"Elizabeth"

Three rounds; 21 – 15 – 9 reps of:

Squat clean, 135#/95# (50% of 1RM)

Ring dips

Post time to comments.

A little some'in some'in to get you excited for the CrossFit Open this month.

Someone said to Voltaire, "Life is hard." Voltaire replied, "Compared to what?"

It seems like in life we go through periods where things seem "hard", or negative, impossible, defeating, derailing, and collapsed.  We feel weak, thrashed, overcome, betrayed, disappointed and frustrated, no one can escape these feelings.  Not one person walking around, hasn't felt them.

If CrossFit has taught me anything, it's that we are all essentially the same.  My pain and turmoil is no greater then yours and your battle is no more serious then mine.  In order to achieve the victory we all seek in our lives, we have to go through these battles. Without the battle, the victory does not follow and life becomes mundane, predictable and underwhelming.  

The difference come from the people we choose to surround ourselves with, whether we take responsibility for what we have created in our lives.  The difference comes from who we become when we feel overcome and the difference comes in how we follow through with our dreams. If we choose to be active in our futures, health, dreams and love, the pendulum has no choice but to swing the other way.  

Next time we are feeling any of these things, look around and ask yourself if life is hard, compared to what? 

And for Jen Beck – is it really that hard to just eat your veggies?

For time:
50 Box jumps, 24"/20"
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings, 16kg/12kg
50 Walking lunge steps
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press, 45#
50 Back extensions
50 Wall ball shots, 20#/14#
50 Burpees
50 Double unders

Post time to comments. 

 
Beth joins us from California, welcome!

Timing Rules Explained

During our nutrition workshops we discuss the timing of your meals and associated rules.  Let's review.

First and foremost, you must eat five meals a day.  By planning ahead, scheduling your 5 meals (3 meals and 2 snacks) will make your day more structured and ensure that you are able to stay in the Zone by feeding your lean body mass the fuel it needs to run efficiently.  Relate this rule to starting a campfire and putting wood in the fire as needed (5x/day).  We're not talking about a bonfire here, rather just a simple fire to keep the camp warm and occasionally cook with.

Second, don't let more than 5 waking hours pass between meals.  To avoid becoming hungry or fatigued, you'll need to fuel your body every 5 hours with a balanced meal of high-quality protein, vitamin and mineral rich carbohydrates, and hunger-quenching healthy fats.  Think of this as adding a log to the campfire.  Without adding wood from time to time, your fire will certainly go out.

Start your day off on the right foot by eating within an hour of waking.  It's critically important to feed your muscles right away, as you've essentially been fasting for 8 hours (your are sleeping for 8 hours right?).  Before you take a shower or brush your teeth, put a pan on the stove and crack some eggs, slice some berries in a bowl and add some nuts.  Then, go about your day… fueled up!

Don't forget the importance of a post-workout snack (snack #1).  I mean, this is why you're reading this blog anyway right – you are a CrossFitter?!?  After torching your body with a sub-5minute Fran, you need to begin recovering right away.  A balanced meal of protein, carbs, and fats will satisfy not only your hunger, but also replenish glycogen stores, speed recovery of damaged muscle tissue, AND help maintain insulin sensitivity.  Without getting all caught up in the science of PWO insulin secretion – let's just say that you need to eat within 30 minutes of completing a WOD.

Lastly, don't forget to eat within an hour of bedtime.  Now, I don't mean eat your last snack while starting 2001: A Space Odysseybecause that would mean that you're not actually going to bed for like… an eternity.  Eat right before bed – your starving muscles depend on it.  Without adding a log to your fire before slipping into your sleeping bag, your fire will go out part-way through the night.

By the way… the campfire is your metabolism (in case you didn't catch the analogy).  Stay tuned for more campfire analogies.  And to review… 5 meals a day, no more than 5 hours between meals, PWO meal within 30 minutes, breakfast within 1 hour of waking, and bedtime snack within 1 hour of bedtime.  Follow the rules and take the Zone to the next level.

You may have seen the bin of tape that is labeled "$2 – on your honor".  Feel free to take a roll, but leave some dough in the box.  There are no IOU's, so take it only if you plan on paying the fee.  The eight rolls taken today do not add up to the $3 in the box. On your honor folks.

Three rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
15 Pull-ups
50 Squats
15 Pull-ups

Post time to comments.

Emmalee, Cecily and Desiree look ready are you?

Announcing the CrossFit Open, the gateway to the 2011 CrossFit games and beyond.

