Greg and 15 other athletes from MBS are training hard for the Mountain States Sectional Qualifiers on March 20th and 21st. The Mountain States Sectionals are comprised of Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana athletes. There will be two events on Saturday and two events on Sunday. The top 30 male and top 30 female athletes will then be qualified for the Regional Qualifier in May. Volunteers are still needed for this event…this is an easy way to get admission to watch the action. To volunteer or to get more details, visit the Mountain States Sectionals page.
Workout
1 minute of Front Squats 135 lb./85 lb.
3 minutes of “Small Cindy” (3 pullup, 6 pushup, 9 air squats)
3 minutes of Double Unders
Rest 3 minutes
Repeat
Score your rounds of Cindy and reps of FS and DU separately. Advanced users do normal (5, 10, and 15 reps of Cindy). Chuck rounds and reps to comments.
Workout Complete 5 rounds of:
5 Heavy Deadlifts
Max set of pullups
Deadlifts are done on a 3-minute interval. The max set up pullups is completed as soon as the deadlift set is finished. Score is weight of deadlift + the highest and lowest rounds of max pullups. Chuck loads and pullups to comments.
Workout 21-15-9 reps for time of:
Dumbbell Thrusters L-hand
Dumbbell Thrusters R-hand
Ring Dips
Use a load approx. 25% of body weight. Chuck times to comments.
Looking for love? Check out the singles partyat MBS on Feb. 6th. We all know how hard it is to meet that special someone who shares your love of callused hands and tight hamstrings outside of the gym. So, join us for some drinks and an optional workout with some other single CrossFitters from across the Denver Metro area.
Rich demonstrates great body positioning while the load stays over mid-foot.
The overhead squat is the ultimate core exercise, the heart of the snatch, and peerless in developing effective athletic movement.
This functional gem trains for efficient transfer of energy from large to small body parts, the essence of sport movement. For this reason it is an indispensable tool for developing speed and power.
The overhead squat also demands and develops functional flexibility, and similarly develops the squat by amplifying and cruelly punishing faults in squat posture, movement, and stability.
The overhead squat is to midline control, stability, and balance what the clean and snatch are to power, unsurpassed. – The Overhead Squat, CrossFit Journal Issue 36
Mike Burgener has been around the CrossFit community since the beginning and has made a tremendous impact on the performance of our Olympic lifts. Being that our WOD’s are dominated by complex lifts such as the clean (power and squat versions) and jerk, and the snatch (power and squat versions), it only makes sense that if you want to get better at CrossFit, you must get better at your Olympic lifts. Just think, it only takes 10,000 hours before you can be a master at Olympic weightlifting. If you want to see more instructional videos of Oly lifts from Coach B, he has a good collection on youtube.com.
We are still going to be offering paleo meals from CC Body Fuel at the gym. Unfortunately, the hard part is maintaining enough in the fridge without having them not get sold. An ordering system is in the works. Meanwhile, if you have tried a meal and have some feedback for Peter and Chris, please let them know on their blog. Thanks.
Workout AMRAP in 12 minutes of:
8 Kettlebell swings 53 lb./35 lb.
10 Burpees
12 Air squats
Mike squats deep to pick up a 100 lbs. of "oddness".
Taking Responsibility – Part I I would like to say that there are no injuries that ever occur at MBS – that our safety record is flawless. I would like to say that doing CrossFit is perfectly safe and that everyone can jump into a constantly-varied, high-intensity program and only experience muscle-growth, fat-loss, and increased flexibility without ever experiencing fatigue, soreness, tightness, and injury. But, to say that you can experience all of the highs without any of the lows would not be the truth. The truth is that CrossFit is hard. People do get banged up, cut, and tears well in the eyes occasionally. The truth is that the high-intensity aspect of CrossFit isn’t for everyone…not initially anyway.
Here at MBS, your safety is our number one concern. We have systems in place that are meant to safeguard you from injury. At the same time that we want to see you “push hard” through the workout, we want you to do it safely. In a couple (hopefully short) series of posts, I want to cover a few topics that will help keep you free from (stupid) injuries.
Part I of taking responsibility is to take responsibility of your warm-up. The warm-up, when done correctly, will alleviate a great percentage of common injuries that can occur in high-intensity training. In order to do the warm-up correctly, you cannot just “go through the motions”, you have to know what your are trying to do in order to do it right. So, here is the objective of the warm up. Hopefully in seeing this, there will be some ah-ha moments and you will gain some insight to a proper warm up.
