7 Rounds for max reps:
1 Minute max calories on rower
1 Minute rest
1 Minute max rep deadlift, 275#(185#)
1 Minute rest

Post reps to comments and BTWB

Chad from The Bachelorette made a plea via twitter to all women to stop doing CrossFit. I would suggest Chad make a plea to anyone, including women, to introduce him to leg day. . . but that is neither here nor there. The reason for his plea? Because powerlifter bodies are not sexy. Again, I would ague that neither are chicken legs. But to each his own. He got what was coming to him from so many on social media using the hashtag #tryagainChad. One response was a favorite, it simply said, “Never turn down a chance to empower ladies to lift”. More true words could not have been spoken. I believe it is because of ignorant statements made by the Chads of the world that some women remain hesitant to step into a Crossfit gym and pick up weights. It wasn’t long after the Chad/ Twitter/ CrossFit scandal came to light that I came across an article that may help encourage the hesitant. I know that hesitant person is not you, random non CrossFit people probably don’t read Verve’s blog. But after you read it, send it on. And sorry guys, this one is aimed at the ladies. . . I’ll get you next time.

11 Things I Wish Non-CrossFit Girls Knew By Rene Moilanen (click here for article)

When I ask my female friends to join a CrossFit class with me, they often roll their eyes. Oh, no, they say. I’m intimidated, it seems scary, I don’t want to get big, I only like cardio, I don’t like to lift heavy weights, I have a bad back… the excuses go on and on. It doesn’t help that we CrossFit women publicly lament our inability to find pants that fit our massive quads or cover our scabby shins or that we can’t squeeze our biceps into those cute little cap-sleeved shirts. We’re not exactly selling it.

Here’s what I wish they knew about CrossFit:

1. You’ll get strong and that’s a good thing. If you had to pull your 50-pound son back over the edge of a cliff or run with him 5 blocks to the nearest clinic after he wipes out on his skateboard, could you do it? You won’t get strong lifting 2-pound dumbbells so get serious about building the body you need for yourself and your family – just in case.

2. CrossFit is incredibly supportive for women. My CrossFit gym is cattiness-free. Sure, we have good-natured rivalries to top the leaderboard, but we women cheer for each other, we push each other, we hug each other. We inspire each other.

3. You’ll gain independence. You don’t need a man to open that damn peanut butter jar. Get strong so you can move your own furniture. Get flexible so you can zip up the back of the dress yourself. Get fast so you can sprint to the front of the Black Friday line on your own. Don’t depend on anyone else. Be your own strength.

4. We’re not what you see on ESPN. There are some very amazing athletes at my gym. But for every athlete who can rep out muscle-ups and deadlift 3 times her bodyweight, there are 10 of us still struggling to get pull-ups. We’re not the ones you see in the CrossFit Games. No need to be intimidated. Come in, work hard.

5. We represent all ages and stages of life. CrossFit classes are filled with middle-aged dads, suburban stay-at-home moms, 20-year-old college students, grandmothers, bikini models, not-so-much bikini models… you get the idea. We don’t all look like Julie Foucher (sadly).

6. Working out with men is good for you. Maybe you’re more comfortable exercising in ladies-only gyms or all-female barre classes. But working out alongside men – performing the same movements, racing against the same clock, running the same track – is healthy for you. Women compete against men all the time whether we know it or not, particularly at work, and the last thing you want is to be good for a woman. You want to best everyone. CrossFit gives you a safe space to test your mettle against the boys – and often times, we beat ’em.

7. You can wear a shirt. Forget the pictures you’ve seen of gorgeous CrossFit women prancing around in their athletic bras with rock-hard abs. We wear shirts. It’s fine.

8. We do cardio. If you can’t give up your “cardio,” don’t worry. We do cardio. Only we call it conditioning and I can assure you it’s 10 times harder than whatever you’re doing in Zumba.

9. We wear cute workout clothes. Do you know why you’re now sporting funky tall socks and Lululemon short-shorts at your turbokickboxing class? Because of CrossFit. We CrossFitters catapulted this look to the mainstream, mostly so we could keep our aforementioned scabby shins from getting worse. In any event, you’re welcome.

