FAN FAVORITE! MILE RUN RETEST!

Today we are retesting our mile run.  For those of you who have done this with us, you can reference your times from May 18th, 2015.  For those of you who have not tested this, it is a GREAT benchmark for fitness.  We rarely run a mile at a time but we bet you will be VERY surprised at how fast you can do it!

It is VERY warm (thankfully all the classes will be run before the peak heat of the day) so start drinking water NOW. Chugging a gallon right before a run is not a good idea. Proper hydration, as we know, takes TIME.

 

NEXT THUR (7/14) @ 6:30PM

FAREWELL WOD FOR COACH MATT!

Next Thursday we will be doing a special farewell WOD for Coach Matt. For those of you who don’t know, he’s heading up to Albany for medical school Apparently, in addition to being a great athlete, awesome Coach and overall good guy, it turns out he’s actually smart too.  Who knew?

The goodbye WOD will run in lieu of the regular 6:30PM class, but the rest of the day’s schedule will remain ‘as is’.  If you ever seen him workout, you know he’s a bit of a sadist.   So expect something challenging for sure… but as always, we’ll have scales for all!

 

FOUNDATIONS NEXT WEEK

If anyone has friends or family who have been wanting to give this CrossFit thing a try, there are FREE Foundations/101 Classes coming up next week. Each session focuses on a different movement and we dial in on proper form and technique. These classes are also great if you wanted to review any movements. 

Classes will run Monday, Wednesday and Thursday of next week at 6:30pm. Let us know if you or you know someone who wants to join us this week.

 

WOD

Re-test from Monday May 18th

1 Mile Run for Time

Rest, stretch and roll out for 10 minutes

Then

15 KB Swings

30 Double Unders

15 Sit ups

9 min AMRAP

Fitness: 35/26

RX: 53/35

RX+: 70/53

Mindi is one our early am warriors who works hard every time she steps in the door.  Here she is working hard at KB swings!

 

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This is a must-read blog entry.  A huge thanks to Coach Mike for such a perfectly written piece…

 

#SORRYNOTSORRY

 

Friday partner WODs are a lot of fun here at CrossFit Cove. It’s a great time to come together as a community, meet someone new, and sometimes partner up with a friend. But, what happens immediately after the WOD can affect your mood and self-confidence.

Firebreather –Fie-r-bre’-th-er: (n)

A popular term in the CrossFit community for an extremely fit person who has extraordinary power output.

 

“He did that workout in 2 minutes and 31 seconds? Holy crap! He’s a firebreather!”

We’ve all been through it. You show up to a partner WOD, scope out the room for potential teammates, and then boom! The resident “firebreather” makes eye contact with you and asks you to be their partner. Worse yet, the coach starts pairing athletes up randomly and you’re paired up with the grizzled CrossFit veteran. You’ve seen them crush WODs on a daily basis and you’ve seen how much more they can lift than you. You’re excited because your team will likely finish the WOD first or in the shortest amount of time, but now you have to workout with them. Side-by-side; your performance will affect their WOD finishing time.

Fast-forward 20-30 minutes later…

The WOD is finally over. Your partner is making a sweat angel on the mat next to you and you are hunched over trying to catch your breath. They peel themselves off the floor, walk over to you, say great job, and give you an enthusiastic high-five. Your response: “I’m sorry.”

Wait, what?

Look back to the end of the second paragraph: “your performance will affect their WOD finishing time.” You suddenly changed your personal goals to reflect those of your partner. Why? On every other day, you push yourself to your limits and your results satisfy your goals. It’s not different than any other WOD, but for some reason you put their performance needs ahead of your own.

As coaches, this is one of the most common phrases we hear, and it’s also the most disheartening. We just watched you try your hardest and fight through every rep (literally). We watched you push yourself further than you thought you could. We watched you fail a rep because of that extra effort. After the WOD, we watch you writhe in pain on the ground in a pile of your own sweat (it’s very flattering). The last thing we want, or expect to hear are our athletes tearing themself down when we, and they, know that they just gave their best effort.

Be proud of where you are and how far you’ve come. Every. Day. Every day, you are stronger and faster than you were yesterday. Don’t let someone else dictate or lead you astray from your personal goals. Don’t forget why you are here and why you keep coming back. Take time to look back at where you started, look at your progress, and be proud. This is your journey. When you are finished, look towards the future and never lose sight of your “why.” Most importantly, unless you just dropped a barbell on your partner’s foot, never say you are sorry.

 

NEXT THUR (7/14) @ 6:30PM

FAREWELL WOD FOR COACH MATT!

Next Thursday we will be doing a special farewell WOD for Coach Matt. For those of you who don’t know, he’s heading up to Albany for medical school Apparently, in addition to being a great athlete, awesome Coach and overall good guy, it turns out he’s actually smart too.  Who knew?

The goodbye WOD will run in lieu of the regular 6:30PM class, but the rest of the day’s schedule will remain ‘as is’.  If you ever seen him workout, you know he’s a bit of a sadist.   So expect something challenging for sure… but as always, we’ll have scales for all!

 

FOUNDATIONS NEXT WEEK

If anyone has friends or family who have been wanting to give this CrossFit thing a try, there are FREE Foundations/101 Classes coming up next week. Each session focuses on a different movement and we dial in on proper form and technique. These classes are also great if you wanted to review any movements. 

