CrossFit Montgomery County

After the first day of the Paleo Challenge Preparation week, there are 10 people who’ve signed up and had their “before” pictures taken and there’s plenty of space for more participants. If you’re thinking about doing it, take a cue from Nike and just do it. There are three more days to get in on the action and get your pictures taken, so come into the gym, get up against the wall and strip off your clothes while we all stand around waving dollar bills. Ha ha!! Just kidding!! We only do that on Fridays…

If you are interested, click on Grog in the upper left of the page to get the full details of the challenge. There are a couple of documents there for you to download – and make sure to read the first one before trying to figure out the second one (right, Julie?). If you have any questions feel free to send us an email or ask us when you come in to the gym.

Remember, the challenge starts on Sunday, which means that registration/pictures ends on Saturday at noon. Get registered before then – the deadline will not be extended. And while you may be tempted to spend this entire week cramming all the carbohydrate yumminess in the northern hemisphere into your big mouth, it might be better to begin eating Paleo to begin acclimating your body to the foods you’ll be eating.

Buy-In:

Hang Squat Snatch 5×3

WOD:

As many rounds as possible in 12 minutes of:

10 Deadlifts (185/123)
10 Knees to Elbows

Cash-Out:

Bottom-to-bottom tabata squats

The Paleo Challenge starts today, but fear not – you have a few more days to eat your bread and salty foods because there are few things we have to take care of first. Here’s a nutshell version of how the challenge is going to work:

1. The Paleo Challenge will last for 6 weeks, starting (officially) on Sunday Sept. 12 and ending on Saturday Oct. 23
2. It costs $20 (cash) – 100% of fees will go toward the prizes
3. Cash prizes will be awarded to the top male and female participant in two different categories: best overall physique change and most overall points accumulated (this will make more sense when you read the official rules)
4. Come in this week to get your “before” picture taken
5. If you want to win, work out like you mean it and eat like your life depends on it

Here are the important documents with all the rules, tips, help, and information you need to get you going right:

CFMC Paleo Challenge Rules
CFMC Paleo Log

Let us know if you have any questions, and if there is anything we can do to support you during the challenge.

Good Luck to everyone!

Buy-In:

Overhead Squat 5×5

WOD:

3 Rounds for time of:

10 Clean and Jerk (135/93)
15 Pullups
20 Abmat Situps

Cash-Out:

50 Slippery Pushups

In case you aren’t currently aware of the calendar date, this is Labor Day weekend. That means you don’t have to go to work on Monday, and you’re likely taking today off to goof around on a beach somewhere and drink an inordinate amount of beer. If you are stuck near the gym this weekend you’re welcome to come in for a WOD (see schedule below) and then go off gallivanting with your friends to roast dead animals on the grill (very Paleo) and drink copious amounts of the aforementioned beer (not Paleo). The schedule for the weekend is follows:

Saturday: Classes at 10:00am and 11:00am
Sunday: Gym Closed (as usual)
Monday: Class at 10:00am (all other classes canceled)
Tuesday: Back to life as we know it, but probably with a hangover

Also, Danielle and I will be spending this weekend finalizing the details for the Paleo Challenge starting on Tuesday September 7, so make sure to rid your house of all non-Paleo foods this weekend so you’ll be ready. (Eating all the cookies and ice cream is usually my favorite part of this particular process.) There will be prizes for the winners, and I promise that they’ll be prizes worth dramatically improving your health for (as if that isn’t a big enough prize in and of itself). Everything about the Paleo Challenge will be posted on Monday, giving you at least 24 hours to prepare to have your life completely changed. I hope you’re ready for some awesomeness…

Today’s WOD:

5 Rounds of:

5 Snatch Grip Deadlifts (95/63)
10 Hang Power Snatches (95/63)
15 Overhead Squats (95/63)
400m Run

Today I have a video I shot of Dave yesterday finishing “Helen”, where he does a fantastic (if dramatic) job of showing us just how we should look when we finish a WOD. If you look like this, good job – you kicked the WOD in the teeth. If you can pass a field sobriety test, then you sucked in the WOD.

