RX THE WOD

Inspiration to try harder

Posted on May 25, 2012 by

“I did not lose basketball, baseball, volleyball, football, golf, and skiing all at once. I lost them one at a time as I decided whether I could muster the heart to struggle through another season with a smile and enthusiasm.” – Kyle Bryant

CrossFit sometimes presents us with the most magical people and experiences. That is what happened when Kyle talked about trying CrossFit at CFKOP. He brought to the club incredible personal power, can-do spirit and inspiration. He inspired us to never again complain about a difficult workout… Here’s a video of Kyle’s visit to CF KOP.
You can also support Kyle’s effort here to help find a cure.

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Doing Overtraining Right…

Posted on May 24, 2012 by

I have a hunch that I’m violating many of Mark Sisson’s overtraining rules… We all have weeks like this. I had a race Saturday then 3 benchmark WODs already and the 4th scheduled next Saturday. Recovery is nice, but I can still walk and would not want to miss Murph, Holbrook and any of the rest… Sounds familiar? If you are a CrossFitter then you do know the feeling…

So how do we avoid overtraining? Interestingly the next best thing to rest is actually a (slightly) lower intensity workout with lots of warm up and cool down mobility movements. I could barely walk down the stairs this morning but I did do the 50 thrusters for Holbrook at prescribed weight. Thanks for Rob at CFDV for a proper warmup. I also learned that if you can’t walk down the stairs forward you can try walking backwards. Just saying…

Benchmark WOD “Holbrook” @ CFDV
10 rounds for time of:
– 5 thrusters – 115 lbs
– 10 pullups
– 100m sprint
Rest 1 minute in-between rounds
[SCORE: 25:07 – average 1:36 a round]

Posted in Benchmarks, Clubs, Mobility, Travel, WOD | Comments Off

Benchmark Mania

Posted on May 23, 2012 by

So this week I have 4 benchmark workouts which may defeat the purpose of benchmarks – you’re tired after benchmark 1 so the others will certainly be worse than your best. No matter. Getting better is sometimes mental. Like not dropping the weight or the weight vest mid-workout… Lifting day today… This benchmark was 60lb less than last time and I may attribute it to yesterday’s Murph… And then comes Holbrook tomorrow.

WOD “CrossFit Total”
1 rep maxes of:
– backsquat
– shoulder press
– deadlift
[SCORE: 775] vs. 835 last time.

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Murph and the Art of CrossFit Endurance

Posted on May 22, 2012 by

You know you’re doing something special in CrossFit when there are competing camps arguing the right approach for a certain workout. It so happens with Murph, which can take the better or all of an hour especially if you decide to sport a 20lb weight vest as prescribed.
While serious firebreathers may knock out the 100 pull-ups, 200 pushups and 300 squats in a row, most (sane) athletes go for 20 rounds of Cindy (5 pull-up, 10 pushups, 15 squats) to break up the fun… There are whole discussions on whether you should front-load the squats so your second run is easier – but hey, that’s what CrossFit is all about: open source and you get to do it your way, scale as you want and have a ton of fun while at it.
That is sort of what happened today at CFKOP… I considered this a perfect prep for the next adventure race… As usual some of us used this Hero WOD to contribute to our favorite charity – see mine on the right side of the blog.

Hero WOD “Murph”
Wearing a 20lb vest for time:
– 1 mile run
– 100 pullups
– 200 pushups
– 300 squats
– 1 mile run
[TIME: 59:17]

Posted in Benchmarks, Fundraising, WOD | 3 Comments

Generalist or Specialist

Posted on May 21, 2012 by

Talking to our coach at CF KOP, she pointed out that Crossfit increasingly requires both general preparedness (GPP) and specialization for elite level competition. GPP can get you through the next adventure race or CrossFit Open but for the regionals, the Games or the Spartan Beast Race we may need to practice our lifts, gymnastics and endurance like crazy. Rich Froning’s comments on games preparation says it all about the combination of endurance and strength.
For those of us less accomplished athletes, it is also crucial to have some specialized training just to maintain or build skills. I had to go back to my running regimen to maintain my racing pace, had to learn to row better and constantly have to have a specialized lifting program (Wendler) just to do the heavy or volume lifting WODs. But with general preparedness I can always climb a 10-foot wall or jump a 4-foot fence should they attack me in a dark alley…

By the way, today was Spartan Burpee Day – I’m sure we all had our 300 burpees in…

WOD @ CFKOP
AMRAP in 9 minutes:
– 1 ring dip
– 1 overhead squat (95/135 lbs)
– 2 ring dips
– 2 overhead squats
… etc …
[SCORE: 54 reps @ 95 lbs]