For time:

100 push-ups 

Rest 2 minutes 

100 V-sit

Post time to comments.

Annie and Gerry getting their first rope climbs.

I lift – By CrossFit Lisbeth

I lift. That’s what I do, reads my t'shirt. Wish life was always that easy, huh?

Like if I walked into my CrossFit gym and one shirt said “Traps are really sore.” Or another one said “My ankle hurts” or the one in the back just read “Bloated. Cranky. I might snap for no reason.”  Yeah, that would be sweet. Even if the shirt said, “Just laid off. Don’t ask” — that would be kind of good to know. We’d all be a little bit kinder, maybe a tad funnier, maybe better at being a shoulder to lean on.

Communication is not the easiest task in front of us each day. Even as we race as a society towards quicker, better, and more comprehensive communication, we fall prey to the distance in our lives. We’re overwhelmed, overtasked, and (often) underserved by the very means of communication that seduce us into thinking we will be more in touch.

The answer doesn’t lie in my iPhone or my Mac. The answer lies in putting all that sh** down and talking to each other in real time. Like what we do for an hour in a CrossFit gym each day. No headphones, no e-mail, no texting, no isolation. Just people and sweat and effort and a common workout.

It seems simplistic — and that’s the beauty of it all. It is simple. Many of the best things in life are. I lift. Any questions?

Three rounds for time of:
30 Kettlebell swings, 24kg (16Kg)
25 Wall ball shots, 20# (14#)
20 Pull-ups

Post time to comments.

Chelsea in a strong overhead squat.

Announcing the 2011 CrossFit Games Open.

Formally referred to as the CrossFit Games Sectionals the CrossFit Games Open will be a six-week qualifying competition that will begin Tuesday, March 15th at 17:00 PDT. This competition is the first step in qualifying for the 2011 CrossFit Games. Each week, one event will be announced each Tuesday, and everyone has until the following Sunday at 17:00 PDT to complete the event and record their scores.

There are two ways to compete:

1. Compete at a Registered Affiliate: Attend a workout session at a registered affiliate and submit your score for the affiliate to validate. 

2. Compete Anywhere: Perform the workout as prescribed anywhere you can or want, and videotape it. Submit your score and upload your video.

CrossFit is developing a comprehensive website to handle the technical requirements of the worldwide Open. That website will go live the week before the competition. It will have robust registration, scoring, and reporting capabilities. If you're an affiliate, you will have the opportunity to Opt-In each week. There will be a few criteria that you must abide by, but generally you will have a lot of freedom over how and when you host the competition.

CrossFit Verve will be Opting in each week to host the workouts, bring the community together and create that competative atmosphere that brings out the best in all of us.  If you want to compete on the team challenge this year you will be required by CrossFit to compete in the open as an individual.

Complete details are coming soon!

Until then, MBS CrossFit has invited any and all Verve athletes to a friendly workout this Saturday at 11am in their neck of the woods.  So if you are planning on competing, head on over with some friends to MBS this Saturday and enjoy a little friendly competition.

Complete as many rounds as possible in 12 minutes of:
9 Thrusters, 35# (25#)
1 Rope climb, 15 ft

Post rounds to comments.

Snatch ballet?

Team Verve! Calling all members, we are needed!

We are needed to climb, climb for a great cause.  Sunday the 27th of February is the Fight for Air Climb in Downtown Denver.  This is a fundraiser that benefits the American Lung Association.  We will be climbing the Republic Plaza building at Broadway and 17th.  This is the tallest building in Colorado at 56 stories.  If you know someone that has suffered from asthma, second hand smoke, emphysema, COPD, or even lung cancer; we will be climbing for them.  Your donations will help with improving lung health and preventing lung disease.  This will be a fun weekend with friends and family, so please join us help others. 

CrossFit Verve has a team started. So when you sign up, click on the “join team” link on the right hand side and find “CrossFit Verve”.  Let’s show everyone that we are not just interested in our own fitness, but we want everyone to be healthy.  

If you haven't already, get your logs checked ASAP.

