For time:

50 Double unders
5 Shuttle sprints
40 Double unders
4 Shuttle sprints
30 Double unders
3 Shuttle sprints
20 Double unders
2 Shuttle sprints
10 Double unders
1 Shuttle sprint 

A shuttle sprint consists of a 5m out and back, 10m out and back, and a 15m out and back.

Post time to comments.

CrossFit Verve is being temporarily transformed for a Reebok commercial shoot on Monday and Tuesday.  We’ll be holding our normally scheduled WODs at Commons Park.  Meet us at 18th and Little Raven for the fun.  No Hot Dogs and Cup Cakes or Skilz, but join the WODs for the same great class and coaching.  Foundations will also be continued outside at the park.  

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CrossFit Verve Competitors Class
Are you looking to compete in local competitions? Or have your eyes set on doing well in the CrossFit Games Open, Regionals, or even the Games in California? Can’t link Muscle Ups or feel like you lack strength? If you want to compete at CrossFit, our Competitors Program insures that you will have a dedicated group of coaches, programming and competitors to help you achieve your maximum potential as a CrossFit athlete. We are very fortunate at CrossFit Verve to have some of the world’s best resources in those subjects available to us. Top competitors know that proper programming, periodization, and coaching is essential to improving your game. All while being challenged by some top athletes.

Who is the program for?
Anyone who is serious about competing and elevating their game. This program is available to Verve members and non-Verve members alike.

What you will receive:
Specialized programming geared toward improving skills needed to compete
Volume, intensity and duration necessary to achieve a competition ready level of fitness
Discussions on competition mindset, nutrition and pre and post routines

What does it mean?
It means attending as many of the Competitors Classes as possible. As well as the normal WOD’s
It means caring about eating right, sleeping well and even resting appropriately
It means showing up with a good attitude
It means caring about your coaches and fellow athletes
Classes start on September 12th Wednesday at 7pm
Meet 3 times a week with most being 90min long
Cost: $40/ month for members, $150/ month for non-members  (To be paid quarterly installments)

SHOW UP WEDNESDAY AT 8PM FOR A FREE COMPETITION CLASS.

1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1

Snatch balance

Post loads to comments or BTWB.

School is back in!  CrossFit Verve will be hosting our third six-week session for Kids.  At Verve, the classes involve: a fun warm up, skill practice, a Main Event (workout), and games to build strength and conditioning.  The classes include elements of gymnastics, body weight movements, running, and most importantly jumping to build strong bones!  

Just like the adult WOD’s the Kids program teaches the 10 General Physical Skills of:

1. Cardiovascular Endurance – Can you get enough oxygen to your body?
2. Stamina – Can you get enough energy to your muscles?
3. Strength – How much can you lift?
4. Flexibility – Can you touch your toes?
5. Power – How much work can you do in the least time?
6. Speed – How fast can you go?
7. Coordination – Can you pat your head and rub your stomach?
8. Accuracy – Can you kick a soccer ball into the net?
9. Agility – How quickly can you change direction?
10. Balance – Can you stand on one foot? With your eyes shut?

Kids need to practice these skills to be better at any sport they love.  Not only will your child gain physical fitness confidence, but will also benefit from the social aspect of the Kids program.  They are all there to have fun, and who doesn’t have fun when you are doing something with friends? 

Session 3 will be starting this Saturday, September 8th.  The class will start at 1:30pm and end at 2:15pm.  If you are interested, please email mas@crossfitverve.com for further details.  

Five rounds for time:
15 Deadlift, body weight
2 Rope climbs

Post time to comments.

Competitor’s Class FAQ’s

If I can’t do the Comp classes does that mean I can’t make the team next year?
Absolutely not. Everyone will have a chance to compete as part of the team for the 2013 CrossFit Games. However the comp class will be addressing a lot of individual weaknesses and there will be more competition specific programming and instruction that might give those athletes an advantage. Also, keep in mind that this class is put together to help athletes participate in ANY CrossFit competition. As the sport continues to grow, more and more local competitions will keep popping up. 

Why do I have to pay for the classes?
The $40 a month will go towards developing trainers, new equipment for the class, possible time at a gymnastics gym, and coaches’ time. With at least 2 of the classes during the week being 90min long, your monthly hours in the gym for just the Comp class is 16 hours. 16 hours / $40 = $2.50hr. That is less than a fancy coffee or a beer on Friday night. Athletes pay a minimum of $250/month for custom programming… that doesn’t include a class dynamic or actual coaching.  You’re getting the best of both worlds with the best programming at a fraction of the price.

