|
|
The 6am crew. Welcome Ian, thanks for coming.
 Julie and Mowgli take a well deserved post-WOD rest.  9am rocked. Great work guys.  The mighty McVeigh.  High noon. From everyone at CF West, happy 4th of July.
Please allow me a moment of personal digression.
I did not realize what it means to be an American until I was 23. Most Americans, whether they question our government or exalt it, do not truly grasp the pull that America has for the rest of the world. I certainly did not.
When I was 23 I was deported from Japan for grossly overstaying my visa (really). I had voluntarily turned myself in and I was sent to a special police immigration center where I stated my case, signed a paper wherein I gave up all rights (not an easy thing to do), and was given a window of one week in which to leave the country, not to return for at least two years. I was the only person from what is commonly called the first world in the entire center. There were Koreans, Iranians, Pakistanis, Chinese, Thais, Peruvians, Filipinos, and other nationalities, but I saw no one from North America or Western Europe in the time I was there. I stood out like the classic proverbial sore thumb–tall, American, with too much blond hair (this being the grunge era, no laughing).
In order to get my paperwork finalized, I had to get my passport photocopied at a small kiosk where I was waiting in line with about 100 other people. Two men were working the line selling discount airline tickets–a smart inspiration on their part as everyone in that line had to leave Japan within one week and there are only two ways off an island. I asked how much to LA and one of them asked if I was American. I held up and kind of waved my US passport in reply and suddenly all conversation around me, up and down the line, ceased. As the hush spread, at least 100 eyes stared, just fixated, on the small blue passport. And, at that moment, I knew that every person in that line would give up almost everything they had just to be the owner of that passport. A tingle went through me and I froze for a second, hand and passport upraised like I was hailing a taxi, and then I sort of shivered and lowered my hand, tucking my passport back out of sight.
It was an powerful lesson in the meaning of my, our, birthright and I distinctly remember that moment.
Happy Fourth, my friends.
CF West will hold class as usual on Saturday, at 8 and 10am. The Firecracker 10k run is at Harvey West this year and a lot of streets in the Harvey West area, including Coral St., will be closed from 7:30 to 10:30. I think the best bet is to park in the Costco lot and walk over. Good luck to any CrossFitters (and everyone) entered in the Firecracker.
Workout:
400m Run
30 GHD Situps
30 Box Jumps 24″
200m Run
20 GHD Situps
20 Box Jumps 28″
100m Sprint
10 GHD Situps
10 Box Jumps 32″
Post WOD completed and score to Comments.
Ladies and the tramps.  I just read in In Style magazine that deadlift tape is this summer's big thing in fashion. One of the very cornerstones of CrossFit is the idea that short very intense workouts can and will get one fitter than long plodding workouts. We believe, and this is what the vast majority of CrossFit programming is based upon, that 10 hard and fast minutes are worth a helluva lot more than a half hour on the treadmill. The rest of the world, head firmly in the sand, as taken a long time to awake to this idea.
However, a recent NY Times article caught my eye (the full article is at the bottom the post). The article trumpets the recent discovery that short very intense exercise is as, if not more, beneficial than long not very intense exercise.
I have to admit that it just feels really good to be right.
Please post thoughts to Comments.
CF West will hold class as usual on Saturday, at 8 and 10am. The Firecracker 10k run is at Harvey West this year and apparently Coral St. is closed from 7:30 to 10:30. I think the best bet is to take Sylvania Ave to Costco and park in the Costco lot and walk over. I hope to see a bunch of people celebrating Independence Day with some heavy lifting.
Workout (I like this WOD a lot and I’d love to be able to claim it, but I have to give credit where it is due–CrossFit Football):
7 Rounds
3 Handstand Pushups
5 Power Cleans 185/135#
7 Pullups C2B of course
Post WOD completed and score to Comments.
Can You Get Fit in Six Minutes a Week?
