Hang snatch 3-3-3-3-3
Bench press 5-5-5
Weighted pull-ups 5-5-5

Post loads to comments and BTWB

If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.

A US Navy Admiral, William H. McRaven, returned to his alma mater, University of Texas, Austin, last week to give the commencement speech to the 2014 graduating class. I was told about the speech by a Verve athlete. This athlete told me that the Admiral’s speech about life lessons learned carried over into his world of CrossFit. He could relate to the Admiral’s words when he was approaching his WODs. After listening to the Admiral’s speech I couldn’t agree more. I think every one of us could hear his words and find the encouragement in them to do new and great things, in and outside of the gym.

This speech makes me think about how much I give the 5:30am class a hard time in the mornings. Mostly because I can’t imagine working out that early, but I know why they do. What better way to start a day then by tackling a difficult physical activity. Not just physical but mental as well. Because if you can push yourself to the end and fight any urge to quit when it gets hard at 5:30am, then I’m pretty sure your day is all down hill from there.

This speech reminds me of how CrossFit also brings people from all levels of fitness and athleticism together. How CrossFit creates an environment of shared misery that bonds us together at the moment we all finish. A moment when we can high five at the idea of simply completing the work. Then express joy over the individual accomplishments within that work, the PR’s.

This speech highlights to me that no CrossFitter can be judged by their mere appearance. Neither can a WOD. Looks can be deceiving. Every body brings something to the table, every one has their wheelhouse. When it shows up on the whiteboard relish in it. Vow to own it for the day and celebrate when you do. Then come back tomorrow when the work involves your weakness. Make the same vow. Strive for virtuosity. Strive to be better than yesterday. Knowing that we may never be perfect should not stop us from working hard to be.

I think about this speech especially as I hop in a car at 6am this morning and start my trek to Salt Lake City. I think about the Admiral’s words and I think about my teammates. At the end of the Open we came together and started training as a team. Once the workouts were announced for regionals I think everyone saw something they were excited about and saw something that made their stomach turn. Here we are, 4 weeks later, and it’s game time. We spent hours practicing these WODs, sometimes we failed, sometimes we succeeded beyond what we thought we could do, but no matter the outcome we are ready to enter the circus. We are ready to jump in head first, not back down from any shark, and if you know anything about the members of this team, you know that we will probably be doing it all while singing and dancing. 

But here is the biggest thing that I take away from this speech. “Sometimes no matter how well you prepare or how well you perform you still end up as a sugar cookie. It’s just the way life is sometimes. If we want to change the world, we need to get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.”  Everyday we show up to the gym is a success. We are up and moving, the outcome of the WOD may not be what we hoped but we still accomplished being active and healthy. This weekend, going to regionals, having the opportunity to compete against the best athletes in our region is our success. We will put 100% of our efforts in to everything we do, and we will be proud long before we ever look at a scoreboard. And we will continue moving forward. 

I would like to wish the best of luck to Anna Mattson, Maddie Berky, Jason Kaplan, Nate Rader, Dan Pope, and Emmalee Teribery this weekend. It is my great honor to share in this experience with you. I’m excited for the laughs, the triumphs, and to see the product of our hard work. Thank you to Robyn Kunick-Bosch, Ryan Young, and Joylyn Godinez. Team Verve baby!!

If you would like to watch the action go down, it will all be live streaming on the CrossFit Games website. 

Friday: Team Event 1 is @ 9:20am, Team Event 2/3 is @ 10:40am
Friday: Emmalee Individual Event 1/2 is @ 1pm, Emmalee Individual Event 3 is @ 3:55pm

We will update heat times for Saturday and Sunday

**The Body Fat Test truck is coming back Wednesday June 4th. Sign up here for it.

“JT”
21-15-9 reps for time of:
Handstand push-ups
Ring dips
Push-ups

Compare to 1/25/13

Post times to comments and BTWB

Have you met my friend Ted?

