Edward Blanch

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May 27, 2015

Thursday, May 28th 2015

If you’ve been to other CrossFit gyms, you know that we are lucky to have such great and brand-spanking new equipment. Now that we’re breaking it in daily, we just want to make sure we don’t damage or break it permanently!

We don’t have many rules at the gym (no burpee punishments for coming late or tipping chalk buckets!) but we do want to make sure you know how to tend to the barbell equipment. Although they are meant to sustain drops, the barbells are not only expensive, but they are designed with internal bearings to allow the weights to spin easily as we throw them overhead and are VERY sensitive if we don’t treat them well.

Below is a video of what to do… and what NOT to do! The general rule is that if the weight ON the barbell weighs less than the barbell itself, it is not meant to be dropped. There are tricks like using a lighter barbell (or training bar) and loading it with weights to allow for the drop. Just ask and we can help you! And the barbell should be gently placed on the ground once the weights are stripped as dropping an empty barbell even a few inches from the ground can cause lots of damage. Here’s our very own Geo Rockwell showing us the basics:

BARBELL CARE VIDEO

STRENGTH/SKILL WOD

Spend 10 minutes working on Toes to Bar

Between every couple sets do 5 heavy Russian KB swings

**If you have toes to bar, string together sets of 5-10**

WOD

8 KB Swings

8 Push Press

8 Sit Ups

8 Pull Ups

16 min AMRAP

Fitness 75/55 (35/26) RX 95/65 (53/35) RX+ 115/75 (toes to bar) (70/53)

It is a sad but real statistic that 22 veterans commit suicide every day. During our WOD for Warriors we honored them all with 22 rope climbs in remembrance …

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May 26, 2015

Wednesday, May 27th 2015

You might notice we squat almost on a daily basis, or at the the very least in our warm up. Please know that all of those air squats and perfect lunges serve a much greater good. We are constantly striving for virtuosity (i.e. doing the common uncommonly well) in this foundational movement. Today’s workout will feature the overhead squat which puts great demands on keeping your torso upright in the squat and our weight in our heels. Don’t worry so much about the movement but attempting to find that virtuous squat.

The overhead squat also puts a great deal of demands on shoulder mobility. We will provide drills and scaled movements for those that struggle with the movement. And when learning and perfecting this complex lift, LIGHTER IS BETTER!!

STRENGTH/MOBILITY WOD

Overhead Squat

6-4-4-3-3

(Build up in weight, focus on depth and range of motion)

WOD

6 Burpee Box Jumps

10 Overhead Squats

5 Rounds

15 min Time Cap

Fitness 45/35 (14/20)

RX 75/55 (24/20)

RX+ 95/65

Thankfully we expanded the rig three days before Murph…

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May 25, 2015

Tuesday, May 26th 2015

Thanks to everyone who came out for Murph yesterday. It was an amazing day to reflect on those who serve, have served and connect with the incredible members of our community. We will be posting photos on Facebook shortly — so many great moments captured on film!

Hopefully you are all well rested, have hydrated and fueled your bodies properly (no, beer and jello pudding pecan cake don’t count!). We’re excited to dive right into another challenging week… starting with continuing to work on our Cleans!

STRENGTH/MOBILITY WOD

Clean 3-3-3-3-3 (same weight across)

Between each set hit a couch stretch or a front rack stretch, depending on what is more sore, stiff or tight.

WOD

21-15-9

Deadlifts

Calories on the Rower

Fitness 135/95

RX 225/155

RX+ 275/185

**Should be a sprint, under 10-12 minutes**

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May 24, 2015

Monday, May 25th 2015

“MURPH”

We are so excited the big day is finally here. The WOD will kick off at 10am and it will be the only class during the day. Directly following we will be having a community BBQ so please come ready to work and then ready to eat! We’ll be supplying hot dogs, burgers, brats and some beer. Please bring a side and a beverage of choice… it will be a BLAST! Sleep well, drink lots of water and we will see you in the morning. Sitters are on hand for the kids so you can tackle Murph stress free!

