CrossFit Montgomery County

Do you know how your body works? I’m betting you don’t. I’m not even talking about the myriad of organs, endocrine glands, nerves or any other of the countless intricate systems that make up the human body’s anatomy and physiology, I’m talking about something simple (!) like muscles and bones. In terms of muscles and bones, your body is nothing but a bunch of levers. Levers require some sort of force to make them move, like maybe some kind of rope and pulley system. In your body, your bones are levers, and the muscles and tendons are the ropes and pulleys.

Let’s say you have a lever that can move in every direction (for example, the shoulder). Up, down, in, out, twist this way and twist that way, left and right – this lever can do it all. How many ropes and pulleys (in fixed positions, like muscles are) would it take to move that thing in all those directions? What would keep the lever from from going too far in one direction when a certain rope is pulled too hard? How many more ropes and pulleys would be required to hold the lever in place while other ropes are yanking on it? What if you only had a limited number of ropes and pulleys to use to make that lever go through its entire circle(s) of movement? On top of all those questions, what would be required of those ropes if we put, say, a couple hundred pounds at the end of that lever? Yeah, I think you’re getting the picture now.

The message for this first part in what will most likely become a multi-part lecture series about the paramount importance of efficient movement, is that you probably move like crap and it’s killing your “Fran” time.

Today’s WOD: (speaking of “Fran”)

“Fran”

21-15-9 reps for time of:

95 lb. Thrusters
Pullups

What’s Your Goat?

Your “goat” is the movement, task, or thing that kicks your ass above all others. Not the thing you like the least or the movement that tires you out the fastest, but the thing that strikes dread in your heart when you see it in the WOD because you struggle with every single rep or you can’t do it at all yet. Everybody has at least one goat – and some people have a whole herd of them. It’s ok to have goats, as long as you don’t accept them willingly. Fight against them. Work to get rid of them. Strive to be the first person without a goat. CrossFit has proven that getting good at the things you suck at (or learning something you can’t already do) will greatly improve your abilities at the things you’re already good at. The fewer goats you have the better you are, and that’s what it’s really all about, isn’t it? Identify your goats in the comments today. Give them colorful names. And then come into the gym and we’ll kill those annoying herbivores together.

[Author's note: no animals were harmed in the writing of this blogpost]

Today’s WOD:

Deadlift 5-5-5 (sets across)

Shoulder Press 5-5-5 (sets across)

There will be 5 warmup sets before each movement during which you will build up to your working weight. Once your working weight is established, that weight will be used for each set of 5 reps.

This is a video of my father, Marcum Randall, on opening day here at the gym. He’s 61, and he can still do muscle-ups. Any of you out there who think you can’t do a muscle-up because they’re too hard, because you’re not strong enough, or because your mother liked your sister better than you, just remember that there’s a 61-year old man out there who can do them. And he thinks you should be able to as well.

Today’s WOD:

“Death by HSPU”

With a continuously running clock do one Handstand Pushup (HSPU) the first minute, two HSPUs the second minute, three HSPUs the third minute… continuing as long as you are able.

A special surprise awaits at the end of this WOD…

Mark Rippetoe has decided to leave CrossFit as the barbell SME (subject matter expert). I don’t know his reasons, though based on the little that I know about him I would imagine they come from very high moral standards. He will be sorely missed, but I’d like to point out that even though he may become persona non grata with the CrossFit community because of his decision, that by no means identifies him as anything less than a superb barbell coach. I do know he is going to be offering a new barbell certification in the future where he will teach barbell coaching, and if given the chance I assure you that I will most definitely attend to learn from this master trainer. So from a CrossFit perspective I say farewell Coach, but from a professional perspective I say that I am looking forward to learning more and more from you in the future.

Today’s WOD:

45 Double-unders
135 pound Squat clean, 45 reps
45 Ring Dips
45 Double-unders

I’m a wimp. So is Brett in today’s photo. And apparently so are you. According to this article on the Reuters website about how modern man is by far the weakest our race has ever been in history, even our world record holders are weaker and slower than the average prehistoric Joe. It’s an interesting article, and I may have to get the book the article was written about, “Manthropology”, by Australian anthropologist Peter McAllister.

With that in mind, I’m inspired to do my part to offset the bell curve of suck in modern man and program a CrossFit Strength Bias WOD today…

Today’s WOD:

Back Squat 5-5-5

-THEN-

As many rounds as possible in 12 min of:

10 Pullups
15 Pushups
200m Run (minimum 75% top speed each round)

Lisbeth Darsh, CrossFit HQ’s Affiliate Director, requested that affiliates post 10 things they believe. Here is what I believe:

I believe that CrossFit has improved my life in such an intense and profound way that I feel obligated to share it with as many people as possible, and that’s why CrossFit Montgomery County exists. I believe that anything and everything you will ever encounter in every aspect of your life can be drastically improved if approached using the CrossFit model as a metaphor. I believe that people who think kipping pullups are “cheating” can say whatever they want about how much easier they are right after they post a video of themselves beating Chris Spealler’s legendary 106 consecutive pullups, and until then they should workout with a pair of socks in their mouth. I believe CrossFitters are part of a very special and global family that shares intangible things mere mortals don’t have the capacity to understand. I believe women who do CrossFit are, without a doubt, the most beautiful and wonderful women on the planet. I believe that any average CrossFitter would win immunity on “Survivor” in every single challenge. I believe you can learn more from a barbell, kettlebell, pullup bar, medicine ball, box, and floor than you can from any PhD program in the world. I believe that if you already know everything, you don’t know anything. I believe that David Burnett should have a reality show that follows 10 CrossFit Affiliates and shows the world what CrossFit does for their members. And finally, I believe that the members of my affiliate are the most genuine, hardest working, and overall greatest members any affiliate could ever hope to have.

Today’s WOD:

Front Squat

3-3-3-3-3-3-3 reps

Here is Brett and Casey rehearsing their “Cirque du Idiots” routine. Brett is doing the “dead cockroach” and Casey is doing her best imitation of the rolled up newspaper that killed it.

Today’s WOD:

Three rounds for time:

10 Muscle-ups
25 Back extensions
Run 400 meters

If you don’t have muscle-ups yet, do 4 pullups and 4 ring dips for every muscle-up involved. Yes, 4. F-O-U-R. That is not a typo.

Here is one of our members taking the phrase “CrossFit kicks your butt” a little too far.

Today’s WOD:

Tabata intervals (20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest repeated 8 times) for each of the following movements:

• Knees to Elbows
• Wallball Shots (20/10)
• Kettlebell Swings (53/35)
• Burpees

CrossFit makes you good at the things you’re not good at. It also makes you good at things you’ve never tried before. By learning to perform the movements in a safe, effective, and efficient manner, and doing them over and over and over again, your body learns how to quickly adapt to unrecognized stimuli. It’s a cool feeling to try something new with someone else who’s also never tried it, and to almost immediately be able to focus on how to do it more efficiently rather than just on how to do it in the first place.

Today’s WOD:

21-15-9 reps for time of:

95 pound Squat clean
L Pull-ups
95 pound Thruster
Handstand Push-ups

Another weekend passes at CFMC.

The burpees were fun and the pullups were glee.

The squats were all done with heels to floor.

In hopes that the chain used was posterior.

Today’s WOD
“CrossFit Total”

The sum of the best of three attempts each at the back squat, the shoulder press, and the deadlift.