Workout of the Day
The Chief: A Brief History
Reminder about our Holiday Schedule through Jan 1st (click for details).
An Arena Ready Holiday Tradition - "The Chief"...
One of the coolest parts about CrossFit is that its workouts, and your personal results, are measurable, observable, and repeatable. So once you've performed a WOD more than once you're able to look back and see how much better (i.e. fitter) you've become - either you went faster, used more weight, or achieved more rounds/reps. It's not an anecdotal measure of your fitness level (e.g. "I think my pants look sexier on me this month" or "I'm pretty sure my abs look better now in the right light"), but actual data that supports your increased work capacity. And sometimes, in the midst of all that nerdy exercise data, you weave a little story around certain WODs that just hold a special place in your heart.
If you've been a member at Arena Ready for a while you knew it was coming... "The Chief." We do this WOD every year at this time because it's one of my favorite workouts of all time, and since Jan 1st is my birthday it has become somewhat of a "Rob's pre-birthday tradition" at AR. We also ran this WOD on my (and Sarah's) wedding day in 2013, and a few other times over the last 7 years (we're good for it once or twice a year, haha).
The WOD itself is a spicy one - it has pulling, pushing, and squatting all included... and the rep scheme and work/rest ratio allow you to keep moving at a pretty fast pace for a fairly long (by CrossFit standards) period of time.
The first time I did this WOD about 9 years ago I remember getting 16 total rounds, laying out on the floor in exhaustion after the final cycle, and thinking there was no way I could ever move any faster. About thirty minutes later I watched Big Tony Miranda casually get 32 rounds (exactly double my score) and I thought surely he wasn't human. Since then I think I've done the workout at least ten more times, and my goal for the WOD has evolved over the years. Initially the gold standard of 20 rounds was what I wanted... after I hit that I aimed for 25 rounds... and after I made that goal I set my sights on 30 rounds, thinking it would be awesome but would probably never happen. In 2014 I hit 29+ rounds twice and was SO CLOSE to the seemingly impossible (for me) goal of 30, and that's when I decided it HAD to happen in my lifetime. New Year's Eve 2015 and 2016 was also just short of 30 rounds for me.
Last year at this time I was four weeks post-hip surgery so I wasn't be able to chase the 30-round mark on New Year’s Eve. And now, 12 months later, while I’m not exactly “back” yet I’m healthy enough to give the workout a go at Rx even if I know nothing close to 30 rounds will happen for me this time around. All good, I’m going to give it all I have anyway.
I turn 41 on Jan 1st and I ask all of you to come in on New Year’s Eve to do the WOD I have come to love (& hate) over the years - the one WOD I continue to measure myself against above nearly all others... "The Chief."
After "The Chief" on our wedding day in September 2013
WOD For 12-31-18:
"The Chief"
Five 3-Minute Cycles For Max Rounds:
3 Power Cleans @ 135/95 lbs
6 Push-ups
9 Air Squats
Each cycle is 3 minutes or work, and there is 1 minute of rest between cycles. We will score this continuously, keeping one running count for total rounds, because that's how I like to do it (and it's how we've always done it) and it's my birthday. So, in the end, your score is one number of total rounds + reps completed.
(Compare to 12-30-17, 12-31-16, 12-31-15, 12-31-14, 06-30-14, 12-31-13, 09-28-13, 06-18-13 and 12-31-12)
Sweaty Saturday Special: The Final One of 2018!
Reminder about our Holiday Schedule through Jan 1st (click for details).
If Friday was sprint-y and burn-y then Saturday will be (shocker) sweat-y and slog-y. Just how you fitness crazies like it.
Happy final weekend of 2018!
WOD For 12-29-18:
Wth a Partner, 4 Rounds For Time:
750m Row
50 Wall Balls @ 20/14 lbs to 10/9 ft
25 Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups
25 Burpees Over The Rower
Only one person working at a time, switch whenever you like.
