Hail to the Prowler!

When you live in Beaverton, OR, it's not often that you get to use a prowler (insert video of a crossfitter pushing a weighted sled across the pavement) or even better when you get to use one outside on a sunny day in early Jan.  Well, thanks to Crossfit Core Fitness in Phoenix that's exactly what I got to do.  Actually, I have been to this location before and when I arrived, the person who greeted me was so nice.  She just asked that I log in with my phone number and that there would be no charge for a drop in! 

Wow, I love it when Crossfit boxes open their doors to travelling Crossfitters for free! That's what Crossfit should be about!

The WOD was: 

Deadlift 3x4  - I am nursing an minor lower back injury so I opted to not do deadlifts and instead do heaving snatch balance which was what was what we were doing at my crossfit.  This has also changed, but I will get to that later.

WOD
30 KB Swings - 44lb
30 walking lunges
1 prowler push, down and back

15 min AMRAP

First off, I would like to give big shout out to all the Crossfitters at Core Fitness, you are a great bunch of people and very welcoming.  Stephanie the trainer that evening who by the way is 6 months pregnant , congrats! was so fun to WOD with and what a great trainer.  She did a super warm up  (I liked the fire hydrants) with some light stretching that I have never seen or done, so Thanks!  I would also need to point out that Matt, one of the other trainers and (OPT athlete) was kind enough to take the photos!  Thanks Matt!
As I noted above, just recently I have decided to join a different Crossfit, called Reflexion.  Both Parisjat and I are now working out at this new crossfit.  This past November I turned 45 and realized that in order to grow and change as a Crossfitter, I must make a change, so that is why I have decided to join Reflexion.  Over the past several months I had the opportunity to workout with the trainers at Reflexion(Coach J and Shawn) and really like their approach to Crossfit.  The programming is a mix of OPT and Outlaw programming with WODs that are short and very intense and a huge attention to form and technique.  They also have a very specific Olympic lifting  program too(snatch, clean and jerk)!  Onward and upward!

Until we WOD agan.....SAU

Crossfit - West Sacramento

Hey Fellow Crossfitters - I am so sorry for the recent lack of communication just haven't been in the blogging mood.  But there is good news cause on my visit to Sacramento I had the opportunity to WOD at West Sacramento and I did something I have never done before.....

After a full day of travel and work I arrived at Crossfit West Sacramento (CFWS) for the 530 pm class about 10 minutes early which left just enough time to change from work mode to Crossfit mode.  This is a really nice location, just off the freeway in a business park.  They have a really open space and lots of equipment.  The trainer was super nice and best of all no drop in fee.

After introducing myself to the trainer, I took a look at the WOD, see below

Warm up
sprints
knee high's
butt kickers
goblet squats - 10 reps
10 push ups

Back squat  - strength work 10 sets of 2 reps with a 30 sec rest between sets @ 70 % of your max


WOD - 12 minute cap
500 meter row
20 wall balls (30lb)
30 ground to overhead with 40Lb dumbbells
40 pull ups
10 front squats - (185lb) 

So, I said to myself this looks pretty spicy but I have been working on squats and cleans so the front squat might be doable, I would soon learn that I was horribly incorrect. Before the WOD we did a really great warm up listed above.  

There was only 6 of us in class so we broke it up into 2 waves and I would go in the first wave.  The 
trainer told us to get our equipment ready and so I set up my rower, grabbed 2 of the 40 lb dumbbells, 30 lb wall ball (And I remember thinking this in my head, this doesn't feel so heavy and man would I pay for that thought).  

