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Monday 120213

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For time:

25 Walking lunges
20 Pull-ups
50 Box jumps, 20″
20 Double-unders
25 Ring dips
20 Knees to elbows 
30 Kettlebell swings, 2pood/1.5pood
30 AbMat sit-ups
20 Dumbell squat cleans, 35#/20#
25 Hip extensions
30 Wall ball shots, 20#/14#
3 Rope climbs

Post time to comments.

Level 1 participants thank you for the use of your gym.

Injuries are part of being human.  Some are preventable, some are not.  They are less then fun, I’d even call them un-fun and sometimes even scary.   After watching the video some may say, well if Zach had never tried to lift that much weight he’d never had gotten hurt in the first place. He also would not have won a U.S. National Championship.  That’s an easy enough rational for Zach, but what about us?  We aren’t on track to win any Championships, we just want to be as fit and healthy as we can be.

I’m here to tell you that you are going to have injury set backs regardless of your elite fitness level.  ALL people do.  What is different is what shape the body is in before the set back, how well people listen to their body to nip things before they get worse, how quickly they heal and what they do in the process.  Fitness (specifically, I mean increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains) is your hedge against decrepitude. Decrepitude is the logical path of an organism, humans included.

If you want to age gracefully, you have to run fast, push and pull your body weight around and lift heavy shit.  That’s just the way it goes.  You know the saying, if you don’t use it you lose it, period!

So what do you do if you have a tweak, injury, are pregnant or have in-flexibilities?  First talk to your coaches, they will scale you so that you can still workout without injuring yourself further.  Shoot an e-mail to Joylyn and Cherie at info@crossfitverve.com explaining the injury.   If you really want to take the bull by its horns your going to need to set up a personal training to go over a rehab plan.  You’d be surprised about how an hour of talking about you and how to get you better can help propel your healing.  The bottom line is… TAKE AN ACTIVE ROLE in your healing process.

We all have choices and though it lives in the un-fun category, re-habing yourself takes a TON of patience, time, pain and dedication.  No one is going to do it for you and you won’t get better without addressing the problem.

Let’s revisit the above video.  On 2/25/2010, Zach snapped both of his wrists on a 352# clean, told by his surgeon he would NEVER lift over 100# overhead again. His wrists just wouldn’t be able to do it. Two weeks later he was back in the gym.  Not using his wrists, but squatting, keeping the rest of his body strong. Six months later rehab on his wrists started.  All the while he had been continuing to “workout”, absent the use of his hands.  Eight months later he defied the Doctors predictions and reached 110# overhead.  One year later he was cleaning the same weight he snapped his wrists with.  One year and one month later he qualified for the U.S. Nationals.  That year becoming the U.S. National Champ.  Finally after a series of personal records he put 423# overhead almost 2 years after the injury.  Now I ask you is Zach special?  Did he have any magic healing pills?  He had one thing for sure, he had a hedge built up.  But, he possessed something that we all can tap into; the will to work hard, smartly and painfully to an end that is far better then the place we may find ourselves in now.

No matter what life may throw our way.  It’s always a choice to build the hedge back up.  Take responsibility for your outcome and keep heading back in after a defeat or injury, keep pushing and who knows you might just heal faster and stronger then you were before.

Sunday 120212

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Five rounds for time of:

15 Medicine ball cleans, 20# (14#)
12 Box jumps, 24″ (20″)

Post time to comments.

Mighty Max in mid-burpee flight!

Single class today at Verve at 7am sharp!  See you all there bright and early so you can enjoy your Sunday Fun-day.

Saturday 120211

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Five rounds for time of:

Run 200m
10 Handstand push-ups
10 L pull-ups
Performed with a partner, each person completes their movements.  Partners may assist.  

Post time to comments.

Tippy, we are glad Chris finally let you come join the fun!

Remember, only one class today and tomorrow at 7am!  Get your butts in here, work hard, and then get out and enjoy your weekend!

