For time:

Post times to comments and BTWB.

For time:
10 Shoulder press 115# (75#)
15 Overhead squat 115# (75#)
20 Push press 115# (75#)
25 Front squat 115# (75#)
30 Push jerk 115# (75#)
35 Back squat 115# (75#)

Post times to BTWB.

Do you soak?  After the past few Open workouts I’ve been more sore than usual.  Perhaps it’s because I ended up doing the same workout multiple times in a short span of time, but my body has been really achy.  We always talk about post WOD nutrition as a key to recovery but lately I’ve been looking for other options to help speed up recovery.  Obviously sleep is a big one, but since I haven’t had a really good night of sleep in longer than I can remember, sleep doesn’t count for me.

I’ve been reading up on bath salts and the benefits to soaking.  Apparently there is some benefit to these.  Do any of you use them?  How about just Epson salt?  WODs and other extreme types of exercising can drain the body of magnesium.  Using bath salts that are high in magnesium sulfate can help replenish levels.  Magnesium has also been shown to raise ATP levels which increase energy and stamina.  Magnesium sulfate has also been shown to ease pain and relieve inflammation as well as reduce irritability by decreasing adrenaline levels.  This can lead to better sleep and increase concentration levels along with helping muscles and nerves function properly.

Let me know what you think.  Is there any validity to using these?  I’m always curious to hear first hand that something has worked for someone instead of reading online reviews or articles that make claims.

Reminder that we are having a Nutrition lecture Thursday evening at 7 PM.  Cherie will be giving the lecture and will be covering lots of new and useful information.  

There is no 7 PM WOD or Foundations class that evening.  Hope to see you all there!

Overhead Squat
3 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 3

Post loads to comments and BTWB.

Change Your Life Nutrition Kick-off Performance Winners!  Over the 6 week challenge they committed to logging their food, drink, sleep, workouts, fish oil, and water intake.  Athletes win $225 toward their monthly memberships and some new schwag en route, runner’s up win a $50 Whole Foods gift card to continue their great eating habits.

Susanna did what most women might not initially want, as she gained almost 2 pounds over the duration of the challenge, but she managed to decrease her body fat 2.5% and increase her lean muscle mass by nearly 6 pounds!  She improved her 1 rep max clean by 15# and her benchmark WOD by 15 reps.  She’s long been an endurance athlete, but has enjoyed the benefit of CrossFit as it has improved her recovery and helped her build strength without aggravating injuries.  She was followed closely by Ali Nichols who has been PR’ing all over the place with her new svelte figure.

Matt D managed to drop his body fat by nearly 3% while improving his clean by 10# and his benchmark WOD by over a full round!  Talk about some increased work capacity!  He dropped over 11 pounds and 2 inches off his body throughout the challenge.  He was followed closely by Nate S who maintained his lean muscle mass, improved his clean by 40# and his benchmark WOD by a half round.  Great job!

Please join us for our End of the CrossFit Open Potluck on Sunday at 1:30pm.  We’ll provide tasty beverages, plates and silverware.  Bring a dish to share and sign up at the front.  Games will be out and laughs will be shared.  

Remember to submit your scores here for 13.5 by Sunday at 5pm.  Finish strong!

CrossFit Games Open 13.5

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 4 minutes of:
15 Thruster, 100# (65#)
15 Chest to bar Pull-ups

If 90 reps (3 rounds) are completed in under 4 minutes, time extends to 8 minutes. 
If 180 reps (6 rounds) are completed in under 8 minutes, time extends to 12 minutes.
If 270 reps (9 rounds) are completed in under 12 minutes, time extends to 16 minutes.
Etc.

For a downloadable PDF of the workout, click here.

Post reps to comments, BTWB and submit your scores here.

Dare to be great!  Knock 13.5 out, leave nothing left in the tank.

Our Change Your Life Nutrition Kick-off for 2013 recently concluded, and we’ve finally made our way through all the amazing changes to find your winners.  Approximately 6 weeks of commitment to logging all food/drink intake, workouts, water, fish oil, and sleep has made a ton of you looking better, feeling better and performing better.  We wanted measurable, observable, repeatable data and we’ve got it.  All of our winners get $225 toward their monthly memberships, in addition to the new Verve tshirts on their way.  Runner’s up athletes  win $50 gift cards to Whole Foods.  Today we give you your winners in the Body Composition category, which required measurements and hydrostatic tests before and after:

Josh Wrede lost 5 inches from his waist measurements, and 21 pounds during the challenge going from 241 to 220. –>ALL of it was body fat!  He maintained a strong lean body mass of 183.7 pounds and improved his benchmark WOD by nearly an entire round.  Josh has been a longtime member of Verve and is a beloved and talented artist in our community both in and outside of CrossFit.  He’s committed to eating paleo since January 1st, 2013 for then entire year, and had already lost weight/bodyfat prior to beginning our challenge.  

