In teams of 2 complete the following for time:
50 Deadlifts, 185#(115#)
10 Rope climbs, 15′
40 Shoulder to overhead, 135#(95#)
10 Rope climbs, 15′
30 Syncronized burpees over the bar
10 Rope climbs, 15′

One person works at a time (except during synchronized burpees)

Post times to comments and BTWB

Hey ladies!!!

Femme Royale is a women’s only team competition. It is an event that is put on throughout the US and Verve is lucky enough to be a location picked to host this awesome competition. 

“Femme Royale Women’s Competition is about bringing out women who normally wouldn’t compete. Maybe they don’t have the confidence, skill set, or fear competing. We believe that getting women in a challenging yet safe environment they can overcome their fears. Their experience will build confidence and translate into other areas of their lives.”

This is a one day event that will be held at Verve on Saturday August 13th. The Femme Royale competitions are perfect for women of all ages and fitness abilities through the use of three categories of competition: the RX Division, 50/50 Division and the Fun (Scaled) Division. An example of the differences between the divisions is with pull­-ups; many women would like to compete more but struggle with stringing together multiple sets of unassisted pull­-ups. The 50/50 Division has the standard of unassisted pull-­ups – like kipping or butterfly pull-­ups – but for those women who still struggle with unassisted pull-­ups the Fun Division allows for banded or jumping pull-­ups (depending on workout design). The RX would be a more for an advanced athlete, who have competed previously and would be able to perform advanced movements such as muscle ups or handstand ups. Registration includes a competition tank top and there will be prizes for the top teams in each division. 

Not all the action for this event will be about the competition. There will be plenty of vendors, food, and music. Guys, are you feeling left out? What better way to support the women in your life then by volunteering to help out while they compete. Verve will need help judging the competition and with equipment for the workouts. Stay tuned for volunteer sign up. 

Registration for this event has already gone live. For more information and to get registered, click here.

For time:
Run 1200 meters
30 Kettlebell swings, 53#(35#)
Run 800 meters
25 Kettlebell swings, 53#(35#)
Run 400 meters
20 Kettlebell swing, 53#(35#)

Post times to comments and BTWB

Verve would like to thank all it’s members that came out on Saturday for a morning of fitness. We would also like to thank those that were not able to come but saw fit to donate money anyway. Verve is super excited to watch Emily compete next weekend at the South Regionals. . . thank you for helping get her there. Here are a few words from the lady of the hour:

Dear Verve athletes and coaches,

I just wanted to say thank you so much to everyone for everything you have done to support me in this mission to get to Dallas! There are no words to express my gratitude or appreciation for your generosity and kindness.

I recently moved to Denver and well the aspect of the move that I was most nervous and focused on was finding a new gym to call home. Through my years as a CFer I have been a member at a couple of boxes and have dropped in to a plethora of gyms, and when I walked through the doors at Verve I knew right away that I had found a gym that I could call home, one that was unlike any other that I have been a part of!

It was clear that I had found a community of athletes there were driven, focused, and friendly. And a coaching staff that was extremely knowledgeable and eager to help the athletes reach their goals. But in no way, did I ever anticipate all of this. The amount of support and encouragement you have all given me is just more then I could have ever asked for. I feel so blessed and so honored to get to be a part of such an incredible community.

Regionals weekend is going to be hard, and will definitely put me out of my comfort zone, but knowing that I am taking a piece of Verve with me, will help to carry me through the weekend with extra strength and a big smile! I am going to be repping my Verve shirt with so much pride knowing that I am there with all of your help.

The Verve logo I will be rocking on my back, is one that means much more than just a simple gym symbol. It represent kindness, heart, friendship, hard work, generosity, selflessness, and a community that completely embodies what CF is all about! One that I am so greatful to be a part of.

Thank you everyone who has helped in organizing this fundraising effort. I just can not say thank you enough!!!

Much Love
Em

As many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of:
15 Ab mat sit ups
10 Deficit push ups with (2) 45#(25#) plates
5 Strict pull ups

Post Results to BTWB.

Today, we are going to talk about sleep. Sleep is one of the most important parts of a training program, yet one that is often overlooked. Let’s put aside fitness for a quick second and look at sleep benefits from all assets: 

• Helps maintain a higher basal metabolic rate (fat-burning).
• Helps improve cognitive behavior (decision making).
• Helps decrease anxiety.
• Helps maintain a heathy immune system.

So, in short, sleeping 8 hours a night will help you lose weight, make better decisions, keep you from going crazy and keep you from getting sick. Still looking for that magic pill? I think it may be called going to bed at a reasonable hour.

So how does this help your fitness levels?

