Back to business

Hey guys guess who's back! While down in Vegas Marc, Mike and myself did some CrossFit inside the Polo Towers fitness facility and caused some havoc and a whole bunch of staring! I also visited Joe and Zach at CrossFit Las Vegas. They have a dope facility! It's big, spacious, and HOT AS AN OVEN! Vegas was averaging 105 degree weather when I was down there.

In my absence, the fambam at FCF still ran things (and rather smoothly). We even had our members run a RAINSTORM! with three different workouts: "Rubber Legs", "This One's For Grant", and the properly titled "Sprints".

Well Mike, Marc, Sheena, Sammee and myself didn't miss out on a RAINSTORM either:

If only Vegas really did work out this often...

Speaking of RAINSTORMS, keep watching the site for updates as this month is pretty booked with random events throughout Seattle.

Great job everyone, let's enjoy the rest of summer while we can!

Schedule this week

Andrew will be on vacation Thurs 7/24 through Tuesday 7/29 so the schedule looks like this:

Thurs 7/24 - 7pm class with Adrian and John Hovey
Fri 7/25 - 6pm class with John Hovey
Sat 7/26 - 12pm RAINSTORM (free workout) with the Foundation CrossFit All-Stars
Mon 7/28 - 7pm class with John Hovey
Tues 7/29 - 7pm class with John Hovey

Questions, comments and concerns can be sent to info@foundationcrossfit.com. You can also call Andrew if you'd like!

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We had our own version of last year's CrossFit games workout tonight:

1000m row
then 5 rds for time:
25 pullups
7 push presses, 95lbs (scaled down from the Rx'ed 135lbs)

Grant, Jason, John and Marco tackled this one!

FTL!

("For the Ladies")


Crossfit Glory Box Video from Ben Weger on Vimeo.

Look out for Seattle CrossFitter Nadia!

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I'll be on vacation from Thursday the 24th until Tuesday the 29th and will be visiting CrossFit Las Vegas. Speaking of which here's another awesome article by Mr. Kustes:

"More Information About Drinking Too Much"
Scott Kustes on 11 Jul 08

So after I published the last post on Overdoing The Sauce a few weeks ago, a friend sent me a link with a bit more information (Thanks Brian!). Now, it would’ve been nice to have had this before I hit Publish, but that’s what happens when you pick friends that can’t read your mind. So here are some facts with which you can impress your friends, courtesy of How Stuff Works:

• Alcohol in the bloodstream causes the pituitary gland to stop excreting vasopressin. This hormone tells the kidneys to reabsorb water for recirculation. Without it, you make trips to the restroom constantly. “According to studies, drinking about 250 milliliters of an alcoholic beverage causes the body to expel 800 to 1,000 milliliters of water; that’s four times as much liquid lost as gained.”
• Women have less acetaldehyde dehydrogenase and glutathione, both necessary for breaking down ethanol into acetate, making their hangovers worse, even after factoring in body weight differences.
• Alcohol inhibits the natural stimulant glutamine, hence you get drowsy. After you stop drinking, the body tries to catch up and produces more glutamine than normal. Because of that, you don’t sleep well.
• Alcohol irritates the cells lining the stomach along with increasing hydrochloric acid production. This can send a message to the brain that damage is being done (it is) and cause vomiting. Yeah, I’m sure some of you have been there and now you know why it happened.
• A few things that won’t cure your hangover: another drink, burnt toast, coffee, greasy food
• A few things that may help prevent a hangover: greasy food, water, painkillers, carbon-based OTC medicines
• A few things that can help cure your hangover: eggs, bananas, fruit juice, water, painkillers, carbon-based OTC medicines
• And the #1 hangover prevention tip: Don’t drink like you’re at a college frat party. Have a drink or two with your meal and enjoy the company. Basically, don’t get a hangover.

RAINSTORM XX: Hot BBQ!, Tabata This!