What else will I receive?
Specialty programming. Specialty drills to address maximizing #’s and efficiency in any movement or linking movements such as muscle ups or kipping HSPU. Nutrition, mindset, and competition preparation. Consistently being pushed by some of the top athletes in the state.

Why a Competitors Class?
We pride ourselves on being a gym for everyone, and within our gym we have a great group of highly competitive athletes. Based on demand, we needed to put something together to address their needs to compete at a top level. Your commitment to the program is what will take you to the next level… and that’s all we can ask for.  

First class starts on September 12th at 8pm.  3-2-1-GO!

“Fran”
21-15-9 reps for time of:
Thrusters, 95#/65#
Pull-ups

Post time, butterflies and tears to BTW.

Anatomy of A Snatch

So often as coaches we put our clients under the microscope as we dissect your movement.   Indeed, some coaches grade themselves and others by how well they “see” a movement.  Well, today the tables are turned.  I’m putting myself under the microscope, and we’re going to pick apart my Snatch.  You can see it by clicking here.  

As the lift begins, one things sticks out to me: My beginning position needs to change; my shoulders are a bit too far forward.  If I was to give myself a cue, I would say butt down, shoulders back.  I want my shoulders directly over the bar. Secondly, watch my initial lift-off. If you watch closely enough, you see that my torso angle changes.  That’s bad.  My hips rise slightly faster than my shoulders.  As this happens, you can see my shoulders go forward. This takes my weight forward, which is also bad.  So, my torso angle has become more horizontal, and my weight is pulled forward.  The results of this positioning is going to manifest itself during my second and third pulls.  As I jump, I do a fair job of extending the hips and exploding, but, because my weight is forward, the bar comes forward. Because the bar comes forward, my body comes forward some more.  My landing position for my third pull is close to a foot in front of where I began. 

Also, watch my head.  I’ve been working on reaching my head and shoulders back. Why?  To get my torso to lean back so I can keep my center of gravity where I want it.  But I throw my head back.  This would be an over-correction.  And finally, my feet. They come WAY off the ground.  The closer my feet are to the ground, the faster my lifts will be.  It is what I will focus the majority of my attention on in the months to come.  

To summarize, I think there are a lot of good things going on with this lift.  However, it’s significant to me that a small error in positioning in my first pull leads to such a large chain reaction of events.  Because my hips lift just a couple inches early, my lift is wild.  That being said, it was still a success; I made the lift.  Next time is a new opportunity.  

Remember folks, we’ll be having Outside WODs this weekend at Commons Park on Saturday and Sunday due to the CrossFit Endurance Seminar.  What a great weekend of weather to come join a workout and enjoy your holiday!  On Monday, Labor Day we’ll be back at Verve for two classes at 9am and 10am!  Sign up on MBO.

September Foundations begins Tuesday evening, Sept 4th and runs till Sept 24th on Monday/Tuesday/Thursday evenings at 7pm.  As always, it’s filling fast, don’t miss out!  Remember, refer a friend or family member to get 50% off your next month’s membership!  Email info@crossfitverve.com to sign up.

Shoulder press, 1-1-1-1-1
Push press, 3-3-3-3-3
Push jerk, 5-5-5-5-5

Post loads to BTWB.

When will it ever be enough? 

Hopefully never.  I think as CrossFitters we all have some general common traits.  Work ethic, and drive are just two.  A healthy desire to be better, strive harder, never lose the elation of accomplishment.  We never think we did good enough.  Can we continue to use those traits for good and not evil?

You see each day we talk with athletes who want to be better.  Being better is a great tool to self achievement but it can also be a detriment.  We did Fran last in January, I saw some amazing PR’s.  When I commented to athletes today how awesome that was, not one was content with their improvement.  “Thanks next time I’ll get it Rx’d” or “Aw, I’ll be sub 8 next time” or “Sub 5 would be better”.  

