This was a brutal WOD and were incredibly impressed with your levels of endurance and strength! CrossFit is based on the philosophy that we “specialize in not specializing” and the way you have all attacked these Open WODS so well and so consistently is a huge testament to your level of overall fitness. WELL DONE!
OPEN GYM 9a-NOON SUNDAY
For at the last few weeks we’ve extended Open Gym until around 2p. This week we have the gym reserved for a Birthday Party at 1p (which means we need everyone out right around noon so we can clean up and set up). So, if you are planning on coming in to do 16.4 or just work out, please try to be there early enough to warm up and wrap up by NOON! Thanks in advance!
MOBILITY WOD
Shoulder Distraction :30 seconds/arm
Couch Stretch: 30 sec/ leg
Pigeon on a Box: :30 sec/leg
2 Rounds
PARTNER WOD
(One partner runs, one partner works the movement. Then switch so that each person runs ONCE and works the movement ONCE per interval)
Partner A runs one 400M SprintPartner B does AMRAP Hang Power Cleans + Jerks until A gets back.Switch and repeat. (Score is reps of hang power clean and jerks. Each person only runs once and C and J’s once)
Partner A runs 400 MPartner B does AMRAP Double UndersSwitch and repeat.
10 Double Unders= 1 pt, round down
30 Single Unders = 1 pt, round down
Partner A runs 400 M Partner B does AMRAP Burpees Switch and repeat. 5 burpees= 1 ptSCORE = TOTAL POINTS!
FITNESS: 95/65
RX: 135/95
+: 155/105
Angela looking strong and focused overhead with her kettlebell!
While we will be doing the Open WOD 16.4 for all the classes all day long, the 6:30pm will be our Friday Night Lights event again. Even if you are not competing in the Open, please come! It is such a fun night and you’ll get to meet so many people that make up this wacky and wonderful box. Per usual, please bring any beer and snacks you will need to refuel post-WOD. This is a pot-luck style Open celebration!
OPEN INTRAMURAL TEAM WINNERS
After week 3 it is anyone’s ballgame! Take a look at this week’s category winners and the current standings below… once again, just ridiculous stuff that we are LOVING!
Best Team Photo – I Like Big Sets (10 Points)
HUGE props (pun intended) to Chris Franey for CRUSHING this T-shirt design. SO good that we think you should consider starting a business…
Best Selfie – Kipping it Real: Phil and Martine J. (5 Points)
Best. Pic. Ever. With beer in frame. Enough said.
Most Inspiring Performance – Black Marlins: Maria A. (5 Points)
Not only did she get her first bar muscle up, her whole family was there to cheer her on (and Dad was equipped with a telephoto lens!). Baby Sage looked on in wonder, her parents thinks she’s nuts and her husband just realized she HAS been at the gym the whole time and not just going shopping for an hour every morning…
Team Spirit – Black Marlins: Cupcakes (5 Points)
If there’s any way to win your judges’ hearts (and those of your fellow athletes), bringing cupcakes is the way to go. PLUS it is the gift that keeps giving. There are leftovers that will be making another appearance this Friday night!
Team Participation Week Three:
Black Marlins: 20
Big Sets: 21
Kipping it Real: 18
And the team holding onto first place after three weeks… “I LIKE BIG SETS”
TOTAL Scoring after 3 weeks:
Black Marlins: 86 Points Big Sets: 92 Points Kipping It Real: 86 Points
OPEN WORKOUT 16.4
Rx’d(Rx’d Men, Masters Men 40-44, Masters Men 45-49, Masters Men 50-54, Rx’d Women, Masters Women 40-44, Masters Women 45-49, Masters Women 50-54)Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 13 minutes of:55 deadlifts55 wall-ball shots55-calorie row55 handstand push-ups
Men deadlift 225 lb. and throw 20-lb. ball to 10-ft. target
Women deadlift 155 lb. and throw 14-lb. ball to 9-ft. target
Scaled(Scaled Men, Scaled Masters Men 40-44, Scaled Masters Men 45-49, Scaled Masters Men 50-54, Scaled Women, Scaled Masters Women 40-44, Scaled Masters Women 45-49, Scaled Masters Women 50-54)Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 13 minutes of:55 deadlifts55 wall-ball shots55-calorie row55 hand release push-ups
Men deadlift 135 lb. and throw 20-lb. ball to 9-ft. target
Women deadlift 95 lb. and throw 10-lb. ball to 9-ft. target
Meet new member Derrell! This is what happens when you say to a coach “I’ve always wondered how high and I can jump. You get dragged to the back of the gym to find out… and this guy rocked a 50.5” box jump… amazing!