Quick workout today because we'd rather play in the sun!

bottom-to-bottom tabata squats

then once through for time:
20 pushups
~70m walking lunge
~70m sprint
20 burpees

Aileen, Tony, Eric, Adrian, John, Andrew, Elizabeth, Nate, Eric, Tiff & Mike!

We played catch with the 8 lbs medicine ball and threw the frisbee around after the workout. Would've had some volleyball and Hoverball games going, but we couldn't snag a court. Good times and expect Part Deux in August!

Sausages and meat cookies!

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Yesterday we had some folk come in because today didn't work with their schedules

TABATA THIS!
from the CrossFit.com FAQ: "Tabata Intervals ( 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest repeated 8 times) is applied in turn to the Squat, Rower, Pullups, Sit-ups, and Push-ups with a one minute rotation break between exercises. Each exercise is scored by the weakest number of reps (calories on the rower) in each of the eight intervals. During the one minute rotation time allowed the clock is not stopped but kept running. The score is the total of the scores from the five stations."

Dylan, Dorian, Jason, Dafna and Lauren

This weekend

Adrian and his long-cycle swings

• Friday (today) there is a 6pm class.
• Tomorrow there will be a workout @ Foundation CrossFit at 12pm
  
• Sunday there will be RAINSTORM XX: Hot BBQ! @ Alki Beach at 12pm. It's suppossed to be at a comfortable 76°F!

Contact Andrew's phone or email info@foundationcrossfit.com for anything you need!

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Also this weekend is the anniversary of Bruce Lee's death and Seattle is honoring him. There will be plenty of free events at the Seattle Art Museum and in the I-District as well as some screenings of his classic film, Enter the Dragon.

Thanks to Tammy via The Seattle P.I.:

The weekend celebration will include a showing of "Enter the Dragon" and an exhibit of about 35 items, such as movie posters, from his acting career. On Sunday at 11:30 a.m., his family and supporters will hold a public graveside memorial at Lake View Cemetery.

More details here.

"Helen"

3 rounds for time:
400m run
21 kettlebell swings, 24kg
12 pullups

"Helen" was one of the first CrossFit Challenges. Coach Dave Werner of CrossFit Seattle (known as CrossFit North at the time) and Coach Glassman grabbed some kettlebells and headed out to a track. The actual conversation went like this:

Coach Glassman: "Yo D-Dawg, what we finna do today? What the workout gon' be?! I wanna watch a movie that starts in less than an hour so let's make this quick."
Coach Werner: "Daaaang G. Why you always tryin' to put pressure on a brothah?! Pshh. Let's make them run and do pullups." [starts pumping his arms]
Coach Glassman: "AYO! AND let's make 'em swing dem kettlebells!"
Coach Werner: "Word- and have 'em do it all the way over they domes! That'll really get them tired! Their heads are all gonna be flush from all the blood rushing to their heads!"
Coach Glassman: "Hahahaha... Yeah son, and let's make them do that over and over and over! But on the real, that movie starts pretty soon and you know how my girl Lauren is about being on time.."
Coach Werner: "I see you playa! Let's do it like this: one lap around the track, 21 swings and 12 pullups. Three-peated. I'ma pimp with the kettlebell!"
Coach Glassman: "Whatever you say mayne... 3-2-1 GO!"

"Helen" is composed of all three types of distinct modalities we focus on as CrossFitters: monostructural metabolic condition (aka "cardio"), weightlifting and gymnastics.

• Monostructual Metabolic Conditioning - aka "cardio". Works on cardiovascular-respitory endurance. It's an aerobic activity, meaning utilizes the oxidative energy (oxygen) pathway. In this workout, it's a simple 400 meter run.
• Weightlifting - Here you use your body to manipulate an external object. In this case it's a kettlebell and you're doing 21 swings.
• Gymnastics - Lastly, you finish out your round by doing 12 simple pullups. Although by the time you get to the pullups, your energy is shot.