By Gretchen Reynolds
A few years ago, researchers at the National Institute of Health and Nutrition in Japan put rats through a series of swim tests with surprising results. They had one group of rodents paddle in a small pool for six hours, this long workout broken into two sessions of three hours each. A second group of rats were made to stroke furiously through short, intense bouts of swimming, while carrying ballast to increase their workload. After 20 seconds, the weighted rats were scooped out of the water and allowed to rest for 10 seconds, before being placed back in the pool for another 20 seconds of exertion. The scientists had the rats repeat these brief, strenuous swims 14 times, for a total of about four-and-a-half minutes of swimming. Afterward, the researchers tested each rat’s muscle fibers and found that, as expected, the rats that had gone for the six-hour swim showed preliminary molecular changes that would increase endurance. But the second rodent group, which exercised for less than five minutes also showed the same molecular changes.
The potency of interval training is nothing new. Many athletes have been straining through interval sessions once or twice a week along with their regular workout for years. But what researchers have been looking at recently is whether humans, like that second group of rats, can increase endurance with only a few minutes of strenuous exercise, instead of hours? Could it be that most of us are spending more time than we need to trying to get fit?
The answer, a growing number of these sports scientists believe, may be yes.
“There was a time when the scientific literature suggested that the only way to achieve endurance was through endurance-type activities,” such as long runs or bike rides or, perhaps, six-hour swims, says Martin Gibala, PhD, chairman of the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. But ongoing research from Gibala’s lab is turning that idea on its head. In one of the group’s recent studies, Gibala and his colleagues had a group of college students, who were healthy but not athletes, ride a stationary bike at a sustainable pace for between 90 and 120 minutes. Another set of students grunted through a series of short, strenuous intervals: 20 to 30 seconds of cycling at the highest intensity the riders could stand. After resting for four minutes, the students pedaled hard again for another 20 to 30 seconds, repeating the cycle four to six times (depending on how much each person could stand), “for a total of two to three minutes of very intense exercise per training session,” Gibala says.
Each of the two groups exercised three times a week. After two weeks, both groups showed almost identical increases in their endurance (as measured in a stationary bicycle time trial), even though the one group had exercised for six to nine minutes per week, and the other about five hours. Additionally, molecular changes that signal increased fitness were evident equally in both groups. “The number and size of the mitochondria within the muscles” of the students had increased significantly, Gibala says, a change that, before this work, had been associated almost exclusively with prolonged endurance training. Since mitochondria enable muscle cells to use oxygen to create energy, “changes in the volume of the mitochondria can have a big impact on endurance performance.” In other words, six minutes or so a week of hard exercise (plus the time spent warming up, cooling down, and resting between the bouts of intense work) had proven to be as good as multiple hours of working out for achieving fitness. The short, intense workouts aided in weight loss, too, although Gibala hadn’t been studying that effect. “The rate of energy expenditure remains higher longer into recovery” after brief, high-intensity exercise than after longer, easier workouts, Gibala says. Other researchers have found that similar, intense, brief sessions of exercise improve cardiac health, even among people with heart disease.
There’s a catch, though. Those six minutes, if they’re to be effective, must hurt. “We describe it as an ‘all-out’ effort,” Gibala says. You’ll be straying “well out of your comfort zone.” That level of discomfort makes some activities better-suited to intense training than others. “We haven’t studied runners,” Gibala says. The pounding involved in repeated sprinting could lead to injuries, depending on a runner’s experience and stride mechanics. But cycling and swimming work well. “I’m a terrible swimmer,” Gibala says, “so every session for me is intense, just because my technique is so awful.”
Meanwhile, his lab is studying whether people could telescope their workouts into even less time. Could a single, two- to three-minute bout of intense exercise confer the same endurance and health benefits as those six minutes of multiple intervals? Gibala is hopeful. “I’m 41, with two young children,” he says. “I don’t have time to go out and exercise for hours.” The results should be available this fall.
The noon crew.