Great job on the running WOD today. It’s fun to get outside during the nice weather and log some meters! We know many people are using Thursdays as a rest day for the Open but we also encourage you to either do some “active recovery” (rowing, biking or walking) or come in and hit the WOD — but go light or scale the volume. Today’s WOD is a great example of something that can get you moving, but not put too much demand on any one body part to leave you too sore for Friday. Trim down the rounds (or even the number of reps) and just get that blood flowing.
STRENGTH WOD
Overhead Static Lunge 6/6/6/6/6Get the bar form the rack, press it overhead and complete 6 lunges, three on each leg. Our goal here is to get our overhead position stronger in order to split jerk more weight.
WOD
10 Push ups8 Front Squats6 Pull Ups8 RoundsFitness: 95/65RX:115/75RX+: 135/95 (chest to bar)Coach’s Tip:The reps are short and the rounds are long. The point here is to hit all your sets unbroken. The push ups may get hard, but fight to hit them in big sets.
Today we do the skill WOD at the end of class. It is always good to switch things up and this way you will not be “saving” yourself for the WOD, so it’s time to go all out!
WOD
21-15-9Power Cleans600 M Run after each setFitness: 95/65RX: 135/95RX+: 155/105**Lets build up that running endurance. Cleans can be in singles. Focus on a good pace for each 600M run. And be sure to attack that last one.**
SKILL WOD
15 Hip Extensions15 Sit ups30 Second Plank4 Rounds
Jayme B. is a regular 5:30am-er who consistently works hard and challenges herself. This week she conquered the WOD RX by pacing her reps but upping the box height. Way to go!
12 min EMOMEven: Supine Ring Row (10-15 reps)ODD: Noes to Wall Handstand Hold (30-40 seconds)
WOD
Two Minutes on One Minute off for 15 minutes30 Wall BallsMax Double UndersFitness: 14/10RX: 20/14RX+: 20/14 One attempt at DUs (only pick this option if you can hit +20 every set)
COACH’S TIP: The set of WB should be unbroken or in two quick sets. You should have about 1:00-45 seconds for doubles every set. Interval work is always good for building the engine, but also focus on big sets of wall balls today.
New member Susan A. getting after the wall ball/run WOD last week. Just a few weeks in and she’s amazing!
Be sure to say hi and introduce yourself when you see her…
As most of you know, Coach Anna is headed to Germany with her husband and daughter later this week. We want to thank her for her amazing contribution to this community. We often talk about how we are not in the fitness business, but rather in the business of changing lives. And we know Anna has done just that here at the Cove. She has had a profound impact on so many of us that we feel lucky we had her in our lives for this long. And we are excited to hear about her future successes as we know she will do incredible things. Lastly, if you speak German, you know that “auf Wiedersehen” is the equivalent of “see you later”, not goodbye. And that’s what this is! When you are back Anna, come home. We’ll be missing you!
“I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO DO THAT”
This week’s open shone a light on something most CrossFitters experience at one point or another. That is, feeling like you will never “get there”. But we ask you to think back (days, weeks, months or a year) and think about how many times you’ve already said to yourself “I will never be able to do that”. And then you did. We’ve seen people Clean more than they ever imagined. Deadlifted. Snatched. Strung Doubles. Got upside down. Jumped on a box. The list is seemingly endless, yet we somehow push those victories aside and hone in on the few things we CAN’T do. Yet.
Most of our athletes have been CrossFitting for a year. OR LESS. We implore you to step back and see how far you’ve come in such a short time. Do you move better? Can you do things now you couldn’t do when you started? That’s progress! Stop trying to measure yourself against a specific skill or lift. Pull up an old WOD from when you started. Retest that. Look in Wodify at your Performance Card. You will see amazing things.
The Open is different than what we do everyday as the movements must be done as prescribed. Sure, there are scaled and RX versions, but there’s no variation or scales within each of those categories that “count” if you want to keep a true Open score. That is something NEW to most of us and it really pushes us outside our comfort zone. But it is SUPPOSED to!
