Entries by CueBall

Rest Day



Skill practice is important for all athletes. If you have extra time, practice kicking up into a handstand 50 times. Practice kipping every day, even if no pull-ups appear in the WOD. Work on L-sits and skin-the-cats because basic gymnastics skills are incredibly useful. Education is also important. For beginners, the three-on, one-off schedule itself may need to be scaled. If you find yourself too sore and exhausted to work out on the third day, dedicate your time to learning more. Read Mark Rippetoe’s Starting Strength or Greg Everett’s Olympic Weightlifting. Start learning about the Zone and Paleo diets, or spend some quality time in the archives of the CrossFit Journal.

Careful scaling works—but it takes planning and experience. Track your progress, evaluate the results of your scaling and correct your mistakes. Talk to other coaches and athletes and ask for advice. Think, plan and educate yourself. Most importantly, keep at it. While it may seem that you’re always scaling or just completing basic movements day-in and day-out, you’ll eventually start cranking out impressive CrossFit performances. The day will come. Just keep hitting the scaled workouts with all you have: blood, sweat, tears and patience.

CFJ - Scaling: How Less Can Be More

Classes @ 1130, 1500 @ the CF Al Asad Gym

Active Stretch

Skill Warm up

5 KB Snatch 1 pd each arm
10 Power Cleans 115/95
15 Back Extensions

WOD

Deadlift

1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

To keep with the rules of the CF Total, you must lower the bar once you stand with the weight. If you drop the weight, you loose that attempt.

Post loads to comments.



Scaling Rounds and Rest

Altering round and rep prescriptions is a particularly good strategy for slow runners and rowers who are developing respiratory capacity. If three rounds of a five-round workout take more than 25 minutes to complete, some modification is required. You don’t want the workout to turn into a long, low-intensity effort of limited benefit. You can reduce the number of rounds, but you can also increase the length of rest. Consider adding an extra minute to the rest periods in Fight Gone Bad, for example. For some athletes, the result will be higher output and intensity than when doing the workout as prescribed. Adding rest intervals to workouts can also increase output.

Using the Catalyst Athletics work and power output calculator again, if a five-foot-eight, 150-pound athlete can perform 12 rounds of Cindy in 20 minutes, his power output is 72.82 watts. If that athlete takes a two-minute rest halfway through and completes 15 total rounds of Cindy in 22 minutes, his output rises to 82.75 watts.

CFJ - Scaling: How Less Can Be More

Classes @ 1130, 1500 @ the CF Al Asad Gym

Active Stretch

Skill Warm up

5 Bear Complex 45/35#
10 GHD sit-ups
15 Double Unders

WOD

"Cindy"

AMRAP 20 minutes:

5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Squats

OR

"Mary"

AMRAP 20 minutes:

5 Handstand Push-ups
10 One legged squats, alternating
15 Pull-ups

Post your choice of girls and rounds completed to comments.

Compare to 091222.

Mini Cindy with Dave Castro



Scaling: The Pursuit of Power

Some novice athletes will have to scale their entire program. For athletes just learning weightlifting movements, scaling may mean completing only bodyweight movements in metabolic conditioning workouts. Once you’ve reached a level of proficiency with weightlifting movements that allows you to complete them for time, you can begin to work them into your met-con workouts. The first month or so for a beginning athlete may lack variation, but developing competence and virtuosity in the basic movements is more important than doing complex movements as soon as possible.

There are various ways to scale. How to elicit the most effective response is both subtle and complex. You don’t always scale by reducing the duration of workouts, for instance. Scaling correctly will increase work capacity more efficiently than attempting to complete workouts as prescribed before you’re ready for them. Properly lowering the weight and achieving a faster time will actually yield a higher level of power. The work and power output calculator on the Catalyst Athletics website shows that a 5-foot-10, 180-pound athlete who completes Fran with 95 pounds in nine minutes has a power output of 98.2 watts. If the same athlete scales the weight down to 75 pounds and completes the workout two minutes faster, his power output actually rises to 115.7 watts. So using less weight can sometimes be better.

CFJ - Scaling: How Less Can Be More

Classes @ 1130, 1500 @ the CFAA World Class tent

Active Stretch

Skill Warm up

10 Tire Flips
15 KB Swings 1 pd
20 Box Jumps 24/20

WOD

AMRAP in 20 minutes:

Run 400M
21 Sumo Deadlift High-Pull 95#/65#
15 Pull-ups

Post rounds and fractions of rounds completed to comments.