 The 6pm crew.  Nancy  Rachel There is an old Taoist fable attributed to Chuang Tzu that I particularly like. It is about a butcher who never has to sharpen his knife. Whenever this butcher cut up a cow or goat or other animal, he naturally found the empty spaces in the joints and slid his knife through them, never encountering resistance. Thus, the knife never became dull.
Think about doing the snatch, clean, or jerk. There are times (too rarely, if you are anything like me) when the bar just seems to elevate itself and your body receives the weight almost lightly. You elevated the bar and found that perfect moment to drop under it so that the weight never had a chance to fall. When you then stand tall with the weight, it’s almost like you never encountered any resistance.
I think the butcher would understand.
Please post thoughts to Comments.
Workout:
10 Rounds
2 Squat Cleans
2 Hang Power Cleans
2 Jerks
40m Sprint
Guys, shoot for 135-155#. Dolls, try for 85-105#.
Post time and load to Comments.
CF West sometime member Tom McElroy has been traveling in the interior of South America and he sent this picture of two hunters from deep inside Ecuador. All these guys do is hunt and fish, all day long. Full paleo diet –hunted and gathered fresh daily. Zero sugar, no starch (some tubers, maybe?). The guy in the red shorts holding the monkey (that he just speared) is 60 years old! Tom said the guys are just beasts. They are out hunting all day, and move in anaerobic bursts for about 5-10 minutes at a time – sprinting, swinging from trees, hurling spears, and wrestling wild pigs and tapirs to the ground.
Hmmm…kinda makes one think.
Partial squats are never good. They neglect the hips and hamstrings. When an athlete stops above parallel, his/her knee joints are forced to halt the downward momentum. But once the athlete foes below parallel, that stress is transferred to the more powerful muscle groups in the hips (glutes), lumbars, hamstrings, and adductors. Full squats keep all these muscle groups proportionately strong.
Bill Starr, PH.D.
John Hopkins University
Not that I have much to add to anything said by someone like Bill Starr, but it has always seemed to me that if we weren’t meant to squat deep, then our knee joints wouldn’t bend as far as they do. I know that seems kind of stupid, but think about it. If it was damaging for our knees to be bent completely, why would they be so easily able to do so? With every other movement full range of motion is never argued. Everyone knows that a chin up has to have the chin over the bar. That’s why it isn’t called a nose up.
Look at the legs of the gent on the left in the pic above. He has probably never sat in a chair in his life. I also would be willing to bet that he does not have any knee pain or damaged knees from it. Our bodies have been around in their current incarnation as homo sapiens for a pretty long time. Movement, diet, training. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that it’s already spelled out for us.
“CrossFit–Taking you back 50,000 years.” I have got to get that t-shirt made.
Workout:
3 Rounds
3 Deadlifts 315/195#
6 Overhead Squats 135/85#
12 Pushups
24 Double Unders
Post WOD and score to Comments.
Every season has it's optimum time to train. In Santa Cruz, the evening is the perfect time to train during the summer. Come 5 or 6pm, it is warm and light, no morning marine layer and no mid-afternoon heat.
For her post tonight, Jocelyn talks about social interaction and personal characteristics.
It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and open gym at the box was hoppin’ with firebreathers. The echo of heavily loaded barbells being tossed could be heard bouncing back from the neighboring gymnastics building across the lot. Our newest live wire, Chris, was working some heavy clean technique after finishing his first Helen in just 8:32. Juggernaut had just finished King Kong in 8:53 (Golden you killed those cleans!). Kyle- Queen Kong in 2:58 and was now contemplating his second workout. Desmond was helping Julie with her OH Squats and working some technique of his own. Sam was in the corner doing his keggles on the yoga mat, periodically cueing his athletes to tighten up their mechanics in one way or another (Ha, I just love saying that. But that’s because it’s the nature of my social style. Plus, I know Sam appreciates my tendency towards being a wise ass.) And when I realized that it was already almost 2 o’clock and I had yet to start my Caity Matter workout, I was overcome with a tad of anxiety, so in a mini panic I summoned Sam to start the stopwatch for me. After all, I had been anticipating this workout for 2 whole days.
