MLK Holiday Schedule

Please note the following schedule changes for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday this Monday, January 21st:

6:00am and 7:00pm CrossFit Classes are cancelled

11:00am CrossFit Class has been ADDED!!!

Based on the historical attendance from the past several years on MLK Day we think this should help the mid-day class surge (and mitigate the early and late classes of only a few people… sorry in advance if you’re one of the few). Thanks for your attention and happy weekend to all!

WOD For 01-19-19:

With a Partner For Time:

4 Cycles of:

12 Hang Power Cleans @ 155/105 lbs

9 Front Squats

6 Push Jerks

1200m Row

3 Cycles of:

12 Hang Power Cleans @ 155/105 lbs

9 Front Squats

6 Push Jerks

900m Row

2 Cycles of:

12 Hang Power Cleans @ 155/105 lbs

9 Front Squats

6 Push Jerks

600m Row

*Only one athlete working at a time, switch whenever you like.

Friday EMOM Snatch Reply

Well, sort of.

If you were here for last Friday’s EMOM then you have a pretty good feel of how this format goes. This time we’ll start each minute with dubs, so the accumulation of fatigue will be more skill-based than anything else. If you’re efficient with double unders then this will most likely feel fun and methodical (assuming you also like to snatch… but let’s face it just about everyone here likes snatching). If your double unders need work then your going to have plenty of opportunity to practice them in twenty total small doses.

Remember to do the math and keep in mind a reasonable total volume if you don’t regularly train higher repetition jumping — and if, by chance, you forget to do so don’t worry our scaling will remind you as always.

Happy Friday, friends!

WOD For 01-18-19:

EMOM 20 Minutes:

15 Double Unders

1 Snatch

*Start at approximately 70% of your current era 1RM and climb to HAP (“heavy as possible”) with good technique. Climbing every round is NOT required — go by feel and focus on technical consistency by making every rep look the same regardless of weight.

*Both power snatches and full (AKA “squat”) snatches are allowed.

Light, Polite, and Spicy

Where’s Kyle when you need him to ask the legendary question, “Should these be unbroken?”

WOD For 01-17-19:

6 Rounds of 1:30 Work / 1:30 Rest For MAX REPS:

10 Deadlifts @ 185/135 lbs

10 Lateral Bar Burpees

10 Toes-to-Bar

MAX REPS Wall Balls @ 20/14 lbs to 10/9 ft

*Score = total number of Wall Balls completed at the end of 6 rounds

*For every rep of uncompleted movements subtract 2 reps from your score (i.e. “2 for 1” penalty for every time you don’t make it to the Wall Balls)

*Scale appropriately so you don’t get penalized!

-then-

2 Rounds For QUALITY (Not For Time):

20/15 Calorie Row, Ski, or Assault Bike @ RECOVERY PACE

40ft Side Lunges AKA Alternating Cossack Squats

0:30 Seconds Perfect Plank Hold

Wednesday Push-Push-Unilateral-Lunge

“Live your life in couplets and triplets. Go heavy at least once a week. Every now and then go long. Eat real food. Work hard. Rest when you need to. Laugh a lot. Get out of the gym. Shut your phone off. Enjoy life.”

-Pat Sherwood

WOD For 01-16-19:

Strict Press:

5-5-3-3-1-1-1

*If possible add to your top set from 01-02-19

-then-

AMRep 8 Minutes:

2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, etc…

Deficit Handstand Push-ups

12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, etc…

Single KB Front Rack Walking Lunges @ 53/35 lbs

*You MUST switch KB front rack sides halfway through each rep round (e.g. the round of 12 must be 6 reps with KB racked RIGHT then 6 reps racked LEFT)

If You Can Hear My Voice Clap Twice

For any athletes in classes running 2 groups for Tuesday’s WOD — please do our coaches a solid and pay careful attention to the logistics instructions and scaling recommendations in the gym so that this spicy workout runs just as smoothly as it should.