SO, it was 3-2-1 go time....I hit the rower a bit fast but I was dealing with a 12 min time cap so I felt I had to, then I got to the fu$%%$ing 30 lb wall ball, it felt so heavy.  At first I could only do 2 or 3 reps in a row but then I actually got it up to 4 in a row with rest in between sets, those really sucked!  Next up was the G2O with the dumbbells and at first you think that 30 reps is no big deal but I tell you now that it seemed like forever, not that it was heavy, it just seemed like I was going in slow motion, and I could now feel my pace beginning to slow a bit.  I honestly don't remember the time at this point but I was on to pull ups, and I could hear the trainer cheering me on which lifted my spirits a bit.  I thought I should butterfly some of these and I did, but there was a problem, the trainer was "no repping" on each one because my chin was not getting above the bar, so I lost 4 reps, so I had to reset, catch my breath and start over with kipping pull ups but now the sand in the hourglass was running thin.  I managed to do 5 reps at a time and get all the pull ups in and then I looked at the time and panic struck, I was almost out of time, Damn it, I had just under a minute to get 10 front squats.  I headed over to the bar quickly set up and attempted to clean 185# but failed....."hold crap that feels heavy" so I caught my breath and went in to clean it again, but failed yet again! Now with only 15 seconds left I heard the trainer say, just get the bar up and get one rep, SO I approached the bar and gave it all I could and finally got under it, but it took everything I had to stand up, and I had time to try one more rep so I lowered myself down and got one more rep......and that was it.  TIME HAD EXPIRED!

SO that's it, the first time as a crossfitter that I have never not finished a WOD,  what a wonderful humbling feeling!  Honestly, I did not think that this would happen but there is a first for everything!

Until we meet again. Happy Crossfitting!  SU

Crossfit River North, Chicago

Hey Everyone - While at a trade show in Chicago ,I had the special opportunity to WOD, not once but three times at Crossfit River North.  From my hotel it was just about 1 mile to their box, located in the heart of downtown Chicago in the neighborhood called "River North".

This is a pretty good size location with massive amounts of equipment, squat racks, bars, GHD machines and more.  Plus they have a separate location for doing the "on-ramp" classes.  There are also 2 rest rooms, and showers for both men and women. This is downtown Chicago  so I would kind of expect these types of accommodations.

So, I was in Chicago for 3 nights and 4 days so that meant I would WOD on Wednesday, Thursday, and one last WOD on Friday.  I planned to do all early AM classes and so continues "on the wod again."  They do charge a drop in fee of $20 per day but did not charge me for the 3rd day, so I purchased a shirt on day 3.  They were very accommodating and easy to work with and since this was Chicago, where nothing comes cheap or for free so that was not out of the ordinary.

Wednesday

Warm up - 400 m run with D.S. (dynamic stretching), this is where we all lined up and did several stretches, butt kicks, knee highs, toy soldiers, side steps and hip flexibility.  So it got you really warm up for the WOD and then the trainer went over the movements for the WOD.

WOD - Helen  - 3 RFT - 400 m - 21 KB swings 53/35# and 12 pull ups.

Many of you know that this is one of the classic benchmark WOD's.  I do like this one but with all bench mark WOD's I like to do them at my own box, but since this is was their workout, I had to do it.  This one felt good right from the get go and I was able to do the KB swings unbroken for all three rounds, once again it was the pull ups that took time.  Finished in 8:38 RX, so I was really happy! A new PR for me!

Cool Down WOD - 150 mason twists with a 20# ball....um not very fun but a fun cool down

Thursday

Warm up - 800 m Jog, then the same dynamic stretching as noted above

Next we did something I have never done at any other crossfit, a pre-WOD- WOD.  Yes, we did a 3 min AMRAP of 10 push ups, 10 squats, 20 skaters and 100 m run, I just barely finished 2 rounds. I was nice and ready for the WOD.

WOD
800 m run
Then 10 rounds of
10 burpees
5 HSPU
Then
800 m run

On this WOD, the 800 meter run was long or at least felt long.   The 10 rounds of burpees and HSPU looks bad (in a crossfit way) but once again you don't realize how bad until round 5 or 6.  I just wish my kipping HSPU's were better.  Note to self, need to work on improving my kipping HSPU's!  Anyway, I don't remember my time on this WOD but what I do remember is that I don't ever want to do it again!

Cool down - 50 GHD back extensions.

Friday

So, on my last day in Chicago, with my flight not until 9:30 am, I decided ( like the crazy crossfitters that we are) to go for one last WOD at 6:00 am.  I got up at 5:15 and with my  bags packed for the airport. I walked to the box and here is what I saw "Jackie" on the Whiteboard.   Oh man ! Another benchmark WOD and one that looks OK on paper but for anyone who has done Jackie, you know that 50 Thrusters with a 45# bar is nothing to smile about.