Friday Deads, Dubs, Pistols
Reminder about our Holiday Schedule through Jan 1st (click for details).
Your upper pushing & pulling may get a nice break on Friday (shoulders say halleluja) but your body’s backside is gonna do some serious fitness-ing. Gluteus to the maximus. Goin’ HAM on your hammies. Back-rocked Obama. OK, you get the point.
Happy Friday!
WOD For 12-28-18:
AMRAP 3 Minutes:
3 Deadlifts @ 275/195 lbs
30 Double Unders
3 Pistols (alternate)
AMRAP 3 Minutes:
6 Deadlifts @ 225/155 lbs
30 Double Unders
6 Pistols (alternate)
AMRAP 3 Minutes:
9 Deadlifts @ 185/125 lbs
30 Double Unders
9 Pistols (alternate)
Rest 3 minutes between AMRAPs.
Use one barbell and change your own weights during the rest periods.
Thursday 8-7-6
Reminder about our Holiday Schedule through Jan 1st (click for details).
Newer to Arena Ready? Have fun underestimating this one.
Been with us a while? Have fun underestimating this one.
HAHAHA.
WOD For 12-27-18:
7 Rounds, Start Every 3 Minutes:
8 Burpee Box Jumps @ 24/20 in
7 Toes-to-Bar
6 Hang Power Cleans @ 185/135 lbs
Want to up the intensity? Sprint the burpee box jumps and/or do the toes-to-bar unbroken.
Front Squat 1-3-1-5-1-7 and a Scaled-up Baseline
Reminder about our Holiday Schedule through Jan 1st (click for details).
Like with last week’s Back Squat 1-3-1-5-1-7 this Front Squat session has the same intent:
The goal is three heavy singles, each followed by a “down set” of multiple (and ascending) repetitions. The athlete should build to their first single with 3-4 warm-up sets, and then once the first single is taken there should be no “in-between” or “test” sets during the SIX total work sets.
Since this type of session requires the athlete to “go by feel” some will inevitably ask for advice on loading - here is a rough idea of what a typical progression might look like for someone who squats approximately 250 lbs as a 1RM (keeping in mind that athletes will vary!):
Empty Bar + Three to Four Warm-up Sets, then…
1 @ 225 lbs
3 @ 205 lbs
1 @ 235 lbs
5 @ 200 lbs
1 @ 240 lbs
7 @ 195 lbs
Keep your rest strict and fairly short at approx 1:30 between sets. There is no “rule” about the singles going up or down in weight, and the same goes for the sets of 3, 5, and 7 (they can go slightly up, go slightly down, or stay the same) - it all depends on the individual athlete and how they feel today. Take what’s there today, come back tomorrow.
WOD For 12-26-18:
Front Squat:
1-3-1-5-1-7
-then-
For Time:
500m Row
40 Wall Balls @ 20/14 lbs to 10/9 ft
30 Med Ball Sit-ups @ 20/14 lbs
20 Hand-Release Push-ups
10 Bar Muscle-ups
Christmas Eve Track WOD With Coach Kim!
Reminder about our Holiday Schedule through Jan 1st (click for details).
Coach Kim will be leading a Christmas Eve Track WOD on Monday morning at 9:00am!
Get your holiday started right and come out and enjoy some fitness with your Arena Ready friends. Check the private Arena Ready Facebook Group for full details on the workout itself if you don’t like being surprised.
The WOD will take place at CCSF Track (AKA George Rush Stadium) and meet up time on Monday morning is 9:00am sharp. Google map 324 Havelock Street for directions to the base of the parking lot where Kim will gather the group.
On Facebook but not in the private Arena Ready Facebook group? C'mon now, didn't you read your On-Boarding email??!! (don't answer that since I usually know already by your lack of Beyond The Whiteboard entries)
Request to be added to the group (if you're not in it) so you don't miss out on anything Arena Ready related!
WOD FOR 12-24-18:
Get your butt down to the track and find out!
