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:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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

Not an odd sight at a CrossFit gym! I love it!!!

A great picture of DP, but an even greater one of our community behind him (look at Jenny's expression).

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:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Mrs. Nails (Stacy) gettin' that LEGIT lock-out in her thruster.

Jon driving out of one of the torturous 100 thrusters today.

Maryanne has been working on her form lately and was able to pull more weight today. Great job!!!

Has anyone noticed what a beast Deb has become??? Give her a school vacation and WATCH OUT! Thanks for keeping me on my toes during today's WOD (and in ALL heavy squatting lifts!!)

The 7:30 On-Ramp performs "Karen" under the watchful eye of Blanco.

One Word: UNSTOPPABLE!

“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 @

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

The boys on the rope climb...it must be nice not to have to use your legs!

Carey Kepler (3rd 2009/16th 2010) in her ground-to-overhead...GREAT PIC!

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet (8th) and me scaling the wall in the final WOD.

FIRST: Find your one rep max back squat (NOTICE:  If classes are larger, one portion of the class may perform the strength portion while the other performs the metcon outdoors).

NEXT:

“Grace”

30 clean and jerks for time (135/95)

“What’s With Our Warm-Ups?”

High knees, butt-kickers, lunges and walk-out push-ups: why is it that these show up so often in our warm-ups? Why is a warm-up so important? CrossFitters pride themselves with the face that “Our warm-up is your workout.” CrossFit Watertown is no different. Warm-ups are often long and intense, but make no mistake, everything that you are put through during warm-up serves a very specific purpose.

So what determines the warm-up each day?

The WOD. Depending on what movements we are about to perform, it is essential to “wake up” and stimulate and stretch the muscles that we are about to engage. When you see “Deadlifts” on the whiteboard, you can be pretty sure that the warm-up will include exercises or stretches that will activate your hamstrings. If it’s Overhead Squats, you will probably be doing some activity to get your core engaged and stretches to open up your hips.

So, what’s with all the buttkickers and walk-out push-ups? They are all forms of “dynamic” exercises — which use momentum and active muscular effort to stretch parts of your body. They are different from the “static” exercises that most of us grew up with. You know, the ones where you hold a position for 30 seconds, repeating three times on each side. Current research shows that static stretching done prior to activity does not decrease incidence of injury and can even be detrimental to performance — whereas dynamic stretching has been shown to increase core and muscle temperature, stimulate the nervous system, elongate muscles, and decrease chances of injury. So, instead of sitting our butts on the ground and reaching for our toes to stretch our hamstrings prior to working out, we do walk-out push-ups or inchworms.

Does this mean we should stop all static stretching? NO! Static stretching is still one of the best ways to improve our flexibility. We just need to be aware that it is best done AFTER a WOD. A great WOD starts the minute you walk though the door. You may not realize it but a good warm-up is essential to a successful and injury-free workout. If you want to get that PR today, make sure you spend some time on your warm-up.  ~Melissa Reed

Peter B, Lou, and Ethan digging in to the wallballs during "Kelly" today.

Lindsay and Maria gettin' at the box jumps

Never make an excuse not to workout! Meg had major surgery on her Achilles last week, and she couldn't wait to get back in the gym!

The July On-Ramp class began tonight. We have a bunch of future fire-breathers...watch-out!

“Kelly”

5 rounds for time of:

400  M Run

30 Box Jumps (24″)

30 Wall Balls (20/14)

I talk to you repeatedly of the importance of remaining positive in all areas of your life.  Negative energy/stress can greatly affect your workouts for the worse.  We all have a different technique to stay positive.  I like 4-year-old Jessica’s tactic.  Make your affirmation today:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Chris' flexibility has gotten remarkably better. If you struggle in this area, be patient.

Allie is lookin' GOOD!