Warm up - 500 m slow Row, then move to dynamic stretching

Strength work - Front squats - This was awesome as I am in the middle of a front squat program so as luck would have it, I could keep on track.  Plus they have awesome built in squat racks to work from.

WOD - Jackie
1000m Row
50 - Thrusters 45#
30 - Pull ups

Ummm., what to say about "Jackie?", lets just say that she wasn't very kind to me. I felt like I gave it my all but the results didn't show it.  The row was good but the thrusters felt heavy and seemed to take forever.  The trainer told us before the WOD, that it was better to rest the bar on our shoulders instead of setting it down and while I tried this during the WOD I still found myself setting the bar down, damn it!  By the end of the thrusters I felt like I had nothing left in the tank but managed to get 30 pull ups and finish it out.  Not my best time but happy anyways!

So I would say that Chicago River North is a great box to join for a WOD or two if you are in Chicago for a day or two..  You can call or e-mail to let them know but you can also just show up.  There are also many classes during the day, in fact from 5 am to 7 pm, every hour they have a class.

Crossfit - Armoury - Edmonton, Canada

Hey Fellow Crossfitters - So after the WOD at Crossfit Calgary, I was lucky enough to be in Edmonton which is about a 3 hour drive from Calgary.

Crossfit Armoury is located in a business park in a similar location to CFSWB.  Easy to find and plenty of parking.

I had also emailed them to let them know I was coming and Jason one of the trainers was super nice on email and said to please stop by and WOD with them and there would NOT be a drop-in fee!  I wanted to buy a shirt but nothing really caught my eye so I passed.  Here was the warm up and WOD ( note no pull ups or push ups because if there was I would not be WOD'ing with them)

Warm up
Knee highs
butt kicks
jump skips
DU - 25
OH squats with dowel - 15
pull ups 10

Then
10 x 200 m sprints EMOM.  I knew that this would be a challenge and it was.  After just 3 rounds I was feeling the burn, it didn't help that Edmonton is about 2K feet above sea level so the elevation was tough on my lungs as well

WOD
21-15-9
Deadlifts - 225lb
Front squats - 135lb

So after the sprint work, it was time for the WOD.  I was actually very excited to do this WOD for the simple fact that I could do the weight but how long it was going to take me remained to be seen. So, we went through a series of warm ups with both deadlifts and front squats so that the trainers could see that we could do the weight and I was ready to go.  Oh yeah, one more thing, we were only allowed to use one bar for this workout, so you started on the deadlift at 225 and when you finished the 21 reps you removed a 45# plate from each side and did 21 reps of front squat with 135# and the same for 15 reps and 9 reps.

OK, it was 3-2-1- Go and we were off.  The first set of deadlift's went well,not as fast and I wanted to go but not bad.  I managed to get through the first set of front squats fairly well, but it was the second set of 15 reps where I really began to feel this one.  The weights really began to feel super heavy and after 15 reps where done, I moved on to set of 9.  I was almost 8 minutes in the WOD, but it felt much longer and I heard that voice in my head telling me to pick up the bar, but my body wasn't responding.  I was just standing over the bar sweating and finally something clicked and I reached down for the final reps of the deadlift and soon after I was finishing the front squats.  What made this WOD tough was changing the weights back and forth from 225 to 135.  Also, the deadlifts felt good but it was more the front squats because I had to clean the weight and do the front squat and it felt like I was lifting a F*$#ing house. 
I finished with a time of 12:35 which I felt was respectable, it felt good to be done with this one!

Hope you get a chance to do a WOD like this with the heavy weights, it certainly takes you to the outer limits of your comfort zone but allows you to find that place inside of you to dig deep and persevere!

Good luck!  SAU

Crossfit Calgary - That wasn't very nice....eh?

Hey Crossfitters - Before I headed up to Calgary, I did some research and found Crossfit Calgary . I gave them a call and spoke with Ally.  I told her that I was going to be up there soon and would it be OK to WOD with them?  She said that they loved having visitors and to stop by anytime.

