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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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.

Thrusters, burpees and some cleans
Wouldn’t be the worst I’ve seen
But swings and jumps and running too
I suck at those (why don’t you?)

I guess I’ll just go do my best
And hopefully I’ll pass the test
I’ll bust my ass and then I’ll say
“I’m better now than yesterday.”

Buy-In:

Back Squats

5-5-3-3-1-1

WOD:

3 Rounds for time:

500m Row
20 Squat Snatches (75/53)
20 Burpees

Cash-Out:

4x200m Sprints (30 seconds between sprints)

Buy-In:

Sumo Deadlift

5-5-3-3-1-1

WOD:

4 Rounds for total reps of:

1 min Row (Calories)
1 min Pullups
1 min Clean and Jerk (135/93)

Cash-Out:

100 Abmat Situps