Coach Glassman is notorious for saying that the final adaptation in CrossFit happens between the ears. He is of course referring to our mental adaption. A big part of that mental adaptation deals with our own egos. Raise your hand if your ego has been the driving force behind the decision on how you will approach a daily WOD? We all should have a hand up in the air. We are all guilty of making decisions like “I know my shoulder doesn’t feel good today but I really want that RX on the board in this pull-up WOD”, or “I know my form is breaking down at this heavier weight but I feel like I should be able to lift as much as the person next to me, so I will not drop weight to have better technique”. Learning to push that overwhelmingly loud ego aside takes training as much as learning how to perform a snatch, if not more so. Sometimes we have to be able to take one step back because we know it will bring us two steps forward. Enter my main man Ted Buras.

Ted is someone who checked his ego at the door the day he started at Verve in February of 2013. I know this because I met him on that first day. Ted came in for the free Saturday intro class, he was the only one. Ted and I had a nice little personal training session. Ted had an appearance of someone who worked out already, took good care of himself, and valued physical health. But it was clear to me from the beginning that Ted had a few limitations with his physical movements. Ted had, at best, minimal shoulder flexibility. Ted could not get his hands over his head with straight arms, which meant Ted could not OHS even PVC with locked out arms. Ted also had some trouble with his squat, he was not able to drive his knees out, reach full depth, or keep his torso upright. Ted pre warned me he had issues with tight hips and I.T. bands. What Ted also had, amongst so many other great qualities, was a phenomenal attitude about all of it. From day 1 I told Ted that we would be doing many different scales and modifications to help build strength in these positions. I told him he would improve but that it would not happen over night, and that it would take some work on his part. Ted literally said to me “I really have no ego about this. I’m ready to try.”

And try he did. Ted regularly came to classes, Ted began adding mobility, and Ted absolutely did not shy away from his weaknesses, in fact Ted dove head first into them. Every single OHS WOD that popped up Ted came to, knowing full well he would probably only be overhead squatting PVC for the workout. Over the months we came up with many modifications and variations so as to change it up as much as possible. Ted did squat therapy against a wall, Ted squatted to a box, he squatted with PVC rigged to bands and the pull-up structure. You name it Ted did it, and he sweat his butt off every time. He also always put his times, weights, and rounds up on the board. I want everyone to try to understand the amazing mental fortitude it takes to be this determined to improve AND be this patient while doing it.

Ted was hit with a bit of a set back in January of this year when he had shoulder surgery. We talked before hand and created a game plan upon his return to Verve. When Ted returned he followed the orders of his PT, he listened to the trainers as they modified WODs, and he diligently did all his rehab exercises. Since then I have watched Ted grab bands, PVC, and various other goodies, find a corner of the gym during Open Gym and crank out his continued physical therapy exercises. When Ted was cleared from PT he didn’t stop, I doubt Ted ever will. He mobilizes, warms up, stretches, cools down. Ted listens to his body, he self scales WODs based on how he feels at that time. Ted pushes himself to an appropriate level for himself. The question now is what does Ted have to show for all this work, for all this diligence, determination, and patience?

Ted has something he has literally NEVER had before. 16 months into starting CrossFit Ted has a 65 pound OHS. . . for 3 reps. Ted has an overhead position that exists with locked out arms, external rotation, and a below parallel squat with knees that track over his feet. Is it a perfect OHS? No. It is progress. Ted has added functional movements into his life, which equals an improved quality of life. Ted has more success stories to come. Ted has made an adaptation in CrossFit that gives him the strength and ability to do something a lot of us still struggle with. Ted can look at the big picture, the one that exists much farther down the road, and modify accordingly. His diligence and willingness to work on his weaknesses will not stop with his overhead position and his squats. He has seen the outcome of his hard work which will only drive him to work harder.

Congratulations Ted on your hard earned and very well deserved PR. I am both proud and inspired. 

