Workout of the Day
Friday Running Clock: Clean & Jerks For Days
Happy Friday, friends!
WOD For 10-12-18:
On a Running Clock…
A) At 0:00
“Partner Baseline”
For Quality:
1000m Row
80 Air Squats
60 AbMt Sit-ups
40 Push-ups
20 STRICT Pull-ups
One person working at a time, split the reps evenly. Not for time but move with a purpose.
B) From 12:00 - 27:00
Clean & Jerk:
15 Minutes to Establish a Heavy Single For Today
Both power and full/squat cleans are allowed. Any style of jerk is allowed as well.
C) From 30:00 - 33:00
AMReps in 3 Minutes:
Power Clean & Push Jerk @ 45-55% of your heavy single from Part B (you choose)
Hummus
Today I received one of those scam emails that we get every few weeks or so - this one was the classic “Do you do personal training, I need it for my 13 family members, do you accept credit card payments, blah blah blah…”
And it made me think of this video. I ALMOST replied.
WOD For 10-11-18:
Every 2 Minutes For 6 Rounds:
2 Hang Power Snatches + 1 Overhead Squat + 1 Hang Squat Snatch
Climb only as your technique allows.
-then-
“2018 Wodapalooza Qualifier WOD 1”
For Time:
150 Double Unders
60 Wall Balls @ 20/14 lbs to 10/9 ft
30 Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups
150 Double Unders
Country Wednesdays
I feel like the once popular Arena Ready tradition has gone by the wayside, but deserves consideration for a strong comeback.
I can think of some warm-up movements to go with it as well…
That video never gets old.
WOD For 10-10-18:
For Time:
1000m Run
30 Hang Power Cleans @ 135/95 lbs
30 Lateral Bar Burpees
20 Hang Power Cleans @ 165/115 lbs
20 Lateral Bar Burpees
10 Hang Power Cleans @ 185/125 lbs
10 Lateral Bar Burpees
Use one barbell and change your own weights. And yes, collars (AKA clips) are required for all reps.
The "October Open Gym Challenge"
First, congratulations to our winners from the September Open Gym Challenge - Kim and Kate! This team of #MightyMinis proved that strategy, teamwork, and tenacity was more important than athlete size, raw strength numbers, or an excessive level of trash talking LOL. With the top score of 16,380 pounds lifted “The Fittest Optometrist in SF” and “The Flying Squirrel” bested respectable scores from — among others — Milgram & Stein (who submitted a questionable video validating their remote workout performance from what is being dubbed “Arena Ready East” AKA the gym in Mike’s new house) and Hillary “The Deadlift Champ” & Steven (winners of the August Open Gym Challenge).
Congrats Kim and Kate! They will be receiving a prize pack once I actually go pick-up the prize packs (I swear, I will soon).
As for the “October Open Gym Challenge” we have a single modality benchmark for y’all, and a test of fitness that many folks are already familiar with either from previous experience or from stories of joy from other athletes who have done it. Here you go…
“The October Open Gym Challenge”
For Time:
2000m Row
1) There will be 4 “divisions” and thus 4 potential winners:
Lightweight Female (129 lbs and under)
Female (130 lbs and up)
Lightweight Male (159 lbs and under)
Male (160 lbs and up)
2) Don’t cut weight for the challenge (this is Sarah talking LOL)
3) If you’re close to the cut-off on bodyweight we can weigh you at the gym for an official ruling (but only if you want to be eligible to win)
I feel like Hillary is about to start fielding a bunch of questions from members haha. Get in here on a Sunday and get after it on a 2K!
The underground (figuratively speaking but maybe also literally speaking) gym being
dubbed as “Arena Ready East”
WOD For 10-09-18:
Every 2 Minutes For 6 Rounds:
4 Back Squats
Climbing is allowed.
If possible add to your top set from last week 10-03-18.
-then-
3 Rounds For Max Reps (0:45 Sec Per Movement / 0:15 Rest Between Movements):
Double KB Front Squats @ 53/35 lbs (each side)
Toes-to-Bar
Row For Calories
(Rest 1:15 Between Rounds)
Monday: Pull, Push, Jump
This one’s light, but it may not be as fast as you make initially think… have fun!
WOD For 10-08-18:
For Time:
21-18-15-12-9-6-3
Deadlifts @ 185/125 lbs
Hand Release Push-ups
Box Jumps @ 24/20 in
If your feet/toes come off the ground on the push-ups you’re basically kipping and you probably look like a fish flopping on the deck of a boat. Take some pride in your push-ups and cut it out.
Oh and for the competitors… everyone can break the deads at regular intervals and game themselves toward a predictable and respectable time. But can you hold on to this light weight unbroken and let the chips fall where they may? And no, that doesn’t mean deadlift like a dog pooping - take care of your back, friends!