Along with all the benefits listed above. One of the major benefits of sleep is that it triggers your body to release certain hormones (growth hormone) that are essential for recovery. What do these hormones do? They help your muscles, tendons and ligaments recover from the abuse we put them through every day.

So now that I have beat it into you how important sleep is, let’s talk about ways you can get more.

• Get a better bed. Tossing and turning throughout the night can and will inhibit your natural sleep cycle. Not having the ability to properly enter and exit your REM sleep, will affect your energy levels and recovery between sessions. My best suggestion is getting a bed that you find comfortable and will help you sleep throughout the night. Personally, this past year I invested in the Loom and Leaf  mattress, which is a high quality mattress sold at a reasonable price. Game changer.
• Down Regulate. Let your body down regulate. Try to avoid using blue light as it gets closer to bed time. Switch TV for a book or a magazine. If you have to work on your computer late into the night I recommend downloading the app Flux for your computer. What this app does is automatically change the color of your screen to be easier on your eyes as the sun comes down. It’s great.
• Track Sleep. Do you have trouble falling asleep? Sleeping through the night? Well, another app called Sleep Cycle can tell you exactly when you are waking up, how long it takes you to go back to bed and how deep of a sleep you are getting in. This information can be very useful to identifying the problems we are having with our sleep. Sometimes we just have to understand why and fix it.

Death by:
Handstand push-up
Toe to bar

Minute 1- 1 HSPU + 1 T2B
Minute 2- 2 HSPU + 2 T2B
Minute 3- 3 HSPU + 3 T2B. . .

It will continue this way until cannot keep up with the clock.

Post rounds and reps to comments and BTWB

Who’s ready for Saturday’s 3 WODs in 3 hours fitness fest?!?!

Saturday schedule has been thrown out the window and replaced with a 4 person team workout bonanza. The 3 workouts have been posted. . . is your team ready? 

Here are logistics for the day:

• We need team members/ team names finalized by tomorrow (Friday 29th) @ 5pm. This is so I can set up the gym/ heats for Saturday. So get your stuff together, STAT.
• We need teams to pay before they can play. $10 per person or $40 per team. Please give one of the trainers cash or check made out to “Verve” so they can mark it down. Any team with a due balance may not participate in the workouts. 
• The gym will be opened at 7:30am Saturday morning for athletes to arrive and warm-up. There will not be an organized warm-up before the WODs. The trainers will review the layout of the workout and any warm-up/ practice will be left to the individual. 
• There will be 2-3 heats starting at the top of every hour, beginning at 8am. Team heat times will be posted Saturday morning. . . at Verve. 
• There are not formal judges, this is relying heavily on the honor system. If it’s not a rep, don’t count it. . . or do and let karma take over from there. 
• Each team must pick Option A or Option B before the start of the workout. The whole team will do the same option. You may choose a different option at each workout. Simply think about what is best for the majority of your team. Each workout has a 14 minute time cap, not finishing a workout sucks. 
• We will be asking those that just finished the workout to help reset equipment for the next heat. 
• There are not prizes, just a fun environment, probably a bit of smack talk, and maybe even a few inside bets placed. . . oh and definitely bragging rights. 
• There will be open gym following the team event, from 11:30am-12:30pm. 

If you have any additional questions, thoughts, comments, stories about the last team event you did and how awesome it was, please type it in the comments. 

See you people Saturday. 

With a 4 minute running clock run 400m, with remaining time as many reps as possible of:
Round 1- Double unders
Round 2- DB power snatch
Round 3- Double unders
Round 4- DB power snatch
Rest 1 minute between rounds

Post reps to comments and BTWB

Verve is looking for trainer interns!!

Over the years we have been asked numerous times by various people “What sets Verve apart? What makes Verve special?” Our answer has always included both our training and our community. A standard of excellence in training was started by Matt and Cherie, it was carried on through Mas and Joylyn, and Eric and I have done our best to keep it continued. We take pride in having trainers that know the members of Verve, care about the members of Verve, and want to constantly help guide Verve members to improve their fitness. One of the best ways Verve has gone about finding such a person is by looking to it’s members to work to become trainers. 

If you have ever thought about or had an interest in training, we want to talk with you more. We believe by going to Verve members to build our army of trainers, it continues to help us build the other thing we hold so dear, our community. 

Beyond being a current member of Verve, our first requirement to apply is that you hold a current Level 1 certificate. The internship is an unpaid process. We understand your time is valuable and do not want to take advantage of it, but there will be a time requirement of 7 hours per month, which includes a monthly trainer meeting. The internship process will vary from person to person, the goal being to work towards a position as a part time trainer for Verve. During the internship our goal will be to build the 6 characteristics we believe make a good trainer:

1. Group management
2. Teaching
3. Seeing fault in movement
4. Correcting fault in movement
5. Presence and attitude
6. Demonstration

We will also need those in the internship process to begin to learn basic information about Verve as well as how to use MBO and welcome new people to Verve. As trainers our goal is to lead by example, we would look for interns to do the same. 

