For time:
21-15-9
Deficit handstand push-up 4″(3″)
*100-ft Kettlebell farmers carry after each round 70#(53#)

At the 12:00 mark:

For time:
15-12-9
Weighted pull-up 45#(35#)
*100 Double unders after each round

Post times to BTWB

I enjoy reading other gym’s blogs and recently while reading the blog on CrossFit Invictus’ website, I came across an article that really resonated with me. I’m definitely guilty of being stubborn and thinking that I don’t need to work on the basics as much as I did when I first started CrossFit 10 years ago.

I program progressions daily for the classes I run, but sometimes when I work out on my own, I tend to skip right over the basics. Becoming proficient in movements takes a lot of practice and this is why we allocate time in all our classes going through movement progressions and lots of reps with empty barbells or light weight. Getting better at the basics of movement will pay off in the long run.

Quality Before Intensity
Written by Holden Rethwill for CrossFit Invictus

Thanks to social media accounts, we live in a time where the fitness industry, especially CrossFit, is centered around intensity and volume. Now don’t get me wrong, when applied correctly, this is the ticket to becoming that next level athlete. But for 99% of us, this doesn’t need to be our primary concern.

Whatever happened to mastering the basics?

I remember when I first started doing CrossFit, it was regular practice to drill over and over and over on basic movements. Ranging from gymnastics to the Olympic lifts, hours upon hours were spent mastering the basics before intensity became a primary or secondary concern.

Fast forward to today, and we have athletes who have shifted their focus to intensity and volume. They’re taking the mindset of “I don’t need that now, I’ll do the ‘easy’ stuff later.” But how often do they actually do that? When is the last time you came in and worked on just the kip swing, PVC snatch drills, or jerk footwork until your feet landed in the exact same spot every time?

Rather than spending the time to learn how to properly and efficiently move, athletes these days are just doing as much as possible as quickly as possible. I compare it to a student neglecting to read and study all quarter, then spending the night before their final exam cramming as much information as they can. You’ll never be as successful as you can be if this is the approach you take. Just like those final exams probably didn’t go as well as the classes where you actually studied and paid attention to all quarter.

Details and mastering the basics should be the first step to any athlete level, basic or elite. If done right, they should never be forgotten or overlooked, and should always be applied in practice.

Be a coaches favorite athlete and next time you see a movement on the board that you struggle with, ask them to break it down for you into the most basic components. Soak that information in like a sponge, and use this new approach to learn how to move better and more efficiently. I can promise you that the better you become at the basics, the easier it will be to add and increase intensity because of your new found ability to move effectively and efficiently!

Every 3:00 for 5 sets:
1 Hang squat clean + 1 squat clean

Then:

As many rounds as possible in 7:00 of:
10 Lateral burpees over the bar
10 Squat cleans, 95#(65#)

Post loads and times to comments and BTWB

Ladies and gentlemen,

We have so many activities we are putting on the calendar. . . . here’s what you have to look forward to:

• In this coming Thursday’s blog we will have a survey for you to fill out. It will be anonymous and it will be about all things Verve. We want to hear your thoughts, so please take some time to fill it out. 
• Saturday October 20th, “Bring a Friend to Verve” day. Got a friend, family member, co-worker, neighbor you want to try out CrossFit? Bring them on Saturday to either the 8am, 9am, or 10am class. The workout is easily scaleable to meet everyone needs. Get you and your friend singed up in MBO.
• November, we will be putting together a Spike Ball Tournament. Similar in fashion to our previous Cornhole Tournament. Stay tuned for more details.
• December will bring about our third annual Chili Cook Off. We also be adding a Baking Battle in to the mix. Taste test some chili and test run some cookies, we’ll make a day of it. Stay tuned for more details. 

Now, for those of you that were able to make it to Verve’s 10 Year Anniversary party. . . . we got some sweet photos for you. A huge thank you to Scott Brayshaw for spending the evening with us and capturing all these fine moments. Click here to enjoy.

With a partner:

For time:
3 Rounds
10 OHS, 135#(95#)
15 Box Jump Overs, 24″(20″)
10 Shuttle Run
*25-feet down and 25 feet back = 1 run.
*Must have 3 points of contact over the line.

*One person does 10 OHS/20 Box Jump Overs/10 Shuttle runs, then the next person goes. The is one round.

When the clock hits 16:00:

For time:
3 Rounds
15 Push Jerks, 135#(95#)
400(300) meter row

*1 person does 15 push jerks and 400-meter row, then the next person goes. That is one round.