“Cindy”

AMRAP 20 minutes:

5 pull-ups

10 push-ups

15 air squats

At the Games, I received a book in which to track all of my CrossFit WODs.  While recording all of my older times into it, I came to the realization that we do not perform the “Girls” or the “Hero” WODs regularly enough.  Therefore, throughout the next few weeks, we will be performing many of these WODs. 

GET READY…..

Partner WOD~

Your partner and you will have 10 minutes to find your max clean and jerk (one barbell), before completion, strip the bar to 135/95 (or weight you plan to use for hang power clean later in WOD).

2 minutes, rotating partners every 30 seconds of max rep DOUBLE UNDERS

2 minutes, rotating partners every 30 seconds of max rep PISTOLS

2 minutes, rotating partners every 30 seconds of max rep PULL-UPS

2 minutes, rotating partners every 30 seconds of max rep BURPEES

2 minutes, rotating partners every 30 seconds of max rep HANG POWER CLEANS (135/95)

Post cumulative weight lifted in clean and jerk added to total reps completed for score (same-sex teams preferable).

Need help with your pistols?? Just ask Isabella...for real...

Thank you Allie and Jaime for the warm homecoming!

Great work yesterday, Martha!

Christina is getting stronger by the day!

Bill has fit right in to the SCF family. Great work today!

Lee is a heck of a rope-climber and he got the first ring HSPU in the gym yesterday!

I'm gonna leave this caprtion up to you...ask Blanco...

7 minute AMRAP:

10 toes to bar

15 ground to overhead (95/65)

30 second rest

7 minute AMRAP

10 push-ups (CrossFit Games standards)

1 Rope Climb (both arms must be extended past the 15′ line)

Here is the blog that I have been pondering since the conclusion of the final WOD at the games….What do I tell my clients about my performance??

As an English teacher, I always want to maintain a theme in my writing.  I fear that this may be hard to do when reflecting upon the Games, for there is so much to share.

Before I left for California, an ex-client and friend from CFM sent me an email.  It stated:

“I know you’ll do your best at the games.  Make sure you have fun and learn something too.”

Prior to leaving, I viewed this as a friendly “do well” wish.  Post-games, there is a lot of wisdom in it.  So, what did I learn? I can group my new-found knowledge into 4 categories:

1. CROSSFIT IS LEGIT AND TAKING OVER THE WORLD. Do you have any idea what it was like to walk out into a stadium of 6,000 screaming CrossFit fans??!!!  Clearly, they weren’t all screaming for me, but they were unified in one chant: their love for the sport of CrossFit.  Everything was amazingly professional; from the live telecast with instant replays, to the commentators and interviewers, to the vendors, to the organization of athletes, all the way to the breakdown and set-up of equipment.  This sport is growing out of control and you don’t have to be a brain scientist to figure it out.

2. TRAIN TO A HIGHER STANDARD.  I recently read a great quote: “Practice as if you’re the worst, perform as if you’re the best.”  So, you love muscle-ups and do them weekly in WODs.  How often do you do them in a weight vest, using a grip with which you’re not comfortable, or hanging the rings at a height that you can’t reach but by means of  jumping?  Sure, we all do some form of handstand push-ups in our WODs.  Do you ever do them getting your head below parallel, or on rings?  Do you accept a rep when you may have possibly broken at the waist before locking out your arms?  How about pull-ups???  Ever doubt that your chin has gotten over the bar on that final rep before you break and still except it?  DON’T!!!!  Punish yourself in the gym, reward yourself in the competition.  Shabby reps are no longer in the book of LP’s WODs.

