A huge thanks to all the amazing women who came to the 2nd Annual Babes Barbells and Brunch event on Saturday. It was so great to see so many strong women tackle such challenging WODs… AND having fun doing it! The energy was awesome, the food was incredible and the company even more so. And a special thanks to Katie R. for putting this all together!
GYMNASTICS ACCESSORY WORK
Today we’ll continue to work on our gymnastics cycle, but if you are ever looking for other ways to build that pulling strength (which translates really well for both the pull up and the MU progression) here is a quick video on developing strength and mobility for deep pulling strength. For those that struggled with jumping chest-to-bar pull ups in the Open last year will also find this drill may help you get your first.
FRESH START STRENGTH
Work up to a heavy 3-rep Jerk
FRESH START WOD
20 Cal Row10 Jerks15 Cal Row7 Jerks10 Cal Row5 Jerks
Time Cap: 12 Minute Time Cap
COVE STRENGTH WOD
EMOM for 8 minutes: MU- 3 Muscle ups or 5 Turnovers with feet on the ground into 5 dipsPull Ups- 5-7 Kipping Pull ups or 5 NegativesToes to Bar -5-7 Toes to Bar or 7 Straight leg kipsWOD
15 KB Swings12 Push Ups9 Power Snatch9 min AMRAPFitness: 75/55 (25/26)RX and RX+: 95/65 (53/35)
Coach’s Tip:Just because you can snatch 95/65 does not mean you should. This is meant to be a FAST and spicy METCON, so the snatches should be unbroken for at least the first two or three rounds.
Babes and Barbells organizer Katie R. looking fit and fierce during double “Grace”…
A reminder that the New Year Nutrition Challenge potluck has been rescheduled as so many people were out of town or unavailable! BUT Brittany will be at the gym for Q&A and to answer questions and give mid-way advice!
A huge thanks to all the ladies who came out to the 2nd Annual Babes Barbells and Brunch!
We’re on for regular open gym tomorrow so come on in and make up a missed WOD, mobilize or work on some skills!
NO 11AM CLASS SATURDAY! BABES AND BARBELLS STARTS AT 11A!
For those of you coming to the Babes Barbells and Brunch, we are so excited for an amazing day. Don’t forget to bring what you signed up for… or if you didn’t sign up, no worries! Just bring something to share. As a reminder, this is a ladies’ only event starting at 11am, so there will be NO regular 11a class. Sorry fellas!
The workout will be “Girls on Girls“! We will be doing ten minutes of THREE “Girl” benchmark WODs in teams of two. We’ll be tackling “Cindy”, (Double) “Grace” and “Jenny”.
“Jenny”. is one of two female Hero WODs and we are privileged to honor her in such a unique way. The WOD is named after U.S. Army Capt. Jennifer M. Moreno, of San Diego, California, who died Oct. 6, 2013, in Zhari District, Afghanistan, when enemy forces attacked her unit with an improvised explosive device. The 25-year-old was assigned to Madigan Army Medical Center on Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state. Moreno is survived by her mother, Marie V. Cordero; sisters, Jearaldy Moreno and Yaritza Cordova; and brother, Ivan F. Moreno.
Here’s how the day will work. At 11am we’ll get warmed up and review each moment for the three workouts. We will partner up in teams of two, with your partner ideally someone who will be able to share a barbell with you (meaning, you lift comparable loads). NO worries if you don’t have a partner or are unsure of the weight you will use… we will figure ALL of that out! We will then split the partners into one of three groups. This will be the group you ‘rotate’ with from one workout to the next.
Group One: Starts on “Cindy”, moves to “Jenny” then to “Grace”
Group Two: Starts on “Jenny” then moves to “Grace” then to “Cindy”
Group Three Starts on “Grace” then moves to “Cindy” then to “Jenny”
We will do each workout with a 10 minute time cap, so technically we will be doing “half Cindy” and “half Jenny”. We should be able to hit Double “Grace” within the 10 minute cap, so if you finish early, you get more rest time. We will have FOUR MINUTES of rest between each station so you can set up any scales you need and adjust any barbell weights for the next rotation. Total running time for the WODs will be 38 minutes:
0-10:00 WOD 1
10:00-14:00 REST
14:00 – 24:00 WOD 2
24:00 – 28:00 REST
28:00 – 38:00 WOD 3
We should have plenty of room for all the teams at each ‘station’, but we are expecting a large crowd. That means you might not get your favorite bar on the rig and you might have to share it (so no boxes right underneath the bar; keep them to the side to make room for others). This is a day about FUN above else, so worry less about the clock and more about enjoying the day.
