For time:
Row 1,000 meters
800 Meter run
60 Deadlifts, 165#(115#)
40 Toes to bar
20 Chest to bar pull-ups

Post times to comments and BTWB

Tonight at 6pm the first workout of the 2018 CrossFit Open (18.1) will be announced. Here’s what you need to know:

• Verve will be doing 18.1 as the WOD all day on Friday. We will have regularly scheduled classes up until 4:30pm. 
• Starting at 4:30pm Friday night we will have heats going ONLY. There will NOT be any WODs on Friday nights for the next 5 weeks. You can come and sign up for your heat time starting at 4:30pm. Heats will be based on the workout. There will be a warm-up area. 
• If you are signed up for the Open, you will need to be judged. If you need to be judged, it may mean at some point you will have to judge someone, so take the judge’s course!! It gets your team 3 points when you turn in the certificate of completion. (Click here to take the judge’s course)
• Please leave the top (biggest) portion of your scorecard at Verve on your team’s clipboard. This is so your score can be validated. 
• You must submit your score by 5pm on Monday. The earlier you submit, the better, should there be any issues with your score. 
• If you cannot do the workout on Friday, we have two additional times you may do/ re-do the workout:
  • Sunday re-do- Open Gym @ 10am-11am
  • Monday last chance- Open Gym @ 2pm-4pm
  • That’s IT!! If you absolutely cannot make any of these times, then you must schedule a time by emailing courtney@crossfitverve.com. I will NOT validate a score does outside of these times. You will have to videotape it and submit it for video approval. 
• As far as points for your team, we will have one unified theme for each Open workout. If you come to Verve to compete in the Friday Night Lights dressed according to the theme, you can earn an extra point for your team. **This only counts if you do the workout in theme attire @ 4:30pm or later on Friday Night**

Got questions?? You can leave a comment for me, email me, or speak with your team’s captain. 

It’s almost go time. . . . and the theme for 18.1 is. . . show us some Verve love!! Wear your favorite Verve shirt!! Wear it loud and wear it proud. We are kicking off this year with a big gym salute. Don’t got a Verve shirt?? Don’t worry, I’m sure someone on your team has one you can borrow. Sharing is caring. 

Every 2 minutes for 7 sets:
2 Power cleans

Then, as many rounds and reps as possible in 7 minutes:
15 Dumbbell snatch, 50#(35#)
30 Double unders

Post loads, rounds and reps to comments and BTWB

The draft has come and gone! Folks, here are your teams for this year’s Verve Open Team Cup:

Team Panthers (Anna Mattson & Matt Chan)

Adam Rosenbloom
Ben Stratton 
Craig Kalman
Courtney Barry
Elizabeth Schweyen
Eric Clancy 
Jason Kaplan
Jason Rutt
Katie Tollund
Kellie Morante
Leah LaBonte
Lisa Day
Mary Petersen
Nicole Alt 
Trevor Bron

Team Fun, Fun, Fun (Danielle Dangoia & Amelia Dwyer)

Ken Strickler
Paul Whitehead
Ryan Weaver
Kasey Fox
Lisa Lefkowitz
Mike Lamoureux
Lexi Zadak
Diona Gouker
Andy Duckett-Emke
Frank Moore
Brandon Gouker
Garret Mueller
Breton Lujan
Courtney Shepherd
Jayme Eichner
Marty Barkman

Team Kip, Kip Hooray (Maddie Berky & Mike Cain)

John Mallette
Meghan Althoff
Kyle Kohli
Morgan Youngblood
Nate Rader
Steve Weix
Juliann Couture
Wade Godman
Bailey Dillon
James Castanino
Connie Luu
James Cain
Jeff Clegg
Emily Schneiderbauer
Eric Kiker
Meghan Law

Team who’s name must not be said (Paul Buono & Ryan Young)

Kyle Young 
Lindsey Weix
Sarah Sullivan
Matt Duckett-Emke
Mick Lewis 
Mary Claire Friesema
Nicole Hall
Alex Wolfson
Cherie Chan
Jennifer Rutt
Ali Nichols
Danny Fernandez
Joel Swanson
David Lai
Jason Allison
Jordan Afraimi

And now for the winners of some raffle prizes!!

