The Lillehammer 2020 CrossFit Games Open

I remember 1994 like it was yesterday. With a freshly minted driver’s license I had moved on from Drakkar Noir to Cool Water as my wannabe teen heartthrob cologne of choice, I had the full Keenan Ivory Wayans “In Living Color” wardrobe complete with Cross Color jeans and silk/rayon button down shirts, and I was still holding out hope that my height would catch-up with my arms and I’d be 6’5” before senior year of high school so I could go play basketball at Michigan after the Fab Five departed.

I’ll pause here for your laughter. Go ahead, take your time.

Also in 1994, it felt like the Winter Olympics literally JUST happened… and then… seemingly out of nowhere… we had a Winter Olympics AGAIN. People were still celebrating Midori Ito and Alberto Tomba, and I think Bonnie Blair was still on some of the Wheaties boxes — and then we were supposed to do it all over again?!

Welp, the 2020 CrossFit Games Open starts in less than 3 weeks at Arena Ready.

It’s like 1994 all over again. Except we all make better choices now, or thankfully at least I do.

More coming, stay tuned!

WOD For 09-23-19:

3-Position Squat Snatch (Hang Above Knees, Hang Below Knees, Floor):

12 Minutes to Build to a Top Set

-then-

For Time:

21-15-9

Overhead Squats @ 95/65 lbs

Hang Power Cleans

Deficit Handstand Push-ups @ 4/2 in

Thank You, Dani!

We owe a giant THANK YOU and a debt of gratitude to Dani for her work as our General Manager over the last couple of years. While she will no longer serve as our GM, Dani will continue to be an integral part of our Arena Ready community as an athlete, a coach, and an ambassador — so her positive, mindful presence will still be a contributing force for this family of enthusiastic exercisers.

Dani’s work was instrumental in our move from Connecticut Street to our current home at 3250 Cesar Chavez, and she worked tirelessly to help get the facility up & running as a better, badder, cooler place than it was before the transition to AR 3.0. It takes a lot of effort behind the scenes to make the experience here what it is, and for the last couple of years we have Dani to thank for much of what we benefitted from in the environment at Arena Ready.

We wish her nothing but the best in her endeavors to teach the young, aspiring writers of the world, and to continue to lead a positive movement practice while wearing one of her many “hats” as a well-establish yoga instructor in San Francisco. And we’re grateful that she’ll be continuing on as coach here at Arena Ready, particularly because few people see & understand movement & body control as well as Dani does.

So, when you see her the next time in class — either as your classmate or your coach — please give her a high five, or a hug, or shoot her a smile, and THANK her for all that she’s done for this amazing community… and for all that she continues to do to make AR unlike any other place in the fitness world.

Happy Weekend, Team! How about a little more MATH on a Saturday for all you math-letes out there?

WOD For 09-21-19:

In Teams of THREE Athletes…

AMReps in 25 Minutes:

Athletes A & B Complete…

20 Dumbbell Snatches @ 50/35 lbs (must alternate sides)

15 Box Jumps @ 24/20 in

20 Dumbbell Hang Cleans to Overhead @ 50/35 lbs (switch sides whenever)

15 Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups

Athlete C Completes…

30/25 Calorie Row

*One athlete MUST always be rowing, and MUST always switch after 30/25 calories.

*Reps for the other movements may be split in any fashion (does not have to be equal) with only one athlete working at a time.

*Every calorie on the rower equals one rep added to the team's score. Score for the workout is the sum of the DB/BJ/C2B reps PLUS the total calories rowed.

Friday: (You Guessed It) Barbell Therapy

It’s week 3 of this current complex and week 6 overall for our clean & jerk progression, and here’s yet another opportunity to dial in that technique and move some weight. If your legs are feeling the effects of Tuesday’s wall balls and/or Thursday’s lunges then perhaps you’ll stay with the same weights as you did in your last session — otherwise, if you’re feeling good and the bar is moving fast then a slight tick up in loading may be feasible.

Be an athlete. Listen to what your body is telling you, and take what’s there for today. Move well. Get the reps in and sharpen your movement patterns. Focus on making every set look the same, from light to heavy.

Happy Friday, barbell friends.