Classes will run Monday, Wednesday and Thursday of next week at 6:30pm. Let us know if you or you know someone who wants to join us this week.

 

PARTNER WOD

We know the men of the Cove just did this for Guys’ Night, but the ladies wanted in on the action.  So, our partner WOD is PARTNER DT!!!!!

Partner “DT”

Repeat from Friday December 24th

 

12 Deadlifts

9 Hanging Power Cleans

6 Push Jerks

Fitness: 115/75

RX and +: 155/105

You do a round then your partner does a round.  For a total of 10 rounds (5 rounds each).

An aftermath shot from Guys’ night Partner DT.  Expecting similar carnage (and shirts off) tomorrow!  

 

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WHAT WAS THAT?!

The last two days we have had TWO very challenging workouts with aggressive time caps. In fact, the majority of our athletes did not finish either workout and dancing with that time limit was something we expected to see!

We wanted to shed a bit of light on WHY this was done and help people understand how to modify workouts so that it is doable (maybe). We will write more on programming strategies in the weeks to come, but the general CrossFit philosophy is that you program for the best and scale the rest.

CrossFit borrows a lot from the military and programming is another example of how that is done. The “tip of the spear” is a military terms meaning the first to go into battle . They are your elite troops, the best of the best. When a workout is developed at “RX” it is meant to be a CHALLENGE for the best of the best. From there, scaling up or down plays a critical role. We offer RX + as a “scale up” option but also provide a “Fitness” level for those who are striving to build to RX eventually. But many of us may never get to that “elite” level (or may not even WANT to!). So that’s when things like volume, weight, distances, etc. come into play in finding what is right for YOU as you work to improve your own individual level of fitness.

Take Wednesday’s workout as an example. For argument’s sake, lets say that some of the coaches represent the “best of best” at the Cove. The RX programming is developed for those kinds of athletes. And so was that time cap of 35 minutes. We estimated that, when done EFFICIENTLY by an ‘elite level’ athlete, they should come very, VERY close to that time cap. And they did. Coach Josh and Coach Marina fought hard to stay under 35 minutes as they did the WOD as prescribed… and based on their times we’d say it “worked”. For those choosing other options than RX, the goal was to find a scale that allows them to also finish the workout within (or at) 35 minutes, but with modifications.

Do NOT be frustrated with time caps! Use them as ways to strategize the best way for YOU to attack the workout. We are very deliberate with our programming and aim for specific outcomes (long burners, sprint/rest, etc) and how you optimize that is really up to you. The coaches are here to help you find that sweet spot and we want you to always feel better about yourself when you leave that door than when you walked in… and if that didn’t happen, we are not happy!

Embrace all the good things you did during the workout. Revel in all the long term improvements you are seeing. And don’t let a stinking clock bring you down!

STRENGTH WOD

For 10 minutes

Even: 3 Back Squats

Odd: Farmers Carry (one lap around the gym) choose your own weight

Record Back Squat weight and put KB weight in the comments

WOD

20-15-10

Front Squats

Box Jumps

Fitness: 115/75, 20/18

RX: 155/105, 24/20

RX+: 175/115, 24/20

Coach’s Tip: The goal is to finish in under 10 minutes.  Unlike yesterday’s long burner, this is meant to be quick! 

Hallie is on a mission in a game of triangle tag!  

 

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WEDNESDAY WINS!

We love to shine a light on the successes of our athletes (no matter how big or small).  Today we turn our attention to Cara H. who has had changes so massive they can barely be described!  This amazing woman joined the Cove after the New You Challenge where she saw incredible results… and they did not end there.  In fact, she’s on the beginning of a great ride — but more importantly living fully because of it.  What we love about our athletes is that everyone’s motivation is different.  In her case it started with just a little wedding ring…

With great awe we share her story…

“I started my journey mid April with an ‘ah ha’ moment. We were going to an event and I wanted to wear my wedding ring — and it didn’t fit. It was at that moment I knew I need a change.  I was the heaviest I have ever been after getting pregnant and the weight just never came off. And I didn’t do anything to encourage it. I saw the ad for the New You Challenge, and although I was terrified decided I was just going to give it six weeks. I’m so glad I did! I’m down 3 pant sizes and only 4 pounds short of my near term goal of losing 50lbs!  I hope to see the number keep going down but beyond that I am feeling great and have so much more energy. The ultimate benefit of this all though is improved self worth.  I feel so much more confident and have seen improvements in almost all facets of my personal life. All of it, marriage, my career… has picked up. And it’s nice that all my clients notice a change in me too.  I no longer rushing out the door 10 minutes before work — I have officially become a morning conqueror!  Something I never thought I would be!!

I really like that the workouts are short but intense. It’s some serious hard work for me but the fact that you are giving it your all and then you are done I appreciate. I was telling my friend, that at every moment when want to give up or stop running, someone was right there coming up behind me with words of encouragement. And it gets you through. It what keeps me coming back.

And my wedding ring fits!

 

WOD

20 Hanging Power Snatch

400 M Run

20 Pull ups

400 M Row

4 Rounds

Fitness: 75/55

RX: 95/65

RX+: 115/75

 

Coach’s Tip:  There is no strength or skill today because this will be a longer workout.  Your goal is to complete the Snatches and Pull Ups in the least amount of sets possible, so choose a weight or scale that allows you to do BIG SETS!

Emily S. and Susan S. rocking the ropes.  First time was a charm!

 

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