to face a challenge.  Prepare yourself. And Giver….

but

don’t be silly.

“Eva” is considered one of the more difficult CrossFit workouts, even finishing is considered a badge of honor. This workout can be unproductive and is for most. I don’t want you to plod through it and get this drawn out metabolic challenge because of the sheer volume of work in front of you.  So if your still a mini firebreather and planning on working out Saturday and Sunday try the Eva Sprint Version.  If not, and you got the inkling to GIV’R – expose yourself & get your big bad-ass volume in Friday.  I know the Sheik and Tinkerbell will.  That’s just how it is.

(Tbear hint – If you can do 50 burpees then knock out at least 15 consecutive 2-pood swings and then 15 pull-ups in a row – your ready for Eva.)

A few years back we had a sign in system and EVERYONE signed in before their class and coaches checked to see who was in the class, what injuries there were etc.

Then we upgraded our billing/attendance system to enhance the school for the benefit of our students and instructors. In the process our sign in system was not available and therefore it seems to be forgotten

BUT……..it now works perfectly! So we are aiming for 100% compliance on signing in!!!!

You have no idea how important this is for us!!!!!! It creates data that is crucial to the accreditation of our school, funding for apprentices, attendance reports so we can see our growth!

Everyone in classes should have one of the above stylish key tags and should be signing in before their classes (COACHES & APPRENTICES this is you too) if you do not have one of these see your coach or Dashie ASAP!

SCAN YOUR CARD BEFORE EACH CLASS! BEFORE YOU PUT YOUR GEAR DOWN!!!!!

It is Dashies responsibility to establish this compliance so please don’t let her down! Any problems/cpncersn please email dash@crossfit.ca

NOW For Some Fun!

We have done this one before and everyone loved it! It is a great hit!
No complaints on this High Volume/High Intensity – 1979 workout. (courtesy of Dan John)
Beware of the 2nd Round. We barely made it and took around a 4 to 5 minute rest.

Good Spinal Form will reward you.

Tech
Back Squat warm-ups (5,5,5,5)

WOD – ” Widows.3-0h “

Newbs (never done widowmakers/less than 1 year crossfit)
30 BackSquats @50% of 1RM
REST as needed to complete
30 uninterrupted Back Squats @40% 1RM
REST as needed to complete
30 uninterrupted Back Squats @30% 1RM
-record your time

Vetrans
30 BackSquats @65% of 1RM
REST as needed to complete                                                                                       GET SOME FORM LIKE THESE DUDES!
30 uninterrupted Back Squats @55% 1RM
REST as needed to complete
30 uninterrupted Back Squats @45% 1RM
-record your time, if you don’t make it record your continuous reps.

SIGN IN!

Dashie

Step 1 – Clean up the diet.  It’s a must.

Step 2 – Practice various core stability exercises

Step 3 – Don’t skip our Gymnastic Wednesday WODs.

So what’s an effective abdominal exercise?  You veterans should now know that sit-ups are far from the optimal go to movement.

Rectus abdominis function primarily as a stabilizer muscle – they keep your torso upright while you’re standing, walking, running, squatting or performing many other key movements.

For this reason, the best way to work your abs is to use them to stabilize your trunk in difficult and creative positions.

Think about leverage. Minimal equipment is necessary. The less leverage you have when supporting yourself in these situations, the harder the abs must work to keep the body aligned.  That’s why the super shallow hollow rock is the toughest of the hollow rocks.  Ensure your training with legs straight.

A basic plank is one of the simplest examples of this type of stabilizing exercise, but that’s only the beginning.

Bruce Lee and Rocky did these “Dragon Flags”

Now we see all kinds of versions like the human flag or flag poling.  Easy? – no chance.  Give them a go in today’s technique session.

Best to grab a bench or utilize our very own vertical pullup supports.

Start by doing negatives from an inverted hollow with your feet high up in the air.

See if you can lower yourself to 6 inches above the ground and hold for 5 seconds.

To reach dragon “status”- the objective would be to lift your entire body up in a straight line, stacking it vertically over your shoulders, then slowly lower back down until parallel to the ground and repeat for 3 to 5 reps.  Careful with you neck and engage everything you got around your midline including your low back and glutes to maintain your form and try not bend at the hips.  Cool??

WOD

For Reps – 2 Couplets done twice – 4 minutes work 1 min rest x 4

4 minutes of:
- 10 Toes to Bar
- 5 Handstand pushups
(15 points per round)

rest 1 min then

4 minutes of box facing burpee box jumps (see pic below)
(burpee box jump counts as 1)
guys 24″/ladies 20″

rest 1 min then

Repeat a second time because sweat is our friend.