Sweaty Saturday: The Barbell Bonanza
Reminder about our Holiday Schedule through Jan 1st (click for details).
Come in on Saturday morning and get your barbell fix with this Sweaty Saturday Partner Special… then it’s a Christmas Eve Track Workout on Monday, Dec 24th at 9:00am. We’ll post details about the track WOD (meet-up location, workout details, etc.) on Sunday afternoon to the blog — hope we see you at AR on Saturday (and/or Sunday) and then outside at the track on Monday (RAIN OR SHINE!!!).
Happy weekend, friends.
WOD For 12-22-18:
With a Partner For Time:
60 Calorie Row (FM Pairs = 54 Cal / FF Pairs = 48 Cal)
50 Hang Power Snatches @ 95/65 lbs
60 Calorie Row
50 Push Jerks @ 115/75 lbs
60 Calorie Row
50 Hang Power Cleans @ 135/95 lbs
60 Calorie Row
50 Lateral Bar Burpees
Only one person working at time, switch whenever you like.
Teams are responsible for changing their own weights.
Upcoming Holiday Schedule
Please note our class schedule over the next two holiday weeks:
Friday, Dec 21 through Sunday, Dec 23:
Normal class schedule
Monday, Dec 24 (Christmas Eve):
No class
Holiday Track Workout at 9am (RAIN OR SHINE!!!)
Tuesday, Dec 25 (Christmas Day):
No class
Wednesday, Dec 26 through Friday, Dec 28:
CrossFit classes at 7am, 12pm, 4pm, 5pm
Saturday, Dec 29 through Sunday, Dec 30:
Normal class schedule
Monday, Dec 31 (New Year’s Eve):
Holiday WOD classes at 9am, 10:15am
Tuesday, Jan 1 (New Year’s Day):
No class
Wednesday, Jan 2:
Normal class schedule resumes
Thanks for your attention and please let us know if you have any questions.
WOD For 12-21-18:
For Time:
BUY-IN: 800m Run
… then…
21 Deadlifts @ 225/155 lbs
21 Box Jumps @ 24/20 in
7 Ring Muscle-ups
15 Deadlifts
15 Box Jumps
5 Ring Muscle-ups
9 Deadlifts
9 Box Jumps
3 Ring Muscle-ups
ZATSIORSKY, SCALING, AND POWER (And Thanks Coach Steven)
Coach Steven will be leaving us for four months while he does some science-y stuff in Washington DC. Yeah, I know right? Science… who needs it anyway?! Well, he’s going no matter what we say and he claims it is not a violation of the Arena Ready Moratorium since he’s returning in the Spring.
When I asked Steven what workout he would like to do in his final week before his departure THIS IS THE ONE HE PICKED so don’t blame me for the joy it brings you AKA “everything was fine for a while and then all of a sudden it got really bad really fast.”
THANKS, STEVEN.
(below is the original blog post I included with this same workout back in June of 2016)
Originally published six years ago, the article "Zatsiorsky, Scaling, and Power" by Jon Gilson (founder of Again Faster and former member of the CrossFit HQ Seminar Staff) is as useful today as it was back in 2010. Check it out:
You could struggle like a rocket trying to take off on regular unleaded, or you could actually get stronger.
You’re the kid who saw one phenom go from high school straight to the Major Leagues, and figured “What the hell? If that skinny punk can do it, so can I.” Attention, achievement, some sliver of recognition, nothing less will do.
You’re Rx’d. You made the Major League jump. Except, you really, really shouldn’t have, and now you’re striking out. Slow your roll, tee ball slugger.
It’s okay. I did the same thing, and if I don’t admit it, the pot would definitely be calling the kettle another piece of kitchen equipment. Learn from my stupidity.
This is not what we meant.The whole point of our sport is power output: do more work faster. Intrinsic in this little missive is “faster”, but every guy secretly wants to be bigger and stronger, and figures that what we actually meant was “heavier”.
It comes down to simple physics: power is the product of speed and strength. Too much of either (without the other) will result in extremely blunted power.