Very nice Dave…I’ll just vacuum up those pieces of skin you threw on the ground. It was great to have you at the gym this last year – take care, be safe, and come back to visit us sometime. Yep – Dave has left us for good. He’s off to play for awhile before medical school, which means that the position of resident badass (and pain in the ass) is officially up for grabs. Now I gotta find someone to build the other box bases so we can do 24″ box jumps whenever I feel like you guys aren’t jumping high enough…

Back to the Paleo stuff though, here are a few more links to help you on your way to being wholesome and healthy from the inside out:

Paleo Diet Food List – What you CAN eat

Mark’s Daily Apple – Recipes, ideas, and general good info on eating

Feasting On Fitness – a blog written by a dedicated CrossFitter following the Paleo lifestyle

More to come on the Paleo Diet…

Buy-In:

Push Press 5×3

WOD:

With a 21 minute clock:

7 min AMRAP
5 Push Press (95/63)
10 Pullups
15 Box Jumps

7 min AMRAP
5 Hang Power Clean (95/63)
10 Pushups
15 Squats

7 min AMRAP
5 Sumo Deadlift High Pull (95/63)
10 Wallballs
15 Situps

Cash-Out:

2000m Row

Sometimes people ask me about what I eat, and when I tell them I eat a primarily Paleo diet their expression changes to something that reminds me of a basset hound contemplating a frog in its water dish. “You eat what?” “You know, lots of dead animals, no dairy, no bread or grains…Paleo.” Despite my best efforts, I can never seem to explain the concept to someone without having them hit me with a barrage of complaints of how they could never possibly live without their precious [insert poisonous food here], and I have once again successfully scared someone else away from eating in a way that will make them feel better and live better, and potentially save their life. So, I’m going to let the experts explain what it is for a change, and I’ll preface it with this – if you have any desire at all to give yourself an almost unfair advantage at the gym, check this stuff out:

Introduction to the Paleo Diet

The Vegetarian Myth

YouTube Video: Paleo in a Nutshell (5:45)

And join us for our 30-day Paleo Challenge, beginning on Tuesday, September 7th to see how much better you can feel. I’m even being nice and allowing you to drink all your grain-based alcohol beverages (otherwise known as “beer”) on Labor Day, but after that it’s Paleo time baby. Details about the challenge will be coming in the next few days, so bone up on your Paleo knowledge and get ready to become awesome from the inside out.

Today’s WOD:

“Helen”

3 Rounds for time:

400m Run
21 Kettlebell Swings (24 kg/16 kg)
12 Pullups

What does CrossFit mean to you? How do you define it when someone asks you why you purposely put yourself through the day in and day out torture that tears the calluses off your hands, leaves scars on your shins and bruises on your collarbones? I could go on all night long about all the ways I can define CrossFit, but I’m sure most of you have already heard me talk about it, read my musings on the website, or can just tell by the fact that I rarely wear anything that doesn’t say CROSSFIT MONTGOMERY COUNTY all over it that I think CrossFit is pretty cool. And if you haven’t heard me rave about the wonderful benefits of the program, the incredible community in the gym, or the way CrossFit translates into every single aspect of the rest of your life, then I dare you to ask me sometime. Just make sure you have a few free hours where you don’t have anywhere to be…

But this post isn’t about what I think CrossFit is, it’s about what you think CrossFit is. I’ve seen several other affiliates post videos on YouTube that are geared toward sharing their definition of CrossFit with the world, presumably to serve as a marketing video, and I think it’s time we make one of our own. In the coming days (and possibly weeks) I’ll be wandering around the gym with my video camera (not that this will be anything new), taking videos of you telling me what your definition of CrossFit is. I’ll be compiling the raw footage into a 2-3 minute video that I’ll put in a very visible place on the website to give newcomers an idea of what CrossFit is, according to you. After all, I’m only the coach here – you are CrossFit Montgomery County, and you are the pulse, energy and lifeblood of CFMC. You’re the ones the people who visit the website looking for information about what CrossFit is want to hear from.