The A, B, C, Ds of Sweaty Saturday...
Happy weekend, friends!
WOD For 10-06-18:
With a Partner Against a 25-Minute Clock:
A) 800m Run TOGETHER
B) 50 Walking Lunges EACH (one partner must always be holding the team’s wall ball)
C) Split the Following (with only one partner working at a time):
100 Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups
150 KB Swings @ 53/35 lbs
200 Wall Balls @ 20/14 lbs to 109 ft
D) MAX CALORIE Row (only one partner rowing at a time, share the same rower)
*Score = total calories rowed
*If you don’t make it to Part D then note your total reps completed of Part C
*Parts B and C can be started immediately by the faster partner, but Part D cannot start until all wall ball reps have been completed
HELP ME HELP YOU: CLASS SIGN-UPS IN ADVANCE
“If everyone did what I’m about to do would the system work?”
For most of you this blog post does not apply, and for that overwhelming majority of folks I encourage you to simply scroll down to the bottom and check the WOD for Friday's classes. Oh, and thank you for doing what you do. I'm talking about the small percentage of folks who regularly don't sign-up for class ahead of time - and I'm here to say, quite frankly, you're killing me, Smalls.
I get it, life happens and you're busy... and signing-up for CrossFit class ahead of time is one of the last things on your mind. Your job is crazy demanding - yes but that's the case for everyone else here too (and the other 95% of the people in the gym still signed-up in advance). You have a kid and you just can't get around to it (well, half of the people in this class have kids too and they're signed-up days ahead of time). I travel every week and my schedule is all over the place (yeah but the thing is there's at least 3 or 4 people in this class right now who travel more than you do, and they've all pre-registered for class). What I'm trying to say is that your situation is not as much of a special exemption as you might think it is, and I'm simply asking you to please try and find the strength within you to open a different app, or browser tab, once within your day and click on the little button that makes my life (and the experience of other athletes at your gym) a whole lot easier. I think we can all agree that's doable.
I know seems like a pain but believe it or not it's largely for your benefit and not mine (more on that below). And to we try to make it as easy as possible for you with three basic options:
Sign-up through our website
Bookmark the Schedule page and add it to your phone’s home screen (3 clicks and you’re signed-up for class)
Sign-up through the free "Mindbody" app on your mobile device
Open registration for classes starts one week in advance of the class date & time! So if you're trying to schedule your week in advance then sign-up for the days and class times you plan on attending over the next seven days, and simply cancel ASAP if you realize later that you can't make it for whatever reason. We don't charge you or penalize you for cancelling - believe it or not many gyms charge a cancellation fee (and a no show fee), but we don't - it's not intended to be a source of stress or a revenue stream for us, we're simply trying to create and maintain a culture of accountability, integrity, and respect... and a gym environment that provides consistent and attentive high-level coaching. Some of those things can become challenging during classes when the minority of folks who don't respect the general system throw things for a loop.
Don't like signing-up in advance and think it's dumb? There are plenty of gyms that don't make you do it, and I would encourage you to try dropping-in to a class during a peak time and see if you like the sort of class structure that system (or lack thereof) creates. You may experience something very different than what you're accustomed to - many of the complaints I hear from our members about their experience when dropping-in somewhere else is likely due to the programming and logistics restraints that particular gym has to work around due to the "free-for-all" nature of having everyone just show up, leaving the coaches and staff scrambling to "make it work" and somehow preserve the intended stimulus of the day's training (usually not something that's possible when the group is simply too large, or if a chunk of that group was simply not expected during that hour).
When you don't sign up in advance you leave the coach who is leading the class to guess who is not accounted for in the group. You throw a wrench into our logistical class plan and possibly affect the set-up and execution of the workouts, thus altering the experience for everyone else in the class. Because we intentionally keep a capped overall membership AND cap each individual class - and generally have more intimate classes than most other CrossFit gyms - class overflow is not usually an issue. But every now and then it's a real pain, and if you have an aloof attitude about it it makes me feel like you basically don't give a shit about other people in the gym. And that makes me sad because I hope it's not actually true.
If for some reason you are not signed-up for a class PLEASE TELL THE COACH WHEN YOU ARRIVE so we can add you to the roster if there is space in the class, and then start planning any accommodations we may need to make. If it's a one-off sort of thing and you're usually on top of it when it comes to signing-up it's totally cool - don't sweat it and don't be shy about telling us you're not signed-up, we understand that it's not your usual mode of operation. In some VERY RARE cases we may need to ask you to wait until the next class.