Imagine speed and strength on the see-saw together, and strength is the fat kid. The really fat kid. In fact, he outweighs speed by a factor of ten. The see-saw stays stuck, and no one has fun at recess. Escaping my metaphor, if the load is too large and speed is too small, power is zip, much like multiplying by zero always gets you zero.
Now, imagine speed and strength are balanced, each kid weighing about the same. This parity allows them to act in concert with each other, and the see-saw really flies. We get power.
“Heavier” isn’t the answer. Balance is the answer.
On page six in The Science and Practice of Strength Training, author Vladimir Zatsiorsky posits that maximal power output occurs at approximately 30% of maximal velocity and 50% of maximal load. I’m in love with page six, and simultaneously dumbfounded by its mathematical exactitude.
Applied to CrossFit and our never ending pursuit of power, this unforgettable page states that we’re looking for a load that you can move with 30% speed, one that tends to occur somewhere around your 50% of one-rep maximum.
Of course, CrossFit won’t ask you to move the bar once, but perhaps ten or twenty or fifty times. To maximize your power across this broad spectrum of work, you’ll want to load to less than 50% 1RM, and continue to try to move the hell out of the bar.
Holy sh*t. A formula for scaling.
For too long, we’ve focused on strength bias this and power animal super athlete that, when this entire program is predicated on power. Stop thinking of scaling as something to keep Grandma in the game. We scale to the physical and psychological tolerance of the athlete for one reason: it enables the individual to produce as much power as possible.
Following Zatsiorsky’s formula, if you can’t thruster at least 190 pounds, you shouldn’t be doing “Fran” with 95. If you can’t clean and jerk 270, don’t do “Grace” with 135. You’re blunting your power output. Scale that weight down; it will make you more powerful.
I did not just tell you to abandon heavy weights. In fact, I want you to lift heavy. A lot. Just not in the middle of your WOD.
If you increase your 1RM, through any number of methods, your 50% 1RM will go up as well, and you’ll climb into the Rx’d echelon via this prescription. You thruster 150, you do “Fran” at 75 pounds or less. You thruster 200, welcome to the Big Leagues.
In other words, don’t strength bias your WODs—strength bias your strength, and scale your WODs to your current strength level.
Proof? Take a look at the strongest men in the world, not by fiat, but by actual numbers lifted, the gargantuan boys of Westside Barbell. Their program regularly calls for moving 50% 1RM as fast as possible. In fact, it was a conversation with Louie Simmons, the founder of the Westside Method and its Dynamic Effort Days, that persuaded me to pick up a copy of The Science and Practice of Strength Training in the first place.
I’m sure he’d be disappointed I never made it past page six, but I bet he’d love it if you stopped trying to do Fran with 65% of your 1RM.
The successful implementation of scaling demands a simple recognition: there are an infinite number of weights that can be loaded on a barbell, and every one must be removed from ego and firmly affixed to power. When this mental shift occurs, we’ll get more powerful athletes, guaranteed.
-Jon Gilson
This article is a great segue into Thursday's workout below, which was a CrossFit.com main site WOD from the Fall of 2014. The WOD looks so simple on paper - it starts out harmlessly in terms of loading - and some athletes may be convinced that they can start at the Rx weight of 75/65 lbs (as we have scaled it) and have no problems getting into the 20+, 25+, or even 30+ minute range. Here is where understanding 1) what the intended stimulus of the workout is; 2) how your current strength and fitness levels fit into that intended stimulus; and 3) how best to scale & approach the workout in order to get the highest possible power output and overall benefit can greatly improve the effectiveness of the workout and the positive adaptation you glean from doing it at an appropriate sequence of loading.
Here are two former CrossFit Games athletes, and still some of the fittest guys out there, doing the WOD starting at 75 lbs. Their final scores were 25 minutes (Pat Barber) and 35 minutes + 4 reps (Wes Piatt):
WOD For 12-20-18:
With a Continuously Running Clock...