 

Friday 120210

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For 12:oo minutes:
2 Snatches on the minute

Then in a team of 3 for time:
21 Prowler pushes 10m 

Post loads and time to comments.

Mieszka is happy to be working on her flexibility.

Our “Best Shape of Your Life” Nutrition Challenge is wrapping up, with final measurements, vitals, bloodwork and benchmark workouts finishing up this week.  We’ve seen some amazing changes in people in a mere four weeks.  Now, how to keep up with it?  We’ll have some follow-up materials available at Verve soon to help you continue your healthy habits as part of your lifestyle.  Are you gonna stick with it?  Why or why not? 

Also, our next Verve Nutrition Workshop will be held on Sunday, February 26th at 9am.  As always, it is free to all, so bring yourself, bring your friends, bring your family.  We’ll be discussing the why’s behind what goes on in your body with fuel and how to improve your performance.  We’ll also be having some yummy treats of fish oil (think vanilla, chocolate, mint, lemon and tangerine) from StrongerFasterHealthier available for you to taste test.  These are highly concentrated EPA/DHA doses from excellent sources that we are excited to be carrying very soon–so come try them out!

Thursday 120209

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Three Rounds: 

12 Bench Press, 205# (125#)
500m Row

Rest 1min between rounds

Post time to comments.

Nick fresh out of foundations, killing the rope climbs

“The researches of so many eminent scientific men have thrown so much darkness upon the subject that if they continue their researches we shall soon know nothing” – Artemus Ward

I would like to clarify something from the start of this post.  I do not claim to have the answers. I am not a doctor nor scientific researcher.  What I know is from experience and antidotal evidence alone.  It is from that place that I draw my own conclusions and I challenge you to continue on your own journey using yourself as a laboratory, it is the only way for us to know our truth.

Blood cholesterol levels and there link to our health.  I have observed over the years that the Paleo diet can cause an increase in overall cholesterol in some people.  Not in all, many actually see lower cholesterol, but some see higher LDL.  This is scary for some as that has historically been seen as lousy cholesterol or the cholesterol we don’t want.  

So  the question is why does that happen and is it a health risk?

Blood cholesterol is much more of a matrix then simply the two labels HDL and LDL.  Within each type there is also particle size and other lipoproteins profiles.  Only some of which are actually linked to increased CVD.  

“A diet-disease question that has become contentious in recent years is saturated fats and the role they might play in the pathogenesis of coronary heart disease.  The traditional view has been that certain saturated fats down regulate the LDL receptor and thereby increase plasma concentrations of LDL cholesterol, which in turn increases the risk of coronary artery disease.  It is being recognized that this traditional model of atherosclerosis and CAD is overly simplistic, primarily because CAD is a multifactorial disease involving numerous dietary and genetic factors acting in concert with one another.  The dietary glycemic load, the omega6/ omega3 fatty acid balance, chronic inflammation, trans fatty acids, homocysteine, alcohol intake, exercise, smoking and numerous other dietary and lifestyle factors play key roles in the pathogenesis of CAD“. – Dr. Lorin Cordain’s Phytochemicals Nutrient Gene Interaction.

One thing that is certain is that we all have (or most of us and if we don’t then our families do) a belief in the fat hypothesis.  That fat will make us fat and cause cardiovascular disease.  The evidence just does not support this hypothesis and while the medical community is slowly embracing this fact.  Heart disease and obesity are increasing in our society that consumes less and less fat then it did 30 years ago.  But the problem has not gone away, it has increased.  