Days like this I love sitting back and watching the interaction between everyone. It’s the little things about people’s actions that intrigue me. Desmond, for example, is very quiet. He seems to slip in the door without drawing much attention to himself. He will sit and patiently watch the others complete their workouts and with a raise of the eyebrow and a nod (this indicating that he was, in fact, impressed) he will turn his attention to the benchmark workouts written on the board. As he studies the WODs, rubbing his chin between his thumb and forefinger, a look of consideration will take over his face. It reminds me of a person choosing out a movie at the rental place. Various people will call out their opinions about which “Girl” he should attack, and after a few minutes of deliberation he will quietly begin to load up his barbell. But then there is the countdown, 3,2,1, go! The stopwatch starts and suddenly a burst of utter intensity is unleashed.
Then there is Golden–the Juggernaut. Golden is not exactly the quietest of folk. At CrossFit West, we have grown to count on him for a regular good laugh. Golden is basically the strongest person we have at the box, a hell of an athlete, and is starting to have good form on most lifts. In fact, he no longer plie squats with his toes pointing outward at 180 degrees in either direction, but actually gets those toes and femurs to about 30 degrees, lowers his hips deep into the hole while maintaining a (mostly) flat back. He makes fun of himself (and others) about bad form. He jokingly asks us coaches to take a look at his donkey kick just to be sure he’s getting it right and works hard to see if he can do a box jump without moving his head vertically at all, really reaching for minimal hip extension, and is genuinely upset if he can’t mimic a terrible jump. He finishes his 500+lbs deadlifts with a calf raise and practices bodybuilding poses for everyone during class. Golden is a goofball. But he is also an animal. And when he completes his first 3 squat cleans at 250lbs during King Kong (previously his 1RM) you can see the excitement and pride in his eyes. And even though he will only make jokes about it later, you can tell he is incredibly stoked.
Kyle, one of the 1st ever members of CrossFit West back when Sam first started a year and a half ago, is quite modest. Most people around here have either witnessed or heard about Kyle’s transformation. I, myself, have only seen pictures. Pictures that brought me to tears, collapsing to the floor in laughter. As the legend goes, Kyle was overweight and un-athletic when Sam twisted his arm to start CrossFit. He would only be allowed to work a specific job (one that only Sam could get him) if he would try CrossFit. This job was very important because there was a special girl who worked there, so he decided to give it a shot. According to Kyle, on his first day of CrossFit, Sam was not in the best of moods. While he was attempting ring dips, he vividly remembers Sam saying, “Kyle, you look like you have epilepsy.” [Sam’s note—I have no memory of this and seriously question it’s validity.] But he kept with it. He had a deep burning desire to be better, and just as most people experience, it started to have that amazing domino effect in all areas of his life. Now Kyle is on his way to becoming a competitive CrossFit athlete. He holds many records at CrossFit West, and at the young age of 22 finished in the top third at the NorCal Qualifiers. But even so, Kyle is very humble. He doesn’t draw much, if any, attention to himself when he is preparing to workout. In fact, Kyle tends to be in a zone of his own most of the time. He spends time analyzing various workouts from different affiliates and then creates his own based on a wide array of information he gathers from books like Starting Strength, Olympic Lifting, internet sites, Ed, Sam, and other coaches and athletes. He’s got a sort of scientific approach to the way he does things and unlike many CrossFitters, does NOT thrive on not knowing what the day will hold workout wise. He comes with a plan. And you only realize that he’s about to start his WOD when he sneaks over and quietly asks the first person available to start his timer. But just like all of the great athletes here, when the timer starts, his power is unleashed.