Half “Jenny”:
10 Minute AMRAP of the following:
20 Overhead Squats (35 lb bar)
20 Back Squats (35 lb bar)
400 Meter Run (run will be a 200M done as a team to get to the 400)
**one partner works while the other rests (except for the run which is done together)**
Half “Cindy”:
10 Minute AMRAP of the following:
5 Pull Ups
10 Push Ups
15 Air Squat
**one partner works while the other rests**
Double “Grace”:
10 Minutes to Complete:
60 Clean and Jerks (as a team)
**one partner works while the other rests**
SKILL WOD
Every 2 minutes for 6 minutes:10 Thrusters (Increase the load for each round, just 3 sets. Your first set should be a ‘working weight’, not a warm up weight)
COACH’S TIP: The thrusters should be a good warmup for the WOD, but let’s get in some shoulder mobility if you finish your set of 10 with lots of time left on the clock. Find a weight you can move in big sets initially and use a HSPU scale that allows you to hit sets of five at a minimum! We don’t want you failing at the wall and destroying your shoulders.
Some throwback shots from the First Annual Babes, Barbells and Brunch (oh, and our bartender Phil)!
We are super excited by the progress we are seeing from everyone with our gymnastic cycle and we hope you are as well. We are about to hit the mid-way point of the cycle and given what we’ve seen so far, we have decided to make a slight change in the muscle up group.
We initially began the cycle with the intention of building to “bar muscle up” capacity. Over the first few weeks we were purposely working on ring pulling strength, knowing that it would translate to both ring and bar muscle ups. And to start we thought keeping the focus on bar muscle ups allowed us to keep the classes together at the rig. But after seeing the athletes who chose the muscle up cycle (and the fact that many of them have bar muscle ups), we have decided to focus more on developing ring muscle ups. We also spoke to several athletes and they agreed they would get more out of it if we shifted focus more to the rings. If getting that first bar muscle up was what you had your heart set on, continue to follow this strength programing! But we know many of you are dreaming of being over the rings or linking more muscle ups together and we know this work will result in many victories in the coming weeks!
FRESH START CHALLENGE
We are blown away by the progress of this group and cannot believe we are just two weeks in. We know some of you came in and saw the ‘regular’ classes and thought to yourself “there’s no way I’ll be able to do that”. But guess what? You CAN. In fact, you ARE.
Today’s workout is the EXACT SAME workout that your fellow Cove athletes will tackle Friday. We’ve told you time and time again that you are doing versions of what they are doing, but it didn’t seem to be believable to some of you. So, we figure we might have to prove it to you.
What this means…
You’re still on a learning path, but you’ve got a ton of knowledge already. Not only does this mean we’ll all do the same workout today, it means if you can’t make a class moving forward, you SHOULD COME TO A REGULAR CLASS on a day you can. We want you to do three workouts per week, but if your body can take more, then COME ON IN!
The coaches will support you and find any appropriate scales and you’ll be amazed at the support that will come from the rest of the class. And if you’re not comfortable, just post on our Fresh Start FB page that you’re hitting a class and we’ll guarantee you someone will try to be there so you have a partner in crime. Welcome to the big time ladies!
PARNTER WOD
9 KB Swings7 Hanging Power Clean5 Slam Balls10 Rounds Total (1 person completes a full round then switch)Rest 2 minutes500 M Sprint on the Rower (1 partner goes then the next partner goes)Rest 2 minutes from the last partner off the rower9 KB Swings7 Hanging Power Cleans5 Slam Balls10 Rounds Total
COACH’S TIP: There is a lot of rest baked in here (two minutes between rounds AND when your partner is working) so when it’s your turn GET AFTER IT!. All of the reps in each movements should be unbroken, so if you can’t string 9 swings or 7 cleans together, go lighter. If you find that this is still too much volume or you are feeling very fatigued after the first few rounds, feel free to drop the reps to 7, 5 and 3.
Tis the season! The CrossFit Open starts on FEBRUARY 23rd! If you don’t know what the Open is, it is the pre-cursor to the Reebok CrossFit Games. And yes, we are hoping for 100% participation!
