Three rounds for time:

Run 400m
21 Burpees
Swim 100m

The run will be completed on grass, but you should wear shoes to protect your feet.

Post time to comments.

 
Gives me the chills just watching it! 

For time:

50 Box jumps, 24" (20")
40 Dumbell hang power cleans, 40# (25#) 
30 Toes to bar
20 Overhead squats, 135# (95#)
10 Muscle ups

Post time to comments. 

Jen Beck, getting her mountain bike on at Monarch Crest.

Our very own Tiffany has started a blog, check it out here: A beautiful blog by a beautiful girl. I have a feeling many of you, myself included, will relate to her journey.  We love you Tiff. 

10 – 9 – 8 – 7 …

Sumodeadlift High Pull, 95# (65#)
Ring Dips
200m Run

Post time to comments. 

Cruz pulling some serious weight.

A common slogan that gets echoed across the CrossFit community is, "It doesn't have to be fun to be fun."  Would you agree with that?  It takes a special type of person to come in expecting a total beat down and to walk away with a smile on your face, looking forward to tomorrow.  We promise you one thing: today you're "Stronger than yesterday."     

Three rounds for time:

50 AbMat sit-ups
10 Sotts presses, 75#/55#

Post time to comments.

K-star, upwardly mobile and handsome.

Addressing Your Pitfalls in the Sotts Press

The Sotts press is a movement that punishes poor flexibility.  It requires solid body positioning in the bottom of a squat, especially an upright torso.  This position translates into dozens of movements ranging from a front squat to a snatch, but is magnified in the Sotts press because of the actual press.  

If you find that when you perform this movement you are unable to keep your eyes and chest up while in the bottom of the squat, it's worthwhile to begin addressing the reasons why you are incapable.  Is it because you have a lack of strength in your midsection, your abdomen, obliques, and erectors?  Or is it because your psoas, one of the hip flexors that runs from your lumbar spine to your femurs, is soooo tight that it pulls your chest down? Or is it potentially a lack of flexibility in your overhead position that prevents you from performing this movment easily?

Whatever the case may be, don't blame the press for your inability to enjoy this delightful movement… try to figure out what's preventing your smile from shining through. Chances are, if you address your pitfalls in the Sotts press, you'll enjoy other overhead movments more as well. It's a constant struggle to improve at your weaknesses – don't ever give up!

For time: 

100 Overhead squats, 95#/65#

On the minute, every minute until completion, you must perform 5 toes-to-bar.

Post time to comments. 

Stretching fun with friends, PNF-style.

Why does CrossFit work?

The easiest answer is that it works because it is empirically driven.  It's evidence based, if something is proven not to work, we change it.  In that way, CrossFit continues to evolve with the discovery of best practices.  CrossFit doesn't say our way is the best and only way, it says here is what we have found works.  Try it for yourself and let us know your results.

CrossFit also works because it has a plan.  Have you ever heard, "If you don't have a plan, you plan to fail?"  Fitness works the same way and CrossFit's plan is to increase work capacity across broad time and modal domains.  

There has never been a clear definition of fitness before this.  If you look up the definition of fitness it states being in good shape or physical condition.  What does that mean?  It's hogwash.  If you had to explain that to an alien, their first question would be, "what is good shape or physical condition?"  Now how do you answer that? "You know, good shape". Then the alien thinks; like a star, circle or a square shape?  You can see that is not a very scientific definition.  In order for something to be scientific it must be measurable, observable, and repeatable.  "Good shape" is not any of these.  However, increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains is very much measurable, observable and repeatable.  Why do you think we do all those benchmark workouts?  Why do you think we harp on you to log your loads and times?  We want to know what your work capacity is, whether it has increased or decreased and if you can do more faster.

Let's break this plan down.  Increased work capacity is the ability to do more work; lift heavier things, run faster, hit harder.  Across broad time; now that is why we want "Fran" to be short and intense and "Murf" to be longer and enduring.  If all of your workouts took 20 minutes or longer, you wouldn't be stressing all your oxygen pathways.  We want capacity in short, medium and long distances.  Modal domains, this means we want it all.  We want to be able to run 10 miles and back squat 300lbs.  We want to be able to do anything that comes our way, ANYTHING!

So the next time someone asks you why CrossFit works, tell them it is because CrossFit has increased your work capacity across broad and modal domains.  Can they say that about their fitness program?

Three rounds for time:

5 Push jerks, 185#/125#
15 Burpees over bar
5m – 10m – 15m Shuttle sprints 

Post time to comments.

Jerks, each and every one.

Gluten-free is a way to be!

What's the deal with all these "gluten-free" products found in the grocery store these days?  Let's start with what gluten is.  Gluten is a protein found in different types of grain, such as wheat, rye, and barley.  Because the western diet is so grain rich, gluten sensitivities have become four times more common than fifty years ago.  Roughly two million Americans are living with a chronic digestive disorder called celiac disease.  For these people, gluten-free products are not an option – they are a requirement.