10. CrossFit was made for busy women. If you’re juggling a job and family life, or school and career, CrossFit is the perfect program for you. Some of our workouts are 7 minutes long. SEVEN MINUTES. And more, those 7 minutes will do you more good than the 45 minutes you’re spending on the elliptical. So why waste all that time? It’s as if CrossFit was invented by multi-tasking moms who needed to figure out a way to lift heavy weights, get their heart rates up, and be back in their work clothes before the lunch hour was over.

11. Do it for your kids. Or if you don’t have kids, other people’s kids. Your nieces and nephews, your cousin’s kids, the neighbor’s kids. Demonstrate what it’s like to be a strong, independent woman for the next generation and inspire them to keep up.

Every 90 seconds x 15 rounds:
Front squat

Rounds 1-3: 10 Front squat @ 50%
Rounds 4-6: 8 Front squat @ 60%
Rounds 7-9: 6 Front squat @ 70%
Rounds 10-12: 4 Front squat @ 80%
Rounds 13-15: 2 Front squat @ 90%

Post Results to BTWB.

Heroes don’t wear capes. They ride bikes.

I was going to write a piece on Frank Moore’s project called CellCycle, so I reached out to him for some things that I could share with you all. What Frank wrote was very inspiring and way better than anything I would have, so please listen up and read through what Frank has to say about riding to raise money and awareness for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). 

“Thank you guys again for giving some attention to this. Here are some things I get asked – and possibly some things for the blog.

I started the charity CellCycle in June to raise money and awareness for Leukemia and Lymphoma patients. This organization is 100% home grown. I took some time off work, bought the website site domain, designed the website, wrote the content and concept and then after much thought – sent CellCycle into the world to do some good. Simply put, CellCycle is me and it is deeply personal. At the website you will also learn I am not just asking for your money. I am going to ride my bike 200 miles across Switzerland over 4 days and climbing a little over 20,000 vertical feet through the Alps for your support. To put it in perspective, you can drive across Switzerland in 230 miles. I planned this ride and will complete on my own, with no support and with all my belongings on my bike. In CrossFit terms, there are no modifications; this ride must be completed as prescribed.

Patient’s with blood cancer (or leukemia and lymphoma) are important to me for a few reasons. Foremost, a member of my family was diagnosed with leukemia a little less than a year ago. And not just any member of our family, but one of the youngest members of our family. My brother’s daughter Etta, our niece, was diagnosed on December 23^rd 2015 with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (B-ALL) at 6 years old. I struggled finding ways to be useful during this time given my brother, his wife and their 2 children live in Portland Oregon. It took some time, but I came to realize there is so much that can be done to help this community and patient’s and their families are often too busy with treatment to fundraise in earnest for this cause. Furthermore as a medical doctor who specializes blood cancer, I had diagnosed this same disease 100 times before it became personal and this has changed me forever. I am not happy that a family member has life-threatening illness, but I am not going to miss the lessons it will teach.

There are some amazing treatments just on the horizon for patient’s with blood cancer who have a high risk of relapse, like our niece. We donate 100% of CellCycle money to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) who provide funding for research, advocacy and treatments for patients with blood cancer. Read our Training Blog to see how LLS supported medical research has not only saved lives, but made our world a better place in some unexpected ways too. Through CellCycle I have met some incredible survivors who have provided a personal understanding of many diseases I have diagnosed so many times but only now come to understand completely. These individuals share their stories on our Training Blog too.

How much money have we raised? Our goal was $10,000 and we reached it with a little time to spare. So, I added a stretch goal of an additional $5,000 and am hopeful we will meet that goal too. If you follow the journey at www.cellcycleride.org I will announce our total funds raised on the last day of the ride. I am riding August 28^th through August 31^st through the towns of Montreaux, Verbier, Crans-Montana and Zermatt. If you ski, you probably know these places. Daily updates to the website will be made during the ride with photos and blogs, so please follow the journey and consider donating to CellCycle. I assure you these donations are changing lives, many are the lives of children with blood cancer.