I tend to notice stuff like this all the time and recently I got to thinking about an interesting book I read a while back about Social Styles. It’s about the four basic personality types and what their tendencies are. It then goes on to explain how to identify the different types, as well as understand the way in which they interact, etc. Kind of goofy, I know, but interesting none the less. But then I started to think about these social styles and how they show up in CrossFit. When I first started to coach softball years ago, my dad told me, “Joc, you gotta figure out what makes ‘em tick.” It was some of the best coaching advice I ever got and I try to use it to this day, even in CrossFit.
Understanding personalities is useful in any group setting really. Whether you are an athlete or coach, part of a team or not, having good relationships with the people around you will always be important, especially when we have such a unique community like ours here at CrossFit West. Having said that, take a look at the list below. It’s fun to see where you and others fall. There are four basic social styles: Analyticals, Drivers, Amiables, and Expressives.
Analyticals- The Technique Specialists
Analyticals are precise and they are experts in the area of technique. Analyticals have a strong sense of duty and obligation. They are driven by a forceful work ethic, and play does not come naturally to them. They are natural givers and often take on the role of parent or guardian for other people and organizations.
Analyticals have a tendency to take on too much responsibility. They see themselves as conservators tend to worry. They will save and store for the future, believing they cannot save too much. They are steadfast, reliable, and dependable.
Drivers- The Control Specialists
Drivers are obsessed by strong compulsion to perform and be in control.. They take pleasure in almost any kind of work because it involves activity. Idleness will destroy drivers. They desire to control and master everything they do. They speak with precision and little redundancy.
Drivers like new ideas, challenges, and competition. They have a passion for knowledge. They are constantly searching to answer the whys of life. They can be overly forceful and may require too much from themselves and other people. Drivers are haunted by the possibility of failure. They are self controlled, persistent, and logical.
Amiables- The Support Specialists
Amiables are very likeable people who support others. They work well with other people and promote harmony. They are found wrapped up in causes. They like to work with words and often influence large groups through writing. They sometimes place unrealistic expectations on themselves and other people. They will often romanticize experiences and relationships.
Amiables like to have direction. They often observe people and seek deep meaning in relationships and experiences. They prefer interaction to action. Amiables are very compassionate with others who may be hurting. They are patient, good listeners, and are filled with integrity.
Expressives- The Social Specialists
Expressives are very impulsive people who love to socialize. They like to try the new and different. They enjoy wandering and it is easy for them to break social ties. They like to live for the here and now. Expressives struggle with commitment and follow through.
Expressives have happy and charismatic spirits and can endure hardships and trials easier than the other social styles. Discomfort is just a new experience that they know will pass. They love to reminisce and enjoy belonging to social organizations. They are friendly, giving, and easy going.
Where do you think you fall on the social style list and how do you think it shows in CrossFit? How do you like to be coached? Please post thoughts to Comments.
End Note: According to the book How to Deal with Annoying People, Analyticals are most compatible with Drivers and Amiables. Drivers are most compatible with Analyticals and Expressives. Amiables are most compatible with Analyticals and Expressives. Expressives are most compatible with Drivers and Amiables. Do you find that consistent with your list?
Workout:
5 sets of 5 reps in the clean pull. Use a weight 10 pounds heavier than your 1RM clean. Really jump the bar high. Be sure to shrug the shoulders to the ears.
Then:
5 sets of 3 reps in the bench press
Your 3rd set should be 3RM, maintain that weight or try to increase it for the next 2 sets.
Then:
15 deadlifts. Add 100 pounds to the weight used for the clean pulls. Take some breaths between each rep, even stand and shake out your grip, but don’t dawdle and don’t walk away from the bar.
Post WOD completed and score to Comments.
Kirsten and Vero  CFWSC trainer Selene T. One of the maxims of CrossFit is to learn and play sports. CF West is the home to jujutsu and mma competitors, softball players and roller derby girls, mountain bikers and surfers, to mention a few. CF West also has a large presence at the beach. Quite a few of the top local players on the CBVA circuit train at CrossFit West Santa Cruz.
