Crossfit Walnut Creek - Sweat shop

Hey Crossfitters - Welcome to 2012 and a new year filled with new adventures to new crossfit locations.

First up is Crossfit Sweat shop which is in Walnut creek, CA.  The best thing about this location other than the WOD was that it was literally right behind my hotel, a 2 minute walk, very convenient!

I emailed the owner about a week ahead of time and he welcomed me to the box anytime during my stay and the trainer, James was fantastic to work with.  I showed up for the 6 am class on the 6th of Jan.  Being that it was a friday, it was jam packed, I think 15 people and these crossfitters did not know the WOD of the day!

Check out the picture of the community box for doing box jumps, pretty nice!

Here is the warm up which really got you going.

200 meter row
elbow to instep
7 hindu pushups
5 pull ups
10 KB swings
15 airsquats

Here is the WOD and what I liked best about this was that there were 3 small WOD's all with different exercises!  Total time was about 20 min.  This one was a real gasser!

7 min AMRAP
7 pull ups
10 single arm DB thruster 45/25
10 box jumps
90 sec rest

6 min AMRAP
10 pistols
15 KB swings 70/44 - I did 5 of the 70# and the rest at 53#
90 sec rest

5 min AMRAP
10 wall balls - i did one round of the 25# ball - Bonus points!
5 burbees

Well that's all for now!  Thanks for checking in all Stay Healthy!

Crossfit Monrovia - I wuv the Push Press!

Hey Followers - Late in getting this out to everyone but I did an awesome workout at Crossfit Monrovia, CA.  I have been here before but this is the first time I am blogging about it.

I did the 530 PM workout on a surprisingly chilly and rainy day in SoCal but the WOD was good, see below.  This location is big with tons of equipment and plently of room and the people there are very nice!

AMRAP
10 push press
30 DU

As you know I am not such a big fan of the DU, but my practice has gotten me a bit better and so I did enjoy this workout and too up the ante a bit, I did 100 lbs on the push press for my friend Paul!

I did 6 rounds and was happy with that! 

Catch you next time someplace at another Crossfit location!  SU

Crossfit - Edmonton Canada, eh?

Hey Crossfitters - I was up in Edmonton Candada recently and got to visit a Crossfit up there.  This was another crossfit located in an industrial area about 30 minutes from downtown so yes a bit of a cab ride at 5:30 in the morning to get to the 6 am class.    Fairly good size class, 10 people and all really nice people.

The location itself was not very big but they had all the nescessary equipment for a great workout.  Up at this location, we did a full 20 minutes of warm up from box jumps to inch work push ups, to air squats and some yoga moves.  We did a full 10 minutes of light shoulder work to get ready for the WOD.  The workout was as follows

15 min AMRAP

10 body rows
9 box jumps - 24 inch.
8 push press

I really liked this workout, I only did 95 lbs on the push press and got 9 rounds and for me this was good.  I guess I could have done the 115lbs but form is really importand to me so I will work on more weight as I get stronger.  See you next time at another Crossfit

Crossfit SOCO - Colorado Springs, CO Aug 22!

Hi Everyone - I hope the WOD's are going well for you and wanted to share with you a WOD that I did while on business in Colorado Springs, CO.  The location is called Crossfit SOCO and is just about a mile from downtown Colorado Springs.  I jogged there from my hotel and I was a bit early for the 5:30PM WOD, I did check it out online and it looked like a good one.  Here are some pictures of the WOD and it was a doosy, the last 3 pictures are with me in them, Parisjat suggest that I have someone take pictures of me during the WOD instead of just snaping photos of the location, hope you like them.  The warm up was good and plently of stretching as well.  We also did snatch grip deadlift pulls 3-3-2-2-1, this was a great exercise for me as well cause I dont do them that much.

Not sure if you can see exactly what the WOD was so here it is.

"Anerobic Beast day"
In 2 minutes
3 to 5 Wall Climbs - lying on the floor in push up position with feet against the wall, climp up the wall using your feet and hands until your chest is flush with the wall.
10 squat thrusts - just like a burbee without the push up
10 pull ups
10 BB Squat jumps with 45lb bar bell
10 explosive push ups, basically a clap push up
200 meter run

Rest for 5 minutes
5 rounds

SO, if you could not finish this in 2 minutes you had to modify the reps so that's what I did.  There was only one person who I saw doing RX, I had to modify to either 7 to 8 reps per exercise which worked pretty well for me.  As I said earlier this was a killer and I mean killer workout.  At the end of each round, I could barely breathe, I think it was that I was exhasted, plus the altitude gets to you, Colorado Springs is about 6K feet up. 

Everyone at this box was super nice and very friendly.  The facility was huge and they had tons of equipment, pull up bars, rings to do muscle ups, and much more.  I will definately be back to this location.  See you next time at a Crossfit in your neighborhood!   SAU.

Crossfit Greenlake - Aug 16th

Hey All you Followers(2) and other crossfitters - I was up in Seattle recently and had time for an afternoon workout so decided to visit the Crossfit up in Greenlake.  This is actually owned by another Crossfitter who also owns Belleveue and one more in  Ballard so I might have to make the trek to see these as well. 

Well, getting there was fairly easy but when I got there I parked in what I thought was there parking lot but after checking in with Ashley, She told me that I had to park in their parking lot around the corner, not a big deal but you know I had to go out and do that which was a pain in the @%$%^%SS. 