A spot at the CrossFit Specialty Course: Aerobic Capacity = Mary Petersen!!

A refund on their CrossFit Games Open registration = Trevor Bron, Eric Kiker, and Morgan Youngblood!!!

Who is soooo EXCITED to start the Open season?!?!? If you are not yet, let’s get working on it, it starts this Thursday.

5 Rounds for calories,
With a 2 minute clock:
10 Toes to bar
10 Hang power clean, 115#(75#)
As many calories on assault bike as possible in remaining time

Rest 2 minutes

Post calories to comments and BTWB

5 Rounds for time of:
40(32) Calorie row
100′ Sled push or sled pull
400 Meter run

Post times to comments and BTWB

The 2018 CrossFit Games Open AND the 2018 Verve Open Team Cup. . . let’s do this!

This Saturday is the kick off party to start the CrossFit Games Open at Verve. Saturday we have our draft party from 1pm-3pm. Here are some details about the draft:

• If you are signed up for the Open, you are eligible to be drafted to one of four teams at Verve. 
• The captains and co-captains of these four teams will be participating in the draft, picking people to be on their teams. They will be picking from the Games site registration list printed out the morning of. . . so get signed up now.
• As the draft rounds continue, the number of picks will increase. Meaning that in the final rounds, captains and co-captains will be picking 3-5 people at a time, so absolutely no one single person will be picked last. 
• While the draft is happening, enjoy food, drinks, and cornhole. . . and some fun smack talk.

But seriously, first you MUST be signed up for the 2018 CrossFit Games Open. The cost to register for the Open is $20, you can click here to register.

• So to be very clear, if you are not registered for the Open, you CANNOT be drafted to a team. Which means no fun. 
• When you register please select CrossFit Verve as your affiliate AND as your team.

If your profile does not immediately reflect this information, do not worry as I am currently in communication with CrossFit to get it figured out. As far as the Open goes, we are all Team Verve. If you already registered but did not fill in the above mentioned information, you can simply go back and edit/ update your profile. 

Now that you are registered and as of Saturday you are on a team at Verve, how can one earn points for their team during the Open?

• Every member of the team that performs the Open workout with a judge and submits a score for validation, earns 1 point. 
  • If you are not signed up for the Open, do not have your work out judged, and/ or miss the deadline to submit your score for validation, then you do not earn a point.
  • You will not earn extra points for repeating the workout, 1 point per person per week.
• If you take and pass the judge’s course, you will earn 2 points for your team.
  • You must submit a copy of the certificate after passing the course.
  • Even if you took and passed the judge’s course last year, you need to retake it this year. The test is new every year. 
  • Click here to take the judge’s course.
• If your you are one of the top 3 men or top 3 women scores in both the RX and scaled divisions, you will earn your team 3 points. 
  • It does not matter if you are 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, each person still gets 3 points. 
• If you are the male or female athlete of the week, you will earn 5 points for your team. 
  • Athlete of the week is chosen by trainers and is based on more than performance. It can be based on effort, sportsmanship, overcoming a challenge, etc. 
• Each week one team captain will pick a theme, i.e. “your favorite Verve t-shirt”. If you show up for Friday Night Lights and perform the workout wearing your favorite Verve t-shirt, you will earn 1 point for your team. 
  • Your adherence to the theme must be visible/ obvious. If you can’t figure out what I mean by visible/ obvious, and you attempt to point out a single polka dot of color on their left sock. . . . no. Just no. 
  • This is only good for the Friday Night Lights workout, it will not count for any other time the workout is performed. 

So teammates, with the exception of taking the judge’s course (as that is only a one time point related deal), you can potentially earn 10 points for your team EACH WEEK!!

So make sure to get signed up for the Open. Make sure you list Verve as your affiliate and team. And get this done before This Saturday the 17th so you can be drafted to a team!!

What do you get out of this? Besides just good fun team camaraderie for the next 5 weeks? The winning team will get a bar tab locally to celebrate the end of the Open and they will win the Chanly Cup. The what? Oh, just you wait to hear about this AMAZING trophy that’s making it’s inaugural debut this year. 