So grab a kettlebell and a stopwatch and try for yourself. Sub-7:00 is the ultimate goal.

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Yesterday we had some challengers!

Jason the beast!

Adrian 13:06
Andrew 10:57
Brady 12:03
Grant 9:04
Gilles 10:11
Jason 10:23
Marc 11:11

Interview, Front Squats

Thanks to DJ Hyphen for putting us on. You can download/stream that entire show here.

Sunday Night Sound Session @ 10:45pm every Sunday on KUBE93 fm.

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Big congrats to Jose in doing his first CrossFit workout today!

The 20-rep squat: Andrew @ 190lbs

Heavy Front Squat
5-5-5-3-3-3-1-1-1

Sheena 45-65-75-95-95-100-105-110-115
Nate 45 - 65-75-95-115-125-135-140-150, 155 (miss)
Jason 45-75-95-115-135-45-160-170-185
Grant 45-65-85-115-135-145-160-170-185, 190

Then the finisher: one-minute squat jumps!

Sheena 40
Nate 33, 45lbs
Jason 38, 45lbs

Filthy

We had a great response from our feature on DJ Hyphen's show Sunday Night Sound Session last night. Big thanks to all those who listened live. For those who didn't you can download the entire show here. John and I will be back on the show. We have footage of the interview and we'll put it up in the future.

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"The Filthy Fifties"
for time:
50 box jumps, 20"
50 jumping pullups
50 kb swings, 16kg
50 walking lunges
50 knees-to-elbows
50 push presses, 45lbs
50 back ext. (we subbed Stiff Leg Deadlifts w/ 45lbs)
50 wall ball shots, 16lbs
50 burpees
50 double unders

Brady and Sheena swinging away

Sheena 37:56
Nate 33:45
Marc 27:45
John 23:57
Brady 36:41
Andrew 22:04

Hey! Personal Records for everyone! Awesome dudes.

RAINSTORM XIX: A Fight In the Park

Our last RAINSTORM was especially awesome because:

A.) we met at our old Greenlake spot on a beautiful day and took a lot of pictures!
B.) we had awesome guests: newcomers, members, and other seasoned CrossFitters!
C.) it was a heavily modified "Fight Gone Bad"
D.) the ones who hung out after the workout were treated to a sprinkler from an off-duty firetruck!

smiling and sweating in the sun

We had 20 people show up for a workout so we had to run multiple heats! Some heats had 6 stations instead of the normal five. Oops!

Wonderful jobs to Adrian 363, Andrea 393, Andrew 317, Christina 234, Craig 284, Dorian 229, Dwinson 285, Emilie 264, Gilles 320, Grant 336, Jason 282, Janice 341, Jeralee 417, Joe 420, John 381, Marc 279, Nick 270, PJ 285, Theresa 303, Tiff 390 and Travis 262.

every cooldown should be like this

You can view more pictures of this amazing event here by clicking here.

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NEXT RAINSTORM: Sunday, July 20th @ Alki Beach. Noon. RSVP Here. Be there.

Sunday Night Sound Session

Big thanks to DJ Hyphen for the shouts!

Foundation CrossFit is a gym on Lake City Way. We're a little "out of the box" with our workout methods- usually highly varied, short duration and high intensity. We take old school exercises (squats, deadlifts, pullups, dips) and use them in a new way. We also use kettlebells, dumbbells, barbells, rowing machines, gymnastics rings, etc.

We have free workout every Saturday. Email us at info@foundationcrossfit.com

Stay tuned and bookmark this page for updates.

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Pictures and results from yesterday's workout at Greenlake will be posted by tomorrow morning! Thanks for the patience!

Saturday's Workout

... is also a picnic!


Bring something to share on Saturday. I'll be bringing a big cooler to put stuff in.

RAINSTORM XIX: A FIGHT IN THE PARK
Saturday July 12th, 2008
12:00 pm
North end of Greenlake (west of the kid's pool)

Questions/comments/concerns?
email info@foundationcrossfit.com!