Celiac disease is a hereditary autoimmune disorder where exposure to gluten can cause varying symptoms ranging from chronic diarrhea, to chronic weight loss (not the good kind), to failure to thrive.  The immune system mistakes gluten proteins as foreign invaders and begins attacking the small intestine causing damage to the villi, which are the nutrient receptors that line the intestines.  When the villi are damaged, nutrients cannot be absorbed properly, which may lead to malnutrition and a whole host of health issues.

Wait, there's more.  Celiacs aren't the only people affected by gluten. Leaky gut syndrome is a condition that can affect each of us – in essence it's a hypersensitivity to gluten.  Leaky gut is the increased permeability of the intestine lining.  Get ready for this funky shit: this permeability allows partially digested food molecules and microorganisms into your bloodstream, which elicit an auto-immune response and neurological disorders.  So what causes this sensitivity?  Could it be the over-use of grain in our diet?

So how you reduce gluten from your diet?  Eat lean meat, vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar or substitutes.  Other ingredients to beware include hydrolyzed vegetable protein, maltodextrin, modified food starch, and "natural flavorings".  Consider reducing red meat consumption to frequency that affords you the ability to purchase only "grass fed, grass finished" beef.  There are tons of naturally gluten free foods such as poultry, eggs, fruits and veggies, some starches like sweet potatoes and yams, and heart healthy nuts and seeds.  Remember, just because a package of chocolate chip cookies are labeled "gluten-free" does not make them a wise choice.

More info here.

For time:

10 Front squats, 135#/95#
1 Rope climb 

9 Front squats, 135#/95#
1 Rope climb 

8 Front squats, 135#/95#
1 Rope climb 

7 Front squats, 135#/95#
1 Rope climb 

….. 

1 Front squat, 135#/95#
1 Rope climb 

Post time to comments.

Cheresa and Mike, love and pool WOD's… meant for each other.

Broncos Running Back Knowshon Moreno Reshaping His Workouts, His Body – Denver Post

Ten rounds for time: 

10 Dumbell thrusters
10 Burpees

Post time to comments. 

 
Get to know a little more about your friends, the Chan's. 

For time:

1 Power clean & jerk, 155#/105#
1 Round of "Cindy"

2 Power clean & jerks, 155#/105#
1 Round of "Cindy"

3 Power clean & jerks, 155#/105#
1 Round of "Cindy"

……..

10 Power clean & jerks, 155#/105#
1 Round of "Cindy"

One round of "Cindy" consists of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 air squats.

Post time and thoughts to comments

Some of the Verve crew at the 2010 CrossFit Games.

Who are we?

We’re people with aspirations and goals just like you. We dread the thought of not being able to do something because of physical limitations. We’re skiers, climbers, firefighters, students, mountain bikers, trail runners, swimmers, blah, blah, blah. What’s more important is what we have in common with you.

We chose CrossFit because we sought the same fitness level that you seek now. It started as an interest in being able to reach our goals as they relate to sport, but have since far outreached those boundaries. Now we seek to improve every aspect of our daily lives through fitness. To be able to perform our jobs better, to be surrounded by people who will celebrate our first pull up, to have a place to go to blow off a little steam, to try things that most adults would consider childish (which we consider cool).

You see, CrossFit has added value to our lives and we want you to be a part of that. Everything about CrossFit is challenging – driving to the gym and ignoring those butterflies in your stomach, willing yourself to take your intensity to new levels, finishing the filthy fifty as prescribed, and trying not to spend all day checking to see if tomorrow’s WOD has been posted yet. What makes it so fun is the fact that you are challenging yourself, along with every other person at CrossFit Verve. You can share that pain with each other and somehow it becomes a success story – everyday.

Seven rounds for time:

3 Muscle-ups
7 Push-press, 115#/75#
21 Jumps to target 18" above reach

Post time to comments.

2011 CrossFit Games

CrossFit is constantly varied, functional movements, executed at high intensity.  The goal is to increase work capacity across broad time, and modal domains for as many years as possible.  CrossFit is creating happier and healthier communities around Denver and around the world.  CrossFit is shifting recreation away from food, alcohol, and inactivity in favor of pursuing the unimaginable.

CrossFit is NOT the CrossFit Games.  The CrossFit Games are simply the proving ground for what the human body is capable of.  Just as a track and field event like the high jump demonstrates how high a human can leap, the CrossFit Games prove the human body can be prepared for anything.  It is a venue for CrossFitters to celebrate their sport and the activity that they find so pleasurable.

So who's going?  If you aren't going, would you be interested in getting together to watch the Games live feed?  The biggest weekend for our common interest is next weekend – don't miss it… it's going to be incredible!!!