WOD:

Rest day

Hal didn’t need tryptophan from the turkey, “Jackie” did a pretty good job of knocking him out.

WOD:

12 min AMRAP
8 Russian twists (45#/25#)
10 Bumper plate cleans (45#/25#)
12 Bumper plate overhead lunges (45#/25#)

Then:
back squat
4-4-4-4

Post number of completed rounds and loads to comments.

Bainbridge Island Rower, Jared get in a little holiday burn.

CrossFit Works: Well No Sh–, Sherlock!

The American Council on Exercise (ACE) just published a study that confirms something we have all known for a while; CrossFit Works. Despite the fact that this is a sort of “No Sh–, Sherlock” kind of study, it is nice to some some positive press for CrossFit. The rest of the fitness industry seems to be having a pretty good time taking pot shots at CrossFit over the last few months. If I’m being completely honest, and yes, maybe I’m a little biased, but I think a lot of it comes out of jealousy, but that’s the subject of a different post.

So, maybe this wasn’t the most robust study of exercise ever completed, they basically found that we burn calories and nearly max out VO2 Max and from that conclude that CrossFit is effective. Of course they can’t just say, “CrossFit works,” and leave it at that. They just had to throw in this little caveat, even though they didn’t look at injury rates or anything:

“The thing we’ve seen with a lot of these workouts is you go flat-out as fast as you can, but then your form falls apart. You really need to be technically correct with a lot of these exercises or else you’re going to get hurt,” Porcari says. “And it’s nice to be competitive with other CrossFitters, but at what point are you pushing yourself outside the realm of safety?”

So, CrossFit works, but you have to be careful … again, “No sh–, Sherlock.” I’m pretty sure the same could be said for nearly any physical activity, exercise program or sport.

WOD:

“Air Force”
20 Thrusters
20 Sumo deadlift high pulls
20 Push press
20 Overhead squats
20 Front squats

WOD begins with 4 burpees and then 4 additional burpees are performed every minute on the minute. Men’s weight = 95#, Women’s weight = 65#.

Power Hour:
3 Rounds for time
800m run
5 Front squats from the floor (225#/155#)
200m run
11 Chest to bar pull-ups
400m run
12 Kettlebell swings (70#/53#)

Compare to 02/08/13 and post times to comments.

Team Morgan recovers after another fine performance at the Dynamic Duo Team Throwdown.

Making Time For What You Want

(This post was written by Kristin Rhodes, winner of the 2012 World’s Strongest Woman competition, and posted on the Lift Big Eat Big website. We all make excuses for why we don’t have the time to accomplish the things that we would like to accomplish. For many of us, it’s not that we don’t have the time, we’re just not appropriately using the time we have. Read Kristin’s story and then consider where in your daily routine you could make some changes to help you accomplish the goals you had set for yourself.)

Everyone has an excuse. The one I hear most often is I don’t have time. The truth is there is always time if you want to make time. You make time for the things you want.

I started competing in Strongman when my youngest was just 10 months old. In fact at my first contest ever, I was nursing my daughter between events. The surprise on peoples faces when they saw me go up and press a wooden log overhead multiple times, after just seeing me nursing my daughter was priceless. Most of them didn’t even realize I was a competitor. You can be a great mom and still do something good for yourself. Competing and training is just part of my life now. I have been finding the balance between being a wife, a mother of three and a business owner both on and off the competition field for almost eight years. In that time I have competed in eight National Championships and have won “America’s Strongest Woman” six times. I competed in the 2008 “Strongwoman World Championships” in Poland and finished in second place. In 2012, I finally won the WSW championship title in Finland. Additionally, I hold three Guinness World Records and filmed a TV show called Superhuman Challenge last year for the BBC. How cool is that! All because I was able to find a balance and make time for myself and my family.

Let’s face it, if you want something bad enough you will find a way. I choose to train after our kids are in bed during the week and one weekend day. After struggling for the first year to find the time to train, we turned our one car garage into a gym. While I know that is not ideal for everyone, it was my solution. I have also scaled back and only train three days a week now. With the extra time and rest I have seen amazing strength gains.

