...even if you don't know it yet. So why not train like one? The functional requirements of Olympians, grandmas, and everyone in between differ only in degree, not in kind: everyone should be able to run, or jump, or pick something heavy up off the ground and put it overhead. To that end, CROSSFIT combines weightlifting, basic gymnastics, and high-intensity interval training into short, constantly-varied workouts that will transform both how people perceive you and how you perceive yourself.
Though capable of crushing the fittest of the fit, CROSSFIT is completely scalable, so that anyone, regardless of ability, can jump right in. It's simply a blast. More importantly, it works.
YOU ARE AN ATHLETE--but don't take our word for it. Let us help you find out for yourself.
Canadian Army CrossFit Exercises - (Go to the menus at the bottom of the page. Select "Combat Fitness Program" and then "Exercises." The third menu allows you to select from a wide variety of CrossFit exercises, with demos by Nicole Carroll and commentary by Greg Glassman. Invaluable!)
HQ's assigned 800m run repeats don't mix well with today's rain, so we're doing this instead:
"Don't Stop Believin'"
For time:
Row 4000m @ 2min/500m pace Within the next 16 min. hang clean 50% of your bodyweight 21 times Row 2000m @ 2min/500m pace Within the next 8 min. hang clean 50% of your bodyweight 18 times Row 1000m @ 2min/500m pace Within the next 4 min. hang clean 50% of your bodyweight 15 times Row 500m @ 2min/500m pace Within the next 2 min. hang clean 50% of your bodyweight 12 times Post time to comments.
Articles of note:
CrossFit is featured in this month's Muscle and Fitness...
Benefits of Weight Lifting. Lifting weights has several advantages over machines & body-weight exercises.
Accessible. Pull-ups & Dips force you to lift your own body-weight. Weight lifting is easier: start with an empty bar, increase the weight by 2.5kg/5lbs each workout. You'll get stronger as the weight increases.
Safe. Weight lifting is the safest sports. Machines are not safe: they force you into a fixed, unnatural movement pattern. Couple that with heavy weights & you risk injuries.
Really sorry guys! But we're still on schedule for the evening WOD classes at 6, 7 & 8 PM. See you then!
Our friend Major Henry Rogers down at the Pentagon doing our t-shirt proud. Oh, yeaaah! What About Caloric Restriction? (Robb Wolf)
Most people approach dieting as some kind of calorie restriction...typically low fat, high carb (as a percent of calories) and a hellish application of meal skipping. This is the prudent eating approach that dooms people to failure, stripping away muscle mass and generally reinforcing bad eating habits. By contrast if we get people changing the composition of their food towards the low-ish carb paleo direction we control insulin levels and by extension hunger. This is what Barry Sears talks about in the Zone...
In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute.The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. On call of "rotate", the athletes must move to next station immediately for best score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.
Headquarters is calling for a Max Effort day, but instead we'll introduce the Split variation of the Power Jerk movement you learned in the Core Curriculum, and then we'll practice, practice, practice with relatively light weights. Skill work afterwards: double-unders, handstand holds, l-sits, and more.
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...
Uh-oh, it's magic. Five magic fat loss tips from Josh Hillis:
1.) Sleep an extra hour per night. The hormonal response produced from getting the sleep that you really need, is truly magical.
2.) Eat breakfast. When you break your night long starvation and feed yourself with the food that you need, it boosts your metabolism.
3.) Keep a workout log. Track how often you are really getting in to the gym, and how much stronger you are really getting.
4.) Keep a food log. Track the number of meals that you eat each week that are unprocessed, whole food, and have protein. Track the number of meals you eat that are crap. Make sure you have good food at least 80% of the time. Ideally 90%.
5.) Repeat steps 1-4. They are the things you should be doing anyway. Magical results come from doing the basics correctly, and with consistency.
Did you hear the story about the guy who died doing CrossFit? It's true. He didn't go hard enough on "Helen" so his trainer killed him.
Huzzah! :) Come on, that's funny. Look, there are lots of rumors and untruths about CF flying about lately; we shouldn't be surprised, because anything that challenges peoples' preconceptions and habits is bound to arouse some fear and suspicion. It's a little irritating, but we can keep our sense of humor about it--we know what the facts are. So do the people who actually come in and train with us. Don't heed the hearsay. Come in and see for yourself.
