WOD - 02/01/10

Skill:
Weakness: 10 minutes

Strength:
Front Squat @ 40X3; 4-6 reps; 4 sets; rest 120 seconds
DB Shoulder Press 3x5 @ 75%

Metcon:
AMRAP in 3 Minutes of:
3 Burpee Pull-up
7 Squats

Finisher:
3x25 GHD Sit-up / Back Extension

If possible, choose different weakness from last week; strict tempo and rest intervals on front squats; for metcon, chest to deck on burpees, chin over bar on pull-up, full depth on squat and hips completely open at top; finish with GHD work

WOD - 01/29/10

Skill:
Olympic lifting technique

Strength:
Power Snatch + Snatch Balance + OHS x 5 sets @ 65%
Clean Pull 4x3 @ 90% of clean
Push-up @ 41X1; 4-6 reps; 5 sets; rest 90 seconds

Finisher:
3x15 KB/DB sidebends superset with 3x8 Good Mornings

Do not rush through Oly sets, take time to feel each movement individually and focus on technique; tempo for push-ups should be understood now; finish with sidebends + good mornings

**I will be in California for the next few days. I will not be back until Tuesday. I apologize for not being at the gym, but I am attending two very informative seminars that I hope will be beneficial to our goals here.**

WOD - 01/28/10

Skill:
Wall Ball Technique & Standards

Metcon 1:
Muscle-up ladder on the minute for 10 minutes

Men: Sub 2 strict pull-up, 2 strict ring dips
Girls: Sub 1 strict pull-up, 1 strict bar dip

Rest 3 minutes

Metcon 2:
Tabata Wall Ball; rest 3 minutes

Finisher:
GHD Sit-ups @ 2010; 15 x 3; rest 30 sec

For MU ladder, perform 1 muscle-up the first minute, two muscle-ups the second minute, three muscle-ups the third minute, etc; continue until you fail to complete the prescribed muscle-ups within the minute; for subs men will perform 2 pull-ups and 2 ring dips first minute, 4 pull-ups and 4 ring dips second minute, etc; rest 3 minutes then perform tabata wall balls - hips must pass below parallel, ball must go visibly OVER the line for it to count; rest three minutes, finish with GHD sit-ups

WOD - 01/27/10

Skill:
Double-unders: 5-7 minutes

Strength:
Back Squat 3x5 @ 78%
Deadlift 3x3 @ 85%

Metcon:
5 Rounds:
AMRAP Double-unders in 30 seconds
Rest 30 seconds

Finisher:
3x15 DB Sidebend (add weight from last week)
Superset with:
3x10 Toes To Bar
Rest 90 seconds

Keep rest intervals during squats shorter than 3 minutes, rest at least 3 minutes between deadlift sets; metcon should last four minutes and thirty seconds; finish with core work

What Am I Doing?

I understand some of you may be curious what my aims are with my programming and rightly so. Some of you could care less and will just do whatever workout is posted. Both are fine. But for those interested/curious/skeptical, I feel obligated to give you a brief overview of my thoughts on programming for this project.

While the stuff coming from CrossFit.com appears totally random (excuse me, IS totally random), I'm a firm believer that variance, while fun and sometimes effective, is not the best way to attain one's goals, especially if there is a specific goal in mind. So rather than throw together a slew of idiotic workouts, I've put a lot of thought in all of this (sometimes too much). Regardless, I am no expert and this is my first time programming for an entire group of people, so bear with me.

Before you read any further, I stand firmly by Greg Everett's quote: "Of course, this is all speculation and because CrossFit is by design unpredictable, there’s always a chance we could be, come game day, totally fucked."


Immediate Goals:
1) Strength Development - Of all characteristics of fitness, strength is easily the most transferable to everything else. We want to build a bigger engine.
2) Skill Development - Improving on the necessary skills CrossFit utilizes (double-unders, ring work, HSPU, wall balls) is obviously essential if one wishes to excel in the "sport" of CrossFit.
3) Olympic Lifting Proficiency - Easily the most technical aspect of CrossFit. It will simultaneously improve strength, power, focus, flexibility, and even mental toughness. In other words, it takes guts to drop your ass under a crapload of weight.
4) Metabolic Conditioning - The majority of CrossFit WODs fall into this realm. We will be addressing this lightly at first and increasing frequency as Regionals approach. Again, the stronger you are, the easier metcon work is.

Tentative Program Schedule:
02/08 - 03/07: Olympic Lifting Phase
03/08 - 04/10: Strength Endurance / Power Endurance Phase
04/11: Team Tryout
04/12 - 05/02: Continue SE/PE Phase, incorporating more team-based workouts
05/03 - 05/07: Taper Week
05/08 - 05/09: Regionals

OL Phase: Metcons will be sparse through this segment, likely no more than two per week. This phase will be geared towards strength increases and the proper development of technique.

SE/PE Phase: In this phase we will begin adding significantly more metcon work. Strength will still be an essential component, but it will not be the principle aspect. Metcons will range different time domains and energy pathways. For instance, you may do max thrusters in 90 seconds, rest 2 minutes, and quickly do an AMRAP in 15 minutes. Other days, we may have a 35 minute ball-buster. The goal is to increase metabolic capacity and, really, build mental toughness.

Taper Week: We will decrease our workload before Regionals to ensure proper recovery and maximum potential/power output i.e. we're trying to "peak" come Regionals.


Well, that's the basic essence of it. If anyone has any questions, just ask. If you're genuinely uninterested in any of this, then please just ignore this post. I basically just wanted to make sure everyone knew I wasn't using a Jump To Conclusions Mat to figure all of this out...

WOD - 01/26/10

Skill:
Weakness: 15 minutes

Strength:
Snatch Balance: 6x2 @ 60%; rest 2 minutes

Metcon:
Sprints:
1x800m, rest 180 seconds
2x400m, rest 180 seconds
5x100m, rest 90 seconds

**As per a suggestion from ODB, someone far more versed in the track & field arena than myself, we're switching the order of the sprints. We'll begin with a single 800m (long lap), rest three minutes, then two 400m (1st and back), resting three minutes between each, and finish with five 100m (Kirby and back), resting 90 seconds between each. Dress warm. Sorry to the morning guys who ran it as originally written...

Finisher:
Max Push-ups in 60 seconds
Stretch!

Pick what you feel is your biggest weakness; go hard on the sprints - no pacing; push-up form must be strict - chest to deck, elbows locked out at top - failure to maintain strict form and the set will be terminated; finish with long stretch

WOD - 01/25/10

Skill:
Men: Muscle-ups / Ring Dips - 5 minutes
Women: Ring Dips / Ring Rows - 5 minutes

Both: Clean & jerk technique: 5-7 minutes

Strength:
Clean & Jerk: Find 1RM



Finisher:
Planks 1:00 front/side/side, 1:00 rest between

Use the ring work as more of a skill warm-up to avoid burning out before clean & jerks; notice Suleymanuglu's absurd lift (418# at a bodyweight of 132#): bar stays close to body throughout pull, actively pulls under the bar, fast elbows, slight dip on jerk before pressing himself under the bar fast