WOD For 09-20-19:

Every 90 Seconds For 20 Rounds (30 Minutes):

Power Clean + Front Squat + Squat Clean + Jerk

*Use FOUR Weights:

ROUNDS 1-5: Light (50% of 1RM C&J)

ROUNDS 6-10: Moderate (60-65%)

ROUNDS 11-15: Moderate (70-75%)

ROUNDS 16-20: Moderate-Heavy-ish (80-85%)

*Technical Consistency! Ideally 20 of 20 made rounds, no misses!

*If you miss during Rounds 16-20 you MUST lower the weight the next round.

*Any style of jerk is allowed.

Thursday: Front, Back, Side-to-Side

That’s where the soreness will exist after this one.

WOD For 09-19-19:

4 Rounds For Max Reps (0:45 Seconds per Movement / 0:15 Seconds Rest Between Movements):

Front Rack Lunges @ 95/65 lbs

AbMat Sit-ups

Sumo Deadlift High Pulls @ 95/65 lbs

Double Unders

(REST 1:15 Between Rounds)

Record total reps completed for each of the four movements.

Celebration of Life For Sparkle

The Celebration of Life for Sparkle will be held on Sunday, October 6th at 3pm in Pleasant Hill. Jon has asked us to share this information with the Arena Ready community, and the location details are listed below:

Pleasant Hill Senior Center

233 Gregory Lane

Pleasant Hill, CA 94523

Feel free to reach out with any questions and we will do our best to answer them if we are able.

WOD For 09-18-19:

7 Rounds, Start Every 3 Minutes:

15/12 Calorie Row, Ski, or Assault Bike

3 Ring Muscle-ups

5 Hang Power Snatches @ pick load

You can do this workout as a “measured” effort with moderate intensity, or up the ante by increasing the intensity within the limits of your technique (both approaches are perfectly acceptable today). How do you increase the intensity? Pick any or all of the following:

-Row faster

-Do the muscle-ups unbroken

-Do the snatches unbroken at a challenging weight (executed with solid technique)

Sparkle Slideshow

Jenny put together a slideshow of some of the amazing images she’s captured of Sparkle over the years — you can view the slideshow here. Thank you so much, Jenny, for documenting these moments and sharing them with the AR community.

NOTE: Cahill Construction has begun their demo/trench/re-pour work of the sidewalk around the gym. They have agreed to keep the bulk of the work during non-class hours so for now we have left the week’s class schedule intact, but please check back here and on the private Arena Ready Facebook group for any updates (their timelines seem to be moving targets so we are trying our best to manage the situation with as little disruption to gym hours as possible).

WOD For 09-17-19:

On a Running Clock…

A) At 0:00

For Time:

40-30-20-10

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

20-15-10-5

Burpee Box Jumps @ 24/20 in (must face the box)

… REST AT LEAST 5 MINUTES, THEN…

B) From 18:00 - 31:00

Back Squat:

13 Minutes to Build to a Heavy Triple* For Today (NOT a 3RM)

Mainsite Monday Returns! (For Now)

This is actually one of my favorite couplet combos from CrossFit.com… enjoy!

WOD For 09-16-19:

AMRAP 7 Minutes (in the increasing rep scheme of 2/2-4/4-6/6-8/8-10/10-etc):

Deadlifts @ 225/155 lbs

Strict Handstand Push-ups

-REST 5 MINUTES THEN-

AMRAP 7 Minutes (in the increasing rep scheme of 2/2-4/4-6/6-8/8-10/10-etc):

Power Cleans @ 155/105 lbs

Pistols, alternating

(Workout courtesy of CrossFit.com)

Sunday Picnic For Sparkle

As we mentioned in Thursday’s blog post we’ll be gathering for a picnic in Precita Park on Sunday following Open Gym. We invite the entire Arena Ready community to come and be around supportive friends to grieve the loss of our one and only Sparkle. Come as you are, bring what you wish, and tell each other stories about our dear friend and swolemate.

WOD For 09-14-19:

“AMRAP Team Fight Club”

With a Partner Against a 25-Minute Clock:

BUY-IN: 800m Run TOGETHER

… then, in the remaining time AMRAP of…

30 Thrusters @ 95/65 lbs

30 Power Cleans

30 Box Jumps @ 24/20 in

30 Pull-ups

30 Calorie Row, Ski, or Assault Bike (FM Pairs = 27 Cal, FF Pairs = 24 Cal)

*The faster runner starts on the thrusters immediately and does NOT have to wait for their partner to complete the run.