Read more...
Bring your running shoes. If it doesn't rain, we can do this out behind the Paragon Building, on the Manhan trail. Check out OPT (James Fitzgerald) of CrossFit Calgary performing an incredible 6:59 Helen:
I was going to call this one "There Will Be Blood" (because the action sort of reminds me of drilling for and striking oil), but hey, there won't be, because Dynamax balls are plenty soft, even if one accidentally smacks you in the face.
"Daniel Day-Lewis" a.k.a. "Balls to the Wall"
For time:
100 medball clean-wallball-burpees
Just like it sounds: clean the 20lbs medicine ball, throw it at the 10' target, catch it, put it down, and do a burpee with your hands planted on it. Rinse. Repeat.
Chris "Problem Child" Moussa enjoys a moment of quiet repose after tearing up today's WOD.
CrossFit is an internet-based cult of fitness for psychos, itinerant preachers, ex-killers, and crazy people of all stripes. I have met some people who do CrossFit, and they are scarily in shape and also not at all fun to be around. All you have to do is complete the psycho workout routine posted online every day.
Breaking news: Our friend Rob from Crossfit NYC got his first muscle-up tonight! Hells yeah, Rob! Sean and I are claiming full credit; Well, you see, Rob came by to visit us on Friday and we couldn't have him leave without giving him something to remember us by:
If you cannot do the muscle-ups do 120 pull-ups and 120 dips. For time! Huzzah! But we'll amend it to something like 60 pull-ups and 60 dips if you do 30 self-assisted MUs.
Viriginia Heffernan has followed up her recent blog post about CrossFit with a two page article in this Sunday's NY Times Magazine.
CrossFit has 450 chapters in 43 states (and several other countries). The network has a message for the merely healthy: "Your workout is our warm-up." Every day, its members consult CrossFit.com like a Book of Common Prayer, receiving instructions for their workout rites and periods of rest. Performing caveman feats like hauling, clambering, trudging, snatching, hurling and deadlifting, CrossFitters deliberately overwhelm and distress their bodies, executing near-impossible stunts with as much weight as they can bear. A Workout of the Day, or W.O.D., might include 50 kettlebell swings, 3 800-yard dashes in rapid succession and 10 pull-ups. Then repeat. No breaks. No weight machines. All you need is a body built for discipline and a mind that can justify so much apparent self-abuse.
It seems she can't seem to make up her mind whether she admires CrossFit for its demanding nature, or condemns it for the same. Of course, it doesn't matter much either way, but...not to pick a nit, but wouldn't it be nice if, along with making disparaging remarks about how Crossfit calls for "caveman feats" and "circus strongman stunts," she also noted that the program is easily modified, depending on a given athlete's level of ability, to efforts as simple as hoisting a broomstick overhead?
To Virginia I say: don't be afraid. You've penned two articles about CrossFit now, with nary a word about your own, first-hand experience. I know the Black Box, CrossFit's Manhattan affiliate, has extended an open-ended invitation to you: please, before you smear us again, go try it out. See if the people you meet there are frothing-at-the-mouth cultists. I think you'll find instead a community of individuals who've discovered what a difference striving for athletic excellence makes, in every aspect of their lives.
