"Michael"

Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
50 Back Extensions
50 Sit-ups

Post time to comments.

Breakfast after Dashin' it! 

NUTRITION LECTURE at gym today 1pm, ALL welcome!

"Fight Gone Bad!"

Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 20# (14#) 10 ft target (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 75# (55#) (Reps)
Box Jump, 20" box (Reps)
Push-press, 75# (55#) (Reps)
Row (Calories)

In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute.The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. On call of "rotate", the athletes must move to next station immediately for best score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.

Add your points and post them to comments.

Congratulations Holly Holsinger on graduating the Colorado State Patrol recruit academy and welcome back to Verve. 

Metro Dash, Metro Dash, Metro Dash! 

BBQ at Robyn's at 6:30pm 
5651 W 36th Pl

From the gym go west past sheridan, turn left at first light Depew St, then first right onto 36th place, they are the 3rd house on the right.  

Front squat 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 reps

Post max load to comments.

Tanja, getting after it! 

Lifting Heavy Weight: What it Will and Won’t do to Your Body – By Dan Young

There are few myths regarding fitness that seem to come up as often and lead people in the wrong direction as much as the idea that lifting heavy weight will make you look like a body builder or just “too muscle-ly”.  (Not to mention little else drives your CrossFit trainers as crazy as trying to explain its fallacy a million times per heavy WOD post.) Most think, it’s common sense that lifting heavy weight will start to make you look like Ronnie Coleman and that doing high reps of light weight will make you “toned”.  After all, we’ve all seen what it does to people. Lifting heavy weights makes you want to wear a speedo, put on some fake tan and strut on stage and pray you don’t get popped by the drug tests. Women get facial hair and deeper voices and man-boobs.

Here’s the problem: Its wrong.

Lifting heavy weights will NOT make you uber muscled. Has it ever occurred to you how hard body builders have to work to look like that? Here is what it takes to look like a body builder.

1) Genetics, a predisposition to build mass. 
2) Steroids.
3) A diet of 5000-8000 calories a day.
4) “Bulking up” takes years of the crap above. 

For women, it’s even harder (even if you try). The pumped up image most women have of lifting weights is due to the FEW on the cover of magazines who chemically altered their bodies.  “How’d your voice get so low Sally?”  Women naturally have 15-20 times less testosterone than men and hence are simply unable to build the muscle mass often associated with weight training.  Keep in mind weight training is entirely different then weight lifting, aesthetic vs. function.

Though there is some debate about the exact numbers, studies have found that lifting weights with reps of 8-20 actually tends to cause hypertrophy, a.k.a. muscle bulk.  This muscle mass however is not all that strong, nor is it efficient (that's why a tabata workout will crush most body builders). In other words, your average “toning” regiment workout from trainer DouchebagMagee at your local globo-gym isn’t doing any toning at all but it really doesn’t matter anyway because your body isn’t pumped full of enough chemicals or cheeseburgers to make a difference.

So if we’re not building hulk necks when we lift heavy, what heck are we doing?  

Ever wonder why you get stronger after lifting weight even though your body looks, more or less, the same?  What’s changed? The answer is that your body has essentially learned a better way of moving weight. This is done through improving your motor muscle recruitment pattern, making you more able to ‘turn on’ more muscle motor units and it’s the main reason you get stronger after lifting. This improvement is transferred to every part of your life too. Suddenly every movement you make has become a smaller fraction of your total strength ability. Carrying the groceries up stairs is a small bit easier.  Completing a prescribed WOD gets faster (by a lot too). Lifting heavy is, as Cherie stated a couple days ago, “An essential link in the development of athletic performance.”

It’s hard to over state the last point. When every exercise of every workout you do has suddenly become easier in comparison, you can do them MUCH faster (and with less lactic acid buildup). Do yourself a favor next time you come into the gym, compare the fastest day’s times with that person’s CrossFit total or Olympic total.  The correlation isn’t random.  And, there are lots of other fun benefits too, such as, positive adaptation in your bones (stronger bones) and connective tissues (ligaments, tendons, etc). Women who lift weights often have improved femininity. Ever seen the chick with the hot ass? She deadlifts and squats. Lifting heavy also causes your body to continue to burn calories long after your workout, something not seen with traditional “cardio”.

We all come to Verve to be better functioning at life in general and Verve is about making that happen. Not all days are heavy or even have a heavy component but when they do, there’s a reason. For many of us, lifting heavy weight this last month a couple of times has been the best thing we’ve done for ourselves, even if we didn’t realize it or want to do it. 

The bottom line is this: lifting heavy weights promotes strength, NOT size and makes you MUCH more athletic.  You’re not going to become a freak and that toned look we all want is due to both strong muscles and low body fat. So next time somebody tells you “I just want to get toned”, tell them to lay off the cheese fries and pick up something heavy.

METRO DASH UPDATE (16 athletes and counting)

Carpool:From Verve at 7:30am (only if you want to, but post here so we don't leave you)
Wardrobe: New splash shirts
Bring: What ever you want, but know you have to carry it with you
After party: Robyn's house, 6:30pm, bring something to share. (Robyn post address in comments if you want it posted). 