Warm-up Principle #1:Increase Core Temperature: What this means is to get your blood pumping to your major muscle groups. Elevating your core temperature reduces muscle stiffness, increases elasticity, and increases reaction of motor units inside muscles. Jogging, jumping rope, and rowing are all good ways to increase core temperature.
Warm-up Principle #2: Facilitate Mobility and Flexibility: Dynamically taking limbs through a range of motion after the core temperature has been elevated helps to maintain and increase mobility and flexibility.
Warm-up Principle #3:Progress from General to Specific: Static and patterned ROM drills, push ups, lunges and situps are good as general warm up, but you need to progress the warm up into specific exercises according to the workout you are intending to do. For example, if the WOD includes any Olympic lifts, a warm up consisting of barbell movements would make better sense than a warm up consisting of push ups and pull ups.
Warm-up Principle #4:Increase Neural Efficiency and Motor Unit Recruitment: This sort of goes along with the principle above, but if you are doing CrossFit, where most WODs are at a high intensity, you must warm yourself up to about 80-90% of the intensity you are about to do. You cannot just go one speed through the warm up, say at about 50%, and then expect to load a bar up and go 100%! That is a recipe for disaster. Wake your muscles up, get all those nerves firing for the movement you are about to do, then 3,2,1 – go!
This is by no means an extensive list of all the ways to go about a thorough warm up. However, this provides a basic understanding of what we run you guys through in the first 15 minutes of every workout. As we run you through the warm up routine, you must understand that it is YOUR responsibility to do the warm up correctly. It is easy to “go through the motions” and make it look like you are doing the warm up, but a whole different thing to fully prepare yourself for the upcoming workout. In summary, arrive on time and prepare to give 100% to your entire training session. Warm up included.
Workout 21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6 reps for time:
Goblet Squats 53 lb./35 lb.
Ring Pushups
Situps
Just a reminder, Saturday workouts are meant to be family and freind SAFE. Feel free to bring someone in to suffer on Saturdays! We like to chill the workouts down a bit on the weekend and just have fun. Hope to see ya here.
Workout Run 400 or 800 meters
70 or 100 burpees
Run 400 or 800 meters
If you run 400’s, you do 100 burpees. If you run 800’s, you do 70 burpees. Your choice today! Chuck times to comments.
Workout
In this workout, you will work at each station for 45 seconds and rest for 15 for two full rotations. Rest two minutes, then repeat. Score is total reps.
Station 1: Row for calories
Station 2: Atlas stone to platform 90 lb./145 lb./210 lb.
Station 3: Ball slam 20 lb./30 lb./40 lb.
Station 4: High box jump 20″/30″/36″
Station 5: Burpees
Mani (right), gets some front page action today for being a rockstar on the barbell. Several people have commented on her Olympic weightlifting technique (its near flawless) and relentless adherance to perfection. I actually added that last part…the reason several people have commented on her proficiency is because she is downright RELENTLESS to make every rep as rock solid as possible. How does she do this? Well, it takes extreme mental focus and a lot of reps. Olympic wieghtlifting is hard, but the time spent to improve your skills will pay off not only in your WODs, but in your confidence to lift heavy stuff. Anyone up for the Advanced Weightlifting class at 6:30 PM tonight?
Thank Nicole Gibson of CrossFit Roots for this awesome coach swap map. (I will be getting traveling via C2 rower as the picture shows.)
Tonight’s evening classes will be coached by the unforgettable Nicole Gibson of CrossFit Roots. While Pat heads to the Highlands to coach the athletes at CrossFit Verve. This is a great opportunity to learn from an amazing athlete who also bleeds CrossFit. We hope you enjoy!
Every minute, on the minute, do 3 deadlifts at 80% of 1 RM. Don’t have a 1 RM or forgot it, why? You all need to be keeping your lifts updated on the whiteboard. It is your responsibility to keep track of your records and progress. How else are you going to know if you are getting better or worse?
The reason I post “Chuck times to comments” is because if you post your times/scores to comments (like Chuck does occasionally), you can use the search function on our website and pull up any workout or exercise that we have done. For example, if last time we did a 1 or 3 RM deadlift workout you posted your weight used and remarks to comments, you would be able to search “deadlift” and search the workouts and find your last score and any additional comments. Too few of you use this awesome resource. Chuck your dang times to comments!