Avoiding the first mistake

Jack Daniels (the coach, not the distiller) says: “Most mistakes in a race are made in the first two minutes, maybe even the very first minute.” Another way of putting this is that very few races are won in the first minutes, but plenty of races are lost there. The gun fires, or the horn sounds, or the race director shouts “Go!” and you bolt.

That’s the first mistake, and the easiest one to make. You’re psychologically pumped up, you’re full of energy, and you just got a signal to release all that energy. In some cases, the start even triggers a fight-or-flight response. What’s more, the half-dozen high-school kids on the starting line have energy to burn. These kids are going to start like dogs chasing a squirrel, which will make it even harder for you to hold back. The problem is that starting too fast can lead to a slower pace later in the race.

It’s such an obvious point that it’s often overlooked. Consider these words of wisdom from John Parker’s Once a Runner, a cult classic novel about a collegiate miler: “A runner is a miser, spending the pennies of his energy with great stinginess, constantly wanting to know how much he has spent and how much longer he will be expected to pay. He wants to be broke precisely the moment he no longer needs his coin.” If you’re going to make a mistake with your pennies, it’s better to finish still holding a few than to risk going broke before you reach the line. If you start too fast, you’re borrowing money; when you pay it back, you’ll pay interest.

CFJ: The Newbie’s Guide to Running Faster Races

Rest Day

Enjoy the SuperBowl!



While developing your upper body strength with the pull-ups, push-ups, dips, and rope climb, a large measure of balance and accuracy can be developed through mastering the handstand. Start with a headstand against the wall if you need to. Once reasonably comfortable with the inverted position of the headstand you can practice kicking up to the handstand again against a wall. Later take the handstand to the short parallel bars or parallettes without the benefit of the wall. After you can hold a handstand for several minutes without benefit of the wall or a spotter it is time to develop a pirouette.

CFJ: What is Fitness

Classes @ 1130, 1500 @ the CFAA World Class tent

Active Stretch

Skill Warm up

10 Snatch Balance PVC*
30 sec hold Hand Stand
50 ft 45/35# Walking Lunge

*Hold PVC in back rack position and slowly lower yourself into an OHS without moving the PVC.

WOD

Shoulder press 1-1-1-1-1 reps
Push press 3-3-3-3-3 reps
Push Jerk 5-5-5-5-5 reps

Post loads to comments.

Compare to 091230.



Gymnastics

People always are against anything gymnastics because they automatically assume that they'll be doing something that they see at the Olympics. To the contrary, gymnastics in CF is mostly moving your BW in various functional movements. Here is a clip with more to come from CFJ - What is Fitness:

The starting place for gymnastic competency lies with the well-known calisthenic movements: pull-ups, push-ups, dips, and rope climb. These movements need to form the core of your upper body strength work. Set goals for achieving benchmarks like 20, 25, and 30 pull-ups; 50, 75, and 100 push-ups; 20, 30, 40, and 50 dips; 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 consecutive trips up the rope without any use of
the feet or legs.

At fifteen pull-ups and dips each it is time to start working regularly on a “muscle-up.” The muscle-up is moving from a hanging position below the rings to a supported position, arms extended, above the rings. It is a combination movement containing both a pull-up and a dip. Far from a contrivance the muscle-up is hugely functional. With a muscle-up you’ll be able to surmount any object on which you can get a finger hold – if you can touch it you can get up on it. The value here for survival, police, fire fighter, and military use is impossible to overstate. We will in future issues be covering the details of this great movement. The key to developing the muscle-up is pull-ups and dips.

CFJ: What is Fitness

Classes @ 1130, 1500, 1900 @ the CFAA World Class tent

Active Stretch

Skill Warm up

5 Snatch 65/45
10 Box Jumps
15 Burpees

WOD

Five rounds for time of:

25 Kettlebell swings 2 pood
25 GHD Sit-ups
25 Back Extensions
25 Knees to Elbows

Post time to comments.

Compare to 090522.