Athletes one an ALL,

CrossFits MBS, Roots, and Verve are excited to announce a joint effort in the 2011 CrossFit Open "Sectionals".  This great event schedule that will pack the fun into one affiliate each Saturday for six weeks.

Event Outline

The 2011 CrossFit Open Sectionals will consist of a six week competition.  Every Tuesday the CrossFit mainsite will announce the week's workout and athletes will have until the following Sunday to complete and submit their time.  Each Saturday, one of the three affiliates will offer the week's workout to 100-150 athletes in a series of heats (10/15 athletes/heat).

The affiliate host for each week is as follows:

March 19: Verve
March 26: MBS
April 2: Verve
April 9: Roots
April 16: MBS
April 23: Verve

Verve: 3344 Walnut St., Denver, CO 80205
MBS: 10900 West 120th Avenue, Broomfield, CO 80021
Roots: 1980 8th St., Boulder, CO 80302

Sign-up

Sign-up for each week's Saturday workout will open on the Wednesday prior to the event on the website of the hosting affiliate.  For example, if CrossFit Verve is hosting March 19th, you will visit its website to sign-up for a heat.  Roots and Verve will utilize their MindBodyOnline systems for sign-up.  MBS will operate an email sign-up.  Don’t worry, it will be simple!  Each affiliate will post a direct link to the class sign-up or email on the Wednesday prior to the Saturday event.  In other words, if you log-on to Roots on Wednesday morning and the event is at Verve that Saturday, Roots will post the link to Verve’s sign-up page.  

Cost

The registration cost for the CrossFit Open Sectionals is $10 and will be paid online through the CrossFit mainsite.  Each athlete is responsible for registering themselves for the Open (note: registration is not yet open, we will notify athletes when it opens).  The cost to participate in the Saturday workouts at each affiliate is $20/Saturday.  Athletes will pay $20 cash on the day of the event to the affiliate host.  If you are a Verve athlete and Verve is hosting the $20 fee is waived for that weekend.

FAQ

1. Why should I come to one of the Saturday competitions?  Because it will be a FUN time.  You'd sign-up to run a local 5K, so why not come get in a workout with the CrossFit community that you know and love?

2. What if I can't make the Saturday workout?  Each affiliate plans to offer the workout during the week during regularly scheduled class times. Verve will be hosting it as the WOD for each Wednesday for all six weeks.  This is at no charge to Verve athletes (minus the mainsite $10 to participate)

3. What if I sign-up for a spot and then find out I can't make it.  PLEASE take the time to cancel your class sign-up.  Other athletes in the community who would like a spot would appreciate your courtesy and awareness in this regard.

4. What time will the heats start?  8AM.  

For any other questions about the CrossFit Open, please visit http://games.crossfit.com/about/2011/ for more information.

Volunteers and Judges
We will need volunteers and judges for each weekend.  All athletes will be required to also judge a minimum of 2 heats of other athletes that day.  Restrictions, heads and guidelines will apply, so don't stress about this.

WHO'S IN?

Five rounds for time of:

400m Run 

25 Box jumps, 24" (20")

Post time to comments.

A shout out to Slaughter who not only began working out again after just a few days of knee surgery, but hobbled around in "Annie are you Okay", subbing and using all three other limbs! Thanks for the inspiration Chris and here's to a speedy recovery.

"Annie are you okay?"

21 – 15 – 9 Reps for time of:

Row (cals)

Thrusters, 95# (65#)

Sumo deadlift high pull, 24kg (16kg)

Burpees

Medicine ball cleans, 20# (14#)

Wallballs, 20# (14#)

This is a team workout.  All members must complete their station before moving on to the next.  All members will complete all reps and exercises.  Rest is determined by the slowest member of the team. 

Post time and team members to comments.

How many athletes can you name in this picture?

21 – 18 – 15 – 12 – 9 reps for time of:

Power snatch, 115#/75#

Wallball shots, 20#/14#

Knees to elbows

Post time to comments.

Knees to elbows?  Nope, this is a common case of knees to triceps.

What's Constitutes an as Rx'd WOD?

Doing a workout as prescribed simply means that you've completed the requirements set forth as the recommended stimulus. We modify or sub a workout in order to maintain the intended response from the stimulus. Achieving the "Rx" next to your name and time is something that every athlete aims for. Slowly but surely, as an athlete's level of fitness increases over time, the "Rx" begins to appear next to more and more workouts.