Anyway when I got back I got ready for the WOD.  Oh well, this one is not one of my favorites as it had 50 DU's, 25 burpees 12 power cleans and then a 200 meter run, 4 rounds called "stack em high"

starting weights

95/65
110/77
135/95
155/110

Since power cleans were not my strong point, I started at 75 and did 2 rounds then moved to 95 for the last 2 rounds, this turned out to be a good idea because the last round was a killer!  This turned out to be a pretty good WOD for me but I still struggled on the DU's and power cleans but at least I know what I need to work on.  My time was 29.43 which for me is pretty darn good.  Could I improve on my time?  Certainly but I have to be a bit more patient on the DU's, but it is very frustrating to see so many other crossfitters doing these and doing them well, so I will continue on and practice more and more each and everyday cuase I know its just something that will come with time.  Overall Crossfit Greenlake is an OK box, I did not get the warm and fuzzy welcoming feeling here but that might just be who they are.  Oh well the trainers Ashly and Tyler were very nice and did a good intro on form for the power cleans but not much of a warm up.  That is all for now, and I will bid you good bye and report back to you from another Crossfit location sometime very soon!  SAU

SFO Crossfit - one more time

Ok, I have not written about a crossfit twice in a row but I was in SFO again and so I was able to blog about this location again.  This time I went to the 4:30 pm class on Monday Aug 8th and Tuesday morning 6 am on the 9th.  The 4:30 pm WOD was lead by a guy named Angel but he was not an "angel" to those who were partisipating.  II was there a bit early and had time to practice my DU and he told me to keep that jump rope with me as I will get to practice much more during today's WOD.  This is good for me cause you know that I currently struggle with DU's.

The really nice of this box is that they always do a nice warm up and really good stretching. 

200 meter run
50 DU
200 meter run
50DU

Then we did the normal stretching but then we did some group warm ups.  Everyone had to hang from a bar and hold their legs at a ninty degree angle or some modified version for 20 seconds for 5 rounds, then we practiced hand stand walks which only 2 of the 30 people there could do so, instead we had to hold a plank position for 5 minutes with our feet on a box or in a hand stand position with your feet against the wall, lastly we did "ab" work.  Everyone had to hold a bow position with hands outstretched and rock back and forth for 30 seconds for 5 sets, then when we thought that was over, we had to do 20 more sit ups, not so much fun.

Finally to the WOD.

Forward Lunges with 95#
DU's

15 reps
12 reps
9 reps

So, overall a very good workout and especially great for me as I need the help on DU's and now happy to report that I was able to do 16 in a row.  They use the Buddy Lee magic JR and I just ordered 2 of them for Parisjat and I to use. 

2 WOD at 6 am on Aug 9th.

The only reason I am doing a second entry is because Kelly the owner of SFO Crossfit was teaching and I have to say, he is quite an amazing teacher.  We did a similar type of warm up but right after we did the warm up we went into a metabolic workout, very dynamic and he showed me so much about really using our core in many of the workouts especially the dead lifts which we did for this work out. 

The WOD was

Dead lift - Use your body weight
burbee box jumps

12 reps
9 reps
6 reps

5 rounds for time

When we got started with the dead lifts Kelly immediately came over to help me with form, I thought I was doing pretty well but really not so well.  My bad was curved and I really needed extra help on keeping my back very straight.  This was very frustrating for me but very good for me to hear and I was able to correct it.  Kelly had to correct me 3 times on my dead lifts which tells me that I have been doing dead lifts incorrectly all this time, oh well at least I have the correct form for next time.  That's not all, Kelly told me that when I was doing burpees that my feet need to land competely flat and not on my heels or toes.  According to Kelly landing on either your toes or heels could result in a torn ACL or other knee issues.  So, moving forward I will be focusing more on form and techique instead of time when doing either of these two movements.

I have included some extra pictures of the view from their location on clear days and their restrooms...thou shall not comment or complain about your bathrooms facilities unless you have portapotties as well.

All for now, see you at the next Crossfit somewhere soon........SAU

Crossfit Boise - Refinery - Aug 3, 2011

Hello Fellow Crossfitters - I am writing today from Boise, ID after a pretty killer WOD at a great Box.  Crossfit Boise Refinery is located downtown in a large warehouse space.  As you can see from the pictures, they have tons of space with all the typical Crossfit gear.  The instructor was Sun and he lead us in a nice warm up stretch and then to the warm up and WOD.Here was their warm up and WOD.

I went to the 4:30 pm class and there were about 15 people there, a pretty good showing for an afternoon class.  They also have several classes throughout the day starting at 6 am.

Warm up - 2 rounds
10 pull ups
10 sit ups
10 push ups
10 Overhead squats
10 back extensions

For time
5 rope climbs
5 C & J
4 rope climbs
4 C& J
3 rope climbs
3 C& J
2 rope climbs
2C&J
1 rope climb
1 C& J

The suggested weights were

145
165
185
205
225

WOW that is a 20# gain for each set.   SO, I started with 95# and then to 115# and no further.  Clean and Jerks are one thing I currently struggle with right now so I wanted to keep form so I stuck with the lower weight and did extra reps.

As for the rope climbs, this was a treat and I actually liked the first 5( not like the I like my cold stone ice cream but you know what I mean) cause after the first set of C&J they became a challange for a couple of reasons.  It was hard to keep the intensity and after the first five I started to get a rope burn on the lower part of my left shin and so you know that rope and exposed skin rubbing together does not go well, just like when I don't glide up before sit up days, same thing...Ouch!  The shower afterwards didn't feel any better.  Oh well, I finished in about 11 min, so not to shabby, but no RX.  I finished up with 10-15 of DU practice cause I need it.

Thanks to all the Crossfitters in Boise and to Tyler and Casey for letting me workout with you guys!