"Tabata Something Else"

With a continuously running clock, complete 32 intervals of 20 seconds of work, followed by 10 seconds of rest.  The first 8 intervals are pull ups, the second 8 are push ups, the third 8 are sit ups, and the last 8 are squats.  There is no rest between exercises.

Post reps from all 32 intervals to comments.

Another video from the 2010 Colorado Games, by Chris Slaughter

Info about Saturday's Denver Metro Dash.  Come cheer on your Verve athletes at the start and finish lines!

Power clean 3 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 3 reps

Post loads to comments.

Nutrition changes lives, Amanda K.,  one year ago today! 

Sunday the 26th at 1pm, come in to Verve for our nutrition workshop free of charge to anyone interested in attending.  We offer this service because without a sound nutritional foundation from which to build your fitness, it's impossible to reach your optimal health and performance.  That's right – impossible! 

We've observed that every quantifiable measure of health that typically declines with age is improved by exercise.  Furthermore, these measures can be placed on a continuum that ranges from sickness to wellness to fitness.  From this view, fitness is seen to be a hedge against sickness.  Blood pressure, body fat, bone density, triglycerides, "good" and "bad" cholesterol, flexibility, and muscle mass each follow this pattern.  Done right, fitness provides a nice margin of protection against the ravages of time and disease.  Fitness is and should be "super-wellness". 

Exerpt from CrossFit.com, May 28th, 2003.

For time:

30 muscle ups

If you can not complete a muscle up do 60 banded muscles ups. Where the band is attached above (pull-up bar), then wrapped around your booty.  Start in a locked out position leaning back.

Post time to comments.

Eating zone can be easy! 

Three block dinner made easy

3oz Cooked roast
1 Peach
9 Almonds
12 Asparagus
1cup Sauteed peppers and onions

Vola, there are no excuses!

What an amazing display of PR's today.  Check out the boards.  Remember if you did not get in today to do the total, tonight and Thursday night at 7:30pm you can make it up.

 
Amazing lifting everyone!  

"CrossFit Total"

For max load:

Back squat

Shoulder press

Deadlift

For rules and more information about the CrossFit Total, read Mark Rippetoe's CrossFit Journal article from December 2006.  It can be downloaded here.

Compare to: 100528

Post total to comments. 

 
McKenna uses a belt in all his adventures… do you? 

A Note on the Use of Weightlifting Belts

There are many arguments for and/or against the use of belts when weightlifting.  Some argue that it provides a false sense of safety.  Others think that the use of a weightlifting belt provides a crutch that may not be available when called upon to lift a heavy object in real life.  I am of the opinion that training with a belt teaches us how to effectively use abdominal pressure to assist the erectors of the back in keeping the spine in a safe position.  I'll allow you to form your own opinion on the matter, but recommend trying a belt for a few days before passing judgement.

Here are some tips on how to use a belt safely.  First, start by finding a belt that fits your waistline.  When trying one on, relax your gut and tighten the belt around your lumbar spine and around the level of your umbilicus.  In this relaxed position, there should be some room to tighten the belt a bit.  If not, grab a smaller belt.

Now that you have your belt picked out, load your bar and get ready to lift.  The last thing you do before addressing the barbell is tightening the belt to a comfortable lifting position.  A common mistake is tightening the belt so that it compresses the abdomen, thereby not allowing you to blow your belly against it.  It should only be tightened to a snug position, where you have room to pressurize your midsection against it.  This is worth stating once more, you do NOT want to compress your abdomen with the belt.  Now lift!

Does the belt allow you to lift more weight with a stronger midsection?  Yes!  Consider this for a moment; if you practice lifting with a belt on and become incredibly strong, will you still be stronger without the belt on – right?  Also, by lifting with a belt on, we reinforce the concept of stabilizing the midline when lifting heavy – a unbelievably important concept with or without a belt on.  We got a bunch of new one's in, so feel free to use one any time.

10 – 9 – 8 – 7 – 6 – 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 rep rounds for time of:

10 Pistols, alternating legs

10 Pull-ups

Odd reps are chin over the bar, even reps are chest to bar.

Post time to comments.

 
Jen G., getting under the bar at 6am.

For time:

1600m Run
100 Double unders
50 Pull-ups
25 Burpees
10 Med-ball clean wallballs
25 Med-ball sit-ups
50 Push-ups
100 Walking lunges
1600m Row

Post time and thoughts to comments.

The chain gang!

One week until Metro Dash, I'm getting so excited!  

Week 16: Back squat 5, 5, 5 @ 40%, 50%, 60%
Please be sure to use the spreadsheet (linked right here)

Then, ten intervals of :30 work and :30 rest alternating between:
Dumbell push press, 40#/25#
Ball slams

Post total reps to comments.

Nick Brereton and his brother finish the ironman in 13:46. 

This is it!  Believe it or not, you've completed four months of the 5/3/1 program.  This linear progression has taken you down a long and winding road of varied percentages and reps leaving you at the doorstep of a new 1 rep max.  Now it's up to you to test your hard work and dedication.

We'll be doing the CrossFit Total on Monday, so you'll have the opportunity to set a new PR for the back shoulder press, back squat and deadlift.  Not to worry – if you absolutely can't make it to any of Monday's 8 classes, we'll be allowing you to make up the Total on Tuesday or Thursday at 7:30pm. Enjoy the rest of deload week and congratulations on four months of hard work.