Take 15 minute to establish 1RM weighted strict pull-up

Then, every minute on the minute x 10 minutes:
2 Strict pull-ups @ 60% of today’s 1RM

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How caffeine can affect your workout By SFH Stronger.Faster.Healthier.

It’s not uncommon to need a little extra boost to get to the gym, especially after a long day or an early morning. Most people get their daily energy enhancement with a caffeinated cup of coffee. Is that the best option for people who are are about to hit the gym, though?

The pros and cons of caffeine before exercise has long been debated. But is the boost from caffeine enough to sustain you through an entire fitness regimen? Here’s what you need to know about how a cup of Joe can affect your workout:

Caffeine can improve circulation
A Japanese study presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions in 2013 stated that just a single cup of coffee can make your small blood vessels work more efficiently. Study participants who drank a cup of caffeinated coffee had a 30 percent increase in blood flow after just 75 minutes. Increased circulation can not only give you more stamina during your workout, but it also gets more oxygen to your muscles, keeping them from tiring out too quickly.

Caffeine can increase testosterone
After a workout, your cortisol levels may be a bit out of whack, as the stress might elevate these levels. Testosterone balances these levels back out. According to a study published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, consuming caffeine in an effort to increase your testosterone levels after a workout can kickstart protein synthesis, which improves your muscle growth.

Caffeine can burn fat
While sitting on the couch and drinking a cup of coffee won’t burn fat for you, it can help kickstart your weight loss or keep you from gaining weight in fat. This is if you combine it with a healthy diet and exercise. According to the Mayo Clinic, this is because caffeine can stimulate thermogenesis, thus burning calories. It can also suppress your appetite, keeping you from overeating.

How much caffeine is needed?
There is such a thing as overdoing it when it comes to your caffeine intake, especially during a workout. Men’s Fitness states that high doses of caffeine can alter your coordination, This is especially detrimental to athletes who rely on their hand-eye coordination. Caffeine is also a diuretic, meaning it can dehydrate you when you exercise.

So how do you know if you’re consuming too much caffeine before you hit the field or gym? Caffeine affects everyone differently, so it’s important to realize your individual tolerance before you begin trying to drink caffeine as a workout booster. Shape suggests new caffeine users start at 100mg before a workout and slowly work their way up to higher doses. Here are some general caffeine doses for reference:

A shot of espresso: 75mg.
A 12-ounce cup of coffee: 200mg.
An 8-ounce cup of black tea: 50mg.
An energy drink: 50-100mg.
A can of cola: 29mg.

Click here for full article.

Tabata row
Rest 1 minute
Tabata air squats
Rest 1 minute
Tabata row

Post Results to BTWB.

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

Post Results to BTWB. 

Does Benching give you shoulder pain? Here is a great article from Box Magazine on why the Floor Press may be the place for you to be!

“CrossFit has a love-hate relationship with the bench press. Most coaches admit that it’s one of the best developers of upper-body pushing strength, but the use of the bench and the prevalence of shoulder injuries in lifelong benchers makes it seem wise to avoid. And from a practical standpoint, bench pressing is tough to program because few boxes want to invest the money or floor space on a half-dozen benches. The solution? Enter the floor press. 

A brute-strength old-school lift that predates the bench press, the floor press combines the massive recruitment of upper-body muscle fibers with a highly functional movement pattern and a range of motion that makes it much healthier for your shoulders than a traditional bench. 

The Setup

If you don’t have access to a rack or if the lowest holes on your rack are still too high, place a loaded barbell on the ground, scoot under it and glute-bridge it into your hands. If you do have access to a power rack, set the J-cups to about 18 inches off the floor and place the loaded barbell onto them. Get on the floor and line the bar up so that it’s at eye level. Once situated, place your hands on the bar where the knurling rings are (or a bit wider if you have long arms). Grasp the bar deep in the web of flesh between your fingers and thumb and wrap your thumbs completely around it. 

Under the Bar

Move your shoulder blades together and downward (imagine trying to put them in your back pockets). If the bar is in a rack, slide it off the J-cups so you can maintain this position with your scapulae. (If you can have someone give you a lift off, even better.) Tuck your elbows close to your sides — the angle between your upper arms and your torso should never be greater than 45 degrees. Take and hold a deep breath, tighten the muscles in your abs and glutes and, if the bar is in a rack, slowly bring it down. As it descends, imagine rowing the bar to help activate your lats and improve stability.