Vero and Kirsten (who played 9 games with a fractured thumb) placed third in this weekend’s tourney at main beach. Selene and her partner placed 5th. Congratulations to Vero, Kirsten, Selene, and the other CrossFitters who played.
Workout:
Back Squat
7 sets of 3 where the last three sets are 3RM
Then:
AMRAP in 10 minutes
5 Power Snatches 80% 1RM
5 Burpee Pullups
200m Run
Post weight and score to Comments.
 Jesse gets high on the bar and Desmond gets low under it.  Two of my favorite photos. A trainer’s programming is like a fingerprint, or penmanship, or even a gait. A WOD indelibly carries the mark of it’s creator and that individual style can be read by others. I was reminded of this when I walked into the CF West box today and saw a WOD written on the board. One glance and I immediately knew that it was Jason’s programming. Of course, I trained with Jason at the old HQ, and, as I have written before, his programming is a large influence on my own, but Kyle or Jocelyn or any of the other CF West trainers all have their own unique style. A style that is as easy to read as a signature.
As CF West does it’s own programming, a very important part of an aspiring trainer’s development is programming. Like other expressions of creativity, a good WOD goes through a couple of drafts or incarnations. One of the most interesting parts of my job is going over these draft WODs with the trainer. Seeing where their influences are, the reasoning by which they chose which movements and what rep scheme, and what is the purpose of the WOD.
CrossFit has a saying that I particularly like: “The magic is in the movements, the art is in the programming, and the science is in the explanation.” Everyone has a certain aspect of that saying that strikes them more than others. Some are drawn to the explanation, the science. Others to the physical movement, the magic. And others to the programming, the art. A good coach not only balances all three, but, without artifice, is able to put his or her own unique imprint, their fingerprint, as distinctive as a signature, on each one.
What are your favorite WODs and why?
Please post to Comments.
Workout:
3×100m Sprint
2 Rounds
3 Deadlift 80% 1RM
3 Overhead Squat 80% 1RM
3×100m Sprint
5 Clean and Jerk 90% 1RM
3×100m Sprint
2 Rounds
3 Power Snatch 85% 1RM
3 High Box Jump 85% 1RM
There is no time component for this WOD.
Music is probably one of the biggest issues facing CF West. That no one has acknowledged the inherent superiority of my musical tastes is causing some big problems. Really, the nerve. Kyle likes rap, Golden likes Boyz 2 Men, Cliff’s iPod is just an embarrassment (the tough bow hunter big wave surfer has a serious Mariah Carey collection), and if Jesse plays one more Celine Dion song, I am defecting to Body Pump. I know that everyone has songs that they like to work out to, but frankly, and I am going public with this, not enough people appreciate the advantages that Danzig and Sword bring to any WOD, not too mention Fire Sermon and Social D.
So I have hit upon a compromise. Well…actually Jocelyn hit upon it, but since I am writing it up, I am blatantly taking the credit. If everyone emails Jocelyn (joxlin@aol.com) or posts to Comments their two favorite training songs, we will (er, Jocelyn will) make some mixes to be played in all the classes.
So let’s have it folks. What are the tunes that help you PR, that buoy a heavy deadlift, that float your chest to the bar, that make you sprint just a little faster?
Please post to Comments.
Workout:
3 Rounds
1 Rope Climb no legs
10 Bench Press 185/125#
20 Jumping Back Squats 95/65#
Post WOD completed and score to Comments.
 Emmitt pulls 63# at 135BW!  Steve; 88#.  Chris; 105#!  Golden; chin over the bar with 108#.  And then proceeds to double 108# on the rings.  Jocelyn; so close to 58# after nailing 53#.  Welcome to CF West, Jim, although you might not get so lucky in your workout partners next time.  I hate to admit it, but Chris' very sensible reflective running shoes kind of spoil the whole tough guy shot.
Most of the time in life, we are trying to make things easier. Easier is a real selling point for just about everything. Except CrossFit.