Snatch one rep every minute on the minute for 15 minutes.

Post loads to comments.

You can feel the anticipation seeping from the walls.

Growing up and even long into my adult life I dreamt of happiness.  Happiness came in the form of being a famous singer, meeting the man of my dreams or even winning the world cup in surfing. These fantasies came in many shapes and sizes, but always played like a romance novel, where happiness was something that magically one day would discover me.

I believe my twenties were an exercise in hoping that this would happen soon, before it was too late.  I was destined for something great, it just hadn't happened to me yet. I never settled down, I was nomadic and noncommittal.  Why, because that thing that was going to make me great and thus happy, had still not walked up to me and introduced itself.

Through the course of waiting I became jealous of those who had buckled down and chosen a path and in return those who had buckled down were jealous of my free spirited ways. Two opposite paths ending at the same conclusion, should we have done it all differently? Which leads us to the point of my post, do you know what makes you happy?  

We've created a culture where money, success, fame, power and good looks are supposed to bring us happiness.  We all secretly strive for one of, if not all the above mentioned as a key piece to our own personal puzzle, a key to realizing our full potential.   

Somewhere in my travels I began reading eastern philosophy, I was particularly drawn to the the concepts of the Tao.  The Tao is as difficult to describe as CrossFit, it is ever-present, but must be manifested, cultivated, and/or perfected in order to be realized.  I believe happiness is sewn of the same cloth.  

My interpretation and thus belief in what makes us happy is shaped by this concept,  it is ever-present, but must be manifested, cultivated, and/or perfected in order to be realized.  What I mean is, it's never going to walk up and discover me.  It is something I control and thus must create.  It is my behaviors and my relationships which directly correlate to my happiness, not my success, financial status or physical appearance. It is understanding I have free will and choosing everyday who I want to be and not who I've become.

Understanding our behaviors and how they affect the outcome of our future may just be the key.  In Psychology, it's called behaviorism and in my opinion it is the most logical approach to happiness.  Do the things that make you happy and not the things that don't. Having a clean house makes me happy, thus I should clean my house.  Eating "right" makes me happy, thus I will make the food choices that support eating healthy and so on. While it may not be the stuff of a romance novel, I found that wandering around didn't make me happy, so I stopped doing it and started doing things that do.

One week down, eight to go! How is everyone doing?  Get your logs ready, we are going to need to check them off this week.  Cherie will be in the office in the am, and catch Joylyn in the pm.

With a continuously running clock, squat for 60 seconds. Subtract the number of squats completed from 60, and do that many pull-ups in minute two. In minute three, squat again, subtracting the number completed from 60. Do that number of push-ups in minute four. Minute five is squatting again, and minute six pull-ups.

The pattern is squats, pull-ups, squats, push-ups, squats, pull-ups, etc. The goal is to stay within the workout's formula for as long as possible.

Don't do more than 60 squats in any round. Stay moving for at least 12 minutes.

Post time to comments.

We love guests, thanks for the visit Lauren.  

"Lumberjack 20"

20 Deadlifts, 275#(185#)
Run 400m
20 KB swings, 32kg(20kg)
Run 400m
20 Overhead Squats, 115#(80#)
Run 400m
20 Burpees
Run 400m
20 Pullups (Chest to Bar)
Run 400m
20 Box jumps, 24"(20")
Run 400m
20 DB Squat Cleans, 45#(35#) 
Run 400m

Post time to comments.

Sarah, Joanna, and Ali; enjoying their fitness! Go Have fun people.

Five rounds for time of:

3 Muscle-up
6 Handstand push-ups
9 Burpee pull-ups

Ideally, the pull-up bar is one foot above your reach.

Come on people, post you time to comments.

So how are you doing on the challenge?  I hope everyone is doing great!  We know that people are extremely busy now a days, and getting a good breakfast in might seem daunting sometime.  We have come up with some quick and easy ways to get your day started fast!  

