Fran PR party!

At my mom's gym we did Fran today.

Reps as Rx'd 21 - 15 - 9

Pullups assisted CW green, KW blue band.

Weight CW 1st set 65#, then 55#; KW 37#.

PR times!

CW 7:09

KW 5:35

Woohoo!

For the warmup, jumprope, then

3 x 5 squat, pushup, supermans, situps, pullups, dips.

Our Death By 10 Meters

The gauntlet is thrown down!

C2 rower
Last round meters:
CW 230m
KW 210m

Good luck on Sunday.

Ciao,

Charles

Do it yourself Sunday WOD

Pick a sport; run, bike, swim, row. You will need a way of measuring
distance in 10 meter intervals.
Running you can go progressively farther or just back and forth
between markers set 10 meters apart.

DEATH BY 10 METERS

10 meters on the min.
Every minute, add 10 meters.
This can be done 2 ways. 1) either measured on a watch/computer (i.e.,
Garmin, Polar, bike computer, compu trainer or pool markers) and
stopping each successive 10 meters. This is the way that it should be
done for cycling or swimming.
Or 2) set up 2 cones 10 meters a part, and add one return trip each
minute on the minute... Either way, you are to add 10 meters each
round until you can no longer continue. Post rounds.

So the first minute, do 10 meters with a lot of rest time.
2nd minute, do 20 meters
3rd minute, do 30 meters
etc... until you can't get them all into a minute.

If you do this, send me rounds you did.

Ciao,

Charles

Angie's New Shoes

Angie x .5

50 each - pullups, pushups, situps, squats.

CW 27:38 my first ripped callous.

KW 25:22 another blood blister.

Thanks Theresa at Crossfit Appleton for helping me improve my kip!

And the shoes: Kirsten found hers in Appleton; after not finding a good fit in any DCs in Appleton or Green Bay, I found these sweet WOD shoes at the Rhythm skate shop in downtown

Houghton!

Happy Thanksgiving! Remember to get after it!

Ciao,

Charles

Over the river & through the WOD

While travelling to my Mom's, Houghton to Mt. Pleasant: 15 burpees for time at each rest stop.

Marquette
CW 1:13
KW 1:03
A shock!
A lady said her dog wanted to get us.

Seney
Cw 1:17
Kw 1:03
Refreshing!

Naubinway
Cw 1:10
Kw 1:00
Getting faster. Notorious Charles is recognized by fellow rest-stoppers.

Vanderbilt
CW 1:07
KW1:01
15 minutes after dinner puts the burp in burpees! In the dark now. Kirsten starts napping in between...

Gaylord
CW 0:59
KW 0:52
Are we getting faster, or miscounting?Wet. starting to feel it in the stomach...charles says our form is improving...however, we are in the dark...

Houghton Lake
Cw 1:00
Kw 0:53
Kw wants to know why the lights keep going out wherever we go...she just said, "I have dirt in my mouth!" Only one more set...

Clare
Cw 0:53
Kw 0.53
Woo hoo from a passing car!
Yay hooray we are done!

Ciao,

Charles

Over the river & through the WOD

CFE Hill Repeats / Dryland Training

Today was the Sunday WOD - Congratulations to Kari Lyle for working out with us!

We headed out to the trails at Michigan Tech, for a hill workout on the 'Hairpin Loop.' Skiing for several years, I've always viewed this sign as the equivalent to the Enchanted Forest 'I'd turn back if I were you' sign from the Wizard of Oz.

It goes pretty straight out and almost all down, then a banked turn and almost all straight back up. It's not quite as bad as it sounds, on the way down. It is all of that climbing back up, though.

We warmed up and did XC drills working our way to the bottom, then set up to climb the hill twice. Here's the Crossfit Endurance Workout, scaled:

Run: 2 x .5km hill repeats holding fastest possible pace without deviating more then 1 minute and recovering 1 min before descending hill easy. Repeat after 1 min recovery at bottom of hill... (orig .75 - 1 mile)

Foul: If you deviate more than the specified time.

