Steve!

“Cheers”
Back Squat 10-8-6-4-2
Strict Press 10-8-6-4-2
Deadlift 10-8-6-4-2

WOD Guidance:
Today we have three lifts that pop up in CrossFit over and over. If we were taking one-rep maxes in these lifts, they would actually comprise a benchmark workout called the CrossFit Total. The big commonality between all three lifts here is the necessity to breath and brace before each movement. Entire exercise science papers have been written on this subject, but if I had to summarize the basics of breathing and bracing I would boil it down to these points:

1. Breathe before the movement, not during.
2. Breathe in through both your nose and your mouth at the same time.
3. Take a medium-sized breath, not the largest one you can.
4. Lock that breath down in your torso by sticking your tongue to the roof of your mouth and pulling your ribs down towards your hip bones.
5. Continue to hold your breath in that position until the most difficult part of the movement is completed.

QOD:
What’s a popular TV show that you refuse to watch?

Diane!

WOD Guidance:
For the second week in a row, we have a workout that bears some similarities to the workout “Heartbreak Kid” from CrossFit New England. This one has two of the three movements that we see in that workout, but no barbell. For most of us, these are both very high-skill movements. The chest-to-bar involves a big powerful kip, similar to a bar muscle-up. Look for your coach to give you a scaling option that involves kipping today. Even if you’re usually a ring row athlete, it’s a good idea today to get up on the bar and try at least a few kip swings. For our double-under, we want to pick an option that’s going to give us as few failed reps as possible. One thing that I’ve talked about with athletes who are very new to double-unders is stopping their set before they hit failure. If I have an athlete who continually hits failure at ten double-unders, I may reduce the number each round to 15 or 20 rather than 60 (in this case) and have them work in sets of 5 double-under at a time. This will help to build capacity while not ingraining the bad habits that come with missing reps.

Fatima is locked in for a new week!

“The Blitz”
50-40-30-20-10
Wall Balls @ 20/14
Burpees

WOD Guidance:
This is a classic TILT workout to start the week. We have a down ladder of wall balls and burpees that’s going to net us 150 total reps of each movement. This should be a longer workout: we’re going to expect to see most people outside of 20 minutes. However, we don’t want to see anyone push much past 30. With that in mind, we can scale in one of two ways: 1) Reduce the numbers on both movements to something along the lines of 40-30-20-10-5. In doing this we bring the total reps of this workout down to 105 for both movements, making it much more manageable. 2) We can cut the burpees in half and do 25-20-15-10-5. This is an especially good option for bigger athletes who have the strength to do wall balls for days, but will struggle with a high volume of burpees. 

QOD:
What’s your favorite war movie?

King of The Mountain 24 Hour Event – Saturday September 10th @ 9am at Mount Abram – Click HERE for details.

Nicole!

“Sunday Funday”
For time
2000m Row
30 Bench Presses @115/80
1000m Row
20 Bench Presses @135/95
500m Row
10 Bench Presses@155/105

WOD Guidance:
Today we have a steady day that’s all about picking the right weights on the bench presses. We’re looking to be able to complete each round of bench press in 2-3 sets. Our first round of bench might be 12-10-8, our second 8-7-5 and our third 5-5 or 4-3-3. Your speed on the row is going to depend on your bench press ability. If you’re a bench press beast, then you should row fast knowing that the bench won’t be a problem even if you’re a little out of breath. If the bench press is more challenging for you, you’ll want to row more slowly and save your energy for the portion of the workout that you’ll struggle with the most.

Blair!

“Gallipoli”
For Time:
1 mile Run
21 Power Cleans
15 Thrusters
800m Run
15 Power Cleans
12 Thrusters
400m Run
9 Power Cleans
9 Thrusters
135/95

WOD Guidance:
Today we have a barbell workout with lots of running in between. If we scale and modify this workout correctly, we’ll be spending more time outside on the run than inside on our barbell. Today we’re going to be more limited by our thruster than our power clean. 135/95 is likely the heaviest thruster we’ll see in the context of a workout. Our thruster weight should be something where we could do 10 reps unbroken if we were fresh, but inside the workout let’s try to stick to sets of 5. For our power cleans the weight will likely be light enough that we could do sets if we wanted to, but the better strategy will be to fins a sustainable pace with quick singles throughout the workout.

