WOD

In the world of CrossFit, burpees are hated by many. Why you ask? Well if you have never done a burpee, its the simple act of starting in a standing position, dropping your body to the floor so the chest and thighs touch then return to a standing position by jumping and clapping overhead. It’s a beautiful disaster that is programmed at the WORST times in a workout, usually as the last exercise !

The burpee was invented by a man named Royal H. Burpee in the 1930’s. It was used as a test to assess overall fitness. This is a great test of speed, muscular endurance, and stamina. But why is it hated so much? Well here are some great examples as why it’s one exercise that is dreaded by many CrossFit athletes.

* Drop down get up, do it again.. and again….. it’s a sad vicious cycle. Any time you have to go from standing, to laying flat and back to standing it takes a lot of work and effort. This is why burpees are great, they are total body movers. If you ever need something that is going to increase your heart rate and hit a multitude of muscle groups this is the move for you!

 

*They are always bundled in HIGH number rep schemes, like 50-100….. Yes this requires the mental toughness to kick in and keep you moving.  This is where your endurance plays an important part into your training. If you are not a well conditioned athlete, you are going to have a hard time with keeping a steady and fast pace.

*They are put into the worst possible parts of the workout. Many times burpees are placed at the end when you are tired and your just ready to be done. This is mental and your determination needs to kick in. They are also combined in workouts. Like if doing a pull up isn’t hard enough, lets add a burpee to make it a bit harder. I like to think of them as mental toughness exercises. They are just there for you to go to that dark place and dig deep !!!

* Knowing your capacity is also important. You need to know how to pace yourself. So if the workout has 100 burpees for time, you don’t want to just hit it hard from the start. You need a plan and know how hard and fast you can work with minimal rest! Pacing yourself and starting slow working to a higher capacity is the way to go !

Learning to LOVE burpees is key ! It’s one of those things that you need to accept and just learn to love so when you see it for a workout your like YAY BURPEES not oh this is going to be a suckfest ! If you can find your peace, work hard and stay moving you will increase your fitness, muscular endurance and get stronger overall !!!

Ok ready 3..2…1… BURPEES !

 

Fitness Heroics – CrossFit Epically Awesome

Yoga/Mobility

-Lats

-Wrists/Forearms

Warm-up

Ginger Clean and Jerk Warm Up (No Measure)

1. Front Squat

2. Down and Finish

3. Front Squat

4. Hang to Front Squat

5. Shin to Front Squat

6. Squat Clean and Press

7. Squat Clean and Push Press

8. Squat Clean and Jerk

WOD #1

8/19/2015 (Time)

50 Split Jerks for time

Scaled: Your “Grace” weight

RX: 135/95
7 Minute Cap

WOD #2

3 Minutes rest THEN With same weight from WOD #1…

8/19/2015 #2 (Time)

50 Cleans for time

Scaled: Your “Grace” weight

RX: 135/95
7 Minutes Cap

WOD #3

3 Minute Rest THEN…

100 Sit-ups (Time)

100 Sit-ups for time

Superhero Training

Yoga/Mobility

-Glute

-Calves

OLY/Power

Bring “Sally Up” with Back Squats @ 135/95

WOD #1

8/19 SUPERHERO (AMRAP – Reps)

10 Min EMOM

Max Effort Power Cleans, 115/85

10 Sec work

50 Sec Rest

WOD #2

5 Minute Rest THEN…

8/19 SUPERHERO #2 (AMRAP – Rounds and Reps)

10 Min AMRAP

20 Double Unders

15 Wall Ball Shots

10 Pull-ups

WOD #3

5 Minute Rest THEN…

7 Min ME Burpees (AMRAP – Reps)

7 minutes for Max Effort Burpees

Learning how to do a free standing handstand can get quite frustrating if you don’t know how to progress into it. With the following video, it explains 2 drills that you can incorporate into your training to create a more balanced free standing handstand position.

Two steps that will accelerate your learning process are:

1. Using the frogstand position to sharpen the strength and control in your fingers.
2. Build up slowly to a freestanding handstand by kicking up gradually, legs scissored.

The frogstand is an excellent bodyweight hold to hone your fine motor skills. To perform the frogstand: 

1. Sink into a deep squat and place your palms on the ground in between your feet, so that your triceps press against the insides of your knees.
2. When you push your feet off the ground, learn to use your fingers and wrists to manipulate the pressure and stay in the hold. This rudder-like use of your hands will be key in the freestanding handstand.

To begin the true handstand:

1. Place your palms on the ground again, arms fully extended.
2. Instead of haphazardly kicking up, first swing one leg like a pendulum, keeping it straight. You want to fall short rather than overshoot and land on your back. Keep your legs scissored apart – you’re still trying to find balance in this step.
3. Aim to progressively get closer and closer to the vertical position, but with your legs still apart.

 

When you are fully upright, use your fingertips to keep your balance as you slowly move your legs together. By leaning these two skills you are going to gain the stability and confidence to be walking on your hands in no time !