Off the Bottom

Let your upper arms make full contact with the floor and come to a complete stop. Don’t crash your elbows into the floor and try to bounce the bar the way you might on a bench press. Generating power from a dead stop is the biggest challenge of the floor press, but it’s also the key to its benefits. After a beat during which the bar has been completely still, tighten your core, drive your soles or the backs of your heels into the floor and press the weight to full lockout. When you’ve completed the last rep, lower the weight until your upper arms land on the floor, then rock the weight forward so the bar lands over your hip crease. If you used a rack, lean the bar back until it rests in the J-cups.”

NO WORKOUTS AT VERVE, BUT AT CROSSFIT LODO (609 W. 29th Ave):

10AM – YOGA
11AM – WOD
12AM – WOD

GET OUT AND ENJOY ALL COLORADO HAS TO OFFER like:

• For those of you with kids: TOUCH A TRUCK in Castle Rock!!!  The town of Castle Rock will have ALL of their work trucks from fire engines to snow plows out along with the crew that mans them and kids will be able to touch them, climb on them, and talk to the crew that runs them!!! Go here for details
• Punkin Chunkin in Aurora
• Run the Rocks 10K @ Red Rocks amphitheater
• Fall Festival @ Denver Zoo

40-30-20-10 Reps each for time:
Kettlebell swing, 16kg(12kg)
Kettlebell front rack walking lunge, 16kg(12kg)
Single arm kettlebell push press, 16kg(12kg)

Post times to comments and BTWB

SOOOOOOOO MUCH STUFF!!!!

*Remember Verve is Closed this weekend. We will have a 7am WOD Saturday morning, all other workouts will be hosted by CrossFit LoDo. They have opened their doors to Verve members at no cost this weekend, here are their class times:

Saturday- 9am WOD

Sunday- 10am yoga, 11am WOD, 12pm WOD

Be prepared to show up a little early to sign waivers. LoDo has moved locations, here is their new address:

CrossFit LoDo
601 W. 29th Ave
Denver, CO

*Tuesday October 11th Keith from SFH will be at Verve with a tables full of samples. He will be at Verve from 6am until we kick him out, so morning crew gets some love too!!

*Wednesday October 12th Verve is hosting a free intro class at 7pm. Got a friend, co-worker, family member, etc that is interested in giving CrossFit a try? Get them signed up for the class in MBO.

*Saturday & Sunday October 15th-16th Verve will be closed for the Kid’s course. We will have a 6am & 7am WOD Saturday morning and a 7am WOD Sunday morning. You can sign up on MBO to grab a spot. 

*Friday October 28th Verve will have the Everyday Warrior Battle Series workout as our WOD. This is the first of 4 workouts that are part of an online competition that raises money for people in the CrossFit community that are fighting cancer. It is a great cause, if you workout on Fridays anyway then get registered and donate, click here.

3 Rounds for time:
2 Rope Climbs
10 Sumo deadlift high pull, 125#(85#)
20 Box jump overs, 24″(20″)

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Everyday Warrior is a non-profit organization that is near and dear to Verve’s heart. It was founded with the primary mission to inspire, empower, and financially support individuals in the CrossFit community who have been diagnosed with cancer and are currently undergoing treatment.

We have had several members very personally involved with the organization. From being close friends with Brittany Gill, the founder of Everyday Warrior, who unfortunately lost her battle with cancer. To a Verve member being a Featured Warrior and receiving support throughout her continued battle with cancer. Since Everyday Warrior was brought to Verve’s attention, we have made it a goal to be as supportive of such an amazing cause as we possibly can be.

Everyday Warrior raises money through online competitions. The 2016 Battle Series starts October 24th. 

“The Battle Series is a winner-take-all, four-week, online workout and fundraising competition. Individuals will complete one workout per week beginning Monday, October 24th.”

Verve will be hosting these workouts on Fridays as the WOD. If you are already an avid partaker in the Friday WOD, then get signed up and workout for a cause. The Battle Series has 5 divisions of competition: RX, Scaled, Masters, Masters Scaled, and Teen. That’s 5 reasons why there is no excuse not to participate. Registration is already open, click here to get signed up and to learn more about Everyday Warrior. No one fights alone.

For time:
1500m Row
800m Run
50 Burpees
800m Run
1500m Row

Post Results to BTWB.

5 Rounds for max reps:
1 Minute max rep hang power clean, 115#(75#)
1 Minute max rep handstand push-ups
1 Minute max rep double under
Rest 1 minute

Post Results to BTWB. 

