Friday, July 31, 2009

RAINSTORM tomorrow.

Tomorrow (Saturday) there will be a workout free to everyone, but it'll be at Greenlake!

We'll be meeting at 11am towards the north end of the park near the "stretching rings", located near the parking lot and tennis courts off of Latona Ave NE. Give me a call if you need directions! Don't forget to dress properly and bring water. It could be as hot as 89 tomorrow.


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Screw Seafair- go support Rainier CrossFit in their 4th Annual MT. RAINIER STRONGEST MAN AND WOMAN down at The Old Cannery in Sumner, WA.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Don't eat before you workout Crystal


Danielle and Crystal after this morning's team WOD. Great job ladies- perfect reps, wonderful enthusiasm, and good ol' hard work!

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There will be NO 5:30pm and 6:30pm CLASSES tomorrow. Instead, Run 5k (or Run for 30 min and figure out your distance) and record it. Normal schedule resumes Wednesday on.

The Purple "IT HURTS SO GOOD" t-shirt looks like it's the most popular. Let's officially put these preorders down asap so you guys can rock these. If you haven't purchased a black one yet, just know that all the cool kids have (;

Friday, July 24, 2009

TGIF



Workout tomorrow @ 10am at Cal Anderson Park. EVERYONE is invited. Please RSVP by call/text with Andrew @ (360) 908.9862.

Big events going on this weekend in Seattle. Carpool if you can!

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Big congrats to Mr. Christopher Andrew Valle for passing his N-CLEX and becoming a certified Registered Nurse!


Not only did Andrew graduate from the University of Washington this year, but he's been CrossFitting regularly (two-a-days!) and was integral to building Foundation CrossFit into what it is now. That, and he's probably the gym's biggest cheerleader.


Congratulations man. WOOO! Male nurses!

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If you were in the gym today, you learned (or refreshed with) the Turkish Get Up. You can use any sort of weight for this exercise: a kettlebell, a dumbbell, a barbell, a backpack, a water jug, your little sibling (no, really), any weighted implement.

I'll let Anthony of AoS/MoS give you a run down:

Let's review.
  • Eyes on the weight. Keep the arm locked out and reach for the sky.
  • He didn't talk about keeping the shoulders "packed". Keep your shoulder blades together the entire time.
  • Get up on your elbow forearm. You'll have better support.
  • Readjust your hands as needed. Remember: "PILLARS!"
  • Keep the arm locked out and reach for the sky.
  • Make sure you legs are spread out as much as possible for better stabilization.
  • BREATHE!
  • Keep the arm locked out and reach for the sky.
  • and finally keep the arm locked out and reach for the sky (get it yet?)
GET TO IT!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Champs

"Champions aren't made in the gym. Champions are made from they have deep inside them- a desire, a dream, a vision. They have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill."

- Muhammad Ali

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Play

It's something we all need to do a little more: play outside.


So expect to do a bunch of workouts outdoors either on the Union St. side of the block, Bobby Morris Playfield, or Cal Anderson Park.

Bring sunscreen especially if you are at the 12pm, 5:30pm or 6:30pm classes! And don't forget your water as well- y'all sweat a lot.


Keep up the good work everyone.

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Above is an excellent video clip showcasing French Olympian Danny Rodrigues, the first athlete in history to compete what many considered an impossible strength element on the still rings; the Victorian. In fact he is so incredibly strong, that he has two variations of the Victorian in his routine. Be prepared for a little drama in the middle of the clip.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Monday!

Please refer to the video below before attending class.


(=

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Rocking out in one of our shirts yet?


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This goes out to all the ladies out there who are afraid of working out, especially the CrossFit method of training. From Mark's Daily Apple:
I knew they were coming, as soon as I hit “Publish.” I knew I’d get at least one or two comments from our female readers asking if last week’s muscle building post applied to them, too. You see,Conventional Wisdom has somehow drilled into our heads the silly notion that men and women are completely different species, especially when it comes to working out. There are definite differences – anyone who’s been married will be able to tell you that! – but that doesn’t take away from the fact that we’re all homo sapiens with the same basic physiological makeup. And so an outfit like Weight Watchers will push the chronic cardio, the ankle weights, and the step classes because of some underlying, self-defeating assumption that women aren’t “meant” to lift heavy weights. It’s insane, it’s preposterous, and it’s downright insulting. Men and women have different work capacities and different natural inclinations, but their bodies still work the same way.