Mini egg quiche
Ingredients:
18 eggs- 18P
6oz diced ham- 6P 
1cup of chopped mushrooms- .33C
1cup of tomatoes- 1C
2/3cup of chopped onion- 1C
4cups of shredded spinach- 1C
2 cupcake pans 
Mrs. Dash seasoning 

Preparation: 
Pre-heat the oven to 350F.  Mix all of the veggies in a bowl chopped, or use a food processor.  When mixed together, then add to the eggs and ham.  Add the shredded spinach to the mix.   
Spray the cupcake pans with non-stick spray.  Spoon a 1/4cup of the mix into each cupcake hole in the pans.  Place in the oven and cook for 20 minutes.  This is mainly a quick protein, each quiche will give you 1P .13C 0F so the Carbs are minuscule.  They do give a little bit of taste that is very good!

Paleo pancakes
Ingredients: 
3/4cup of apple sauce- 2C
1/4cup of almond butter- 21F
4 eggs- 4P 
1tsp Vanilla extract
1tsp of cinnamon 
1Tbs of Coconut oil- 9F 

Preparation: 
Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl.  Use a flat skillet pan to cook the pancakes.  Heat the pan with coconut oil, then pour 1oz of the mix to make one pancake.  Not to worry, they will expand and become a little larger.  Cook on both sides for 3 to 4 minutes and viola!  You have yourself a tasty little cake.  This mix will make 16 pancakes.  Per pancake you will have: .25P .13C 1.8F.  Top will some yummy fresh fruit, or make a compote with blueberries.   

So you can see that these recipes are not down to the exact specifications that one might need for a 3P 3C 3F meal.  But they will help you in a pinch when you are running short on time.  Prepare these recipes at the begining of your week, and you will never have an excuse to miss a meal.

  
Veggie mix for the quiche. 

So how are you doing on the challenge?  I hope everyone is doing great!  We know that people are extremely busy now a days, and getting a good breakfast in might seem daunting sometime.  We have come up with some quick and easy ways to get your day started fast!  

Mini egg quiche
Ingredients:
18 eggs- 18P
6oz diced ham- 6P 
1cup of chopped mushrooms- .33C
1cup of tomatoes- 1C
2/3cup of chopped onion- 1C
4cups of shredded spinach- 1C
2 cupcake pans 
Mrs. Dash seasoning 

Preparation: 
Pre-heat the oven to 350F.  Mix all of the veggies in a bowl chopped, or use a food processor.  When mixed together, then add to the eggs and ham.  Add the shredded spinach to the mix.   
Spray the cupcake pans with non-stick spray.  Spoon a 1/4cup of the mix into each cupcake hole in the pans.  Place in the oven and cook for 20 minutes.  This is mainly a quick protein, each quiche will give you 1P .13C 0F so the Carbs are minuscule.  They do give a little bit of taste that is very good!

Paleo pancakes
Ingredients:
3/4cup of apple sauce- 2C
1/4cup of almond butter- 21F
4 eggs- 4P 
1tsp Vanilla extract
1tsp of cinnamon 
1Tbs of Coconut oil- 9F 

Preparation: 
Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl.  Use a flat skillet pan to cook the pancakes.  Heat the pan with coconut oil, then pour 1oz of the mix to make one pancake.  Not to worry, they will expand and become a little larger.  Cook on both sides for 3 to 4 minutes and viola!  You have yourself a tasty little cake.  This mix will make 16 pancakes.  Per pancake you will have: .25P .13C 1.8F.  Top will some yummy fresh fruit, or make a compot with blueberries.   

So you can see that these recipes are not down to the exact specifications that one might need for a 3P 3C 3F meal.  But they will help you in a pinch when you are running short on time.  Prepare these recipes at the begining of your week, and you will never have an excuse to miss a meal.

Veggie mix for the quiche. 

For time:

25 Push press, 95#(65#)
5 Kettlebell swings, 24kg(16kg)
20 Push press, 95#(65#)
10 Kettlebell swings, 24kg(16kg)
15 Push press, 95#(65#)
15 Kettlebell swings, 24kg(16kg)
10 Push press, 95#(65#)
20 Kettlebell swings, 24kg(16kg)
5 Push press, 95#(65#)
25 Kettlebell swings, 24kg(16kg) 

Post timet to comments.