1 Mile Run

100 Pull Ups

200 Push Ups

300 Air Squats

1 Mile Run

You might not be able to do it with a 20lb weighted vest, but you WILL be able to get through Murph! The coaches will help you with any and all scaling options!

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May 23, 2015

Sunday, May 24th, 2015

Thanks to everyone who made the Team RWB event this Saturday. We will be posting some pictures soon. For those that need to feed their CrossFit habit this weekend we have open gym. If you didn’t get a chance to re-test the “30 Day Challenge” Workout tomorrow is a great time.

OPEN GYM 9a-NOON

Dave did Murph solo today with a 20 pound weighted vest in under an hour. That gets me fired up for Monday!

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May 22, 2015

Saturday, May 22nd, 2015

Yesterday was an amazing day as we re-tested our “30 Day Challenge Workout”. As a coaching staff always get nervous when we test (we don’t want to fail!) but yesterday the box exceeded even our expectations. We lowered the average time to complete the workout from 17:38 to 15:39!!! We even had three athletes that moved from Fitness to RX for the wod and had practically the same score. It just goes to show that hard work inside and outside the gym does payoff.

We hope everyone has a great memorial day weekend. If you are in town, come join us tomorrow for our 10 AM class with Team RWB and/or Monday’s Memorial Day Murph and post-workout BBQ!

Here’s a video from the folks at Team RWB.

We also will have our normal open gym hours on Sunday from 9a to noon.

WOD

21 Guns 21 minute AMRAP (As many rounds as possible)  400 meter run*   21 pushups  21 box jumps (24″/20″) 15 burpees  9 pull-ups  *500 meter row can be substituted for the run

Shyam, Pete, and Myrissa pushing the intensity yesterday!

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May 21, 2015

Friday May 22nd 2015

BRING A FRIEND FRIDAY: PARTNER WOD!!! Great job on the 30-Day Challenge re-test! We will compile the analytics in the morning, but whether it was an improvement in time at the same weight… or a higher weight at a slower time… both are HUGE victories in strength and stamina. As an example, Scott went from Fitness to RX (an increase of 20lbs on the barbell) but was 10 seconds slower. 20lbs x 20 reps x 3 rounds is 1200lbs! So basically he moved 1200lbs from the ground to overhead in 10 seconds. Pretty astounding. Like we said yesterday, we have already seen and heard about some amazing changes in many of you and we hope that you might share more with us during this challenge (email us at info@CrossFitCove.com). Keep in mind changes should not be limited to weight you may have gained or loss but could include things like how you feel, energy levels, sleep, cravings, and performance. We want to hear both the good and the bad!

We are hoping to see many of you this Saturday to workout for Team Red White and Blue. If you are interested in attending please add you name to the white board list or you can click the following this Team RWB on Facebook. Think of it as a warm-up for Murph!

WOD

400 M row (Partner holds plank) 75 Wall balls 50 sit ups 400 m row (plank) Rest 2 minutes 400 M Row (plank) 75 Hanging Power Cleans 50 Burpees 400 m row (plank) Fitness (75/55) (14/10) RX (95/70) (20/14) RX+ (115/85) (20/14)

Rocco rocking some sit ups at the noon class…

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May 20, 2015

Thursday, May 21st 2015

The 30 Day Elimation Challenge is coming to an end (the official end date is Memorial Day) and tomorrow is a big day as we are retesting our opening workout for the challenge.If you can’t make it on Thursday, talk to one of the coaches and we will figure out a make-up time. To see where you stood last time, check out Wodify’s Whiteboard for 4/23/15. We have already seen and heard about some amazing changes in many of you and we hope that you might share more with us during this challenge. If you can email us at info@CrossFitCove.com what changes you have noticed since starting the challenge we would really appreciate it. Changes should not be limited to weight you may have gained or loss but could include things like how you feel, energy levels, sleep, cravings, and performance. We want to hear both the good and the bad.

