RX THE WOD

Kettlebells in Palo Alto Hotel

Posted on March 27, 2012 by

For the first time in all my travels my Palo Alto hotel gym had not one but 3 kettlebells. It may not excite others so much (judging from the thin layer of dust on them) but it was a welcome change from treadmill hell after a long day on Sand Hill Road.

Skills
– Handstand pushups (Speal method)
– Double unders

MetCon/Strength
3 rounds for time:
– 10 kettlebell swings (1.5 pood / 55lbs)
– 20 pushups
– 10 dumbbell presses (2 x 30lbs)
– 20 situps
TIME: 7:45

Endurance – Bike
4 intervals:
– 1 min max effort (110+ cadence)
– 2 min min effort (50 cadence)

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Reflecting on the Crossfit Open

Posted on March 26, 2012 by

The Open is now over and the best athletes are off to the Regionals and then to the Games. It is awesome to have a sport so inclusive that 60,000 people young and old, fire-breathers and beginners all get to be measured by the same standard and have their results count and being recorded. The world champion and the newbies all in the same race. I remember when I was running long distance they always reminded us not try to outrun the Kenyans only the people immediately in front of us… In the Open, doing 10-20 more burpees, wallballs and thrusters literally means hundreds of positions in the final ranking. It gives us a sense of how much we need to improve and in which area… Now all we have to do next time is to just do it… After my olympic lifting training now I need to focus on rowing, sprinting and some other skills, because in my head I perform so much better than I’m demonstrating on the scoreboard… Well, don’t we all….

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1000 Squats Later

Posted on March 25, 2012 by

I completed the most useful certification yet, Olympic Lifting with the Mike’s Gym crew. The training had no sit-down-and-listen portion to it so we were doing snatches and cleans non-stop for the whole weekend. Some guessed over 1,000 squats, a couple of hundred snatches and cleans and some of us had to complete the Crossfit Open 12.5 WOD for extra spicy fun. All in all, the most useful athletic training I ever had. We practiced the footwork and the key positions of each lift until it literally got burned into long term muscle memory…

Once I can move my arms again, I’ll be looking forward to my max lifts go through the roof.

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CrossFit Life Lesson 16 – Build You Brand

Posted on March 24, 2012 by

Hanging out with Mike’s Gym coaches this weekend doing the Olympic Lifting Cert…

One of the best part of my travels is meeting box owners all around the world. As CrossFit explodes in popularity many gyms struggle to differentiate themselves from each other. Recently I was in a town with 3 boxes within 5 miles of each other. They all looked and felt the same… Competition is everywhere at work and life and the best always find a way to stand out even where differentiation is not obvious.

There are so many examples of gyms that decided to specialize in a skill or an approach that gave them national or even global appeal way beyond their immediate membership. Great examples are San Francisco CrossFit with mobilityWOD, CF Endurance, Mike’s Gym with Olympic Lifting. Yet, I keep seeing gyms that have a truly unique specialty and fail to leverage it. One of my favorite boxes (remains nameless) has the best warmups to fit the needs of the workout and could easily define the WarmUpWOD standard across the industry. Another club has everyone doing double unders, every day. I mean everybody doing over 30-40 reps. I would certainly subscribe to their DoubleUnderWOD if they launched it… The point is that even with thousands of new boxes opening, current gyms could still gain national fame and stand our for their clients by being the best rope-climb trainers, best in butterfly pull-ups, rings, swim or even tire flips… Am I the only one who noticed that there is no CrossFit Snowboard affiliate? All things being equal prospective clients need an edge to decide which box to pick. Let’s give them one.

Of course, broader business teaches us the same lesson. When you work for a big company or in a tough industry, what does your name stand for? I mean you, personally. I believe we all have to stand for one (positive) phrase that describes and differentiates us in our jobs. Something that only we bring to the table. Many times that requires us to create a new idea and link that to ourselves. For some classic comments on this topic go back to the 15-year-old article at the FastCompany Magazine that launched the personal branding revolution currently led by people like Dan Schawbel. My team at work knows this all too well as I want them every year to declare what their brand will be in 12 months. Specifically, what is it that if you could accomplish, you would blow your mind away? That is most likely what you want to stand for and stand out with. It is amazing watching someone stepping into a new space and becoming the expert and leader in it just by declaring it as their own. At my firm, we get to do this every day and it is the ultimate reward I wish for everyone. Give yourself a new, unique brand and stand out…

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Olympic Lifts and Sandboarding

Posted on March 23, 2012 by

This weekend I get to work on my Olympic Lifts for real, hanging our with coach Burgener’s best. It may have been easier perfecting these lifts in high school but I’m told it is never too late… Rest day today before the Cert Weekend.

I also started planning the CrossFit extreme additions around my spring and summer business trips. I’m most looking forward to Sandboarding the dunes of Dubai. That will have to be awesome… I will get to compare it against the fresh powder in California next weekend.