Foul: 50 alternating "aka Random hand" push ups (orig. 75)

Here's the times over .54km:

CW: 5:15, 4:51

KW: 4:59, 4:51

KL: 5:06, 5:08

CW: working with POSE technique (see posetech.com) and with ski poles, a strain in my right calf about 3/4 of the way uphill. The idea is to immediately pull up the landing foot. I just could not pull it. I worried that I was pushing off, keeping the ball of my foot buried in the ground much too long. I had to stop and walk the last steep section. Endurance was not a problem, though. Second time, I thought I'd try, probably end up walking and doing the penalty. I still could not pull the foot up. Then, I tried it without using the poles. Bingo! My cadence picked up and foot pulls started happening much quicker. The calves, though already strained felt fine! I think that the long time the poles were in the ground held my foot there as well. I felt like the POSE technique was working. I ran all the way up the hill, no stops or slowing. The takeaway for me was: because of no glide, just do the dryland XC drills at steady pace for technique. Fast trail running, forget the poles.

KW: For me, the poles helped. I used them in much the same way as I would have if I were classic skiing. Because I am still rehabbing my knee, I felt that this would take some of the pressure off of the knee, and so would be the way to go. I actually could run for the whole workout. This is the first time back running since my injury. I am pumped! Perhaps I can start running again now. It helps me to always concentrate on relaxing the achilles and calves. I surprised myself, I didn't know how well my leg would cope, but it is getting stronger and stronger now.

CW: So, is one of us wrong? Our conclusions were based on our reasoning of cause and effect. Even though it worked for me, I know that I'm not aware enough of what's going on to accurately judge. It would be nice to get POSE coaching. Perhaps if we got video we could record ourselves and get somebody to take a look at us. Hmm, new gadget lust. ;^)

Kari said she had the strength for the hills, next comes the cardiovascular endurance. Great job and extremely consistent!

Next week we'll be over the river and through the woods, to Mommie's house we go. I'll post a Sunday WOD you can do anywhere on your own for next week.

Ciao,

Charles

Sunday WOD

I just remembered to get this out before tomorrow. Sorry it's so late.

Sunday WOD. Dryland training; meet at Tech Trails, 1:00 pm

Bring:
Trail running shoes
Stopwatch
XC ski poles (classical length) if you have them.

See you Sunday!

Ciao,

Charles

Max Deadlift WOD

2009-11-21

7 deadlifts

1-1-1-1-1-1-1 Deadlift
Score: 205-220-230-240-250-252.5-265

Comments: PR +10#. Rep 6 was supposed to be PR by 5#, but I screwed up. First I loaded up wrong, off on one side. It felt lopsided when I started to lift. When I reloaded, I still left a 10# plate off of one side, and added a 5# plate instead of a 2.5# plate. I didn't notice the imbalance, it just seemed heavy. Went for the planned 265 anyway. Woohoo!

KW not feeling as strong today. By the end she felt the legs getting back into it. 155-(155)-135-135-135-135-155 For warmup, KW did 2 sets of 10 of squats, supermans, situps, pushups,pullup and ring dips. I did more skill stuff - single and double unders (I got 3 singles, 1 double, 3 singles!)(I'm having more success modeling the jumping first, then adding the rope), then 1 set of Kirsten's warmup (scaled.)

Then I coached Kirsten on butterfly pullups, based on this tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEUxEo5_7hY Very cool!

Ciao,

Charles

Tommy V

Tommy V: Thrusters 15-12-9 'rope climbs' 8-4-2 Jumping towel pullups x 10 for each rope ascent. (80,40,20)

I have rubber arms :o CW 11:36 KW 12:39

Tabata Something Else (1/2)

2009-11-15 1/2 tabata something else

Tabatas are intervals, usually 8, of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off.

Pull-up (jumping) (4 rounds) Tabata Push-up (honest) (4 rounds) Tabata Sit-up (floor) (4 rounds) Tabata Air Squat (honest) (4 rounds) Total reps: 130

CW: with jumping pullups

pullups 11+11+10+8=40

pushups 5+5+4+4=18

situps 8+8+8+8=32

squat 11+11+10+11=43

Total 40+18+32+43=130

KW: with kipping pullups

pullups 8+6+4+4=24

pushups 6+6+6+6=24

situps 8+8+8+8=32

squats 9+9+9+9=36

Total 24+24+32+36=116

Another one of those workouts where you learn a lot about doing it the first time.