I’ve gotten the chance to work with athletes with goals across the spectrum. I’ve also gotten to work with clients that have 2-4 hours/day on their hands and clients that only have 60 minutes. Regardless of how much time they have, one thing stays the same – everyone wants to pick the low lying fruit. The low lying fruit in the health and fitness world are the small things that you can do to improve your performance and aesthetic without taking too much time out of your day. These are small daily tasks that eventually become healthy habits.

1. Weigh Yourself. The scale does not tell all, that is true. The scale does not measure how much muscle you have compared to fat, it doesn’t measure how much your tissue and skin weighs and it doesn’t measure who you are. However, unless you want to get naked in front of the mirror every day and take photos of yourself the scale is a great tool to use as a daily gauge of how your nutrition and exercise has gone lately. If you ate too much sodium, it will show. If you didn’t drink enough water, it will show. If you ordered those extra large fries, it will show. Use the scale as a gauge rather than an ultimatum.
2. Find Your Resting Heart Rate: I do well with empirical data and believe that most do. Sometimes its hard to see if you are progressing in your workouts, however if your Resting Heart Rate (RHR) is consistently lowering, there is a good sign that you are getting fitter. On the contrary, if you are dealing with a particular stressful life event, your RHR will indicate this. If you find yourself losing sleep and drinking caffeine to stay awake, your RHR will let you know it’s time to start finding some relaxation.
3. Meditate: Okay, this is my most time consuming “low lying fruit”, however it maybe one of the more important. I typically recommend clients to take 10 minutes out of there day to unplug from their iPhone, iPad, iWatch or whatever new product that Apple releases and just sit and relax and practice some deep breathing. Benefits include: better immunity, reduce chronic pain, lower risk of heart attack, stroke and death, relieve stress and fights depression. Seems like the rewards are worth 10 minutes a day.
4. Drink More Water: Staying hydrated will keep you healthy, happy and less hungry. Being adequately hydrated will help fight fatigue by fueling the processes in the body to allow you to get the 7-9 hours of sleep a night your body requires. It will also act as a lubricant for your joint to keep you moving better. Lastly, if more energy and less pain aren’t enough, drinking enough water will act as an alarm system to your body to let it know you aren’t actually hungry. 
   
5. Sit Less: You are already strapped for time and my best guess is that you don’t want to spend 30-45 minutes warming up for 45-60 minutes of exercise. Well, if we didn’t sit all day, we wouldn’t have to take that time to get our bodies ready to workout. The best mobility exercise out there is using a standing desk. It will keep your body feeling better throughout the day, keep your joints healthier and save you time in the long run. My typical protocol for a day at work is 45-50 minutes of standing, followed by 10-15 minutes of sitting. This works well for me.

On a 4 minute running clock x 5 rounds:
250m row
15 Russian kettlebell swings, 32kg(24kg)
10 Burpees
Rest remaining time

*Score is slowest round

Post times to comments and BTWB

*Justin from Progenex will be at Verve with a table and samples all morning today. Have questions about supplements? Post WOD shakes? Pre WOD shakes? Which flavor is best? Bring those questions and more, he will happily answer them. Bring a shaker bottle too, that way you can test run any flavor Progenex has to offer. 

*This weekend Front Range CrossFit is hosting the Do More Charity Challenge. Verve has several members competing on teams to raise money for their favorite charities. Stop by and cheer them on. 

*Next weekend, October 8th-9th, Verve will be closed hosting a Level 1 seminar. CrossFit LoDo has kindly offered to have Verve members drop in for the day at no charge. Stay tuned for LoDo’s class schedule and sign up sheet. 

*Reps from SFH will be at Verve on Tuesday October 11th for a majority of the day. They will have their table set up with plenty to sample. 

*Got a friend that is thinking about CrossFit and interested to give it a try? Verve will have a free intro class Wednesday night at 7pm. It provides the best atmosphere and opportunity to let someone try out a class and get a feel for CrossFit Verve’s community. Get your buddy signed up on MBO and reserve a spot now!

*The weekend of October 15th-16th Verve will be closed hosting the CrossFit Kids Trainer Course. Stay tuned for updates as to where we will host off site classes. 

As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes:
1-2-3-4-5 Power snatch, 135#(95#)
2-4-6-8-10 Ring dip

*Continue adding 1 power snatch and 2 ring dips until time is done. Score is total reps.

Post Results to BTWB.