When I was just a fledgling CrossFitter, I was absolutely mesmerized by awesome it was – with one exception – I hated it when my hands ripped.  It was painful to shower, uncomfortable to see patients with either 4 bandages or 2 gaping wounds on each hand and put definitely put a damper on my “love life”.
Check out this really great 4-part series on hand maintenance from CrossFit Virtuosity – here’s a snippet:

“My hands tell the truth about me. When I am nervous they sweat. When I am lazy my hands are soft. But when my hands are tired and sore and callused, I know the rest of my body has worked and been hardened by effort. I know I have lifted all I can lift when my hands are cramped, swollen and sometimes bloody.

Think about not only how strong your hands can be but also how delicate they are. Consider the ability to sense with your hands differences in texture and temperature, the ability to feel the difference between things that are imperceptible to the naked eye. A musician can subtly manipulate the strings to create music, the surgeon can carefully remove the tumor leaving the healthy organ intact, and the lover can sweetly caress the object of his desire and convey a wealth of emotion.

While I am proud of my calluses (and all of my scars really), I am conscious of the fact that touching people with rough callused hands is often unpleasant for them. Since touching people is part of my job I take measures to try to make my hands less grizzly.

This is the first of my four-part series on handcare tips. This first article deals with basics of handcare. The next part will focus on rip management and first aid. The third part will focus on how to train with ripped hands and finally a little article on hand exercises for strength and rehab.”

Enjoy!

Today’s Workout:
“Nasty Girls”
3 Rounds for Time of:
50 Air Squats
7 Muscle Ups
10 Hang Power Cleans (135#/95#)

Do you like Olympic Lifting?  Who doesn’t?!  Well, we’ve got an expert heading back up to CPC to give another Olympic Lifting Seminar.  We are so fortunate to have Coach Bob Takano in the area and willing to share his 35+ years of coaching experience with us.  On Saturday October 23^rd Coach Takano will be teaching a follow up to his last seminar, which was a thorough introduction to this great sport and the lifts that comprise it.  This round Coach T will be expanding touching on the more finite aspects of Olympic Lifting and watching us throw around some weight!  The seminar will be limited to the first 12 people that sign up so let us know if you want in – there will be a sign up sheet up in the normal spot at the gym.  I know that I’ll be there and listening intently. 

Today’s Workout:
Press: 3-3-3-3-3

Followed by 1 Round for Time of:
500 M Row
400 M Run
100 Mountain Climbers

Journalling....it...brings...a...tear...to..my...eyes.

What a beautiful picture the above is.  Why?  Because people are journaling!  Why journal you ask?  Well, here’re 9 great reasons from www.positivityblog.com on the power of writing things down:

• Written goals are important. One thing a lot of very successful self improvement writers – Anthony Robbins, Brian Tracy, Zig Ziglar and so on – go on and on about is the importance of having written goals. A written goal brings clarity and focus. It gives you a direction. And by rewriting your goals you not only reaffirm what your goals are. You may also have found new insights that bring more clarity and focus to your goal and life. A written goal is also a powerful reminder that you can use to keep yourself on track.