If for some reason the Mindbody system does not allow you to sign-up for class then please let us know that as well. It may mean your account needs attention (expired membership, billing issue, system glitch, etc.) and we want to help resolve the matter as soon as possible. If, however, you tried to sign-up for class moments before it started and are not able to it's likely because the registration window closed - sort of like walking into a restaurant at 4:59pm and telling the host or hostess, "Um yeah, I tried to make a reservation for 5:00pm and it wouldn't let me." I think we can all agree that a reservation not occurring in actual advance is, in fact, not a reservation (this concludes the Seinfeld-esque portion of the blog post).
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. If you have feedback please don't hesitate to send it over to us. But either way please make sure you're doing your part to make the system work, and that you're not simply taking advantage of the fact that 95% of the other members contribute to a working structure that you can't be bothered to care about using.
Thank you for your attention, I appreciate it.
WOD For 10-05-18:
EMOM For 20 Rounds (20 Minutes):
5 Burpees
1 Clean
*Start at approximately 70% of your 1RM and then work up HAP (“Heavy As Possible”) with good technique
*Both power and full (AKA “squat”) cleans are allowed
(Workout courtesy of HyperFit)
Unilateral Thursday: Recovery, Skill, Speed
Now you see what I meant about Wednesday not being “easy” — if you did it right, even if you stayed lighter with the loading, that WOD crept up and taxed the system in a different and interesting way.
Following three barbell focused training days, the last two of which were of medium-longer time domains, our Thursday program includes two pieces that involve unilateral, non-barbell movement patterns.
We’ll start with a “For Quality” piece to serve as a system primer, recovery flush, and extended warm-up (through stability and activation) and then a we’ll attack a higher skill AMRAP with a shorter, faster time domain.
Don’t fret, the barbell comes back on Friday— but first, DUs, MUs, and TGUs (among other things).
WOD For 10-04-18:
2 Rounds For QUALITY:
400m Run
10 Kettlebell Turkish Get-ups @ pick load (5 R / 5 L)
10 Single Kettlebell Single Leg Deadlifts @ pick load (5 R / 5 L)
This is "For Quality of Movement" (not time or max weight) so choose your loading accordingly.
-then-
AMRAP 8 Minutes:
40 Double Unders
10 Single Dumbbell Hang Clean-to-Overhead @ 50/35 lbs (5 R / 5 L)
4 Ring Muscle-ups
Can you hold a fast pace and get 5+ rounds?
Athlete's Choice: Choose Your Own Adventure
If you’ve been at Arena Ready for a while you’re familiar with the WOD format of Wednesday’s workout. Occasionally we do these medium-longer EMOMs with the intention of a higher intensity output (think of the ones where you thought to yourself “OMG Rob I HATE YOU RIGHT NOW”) — generally those days have a very specific set number of reps and loading, and sometimes we make it even spicier by seeing if you can “hold a number throughout the entire WOD” (like a sort of expanded Tabata torture method HAHA).
In other instances we allow for a range of experiences in our athletes by giving the choice of loading, and in many ways intensity, to the person doing the workout. Another way of thinking of this is “Choose Your Own Adventure” — lighter loading and a more intentional focus on movement quality for those who seek movement in the vein of a recovery day or lighter intensity stimulus, and heavier loading for those who feel primed to take on more intensity and work. The WOD can feel very different to different people, and that’s exactly our intention.
So, check-in with yourself and take a quick inventory of how your body is feeling this week — have you trained several times over the last few days, how has your sleep, nutrition, and recovery been, what’s the climate like at work and/or home, did you travel recently, etc — and make a smart decision on how to approach this mid-week WOD so that you get the most benefit. Remember that the goal is to be able to come back tomorrow and/or for the balance of this week and continue to train productively and intelligently. Opportunities abound for intensity, speed, and other outputs in the days to follow — so when given a clear choice of how to guide your ship make sure to point it in the direction that best suits your current training/recovery/life situation.
On the other hand, if you look at this workout and think “that’s it?” or think that the Monday Tuesday program was “too easy” then I have a message for you — you don’t need harder workouts, you need to go harder. Trust me, I see all the scores (from in the gym, from remote athletes, from coaches and competitors testing the WODs for me) and NONE of the people posting the fastest times and highest scores report that the workouts are “easy.”
Know thyself, train smart, train hard, be an athlete.
WOD For 10-03-18:
Alternating EMOM For 7 Rounds (21 Minutes):
1) 4 Back Squats @ pick load
2) 5 Explosive Box Jumps @ 30/24 in THEN 10 Russian KB Swings @ pick load
3) 0:40 Second Plank Hold
The Hook Grip: It's Like You're Cheating
Several years ago one of our members watched Big Tony and Coach Sarah do the WOD "Isabel" (30 Power Snatches For Time @ 135/95 lbs) unbroken in a little over one minute... which means to say they didn't let go of the bar once. This person was astonished and asked me, "How the hell did they hold on to the bar for all 30 reps?!"