Friday, July 17, 2009

CrossFitting At Any Age

Many people have questions about CrossFit and the ability to actually do it. Those who are coming from an athletic background fall in quickly and with far more ease than someone who's picking up a barbell for the first time in their lives, even at 40 years old.

Fran Mason of CrossFit Seattle shows the latter that it's never too late to become active.


Inspiring to say the least!

Ketchup!

Apologies for the lack of posts. Someone's getting lazy...

We're getting a lot more people in through the doors! More equipment too.


Big welcome to Genevieve, Hessan, Erica, Ruth, Krista, Chris, Whitney, Colin and Jenelle. Here's to your future in better health and fitness! Not to mention all the sweat angels you'll be leaving.

Speaking of which, watch for a dedicated post soon...

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There are a bunch of CrossFit-related and not-so-CrossFit-related events this weekend:
  • Saturday will be Washington's Strongest Apple Contest, a strength competition with events such as the tire flip, axle clean and press, farmer's walk and keg loading. We'll be there cheering on for Benji, one of our CF brothers over at Bremerton CrossFit.
  • Sunday there will be a CrossFit Total over at Local's Gym / Lynnwood CrossFit. Get your 1RM back squat + press + deadlift on.
  • Of course, for those wanting to rest it's The Bite of Seattle at Seattle Center throughout the entire weekend. Eat Paleo/Zone-like!
Back to regular posting come Monday!

Friday, July 10, 2009

CrossFit Games 2009 Individual Competition

Tomorrow the individual competitors will challenge themselves and each other to see who's the fittest person on Earth.

The competition, courtesy the official CrossFit Games 2009 site:
General Rules
1. The movement standards are typical HQ unless otherwise stated.
2. Each athlete will be ranked according to their time or score relative to the other athletes for that workout. Their final score for the workout will be equal to their rank.
3. The overall ranking going into each event will determine the reverse starting order for that event. For example, the athletes that win the first event will get to go last in the second event, while the athletes that come in last in the first event must go first in the second. The athletes in the lead (those with the lowest running total) after two events get to go last in the third event. And so forth.
4. After the second event, the bottom ten men and the bottom ten women (those with the most points) will be eliminated from the competition.
5. After the fourth event, the remaining bottom ten men and ten women will be eliminated from the competition. At this point, there will be approximately 55 athletes competing in Saturday's final event (for each men and women).
6. After the fifth event, the 16 men and 16 women with the lowest total points will be invited to compete on Sunday. If by chance there is a tie for 16th place, the athlete with the best single placement in any of the five events will be awarded the invite.
The first five workouts (out of eight total):
  1. A 7.1k road & trail run with some nasty elevation.
  2. A deadlift race. Starting at a weight of 315lbs for men, 185lbs for women, increase in 10lbs increments until you fail or someone catches you.
  3. A sandbag (70lbs men/35lbs women) 170m sprint with a 100' elevation gain.
  4. 500m row, Hammer a 4' stake (3' ladies) into the ground, 500m row.
  5. A wallball/snatch couplet.
Check the official Games site for details. After some eliminations, the remaining competitors will have the chance at 3 more workouts on Sunday.

Good luck to Jenny Olson, Charity Vale, Kallista Pappas, Nichole Verbrugghe, Jennifer Kellams, Jerome Perryman, Tommy Hackenbruck, Moe Kelsey, Jason Neago and Jordan Holland, who are representing Seattle and the Northwest! Did we send some winners? Uh huh.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Responsibility to self

I hope you all had a wonderful and safe 4th of July weekend. Enjoy it with fam and friends, brats and beer, fireworks and plenty of sleep? Good because it's time to get back into it!


Get prepared to use your upper body this week. You should see some cosmetic changes to the gym and I promise I'll get those other rings back up for use. We'll be building parallettes throughout the week, so bring some cash moneys if you want a set of your own! Also, I should be getting some more kettlebells.

Keep hitting it hard guys, you're making me beyond proud to be your trainer.


ps
If you haven't taken your "after" pictures, get ready to take them now!

pps
It's Day 6 so you owe 6 squats and 6 pushups!

