8/28/12

Mandel commercial shot at OOW!

Here's the new Josh Mandel commercial that was shot at our shop last month.   (Sigh, I didn't make the cut.) :)


Contagious!

A friend of mine just joined John and I at the Lake County YMCA to do Crossfit workouts with us this week.  He has been active and in-shape for many years, but has never done anything like Crossfit before.  That being said, as the three of us finished our workout this morning, apparently we caught the attention of a couple other people.  On our way out we were stopped by two guys in their mid-twenties who wanted to know if we were doing Crossfit!  They were very interested and are going to come do a workout with us this Thursday.  They both said they were tired of doing the same boring stuff in the gym and wanted to do something that was functional, purposeful and "not boring".  The fever is catching and people are starting to notice a difference between Crossfitters and everyone else all over the world.  If you still don't know what Crossfit is, follow this link and find out.

The reason I do Crossfit is to get stronger, faster, and more agile and set that precedent for my family.  So far, I have seen stellar results.  Crossfit, combined with a healthy lifestyle (healthy diet and proper amounts of sleep/rest) will transform your life, and that is a guarantee you can take to the bank.

Today's workout was:
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Power Cleans (135/95)
Push Press (135/95)
Run 200m
(Got this one from the Crossfit 440 website, which is a local Crossfit box in Mentor, OH)

I did the power cleans and push press at 115 after going to almost failure the first round with 135.

And finally a shout out to my boys Henry and Ronnie for getting their Crossfit Level 1 certs this past weekend!  Way to go fellas!

8/25/12

EMOMs, the new thing

Until I watched a video on Froning and Bailey and how they were training...I had never heard of this style of training.  What is an EMOM?  EMOM is an acronym for Every Minute On the Minute.  So, at the start of each minute you complete whatever the EMOM workout is and you continue this for the prescribed amount of minutes.  For example, this morning my workout consisted of the following:

20 minute EMOM
3 Power Cleans (135 lbs)
5 Toes-to-Bar

So, as my timer beeped the top of the minute I did the power cleans and toes-to-bar and then you "rest" until the timer beeps the top of the next minute and do it all over again...20 times.

I usually use this design for my strength workout (before my metcon).  For example, I'll do EMOM 7 minutes of 5 Back Squats at 80% max....or..... EMOM 10 minutes of body weight bench press by 3.....or..... EMOM 8 minutes of 135 lb Hang Power Cleans x 5 reps.

I have really enjoyed this new twist to my morning workouts and I think you might to! Try it out!

8/22/12

Will Speal be back? Hope so!

Chris Spealler the only athlete to appear in all six Crossfit Games to date had announced that he would be hanging it up after the 2012 games.  Now, his wife is leading the cheering squad asking for his return in 2013.  I'm with ya Sarah, we want to see Speal back next year!

American? True Blue!


2 different viewpoints on Crossfit

I got both of these through the Crossfit Journal...

First, earlier this year, Lynne Knapman writes that Crossfit is for everyone.

Then, just recently, Craig Nelson writes that Crossfit is NOT for everyone.

I understand and agree, at least partially, with both articles.  Crossfit in and of itself CAN be for everyone.  All exercises CAN be scaled to accomodate everyone...even children.  However, the "Crossfit lifestyle" is NOT for everyone.  Nelson describes the WOD's or "workout of the day" that we do causing DIS/GFB (which naturally stands for "drenched in sweat/gasping for breath").  I am one of the "sickos" that doesn't feel I've had a great workout unless I reach DIS/GFB...and many times feel on the brink of puking.  It wasn't until recently that I upped my game and started to adopt the whole philosophy of healthy living.  I've been doing Crossfit for 5 years now, but not always at the intensity that I am now, nor had I ever really paid much attention to what I was ingesting.  Back in the beginning of May of this year, my wife and I made a conscious effort to eat healthy and set the precedent of a healthy lifestyle for our children.  I have seen amazing results including leaning out, many PR's and just feeling better overall since this life change.  And the most positive thing is that our children will grow up in this kind of culture instead of HAVING to make a lifestyle change in their early 30's as I did.

8/13/12

Great (but long) Workout!

On Saturday morning, I had an awesome workout.  After limbering up and doing my warmup I headed into what proved to be a very tough (and long) workout.

The workout was:

4 rounds of -
Run 800m
40 pullups
70 pushups

This took me 53:57 to complete, which was a horrible time, but I can only improve from there.  Needless to say - I was "Crossfit sore" this morning yet, but lessened that a little by my workout this morning, which for the life of me I can't remember where I found- so sorry, but I can't give the credit our for this one.


*EMOM for 8 minutes
135 lbs.
1 - power clean
3 - front squat
3 - push press
(without putting the bar down)

5 minute rest

For time:
Run 800m
then...
3 rounds of 15 KB swings (55 lbs.) and 15 (20 lb.) dumbbell thrusters.
My time: 10:13

(*EMOM = every minute on the minute)

Quote

"We are all missionaries. Wherever we go, we either bring people nearer to Christ or repel them from Christ."
~ Eric Liddell - Missionary, Olympic Athlete (1924)

For more on Eric Liddell check out his bio on Wikipedia.  He was an ordinary guy with an incredible testimony for the Lord and, I believe, was blessed because of it.