Reference

http://breakingmuscle.com/video/2-ways-to-bulletproof-the-freestanding-handstand

Fitness Heroics – CrossFit Epically Awesome

In’s

5 minutes of Jump Rope

Yoga/Mobility

-Quads

-Calves

Warm-up

5 Min INT (No Measure)

1 Minute of Jumping Jacks

1 Minute of High Knees

1 Minute of Jump Squats

1 Minute of Burpees

1 Minute of Sit-ups

WOD

8/18/2015 (Time)

50 Pull-ups

50 KB Swings

50 Push-ups

50 Double Unders

50 Knees-2-Elbows

50 Burpees

50 Box Jumps

50 Goblet Squats

50 Cal Row

RX: 53/35 KB

RX+: 62/44

Superhero Training

Yoga/Mobility

-Chest

-Triceps

OLY/Power

Bench Press (3 Sets of 5 @ 85-90% 1 RM)

Gymnastics

Working on inversions/Handstands on rings.

Metcon

8/18/SUPERHERO (Time)

15-10-5

Ring Dips

Pistols

Handstand Push-ups

Muscle-ups

CrossFit has taken the world by storm and has been increasingly getting more popular as the Games get bigger! There are two types of CrossFit models: One is the functional fitness we want to obtain at our individual boxes that consists of functional movements done at high intensity for the betterment of our health and fitness. The second is now the sport of CrossFit at a competition level among high level athletes.

Many athletes, especially those that are looking for the competitive edge after they out grew high school and college sports teams, feel they automatically will be good at CrossFit because they had success in their individual sport. Oddly enough, CrossFit is a humbling sport and it takes TIME and CONSISTENCY to develop the muscle patterns needed to succeed.

The first thing that you need to respect is learning to trust the process of the program. There is a progression for everything, and if true results are going to be achieved, then hard work and dedication are required. In the gymnastics of CrossFit, you must have the strict movements down first. A stable base of support and strong core stability must be developed before higher-skilled movements can be performed. If this is not developed to handle the workload injuries can occur. You also need to be practicing movements in correct form and not just making sloppy attempts to prove you can lift a specific weight or gymnastics movement.

So how do you get better and learn to trust the program ? First, listen to your body. If your body is telling you it needs to slow down or it needs rest, it probably does. Competing in CrossFit requires you to be good in ALL domains. If you learn to get good in all areas everything will fall into place. It is important to work on mastering more advanced skills but in order to get strong you can’t get caught up in lifting all the time. You must understand that to build strength, you must rest. Continuous training can actually weaken the strongest athletes. Recovery days are the only way possible to restore muscle tissue breakdown to make you stronger.  You should never be in perpetual soreness. Listening to your body is crucial.

If you have an injury let it heal. The longer you ignore injuries, the longer it will take for them to heal. Don’t be too proud to scale or change a movement that may reactivate an injury and elongate the healing process. You are in this for the long haul and it is important to see the big picture. Think, “I want to work smarter, not harder.”

Understand the programming and how it works to keep you safe. Especially in regards to the amount of repetitions you’re doing of a given movement, the amount of load you are stressing your skeletal system with, and the movement combinations that you are hitting. Start keeping  a journal of your workouts and your performance. Neuromuscular fatigue can last for several days and affect your workouts, leading to frustration for those with an upcoming benchmark or competition in which they want to do well. Learning how much volume your body can handle is also very important. In understanding all of these components you will be more in tune with your body !

Learning your body, how much you can do, and how much rest you need is imperative to the sport of CrossFit. In CrossFit, you have to be willing to crawl before you can walk. You can’t get caught up in the leaderboard or what others around you are doing. You must be willing to learn at all times, to take coaching advice, and to stick to consistent programming.Once you adapt to a given stress, you will require additional stress to continue to make progress. The only way to adapt to this stress is practice, repetition, and rest. In the gym is where you train, and in the arena is where you put forth in competition what you did in training.

Sometimes we all just need to stop and enjoy what it means to improve. Do not put pressure on yourself or think it has to happen now. HAVE FUN !!!!! Never forget this. This is why you love CrossFit. It is why you choose to go to class every day and put the work in. Put a smile on your face and work diligently towards your goals. If you do this, then you will find yourself in a satisfying place.

 

Fitness Heroics – CrossFit Epically Awesome

In’s

40 Push-ups

Yoga/Mobility

-Glutes

-Hamstrings

Warm-up

The reckoning (No Measure)

10 minutes of jump rope

Every minute on the minute preform 1 Burpee

Skill/Strength

2k Row (Time)

Max Effort 2k Row

WOD

Karen (running) (Time)

150 Wall Ball Shots for time

Every time you set the ball down you must run 200 meters

Scaled: any height or ball

RX: 20/14, 10’/9′

RX+: 20/14, 11’/10′

Out’s

20 Pull-ups

Superhero Training

Yoga/Mobility

-Knees (Voodoo Floss)

-Quads

OLY/Power

Overhead Pause Squats (Sets of 3)

2 Second Pause at bottom of the squat

Gymnastics

Working on our Back Levers today!

Metcon

No this is not a typo or a mess up.

Karen (Time)

For Time:
150 Wall-Ball Shots, 20# / 14#