just on the basis of the one guy wearing cargo shorts to the gym.
Cargo shorts, the Nickelback of clothing.
Happy Friday!
WOD For 07-27-18:
For Completion and Load (NOT For Time):
Bench Press:
5-5-5-5-5
Deadlift:
5-5-5-5-5
5-5-5-5-5
*Go from one movement directly to the next (e.g. 5 Bench Press > 5 Deadlifts > 5 Evil Wheels) with as much or as little rest between sets as you like. If you're a ninja at Evil Wheels, and the volume is not an issue, increase the reps for that movement to 8 or 10 per set.
*Warm-up to a challenging weight for both the bench and dead before "starting" your first work set. Climb in weight as long as your technique allows you to do so (i.e. like you care about your shoulders and back).