Well I’m here to tell you that when you Rx Fran, beat sub 8 or beat sub 5, the prize won’t be had.  There is no pot of amazing athlete gold at the end of a sub 5 Fran.  Instead, you find more desires, skills and weights to be conquered.  With stronger and more competent athletes beside you.  Once we achieve a goal our mind quickly forgets and jumps to the next thing we can’t do yet.  I’m here to say take a break from the expectations.  As you enter into Friday’s WOD, stop a minute at look at where you’ve been, how far you’ve come and what direction your headed.  Be proud of your fitness.  Understand that it is a journey with new milestones scattered randomly along the way, that you have already conquered.  Know that you will conquer more feats of human strength and amazement as the days, months and years tick on.

Just for today be happy with where you are.  Don’t expect it all, today is the culmination of yesterdays. What you do today is who you will be tomorrow.  And when that day comes that you have what you wanted yesterday, you will still want even more.  So breath easy, celebrate yourself.  It’s going to be a fun ride.

As many rounds as possible in 20:00 of:
4 Chest-to-bar, toes-to-bar
8 Ring dips
12 Wall ball shots, 20# (14#)

A single rep of chest-to-bar, toes-to-bar is one chest-to-bar pull-up followed by a toes-to-bar.

Post rounds to comments and BTWB.

Our athletes competing at the Colorado Open at Front Range CrossFit are doing an incredible job!  If you have time to go cheer in person, head out to 1338 S. Valentia St. Ste 182 Denver, Colorado and show your Verve pride!

Workout #6
5 min AMRAP
5 deadlift
10 overhead lunge w/kb 

Trina at 9am
Anna at 9:32am
Emmalee at 9:45am
Francis and Zink at 10:59am

Workout #7
50 front squats, 95/135
50 stick jumps, ??
50 pull ups (15/10 muscle-ups Pro)

Trina at 11:30am
Anna at 12:30pm
Emmalee at 1pm
Francis and Zink at 3:30pm

As a team of 3, complete the following for time:
Run 2400m
300 Push press, 95# (65#)
Prowler push 800m, 90# (50#)

For this workout, only 1 person may work at a time. The run will be relay style, where each athlete must run 400m at a time.

Post team and time to comments and BTWB.

What a weekend going on…..Verve athletes are all over the place doing great things!  Just to name a few: Dan Aid, along with his band the Hate will be playing at the Larimer Lounge and the Higher Ground Music Festival–check them out!  Lee Zink will be showing why he was named MLL Defensive Player of the Year in the championship weekend with the Denver Outlaws, and Kevin Tait will be debuting with the semi-pro indoor lacrosse team, the Colorado Sabertooths on Friday and Saturday night!  Other athletes, well they’ll be rocking some rad WODs at Verve both days too, oh are you all in for some FUN!

We also want to give a big shout out to Verve athletes competing in the Colorado Open at Front Range CrossFit this weekend.  So send out some love to Trina Ruhland, Anna Anderson, Emmalee Moore, Jeremy Black, Francis LeGasse, and Chris Zienkievicz!  If you have time to go cheer in person, head out to 1338 S. Valentia St. Ste 182 Denver, Colorado and show your Verve pride!

Row/Stone Workout
Emmalee at 9am
Zink at 9:20am
Francis at 9:40am
All other Verve athletes will have the duration of the day to complete this workout.

DU/Wall/Burpee Workout
Trina and Anna at 9am
Emmalee at 10:40am
Jeremy at 1:20pm
Zink at 1:40pm
Francis at 2pm

Ground to Overhead Ladder
Trina and Anna at 3pm
Emmalee at 3:34pm
Jeremy at 4pm
Zink and Francis at 4:45pm

Power snatch 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Post loads to BTWB.

 
Benefits of Spinal Decompression

Spinal decompression is a fairly general term. It basically refers to any kind of stretching or traction that you put on the spine.  Consider all the pressure and compression we put on our spine every day (sitting, standing, walking, running, lifting, ect.).  Now consider what that does to our discs on a daily basis. 

Our discs act as sponges between our vertebrae.  According to the Soviet Physical Culture and Sports Encyclopedic Dictionary, spinal mobility is dependent on the thickness of the discs.  These discs can also absorb fluid and become bigger.  This explains how you are taller in the morning than you are in the evening.  But if these discs degenerate, are damaged, or are simply compressed without any rehabilitation, considerable immobility and pain can ensue, not to mention muscle weakness and numbness/tingling of the extremities.  Is there anything we can do to assist our discs?

Indeed, there is.