3.  OUR CROSSFIT FAMILY IS UNBELIEVBLY SUPPORTIVE.  I couldn’t even count the good luck wishes I received via facebook, email, in the gym prior to leaving, text message, voicemail, and through the loud ear-piercing chants in the audience.  Both members of SCF and other CrossFit gyms around the Northeast showed an unprecedented degree of support that I did not think was possible.  So, if you are one of these individuals (and you know who you are)…Thank you from the bottom of my heart.  There are, however, 10 people that need to be mentioned individually:

• Lisa, Peter, Murph, Testa, Teresa, Dy-Lan, and Shlee: Thank you for flying across the country, for the signs, your vocal cords, carrying my bags, taking photos, sitting in the hot sun, and always ensuring that I had a smile on my face at moments when I thought I might cry.
• DP: I couldn’t have picked a better coach.  I know you wanted to kill me because of all of my “i-pod mishaps” (“Dude, dude, DUDE!!!”) One of my fondest moments of our marriage to-date will always be when you came to the medical room after my final WOD to hug me while I cried in that ice bath.  Sometimes saying nothing is what is best.
• Jay Leydon:  My TRUE CrossFit Coach.  Thank you for being there to support and coach me in the midst of competing yourself.  I will always feel at home at CFM and rely on you for your superior coaching and friendship.
• Ray Garcia: Thanks for the emails (they were so good most of them should be published).  Several times, I thought pre-WOD, “Sh@%, if I screw up, I’m really gonna let Ray down!” I know that was not your intention in the emails, but it was certainly a strong motivator. I would assume that this is the way that most girls would feel regarding their fathers watching them compete.  So thanks for being my “CrossFit Dad.”

4. IT IS OKAY TO BE HUMAN.  You look around at the pool of competitors at the CrossFit Games, and they look super-human.  You start to believe that they are.  At some point, you, yourself, feel super-human.  Never, in my CrossFit career have I gotten to a point in a WOD, where my body would no longer work.  It happened to me THREE TIMES in one weekend.  I finished that final WOD and felt demoralized and defeated.  As mentioned previously, I sat in that ice bath because I didn’t want anyone to see me cry.  Although I physically couldn’t have done more in that final WOD, I also suffered a severe mental collapse.  I wanted to crawl in a shaded corner and bury my face in my legs.

I have had four days to digest it, and a lot of conversations with friends. 

I had two goals entering the games.  The first to place 15th (weird, huh?), and the second to never suffer a mental collapse.

In my head, I had accomplished one of the two.  But, remember my quote that I mentioned in several interviews leading up to the games: “It is a shame for the soul to quit when the body perseveres“??

After some reflection, I believe that my body quit before my soul threw in the towel.  So, I have to accept this, right?

I tell you all to push yourselves daily, to remain focused and mentally strong…believe and you achieve…blah, blah, blah…most of the time, we do this. Sometimes it doesn’t happen. There is a point when you must realize that YOU ARE HUMAN.  YOU ARE FLAWED.  YOU WILL MAKE MISTAKES, AND YOU WILL LEARN FROM THEM. 

So, this weekend, I showed thousands of people that I am human, and I don’t think that I am that upset about it anymore.

I left last year’s Games in 45th place feeling satisfied.  I left this year in 15th hungry for a WHOLE LOT MORE.  Perhaps failing was the best thing that could’ve happened…

Right before my favorite event of the weekend...the sandbag carry.

No, it didn't hit me in the head!

2 WODs..depending on class size, half of the class may do one WOD first, while the other half does the other.  Then, groups will switch.

Find your one-rep max front squat.

Seven rounds for time of:
205/135 pound Clean, 3 reps
4  handstand push-ups (head below parallel)

I am back!  I would like to thank Allen for doing such a phenomenal job with the blog and programming while I was competing in California.  I would also like to thank Kelly, Jess, and Allen for their extra work while DP, Shlee, and I were gone.

What a weekend!  Seriously…first off, before anything else is mentioned, thanks to the Testas, Murph, Dy-Lan, Shlee, DP, Lisa, and Peter for making the journey to support me.  It truly was as if I was traveling with family and thank you all for exasperating your lungs to keep me moving.  We will have stories to tell for a lifetime! 