You’ll need to remind yourself that the Open is not just a ‘global competition’, it is a measure of where you are at a moment in time. It is meant to show PROGRESS, not PERFECTION. Embrace the weakness and work on them! Finding new challenges should be exciting, not a frustration… and think about how sweet it will be when you accomplish this next goal (whatever that goal is).
Some movements are just REALLY challenging and take a LONG time to master. On a personal note, Brian and I have been CrossFitting for YEARS and only just got our first bar muscle up. We know it was exciting to see so many firsts on Friday, but we also saw a lot of frustration from those who didn’t get that chest to the bar or hit the bar muscle up. While we empathize, we want you to understand that it is NORMAL to take years to learn skills like that. Some of you just got your first pull ups (or dropped a band) or learned chest to bars in the last few weeks and put a lot of pressure on yourselves to hit the Open standards this week in BOTH scaled and RX. Revel in what you HAVE done… and remember back to when you thought even THAT wasn’t possible?!
So whatever your score is, be PROUD OF IT! We bet whatever you did (even if it was 10 reps of a snatch) was something you weren’t able to do when you walked through the door on your first day here.
One last reminder that scores need to be submitted by 8p Monday evening. To that end, you MUST go onto games.crossfit.com and login and submit your own score (and tiebreaker). You should have taken that bottom piece of the score card with your total reps and put that number in to officially submit your score (as well as if you did RX or scaled). You do NOT need to put Brian or Marina as judges (although you can). You can use your actual judge and we can validate it!
STRENGTH WOD
Spend 5 minutes working Split Jerk FootworkThen Split Jerk 1/1/1/1/1/16 Heavy sets of 1. Same weight across, try to hit 90-95% of 1 RM.
It has been an amazing few days at the Cove. Everyone did great with a really tough workout. So far we’ve had 21 athletes get bar muscle ups including 11 getting their first! And we had numerous athletes testing their limits in so many other ways. One of the greatest things about CrossFit is that it helps to identify your weaknesses and shows you where you should focus moving forward. We know several of you were frustrated with getting a muscle up or hitting that chest to the bar. But now you know a new area of opportunity! There’s actually a name for these movements that drive you nuts: we call them “Goats” (yes, google goat crossfit definition). If we only did things we were good at, we’d never get better at anything else. And that’s not why we’re here, right?!
For those of you who haven’t hit 16.3 yet, come on in on Sunday. Or just want to mobilize or make up a missed WOD? We’ll be there!
We always knew the Open would be an exciting time for all of us here at the Cove, but we are continually amazed at the breakthroughs in strength, skill and determination that are happening. The day started at 5:30am with Garth and Larry nailing their first muscle ups. The Noon saw Steve hitting 62 reps and it only got rolling from there. We couldn’t be more proud of all of you!
FIGHT GONE ANGIE
For all of the amazing and exciting things that happen within the CrossFit community, when something hits one of us, it hits all of us. Many of you may know Kevin Lynch — the owner of CrossFit Nevermore in Baltimore County. He is also responsible for the Baltimore Affiliate League and always helps out when it comes to running events in the area. Last week Kevin’s long time girlfriend Angie who is an active CrossFit athlete in the Baltimore community was diagnosed with cancer. Again. She has fought it through twice before successfully. We were lucky enough to participate in a fundraising WOD last year called “Fight Gone Angie” and she was on the road to recover then. Unfortunately it is back and the prognosis is not good. Here is a quote from Kevin’s Facebook page-
“Tuesday was the most devastating night of our lives. We both felt helpless and scared and angry and sad…and very lost.
The endless stream of visits and messages from you beautiful people has helped bring us back. Over the last three days it is been very inspiring to witness the power of the human spirit and the healing that can take place when there is love.
Angie is THE love of my life and her ability to absorb this blow and respond with grace and humor and resolve has given me the strength and will to dig down and help her through this the best that I can.
We have shared and will continue to share more with one another than I thought humanly possible. Most of that will stay between us, but I will share this with all of you… We are determined to find joy and happiness and make THAT the priority in our lives. We will find moments and adventures that challenge us to LIVE and EXPERIENCE. After all, this is how we all should live, isn’t it? The treatments and hospital visits will be merely a necessary distraction from our happy life. We refuse to approach this from the opposite direction.”