Christine Camanzo lost nearly 4 inches from her waist and hips as she dropped an amazing 3% of body fat during our kick-off.  5 pounds of all body fat burned off her as she maintained her lean body mass.  She not only has enjoyed feeling more energy and her new looks, but also improved all her workouts post challenge.  Christine just recently finished Verve Foundations as our Nutrition Kick-off started, but made the commitment to paleo/zone and is happy to have found a lifestyle change that she can make work longterm.  

These two were closely followed by Shale and Rachel P, who also saw huge body composition changes.  Congrats to you all!  Stay tuned for our Performance Improvement winners tomorrow!

5 Rounds for time
12 deadlifts 185# (125#)
2 rope climbs 15′

With the nice weather right around the corner, a lot of us will begin more and more activities outside including running.  I’ve heard a few athletes in the gym talk about upcoming races they are entering or different adventure runs that will be happening such as Warrior Dash.

One way to get faster and prevent injury is to make sure and train the hamstrings.  Hamstrings are the most commonly injured muscle accounting for almost 37% of injuries.  One way to make sure you’re not part of that 37% is to strengthen them with accessory work and exercises designed specifically to target the hamstrings.  Zink does a great job of programming these exact types of exercise for Hot Dogs and Cupcakes.    Exercises such as Romanian deadlifts, reverse hyperextensions, glute-ham raises, and good mornings will all target the hamstrings.

If you’re looking for a test to determine if your hamstrings are in good shape try this.  According to studies you should be able to front squat roughly 85% of what you can back squat, assuming you do full range of motion deep squats.   This is the  ideal strength ratio for the hamstrings and quadriceps.  If it’s lower you may have a structural imbalance and would benefit from additional accessory work.

So if you plan on using your fitness outdoors running, hiking, adventure racing, etc.  make sure you’ve got those hamstrings ready to go.  Use open gym time to work on accessory work, come to Hot Dogs and Cupcakes, or simply ask your trainers for some tips and exercise.

Three rounds for time: 

Post time to comments and BTWB.

The above video is a blast from the past: The 2010 Rocky Mountain CrossFit Sectionals. Recognize any faces? Also, todays WOD is from that event.

Methods of Strength Training ~ Luke Palmisano

So, there is more than one way to bring your swoleness to new levels. Allz I’m saying is, buy some new t-shirts after you read this post. Cos’ your old ones are gonna get ripped. To shreds. You won’t even be able to deal with your swoleness. For reals. Would I lie? Don’t answer that. Point is, there are different ways to develop your strength. So let’s cover those. 

• The first way is the maximal effort method. Quite simply, a maximal effort day is lifting a maximum load, or exercising against maximal resistance. This method builds the greatest amount of strength. So, if you goal is to get stronger, you would want lift a max effort every day, right? Wrong. Maximum effort lifts take a huge toll on the central nervous system. Meaning, both physically and emotionally (due to the amount of mental preparedness it takes to perform a heavy lift) you get worn down. Also, the risk of injury rises when you lift a max effort load. This is one reason we ask that newer athletes avoid Hot Dogs and Cupcakes for a few months before coming in. We want you to be familiar with the movements before getting after it with chains and bands. 
• The next way is described as a submaximal effort method, or repeated effort method. The difference between the two terms is only the amount of reps. The submaximal effort requires an intermediate amount of reps, and repeated effort requires going to failure, whatever that rep count may be. These two methods are best for muscle hypertrophy. Meaning, if you want to gain size, this is your avenue. It’s ironic to me that so many people shy away from heavy lifting because they don’t want to get bulky, when truly, it’s working with higher reps at submaximal weights that reaps a bulkier body.
• The final way is called the dynamic effort method. This is used to develop explosive strength. A general rule is that the contractile part of the movement should, if employing the dynamic effort method, take less than one second. For instance: In a bench press, from the moment you begin pressing the bar off your chest to the moment your elbows lock out, less than a second should have elapsed. Same with squatting. The moment your hips begin to rise to the moment your hips and knees are fully extended should take less than a second. This is speed strength, and is critical to developing an athlete. 

Open WOD 13.4

Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes
3 Clean and jerk 135#(95#)
3 Toes to bar
6 Clean and jerk 135#(95#)
6 Toes to bar
9 Clean and jerk 135#(95#)
9 Toes to bar
12 Clean and jerk 135#(95#)
12 Toes to bar
15 Clean and jerk 135#(95#)
15 toes to bar
If you complete the round of 15, go on to 18. If you complete 18, go on to 21, etc

For a downloadable PDF of the workout, click here.