So be ready, because you may very well have a small handheld video camera thrust into your face and be drilled with questions about what CrossFit means to you.

Buy-In:

Squat Cleans

3-2-1-1-1

WOD:

7 Rounds for time:

7 Wallballs
7 Pullups
7 Burpees

Cash-Out:

5 Rounds:
Pressing Snatch Balance
Sotts Press
Overhead Squat

5 Rounds:
Heaving Snatch Balance
Sotts Press
Overhead Squat

5 Rounds:
Snatch Balance
Sotts Press
Overhead Squat

In CrossFit we work hard. We lift heavy things and we do it a million times in a row. Then we run like we’re being chased by a mutant killer grizzly bear on crystal meth, and we do more pullups than any other group of humans in history (and then we go explain to the rest of the world why kipping isn’t “cheating”).

All this hard work is, well…hard, and we frequently convince ourselves that we need to rest during a workout when the reality is that we probably don’t. And then we disguise it with an excuse like we need a drink of water, we need to put chalk on something, we need to catch our breath, etc. However, there is a big difference between needing to rest and wanting to. Here’s the difference: NEED TO REST – doing 100 pullups at the beginning of “Angie”, and after the 45th consecutive rep you pull as hard as you can but your chin doesn’t get over the bar anymore. WANT TO REST – doing 100 burpees and after the 5th rep you decide that these are hard and you’d like a moment to catch your breath.

No philosophical musings today, no insightful ideas. Just a simple statement. If you need to rest, then do it. But make sure your “need” is actually a “need” and not a “want.”

Buy-In:

Deadlift 5×5

WOD:

5 Rounds for time:

200m Run
10 High Ring Dips (You’ll need to do a muscle-up to get to the ring dips)
10 Burpees

Cash-Out:

15 reps, Skin the Cat

Thanks to an inspiration from my good friend Dave ‘Chef’ Wallach of CrossFit Breakaway in McLean, VA, I’ve created a store where you can buy t-shirts and stuff at any time. This will allow a great amount of creative freedom on my part, and will allow you to dress much better in public than you currently do. Also, if you have an idea that you’d like to see on a t-shirt, tank top, zippered hoodie, yoga pants, men’s blazer or women’s g-string underwear (yes, really), let me know and you may just see it in the store.

The link to the CFMC Store will always be in the navigation bar at the top of the screen, so check it out frequently as I’m sure that my creative nerdiness will yield some fun new t-shirts now and then. For example, right now I’m pondering the graphic design for the one that will say, “I’m cocky because I’m better.”

Today’s WOD:

“Badger”

3 Rounds for time:

30 Squat Cleans (95/63)
30 Pullups
800m Run

Remember the movie “The Karate Kid” from 1984? Not that weird reincarnation with Will Smith’s kid and Jackie Chan (that I still want to see), but the original one with Daniel Laruso, his nemesis Johnny, and good ol’ Mr. Miyagi? Yep, you saw it, and you loved it like everyone else did. Don’t lie. For some strange reason I was thinking about this movie the other day, and thanks to my amazing ability to relate *everything* to CrossFit, I would like to share a hidden CrossFit message in the teachings of Mr. Miyagi.

Here’s the scene: Mr. Miyagi lays down a challenge at the Cobra-Kai dojo that Daniel will kick Johnny’s ass at the upcoming karate tournament. Daniel, not knowing even how to *spell* karate at the time, shows up to meet Mr. Miyagi the next morning to begin his training. Mr. Miyagi sits him down to enter into a sacred pact with Daniel before his training starts. It went something like this:

“I promise teach karate. That my part. You promise learn. I say, you do, no questions. That your part.”