**The score is the total work time for both efforts minus any rest.

YOGA TODAY AT 11:00 WITH KACEY

Post times to comments and BTWB

As many rounds as possible in 20:00 of:
Row 500(450) meters
15 Dumbbell hang power cleans 40#(25#)
20 Ab mat sit ups
15 Burpees

Post score to BTWB

Reminder that we have a 7:00 am class only today and then the gym is closed for the remainder of the day.  Sunday is our regular schedule.

PUMPKIN SPICE FREEZER FUDGE courtesy of the Healthy Maven

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup coconut oil, room temperature (not melted)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup pumpkin purée
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice
• 1 cup almond butter (the drippier, the better)
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate, melted (optional)

DIRECTIONS

• In a large bowl, mix together coconut oil and maple syrup until blended.
• Add pumpkin purée, pumpkin spice, and almond butter. Mix until combined.
• Cover a 9-by-9-inch baking pan with parchment paper and pour mixture into pan, spreading evenly.
• Freeze for at least one hour and cut into 16 squares. Drizzle with melted chocolate if desired.
• Serve immediately or store in freezer.

Every 3:00 for 5 sets:
3 Thrusters

Then:
For time:
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Unbroken Thrusters 115#(75#)

Post results to comments or BTWB

SHIN SPLINTS!! YUCK!

There has been some good running workouts lately, and some have done a little complaining about their shins hurting. I wanted to share a great article about what shin splints are and what you can do to help alleviate the pain.  You can see the full article from Tony Gentlcore here

What Are Shin Splints?

Shin splints (or, for the more hoity-toity in the crowd, Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome) is a common injury found in endurance athletes (namely runners) as well as those who engage in a lot of jumping activities, and is often described as “my fucking shin hurts” “pain or discomfort along the inner edge of the shin bone (tibia).”

As far as the root cause?

It can be left up for debate, but the consensus tends to point towards increased activity that overworks the muscles and soft-tissue surrounding the area of the lower leg leading to swelling and pain.

In short (and more often than not): It comes down to someone doing too much, too soon.

OMG, I Have Shin Splints. Am I Going to Die?  No

Whew, Okay, How Do I Address It?  There are a number of obvious, if not overly simplified approaches that are worthwhile and canget the job done.

Commonly these range from rest (from the problematic activity, not just Netflix and Chilling) to stretching your calf muscles (Gastrocnemius & Soleus) and Achilles tendon to implementing some additional manual therapy in the form of massage, Graston, and/or self-“release” with The Stick or foam roller.

Like I said, these are all fine and dandy….albeit a bit reductionistic in nature; or a quick Band-Aid if you will.

Some other poignant options to consider:

1) Reduce Training Volume

Hey, here’s an idea: If shin splints are often the end-result of overtraining or surpassing one’s  ability to recover, why don’t we, you know, latch onto the crazy idea of reduce training volume?

Weird, I know.

But something to consider and not to be trifled with.

2) Strengthen Anterior Musculature of Lower Leg

Namely, this means strengthening the Tibialis Anterior (front of the shin).

A popular exercise prescribed in this case is something like standing upright and “pulling” your toes towards your knees for “x” sets and reps.

Okay, cool.

I prefer something like ACTIVE ankle dorsiflexion vs. a band.

WARNING: Possibly the most boring video on the internet.

But Wait, There’s More (The Really Important Stuff)

Orthotics are often seen as the end all-be all fix.

However, for the bulk of people trying to conquer shin splits I do not feel what follows is the most germane approach. A few years ago I remember reading something physical therapist, Bill Hartman, wrote on the topic that really resonated with me and helped to shape my current thoughts on the topic.

Think about what happens when someone (over) pronates:

Pronation —-> Tibial Internal Rotation —-> Femoral Internal Rotation —-> Anterior Pelvic Tilt

What’s going to offset that trend?

HINT: Probably not an orthotic.

If we were to reverse engineer the anatomy/biomechanics it would look something like this:

Do More Anterior Core Work & Butt Stuff (Glute Work) —-> Nudge Posterior Pelvic Tilt —-> Femoral External Rotation —-> Tibial External Rotation —-> Supination of Foot.

PS – Tony has A TON more great videos with drills to help with Shin Splints…..