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"The Non-Negotiability of Perfection"
by Jon Gibson of Again Faster

is this a proper squat?

CrossFit is the pursuit of athletic perfection—performing difficult workouts with technical mastery under conditions of duress. We’re looking for flawless form with a jackhammering heart, bursting lungs, and battery acid-filled veins.

When this is accomplished with unyielding intensity, the result is nothing short of beautiful. When we fall short of the mark, the result is horrifying at best.

Athletes often set up a false dichotomy between perfect form and intensity, assuming that as one increases the other must necessarily fall. This idea is a thinly disguised excuse for athletic complacency. Rather than revisit proper technique through low-intensity, low-excitement skill work, the athlete chooses to pursue personal records with diminished form. The unstated reason for this choice: it’s easy on the ego to put up “good” WOD times. Taking a hit to your “Fran” time in order to perform perfect thrusters is not going to move you up the records board—at least not right away—and the blow to the ego is too much to bear.

[CONTINUED...]

ANGIE

First off I'd like to welcome Ryan, Brady, Marco, Heather and Linda to Foundation CrossFit. You all are amazing athletes and all did very well on your first CrossFit workouts!

RAINSTORM XIX this Saturday @ 12pm at the north end of Greenlake Park. BE THERE!

"ANGIE"
for time:
100 pullups
100 pushups
100 situps
100 squats

complete all reps of each exercise before moving to the next.

pullups suck: Adrian, Marc and Brady

Adrian 30:14 (PR!)
Andrew 14:29 (PR!)
Brady 35:18
Marc 19:48 (PR!)
Mike 28:57*
Sammee 27:09
Sheena 28:15

* Ripped two VERY deep calluses in the early stages of the pullups and finished with a bloodied hand

Eww.

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Preorders for t-shirts are being taken now! Prepay ($20!) and choose your size (adult S, M, L, and XL!) and color (black, red, green!) by the 18th!

The Jedi Gym

props to DJ Hyphen via KanYe

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A huge congratulations to Jordan Holland of Xplore CrossFit and Jesse Ward of Local's Gym. Both competed in the 2nd Annual CrossFit Games down in Aromas, CA. Great job representing Washington State. Who else is going to come down and compete with us (yes, I'll be there!) next year?!

That's right... ALL OF US!

Jordan doing a perfect rep in the thruster/pullup workout (with Coach Dave in the background)

Jesse performing some isometric chest work

Results for the 2nd Annual CrossFit Game can be found here.

Can you believe it?!

We've been in business for 6 months now!

our blank box.

look how white the walls were!

THANK YOU: Adrian, Andrew, Tammy, John, Boo Boo, Holly, Andrea, Joshua, Kristie, Grant, Mikey, Nate, Elizabeth, Dave, Jessie, Kwesi, Coach Dave, Nancy, Scott, Sean, Fran, Tom C., Tom, Jesse, John, Jordan, Derrick, Teddy, Pavel, Coach Burgener, Tony, Pat, Dave, Nicole, Tosh, Lisa, EC, Mike, Jimi, Mallee, Freddy, The Boz, Hanh, John, Dennis, Joe, Dom, Kathy, Kristina, Steve, Dan, Justin, JoAnn, Nick, Adrian, Marc, Dwinson, Sammee, Tiff, Sheena, Janelle, John, Dorian, Jed, Gabriel, Amy, Charlotte, Daniel, Maria, Marijo, Megan, Michael, William, Ann Marie, Stacie, Jason, Darcy, Laura, Melissa, Rachel, Jason, Tony, Dave, Mike, Shane, Dylan, Bridget, Gary, John, Marlon, Shelle, Laura, Gilles, Daria, PJ, Gemma, Ryan, Eric, Zach & ProBody/ECS, Feng, David, Danielle, Tony, David, Conor, Coy, Heather, Amber, Neha, Jason, David, Lauren, Brady, Marco, Ryan, Shane, Sam, Michelle, Timothy, Nathan, Amy, Megan, Mario, Michael, Buffi, Ken & Branded Solutions, ActivSpace N. Seattle, Ashmead College, our fellow WA State CrossFit affiliates and everyone else that I may have missed!!!