So, there I was in Calgary and heading to their location and as you can see from the pictures, they are located in a very populated area with lots to stores and shops.  It actually looked like this location was formally a Oil Can Henry's or something similar.  Anyway, lots of equipment, pull up bars, C2 rowers, but no built in squat racks, they were the portable ones like we have at CFSWB.  However, they did have bathrooms with a shower in each, a very nice idea!

I was there for the 6 pm WOD and walked in the door and the person who met me was Colin, who was one of the trainers there.  I introduced myself to him and Ally was there as well.  They were all very nice and welcoming.  I signed the wavier and got started on my warm up,  plus they did not charge a drop in fee!  However, before that Colin ( who was 56 and in amazing shape showed me how to tape my hands as we would be doing a bunch of pull ups)...  See below:

Warm up
500 m row, 30 seconds fast and 30 seconds slow and keep alternating
10 box jumps
10 arm circles in various directions (forward, reverse, ext)
10 air squats

WOD
15-30-45 - Push ups / pulls ups
mandatory 5 min rest, then....
45 - 30-15 push ups / pull ups

Yes, that is correct, it is 180 of each.  The trainer for this class was Erin who made it very clear what she expected from everyone on push ups, chest must touch the floor and elbows must lock out every time and the same went for pull ups.  Full ROM and if you needed to modify either the pull ups or push ups by all means do so.   She had some very good advice as well, do not start this WOD fast, it was a chipper.  Other than Colin teaching me how tape up my hands to avoid ripping, this would prove to be great advice.

Then after a bit of stretching, it was 3.2.1. go time.

I started by doing 15 of each the push ups and pull ups in the first round of 15, then to sets of 10 in the round of 30, then I forget how many I was doing in the round of 45, but it wasn't much and all I was thinking about was the 5 min rest that was coming. I just kept telling myself to keep moving and get as many reps as I could muster.  The 5 min. rest was nice but then this WOD got tough on the second round of 45-30-15.  This is where you had to dig real deep and just keep chipping away.  I finished the first set in 7:55 and finished the entire WOD at 22:15.

Overall, this WOD looked like Hell and that is exactly what it felt like but it is what we do as crossfitters, enjoy the SUCK and this one did that!  Thanks to Erin, Colin, and everyone at Crossfit Calgary.  You are great and very welcoming!

 

Crossfit Scottsdale - working on some snatches

Hey Fellow Crossfitters - On my recent trip to Arizona, I was lucky enough to be with a couple of friends, Josh McDonald and Nick Clancy, most of you remember Nick who was a former member of CFSWB and just recently move to the Arizona heat with his girlfriend and Josh who is a friend and crossfitter at CFSWB was down visiting Nick during the same time, so we all got to WOD together and man was it good!

This box has been around for several years and you can see from the pictures, it is quite extensive, many pull up bars, squat racks, sand bags, ropes and so much more, they can do it all here!  In fact they have hosted Level 1 Trainers course and a Crossfit HQ demo WOD.

So Nick is a soon to be trainer at Crossfit Scottsdale and so he set it up to have us WOD at 7am.  Honestly I am not sure if they have a drop in fee but we did not pay one so I picked up a T-shirt.  We arrived at the box a bit early to take care of some paperwork.  Then we spent some time rolling out with the foam rollers and took a look a today's WOD as follows;

3 position snatch skill set - work up to your max where you can do a full squat with all three positions
1 - from the floor
2 - from just above the knee
3 - from the hip crease

Then
10 min EMOM - Every minute on the minute for 10 minutes
1 - Power snatch - choose a weight that challenges you, I choose 95#
1 - burpee with high jump
The snatch increases by one rep on every minute but you stick with just one burpee.

However, before the WOD, Tyler our coach for the class took us through a nice warm up.

400 m run
inch worms with push ups
Sampson stretch with twist
knee highs
butts kicks
bear crawls
side steps

Then we went right into the Burgener warm up and got our weights out for the 25 minutes of snatch skill work. So I started with the bar and was able to work up to 115 doing all 3 positions, and by far the most challenging movement was snatching from the hip crease into a full squat.