There are a few simple ways to elongate out spine and allow our discs to recover from the beating we put them through every day.  One is to simply hang on a pull-up bar.  After performing a dead hang for a surprisingly small period of time, you may find that the bar is lower to the ground than you once thought, as if you grew by a centimeter or two.  A second way is to perform back extensions on the GHD machines at your friendly Crossfit affiliate.  Just ask a coach. The third is to make friends with the Reverse Hyper machines that we have at Verve.  Before or after a workout, performing, lets say, three sets of ten on the reverse hyper will go a long way toward providing long term benefits to your back and you.  Again, just ask your friendly trainer for help.  Take care of your back, and it will take care of you.

Start by taking 5% off 1RM bench press, then add 10#

Bench press
40% x5 reps
50% x5 reps
60% x5 reps (only)

Three rounds for time:
Run 400m
12 Deadlifts, 295#(205#)
24 Box jumps, 20″

Post time to comments or BTWB.

We’re so proud of you Lee, check out the whole press release here!

A spin on Joylyn’s Chopped Broccoli Salad

Ingredients:

6 cups of Broccoli (1.5C)
2 cups of Carrots (2C)
2 Apples (4C)
Dill
2T Avocado (9F)
3T Balsamic Vinegar (3C)
1T Spicy Mustard
1/3 cup Dried Cranberries (3.5C)

Prep time: 15 minutes
Zone Blocks: 1/2 cup = 1C + 1F

Chop all the veggies, I recommend a food processor as it makes the broccoli smaller, easier to eat and absorb the dressing better.   Put all veggies in a large tupperware and add all the ingredients, dill to taste.  Put the top on the container and shake shake shake it up! Enjoy!

Two rounds for time:
50 Pull-ups
75 Sit-ups
50 Overhead squats, 75#/55#
75 Double unders

Post time to comments or BTWB.

File Under “Unexpected Consequences” – Hanna Kubiak

As you know my CrossFit journey has been 18 months of two steps forward, one step back as CrossFit has mercilessly exposed imbalances in my biomechanics and forced me to focus on fixing those rather than aiming to complete workouts as Rx’d. Yes I am frustrated but in the grand scheme of things fixing those issues will be better for me in the long run, so I am keeping at it and working the small stuff daily. One day I will actually complete a WOD as Rx’d and trust me I am gonna make some noise when that day finally comes….but in the meantime I had a great, unexpected boost while on vacation.

Diving in Grand Cayman last month, we dropped down to about 110 feet on the coral wall and after hanging out there for a while looking for big toothy fish we ascended up to shallower water (45-60 feet) for the remainder of the dive. Max bottom time for the dive was 60 minutes, but usually on a deep dive like this most divers will suck a lot of their air at depth, and as a result usually it’s the air safety limits that end the dive as opposed to bottom time. Typically for me on a dive with this kind of depth profile this means that around the 50 minute mark I am hitting my air safety limits and I have to start my ascent to the safety stop.

Well, this time I had a brand new camera housing so I was happily snapping away, figuring out lighting, angles, and how best not to spook the fish so they stay in frame for their glamour shot. Knowing that air was going to limit my dive, I was keeping a careful eye on my pressure gauge to make sure that I was well within safety limits, and wasn’t really paying as much attention to my dive time. Having shot about 500 photos (not kidding!) I checked both my air gauge and my dive computer. To my utter amazement, my dive time was at 58 minutes but I had WELL OVER A THIRD of my tank left. Surprised, and somewhat suspicious of the accuracy of my pressure gauge, I ended the dive and started my ascent to the safety stop. Back on the boat, I checked the pressure again, and the Divemaster on the boat even got another set of gauges to check that mine was reading accurately. It was. I knew my starting pressure as I always memorize it just in case – it had been a decent fill, but nothing absurdly high.

I’ve been diving for over 20 years, am a diving professional, have hundreds of dives under my belt and plenty with this depth profile under similar conditions. I looked back through my logs, and I have never surfaced with that much air left in my tank after a deep dive with 58 mins total bottom time.The only variable that’s changed since I last went diving is I started CrossFitting. So the only thing I can attribute this to is the effect CrossFit has had on how efficiently I use oxygen. Pretty darn cool if you ask me. Now I have lots more time to take cool underwater photographs – the attached lionfish shot is my best to date – definitely an unexpected benefit of CrossFit!!! Thank you Verve!!