We go about things just the opposite, actually. So go ahead, make things harder. Add more weight to that bar. Wear a vest. Do clapping or decline pushups instead of regular ones. Chest-to-bar pullups, of course. Jump to a 24″ box. You ever tried to deadlift with your eyes closed? It’s harder. And that’s the name of the game.
A favorite story of mine is about the founder of the martial art aikido. Most pictures of him are as an old man in his eighties with a wispy white beard, but when he was younger he was built like a powerlifter and was known for his physical strength. For a time he lived as a farmer on the northern most island of Japan. All the tools he used to farm–shovel, hoe, pick, etc–he had specially forged so that they were thicker and heavier than regular ones. By making things harder, he was always getting stronger and working out, even as he farmed.
What are ways that you make your workout harder?
Please post to Comments.
Workout:
10, 8, 6, 4, 2
Deadlift 275/185#
Thruster 135/85#
Burpee
Post WOD completed and score to Comments.
Chris and Andrew's first muscle ups. Congratulations, guys. 
 Sharron's favorite class. When I was younger I lived and trained martial arts in Tokyo. I used to hang out at this one bar a lot. It was dark and dingy, small and cramped and it smelled, and it played really loud rock and roll. There were always fights and holes getting punched in the walls and it stayed open until 5:30 or 6 in the morning. The bar was populated by an eccentric and pretty unique set of characters, such as old Asia hands, Japanese bikers, gold smugglers, rock and rollers. In short, it was the quintessential Far East hangout and as such the perfect place for a 19 year old with a hearty sense of adventure.
I would always pause a moment at the top of the stairs (the bar was an old underground storage cellar) and take a deep breath. My pulse would always quicken and excitement would tingle through me. A little burst of energy would jolt me. There was this delicious feeling of dread and apprehension all rolled up with that excitement and energy. You see, I never knew what I would find in that crazy old bar. I never knew what would happen each time I descended those narrow stairs. I never knew how the night would end.
Well, now I am a lot older and don’t go out to bars and drink (it just ain’t Paleo ya know) anymore, and besides, that great old bar has been torn down and exists only in legend now. And I am sure I would complain that the music is too loud anyway. Not too mention that I am usually looking longingly at my pillow at about the same time as I used to pause at the top of those stairs. Yeah I know, but…well I guess it happens to us all.
Here is the interesting thing though, back when I was training with Highbarger and Amundson at the old HQ, I used to get that exact same feeling before each class. I would start to feel it in the car driving over. A tingle of excitement and dread and energy and nervousness all rolled into one. I never knew what the WOD would be before hand. I just knew that it would be hard and scary and fun and it would leave me flat on my back with a big smile on my face.
I never connected the two feelings until recently. For the past year or two, pretty much since the old HQ closed, I have been doing my own programming. And it was great programming and I made huge gains and I would end up flat on my back afterwards. But I always knew what the workout was going to be and the feeling just wasn’t the same. Lately, due to some injuries and lots of work and what have you, I lost my motivation to train. Any WOD I programmed for myself just seemed sort of stale and I was having a hard time getting a good workout.
I asked one of the CF West trainers, Cliff, to program my workouts. I specifically asked him not to let me know what the workout and WOD is until I am ready to train. And bam!, that first day the feeling was back. Anticipation, dread, excitement, all the old feelings. And it felt great. I had the best workout in months.
To be honest, I don’t really know what the moral to this story is. But I like the story and I like having that great feeling back. I hope you all have that same bunch of feelings before each of your workouts.
Train hard folks. Have Fun.
Please post thoughts to Comments.
Workout (courtesy of Jason H):
Clean and Jerk
7×1
Work up to 1RM and try to PR.
Then:
9, 6, 3
Clean and Jerk 80% 1RM
Burpee Pullup
Post weight and time to Comments.
|
Free Classes: New to CrossFit? Come try your first class for free. Interested people can drop-in one-time for free (if possible, let us know you are coming ahead of time) - visit us at:
360 Coral Street Unit C
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
See a Map
|