Ciao,

Charles

Workout at Crossfit Appleton

Theresa Rosenquist, MSc. was our trainer. We learned that we're doing pretty good studying and working out on our own. Even better, she had great ideas to improve every movement we were doing. Then she got us but good. Here's the workout:

2009-11-13 5 rounds of: Clean (hang power) x 10 Reps @ 35 Pounds Front Squat x 10 Reps @ 35 Pounds Jerk (push) x 10 Reps @ 35 Pounds Row x 250 Meters

Time: 18:32

Comments: Warmup 2 X15 each squat (air, pvc overhead,) situps back ext/good mornings, Pullups, ring dips. KW 17:42 25# without the jumping parts of the movements. All done at Crossfit Appleton. Thanks, Theresa!

I think that's the first time I've done a full 5 rounds. Near the end of the 3rd I said "I don't think I can do more." Theresa said, "just slow down." It worked, and I put in a good 250m on the last row. Theresa said that's the first time she's seen a 1:30 split on the rower! Here's what I looked like after:

You can tell what a good time we had!

If you get down to Appleton, get with these guys, they're great! Real close to the Fox Valley Mall, too. Everything you need to know is at http://www.appletoncrossfit.com/index.html

Do it yourself Sunday WOD

I'm attending a piano recital that some of my students are in, so if you want the Sunday WOD, just crank it out yourself!

Here's the workout.

Sunday

Sunday WOD "Tabata Something Else"

20 sec on, 10 sec off 

3-4 intervals of

pull-ups (sub jumping)

push-ups (sub wall/bench)

sit-ups

squats. 

Post total reps from all intervals.

If you don't have a way of doing pullups, skip them for now.

Warm up, including 8 of each exercise.

Take the first exercise and go hard for 20 seconds, then write down your reps and rest for 10 seconds.

Do that 3 times in a row without any extra rest, then right into 3 intervals of the next exercise, and so on.

By the end, you will have done 12 intervals total.  

Pick a pace you think you can maintain throughout, fighting for good technique even when you get tired.

If you are looking for a bigger challenge, do 4 rounds of each.

Email me your results, like this:

pullups 5,6,4,4

pushups 10,8,6,7

situps 5,6,6,7

squats 8,8,7,9

total reps (add them up)

Good luck!

Ciao,

Charles

I found my notes for 11/6!

2009-11-6 1 rounds of: 1 minute 30seconds of Row for Meters 1 minute 30seconds of Row for Meters 1 minute 30seconds of Row for Meters 1 minute 30seconds of Row for Meters 1 minute 30seconds of Row for Meters 1 minute 30seconds of Row for Meters Total meters: 2407 Comments: CFE 90 seconds on / 60 seconds off, 6 rounds All stroke rates 29 spm. splits: 1:53.9 1:53.6 1:53.3 1:52.7 1:52.5 1:50.8

Ciao,

Charles

Scaled Tyler

2009-11-11 tyler 3 rounds of: Muscle-up (scaled) x 4 Reps Sumo Deadlift High Pull x 15 Reps @ 55 Pounds Time: 3:30 Comments: Scaled. I don't really have a ring dip. The assist was squat through and jump. Not great. Next time, 65# SDLHP. KW 5:48, 26# KB Tucker progressions on muscleups. I think once she adds the kip, Kirsten will have a muscle up! Ciao, Charles

Crossfit Endurance Time Trial

Crossfit Endurance is a different thing from Crossfit. It uses
crossfit workouts as the fitness base. Then it adds a few days a week
of your particular endurance sport, covering running, biking, swimming
and erg rowing. It promises good results with less mileage per week.
a typical three day endurance cycle contains two interval workouts and
one time trial or tempo workout.

Today was supposed to be a 2k time trial. I did one of those not too
long ago and wanted to try something different, so I did a 'distance
trial.' I set the timer to countdown 7:30, then rowed as far as I
could in that time. My February goal is 2k in 7:30.

I was not used to judging my effort this way; I hadn't realized how
dependent I was on the 2k race format. Not only that, but I didn't
feel me
ntally up to the job; I wanted to give it up about 1/2 way through.
Perhaps a lack of mental toughness is a disadvantage of the lower
mileage plan?

The final result was 1952 meters. That gives an average 500 split of
1:55.3. My goal is 1:52.5. Extrapolating that out would give a 2k
time of 7:41.