Wait? What? You want us ALL to do it? YES! Many of you may think “Why bother? I’m not here to compete. I’m surely not going to win anything or go to the CrossFit Games.” To that our response would be… “you’ve completely missed the point of the Open”.
The Open is a galvanizing event for ALL CrossFitters, but especially for us here at the Cove. For five weeks and for five workouts, any and every athlete in the world has the opportunity to participate in an event that is the qualifier for Regionals (and then the CrossFit Games) called the CrossFit Open. It’s not about getting you to the Games, it is about creating an even greater sense of community with CrossFitters around the world… but especially here at this box.
Every Friday night (the workouts are released Thursday evenings) we all get together for a “Friday Night Lights” style WOD. We cheer each other on, we act as judges (counting reps and checking movement standards) for each other so we can submit official scores but most of all… we have a BLAST. But don’t worry if you can’t make it here on Friday nights; during the Open every Friday WOD will be the Open Workout for that week (partner WODS go on hold for those weeks). Trust us, those five weeks are some of the best ever here at the Cove.
Here’s why you MUST SIGN UP NOW!:
Top Ten Reasons to Do the CrossFit Open
1. There will be lots of “firsts” here at the Cove. It may be your first time doing a competition or getting judged on your reps; or maybe you lift something or do a movement you didn’t think possible for the first time. Anything is possible at the Open.
2. You push hard in your workouts but it’s nothing like an Open workout with everyone around you cheering. The energy is electric.
3. The Open is a world-wide competition. It’s something you can share with your friends and family that compete at another box and you can see how you stack up to the WORLD, not just our WhiteBoard.
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 guy or gal you always chase on the WhiteBoard.
5. There is a scaled division, you don’t don’t need to be “elite” to participate. You can do it even if you are just starting in the CrossFit world.
6. Trash talk -it’s not just for basketball (says Coach Brian).
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.
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. Every bit of global data is tracked and you can sort your scores with a variety of filters. It’s ADDICTING! Again, we are aiming for 100 percent participation for this event. The more people involved the greater the experience is!
Sign up at THE CROSSFIT GAMES. The link to register is right below the main page photo!
STRENGTH WOD
MU- 5 Slow banded ring trace (Keeps ring in super tight and close to the body) + Max Ring Dips
Pull Ups- 5 Strict Tempo Pull Ups explode to the top then slowly lower + Max Banded Pull Downs (put a pvc pipe through a band sit on the ground and pull down and up at a fast pace, pvc pipe to chest every time)
Toes to Bar- 7 Kipping knees to stomach (keep feet and knees together the whole time) + Max time in hollow rock position)
COVE WOD
13 Min AMRAP10 Burpee Pull Ups30 Wall Balls____ Double UndersFitness: 30RX: 40RX+: 50Coach’s Tip:This workout is all about pacing. 13 minutes is a fairly long time domain for continuous work, so if you come out of the gates to fast, you will fall off the cliff early. Try to just keep moving and break up the wall balls into at least sets of 10! If you don’t have pull ups
7 Single Arm KB Press (each Arm)20 Second Hollow Hold into 20 seconds of Flutter Kicks4 RoundsWOD
10 Min AMRAP10 Push Press10 Front Rack Lunges10 BurpeesFitness: 75/55RX: 95/65RX+: 115/75
Coach’s Tip:The barbell will get heavy FAST on this workout so pick a load you can do unbroken on the Push Press and on the Lunges for at least the first round. We did a 10 minute AMRAP last week (shoulder to overhead with box jumps and sit ups) so that should give you an indication of how heavy those light weights can feel. And this is a Push Press, not a Jerk, so it will be even harder! And yes, friends… burpees are your rest.
One of our most favorite things is when our athletes step outside their comfort zone and try new things, and this was certainly a weekend where people did just that. We had several athletes compete in their first competition (or their first “outside the box” competition) and even had one travel all the way to Miami to compete in her first elite invitational event. We’d bet most of these people would tell you they were incredibly nervous or anxious going in (and maybe lost some sleep thinking about it), but we guarantee you that NONE of them regret doing it. If you are thinking about competing or want to know more about it, we are more than happy to talk to you. It’s an experience you will never forget.