Things I am bringing? Toothpaste, Photo of Eric Clancy, Water, Sunscreen, Lock of Courtney Shepherd’s hair, Inflatable Doll in the likeness of Mick Lewis (for companionship, don’t be weird) and most importantly is my “Can Do” Ca-attitude for the mountain sections. And socks.”

Please take some time to go over to Frank’s page and donate to a good cause that hits close to home!

“Gwen”
15-12-9 reps
Clean & Jerk

Post Results to BTWB. 

Verve Barbell Club

Coach, I feel weak, what else can I do to get strong? Ask and receive. Verve would like to introduce it’s new barbell club. We are going to be starting this program out with a two week free trial period. This will give members a chance to get a feel for what the program is going to be like. This will be from August 29, 2016 to September 11, 2016.

Once the free trial period is over, we will run a 12 Week Macrocycle that will break down into 3 different, 4 Week Mesocycles. This will allow us to work on specific lifts that will layer on top of each other in order to focus on getting stronger in our snatch and clean and jerk, but also our squats, presses and pulls. This program will cost an additional $90 for Verve members and $400 for non-Verve members. These are upfront prices that will pay for the entire twelve week program.

I already pay a membership, why the extra charge?
1. In order to have results in strength, consistency needs to be had.
2. There is more time and energy going into creating, writing, evaluating the program.
3. We are opening more available class slots, which requires more staffing in order to coach these classes.

As of right now this will be a 4-Day/week program including one of those days on Saturday. Classes will be held at 7-8pm during the week and 12:30-1:30p on Saturday. Each class will run for an hour, where you are expected to come already warmed up and ready to start moving a barbell. 

Who can join?
The requirements needed to be able to join the Verve Barbell program are very basic. We are looking for people to have at least 8 months of consistent CrossFit/Weightlifting experience and a bodyweight Overhead Squat. 

Lastly, how do I supplement this with CrossFit Classes?
With implementing a 4-Day/week lifting program, it would be inappropriate to assume you could take the same number of CrossFit classes you previously were. With increasing something, we have to decrease something else to make sure we aren’t over doing it and at risk for injury. If your goal is purely to get strong, I would recommend to just take Verve Barbell Classes. However, if you are looking to increase your strength, while maintaining capacity, I would suggest to drop down the number of classes you were taking per week to 2-3, while making sure you weren’t overloading your squatting, pressing or pulling on any one given day. 

In Summary:
Purpose of Program: Get strong, fix technical issues in the Olympic Lifts
Free Trial Period: August 29, 2016 to September 11th, 2016
Program Dates: September 12, 2016 to November 20, 2016
Cost: Verve Members – $90 for 12 Week Cycle; Non-Verve Members – $400 for 12 Week Cycle.
Days Per Week: 4 Days, one of which is on a Saturday
Requirements: At least 8 months of CrossFit and a bodyweight Overhead Squat.

7 Rounds for time:
10 Sumo deadlift high pull, 95#(65#)
10 Ring dips

Post times to comments and BTWB

Have you ever had an interest in learning more about the CrossFit methodologies? Do you have an interest to one day down the road work as a CrossFit trainer? Verve often hosts CrossFit Trainer courses throughout the year, you may recognize them as the reason we close some weekends. We do not bring these courses to Verve just to close the gym, we welcome them as a convenient way for you to look into attending one. They provide a wealth of knowledge in a fun filled weekend. . . and it wouldn’t be a CrossFit course if there wasn’t a workout involved. Check out the next 3 coming to Verve over the next few months:

October 8th-9th- CrossFit Level 1 Trainer Course

The Level 1 Certificate Course is an introduction to CrossFit’s methodology and foundational movements. The course includes classroom instruction on these topics, as well as hands-on small-group training for the movements. These group sessions are conducted under low intensity with a focus on improving mechanics. Students’ movements are observed and corrected, and they engage in dialogue concerning effective coaching techniques. Large group CrossFit workouts are conducted as an example of bridging the gap from theory to practice. These workouts provide examples of how to:

• Conduct a class.
• Hold a standard of effective technique at high intensity.
• Achieve relative high levels of intensity for each individual.
• Scale for any ability level.