More details will come in Monday’s post, especially with days and times to perform the workouts and some fun prizes that will be popping up throughout the next 5 weeks. Get EXCITED!!!!

“18.Zero”
21-15-9 Reps for time of:
Dumbbell snatch, 50#(35#)
Burpees, jumping over the dumbbell

At the 12 minute mark,

3 Rounds for time:
10 Deadlift, 315#(205#)
10 Burpee box jump over, 24″(20″)

Post times to comments and BTWB

TEAM VERVE!!!!! Are you ready for the CrossFit Games Open to start?? Cause it’s coming in hot. This Saturday we are having our draft party, where 4 team captains will be picking the members for their teams. They will be picking from the Games roster provided minutes before the draft starts. 

The roster I’m talking about is the one pulled directly from the CrossFit Games website, the roster of Team Verve. These would be all the members of Verve that have signed up for the Open. So if you want in on the Open and you want in on the Verve Open Team Cup, you NEED to be signed up, online, for the Open by the morning of February 17th. Right now Team Verve only has 19 people signed up!! I’m certain there are so many more of you excited to participate, so go get yourself registered. 

Click here to register for the Open on the Games site. Be sure to pick CrossFit Verve for both your TEAM and AFFILIATE. 

Here’s what’s on the calendar this week:

Thursday February 15th- Mobile Body Metrics is at Verve (BodPod)

Click here to go to their bookings calendar and get signed up. $50 for first time testing, $40 if this is a re-test.

Saturday February 17th- Open Skills Workshop w/ Matt Chan

From 9am-12pm Matt Chan will be covering a variety of tips and skills to help with the Open. This is not a sit down Q&A, this will be several hours of moving and practicing. Per Matt, “We WILL do a lot of moving, so no additional workout is needed.” This workshop is open to Verve members at no charge. Non Verve members will need to pay a drop in fee. We will have a class listed in MBO, please sign up in MBO for this workshop.

Saturday February 17th- Verve Open Team Cup Draft Party

From 1pm-3pm team captains will be participating in a draft to pick their team for this year’s team cup. We will have food, drinks, and corn hole. It will be a fun community event to kick off the Open season. 

For time:
Row 2000 meters
Rest 3 minutes
Row 1000 meters
Rest 2 minutes
Row 500 meters

*Score is total time including rest

Post times to comments and BTWB

5 Rounds for time of:
200 Meter run with medball, 20#(14#)
50 Feet Medball crabwalk, 20#(14#)
20 Medball cleans, 20#(14#)
10 Medball toes to bar, (as heavy as possible)

Post times to comments and BTWB

It’s Open season!! But what does that mean? Click on this video for all the answers!!

Folks, 

If you don’t like to read blogs, then hopefully you like to watch videos. It’s Open season and Verve is ready for Verve’s Open Team Cup. Everyone is welcome to join, all will be placed on teams, and everyone can earn points for their team simply by participating. Watch the video, get your questions answered, please let us know if you have any more, and go get registered at games.crossfit.com.

Love, Courtney

In 10 minutes build to a heavy 3 rep Deadlift
* Accumulate 10 – 15 seated box jumps during the 10 minutes

Rest 5 minutes
 
Then, 3 Rounds for time of:
20 Deadlifts, 185#(125#)
20 Box jump overs, 24″(20″)

Post loads and times to comments and BTWB

Holy activities Batman!! We have so much stuff happening that you folks NEED to know about!!

*The BodPod is coming back*

Thursday February 15th Mobile Body Metrics will be parked out front of Verve again. They were last here 3 months ago. We’ve asked them to come to Verve quarterly to give you guys the opportunity to see the progress you’ve made throughout the year. Have you made some changes to your workout routine, diet, sleep, etc? Are these changes taking you in the right direction? This is an easy, convenient way to help answer that question. Click here to go to their bookings calendar and get signed up. $50 for first time testing, $40 if this is a re-test.

*The CrossFit Games Open starts February 22nd. . . which means so does Verve’s Open Team Cup!!*

The Open Team Cup is back this year. We are making the Open an in house competition between 4 teams. Want to get in on the action? 