Then he straps that headband on Daniel to make him look like a complete fruitcake, and Daniel gets to washing his cars, painting his fence, sanding his floor, and painting his house. None of it makes sense to him and he doesn’t especially like doing any of it, but Mr. Miyagi is teaching him the basics of karate and simultaneously strengthening the movements necessary to be good at it. Yeah, that was a cool part of the movie, wasn’t it?

While the chances are superb that I won’t be strapping a headband to anyone’s head, I do appreciate the honesty and simplicity of the sacred pact. Hell, I may even make it part of the membership contract! The honest truth is that my promise to each one of you is that I will do anything I can to teach you as much about CrossFit as you can absorb. I will always gladly and freely share any information, technique, coaching tip, motivational point, or kick in the ass you need to help you learn more about how to improve yourself as an athlete. I will not always tell you what I am doing or why I am doing it, but I assure you that the purpose behind whatever crazy thing I may be asking you to do is strictly for your benefit.

My part of the deal is always on my mind, even long after I’ve left the gym (you can ask Danielle about that if you don’t believe me!). I spend a lot of time learning, practicing, reading, watching, observing, pondering, and developing new and better ways to fulfill my promise to guide you to greatness.

Just don’t forget your part.

Buy-In:

Shoulder Press 5-5-3-3-1-1

WOD:

3 Rounds for time:

400m Run
12 Muscle-ups
24 Box Jumps (24″)

Cash-Out:

15 Turkish Get-Ups (each hand)

Reposted from Feb. 1, 2010

This isn’t news – if you’ve done a WOD at any point in history, you know that it’s going to suck. It’s going to test your physical and mental abilities, and push you past your limits. You’re going to have to work hard and suffer, and nothing about it is going to be easy. From the time you hear “3-2-1-GO!” until the time you’re done, it’s going to just plain suck. There, I’ve said it. You already knew it, but I’ve said it again just to be clear. Is there any question about how much it’s going to suck? Does it matter? It’s going to suck – leave it at that and get past it.

Dave Barry once wrote about what would happen if a big asteroid would hit the Earth. He said, “Judging from realistic simulations involving a sledge hammer and a common laboratory frog, we can assume it will be pretty bad.” Yep, if a great big asteroid hit the Earth, it would probably ruin my whole day. But what I DON’T do is spend my days worrying and whining about the whole potential Earth/asteroid collision thing. What good would it do? Would worrying and whining about a celestial object hurtling at hundreds of thousands of miles an hour directly at my head change its destiny? Umm…no. So I leave it at that and I get past it.

When you’re in the middle of a WOD that sucks in a manner particularly offensive to you, I assure you that whining about it will do nothing to alter the level of suck that you have experienced and have yet to experience. My advice would be to quit bitching about how much it hurts and just get through it so that the hurting will stop. Taking the time to wax philosophical about how much the WOD sucks to everyone else currently suffering through the exact same WOD isn’t, perhaps, the most efficient way to end said suffering. It also brings your current level of morale down which makes getting to the end of your declared suffering even more difficult than it was a moment ago.

So in case I’ve missed the opportunity to be clear about this, let me assure you that regardless of the day of the week, the WOD planned for tomorrow, or the WOD that we did yesterday, you can always count on the WOD for today being full of things you may or may not be good at. If you’re bad at them, it’s going to suck. If you’re good at them, it will be structured in such a way that it’s going to suck. Accept it, get past it, and kick the WOD in the teeth. When the timer starts and the WOD is getting hard, let someone else do the whining – you’ve got work to do.

Today’s WOD:

With medium weight*, do 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps NOT for time of:

Deadlift
Hang Power Clean
Front Squat
Push Jerk

*Stolen directly from Front Range CrossFit (and to be used in future WODs):
Light – you never need to drop the bar to complete your set
Medium – you may have to drop the bar on the last couple of sets
Heavy – you will have to break most sets
Very Heavy – you are doing singles to complete your sets

Please notice that this WOD will not be timed. The focus is on technique. Anyone asking when the clock will start will add 50 burpees to their WOD.