Congrats to all who participated in the Open workout 15.1. It was exciting to see you push yourselves and set so many PRs. Hard to imagine that some of you have only been at this for three weeks — can’t wait to see the improvements made by the final workout in 5 weeks!
As you see by the date of this post, FREE February is coming to a close. If you want to join but haven’t signup up yet, please do so at Founder’s Rate Sign Up.
And remember, if you have any friends who are interested, please let them know about us and have them sign up for a Free Trial. For every friend who signs up and stays at least three months, you will receive $5 off your membership rates FOREVER. Bring in a friend who stays, your rate is $125. Bring in 5, your rate is $105. You’ll rates will only DECREASE… never INCREASE!
STRENGTH WOD
Back Squat 7/7/7/7/7
(Same weight across)
WOD
7 Squat Cleans
21 Double Unders
5 Rounds
Fitness (95/65) (50 Singles)
RX (115/75)
RX+ (135/95)
Stephanie looking super strong on the hanging knee raises in 15.1…
We hope everyone can join us at 7:30p tomorrow for our first CrossFit Open workout. We’ll have beer and snacks post-WOD if you want to stick around!
We’ve also had a lot of new faces in the gym over the past week. To get everyone on-boarded safely we are going to offer another CrossFit 101 series next week:
Tuesday (3/3): 5:30p
Thursday (3/5): 5:30p
Friday (3/6): 5:30p
If you have any friends who are interested, please let them know and have them sign up for a free trial. While free February is winding down, anyone can come in for a free week at any time!
WOD: 15.1 OPEN WORKOUT
Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 9 minutes of:15 toes-to-bars10 deadlifts (115 / 75 lb.)5 snatches (115 / 75 lb.)
WORKOUT 15.1a
1-rep-max clean and jerk 6-minute time cap
WOD: 15.1 SCALED OPEN WORKOUT
Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 9 minutes of:15 hanging knee raises10 deadlifts (85 / 55 lb.)5 snatches* (85 / 55 lb.)*ground-to-overhead allowed
TOMORROW IS THE LAST DAY TO SIGN UP FOR THE CROSSFIT OPEN GAMES!
The 2015 Open begins Thursday, Feb. 26th. Every Thursday at 8pm, tune into the live Open announcement show streamed to Games.CrossFit.com. Director of the Games Dave Castro will announce Open Workout 15.1 and moments later top Games athletes will complete that workout going head to head. It’s amazing to see! We will also post the workout immediately after it is announced as it will be the WOD for EVERYONE for Friday classes (even if you’re not signed up for the Games).
For those who did sign up, we are doing a big group workout on FRIDAY NIGHT AT 7:30 followed by some post WOD beverages. Even if you’re not competing, we’d still love you to come! And if you can’t make it, we will work with you to find a time to get the workout done and your score submitted.
Each week for five weeks, we will continue learn the workout on Thursdays at 8p and the hard deadline for score submissions is 8 p.m. EST the following Monday. Here’s a snapshot of when workouts must be completed (note 15.1 = 2015 Open, workout #1, 15.2 = 2015 Open, workout #2, etc, etc.)
15.1: Feb. 26 -March 2 15.2: March 5-9 15.3: March 12-16 15.4: March 19-23 15.5: March 26-30
Tomorrow we will be working on Toes-To-Bar (T2B) during the skill section. Like many things we do, remember this IS a skill. We will take all of our recent kipping practice and apply it to getting our toes up to hit the bar. We will also have several scaling options that will be great progression movements to help you get them.
All of these bar movements can be tough on your hands and we want to avoid your skin ripping at all cost. There are basically two qualities that make your hands susceptible to ripping. Your chances increase a lot if you’ve got either a) soft hands with little or no callus build-up (like most who are new to CrossFit) or b) too much callus buildup that makes bumps or ridges on the surface of your hands that create friction against the bar. We will help you work on good grip position to minimize risk, but there is a lot you can do to protect your hands on your own.
For those of you with softer hands, there are several ways to protect them during the workout. One popular way is using tape — here is an easy step by step that should help your hands as you develop grip strength and your skin develops for the demands you are placing on them.