That's not bad; not yet to February's goal, but still ahead of last
year's PR!

Kirsten is working on the new ski-erg. Her goal is this Sunday's time
trial at the Aspirus Fitness Center - 1K in 5:10.
Her time trial today was 5:22. Great! She was trying for 5:30.

Here's the data:
11/11/09 TT
Cw row 7:30 for distance
Wmup 2575m 1:52.2 27

TT 1952m. Splits every 1:50:
Meters, split/500, spm
512 1:49.3 28
501 1.51.7 27
478 1:57.1 27
452 2:03.8 26
9 1:51.1 30

KW 1k for time
5:22.9 2:41.4 41
Splits by 200s spm
2:38 38
2:45 37
2:36 41
2:44 43
2:35 47

Ciao,

Charles

A saturday morning WOD at our house, guest starring the ever popular David Dixon!

3 rounds of:

10 Hang Squat Cleans

15 or 20 pushups

CW: 8:15. 45# bar, 15 pushups per round. Rounds 2 & 3 pushups on a bench.

KW: 6:45. 14# medball hang squat cleans, starting from squat footing; the knee rehab continues!

DD: 5:52. 35# bar. Yay, David!

See you tomorrow at 1pm for the Sunday WOD!

Ciao,

Charles

Sunday WOD

Workout this Sunday at my house, 1pm.

All bodyweight exercises this week.

If you want to prepare ahead, work on your air squat:

Air Squat Demo w/explanations..mov, wmv.

Ciao,

Charles

Lizzie

2009-11-5 lizzie 15-12-9 rep rounds of: Clean (squat) 45 Pounds Dip (scaled) Time: 7:51 Dips off a bench, heels on a 16" box. KW time: 7:20 35# hang power cleans, 7 ring dips (ain't she something!) bench dips with feet on a 16" box for the rest. Last time was 35# with a time of 4:32. I'm not sure aobut the difference. Today was pretty much all out, I heard Pukie calling my name. I'm guessing that last time my cleans did not have a squat in them. Form was good but not great. I still need to improve my receiving position.

Ciao,

Charles

Baby's first Fran...

The way to rate any Crossfitter is to ask what their Fran time is.  It's the most well-known of the benchmark workouts.

Ours were scaled both in weight and reps.  Here's the data:

• Thruster x 12 Reps @ 65 Pounds
• Pull-up (assisted) x 21 Reps
• Thruster x 9 Reps @ 65 Pounds
• Pull-up (assisted) x 15 Reps
• Thruster x 6 Reps @ 65 Pounds
• Pull-up (assisted) x 9 Reps

CW time: 7:21

Thrusters scaled weight and reps. 

Pullups w/green band. 

KW time: 10:01 

Subbed 35# push presses followed by air squats, scaled reps. 

Pullups full on (go, grrrrrrrl!) PR alert: KW got 10 kipping pullups in a row! 

Worked on double-unders. CW goals: pullups - improve power to weight ratio; move down to blue band. Double unders -single-double-single, consecutive doubles. 

KW goals:1st muscle-up, 20 consecutive kipping pullups.

Ciao,

Charles

CF "Twisted" Total

I think I lead a charmed life.  Not always, but many times my mistakes turn out to have silver linings.  Take today; The Sunday WOD was the Crossfit Total - three max powerlifting moves, the score being the total max weight lifted.  The workout mirrors a powerlifitng meet, best out of three tries.  The exercises are supposed to be back squat, shoulder press and deadlift.  I remembered two out of the three, but I programmed bench presses instead of back squats.  Oops!

And now, the silver lining.  The bench press was in itself a worthwhile exercise, though I admit not as much as the squat.  We did work on air squats in the warmup, but due to form issues learning the air squat and also injury rehab issues, I was the only one who would have been able to do the squat.  The bench press was fun.  I promise to squat next time. 

Here's the data:

11/1/09 Crossfit Twisted Total: Deadlift/Bench Press/Shoulder Press. (I'll do squats next time, I promise.) CW: 255+105+150=510 KW: 55+100+65=220 Kari Lyle: 95+75+55=225

Congratulations to Kari on her first bar workout! : )

Charles PRs: deadlifts +15, shoulder press +10 Hooray! 8^)

Ciao,

Charles