WOD, 7/30/10:

FIRST: Shoulder Press 5 @ 75% of your 1 RM, 3 @ 85% of your 1 RM, and 1+ (if you have another in you, go for it) @ 95% of your one rep max.

THEN:

AMRAP 6 minutes:

5- clapping push ups

10- Firehose lateral jumps

rest 60 seconds:

AMRAP 6 minutes:

2 -10 Meter suicide sprints

15- double unders

We all know how to talk the CrossFit language to other CrossFitters. We are skilled in the CrossFit vernacular for people who share our world. But when faced with newcomers, most of us struggle so much in attempting to explain it. Describing CrossFit is like trying to say why you love your kids so much. Words have been written for thousands of years but no one yet has come up with the right ones to say what we feel.

It will be totally inadequate, but allow me a few words to try to describe what CrossFit is:

It’s a way of working out. It’s a sport. It’s a community. It’s a way to live your life.

It’s Heart. Soul. Love. Victory. And Loss.

It’s getting up early to do some horrible workout with others, or alone. And going to bed late some nights because you’re waiting for the next day’s WOD and you just have to know what it is before you shut your eyes.

It’s sprinting 400 meters again and again, even though you hate running, but you sure want to do it faster and better.

It’s learning Olympic lifts and obsessing over your clean technique, even though you’re a 15-year-old kid, or a 58-year-old grandfather, or a 25-year-old bad mofo stud.

It’s getting back on the pull-up bar, even though every muscle and bone in your body hurts and you’re shaking and you can feel lunch rising in your throat and your heart is pounding out of your chest. You can’t quit now. You can’t quit ever. You must see things through to the end, no matter how painful that might be.

It’s realizing the power of the barbell is mightier than the lure of the couch and the television. One will make you stronger, but the other will weaken your body and your brain. I do not exaggerate when I say the barbell may literally save your life. And your soul.

It’s a community that comes together to perform and witness feats of strength and stamina. A crowd that recognizes heart more than standings, and that victory must be earned or it is worthless. Cheaters will not be tolerated. Character and honor still matter here.

It’s a place that is growing faster than anyone could ever dream, propelled by heart, soul, hard work, and dedication. This CrossFit world is ours. And it’s about to become the world of so many others too. No one can contain the passion that CrossFit generates — good or bad. And we wouldn’t want them to. ~Lisbeth Darsh, CrossFit Watertown

Or, you could just show ‘em this:

I was on the CrossFit FB page and found these two great pics:

WOD, 7/29/10:

800 M Run

21-15-9 reps of:

Sumo deadlift highpull (95/65)

Ring dips

Alternating one-arm kettlebell swings (53/35 lbs)

Run 800 M

Would you hop in a car to drive across country on an empty tank of gas?  Would you show up for the first day of your dream job in dirty jeans, hungover, stinking of whisky (I know, this may be a brave question…)?  I am assuming that your answer is no.

Then why is it that so many of you do not fuel yourselves properly pre and post WODs???!!!???

First off, it is HOT and HUMID in this neck of the woods lately, so it is absolutely IMPERATIVE  that you drink water, not just five minutes before your WOD, but throughout the day.  You should be drinking half of your body weight in ounces DAILY.

Secondly, NEVER workout on an empty stomach.  That is similar to attempting to drive from her to Jersey on an empty tank of gas.  I understand that some of you get sick if you eat prior to working out, but you need to try to fuel yourselves with SOMETHING.  Try some nuts, a half of an apple…small portions, but something!

Post-WOD recovery meals are just as important.  Your cells are so deprived of nutrients that they are SCREAMING.  The best substance that you can take in is a carbohydrate of some sort (no Testa,I’m not talking gnocchi and cream sauce).  Try a starchy vegetable like a sweet potato or a yam.  This is your opportunity to consume your fruit.  Also, try to get your hands on a Progenex recovery shake.  DO NOT consume fats…they slow down the digestive process and we want to rapidly replenish those depleted cells. 

Here is what Eric from Park City CrossFit has to say regarding this matter:

WOD, 7/28/10:

“Dating Sage”

5 rounds for time of:

10 Power Snatches (95/65)

15 Pull-ups

20 Thrusters (95/65)

I have seen athletes perform the impossible.  Even against every fiber of their being.  A living war cry in the face of adversity.

They overcome by sheer exertion of will, shattering the fallacy of the unmovable object by becoming the unstoppable force.

They choose to believe in their own capacity for greatness, and they are rewarded.

Belief is a place where the irrational exuberance of childhood finds new life.  Where the burden of the past is shed.  The favor of the promise of the future. Belief is a chance to give all of the hard knocks back.  To FREE OURSELVES.  To become anything.  It’s not wondering if you can, but knowing that achievement is as simple as trying—over and over and over again.

These are the words of Patrick Cummings, a CrossFitter at CrossFit Fenway in Boston, MA, and one of the head videographers of Again Faster Equipment.  It seems as if Pat is at EVERY important CrossFit function.  Clearly, from the words of this commercial played at the CrossFit Games, he has learned a valuable lesson.  I would rather not expound on it, because the thoughts above are worded far more eloquently than I ever could.  Think about them…I have.  The words/clauses that I have bolded are those that I feel can fuel you during difficult WODs (are there any that are not difficult??!!!).  Let this be your mantra for the day…take out the “hard knocks” on the barbell tomorrow…I plan to.

Watch the commercial starring Pat, himself @

Since I forgot the battery for the camera today, let’s check out a few more pictures from the Games.  We will have all of our pictures uploaded to the “PHOTOS” section of the website in a couple days.