• To remind yourself to focus. You can use paper or your screensaver or another program to give yourself reminders. Often we get caught up in our everyday business and lose track of what is most important. To keep yourself on track – instead of just keeping yourself busy with low-priority tasks – simply write down a reminder that can stop your thoughts when you see it and guide you back on track again.
• Unloading your mental RAM. When you don’t occupy your mind with having to remember every little thing – like how much milk to get – you become less stressed and it becomes easier to think clearly. This is, in my opinion, one of the most important reasons to write things down. Feeling more calm and relaxed does not only improves your health but also makes life easier.
• Clearer thinking. You can’t hold that many thoughts in your head at once. If you want to solve a problem it can be helpful to write down you thoughts, facts and feelings about it. Then you don’t have to worry your mind about remembering, you can instead use it to think more clearly. Having it all written down gives you an overview and makes it easier to find new connections that can help you solve the problem.
• A record of what you were thinking. I have already noticed how interesting it is to just go back a month to see what I was thinking then. I believe that when you have kept a record of your thoughts for quite a while you’ll have some fascinating reading on your hands. It can also show you how you have changed and improved.
• A record of your positive qualities. When I read what have written it is sometimes fuzzy and unfocused. But other times I’m kind of surprised at how clever I was. Keeping a written record could be a good way to remind yourself of your positive qualities.
• Improve long-term focus on what’s important. Reminders that I described above can be useful to keep you on track in your normal day. But you can also use a journal as a way to keep an overview of your thinking over a longer time span and to recognize both positives and negatives in your thinking. You may, for example, think of yourself as a healthy person but realise when you read through your journal that you have only been out running four times this month. This can help to spot trouble and keep you on track within a larger timeframe.
• Become better acquainted with yourself. You may, for instance, have an image of your life where you are a positive person but discover when reading through your notes for the last month that you are negative about your job or a relationship in almost every entry. This might tell you something that you haven’t really paid much attention to about yourself and/or something about that job or relationship. This can bring clarity to your life.
• Track your achievements. If you are working out or investing in stocks it can be useful to keep written record of your results and thoughts over a longer timespan. It can not only motivate you when you are feeling down about your perceived lack of positive results and let you see how far you have really come. It can also help you use problems and solutions from the past to find solutions to new problems (or readjustments to prevent problems before they even appear).

Feel free to keep a log of your workout awesomeness in our online forum as well.  Eric, Jeff, Alyssa and I all read the comments that you write in there and do use them as feedback for upcoming WOD’s, so the more that you write, the more we know!

Today’s Soon to Be Journalled Workout:
1 Set of Max Pull Ups
Followed by:
3 Rounds for Time of:
400m Run
50 V-Twists
30 Seconds of High Feet Plank Hold

The Fight Gone Bad 5 Crew!

Year 1 is in the bag folks!  31 athletes from 3 different gyms showed up Saturday morning in a  massive combined effort to raise money for The Lance Armstrong Foundation, The Wounded Warrior Project and the CrossFit Foundation.  A heartfelt thank you goes out to all of the athletes and all of the volunteers who showed and made the event a success.  We’ll be doing this again next year at CrossFit Goodland and the year after down at CrossFit Ventura, so mark your calendars.   Every year we want Fight Gone Bad to get bigger and more awesome. 

Congratulations again to all of the athletes – you guys and gals were amazing!

Today’s Workout:
21 – 15 – 9
Squat Cleans (135#/95#)
Ring Push Ups
Weighted Sit Ups (25#/15#)

For anyone not familiar with the Wounded Warrior Project, this is one of the charities that we are sending donations to from Fight Gone Bad tomorrow.  Here is the mission of the Wounded Warrior Project:

- To raise awareness and enlist the public’s aid for the needs of injured service men and women
- To help injured service members aid and assist each other, and
- To provide unique, direct programs and services to meet the needs of injured service members. 

 Can you imagine a better organization to lend strength to?  I cannot. Please do come out tomorrow morning and support your fellow CrossFitters.  If you haven’t donated and want to do so, we have opportunities for you in the morning as well.  Let’s make this a huge turnout and massive show of support.  See you all at 8! 

Today’s Workout:
1 Round of Max Muscle Ups
Or Muscle Up Progression Work

Followed by 1 round for time of:
1 Minute Plank Hold
15 Overhead Squats (115#/75#)
9 Weighted Sit Ups
1 Minute Plank Hold
10 Overhead Squats
6 Weighted Sit Ups
1 Minute Plank Hold
5 Overhead Squats
3 Weighted Sit Ups

Not so active...

ACTIVE!!!! YAY!!!!!