Why?

1. Because it prepares the body (more anterior/ventral plane (that’s for Andy and our apprentice anatomy test)) for supporting large loads in the rack position.  You’ll see gains in your other lifts like cleans, presses, thrusters and jerks because it trains the “base” starting positions of those lifts.

2. Smokes your quads and abdominals like no other movement. Your torso is more upright in a front squat (good practice for just understanding what a neutral spine should be in any squat) which will bias a lot of the strength gains to the quads and the abs above which basically support and stabilize the the weight above.

3. Because people make the best faces trying to get out these tough below parallel positions.  Just watch – take a picutre – but make sure they get deep enough because friends don’t let friends squat shallow!

Tuesday Strength – Front Squat to Max (allow 20 minutes)

Do some 5′s then 2′s on up to a 1 rep max please.

Workout: “Limnos”

For time complete:

25 Body Weight Front Squats (Ladies at 70%)
then
3 Rounds of:
- 75 Double Unders
- 15(men)/10(ladies) Ring Dips

*no racks for WOD, send heats and use static dips if your on purple band or higher.  Post time to leaderboard.

TBear
“…is like reinforcing your front deck so you can park your car on it (in Alberta)”

Swing by tonight for the Canada West Regional After Party – 8pm to 2am.

The competition this weekend was pretty awesome.  I was fortunate enough to see all of Friday and Saturday afternoon workouts.  These competitors are legit!  Surviving 6 workouts to find Western Canada’s top 2 female, male and teams that will go on to the Games certainly had to prepare more than ever before.

Congrats to Emily who had a focus that I’ve never seen before.  Em just missed that top spot and came in 3rd. An impressive finish, we are so proud of our Eunice!

Rhea who finished 17th, held strong right through to the last WOD where her back lit up which shows how much stress is put on these athletes and it is amazing to watch how they carry on. Another amazing performance seen all weekend.

THE CFV TEAM! Placing 9th. Consisting of Lumber, Dan, Poker, Fancypants, Quin, Caroline, Ben and Mar were outstanding! Lumber PB’ed his snatch on the 5th WOD by 20lbs! The calmness of this group was great and everyone put up their best efforts despite some judging challenges that were not in our favour.

A huge WELL DONE goes out to Sheppy! Who has taken on the role of coach for these athletes! The heart and time he gave to everyone certainly had them at their full potential for the weekend. Thanks SHEP!

Many of our students and coaches attended the whole weekend volunteering, judging, and cheering on our hopefuls and friends from around western Canada. Thanks to everyone that came out, you have no idea how much our athletes appreciate the cheering and how it pushes them that little bit more!

So when you see these people in the school this week give them a fist pump/hug…..whatever you want!

Monday’s Plan

Strength Work – Sumo Deadlift & Traditional

Work up to some heavy singles each way (10,5,5,3,1,1,1,1,1)

Workout
“Little Barb – no rest”

(complete 3 rounds with no rest)

20 Pull-ups

30 Push-ups *hand release today

40 Sit-ups – anyway

50 Squats

Post your time to the leaderboard.

TBear

Weekend Double Post

Once again, here is the 2012 Canada West Regional weekend schedule.

Friday’s Skill/Strength Element:

Heavy T.G.U.s

Friday’s Workout (from Crossfit Invictus):

In teams of two, one member working at a time,

300 Walking Lunges

4 400m BallRuns (20/12lbs)

100 Burpees

Saturday’s Skill/Strength Element:

Snatch 1.1.1 (10 sec rest between reps), 3 working sets

Check out these crazy strong Chinese lifters:

In this video…in this order…16 year old snatching 100kg x 2—16 year old hang snatch 90 kg— 69 kg lifter snatching 140 kg— 105 kg snatching 140 kg x 3 Super Heavy squatting 280 kg x 3— 94 kg lifter squats 290 kg— Super Heavy does a clean, hang clean and a jerk with 200kg/no straps— 94 kg clean and jerk 200kg

Saturday’s Workout:

In teams of two, trading off rounds

3 Snatch (95/65lbs)

3 Shoulder to Overhead (95/65lbs)

10 Box Jumps (24/20″)

Rounds in 15 minutes
A

You can find the 2012 Canada West Regional schedule here.

Today’s Skill/Str Element:

Prep your  One Legged Sqaut

Prep your Hang Clean

Today’s Workout: 2012 CF Regionals Team Event 2 (as individuals)

Row 1 K

25 1 Legged Squat (alternating)

15 Hang Clean (225/135lbs*), regionals standard

25 min time cap, *scale weight appropriately

Jami Tikkanen goes over some really good pistol preparation. Check it out.

A