GENERAL PHYSICAL SKILLS TO MASTER

If your goal is optimum physical competence then all the general physical skills must be considered:

1. Cardiovascular/respiratory endurance - The ability of body systems to gather, process, and deliver oxygen.

2. Stamina - The ability of body systems to process, deliver, store, and utilize energy.

3. Strength - The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply force.

4. Flexibility - the ability to maximize the range of motion at a given joint.

5. Power - The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply maximum force in minimum time.

6. Speed - The ability to minimize the time cycle of a repeated movement.

7. Coordination - The ability to combine several distinct movement patterns into a singular distinct movement.

8. Agility - The ability to minimize transition time from one movement pattern to another.

9. Balance - The ability to control the placement of the bodies center of gravity in relation to its support base.

10. Accuracy - The ability to control movement in a given direction or at a given intensity.

CFJ - What is Fitness Oct 2002

Classes @ 1130, 1500, 1900 @ the CFAA World Class tent

Active Stretch

Skill Warm up

5 Push Jerk 95#
10 Back Extension
15 GHD Situps

WOD

Back Squat 5-5-5-5-5 reps

Post loads to comments.

Compare to 091224.

Squat Flaw - Heels



Sickness, Wellness, and Fitness

There is another aspect to the CrossFit brand of fitness that is of great interest and immense value to us. We have observed that nearly every measurable value of health can be placed on a continuum that ranges from sickness to wellness to fitness. See table below. Though tougher to measure, we would even add mental health to this observation. Depression is clearly mitigated by proper diet and exercise, i.e., genuine fitness.

For example, a blood pressure of 160/95 is pathological, 120/70 is normal or healthy, and 105/55 is consistent with an athlete’s blood pressure; a body fat of 40% is pathological, 20% is normal or healthy, and 10% is fit. We observe a similar ordering for bone density, triglycerides, muscle mass, flexibility, HDL or “good cholesterol”, resting heart rate, and dozens of other common measures of health. Many authorities (e.g. Mel Siff, the NSCA) make a clear distinction between health and fitness. Frequently they cite studies that suggest that the fit may not be health protected. A close look at the supporting evidence invariably reveals the studied group is endurance athletes and, we suspect, endurance athletes on a dangerous fad diet (high carb, low fat, low protein).

Done right, fitness provides a great margin of protection against the ravages of time and disease. Where you find otherwise examine the fitness protocol, especially diet. Fitness is and should be “super-wellness.” Sickness, wellness, and fitness are measures of the same entity. A fitness regimen that doesn’t support health is not CrossFit.

CFJ - What is Fitness Oct 2002

Rest Day

Come by at 1500 to help move the gear into the gym!

****The CFAA sign is still missing, any information on where it is or returning it to the tent will be appreciated. The sign is supposed to be returned to the founder of CFAA to show appreciation for starting such an amazing program. ****



Many of the CFAA Elite Athletes have been returning over the past month and the next few weeks. It's been a pleasure to workout with you and see many of you destroy old PRs and even set new milestones. Stay in touch as you travel about and share in your endeavors. One of the best parts of traveling is stopping into other CF affiliates to bust out a WOD with other athletes.

Classes @ 1030, 1130, 1500, 1900 @ the CFAA World Class tent

***Today will be the last day for the 1030 class***

Active Stretch

Skill Warm up

25 Knees to Elbows
30 sec of L-Sit

WOD

30 Muscle-ups for time

Post time to comments.

If you cannot do the muscle-ups do 120 pull-ups and 120 dips.

Pat Sherwood - 30 MUs



Hand therapy is must in CF and by doing so will make those painful tears a minimal risk. It takes patience and time to find the right balance of callus on the hand. You'll want to use a callus shaver (like the ones they use on feet), a foot file and a pommus stone. The shaver and file should be used any time you start to file a build up. Just after showing and your skin is soft, apply light pressure with the shaver and go over the areas until area feels consistent with the rest of the skin. Once the shaver has taken most of the skin off, the file is to smooth the area out.

You can also use the pommus stone in the shower when your hands are sensitive from a workout or a couple days after a tear to smooth out the rough edges. Sure some tears are part of CF but when your hands become hamburger meat, then you are being neglectful with hand care. This will keep you training instead of waiting days for you hands to heal.

Classes @ 1030, 1130, 1500, 1900 @ the CFAA World Class tent

Active Stretch

Skill Warm up

10 KB Swing 1.5 pd
15 Declined PUs
20 DUs (Rep only counts if it passes under feet twice)

WOD

"Kelly"

Five rounds for time of:

Run 400M
30 Box jump 24"/20"
30 Wall ball shots 20#/14# (Must hit 10 ft target)

Post time to comments.