My answer was two-fold, "Well, they've both spent 15+ years getting really freakin' strong. And, perhaps even more so in this specific case, they both have a solid hook grip on the bar."
Then Tony chimed in, with the most humble tone you could imagine when saying something so jarring, "Yeah man, the hook grip. It's so easy to hold on the bar with a hook grip. It's like you're cheating."
I'm not sure I would go so far as to say it's like you're cheating, but I'm also not as strong as Tony is, so I've never held on to thirty 135-pound snatches in a row. But oh man when you need that hook grip on some heavy and/or high rep cleans or snatches, and you've got the technique of it down, it feels pretty damn close to holding on to the bar with a strap:
The hook grip is a bit uncomfortable at first, and can put some stress on the thumbs, so newcomers often disregard it and go back to just holding the bar without it. The problem with that is once your strength and fitness has progressed to a point where the weights are heavy (and/or high rep) enough to require a hook grip, you will have trained yourself to lift without it - and will then have a really difficult time trying to implement it by changing your old habits. It's like trying to tell a fairly high-level tennis player who has smacked their forehands with an Eastern grip for their entire playing career to switch to a Western grip. Good luck with that. The only difference is that in tennis there are examples of high level athletes having success with both grips (although very few use an Eastern grip anymore), but in both Olympic-style weightlifting and CrossFit the top level people ALL use the hook grip - there is no alternative. Well, other than not being able to hold on to the bar.
Part of the thumb discomfort eventually goes away once your hands adjust to the grip, and the soft tissue around the thumb adapts a bit to accommodate the position. We never want your thumbs to be in actual pain (which is why we have new athletes ease into it), but we do want you to know that the annoyance of the grip does fade over time.
The discomfort can also be mitigated by taping your thumbs. There are many different ways to tape your thumbs for hook gripping, and different athletes have their own preferred tape and wrapping methods, so you may have to find what works best for you. The greatest CrossFitter on earth, who also happens to be a pretty darn good weightlifter as well, tapes his thumbs the way I teach most people to - it's simple, quick, and doesn't require a lot of tape:
And on that note...
WOD For 10-02-18:
4 Rounds For Time:
18/14 Calorie Row, Ski, OR Assault Bike
15 Toes-to-Bar
12 Deadlifts @ 155/105 lbs
9 Hang Power Cleans
6 Push Jerks
Monday: Snatch EMOM + "Jeremy"
Last week we worked on 3-position snatches with powers, and this week we’ll incorporate powers into an EMOM complex that should help athletes gain comfort in the full (AKA “squat”) snatch by dissecting its parts… and then putting them together.
Also last week saw a 21-15-9 triplet involving OHS at this same lighter loading (95/65 lbs), but this week instead of deficit HSPUs and SDHPs we pair those OHS with burpees. It’s an old school CrossFit.com main site WOD named “Jeremy” and it’s as close to an all-out sprint as many of us can get with a barbell.
Hope you all had a good weekend.
WOD For 10-01-18:
EMOM For 12 Minutes:
1 Power Snatch + 1 Overhead Squat + 1 Squat Snatch
Climbing only as your technique allows
-then-
“Jeremy”
For Time:
21-15-9
Overhead Squats @ 95/65 lbs
Burpees
(Compre to 11-11-14)
Workout courtesy of CrossFit.com
Sweaty Saturday: Teams Of Three For 5, 3, and 1
Happy weekend, friends!
WOD For 09-29-18:
TEAMS OF THREE ATHLETES ON A RUNNING CLOCK...
A) From 0:00 - 15:00
AMRAP 15 Minutes:
10 Box Jumps @ 24/20 in
8 Thrusters @ 95/65 lbs
6 Hand Release Push-ups
*Only one person working at a time - one athlete completes a FULL round then switches (tagging is not required). For example:
Athlete A does 1 full round, then
Athlete B does 1 full round, then
Athlete C does 1 full round, then
Back to Athlete A... etc...
... NO "BUILT-IN" REST OR TRANSITION TIME...
B) From 15:00 - 27:00
Team Front Squat 5-, 3-, and 1-Rep (From a Rack):
12 Minutes For All Three Team Members to Work Together & Establish a 5, 3, and 1-rep Front Squat
*For example, the team may choose to complete as follows (warm-up sets and order of lifting are up to the team’s discretion):
Athlete A does the 3-rep
Athlete B does the 1-rep
Athlete C does the 5-rep
... TWO MINUTES REST TO SET FOR PLANKS...
C) At 29:00
Weighted Plank Hold:
3 x 0:45 (Rest 1:15 between sets)