Some highlights included athletes hitting PRs, not just once, but multiple times. We saw people do movements they had never done before and work seamlessly as unified teams. We had people place on the podium and others who held their own against people who have been competing for years. We had the best fans in the house and we appreciate the Cove love that was felt there and virtually! All in all, a great weekend for the Cove and we’re excited to watch our next batch compete at the Battle of Baltimore on Saturday, January 28th!
FRESH START STRENGTH
Find a heavy Hanging Power Clean
FRESH START WOD
12 Minute EMOM (Every Minute on the Minute):
8 Hang Power Cleans
10 Slam Balls
12 Knees to Waist (or Knees to Chest or Toes to Bar)
COVE STRENGTH WOD
EMOM for 8 minutes MU- 5 strict ring pull ups (pull as high as possible) + 6 tempo Push ups (3 seconds down then explode up)Pull Ups- 5 strict pull ups with a 2 second pause at the top + 6 kips with a towel between the feetToes to Bar -5 strict leg raises + 6 kipping straight leg toes to bar (get as high as possible with straight legs while you maintain a kip) WOD
10 Power Cleans18 Box Jumps (jump up/step down)3 RoundsFitness: 115/75RX: 135/95RX+: 155/105
10 Min Time Cap
Coach’s Tip:The jump up step down ensures safety, but it also works explosiveness off the ground. It eliminates the stretch reflex and makes you explode from a more static position. The weight on the clean should be something heavy, but not singles out of the gate. At least be able to string a set of five on the first go!
Come on in and make up a missed WOD, mobilize or work on some skills! Of if you are looking for rest day, head on up to Titan CrossFit and watch some of your fellow Covies compete in the mixed gender divisions! First heats go at 9:30a and run until 3p! And a huge congrats to the F/F teams who competed today. Not only were you just amazing, you made us all so proud!
Ever wonder what happens between the 9:30 and Noon classes when Holden coaches? Modeling sessions in the back office, of course…
CFH, owned by our very own “WODFather” Geo Rockwell, is closed this weekend as they are hosting the CrossFit Level One Staff for the Level One Course. When this happens, we invite their athletes down to come WOD with us (I mean, who wants to miss a workout, right?!). So give them a nice Cove welcome and introduce yourself to someone you might not recognize!
GOOD LUCK ATHLETES!
Looking for something to do this weekend? Come watch you fellow Cove Athletes compete at the Gemini Games at Titan CrossFit! We have F/F teams competing on Saturday in the scaled division (Nicole B./Ashley C. and Liz B. and Angela D.)! On Sunday we have the mixed gender groups competing. On the docket are Simone N./William S. and Coach Brian/Kim M.) in the scaled group. Misa F. and Coach John will be competing in the M/F RX division and Steve M and Coach Marina will take on the old folks in the RX Masters division!
Spectators are $10 at the door and all are welcome. We’d love the support! And if you can’t come, send those good Cove vibes our way and follow our progress on the Cove Club FB page!
COVE STRENGTH WOD
Overhead Squats 5/5/3/3/3
COVE WOD
50 M Sprint
8 Power Snatches
50 M Sprint
10 Bar Facing Burpees
Rest 1 minute
4 Rounds
Fitness: 95/65
RX: 115/75
RX+: 135/95
Coach’s Tip:You will start the workout by the cone nearest your barbell. Pending class sides, we will have people on both sides the cones. You will run 50M and immediately get back to your barbell for 8 snatches. You will then run another 50M and come back to your same barbell for 10 Bar Facing Burpees. Once you have done the ten burpees you have done ONE round. Then rest one minute and go back to your starting position. Please be careful to control your barbell as we will have lots of people doing burpees around you. Drop the bar from your waist or place it down!
Not sure what Coach John is saying but it looks like he’s describing something “that big”. And Don looks very interested…
GOOD LUCK TO OUR COVE ATHLETES AT THE GEMINI GAMES!
Looking for something to do this weekend? Come watch you fellow Cove Athletes compete at the Gemini Games at Titan CrossFit! We have F/F teams competing on Saturday in the scaled division (Nicole B./Ashley C. and Liz B. and Angela D.)! On Sunday we have the mixed gender groups competing. On the docket are Simone N./William S. and Coach Brian/Kim M.) in the scaled group. Misa F. and Coach John will be competing in the M/F RX division and Steve M and Coach Marina will take on the old folks in the RX Masters division!
Spectators are $10 at the door and all are welcome. We’d love the support! And if you can’t come, send those good Cove vibes our way and follow our progress on the Cove Club FB page!