Dan did you steal Cecily's shirt?

Passion By – CrossFit Lisbeth

Passion is scary. Frightening. Dangerous.

Many people are so scared of their passion that they keep it clamped down tight, hogtied, because they don’t know what to do with it. They are afraid of how out of control they might feel. They’re afraid of their very own power. They try to play “cool” . . .

Don’t be one of those people.

If you love to deadlift, say it. If you love CrossFit, say it. If you love someone, tell them. If you secretly really like rowing and you’re afraid everyone will make fun of you for admitting it, just MTFU and say it. If you love your job (or anything), don’t be afraid to say it — because most likely, people already know. It shows on your face, in your smile, in the madly enthusiastic way you greet the world every day.

Having passion — true passion — for anything is so exciting to behold, so thrilling and intoxicating to the human spirit, that we get a contact “high” off other people’s passion. And it fuels us to do more. (Or it should, if we can keep our ego and our envy in check.)

So don’t waste your life being “cool” — be a passionate fool. For CrossFit, for love, for anything. Life is way too short to do or be anything less. 

"CrossFit Football Total" 

For max load:

Power clean

Back squat

Bench press

Deadlift

Perform a single maximal effort for the lifts listed above.  After warm-up, three attempts are allowed only, for each lift.  Total must be done in above order and within the hour.  Combine all four lifts to create your CrossFit Total.

Post loads to comments.

Lev, dedicated to her fitness.

Yesterday was a cool day in the gym for me, here is why.  CrossFit is in the literal sense is about improving your work capacity across broad time and modal domains.  If you do this over years and decades, this becomes your health, fitness and ultimately your longevity. Yesterday's workout made me realize how true that is.  

Over my CrossFit career, I've had ups and down's in my performance. A broken elbow, two pregnancies, a torn disc and later a herniated disc, not to mention battles with the zone; have not always lead me to believe I was improving my work capacity.  I always seem to bench myself off of when I was 34 and "In the best shape of my life".  That was the year I made many PR's in CrossFit and I've aspired to "get back there some day".  I've been discouraged, defeated and down right overwhelmed with that task, in an effort to prove to myself that I can continue to improve and continue to achieve new athletic feats as I get older.  Not often allowing myself to celebrate the small successes along the way and in the back of my head thinking, I can do better. 

Well now I'm 36, about to have my 37th birthday and I kicked my 34 year olds ass yesterday (the year that had kicked all previous years asses, until now). At the 2008 games I did yesterday's workout in 9:20 Rx, I remember not being able to breath, caving in my knees, looking at the bar in despair, knowing that I needed to do one more rep and then another and then another.  I have done it sense a few times and I remember once even getting cocky with it, thinking this is the day I will beat that time (I got a little over 9 minutes).  But, yesterday was different, I did that same workout in 5:32 Rx with the internal knowledge that a sub 4 is possible.

What this means to me is bigger then getting a decent time on a workout.  It means we always have a choice.  We can always strive to be better, heal and improve; no matter our age or what life may throw our way.  It's always a choice to stick to it.  Take responsibility for your outcome and keep heading back in after a defeat or injury, keep pushing and who knows we just might keep improving our work capacity across broad time and modal domains.    

 
CrossFit the Evolution, By Jordon Gravatt.

Wednesday is the last day to get your blood work done for the nutrition challenge (Sorry folks Friday was not possible)!  There are only five spots left on the list and it will be first come first serve (6:30am, 7:00am, 7:15am, 7:30am and 8:10am).  We are grateful to Amy for her phlebotomy skills, reasonable price and her time in getting our initial blood work completed. 

On another note, our friendly neighbors to the south have kindly asked us not to park in the lot that separates our building with the Dry Ice Factory.  This is their property and often have people visit art exhibits.  Please park in the front or the back of the building. We want to keep our neighbors happy, thank you.