The Level 1 provides introductory education on the fundamental principles and movements of CrossFit. It is structured to meet two goals: 1) Provide attendees with the knowledge to better use CrossFit methods for themselves; and 2) Provide attendees with an initial and foundational education to begin training others using CrossFit.

Click here to register

October 15th-16th- CrossFit Kids Trainer Course

The purpose of this course is to learn specific methods for teaching CrossFit to children and adolescents. Participants learn techniques to overcome the unique challenges of teaching kids CrossFit methodology, as well as how a CrossFit Kids program can help build one’s affiliate. Attendees will also see how CrossFit Kids is changing the lives of children and teens around the world for the better. Other topics covered include neurological development as it relates to exercise, weightlifting, health and safety, programming, teaching styles, class structure, and kids games. Throughout the course, participants learn how to pair fitness with fun – which is essential in promoting a lifetime of fitness. Affiliate owners, teachers, coaches, parents, home-schooling families and others benefit from learning this unique, kid-friendly approach to teaching CrossFit.

Click here to register

November 5th-6th- CrossFit Competitor’s Course

This course is designed for athletes, and the coaches of athletes of any skill level, interested in competing in fitness competitions – be it local competitions or official CrossFit competitions such as the Open, Regionals, or the CrossFit Games. This is an advanced course that builds on the CrossFit methodology, movement technique and programming presented at the Level 1 and Level 2 Certificate Courses. The course focuses on all aspects of training necessary to best prepare for an upcoming competition: programming, nutrition, mental preparation, movement technique and workout analysis. Participants should come prepared to participate in lectures, small-group training sessions and workouts. Peers and instructors provide coaching, evaluation and feedback in interactive lectures and group work.

Click here to register

For time:
800m run
100 Double unders
30 Toes to bar
400m run
30 Toes to bar
100 Double unders
800m run

Post times to comments and BTWB

Look Your Personal Best

By Hilary Achauer and The CrossFit Journal

Every minute on the minute for 20 minutes:
Odd= Calorie row, 15(12)
Even= 15 Wall Ball Shots to 10′ target

Post Results to BTWB. 

Alright you crazy exercisers, none of you have asked for it, but we delivered. This Thursday (8/18) from 10-11am, Paul is going to be on the Verve Social Facebook page to do an AMA (Ask Me Anything – but kinda not really, please ask about fitness things). 

You can ask anything from training, nutrition, rehab or really anything else that involves exercising for time or weight. Ideally, you should be thinking about this as an office hours situation. Take advantage of this opportunity to get some of the questions you have answered. 

Date: Thursday, 8/18/16
Time: 10-11am
Place: Verve Social Facebook Page

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

5 Rounds for time:
200m weighted run, 20#(14#)
10 Power clean, 115#(75#)
10 Box jumps, 24″(20″)

Post Results to BTWB. 

Showing Up vs. Participating

We get asked a lot if showing up to a class 4-5x/week is enough for your general fitness. The answer is simple, no. Showing up is not enough to get you the results that you are most likely looking for. If you want results you have to participate. What’s the difference?

“Showing up” means that you arrived to CrossFit Verve at the exact time that class started. “Showing up” means that you did half the reps during the warm-up. “Showing up” means that when the WOD is over, rarely do you do the Post WOD written on the whiteboard. “Showing up” means that you don’t plan to make any better health and fitness choices outside the one hour a day you are at the gym. 

“Participating” is when the coach calls the class to the whiteboard, you have already been at the gym for fifteen minutes working on mobility issues or weaknesses you may have. “Participating” means you give full effort and attention from the time you are at the whiteboard until the moment the Post WOD is done. “Participating” means that you continually work on your diet and sleep patterns when you are not at the gym. 

So, in short, will you reach your goals just by “showing up”? No. You have to participate. 

Verve is closed while we host Femme Royale today!!!

If you are not competing, stop by and cheer the competitors on. There will be vendors, food, and a whole lot of ladies working out. 

Event Info

Athlete Check in: 7:30am

Athlete Briefing: 8:15am (Athletes AND volunteers need to be present for this)

Heat 1 of WOD #1 starts at 9am

Parking: Northeast corner of Larimer and Downing is a triangle parking lot with signs that read “Reserved for CrossFit Verve”. This is right across the street from the main entrance to Verve.