1- You must first sign up for the Open. Click here to register. Please be sure to pick CrossFit Verve as BOTH your TEAM and your AFFILIATE.

2- Make an appearance at the Draft Party Saturday February 17th, 1pm-3pm. It’s at the draft party when all teams will be picked. There will not be any recruiting to teams this year in the weeks leading to the Open. You must be signed up for the Open by the 17th to be eligible for the draft. Teams will be picked via the draft and finalized on the 17th. 

The draft party will take place after open gym. We will have drinks, food, corn hole, and of course. . . . THE DRAFT!!

3- Get excited and pumped to represent your team for the next 5 weeks. 

*Open Skills Workshop*

Barbell cycling, gymnastics efficiency, pacing vs going all out, etc. Saturday February 17th, 9am-12pm Matt Chan will be helping answer these questions and more to get you prepped for the Open. This is not a sit down Q&A, this will be several hours of moving and practicing. Per Matt, “We WILL do a lot of moving, so no additional workout is needed.” This workshop is open to Verve members at no charge. Non Verve members will need to pay a drop in fee. Please sign up in MBO for this workshop.

*We are hosting the CrossFit Aerobic Capacity Specialty Course*

This is a one full day course, at Verve on Saturday March 24th. The Aerobic Capacity Specialty Course is appropriate for all CrossFit populations ranging from the day-to-day CrossFitter to the competitive CrossFit athlete looking to create a more robust and efficient aerobic system. Coach Chris Hinshaw details how he integrates various training methodologies into CrossFit programming to maximize overall athletic performance. Participants leave with a better understanding of how to develop their own cardiovascular “engine” and apply this knowledge to a training scenario for individuals or gym populations.

The cost for this course is $349, click here to register.

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
Row 500(450) meters
20 Kettlebell sumo deadlift high pulls, 35#(24#)
4 Wall walks

Post rounds and reps to comments and BTWB

3 Rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
5 Rope climbs, 15′

Post times to comments and BTWB

Calling all captains!!

Folks, as stated last week, we are underway in prepping for the CrossFit Games Open. We plan to have our 2nd Open Team Cup by diving Verve up into 4 teams again this year. With that being said, we need some captains. What does that mean?

We need 3 people to step up and decide to be the captain of a team. You won’t be alone, you will have a co-captain of your choosing. The responsibilities of the captain and co-captain will include:

-One or both be present on draft day, to draft team members.

-Be the rally point person for your team. This can include, should you choose, to create a FB group for your team to communicate through.

-Encourage participation from your team.

-Make sure any and all Open related info is appropriately reaching all the members of your team.

-And most importantly, create a Team Name.

The responsibilities and time commitment are not big. Your biggest one will include the draft. Speaking of the draft, we will be doing it a little different this year. Saturday February 17th we will have a draft party at Verve following Open Gym. We will have beers, corn hole, perhaps some grill action, and of course, the draft.

Every single Verve athlete that registers for the Open will be involved in the draft. The first round will go in order of those who volunteer to be captains. Right now Paul Buono has you all beat, he volunteered to be a captain first. For the first several rounds, there will be one single pick. For the next several rounds captains will be picking 3 at a time. And for the final rounds, captains will pick 5 at a time. The number of rounds will depend on the number of people signed up for the Open. This information will be set in stone Saturday morning. After the first round, picking order will be done at random and moderated by Verve’s own draft aficionado, Eric Clancy. It should make for a fun afternoon and the start to some amazing team vs team trash talk. 

New to CrossFit and the Open? Possibly coming back from an injury? New to Colorado and hating every minute of working out in altitude? There is absolutely no reason not to participate in the Open, as none of those things matter as much as simply being involved and having fun. Everyone will be able to contribute points to their team no matter their performance in each Open workout. At the time of the Open I will be 5 months out from shoulder surgery. I will be signing up. I will make my best attempt to perform the scaled versions of the workouts, and if even those are beyond my abilities, I will do whatever portion of the workouts I can. And yes, I’m looking to be drafted. 

None of this fun time shenanigans is a go without team leaders. Interested? Send me an email, courtney@crossfitverve.com, and let’s get this Open Team Cup party started.