For more details about the process, to apply to intern, and to ask any and all questions we will be hosting a meeting Thursday May 5th at 8pm. If you have a resume that includes any information regarding history in fitness, training, teaching, certificates, etc. I would encourage you to bring it. If you have any additional questions please feel free to email me, courtney@crossfitverve.com.

For time:
50 Wallball, 20#(14#) to 10′
25 Ring dips
50 Box jumps, 24″(20″)
25 Ring dips
50 Wallball, 20#(14#) to 10′

Post Results to BTWB.

Hello CrossFit Verve!

June 18th and 19th CrossFit Verve will be hosting a CrossFit Football Seminar. This will be held from from 8am to 5pm both days.

This course is an introduction to the concepts, movements and level of intensity needed to be successful in training for sport. In the course, participants are provided with a foundation for training athletes. They are taught the fundamentals of sport-specific training, including sprinting, basic movements, warm-ups and cool downs, change-of-direction and agility drills, jumping and weightlifting. Participants are given information on programming, nutrition and diet, and film study. Film study demonstrates the practical application of the CrossFit movements to football and other power sports. Anyone who trains groups that are required to be strong, agile and powerful can benefit from this course, no matter the level of athletes.

A good example of just one of the drills that CrossFit Football will be going over this weekend. Click through their youtube channel, here, to find some more good tips. 

Learning Objectives

The Football Course teaches participants to:

• Understand the most effective way to utilize CrossFit for sport-specific athletes.
• Learn how to effectively implement the CrossFit Football program’s “plug and play” strength-and-conditioning template in a gym and/or team environment.
• Build competency when implementing CrossFit Football’s warm-up progressions, which can also be used as diagnostic tools for identifying an athlete’s limiting factors.
• Develop competency in the major multi-jointed barbell movements: the squat, deadlift, bench press and power clean, including the ability to teach, see and correct proper mechanics.
• Utilize recovery as a necessary part of training. This extends to, but is not limited to, intelligent training, nutrition, stretching, identifying limiting factors and mobility.

If you are looking for more information about this course, click here.

For time:
120 Double unders
10 Clean and jerk, 145#(100#)
8 Muscle-ups
Rest 3 minutes
x 3 rounds

Post time for each round to comments and BTWB

**Schedule change today!! Starting today Verve has changed the Saturday schedule. All classes are moved up 1 hour. WODs are at 8am, 9am, and 10am. Open gym will be from 11am-12:30pm. This schedule will remain in affect for at least the next month while we test run it, if it turns out you really like it. . . it will stick around longer. 

**EXDO is hosting Denver Flea this weekend. Denver Flea = Verve parking pandemonium!! But hey, once you find a parking spot then Denver Flea = tons of cool stuff to check out after you finish getting your sweat on. You can access Verve’s overflow parking lot on the West side of Walnut St, just South of 36th. You can still access the parking lot across the street from Verve’s entrance by continuing East on Downing, you can enter right after you pass the bus stop. Good luck and god speed. 

*Next Saturday, April 30th, we have 3 WODs in 3 hours to help raise money for Emily’s trip to the South Regionals. Every workout will require 4 people, 2 males and 2 females. You can sign your team up starting Monday, there will be a sheet at the front desk. The cost is $10 per person or $40 per team. For more information click here.

*Saturday May 7th Verve is hosting Mom and Me Self Defense Course put on by Mile High Women’s Outreach Center. You can get registered for one of the two classes being offered by clicking here.

Thruster
2-2-2-2-2-2-2

Post loads to comments and BTWB

What is Everyday Warrior?

Everyday Warrior is a non-profit organization 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.

Through multiple online competitions Everyday Warrior has raised over $139,000. That money is then given to their featured warriors, or CrossFitters currently fighting cancer. The money is theirs to do with as they wish, pay medical bills, take a vacation, buy groceries. It is used to take a small amount of stress off the people fighting the biggest and hardest battle of all. . . they are fighting for their lives. 

Verve’s own Sarah DeVito was recently one of Everyday Warrior’s featured warriors. Several ladies from the organization came to Verve to present Sarah with a check for $15,000. What that money will do for Sarah and her family goes beyond words. Beyond providing monetary support, the gesture itself is an even bigger reminder of all the people that are in Sarah’s court, all the people that stand behind her, and hold her up. That money represents the thousand’s of people that do not know Sarah but are there to make sure she does not fight alone. 