“Our cholesterol levels have been declining, and we have been smoking less, and yet the incidence of heart disease has not declined as would be expected. That is very disconcerting, it suggests that something else bad is happening…

“What’s forgotten in the current controversy is that the low-fat dogma itself is only about 25 years old. Until the late 70’s, the accepted wisdom was that fat and protein protected against overeating by making you sated, and that carbohydrates made you fat.  – What if it’s all been a Big Fat Lie – Gary Taubes  (This is a must read)

So where does this leave us?  I think it is important to know what is happening in your body.  If your cholesterol is going up due to a Paleo diet, it maybe be because of an introduction of high Omega 6 foods like almonds or saturated fats like coconut oil.  Is that bad? I would argue that it is not and does not produce the low density LDL that is a HD risk factor. I would also argue that if you stopped eating a paleo diet and switched to a vegetarian diet say, you would not decrease your chances of HD or decrease you cholesterol.  As we’ve seen low protein and low fat diets produce high cholesterol.

So again where does that leave us?  For me, I will continue to track as many health markers as make sense.  I will make changes and modifications to my lifestyle, diet and exercise and I strive to reach my best health possible.  Cholesterol being a marker, but only one small marker in a much bigger picture.  The Paleo and Zone diet are a launching pad to a healthy nutritional plan.  It is not the only way and many, many, many people have made small changes here and there to make these prescriptions fit their needs and desires.  For instance I recently upped by blocks by 3 per day and immediately lost 5 pounds.  Clearly that was a good decision.  A few months ago I eliminated all fruit and vegetable, while it was easier for me to stick to, I was sluggish and didn’t have the energy I needed.  That was a bad decision.  You tweak and experiment and you go back to the baseline when you need to to reset the system.  

While nutrition is a growing science, I can tell you one thing.  If you are eating real food and moving your body you will be far healthier then if you didn’t and from there we can make it right for you!

Sunday 120205

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For time:

30 Muscle-Ups

Post time to comments.

Stacey and Erin, love 'em. Watch out world.

Saturday 120204

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“Jackie”

For time:
1000m Row
50 Thrusters, 45#
30 Pull-ups

Post time to comments.

Rex is happy to work on flexibility AND he got his 1st and 2nd Muscle-ups Friday!

Remember to show up on time for your “Best Shape Of Your Life” post-challenge bloodwork, measurements, vitals and pictures today.  Don’t be late!  Lots going on today, don’t miss it!  

Classes are gonna be fun and full, so show up on time if you are signed up and be respectful of your fellow athletes!

Thursday 120201

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10 Rounds For Time:

20m Pinch carry, 70# (50#)
20 Box jumps, 24″ (20″)

Post time to comments.

Amazing things happen at Verve everyday. Today, James got his first muscle up, so happy to have been a part of it. Congrats James!

Personally, I didn’t consider myself an athlete in high school or my younger days.  Sure, I played softball, tennis, volleyball, but I honestly wasn’t ever very good at any of them.  I never thought of me an “athlete” being one and the same, until I heard it everyday at CrossFit Verve, and felt it in my bones day after day when I swallow the butterflies before every workout and push any self-doubt from my head.  Everyone who walks into our space each day, choosing to become better is truly an athlete, teammate, friend and family. – Joylyn

Post courtesy of Laurie from CrossFit Rainier.

“It’s time to bring back your inner athlete”.

Were you an athlete? I played ____ in high school. Baseball? Football? Tennis?

I used to ski but now my knees ache. I ran track, placed at State but that was 20 years and 20 pounds ago. I was captain of my swim team.

Gone are your glory days, right? Replaced by carpools, toddler gymnastics, and pee-wee  hockey. You’ve turned in your jersey and signed up to be the soccer mom. You even have the mini-van to get the job done.

Your truck is full of orange cones, a mesh bag of basketballs, and a whistle. You’re only pick-up game is an hour long at the Y on Saturdays with a whole gym full of 8 year olds running in the wrong direction.

Somewhere inside, you miss the “team”, the road trips, the nick names, and the Friday night lights. 

Let me tell you, they miss you.

I’m not about to tell you to join that adults only dodgeball league.  I’m going to tell you to join a CrossFit gym.

The team is back, made up of your closest friends, all cheering for you, working together, and striving toward a common goal.  You’ll suffer together, you’ll triumph together, you might even travel together.  You’ll set goals, you’ll reach goals, you’ll set new ones. You’ll blow your old self right out of the water.  You’ll bring back your inner athlete.