We have a thought-out plan (as always) so while we realize your suggestions given in class during the set-up/warm-up phases are coming from a good place (thank you for trying to help) it actually makes it harder to organize things because we already have a pre-planned system ready to go. It’s almost as if the coaches do this regularly or something LOL.

Thank you & enjoy!

WOD For 01-15-19:

3 Rounds For Max Reps:

3 Minutes of Rowing For Calories

2 Minutes of Squat Cleans @ 165/115 lbs

1 Minute of Bar Muscle-ups

(Rest 2 Minutes Between Rounds)

*There is no built-in transition time from movement to movement

*Post THREE scores in the gym: total reps for Rounds 1, 2, and 3 

(WOD inspired by Josh Bridges and slightly modified by yours truly)

Happy Monday: Here, Do These Burpee Box Jump Overs..

We hope everyone had a great weekend! So look, here’s the thing… most teams only got through about one-and-a-half rounds on Saturday, meaning most athletes only did roughly 20 total box jumps. AND there were no burpees of any sort!

So, you know… Happy Monday.

WOD For 01-14-19:

For Time:

42-30-18 of

KB Swings @ 70/53 lbs

21-15-9 of

Burpee Box Jump Overs @ 24/20 in (face the box)

-then-

Tabata:

Med Ball Russian Twists @ pick load

Sweaty Saturday: A Little Bit of Err-thang

Push, pull, hinge, squat, lunge, jump, unilateral work.

You want it, we got it.

Get in here and get after it, Team!

WOD For 01-12-19:

With a Partner, AMRAP 25 Minutes:

10 Rounds of “CINDY”

20 Single Dumbbell “Forward Lungesters” @ 50/35 lbs (alternate sides each rep)

30 Deadlifts @ 225/155 lbs

40 Box Jumps @ 24/20 in

*Only one partner working at a time, switch whenever you like 

*ONE round of "CINDY" is:

-5 Pull-ups

-10 Push-ups

-15 Air Squats

*ONE rep of "Single DB Fwd Lungester" is:

-Hang Clean

-Lunge RIGHT then LEFT (step forward)

-Thruster

Friday EMOM Barbell Therapy

Who remembers the fun 20-Minute EMOM of 5 Burpees + 1 Clean from three months ago? If you recall it was sort of an interesting, fun, harder than expected stimulus for most of us… well, here’s a Snatch variation using our friend the Wall Ball as the EMOM “buy-in” each time.

Happy Friday and enjoy!

WOD For 01-11-19:

EMOM 20 Minutes:

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

1 Snatch

*Start at approximately 70% of your current era 1RM and climb incrementally to HAP (“heavy as possible”) with good technique.

*Both power snatches and full (AKA “squat”) snatches are allowed.

January On-Boarding Starts This Saturday!

Reminder that our free January 2019 "On-Boarding Series" for newcomers starts this Saturday (January 12th) with the Introduction to CrossFit class at 12:00pm.  The second class of the required two-part series, Beginner's CrossFit, will be held the following Saturday (January 19th).  There are only a handful of membership spaces that will be available before February 1st when we close the membership again for 3 months, so if anyone you know has been wanting to join as a newcomer make sure to spread the word!

For more details on how & why we on-board newcomers in small groups at carefully chosen intervals throughout the year click here to read a previous On-Boarding" post which details a bit of the background on our philosophy.  To lazy to read it?  OK then, here's the basic scoop: we do what we do to maintain quality, an ideal coach-to-athlete ratio in every class, and a caring community composed of like-minded people who consider fitness a sustainable, long-term lifestyle.  

So tell your friends and family to sign-up for this Saturday and get started at Arena Ready (click here for more details and to reserve an On-Boarding spot)!

WOD For 01-10-19:

Hang Power Clean:
5-4-3-2-1

-then-

FIVE Cycles of 1:30 Work / 1:30 Rest For MAX REPS:

10 Handstand Push-ups

50 Double Unders

MAX REPS Hang Power Cleans @ 135/95 lbs

*Score is the total number of hang power clean reps completed across all 5 cycles.

