In your honor

Happy Memorial Day!

What better way to celebrate than by doing a CrossFit Hero workout?


"MURPH"
for time:
1 mile run
100 pullups
200 pushups
300 squats
1 mile run

Partition the pullups, pushups and squats as needed. If you have a weighted vest WEAR IT!

The AM crew: Elizabeth, Nate, Feng, Grant and Gilles

Andrea 52:40
Andrew 63:03 w/ 25lbs body armor
Dorian 55:07
Elizabeth 64:17
Feng 36:46
Gilles 71:19
Grant 46:21
John 65:30 w/ 20lbs backpack
Nate 56:23

*plenty of notes in comments

The body armor and the backpack wearers

Ripped early!

Great job everyone, especially Feng our visitor from Michigan! The PM crew went to the Ram afterward for twenty pints of beer! Just kidding- we were waay to tired to drink.

See you all during the week and for our RAINSTORM XV: Wet T-Shirt Contest this weekend!

Dopplewalk!

Today's RAINSTORM was run by John, our one and only "Trainer-at-Large"! He came up with this fun little ditty:

2 teams with one person working at a time, for time:

200 pullups
250 pushups
250 box jumps
125 med ball "thrust & throw", 20 lbs
800m run where one person must be carried the entire duration

Team Awesome (Adrian, Dorian, Elizabeth, Marc and Mike)
23:45

Team Badass (Andrea, Andrew, Gilles, Nate and Nick)
23:52

Team Awesome won by 7 seconds and tore themselves up in the process. Every one of them was injured (3 falls, 3 rips and plenty of skin ripped off) by the end of the event! That's giving 100%, folks.

Pictures of the aftermath coming soon...

Machines are cheap and easy.

Figuratively speaking.


"Machine training is often hyped as the thing to do for beginners because free weights are harder to control. The novice beginner must be taught from a base of mobility to progress to stability, just as an infant learns to stand by moving, staggering and exploring the environment"

FIGHTSTORM 2

Boo Boo said we're doing Fight Gone Bad!

From the CrossFit FAQ:

In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. We've used this in 3 and 5 round versions. The stations are:

1. Wall-ball: 20 pound ball, 10 ft target. (Reps)


2. Sumo deadlift high-pull: 75 pounds (Reps)


3. Box Jump: 20" box (Reps)


4. Push-press: 75 pounds (Reps)


5. Row: calories (Calories)

The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. On call of "rotate," the athlete/s must move to next station immediately for good score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.

Andrew 283
Dorian 253
Gemma 198
Justin 280
Marc 216
PJ 194
Ryan 320

We finished up with sandbag carry sprints around the building. Awesome jobs to both first-time CrossFitters Gemma and Ryan! Welcome to the family!

Check the previous FGB/Fightstorm results here.

Here's a hint!

Find as many WA state CrossFitters as possible in this video. There are six.

Drive!

"You’ve got to drive the body to the last inch of energy then go on! You gain nothing by just going up to where your body says you’re tired. The body will build and grow only to fit the demands the mind makes upon the lazy body. If all you do is exercise until the body is tired, the body will get lazy and stop a bit shorter every time. You must go to the point of exhaustion, then go on. That way the body figures out, “We’ve got to build up more strength if that crazy mind is going to drive this hard!” If you always quit when you are merely tired, you will never gain. Once you let the body tell the mind when to quit, you are whipped for sure. You can not gain by listening to the body. We can become much stronger if we drive the body. We use about one-tenth of the available strength of our bodies and less than that of our minds."

- General George Patton

RIPPED!

chalk and tape don't do enough

30 muscle-ups for time:

Marc 10:00
Dwinson 9:58
Andrew 5:52

RAINSTORM XII: ¡Mucho Fuerte!

Bottom-to-bottom Tabata squats

THEN

as far as you can get in 20 minutes:

100m sprint
25 burpees
30 pullups
40 situps
50 kb swings - choose weight
60 sec L-sit
70 pushups (MV, NS, DB)
800m run (NA, MD)
90 sec active hang (DN, PB)
100 box jumps (DC, JN)
Waiter's walk uphill - use kb weight

our 800m is awesome because it's uphill

Warm welcome to newcomers Darcy and PJ! Hope you ladies had a lot of fun. We'll see both of you more often, yes? Great job to all the other dudes!

la gente

If you didn't come out this week TRY IT ON YOUR OWN!

Yay updates!