We are excited about the number of people that are going to be attending the Murph event this Saturday (it’s going to be huge!) but we are hoping we might have some people for the Saturday workout for Team Red White and Blue. This is a veteran’s organization that we really believe in and on this Memorial Day Weekend event gives us a chance for share time with these veterans that have made great sacrifice for our freedom. If you are interested in attending please add you name to the white board list or you can click the following this Team RWB on facebook..

For those of you coming to Murph on Monday at 10a, we ask you bring a side or beverages (adult kind welcome) for the BBQ after. We’ll be supplying burgers and dogs and some beer. Also, we will have two babysitters on hand so know your little ones will be welcome (and well cared for)…

WOD

30 Day Challenge Re-Test Day

400 Meter Run

20 Shoulder to Overhead

20 Box Jumps 24/20

3 Rounds

Fitness 75/55

RX 95/65

RX+ 115/85

Andrew doing RX weight on the 14.1 Snatch/Double Under workout Wednesday…

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May 19, 2015

Wednesday, May 19th, 2015

Great work on the cleans today. We’ve just started the cycle and we are already seeing gains due to technique improvements and overall strength increases. Wednesday’s workout is a throwback to the 2014 Open so if you participated then, check your score to see how you compare this go around!

We are approaching the end of the 30 Day Clean Eating Challenge! Thursday we will re-test the workout (jerks, box jumps and running). If you can’t make it on Thursday, talk to one of the coaches and we will figure out a make-up time.

And don’t forget to sign up for WOD with Warriors or Murph on the Facebook page or on the Whiteboard!

SKILL WOD

Max effort set of Chest to Bar Pull Ups

20 PVC Shoulder Pass Throughs

20 OHS with PVC

x 3

Score = Total Chest to Bar Pull ups

WOD

14.1 Open Workout

30 Double Unders

15 Power Snatches

10 min AMRAP

Fitness 45/35

RX and RX+ 75/55

What a week we have planned! Special thanks to Lacey for bringing in a great group of women from the Fort Meade chapter of “No Excuse Moms”! They’ll be back tomorrow for the 9:30am class…

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May 18, 2015

Tuesday, May 19th 2015

We know this sounds odd writing it ON THE BLOG, but please be sure to READ THE BLOG every day! Even if you’re not coming in… even if you don’t want to know the workout… at least read the top part as it’s tool we use to communicate key member information. Events, coaching tips and all community news are published here. We post this at 8PM daily, so set your alarms for 8:01, give it a quick scan and we promise you’ll be in ‘in the know’!

To that end… yet another reminder of our big weekend events coming up!!!!

Thursday ALL DAY: 30-Day Challenge Re-Test

Time to see what kind of progress we’ve made in 30 days (actually, slightly less than 30 days). So, eat a sweet potato or banana an hour or two before and come on in! We’re betting we see some improvements in both strength AND speed even though its just been over three weeks!

Saturday at 10am: WOD With Warriors

We will be doing an event with Team Red White and Blue. Team RWB’s mission is to enrich the lives of America’s veterans by connecting them to their community through physical and social activity. We are honored to be hosting the “WOD with Warriors” and hope you will ALL come and support them! Please sign up on FB for the event HERE or on the white board at the gym!

Monday at 10am: Hero WOD “Murph”

The Hero WODs are named after Heros who have given their lives in the line of duty. Their purpose is to remind us to not only remember their sacrifice, but to get us to think outside of ourselves. “Murph” is a Hero WOD named after Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, who was killed in Afghanistan June 28th, 2005. He was 29, of Patchogue, N.Y. Lt Murphy was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor after his death.

The details of this event are HERE or on the white board at the gym. Please sign up so we know you are coming and have enough food. We’ll have a BBQ afterwards so if you bring a side, we’ll bring the meat!

STRENGTH WOD

Power cleans 5/4/3/2/2/2

All three sets of 2 at the same weight

Then add 10 to 20 lbs and do 3 clean pulls x 3

(Should take about 20-25 minutes total)

WOD

3 Power Cleans

6 Bar Facing Burpees

6 Rounds

Time cap 10 minutes

Fitness 95/65

RX 135/95