QOD:
What historical event doesn’t get covered thoroughly enough in school?

Danny!

“Nurse Ratchet”
30 Strict Muscle Ups

WOD Guidance:
Our workout today is a gymnastics day that’s going to test our upper body pulling and pressing strength. There’s a good argument to be made that while fewer people can do strict muscle-ups than kipping, kipping muscle-ups are actually higher skill than strict ones. This is because when we do a kipping muscle-up we have to coordinate the movements of our upper and lower bodies whereas when we do strict muscle ups we only have to worry about our upper bodies. Today your big focus is likely going to be using a false grip. A false grip is a gymnastics technique that places your wrist on top of the ring when you’re hanging underneath it. This grip is a necessity for strict muscle-ups, because due to the slow nature of the movement we’ll be unable to transition our hands around the rings. If you’ve never attempted a false grip before just be aware that it can be hard on the underside of your wrists, so wearing sweatbands to protect that area may be advisable. 

QOD:
What’s a book you read for school that you actually enjoyed?

Denise!

“Stuck on You”
3 rounds of
15 Hang Squat Snatches @ 95/65
30 Sit-ups
60 Double Unders

WOD Guidance:
Today we have a fast workout that’s set up similar to the CFNE benchmark Heartbreak Kid. Our hang squat snatch weight should be something that we could do for 10+ reps unbroken if we were fresh but inside the workout we’ll probably be sticking to sets of 5 the entire time. Our jump rope should take us no longer than 45 seconds per round. Expect your coach to go through a double-under skill session as well as a couple of weight jumps on the snatches, as this is a shorter workout so there will be ample time to teach both high-skill movements in depth. Overall this workout should take us 10-15 minutes today with the possibility of some athletes pushing for sub 10.

QOD:
What’s the worst movie you saw in the last year?

Binita!

WOD Guidance:

Today we have a team workout that’s characterized by sprints and recoveries. We’re looking for each round to take us between 2 and 2 1/2 minutes, with no more than 1:15 each on each element. Because the rounds are so short, that’s not a lot of pacing that needs to go on during this workout. Rather, we should push the pace on every round and try to hang on to that sprint pace as hard as possible. 

QOD:
What’s the last body of water you swam in, not a pool?

King of The Mountain 24 Hour Event – Saturday September 10th @ 9am at Mount Abram – Click HERE for details.

Lara!

WOD Guidance:
Our workout today is a two parter that’s all deadlifts, all the time. In the past I’ve written about doing deadlifts in the strength portion with a stop at the bottom, a controlled lowering phase, or both. Expect your coach to give you one of these options today for the strength portion. Whenever we have a heavy lift in class, we want to remember that we don’t build strength by lifting the heaviest weight possible, we build strength by lifting moderately heavy weight with perfect technique. Therefore, go in to this workout with the goal of lifting well, rather than hitting a specific load. For our WOD today, we’re looking to pick a weight that we could do for 21+ reps unbroken if we were fresh. Inside the workout, it’s okay if we take one break each on our sets of 21 and 15. On our burpees we should think about staying low like a fitness panther as we jump over the bar, so that we can cycle our burpees faster and hit the correct stimulus for the workout.

QOD:
What’s your favorite outdoor chore?

Fist Bumps to your Friends!

“El Cap”
AMRAP 20
4 Bar Muscle Ups
8 DB/KB Strict Press or Barbell Strict Press
16 Kettlebell Swings @ 53/35

WOD Guidance:
Today our workout is all shoulders, and it’s a lot of pulling and grip work. We want to pick an option on the bar muscle-up that’s our hardest version of a pull-up. Given the low number of reps it’s okay to be down to singles, but we don’t want to be missing reps on the gymnastics today. We want to pick a weight on our strict presses and kettlebell swings that allow us to work with no more than one break, even when we’re tired. The name of the game today is managing shoulder fatigue. We all know that it’s possible to hit a “point of no return” where our shoulders become so fatigued that we have to slow down exponentially. We can avoid this by taking breaks before we become fatigued. Even if you feel great, I would recommend taking one break each on the presses and the swings every round, starting with round 1.

QOD:
What’s your favorite documentary?