In 20:00 build to a 1 rep max of:

Deadlift, from 2″ block
*Weight on 2″ blocks

*Reach your 1RM in no more than 8 attempts. Allow 20:00 to reach your 1RM, and allow 3:00 minimum between final 3 attempts.

*Compare to 180516, post loads to comments and BTWB

The Deadlift By Greg Glassman

The deadlift is unrivaled in its simplicity and impact while unique in its capacity for increasing head-to-toe strength.

Regardless of whether your fitness goals are to “rev up” your metabolism, increase strength or lean body mass, decrease body fat, rehabilitate your back, improve athletic performance or maintain functional independence as a senior, the deadlift is a marked shortcut to that end.

To the detriment of millions, the deadlift is infrequently used and seldom seen either by most of the exercising public and/or, believe it or not, by athletes.

It might be that the deadlift’s name has scared away the masses; its older name, “the healthlift,” was a better choice for this perfect movement.

In its most advanced application the deadlift is prerequisite to, and a component of, “the world’s fastest lift,” the snatch, and “the world’s most powerful lift,” the clean, but it is also, quite simply, no more than the safe and sound approach by which any object should be lifted from the ground.

The deadlift, being no more than picking a thing off the ground, keeps company with standing, running, jumping and throwing for functionality but imparts quick and prominent athletic advantage like no other exercise.

Not until the clean, snatch and squat are well developed will the athlete again find as useful a tool for improving general physical ability.

The deadlift’s primal functionality, whole-body nature and mechanical advantage with large loads suggest its strong neuroendocrine impact, and for most athletes the deadlift delivers such a quick boost in general strength and sense of power that its benefits are easily understood.

If you want to get stronger, improve your deadlift. Driving your deadlift up can nudge your other lifts upward, especially the Olympic lifts.

Fear of the deadlift abounds, but like fear of the squat, it is groundless. No exercise or regimen will protect the back from the potential injuries of sport and life or the certain ravages of time like the deadlift. 

We recommend deadlifting at near max loads once per week or so and maybe one other time at loads that would be insignificant at low reps. Be patient and learn to celebrate small infrequent bests.

Major benchmarks would certainly include bodyweight, twice-bodyweight and three-times-bodyweight deadlifts, representing “beginning,” “good” and “great” deadlifts, respectively.

For us, the guiding principles of proper technique rest on three pillars: orthopedic safety, functionality and mechanical advantage. Concerns for orthopedic stresses and limited functionality are behind our rejection of wider-than-hip-to-shoulder-width stances. While acknowledging the remarkable achievements of many powerlifters with the super-wide deadlift stance, we feel that its limited functionality (we can’t safely walk, clean or snatch from “out there”) and the increased resultant forces on the hip from wider stances warrant only infrequent and moderate-to-light exposures to wider stances.

Experiment and work regularly with alternate, parallel and hook grips. Explore carefully and cautiously variances in stance, grip width and even plate diameter—each variant uniquely stresses the margins of an all-important functional movement. This is an effective path to increased hip capacity.

CrossFit Open Workout 14.1

As many rounds as possible in 10:00 minutes of:
30 Double unders
15 Power snatch 75#(55#)

Post results to comments or BTWB

REPEAT WORKOUTS!

Why, in the name of CrossFit, do we repeat these REALLY hard workouts? While we will be repeating a CF Open workout from 2014 today, the following exerpt from a post by CrossFit Evolve does a great job explaining why we redo some of these benchmark workouts. You can see the original post here

Today we get to test your go. In 2016 we visited a series of benchmark workouts regularly throughout the year. Fran was one of them. The last time was in September. If you’ve been consistent these benchmark workouts have given you some data points over the year. Though difficult to PR every time, our hope is that throughout the year, even with peaks and valleys of performance, we’re able to see an upward trend in individual performance. What’s that mean? You either completed the work faster, or you had a slower time but have moved to the RX movements and/or weights. Both of those indicate improvement. 

These benchmarks are important for you as the athlete. By completing and comparing these workouts regularly they can demonstrate improvement. Improvement in strength, in skill like with a kipping pull-up or handstand push-up, in movements like going to RX or hitting full depth on the squat, and in overall fitness. Work capacity is FORCE X DISTANCE divided by TIME. So all things being equal, like the weight you use for the thruster and the length of your arms (distance) and bodyweight for the pull-up, decreasing the time you accomplish the workout versus previous attempts demonstrates an increase in work capacity. We are measuring an increase in fitness. And this is where it’s at! We have to prove to you that the hard work you put in is paying off. Once of the ways to do that is by repeating these benchmark workouts. So when you see the workouts with a name pop up like today, make it a priority to get in and get after it. Your reward – besides for a great workout – is the proof that what you’re doing is working!