Some great responses posted by readers:
To correct some misconceptions perpetuated here: Crossfit posts WODs, but also offers suggestions for how to scale each workout to your own fitness level. If you read the forum comments carefully, you'll notice that XFitters routinely make substitutions for the "prescribed" movements. Emphatically, XF is NOT a dangerous workout. I'm a mild-mannered middle school teacher by day, but at night I crossfit. I'm wary of any type of extreme sport. Heck, I don't even downhill ski anymore after tearing a knee ligament. And I quit my two-year practice of Ashtanga Yoga after an overly-aggressive instructor pushed me into a pose that caused a long-term hamstring injury. But I love to push myself *safely* to reach my physical limits in the gym, and nothing has worked better and kept me injury-free better than crossfit. And I never get bored; in fact, most days I can't wait to get to the gym! I am stronger and faster at 41 than I have ever been in a lifetime of athletic activity. (Thanks, Coach.) -- Posted by mirulhi
...Easter's on its way. In 30 minutes, complete as many rounds as you can of:
5 Medicine Ball Bunny Hops (with 20lbs medball) 5 L-Pull-ups 5 Medicine Ball Bunny Hops 10 Plyometric Medicine Ball Push-ups - 5 each arm 10 Medicine Ball Sit-ups 10 Medicine Ball Good Mornings
For time: 15 Handstand push-ups 1 L Pull-up 13 Handstand push-ups 3 L Pull-ups 11 Handstand push-ups 5 L Pull-ups 9 Handstand push-ups 7 L Pull-ups 7 Handstand push-ups 9 L Pull-ups 5 Handstand push-ups 11 L Pull-ups 3 Handstand push-ups 13 L Pull-ups 1 Handstand push-up 15 L Pull-ups
Post time to comments.
It is Good Friday so we could have other treats in store for you when you come in. Expect nothing but the unexpected here! No, not really. Just get here; get it done. Good times to be had!
We were really hoping tomorrow's weather would grace us with a nice dry day for some trail sprints but alas, we'll pound pavement another time. As a sub, we'll have you guys 1. Row 400 meters or 2. WOD a la surprise (find out when you come to class tomorrow).
In October, Mr. Perlow was in Denver on business for his day job as a systems integration expert. He fell ill, and what seemed like a case of altitude sickness turned into a three-day hospital visit. There he heard the grim truth: He was diabetic. He weighed more than 400 pounds, his blood pressure was dangerously high and his blood was thick with glucose and cholesterol.
A doctor told him he would be dead in five years.
"I wasn't shocked but I thought maybe it's time the party's over," he said.
In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute.The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. On call of "rotate", the athletes must move to next station immediately for best score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.
New York Times blog article: "Our Warm-Up Is Your Workout." It's hard to tell--the post is poorly written--but I think Virginia Heffernan honestly likes CrossFit.
Firemen Andy & Jon from the Florence Fire Department gettin' some this morning.
Read more...
Always nice to see CrossFit in the mainstream media: "Fatigued in 15 Minutes" Also of interest: "Mastering Failure" Kinda corny, but incredibly inspirational. Tony Robbins tells the story of how Sly Stallone overcame endless rejection and setbacks to make "Rocky":
Watch CrossFit superstar Eva T. totally drill this workout (with men's prescribed weight!) (wmv) (mov)
A couple of interesting articles:
The health-club culture tries to create a dependency on machines," says Vern Gambetta, a trainer with 38 years of experience training professional and recreational athletes, and the author of Athletic Development: The Art & Science of Functional Sports Conditioning. "If you have a limited amount of time to work out, you're better off ditching the machine to do different kinds of body-weight and whole-body exercises. You'll get more caloric burn for your time spent." Critics also charge that a traditional machine-centric regimen has other downfalls. In general, it relies excessively on the discipline of the exerciser, it promotes training muscles in isolation (as opposed to how muscles really work, in a chain of movement), and it can stress vulnerable joints more than is necessary. At issue is not only the very meat and potatoes of how you work out' but also the best way to get the most out of your time in the gym..."
People don't think much about the health of their neck — at least not until they hit their 40s and 50s, and realize that they've woken up with numbness and non-functioning muscles in their arms because they've blown a disc... 5 Common Technique Mistakes: How Little Problems Add Up
Thought-provoking stuff, especially the criticisms of cervical hyperextension. I'm guilty of this, you're guilty of this, practically every CrossFitter in every demo video is, too. In a perfect world, intensity wouldn't compromise technique, but here in the real world, it does. What's the correct balance? How much risk is acceptable?
Read more...
For time: 115 pound Thruster, 21 reps 15 ft Rope Climb, 12 ascents 115 pound Thruster, 15 reps 15 ft Rope Climb, 9 ascents 115 pound Thruster, 9 reps 15 ft Rope Climb, 6 ascents
Post time to comments.
The prescribed substitute exercise for a 15' rope climb is 15 towel pull-ups. (12*15) + (9*15) + (6*15) = 405. Gulp. Prepare to scale the heck out of this one.