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"A Little Motivation?"
So I just watched this video on the Crossfit Journal called "The Road to the 09 Games" about Heather Keenan, a future Crossfit Games athlete (I was under the impression that she wasn't going to compete this year). Anyway, she was talking about her motivation and one thing that she said was, "Every time I go to eat something, it's like...is that' gonna get me closer to the games? Or like, every time I'm in a workout and I'm like feeling tired, like I'm taking a break I'm like, 'Alright, is Tanya [a fellow competitor who placed in front of her in the East Coast challenge, and won 2nd overall at the 08 games] taking a break right now?' ... It's like, grab your fucking bar and get it up, you know?"
I thought I'd just post this up to urge all of us to really think about our goals. What are we doing this for? I know many of us have set goals with Dru, but are these goals just cause he asked us to create them, or because we want to get better in one aspect in our lives. Now think, what are you doing to get closer to that goal? Is that last cookie, brownie, cupcake, or bite of rice gonna get you closer to what you want to achieve? If your goal is obesity, cardiovascular disease, weak and brittle bones, muscle flaccidity due to too much adipose tissue, respiratory depression, diabetes, psychological disorders such as depression, and renal failure, then congratulations, you have taken one step towards that goal. Sound harsh? Sure is. But hey, that last bite didn't get you closer to a long life of good health. And while that one bite, or cookie, or whatever poor nutritious food will probably not kill you (I hope and pray for), it's a step in the wrong direction, even though it may be a minuscule step.
Is that break you are taking mid-WOD because you are tired? Or because you cannot physically lift that weight? (Remember, if you can laugh or talk, then you can get another rep in...) Are we taking a water break because of dehydration, or because you want an excuse to take a quick break?
Many of us have been hitting it hard core for months now. I've seen improvements in EVERYONE. But we need to extend our discipline from the box to our day-to-day lives. Look at it this way, even if we work out 1 hour a day, 5 days a week, that is still less than 3% of the week. What does that mean? 97% of our week is spent NOT working out. So we all need to find a way to make sure that we can best maximize that 3% of hard work. We all can improve, and I can be the most guilty when it comes to messing up. Find your own goal, and decide, if that bite of food will get you closer to that goal. If not, then change it. And then grab your fucking bar and get it up.
- Andrew Valle
We call this "the slight edge", "greasing the groove" or "the tipping point". The little things do account for the big things later, so don't use excuses for shortcomings. Keep it going strong for every little thing you do and I guarantee that you'll reach your goals, break your limits and be happy because isn't that what we all want to accomplish?

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Another Birthday WOD



Happy Birthday Sheena and Adrian D.!

You have all been showing your dedication to health and fitness and I love it. Some of you are even doing two-a-day workouts since adding the 6 am class. To those few- YOU ARE CRAZY! Stop working out because you're making me look bad.


This weekend is the fourth of July so what are your plans? If you're free from 12pm to about 3:30pm you should join our team for the 2009 Wallingford Street Scramble. It's a 90 minute scavenger hunt across Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood. Here are last year's results. Come talk to me or Elizabeth if you want to join in.

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Congratulations to all those who completed the first month of the BEACH BODY BURPEE BONANZA. July calls for a refresher: Day 1 = 1 squat and 1 pushup. Tomorrow will see 2 squats + 2 pushups. Continue on until August.

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Article of the Day:

"Miss Manners" - CrossFit West Santa Cruz

CrossFit boxes as a rule are not that big on formality. Shirts? On or off, go for it. Cussing? My delicate sensibilities can handle it. Grunts, groans, screaming? Hey, whatever gets you through the WOD. Blood, sweat, tears? As long as it’s not the 70s band, yeah, no worries. Short shorts, long shorts? Whatever floats your boat, man (no thongs, sorry Golden). Chalk? My life is covered in it. Make fun of Golden or Cliff? Knock yerself out (see line above). Not formal tends to be an understatement at CF West.

However, ahem, there are a few points of etiquette that should be covered. Good sportsmanship, support, and respect. That’s it. That is what we demand at CF West. Well, that and blood, sweat, and tears…but you can keep your firstborn. Seriously folks, all three points go hand in hand and are pretty much a no brainer.