From The Archive: The Athlete In The Arena

In light of our recent post on Instagram it occurred to me that some of you may not know where the name “Arena Ready” came from, or what inspired it. To that end, here is a blog post we wrote nearly six-and-a-half years ago in August of 2012… word for word, in its original & unchanged format.

The words still give me goosebumps.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

--Excerpt from "Citizens in a Republic," Theodore Roosevelt, 1910

We've always loved this quote -  we feel it speaks to anyone who has fought hard to achieve something, whether or not they won.  It's a beautiful description of how a life of purpose feels.  This quote took on new meaning when Sarah saw it on the wall of her grandpa's office shortly after he passed away.  He was her hero, and he was never proud of anything other than her best. He inspired her to achieve things she might not have otherwise considered.  We believe that is what a hero is fundamentally, someone who can set an example of what's possible.

Arena Ready exists to investigate and understand the limits and capabilities of people individually and collectively to improve their own lives and the lives of those around them. Success is not an overnight phenomenon, it's a result of showing up every day to do the best you can on that day.  It's the combined efforts of a community to improve the way its members approach their lives.  Most importantly, it's individually defined - to succeed, you must know what you consider success.

We believe there is too little authenticity in the world today - by focusing on appearances, people too seldom focus on substance, and these artificial fronts weaken everyone - only through honest evaluation and effort can anyone ever know where they stand, and where they can go.  Everyone sees the world through their own interpretation - we see a world of limitless possibilities.  We see potential in everyone, and if possible, we want to help people achieve that potential.  We've been blessed to experience world class coaching throughout our careers spanning multiple sports, and we hope to pass on the lessons we've learned.

The Arena is intense.  It's your life, and this is a battle.  We believe it's a battle worth fighting, and we stand in your corner.

Coach Lavinia sporting one of the original “AR Quote” t-shirts many years ago

WOD For 01-09-19:

With a Partner, AMRAP 22 Minutes:

1000m Row

44 Med Ball Sit-ups @ 20/14 lbs

33 Burpees Over the Rower

22 Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups

*Only one person working at a time, switch whenever you like.

*Can you and a teammate start fast, hold on, and make 3+ rounds?

The "Athlete's Choice" Alternating EMOM

If you’ve been at Arena Ready for a while you’re familiar with the WOD format of Tuesday’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 type 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/or work. The WOD can feel very different to different people, and that’s exactly our intention on these days.

So, check-in with yourself and take a quick inventory of how your body is feeling this week — have you trained consistently over the holidays, how has your sleep/nutrition/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 WOD in your first “full week back” (for some) 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 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 01-08-19:

Alternating EMOM For 7 Rounds (21 Minutes):

Minute 1) 5 Back Squats @ pick load

Minute 2) 5 Explosive Box Jumps @ 30/24 in THEN 10 Russian KB Swings @ pick load

Minute 3) 0:45 Second Plank Hold

Monday 3-2-1 and 21-15-9

How bout dat Sweaty Saturday Partner Slog, eh?

Well here’s what could be considered (in many ways) as the opposite of that slog. We’ll start the week with a 3/2/1 barbell complex and then tackle a 21-15-9 sprint couplet that will make even the fastest of us wish the barbell were heavier so we had an excuse to slow down. This flavor of light loading and short time domain reminds me a little of the feeling of running an “all out” 800 meters on the track. Good times.

Enjoy!

WOD For 01-07-18:

3 Power Cleans + 2 Push Presses + 1 Push Jerk:

15 Minutes to Build to a Top Set

*Touch-and-go is not required for the power cleans but is encouraged for as long as possible with good technique.

-then-

For Time:

21-15-9

Power Cleans @ 95/65 lbs

Push Presses @ 95/65 lbs

*No rack, use the same barbell (yes, someone will inevitably ask).

*Push jerks are not allowed (AKA no re-bending of the legs with the barbell overhead). Here’s a hint… if it feels easy (even if you’re a competitor) you’re probably push jerking.

*Can you hold on to the bar longer than you want to (with good technique of course) and push the pace?

(Workout courtesy of CrossFit Linchpin)