Thank you for your continued support and business!

Love,
FCF

RAINSTORM XVII, Street Scramble

FINALLY! We've got good enjoyable weather to workout in!

the warmup: tabata squats

5 rds for time:
200m run
15 swings
15 burpees

Coy 20:14, 24kg
David 17:25, 25lbs
Dorian 18:39, 25lbs
Grant 16:18, 20kg
Heather 21:20, 15lbs
Jason 16:44, 16kg
Joe 17:43, 16kg
Lauren 17:31, 25lbs
Marc 18:00, 16kg
Tony 16:36, 30lbs


We also captured some footage during the workout, so hopefully we'll have that posted up on our YouTube channel sooner than later.

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On the Fouth of July, Nate started a team for the Wallingford Street Scramble.

Jason, Nate, John, Elizabeth and Andrew

Jason mapped out where we went during our three-hour scavenger hunt! We'd better have a bigger team for next year!

Regarding This Saturday...

We will actually start our RAINSTORM at high noon instead of our normal 11:00am time. Sorry for any inconvenience- if there is any, feel free to come by Friday's workout at 6pm on me.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

- The Foundation CrossFit Family

ps
Congratulations to Coy! Today he got his first muscle-up!

The 2008 CrossFit Games

CrossFit has just released the 2008 Games Format and Rules.


They will be doing 3 workouts on Day 1 and one unannounced workout on Day 2. Participants are able to choose the order of the workouts as they please.

WORKOUT A
21-15-9 reps for time:
thrusters, 95 lbs men/ 65 women
pullups

Yes, it is Fran, but they are KNOCKING HARD on standards during the game, therefore, they are not calling it "Fran". From the Format for the 2008 CrossFit Games [PDF]:

"Each rep of the thruster will count only when full range of motion is achieved. The bottom limit is when your hip travels clearly below the top of your knee while the barbell is below the height of your chin. The top limit is when your hips and legs are fully extended with your arms fully locked out overhead. The barbell will be considered overhead when some portion of the ear is visible in front of the arm (when viewed from the side).


Each rep of the pull-up will count only when full range of motion is achieved. The bottom limit is your arms fully extended. The top limit will be when any part of your chest (from the clavicle down) physically touches the bar. Again, the rep will be considered complete only when your chest contacts the bar."


WORKOUT B
5 rds for time:
5 deadlifts, 275 lbs men/185 women
10 burpees

Again from the "Format" PDF:

"Each rep of the deadlift will only count when full range of motion is achieved. The bottom limit is when the barbell touches the ground with your hands in contact with the bar. The rep will not count if the barbell is dropped from any height. The top limit is when your hips and legs are fully extended with the front of your shoulder behind the barbell.


Each rep of the burpee will only count when full range of motion is achieved. The bottom limit is when your chest and thighs touch the ground. The top limit is when your hands clap overhead with your feet off the ground and your hips and legs fully extended. There is no height requirement on the jump, but the clap must occur while airborne. The clap is considered overhead when the arm crosses the plane of the ear (when viewed from the side). If the timing is missed, you may repeat the jump to complete the rep."


We're going to implement those standards now! After this weekend, we'll know the results of the Games as well! Stay posted to CrossFit.com for details!

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Great article from Pamela MacElree - "How Many Times Do I Have To Say It?"

The 4th of July

If you're free during the day, a bunch of FCF heads are participating in The Wallingford Street Scramble. Come by and have some fun getting lost in Wallingford while getting some gnarly tan lines.


And for the month of July, We'll be offering a 6pm Friday Class starting this Friday the 4th!

RAINSTORM THIS SATURDAY!!!