We are not asking for anything here, rather we are simply shedding light on the story. We have made a donation on behalf of the Cove. It is from our community. So consider it a donation from you because with out your support, every single one of you that is reading the blog, we would not be able to do things like this. If you want to read more about her journey, still feel compelling to give or just want to see what they plan to do with the funds and her time remaining, please please check out her page:
Sumo Deadlift5/5/5/5/5(Build up in weight, but you should be able to do all five reps unbroken)WOD1 Cove Suicide15 Sit ups15 Static Goblet Lunges7 RoundsFitness: 35/26RX: 53/35RX+: 70/53
While we will be doing the Open WOD 16.3 for all the classes all day long, the 6:30pm will be our Friday Night Lights event again. Last week we had a few folks showing up thinking it was a normal class… and while we do run the WOD, it is far from “normal”. If drinking beer, staring at Taylan in onesie pajamas and wearing face paint are some of the things you enjoy, the 6:30 event is perfect for you! Even if you are not competing in the Open, please come! It is such a fun night and you’ll get to meet so many people that make up this wacky and wonderful box. Per usual, please bring any beer and snacks you will need to refuel post-WOD. This is a pot-luck style Open celebration!
The next generation of Cove kids!
We are so happy to announce that Kyle M. is a Dad (again)! He came in to workout (even after a hectic weekend bringing his new daughter into the world) AND crushed the WOD with a smile on his face (see below for proof). But more than anything, we are thrilled that Madeline Priscilla Murphy arrived safely into the world on Saturday at 6:34am weighting 5 lbs 10 oz. She’s just gorgeous!
OPEN WORKOUT 16.3
CrossFit Games Open 16.3 (AMRAP – Reps)
AMRAP 7 minutes
10 power snatches
3 bar muscle-upsMen use 75 lb.
Women use 55 lb.
CrossFit Games Open 16.3 Scaled (AMRAP – Reps)
AMRAP 7 Minutes10 power snatches5 jumping chest-to-bar pull-upsMen use 45 lb.Women use 35 lb.
CrossFit Games Open 16.3 Scaled (AMRAP – Reps)
AMRAP 7 Minutes10 power snatches5 jumping chest-to-bar pull-upsMen use 45 lb.Women use 35 lb.
BONUS WOD12 Minute EMOMEven Minutes: 1 Power Snatch (add weight each round)Odd Minute: 6 to 10 GHD Situps
Meet new member John L. He’s a realtor, super strong dude and overall great guy — say hi when you see him!
Last weekend was another exciting weekend for the open and we saw same amazing performances in spirit and intensity. A shout out to everyone who participated.
Here are the winners for week number two.
Best Team Photo – I Like Big Sets
None of these people will be running for office anytime soon. (10 Points)
Best Selfie – Keeping with the theme of why we do the open, Irina and Mike from “The Black Marlins”. (5 Points)
Most Inspiring Performance – Phil Julian (5 Points)
Phil is just coming off foot surgery and dug deep to get into the the last round of cleans. His judge/cheerleader Wes pushed him every step of the way.
Team Spirit – Kipping it Real (5 Points)
After two weeks the WINNERS ARE…. “I LIKE BIG SETS”
Big Sets – 64 pts total
Kipping it Real – 62 pts total
Black Marlins – 56 pts total
Teams start planning on what to do this coming Friday. There will be coverage in the kids room at the 5:30 PM class and the big spectacular at 6:30 followed by a potluck.
CROSSFIT 101 CLASSES NEXT WEEK
Another round of Free CrossFit 101 Classes will be starting next week on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 PM. If you have someone that might be interested in attending please have them email us at info@CrossFitCove.com. We also want everyone to know that if you would like to review some of the fundamentals of CrossFit you are always welcome to attend any of the classes. Monday we work on squats and presses, Wednesday deadlifts and cleans, and Thursday we finish with snatches and pull ups.
SKILL WOD
1 minute of Shoulder Distraction stretch8-12 Ring Rows30-40 seconds Low Plank4 Rounds
WOD
600 M ROW30 Push ups15 Toes to Bar3 Rounds
COACH’S TIP: Modifying the push ups and the toes to bar will be key for this workout. If you can not do 10-15 push ups in a row while you are tired you should be modifying the movement (use a band, use a box or an elevated bar on the rack). For toes to bar, try to maintain a kip with your legs in a good position. Avoid just swinging back and fourth on the bar.
Katie helping Robyn get those final reps. It was kind of a team effort.