There is a parking lot on the West side of Walnut, between 35th and 36th street (across from Tracks), this is a overflow parking lot available for use.

There is plenty of street parking around the whole neighborhood, it’s free.

PLEASE, no pets allowed inside Verve. If you bring your dog, they will have to remain outside.

5 Rounds for time:
100′ Handstand walk
Run 400 meters
5 Muscle ups

Post times to comments and BTWB

Certified? Certificate? Does it REALLY matter? I certainly think so.

By Courtney Shepherd

I have had several encounters over the last few months with people in the CrossFit community misidentify their level of coaching. What does that mean? It means they have referred to themselves as “Certified Level 2 coach” or “Level 1 certified trainer”. Those are misidentifications because in the CrossFit world there is no such thing as a “Certified Level 2 coach” or a “Level 1 certified trainer”. It was because of these interactions that I took it upon myself to discuss this in a Facebook group specifically for Affiliate owners. I believe that these instances are simply due to a misunderstanding about the levels of coaching that exist in the CrossFit community. And what better way to disseminate the correct information than by going to the leaders of the community and reminding them. They can in turn use the information to remind their fellows coaches and staff. As you can imagine, dropping a nugget of information in a group setting on social media can be met with resistance. The conversation may have offended a few. It may have sparked some spirited debate. And, at this very minute, it may still be going on. I would not have written the post to begin with if I did not truly believe in it’s message, no matter how badly it’s message has been misunderstood by others. I also believe in putting my money where my mouth is, which is why I have brought the subject to this blog post. 

So what minor battle did I begin on Facebook? Clarifying what a CrossFit trainer can and cannot call themselves, and why. Why is this something that should be important to you? Because you deserve to know about what makes me qualified to do my job. And you deserve, as a consumer, to have as much information at your fingertips when it comes to choosing who you pay for any given service. 

To be able to teach a CrossFit class and take money in exchange for such teaching, at minimum I need to have a Level 1 certificate. I got my Level 1 certificate in July 2010. I starting coaching at Verve in January 2011. The Level 1 is a weekend long course where I was taught the basic information I needed to start my coaching journey. After this seminar, I was able to call myself a “Level 1 Trainer”. This seminar did not certify me in any capacity. The next level is Level 2, it has also been know in previous years as the Coach’s Prep Course. This course is designed for people to attend after they have some experience under their belt. It does not teach you the basics of coaching, but rather it puts the coach in the spotlight. The CrossFit HQ staff members watched as I coached groups of people. Following my coaching they broke it down and gave me feedback. Some good, some bad. I’m not a perfect coach, I’m not the best. . . but I will constantly work to be. So following a weekend of having my work evaluated, I left with so many things to work on, improve upon, and the knowledge to give Verve members a better product of coaching. I earned the ability to call myself a “Level 2 Trainer”. Still not certified by any means. 

The next 2 Levels are the Level 3, or Certified CrossFit Trainer, and Level 4, Certified CrossFit Coach. These are certifications. These are not credentials that can be attained in a classroom or over a weekend. The Level 3 is a 4 hour long written exam that is taken at an off site accredited testing center. Before anyone can even sit to take this exam they must have first put in a minimum of 750 coaching hours. The knowledge base covered in this exam goes beyond CrossFit. It covers nutrition, anatomy and physiology, the Olympic lifts, programming, seeing and correcting movement, and more. It covers information that requires someone to have gone above and beyond in research and study. It requires that over time, a Level 2 CrossFit Trainer made an effort to expand their knowledge, learn as much as they could, and put all their leanings into practice with coaching. A lot of coaching. The Level 4 is the practical exam. It is having a panel of HQ staff sit and watch you coach a class. But unlike the Level 2, there is no feedback. There is no discussion, it is an exam. They will evaluate the lesson/ class plan, the warm-up, how the movements are taught/ corrected/ scaled/ modified, and the trainers overall presence and attitude. This exam proves that not only do these people have the information but they know how to put it to practice. 

There are tens of thousands of Level 1 Trainers. Less than 400 are Certified CrossFit trainers. And less than 100 are Certified CrossFit Coaches. 