Remember, doing a workout as prescribed doesn't necessarily refer to load alone. For example, you may complete today's WOD with 115# and a 20# medicine ball. Yet, if your knees to elbows fall short of full range of motion – you won't earn the "Rx" on the WOD. In other words, prescribed dosages refer to loads, range of motion standards, and completed repetitions.  

Now that's a knees to elbows!  Note that the hips are at the same height as the shoulder.

50 – 35 – 20 Reps for time of:

Pull-ups

Box jumps, 20"

Kettlebell swings, 24kg (16kg) 

Between each round complete 30 Abmat anchored sit-ups.

Post time to comments.

Chris, Munns, A.K. and Bess, producing their fair share of power.

Chronicles of Science by Chris Slaughter (CS)^3: Issue 1

So one of the big criteria of CrossFit is measurable, observable, and repeatable results. That is why we time workouts. That is why we record what weights we use. Both time and weight are measurable, observable, and repeatable to a very small degree of error. When time goes down, we have gotten faster, when weight goes up, we have gotten stronger. Plus we feel awesome when that happens! These criteria are very closely related to the scientific method, and so we’re going to explore that a little bit more, and my hope is that some of the reasons behind the movements of CrossFit will have new light shed on them from a physical basis. Who’s ready to CrossFit NERD OUT!? This post is long but will read quick.

 Today we’re going to break down the rower (also known to some as the portal to hell) and explain the damper setting and how it works. To do this we’ll break the system of rowing into two parts: #1 – You, #2 – The machine. If you just want the conclusion scroll down, important parts are in bold! 

Lets define a couple of physics terms:

Mass, Velocity, Acceleration, Force, Work, Power, and Kinetic Energy. See the bottom od post for definitions. (math? I thought we were working out!).

 Whew that’s done! But how do these apply to us on the rower? When we extend our legs, hips, and pull with our back and arms, we are generating a force. This force is transferred to the handle, through the chain, and to the machine. By generating this force we cause the mass of the flywheel (that whizzing thing in the machine) to accelerate. Or in other words an increase in the flywheel’s velocity (rate of spinning). The harder and faster we pull, the bigger increase in the velocity of the flywheel we will make. Now we’re going to translate these physics terms into a spinning object (which is basically adding the radius of the spinning object into the equation). See below for definitions.

Ok now we’ll translate what the body does to the rower.

Lets go back to the force we generate: F = m x a

And starts substituting in for how this translates to the flywheel.  Simplify and Torque becomes equal to the moment of inertia (the rotating mass of the flywheel times the angular acceleration). T = I x b

Point 1: The force we generate becomes torque and speeds up the flywheel.

Well now lets look back at that equation for power. P = T x w

Point 2: The more torque (force we apply) or the faster the flywheel spins (angular velocity) the more power we generate.

WHOA did I just blow your mind? No not really, makes sense right. But there are two factors of this equation, the force applied, and the speed of the flywheel. If you halve one and double the other, you end up at the same power (keep this in mind for the damper setting). But what does it all mean batman?

We’re almost there hang tight! This is the answer to the question of “What do I put the damper at?” Lets look at the kinetic energy of the flywheel, and the power it dissipates (loses) due to the air it moves. Power equals Energy over time.

Point 3: The last piece of the puzzle is the mass of air the flywheel moves is in direct relation to its angular velocity, multiplied by the time it is spinning, multiplied by the “drag factor”(z) – or the damper setting! m(air) = w x z x t

Put these together and viola! The power becomes.  

Point 4: When you change the damper setting (z) you alter the relationship between power and flywheel speed. The damper setting has nothing to do with how much power you can generate.

The power dissipated by the machine must be equal to the power put into the machine (Law of Conservation of Energy). This means that the power we put into the rower is not dependent on the damper setting! It is directly related to the cube of the velocity of the flywheel, and the amount of drag we set it at. The power we put in correlates directly to speed, but we now have two ways to generate the power. 

Point 5: The Concept 2 rower is constantly measuring only 1 thing: the velocity of the spinning flywheel. From that it can find how quickly it slows down and can calculate the “drag factor” (z). It knows the resistance of the mechanical systems (y). From there it knows the power, and in another derivation of exactly the same factors; the Concept 2 calculates speed of the rower (in meters per second).

As we come forward on the rower in the recovery phase, the flywheel slows down, and the difference between the maximum and minimum speeds of the flywheel is the difference in power of the flywheel, and therefore the amount of power we put into the machine, and therefore the speed and distance we traveled on the rower.