Six rounds for time:
Row 250m
20 AbMat sit-ups
3 Rope climbs

Compare to 12/15/13

Post time to comments or BTWB

Take a second and think back to 2014 CrossFit Games Open workout 14.3 – Deadlifts and Box Jumps.  This workout was the first workout programmed by HQ in an Open that allowed step-ups as an option.  We thought this was great, we would save some stamina, save our legs, guarantee no missed reps, and possibly keep a steadier pace than if we had to jump up.  For this particular workout, this was great!! Unfortunately, what we have noticed as a trend in the gym is members are relying on step-ups in workouts containing box jumps and forgoing the jumping for all of the aforementioned reasons.  There are so many reasons we SHOULD be jumping onto that box, let me list some.

Reasons we should be box JUMPING:
#1 – Box Jumps increase your coordination, agility, and balance.  All 3 of these things are part the 10 General Physical Skills of CrossFit that we try to improve every day we workout.  We must coordinate our movements of our arms and legs to ensure we land on the box.  We must have the ability to have a vertical jump, draw our legs up, and land in a squatted position requiring agility. Balance is found once we stand on the top of the box.
#2 – Box Jumps improve your vertical jump.  Why is this important if you are not a pole vaulter or a basketball player?  A higher vertical jump can relate to increased forward speed when running.  Vertical jumps work both the eccentric movement (loading the legs before the jump) and concentric movement (violently extending the legs to jump) which helps with the fast twitch muscles fibers that fire when you are taking off from the starting line for a race, doing shuttle sprints, chasing your child, etc.
#3 – Box Jumps aid in increasing power for our Olympic Lifts and lifting in general.  There is a lot of science behind it, which is difficult to explain, so I will refer you to this great article. Forceful hip drive, powerful dip, bouncing out of the bottom of a squat, all of these things require an immense amount of power.  Box Jumps help with them.

We understand why some people choose to do step-ups such as injury and pregnancy, but if you don’t fall into those categories, JUMP ONTO THE BOX!!!

VERVE UPDATES:
HAPPY HOUR TONIGHT, May 23rd at 5:30pm!!! Lucky Pie Pizza @ 16t and Wazee.  Take a small hit on your Nutrition Challenge points and be social!

Verve ROCKIES game!! Saturday, JUNE 7th @ 2PM.  You must purchase tickets through the following link by MAY 27th!!!!  The seats are a little high in the stands, but we will all be sitting together near the bar.  It is a popular game which is why we must buy the tickets early.

https://oss.ticketmaster.com/html/go.htmI?l=EN&t=corockies&o=24990002&g=2654

Promo Code: CROSSFIT2014

Hang snatch 5-5-5-5-5

Followed by:
“Lynne”
5 Rounds of:
Max bodyweight bench press
Max pull-ups
Rest 3:00

Post loads and weights to comments and BTWB

An article in the NY Times was recently brought to my attention. Considering many of you are midway through Verve’s Nutrition Challenge I thought I would share the article with you. The article is titled “Always hungry? Here’s why” (click here to read full article). The article starts with a discussion about an idea that has been floating around for, well, ever about “calories in, calories out”. Seems legit. If I want to lose weight I have to burn more calories than I consume. This idea is the basis for most diets/ weight loss programs. 

“When it comes to body weight, this means that calorie intake minus calorie expenditure equals calories stored. Surrounded by tempting foods, we overeat, consuming more calories than we can burn off, and the excess is deposited as fat. The simple solution is to exert willpower and eat less.”

The problem is that this advice does not work, at least not for most people over the long term. The question becomes why? 

“. . . we’ve confused cause and effect? What if it’s not overeating that causes us to get fat, but the process of getting fatter that causes us to overeat?

The more calories we lock away in fat tissue, the fewer there are circulating in the bloodstream to satisfy the body’s requirements. If we look at it this way, it’s a distribution problem: We have an abundance of calories, but they’re in the wrong place. As a result, the body needs to increase its intake. We get hungrier because we’re getting fatter.