*One athlete working at a time on the AMRAP, switch whenever you like (tagging not required).

Construction Update Part 2

The sidewalk demo we mentioned earlier this week will now start on Friday after the morning classes and continue through the early afternoon, so Friday’s noon class has been cancelled.

We’ve been told by Cahill Construction that this phase of work will be done for the day prior to 4pm so we plan on conducting our 4, 5, and 6pm classes as usual — but will make sure to update ASAP if that changes.

We’ll post more updates as we get clarity around dates next week that will be affected. Thanks for your understanding, and let us know if you have any questions.

WOD For 09-13-19:

Every 90 Seconds For 20 Rounds (30 Minutes):

Power Clean + Front Squat + Squat Clean + Jerk

*Use FOUR Weights:

ROUNDS 1-5: Light (50% of 1RM C&J)

ROUNDS 6-10: Moderate (60-65%)

ROUNDS 11-15: Moderate (70-75%)

ROUNDS 16-20: Moderate-Heavy-ish (80-85%)

*Technical Consistency! Ideally 20 of 20 made rounds, no misses!

*If you miss during Rounds 16-20 you MUST lower the weight the next round.

*Any style of jerk is allowed.

Sparkle

It is with the greatest heartbreak that we notify our Arena Ready family that we've lost one of our own. As all who knew her can attest, Sparkle was a bright light in our community and one who will be dearly missed.

In addition to the GoFundMe link here (which was started by one of Jon’s fellow firefighters) Michelle is working to coordinate if anyone is aware of breast milk donations for newborn Baby Moore. We will keep you posted in the private Arena Ready Facebook group as we learn ways that we all can support Jon, as well as any details regarding a memorial service, a memorial workout, and anything else.

Nevada will also be creating a poster we can use to share memories of Sparkle for Jon and their families.

For those closest to Lindsay & Jon wishing to spend time together and process this loss, a group has organized an event tomorrow (Thursday) evening at 6pm — please contact Stacey for more details. Additionally the AR gym community as a whole will be hosting a picnic at Precita Park this Sunday after Open Gym for everyone who wants to come and be around their supportive friends to grieve together.

PLEASE NOTE: So that the AR coaches who knew & loved Lindsay so dearly may attend the Thursday evening gathering we have cancelled our Thursday evening 6pm and 7pm classes. Thanks for your understanding.

WOD For 09-12-19:

Alternating EMOM For 4 Rounds (12 Minutes):

1) 80 ft Single DB Overhead Waiter Carry @ pick load (40 ft Right / 40 ft Left)

2) 20 Steps of Glute Band “Monster Walk” (By Round: 10 x R/L, R/L, F/B, F/B)

3) 40 Unbroken Double Unders

-then-

AMRAP 15 Minutes:

30 Overhead Walking Lunges w/Plate @ 45/35 lbs

15 Toes-to-Bar

30 Burpees

We Will Never Forget.

WOD For 09-11-19:

5 Cycles of (2 Minutes Work / 2 Minutes Rest) For MAX CALORIES:

10 Deadlifts @ 245/165 lbs

15 Box Jumps @ 24/20 in

MAX CALORIE Row

Your score is the total number of calories rowed.

Upcoming Construction Gym Closure

UPDATE: Cahill has likely pushed this construction work to next week, so this week’s class schedule may not be affected. We will keep you updated as soon as we have more details on exact dates.

We were notified today (Monday) that Cahill Construction will need to completely demo & re-install the sidewalk in front of the gym (as well as the driveways) this week, so unfortunately it is likely we will be closed for 2 (possibly 3) days during the Wednesday through Friday timeframe.

We are about as frustrated with this as you can imagine, and once we have the exact timeline for the work we will update the community here and on our private Arena Ready facebook group. We wanted to give everyone as much heads-up as we were given so that you can plan your week accordingly, and hopefully get into the gym on Tuesday for one heck of a crowd favorite WOD.

Thanks for your patience and please reach out with any questions.

WOD For 09-10-19:

"Cindy Full of Grace"

3 Rounds For Time:

3 Rounds of "Cindy"

10 Clean & Jerks @ 135/95 lbs  

1 Round of "Cindy" is:

5 Pull-ups

10 Push-ups

15 Air Squats

So yes, this workout contains 9 total rounds of “Cindy.”