Point 6: The Concept 2 constantly takes measurements, and measures the change in velocity of the flywheel during the deceleration (forward movement or recovery) of the flywheel to find power input, which is directly related to distance.

Conclusion:

• The body generates power (force per time) which we transfer into the rower.
• It is the goal in CrossFit to increase our power output (more force in less time).
• We can transfer that power to the machine via one stroke in a given time. If we halve the time it takes us to do one stroke, we only have to generate half the force to meet the same power.
• The higher the damper setting; the slower maximum speed of the flywheel, and the faster it will decelerate. The lower the damper setting; the higher the maximum speed of the flywheel, and the slower it will decelerate.
• The rower measures power based only on the design of the flywheel’s inertia factor(y), the drag due to air, and the angular speed of the flywheel. Power = 1/2y x z x w(cubed).
• The fastest way to row is dependent on how much force your body can generate. If your capable of high force (ex: a 400 lb dead lift) you might row faster at a higher damper setting, if your capable of half that force (ex: a 200 lb dead lift) you will probably row faster at a lower damper setting.

Definition Relating to the Body

• Mass – it’s your mass. Duh! (kilograms)
• Velocity is the distance traveled in a given time: v = d / t.
• Acceleration is the rate of change in velocity.  a = change in v/change in t.
• Force (gravity, friction, or what humans generate to move) = to mass (kilograms) times acceleration. F = m x a.
• Work (the force done over a distance = Force times distance. W = F x d.
• Power (amount of work in a given time) = Work divided by time P = W / t.
• Kinetic Energy (the energy of a moving object) = half of it’s mass times velocity squared. E = 1/2m x v (squared).

Definition Relating to the Flywheel of the Rower

• Mass relates to moment of inertia (this has to do with spinning objects) I = m x r (squared). 
• Velocity becomes angular velocity (amount of spin divided by time): w = (angular velocity) / time.
• Acceleration becomes angular acceleration. a = change in v/change in t.
• Force relates to torque. (Force times radius of the flywheel) T = F x r.
• Work becomes Torque times the angle the flywheel spins).
• Power is still Work divided by time, but becomes Torque times angular velocity.
• Kinetic Energy (the energy of a moving object) now becomes in relation to a spinning object with an inertia factor y (gears, grease, and bearings) E = 1/2y x m x w(squared).

For max load:

Clean, 1 rep

Bench press, 1 rep

Overhead squat, 1 rep

Clean is from the ground, power or squat.

Post loads to comments.

Cecily and Beck climbing to the top.

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 and "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.    

"Bring back your inner athlete.

Were you an athlete? Even a marginal one? 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."

One way to take part, join theCrossFit Verve team in the Fight For Air Climb on this Sunday, February 27th.  Put your fitness to good use for an even better cause.  Questions?  Post here.  

Stay tuned for important info regarding the CrossFit Open here at CrossFit Verve.  We want YOU — yes, every single one of you crazy, amazing athletes on our team!

2010 CrossFit Games recap

Three rounds for time of:

10 Muscle-ups
10 Forward rolls
20 One-legged squats, alternating
20m Handstand walk

Post time and thoughts to comments. 

Foundations PM, working on a good jump rope position.

Logbooks, the easiest part of your WOD

The logbooks are hot off the presses and in stock at CrossFit Verve. We've got just over 100 left after filling all of the pre-orders, so if you want one – don't delay! Today only, you can still get a logbook at the pre-order price of $14. Tomorrow, they go up to $16/book. If you did order one, it's either been shipped to you (if you aren't located around Denver) or it's at the gym with your name on it. Treat it like you would your wallet, keep it on you at all times and don't leave it at the gym.

Mark your calendars, Saturday March 5th at noon we're hosting a nutrition workshop. The nutrition workshop is great for both beginners and advanced athletes. As always, the nutrition workshop is open to the public and free of charge.  A strength and conditioning program only gets you half way to becoming healthy, addressing how you fuel your body can take you the rest of the way.  This lecture will address how to reduce unhealthy inflammation that causes pain and undue stress on the body.  A couple of small changes can improve how you look, feel, and perform immediately!

Three rounds for time:

12 Pull-ups
12 Snatch grip push press, 115#/75#
12 Burpees

Burpees to be completed with full hip extension and a clap overhead, whilst jumping over the barbell used for push presses.

Post time to comments.

Verve posts can be found all over the place, this one in Lake Tahoe, CA