Take a look at the two photos above and see if you notice difference between the one on the top and the one on the bottom.  Not a day goes by in which we don’t use the term “Active Shoulders” especially on days when there’s an overhead squat.  What we mean by active shoulders or fully engaged shoulders is what you see in the second photo. 
In it, Eric is driving the bar upwards and engaging all of the support muscles in his shoulders.  Not only does this give him a solid position from which to work, but it also protects his shoulder girdle.  Your shoulder joint attaches to your clavicle (collar bone) and is not attached to the spine or trunk anywhere else so it’s not as stable on its own as it is with some help in the form of muscular contraction.  Stay active! 

Today’s Workout:
Snatch Balance: 3-3-3

Followed by:
Tabata
– PVC Sit Ups (feet anchored)
- Row for Calories
- Push Ups

1 Minute Rest between movements.

CPC - forging elite tallness.

How much weight should you be using during a met-con (metabolic conditioning)?  Here’s the deal – if you can successfully complete the full number of repetitions that the workout calls for without deviating from the movement standards, you’re good to go.  What does that mean? 

Here’s an example:  If the workout is Kelly (5x 400M Run, 30 Wallballs (20#), 30 Box Jumps (24”) – which we did on Monday – and you think that you can get the crease of your hip below your knee and get the 20 lb ball up to the appropriate height for only 2 of the 5 rounds – then guess what – the 20lb ball is too heavy.  As soon as your form starts failing consistently, and you aren’t making the movement standard (hip crease below the knee, ball over the first board), we’re going to have you go to a lighter ball. 

But wait a minute, you can do box jumps on a 48” box and run a 400 in under 30 seconds, so why should you not do the workout Rx and have to see your name on the board without the sweet R and the sweet x next to it?  The workout is either completed completely Rx or not Rx.  We saw a lot of great efforts last week and a lot of great form, but, in the interest of protecting you, our athletes, if your musculature or flexibility will not allow you to complete a full range of motion with a given weight, its time to drop that weight down until you can build up to completing the full range of motion with said weight.  This is the same for beginners all the way down to those of us who remember when the main site had 6 affiliates on it. 

Today’s Workout:
4 Rounds for Time of:
30 Seconds of Max Double Unders
1 Minute Rest
30 Seconds of Max Burpees
2 Minutes Rest

Followed by:
3-3-3 Back Squats

"Seriously, my deadlift is this big!"

Fight Gone Bad is this weekend folks! Saturday morning at 8am we will start warming up and getting ready with the first heat set to go at 9:00am sharp. Even if you aren’t taking place in the fundraiser, PLEASE come by and support your teammates. We’ve got athletes from CrossFit Goodland coming down and a solid crew coming up from CrossFit Ventura as well. It fixing to be a fantastic morning of all out efforts combined with a healthy amount of yelling and hollering. Come on down and join the party – it’s going to be awesome!

Today’s Workout:
3 Rounds: Max L-Pull Ups
Followed by:
3 Rounds for Time of:
10 Thrusters (135#/95)
200 M Farmer’s Walk (45# DB’s/ 25# DB’s)

I had the great fortune of spending the weekend wth Jeff Tucker and his lovely assisant – working on gymnastics.  I highly, highly, highly recommend this cert, Jeff is a fantastic coach in addition to being hilarious in his own right.  Check out this video that he had us watch to demonstrate the incredible amount of strength and body control/awareness that is developed through gymnastics. 

Today’s Workout:
“Kelly”
5 Rounds for Time of:
400 M Run
30 Wall Balls (20#/14#)
Box Jumps (24#/20#)

Look Better Eating Naked!

Enzo wants you to eat more asparagus.  So do we. 

Today’s Workout:
Press 3-3-3
Followed by “Airforce Wod” From the Midwest Sectionals
20 Minute Cap
1 Time for Time with (95#/65#)
20 Thrusters
20 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls
20 Push Press
20 Overhead Squats
20 Front Squats
Every minute on the minute perform 4 burpees.