For time:
Run 200 Meters
5 Back squats 225#(155#)
Run 400 Meters
10 Back squats 225#(155#)
Run 600 Meters
15 Back squats 225#(155#)
Run 800 Meters
20 Back squats 225#(155#)
Run 1000 Meters

Post time to BTWB

Saturday October 13th Schedule Change

This Saturday we are hosting The Aerobic Capacity Seminar.  The seminar is only 1 day, but it will mean that we have an abridged schedule.  

The seminar begins at 9:00 am and runs until 4:00 pm.  Check is at 8:30 am so we need to have class wrapped up by check in time.

We will have 1 class at 7:00 am and then the gym will be closed for the remainder of the day.  Sprint will also be cancelled, but Sprint members are invited to the 7:00 am class.  

Sunday we will have our regular class schedule with the WOD at 9:00 am and then Open Gym at 10:00 am.

We have 2 of our trainers attending the course on Saturday so they will gain a ton of applicable information that they can use when leading their future classes.  We don’t like closing the gym often, and when we do, it’s usually for a seminar that we know our trainers will gain some valuable knowledge that they can then pass on to our members in class. 

Please sign up for class in MBO.  Thank you in advance.  

For time:
25 Box jumps, 30″(24″)
50 Handstand Push-ups
25 Push jerks, 185#(125#)
50 Pull-ups
25 Box jumps, 30″(24″)

Post times to comments and BTWB

This weekend we celebrated Verve’s 10 year anniversary. October 6th is not the exact date, in fact Verve turned 10 in the month of September. Verve was started by Matt and Cherie Chan with workouts taking place in Commons Park in 2008. They eventually made their way in to a more permanent spot at 38th and King St. They spent several years in the 700 square ft location before relocating to the 7,000 square ft space at 34th and Walnut in the RiNo district in January 2011. During that time Matt and Cherie took on two additional partners to help in running their business. 

October 6th is actually a special anniversary date. On October 6th 2014 papers were officially signed passing ownership from Verve’s 4 owners to the hands of it’s current owners Eric and myself (Courtney). Verve has moved between several significant locations. It has passed ownership. It has had several people come and later go over the last 10 years. But Verve has remained strong in it’s goal:

To cultivate a fit community that transforms lives by providing elite functional fitness, so that people may live happier and healthier.

We want to provide the best trainers, giving you regular attention to help you achieve your goals. We want to create an atmosphere of community, caring, acceptance, and inclusion. I feel confident Matt and Cherie would agree with me when I say they didn’t always know what they were doing. I feel confident in that because I’ll say with full disclosure, Eric and I don’t always know what we are doing. But our goals are the same. We want to see Verve succeed. We want to see Verve members thrive. All the decisions that were ever made by any owner of Verve have always had those two things in mind. We want to genuinely thank each and everyone of you for joining us on this journey. We want to thank you for sticking with us through the decisions, the changes, and the unknowns. We want to thank you for trusting us with your health, your well being, your personal stories, your friendships, and your continued willingness to be a part of this community. 

We know this weekend was a busy one. There were weddings, parties, and other engagements. Thank you to those who were able to make it to Verve to help us celebrate this huge accomplishment. A VERY big thank you to Anna Mattson, Danielle Dangoia, and Melissa Liskowski for giving of their time to help put the event together. As always, thank you to Eric for being the man behind the curtain keeping Verve running. He really is the reason the lights come on every day. I mean it. He pays that bill. 😉 And thank you to Matt and Cherie for founding this place we call a home away from home. 

Fun trivia fact for you: Amy Schaeffer has an “OG” next to her name on the whiteboard because she literally is Verve’s OG. Amy Schaeffer is approximately one of Verve’s first 5 members. This may be plus or minus a few spots. But she has been with Verve since the beginning. So Amy, thank you! Thank you for sticking with us the longest. Every time you come in to Verve I think about that and I find it to be truly wonderful. 

Happy Anniversary Verve! Here’s to another 10. 

Recovery Day
Accumulate 20:00 on the rower at a conversation pace

Every 4:00, get off the rower and perform:

10 Front squats 45#(35#)
10 Deadlifts 45#(35#)
10 Shoulder press 45#(35#)

Post results to comments and BTWB