There are 2 main arguments that were brought up on Facebook. The first, “What does it matter, everyone uses the terms wrong, which makes them pointless anyway”. That statement is the exact reason my post was written. A lot of people use the terms wrong. If we, the people who know the difference, correct those using it incorrectly, the problem can be solved. . . because these terms ABSOLUTELY matter. These are our credentials. We would never let people get away with calling someone who took a first aid course “doctor”. If everyone that has knowledge about basic CPR and first aid was called doctor, you are correct, we would not understand the full credentials that make a doctor a doctor. That title would become meaningless. As a society we correct people when they make these misidentifications, “excuse me, that person is not a doctor. That person is a computer analyst that put a band aid on you”. Why do we fear doing this for the profession of a CrossFit coach? “Excuse me, you are not a Level 1 Certified Trainer. You are a Level 1 Trainer.” See. Not so hard. 

Second argument, “What does it matter? Those Levels don’t actually make you a good coach. I know plenty of Level 1 Trainers that are better than some Level 3 trainers.” Duh. Welcome to every profession in the world. I know some computer analysts carrying a case of band aids that are better doctors than some doctors. But this is where you as a consumer get to really be involved. This is the reason there are more than one doctor in the world, especially more than one doctor that specializes in a certain area. It allows you the opportunity to get a second opinion. . . because some doctors suck. Some coaches suck. Some coaches take tests well and don’t care about applying the knowledge. But as a consumer it allows you to narrow it down even further. Having credentials allows you to look through coaches bios and gather a basic understanding of their experience level. It will require you to go to the gym and actually see if they put their money where their credentialed mouth is. And you may find it doesn’t, it is a guide. These Levels work two fold: they give coaches a goal to work towards. They provide a dangled carrot that forces me to work towards virtuosity in my chosen profession. While I will never be perfect, I have something to work towards. Something that when achieved, sets me apart from others. Which is the second way that it works. It gives anyone looking to find a local CrossFit gym information that may help them choose. Granted, these Levels are not everything. They do not 100% define the person behind them or the people that may not yet process them. I would never claim they do. 

Verve has some of the best trainers I know, I may be a bit biased. They are my friends. I’ve watched them study, practice, stress, fail, succeed, try, try again, care, sweat, and bleed. . . as trainers. I’ve watched them over the years work to be the best they can be for not just Verve members but for anyone that walks through Verve’s doors. They come in at night for meetings where their knowledge is constantly put to the test. They get homework that they take seriously, even though, for most of them, this is not their full time job. The goal behind CrossFit HQ’s Levels is to give these amazing people some credit for that hard work. They deserve to be called the correct title and they should not feel weird to correct those that use the title improperly. Because yes, this matters. 

Front Squat 3-3-3-1-1-1-1-1

Then:
5 Rounds for Quality:
5 Front Squats @ 40%- 50% of todays heaviest lift
50 Double unders
Rest 2 minutes between rounds

Post Results to BTWB.

Last week I wrote a post about defining success through balance. Below I am going to write about two things I have been doing first thing in the morning. Rather than waking up, rolling over and start checking e-mails, texts and messages from all social media outlets. I’ve been keeping my phone on “Do Not Disturb” until I have my beginning of my morning routine done. This allows me time to get ready for the day, rather than racing around to get out of the door. 

1. RomWOD: I mention this because it is an outlet that most have heard of by now. I take 20 minutes first thing in the morning to stretch and relax before anything else. This gives me time to adjust my thoughts and get my head straight, while I am figuring out my day. It doesn’t have to be RomWOD, simply taking some time in the morning to move around before you do anything else will suffice just as well.
2. Headspace App: After about 20 minutes of light stretching and moving, I get in about 10 minutes of breathing and meditation through the Headspace app (recommended to me by Gregory Jaworowski). The Tim Ferris show just did an episode on linking habits and traits of successful people together. The one habit that they all had in common is that they have some sort of meditation practice. 

Here are just two things I have been doing, I hope they help you find balance and help you slow down your day just a little bit. Taking an extra 30 minutes in the morning can make you much more productive throughout your day.