Before the WOD Tyler said that we could either do a power snatch or a full snatch into a squat, so thinking that I wanted to really push myself out of my comfort zone, I thought that I would do 115# into a full squat, HA! I quickly learned that this would be a mistake.  Right when he said 3-2-1 GO I pulled the bar but I didn't get under it and failed big time, I fell right on my ass.  Tyler quickly came over and help me strip a 10# plate from each side and then I attempted the 95# squat snatch and failed yet again, so I guess I was going to power snatch, which is what I did and after I finished my burpee to a high jump, I was only left with 20 seconds of rest, Damn!  So I learned an important lesson here, be realistic of your goals before the WOD especially right after a strength workout.

Now, after round 2, I was able to catch my breath but when we got to round 5 this WOD began to bite back.  You had to increase the snatches and still get a burpee but rest time was getting thin.  The last 2 rounds were the killer, I finished round 9 with 10 seconds left and finished my 10th round when Tyler called time.  I fell over and lay there trying to catch my breath.

I looked back at Josh and Nick and they were both dripping sweat with the classic blank stare in the eyes,  "man that sucked, but in a good way!"  and I thought to myself, that is the beauty of Crossfit, you can take as little as 2 movements and put them together and that combination will take it to you!

Tyler was nice enough to take some pictures of us during the WOD.  A special Thank you to him and Crossfit Scottsdale!  I will be back!

Crossfit San Francisco - I heart you

Hey Crossfitters - I hope that you are all doing well and getting your WOD on!

On a recent trip to San Francisco I had the pleasure of visiting a pretty famous Crossfit in San Francisco.  This Crossfit is owned by Kelly Starret.  If you don't know who he is, he is the writer behind the Mobility WOD and if you have not seen this, I suggest you check it out.  He has copious amounts of information related to mobilliy and flexibility.  You can find a link to his site from the link below.  The box is located right close to the marina district near the presidio

http://sanfranciscocrossfit.com/

During this trip, I wanted to get to one of Kelly's classes but the time slots just didn't work which left me with the 6 am slot.  This box does not charge for drop in crossfitters but instead you make a donation to their local charity, nice idea!  They also do not post the WOD's the night before, so good and bad because I do like to cherry pick but not in this case.  Also, this is the only crossfit that I know about that is outside, they do have a covered area but its small and I have only been there when the weather was nice and quite honestly I can't imagine what it would be like to WOD in the rain.....

From my hotel, it was about 3 miles to the box and decided to jog there, so I left at 5:15 which should  have given me plenty of time, at least that is what I thought.  I got about half way when I ran into construction signs and a major detour and when your running this early in the morning in the dark it can be challenging to find your way around.  At one point I was pretty turned around and honestly thought that I might not make it to the class.  At one point I could see where I needed to get to but didn't know how to get there.  Eventually I kept running and while I had to take the long way there, I did make it.  Yes, I was 10  minutes late and thankfully there was no penalty for being late!

I arrived and after introducing myself to the instructor, I joined the 20 or so crossfitters in a warm up and stretch.  The WOD for this day was strength and skill work, Wow, I really enjoy doing strength work for a couple of reasons, first of all I need to get stronger and I have found it helpful to get tips, feedback, and instruction from other trainers which has proved beneficial for my form.

WOD
Back squats to a box - find your max and then do 3 sets of 5 at 80%
then
Find your max box jump and hand stand skill work.

During the warm up, I met up with a nice kid who was back from school and training at crossfit until he heads back for the fall term.  His name was Gary and he was on the rowing team at a small school in PA and he really enjoyed crossfit.  We partnered up for the back squats.  The idea here was to focus on really moving the hips back and sticking your butt out and keeping the knees stable while moving slowly to the box, we used a 18 inch box and after finding our max we moved to 3 sets of 5.  This felt different than a normal back squat and more difficult.  Best I could muster was 195 and so we moved on to our sets.

After our sets we moved to max box jumps and while rotating through this you were supposed to work on hand stand walks.  Honestly, I do not remember what height I got to but Gary went higher than anyone that morning!  Way to go Gary!  I managed to put in some good hand stand walks, nothing super special but progress.

If you are ever in the downtown area and want to see how they do crossfit in San Fran, I suggest you visit Kelly Starett!  Thanks again for allowing me to visit and WOD with you all.

Until we WOD again.
Steve Umscheid