According to this alternative view, factors in the environment have triggered fat cells in our bodies to take in and store excessive amounts of glucose and other calorie-rich compounds. Since fewer calories are available to fuel metabolism, the brain tells the body to increase calorie intake (we feel hungry) and save energy (our metabolism slows down). Eating more solves this problem temporarily but also accelerates weight gain. Cutting calories reverses the weight gain for a short while, making us think we have control over our body weight, but predictably increases hunger and slows metabolism even more.”

What are these “factors in the environment” that are causing this change? Genetics, levels of physical activity, sleep, stress, and . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . . “But one has an indisputably dominant role: the hormone insulin. We know that excess insulin treatment for diabetes causes weight gain, and insulin deficiency causes weight loss. And of everything we eat, highly refined and rapidly digestible carbohydrates produce the most insulin.”

“By this way of thinking, the increasing amount and processing of carbohydrates in the American diet has increased insulin levels, put fat cells into storage overdrive and elicited obesity-promoting biological responses in a large number of people. Like an infection that raises the body temperature set point, high consumption of refined carbohydrates — chips, crackers, cakes, soft drinks, sugary breakfast cereals and even white rice and bread — has increased body weights throughout the population.”

So what does this mean? Is this biological change we’ve created through consumption permanent or can we undo the damage that has been done? 

“People in the modern food environment seem to have greater control over what they eat than how much. With reduced consumption of refined grains, concentrated sugar and potato products and a few other sensible lifestyle choices, our internal body weight control system should be able to do the rest. Eventually, we could bring the body weight set point back to pre-epidemic levels. Addressing the underlying biological drive to overeat may make for a far more practical and effective solution to obesity than counting calories.”

There is far more information contained within the article itself, this is merely a synopsis. I highly encourage everyone to read it in it’s entirety. To the point, a more effective form of weight loss may be a change in thinking about the kind of foods we eat rather than how much of it we eat.

*Don’t forget about the schedule changes on Tuesday evenings. We now have classes starting at 4pm, 5pm, 5:30pm, 6pm, and 6:30pm. All classes are still 1 hour long. Please sign up on MBO to reserve your spot. 

*We now have morning Skilz classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6:30am. Sign up on MBO to reserve your spot.

Hang Snatch 5-5-5-5-5

Then, complete as many rounds as possible in 15:00 of:
10 Bench press (185#/115#)
12 Chest to bar pull-ups

Post load and rounds to comments or BTWB 

TO come up onto the toes or NOT come up on the toes? That is the question.

The answer is YES and NO.  I bring this up because many questions came up while doing clean pulls, whether or not we should be coming up onto our toes.  When we watch olympic lifters, right before they pull themselves under the bar, they come to triple extension.  Triple extension is when your hips, knees, and ankles (aka plantar flexion) are at full extension.  What this may look like is the lifter is coming to their toes, but this is not the case at all.  The lifters’ hips are opening so violently and their shrug is so strong that this triple extension is a byproduct of shear power.

How can you differentiate between hitting this extension vs. coming onto your toes?  Ask yourself some questions.  Do you constantly hop forward on your olympic lifts?  Are you consistently chasing the bar during your lifts?  This is more than likely because you are purposely coming to your toes, consciously adding it into your lift.  TRY THIS:  Stand straight up with your hips and knees locked out.  Now, jump with only your toes.  What probably just happened is you hopped up and back about 2 inches.  THIS is what our triple extension should look and feel like.  The following video by BarbellShrugged is a great explanation of how to differentiate and feel the difference between the two:

If you have some questions, post to comments below and we will answer them for you.

NEXT VERVE OUTING:
Colorado Rockies vs LA Dodgers
June 7th @ 2:10pm
MEET AT THE ROOFTOP BAR @ 1:00PM
We must pre-purchase tickets to get our group pricing of $15 per ticket using the following link and code:
https://oss.ticketmaster.com/html/go.htmI?l=EN&t=corockies&o=24990002&g=2654

Promo Code: CROSSFIT2014

Let us know below if you are coming to the game so we can plan this party!!

