CrossFit Montgomery County

It’s unlikely you’ll ever run into a situation where the only options are to plunge into a crocodile infested hot lava swamp with spikes and sharks and pygmy cannibals or narrowly escape certain death by incredibly hammering out 100 burpees faster than you ever have before. Ah yes, the burpee: everyone’s favorite exercise. I tell people that even though they suck at burpees now, they will get better. I tell them that they may even get good at them. But I also tell them that they will never, ever like them. What is the purpose of the burpee? Where did it come from? It’s no mystery where the name came from – do an unbroken set of 20 or more shortly after lunch and you’ll quickly discover the etymology of the word. So why do we do them? Simple – they make you work hard, breathe hard, and they use every muscle in your body at the same time. Train your body to do burpees well, and suddenly other stuff isn’t so hard.

Today’s WOD:

“Jackie”

For time:
Row 1000m
50 thrusters (45lbs)
30 pullups

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A CrossFit haiku:

Weakness into strength
Jump lift swing pull push climb barf
I love tabatas

Today’s WOD:

For time:

25 wallball shots
5 burpees
20 wallball shots
10 burpees
15 wallball shots
15 burpees
10 wallball shots
20 burpees
5 wallball shots
25 burpees

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It’s official! Rampant Fitness is now an official CrossFit affiliate! [Wild applause, cheering and screaming, a pair of underwear soars onto the stage] This website should be linked to the main site in a day or so, and all of us here at Rampant Fitness (by which I mean me) are very excited. So look forward to many more observations, motivations, stories, suggestions, and other random neural firings in blog form in the days to come.

Another thing all of us here at Rampant Fitness (again…me) are celebrating is my roomate’s birthday! Vivien, an Australian-born Italian woman who works for the U.S. Government (don’t ask), turns [CENSORED] years old today. So in honor of her geographical ADD, today’s workout encompasses the very spirit of CrossFit’s random nature. Ooo! Look at the bunny!

Today’s WOD:

“Vivien”

For time:

21 kettlebell swings (35/25)
15 walking lunge
Row 250m

21 ring pushups
15 steps walking lunge
9 kettlebell swings (35/25)
Row 250m

21 steps walking lungs
15 kettlebell swings (35/25)
9 ring pushups
Row 250m

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Why I Love Meatheads

As a CrossFit trainer with no box to call my own (yet), I have to make do training the occasional client or two at the local globo-gym.  Anyone who has ever tried to do CrossFit in a globo-gym is probably already cringing…  Anyway, when I was leading a client out of the freeweight area after doing about 10 minutes of practice on her push-jerk, we passed a rhinoceros very strong man sitting in the hip sled machine (which incidentally had all but I think three of the 45lb plates in the entire gym on it).  He watched us walk by with a disgusted look on his face, and then in a voice obviously loud enough for us to hear, said to the rhinoceros next to him his lifting partner, “THIS shit’s gonna get old…FAST.”  I smiled and pretended not to hear, because even though I bet my “Fran” time is WAY better than his, somehow I don’t think he would have been impressed.  [sigh]  I can’t wait to get my own box…  then at least I won’t have to hunt for the 45lb plates.

Today’s WOD:

“Fran”

3 rounds of 21-15-9 reps for time of:

Thrusters (95lbs for men/65lbs for women)
Pull-ups

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“Lamentations of a gymrat”

“CrossFitters are the laziest people I’ve ever seen. They never do ANYTHING difficult in their so-called “workouts”. In fact, I don’t know why they even bother doing anything at all. My workouts, on the other hand, are WAY harder than anything they do. When I’m doing a deadlift, I round the hell out of my back and keep the bar as far away from my legs as possible. When I’m doing a squat, I only come down to 90 degrees and it’s all on my toes, baby. Yep…if you want to try something hard, try doing it that way. Those CrossFit freaks always look for the easy way out.”

Today’s WOD:

For time:

5 Push-ups
5 Tuck jumps
10 Push-ups
10 Tuck Jumps
15 Push-ups
15 Tuck jumps
20 Push-ups
20 Tuck jumps
25 Push-ups
25 Tuck jumps

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Here’s something you may not hear everyday:  “If it feels right, you’re doing it wrong.”  Well maybe ‘wrong’ is too strong a term, but “less efficiently than you could be” certainly fits.  Oddly enough, that statement is true more often than you may think.  When you’re learning the movements involved in CrossFit (or anything, for that matter), you have to be open and willing to feel uncomfortable, off balance, weird, and sometimes downright stupid.  Of course it’s going to feel that way at first – you’ve been doing it less than maximally efficient your whole life, so therefore less than maximally efficient’ feels normal, comfortable, and correct.  Any alteration to what you’re used to will feel uncomfortable, off balance, weird, or yes, even downright stupid, but you simply cannot improve your mechanics (or your fitness) unless you’re willing to step outside your comfort zone. There is a better, easier, safer, and more efficient way to move, and it ain’t what you been doing up ’til now.

Today’s WOD:

Deadlift

5-5-5-5-5

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Wow…”Kelly” really kicked my butt yesterday.  If you read the comments after yesterday’s WOD, you’ll see that she is no longer my friend anymore.  At least not until I can do that stupid workout in a reasonable amount of time!  Good thing today is an easy workout…

Today’s WOD:

“Jason”

For time:
100 Squats
5 Muscle-Ups
75 Squats
10 Muscle-Ups
50 Squats
15 Muscle-Ups
25 Squats
20 Muscle-Ups

If you can’t do a muscle-up, substitute 4 pull-ups and 4 dips for each muscle-up.

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Yep…I’m a sellout. I put a CrossFit license plate on my car and became part of an ingenious marketing scheme to spread the word about CrossFit, and I couldn’t be more proud of it. I wear a CrossFit shirt everyday, I do CrossFit workouts in a globo-gym, and regularly tell people how great CrossFit is when they come up to find out what in the hell I’m doing (though it’s hard to answer since I usually can’t breathe).

On to today’s WOD, which is a statement in masochism if I ever saw one. Named after Kelly Moore, this WOD originated from Kelly’s tendency to chase people, jump on them 30 times, throw any luggage they may be carrying high against a wall, and then repeat the process with 4 of that person’s closest friends. (If that isn’t an example of a practical application of exercise, I don’t know what is.) Kelly, if you’re reading this (which you probably are since I told you to), let me just say that I’m happy there aren’t any kettlebells nearby.

Today’s WOD:

“Kelly“
5 rounds (!) for time of:

400m run
30 box jumps (24″ box)
30 wallball shots (20 lb. ball)

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No workout for today… I’m taking a rest and doing some work on the website. See you tomorrow.

Why do you exercise?  Because you have to?  Because you want to work off those doughnuts you ate at the staff meeting yesterday?  Because it’s fun?  Hmm…that’s an interesting concept – exercise can be FUN?  Well, you might have to be just a little masochistic to say that CrossFit is fun, but then again, I don’t consider CrossFit to be exercise.  See, as a personal trainer for several years, I always *hated* to exercise.  I rank going to the gym and doing 3 sets of 12-15 reps of preacher curls right up there with shaving my head with a cheese grater while chewing on aluminum foil.  Yep…exercise sucks.  But I love playing sports.  Beating your PR by a few minutes on a benchmark workout is like taking 10 strokes off your golf score or scoring 50 points in a basketball game – it’s something you call your parents to brag about.  I can’t remember the last time I called my parents to brag about my incredible performance on the preacher curl bench.

Today’s WOD:

“Elizabeth”

3 rounds of 21-15-9 reps of:

135 lbs Clean
Ring dips

Post time (and any scaling or substitutions) to comments.