Another way is wearing gloves or grips. Many CrossFitters swear by these (inspired by gymnast grips used for rings and uneven/parallel bars)
And last, but certainly not least, tending to your callouses (once they develop) is THE most important thing. While this guy isn’t the most inspiring, the steps he takes to manage his callouses is spot on. All the items he’s using can be found at the drug store and aren’t more than a few dollars each. Most of you won’t need the callous razor (which he shows first), but over time you might!:
SKILL WOD
10 Kipping Toes to Bar/Knees to elbows
Open Hips on a Box
4 Rounds
WOD
40 Sit ups
15 Hanging Power clean
40 Box jumps
15 Hanging Power clean
40 Sit ups
15 Hanging Power clean
Fitness 95/65 (20/14)
RX 135/95 (24/20)
RX+ 155/105 (40 t2b for final 40 situps)
Eric and Coach Chris working the snatch from the hang…
After talking to many of our members we have decided to move our gym-wide CrossFit Open Workouts to 7:30 PM on Fridays. There’s nothing like working together as a big group, cheering each other on to get you through that last rep! We will have some beers on hand for those who want an “After Open” beverage. Come be part of an amazing experience. We promise, it will be fun for EVERYONE!!!
ONE WEEK LEFT IN FREE FEBRUARY
If you haven’t been able to come in or the cold is keeping you away, there’s still time left to try out the COVE for free! And to all of you who have come in to try it out already, now its time to bring in friends to show them how much you’ve learned and accomplished in just a few short weeks. You can explain all of the crazy things you are doing to entice them, but there’s nothing like getting someone to come in and try it for themselves. As always, we appreciate all the support and are excited for what’s to come.
Tomorrow we will continue our back squat cycle (go heavy — each set of three should be the same challenging weight) and the WOD is representative of some things we will probably see in the CrossFit Open (and if you haven’t signed up already, please do!).
Today’s WOD (workout of the day) will be 13.2. This was the second workout in the 2013 CrossFit Open. It should give you a taste of what the workouts might look like this year.
There are three days left to sign up for the CrossFit Open. Don’t miss out on the fun (seriously it’s fun) We will be doing open workouts on Saturday’s at 11 AM but for those that cannot make it we will provide a coach that can judge your workout for you at another time and date that week.
OPEN GYMS GIVE US AN OPPORTUNITY TO COME IN AND MOBILIZE, DO SOME ACTIVE RECOVERY OR WORK ON YOUR WEAKNESSES!
BUT PLEASE DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE NEED FOR RECOVERY DAYS!!!
If you have been doing CrossFit for a while now, you know it works because of the high intensity you achieve with each WOD. But our bodies can’t withstand that kind of intense exercise every day – so we need to EMBRACE THE REST DAY. Here is some guidance we can offer, but you MUST listen to your body first and foremost!
CrossFit recommends athetes follow a 3 on 1 off program, which means 3 days of doing the workouts and taking the following day to rest. Most athletes will need that day of rest in order to allow the muscle tissue to regrow and the body to recover from the training. If someone is brand new to CrossFit, your body might not be able handle that much intensity/work initially. The Cove offers programming 6 days a week, Monday-Saturday, and while we love seeing each of you, we do NOT want to see you every day. Often times life schedules need to dictate workout schedules. We realize not everyone’s schedule is the same and some will come in on certain days, and some on others. Some folks like to come in Monday-Friday and take the weekend off (5 on and 2 off). This may work for some, but what needs to be monitored is how that athlete is responding to the training. On the 4th and 5th day in a row, are they still feeling strong and are they still able to hit the conditioning portions of the workouts hard and keep the intensity that we are looking for in order to gain results? If not, go for walk, come in and row, stretch or ride the bike – but skip the WOD.
What tends to happen is you start enjoying coming to the gym so much because you are seeing results and you are making friends and getting connected to the community and you don’t want to take days off – but this can also lead to some nagging injuries if the individual is not listening to their body. We have seen it happen time and time again and, we too, have made this mistake more than once. So what does someone do on his or her rest day? Taking a full day off to do NOTHING is definitely an option but you could also consider some ‘active recovery’ activities (from our friends at CrossFit Invictus):
NOTE ABOUT ACTIVE RECOVERY – The activity selected must be restorative for you. It can also be an opportunity to work on a skill (like swimming or rowing), but the effort expended should leave you feeling energized at the end of the session, not depleted. I would also always prefer to see active recovery done as soon after rising as possible on the active recovery days. It’s an opportunity to start some blood flowing and aid your recovery.