I think as women we often feel guilty not giving our kids 100% of our time and energy. Here’s the thing though, if your not happy with yourself, you wont have a happy home. A happy healthy confident mom will raise happy healthy confident children. Whether your into Strongman, Crossfit, Power Lifting or Body Building, it really doesn’t matter. Surround yourself with people that have similar interests and share your goal. That will make training and finding the time to train much easier. When you have a good support system it is much easier to feel less guilty about making time for yourself.

Remember to always have fun! Continue learning and bettering yourself. Find a coach or training system that you believe in. Because when you believe in YOU and in your training, great things will happen. You should never feel miserable. If you do then it’s time for a change!

I’ve had to change programming coaches when I was no longer progressing at the rate I wanted to. It just wasn’t fun anymore. I’ve been there ladies! I am so thankful to have finally found the perfect coach, one that has my best interests in mind.

Here’s my advice, you should never feel guilty for making time for yourself. It is possible to be an all around Wonder Woman if you believe in yourself and quit making yourself feel guilty.
One of my favorite sayings is “Mind over body”. My high school cross country and soccer coach nicknamed me “Special K” because of my ability to overcome my size (which was only 175lbs) and just plain kick serious ass as an athlete. I was never the smallest but I had determination to be the best. It is that determination that drives me today. So my message to you ladies, is be determined, work hard and make it happen! Go out and get what you want!

WOD:

Speed sumo deadlift
2-2-2-2-2-2-2
1 min rest between sets

Then:
“Hurricane Freddy”
5 rounds, 90 seconds per round, no rest between rounds
Rnd 1: 12 Wall balls (20#/14#), max meter row
Rnd 2: 14 Wall balls, max meter row
Rnd 3: 16 Wall balls, max meter row
Rnd 4: 18 Wall balls, max meter row
Rnd 5: 20 Wall balls, max meter row

Post loads and total distance rowed to comments.

Jennifer hits the bottom of a 1RM squat attempt.

Lamb Lollipops

This delicious looking recipe comes via the CrossFit Journal. I have never made lamb chops and for some reason cooking them kind of freaks me out. After watching this video they don’t look so intimidating. Now, you may freak out a bit at the amount of sugar that is called for in this recipe. I’m pretty sure the last time I used a cup of sugar in a recipe I was making Kool-Aid as a teenager. At any rate, notice that the cup of sugar is for the sauce which you simply spoon over the top. The amount of sugar you actually use is up to you and it’s not likely you will use anything near a cup, probably not even a 1/4 cup, unless you really like the sauce and end up drinking it.

WOD:

4 Rounds for time
400m Run
4 Muscle ups
40 Double unders

Post time to comments.

Exchange student, Bjorn gets his first “taste” of Thanksgiving at the “Earn Your Feast” WOD.

Are You Reading The Journal?

Do you have a subscription to the CrossFit Journal? You should. I may be a bit biased, but I believe it is one of the most undervalued fitness resources ever made available. I have a Bachelors Degree in Exercise Science and I’m here to tell you that I have learned more about exercise/fitness from the CrossFit Journal than I ever did during my undergrad years. The scope and variety of the CrossFit Journal is unmatched by anything else I have ever read. It is packed with articles on movements, coaching, injuries, nutrition, inspirational stories and so on. The articles span 11 years of content. The first couple of years of articles were all written by Greg Glassman himself and they are amazing. Honestly, it was reading Coach Glassman’s article, What is Fitness that convinced me that this was a program I needed to check out.

“The Journal” is easily the best deal running on the internet. I have been a subscriber for nearly 6 years now. Compared to other journals I have subscribed to this one is a steal. I have paid up to $400/year for subscriptions to Physical Therapy journals, since day 1, the CrossFit Journal has been a mere $25/year. Well after 11 years they had to make some changes, so they changed the price of the Journal. It will now put you out … are you ready for this … nada, zip, zilch. That’s right, you can get a free subscription to the CrossFit Journal. Just follow this link and open yourself up to a whole world of knowledge. Just heed this warning, it is very easy to get caught up in it and spend hours upon hours digging through it watching videos and reading articles. Don’t say you haven’t been warned. If you dig deep enough you may even find some content written by a KCF’er.

Happy reading.