We at Verve feel strongly in supporting Everyday Warrior. We want to show our support for Sarah and we want to show support for anyone else that finds themselves facing the same battle. We ask that Verve members rally to support this amazing organization as well. You can get involved by signing up for the Everyday Warrior Team Battle Series this June. 

The Team Battle Series is a winner-take-all, four-week, online workout and fundraising competition for teams of two — two men or two women. Teams will complete in one workout per week beginning Monday, May 30th. Money raised through the Team Battle Series goes directly to individuals in the CrossFit community currently undergoing treatment for cancer. Verve will be hosting these workouts on the Saturday after they have been released, it will be the workout of the day (WOD). Workout on Saturdays usually? Well now you can bring a friend, get registered online, and compete towards fun prizes. For all teams that get registered Verve will also post an in-house leaderboard and will be giving prizes to top teams in each division, RX, scaled, and masters.

Got a friend that does not go to Verve but you want to compete along side? Get registered with them. Anyone registered for the team series will be welcomed to Verve on Saturdays during the Battle Series at no charge. 

For more information and to get registered, click here. Let’s pay it forward. And get fit at the same time.  

As many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of:
5 Deadlift, 275#(185#)
5 Bar facing burpees
Calorie row, 15(12)

Post Results to BTWB.

Often we hear that people try to do their best job at attacking their mobility weaknesses. We hear about the time spent with foam rollers, with lacrosse balls and with bands stretching and mashing every muscle in the body. Often after these statements we hear that whatever is tried only affects them temporarily and shortly after the mobility gained is lost. Why?

Well here, after all the time spent with mobility and soft tissue devices are you practicing the new ranges of motion you have gained or are you going back to dumping your shoulders forward, rounding your upper back and sitting the rest of the day? Well here is the answer. Just because you spent half your day humping soft tissue tools, doesn’t mean change will happen. The best way to create changes in our movement and mobility are forcing ourselves to be in a better anatomical position throughout the day. Here are two quick tips that have helped me move a little better in the past year:

1. Get a standing desk. I have been using a standing desk for the past two years. Standing desks help prevent rounded shoulders and upper backs, while also keep the hip open. Sitting all day shortens our beloved hip flexors, which pull us into lordosis (anterior pelvic tilt), which can cause many problems down the rode. You can go to Rogue Supply Co. and pick up a sweet standing desk for a good price!

2. Hang your shoulders on the shelf. One of my favorite Physical Therapists from Milford, CT gave me this advice right before I left for my drive out to Colorado. We were talking about this topic one day when he told me about a technique he uses called “Hanging your shoulders on the shelf.” What this means is take a big breath in, lift your shoulders and let them sit back by pressing both your scapula’s down and back. This will help put your shoulders in a better position throughout the day. Check out the video below for some help with this.

Hope this helps!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhUwb8ZBeJ4

Working in teams of two, as many rounds as possible in 16 minutes of:
60 Meter shuttle sprint
10 Power snatch. 95#(65#)

*One partner completes a whole round, then 2nd partner completes a whole round. Continue alternating rounds.

Post rounds and reps to comments and BTWB

Holy list of future events Batman!!

Seriously people, lots of stuff going on in the next few months, you might want to write this down.

• This weekend, April 16th & 17th, Verve is hosting a Level 1 seminar. We will be closed both days with the exception of a 7am WOD both mornings. Please sign up on MBO.
• Verve Sprint starts Monday April 18th for a two week free trail run for all current Verve members. Class times are listed in MBO, please sign up for class. If you have any questions or concerns, please email AnnaM@crossfitverve.com.
• Verve will be holding a Free Intro Class for anyone interested in checking out CrossFit on Tuesday night, April 19th @ 7pm. 
• EXDO Event Center is hosting Denver Flea Saturday and Sunday April 23rd & 24th. Larimer street will be blocked off, you will be able to access Verve’s over flow parking lot on Walnut or the parking lot in front of Verve via Downing street. In general the area will be very busy and parking will be limited, try to plan accordingly. Interesting in checking out the event?? Click here for more info.
• Saturday April 30th Verve is hosting an in-house team competition based on Regional team workouts. This event will be $20 per person to help raise money to send Verve’s own Emily Yates to the South Regionals in Dallas, TX.
• Saturday May 7th Verve is hosting Mom and Me Self Defense. For more information and to get registered, click here.
• May 13th-15th is the South Regionals. Verve will be streaming the events so we can all cheer on Emily.
• Saturdays June 4th/ 11th/ 18th/ 25th Verve’s workout will be the Everyday Warrior Battle Series. Get signed up for this partner online competition by clicking here.