Aerobic Restoration ( 25-40 minutes of work at a 60-70% effort – easy, restorative pace)
* Swim
* Row (focus on mechanics, smooth and efficient with a very low stroke per minute pace)
* AirDyne (keep the pace conversational and relaxed)
* Cycling (get outdoors and enjoy the scenery as you ride)
* Hike (nothing crazy here, find a nice easy slope and go for a walk outdoors)
* This could be a lot of things, but think in terms of compression, contrast baths, salt baths, castor oil packs, etc.
Nutrition Preparation
* Ensure that you have quality foods prepared in the appropriate quantities to fuel your efforts for the remainder of the week.
Mental Restoration
* Different for everyone – could be meditation or could be gathering with friends; the key is to engage in activities that make your life full and help you recharge your batteries.
Regardless if you are a competitive CrossFit athlete or just someone looking to get fitter – remember more is not always better, but better is better. Learn to listen to your body, learn to be ok with missing a day here or there in order to take care of yourself. You are only going to get stronger and faster if you allow your muscles a chance to recover.
Saturday we introduce the Snatch in a WOD for the first time. The snatch is a complex lift that will be new to many of you, but no worries — we will teach you step by step how to do it safely and effectively. It is a beautiful movement and really engages the entire body – and you’ll find uses so many of the principles we’ve been practicing including working from core to extremity, big hip extension and getting under the bar. Here’s a video demonstrating the Hanging Power Snatch:
STRENGTH WOD
12 minutes to find a heavy load with 1 Snatch Grip Deadlift + 2 Hanging Power Snatches
WOD
7 Hanging Power Snatches
30 Double Unders
7 Rounds
Time Cap = 15 minutes
Fitness 55/75 (60 singles)
RX 95/65
RX+ 115/75
Jen must REALLY think box jumps are fun. Good thing she’ll probably get to do them in the Open this year. If you haven’t yet, talk to the Coaches about signing up! We’re hoping for 100% participation!
Today we will be doing our first”girl” workout 1/2 Cindy. A “girl” workout is a benchmark workouts that CrossFit athletes use to test their fitness.
Why are they named after women? Here is what Coach Glassman, the founder of CrossFit had to say, “I want to explain the workout once and then give it a name. I thought that anything that left you flat on your back, looking up at the sky asking ‘what just happened to me?’ deserved a females name. Workouts are just like storms, they wreak havoc on towns.”
Top Ten Reasons to Do the CrossFit Open
1.There will be lots of firsts here at the Cove. Don’t you want to be part of our first CrossFit open?
2. You push hard in your workouts but it’s nothing like an open workout with everyone around you.
3. The open is a world wide competition. It’s something you can share with your friends and family that compete at another box.
4.It’s a chance for you to meet the rest of the gym. Who are those crazy people that wake up for the 5:30 AM class? What about the nooners and the afternoon crew that always takes the top spot.
5. The scaled division. This year a scaled division was added if you are just starting in the CrossFit world.
6. Trash talk -it’s not just for basketball.
7. You will learn what you are good at and bad at – you might struggle with workout 1 with deadlifts but kill workout 2 with burpees. Who knew you were a ninja at burpees!
8.It will challenge you and challenges are good.
9. When you watch/judge another member you will learn more than you thought about what good movement looks like
10. You will be inspired by others and you might inspire someone else
BONUS: Masters division! I have never been so happy to be “old”
Just so everyone is aware, there is a $20 charge for doing the open that goes to CrossFit HQ. It’s annoying but well worth it. We are aiming for 100 percent participation for this event. The more people involved the greater the experience is
In today’s workout we have a combined strength and mobility section. That is not by accident. People often see mobility/stretching as an effort in injury prevention and indeed it is but it really is about allowing our bodies to get into good positions. Give a focused effort on the stretches and drills we do today and you will find that you will get more out of all aspects of the workout. Looking forward to getting after it tomorrow