Five Rounds for time:

20 Medicine ball cleans 20#/14#
10 Shoulder to overhead 135#/95#

Post time to comments or BTWB

TEAMWORK!!  There is no “I” in team, but there is in KICKING BOOTY!

With the in-house team competition tomorrow, we thought this would be a great time to talk about working in a team.  There are so many fun aspects to working on a team, but there are some key points to think about when planning out those workouts.

POINT #1 – CORINTHIANS 12:26 “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”  Shared suffering is much better than suffering by yourself.  This is how the military builds their bands of brothers, so it should definitely work for us.  More often than not, we will push ourselves harder for other people than we will for ourselves.  In turn, we find new levels we can push ourselves to.  Support each other no matter what!  Spouting negativity will not make someone move faster.

POINT #2 – COMMUNICATION IS KEY.  When working with a team, more often than not, we can share reps to complete the task at hand.  Going into a team workout thinking that you will each do the same amount of reps and just chug along is not necessarily the most efficient way to work through the WOD.  Everyone on the team will have a different threshold.  As you are nearing that threshold, communicate this with your teammates so they are ready to start moving.  Do more reps of your stronger movements and do shorter sets where you are weaker.

POINT #3 – IT WILL ALL COME OUT IN THE WASH.   We all come to the table with different strengths and weaknesses;  some of us are better at gymnastics, some are good at strength, and some of us just look great in tall socks.  Being on a team, we balance each other out.  I will speak from experience and give you a personal example:  A workout comes up with heavy thrusters and rope climbs (sound familiar?).  I feel comfortable with heavy thrusters, another team mate enjoys rope climbs, and the other feels reasonably comfortable with both.  We will plan our rep schemes to play each of our strengths, execute it, and DON’T APOLOGIZE.  Each workout is planned in competitions to play different strengths, we will have our chance to shine and we will have a chance to get reminded of what we need to work on.  Guess what, if that plans go to crap, make the adjustments and just keep moving.  

HAVE FUN tomorrow.  Plan your weight changes, the order that you will go in, and what assistance you will need to provide.  If you are unsure, ask a trainer for some tips and feedback.  Please be here early to warm up as we will start promptly at NOON. Here is a tentative schedule:

11:30pm – Judges meeting (if you plan on judging, if you could come now it would be awesome)
12:00 – 12:05 – Review of workout #1
12:10 – 12:20 – Heat #1
12:25 – 12:35 – Heat #2
12:40 – 12:50 – Heat #3
Review Workout #2
1:00 – 1:15 – Heat #1
1:20 – 1:35 – Heat #2
1:40 – 1:55 – Heat #3
Review Workout #3
2:05 – 2:35 – Heat #1
2:40 – 3:10 – Heat #2
3:15 – 3:45 – Heat #3
AWARDS!!! Raffles!!

If you have not done so already, please bring your donation with you either to the gym or to the event.  The Verve Regionals Team appreciates your participation.  THANK YOU!!!

In front of a clock set for 12 minutes:

1 minute Box jumps, 30″ (24″)
1 minute Sumo deadlift high-pulls, 115# (75#)
2 minutes Box jumps, 30″ (24″)
2 minutes Sumo deadlift high-pulls, 115# (75#)
3 minutes Box jumps, 30″ (24″)
3 minutes Sumo deadlift high-pulls, 115# (75#)

Post reps to comments and BTW.

Free CrossFit Kids class Saturday with coach Nat!
Bobcats (ages 3-6yo) at 9am and Cheetahs (ages 7-12yo) at 9:30am.  