Post reps completed to comments and submit your results as part of the CrossFit Games Open and  BTWB.

For today’s post we’re gonna switch it up a little.  Instead of talking about exercising or making your body a more well oiled machine with proper nutrition, we are going to talk about making your mind stronger.

I recently picked up a new book; “Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google?”  The book is filled with trick questions and difficult puzzles asked by some of the top organizations in the world during the interview process.  I figured I’d throw a few at you guys and help you get your mind strengthening on.  With all the recent ninja talk we could use a little cognitive thinking.  

Here goes.

The following numbers are written on the whiteboard, 10, 9 , 60, 90, 70, 66.  What number comes next?

Imagine that you are in a boat, in the middle of the sea. Suddenly you are surrounded by hungry sharks, just waiting to feed on you. How can you put an end to this?

Sam’s mother had 4 children in all. The first one was named May. The second and third were called June and July respectively. What was the fourth child’s name?

The answers are really quite simple when you think about them.  I’ll post the answers in the comments section but I have a feeling someone will get them.

Three rounds, on the 2:00

Ten 20m shuttle sprints

Post time to comments and BTWB.

Rules For Success In Business and In General

1. Get and stay out of your comfort zone.
2. Never give up.
3. When you’re ready to quit, you’re closer than you think.
4. With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be. 
5. Focus on what you want to have happen.
6. Take things a day at a time.
7. Always be moving forward. 
8. Be quick to decide. 
9. Measure everything of significance. 
10. Anything that is not managed will deteriorate. 
11. Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you’re doing. 
12. Never let anybody push you around. 
13. Never expect life to be fair. 
14. Solve your own problems. 
15. Don’t take yourself too seriously. 
16. There’s always a reason to smile. 
17. Ninjas could be lurking behind any corner, so be ready.
18. Your hugeness is directly correlated to your ability to hunt down a ninja. Betchya didn’t know that, did you?
19. A ninja’s favorite treat is a baby koala bear. I know, right?!?!
20. These last few tips may have added by the Verve staff… Because we have some stuff to say sometimes, too. Whatever, don’t judge us. You can find a more complete explanation of the first 16 tips here. 

You can sign up for the CrossFit Roots Oly Invitational happening Saturday, April  6th here. Click the link, and then click on “EVENTS”. 

“Tyler”
5 Rounds for time:
7 Muscle Ups
21 Sumo deadlift high pull 95#(65#)

Post times to BTWB.

Looking for a way to save some cash and eat healthier?  Here’s 8 simply tips to help.

1. Squeeze lemon or lime juice into an ice tray and freeze it.  Citrus can be hit or miss with sales so if you stock up when it’s on sale, this is a clever way to keep it until you need it.

2. Isolate the trouble fruit.  Much like Thanksgiving at my family house, you have to keep the trouble makers separate.  Apple, bananas, and peaches emit a gas that can ripen vegetables more quickly.  Keep these separate to keep your veggies fresher longer.

3. Line the bottom of your crisper with paper towels.  This absorbs moisture and keeps your fruit and veggies fresher longer.

4. If you neglect food you put in the crisper stop using the crisper.  How many times have you thrown away food that was out of sight so you simply forgot it was there?  If this is an issue for you, place the produce in bags in clear sight so you don’t forget them.

5. Some food don’t need the fridge.  Keep avocados, tomatoes, onions, peppers, and sweet potatoes on the counter or in a drawer under it.

6. Freeze your herbs.  Susan Belsinger,  a culinary herbalist says that the best way she’s found to retain the flavor of herbs is to chop them up and mix them with some oil, so that it becomes an “aromatic paste,” which she then freezes, ostensibly in airtight plastic baggies.

7. You can revive limp carrots by peeling them and placing them in ice water.  The carrots will absorb the water and gain some of their snap back.

8.  No need to wash all your fruit, just the pieces you plan on eating now.   The added moisture from washing invites mold and spoiling.

Check out these and more useful tips here.

Every minute on the minute for 10 minutes:
3 Power cleans
Loads can be increased or decreased each round if desired. No dropping and regripping allowed.

Then with a partner, 10 rounds of:
Row 100m
Burpees
Partner 1 performs as many burpees as possible while partner 2 rows 100m, then switch.  Score is total burpees for team. 
* 20 minute time cap

Please post results to comments and BTWB.

Reminder to post your 13.3 WOD scores here before Sunday at 5pm.