The Mountain States Sectional Qualifiers are coming up fast. The Sectional Qualifiers will place 30 men and 30 women to the Regionals in May. If you are interested in competing there are still men and women slots left. Don’t wait until its sold out! CrossFit Verve will be hosting the Mountain Sectionals in Golden and are looking for volunteers. This is an excellent oppurtunity to be part of the madness and not have to lift heavy weight. You can sign up as an athlete and as a volunteer on the Mountain States Sectional Registration Page. CF Verve also has a blog where they will be posting updated game info shortly. Go get some!
Workout Power clean
3-3-3
5 Rounds for time:
5 Power clean 135 lb./85 lb.
5 Strict pullups
10 Kipping pullups
Paleo-freindly meals are now available for purchase at the gym. MBS has partnered with Peter and Chris of CC Body Fuel, and beginning this week you will be able to grab a healthy MOD (meal of the day) immediately after the WOD.
Peter and Chris have been members of MBS since May of 2008 and have put a ton of work into creating CC Body Fuel. They have come up with an assortment of meals that don’t bust your wallet or comprimise on taste. Janelle and I are extremely excited to bring this benefit to our members. We hope you all try a meal or two and see how delicious paleo can be.
Check outCC Body Fuelfor menu updates and meal information.
Workout 4 Rounds for time:
10 Pushpress 135 lb./85 lb.
15 Back Squat 135 lb./85 lb.
Run 400 meters
This workout will be done in relay fashion with a two-person team. Partner 1 will start with deadlift, wall ball, and sprint. Then partner 2 will begin. Continue until both partners complete 5 rounds.
We have been answering a lot of questions regarding footware at MBS. Typically the questions come from our new members who see the funny wooden shoes being worn by the guys and girls that are lifting a lot of weight over their heads. If you are one of these people questioning what the heck the deal is with these weightlifting shoes, let me explain the reasoning.
Proprio-what?
First, our bodies contain sensory organs that tell us where we are in space. They help us feel the ground beneath us and where we are in relation to ourself. These organs are collectively known as proprioceptors and they are located in our muscle tissue, skeletal muscles, and in our joints…basically all the stuff that makes us move.
Propriceptors are pretty neat in the fact that they feed information to our central nervous system lightning fast. They can tell us when our muscle is being stretched, if our footing is unstable, and if we are about to fall over and how to reposition ourselves to stop or break the fall. So, how does this all apply to CrossFit?
In CrossFit we lift weights. Specifically, we use power lifts like the squat, deadlift, and press to get stronger, and we use Olympic lifts like the clean & jerk and the snatch to get powerful. In order to do these lifts correctly, we use proprioception (the act of using proprioceptors) to position our body in the appropriate position for the lift. You often hear us telling you to have your knees and hips back in the squat, or “active” shoulders in an overhead squat – proprioception allows us to feel and respond accordingly.
In lifts that require us to pull, push, press, or jump, from the ground, whether it is slowly or violently, we need a solid surface to do this from. Olympic weightlifting shoes are made of leather and have hard, stable soles to push against. Most of these shoes also have straps that go over the top to stabilize the foot within the shoe. This is much different than the running shoe that has a large soft heal that cushions the foot. Running shoes compress in a heavy lift making an unstable position and leave the foot searching for a stable position. A typical running shoe will also not have straps over the top and the foot will rotate within the shoe only making the lift more difficult.
Being more stable and able to set your body in the appropriate position, you are going to use the right muscles on each lift. You will be able to set your hips and knees back in the squat and use the hamstrings and glutes instead of the quads. Basically, you are going to be stronger. There will be less wasted effort of trying to balance yourself on an unstable surface and more applied effort to lifting the weight. Additionally, the stable surface will allow you to put your body in a more “correct” position, which will keep you free from injury.
If reading this hasn’t convinced you to go out and buy a pair of Olympic lifting shoes, you are in luck. I’m am not saying that everyone needs O-lift shoes to do CrossFit or lift weights. There are plenty of alternatives. Flat-soled shoes like Chuck Taylor, Vans, and some skate shoes are going to offer similar benefits. I used bowling shoes for about 6 months before I got my first pair of O-lift shoes for Christmas. They worked great and I only paid $10 for them at a local thrift store. However, if you really care about your lifts and wish to progress free from injury, I highly recommend investing in a pair of Olympic weightlifting shoes. They are only found online and for under $100, you can find a decent pair that will last nearly a liftetime. Happy lifting.
Workout Find max height box jump
then, for max reps:
Burpee pullups
Knee to elbows
Do 3 minutes of BP, then rest 1 minute. Do 3 minutes of KTE, then rest 1 minute. Continue for 2 and 1 minutes. Chuck reps to comments.