Join us for the Glendale Raptors vs San Fransisco Golden Gates game Saturday at 3pm.  It is Fan Appreciation Day, SO TICKETS ARE FREE!!  Just show up and support/heckle Colby as he plays for the visiting team.  We will meet at the bar inside of Infinity Park at 2:15pm for some pre-game cocktails.  Great weather and good people, can’t get any better!

Mobility session Sunday at 12pm with Anna.  Sign up on MBO.

“Rosa”
5 Rounds for time:

10 Handstand push-ups
400 Meter run

Post time to comments or BTWB 

The Sitting Disease continued……..

In a previous post, we discussed the affect poor posture and sitting has on our neck, shoulders, and upper back.  Now, we will tackle  sitting and the nether-regions know as your hips and lower back.  

Before I go into detail on how sitting affects those areas, I want to introduce our friend fascia. Fascia is a tough connective tissue that covers all your muscles, much like the thin outer skin of a chicken breast. While fascia is pliable, it tends to “set” in the position your muscles are in most often. So if you sit most of the time, your fascia adapts to that specific position.  

Now think about where your hips and thighs are in relation to your torso while you’re sitting. They’re bent, which causes the muscles on the front of your thighs, known as hip flexors, to contract slightly, or shorten. The more you sit, the more the fascia will aid in keeping your hip flexors shortened. You will begin to notice this when you go to air squat, front squat, overhead squat, or simply trying to stand straight and you can’t keep your chest up, no matter how much the coaches yell “CHEST UP!”

 This starts a downward spiral of effects on your glutes, hammies, and lumbar spine.  Sitting too much in improper positions will lead to a phenomenon nicknamed “Gluteal Amnesia”.  Gluteal Amnesia is when you sit so much not using your legs, that your glutes actually forget how to fire.  If your largest muscle group is not firing properly, it will lead to weaker squatting, deadlifting, and a general decrease in bad-assery .  It gets worse. Weak glutes as well as tight hip flexors cause your pelvis to tilt forward. This puts stress on your lumbar spine, resulting in lower-back pain.

What do you do if you HAVE to sit for long hours at work?  Here are some great tips from a very informative article I used for research by Dr. Len Kravitz Ph.D.

Some (but not all) spontaneous physical activity options to discuss to break-up these sustained sitting periods at work might include:
1) Stand up and walk around the office every 30 minutes
2) Stand up and move every time the person needs to get some water
3) Walk to the farthest bathroom in the worksite facility when going to the restroom (if multiple bathrooms are an option)
4) Always stand and/or walk around room when talking on the telephone
5) Consider getting a standing workstation.  Try to sell you boss on the health benefits and decreased health costs associated with not sitting
6) Consider doing a 5-minute walk break with every coffee break
7) Don’t email office colleagues; walk to their desks to communicate with them
For the time frame of watching TV and reading at night consider some of the following spontaneous physical activity options:
1) Get up and move during every commercial
2) Take a 5-minute walk break every 30 minutes
3) Get a stationary piece of cardiovascular exercise equipment and use it for several minutes each half-hour of TV viewing or reading
4) Stand up and do some easy (i.e., not strenuous) lunges or squats at least once per half hour
5) Stand up and do some alternating leg balance exercises at least once per half hour
6) Stand up and move for the opening segment of each TV show
7) At the end of reading every 4, 6 or 8 pages get up to walk around the room or house

We do our best in classes to give you tools to help release your fascia and get your joints moving to their full range of motion before, during, and after workouts, but we can only do so much.  The responsibility falls on you to make changes outside of the gym.  Although I am sure, for the right price, Colby would be happy to come to your house or office and remind you every 15 minutes to get up and move around.

VERVE OUTING UPDATE – Glendale Raptors vs San Fransisco Golden Gates.  It just so happens that the game tomorrow at 3pm is fan appreciation day, SO TICKETS ARE FREE!!  Just show up and support/heckle Colby as he plays for the visiting team.  We will meet at the bar inside of Infinity Park at 2:15pm for some pre-game cocktails.