Ever wonder how much power you generated during a WOD. Check out this calculator and input your data.

Power Output Calculator

Classes @ 1030, 1130, 1500, 1900 @ the CFAA World Class tent

Active Stretch

Skill Warm up

15 Push Press 45/35
10 OHS 45/35
5 Snatch Balance 45/35

(Complete in this order)

WOD

"Nicole"

Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:

Run 400 meters
Max rep Pull-ups

Post number of pull-ups completed for each round to comments.

Compare to 091120.




Someone took the CF Al Asad Banner, if you have it or know who has it please return it to the tent. The banner belongs to Maj Frausto and SSgt McDowell is supposed to bring it back to him.

Rest Day

**** Come by the tent today @ 1130 for a clean out that is much needed after the last dust storm. ****



Has recovery from the intense or heavy WODs been slow? A crucial key to recovery is nutrition and is 80% of the battle to become an elite athlete. Is it tough to switch straight into a Paleo/Zone diet so here are some tips to help you start out.

1) Minimize or eliminate any sugar intake. Sodas, Gatorade, juices, desserts and even sauces like Heinz 57 are some examples. Look at the ingredient list and if syrup or sugar is in the first 3 ingredients, beware.

2) Good Carbs vs Bad Carbs. Americans load up on bad carbs (pasta, bread, cereal) and these carbs spike the insulin in the body which results in fat production. Eat empty carbs like broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, vegetables mostly.

3) Eat smaller portions throughout the day. Your body is like a camp fire and you need to keep fueling it. You add too much wood, you create an inferno and cause damage. Too little and you won't be able to restore tissue from WODs, resulting in your body eating itself.

4) Which should I start first Paleo or Zone? For what we have available to us, chow hall, the Paleo diet is the easiest way to adhere to. Once you have mastered it and gone a MONTH without cheating, then you can combine it with the Zone measuring and create the elite athlete diet. There are many websites that will summarize both these nutrition plans for you. Worst case, follow what is said in Fitness in 100 words below.

If you want more information or have questions come by and CueBall (SSgt McDowell) will be glad to share with you.

Classes @ 1030, 1130, 1500, 1900 @ the CFAA World Class tent

Active Stretch

Skill Warm up

400M Run
5 Skin-the-Cat
20 Double Unders

WOD

"Elizabeth"

21-15-9

Clean 135#
Ring Dips

Elizabeth Demonstration CF.com

Compare to 091027.



Crossfit’s Third Fitness Standard

There are three metabolic pathways that provide the energy for all human action. These “metabolic engines” are known as the phosphagen pathway, the glycolytic pathway, and the oxidative pathway. The first, the phosphagen, dominates the highest-powered activities, those that last less than about ten seconds. The second pathway, the glycolytic, dominates moderate-powered activities, those that last up to several minutes. The third pathway, the oxidative, dominates low-powered activities, those that last in excess of several minutes.

Total fitness, the fitness that CrossFit promotes and develops, requires competency and training in each of these three pathways or engines. Balancing the effects of these three pathways largely determines the how and why of the metabolic conditioning or “cardio” that we do at CrossFit. Favoring one or two to the exclusion of the others and not recognizing the impact of excessive training in the oxidative pathway are arguably the two most common faults in fitness training.

Classes @ 1030, 1130, 1500, 1900 @ the CFAA World Class tent

***On the next Rest Day (Saturday), we would like anyone that is available to come out at 1130 to pull out all the gear and then clean out the tent.***

Active Stretch

Skill Warm up

10 Tire Flips
15 Box Jumps 24"/20"

WOD

Thruster:

1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Compare to 091101.



Crossfit’s Second Fitness Standard

The essence of this model is the view that fitness is about performing well at any and every task imaginable. Picture a hopper loaded with an infinite number of physical challenges where no selective mechanism is operative, and being asked to perform fetes randomly drawn from the hopper. This model suggests that your fitness can be measured by your capacity to perform well at these tasks in relation to other individuals.

The implication here is that fitness requires an ability to perform well at all tasks, even unfamiliar tasks, tasks combined in infinitely varying combinations. In practice this encourages the athlete to disinvest in any set notions of sets, rest periods, reps, exercises, order of exercises, routines, periodization, etc. Nature frequently provides largely unforeseeable challenges; train for that by striving to keep the training stimulus broad and constantly varied.