Come by Saturday @ 11am for our free weekly RAINSTORM workout. We're going to Gordito's on 85th and Greenwood for lunch afterwards! Have you tried their infant-sized grande burrito yet? It's amazing. Don't forget to bring your luchadore mask because the WOD will have us wrestle... with weights that is!


Tammy and Adrian are going on vacay soon. Boo. [not to be confused with Boo Boo]

We are going to test out the 'open gym' format next week, SO PLAN TO SHOW UP. I'll update everyone again as to the specific details, but know now that it's heading your way. If it sticks, we'll keep it!

Check your emails for the rest. Wanna be added to our super duper, fitness-erific, hot off the press (but not), non-spam mailing list?! info@foundationcrossfit.com

The weather is slowly, but surely, getting better. Time to play outside!

PEACE

Open your hips!

Daniel, Marc, Amy, Adrian, John and Jessie

Along with the practice and performance of the "explosive hip" exercises- cleans, snatches, push presses, push jerks, kipping pullups, kettlebell swings, etc- you also need to open them up constantly by stretching those muscles that allow those actions frequently. Samson stretches and other hip and pelvis stretches will help you in range of motion and recovery of your iliopsoas, psoas major and minor, iliacus, piriformis, and posterior chain muscles (hamstrings, glutes, and erector spinae).


Some of you may have learned these already!

Article with Videos: 7 Dynamic Stretches to Improve Hip Mobility

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Results from the CFT @ Local's!

It was Adrian's idea!

Not mine.

"NATE KILLER"
5 rds for time:
10 hang power cleans
20 pullups
30 kb swings

Adrian 24:22 (135lbs, 20kg)
Nate 25:32 (65lbs, 16kg)

Nice work fellas. Nate- did it do the job?

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Went heavy overhead today.

Press
6-6-3-3-1-1

Sammee 45-45-50-50-55-60
Mikey 75-75-70-75-80-90 (first two sets needed work on form)

Great job! Make sure you've got your eyes set on a good goal. Refer to this Strength Standards chart [PDF] for all your 1RM lifts.

CrossFit Total Meet @ Local's Gym this Saturday at 1pm!

Our Mikey

Continues to be our "best workout face" champion [click to embiggen!]:

Example A:

Example B:

Example C:

Example D:
Example E:

As he reigns as champion, I will continually put up pictures of Mr. Vu's workout faces.

RAINSTORM XI

Finally Washington is having some springtime weather. A big welcome goes out to Jason- thanks for stopping by!

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes:
6 kb swings
4 broad jump burpees
2 laps around the building

Tammy 8 + 6, 4, 1
Nick 7
Jason 10 + 6, 4, 1
Dorian 9 + 6
Andrew 9
Adrian 9 + 6, 4, 1

Great job everyone! Remember- no RAINSTORM next week because of the CrossFit Total Meet at Local's Gym!

BE THERE!

Don't try this at home (or in public)

Chain Surfing - My oh my, how good is this guy's sense of balance?!

CrossFit puts balance in the 10 General Physical skills and defines it as "The ability to control the placement of the bodies center of gravity in relation to its support base." So whether it be holding the top position of a press (GOOD!), standing on one foot with your eyes closed (BAD) or standing on a bosu or swill ball (UGLY!) your body is constantly looking for it's center of gravity. One of the best examples of elite balance is the handstand. Try it. It also develops your proprioception, or the ability to sense the position, location, movement and orientation of the body and its parts.

An easy proprioception test:

• Stand shoulder-width apart with your arms wide open so that your body looks like a cross from the front.
  
• Close your eyes and tilt your head up so that you'd be looking at the ceiling.
• Without opening your eyes, take your non-dominant hand and touch the tip of your nose.
• Try it again with your dominant hand.

Could you do it on the first try?

"PULL!"

That's one of the cues I'm constantly yelling to athletes doing Christine which is a fantastic WOD. She takes three types of posterior chain movements: rowing, deadlifts (aka "clean pulls") and jumps. This is how I see the breakdown:

• Rowing is performed by aggressively pressing your heels down, opening the hips and straightening the back from an almost fetal position repeatedly to complete your assigned distance. Because it uses a number of major muscle groups in a rhythmic fashion it is oxidative, or aerobic.
  