I have been up since 3:45 am traveling.  I would love to post a blog regarding my experience at the games, but a believe a well rested brain will provide you with a better account.  I still have not digested everything that occurred this weekend.  I need to digest and then report.  I will tell you this, it was a true LEARNING experience like no other. 

Dy-Lan somehow maneuvered to get a media pass and be down on the floor along with his awesome camera.  When he returns from Arizona we will link the photos to the website.  So, until tomorrow…goodnight.

Me in the WOD that will haunt me for the rest of my life..seriously...

WOD # 1

Part of the supporting crew on day 2.

10 Sumo Deadlift High Pull
10 Push Ups
50m sprint, back pedal back

CrossFit is the pursuit of athletic perfection—performing difficult workouts with technical mastery under conditions of duress.  We’re looking for flawless form with a jackhammering heart, bursting lungs, and battery acid-filled veins.

When this is accomplished with unyielding intensity, the result is nothing short of beautiful.  When we fall short of the mark, the result is horrifying at best.

Athletes often set up a false dichotomy between perfect form and intensity, assuming that as one increases the other must necessarily fall.  This idea is a thinly disguised excuse for athletic complacency.  Rather than revisit proper technique through low-intensity, low-excitement skill work, the athlete chooses to pursue personal records with diminished form.  The unstated reason for this choice: it’s easy on the ego to put up “good” WOD times. Taking a hit to your “Fran” time in order to perform perfect thrusters is not going to move you up the records board—at least not right away—and the blow to the ego is too much to bear.

In reality, form and intensity are not mutually exclusive, but the non-linearity of their relationship leads novice athletes to the wrong conclusion.  For the novice, maintaining form becomes a cruel joke as intensity increases, leading to the erroneous conclusion that the two cannot coexist.   Advanced athletes believe the opposite.  These athletes recognize that continuous high-intensity work is nearly impossible without strict attention to form.  The advanced athlete knows that perfect form is perfect for a reason:  it imparts structural advantages that poor form does not.

Take the thruster as an example.  Performed poorly, the movement relies on the small muscles of the anterior shoulder to support the weight at lockout.  These muscles fatigue extremely quickly, leaving the athlete with reduced capacity in short order.  When the thruster is performed well, the weight is supported by the large, hard-to-fatigue muscles of the posterior chain, allowing the form-conscious athlete to continue at peak power long after his sloppy brethren have stopped to rest.

The advantages of good form are not isolated to the thruster.  Clear structural advantages can be had in the majority of our movements if one chooses to pursue perfect form.  Most of these advantages are based on the physics of power transmission, specifically the fact that it is easier to send power through a rigid structure than through a limp one.  

Squatting provides a wonderful illustration. The squat utilizes power from the hip to propel the torso through a complete range of motion.  If the spine is rounded and the torso is loose, power is lost and the torso becomes difficult to move.  If the spine is kept in a neutral or arched alignment and the torso is rigid, as proper form dictates, power flows freely and the load is easy to move.  Nonetheless, we’ll often see novices blasting through flaccid, rounded-back squats, heedless of the power-draining effect of their substandard form.

Condoning bad form for the resulting intensity ignores the big picture.  In doing so, we rob our athletes of their long-term potential, artificially capping their progress in the name of immediate gratification.  An athlete with poor form and an ugly three-minute “Fran” will always have an ugly three-minute “Fran”, while a similar athlete with good form will soon find himself pushing the limits of possibility, utilizing the structural advantages of the perfect thruster to close in on two minutes.

For the CrossFitter, perfection should be non-negotiable, regardless of the near-term outcome.  Progressing to the elite level—heart jackhammering, lungs bursting, and records falling—depends on it.

Like I said before, in the heat of the moment it’s hard to step back and focus on proper technique, but that’s why us coaches are there for you guys.  This is Blanco signing off!

Great work today Frank. It's amazing what a little mental conditioning can do.

Sisters Nikki and Carly doin' work at the 6:30am class