All of this by joining a gym?  We’re not just a gym. We’re a cohesive team. A school of fish swimming together, turning together, accelerating together.   The camaraderie, the support, the encouragement, the friendship, the training, the challenge – you’ll find yourself back on the team in no time. What you won’t find are long rides on school buses, awkward locker room showers, or smelly uniforms.  (You’re a grown up, do your laundry!)

Ready to join the team?  Start in the gym. Then take it to the streets, the slopes, the court, or the field. You’re inner athlete is just hidden, not gone. Find it here.”

The 2012 CrossFit Open starts on February 22nd.  Registration is open tonight to the entire WORLD. We want YOU yes, every single one of you crazy, amazing athletes on our team! Click here to register! Who’s in?

Wednesday 120201

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For time: 

Three rounds
12 Back squat 225# (155#), 50% of 1RM
24 Push-ups with hand release
36 Double unders

Post time to comments.

We all love a happy hot dog!

 Just a reminder: Today start a new schedule!  We’ve added a class every Monday – Thursday.  Times are now 4, 5, 6, and 7pm.  We hope this helps some of the wait-list blues in the pm classes.  

More exciting news, we had an overwhelming amount of people ask us to go back to the “old style”  Verve programing in our 2011 annual survey.  Today marks the first day that we are back on track and programing all the WOD’s for the gym. We will also be introducing weekly skill focuses to be added into all classes.  Your trainers will fill you in on the current day/weeks focus.  These focuses will rotate and work to give us all more time to get better at difficult positions and movements. Time to get ready for some fun!

“Most of us would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.”  -Rainer Martens

So I have a confession to make…”I wanna be good at everything.” And when I’m not, then I get frustrated, and sometimes, every once in a while, that frustration comes out in the open.  I think it’s CrossFit’s fault really, I mean that’s what we teach about building a capacity across a wide variety of areas so that we’ll be ready for anything that life throws at us.  But lately I’ve caught myself getting a little defensive when being coached, of course I am a bit of a perfectionist, it’s always been a fault of mine.  It nearly always happens when it’s a movement or exercise I’m definitely not good at.  So I get a little frustrated at myself for not doing as well as I know I can or want to.  It happens to all of us, even as trainers, because we know the “how” of it, but sometimes can’t apply it in the moment.  

But in the end, it comes down to being coach-able, and reinforcing good movement every day.  So taking a moment to listen and let the feedback sink in, and then hopefully put it into play.  Patience is a virtue and there will always be something to work on, so we have to be willing to leave our ego at the door and laugh at ourselves when we are here.  Some days we got it, some days we don’t.  But every day we have a choice on how to respond.    

I have difficulty being coached on squatting, I know my knees go in so please quit telling me, I’m trying to fix it can’t you tell?  That’s what I think in my head anyways.  What do you have difficulty being coached on?  

Sunday 120129

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“Tabata This!”

Tabata Row
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Squat
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Pull-up
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Push-up
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Sit-up

The Tabata interval is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest for 8 intervals.
Tabata score is the least number of reps performed in any of the eight intervals. Unit for the row is “calories”.

Post Tabata score for each exercise to comments and total for final score.

Addie, Verve athlete extraordinaire, ESPN celebrity and all-around rock star person inside and out. Need we say more?

This past weekend, Addie competed in the USAW 2012 National Junior Weightlifting Championships in Illinios.  See complete results here.

She represented CrossFit Verve in marvelous fashion, totaling 100kg with her 45kg Snatch and 55kg Clean & Jerk, all while weighing in at 43kg, the 2nd lightest person in her 48kg class.  She finished in 4th place, successfully completing all 6 of her lifts (one of only 2 women to do so.)  

You never fail to win our hearts with your amazing attitude, disciplined work ethic, and tenacity for competition.  Whether in CrossFit, Olympic Weightlifting, or life, we know you’ll always be successful.  We are so proud of you Addie!