• Deadlifting requires an identical movement (with exceptions), but because you are dealing with heavier loads and have less duration during the exercise you are now using the phosphagen energy pathway, which leaves your muscles feeling weaker lifting the heavier load repeatedly.
• Box Jumps find a happy middle ground with the glycolytic energy pathway. Yes, you are doing explosive work but it's "easier" to do higher repetitions. With an explosive snap of the hips with major assistance from the legs and posterior chain, you start from the ground and end up 20" or so flat-footed on a higher surface

Combine all three of these movements and you have some work ahead of you. Watch a video here [Windows Media Player]

Nate in his starting position

"CHRISTINE"
3 rds for time:
500m row
12 deadlifts, BW
21 box jumps, 20"

Nate 15:37*
Tammy 14:50*

Change!

We have changed our schedule. Most members already know what's up- we're just putting it up in better terms for everyone else. See it all here on the Schedule & Prices page!

Also, Saturday is our last RAINSTORM for April! The following weekend (Saturday 05/03) will be the CrossFit Total Meet at Local's Gym in Lynnwood. So make sure you head out, regardless of the weather, because good times are to be had.

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Daria and Gilles running around the corner

Big congrats to Gilles, Daria, Sammee, Adrian H., Nick, Adrian D., Tammy, Nate, and Andrew for all their hard work today! Rowing, snatching, sprinting and back squatting are no easy feats!

And another big thanks to Jesse over at Local's for an awesome workout this past weekend!

DOMS

Make sure you stretch multiple times daily! Stretching "sessions" aren't necessary, but make sure you get in some stretches throughout your day. If you're at work, take a couple of seconds to open up those hips, do some squats, throw your arms for some dynamic stretches (chest, shoulders), etc. It's important to keep moving even when you get that soreness a day or two after a workout.

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) mean you've built some muscle. Think of a getting a new broom. The bristles are new and stiff but after time and use, it becomes flexible and works well. Same thing goes for your body. That soreness is you breaking your new "bristles" in.

KEEP MOVING!

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7 Random Objects Sold As Exercise Machines

"Any idiot can build a better mousetrap, but it takes a special kind of individual, a genius if you will, to look at the existing mousetrap and figure out semi-plausible ways in which it could be used as an all-purpose exercise system."


[Read more.]

No RAINSTORM this weekend

We'll be up at Local's Gym playing Hooverball! We'll return to our normally scheduled week, uhh, next week!

Also happening this weekend: The Seattle Healthy Living Expo. Maybe all the WA CrossFits should start attending these kinds of events and show everyone up.

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Jon puts the bar overhead

Midline stabilization is essential to properly pressing something overhead. Without a strong foundation, buildings are weak if not already broken. It's the same with your body! Too many times in a "big box" gym you'll see dudes doing seated shoulder presses. Yeah, they might put up some impressive weights, but it's with crap range of motion and no midline stabilization aka "core strength". If you really want to better your body and gain real strength try standing and using a barbell (NO SMITH MACHINES). Go light until you're form is correct. Abs, glutes, hips, and low back contracted throughout. At the top of the movement the barbell, your elbows, ears, shoulder, hips, knees, and heels should be aligned. Try this workout:

7 rounds for time:
12 (strict) presses, 95lbs
21 situps

See how you feel the next couple of days!

NEW WORKOUTS?!

for time:
30 bear complexes, using your wife as the weight.



*note: Foundation CrossFit does not advise you to do this workout more than once. Dropping your wife is dangerous and risks the following (but is not limited to): her health, your marriage, your sanity, the children (if any), that big bed you have, your car, as well as all of your other prized possessions. And let's not forget that bank account.

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So if you've haven't heard already, CrossFit HQ posted up a new WOD yesterday

"Quarter Gone Bad"
5 rounds for total reps:

15 seconds of thrusters, 135#
45 seconds Rest
15 seconds of weighted pullups, 50#
45 seconds Rest
15 seconds of burpees
45 seconds Rest

Hmm. Dwinson was our guinea pig! We subbed weight for the obvious intimidation factor. His score was 71. We'll see how this one ages.

RAINSTORM X: Electric Boogaloo

Again this Saturday we're inviting EVERYONE out to our free weekly workout! We're gonna do this ... with kettlebells!



Come dressed in red and black- don't forget your berets! Although the forecasts say we'll see some sun, we know that WA has been a bit unpredictable, so bring the necessary warmups. WE HAVE MOVED THE TIME UP TO 11 AM! TAKE NOTE AND SHOW UP EARLY!

By the way, we're canceling next week's RAINSTORM in favor of Lynnwood Crossfit's Surrender Your Sweat Saturday!

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The Dalai Lama is here in Seattle for the weekend!

His presentation will be broadcast on Kong 6/16 @ 1:30pm