Complete 5 Thrusters Every Minute For As Long As Possible:
0:00 - 5:00 use 75/65 lbs
5:00 - 10:00 use 95/75 lbs
10:00 - 15:00 use 115/85 lbs
15:00 - 20:00 use 135/95 lbs
Etc...until you cannot complete 5 reps within the minute
*Continue adding 20/10 lbs every 5 minutes for as long as you are able.
*Score is minutes completed plus any reps in your final partial minute.
(Compare to 06-14-16)
Push-Push to Pull-Pull
The last two days saw variations of pushing/pressing (both lower body and upper body) so we see Wednesday’s program shift to a pulling focus with power snatches and chest-to-bar pull-ups. And how about some double unders and a repeating interval sprint format to add skill and intensity following that aerobic piece on Tuesday?
Enjoy.
WOD For 12-19-18:
Power Snatch:
4-4-3-3-2-2
-then-
FIVE Cycles of 1:30 Work / 1:30 Rest For MAX REPS:
10 Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups
50 Double Unders
MAX REPS Power Snatches @ 95/65 lbs
Holiday Party Snaps
Thanks to Vivs for sending us a few snaps of the Holiday Party! By my count we had 100+ people come through at some point during the evening and true to form the food & drink were pretty top notch as far as potluck-style shindigs inside of a gym can go.
The “Get To Know You AR Swolemates Bingo” and “AR Trivia” games were hilarious and we are already getting lots of requests to bring them back next year — so props to Coaches Hillary, LGB, Megan, Molly, Liz, and others for doing such an awesome job putting that together. WHAT. COLOR. TANK. TOP. IS. BRET. WEARING??!!
We hope you had a fun time and were able to mix it up with your AR friends old and new. Here’s to a wonderful rest of the Holiday Season — may the close of 2018 be happy, healthy, and full of fitness as we all look to make 2019 the greatest year yet!
After a heavy day under the barbell on Monday here’s a “light & polite” aerobic piece for Tuesday’s program that should keep you moving at a constant rate for 20 straight minutes.
WOD For 12-18-18:
AMRAP 20 Minutes:
20/16 Calorie Row, Ski, or Assault Bike
20 Single Dumbbell Overhead Walking Lunges @ 35/20 lbs (switch arms after 10 reps)
20 AbMat Sit-ups
10 Burpee Box Jumps @ 24/20 in
1-3-1-5-1-7
Did anyone get pics of the Holiday Party??!! We are terrible hosts and somehow managed not to snap any of our own photos. There are plenty of after-party pics on the socials for those who closed down the activities at AR and then headed out afterwards… but seriously, any good shots from the evening inside of AR?
Hope you all had a great weekend. Here’s some time under the bar to start the week off right…
WOD For 12-17-18:
Strict Press:
5-5-3-3-1-1-1
Use the seven working sets to build to a heavy single for today.
-then-
Back Squat:
1-3-1-5-1-7
The goal is three heavy singles, each followed by a “down set” of multiple (and ascending) repetitions. The athlete should build to their first single with 3-4 warm-up sets, and then once the first single is taken there should be no “in-between” or “test” sets during the SIX total work sets.
Since this type of session requires the athlete to “go by feel” some will inevitably ask for advice on loading - here is a rough idea of what a typical progression might look like for someone who squats approximately 250 lbs as a 1RM (keeping in mind that athletes will vary!):
Empty Bar + Three to Four Warm-up Sets, then…
1 @ 225 lbs
3 @ 205 lbs
1 @ 235 lbs
5 @ 200 lbs
1 @ 240 lbs
7 @ 195 lbs
Keep your rest strict at approx 1:30 - 2:00 between sets. There is no “rule” about the singles going up or down in weight, and the same goes for the sets of 3, 5, and 7 (they can go slightly up, go slightly down, or stay the same) - it all depends on the individual athlete and how they feel today. Take what’s there today, come back tomorrow.