HQ is calling for a 5k run today, but then, HQ is in Prescott, AZ (where the Glassmans now reside), and not the still-frigid Northeast. In a month or so (when the snow's all gone, and it's no longer below freezing outside) we'll be doing some nice long runs on the Manhan rail trail. In the meantime we'll keep inside, all nice and toasty warm, for some metcon fun. Metcon fun that simulates running up a mountain with a fully loaded pack, that is.
"Into Thin Air"
Burpee Clean 50lbs sandbag, shoulder it Step-up left on 18" box, step down Step up right
Repeat 75 times for time. Alternate shoulder sides for bag carry. Post time to comments.
For those of you who'd prefer a taste of home-brewed metcon, we've got something saucy cooked up.
And here's what the noon class got!
"War Canoe"
3 rounds @ 5 different stations
Row 250m -- this is the pace setter. As each person takes a turn rowing, everyone else is trying to get as many reps as they can of: Wall Balls Ring Rows w/feet on box Burpees Knees to Elbows
At completion of row, everyone rotates to next station, FGB-style. Row is not for points, but row as hard as you can to minimize the time your competitors have to complete reps. No breaks.
(Tip o' the hat to CrossFit NYC's "Man Overboard" for inspiration)
...our legendary (or at least it deserves to be) recipe for Muscle Milk ice cream. I might as well just quote from my post on the CrossFit messageboard:
In my house, we LOVE LOVE LOVE ice cream. But we'd been having some trouble reconciling our lust for ben & jerry's with our zone diet aspirations. the solution: homemade, muscle milk-based ice cream. it's really easy to make, absolutely delicious, and, if my calculations are correct, far more zone-friendly than regular ice cream.
Directions: Mix one pint of half-and-half and 2 scoops of muscle milk (we used chocolate milk flavor) in a sauce pan in a separate bowl, beat 2 eggs bring just to a boil, remove saucepan from heat pour 1/3 heated base into beaten eggs and mix completely pour back into saucepan simmer and stir until the base coats the spoon pour into pyrex dish and chill in freezer after 45 minutes, remove from freezer and stir until smooth pop it back into the freezer and chill for another 1-2 hours, stirring it smooth every half hour or so
makes about a pint.
here's how it breaks down nutritionally: 1 serving = 1/2 cup fat: 19g carb: 5.5g protein: 15g
here's how it stacks up against ben & jerry's chocolate fudge brownie: 1 serving = 1/2 cup fat: 13g carb: 30g protein: 4g
the half-and-half might seem a little rich, but we tried it with regular milk and it was just a bit too icy. hand-stirred, it won't be quite as smooth as machine-made ice cream; it's almost like gelato. but it's goooooood, especially if you serve it over some fresh berries. let me know if you come up with any improvements.
Pioneer Valley CrossFit t-shirts now available, only $20 in sizes S, M, L. Click the Paypal button to place to your order. Also of interest: Wikipedia's article on Fair Use and Parody. (To quote Max Fisher in Rushmore: "What are you, a lawyer?")
From the CF comments page:
I apologize for changing the subject off of the integrity thing, but what the hay is crossfit cool-aid? I don't want to assume that it's just cool-aid. So what the hay is it?
Comment #56 - Posted by: Shawn C at February 21, 2006 7:29 AM
Shawn C (#56):
Kool-Aid is an insiders' joke. "Drinking the Kool-Aid" is a slang expression for fanatical devotion to a cult (which some accuse CrossFit of being). We (mostly) take it in stride, and poke fun of the idea.
Google "Jonestown" if you want to know the origins of the slang.
Comment #61 - Posted by: davidjwood at February 21, 2006 8:20 AM
Nautilus and similar machines may have democratized strength training in the past quarter-century, making it a more accessible and less threatening pursuit. But there has been a gradual recognition that the same ease of use can also limit the outcome. Complexity - whether in the form of unstable surfaces that challenge balance during exercise, or dynamic movements that involve more of the body - can produce a variety of benefits. It strengthens the core muscles of the abdomen and back, helping lessen the need for a separate abdominal routine, and burns more calories than conventional weight lifting.
